Basic Trope: A superhero or supervillain with an Animal Motif.
- Straight: After a Freak Lab Accident in an entomology lab, Bob is granted bug-based powers and becomes...Bug-Man.
- Exaggerated:
- Bug-Man not only has bug-related powers, he becomes a big, crime fighting bug.
- All of the superbeings have animal themes.
- Downplayed: Despite being called Bug-Man, he has no bug-related powers or appearance.
- Justified: Bug-Man is called Bug-Man because he was in a bug-related accident and now has bug powers.
- Inverted: A normal, household bug comes into contact with an irradiated human and is granted with drastically increased intelligence and height. Thus... Human-Bug is born!
- Subverted:
- Bug-Man has Eye Beams and other non-bug related abilities.
- It turns out he calls himself Bug-man because he causes computers to bug out.
- It turns out he's called Bug-man because of how much he bugs people.
- Double Subverted:
- As it turns out, Bug-Man is just a super-evolved bug. Apparently, once bugs have fully evolved, they will look like humans and have eye-beams.
- ...And because he can walk up walls like a bug.
- Parodied: A character comes into contact with an irradiated sloth, gaining super tree-hanging powers and now moves much, much slower than normal.
- Zig Zagged: Bug-Man is Brought Down to Normal and quits the hero-biz but because super powers are contagious, gets a new set of powers but without the bug motif, meaning he no longer calls himself Bug-Man. His teammates eventually ask him to go back to being called Bug-Man for nostalgia's sake and he does so, despite no longer having bug-related powers.
- Averted: A character is in a lab accident involving bugs but does not gain bug-related powers, nor does he call himself Bug-Man.
- Enforced: A comic publisher decides to create a comic based on a bug-related hero because bugs look cool.
- Lampshaded: "Who knew the animal kingdom had so many cool powers?"
- Invoked: Bug-Man purposefully gave himself bug-related abilities because he saw the potential for great power.
- Exploited:
- A Mad Scientist purposefully uses human test subjects, endowing them with animal powers in order to create an army of Super Soldiers.
- Emperor Evulz brings flyspray to battle, correctly guessing it will harm Bug-Man.
- Defied: A character gained bug-related powers in a bug-related lab accident but calls himself Trope-Man and does not invoke any bug motifs in his costume.
- Discussed: Bob-Man and Alice-Woman discuss the large number of heroes and villains based on animals they encounter.
- Conversed: Two characters discuss which animal abilities would make for the best hero or villains.
- Implied:"So Trope-Man, how did you get Super-Strength and Super-Speed?""Freak accident at the zoo. Long story."
- Deconstructed: Bug-Man has useful bug-related abilities (increased strength, flight, etc.) but also has many negative bug-related attributes: he vomits acid on his food before eating it, builds a house out of his own waste, and tries to kill his wife after sex.
- Reconstructed: After a while, Bug-Man learns how to control his animal instincts and becomes more human.
- Played For Laughs:
- Bug-Man has sticky hands and feet, resulting in him sticking to objects all the time, much to his chagrin.
- Bug-Man suffers from My Instincts Are Showing, and instinctively flees from newspapers and flyswatters.
- Played For Drama: Bug-Man not only has bug powers but even looks like one, resulting in him being cast out of society and turning evil.
Now blessed with with all the powers of an Animal-Themed Superbeing, Bug-Man has a choice to make: return to the original page or not?
