Web Video / I'm a Marvel... And I'm a DC

CONTINUITY! Boom.

I'm a Marvel... and I'm a DC is a popular Fan Film series on YouTube, created by ItsJustSomeRandomGuy and his former collaborator, who goes by ItsJustSomeRandomGal. The videos feature popular Marvel Comics and DC Comics characters (well, action figure versions of them, anyway) dealing with the successes and failures of their respective movies and comics, sometimes humorously, sometimes dramatically.

There are six main sub-series of videos in this series:

I'm a Marvel... and I'm a DC

The original series, focusing on Marvel and DC Comics characters arguing about their respective movies in the style of Apple's popular "I'm a Mac and I'm A PC" ads.

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• Superman v. Spider-Man: Some time after the release of Superman Returns, and before the release of the then-highly anticipated Spider-Man 3, RandomGuy made these first short films, contrasting DC's movie adaptations with Marvel's. Mainly, the videos focused on the more disappointing aspects of Superman Returns in comparison with the more successful parts of the Spider-Man films. Once it was a video with the villains (Lex Luthor and Green Goblin). Eventually, other Marvel and DC characters were brought in to put in their two cents, like Batman (who scoffed at the supposed "darkness" of Spider-Man 3), The Incredible Hulk (who reminisced with Superman about "the good old days", namely the 70s/80s), Wolverine (who argued with Superman over whether or not the Man of Steel "stole our director") and the Fantastic Four and the Silver Surfer who beat out DC that year due to lack of "competition".
• Batman v. The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man: In the summer of 2008, RandomGuy took a break from the more dramatic storylines of "After Hours" to take advantage of the number of comic book movies coming out that summer (namely, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, and The Dark Knight). This series focused on Batman facing off against either Iron Man or the Hulk. Since Hellboy II: The Golden Army also came out that summer, Hellboy himself briefly joined in (he didn't quite fit in, though).
• Wolverine v. Watchmen: During the first half of 2009, both the Watchmen film and X-Men Origins: Wolverine came out. So, RandomGuy made a series of videos where Wolverine debated with members of the Watchmen cast such as Rorschach, Dr. Manhattan, and the Comedian over their respective movies and source material. Eventually, Wolverine got bored with them, so he had Cyclops debate with Nite Owl, which led to both of them lamenting being the "nice guys" on their team. Wolvie came back, only to find out that he had to butt heads with last year's box-office winner, Batman, since the Watchmen movie tanked. There was also a brief PSA urging people not to watch the illegally-uploaded workprint of Wolverine. Finally, all the previously-seen Watchmen characters had to face off against one more cast member from Wolverine... Deadpool.
• Deadpool vs. Green Lantern: After the news broke that Ryan Reynolds was cast as Hal Jordan in the Green Lantern (2011) film, Wade Wilson and Hal Jordan start comparing and contrasting themselves with each other. Then Hal tells Wade that Ryan Reynolds is going to play both of them, which Wade did not know. Wade doesn't take the news too well, and hilarity ensues. Again.
• Iron Man vs. Jonah Hex: In May of 2010, Jonah Hex was brought on to go against Iron Man, in the wake of Jonah Hex (2010) and Iron Man 2 both coming out that month. Iron Man questioned Jonah about his movie's commercials making it seem like "Constantine The Ghost Rider In the Wild Wild West" instead of a gritty realistic Western like in the comic, while Jonah pointed out the insane amount of Product Placement present in the Iron Man 2 ads. It doesn't go much further than that though, as Jonah Hex doesn't think there's any honor in trashing the competition's movies before they even come out.
• Green Lantern vs. The Mighty Thor: Hal Jordan and the God of Thunder square off, with Hal initially having a hard time competing with Thor's numerous titles and faux-Shakespearean dialogue (luckily, his film "hath screenwriters that toneth things down substantially for thine MTV generation"). They nearly come to blows before admitting that they're both just covering their nervousness, and it looks like they've resolved their differences until Deadpool claims Jordan stole his actor, sparking some company loyalty in Thor.
• Green Lantern vs. X-Men: First Class: Hal Jordan tries to debate with Magneto, only to be slammed by a locker repeatedly for twenty seconds before Hal strikes back. Then they argue about their franchises. Xavier tags in and uses a Jedi Mind Trick to end the debate. Hal realizes this and demands another go, and he gets Mystique. This is interrupted when he notices the blue person is naked.
• Green Lantern vs. The Critics: Hal Jordan is confused when the other superheroes are all nice to him, Deadpool then shows him his film's page on Rotten Tomatoes. Hal is shocked and angered by this, and eventually saddened. The rest of the superheroes cheer him up by reminding him that the fans are still on his side whether or not they liked the film. Deadpool then has a 'Reynoldsing' after Hal answers that he'll be fine with losing Reynolds, Hal now resigned to the fact that Green Lantern (2011) probably won't get a sequel. This is now Hilarious in Hindsight due to the fact that if Wikipedia is to be believed, it just might get one after Justice League.
• Green Lantern vs. Captain America: Hal Jordan at first didn't really want to debate with Captain America and quickly left before Cap stops him. Hal explained that he didn't want to be demonized for insulting the resident Captain Patriotic before Cap assures him that he won't take his insults personally. Instead, it was Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, and Deadpool who did and rushed to Cap's assistance, much to his chagrin.
• Batman vs. The Avengers: Tony is maybe a little too happy about the odds possibly being in his favor against his perennial box-office opponent, while Butt-Monkey Spider-Man is ignored.
• Spider-Man and...?: While on the spiked milkshakes, Spidey finds himself face-to-face with his rebooted self, both versions ready to tear into each other's mistakes. It finally ends when Professor X (by the suggestion of Batman and Iron Man) channels in some degree of guilt. Once his two selves find common ground, it allows him to realize that the shortcomings of both movies were out of his control. However, when he declares that his film just might outgross Batman's, Batman just offers the webhead yet another milkshake.
• Superman vs. Iron Man and Wolverine: It starts out rather easy-going for one of these videos since Superman isn't making any negative remarks against Tony, but then Batman decides to backup his fellow DC character and Captain America shows up to reign in Tony. Batman and Iron Man end up fighting while Superman and Captain America stand on the sidelines commenting about being the Nice Guy. Superman later gets a little better at making critical remarks, but then Wolverine starts pointing out problems in Man of Steel that were considered good things in his own film. Once again, Batman and Tony get involved in the discussion and start fighting each other.
• Superman vs. Thor: Thor fires the first real shot by calling Superman boring and predicting he'll be overshadowed by Batman again. Superman reminds him of how much extra screentime Loki got and how one-dimensional his main villain was. Right on cue, Batman and Loki show up to kibitz — at which point Supes and Thor throw up their hands and leave the Spotlight-Stealing Squad to fight it out themselves.
• Superman vs. Spider-Man (again): Seven years after the first video, the two flagship heroes reunite to discuss how far things have come. A Superman reboot, a Justice League movie being discussed, a Spidey sequel chock full of villains...wait a minute...
• Superman vs. Wolverine: Superman and Wolverine start out complaining about Bryan Sing — We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties — and how so many of their problems could have been solved if the director never left the X-Men movies to work on Superman Returns before they reluctantly decide that there is no point complaining about the past now... Then Wolverine mentions his latest movie is about going back in time specifically to change the past. One time travel trip later and the Marvel and DC comic-based movies have changed. Thanks to Deadpool's Breaking the Fourth Wall abilities, he's able to fill them in on what's happened: The Marvel Cinematic Universe doesn't exist, there is a Justice League movie based on the work of Michael Bay, and Deadpool has three films. The pair quickly have second thoughts about the new timeline.
• The Avengers vs Batman and Superman: Iron Man and Batman fire off the expected zingers at each other, but Cap and Superman would rather pat each other on the back. Superman doesn't see the point in fighting, given that in 2016 they'll be doing that in their actual movies. Meanwhile, the Avengers who aren't Cap and Iron Man grouse about their lack of screen-time.
• Batman and Superman "vs." The Thing: Following the 2015 movie's disastrous reception, Bats and Supes are less interested in competing than in nervously trying to cheer up poor Ben. After about a minute of stony silence, he tells them, "Just. Get. Out."
• Ant-Man vs Batman and Superman: Scott Lang is rather annoyed to find Superman and Batman didn't bother showing up. Supes explains that their films are so drastically different, he couldn't find any ground for comparisons - plus, Edgar Wright walking out has been forgotten in all the Fantastic Four drama. Cut to Ben still standing in the exact same spot.
• Quicksilver vs The Flash: Marvel and DC's two most prominent speedsters, both of whom are currently in two different franchises at once, go head-to-head. Unfortunately, Pietro starts out with a handicap due to his recently-retconned parentage, and soon finds himself out of his depth against Barry Allen.
• Superman vs Spider-Man (again again): A full ten years after all it began, Supes and Spidey reflect on how far things have come. They discuss Justice League, various upcoming projects, and the market-dominating juggernaut superhero movies have become...for better or for worse.
• Avengers vs Justice League: The many, many movie heroes from both companies riff on the MCU's shift from comedy to darkness and the DCEU's shift from darkness to comedy. By this point, however, Iron Man is actually feeling sorry for the competition and thinks their heroes deserve more than the material they've been given. Batman, meanwhile, spends the whole video looking for "a graceful exit."
• Avengers vs Justice League (again): The Marvel heroes get ready for business as usual, but the DC heroes have a bomb to drop: it's stopped being fun. Even without Marvel's successes and their problems, they just don't feel like contributing to a wider culture of side-picking and resentment anymore. Deadpool, however, isn't about to give up that easily. Cue Rorschach and Deadpool 3!
• Venom vs The Joker: One Nominal Hero, one straight-up Villain Protagonist, and a truckload of questionable decisions between them. After all the jokes you'd expect, however, this one takes an unexpected turn...
• Zemo vs Lex Luthor: Following Luthor's statement that the villains are the only ones left who are willing to compare notes, Luthor and Zemo debate over their movies, with Zemo going on a long rant about Batman V Superman.
• Rocket and Groot vs ???: Rocket wants to keep comparing notes on movies, but Superman is shutting down anyone who tries. After failed attempts to debate with Aquaman, Nightwing, Green Lantern, and the Flash, they finally find someone naive enough not to know about Superman's debate embargo...
• Rocket and Groot vs Shazam: Rocket and Groot debate with Shazam until they find out he's a kid. Shazam is devastated to learn he has been tricked. Groot wants to apologize, but has a hard time convincing Rocket to do so.
• Kingpin vs Black Manta and Orm: With both their moves netting tons of praise from fans and the general public, the villains take aim at their box office competition - or lack thereof.

