History DeconstructedTrope / Worm

* PlayfulHacker: Kenzie regularly shows the kind of unwitting damage these skills can do in the hands of a [[AmbiguousDisorder socially-maladjusted]] child. Though incredibly friendly, repeated rejection from others and difficulty with understanding boundaries causes her to invade her friends’ personal space whenever she thinks it will impart information on how to keep them around. Ironically [[SinisterSurveillance her obsessive behavior]] ends up driving even more people away. Additionally, her effectiveness when it comes to information gathering means that Breakthrough alternates between chastising her for invading the privacy of others (and overworking herself) and enabling her when the stakes are high enough.

* BalefulPolymorph: Amy turning Victoria into a nearly immobile pile of limbs for two years leaves the latter with more than a few issues over physical touch. Worse, the process of fixing her required the use of ''stray animals'' for biomass, adding even more [[AmbiguouslyHuman self-image problems]]. At the start of the series being reminded of Amy, her physical make-up, or her time in the hospital is Vic's personal TraumaButton.

* FreudianExcuse: Due to the fact that virtually all powers in this setting come with a TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening, pretty much every single villain has one of these. This means that most people are willing to declare that FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse if someone's crimes are bad enough...
* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: However, the fact that literally every cape has a FreudianExcuse also means that people are willing to write off people who legitimately have good reasons for being as screwed up as they are because everyone else also suffered to get powers. Case in point: Rachel Lindt, aka Bitch, is pointedly treated as a dangerous threat due to her powers resulting in the deaths of her foster parents and siblings. It's pointed out in-series that Rachel is at most guilty of manslaughter, but people being unwilling to try and bond with her not only exacerbated the problem, but is implied to have caused her to gain powers in the first place.

** Although Regent possesses qualities that reconstruct this trope, he also shows how much ambivalence would come with being the teammate of a loyal, yet dangerous, sociopath. In fact, multiple people call out Skitter and the Undersiders for having [[spoiler:an unrepentant murderer and rapist]] in their crew and his continued membership is usually the first reason heroes give not to trust them. Additionally, just because Alec is pretty unambiguously evil doesn't mean he goes around openly [[TheCorrupter tempting his teammates to]] KickTheDog. To avoid losing his friends, Alec keeps both his dark past and LackOfEmpathy to himself as long as possible. When he [[spoiler:puts Shadow Stalker through a vicious HumiliationConga via PeoplePuppets]], he actually goes pretty far out of his way to make sure his teammates don't find out about it. Raising the question of how often he decides to indulge [[ParanoiaFuel when the others aren't with him]].

** On the heroes' side, there's Shadow Stalker. Her [[spoiler:bullying of Taylor out of costume]] was directly responsible for torpedoing any chance of a peaceful resolution after [[spoiler:Taylor accidentally unmasked her]], which in turn led to a confrontation ending in [[spoiler:Armsmaster's arrest and subsequent nomination for a spot on the Slaughterhouse 9]]. Her later attempts to sneak off and murder villains when her teammates weren't around resulted in her [[spoiler:walking into a trap set by the Undersiders, who handed her over to Regent]].

** Although Regent possesses qualities that reconstruct this trope, he also shows how much ambivalence would come with being the teammate of a loyal, yet dangerous, sociopath. In fact, multiple people call out Skitter and the Undersiders for having [[spoiler:an unrepentant murderer and rapist]] in their crew and his continued membership is usually the first reason heroes give not to trust them. Additionally, just because Alec is pretty unambiguously evil doesn't mean he goes around openly [[TheCorrupter tempting his teammates to]] KickTheDog. To avoid losing his friends, Alec keeps both his dark past and LackOfEmpathy to himself as long as possible. When he [[spoiler:puts Shadow Stalker through a vicious HumiliationConga via BodySnatching]], he actually goes pretty far out of his way to make sure his teammates don't find out about it. Raising the question of how often he decides to indulge [[ParanoiaFuel when the others aren't with him]].

** AttackOnOneIsAnAttackOnAll: The closest Regent has a moral code comes from his hatred of [[AbusiveParent Heartbreaker's]] brand of StupidEvil hedonism, and it largely consists of (1) Look out for your comrades; and (2) Stick to PragmaticVillainy where possible. Unfortunately, this leaves a lot of wiggle room for PayEvilUntoEvil. [[spoiler:So when he gains [[PeoplePuppets control]] over Shadow Stalker, who had already tried to kill two of his teammates and drove Taylor to a mental breakdown, he takes things to extremes. For the record, this includes [[HaveYouNowMyPretty casually molesting]] her, pointing a crossbow at her mother, and threatening her with PsychicAssistedSuicide. All under the justification of "it feels like [[PoisonousFriend I should]]."]]

