Reality Ensues/Surprisingly Realistic Outcome cleanup

• In one episode, Francine fakes a kidnapping of Roger to prove that Stan really cares for him. Stan reveals at the very end of the night that he knew the whole time since he has Caller ID, and Francine foolishly called Stan on her own cell phone. Probably not an outcome if it's just a character pointing something out after it's already happened
• In the B-plot of "The Life Aquatic with Steve Smith", Stan and Roger realize that having a boat is a waste of time and money, since neither of them are experienced at maintaining and sailing a boat. Also, when Roger discovers that the life jackets have cocaine in them, he excitedly asks Stan if he knows what this means. The comedic version of this would have Stan and Roger team up as cocaine dealers who sell the stuff to pay off the boat. However, since Stan is a CIA agent and has dealt with drug smuggling busts, he immediately places Roger under arrest for intent to sell cocaine. The first part is just Plot Happening. The second one is just a normal Bait-and-Switch.
• In "Persona Assistant", Stan, after his half-hearted attempts to keep up the ailing Roger's personas results in the whole town falling into chaos, is convinced to use Roger's most evil persona, Ricky Spanish, to restore order. He succeeds, but ends up being overwhelmed by the inherent evil of the Ricky persona. The recovered Roger steps in, confronting "Ricky" with the only persona that can match him: Jeannie Gold, wedding planner. The two opponents charge at each other, seemingly on the verge of an epic confrontation... only for the bigger, stronger Stan to knock Roger down with a single punch. Roger is an alien, so Stan being stronger than him is Too Fantastical. Also fits better as an example of Anticlimax.
• In "Enter Stanman", Stan tries to cut his steak, but inadvertently cuts his finger in the process. Seconds later, he ends up passing out from blood loss. Probably not surprising. If a character cuts themselves, the expected outcome is for something to happen from it.
• In "A Piñata Named Desire" Stan and Roger are playing lead roles in a play in order to prove who's the better actor. When it comes time for their characters to kiss, they go off script and escalate their actions out of sheer pettiness, to the point that it ends with Stan and Roger's characters having sex in front of a live audience. The audience members are grossed out and Stan and Roger are arrested for public indecency. Character reaction
• In "The People vs. Martin Sugar", Stan tries to have Roger arrested so that he can finally be held accountable for his misdeeds and when all else fails, he takes matters into his own hands and tries to personally arrest Roger, but does this by knocking out a Marshal, stealing his clothes and impersonating him, thus becoming a vigilante. When he finally corners Roger, Stan is arrested. Stan may have been trying to rightfully make Roger be held accountable, but he broke many laws when doing so^note  Course in true reality if it became known Stan knew Roger, he’d have been removed from the jury pool as it provides a bias that could compromise what’s supposed to be a fair trial. Probably not surprising. This doesn't seem like the kind of show where the main characters would just succeed at their goal for the episode with zero issues.
• "Crystal Clear" shows the reality of dealing with a Loan Shark. After Stan and Roger blow the money they owed Mike Donkey, a loan shark, on a giant crystal, Roger offers it to him as compensation believing it to be a Power Crystal giving off good vibes; given they relied on crystals to win more than enough money to pay back Mike, and claim they can do it again ten times over. Mike and his goons simply break Steve's legs as they stated in their loan terms and leave. Mike even states that he never really had to go the route of physical violence before since most of his victims are smart enough to pay him back. Same as above. If this worked, it wouldn't be as funny/interesting for the plot, so something going wrong with this deal would be the expected outcome.

• "Little Old Slappy from Pasadena" had Slappy Squirrel race her car through town at an enormous speed, causing indirect inconvenience to some of the passersby. At the end of the short, Slappy ends up arrested for exceeding the speed limit, causing collateral damage, and "never taking a lesson in [her] life" (implying that she doesn't have a driver's license). Not sure since I only watched this show decades ago, but if I saw a cartoon about a character causing trouble, my expected outcome would be for them to face consequences or karma at the end, so this might just be Plot Happening
• "Cutie and the Beast": Dot tries to emulate Belle in this Affectionate Parody, which includes insulting all the townsfolk more than Belle did. They all call her annoying and eventually shut her up forcibly to finish the song and shoo the Warners into the woods. Character reaction
• In "Garage Sale Of The Century", Papa Bear is obviously scamming his neighbors and others out of their money by overcharging for crappy and broken items, and refusing to give them refunds. They all end up reporting Papa Bear to the police in order to get their money back. See the Slappy Squirrel example above. Might also fit better under Mundane Solution if it does go against audience expectations, but only because we expect the neighbors to pull some elaborate scheme in revenge instead of just calling the police.
• An early Pinky and the Brain short had the Brain trying to stage an alien invasion a la Orson Welles' famous War of the Worlds radio play. While the people watching the nightly news are shocked at first, the next day the newspaper reveals that everyone was amused by the obvious hoax. Thanks to technology advancing, it's easier to see if a video has been faked unlike when radio was the main form of entertainment. Plot Happens, since the expected outcome for Pinky and the Brain is for the characters' scheme to fail
• In one episode, Brain's plan was to become the most beloved children's television character in the world, then freeze himself and Pinky until his fanbase had become adults and were in positions of power. Once they are, Pinky and the Brain (or "Big Ears" and "Noodle Noggin" as they had dubbed themselves) would have their fans help them take over the world. At the height of their popularity, Brain announced that they were leaving the show, shocking all their fans. They then freeze themselves until the appointed time as planned, go to a broadcasting station, and summon their now-adult fans to come to them. Their fans come to them alright... and they're mad at them for leaving when they did, as it seems that doing so traumatized their fans and caused them to develop some deep emotional scars that have affected them into adulthood. Their fan base demand that Pinky and the Brain pay for all of their therapy bills, then proceed to chase them. Same as above. Also a character reaction.
• In another episode, Brain planned to become the Arts and Crafts counselor at "Camp Davey", a summer camp for the world leaders' children. He plans to have the world leaders' children make pencil holders embedded with mind control devices that he can use to manipulate the world leaders into making him ruler of the world. When they get there, Brain finds he's stuck at the bottom of the chain of command since he just showed up. Brain decides to eliminate all the counselors ranked above him one by one. However, by the time he's ready to become the Arts and Crafts counselor, it's time for the world leaders' children to go home. Brain leaves the camp with Pinky, disappointed that he couldn't implement his plan. On his way out, however, he runs into all the former counselors he eliminated, who proceed to chase after him and Pinky. Same the other two, this is just Plot Happening.
• In another episode, Brain hatches an elaborate plan to break into Fort Knox and steal the gold located there. While they do manage to get in, gold is very heavy and they're both mice. They can't pick up a single gold bar. Might fit better under Didn't Think This Through, since this depends on the characters being mice with human intelligence, which is Too Fantastical
• There are two examples in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo Clock" when Slappy suffers a nervous breakdown and Skippy is forced to commit her to a nursing home and take over the household chores
  • Skippy tries taking care of Slappy and doing all the chores in the house. This leads to him Asleep in Class, where he wakes up in a flurry. To a lesser extent, his teacher notices that a good student is exhausted and stressed while rambling about how things are at home. She calls foster care services to make sure nothing is wrong and that Skippy is safe. What's surprising about this?
  • When a social worker comes, Skippy attempts to lie that Slappy of course is at home, she's just busy after calling for her. (Slappy is in a retirement home/mental hospital.) In a regular cartoon, this would work. The lady gives him a cynical look as if she's heard this story before from kids trying to protect their guardians, besides which she was there earlier and could clearly see no one was in the house. Then she says she's taking him into foster care, ignoring his protests, because it's dangerous for him to live alone. Maybe, since this one does mention an Expected Unrealistic Outcome, which would be the social worker falling for Skippy's Blatant Lies

