History Main / Capepunk

* Outside of being a superhero, Saitama of ''Webcomic/OnePunchMan'' also deals with the day-to-day struggles that normal people go through such as trying to make it to the grocery store in time before the big sale expires. He also doesn't do it for the standard reasons that we usually see in superhero works. He usually thinks of it as a hobby. We also get to see how nightmarish it actually is for a normal person in a world where a city can be completely destroyed when a hero really cuts loose with their powers and monster attacks are a daily occurrence.

* ''Webcomic/ToPreventWorldPeace'' deconstructs the idea of an international army of pure-hearted magical girls by painting them as unwittingly corruptible, easily duped, and ludicrously incompetent. While magical girls are generally a breath of fresh air against the Wizard Mafia and other supervillains, they are constantly misled into making horrible mistakes, usually by their own parents, and it only gets worse as their powers are exploited on an international scale to polarize the magical community through prejudice into the supervillain extremes - if they don't blow up an entire lunar colony by accident. The title comes from the AntiVillain protagonist's goal to prevent a WonTheWarLostThePeace situation that ends with BewareTheSuperman, all while hunted down by her former comrades for not being on their side.

* WebOriginal/{{Ultimate}}: What this story is looking like. Albeit more comedically than others. Portraying heroes as civil servants and celebrities. And showing all the problems that come with treating heroes as a popularity contest. It even deconstructs the wackier parts of heroes, such as implying vampires are commonplace and having them be a metaphor for white privilege.

* WebOriginal/{{Ultimate}}: What this story is looking like. Albeit more comedically than others.

Capepunk stories tend to be either {{Deconstruct|ion}}ive or {{Reconstruct|ion}}ive (or [[DeconReconSwitch both]]) in nature, analyzing what makes these characters tick as well as how they relate to the setting as a whole. Much effort will be put into justifying why people have [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividuals a variety of powers]], are allowed by law enforcement to run willy-nilly, or [[ReedRichardsIsUseless don't change the world overnight]]. By and large, these kinds of works tend to be very satirical in nature, showing why superheroic tropes either won't work in a real life setting or require many {{Necessary Weasel}}s in order to be justified as existing. While many Capepunk stories are cynical, there are just as many stories which cast heroes as standing against the mundanity of the world and leading humanity into the light (or at least trying to).

* ''Anime/{{Akira}}'' combines this with cyberpunk motifs as we see Testsuo as a trope-codifier for WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity. It destroys all of his relationships, innumerable innocent bystanders, and eventually makes him believe AGodAmI. One of the messages is human morality is incompatible with being superhuman.

[[folder:Film]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' touches on this, as once-active superheroes were forced to retire due to lawsuits over damages caused by their fights. It also takes a look at the thought that would have to go into superhero costumes to ensure they're effective. (''[[CapeSnag "No capes!"]]'') The movie as a whole deals with what it means to be "special", both in terms of superpowers and in the mundane sense.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'' takes many superhero cliches and the Superman mythos and turns them on their head. Metroman is a SmugSuper [[spoiler:who turns out to be a BrokenAce who is miserable because he sees saving the day as [[PunchClockHero a job]] instead of a calling or something that makes him happy]], Megamind is an incompetent villain who is less fighting Metroman and more playing a game [[spoiler:and can't think of what to do when Metroman fakes his death, having a crisis.]] The greatest example would have to be [[spoiler:Hal Stewart A.K.A Tighten/Titan]] who shows what happens when [[FromNobodyToNightmare a random unremarkable person]] gets superpowers, especially one who was secretly jealous of Metroman's "Relationship" with Roxanne. [[spoiler:He becomes an even worse villain than Megamind could ever hope to be (but not a ''super'' one).]]

* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': Most of the stories set outside of [[SuperheroSchool Whateley Academy]] itself are in this vein, with big dollops of PostCyberPunk, MythPunk, and FantasticNoir for flavor. A big chunk of those set ''on'' campus are, too, for that matter, but it can get much, much darker elsewhere. Once you step off school grounds, you enter a world of GrayAndGrayMorality driven by {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s, [[AncientConspiracy Ancient Conspiracies]], [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazi]] [[TheRemnant deadenders]], and [[LovecraftLite unspeakable otherworldly entities]]. A large number of {{Nominal Hero}}es are really SmugSuper {{Jerk Jock}}s at best, and [[KnightTemplar Knights Templar]] or [[VillainWithGoodPublicity Villains With Good Publicity]] at worst, and even many of the genuinely heroic ones will readily throw ThouShaltNotKill out the window when faced with an even worse alternative. The more overt villains can range from {{Punch Clock Villain}}s and {{Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain}}s; to {{Byronic Hero}}es and {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s; to {{Blood Knight}}s, {{Super Supremacist}}s, and the AxCrazy; to [[DealWithTheDevil Infernalists]] and ''worse'', but even they often pale in comparison to the more institutionalized evils. Oh, and the international quasi-governmental agency meant to keep a lid on dangerous mutants, the Mutant Commission Office, is thoroughly corrupt, heavily infiltrated, and mostly staffed by [[FantasticRacism Fantastic Racists]] who can't wait to set up the death camps. While it is not an unrelentingly grim world, it is dangerous enough of one that the Whateley school administration has to maintain a [[TruceZone policy of armed neutrality]][[note]] WordOfGod has said that the school's security is ''primarily'' in place to protect the school and students from external threats; given how prominent they are in protecting students from ''each other'', this says a lot about those threats. Both Headmistress Carson and Security Chief Delarose are well aware that most of the security officers are on the take, but they keep them on because they already know whom they are feeding information to, and that any new officers would be the same but with more unknowns[[/note]], including an ''explicit'', written agreement by backers of both the heroic and villainous persuasions to [[EnemyMine collectively]] PayEvilUntoEvil whenever that neutrality is violated in certain ways.

A subtrope of GenreDeconstruction; MagicalGirlGenreDeconstruction is a very similar concept, applied to the Japanese MagicalGirl genre.

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Humans in Capepunk stories are often not very nice to nonhumans or supers.

* ILetGwenStacyDie: When a hero feels responsible for a loved one's death.

* SuperheroHorror: Superhero stories with elements of the horror genre.

* ''Anime/TigerAndBunny'' takes place in a setting where superheroes are commercial commodities that work both as professional crime fighters and corporate mascots, their outfits adorned with brand logos not unlike UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}} race cars. The pressure to succeed, particularly in a popular reality TV show based around their heroic exploits, leads some to enter into the superhero business for largely self-serving reasons. At the same time, however, the show is a {{Reconstruction}} of superheroes more than a {{Deconstruction}}, as the heroes as presented as overall good-natured and well-meaning people.

* The ElsewhereFic ''Fanfic/MiraculousThePhoenixRises'' takes the original, heavily sanitized cartoon and runs it through virtually ''every'' capepunk trope you can think of in a post Creator/AlanMoore / Creator/GarthEnnis era. Sure we have a band of (anti)heroes, but they're trapped smack dab in a CrapsackWorld where HumansAreMorons and [[HumansAreBastards bastards]], AdultsAreUseless, PoliceAreUseless, all the while taking the series several astronomical units to the [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism cynicism side of the scale]].

* ''Fanfic/MiraculousThePhoenixRises'' takes the original, heavily sanitized cartoon and runs it through virtually ''every'' capepunk trope you can think of. Sure we have a band of (anti)heroes, but they're trapped smack dab in a CrapsackWorld where HumansAreMorons and [[HumansAreBastards bastards]], AdultsAreUseless, PoliceAreUseless, all the while taking the series several astronomical units to the [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism cynicism side of the scale]].

* ''Fanfic/MiraculousThePhoenixRises'' takes the original, heavily sanitized cartoon and runs it through virtually ''every'' capepunk trope you can think of. Sure we have a band of heroes, but they're trapped smack dab in a CrapsackWorld where HumansAreMorons and [[HumansAreBastards bastards]], AdultsAreUseless, PoliceAreUseless, and takes the series several astronomical units to the [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism side of the scale]].