--->'''Tattletale''': New Cauldron, same as the old Cauldron...Doing things that everyone should be unambiguously on board for and making every enemy possible along the way.

** FakeKillScare: [[spoiler:After Skitter turns herself in to the PRT, Director Tagg calls in [[GeniusBruiser Alexandria]] to emotionally break her via interrogation. To do so, she begins "hunting" the Undersiders, using body doubles to convince Skitter that her only friends are being killed off. The heroine seemingly fails to realize that Skitter's [[AnimalEyeSpy power]] makes it almost impossible to read her [[TheStoic emotional state]]; that emotional turmoil tends to amplify cape abilities; and that Skitter is TheDreaded for a reason. Hopefully, Alexandria had time to review her actions while being [[KilledOffForReal literally]] drowned in bugs.]]
** GiveMeAReason: [[spoiler:After learning Skitter's true identity, the PRT initiates an attempt to corner her in a public place. Confused that they [[WhyIsntItAttacking suddenly stop the assault]], Skitter realizes they are banking on her usual response to being pushed into a corner (acts of incredible [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer violence]]) to have the dual effect of: [[AHeroToHisHometown destroying]] most of the goodwill she's built upon in the city post-Leviathan; and giving the PRT cause to justify their breach of cape etiquette in attacking her out-of-costume. As Skitter has spent the past weeks providing protection from the Slaughterhouse Nine, dismantling [[FromNobodyToNightmare the Merchants]] and [[VilerNewVillain Fenrir's Chosen]], and providing desperately needed supplies to those in her territory, the surrounding people take some exception to the attempt at railroading her without cause. They eventually succeed in helping her escape capture via large-scale [[SafetyInMuggles human shield]] and the PRT's reputation takes a pretty big hit.]]

* FakeKillScare: [[spoiler:After Skitter turns herself in to the PRT, Director Tagg calls in [[GeniusBruiser Alexandria]] to emotionally break her via interrogation. To do so, she begins "hunting" the Undersiders, using body doubles to convince Skitter that her only friends are being killed off. The heroine seemingly fails to realize that Skitter's [[AnimalEyeSpy power]] makes it almost impossible to read her [[TheStoic emotional state]]; that emotional turmoil tends to amplify cape abilities; and that Skitter is TheDreaded for a reason. Hopefully, Alexandria had time to review her actions while being [[KilledOffForReal literally]] drowned in bugs.]]

* GiveMeAReason: [[spoiler:After learning Skitter's true identity, the PRT initiates an attempt to corner her in a public place. Confused that they [[WhyIsntItAttacking suddenly stop the assault]], Skitter realizes they are banking on her usual response to being pushed into a corner (acts of incredible [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer violence]]) to have the dual effect of: [[AHeroToHisHometown destroying]] most of the goodwill she's built upon in the city post-Leviathan; and giving the PRT cause to justify their breach of cape etiquette in attacking her out-of-costume. As Skitter has spent the past weeks providing protection from the Slaughterhouse Nine, dismantling [[FromNobodyToNightmare the Merchants]] and [[VilerNewVillain Fenrir's Chosen]], and providing desperately needed supplies to those in her territory, the surrounding people take some exception to the attempt at railroading her without cause. They eventually succeed in helping her escape capture via large-scale [[SafetyInMuggles human shield]] and the PRT's reputation takes a pretty big hit.]]

--->'''Piggot''': If you buy a favor from someone who [sells drugs], the Merchants, Coil, the Chosen, then you’re indirectly supporting that trade. Just like you’re supporting any number of evils every time you help a fellow villain. I’ve talked to homicide detectives who have dealt with the bodies in the wake of your shenanigans... Bakuda was injured by you in one altercation, and she attacked the city over the course of several days. Do you know how many people were harmed, then? Because you set her off?... Are you afraid facing that reality would shatter this nice little delusion you’re living under?... Where do you draw the line? When do you start taking responsibility? Or will you explain away every evil you’ve done and count only the actions you want?

--->'''Clockblocker''': How does a supervillain warlord react to that sort of news, by the way? Finding out a heroine tried to hang herself?... You do stuff, you have reasons, [[spoiler:like your apparent feeling that, oh, [[PeoplePuppets it's okay]] because [Shadow Stalker] was a [[NinetiesAntiHero violent]] personality,]] but you don’t pay attention to the ending, to everything that comes after. A whole lot of people have been screwed up and hurt in your wake, Skitter.

