- —Tomoko Kuroki's opinion on Crossover Fanfics
Have you ever wanted No Matter How I Look at It, It's You Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular! and Spider-Man to have a crossover? No? Well, someone clearly did, and that person is resident troper metalsonic655. The fic begins with Tomoko Kuroki moving to New York. This is set in a sub-section of the Marvel Multiverse so, of course, NYC is the only place that superheroes actually are. When she moves into the apartment, she has a brief run-in with Peter Parker. Of course, both of them being extremely shy, the most they do is stare at each other for a while. Luckily, she runs into him again, while he is under the guise of Spider-Man. Of course, Tomoko's inability to socialize greatly ends up with her telling Spider-Man that she thinks he's cute. Luckily, her awkwardness pays off, as she gets a lead on who the Spider-Man is. Along the way, they'll run into other characters such as The Avengers, The X-Men, Deadpool, Taskmaster, the Fantastic Four, Norman Osborn, Doctor Octopus and many more.
Mainly written because the author just wanted to make two characters who can never seem to catch a break really happy. That and because it seemed like a really fun thing to work on.
The fic has been finished and is 31 chapters.
You can read it on fanfiction.net here.
This fanfic contains examples of:
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us:
- Norman Osborn attempts this towards the Avengers Mansion. He also successfully did it to the X-Mansion
- Super Skrull decimates the Baxter Building.
- The Atoner: After Eddie recovers, he promises to make up for his past sins anyway he can.
- Avenging the Villain: Harry Osborn tries this. Until Peter reminds him that Norman never cared about him.
- Anyone Can Die: Aunt May's death shows this.
- Back from the Dead: Norman Osborn makes his recovery rather well. The first thing he does when he comes back? Blows up a hospital to cover up his resurrection.
- Big Applesauce
- Big Bad: Norman Osborn is the closest the fic has. He's the most recurring threat, and the most dangerous.
- Big Damn Heroes: Spidey seems to conveniently be around when trouble happens, doesn't he?
- Butt-Monkey:
- Shocker, unsurprisingly. Anytime he appears in the story, he always gets berated, and put down by other characters.
- Spidey himself.
- The other main character, Tomoko, isn't exempt from this either.
- The Cameo: Stan Lee is Peter's landlord.
- Chained to a Rock: Tomoko is webbed against a construction site's suspension pillars by Eddie Brock's Venom
- Character Development:
- Tomoko does become better the more she hangs out with Spider-Man. While some of her jerk-ish tendencies are still around, and she is still a bit of a pervert, she does become less of a Jerkass throughout the story.
- Venom does genuinely improve himself over time.
- Composite Character: Many of the Marvel characters are combinations of various past versions, with some new things added in.
- Spider-Man himself. He has many traits from multiple incarnations of Peter, such as the more shy traits from the Sam Raimi movies, the Deadpan Snarker attitude from pretty much every interpretation, and it is mentioned that Peter used to act like how Steve Ditko wrote him. Some new things are added in, such as Peter actually collecting comic books, and he does spend some time playing video games.
- Norman Osborn begins out similar to his 616 counterpart, until he drinks what he dubs "The Perfect Formula" to become a giant hulking monster similar to the Ultimate Spider-Man version, He also has his Iron Patriot identity from the 616 universe.
- Continuity Nod: Too many to list.
- Crack Fic: A borderline example. Sometimes the story takes itself very seriously, yet other times it manages to become ridiculous. An example of the seriousness would be the death of Aunt May and an example of more silly plots it has, is a battle between Spider-Man and a malfunctional Ultron unit in a battle involving music.
- Crossover: Between No Matter How I Look at It, It's You Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular!! and Spider-Man.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Iron Patriot and the Dark Avengers end up taking down the Avengers, X-Men, and Fantastic Four with ease.
- Deadpan Snarker: Peter and Tomoko's humor are of similar variety.
- Deader than Dead: The hospital Norman was in blew up while he was in it. It is suspected the Ten Rings were behind the attack. He actually blew up the hospital himself so it would look like he died in the explosion.
- Death Seeker:
- Eddie Brock reveals himself to be this.
- When Norman returns, he demands that Spidey shoot him in the head. It all turns out to be a ruse though
- Determinator: Peter doesn't give in with ease.
- Even Evil Has Standards: During Norman's Helicarrier onslaught, even Carnage is disgusted at Norman's plan. Zig-zagged though, because Carnage would want NYC to suffer a slower, and more gruesome death than a Helicarrier just dropping on them.
- Everyone Can See It: Harry mentions that Mary Jane Watson, Gwen Stacy, and Liz Allen all had obvious crushes on Peter. Peter was pretty oblivious, though.
- Evil Costume Switch: When Peter got extremely angry at Eddie, the symbiote jumps off of him, and it latched onto Peter again for a while.
- Evil Is Burning Hot: Norman's second serums gives him the ability to generate flames.
- False Friend: Eddie Brock.
- He does eventually want to redeem himself once more. Wanting to become a Friendly Rival of sorts.