** The ''Film/IronMan'' movies used real-life science to justify many of the figure's traditional gadgets. Likewise, the films serve as deconstructions of many UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror tropes as well as the kind of attention such a figure would garner. The third one also portrayed Tony Stark dealing with PTSD from the literally world-changing events of ''Film/TheAvengers2012''.
** Film/{{Captain America|The First Avenger}}, on the other hand, starts off idealistic but quickly devolves into a deconstruction in the side moments that show that Steve has ''no life'' outside of being Captain America. He has few friends, the love of his life Peggy Carter is now in her 90s and close to death, he has basically no hobbies beyond physical exercise, and he is a SuperSoldier who defines himself by the battles he's fighting. He is sad, and lonely, and even the people that he calls friends are his actual working partners (or become such). [[spoiler:No wonder, then, that at the end of ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', he walks away from it all in order to have a normal life with a younger Peggy Carter, one of the only people he ever truly loved, in an AlternateTimeline.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'' takes many superhero cliches and the Superman mythos and turns them on their head. Metroman is a SmugSuper [[spoiler:Who turns out to be a BrokenAce who is miserable because he sees saving the day as [[PunchClockHero a job]] instead of a calling or something that makes him happy]], Megamind is an incompetent villain who is less fighting Metroman and more playing a game [[spoiler:and can't think of what to do when Metroman fakes his death, having a crisis.]] The greatest example would have to be [[spoiler:Hal Stewart A.K.A Tighten/Titan]] who shows what happens when [[FromNobodyToNightmare a random unremarkable person]] gets superpowers, especially one who was secretly jealous of Metroman's "Relationship" with Roxanne. [[spoiler:He becomes an even worse villain than Megamind could ever hope to be (but not a ''super'' one).]]

* ''All Those Explosions Were Someone Else's Fault'' coaches its battle in the Darkness (beings from a universe closer to where YourMindMakesItReal who make deals with the rich and powerful for eternal life in the forms of vampires, werewolves, demons, and ghosts) versus the Light (which comes from about the middle of the spectrum between hard and soft reality, and thus much coach what abilities it gives under a lampshade of pseudoscience, and runs on RuleOfDrama). It then promptly shows a Light-aligned super villain and a number of sympathetic Dark characters, muddying the waters immensely.

* Phillip Wylie's ''Literature/{{Gladiator}}'' could count as an UrExample - centered on a man who was experimented on by his father before he was born and given SuperStrength and NighInvulnerability as a result, he struggles to hide his powers and find ways of trying to use them for a good purpose.

* Creator/BrianClevinger's ''Literature/NuklearAge'' doesn't appear to be this at first. It later becomes a novel showing how so much of the wackiness and craziness around its protagonist [[spoiler: is the result of his status as a god.]]
* The ''Literature/OmegaSuperhero'' by Darius Brasher has a idealistic young man named Theodore Conley become a superhero only to find out the resident Justice League {{Expy}} is a SmugSuper group hiding deep corruption. It's played even more straight in its sister-series, the ''Literature/SuperheroDetective'' where the protagonist is a PI who deals with superhuman dirty laundry.
* ''Literature/ThePantheonSaga'' by C.C. Ekeke is a series that depicts superheroes as entitled celebrities that are constantly caught between trying to maintain their squeaky-clean images and dealing with their foibles as human beings. Unlike, say, ''Comic/TheBoys'', the heroes are mostly good people but when they break down then they break down hard. It also emphasizes the incredible temptations of power.

* ''Literature/TheReckonersTrilogy'' goes the route of DeconReconSwitch. WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity is in play, and every Epic we see is AlwaysChaoticEvil. The more powerful ones have carved out their own fiefdoms, such as Newcago or Babylon Restored (Chicago and New York, respectively). However, the Reckoners are genuinely heroic [[spoiler:and lead by an Epic who refuses to use his powers]] and ultimately David is able to provoke a HeelFaceTurn on another [[spoiler:by helping her overcome her fear, and thus undoing her brainwashing.]]