** MoralityChain: Following the discovery of their role in [[MadeASlave Dinah Alcott's]] abduction, Taylor makes an impassioned plea to the others, asking them to help rescue the girl. This is seemingly building to an EveryoneHasStandards moment where the {{Loveable Rogue}}s pledge to help their {{friend|shipMoment}} and... [[spoiler:it turns out they really don't give a shit. Taylor is struck [[BrokenPedestal pretty hard]] by the realization that the Undersiders won't compromise their meal ticket just because of their teammates having a crisis of conscience.]]

* InspirationalInsult: While being transported to [[TheAlcatraz the Birdcage]] with Canary and Lung, [[MadBomber Bakuda]] initiated a (failed) escape attempt. While she was able to easily threaten Canary into helping, Lung had been drugged into a docile state that prevented him from using his PlayingWithFire ability. To get her boss sufficiently incensed, Bakuda gives him a quick and brutal TheReasonYouSuckSpeech where she rubs in the fact the Lung received two separate defeats from Skitter, one of which literally castrated him. Once in the Birdcage, Lung's primary objective was to find [[FirstRuleOfTheYard someone to kill]] in order to avoid becoming someone's underling or bitch. Naturally, he picks the person who had not only [[YouHaveFailedMe just failed him]], but openly disrespected him beforehand.
* InvincibleVillain: [[spoiler:Scion is functionally one of these due to having [[AllYourPowersCombined every power in existence, to the strongest level possible]]. Unlike other stories where the heroes would want to [[IWillFightSomeMoreForever keep fighting to the bitter end against him because its the right thing to do]], many of those who oppose him end up crossing the DespairEventHorizon and [[MisanthropeSupreme decide that letting him win might be a good idea]]. And while Taylor ultimately defeats him, it involves using a method that totally sidesteps his powers and would likely count as crossing the MoralEventHorizon in any other series]].
* JunkieProphet: Dinah Alcott, a middle-schooler that is among the three strongest [[SuperIntelligence Thinkers]] in the world, has such potent precognitive abilities that she's abducted by Coil, a crime boss looking to capitalize. Although Dinah doesn't technically ''need'' drugs to use her powers, Coil, scumbag that he is, fosters a narcotic addiction in the kid after taking her prisoner. This has the dual benefit of assuaging [[HeroicRROD the piercing migranes]] that result from overexertion and keeping the 12-year-old fully reliant on and subservient to him.

* NeverBeHurtAgain: Emma's malice toward's her {{former friend|OfAlphaBitch}} Taylor stems from [[spoiler:an ABB attack that she experienced the summer before entering high school. The fact that the first hero on the scene, [[SocialDarwinist Shadow Stalker]], was willing to stand idly by until Emma began to fight back, combined with the fear of ever feeling that powerless again, led her to adopt the hero's "prey or predator" philosophy. Moreover, she began to project all hatred of her past self onto Taylor, believing she embodied the weakness Emma intended to move past.]] Tormenting Taylor allowed her to feel powerful, and her victim's refusal to fight back only served as proof that she was justified.

* StealingTheCredit: Armsmaster offers to take credit for Skitter's (and the Undersider's) takedown of Lung, believing that her refusal to join the Wards would leave Skitter open to retribution from the ABB. However, the former's GlorySeeker tendencies mean he is just as motivated by the career boost such a high-profile collar would bring. Unfortunately, he was unaware that Skitter's desperation required her to use lethal force to overwhelm the villain's HealingFactor. Leaving Armsmaster to explain why Lung had been injected with enough venom to nearly kill him. Armsmaster ends up being investigated for excessive force and is demoted from his leadership position; the resulting hostility he holds towards Skitter plays a large part in him essentially becoming her ArchEnemy.

** UnwantedAssistance: In an alleged attempt to help her daughter, Brandish invites Amy to a family gathering, claiming that the statement "I invited everyone" [[MetaphoricallyTrue was enough forewarning to justify her actions]]. Victoria nearly has a panic attack at the thought of seeing Amy and is outraged and horrified that her mother would do something like that while aware of her ongoing trauma. Victoria loses nearly all her trust in her parents ends up estranged from them for quite some time afterwards.

