History FanFic / Polarity

''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5124106/1/Polarity Polarity]]'' is a ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' fanfic featuring small-time villain and engineering genius Herman Schultz, aka the Shocker, who takes up the role of AccidentalHero as he saves a French woman from a zombie. The story follows the Shocker and his partner Aleksei (also known as the Rhino) as they seek to protect themselves and the disparate grouping of folks they pick up from both the [[ZombieApocalypse undead horde]] and the seemingly incompetent government, [[HeelFaceTurn gradually becoming more and more heroic]] as they go along.

* BadGuyBar: The canonical Bar With No Name. In the epilogue, Boomerang becomes co-owner, and it's instead upgraded into a reformed villain bar.

* FiveManBand: The main characters, once they start working together:
** The Hero: Shocker.
** The Lancer: Rhino, [[spoiler: Ms. Marvel]]
** The Big Guy: Rhino, again.
** The Smart Guy: Boomerang, Mach IV.
** The Chick: [[spoiler: Ms. Marvel]], Speed Demon

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: The amount of ''Marvel'' villains in this story is impressive. Once you start to count the heroes too, you realise the scope and detail of this story, with characters as diverse as Black Talon to Nick Fury, with really obscure villains like Blizzard and Whirlwind playing supporting roles.

* PragmaticHero[=/=]PragmaticVillainy: When Shocker is still 'officially' just acting for himself, he allows a group of soldiers to take a trailer-load of guns he acquired because he recognises that they'll get more use out of conventional weapons than he will, Shocker even reflecting that most super-villains don't use standard guns anyway.
** To go with a more straightforward PragmaticVillainy example, when Shocker has a brief run-in with Wolverine, he recalls a time when Wolverine dismissed him as a threat when he passed by Shocker's cell in the Raft, but also notes that he'd never bother trying to get back at the mutant for such a comment as it's not worth the risk of being attacked by Logan in turn later.

** The reason why Shocker and Rhino head out to save a group stuck inside a store assaulted by the undead. They may be criminals, but they can't sit by and watch on TV others suffer a horrific death when they can help. The Shocker also considers rape as a particularly disgusting act.

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* SpotTheImpostor: When [[spoiler:Osborn has Chameleon pose as Shocker, Boomerang first suspects something when "Shocker" claims that the Punisher killed Rhino as he knew that Rhino and Punisher had an arrangement, and when Spider-Man and Boomerang confront "Shocker" about that, Chameleon further proves he's a fake when he tries to use Shocker's gauntlets and ends up breaking his own arms because of the backlash]].

%%* TookALevelInBadass: Shocker takes several within the story, as does [[spoiler: Electro]].

* ZombieApocalypse: The entire story revolves around a zombie apocalypse pushing everyone to their limits. [[spoiler: However as the zombie attack does not last very long, when it ends a couple of billion of people survive, albeit scattered around the world with billions more dead.]]

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Shocker and Rhino may be criminals, and the Shocker may have considered killing someone for money during his his villainous career, but they can't sit by when they know innocents are in trouble. Indeed, both state later that they wish to be heroes.

* BigDamnHeroes: Lampshaded by Blizzard after [[spoiler: over fifty supervillians, led by Molecule Man and the Wizard, show up in Central Park to help the Avengers fight Dormammu.]]

* SmugSnake: Electro, Vulture, Norman Osborn, [[spoiler:Grim Reaper]], Baron Mordo... a ''lot'' of villains think far too highly of themselves, with their boasting, bragging, and smugness more often than not completely blowing up in their face.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler: Norman Osborn]] is ripped apart by zombies [[spoiler: from the original Marvel Zombies universe]], including the zombie of his own arch-enemy; [[spoiler: ComicBook/SpiderMan]].
* CutLexLuthorACheck: In the epilogue, many of the super-villains that decide to go legit find new, meaningful employment based on their superpowers or special gear. Explicitly mentioned are Speed Demon using his SuperSpeed to become a courier, and Aqueduct & Hydro-Man getting involved in the water & irrigation side of reconstruction.
%%* {{Determinator}}: The Shocker, bar none.

* HeroOfAnotherStory: A few sub-plots are mentioned at various points, such as Wolverine mentioning that he's helping Curt Connors determine if they're dealing with a viral infection or something supernatural.

** To go with a more straightforward PragmaticVillainy example, when Shocker has a brief run-in with Wolverine, he recalls a time when Wolverine dismissed him as a threat when he passed by Shocker's cell in the Raft, but also notes that he'd never bother trying to get back at Wolverine for such a comment as it's not worth the risk of being attacked by Wolverine in turn later.

* MsFanservice: Ms. Marvel, who Shocker is absolutely smitten with, leading to him to wax lyrical about her curvaceous body in the narration.

* AdaptationalBadass: [[spoiler: Eric Williams, aka the Grim Reaper, was more of a recurring thug in the comics, who's only real major connection to the Avengers was through his brother [[PowerMan Simon]]. Here, he's responsible for the entire zombie plague, summons Dormammu, and manages to take on several Avengers at once.]]

* BiTheWay: Electro. In his own words when describing his sexual preferences, "I'm ACDC: I go both ways."

** Norman Osborn lacks a lot of his EvilIsCool qualities in the comics and is a smug, slimy, petty little bureaucrat with a chip on his shoulder who is repeatedly noted to only be sane-ish due to a cocktail of anti-psychotics, and is also willing to put thousands of lives in danger in order to look like a hero for saving them, and goes as far as killing [[spoiler:The Rhino]] for the sake of salvaging his bruised ego.