• In Marvel Team-Up #20, Stegron knocks Spider-Man unconscious and hurls him off an airship. Black Panther catches him by swinging from the Quinjet, but notes that had his timing been off by even a fraction of a second, Spidey's momentum likely would've killed them both. Too fantastical.
• One Spidey issue had the Vulture try to rob the Daily Bugle. However, he finds that their safe is full of paychecks, and the actual money is in the bank. Valid, but requires expansion.
• During one story arc in the 60s, Spider-Man had chickened out of a fight between him and the Green Goblin; unbeknownst to everyone, what really happened was that Peter heard a phone call that Aunt May had a heart attack, so he rushed to check on her and proceed to take care of her, as well as limiting his outings as Spider-Man and avoiding fights. This leads Spider-Man to lose the trust of the public and have his already poor reputation get worse. Flash Thompson, the only person still rooting for Spidey, attempts to help Spider-Man look good by stopping some car thieves in a cheap Spider-Man costume. However, Flash is a teenager, a very fit, athletic teenager, but nonetheless weaker than the adults who outnumber him and proceed to beat his ass if not for the intervention of some police officers. Not surprising, no character reactions.
• Also in "Back in Black" storyline, once Peter learns that The Kingpin is the one who hired the assassin that shot his aunt, he goes straight to the prison where the Kingpin is, but the Kingpin already expected that and is prepared to challenge Spider-Man in combat. While the Kingpin has faced Spider-Man before and often battled him to a draw, the problem is that Spidey always holds back in fear of accidentally killing him, but this time, he doesn't! The result: Kingpin is quickly and badly beaten. As it turns out, no matter how skilled hand-to-hand combatant or how strong Kingpin is, challenging someone who is superhumanly strong and agile, has experience in fighting far stronger opponents and is really mad at you can't possibly end well. Too fantastical.
• Because of his superhero activity, Peter Parker has a hard time keeping a regular job or staying current at school, and constantly is hurting for money as a result. Even sales of his photos to the Daily Bugle are subject to the needs of the paper. Peter also has to deal with the emotional stress of being The Un-Favourite in his everyday life and (thanks to J. Jonah Jameson's smear campaign against Spider-Man) as a superhero, as well as caring for his elderly Aunt May (who is vulnerable both because she is old and fragile, and because she is Peter's—and therefore Spider-Man's—closest emotional tie). A lot of Spider-Man's missteps in his early years (bad publicity, failed attempts at networking with other superheroes) are the result of what happens when a young teenager tries to be a superhero without a mentor or anyone else to help him, while also dealing with other stresses mentioned above. Not an outcome.
• Spidey's enemy Sandman has an adoptive daughter named Keemia, who ended up being taken away from him by CPS because of his criminal activities. Evil may have loved ones, but the authorities don't exactly consider the homes of violent criminals to be suitable living conditions for minors. Not surprising.
• During Mark Millar's run, the Vulture manages to capture and unmask Spider-Man. He's instantly outraged to discover that Spider-Man is just some random dude with a generic, untraceable face, rather than a recognizable celebrity like Tony Stark or Steve Rogers. He Lampshades this by saying for all he knows, Spider-Man could just be a gas station employee somewhere. This is also brought up in the first arc of New Avengers after Spidey loses his mask during a massive prison riot. None of the bad guys who see him are actually able to ascertain his identity or track him down, which Peter chalks up to his generic-looking face. Plot happens.
• During one early issue of David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane's run, Spider-Man is visiting Kansas and meets a local man named Wes who has minor super speed powers. While he's used them occasionally to help with minor natural disturbances, Wes has mainly just tried to live a normal, everyday life with his family and not get into any sort of superheroics. Late in the story Spidey's battling a Gadgeteer Genius whose weapons are putting him at a notable disadvantage; he notices Wes in the crowd of onlookers and shouts out for his help. Wes considers it for a moment... but he instead freezes on the spot, terrified at the thought of what could happen, especially if some of the other crowdgoers recognize him, which would ruin any sort of normalcy for him and his family. Even if someone received superpowers, that doesn't automatically mean that they would jump at the call, especially if they have zero experience fighting dangerous supervillains out to kill and have something hi-stakes to lose like their family's safety. No character reactions, too fantastical.
• In his first appearance as the Hobgoblin, Roderick Kingsley initially managed to keep Spider-Man at bay with gadgets and trickery, only for the fight to end when Spidey caused his glider to crash into the street. Despite that rather anticlimactic ending to their battle, Kingsley's injuries were severe enough that he only managed to escape by igniting a gas line, even stating that his body felt like it had just ran a marathon. When next seen a few issues later, he was shown bandaged and still nursing his wounds, demonstrating just how much of a toll the crash had taken on his body. Despite his arsenal of high-tech weapons, Kingsley was still just a normal fashion designer with no superhuman abilities or even any indication he was particularly athletic, which severely limited his effectiveness when it came to facing opponents with actual powers. He wouldn't become a serious threat until he managed to recreate Norman Osborn's Goblin serum, which gave him the power he needed to go toe-to-toe with Spider-Man. Not surprising, plot happens.
• In Kurt Busiek's Amazing Fantasy midquel miniseries, we get to see the first time Peter ever engaged a group of criminals. He ends up panicking and quietly begging that he doesn't want to die, the same way any young teenager getting shot at would react. No character reactions.
• The Daily Bugle has spent years slandering Spidey (and sometimes other heroes), calling him a "menace" despite his heroic deeds, and often accusing him of being responsible for criminal acts (leading to the printing of countless retractions as these claims were ultimately proven wrong). In the 2000s, it was shown that this trend has caused the Bugle's credibility and circulation to suffer greatly, to the point where the paper was in serious financial trouble. This forced Jameson to create The Pulse, a new section dedicated solely to superhero coverage, and later, resulted in the Bugle being bought by one of his business rivals. Plot happens.
• Famously in #12 of Amazing Spider-Man, Peter attempts to fight Doctor Octopus, but he's been infected with a flu virus and has zero strength, which leads to Otto defeating him easily. Super strength may be a great power, but not even that can prevent someone from catching a common sickness. Too fantastical.
• Spider-Man's web shooters' do run out of fluid, usually at the worst possible time. His spider-sense never warns him about this. He carries spare web cartridges in his utility belt, but taking the empty cartridge out and putting a new one in takes time. He also knows he has to reload the other because it's probably almost empty as well. If he uses up all his spare cartridges, it means no webs and he has to do without until he can whip up more web fluid. This was a plot point in the first Secret Wars mini-series. The heroes were on Battleworld so long he ran completely out of webbing. Part of his excitement over getting the new black costume (actually the Venom symbiote) is that it allowed him to shoot webs again. Too fantastical.
• Speaking of the web fluid, when Peter has access to a proper lab with high quality chemicals and equipment, the web fluid is of high quality as well and more versatile. This was easier when he was a high school/college student or when he was a high school teacher. However, if he's broke or doesn't have access to a lab, he can cobble together web fluid in his kitchen with off-the-shelf ingredients (he's joked about making webbing using shaving cream and toothpaste), but the webbing is of lower quality and less versatile. It was during one of these periods that Daredevil commented that his webbing smelled faintly of peanut butter. Too fantastical.
  • Early on in The Amazing Spider-Man, Peter gives Aunt May a blood transfusion. Several issues later, Aunt May ends up in the hospital with radiation sickness from the radioactive particles in Peter's blood. Too fantastical.
• In the "Death of Jean DeWolff" story, Spider-Man gives the Sin-Eater a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown. The next time the Sin-Eater appears, he's a stuttering, limping wreck as a result of the severe injuries he suffered. Adding to Spider-Man's guilt even further, the Sin-Eater's Insanity Defense led to successful psychotherapy, so the Sin-Eater is a genuinely remorseful stuttering, limping wreck... though Spidey got over it when it was clear the evil side tended to pop up when narratively necessary. Too unclear.
• The first incarnation of the Sinister Six, consisting of Dr Octopus, Mysterio, Electro, Kraven, Vulture and Sandman, ended up a complete failure because, since every member was an egomaniacal psychopath, they all refused to actually work together as a team to kill Spider-Man because each one wanted the glory of killing him for themselves, even Octopus who formed the team. Instead of fighting him together, they all fought him one on one like a gauntlet, and failed just like they did the first time they fought him. Later versions of the team at least tried to avoid this. Plot happens, no character reactions.