Parodies

During the second half of 2009, the comic book movies stopped coming out. For lack of anything else to do, Spidey started making pitches of the cast as part of parodies of the other movies. Some of these are because Hulk spikes his milkshake.

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• Some of the parody trailers include: Star Trek (2009), Terminator Salvation, Drag Me to Hell, Up, The Hangover, The Proposal, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Inglourious Basterds, District 9, and New Moon. The heroes (and antiheroes) wanted a parody of Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen, but that didn't exactly work out.
• It seems that the spiked milkshake can even get Jonah Hex to parody movies.
• The 2011 parody season included Pirates of the Caribbean, Kung Fu Panda, and The Hangover Part II.

After Hours

Originally an excuse to depict pretty much all the Marvel and DC characters hanging out together and arguing over their movies without sticking to the Mac/PC format, this series eventually gained its own storyline, filled to the brim with suspense, and humor.

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• Season One: Season One begins with various Marvel and DC heroes hanging out in a superhero bar, discussing previous, current, and upcoming film projects. Eventually, a plot starts to form as, at a nearby villains' bar, Lex Luthor tries to convince Marvel villains such as Doctor Doom, Magneto, and Venom to join him in altering the past so their movies would turn out better. Failing that, Luthor goes with a second plan - to wipe out all Marvel comics. Throughout all this, Superman tries to come to grips with people perceiving him as too powerful, and not being as flawed and relatable as other heroes.
• Season Two: Happy Hour: "Happy Hour," the second season, centers around a plan by the Joker to control all superheroes and make them like his "straight man" - Batman. The Joker's plan has one flaw, though. Subplots include Spider-Man's eagerness to join Batman in crimefighting, the Green Goblin trying desperately to win Harley Quinn's heart, and both the Goblin and Lex Luthor tripping out on sedatives.
• Season Three: Zero Hour: The third and currently longest season, picking up where "Happy Hour" left off. All seems fine in the Randomverse: The bad guys are dealing with another loss and the hero bar ("Stan's Place") is expanding. All hell breaks loose, however, when an unexpected head appears. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor is trying to make a vision he had come true, which predicted the good guys on the ground beaten and humiliated — but no one seems interesting in helping him besides Lars, the European Douche.
  • Rorschach & Deadpool: A tie-in series to Season 3. After being teased back in May 2009 and subsequently becoming a minor internet meme, the Sitcom featuring everyone's favorite Sociopath and The Merc With The Mouth as an Odd Couple is finally here! Rorschach is looking for a man "behind everything," but every lead he can find keeps getting shot by Deadpool before they talk. It originally appeared that the entire thing was, as Deadpool put it, an excuse to "give the people what they want," but now seems to have tied into the main plot with Rorschach's discovery of a Plan Q folder on the desk of a more mainstream character.
  • Two Tickets to Paradox: Following the Series Fauxnale in the Avengers vs Justice League video, Deadpool is depressed that the comparing of notes is over, and so he comes to Rorschach for help. Rorschach feels that the heroes have gone soft. The two travel back in time. Rorschach has his own unknown plans for the past, and is annoyed when Deadpool only uses the time travel to make fun of past versions of the heroes.

Others

• Meanwhile...: This originally contained videos that weren't comparison videos but also weren't full on storyline episodes. The first two consisted of Preparing for Battle and The Ultimatum, in which Venom decides to pull a Heel–Face Turn and Luthor's real plans unfold. Revived in 2019 when Deadpool, Gobby, Venom, Shazam, Rocket, Groot, and The Question have to fix a timeline divergence that shut down Stan's Place in 1962.
• Goblin Bloggin': This faux video blog, taking place within the continuity of "After Hours", takes a look into the life of the Green Goblin...or RandomGuy's extremely popular version of him, anyway. Viewers get to learn more about Gobby's life of crime, his parenting skills, his love life, and his odd obsession with Willem Dafoe. (Dafoe!)
• Sh*t Superheroes Say: Each of these videos runs a minute and ten seconds. The superhero in question spouts several quotes, which define his respective philosophies, pivotal events, and relationships with other characters in a satirical and humorous manner.
• The Man Out of Time: This series follows the offscreen mission Captain America undertook at the end of Avengers: Endgame to return the Infinity Stones to their original times and locations.

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This series contains examples of:

