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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/du2016logo.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:[[CatchPhrase Are YOU part of the Deviant Universe?]]]]
3
4The ''Deviant Universe'' is an ongoing webcomic project headed by [[http://mja42x.deviantart.com/ Maurizio Apostolico]] and hosted on Website/DeviantArt, with the intent of giving the deviantART community its own superhero universe (ala the Franchise/MarvelUniverse and Franchise/TheDCU). The project started in January 2011, when artists from the deviantART community were invited to showcase original superheroes and villains (called Deviants in-universe) and use them in a variety of monthly challenges.
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6On April 2011 the project begun developing an overarching story, starting when one of the world's greatest heroes, Agent 42X, is put under mind control to assassinate the president. Since then, the project has had its large cast of characters go up against [[AlienInvasion alien invasions]], [[TimeTravel time travel]], [[HellOnEarth demon uprisings]] and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking birthday parties]].
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8The Deviant Universe group can be found [[http://deviantuniverse.deviantart.com/ here.]]
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10Not to be confused with the WebOriginal/DeviantartExtendedUniverse, a similar project instead born of fantasy roleplay that uses certain Deviants as characters.
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12----
13!!This Work Shows Examples Of The Following Tropes:
14
15* AIIsACrapshoot: [[spoiler: Pixel becomes this]] in the Dark Future story. Apart from that, the general population of sentient machines are a respectable bunch.
16* TheAlcatraz: The Fortress, which had a mass prison break and was rebuilt some years later.
17* AlienInvasion: Two of them, [[spoiler: led by the same individual.]]
18* AllThereInTheManual:
19** A lot of character back-stories and information can be found on their profiles, instead of the comics themselves. Some artists may also have other comics featuring their characters outside of the DU.
20** All of Agent 42X’s backstory is also covered in its own comic series, with the events of DU acting as a sequel of sorts.
21* AlternateUniverse: The Dark Dimension, where heroes are villains and vice-versa.
22* AlternateTimeline: The Dark Future, set in the year 2032 where [[spoiler: A rogue AI has all but killed everyone on Earth.]]
23* ApocalypseCult: The Cult of Omega is a global-spanning group that ultimately wishes for the return of the Dark God Omega.
24* ApocalypseHow: Planetary Class 4 by the end of Dark Future.
25* ArmiesAreEvil: ARES.
26* ArtEvolution: You can see this best with artists involved in the project for a long time.
27* ArtifactOfDoom: The Omega Keys, which when used [[spoiler: revive the [[BigBad Dark God Omega.]]]]
28* AssimilationPlot: The ultimate goal of Cross’ arch-nemesis Knave, who planned to do this by arming a bomb that would transform everyone on Earth into hosts for eldritch symbiotes.
29* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: This tends to happen with the villains, with Psi-Void, Anarchy, and Omega being the strongest of their respective factions. Averted with the Thunder Force, usually led by their physically weakest member.
30* AuthorAppeal: By the very nature of allowing artists to have their own characters do whatever they want within the restraints of the challenges.
31* AvengingTheVillain: Following the death of [[spoiler: Veladius Redd, his daughter takes over ARES.]]
32* BackStory: Every named character has a backstory. One is actually needed (however brief) to enter a character.
33* BadassFamily: There are families where every member has done notable heroics and/or villainy. Most notably the Rogers, the Masons and the Brewsters.
34* BadFuture: The Dark Future story.
35* BeachEpisode: The monthly challenge before the Maximum Destruction story was basically an excuse to get heroes and villains in beach wear.
36* BigDamnHeroes: Vigil, on multiple occasions.
37* BigBad: Psi-Void, Lord ARES, Omega and Deathwatch.
38* BigBadEnsemble: The Heroes United Arc had heroes defending Earth from 3 global threats at the same time.
39* BittersweetEnding: The Omega Rising arc ended with the heroes victory [[spoiler: at the cost of every named character being erased from space-time, some of them permanently.]]
40* BlackAndWhiteMorality: Named characters are put in either the Hero camp or the Villain camp. That hasn't stopped certain stories from [[GrayingMorality blurring the lines a little.]]
41* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Ends up happening to heroes the world over during the Brutal Brawl story.
42* BreatherEpisode: Animal Boy’s birthday party, which preceded a war that nearly laid waste to the Earth.
43* CallBack: Many characters reference events that happened in past stories.
44* CapeBusters: The RAPTOR Organization started as this, led by Animal Boy and Agent 42X.
45* CharacterDevelopment: Since the stories play out in mostly real time, many heroes and villains have had at least some.
46* ChekhovsGun: Many an item and plot device show up to be revealed as important later on for either character driven side-stories or the multi-part summer arcs.
47* ChristmasEpisode: Always in December (also involves the artists to do gifts for another artist member of the DU).
48* CloneArmy: Almost all of ARES are made up of these.