• The Amazing Spider-Man: A hallmark of this run is events happening as realistically as they could, from Peter being unable to cash a check due to lacking a bank account in Spider-Man's name to buying a crummy Spider-Man costume from a store, which gradually shrinks in the water and during battles. Peter also had to sew his costume himself, as he couldn't go elsewhere for repairs. Not surprising.
• The Night Gwen Stacy Died: Perhaps one of the cruelest examples in comic book history. In any normal Spidey story from the past, a quick webline would probably save anyone from a fall. Here? The sudden stop snaps Gwen's neck. Even if it didn't, the water below would have done the job. Ever since, Spider-Man has made a point of not directly grabbing someone with his webbing to save them, instead using a series of web "canopies" to slow their fall until they can land safely. Valid.
• Untold Tales of Spider-Man: One of Sally Avril's gimmicks when she was trying to be a costumed crime-fighter were capsules filled with chloroform, which she called "ether eggs." If she threw it at someone it would break open and the chloroform was supposed to render them unconscious (How an underage high school student got a supply of chloroform, which is classified as a extremely hazardous substance and therefore highly regulated, is never explained). The first time she tried to use one, the person she threw it at sarcastically told her (correctly) that chloroform evaporates so quickly you have to pour a large quantity on a cloth and hold it over their mouth and nose for several minutes in order for it to cause loss of consciousness. A few panels later, she's getting her ass kicked and Spidey has to save her. Not realistic, given how the example itself acknowledges how they never explain how Sally even got the chloroform.
• The Superior Foes of Spider-Man: This comic is basically the life of C-List supervillains portrayed realistically. They're all complete failures in life and are considered jokes, the group is reduced to robbing convenience stores just to make money, Boomerang gets kicked out of the group the second he starts becoming The Load, and the group is constantly having to tiptoe around the mob. Deconstructed Trope shoehorn.
  • The Dreaded as he may be and putting his military experience to use, The Punisher finds out the hard way that an assault rifle isn't much use next to a guy toting sci-fi weaponry. His 'fight' with Shocker lasts a single panel before Herman blasts him into the horizon in one blast. Too fantastical.
  • Being a speedster, Speed Demon runs off from the final fight to get some chicken the moment he can. Too fantastical.
• Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy: The new Electro has all the powers of the original, but no experience. Spider-Man easily overcomes her in their first encounter by dousing her with water. Too fantastical.
  Spider-Man: See? This is what's nice about having a new Electro... ...You're not used to all the old tricks.
• Nick Spencer's run on Amazing Spider-Man beats Peter with the Reality Stone... er, stick so hard that it feels more like a Take That! to the last run. Deconstructor Fleet shoehorns.
  • In Superior Spider Man Otto-in-Peter's-body is able to convince a man that the thesis he wrote for his doctorate is a-okay because Peter is Otto's protege. When Peter is confronted again, he doesn't have that backing him and since revealing that Otto took over his body would reveal his identity as Spider-Man, he can't explain anything and he's instantly accused of plagiarism.
  • Because of this, Peter is fired from Daily Bugle: the Bugle is already suffering from low sales due to the fact that Everything Is Online, they don't need a scandal on top of it.
  • The Life Foundation sank millions of dollars into preparing for a global catastrophe. As a result, they went bankrupt some time ago. Focusing too much on the future and not enough on the present has a habit of backfiring on you.
  • Just because you turn away from one kind of villainy doesn't mean you're always on the side of angels, as Spidey learns the hard way when Black Cat, despite abandoning her "Queenpin" schtick, is still a thief and still willing to steal things.
  • While Jonah is trying to be supportive to Spider-Man ever since Peter revealed his secret identity to him, Jonah is still a man who is a bit wrapped up in himself. When Peter tries to get him to refuse the award Fisk wants to give him and stop saying Peter supports Fisk, Jonah refuses because this is his time to shine. His relationship with Robbie has also soured because Robbie is no longer listening to his advice on matters regarding the Daily Bugle.
  • As well, years and years of accusing Spider-Man of being a menace comes back to haunt Jonah when he's confronted by the son of Frederick "Big Boss" Foswell and tries to get Jonah to murder Spidey when the time comes.
  • Due to the rise of New Media and the lack of sensationalism that J. Jonah Jameson provided coupled with Peter being discredited, the Daily Bugle is falling under hard times.
  • This also bites Jolly Jonah in the ass as his sensationalism towards Spider-Man being removed means he's losing listeners and his spot on the radio show.
  • Constantly stabbing others in the back will eventually get you in serious trouble as Boomerang is being attacked by the Sinister Syndicate led by his former teammate Beetle and Electro who he had recently betrayed to escape getting imprisoned.
  • Teaming up with someone you barely know how to fight with together will result in you most likely losing as Spider-Man & Boomerang are overwhelmed by the Syndicate and one of Boomerang's weapons accidentally puts Spider-Man to sleep allowing the Syndicate to kidnap Boomerang for Kingpin.