• Aborted Arc: The 'Comic Book Movie Contest' had many matchup videos, but didn't even reach round 2.
• Action Figure Speech: All the time.
• Actor Allusion: Deadpool (played by Ryan Reynolds) plays Andrew Paxton (also played by Ryan Reynolds) in The Proposal Parody.
  • Surprisingly averted by not having Batman play John Connor in the Terminator Salvation parody
  • A video has Ghost Rider doing some impressions of his movie portrayer, Nicolas Cage.
  Hulk "First rule about reboot, do not talk about reboot."
  Lex Luthor "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."
  • At the end of Superman vs Thor...
  Loki: So...the Internet seemed to take the whole Ben Affleck thing pretty well.
  Batman: Forgive me, but it's hard to feel intimidated when I keep picturing you sharing cookies on Sesame Street.
  Loki: And forgive me, but verily thou wert Da Bomb in Phantoms, yo.
• Adaptation Distillation: This series takes everything that's good and awesome about all of our favorite comic book characters and brings them all together under one roof.
• Adaptation Expansion: The Hangover was only the longest part of a video containing parodies to two other 2009 movies. The sequel warranted a parody of the whole trailer, with the same 'cast'.
• Affectionate Parody: The whole series is built around these.
• After the End: Where Green Goblin and Deadpool end up in Zero Hour.
• Analogy Backfire: A variation in After Hours.
  Lex Luthor: "Who was it that said 'better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven'?"
  Batman: "The devil. You're in good company."
• Arc Words: "Plan Q blows."
• Aren't You Forgetting Someone?: In the Batman vs The Avengers video, everyone seems to forget that poor Spidey has a summer blockbuster coming out too...and that he's even standing there.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
  • Deadpool running down the many uses of his guns.
  Deadpool: My guns allow me to kill for money, shoot fleeing suspects, and get free DVDs from Best Buy!
  • When the Joker confronts Darkseid with the truth about their fictional existence.
    Joker: Oh, I was mad long before you came along, oh Master of Pain and Suffering and... Blue Shorts.
• Aside Glance: Iron Man gives one during the Spider-Man reboot video when he suggests one way to let studios know what mistakes to avoid is a "fair use parody video".
• Awesomeness Is Volatile: "So does that mean both our movies together will make people's skulls cave in from sheer awesomeness?"
• Bad Future:
  • Green Goblin and Deadpool get sent to one at the end of Zero Hour #3, where Future-Lex was waiting for Superman to arrive. He is not amused.
  • Apparently the Bad Future is the result of 'Plan Q' and as Lex can attest, "Plan Q blows."
• Back from the Dead: The Joker is back in Rorschach and Deadpool #2, under the name of Joe Polachi.
• Back to the Early Installment: Rorschach and Deadpool has the two go to the first episode, Deadpool wanting to travel to early episodes to mess with and roast the superheroes in the past.
• Batman Gambit: By Batman. One in particular happens in Zero Hour #2, when Batman convinces the heroes to let the villains leave with Lance's head. The villains teleport away, but they leave Lance's head; Batman correctly deduced that it was immune to teleportation.
  • Another example is from Happy Hour #5, when Batman realized that Spider-man's perception of reality was altered by Supernatural means, he let Lance try to brainwash Spidey, correctly deducing that Science and Supernatural would clash.
• Berserk Button: Never, ever insult Willem Dafoe in front of the Green Goblin. Not even if you're The Joker.
  • Also, don't talk about herpes or Robert Downey Jr.'s contract around Iron Man.
  • Also, don't mock Darkseid by claiming he doesn't understand the reality he lives in. Or saying that Stan Lee controls it more than him.
  • And don't try to mock Captain America's movie. The other Avengers will get you.
  • In regards to Deadpool, don't kill Rorschach. There aren't a lot of people that he cares about them being alive or dead. He does care about Rorschach being killed.
  • Don't mention the James Gunn mess to Rocket Raccoon. He will shoot you.
• Big "NO!": Darkseid gets one after discovering he is a fictional character and an action figure in Zero Hour.
• Black Comedy: The episode where Superman and Spider-Man discuss Superman's illegitimate son in Superman Returns ends with Superman accidentally dropping the baby.
  Spider-Man: Nope, it's still moving. I'd say it's yours. ^note This wouldn't necessarily be reassuring...
• Boisterous Bruiser: In the second season, Green Goblin becomes one to Batman and Spider-Man.
• Bonding over Missing Parents: Batman and Spider-Man settle their differences over this trope.
  Batman: Your parents, and your uncle?
  Spider-Man: Yeah...
  Batman: Never gets any easier, does it?
  Spider-Man: No, it doesn't.
• Brain Bleach: The Adam West Batman used up all his "bad joke repellent" while watching Howard the Duck. He wasn't aiming at the screen, either - he sprayed his own eyes in the hope it was mace.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: This is the Joker's plan in Happy Hour.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: In this universe, it's not just reserved for Deadpool, though he is still able to go a step further than everyone else by acknowledging that he is an action figure and commenting on the show's animation.
  • When there was a six month gap between the release of two episodes of Zero Hour, Deadpool has the line "I've waited 6 months for this!" even though in their world maybe two minutes passed between the two episodes.
• Breaking Speech: The Joker delivers a brutal one to Darkseid with a bonus of a Tomato in the Mirror revelation. Seen here starting at around 2:35.
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: Hal brings an American flag, an apple pie, and an apple flag pie to his sketch with Captain America.
  • In their parody trailer for Inglourious Basterds, Deadpool gives us quite the gem when he's giving the "Fear Speech." "And the Skrull will grow to fear the pain they will feel at our hands, and at the edge of our knives *camera cut to Wolverine* and at the edge of our knives that come from our hands."
• Breakout Character: Ever since his first appearance, Deadpool has become a major character in all the shorts; he's now used more than what series main characters Spider-Man, Superman, and Batman generally are.
  • And before him there was Green Goblin, to the point of getting his own spinoff.
• Butt-Monkey: The Green Goblin tends to get the most abuse out of any villain or hero.
  • Spider-Man is a close second. He's on the receiving end of Tony Stark's electrical arc blasts very often, gets his milkshake spiked all the time, and when he appears amidst the Avengers and Batman's argument, nobody even notices him.
• Canon Foreigner: Lance, the bartender and "the perfect douche".
• Call-Back: Deadpool's "WOAH!" joke regarding Dr. Manhattan is repeated with Hal Jordan regarding Mystique.
• Came Back Wrong: The Joker, done intentionally by Darksied to make him his slave.
• Cerebus Syndrome: What eventually happened to "After Hours".
• Character Blog: "Goblin Bloggin'"
• Character Development: Actually a plot point in Zero Hour. Darkseid notes that Goblin is unique compared to the other comic book characters as he's shifted from his character in the comics to one that actively blogs and has, more or less, a steady relationship.
• Character Exaggeration: Present in a lot of characters, who have had canonical traits exaggerated.
  • Usually (but not always) this is played for comedic effect, such as Batman's antisocial gruffness, Spider-Man's guilt complex, Iron Man's ego and Shazam's childlike nature.
  • Sometimes the exaggerations aren't comedic, though. The clearest example is how Harley's servility to the Joker is played up at the expense of her own sense of humour / initiative, which can be a little striking if you rewatch something like Harley's Holiday.
• Chekhov's Gun: "Bats, I think I might have been married and forgot about it..."
• Chekhov's Gunman: The Punisher, naturally.
  • Also, Lance M. Donovan
  • The guy who works for Joe Polachi, someone previously mentioned in the 'Rorschach & Deadpool' segment.
• Christmas Episode: "Twas the Dark Knight Before Christmas"
• Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Deadpool tries to invoke to this get more ammo during his fight with the Goblin. When it fails, he asks if the audience is a bunch of amputees.
• Close-Enough Timeline: Used to introduce the new camera at the end of the Futures Past mini-arc.
• The Comically Serious: Batman, very much so.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: The Joker puts Goblin through this in Happy Hour, using Lance to forcibly teach Goblin multiple languages so that his mind would eventually suffer from information overload and collapse.
• Continuity Nod: Captain America's shield hanging up on one of the walls in the superhero bar in the first episode of "Happy Hour".
  • References to One More Day.
  • "This isn't the first dismembered head I've had to take care of!" - Said by Deadpool, a reference to him carrying around the head of Alternate Zombie Deadpool in his comic.
    • As well as his own severed head at the end of the movie.
  • The 100th episode was one giant musical number about how it didn't matter whether or not critics liked Iron Man 2 because it laid the ground for continuity in upcoming Marvel films.
  • And now Deadpool has taken to pointing out continuity exposition in the series itself.
• Continuity Reboot: In-universe example. Darkseid's plan is to use it to reboot all comic book universes, so he can conquer them easily.
• Cool Car: The Tumbler Batmobile's first appearance is accompanied by cool lighting and the Danny Elfman Batman theme.
• Crazy-Prepared: Deadpool keeps extra uniforms around because he goes through them so fast.
  • Doom was prepared for Lex's treachery in After Hours, while Lex was prepared for Doom's preparation, and Doom was prepared for that, and Lex for that. It could go on.
  • Batman, obviously. Spidey annoys him by quizzing him on the contents of his belt.
  Spidey: And that pocket?
  Batman: Meow Mix.
  *Beat*
  Batman: It's personal.