* FlashbackNightmare: [[spoiler:Rain’s cluster has a SharedDream of the circumstances surrounding their trigger event ''every night'', from the perspective of each of the four members. The trigger was an arson attack, committed by [[ReligionOfEvil the Fallen]], taking away everything that three of the members held dear. The fact that Rain is one of Fallen members who perpetrated the attack makes him TheScapegoat for the rest of the cluster. After a few months of being unable to move past their collective DespairEventHorizon, Rain is overcome with remorse and self-loathing, while the others decide to target their revenge efforts towards him exclusively. This is despite the fact that he was only a miscellaneous Fallen {{mook}} at the time, since it’s his actions that’ve been seared into their memories.]]

** Taylor's bullies were constantly allowed to get away with their shitty behavior by the school. However, the school only let them off the hook [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections because of their connections]] but this only emboldened them and gave them a sense of entitlement. So they end up bullying a disabled girl during a photoshoot with other heroes... only to be furiously told off and ignored by Victoria and the other heroes who have no reason to let them off the hook. Madison was forced to accept how awful her behavior was, and is crushed by how she turned Taylor into a supervillain.
** The criminals who were let go after the mass pardon means that society is off to a bad start since nobody is going to trust a system that let so many people get away with horrible crimes.

* MultipleChoiceFuture: [[spoiler:After being freed from Teacher, Contessa agrees to help bring down her former captor. However, too much time has passed for her Path to Victory to conceive of a way to take down Teacher without drawbacks. With the knowledge that whatever plan is chosen will effectively go off without a hitch, Contessa leaves it to Breakthrough and the Undersiders to decide whether they want to prioritize capturing Teacher, saving lives, or minimizing hero deaths. The groups' differing opinions on which of the three objectives to prioritize (at the expense of the other two, in the short or long-term), leads to a lengthy conflict.]]

** Trickster of the Travelers tends to take huge gambles whenever he’s backed into a corner. He does this [[spoiler:without knowing he is being [[TomatoInTheMirror manipulated by the Simurgh]],]] without having any real long-term planning skills, and without speaking to his friends. His teammates end up despising him for making spur-of-the-moment decisions that they all have to live with.

* SecondSuperIdentity: [[spoiler:Shortly after Colin Wallis (a.k.a. Armsmaster) escapes arrest for breaking the Endbringer truce, a new hero named Defiant arrives on the scene. The fact that this new hero has the exact same posture and powerset as Armsmaster means that absolutely no one is fooled. Although, since the law frowns on publically unmasking capes, no one can prove that Armsmaster and Defiant are the same person either. Moreover, his willingness to go on a manhunt for the [[HeroKiller Slaughterhouse Nine]] means Director Piggot has no problem giving him a pass. Multiple heroes call out the PRT for allowing Colin to brazenly escape any legal consequences for sending several of his enemies to their deaths.]]

* SociallyAwkwardHero: Weld's courage and selflessness make him a natural-born hero and leader, but his slight social ineptitude occasionally leads him to overlook the feelings of his subordinates. Upon first meeting the Brockton Bay Wards team, for instance, his introduction [[DiggingYourselfDeeper skips over]] the fact that [[spoiler:three members of the team had been violently killed by Leviathan only weeks before. This tendency continues when he becomes the leader of the Irregulars, as he fails to realize that the [[UnwittingTestSubject Case 53s]] under his command didn't really care if the members of [[WellIntentionedExtremist Cauldron]] faced justice, they were mainly looking for a chance at [[HeWhoFightsMonsters brutal revenge]].]]

* LikeGoesWithLike: At the start of ''Ward'', [[ChromeChampion Weld]] and [[CombatTentacles Sveta]] are a seemingly happy couple; the only issue is their inability to be physically intimate due to Sveta's lack of a body. Having the typical sexual urges of a teenager despite his metal body, Weld starts to have doubts about their relationship as time goes on. However, being a [[PowerUpgradingDeformation Case 53]] is such a large part of his identity that he doesn't feel like he has the right to break up with Sveta, especially not for her greatest insecurity. This leads him to remain in the relationship even though he concludes there are NoSparks. When [[MsFanservice Slician]] makes a move on Weld, their relationship falls apart shortly after.

* DefectorFromDecadence: [[FlyingFirepower Purity]] initially attempts to make a clean break from the Empire Eighty-Eight, a white supremacist gang in Brockton Bay, allegedly out of disgust at their extremes and concern for her infant daughter. However, despite claiming to be a hero, it's quickly shown that the lion's share of her issues with the Neo-Nazis come not from disgust at their violence towards minorities, but from personal dislike of their leader (and her [[WorkingWithTheEx ex-husband]]) Kaiser. The latter calls her out on her insincere attempts at a FaceHeelTurn, citing the facts that (1) she is very much ''not'' a FormerBigot, being just as much of a virulent racist as before; (2) she has no problem giving her old pals at E88 a complete pass for all their ongoing crimes; and (3) she spends most of her time as a hero/vigilante attacking the other gangs in the city, who were the Empire's enemies anyway. Kaiser has little trouble convincing Purity to return on the grounds that the only material change would be a paycheck.