• Spider-Man: Life Story
  • In the comics, Jonah’s involvement with the creation of the Scorpion and Spider-Slayers is ignored and his comeuppance of his involvement with the creation of Scorpion comes up years later in a Hobgoblin story; here Jonah is under investigation by the police. Even if he tried to keep his involvement under wraps during the initial stages of the deal, the police would find out that he was part of the villains’ creations and make him a suspect. Not an outcome.
  • Despite his amnesia, Norman is still a threat to Peter’s personal life. Because of that, Peter calls the police as an anonymous tipper so that Norman can go to jail. Plot happens.
  • Due to the Vietnam War being underway, the topic of whether or not the superhero population should go overseas to fight is brought up rather than ignored like many comics did at the time. By the events of issue #2 we see that Captain America has Taken A Third Option and is trying to save both sides while Tony Stark is fielding a camo'ed up version of his Mk-III Armor to hunt Steve. Not an outcome, too fantastical.
  • When people with extraordinary abilities get involved in war, it tends to make things worse due to escalation. The Vietnam War is still going strong in 1977 due to Cap, Iron Man, and Giant Man’s involvement. Reed also points out the very real and frightening possibility that Hank Pym could get captured and the Viet Công could reverse engineer the Pym Particles for their soldiers. Too fantastical.
  • In the comics, May’s advanced age makes her prone to fainting but is otherwise not commented on in the comics due to the sliding timescale making her not “too” old. Come issue #3 which is set in the 1980’s, May who is still alive is in her 90’s and has a severe case of dementia, a disease that a lot of old people have. Not an outcome.
  • In Spider-Girl and The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows, Mary Jane and Peter have a healthy relationship despite Peter’s commitment to being Spider-Man and raised Mayday and Annie Parker well thanks to Peter giving up the mask due to his injuries in the early part of their childhood. Without a life-changing disability and a direct commitment to retire to raise his child, Peter’s continued commitment to being Spider-Man leaves Mary Jane alone to raise two babies. This coupled with an aging Aunt May who suffers from a severe case of dementia proves it hard for her to manage, not helped by Peter being openly neglectful. The stress causes MJ and Peter to separate, which they did briefly in 616 when she suffered from PTSD after a stalker kidnapped her, a far cry from comics who ignore the strains of marriage coupled with superheroics. No character reactions.
  • By 1984, a 37-year-old Peter has begun feeling his age and slowing down. He cites this as the primary reason he decided to keep using the Symbiote after discovering it was a living creature. Too fantastical.
  • How does the final confrontation between Norman Osborn, who’s well into his seventies or eighties in the 1990s, and Peter Parker end? With a climatic showdown and battle to the death? Nope! It ends when Norman suffers a heart attack from all the strain he puts onto his body with his anger and excitement. Norman isn’t in his prime and can’t be as physical as he was years ago. The most he can do is try and kill Peter with a remote-controlled Goblin Glider which Peter easily dispatches. In the end, Norman Osborn dies from a completely mundane heart attack rather than a dramatic fight with Peter. Anti-Climax shoehorn, not necessarily more realistic.
  • In a world full of superheroes, what happens when the 9/11 terrorist attacks still succeed? Superhumans are immediately drafted by the government for The War on Terror. Too fantastical.
  • When heroes fight against other heroes, the villains tend to take advantage of the opportunity. Issue #6 reveals Doctor Doom did so, managing to take over the world and eliminate many of the divided heroes. Plot happens.
  • If given a choice to steal a superhero's body, a genius supervillain would obviously choose that of a younger and freshly-on-his-prime over that of his aged and worn-up Arch-Enemy. Too fantastical.
• Ultimate Spider-Man has a lot: Having "a lot" of SROs is an oxymoron.
  • In the second arc, Peter is knocked out while trying to take out the Kingpin. Rather than tying him up or killing him, Kingpin has his mask removed to see his face, then has him thrown out a window. This bites Kingpin in the ass later, since he has no idea who Peter Parker is, and so seeing Spider-Man without his mask (and not bothering to take a picture) only leaves him with "white, brown-haired teenager" to go on. Didn't Think This Through shoehorn, plot happens.
  • Kraven the Hunter was featured on a TV show where he hunted and wrestled wild animals with nothing but his wits and bare hands. When arriving in New York, he announces that for the stunning opener of his new season, he intends to enter the urban jungle and murder Spider-Man.... Unfortunately fighting an intelligent human is far different from a wild animal, especially since this version of Kraven has no super-powers. Peter just dodges him for a while before getting fed up and knocking him unconscious with a single punch. Immediately after Kraven is arrested; while he could make threats on his show and possibly protect it under free speech, once he really tried to attack Spidey for utterly no reason it became illegal. Too fantastical.
  • When Peter finally tells Aunt May that he's Spider-Man, she's absolutely furious and kicks him out of the house, all while telling him that he's not her son anymore. It's clear she still loves him and the two later reconcile, but her reaction is probably the same one most people would have upon finding out that someone they trusted has been consistently lying to them for a long period of time about something serious and potentially life-threatening to the entire family. No character reactions.
  • After the Ultimate Clone Saga, Mary Jane is left traumatized and begins having panic attacks. When she later finds out that Norman Osborn (the man who kidnapped her and tried to kill her by throwing her off a bridge) has escaped from prison, she begins screaming and starts running until Peter catches up with her and calms her down. Even though Mary Jane is incredibly brave and always willing to support Peter and do what she can to help save the day, she's still a 15-year-old who has been kidnapped, imperiled and nearly murdered on multiple separate occasions. No character reactions.
  • Likewise, Peter's romantic relationships with MJ and Kitty Pryde often confuse and frustrate him, as he has a hard time dealing with the way they say one thing while meaning something else. Anyone who's had a boyfriend or girlfriend at that age probably remembers that same feeling. No character reactions.
  • Speaking of relationships, Black Cat gets the hots for Spider-Man like in the mainstream universe...until Peter unmasks in front of her and tries to kiss her. She is horrified that Peter is just a teenager, throws up and runs away. No character reactions.
  • During the Ultimate Knights arc, Shang-Chi attempts to infiltrate the Kingpin's criminal syndicate by getting hired as his new bodyguard. Already sensing a possible trap, the first thing Fisk asks Shang-Chi to do is kill a random mook who happens to be standing there, reasoning that someone who actually wants to work for a mob boss should be perfectly fine with murder. Not surprising.
  • A major part of Miles Morales' origin story is that he had a chance to intervene in the final battle between Peter Parker and Norman Osborn, but was too scared to do anything, which resulted in Peter's death. Most untrained 13-year-olds with no crime-fighting experience would probably be similarly terrified by the prospect of fighting a massive supervillain like the Green Goblin. No character reactions.
  • During the final battle between Miles and Venom, the police unload a barrage of gunfire in hopes of stopping the monster, and one of the bullets strikes and kills Rio, Miles' mother. When someone fires a large amount of rounds in a crowded area, bystanders often tend to get hit, unfortunately. Plot happens, not necessarily more realistic.
  • In the 2016 run (which moved to the mainline Marvel Universe due to the events of Secret Wars (2015)), it is revealed that a bunch of dangerous criminals like Lucia Von Bardas and Bombshell's mother Lori were let out of prison after S.H.I.E.L.D.'s collapse. Lori mentions that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s governmental authority meant that it could keep supervillains imprisoned indefinitely without justification, but once the organization went away, the legal system was forced to acknowledge that many of the criminals were being held on flimsy charges or without much evidence. Too fantastical, as it involves laws we don't know because they involve supervillains.

Spider-Man Trilogy

• Spider-Man:
  • Peter spends quite a bit of time coming up with a cool design for a costume... But, given that he's a kid from Queens with no budget for it, the first costume ends up looking rather unimpressive. Valid.
  • A positive sort; Spider-Man has spent several months stopping criminals and saving lives, starting the montage of people thanking him. Jameson attempts to paint Spider-Man as a menace to sell newspapers and seems to succeed with his clickbait titles and the police having a warrant for his arrest. Then the climax happens; New Yorkers can see Spider-Man working hard to save a bunch of children in a cable car as well as an Innocent Bystander woman. The kids shout for Spider-Man to save them, showing they have faith in their hero. The New Yorkers, in the meantime, pick up debris and start pelting Green Goblin so Spider-Man can lower the cable car onto a barge that surges forward to help. Spider-Man is their hero, no matter what any newspaper may say. No character reactions.
• Spider-Man 2
  • Peter gets dismissed from Joe's Pizza due to tardiness being a ground for workplace termination. Plus his failure to make deliveries within the promised timeframe, which releases customers of their obligation to pay, which, in turn, costs his employer both money and further business. As both have been a recurring issue, his firing is completely justifiable. 'Not surprising.
  • The reasons why Peter had to retire from the life of a superhero. Due to his secret life, he had skipped classes, had unfinished schoolwork and was nearly expelled because of it. Being a hero is all well and good, but, you still need to think about supporting yourself in the future or actually getting a job. Deconstructed Trope shoehorn.
  • When Doc Ock shows up to take Spider-Man after he stops the train, the passengers tell him he'll have to go through them. He agrees and immediately shoves them all aside with his super strong robotic arms. As this happens, Spidey appears to have gotten a Heroic Second Wind, however, he's far too exhausted and is knocked out by a single hit to the head. 'Too fantastical.
  • Peter after losing his powers runs into a burning building to save a child. However, without his powers, he is nowhere as heroic as he would've been. He is a lot weaker, needs more than one push to break down a door and nearly dies due to suffocation and breathing in soot (The trope gets slightly zigzagged as, the kid helps him get back up when he nearly falls to his death at one point). Once he is out, he is in very bad shape and hooked to an oxygen mask and coughing. One of the firefighters congratulates him for his bravery, only to be then told by another colleague that at least one more person was still trapped in one of the higher floors, who couldn't make it out. Despite Peter's Heroic Willpower, without his actual super powers, he couldn't save everyone. Not surprising.'
• Spider-Man 3
  • While he is under the symbiote's influence, Peter is right to point out that Eddie Brock is a sleaze by fabricating a photo, and J. Jonah Jameson fires Brock on the spot because faking a photograph is considered outright reprehensible in the news media. Too fantastical.
  • Despite having advanced technology for his weapons, Harry has far-less experience in combat than Peter. He ultimately gets his ass handed to him every time they fight. Not surprising, too fantastical.