• Crossover Ship: In-universe, the Green Goblin has a huge crush on Harley Quinn, and they get together during the finale of "Happy Hour". Poison Ivy and Sandman hooking up counts, too.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Quicksilver and the Flash try to do a speedster battle, only for Quicksilver to completely get his ass kicked thanks to his lack of time as a solo hero, and Flash having a huge role even during his time in a group.
• Curse Cut Short: Repeatedly, to the point of a Running Gag.
  Lex: Wow, this is good shi—
  Green Goblin: Guys? Guys? Oh, shi-
  • Also Luthor's Sophisticated as Hell Precision F-Strike:
  Lex (to Iron Man and the Green Goblin, holding the box with Lance's head): I would explain the importance of this item, but I'm afraid it would be too difficult to to comprehend, even for esteemed scientists such as yourselves. No, only someone as intelligent and sophisticated as me could- (discovers box is empty) MOTHERF-!!!!!
  • And again, after Future Lex gets Deadpool and Goblin out of the past instead of Superman.
• Cutting Back to Reality:
  • In Episode 2 of Happy Hour, the Green Goblin is accidentally run over by the Batmobile and Batman has to dose him with powerful anaesthetic so his recovery won't be as painful as it normally wound be, causing him to hallucinate frequently. When a group of brainwashed superheroes manage to capture both the Goblin and Spiderman, he somehow manages to break free and defeat all of them in an epic fight... only for a cut back to reveal that the whole thing was just a hallucination: Goblin is still being held captive.
  • In Episode 3 of Zero Hour, Deadpool and a drugged-up Green Goblin end up in an insanely elaborate fight scene that apparently ends with Deadpool dropping a nuclear bomb on his opponent. A cut back to reality reveals that the entire fight scene took place in the combatants' imaginations, and Goblin is just writhing around on the floor, play-acting his temporary death scene - much to Lex Luthor's annoyance.
• Dark Reprise: Of the "Rorschach and Deadpool" Theme Song during their second spin-off video. Starts at 3:01.
• Darker and Edgier: The Joker's Plan in Happy Hour is to do this to all the heroes. Goblin deconstructs this by saying that if all heroes are dark with no Lighter and Softer heroes, then they lose what makes them interesting since there will be no contrast whatsoever.
• Day Dream Surprise: Green Goblin beats up all the heroes and frees him and Spider-Man... not. Shows up again in Zero Hour with Green Goblin and Deadpool's awesome epic nuclear fight to the death, complete with an announcer and an audience... not.
• Deconstruction: Every season of After Hours takes a trope and examines its effects on the superhero genre. Tropes explored so far are...
  • Season 1: Invincible Hero
  • Season 2: Darker and Edgier
  • Season 3: Continuity Reboot
• Demoted to Extra: The parody to Drag Me to Hell is simply Drag Me Off-Screen, noting how Spider-Man 3, Iron Man and X-Men Origins: Wolverine gave Venom, Iron Monger and Gambit the short stick.
• Department of Redundancy Department: In the Spiderman Reboot parody:
  Announcer: Sony presents Sony's Spider-Man. By Sony!
• Digital Piracy Is Evil: Played straight in "Public Service Announcement".
• Disney Death: Rorschach at the end of Zero Hour
• Do-Anything Robot: The LMDs that Lex employs. Their powers include teleportation, electrical beams, instantaneous knowledge transfer, and nanobot control.
• invokedDude, Not Funny!: When the guys drugged Alfred in order to "get an authentic British voice" for a Harry Potter trailer spoof. Batman naturally wasn't pleased with that.
• Dull Surprise: At the end of the first After Hours, when Iron Man passes out and crashes through the floor of the bar.
  Spider-Man: Huh.
  Batman: What?
  Spider-Man: Nah, I just...never knew this place had a basement...
• Dying Moment of Awesome: The Joker gets teleported to Apokolips and runs into Darkseid at the end of Happy Hour, and he tries to explain what Stan's Place is. Naturally, his captor loses his patience and sees it as insignificant fiction, stating he is only interested in reality's conquest. Cue his naturally very amused reaction and a surprisingly amazing speech on reality, explaining that the reality they live in IS fiction. It ends with the line "If there's anyone dominating reality around here, it's Stan Lee, not you." This is what ultimately gets him killed, but it's chilling in an absolutely awesome way.
  • The Joker's back, in Rorschach and Deadpool #2, under the pseudonym Joe Polachi.
• Dynamic Entry: Batman pulls one off, even saying the same quote as he did in The Dark Knight.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Played with in Hi, I'm a Marvel... and I'm a DC... and I'm on TV when Adam Warlock suddenly appears.
  Superman: Do I know you?
  Adam Warlock: Eeh, give it three or four years.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: The first few episodes seemed alot more mean-spirited towards DC. Later episodes made the DC heroes more relatable Underdogs, struggling to catch up with Marvel.
• Electric Torture: The standard villain torture technique. Justified in that it's kind of hard to show action figures in pain.
• Era-Specific Personality:
  • Batman and Superman briefly revert to their Golden Age "bestest friends in the whole world" dynamic due to time travel.
  • During the first round of the "movie tournament", Cap is confused when Superman starts acting smug and over-patriotic. He explains that he's 50s Superman and tells Cap to look up Superdickery.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • The Green Goblin is a complete sociopath, but when he hears the Joker's plan to make every hero as dark as Batman, he gives him a "The Reason You Suck" Speech and fights him, because even he cannot condone the (literally suicide-inducing) Too Bleak, Stopped Caring it would create In-Universe.
  • Even Mephisto thinks Superior Spider Man is messed up.
• Evil Counterpart: Lars to Lance.
• Exact Words:
  • The Question explains to Deadpool that Rorshach's letter appeared in his office 50 years prior. That would be because he, Rorshach, had taken it from his future self's corpse.
• Extradimensional Emergency Exit: In Zero Hour #4 the future incarnation of Lex Luthor explains that the Bad Future officially began when he detected a massive energy surge from Stan's Place; realizing he had only seconds to react, he teleported himself into a Pocket Dimension and waited there until things had calmed down - making him the only survivor of the apocalyptic disaster that followed.
• Excuse Plot: Deadpool thinks the whole setup for the "Rorschach & Deadpool" Sitcom might be this:
  Rorschach: What are you doing here?
  Deadpool: Well, I think I'm supposed to say I got hired to pop this guy's boss, but personally I think I'm here because our Theme Song became a minor internet meme. Gotta give the people what they want!
  Rorschach: What?
  Deadpool: I know, right? You wanna put us together, fine, but at least justify it! I mean, where are we, anyway? Is this my world, is it yours? Does this have anything to do with the Hero Bar?
  Rorschach: Spider-Man and the others don't seem to think so, but something about this man we're looking for feels off to me.
  Deadpool: Ooo, continuty!
• Face Palm: Goblin's antics while drugged force Spider-Man into doing this.
  • Goblin's antics also caused Batman to do this. With Bats, he doesn't even need to be drugged.
  • Green Lantern did this when Deadpool was singing to Ryan Reynolds.
• Fanon Discontinuity: Invoked in the third Happy New Year video. Wolverine looks forward to his first solo movie. Superman tries to point out that he already had one but Wolverine responds with a firm "No".
• Fantastic Racism: Wolverine accuses Superman of being an 'anti-Mutite' because Bryan Singer jumped ship from the X-Men Film Series to direct Superman Returns.
• Filler: "Zero Hour" contains over a year's worth, much to the frustration of viewers.
• First-Name Basis:
  • Most of the superhero community call each other by their real names, even spanning across universes, such as Batman and Iron Man calling each other Bruce and Tony respectively and Superman calling Wolverine Logan.
  • When Batman calls Spider-Man "Peter".
• Five Stages of Grief: The Man-Thing vs. Swamp Thing episode had the former making the latter go through this.
• Fleeing for the Fallout Shelter: Late in After Hours, Lex Luthor's hideout is revealed to be a Pocket Dimension hidden outside space and time... which comes in handy during the events of Zero Hour: future Lex Luthor explains that the events that led to the Bad Future kicked off with a massive energy surge from Stan's Place; with barely enough time to react, he teleported himself into his pocket dimension, where he remained until the energy receded to safe levels. He emerged to find that Stan's Place was in ruins, the heroes and villains were all dead, reality had been wrecked, and Lex was the last surviving human in the universe. Turns out that it was due to Joker activating Luthor's Plan Q in the previous story arc, accidentally getting the attention of Darkseid and triggering an apocalyptic conflict.
• Fluffy Cloud Heaven: Superman ends up in one of these (and meets up with Captain America) during a near-death experience. It's not his time yet, though.
• Foreshadowing: An especially nice bit comes in "Happy Hour #1", when Harley suspects someone else than Batman might have a chance to ruin the Joker's plan. The Joker tells her "Name one who could possibly stop me" — and the scene immediately cuts to Spider-Man, who indeed proves vital in stopping the Joker.
  • If you think carefully, the miniseries' titles also foreshadow the main villains, with Happy Hour referring to The Joker ('happy' = 'Joker'), and Zero Hour referring to Darkseid ('zero' = 'omega').
• For Want Of A Nail: When Superman and Wolverine go back in time to stop Bryan Singer leaving X-Men, Superman Returns is given to Michael Bay and becomes a huge hit which spawns a whole DC Cinematic Universe, Fox continues to have success with X-Men and other Marvel films, which stops Marvel from opening their own studio, and bowler hats come back into fashion.
• Fourth-Wall Mail Slot: Goblin Bloggin.
• Framed for Heroism: When the Big Bad dares the heroes to kill him...
