Follow TV Tropes

Following

Fanfic / The Girl of Tomorrow

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/super_taylor_by_xerokey_da5lfyi.jpg
I still didn't really know who I was. At least, not yet.
Art by Xerokey

You'll believe Taylor can fly.
Tagline

Taylor Hebert grew up knowing that she was different from other people. She could hear and see things that no-one else noticed, and the common ailments of life were never known to her. After her mom died, her father felt he couldn't keep the secret any longer, and tells her of her otherworldly origin. When she later saves Emma from ABB thugs in an alleyway, she decides to use her powers for good, and sets out to protect Brockton Bay from the criminal underground.

The Girl of Tomorrow is an Alternate Universe Fic by Thuktun Flishithy, a rewrite of The Last Daughter, that makes Taylor the last daughter of Krypton. More specifically, the daughter of Kal-El, in one of many departures from the canon of both continuities.

The page below contains spoilers for Worm, so beware.

It can be read in FF.net, SpaceBattles.com (link) and Sufficient Velocity (link).

Sadly, the fic was declared dead (although it was given an epilogue that skimmed over What Could Have Been and gave it some closure).

It should not be confused with Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.


The Girl of Tomorrow provides examples of:

  • Action Girl: The Wormverse is full of action girls, and Taylor the most powerful of all.
  • Adaptational Heroism: Doomsday, a mindless beast in canon, is essentially a frightened child in this fic. When Taylor calms him down, he even declares that he doesn't wish to hurt others in open defiance of his creators.
  • Adaptational Personality Change:
    • Dru-Zod, instead of a mad general, was apparently a poet and archivist. Likewise, the original Brainiac was a Benevolent A.I., in comparison to his other incarnations.
    • J'onn J'onzz is less stilted and awkward around humans than his comic counterpart. Justified, as he'd been around on Earth for decades at a time.
  • Adaptational Wimp: Doomsday. Justified as he is pretty much the equivalent of small child in this story.
  • After-Action Healing Drama: After the Leviathan fight, Weld heads over to the Hebert household, since he actually knows the truth about Taylor, and finds her bandaged up on the couch.
  • Alien Non-Interference Clause: Played with. There's no legal clause preventing Taylor from handing out Kryptonian technology, but she has her moral hang-ups (making humanity too dependent on her, weaponization, etc). That being said, however, she's willing to still use Krypton's knowledge to better society.
  • All There in the Manual: The author wrote a PRT threat assessment on Taylor.
  • An Arm and a Leg: Armsmaster loses his lower leg during the Leviathan fight, instead of his arm.
  • And I Must Scream:
    • Taylor sends Scion into a possible future a googol years along where there's nothing else but a few scattered subatomic particles, dooming the being who killed trillions of innocents trying to escape universal heat death to be stuck with it forever.
    • Jack Slash is sent to the Phantom Zone, unable to hurt anyone else sent there (if they ever find someone else who deserves it) and watching dubbed episodes of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.
  • Arbitrary Skepticism: When Emma has a hard time wrapping her head around the fact that her best friend's fists are able to shatter moons, Weld reminds her that they've seen weirder stuff:
    Emma: So, that means you, and bear with me, punched Leviathan with enough strength to blow up a small moon. Do you realize just how ridiculous that sounds?
    Weld: You're eating breakfast with someone made out of metal, here.
  • Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Taylor, by the epilogue, as in All-Star Superman. She makes it pretty clear that she will return eventually to her friends, and even refused full-on godhood to do so, but she doesn't makes any promises on how long it will take her.
  • Aside Glance: The very last thing Taylor does in the story is a Fleischer-style wink to the audience, now that her ascension and connection to the Source allows her to see them.
  • Badass Bookworm: It's explicitly mentioned that Taylor is very well-read, and Word of God states that Kryptonians are naturally intelligent.
