My Superhero University | Season 02, Episode 04: A Warning To The People The Good And The Evil
Malhareff: Soon, I will give you your hope back. And it will make you hope for Our future.
Wilma: I dunno whether sticking around after sunset would be a good idea or not. There are plenty of creatures lurking in the shadows that would like to take my head
Mahvash: We're not going there to dally or parley. Its to nip a problem. And we're going to into the Abyss to nip it yes. The alternative is a festering pest problem that can pop up then flee back to a safe haven after possessing Dante or Chibi now and stalking or injuring my fellows when it damn well pleases. The ground here is familiar, and it may seem prudent to just wait. But besides that leaving the group on edge all the time, we'd be giving up the choice of when and where to confront the thing. So now, in no uncertain terms, we're going to hunt it down and squash it.
Sally: We...can do this. I can't worry about what could happen...hmmmm...it still feels weird I can hide my emotions physically a bit more now...I can't tell if that is bad or good...
Elaine: Look, I know Dememtius is a threat and has done some terrible things, but there has to be a way to capture him and hand him over to the authorities. Vigilante justice is unbecoming of a hero.
Ryuu: Dementius must be stopped...What that implies, I dunno, but we are all tired of his crap and he won't quit nor regret it, so it must be done by force
Evelyn: I don't know. I've... killed before, and... it's not something I want to happen again. But... it gets harder, not to think about it...
Cole: You heard their answers. Now hear mine. We're here on a field trip. I'd advise we be let through. Because I've dealt with my share of Gods and Monsters. Cuz as for who dares? Name's Cole Streiss. I just so happen to have punched out multiple Horsemen of Death.
Tess: I don't know how much longer I have at this point...I haven't even drained him at least once...Maybe it was the guilt when I bumped into him...Or that I couldn't find him in the center afterwards...We also failed to get the artifact from what I heard...If only I could have found it first...plus...my locket is gone...the only thing I had left from my family...
Ryuu: And you need an actual hobby beyond harassing teens...Makes you look like a loser
Lily: This is by far the stupidest thing I've ever done. At least this'll improve my control... if I don't fall and die, of course...
Vivian: Your Vivian. Your Vivian. We're in front of a possible adversary in a combat situation here, so I'll be brief. I don't give a good goddam about your other versions of people. Right now, you're in my world and on my team, so I'll give you any suggestions I please. I don't know if your Viv was smart enough to make the same choice I did, but from what you're saying she was still an idiot. She's likely, therefore, dead, and so her and your opinion of me based on her means squat to me. We'll table this for now.
Evelyn: Just wasting time. I'll show you wasting time, yes. Yes I will, yes. Unacceptable. My fault, yes. No sacrifice. Only violence. Violence is the easy way out. Only way out. Clearly. Yes. Screw them all.
[Behind-the-Scenes Translation of Iuvem's Combat Advice to Evelyn]: Evelyn, listen to me—the one who #$&%ed you over—and do the thing you were already doing to begin with!
Evelyn: Maybe those guys had a point. Those activists. Anti-superhero. Still wrong, though. We aren't heroic. We're little balls of self-hatred and selfishness. Aren't we? Let's get it over with, then. Another corpse to add to the #$&%ing pile.
Iuvem: You could have just said no to my order. I found out you were having a tantrum, I figured I could take advantage of it to increase our chances of getting past the demon. You could have said no. I wouldn't mind it because, as I stated earlier, I had no intention of killing it...just getting past its fatass. But no, you decided to go along with it and prove your own point. You made it clear that human— no...Earthlings always like to shroud themselves in a veil of hypocrisy to prove the hypocrisy of other Earthlings. This self-destructive hypocrisy is what will cause Earthlings to destroy each other; And ruin forever what was a beautiful planet that was already getting corrupted by you hyprocrites...
Evelyn: ...all I ask for is honesty. Honesty in what you say to me, honesty in what you do, honesty in your principles. If you tell me to do something, I'll do it. If you get mad at me for doing it, I'll get mad at you right back. If I cut off my hair out of impulse, I'm doing it for you. But clearly you don't care about that, because that's unnecessary. I value you. I love you. Your standards, your everything. I love all of you. But I don't think we've been making that very clear, have we? Next time our lives are on the line, let's make sure we know where we stand. So something like this doesn't happen again.
Dante: Man, I'm looking forward to interacting the recently calmed down Dementius...or well...Ananse! Now I'll definitely learn more things about trickster gods and mythology and I'll become more cultured than I already am.... T.L;D.R: I'm keeping this gioiello with me, forever, even if Dementius was an asshole...
Dante: I'm greeting him — not it — in my house with open arms, mostly because he and "Father" will fuse back into Ananse sooner or later, but that's not the point...my heroic side will certainly be wary about him, but my fun-loving side is simply itching to have fun with him, however my morbidly curious wants to know more about him. On the other hand, my more extreme side would never ever forgive him although my shy side wants to have more friends. Nonetheless, my grateful side wants to cherish this supposed gift of his...
- Short Synopsis: The Iridium Wonders storm the Abyss, targeting one specific demon. The rest of the class go on a camping trip with Jasmine and later explore a temple with Bozo. Nothing goes wrong... until it does.
- First Post: 16 June 2019
- Webcomic Time: 24 January 2020 / 1 February 2020
Tropes - Unmarked Spoilers Below
- Aborted Arc: Selena attempts to enlist Mikael as her Macguffin Delivery Service; though he never responds. The artifact eventually teleports away via a second failsafe.