''Worm'' is an effective deconstruction of the entire [[{{Capepunk}} superhero genre]], particularly the role that the appearance of superpowers would play in society at large.

* BigDamnVillains: The intermittent truce between the Protectorate and criminal parahumans means, outside of legitimate psychopaths, most villains can turn up to fight any S-Class threat without worrying about being arrested. This also means when things are bad enough, sufficiently reliable villains can get a free pass to continue their activities unmolested. [[spoiler:Coil, the Undersiders, and the Travelers are able to ally with the Brockton Bay Protectorate, even as they plan to take over the city, because [[ChaoticEvil the Merchants and the Slaughterhouse Nine]] are a more immediate threat.]]

** Taylor's bullies were constantly allowed to get away with their shitty behavior by the school. However, the school only let them off the hook [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections because of their connections]] but this only emboldened them and gave them a sense of entitlement. So they end up bullying a disabled girl during a photoshoot with other heroes... only to be furiously told off and ignored by Victoria and the other heroes who have no reason to let them off the hook. Madison was forced to accept how awful her behavior was. Despite getting away with, Madison is crushed by how she turned Taylor into a supervillain.

** Taylor's bullies were constantly allowed to get away with their shitty behavior, but this only emboldened them and made them think it was okay. So they end up bullying a disabled girl in public... only to be furiously told off and ignored by Victoria and the other heroes who have no reason to let them off the hook.

* LivingEmotionalCrutch: Even if her patients weren’t PersonsOfMassDestruction, Jessica Yamada would be a prime example of how emotionally exhausting this position can be. But having to constantly put her patients first to prevent the deadly consequences of a mental break takes an even bigger toll. [[spoiler:Then things go from bad to worse when she’s part of a majority-parahuman group forcibly stranded on a deserted planet. Spending months keeping RetiredMonsters like Riley and Nilbog in check makes her stressed and paranoid to the point that she physically attacks the former. Considering [[SerialKiller Riley’s]] past, the fact that this only torpedoed her trust in Yamada, instead of causing a genocidal FaceHeelTurn, is a miracle.]]

** Bitch also applies in a slightly different manner. Her hot temper and tendency to respond with brutal violence to anything that upsets her (whether justified or not) has pushed away potential allies (like [[SuperSpit Spitfire]]) while making multiple unneeded enemies (like [[BeastMan Hookwolf]]). She's also very aware that the team only tolerates her because of her combat effectiveness; this is capitalized on when the Slaughterhouse Nine play on her feelings of exclusion and make threats to encourage Rachel to kill the Undersiders and join them. [[spoiler:She even considers agreeing, albeit only for a moment.]] Lastly, the rest of the team is collectively held responsible for some of her worse actions, [[spoiler:most notably "gaining territory" by violently assaulting everyone residing within a certain radius until they vacate.]] This is another one of the points that the PRT latches onto when concluding that the Undersiders should not be compromised with.

* VillainousParentalInstinct: [[spoiler:Considering protecting his daughter was the sole reason [[NobleDemon Marquis]] was captured in the first place, he predictably latches onto the opportunity to reconnect once Amy is sent to the Birdcage as well. However, Marquis's reputation as a badass cell-block leader crumbles as he goes out of his way to care for the [[DespairEventHorizon borderline-catatonic]] Amy. In particular, the knowledge that Marquis has such a blatant [[LoveIsAWeakness vulnerability]] nearly ends with him being overthrown by his more [[TheStarscrean ambitious]] underlings.]]

** Taylor's bullies were constantly allowed to get away with their shitty behavior, but this only emboldened them and made them think it was okay. So they end up bullying a disabled girl in a public... only to be furiously told off and ignored by Victoria and the other heroes who have no reason to let them off the hook.