• Franchise Zombie: invoked At the release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Spidey is worried that Sony will just keep rebooting him as many times as it takes to hold onto the rights, until they can do an adaptation of the 2099 series because it actually is 2099.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: During the scene in the continuity song where different Marvel characters hold signs spelling the word, "continuity", Deadpool actually holds his decapitated head, with the letter Y located where his head should usually go.
• Get Out!: Ben Grimm at the end of his video with Batman and Superman.
• Gleeful and Grumpy Pairing: Rorschach & Deadpool. And in fact, one video has a brief parody of them as the ones picturing that trope, Carl and Russell from Up.
• Good Cop/Bad Cop: Rorschach & Deadpool. Who's the good cop in this situation? It's Rorschach.
• Grand Finale:
  • Zero Hour 7 is twice the length of the longest episode to that point, features just about every character introduced in some way throughout the series, and wraps up (almost) every loose end by its denouement, and at present, it does not look like a Season 4 will be made.
  • Hi, I'm a Marvel...and I'm a DC: Avengers: Infinity War and Justice League (Non-Spoiler) is this to the comparison episodes, as the DC side throws in the towel due to the uneven critical reception between their movies, and Superman saying that the debates are becoming less amiable and more hostile as it goes on. The video ends with the two sides agreeing to watch Infinity War together, with Spider-Man shutting off the lights to the bar on the way out. That said, there will be more to the series itself, as Rorschach and Deadpool 3 can attest to.
• Groin Attack: A variation - the Joker straps a bomb to the Green Goblin's crotch.
  Batman: So, you went after Harley, huh?
  Green Goblin: Yeah. The Joker tends to go for the really obvious jokes, doesn't he?
• From Bad to Worse:
  Batman (on the Hulk spiking Alfred's tea to get an "Authentic" Harry Potter parody): I can't imagine how you can possibly humiliate him any more than this!
  Alfred: Brüno (2009)! Rated R...
  Hulk: He fluent in German too.
• Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: Golden Age Superman and Golden Age Batman's mutual admiration-fest begins to take on this edge.
• Heroic BSoD: Superman suffers through one in After Hours when Luthor captured him, Batman, and Spider-Man and he feels that his powers are superficial and he can't do anything.
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath: parodied in "Inglourious Heeroes".
• Hero-Worshipper: Spider-Man to Batman. Back in the day, he was a pretty big fan of Superman as well. Goblin has this going on with Willem Defoe.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: When Batman and Superman revert to their older forms due to Luthor's time travel.
  Batman: Best friends!
  Superman: Best friends in a completely platonic way!
  Batman: Best friends possible for two friends to be without going over any boundaries that would be indicative of being more than friends!
  Superman: That's right, partner!
• His Name Is...: Deadpool keeps killing Rorschach's informants before they can talk. Rorschach is not amused.
• Humanoid Cat: You know Random Cat, the producer? Yeah, that's an actual cat.
• Human Shield: Harley believes that the Joker's apparent death at the end of Season 2 came about because of her failure as a Human Shield.
• Hypocritical Humor: In the Infinity War vs Justice League video, Iron Man suggests that the DCEU's downfall has been rushing to cash in on a teamup movie rather than building up audience goodwill first.
  Iron Man: Studios need to make calls responsibly, and think about how their decisions affect everybody. You can't let money drive all of your decisions!
  Delivery Guy: 'Scuse me, did anyone here order a 20th Century Fox studio?
  Iron Man: Oh yeah, right here. You wanna just back that in right over there?
  Delivery Guy: Uh, over in that spot that says "Sony"?
  Iron Man: (chuckling) No, no-no-no, that, uh...that's for later.
• I Call It "Vera":
  Deadpool: No, no, no, no, no, wait! Not the guitar — *crash* Lucille!
  • Also a Shout-Out to legendary blues musician B. B. King's guitar, which he named Lucille.
• I Have Your Wife: Darkseid reveals that he has taken Harley Quinn and Rorschach hostage to convince Green Gobin and Deadpool to take him seriously. Ironically, had he just left well enough alone.....
• I Need a Freaking Drink: In the first After Hours segment, when Iron Man makes the mistake of asking Batman about his past movies.
  Iron Man: (to bartender) Club soda, my good man! (to Batman) This is awesome! I'm in a movie! I've got a big-time movie and a big-time movie star! What are you drinkin', Bruce? My treat!
  Batman: Water.
  Iron Man: Oh come on, Bruce! Live a little! I mean, how often do you get a movie made about you?
  Batman: Well, there was Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, the animated movie, Christian Bale... (Beat) And the sequel... (Beat) Unless you count the movie serial from the 1940s, then—
  Iron Man: Gonna need some cognac over here! And leave the bottle!
• Imagine Spot: One Batman vs. Iron Man video featured Iron Man mulling over the success of The Dark Knight. He imagines it to be so popular that people not only pre-order tickets, but also cryonically freeze themselves and go back in time from the future (where it's still sold out) just to see it. Even aliens, Santa Claus, and Jesus Christ get in line to see it.
• I'm Going to Hell for This: One of the 2010 C 2 E 2 videos. Putting subtitles under Daredevil saying "Does Daredevil not know what this says?" Ghost Rider himself says "Take it from me."
• I'm Standing Right Here: During Batman vs the Avengers.
  Fury: We're expanding our universe, while you'll probably end up rebooting and retelling your origin story after just three films. And really, who needs to see that?
  Spider-Man: Aw, guys, come on, I'm standing right here.
• Impersonation-Exclusive Character: The Question that appears in the Meanwhille series is not actually Vic Sage, but Walter Kovacs in disguise as him. Specifically he's the same version who changed the past in the first place, but saw how this changed things for the worse, so he decided to fix his mistake by helping Deadpool and the remaining heroes change the timeline back. But he knew they would never trust him as Rorschach, so he took on The Question's identity.
• Improbable Weapon User: The Stark Platinum Credit Card can shoot lightning. Goblin uses it to fight monsters.
• Incoming Ham: When the Green Goblin attacks future!Lex in Zero Hour #4:
  Green Goblin: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!! GET OUT OF MY LIFE!!!!"
• Ink-Suit Actor: His natural voice is uncannily similar to the one he uses for Clark. He definitely has Clark's wholesome personality, as revealed in behind the scenes commentary and video greetings.
• Inn Between the Worlds: Stan's Place is revealed to be this.
• Inner Monologue Conversation: Used in a competition between Wolverine and Rorschach. As the characters' mouths never move, this is only noted by stating that it's occuring and a slight change in inflection.
• Intoxication Ensues: Any part of the Green Goblin and Lex Luthor's sedative trips that doesn't fall under Mushroom Samba.
• It's All My Fault: Batman realizes this is the one thing both versions of Spidey will agree on, and tells Professor X to give it everything he's got. Cue increasingly-garbled wails of "It's all my fault!"
  "Okay, just give it ten percent of all you've got, Professor, ten percent."
• It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: Lampshaded during the Harry Potter parody.
• Just Between You and Me: Darkseid reveals his plans to Goblin and Deadpool. It's justified in that he'd learned of the nature of his existence at that point and believed it to be what he was supposed to do.
• Joker Immunity: Referenced in regards to the Trope Namer himself:
  Green Goblin: Harley, we've been through this! He's not coming back!
  Harley Quinn: But he always comes back! Every time he faked his death he always came and found me!
  • Possibly subverted in Zero Hour 1 of 2 — after the Joker tells Darkseid that Stan Lee has the power that Darkseid wants, Darkseid zaps the Joker. It's then double subverted, with him returning using the alias Joe Palachi.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: Deadpool did this to The Comedian when The Comedian made the mistake of explaining the skit as "We basically just fight over our movies."
  Deadpool: I'm a Marvel.
  The Comedian: And I'm a... [gunshot to the face]
  Deadpool: And boom goes the dynamite. [striking victory pose] Deadpool: Wins!
• Large Ham:
  • Green Goblin and Deadpool are the standouts.
  • Thor also qualifies.
  • There are also a few in the "Comic Book Movie Championships":
    Adam West's Batman: So, my fowl friend, how do you expect to win this over... Me?
    Howard the Duck: Maybe I'll avoiding sounding like a cross between Shatner and a smooth Jazz DJ.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: It's hard to talk about the plot of After Hours Season 3, which revolves around Lance's head, without revealing the twist in Season 1 that Lance the bartender is actually an android.
• Little "No": Superman utters this twice in After Hours, first when Spider-man disappears from existence and again when Batman disappears too.
• Long List: The Green Goblin's description of what happened to him during Happy Hour.
  "I had my heart broken, my bones broken, I was shot, electrocuted, a victim of attempted crotch bombing, run over, drugged, drugged again, really drugged, fake drugged, electrocuted while learning Spanish and Portuguese, defeated the Joker, got defeated by the Joker, was inexplicably rescued by the guy I helped put in prison, and then reunited, and it feels so good. So all in all, a pretty average Wednesday."
  • Also, when the "take away the armor" scene from The Avengers is applied to Batman.
  • And in the first After Hours, when Batman decides to list off all of the movies that he's been in.
• Losing Your Head: Lance
  • Deadpool also, though he (and many others) would argue that it's not really his head. Currently uses it to shut up other heroes who angst about idiotic choices made in their films. So far, it's worked.