The Amazing Spider-Man Series

• Series In General
  • The reboot takes Spider-Man's origin and plays it for realism in a few ways (though keeps the fantastical science side). Too fanstastical.
  • While a science nerd, Peter is shown to have a number of interests besides science; while this made people accuse him of not being a nerd, it made him a far more realistic depiction of what a socially awkward teenager would look and act like. No character reactions.
• The Amazing Spider-Man
  • After getting his superpowers, Peter struggles at first to operate and control them; his newfound strength causes him to repeatedly break anything he touches and he's constantly breaking things accidentally, he keeps getting stuck to things, and his newfound extrasensory abilities freak him out. Like Man of Steel, it's clear that this isn't something you just immediately understand, and he's understandably a nervous wreck after they kick in. On top of that, the sudden biological change burns up his metabolism, making him incredibly hungry when he gets home. Too fantastical.
  • When Uncle Ben is killed, Peter doesn't learn instantly that Great Power Comes Great Responsibility, he just gets pissed and wants revenge. He spends the whole film coming to terms with Uncle Ben's death, but its not until George Stacy points out that vigilantism isn't very responsible that Peter realizes he has to be more than just a guy chasing down criminals. No character reactions.
  • As well as that, the NYPD are not useless. When Peter first brushes with the cops, they nearly take him in for ruining a sting on a car theft ring that cost a lot of time and money to set up, and when the police manage to confront him, he gets taken down by the shooters and is nearly arrested until he manages to Curb-Stomp Battle the ground officers. When he escapes, the shooters manage to land a hit on him and he's left nursing a horrible leg wound for the rest of the climax. And when given the chance, they nearly took down the Lizard without Spider-Man's help until his Healing Factor combined with a second wind allowed him to get the drop on them. Too fantastical, Deconstructed Trope shoehorn.
• The Amazing Spider Man 2: Rise Of Electro
  • When Electro makes his way to Times Square, it catches the eye of a street cop. Instead of trying to be a lone hero, he immediately and discreetly requests backup and SWAT support and begins to usher bystanders to the side and out of the way until he can clear a line of sight between himself and Electro. Valid.
  • When Peter goes to reconcile with Gwen, he slowly walks across the road with soft music playing in the background in a classic romantic scene, while cars suddenly stop to avoid hitting him with brakes screeching and a motorist yelling "Hey moron, get out of the road". Valid.
  • Gwen's death. No matter how Badass Normal they are, if an unarmed young woman is caught in the middle of a fight between two superhumans, one of them completely insane, in an old and structurally unsound clocktower, they are going to get killed. Too fantastical.

MCU Spider-Man Trilogy

• Spider-Man: Homecoming These were already all deemed invalid when we cut SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome.Marvel Cinematic Universe.
  • Since Peter is the rare figure who has a Secret Identity in the MCU, we see the consequences of trying to maintain it, especially for a young kid living with his guardian. Peter's constant lies and excuses, skipping classes, and ignoring his aunt, makes May worried sick and leads to the school putting him in detention, while also earning him scorn among his fellow students since he bails on them during an important competition.
  • Peter goes to a party in the suburbs. Duty calls, and he leaps into action... but he has trouble finding buildings to swing from... because this is Queens, where the only high-rises are near the East River.
  • The Captain America PSAs videos show bureaucratic inertia in action. As the coach points out, he's "pretty sure this guy's a war criminal now but... whatever. I have to show these videos, it's required by the state."
• Spider-Man: Far From Home These were already all deemed invalid when we cut SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome.Marvel Cinematic Universe.
  • With all the time that MJ spends spying on Peter, she would notice all the times he disappears without providing a decent explanation as to why, especially since he and Spider-Man are somehow never in the same place at the same time. Adrian Toomes figured it out in the span of one conversation, small wonder that an intelligent girl with a crush on Peter realizes it long before the movie actually begins.
    MJ: I mean...It was kind of obvious.
  • Peter Parker himself is his own worst enemy when it comes to this. Yes, he wears a mask, but not only does he speak in his regular voice, he talks a mile a minute, cannot shut up to save his life, is a horrible liar, and has the worlds worst poker face. Therefore, it is not difficult for several people to figure out his secret identity.
  • MJ has no superpowers and is completely unfamiliar with the physics of web-slinging. She's absolutely terrified when Spider-Man swings around the city with her in his arms, and once they're back on the ground, she plainly tells him that she never wants to do that again. Also serves as a Meta Twist, as other adaptations of Spider-Man often have him swinging his current love interest around the city while the girl simply looks around in amazement.
  • When half the world's population randomly disappears and is then brought back years later, things will have changed. Aunt May, for instance, apparently had to find a new home after a new family moved in after the Blip, and there's a large charity foundation dedicated to helping people displaced by the Blip to find new places to live, which May apparently works for. The world is also thrown into a decent bit of confusion by people disappearing, then coming back five years later virtually unchanged. Older siblings are now younger siblings, school years for those that were Blipped have to start over so that people can catch up, and various rules have to be set in place because people that should be one age aren't.
  • In the final fight, the guy responsible for Mysterio's dramatic battle dialogue feeds him a clunky and vague Techno Babble explanation on how the Elementals have returned and fused into one. It doesn't fool "Nick Fury" for a moment.
    Fury: See, now that's some bullshit.
  • The Daily Bugle is seen as a controversial news outlet due to how modern day life reacts to sensationalist news media.
  • One of the online Daily Bugle announcement videos mentions how, in the wake of Spider-Man being accused of perpetrating the attack on London, the British Government is naturally extremely pissed off and demanding that the United States provide financial compensation for the damage done to the city.
• Spider-Man: No Way Home Regulas 314 already analyzed these above.
  • Peter is quickly cleared of any charges regarding Mysterio's death; as Matt Murdock points out, there was no actual evidence implicating Peter beyond a (doctored) video clip. However, while Peter may not be in any legal trouble, the court of public opinion is another story; several people, including one of Peter's own teachers, believe Mysterio's claims of Spider-Man's villainy, Peter's friends and loved ones are all affected by their association with him, with May and Peter being harassed by Mysterio's supporters, and MIT explicitly rejecting their applications due to the controversy.
  • A particularly tragic example: after being hit by the Goblin Glider, Aunt May gets up and says that she just got a Tap on the Head and she's fine — which is usually the case for fictional characters in that situation. A minute later, she collapses and Peter sees that she was stabbed through the stomach by the glider's blades, which kills her.
  • Despite being brought to the MCU's universe just like the villains and other Spider-Men, Eddie Brock and Venom play no part in the main story; unlike the other extradimensional characters, who all appeared in New York, Eddie and Venom were in Mexico, and by the time the crisis is resolved, they've just barely made sense of their new surroundings and had no time to get to New York.
  • Having only fought as solo heroes, Maguire!Peter and Garfield!Peter are uncoordinated and initially ineffective fighting together against the combined villains in the climactic battle. It takes Holland!Peter, who actually has experience working with a team, to get them all on the same page and work as a cohesive unit. And since none of the villains have any experience with teamwork, this is very effective.
  • When he needs to get them to trust him, Holland!Peter brings up to the other two that he was an Avenger. But since they're both from universes without that team, they have no idea what he's talking about and think it's a rock band.
  • Tobey's Peter and Andrew's Peter are implied to be the same age as their actors during filming: mid-40's for Tobey Maguire and late-30's for Andrew Garfield. As such, they briefly commiserate about getting older and superheroing taking a toll on their bodies. Tobey's Peter complains about his sore back, which Andrew's Peter cracks for him then says he's starting to get that himself. There's a reason gymnasts and dancers in the real world tend to retire young.
  • Dr. Strange admits to Peter that he's no longer Sorcerer Supreme. Since he died in the Blip and nobody knew if, when, or how the Blipped people would return, the title had to go to someone else and Wong was the next best candidate. And even though Strange was brought back to life with the rest of Thanos' victims, Wong had every right to keep the title because by that point he had been Sorcerer Supreme for five years, longer than Strange's own tenure. This would explain their strained relationship in the movie.