- Apathetic Teacher: Jasmine knowingly led a class into an enchanted forest that would aggravate their bestial instincts.
- Apple of Discord: The entire challenge of the demon gatekeeper for squad 4. They're not a team but are benign towards each other. The demon's challenge hit them hard. Accidentally. A lesser example happened within when Iuvem tried to take the demon's mace to keep things diplomatic. The demon did not take it well and it lead to... events.
- Bittersweet Ending: The Iridium Wonders seize Dementius and hand him over to Mikael for eventual trial. However Dante is ready to run back to him and take him in with open arms. He declares this as soon as the IW return from hunting said Dementius in the Abyss. Squads 1,3,&4 work their way through a temple... and only succeed in disabling the traps so that Tess can snatch the artifact while they're distracted by internal troubles. And for the future, the episode stirred up discord among the students.
- Boisterous Weakling: When his opponents aren't already crippled or preoccupied (or Dante or Chibuzo), Dementius can't lay a finger on them. But he spends the entire time talking himself up and just slipping out of being finished off.
- Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Vivian notes her lost drive for the rush of battle and an unfamiliar coldness in danger.
- Deadly Upgrade: Iuvem's 'Chaos Mode' is shown to gradually corrupt him with his built up hatred and malice. Later, Clay breaks the stitches over his third eye to fire Chekhov's Gun.
- Death or Glory Attack: Martin spends his energy to buff the IW (sans Mahvash for good reason) and collapses, much to Mahvash's chagrin. (It left him awaiting a Coup de Grâce from an opponent that had thus far just been very annoying.) And then it worked.
- Divided We Fall: Squad 4 was hardly united but between Cole's instability and Iuvem's abrupt decision to attack after Evelyn's sacrifice, Evelyn snaps and the squad stumbles into an encounter. Clay barely manages to keep the peace—between the squad and the enemy. Iuvem follows up the truce with scathing insults towards Evelyn (and everything on Earth really) and the latest breakup of squad 4 continues. While they get it together enough to advance into the center of the temple, their conflict spreads to the point that the students lost the artifact from its fallout.
- Feet of Clay: Though it happened slightly differently, this is the second time in two encounters, Cole has broken down and turned on nearby students instead of an opponent in combat. It goes further when Cole demands that his squad not bargain with the demon blocking their path and he seems shocked at Evelyn for doing so. He seemed to be Becoming the Boast, challenging a demon to test him and his many stories of fighting horseman and monsters. And then after rejecting the idea of Evelyn offering a painful but not crippling tribute he goes on to blow off Vivian's attempt to make a plan and charge up for battle.
- Gentle Touch vs. Firm Hand: Mahvash promptly divests herself of Dante between his very clear interest in running back to Dementius after the IW's labors and then his doubling down on it after being called. She even sites the recent trip to the Abyss as a sunk cost before noting that they're not committed to keep pulling him out of the same troubles in the future.
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Goddamned Boss: Dementius hits most of the marks on the list, seems almost designed to fit the trope, and it goes on and on... And at the end even tries to add a Villain: Exit, Stage Left to get away scot free... while anchored. - How Much Did You Hear?: Sally, Ryuu, and Martin in fact stuck around long enough to hear Mahvash giving Dante the third degree and his defense.
- It Gets Easier: For Evelyn
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: Mahvash tends to refer to demons this way. Dante defends Dementius, insisting that Dementius is a 'he'.
- Photo Op with the Dog: Dementius leaves a rapier that finds its way to Dante. A gift works extremely well at keeping Dante close to him. Dante's even named the thing.
- Practical Joke: As the first one to pass out, Martin becomes a target of this by all the Iridium Wonders after they return from the Abyss. Yes, including/especially Mahvash.
- Poke in the Third Eye: Cole gets one from the forest coming alive.
- Ramming Always Works: Ryuu finally deals Dementius out with a head-on tackle empowered by Martin.
- Remember the New Guy?: Elaine reappeared last episode, but this is the first time that she's interacted with the Iridium Wonders.
- Rescued from the Underworld: The souls from the convention center, the Carnival King, and possibly Minerva if she didn't live full time in the Abyss.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The beginning of a trend, Dementius first tries to slip away and hide in Dante when the IW storm his residence.
- Sir Swearsalot: He's no Ash, but Dementius peppers his speech with some heavy words without censorship.
- Snatching Defeat from The Jaws of Victory: Squads 1,3 and 4 have finally taken down the demon guardian of the temple and disabled the force field around the artifact. Clay and Mikael are no longer turning to stone! And then they focus on Iuvem's odd behavior and tensions rise... and right as they're focusing on the golem, Tess swoops in to retrieve the artifact... almost the exact same way she did when the students first encountered the Guardians.
- Skyward Scream: Both Mason and Cole give one once they realize Tess got away with the artifact.
- Spanner in the Works: Minerva and her 'church' put themselves in the way of the IW's direct route to Dementius and probably delay them enough to give him warning.
- Thou Shall Not Kill: In the news, the leader of the Protectors is catching flak for nearly killing a victim. The circumstances are unknown. Although in this type of conflict they hardly matter.
- Tragic Villain: Tess doesn't die, but she gets to this trope in a sentence.
- Trap Is the Only Option: An artifact is kept at a booby trapped demon temple. Squads 1,3,&4 try to infiltrate it.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: The Iridium Wonders are in pursuit of Dementius. Squads 1,3, and 4 are unknowingly on the trail of another artifact.