* Thom Brannan's ''Sad Wings of Destiny'' is a ''Watchmen''-like DeconstructorFleet which tears down just about everything even remotely related to superheroes.
* Creator/JohnRidley's ''Literature/SoledadORoarke'' books ''Those Who Walk In Darkness'' and ''What Fire Cannot Burn'' have a atypical CrapsackWorld take on superheroes. Specifically, they postulate humanity will turn on them with FantasticRacism and ruthless brutality the first time they fail big.

* The ''Literature/WildCards'' shared universe series very often made its superheroes out to be anything but, and the supervillains were just as often simply people BlessedWithSuck by their wild card [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds lashing out]] against a world that [[FantasticRacism treats them like freaks]]. The authors also played quite a bit with the question of where one draws the line between BlessedWithSuck and CursedWithAwesome: for instance Hiram Worchester, an {{Acrofatic}} GravityMaster who's chair-breaking obesity may be related to his powers.

** Deconstructed when it is revealed that [[spoiler: powers are intelligent and deliberately choose hosts who will go out and get involved in fights and conflicts with other super powered people. Moreover, they subtly nudge people into doing so, and can actively cause problems for those who refuse to do so, with tragic results.]]
** The sequel ''Literature/{{Ward}}'', takes a look at what happens in a cape society [[spoiler:[[AfterTheEnd after the most powerful being in the world decides to destroy it all]]. The human race has just barely survived and the reset button has been pressed on society. What does a world look like that's shaped from the beginning by superpowered people who are all severely traumatized?]]
* Warren Hately's ''Zephyr'' stories follow the eponymous superhero and his struggles to reconcile his superhero lifestyle with his life as a civilian. [[spoiler:Death, divorce, drugs, and infidelity]] seem to be incredibly common among the heroes. It's lampshaded near the end when discussing a fallen colleague and commenting that [[DeathIsCheap it's not like the comics]].

* ''Series/TheGifted'' has mutants living on the run and hunted constantly due to FantasticRacism. Being a mutant isn't officially illegal but any crime they commit will get them locked away for decades and bigots aren't afraid to antagonize them into doing so. Also, it's gotten worse to the point people are planning a FinalSolution. Much attention is given to how families handle the situation as well as the logistics of surviving on the run.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Infamous}}'' series deals with the prejudices and responsibilities which come from getting superpowers in real life. Most people react to the condition by going a little bit nuts while others try to hide their abilities. Cole attempts to help as many people as possible but has an extra-motivation for doing so [[spoiler: since everyone blames him for the destruction of Empire City]]. ''VideoGame/InfamousSecondSon'' continues this trend as we watch Delsin become a superhero primarily because he hates the establishment but also to drum up support against the DUP. As long as the public thinks he's doing good, it's harder for the DUP to label him a bio-terrorist.
* ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'' deals with Superman going rogue after the death of Lois Lane at the hands of the Joker (along with all of Metropolis). Superman proceeds to go insane as a result of these actions but the scary part is the majority of the world is willing to go along with his madness...[[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope at least, at first]]. ''VideoGame/Injustice2'', continues on this storyline by having Batman and the others trying to fix the world after Superman's regime, with complications along the way.
* ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' follows a character equipped with all the powers of a superhero (something between the ComicBook/IncredibleHulk and a [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos shoggoth]]) who's stuck in a city under lockdown by the military. It shows a cynical view of good versus evil being a poor fit for a BlueAndOrangeMorality being that is an OutsideContextProblem for humanity.

* ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'' discusses this briefly in Linkara's review of ''[[Franchise/{{Hellraiser}} Pinhead]] vs. ComicBook/MarshalLaw'', explaining that he despises series like ''Law'' and ''ComicBook/TheBoys'' because they treat heroes either as naive idiots or complete monsters and are written by people who [[BiasSteamroller clearly hate the genre.]]