* LivingEmotionalCrutch: Even if her patients weren’t PersonsOfMassDestruction, Jessica Yamada would be a prime example of how emotionally exhausting this position can be. But having to constantly put her patients first to prevent the deadly consequences of a mental break takes an even bigger toll. [[spoiler:Then things go from bad to worse when she’s part of a majority-parahuman group forcibly stranded on a deserted planet. Spending months keeping RetiredMonsters like Riley and Nilbog in check makes her stressed and paranoid to the point that she physically attacks the former. Considering [[SerialKiller Riley’s]] past, the fact that this only torpedoed her trust in Yamada, instead of causing a genocidal FaceHeelTurn is a miracle.]]
-->'''The Red Queen''': The goodness in you is still there. But you’ve worked so hard you’ve hit the point you don’t always care. If I’m guessing right, you’re probably at the point where you can do the day to day stuff, but when that late night phone call comes and they ask for extra effort or a needy patient needs you extra, you resent them a little.

-->'''Mike''': The team didn’t feel healthy. You all were growing up and then we heard the kids of people with powers could get powers. [Brandish] seemed to accept it as a given that you’d be brought onboard. [Lady Photon] surprised me by agreeing, and I think that was her move… establishing an unsafe bubble, not pursuing civilian life. Powers as a part of everything. Even the damn home recipes.
** Laserdream triggers after being recognized by a group of criminals, who attack her solely to get RevengeByProxy against the members of New Wave. Additionally, she only decides to join New Wave out of familial obligation, feeling that signing onto the Wards might harm New Wave's reputation. Finally, she ends up the SoleSurvivor of the Pelhams once her parents and brother are violently murdered.

** Finally, Victoria's trigger is revealed to be the result of internalized self-worth issues and work-based ParentalNeglect, reinforcing the belief that there would be no way to get [[WellDoneSonGuy support, attention, or acceptance]] from her parents unless she ended up as a cape. Moreover, once Victoria reenters the hero game at the start of ''Ward'', she has trouble finding a team that won't just use her for her connection with the [[SuccessfulSiblingSyndrome more in-demand]] [[HealingHands Amy]].

** AttackOnOneIsAnAttackOnAll: The closest Regent has a moral code comes from his hatred of [[AbusiveParent Heartbreaker's]] brand of StupidEvil hedonism, and it largely consists of (1) Look out for your comrades; and (2) Stick to PragmaticVillainy where possible. Unfortunately, this leaves a lot of wiggle room for PayEvilUntoEvil. [[spoiler:So when he gains [[PeoplePuppets control]] over Shadow Stalker, who had already tried to kill two of his teammates and drove Taylor to a mental breakdown, he takes things to [[{{Understatement}} extremes]]. For the record, this includes [[HaveYouNowMyPretty casually molesting]] her, pointing a crossbow at her mother, and threatening her with PsychicAssistedSuicide. All under the justification of "it feels like [[PoisonousFriend I should]]."]]

* CainAndAbel: Victoria's intense, occasionally violent, hatred for Amy means that she tends to default to [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim suggesting murder]] in response to the latter's frequent fuck-ups. The fact that Vic isn't exactly eager to divulge the disfigurement, MindRape, and actual rape she suffered at her sister's hands causes Amy to consistently receive the benefit of the doubt from Earth Shin, the Wardens, and even their parents. Unfortunately, Victoria's very valid reluctance to reel back her hatred leaves her comments on Amy's [[{{Understatement}} poor decision-making skills]] to go unheeded.

->''"When I looked at her with my power, before, I called her the Worm. She spent some time being as low on the food chain as you can get while still being able to move under her own power. As low as someone can get while still having an identity of their own. But she’s realized she’s poisonous, dangerous in her own unique way.... The little worm found a nugget of self-worth, she just doesn’t want to look too closely at what that nugget is made of."''

** Aegis's power gives him possession of a hyper-adaptive physiology. He can incorporate redundancies into his body allowing him to see through his skin when blinded or reattach limbs when dismembered. This, in combination with his slow healing factor, makes it near impossible to kill him. As a result, he is unaware of his upper limits [[spoiler:and the first time he fights something he can't immediately adapt to is also [[KilledOffForReal the last time]].]]
** In addition to a HealingFactor fast enough to be near-instantaneous, Crawler has a potent adaption power. Unlike Aegis, Crawler gained the ability to ''permanently'' alter his body to respond to the last thing to hurt him. Outside of a few [[UnblockableAttack inviolable exceptions]], no attack will ever work on him more than once. Over several years, this turns him into a giant bestial acid-spitting abomination covered in eyes and NighInvulnerable armor. Moreover, he becomes [[CombatSadomasochist obsessed]] with finding anything still capable of hurting him, to the extent that he joins the [[KillOnSight Slaughterhouse Nine]] to maximize potential enemies. [[spoiler:Much like Aegis, the first time he gets hit with something he can't adapt to rapidly enough--in this case tinker-bombs with esoteric effects that the PRT had salvaged from Bakuda's stocks--it kills him.]]