- Foreshadowing: Quite a bit.
- Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: Eddie is forgiven by Peter, but Peter does feels suspicious of him considering he pulled a trick similar to him before. Peter even considered him the first suspect for Ock's symbiote onslaught.
- Geek: Peter Parker, obviously. Specifically of video games, comic books, and of science. He also tries to convert Tomoko into enjoying comic books sometimes.
- Healing Factor:
- Deadpool, of course.
- Norman has one as well. It gets much stronger when he's under the second serum, strong enough to heal from a bullet to the head.
- Heartbroken Badass: Happens often to Peter. From the time he thought Tomoko was dead, to when he temporarily broke up with her.
- Heroic Blue Screen of Death: Seeing Venom betray him, and Norman being the director of SHIELD leaves Peter in absolute shambles.
- Heroic Willpower: When Spidey is fighting Iron Patriot, who defeated most of the Avengers, he keeps on getting back up.
- Hurricane of Puns: Spider-Man finds himself doing this. Usually spider or web related puns.
- I Can't Believe a Guy Like You Would Notice Me: Tomoko finds it shocking that a super hero would even care to acknowledge her existence, let alone date her.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Tomoko. She also wants to get laid. Both happen in the story.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Peter tries to cure himself of being Spider-Man. The serum further mutates him to where he becomes a Man-Spider
- I "Uh" You, Too:
- Chapter 2 features this in the end.
- Chapter 13 has an example too. Though, in this case, it has nothing to do with love.
- It's All My Fault: This is Spider-Man we're talking about. The man blames himself for things he shouldn't.
- Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Spidey is talking to Tomoko on a blue-tooth like device while fighting Shocker. Shocker is angry that Spidey isn't putting full effort into the battle. Spidey takes this to his advantage.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Peter believes that breaking up with Tomoko will end up saving her in the end. It instead drives her to near suicide. Luckily, they get back together.
- Karma Houdini: The Hobgoblin gets away before Spidey can catch him.
- Killed Off for Real: Aunt May is killed by Norman
- Knight of Cerebus: Norman Osborn always causes great trouble for Spidey whenever he's around.
- Lampshade Hanging: Quite a bit
- Deadpool lampshades the ridiculousness of this fanfic in Chapter 2.
- Last-Name Basis: Venom often only refers to Peter by his last name.
- Leave The Two Love Birds Alone: Deadpool mockingly says this almost word for word.
- Legion of Doom: The Dark Avengers
- Let's Duet: Spidey wanted to do this on the Avengers' karaoke night. Unlucky for him, Tomoko isn't fond of karaoke.
- Lonely Together: While not the only reason they pair up, it's a major reason.
- Loser Protagonist: Both Tomoko and Peter are this. While still happy together, all the bad stuff that happens to them throughout the story progressively gets worse and worse.
- Love Hurts: Boy does it ever.
- Lemony Narrator: The Narrator often makes snarky remarks, or just ends up going off on tangents.
- Manipulative Bastard: Norman Osborn is always one-step ahead.
- Until he begins to lose control of SHIELD, that is, even then, he manages to come back.
- The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life: Peter and Tomoko try hard to stay together, but Peter often thinks whether it's the right thing to stay together.
- Mistaken for Cheating: Tomoko is instantly suspicious of Black Cat.
- Mood Whiplash:
- Once again, anytime Norman Osborn appears, the entire fic will take a darker turn.
- Venom's betrayal was played completely seriously.
- Especially noticeable in the moving to Japan chapters. They're far more lighthearted than the few previous chapters.
- MookâFace Turn: A single OSBORN trooper turns against Goblin, realizing that he's no hero. The rest of the agents, and even the Dark Avengers follow suit and turn against Norman too.
- Mythology Gag: There's quite a few.
- Narcissist:
- Tomoko herself is one. She does improve though.
- Eddie Brock proves himself to still be one after betraying Spider-Man.
- He improves as well, though.
- Necklift: The villains seem to enjoy doing this.
- Never Hurt an Innocent: While Eddie Brock once held this rule in high regard, he pretty much abandons it in the fight at the construction site.
- Never My Fault: Once again, Eddie Brock
- No Accounting for Taste: Many people who see Peter dating Tomoko often say, "You could do much better." Peter doesn't even care if he could.
- Not Always Evil: The agents working for OSBORN aren't really evil, just SHIELD agents forced to conform to Norman's side.
- Oblivious to Love: If not for Tomoko blurting out "I THINK YOU'RE REALLY CUTE" to Peter, he never would've known she liked him. Shown again when Harry said that three girls had an obvious crush on Peter, but he never did notice.
- Oh, Crap, There Are Fanfics of Us!: Not fanfics, but Peter does discover that Tomoko has a very explicit dating game featuring Spider-Man. His reaction is at first Why Didn't I Think of That?? And then it's amusement, and feeling somewhat complimented.
- One Head Taller: Tomoko is pretty short. Peter, is also somewhat short. But yet, Peter is still taller than Tomoko.