49* ComicBookTime: Averted, as each story usually takes place in the month it is made.
50* CosmicRetcon: The origins of Hammer Girl, who beforehand was [[spoiler: the eldritch creature known as the Storyteller.]]
51* CrossoverCosmology
52* CurbStompBattle: Omega vs the Thunder Force during the Omega Rising finale. [[spoiler: Omega won the battle, but lost the war.]]
53* DarkSecret: While many characters have their own from their backstories or side comics, [[spoiler: Christina Rogers being responsible for the Genocide Wave is considered in-universe to be the most notorious one]]
54* DependingOnTheArtist: Given that anyone can join in and take part, the quality of art between artists varies A LOT.
55* DeusExMachina: Vigil, whose appearances have turned the tide of battle on multiple occasions.
56* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: The rookie Thunder Force member Eris punching the Dark God Omega to the surprise of everyone present.
57* DoomsdayDevice: The Vigilante could have potentially [[spoiler: erased everyone on the planet from existence.]]
58* DoubleAgent: [[spoiler: Lloyd - Director of RAPTOR, is an ARES agent.]]
59* EquippableAlly: Thanks to the Deviant Containment Device, a bracelet with the power to capture a Deviant and allow the bracelet wearer to take on their form and powers.
60* EvilTowerOfOminousness: Where The Tower of Seeds event took place.
61* ExpendableClone: The ARES army.
62* FantasyKitchenSink: There is at least one of every kind of creature you can think of.
63* FourLinesAllWaiting: Given how many artists there are, this was bound to happen once artists started working together on stories.
64* FunWithAcronyms: R.A.P.T.O.R. (Resistance Against People Terrorizing Our Race) and A.R.E.S. (Aggression Reigns Ever Supreme).
65* FusionDance:
66** The events of the last chapter of Maximum Destruction allowed those fighting Psi-Void to fuse into a single, more powerful being temporarily.
67** One challenge involves fusing two characters into a single character.
68* GenderBender: One of the monthly challenges had artists draw characters as the opposite to their physical gender.
69* GodzillaThreshold: When Omega laid waste to the world, Christina Rogers felt she had little choice other than use a weapon powered by a kidnapped superhero to stop him.
70* GoKartingWithBowser: From time to time several challenges involves this, usually on the first months of the year.
71* GoneHorriblyWrong: Christina Rogers accidentally creating the Genocide Wave, an event that is still having negative consequences years later.
72* GoodThingYouCanHeal: The characters capable of regeneration are far more likely to be shown with serious battle damage.
73* GreatEscape: The first act of the Dark Legion was to help prisoners of the Fortress do this.
74* HalloweenEpisode: Ranging from Zombies, Mutants to Nightmare Fuel.
75* HellGate: Used by Anarchy to try and bring Omega back to Earth.
76* HellOnEarth: [[spoiler: When Omega ruled over Earth.]]
77* HeroKiller: Psi-Void claimed this title [[spoiler: by killing Great-Man.]]
78* {{Homage}}: One challenge involved artists remaking comic covers featuring their characters.
79* HumongousMecha: The [=VanGuard=], which stands at 250ft tall.
80* IntercontinuityCrossover: One challenge had artists drawing their characters interacting with characters from other franchises outside of the DU.
81* InterspeciesRomance: While romance is rare because of its SuperHero focus, there is the occasional Human/Demon relationship.
82* LaResistance
83** The Freedom Fighters during the Freedom War arc.
84** The heroes during the Omega Rising arc.
85* LegionOfDoom: The Dark Legion, which has had two incarnations over the course of the story.
86* MacGuffin: Quite a few, the major ones being Omega Keys and the Vigilante device.
87* MacGuffinDeliveryService: The heroes had to do this with pieces of AI being Pixel in the Freedom War story. The villains did the same with the Omega Keys in the Omega Rising story.
88* TheManBehindTheMan: Most notably, Corvus is this to the Dark Legion.
89* MassiveMultiplayerCrossover
90* MindControl: Has been the focus of several story arcs, including the very first.
91* MirrorMatch: One story involved heroes and villains fighting themselves from another universe where they were the opposite alignment.
92* MirrorUniverse: The Dark Dimension is a counterpart to the Deviant Universe where every character's alignment is the opposite.
93* TheMultiverse: Various characters have appeared from alternate universes, and one story arc involved an attack by another universe.
94* NiceJobBreakingItHero: You activate a weapon designed to kill a living god, but not only does it succeed in just sealing him away [[spoiler: you also end up erasing every hero and villain from the face of the Earth, some of them permanently. And to make matters worse, the effects will bounce back every year, potentially making random people just disappear on the spot.]]
95* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: In one story, heroes end up doing this to each other because of mind control.