Other Sony Movies

• Venom (2018)
  • Eddie sees Mrs. Chen being forced to pay a protection racketeer under gunpoint, but does nothing because he knows what exactly will happen. Aside from that, whereas some Marvel characters would try to 'play hero' (the whole thing comes across as a Take That! to "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer"), Eddie's approach (staying out of it) is more pragmatic. It's only after Eddie has Venom to back him up that he does get involved so the odds are more in his favor. Not surprising.
    • Also after said racketeer gets threatened to be eaten by Venom, he is understandably terrified enough not to run away but this gives Venom to the opportunity to make good the threat and devour him. It turns out that not running from someone who is threatening to kill you isn't a good idea either. What an idiot indeed. Captain Obvious.
  • While interviewing Drake, Eddie makes serious accusations against him and won't reveal his source or any other evidence. Eddie ends up being fired and unable to find another job as a journalist, implying that Drake used his money and power to get Eddie blacklisted. Additionally, Eddie already had one strike on his journalistic integrity record (whatever "The Daily Globe Incident" was), so Drake probably didn't have to try too hard to render Eddie unemployable in the media industry. And since his accusations referred to confidential info, it's easy to find out who "leaked" this to Eddie, which gets his fiancée fired, she then calls off their engagement and refuses to get back together with him. Not surprising.
  • Eddie manages to be silent and discreet while in the Life Foundation Labs, but when he sees his friend Maria being one of the captives, he loses it and smashes down the door of her cell, like anyone would would in that situation, especially someone as impulsive and emotional as Eddie. No character reactions.
  • After bonding with the symbiote, Eddie begins ravenously eating any available food in his apartment, including frozen tater tots and rotten chicken straight from the bin. Naturally, he pukes everything out. Just because he became a host to a Big Eater entity doesn't mean he can (and/or wants to) eat or stomach everything.
  • Despite the scene Eddie makes at the restaurant, Dan is more concerned about his condition like any doctor would be and runs some medical tests on him afterwards. Not surprising.
  • After the chaos Venom causes during the chase, he is attacked by the police. Not surprising.
  • When Treece holds Eddie (this time without the symbiote) at gun point, Eddie makes a desperate attempt to grab Treece's gun, only to be quickly overpowered. Just as should happen when a journalist (no matter how fit) tries to fight an overtrained security guy. Not surprising.
    Eddie: Guess it pays to be a specialist.
  • Bereft of their symbiotes, Drake resorts to a regular fistfight to try and stop Eddie. Drake, the reedy scientist with no established workout or physical training regimen, loses very quickly to Eddie, who has at least fifty pounds on him and weight equipment at home, implying he at least works out regularly. Not surprising.
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
  • Miles manages to login to a computer with the information he and Peter need, only to find that the files are so disorganized that it would take a long time to find the right one. Miles decides to just steal both the computer and the monitor so they can search through it later. During the ensuing chase scene, Peter points out that they don't need the monitor and tosses it aside. Plot happens.
  • Miles is excited for Peter to teach him how to web-swing out to the Alchemax Lab campus. Peter just laughs and instead they take the bus. As Peter points out, it's wasted effort to web-swing from the city out to the Hudson Valley, when taking the bus is easier and allows them to conserve energy.^note It is 107 miles from Brooklyn to Hudson Valley, NY. Not an outcome.
  • In a deleted scene for the movie, Tombstone confronts the Spiders trying to get into the Spider-Man themed gala in full costume. When out of earshot, he immediately tells his superiors that they snuck in, noting how stupid it would be to fall for that. Deleted scenes aren't allowed.
  • Peter B. Parker's breakdown shows the result of an an experienced hero who gets knocked down one too many times and no longer has the strength of will to keep getting back up. After a series of injuries, financial misfortunes and growing marital tension, Peter B is hit hard by two emotional tragedies that knock him to the ground; the death of his Aunt May and his divorce from Mary Jane when she wanted kids. He is unable to get back up from these blows and declines into a jaded mindset, a burnt-out work ethic, and a pizza-fueled potbelly. No character reactions.
    • Which you might expect would make him a complete failure in the field ... but he still has super powers and years of experience. He's repeatedly shown to still be a competent hero, and is able to give Miles some genuinely helpful or practical tips. Not an outcome.
• Venom: Let There Be Carnage
  • When Venom tries to make Eddie breakfast while listening and singing to a song, and mixing a brunch random ingredients together, it ends up looking like an inedible mess. Not surprising.
  • Turns out it's not so easy to get away with being a lethal protector; all the insane things that happened in Eddie's general vicinity in the previous film (not to mention the pile of dead bodies) have left him under deep suspicion by at least Mulligan in the police before Cletus even escapes. The events of this film force him to flee the city entirely after Carnage's very public rampage and defeat leaves the police looking for Venom too. Plot happens, not an outcome.

• Spider-Man (PS4)
  • What happens when you're in Perpetual Poverty and regularly fail to pay your rent on time? You get evicted from your apartment, as Peter learns the hard way. Not surprising.
  • The prologue ends with Spider-Man putting away his longtime Arch-Enemy, mob boss Wilson Fisk. Do things get easier from now on with crimes going down? No, putting away one of the largest crime bosses results in an Evil Power Vacuum with several gangsters and criminals going wild to take his place and/or take whatever Fisk has left. Likewise, putting Fisk away doesn't automatically put a stop to his operations, as several quests involve going after several of his followers trying to continue Fisk's heists and businesses or trying to release him. Plot happens.
  • Miles attempts to sneakily K.O. a Demon, only to be quickly disarmed and grounded. Since the Demons are professional terrorists that can take on international mercenaries and Miles is a mere teenager, this is to be expected. Not surprising.
  • If you fail to prevent a street crime from going down, you can't retry it. If you don't even try to stop a crime, Jameson gets a call from the victim or a friend / relative of theirs saying that they now agree that Spider-Man isn't a hero after all. Too unclear.
  • A side mission deals with a copycat Spider-Man, who ends up being a Badass Normal capable of saving lives and defeating thugs with nothing more than his karate skills and bravery. However, when he tries to take on Wilson Fisk's men - hardened criminals armed with machine guns - he's completely out of his depth and would have certainly died if the real Spider-Man hadn't shown up in time to save him. Not surprising.
  • Martin Li, aka Mr. Negative, is a powerful and dangerous supervillain… But he's also never fought another super before, while Spider-Man has spent eight years doing just that, and all previous bosses were longtime archenemies of him who have repeatedly upgraded. As a result, Martin wears himself out constantly from using his powers too much, and Spider-Man doesn't need much more than dodging and punching to ultimately defeat him, as opposed to the previous bosses who required far more strategy or effort to defeat, even though Peter is explicitly holding back to try and get through to Martin. And unlike Kingpin, he fails to even inflict Clothing Damage on Spider-Man. Too fantastical.
  • The constant string of accidents and small fires caused by Otto and Peter's experiments reflects poorly on them in the eyes of the grant committee and later Norman Osborn uses it as an excuse to cut off their funding and confiscate their equipment. Plot happens.
  • One of the items found in the backpacks is a Spider-Signal, which Peter says that he never implemented because he couldn't figure out how to make it bright enough without making it too hot to safely handle. Not an outcome.
    • Another backpack item is a plushie of Spidey, which was made as a prototype by someone wanting to merchandise ol' Web-Head. Unfortunately, Spidey had to turn him down; there was no way for him to receive the royalties from it without revealing his Secret Identity. Not an outcome.
  • Peter's tendency to act the same both in and out of the suit means that while an average Joe likely couldn't make the connection, those who actually know Peter can easily figure it out. Otto did have the benefit of seeing the broken suit, but his intelligence combined with the hints Peter gives him subconsciously without even noticing (Both Peter and Spidey joke in tense situations, for example) allow him to realize their connection. And since Aunt May raised Peter, she would have little issues noticing their similarities. Peter's small social circle is one of the main reasons why his identity isn't more widely known. Not an outcome.
  • Norman Osborn oversees a massive public health crisis, which gets thousands killed, cracks down severely on civil rights, and accusations that he has been using his mayoral powers to enrich his corporation and himself seem to find a lot of proof substantiated. By the end of the game, he is forced to resign from the mayor's office, and it is only thanks to a few technical details he isn't arrested and charged with any crimes. Deconstructed Trope shoehorn.
  • Hammerhead is freakishly strong for a normal man, able to easily throw around normal humans, but has never fought a superhuman before unlike Fisk nor is he as strong as he was. His and Spider-Man's first confrontation largely consists of Hammerhead being punched repeatedly in the face until he manages to throw Spidey off and, combined with Yuri opening fire, he's forced to make a speedy retreat. He remedies this by converting himself into a Cyborg. Too fantastical.
  • After gaining his powers, Miles is eager for Peter to train him. However Peter is reluctant due to how young Miles is and how dangerous being a superhero is. When Miles brings up that he is the age Peter was when he started, Peter responds that he almost got himself killed a hundred different times when he was starting out. Not an outcome.
    • There is also another aspect of this, with Miles wondering why Peter is assigning him physics homework before he's allowed to practice web-swinging. Peter replies by using Miles' knowledge to point out that web-swinging doesn't rely on the Rule of Cool, you have to be able to make micro-calculations in the blink of an eye to pull it off successfully while accounting for variables such as speed and weight. Not an outcome.
  • Hammerhead has an explicitly bulletproof plate in his head put in precisely because he got shot in the head before. While it likely prevented him from being permanently killed, he still almost dies when Yuri shoots him point blank in the head with a very high powered weapon. Just because it didn't pierce the plate doesn't mean the pressure wave wouldn't do some serious damage. Too fantastical.
  • Screwball is a talented parkour artist and hacker...but she's otherwise a completely normal human without the combat training people like Silver Sable have. As such the moment Spidey actually gets his hands on her, she's off to prison. Not surprising.
  • When Yuri goes full Cowboy Cop and promptly shoots a restrained Hammerhead in the head, does she get congratulated? Certainly not. Although a very large amount of police and the public are not crying about Hammerhead's presumed death, Yuri is promptly suspended and while not stated, it is heavily implied she could have been facing murder charges. Regardless of how bad the perpetrator is, killing someone who is clearly restrained is still murder. Not surprising.
  • Similarly, Yuri's sting operation is already blatantly unlawful, and any arrest would have been dismissed. Yuri is also doing this while under suspension, which is a big no no in law enforcement. Similarly, the cop who Yuri convinced to do this, while not doing anything illegal, could clearly have faced disciplinary actions had he lived. Also, a sting operation, especially in the modern era goes through a lot of hoops to ensure that there is no potential connection. Thanks to the fact this wasn't authorized by anyone, the enforcer easily learns the real identity of the therapist and promptly shoots him. Even if this wasn't found out, Yuri and the other officer commit a slew of illegal acts, such as impersonating a doctor, giving up someone's psychological files in blatant violation of confidential law, and recording a patient's therapy sessions. Irrelevant Wall of Text.
  • A rare purely positive variation comes when MJ angrily tells Peter that she broke up with him in the first place because she felt like he treated her more like a Damsel in Distress than an equal. Rather than destroy any chance of the two of them getting back together, airing this legitimate grievance instead of letting it fester allowed Peter to take her feelings into account and actually strengthened their relationship once they got back together. No character reactions.
• Spider-Man: Miles Morales
  • Peter set up high tech challenges for Miles on rooftops. Unlike most games, people do notice the high tech equipment, and several criminals attempt to steal it. Plot happens.
  • Doubly applied at the end of the game when we learn during the Final Boss fight that even if Phin/The Tinkerer's plan succeeded the way she wanted it to and only destroyed Roxxon Plaza and not all of Harlem, it would be All for Nothing. Simon Krieger points out that the plaza is already insured for damages, and being the victim of a terrorist attack would get them a nice payout. On top of that, Simon isn't even physically present for the final fight, so Phin can't even get her vengeance on him. Irrelevant, bad indentation.
    • Unfortunately for Simon, it ends up subverted four weeks later, since the Prowler has close personal knowledge of all the crimes committed along with evidence and admits to everything that Simon did, resulting in him getting arrested. Irrelevant, bad indentation.