* AttackAttackAttack: When Dragon sends seven of her automated suits to Brockton Bay in order to capture the Undersiders and the Travelers, she purposefully sends her auto-restoring suit to capture [[HotBlooded Bitch]]. Dragon does this predicting that the combination of Bitch’s attack-focused fighting style, the suit’s ability to rebuild itself into fighting condition upon taking any damage, and Bitch’s stubborn inability to walk away from a fight that she feels like she's “winning” means she’ll inevitably tire herself out. It’s only Skitter’s intervention that prevents this strategy from succeeding.

* AlternateUniverse: After uncovering a way to make [[PortalNetwork portals]] between parallel earths prior to Gold Morning, the people of Earth Bet find that the newly discovered multiverse carries its own dangers.

* TenMinuteRetirement: Following Scion’s defeat, Contessa attempts [[IJustWantToBeNormal to stop]] using Path to Victory, a power which (among other things) operates as a DangerSense. In order to take advantage of her StoryBreakerPower, Teacher has her kidnapped inside of two days. Contessa’s overpowered abilities meant that any sign of vulnerability was too good to pass up for her enemies.

** In addition to a HealingFactor fast enough to be near-instantaneous, Crawler has a potent adaption power. Unlike Aegis, Crawler gained the ability to ''permanently'' alter his body to respond to the last thing to hurt him. Outside of a few [[UnblockableAttack inviolable exceptions]], no attack will ever work on him more than once. Over several years, this turns him into a giant bestial acid-spitting abomination covered in eyes and NighInvulnerable armor. Moreover, he becomes [[CombatSadomasochist obsessed]] with finding anything still capable of hurting him, to the extent that he joins the [[KillOnSight Slaughterhouse Nine]] to maximize potential enemies.

** [[HumansAreBastards Some people are just selfish enough to exploit the world ending for the sake of coming out on top of the rubble]], even though its made pretty clear that no one will survive Gold Morning if it comes to completion.

** Anyone who gets sent to the Birdcage is there for life. Attempting escape is suicide, no exceptions. Moreover, being sent there is more dependent on the dangers your powers pose (or the feasibility of keeping you locked up) than the seriousness of your crime. First time offender, who happened to win the SuperpowerLottery? Sucks to be you.

** On the heroes' side, there's Shadow Stalker. Her [[spoiler:bullying of Taylor out of costume]] was directly responsible for torpedoing any chance of a peaceful resolution after [[spoiler:Taylor accidentally unmasked her]], which in turn led to a confrontation ending in [[spoiler:Armsmaster's arrest and subsequent nomination for a spot on the Slaughterhouse 9]], and her attempts to sneak off and murder villains when her teammates weren't around resulted in her [[spoiler:walking into a trap set by the Undersiders, who handed her over to Regent]].

* PlayfulHacker: Kenzie regularly shows the kind of unwitting damage these skills can do in the hands a [[AmbiguousDisorder socially-maladjusted]] child. Though incredibly friendly, repeated rejection from others and difficulty with understanding boundaries causes her to invade her friends’ personal space whenever she thinks it will impart information on how to keep them around. Ironically [[SinisterSurveillance her obsessive behavior]] ends up driving even more people away. Additionally, her effectiveness when it comes to information gathering means that Breakthrough alternates between chastising her for invading the privacy of others (and overworking herself) and enabling her when the stakes are high enough.

* SmugSuper: March's preoccupation with looking cool, validated by spending her arc cutting through heroes like a hot knife through butter, leads her to [[UnflinchingWalk walk away]] before confirming [[spoiler:that she's killed Vista, assuming [[StuffBlowingUp the destructiveness of her power]] must have finished the job. This directly leads to her own death.]]

* UnflinchingWalk: [[AxCrazy March's]] power allows her to empower blades, and whatever she cuts with them explodes along the cut after a few second delay. This, along with her superpowered precision and timing allows her to be both lethal and showy, cutting someone and then slowly walking away while they explode behind her. This makes her incredibly intimidating and does great things for her villainous reputation. However, eventually her arrogance in [[MakeSureHesDead failing to make sure her opponents are really no longer a threat]] leads to her undoing: [[spoiler:Vista twice uses her ability to warp space to greatly shorten March's blade, turning what would have been a deep cut or impalement into a scrape. What would have been a devastating explosion merely scratches the surface. March never noticed because from the perspective of the wielder, it's hard to tell how long a blade that's pointed away from you is, and then after the cut she never observes the results. Vista takes advantage of this once to fake her own death, and then again to allow Foil to block March's blade with her palm. Foil promtly [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice runs March through]] with her rapier [[CombatPragmatist while her back is turned]].]]

