History Main / MediumAwareness

->'''Amy Rose:''' Imagine if you were an outside observer watching pieces of the conversation.\\
'''Sticks the Badger:''' You see them too?! ''[nervously glances at the camera while a ScareChord plays]''
-->-- ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom'', "Sticks and Amy's Excellent Staycation"

It's also a wonderful thing to play with, and that is what Medium Awareness does; the characters acknowledge and interact with elements and conventions of the medium that shouldn't technically "exist" in-universe. Suddenly a character can tell how another character is feeling just from Background Music and reply to the disembodied narration, they can read the subtitles at the bottom of your screen, and they can tell when it's almost time for a commercial break.

It's also a wonderful thing to play with, and that is what Medium Awareness does; the characters acknowledge and interact with elements and conventions of the medium that shouldn't technically "exist" in-universe. Suddenly the characters can hear the ominous background music or the disembodied narration, they can read the subtitles at the bottom of your screen, and they can tell when it's almost time for a commercial break.

Audiences are good at figuring out which elements of a work are on which side of the FourthWall. No explanation is necessary for why our hero can hear a ringing telephone but not the movie's soundtrack, or why the space ship is menaced by the NegativeSpaceWedgie, but not by the [[OpeningScroll opening credits drifting by outside the ship]]: it's something we accept as part of our WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief.

* In ''[[Fanfic/FullCircleOddSquad Full Circle]]'', Olympia is aware that she's in a fanfiction and takes shots at the author while also trying to convince her fellow agents that they too are in a fanfiction that's terribly written. Of course, since ''Series/OddSquad'' as a show is full of MediumAwareness, it makes perfect sense, but the most hilarious thing about Olympia taking up this role is that there's actually been [[Recap/OddSquadS2E11ExtremeCakeoverAJobWellUndone one instance]] where she directly speaks to the audience and everyone else has an AudienceWhatAudience reaction.

* ''Roleplay/STOForumVersusThreadRP'':
--> '''locutusofcactus:''' The Undine captain looks down at the tracks in the sand. "Hmm... it appears that my competition is a good ten pages ahead of me."

* In the [[Fanfic/{{Cinderjuice}} Contractually Obligated Chaos series]], Prince Vince is not only aware that they're all in a bunch of stories, ''he's following the author on Website/{{Tumblr}}'' and reads each chapter as it's released. It's actually a plot point - he keeps tabs on the heroes by monitoring the story and sends help when he can.

** ''Film/MuppetTreasureIsland'' also uses this to amusing effect. At one point the rats--who have been treating the boat as a cruise ship--are touring the titular island. The tour guide comments that this is setting of the film "Muppet Treasure Island."

*** Also when Billy Bones dies Rizzo says [[NeverSayDie "He died?! But this is supposed to be a kids' movie!"]]
*** The Swedish Chef's intro in the movie - as the cook for the island's natives. The cast justifies this by saying "Well, how ''else'' do you think we were gonna get him in this movie?" Makes sense when one considers that the obvious job for him - chef on the ship - was filled by Long John Silver.
*** This was played with after the song "Cabin Fever". Clueless Morgan asks "What was that song that just happened?" The other prisoners think he's lost it.

** ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'': When Lone Starr talks about how they won't get too far with the blazing sun of the desert planet overhead, the screen dissolves into the fading sun...and Barf says, "Nice dissolve." Also, when searching for Lone Starr, the villains watch a video tape of the movie itself to find him. Even though (as Dark Helmet points out) the movie isn't finished yet. The entire movie has meta-references to itself being a commercial property, with the Spaceball store, the Spaceball Lunchbox, and the Spaceball Flame Thrower. And..."You've captured their ''stunt doubles''!!!" Or Dark Helmet banging his head against a camera... Or killing a cameraman with his Schwartz in the final fight.

* In ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'', a subtler example (which could reasonably be a well-crafted LeaningOnTheFourthWall -- it's left ambiguous) has Eric Idle's character saying "You'll see it's all a show… Keep 'em laughing as you go!" in the last musical number ''Always look at the bright side of life'' ([[{{Irony}} sung by Idle, Brian and all the other characters who have been sentenced to death]]).