  • It also happened to Deadpool himself in Zero Hour #4. Good thing Deadpool can heal.
• Mad Love: Between Harley and Joker. It's impressively well-executed, and not romanticized at all.
• Man of a Thousand Voices: All of the voices are provided by ItsJustSomeRandomGuy and ItsJustSomeRandomGirl. All of them.
• Massive Multiplayer Crossover: Well, mostly of Marvel and DC, but other companies appear from time to time, such as Hellboy.
• Meaningful Echo: During the Meanwhile series, at the end of an argument between Venom and Rocket Raccon, Venom ends his "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Rocket by telling him "You are where you are, because of who you are". Later, when Rocket is tearing into Green Goblin, he nearly ends his own speech with those same words, only to stop short and have a Jerkass Realization because of it.
• Meanwhile, in the Future…: Justified in that the time travel devices of Zero Hour can only send the user back and forth a very specific amount of time instead of to an exact point.
• Medium Awareness: All of the characters are aware of their status as comic book characters who has movies based upon their stories, and discusses how well their movies are doing both in box office, in the press, and amongst the fans. True to his character, Deadpool takes it all a step further, and is fully aware that he is a stop-motion animated action-figure in a fanmade show.
  Deadpool: Hey! This is no time to be cryptic, I waited six months for this episode. Now give me some damn answers!
• Mexican Standoff: Happens in the beginning of season 3 between the heroes and villains over Lance's head.
• Mid-Battle Tea Break: Seen in the middle of Lex and Doom's zap battle in After Hours.
• Milking the Giant Cow: The Adam West Batman's on-camera movements, as seen in his showdown with Howard the Duck.
• Missed the Call: Superman in Season 3. Who got the call instead? Green Goblin and Deadpool.
• Mistaken for Gay: Rorschach decides in his Internal Monologue that Wolverine is gay.
• The Mole: Lance the bartender
• Money, Dear Boy: In-Universe. Wade Sparrow's motivation for Pirates of the Caribbean.
  • Darkseid, after learning of his nature, believes this of all comic book creators.
• Mood Whiplash: Played for Laughs in the Parodies series, when they start with an Inglourious Basterds parody with the Skrulls serving as the Nazi-analogue complete with the scalping speech, causing the bar patrons to cheer at the violence, then move to a District 9 parody where the Skrulls are the Prawns-analogue (but they kept the scalping reference from the previous parody), and the bar patrons are all horrified at Man's Inhumanity to... Skrull.
• Morality Chain: Deadpool considers Rorschach to be his.
• Mushroom Samba: The Green Goblin, after being given a really powerful sedative, goes through one of these.
• Musical Episode: In celebration of 100 videos.
  • And then another one when they hit 200 videos.
• My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels: After having the entire languages of Spanish and Portuguese zapped into his brain, the Green Goblin threatens the Joker with a foreign phrase even Gobby himself doesn't understand. It turns out to translate to "What a nice dress. May I try it on?"
  • This was in fact a Night Court shout-out, wherein Dan Fielding uttered almost exactly the same line as the Goblin.
• Myth Arc: In the aftermath of "Avengers: Infinity War vs. Justice League," all the characters are scrambling to achieve their individual goals after the heroes indefinitely called off their debates. The villains in particular are seeing this as an opportunity to steal the spotlight, referencing then-incoming supervillain-based films like Venom (2018) and Joker (2019). Meanwhile, Deadpool and Rorschach decide to travel back in time to screw around with videos from ten years ago, much to Cable's horror as the timeline unravels.
• Naïve Newcomer: Hellboy, who didn't really know how the series works.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Darkseid's plan would have gone off without a hitch, if only he didn't push Deadpool and Goblin's Berserk Buttons.
• No Fourth Wall: The Randomverse as it's known is designed so the characters are aware they are comic book heroes and movie stars. Naturally though, Deadpool seems to be the only one aware that they are in fact toys ("I always wanted my own action figure. Now I am my own action figure!"). Nite Owl, who is next to him, has no idea what he's talking about. He also calls attention to the style of animation used in the series, via yellow subtitles.
  • He also tries to use the yellow subtitles as a weapon against Hal Jordan, who will also be played by Ryan Reynolds in the upcoming movie.
  • One guy uses it to make a hilarious joke at Daredevil's expense. He then asks if he's going to Hell for making it (Ghost Rider: "Take it from me...")
• Non Sequitur Causality: Superman and Wolverine going back in time to stop Bryan Singer leaving the X-Men movies somehow causes bowler hats to come back in fashion.
• Non Sequitur, *Thud*: Iron Man, Green Goblin and Spider-Man have all uttered at least one.
• Noodle Implements: Batman's meow mix. It's personal, apparently.
  • Which later gets a Call-Back in his video with Hellboy, when Hellboy asks him why he keeps catnip in his utility belt. It's also personal, apparently.
• Noodle Incident:
  Spider-Man: [about Green Goblin] Honestly, who's stupid enough to get that drunk?
  Iron Man: Look, Comic-Con went really well, all right? I've been very good, everybody was celebrating, everyone was doing it, we thought we could make it to Tijuana, they dropped the charges, so just shut up, okay?!
  [awkward silence]
• "Not So Different" Remark: Iron Man and Batman discover they are both rich, orphaned millionaire playboys with high-tech toys, a butler, a sidekick, and hot love interests, despite Batman's insistence that he is completely different from Iron Man.
• Not So Similar: Wolverine decides that he is more this than different with Eddie Blake, who he deems more similar to Daken.
• Not So Stoic: Batman when Joker was torturing Spider-Man though this may have been part of his plan. Also when the Joker shot Harley.
• Obfuscating Insanity: The Green Goblin in Happy Hour, after the sedatives have actually worn off, has to pretend to still be drugged.
• Odd Couple: Used quite often.
  • The second season of After Hours was preceded by a short parody of a buddy-cop movie with Spider-Man as the idealistic rookie and Batman as the hard-bitten, reluctant mentor.
  • This is taken to its most logical extreme when Deadpool gets the crazy idea that he should be in a sitcom with, who else? Rorschach.
  • Deadpool then tries to do a Odd Couple Sitcom Theme Song with Rorschach and Wolverine. He quickly realizes that both Wolverine and Rorschach have way too much in common for the premise to work.
• Offhand Backhand:
  • Batman gives one to Green Goblin in Happy Hour #2.
  • Spider-Man does this to Deadpool in "Infinity War vs Justice League" when Deapool tries to provoke Superman by mentioning Martha.
• Only Sane Man:
  • Green Lantern comes off as this in his segments but considering who he's up against, not suprising.
  • Whenever he shows up in the Marvel/DC shorts Batman seems to be the only superhero who isn't obsessing over how his movies are doing.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Green Goblin's motivation for turning on Lex Luthor at the end of After Hours.
  Green Goblin: You threatened to wipe out Spider-Man and everything he stands for! That's my job!
• Perspective Magic: Many of the action figures are scaled differently, so they are placed different distances from the camera to appear that they are in the same scale - sometimes backfires when one of the two figures is out of focus because of this.
• Playing Drunk: Goblin pretends to appear high, long after his sedatives have actually worn off in order to avoid being brainwashed by the Joker.
  Superman: You sure Goblin's really drugged up?
  Iron Man: Trust me, no one sings Grateful Dead songs like him without being on something.
  Superman: I don't know. Whatever trip he's on, it seems kind of... generic.
  Goblin: (dancing wildly) Jeeze, you'd have to be on DRUGS to be this high!
• Potty Failure: But with another bodily function: Spidey's "Please don't tell anyone I webbed myself".
• Power Echoes: Ghost Rider, Venom, Darkseid, and Death all have echoey voices.
• Precision F-Strike:
  • In Zero Hour #2. Still managed to be awesome even with the Curse Cut Short.
  • Lex gets another two in Zero Hour #3: one of which is not Curse Cut Short, but is still bleeped.
• Premature Aggravation: In the seconds before doing a skit with Batman shortly after the release of The Dark Knight, Iron Man finds himself sympathizing with Batman about how the movie will never live up to the hype that's built up around it... only, after saying his familiar "Hi, I'm a Marvel," line, suffering through a dream sequence in which it does, and more besides. As a result, after Iron Man faces an ordeal with hyperactive fans, time travellers from a future where the success of The Dark Knight has resulted in a utopia, an alien species opening trade relations based on the movie's wonderfulness, Santa Claus skipping Christmas to catch it and Jesus putting the Rapture on hold just so that he can catch the twelve o'clock screening, he comes back to reality:
  Batman: ... and I'm Batman.
  Iron Man: [Snapping] Oh, fine, yes! Okay? I know! Alright?! You're Batman! You're awesome! Fine! I get it! Alright?! Huh? Huh?! Huh?! [Storming off] GOD!!!!
  Batman: [Bemused] ... Fine, I'm a DC.
• Psychic Static:
  Batman: What about Lance's mind?
  Professor X: All I got was a loop of "My Humps" by The Black Eyed Peas
• Public Service Announcement: The respective casts of Wolverine and Watchmen deliver one to discourage people from seeing the workprint of Wolverine someone uploaded online. Why? See Spoof Aesop below...
• Put on a Bus: Superman's baby son is never seen again.
• Rapid-Fire "No!": Upon learning Deadpool needs his help in Rorschach and Deadpool #10, a worried Green Goblin attempts to run away, letting out a string of "no"s the whole time. It doesn't work.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: Very much so, especially in the debate videos. Some episodes are specifically split into parts so the general reception of the discussed movies can be ascertained and commented on in the next installment.