  • Badass Normal: Cooper, Spoon and Wells, three PRT troopers that become the first liaisons between the Justice League and the public. Spoon manages to kill Hatchet Face, and Wells and Cooper hold their own against Mannequin long enough for the Batman to arrive.
  • Big Damn Heroes:
    • The Batman does this to Wells and Cooper to save them from Mannequin.
    • Clockblocker manages to save Spoon from the Siberian.
  • Big Sister Instinct: Why does Taylor subject Scion to his ultimate fate? In part, because he hurt her brother.
  • Brainy Brunette: Taylor has retains her dark hair from canon, and possesses the aforementioned super-intelligence.
  • Breath Weapon: Doomsday has one, and quite potent at that.
  • Brought to You by the Letter "S": While Taylor insists her insignia means "hope", most of the world believes otherwise. Until the truth is revealed.
  • Bullying a Dragon: Downplayed. A group of teens harassed Weld when he and Taylor were leaving a music store, but they backed off when they realized Weld was getting annoyed enough to actually retaliate, and Taylor was already angry enough.
  • Cat Up a Tree: Taylor saves one on her first night out.
  • Clarke's Third Law: Full-force with Taylor. The stuff she pulls off might as well be magic, but it's all the result of being a hyper-advanced posthuman. It's implied that the femtotechnology in her body interacts with yellow sunlight, and if the previous story holds any merit, then it likely pulls energy from the Source.
  • Clark Kenting: Taylor even has glasses (which, to be fair, actually change the apparent color of her eyes into something slightly less striking). She also has braces which she can remove.
  • Combo Platter Powers: Taylor has the full Kryptonian pack: super strength, super speed, invulnerability, flight, heat vision, super breath, freezing breath...
  • Composite Character: Doomsday + Superboy = Kon-El.
  • Cruel Mercy: Rather than killing Scion, Taylor drags him into a possible future a googol years from the present. Thus, a being that killed countless innocents to escape the heat death of the universe is trapped with it forever.
  • Curbstomp Battle: Several:
    • Taylor delivers one to Lung fairly early in the story, even though the villain had ramped up considerably.
    • Saint and the Dragonslayers are defeated by the Martian Manhunter so quickly that Taylor only arrives to the aftermath.
  • Dead Fic: Declared to be one by the author, who had a revelation that the story was basically a palette-swapped DC story and that they only really like Worm for sandbox potential, not because they loved Worm for the themes or story. Fortunately, they did come back a few months later with an extended epilogue, so they could tie up the story a bit.
  • Death by Adaptation: In this fic, the Siberian's casualty was Alexandria, not Hero.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Taylor beheads Leviathan, then shatters its core barehandedly.
  • Explosive Overclocking: After absorbing blue sun radiation, Taylor gains the power to push through the fabric of universes, but her body begins to break down from the strain of hosting so much power.
  • Exposition Beam: How Taylor learns of her Kryptonian heritage.
  • Exposition of Immortality: J'onn J'onzz has a moment like this when revealing his true age to Taylor. He mentions that he missed the Cambrian Explosion, but was there to see the dinosaurs.
  • Flat "What": When Taylor confesses that she is not a parahuman, her boyfriend's answer is this:
    Weld: Though, that's still way more than anyone else can do. Almost no parahumans get stronger over time, and they certainly don't get up to those kind of levels.
    Taylor: You're right. Parahumans can't get up to that kind of level.
    Emma: What's that supposed to mean?
    Taylor: It means no more secrets from anyone I care about. I'm not actually a parahuman.
    Weld: (blinking) What.
  • Flying Brick: As a Kryptonian, Taylor is the example.
  • Flying Firepower: Taylor is a Flying Brick with Eye Beams.
  • Giant Equals Invincible: Subverted. The Endbringers seemed invincible... until they ran into Superwoman.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Taylor manages to calm Doomsday down, and J'onn manages to talk him into changing sides.
  • High-Altitude Battle: Taylor and Leviathan's final battle happened in space.