• Spider-Man: The Animated Series: A disfigured former actress plans to kidnap Mary Jane and use a device to transfer her mind into Mary Jane's young and beautiful body. Despite Spider-Man's best efforts, she succeeds... but then the device does nothing. Mysterio tells her that what she wanted was scientifically impossible. And even if it were possible, given the sort of crazy stuff one finds in a superhero setting, it would involve fields of science and technology that Mysterio, a practical and special effects expert, would have no knowledge of. Too fantastical.
• The Spectacular Spider-Man
  • During Tombstone and Spidey's first tête-à-tête confrontation, the crime boss offers Spider-Man a chance to work for him. Spider-Man refuses and calls him out to "finish this". "Very well," sighs Tombstone... and then calls the cops and accuses Spidey of invading his personal space, attacking his guards and threatening him, all of which was actually done by Spider-Man, though he neglects to mention the motivation. Plot happens.
  • While Rhino's armored skin protects him from harm, it also prevents his skin from perspiring (He can't sweat), turning his armor into a virtual oven. Thus, during his first fight with Spidey, he has to constantly stop for a drink of water. Spidey ultimately defeats him by luring him away from any water and using the sewer's steam pipes to beat him. Too fantastical.
  • Peter has a tough time trying to take a photograph of himself as Spider-Man since his low-budget camera cannot capture motion effectively. The few good pictures that he does get are still criticized for their low quality by the Daily Bugle's editor who tells him to invest in a better camera. Not an outcome.
  • Captain Stacy easily sees through Eddie Brock's attempts to frame Spidey by committing crimes while dressed as him. Stacy doesn't know who either version of Spidey is under the mask, but the difference in body language is enough for him to tell that Brock isn't the real deal. Plot happens.
  • When Venom tries to expose Peter Parker as Spider-Man, almost nobody believes him. Anyone who knows Peter has trouble imagining someone so mild-mannered is a superhero, an image Peter works hard to maintain. What credibility would a crazed supervillain like Venom have anyway? No character reactions.
  • A similar thing happens in the earlier episode "Persona" where the Chameleon disguises himself as Spidey and goes on a crime spree. When Captain Stacy sees the imposter in person, he immediately notes that he's too tall to be the real Spider-Man. 'Not an outcome.
  • Kraven may be skilled and strong enough to take on wild animals with his bare hands, but he is still only human and thus way out of his league when he tries to "hunt" Spider-Man—at least before he gets his powers. Too fantastical.
  • After publicly exposing Lincoln as the Big Man and getting him arrested, Peter later finds a news report revealing that Lincoln had made bail almost right away. Outraged, he goes to Captain Stacy as Spider-Man to complain about this, only to be advised that multiple government agencies have Lincoln under surveillance, and that his operation is effectively neutered now that his secret is out. Spidey had clearly been expecting worse and was ready to further argue his case, but, upon learning this, all he could do is awkwardly admit that this was good after a brief stunned silence. Plot happens.
• Ultimate Spider-Man (2012)
  • One of Peter's biggest fears in the pilot is that Aunt May would be furious if she ever found out he was Spider-Man, especially if it brought villains to their doorstep. As a result, he takes great pains to hide his secret identity from her. The season three finale reveals after Grandmaster took her and most of New York City hostage, that she always knew about her nephew's super-heroics. As she tells Peter, who insists that she evacuate and "I'm sure Peter is fine," she raised Peter and is practically his mother. A mother always knows. May was fine with Peter working with the Avengers and Nick Fury because they're professionals; being solo with a ragtag team against a greater threat is a whole other level of danger. Peter has to reassure her that he has to do this because it's what Ben would do. She reluctantly agrees but makes him promise to be on time for dinner so that she knows he's okay. Deconstructed Trope shoehorn.
• Marvel's Spider-Man
  • This show quickly establishes one of the downsides of attending a special school. Peter may be a genius, but not even he, someone of middle class status, could pay for such high tuition. It takes Max Modell taking him under his wing at the lab that he can afford this. Not an outcome.
    • Related to this, there isn't exactly a high tolerance for Peter being late with his projects and commitments due to the school's higher standards, with him being penalized in some way. It's only because Status Quo Is God that Peter's place in Horizon is secure. Not realistic, given how Status Quo Is God exists.
  • "A Day In The Life" shows that Peter may have done the project, but it means nothing if it's not brought in on time. Cuttable ZCE.
  • In "Symbiotic Relationship," Spider-Man attacks the Vulture after seeing he's been released from prison. The police promptly inform him that they have no legal grounds to arrest Vulture, as he was bailed out legally and hasn't done anything wrong. They then inform Vulture that he actually has the right to press charges, since he was just assaulted by Spider-Man for no reason. Spider-Man was only lucky Vulture decided to let him off. Plot happens.
  • Harry tries to go up against Blizzard with only a thermal sword and an insulating jumpsuit, while the latter is controlling a giant ice golem, and is taken out in one hit. Too fantastical.
  • The crook that would become Blizzard stole what appeared to be a large diamond from a jewelry store, which he later uses to amplify a cryonic gauntlet he stole from Peter and Harry. When Peter tries to return it, he's told that it's fake, as the store wouldn't keep a diamond that big in the store window. Valid.
  • While Black Widow quickly forgives them due to the circumstances, she cuffs Spider-Man, Spider-Gwen, and Anya because the Vibranium key they took to investigate at Horizon High meant they effectively stole government property (something Spider-Man warned Gwen about doing). Plot happens.
  • While Silver Sable and her Wild Pack are professional mercenaries who studied Spider-Man's moves and used it to take advantage on him, Sable still is a mere Badass Normal, while Peter is superhumanly agile and has Wall Crawling. When the two of them fight on the top of a flying jet, Silver Sable struggles to even keep her balance, while Spidey moves without any trouble and keeps coming back whenever she tries to push him away from the jet, eventually resulting in her defeat. Too fantastical.
  • Fighting swarms of villains going after him with little time to rest in the "Bring on the Bad Guys" arc has taken a heavy toll on Spider-Man. In "Brain Drain" and "The Living Brain", Peter has become so exhausted that he can barely stay awake, making it all the easier for Doctor Octopus to steal his body. Too fantastical.