-->''Very well. If that is your custom, prepare to die.''

* In one illustrated ''Literature/WinnieThePooh'' book, when the title character finds himself stranded on a branch too high to safely jump off, he climbs down the block of text on the page. This idea is also used in the animated adaptation...in which the characters are also in a book.

** Having read the book The Neverending Story himself, after finding himself in Fantastica Bastian theorizes that his current experiences may be recorded in the book, and that "maybe someone was reading it at that very moment".

** In one scene Leo loses his temper at Max and calls him "FAT!". This insult doesn't work very well when Nathan Lane has been replaced by the much slimmer Tony Danza, causing Tony to look confused and Leo to say "Well, you ''used'' to be."

* Creator/HideoKojima's ''VisualNovel/{{Snatcher}}'': At one point, the player is asked to turn up the volume to listen for a faint noise. When a loud explosion occurs shortly therafter, Gillian complains his ears are ringing. "That's because you turned up the volume," Metal cheerfully replies.
* ''VisualNovel/YoJinBo'' likes to go around BreakingTheFourthWall. The guys like to tease Mon-Mon about "not being one of the characters you can get at the end of the game", and his response is that he has an ImageSong and has spent too much time reading his lines to ''not'' be a "captureable character".

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* In ''VisualNovel/DokiDokiLiteratureClub'', [[spoiler:Monika becomes aware that she is a character in a visual novel. [[GoMadFromTheRevelation She really doesn't take this well,]] and starts going about [[{{Yandere}} haphazardly deleting the other girls from the game so she can be with the player.]] This in and of itself has its own problems, since the way she approaches it causes [[InterfaceScrew numerous glitches and technical errors.]]]] Towards the end of the game, [[spoiler:Sayori also gains awareness due to succeeding Monika as club president, but Monika shuts her down, and the rest of the game for that matter, so what happened previously won't repeat itself.]]

* Similar to the ''Thumb Wars'' example above, in ''Film/ACloneApart'', the following exchange is the first dialogue we hear:

* A ''Website/CollegeHumor'' parody skit of ''Series/SesameStreet'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4ZMyK9Ko74&feature=channel_video_title had the cookie monster replaced by a "pot cookie monster"]]. By the end of the video the drug's effects cause him to realize that he's just a puppet.

* ''Webcomic/Maximumble'': In "Style", the characters discuss one character's hair stylist and the other's desire for a new one, before acknowledging that neither character has hair and saying the script must have been written for a different comic strip because it doesn't make any sense.

* ''Theatre/LoveWithoutStockings'' a parody play by Norwegian author Johan Hermann Wessel, has the characters constantly discussing the premises of the play they are in. At the end of the play, Mercury (being the psychopomp from ClassicMythology), wakes up all the dead characters, and is immidiately called out on his presence in a Christian society. "Why, that his how a Tragedy works", he explains, and all the other characters end up in a fit of laughter.

A subtrope of BreakingTheFourthWall. Compare with other {{metafictional device}}s, particularly PaintingTheMedium, which uses {{Paratext}} and artifacts to tell the story, and ReadingAheadInTheScript which is exactly what it sounds like. LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn is a specific inversion. FourthWallObserver is what happens when a particular character has this on full-time and the rest do not. See also GenreSavvy (which doesn't involve the FourthWall) and NoFourthWall.

* Referenced (or spoofed) in ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'' in the bad end for Act 1. During one of his rants, Kenji complains about the fact that he, unlike Hisao, has no possibility of making choices in his life, indirectly referencing the visual novel's multiple choice system.