• Reconstruction: Despite doing deconstruction on things, the series also reconstructed Invincible Hero as well, and gave new credence to why Darker and Edgier Batman is still so cool.
• Recycled Script: The parody of The Hangover Part II notes how said movie feels like one.
• Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated:
  • After it comes to light that Deadpool was responsible for the mass timeline alteration, Rocket promptly blasts his head off. It takes a moment for it to grow back, much to Captain Marvel's relief and Rocket's confusion.
  • As it turns out, Past!Rorshach had recieved less severe injuries than his future counterpart when they shot each other; he lived while Future!Rorshach died.
• Reset Button: Used at the end of Season One of "After Hours". Spider-Man was hoping for something more climactic, though, and goes on a rant about this trope. Batman gets in on the act with him as they debate the pros and cons of it.
• Right Way/Wrong Way Pair: The original concept of the videos, as a parody of the "I’m A Mac / I’m A PC" commercials.
• Running Gag: Both Lance and Lex sing "My Humps" while being interrogated. And Goblin's bizarre statements while tripped out on sedatives. Whatever tranquilizer Batman used on him is evidently some good sh--
  • Also, Rorschach shooting Deadpool is turning into one.
  • Batman's utility belt contains a pouch filled with Meow Mix. When asked, Batman will respond that "It's personal."
  • "That's not a pocket."
  • "___ You're in the movie too, you know?" *blank stare* "I'm sorry, what?"
  • Iron Man loves to blast Spider-Man.
  • Deadpool now likes to point out the series' continuity after breaks between subplots or individual videos.
  • Lars: "Ya?"
    Someone else: "Yes."
    Lars: "Ya?"
    Someone else: "Yes!"
    Lars: "Ya?"
    Someone else:"YES!"
    Lars: "Ooo-kay!"
  • (to Spider-Man) "You used to be married!"
• Safe Word: Apparently, Green Goblin's word is "pumpkins", which he uses on a brainwashed Wonder Woman, as she breaks his wrist.
  • Hilariously, he uses it again when Batman grabbed his wrist.
• Say My Name: Batman calls Spider-Man "Peter" to convince him to let go of Lance's head.
• Scenery Censor: Deadpool was not expecting Dr. Manhattan to... well, let's just be grateful they only shot the two from the waist up.
  Deadpool: Hi, I'm a Marv—WHOA!
• Screw the Rules, I Have Supernatural Powers!: Hal Jordan does his second "I'm a Marvel..." with Magneto for X Men: First Class, but instead of giving Hal a chance to take part Magneto keeps whacking him with a metal locker and tries to use the episode to give an Evil Speech Of Evil to his human audience.
• Seinfeldian Conversation: Green Goblin and Lex discuss whether or not different days of the week have "a feel" to them.
  • What makes it funnier is that it's actually the same skit dialogue taken right from Seinfield, making it double as a genuine Shout-Out.
• Sequel Hook: Zero Hour ends with the always-classic "OR IS IT?" closing screen as the rebooted Goblin and Harley show up to the prime Stan's Place universe. Before that, however, it ends with Deadpool musing over the Plan Q dossier that he knows someone who could use it. It isn't made particularly clear whether he's referring to prime!Harley (who crossed over to be with Goblin in the rebooted universe) or some other person who may appear in Season 4, which is currently not even in production.
• Series Fauxnale: "Infinity War vs Justice League," where the DC side gets fed up with all the vitriol towards their cinematic universe and the animosity that results from the sides comparing notes, fully conceding that Marvel has won the war. Both teams then decide to go see Infinity War. Not to comment or snark on it, but to just hang out. As if to drive this point home, Spider-Man tells a bar patron that Stan's Bar is closed and turns off the lights... then Deadpool reveals that he has a plan to get everyone back to complaining about each other and the video ends with a tease for "Rorschach and Deadpool #3".
• Serious Business: At least as how Iron Man imagined it, The Dark Knight was so good it made Jesus want to see it.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Professor Xavier has it.
  Green Lantern "The hell?"
  • Also Dr. Manhattan.
  Wolverine: "Wow, who wouldn't pay to see that for 3 hours?"
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Logan tries to rewrite history to prevent Bryan Singer leaving the X-Men franchise. Superman points out that they spent the whole first season trying to stop Luthor from meddling with time, but Logan says it's okay for them to do it because they're the good guys. Naturally, they end up undoing all their changes anyway.
• Ship Tease: Batman/Wonder Woman in the Mastercard commercial parody and the "Sh*it Batman Says" video.
• Shooting Superman: Hilariously lampshaded with Rorschach realizing in annoyance that shooting Deadpool is essentially pointless.
  Rorschach: You don't die, do you?
  Deadpool: Nope!
  • A variant of this is used with Wolverine, who finds out that even with adamantium claws, Stabbing Superman isn't going to work.
  Superman: It's OK Logan, I've got you.
  Wolverine: Oh, you've got me, eh? * claws pop out* Guess who's got you!
  Superman: I wouldn't do that if I were you.
  Wolverine: Oh you wouldn't eh? Well-* clanging sound is heard offscreen* DAAHHH!!! SONUVA-
• Shout-Out: Moved to its own page, there are so many.
• Snacksploitation: Nightwing is enraged about having to pay $42.50 for a box of Reese’s, small popcorn, and medium drink at the theater. However he calms down when he’s told he can upgrade his drink to large for only 50 cents more.
• Shut Up, Kirk!: While the Green Goblin is not exactly a hero, he might as well be when he was lecturing the Joker on why he shouldn't turn every superhero to be like Batman. The latter simply electrocuted the former in the middle of his speech.
• Spin-Off: The Rorschach & Deadpool sitcom.
• Spoof Aesop: If you watch the Wolverine workprint before the film is released, Matthew McConhaughey and his crappy romantic comedy will win.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight when it turns out the heroes would've hated the Wolverine movie.
• Stealth Pun: Pointed out by Deadpool.
  Deadpool: He was a douche and now he's in a bag? Come on, people, the jokes practically write themselves!
• The Stinger: At the end of each season of After Hours / Happy Hours. First season : The Joker comments and laughs at the failure of Luthor's plan. Second season : the Joker teleports on Apokolips and gets captured by Darkseid, who shows great interest in Stan's Place...
• Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion: In Deadpool's song about why he's better than Green Lantern:
  I'm sure that his power ring's a lot of fun/ but can it ever really be as cool as my M16 with laser sided scope oh my GOD I love this thing.
• Suicide as Comedy: The Green Goblin attempts to hang himself in the Spider-Man reboot video over dispair over Willam Dafoe. He survives due to a combination of his enhanced physiology and being the Ensemble Dark Horse.
• Surveillance as the Plot Demands: Luthor does this a lot. Lampshaded in Zero Hour #2 when Iron Man and Goblin are watching live feed of the heroes from Luthor's laptop:
  Iron Man: How many cameras do you have?
  Green Goblin: What, did you buy out Google Earth?
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Lampshaded and parodied in the prelude to Season 3 with Lars M. Dusseldorf, aka "Euro-Lance"
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: In the Deadpool and Green Lantern segment, Deadpool's call number for his advertisement: 1-800-DEADPOO is immediately followed by: "Because Deadpool has one too many letters. Seriously! We're not trying to be juvenile. It just turned out that way! Boom."
• Take My Hand!: Happens in Happy Hour #5 — First between Spidey and Harley, then Batman and Spidey.
  • The whole scene in fact is a Homage to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
• Take That!: The whole thing started as a Take That! against the business decisions the makers of the DC movies were making, what with the cancellations of The Flash and Wonder Woman movies.
  • Deadpool beating on the head of the Wolverine: Origins movie. Then beating it some more. Then stomping on it. Then shooting it.
  Deadpool: [mutters to self] Tell me to shut up...
  • Superman delivers one against One More Day after discovering the truth:
  Superman: "He sold his marriage to the Devil? My God, that's so... lame."
  • "♪ But if they write a teen vampire into your reboot, * bzzap* stay the HELL away from me, and my CONTINUITY! ♫"
  • The second Happy New Year video had a big one towards Superior Spider Man, with Mephisto himself saying that it's messed up.
  • There's this gem from the "Hulk and Batman" video directed at the Batman & Robin soundtrack.
  Hulk: Oh, Hulk sorry. Hulk just listening to R. Kelly sing about how peaceful Gotham City is.
  • The "Ten Years Later" video is especially venomous to the way things have been going in the superhero movie genre as of 2017:
    • Spider-Man applauds the notion of "Wonder Woman 2: Now with less Brett Ratner."
    • The abundance of Batman films is given more precedence than the other planned DC films, with special hesitation towards the Martin Scorsese ^note Scorsese has since dropped out of officially producing the movie mid-production Joker film.
    • invokedSuperman implies that DC is in such shambles that they've made a very expensive job offer to Kevin Feige to jump ship to them and help kickstart the projects that are infamously in Development Hell.
    • Superman accuses Disney of trying to start a monopoly on superhero movies when Spidey mentions they might purchase the rights to the X-Men or just the entirety of Fox.
    • Spidey compares Sony's attempts at making spin-offs for his movies to a relative who has dementia and needs encouragement.
    • There's also a backlash towards the insane amount of movies Marvel is pumping out; specifically, 22 films as of the Infinity War sequel, with who knows how many more to follow.