- Only Mostly Dead: Norman Osborn
- Otaku: Tomoko, of course. She also tries to make Peter one as well.
- Out of Character: Eddie Brock seems way too friendly with Peter. Justified in the fact that Eddie only did so to fool Peter into trusting him.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: While not explicitly stated. It's very clear that Tomoko is absolutely devastated by Peter breaking up with her. So much so, she is more than willing to be kidnapped by the newly returned Green Goblin
- Pragmatic Villain: The Hobgoblin knew when to quit. Unluckily, Spidey moves to Japan, which is the place he was hiding out.
- Pungeon Master: Spider-Man, of course. Tomoko even gets in on it a bit. Hanging out with Spider-Man for awhile will do that to a person.
- Rage Against the Author: Deadpool calls the author out on the outlandishness of this fic. Even calling him delusional. He only does it because he wants to get the girl.
- Rescue Romance: Tomoko wanted to to be put in danger so she could be saved by a hero. It works. Twice.
- Revenge Before Reason: Eddie Brock's betrayal of Parker is all for revenge, He doesn't even care who he harms, as long as it kills Spider-Man.
- Sanity Slippage:
- Tomoko goes berserk when Peter breaks up with her temporarily. This is the complete and total opposite of what Peter actually wanted.
- Eddie Brock loses it at the construction site battle. He ends up throwing away his regards towards human life, and doesn't even care that Carnage is on the scene. He later makes a recovery, and swears to stop Norman from using the Carnage symbiote for evil purposes.
- Norman Osborn slowly shows signs of losing his sanity, until it builds up into a complete breakdown
- Second-Act Breakup: Yep. It drives both of the main characters to the brink of sadness.
- Self-Deprecation: Peter, even though he wrote some too, thinks that fan fiction is ridiculous. Tomoko, on the other hand, finds crossover fanfics to usually be terrible.
- Shrinking Violet: Tomoko begins out as one as well. She's still one to most people, but is eventually able to talk to at least Peter in full sentences without even stuttering..
- Show Within a Show: Both Tomoko and Peter have written fan-fics. Both of them mock each other's. Peter's is a crossover between Batman and the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Tomoko's is based on Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
- Shout-Out: Plenty of them. Mainly to various video games, comic books, manga, or anime.
- Sliding Scale of Fourth Wall Hardness: The story has a Semipermeable Fourth-Wall.
- Spurned into Suicide: Tomoko comes so close to this. Poor girl didn't even know that Peter broke up with her to protect her, and plus she thought she'd never have another shot in the dating world.
- Super Prototype: Norman reveals that the first Goblin serum was a prototype. The finished product ends up turning him into a hulking, flaming beast.
- Superpowered Evil Side: While Norman is already a scummy kind of guy, he becomes worse when he transforms into his Ultimate form. Even attempting to destroy half of New York with the Helicarrier as a last ditch attempt to kill Spider-Man.
- Took a Level in Kindness: While still somewhat of a pervert, and she still has some of her Jerkass tendencies, Tomoko does become nicer after being with Spider-Man.
- Tragic Villain: Eddie when he turns, while becoming more sadistic, shows off signs of never feeling like he was good enough, and later on outright states it.
- He luckily recovers though.
- Transformation Sequence: When Norman transforms into Ultimate Goblin, he bursts into flames and emerges in his hulking form. This at first confuses Spidey, making him think Norman just combusted into flames.
- Trauma Conga Line: It begins for Spidey when his apartment is destroyed, and continues when Eddie betrays Spidey, Norman takes over SHIELD, the destruction of his friends' homes, and ends with Norman's Helicarrier rampage, and him having to leave his home of 18 years.
- True Love is Exceptional: Tomoko, as evidenced by her Yandere Boys Verbal Abuse CD, must've been wanting a bad boy. She, instead, ends up with one of the nicest guys around.
- Time Skip: The story takes place after Tomoko leaves high school and is 18 years old. Peter is also 18 and out of high school. It's stated he's been Spider-Man for three years now.
- Twice Shy: Both of the main characters.
- Understanding Boyfriend: Peter can understand Tomoko's more Jerkass-ish qualities, because, he once acted similar. Tomoko also embraces Peter's super-heroism. Partly, because it's cool, and partly she has a sliver of hope it'll get her more friends.
- Villainous Breakdown:
- Eddie Brock
- He does eventually recover.
- In chapter 24, Norman Osborn suffers a major one.
- Even seeing Spider-Man in a newspaper drives him bonkers.
- Eddie Brock
- What Does He See in Her?: Often asked by some people. Peter is a superhero, so he could get any girl he wants, but he picks the Otaku shut-in. Many find it curious, but Peter does genuinely find Tomoko to be cute.
- Who Writes This Crap?!: Mentioned before, Deadpool calls the author a delusional idiot for not pairing him with Tomoko.
- You Killed My Father: When Harry becomes temporarily becomes evil.
- Your Costume Needs Work: When Venom is in an elevator, he runs into a man who thinks the symbiote is just a black Spider-Man costume.