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}, of the ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'':
** He can ''see'' the yellow text boxes that indicate scene transitions ("Meanwhile, in Manhattan...") or that act as substitute thought bubbles. This is connected to the fact that for Deadpool, there is NoFourthWall. Indeed, the Deadpool comics became so famous for this that the dual sublines for the comic were "The Merc with a Mouth" and "Breaking down the fourth wall one brick at a time!"
** Earlier Deadpool books toyed with this; he didn't actually have any ''proof'' that he was in a comic book (because, let's face it, he can't perceive the reader no matter how much he tries to look outside the page) but kept up the act anyway because he believed it was true (and [[RuleOfFunny it was funny]]). This detail has since been dropped for simplicity.
** At one point, numerous characters tell him he is saying aloud everything that was in the yellow boxes, which leads him to suspect his "internal monologue" is broken. No one listens or responds to what he says, because he is known to be completely insane.
** This gag has extended to other media including Deadpool: in ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3'', he can beat his opponent around the head with his own life bar, and his [[Film/{{Deadpool2016}} movie]] continues the tradition (see below).
* Gwendolyn Poole, aka Comicbook/TheUnbelievableGwenpool, is a Creator/{{Marvel}} fan who originally hails from our reality and is aware she's now in a comic book. She constantly makes note of standard comic book tropes and conventions and even when [[spoiler:she briefly returns to the "real" world, she can still tell she's in a comic book because she slowly awakens as a RealityWarper, being able to see her own dialogue boxes and interact with panel borders. Her younger brother Teddy is also aware that they reside in a comic book universe, but his lack of comics knowledge means he's never able to make use of it and would rather return to the real world.]] As a side note, she actually isn't a fan of the above Deadpool (and vice versa).
* The {{Marvel|Universe}} series ''The Sensational ComicBook/SheHulk'' is famous for its characters' acknowledgement of the comic medium, including climbing across panel borders, referencing captions, and other related awareness.
** When she gained her sidekick Weezi, Shulkie asked how Weezi was able to walk between comic panels, only to be told that it's similar to the way She-Hulk is able to talk to the reader.
*** It's also because Weezi is an ex-comic heroine herself (from Marvel's predecessor in the 1940s), who used the same schtick in her series. Weezi is so GenreSavvy that she was aware that she and her (late) husband began aging in "real time" because they were no longer appearing regularly in published stories, and thus deliberately insinuated herself into Shulkie's life (and then-new series).
** In one issue, the book's editor, Renee, kidnapped Creator/JohnByrne and locked him BoundAndGagged in a closet so she and She-Hulk could find a new writer for the book. The issue ended with She-Hulk [[SelfDeprecation accidentally killing Byrne]].
** Parodied in an issue of ''ComicBook/DamageControl'', which made She-Hulk ''look like a lunatic who thinks she's a comic book character''. Then again, she directly responded to the text captions pointing this out, so... Does that make it a subverted parody?
** And in Marvel's short-lived ''Heroes for Hire'' series, Shulkie regularly got into arguments with the third-person narrator... until she fired him.
** In ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3'', She-Hulk has special dialogue with Deadpool [[LampshadeHanging where she mentions how popular she was in the early 90's, as well as her own habit of breaking the fourth wall]]. In another quote, she threatens to kick Deadpool's butt should there ever be a ''Marvel Vs. Capcom 4''.
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':
** ComicBook/TheJoker can interact with speech and thought bubbles, grabbing hold of or leaning on them. This is most likely part of the idea - also used to partially explain Deadpool - that Joker is so insane that he has become aware of things other characters have not.
** There is a theory floating around that the Joker has become so aware of his role in a comic book that the reason he has yet to kill Batman is because he knows that, if the hero of the book dies, the story and everything in it - villain most definitely included - stops existing. Similarly, some have speculated that the reason he can be so casual about the gruesome crimes he commits is because he realizes the people he's hurting aren't real.
** So did Harley, once. [[RuleOfFunny Though she was (mostly) sane at the time...]]
** In [[Film/Batman1989 the movie]], he talked to himself a few times, serving the same narrative purpose, but preserving the [[SeriousBusiness seriousness]]. On the other hand, he sometimes did so while looking straight-ahead, 'coincidentally' right at the camera, sooo...