96* NothingIsTheSameAnymore: While the supernatural is part of the in-universe history, Psi-Void’s invasion of Earth forever changed the public’s perception and caused a flood of heroes and villains to act more publicly.
97* OurWerebeastsAreDifferent: There are vastly different types of creatures that call themselves “weres”.
98* OnlyInItForTheMoney: Leo, who was part of the Thunder Force, became a supervillain for this reason alone.
99* PoorCommunicationKills:
100** The main reason why the Freedom War ended up escalating the way it did.
101** The Tower of Babel story had everyone on Earth unable to communicate because of magic.
102* PoweredArmour: Some heroes have this, then there were the power belts made by Wildman that gave every hero armour.
103* PowerGlows: Psi-Void’s eyes glow when using his power. Justified because he’s an energy being underneath his armour.
104* ThePsychoRangers: The Dark Thunder Force, a team of villains that come from a {{Mirror Universe}}.
105* PutOnABus: Quite a few heroes and villains have left with no warning, usually because their creator no longer writes stories for them.
106* SaveThisPersonSaveTheWorld: During the Freedom War, the freedom fighters intended to save [[spoiler: Pixel from becoming evil and destroying the world.]]
107* SecretIdentity: Most heroes and villains have one.
108* SharedUniverse
109* ShoutOut: While many appear in individual comic pages depending on the artist, the Freedom War arc was a shout out to Marvel’s Civil War.
110* SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism: You can find characters on every part of the scale here.
111* StoryArc: A large scale 3-part story takes place every summer.
112* SuperHero: As if it wasn’t obvious.
113* SuperPowerLottery: With almost any character allowed entry, everything from {{Badass Normal}}s to PhysicalGods show up.
114* SuperRegistrationAct: The catalyst for the Freedom War arc [[spoiler: that failed once it was revealed that the act was set up by a villain.]]
115* SuperTeam: The Thunder Force is the most famous, which at one point had 27 members.
116* SuperVillain: Also obvious.
117* TheReveal: During the second summer arc [[spoiler: it was revealed that the entire civil war scenario was orchestrated by the supervillain Host in disguise.]]
118* RobotWar: The plot to the Dark Future story.
119* TakeAThirdOption: While imprisoned, Veladius Redd gives Agent 42X the choice to either helping him escape, or allowing him to expose the truth about the Genocide Wave. [[spoiler: 42X shoots him in the head.]]
120* TeethClenchedTeamwork: The end of the Maximum Destruction arc forced heroes and villains to team up if they wanted any chance to escape Psi-Void.
121* TimeTravelForFunAndProfit: One of the motivations behind AngelCrusher using a time portal to set up a fighting tournament.
122* ToHellAndBack: Both the Thunder Force and the Dark Legion do this in the Heroes United story.
123* TurnInYourBadge: For being part of a splinter team, several members of the Thunder Force were booted from the team, [[spoiler: including the last original members Wildman and Cross.]]
124* ToBeContinuedRightNow: The epilogue for a story arc is soon followed by the start of the next monthly challenge.
125* TournamentArc: Planet AFL served as the fifth summer event story.
126* UnwittingPawn: Everyone on the Thunder Force side of the Freedom War [[spoiler: Thanks to the Dark Legion.]]
127* VillainsActHeroesReact: This is the case more often than not, especially with monthly challenges involving a villain’s evil scheme.
128* VillainWithGoodPublicity: The Friendly Biopet Cooperation and Kageyama’s company simply have enough money and clout to prevent persecution.
129* TheVirus: The Monster Brawl incident involved a widespread infestation that turned people into monsters. Said virus was unleashed by [[spoiler: the Tribals.]]
130* WakingUpElsewhere: Happened to many upon [[spoiler: being erased via the Genocide Wave and then coming back.]]
131* WhamEpisode: The Dark Future story where everyone died (in an alternate timeline), and the finale to Omega Rising.
132* WorldWreckingWave: Omega is so powerful that [[spoiler: his release alone caused a wave of energy meteors to shoot out across the world.]]
133* WhatDoTheyFearEpisode: The subject of the Reign of Fear story.
134* YouCantThwartStageOne: Happens with every summer story arc, since each one is as long as 3 normal stories.
135* ZombieApocalypse: One of the few What If stories uses this as a setting.
136
137----
138!!The Following Character Types Can Be Found:
139* ArcVillain: [[spoiler: Psi-Void, Host, Omega and Veladius Redd.]]
140* ArtificialLimbs: Leo has cybernetic arms.
141* CapturedSuperEntity: [[spoiler: Vigil.]]
142* TheDreaded: Omega, especially after [[spoiler: he took over the world.]]
143* EvilOverlord: Veladius Redd, A.K.A Lord ARES.
144* FetusTerrible: Fetor, a fetus in a mech suit, attempted a mass scale invasion in the Fetor Attacks story. [[NoSell It didn’t take.]]

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