    • Along with a Take That! towards the pointless attempts at hiding Superman's resurrection in Justice League (2017), Batman tells Superman that he's worse at keeping secrets than Rotten Tomatoes. ^note Rotten Tomatoes controversially withheld their score for Justice League a day before release.
  • "Spider-Verse vs Aquaman" takes aim at several other movies. Holmes & Watson in particular is compared to 90 minutes of someone punching Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's corpse.
• Tempting Fate: The Season 3 Promo, where Superman asks what the odds are of another catastrophe happening as seen in the previous two seasons.
• That Came Out Wrong: Shortly after the heroes meet Lars.
  Spider-Man: So, you finally went and changed your douche. Good Lord, that came out horribly.
  • From "Deadpool and Green Lantern":
  Deadpool: I'm a Marvel, He's a DC / But you're the only one who's ever been inside of me... as a character.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: There have been 2 prominent ones in the After Hours and Happy Hour segments.
  • The first where Lex Luthor taunts Superman about how inspirational heroes like him are irrelevant due to the Marvel heroes people can relate to.
  • The second is a mock salute to Batman by The Joker about making most of the heroes on earth Darker and Edgier in order to make them Brainwashed and Crazy while working for him.
    • Although this one is later turned back on the Joker by Green Goblin, when he points out at length how very stupid and tedious this idea is. He starts to lose it a bit when he begins rambling about snowflakes, though.
• Share Phrase: "Hi, I'm a Marvel" "And I'm a DC". Other characters have their own interpretation, with Batman merely stating "I'm Batman", Hulk saying "Hulk Marvel", and Rorschach going "(hrmm)...DC". It didn't work out with Hellboy, who was, by his own words, "Independently owned by [his] creator who distributes his work through Dark Horse". Also, with Iron Monger and the Joker: "Hi, I'm a Marvel." "And I'm the Joker."
• Theme Song: Parodied with Rorschach And Deadpool
  • Along with Rorschach And Wolverine later on.
  • Played straight at the end of Happy Hour #2 when the BTAS Batman theme plays while Batman kicks superhero butt.
• This Is the Part Where...: Darkseid says this before revealing his plans.
• Those Two Guys: Professor X and Magneto, they both always played cards or board games in the hero bar. Despite the fact that Magneto is a villain.
• Time for Plan B: The Joker invokes Plan Q when Lance tells him that it's one that can teleport him out of harms way. It teleports him right into Darkseid's hands. Plan Q blows, apparently.
• Time Marches On: A few of the earlier videos suffer from this when the characters make jokes about upcoming movies that later turn out differently than people expected they would. In one of the Batman vs. Iron Man videos, for example, Batman quips that Iron Man shouldn't be expecting any tie-in deals from Panda Express, since his movie features him beating up a diabolical Chinese mastermind named "The Mandarin" (at the time, Marvel had announced that the Mandarin would be the villain of Iron Man 2).
  • Now that the Mandarin has been announced as the villain for Iron Man 3, the above quip is no longer outdated, if suspiciously far-sighted.
  • Also the line "If Marvel and Edward Norton simply can't agree, we'll see Bruce Banner being played by David Duchovny" from the 100th episode musical. We wound up actually seeing Bruce Banner being played by Mark Ruffalo.
  • Getting back to the first Iron Man/Batman video, Tony states "Of course, if I had lost my parents like you did, I might have grown a conscience much earlier." Bruce responds " And it would be nice to have my parents around and still be a hero." This is before we all saw the Iron Man movie and learned that Howard and Maria Stark died in Tony's youth. (Random Guy might possibly have been referencing the 2007 Invincible Iron Man animated film, in which Howard Stark was alive and well.)
  • And then there's the first one just a few videos in, where Spider-Man talks about his upcoming third film having three villains as if that's a good thing. This is pointed out in the commentary.
  • Deadpool made his first appearance based on pre-release information on X-Men Origins: Wolverine that he would make an appearance. This turned out to be only technically true, but the red suit-wearing Merc With The Mouth version remained a rotating member of the cast long before his movie saw the light of day. Why? Because he's Deadpool, that's why.
• Time Travel: Lex Luthor's plan in Season One of "After Hours" centers on this.
  • Time Travel also shows up in season 3: Lance's head is from the future.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: An In-Universe example, as provided by the Green Goblin. He states that if all heroes were to be as dark as Batman, not only would the heroes lose what makes them interesting, since there is no Lighter and Softer heroes for contrast, comics would get so depressing that the audience might as well kill themselves.
• Training Montage: The last Batman vs. Iron Man video.
• Tranquil Fury - Darkseid, after Joker tells him to his face he's just a meaningless comic book villain, and howling with laughter to his face.
  "That's. Not. Funny."
  • The Thing is in a perpetually silent state of this after Fantastic Four (2015) came out. Constant", as in long after his video came out.''
  Batman:(clears throat)
  (Beat)
  Superman: I heard the catering on your movie was really g-
  Ben: Just. Get. Out.
• Universal-Adaptor Cast: At times the heroes appear in versions of the blockbusters in theatres (caused by spiked milkshakes): Wolverine/Rorschach in Terminator Salvation, Deadpool/Green Goblin/Sabretooth in The Hangover Part II, Spider-Man as Capt. Kirk and Harry Potter, and Deadpool as Jack Sparrow and Capt. Aldo Raine (though the Skrull leader eventually stars in his own District 9). Variants are an Avengers trailer starring the Justice League, and Jonah Hex with the Toy Story cast.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Batman and Superman.
  Spider-Man: "Wow. Supes must mean a lot to you for you to go all this trouble to find him."
  Batman: " 'Supes' is a heastrong, naive idiot without the least bit of common sense for these situations."
  (Spider-Man laughs)
  Batman: "But only I'm allowed to say that."
• The Voice: Harry Osborn has only appeared as an off-screen voice during Goblin Bloggin segments and an episode of Zero Hour.
• We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties:
  • Parodied in the first Jonah Hex video, where Iron Man is about to explain what happened to Rhodey's first actor, but the video cuts to a screen with the message "Whoops! Technical Difficulties." Turns out Iron Man didn't actually tell Jonah what happened, and instead just stood there for a few seconds while the Technical Difficulties screen popped up before saying "That's why!"
  • Then Lampshaded by Hex.
  Hex: But all you did was just stand there for a few seconds and then say "that's why."
  • This became a Running Gag regarding the "allegations" surrounding Bryan Singer. Any time he's mentioned, the technical difficulties sign appears, followed closely by lawyers (even if they're in another dimension).
• We Meet Again: "Eh, Bruce? Except this time, I'm not alone!"
• Wham Episode:
  • The second Avengers vs Justice League. The two factions decide not to contribute to the rivalry between their fandoms with their videos anymore and depart on fairly peaceful terms...except Deadpool isn't having any of it. Cue Rorschach and Deadpool 3!
  • "Meanwhile... The Ultimatum" sees Lex managing to restart the arguing... by threatening to destroy Stan's Place unless it doesn't... except it appears to be moot as a temporal anomaly starts up, resulting in a restructuring of the timeline.
  • Rorschach & Deadpool #7. Past!Rorschach's decision to show 60s!Superman and Spider-Man what comparing themselves against each other will result in^note specifically, showing them a montage of clips and comments from past videos winds up severely breaking the timeline... by making Superman and Spider-Man decide it ain't worth it, and leaving each other alone.
  • "Meanwhile...Fixing The Past": The Question is revealed to not be Vic Sage, but rather a version of Past!Rorschach attempting to atone for erasing Stan's Place from existence.
• Wham Line:
  • At the beginning of Zero Hour #6, Joe Polachi gets one.
    Joe: Now that's comedy. Hail Darkseid.
  • "Avengers: Infinity War vs Justice League"
    Superman: Guys, I think it's time we called it. Congratulations. You've won.
  • The ending of Rorschach and Deadpool #10, which doubles as one In-Universe for the man in question.
    Deadpool: There's only one man who can help me!
    Green Goblin: (is watching this scene on his computer) (leaps up from his chair; gasps) Oh, no.
  • "Meanwhile… Fixing The Past" ends on a particularly big bombshell from The Question... sort of.
    The Question: I'm afraid I have a confession to make to all of you. I'm not actually from an alternate reality. I'm not Vic Sage, I'm not the Question. My name (drops the accent) is Walter Kovacs, and I've been trying to atone for this man's sins for as long as I can remember.
• What You Are in the Dark : Happens to Superman in After Hours.
• Whole-Plot Reference: A few of those caused by spiked milkshakes. At times it's whole trailer reference, such as recreating the one of Jonah Hex (2010) with Toy Story characters.
• World of Snark: It started with disputes. And one-liners continue to permeate the series.
• You Are Not Alone: Invoked in the ending of "Happy Hour" when Spider-man explains that he can't let go of Lance's head because he's not as strong or dedicated as Batman and that he's all alone. Batman promptly shows him that he is not.
• You Remind Me of X: Parodied when Wolverine and The Comedian are talking.
  Wolverine: Except I've got ethics, and I'm not a sociopath... or a rapist... you know what, maybe you remind me of someone else...
• Your Head A-Splode: Lance's head blows off his body in Happy Hour #5.
• You Are Worth Hell: Harley Quinn chooses to join the Green Goblin in the rebooted universe rather than stay with the Joker at the end of Zero Hour

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