  • Holding Hands: In chapter 7 Taylor and Weld held hands for a moment before the group discussed the reveals about the Protectorate.
  • Home Base: The Fortress of Solitude.
  • Human Aliens: Kryptonians, as per canon. Then subverted, when the 'alien' part gets scratched off.
  • Humans Are Special: Taylor seems to think so. And considering that we became Kryptonians, that seems on the mark.
  • If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: The reason Doomsday doesn't kill Jack Slash.
    Doomsday: Me no want be person who hurt, after me be hurt. Me no want be him.
  • Irony: Jack Slash was willing to create Doomsday, the world-destroying baby, to force Taylor to either kill a child or let her friends and world be torn apart. Instead, Taylor befriended Doomsday, got J'onn to talk him down and into switching sides, and then let Doomsday decide what to do with Jack Slash.
  • It Can Think: Taylor when she realises that Doomsday has the mentality of a Kryptonian newborn.
  • It's Not You, It's My Enemies: During their first date, Weld warns Taylor about the dangers of dating a Ward. However, Taylor guarantees that she can take care of herself.
  • Just Toying with Them: Taylor toyed with Lung when she fought him.
    Taylor: I pumped you full of sedatives. Should keep you incapacitated long enough for the authorities to arrive. Still have two more, just in case.
    Lung: Why... wait? Why not use... earlier?
    Taylor: Why? To show that I could've won the fight whenever I wanted. You waited and grew, to the point that the entire local Protectorate couldn't beat you, but I did. The other gangs and villains in the city will know that, now. They'll know that this city is no longer theirs to torment, that they are now the small fish in the pond.
  • Last of His Kind: Both Taylor and J'onn are the last of their respective species. Though, one could argue that since Kryptonians were actually posthumans and not aliens, Taylor's far from the last of her species.
  • Legacy Character: After J'onn J'onzz tells Colin about Batman, a costumed vigilante who worked in The '30s, Colin decides that he'll become the next Batman.
  • Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex: Downplayed with Taylor and Weld. She's way, way stronger than him, but Weld is tougher than an average human since his body is living metal.
  • Missing Mom: The same as canon, Taylor's -adoptive- mother died. Her biological parents are deceased, too.
  • The Multiverse: From time to time Taylor travels to other dimensions. In an omake she runs into different versions of Superman, Supergirl and Power Girl.
  • Mundane Solution: How does Taylor deal with Bonesaw's plague-bombs, triggered to go off on her or Doomsday's death? Throw them into space.
  • Mundane Utility:
    • At the beginning of chapter nine, Taylor uses her heat vision to toast several slices of bread.
    • Taylor makes an incredibly heavy key to her Fortress of Solitude out of Leviathan's core.
  • The Needless: Neither Taylor — who is a Kryptonian — nor Weld — who is made of metal — need to eat, sleep, or breathe.
  • New Powers as the Plot Demands: After exposure to blue sun radiation, Taylor develops the ability to travel between universes, along with a power-boost. It's a sign that she's now fatally overdosed on solar energy.
  • Now or Never Kiss: Taylor kissed Weld right before facing Leviathan for the last time, just in case she didn't come back.
  • Official Couple: Taylor and Weld.
  • Official Kiss: Taylor kissed Weld during the battle against Leviathan in the fourth arc.
  • Off with His Head!: Taylor ripped Leviathan's head off.
  • Only Mostly Dead: The final fight with Scion sees Kon getting vaporized down to a mere skeleton with some muscle fiber after an extended You Shall Not Pass! action. As befits freaking Doomsday, not only doesn't this kill him for good, but Taylor comes to him in his healing coma and makes him accelerate said healing to full recovery in minutes.
  • Outside-Context Problem: Earth Bet may be a super-hero universe... but Taylor is a Kryptonian. She's not even remotely similar to the Worm parahumans — her powers are on an entirely different level.