** In ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'', thanks to a single point-of-view shot, the Joker is the only one in the films to look right into the camera.
** In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', Joker briefly grinned into the camera and said "Admit it, you can't look away."
** While all of the Game Over screens in the Arkham series are variations of the relevant villain taunting you, Origins features one where the Joker asks if he killed your friend. And then apologizes.
* A throw-away villain in a ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' story arc during the ''ComicBook/BrandNewDay'' storyline (Amazing 557) featured a rather bizarre manifestation of this trope, including the ability to attack our hero through between panels, declaring itself to be 'beyond time.' Holding his scythe to one side would rip through the panel and jab at Spidey's head on the previous page.
* ComicBook/AmbushBug can interact with his writers and editors, walk between pages and panels of his book, and comment on the lives of other characters from an "out of universe" perspective. One time ComicBook/{{Zatanna}} tries to cast a spell on him, and he asks why the words in her speech balloons are backwards. She bursts into tears.
* While playing {{Sidekick}} to [[ComicBook/CaptainMarVell Captain Marvel]], who possessed "[[PsychicPowers Cosmic Awareness]]," Rick Jones came to develop "[[{{Pun}} Comics Awareness]]," in addition to his usual GenreSavvy.
* ''ComicBook/GorskyAndButch'', a SaltAndPepper pair of policemen looking for the sense of their comic, often use this trope. On one occasion they found the plot of the comic scribbled on the wall of the authors' flat. Later, when asked why he hadn't simply read the ending to solve the case, Gorsky responded that he couldn't see it because his speech bubble was in the way.
* Like everything regarding her, ComicBook/SquirrelGirl is a goofy example of this trope. While she never breaks the fourth wall during the issues themselves, she does it during the first pages of every issue she's starred in. Now that isn't that unique since [[DependingOnTheWriter lots of characters]] break the fourth wall during the recap pages, but she {{justifie|dTrope}}s it by stating that she is only allowed to break the fourth wall during the recap pages. Some of her first pages breaking the fourth wall issues has direct importance towards the plot of said issue. And to make all this even more confusing, her pets Monkey Joe and Tippy-Toe [[NoFourthWall don't know the meaning]] of The Fourth Wall.
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** At times, especially during [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks the Silver Age]], Superman and ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} appeared to be aware of the Fourth Wall; Superman's trademark wink was always directed at the reader/audience. It was used for the last time (in the comics), and most depressingly, in ''ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheManOfTomorrow?''. In ''Superman'' #714, the last issue before the 2011 relaunch, the final panel gives a nod to ''Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow?''.
** Supergirl also occasionally winked at the audience -the first time, in ''ComicBook/ActionComics'' #260-, or even addressed to the readers. In elseworlds story ''Superman Vol 1 #192: "Clark Kent's Super-Son!"'', Clark Kent has lost his powers and forgotten he is Superman. Supergirl and Batman agree to not reveal anything because, well, ''the story would be over''.
--->'''Batman:''' "Psst, Supergirl! We're the only ones here who are aware that Clark Kent is Superman!"\\
'''Supergirl:''' "Of course, Batman, but we agreed that we'd never reveal the truth to Clark because... ''(dramatic pause)'' because you see, readers, that would ruin this imaginary story! So we're keeping mum and minding our own business! Let the writer and editor solve this super-mess they got Clark into!"\\
'''Batman:''' "Check! As Supergirl said, we're sitting this story out!"
** Earth-3 ComicBook/LexLuthor Jr. became aware of the real world, threatening 'us' on ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis''.
** Superboy-Prime is ''from our real world,'' and has gone so far as to blame Creator/DCComics for ruining his life, because they wrote the comic books where he's become a villain--''and'' his friends and family read them. ''That's'' trippy.
** In the ''ComicBook/{{Shazam}} (2018)'' series, Superboy-Prime returns after a 9-year absence, and he rights away addresses the readers, saying he can't believe they're still reading DC Comics after the 2011 reboot and endless string of subsequent Crisis and events.
--->'''Superboy-Prime:''' "I see you, too. After everything they've done... I can't believe you're all still here."