* The ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' Cadmus arc dealt with the United States government trying to develop countermeasures against the Justice League going rogue. What made this arc so effective was it drew from the extensive history of both ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' and ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' plus the show's own past to illustrate ''why'' the Justice League would be so terrifying to quote-unquote normal people.
* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' takes the Sidekicks that form the main group and turns them into ChildSoldiers, the SuperTeam are surprisingly incompetent, and supervillains are TheConspiracy who are surprisingly {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' takes the Sidekick and turns them into ChildSoldiers, the SuperTeam are surprisingly incompetent, and supervillains are TheConspiracy who are surprisingly WellIntentionedExtremist.

* Masquerade: The existence of super-powered beings can be a closely-guarded secret within the story’s universe.

* TheMasquarade: The existence of super-powered beings can be a closely-guarded secret within the story’s universe.

"Capepunk" refers to the subgenre of superhero fiction which deals with superheroism in a "realistic" manner. This sort of storytelling often comes with the greater freedom to allow creators to deconstruct traditional superhero tropes. To be Capepunk, your story can't just be about superheroes. It has to be about why they put on the cape and whether or not putting it on is worthwhile.

* ''Who Can Save Us Now?'' is a superhero-themed anthology written by various authors that deals with several aspects of this trope.

* Creator/StephenKing wrote two novels, ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'' and ''Literature/{{Firestarter}}'', that could both be interpreted as superhero deconstructions in hindsight. Notably, Max Landis, writer of the aforementioned film ''Film/{{Chronicle}}'', brought this point up whenever ''Chronicle'' was described as a superhero movie (a description that he disagreed with), arguing that these two books could just as easily be considered superhero stories by the same token.
** ''Carrie'', about an outcast teenage girl who discovers that she has [[MindOverMatter telekinetic powers]], can be read as a [[GenderFlip gender-flipped]] version of ComicBook/SpiderMan's origin story. But instead of Uncle Ben's speech about [[ComesGreatResponsibility power and responsibility]], she gets the {{abusive|Parents}} [[TheFundamentalist religious lunacy]] of her mother Margaret, which only compounds the bullying she receives at school and leaves her a broken mess of a person. When she's eventually [[RageBreakingPoint driven over the edge]], it leads to a tragedy that kills hundreds of people. The book's [[Film/Carrie2002 2002 made-for-TV adaptation]] [[spoiler:also had Carrie [[SparedByTheAdaptation surviving]] and hiding in Florida under a new identity, with WordOfGod stating that [[PilotMovie this was meant to lead into a TV series]] in which she used her powers to help people and [[TheAtoner atone for her crimes]]. Given that the film was written by Creator/BryanFuller, who would go on to create the below-mentioned ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', it's not unlikely that some of the ideas he would go on to use in that show would've shown up in his ''Carrie'' TV series.]]
** In ''Firestarter'', Andy and Victoria [=McGee=] both get PsychicPowers in a government experiment, not unlike ComicBook/CaptainAmerica's origin story... except this is the [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar Vietnam-era]] government that nobody trusted. The [=McGees=], and later their daughter Charlie (who inherited [[PlayingWithFire her powers]] from her parents), wind up on the run as fugitives from a government that wants to bring them back in for experiments.
* ''Literature/ThePantheonSaga'' by C.C. Ekeke is a series that depicts superheroes as entitled celebrities that are constantly caught between trying to maintain their squeaky-clean images and dealing with their foibles as human beings. Unlike, say, ''Comic/TheBoys'', the heroes are mostly good people but when they break down then they break down hard. It also emphasizes the incredible temptations of power.

* Credit where it's due, ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' definitely qualifies as this.

* ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'' discusses this briefly in Linkara's review of ''[[Franchise/{{Hellraiser}} Pinhead]] vs. ComicBook/MarshalLaw'', explaining that he despises series like ''Law'' and ''ComicBook/TheBoys'' because they treat heroes either as naive idiots or complete monsters and are written by people who [[BiasSteamroller clearly hate the genre.]]