• Whenever a character is exposed to explosions or gunfire, they suffer temporary deafness, sometimes accompanied by a loud ringing noise. It's happened to Archer so many times, he mentions that he thinks he's developing tinnitus. Fits better under Averted Steel Eardrums since this is a frequent occurence in the show.
• Cyril and Lana push a bomb off an airship before it can detonate. Unfortunately, this just causes it to blow up whatever they were just flying over. Needs more context, but it sounds like this could be valid depending on how it's presented in the show.
• When Ray gets knocked out via a Tap on the Head, he has to see a neurologist. Probably not surprising by the show's standards since the folder header says Amusing Injuries are normally portrayed more realistically.
  • This is a Running Gag over the series, along with Ear Ache, Archer has tinnitus from years of being nearly deafened by gunfire, and Lana goes to an ear doctor after Archer fires a sawed-off shotgun right next to her head. See the first example. Aversion of Steel Eardrums.
• Barry had his leg broken so many times by Archer that his femur is held together by metal pins. Until he gets rebuilt as a cyborg. Another aversion of Amusing Injuries, which is stated to be the norm for the show rather than surprising.
• Traintop battles are noted to be noisy, filled with 100 mph winds, and *spit* bugs getting in your mouth constantly. Archer doesn't know why people like them so much. Depends on how often this happens. If there are only a few such battles, they might count.
• Ray, fresh from having his legs roboticized, tries to lift a jeep in order to get it out of a ditch, believing that his cyborg Super-Strength will get it out. He winds up critically injuring himself because while his legs are augmented, his spine isn't. Too Fantastical. Fits better under Averted Required Secondary Powers.
  Archer: Are you shitting me?! Bionic legs, and you lift with your back!?
• While Cheryl's insanity is usually played for laughs, in "Sea Tunt, Part 1", her brother Cecil is horrified at her behavior and is secretly recording the ISIS crew's statements about Cheryl to get her committed: not just to get access to her half of the fortune (which he needs since his charitable ventures have bankrupted him) but also because he sincerely believes Cheryl has become a legitimate danger to herself and others. When the others find out, they agree, to the point that Lana flat out says that he could have just talked to them instead of resorting to subterfuge (though it turns out there was another reason for it...). Character reaction
• Archer develops cancer as a result of frequent exposure to radiation from nuclear devices and materials owned by the bad guys he fights. He does eventually beat it, but his recovery is shown rather realistically, including surgery and a course of chemotherapy, with all the attendant side effects. Fits better as a Deconstruction if it's a long-lasting thing instead of a brief outcome.
• In a wide number of episodes, Archer points out how stupid it is that everyone he runs into seems to think the Bottomless Magazines trope will play straight, and mocks the cast's tendency to not pay close attention to how many shots they have left. One of these times Ron and Archer are on the run from a bunch of crazy fetishists (It Makes Sense in Context) and Archer threatens them with his handgun, but Ron dares Archer to actually shoot them. Archer then points out that he had emptied his only magazine shooting at the goons that were chasing them a while back and was bluffing. While the two resume running Ron wonders how he could be out of bullets so fast, to which Archer points out that a handgun not only holds a finite number of bullets but also a very small amount because of its relative size. In another episode, Mallory (who taught her son his secret agent skills), when preparing to go up against her son for dating a defected Russian agent, beats his ability to count shots by leaving one in the chamber. Not an outcome.
• Similarly, "Spray 'n Pray" Lana goes the opposite direction. Usually, she empties her guns within seconds of a fight, not entirely helped by the fact that she prefers automatic weapons and tends to not aim. One of her former classmates even notes that she's also not good at reloading either and successfully predicts how long he can stand out in the open without getting shot by her. Not an outcome either
• In "M For Mother", Archer, being influenced by a chip in his brain, goes to Mallory's house with the intent of murdering her with a knife. When he pulls the knife, Mallory immediately shoots him in the chest. Probably a character reaction
• After botching numerous missions with their antics, the main cast causes the ISIS Agency's reputation as a whole to plummet. Character reaction
• In "White Elephant" we see what happens when you try to run a privately owned freelance spy agency: the FBI storms the place and arrests everyone for a laundry list of charges, including treason. Then it's revealed it was a CIA operation all along. Not sure. This feels like one of those examples that were added because it's "Reality Ensues", but it's the show's reality that ensues, not the viewer's.
• In "Heart of Archness Part I", Archer leaves a seaplane on autopilot, then finds out autopilot only maintains course and altitude. It doesn't find the only refueling strip in the area and land before the plane runs out of fuel. Maybe valid
• In "The Figgis Agency", Archer winds up blowing the team's cover during a burglary when the owner of the home finds the trail of blood he's been leaving from an earlier injury and immediately calls the guards. As the team makes their escape off a cliff-side, Lana chastises Archer by noting how they're all going to get shot, only for Archer to point out that since the guards are using silenced weapons ^note presumably with sub-sonic ammunition, they can't really hit them since they've moved out of their effective range. Not an outcome
  • In the same episode, the team subdues the guard dogs of the condo by feeding them tranquillizer-laced doggie treats. The following episode reveals that the dogs had a bad reaction to the tranquillizers and had to be taken to the vet for treatment. Not sure.
• In "Auflösung", Krieger tries to convince his cyborg creation Dutch Dillon (Dream!Barry) that he can be an instrument of good instead of using his new powers for evil and vengeance. Dutch points out how ridiculous that expectation is, because not only was he unwillingly turned into a cyborg on the orders of his mobster boss, he was a murdering psychopath before being turned half-machine, and the transformation hasn't exactly made him less of one. Not an outcome or realistic
• Most of Season 11 deals with Archer's struggles after waking up from his three-year coma period. He is forced to walk with a cane due to nerve damage and muscle atrophy, even admitting in a few episodes that he is taking a couple of physical rehab classes. To top it all off, he has to deal with the world he wakes up in as everybody has changed since the last time he saw them. Not really an outcome if it's a recurring plot point.
  • After rescuing his daughter A.J after she's kidnapped, Archer prepares to see her in person for the first time since his coma, and imagines a scenario where she comes running into his arms. Once they actually get to meet, A.J is perfectly nice to him, but doesn't see him as a father figure, since he spent her formative years unconscious in a hospital bed. Character reaction
  • Despite the rest of the cast having become far more professional and competent while Archer was in a coma, especially Cyril who Took a Level in Badass and became the new top agent, they all begin backsliding into their worst habits once Archer is back, and naturally, they all blame him for undermining them. However, as Archer points out in the finale, their problems has nothing to do with him (while he didn't exactly help, the worst he did was make snide comments and make a nuisance of himself during missions), the others just use him as an excuse to regress into their worst selves. This is very common in real life, self-improvement takes hard work and discipline, and many people will rather slide back into old habits rather than constantly struggle. Character reaction and Discussed Trope
• In Dingo Baby Et Cetera, Archer is forced to shoot Reiko and she falls from the rooftop they are on. Despite having a strong feeling that she could have survived the fall and escaped, it turns out that no, she did indeed die. Needs more context. Might count if it's normal for people in this show to survive injuries that should be lethal.