** DC canon being what it is, it's hard to know if it counts ''now,'' but at ''ComicBook/SupermanReborn'', Mr. Mxyzptlk turns out to know that he's in a comic book (and ''many'' other media. Apparently, all print, animated, and live versions of him are one guy who likes to hop around the multiverse and present himself a little differently in each. Of course, it stops being funny if [[FridgeHorror you consider]] the versions in which he's a very far cry from the usual harmless trickster.)
* ComicBook/AnimalMan becomes aware of his status as a comic book character and discusses this in a conversation with his writer towards the end of Creator/GrantMorrison's run on the series.
** In an issue of Grant Morrison's run on JLA, Martian Manhunter seeks Animal Man out for some plot related reasons. AM is hiding out in an empty white room spiralling into depression over his 4th wall awareness and when he realizes why J'Onn is there he breaks down in despair and screams "Oh God I'm relevant to the plot!" and just starts sobbing. After J'Onn reads his mind and leave J'Onn thinks to himself that AM has some very odd ideas about how the universe works.
* ''ComicBook/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice'', in every medium they've been in; comics, cartoons, and video games.
* A rare in-universe ''in-universe'' example: the French absurdist comicbook series ''Philémon'' is centered around the idea that labels on maps are actual geographical features, strange lands filled with absurd illogic. The letters that spell out "ATLANTIC OCEAN" are recurring locations in that series, where they're actual islands located in the Atlantic.
* In the ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'' spinoff, ''ComicBook/JackOfFables'', the title character Jack has been shown to be aware of the audience, both in recaps, and normal panels. [[spoiler: This is because he is half-Literal; Literals, are, in essence, "authors" of reality.]]
* The [[MirrorUniverse Crime Syndicate of America]] aren't aware of the fact that they live in a comic book, but do realize that some [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality unseen entity]] is ''constantly'' [[TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin preventing them from triumphing over]] the ComicBook/JusticeLeague.
* ''Marvel Universe'' villainess called The Goddess once gained cosmic power in ''ComicBook/TheInfinityCrusade''. One of the realities she planned to destroy was the real world, presented as a person reading one of the 'Crusade' issues. Later, the 'real' world is seen bursting into flames but it proves only to be a telepathic illusion.
* ''ComicBook/KatyKeene'' covers would do this. One had Sis even trying to draw the rest of Katy's dress.
* In the 100th issue of Marvel Comics ''ComicBook/WhatIf?'' (subtitled "Greatest Secret Of The Marvel Universe Revealed"),the first story titled Paper Skin shows that realities Gambit is tasked by Mr.Sinister to recover artifacts that will grant Sinister significant power. Rogue ends up discovering what Gambit and Mr.Sinister have been hiding, and in the end is shown sitting [[spoiler:in a pile of X-Men comic books, which Mr.Sinister had been collecting to gain outside knowledge of the events within the X-characters world and lives]].
** In the second story if the issue as well titled "There's No Place Where You Sleep And Keep All Of Your Stuff aka Earth-Fantastic Voyage", though not quite as straight to the throat as the previous, we find Sue Storm in a parody world of both the F4 comic itself and ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', and as this world's variant of the Watcher is instructing Sue to follow the "yellowish" road, he insists she hurry as the story is only ten pages long.
* Delirium of the Endless from ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' seems to be vaguely aware that she is in some kind of story. In chapter five of "Brief Lives" she tells Dream "I did that. What you just did. In the beginning" after Dream makes a strip club bouncer believe something just by telling him. This is a call back to chapter one when she pulled the same trick on a different bouncer. But why would she, a non-ending being who's existed since the dawn of the universe refer to something so recent as "the beginning"? She's talking about the beginning of the story arc.
* The Purple Man is a dark example of this in ''ComicBook/{{Alias}}'', a psychopath with mind-control powers who is fully aware that he's in a comic book. Nobody takes these statements seriously due to his insanity, though. Jessica Jones is simply shown to be baffled when he tries to explain to her that she lives in a comic book.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' story "Future Tense," Grim says he can use his scythe to decipher what Nostradamus is talking about, which Mandy considers too convenient.
-->'''Mandy:''' Doesn't this comic have ''any'' standards?
* In ''ComicBook/LeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen: Century'', psychogeographer Andrew Norton seems to not only be aware he's in a comic (telling a baffled League that he enjoyed the second volume) but that he's in a comic that mashes up characters from literature, calling Orlando "the new Vita" (Vita Sackville-West was the inspiration for Creator/VirginiaWoolf's ''Orlando'') and referring sarcastically to Literature/HarryPotter fans.
* ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'''s ComicBook/{{Loki}} knows he is (in) a story, he repeatedly told this to people. The only reason he doesn't break the fourth wall more often seems to be because ''that's not the kind of story he is''. When he wants he can pull stunts like reaching out and giving the reader a flyer (''ComicBook/YoungAvengers'' introductory one-shot, it's a teammates and ''readers'' wanted ad).
* In ''[[ComicBook/TheMultiversity Ultra Comics #1]]'', Ultra Comics sees his thought balloons and thinks they make him look dated, so he switches to first person captions.
* This sequence happens at the end of ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW'' #25 (started by Pinkie Pie, of course):
-->'''Pinkie''': Yay! TheEnd!\\
'''Fluttershy''': I think you mean "ToBeContinued."
* ''ComicBook/{{Superlopez}}'':
** Some characters drop quotes of this kind every now and then:
--->'''López:''' Weird things are starting to happen! It's evident that another Jan comic begins!
** In the 25th anniversary special, it is implied that ALL characters know they're in a comic book, as nobody bats an eye when Chico comments "Well, Jan's already been drawing us for 25 years..."
* Swerve temporarily gained this in ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'' when he accidentally activated Brainstorm's Metafictional Bomb, which caused him to start narrating events using the comic book's sales pitch despite not understanding what he was talking about. He was finally saved from the effects when the rest of the cast teamed up to convince him that he was still a main character.
* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogMegaManWorldsUnite'':
** When Axl and Sticks show up in ''Viewtiful Joe'' 's world, this gets lampshaded to heck and back.
--->'''Joe''': Dr. Cracken?! Cameo Leon?! What're they doing in the Real World?\\
'''Silvia''': No...I think we've wandered into some kind of franchise crossover!
** As well as...
--->'''Sticks''': Alright! Mission accomplished! Axl! Go destroy the unity engine while I recruit these two!\\
'''Axl''': Sure, but weren't you with partnered with X?[[note]] Earlier in the issue, Sticks had gone with X to the ''Monster Hunter'' world. All of a sudden, she showed up with Axl in this world.[[/note]]\\
'''Sticks''': I fell through a plot hole and now I'm here.\\
'''Axl''': Don't you mean "Genesis Portal"?\\
'''Sticks''': Whatever works for you kid, now move it!\\
'''Axl''': ''(Rolls eyes)'' Yes ma'am.
** And of course ''this''...
--->'''Sticks''': [=OhMyGosh!=] You guys break the fourth wall too?!\\
'''Joe''': Ehh...A little bit.\\
'''Silvia''': Mostly for the self-referential humor.
* ''ComicBook/{{Werner}}'':
** Schinderwerner (''Wer sonst?'') who tears up book pages and stains them with ink.
** ComicBook/DexAndDogfort are aware that they're in a comic at the end of "Volle Latte!" when they freeze Werner's dream woman with the frame she's currently in.
** The end of "Werner macht die Grünen blau" (''Oder was?'') tops this even. After seeing the outcome of making Bruno and Helmut drunk, Werner says that he would have loved to see that comic in color. Those early ''Werner'' comics weren't even grayscale, and shading had to be done with hatching before ''Eiskalt!''.
* ''ComicBook/CerebusTheAardvark'': Cerebus has this forced upon him by "Dave" in Minds. As a result, in Rick's Story, as he's debating on whether or not to open the package Dave left at the bar, he wonders if his stagnation has pissed off Dave and/or Dave's readers enough to want him dead.
* The characters in the ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'' books know that they are in a series of comic books. Scott will often tell another character to read a previous volume when they express confusion about something that happened earlier, and at one point Envy comments that an event has lasted for "a quarter of this book." Scott is also able to read the captions with characters' names and ages, reminding everyone that Ramona's age is "unknown" and reading Knives' caption to learn that she turned 18.
* In ''ComicBook/PeterCannonThunderbolt2019'', Baba Yaga describes the powers displayed by Cannon and Thunderbolt (two versions of the same character) as "Formalism", which usually means analyzing an artwork in terms of its medium and format rather than its plot or content — and indeed, both of them do seem to be quite GenreSavvy, at the very least. In fact, while Thunderbolt has effectively absolute power within his personal fortress, because he is a RealityWarper there, Cannon seems to be more medium-aware, transporting himself and five other heroes to Thunderbolt's home by placing them on six panels of the nine-panel page layout that the comic uses by default, and eventually defeating Thunderbolt by manipulating aspects of the medium.
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