  • Parental Substitute: Danny and Annette are Taylor's adoptive parents in this timeline.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: Taylor dragged Leviathan off planet for fear of damaging the planet, and later reveals that she can hit hard enough to shatter small moons. When Cauldron is discussing how to handle her, the Number Man calculates that she can produce four times more energy than the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs.
  • Posthuman: Taylor's real nature. It is revealed in the story that Krypton was not actually an alien planet, but an alternate Earth that developed civilization almost at the start of humanity's evolution. Taylor's essentially the pinnacle of genetic engineering, biotechnology, and femtotechnology that was developed over tens of thousands of millennia. It also serves as an homage to what Superman was originally conceived as. Interestingly, this is also the backstory of Soviet Superman from the comic series "Red Son," where Superman was found and raised in Soviet Russia.
  • Sadistic Choice: Jack Slash attempts this on Taylor. Either she kills Doomsday, who is essentially a terrified newborn, or lets civilians die. She Takes a Third Option.
  • Second Super-Identity: After resigning from the Protectorate, Armmaster creates two new secret identities: Defiant... and Batman.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Sarcastic Confession:
    • In chapter 3, Legend asks Taylor about her sigil:
      Legend: Anyway, I know you've been asked this before, but where did you actually get that sigil from?
      Superwoman: You really want to know?
      Legend: I have to admit I'm a little curious.
      Superwoman: I'm actually an alien from the planet Krypton, sent here to survive the destruction of my homeworld. This symbol, which looks almost exactly like an 'S', is actually the character for hope amongst my people.
      Legend: (chuckling) A sense of humor is a good trait for a hero to have.
    • Invoked when Taylor thinks that "Sometimes, the best way to hide the truth is to hide it in plain sight; you just have to watch your tone while telling it.''
  • Secret-Keeper: Emma and Weld know that Taylor is an alien hero and keep it a secret... until The Reveal, at least.
  • Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Taylor fell for Weld, one of the few genuinely decent characters in Worm canon.
  • Spared by the Adaptation: Hero was not murdered by Siberian. Alexandria was.
  • Stations of the Canon: Averted. Taylor enters the cape scene nearly a year before canon, fights Stormtiger on the first night out, doesn't meet the Undersiders, and it just grows from there.
  • Superpower Lottery: Taylor has the full Kryptonian combo: super-strength, super-speed, invulnerability, super-senses, eye beams, breath weapons... Bluntly stated, no one apart from Scion is as powerful as her. Given that she's the same species as Superman and is expressly modeled after the original Man of Steel, this is not a surprise in the slightest.
  • Time Abyss: J'onn J'onzz/John Jones/Martian Manhunter.
  • This Is Reality: Three characters argue this after the Cauldron conspiracy is revealed:
    Cooper: It's all fucked, isn't it? And I thought that clone was just talking the piss when it said all that.
    Spoon: Made sense to me. Conspiracies happened all the time in comic books.
    Wells: Life isn't a comic book, Spoon.
  • Un-Confession: In an homage to the 1978 movie, Taylor tries to muster the courage to reveal her identity to Weld before the Leviathan fight, but loses her nerve at the last moment.
  • What If?: This story features an alternate universe where — among other changes — Taylor is Superman's biological daughter.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Taylor gets angry when Dragon and Armsmaster say they want her to trust them after investigating her secret identity (which is a violation of the Endbringer truce). To their credit, they apologized.
    Taylor: "You found my birth certificate, and you want me to trust you? You pretty much broke the truce by researching me, and you want me to actually talk to you about what I am?"
  • World's Strongest Man: Taylor is the strongest human on the planet. She's capable of shattering moons with her fists.
  • You Are Not Ready: Taylor's father Kal-El seals off portions of Brainiac's databanks to prevent Taylor from accessing them until either she comes of age, or proves herself to have conquered the vices of humanity that might otherwise have driven her to tyranny.

Top