** Director Emily Piggot, Tagg's predecessor, also deconstructs this trope, albeit in a slightly more justified way. Her experiences as one of two PRT field agents that survived [[CynicismCatalyst the failed mission]] to kill [[FatherOfAThousandYoung Nilbog]] are largely responsible for her [[TheUnfettered unfettered]] approach to catching villains. Seeing the monstrosities that the psychopath could create showed her that parahumans exhibited some of the most [[FantasticRacism savage traits of humanity]]; the fact that hero support immediately abandoned her team to die convinced her that most capes were just selfish cowards playing pretend; and the fact that the PRT covered up the entire clusterfuck, let Nilbog roam free, and [[KickedUpstairs promoted her]] to keep her quiet taught Piggot that legal barriers and moral scruples were [[ShootTheDog a necessary]] sacrifice for the greater good. Even when the protagonists are the victims of her prejudice, they have trouble disputing her reasoning.
* GodzillaThreshold: Worm shows what happens when society collectively moves past this limit:

** Although Regent possess qualities that reconstruct this trope, he also shows how much ambivalence would come with being the teammate of a loyal, yet dangerous, sociopath. In fact, multiple people call out Skitter and the Undersiders for having [[spoiler:an unrepentent murderer and rapist]] in their crew and his continued membership is usually the first reason heroes give not to trust them. Additionally, just because Alec is pretty unambiguously evil doesn't mean he goes around openly [[TheCorrupter tempting his teammates to]] KickTheDog. To avoid losing his friends, Alec keeps both his dark past and LackOfEmpathy to himself as long as possible. When he [[spoiler:puts Shadow Stalker through a vicious HumiliationConga via BodySnatching]], he actually goes pretty far out of his way to make sure his teammates don't find out about it. Raising the question of how often he decides to indulge [[ParanoiaFuel when the others aren't with him]].

** The majority of those displaced by Gold Morning end up settling on planets that have little-to-no advanced life. However, most of the more remote worlds like Earths Nun and Zayin are conquered by villains, while others like Earth Achat[[note]]A large chunk of which is covered in toxic mold[[/note]] are essentially uninhabitable. And that's before getting into the fact that some deserted worlds are even used as impromptu {{extranormal prison}}s, with superpowered repeat offenders being forced to live out the remainder of their lives in total isolation.

* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: The original [[HavingABlast Ashley Stillons]] shows how embarrassing being pitied for your criminal failings would feel, as well as how combative this type of villain would become to compensate. First, having some of the most extreme control issues of any cape causes Ashley frustration that produces further PowerIncontinence, leading to a harsh cycle. Second, her attempts to gain respect among villains during the Boston Games end up alienating most of her peers by virtue of how aggressive they are, leaving her even more insecure. Third, when people like PRT Director Armstrong and heroes Edict and Licit attempt to reach out due to sympathy, [[DontYouDarePityMe she reacts with rage]] rather than appreciation. Lastly, the alienation she feels at her failed ambitions attracts the [[HighTurnoverRate Slaughterhouse Nine]], who forcibly enlist her as CannonFodder.

** On the heroes' side, there's Shadow Stalker. Her [[spoiler:bullying of Taylor out of costume]] was directly responsible for torpedoing any chance of a peaceful resolution after [[spoiler:Taylor accidentally unmasked her]], which in turn led to a confrontation ending in [[Armsmaster's arrest and subsequent nomination for a spot on the Slaughterhouse 9]], and her attempts to sneak off and murder villains when her teammates weren't around resulted in her [[spoiler:walking into a trap set by the Undersiders, who handed her over to Regent]].

--->'''Clockblocker''': How does a supervillain warlord react to that sort of news, by the way? Finding out a heroine tried to hang herself?... You do stuff, you have reasons, like your apparent feeling that, oh, [[PeoplePuppets it's okay]] because [[NinetiesAntiHero she]] was a violent personality, but you don’t pay attention to the ending, to everything that comes after. A whole lot of people have been screwed up and hurt in your wake, Skitter.

* OrcusOnHisThrone: Some villains like Nilbog, Heartbreaker, Moord Nag, and Sleeper, are powerful enough to carve out their own territories, remaining inactive enough that taking them out would be more trouble than it’s worth. As a result, heroes just write off their earlier atrocities and adopt the rule: “So long as they remain stagnant, leave them the hell alone.”