The TVTropes Trope Finder is where you can come to ask questions like "Do we have this one?" and "What's the trope about...?" Trying to rediscover a long lost show or other medium but need a little help? Head to Media Finder and try your luck there. Want to propose a new trope? You should be over at the Trope Launch Pad.
Find a Trope:
openDeep-Cover Hero Print Comic
Is there a trope for when a a bad guy is actually a hero in disguise or Fake Defector, who uses his influence among bad guys to keep them performing Innefectual Villainy, but never Becomes The Mask?
openradiation gives you superpowers Print Comic
Is there a trope for radiation being portrayed as something that gives you superpowers? Or is at least beneficial somehow as opposed to poisoning people? I put this under print comic as it's VERY common in old-school superhero stories likely due to scientists back then not entirely understanding how radiation works, but can appear in other media. Also, on a related note, is there a trope for how radiation (even when portrayed as dangerous) is usually shown in comics and cartoons as a sort of green light/fire that vaporizes people or the like, as opposed to being invisible and basically being a slow-killing poison?
openSuperman discovering his full power. Print Comic
So basically, Superman couldn't unlock his full potential when he couldn't accept his Kryptonian heritage. It was only when he could accept that he unlocked his full potential. I guess the trope is more like, unwillingly mentally preventing yourself from getting to your full power?
Edited by Oshawott777openTrinities Print Comic
Is there a trope related to a trinity of lead characters such as Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman? Aside from the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I cant really think of anything yet the concept seems to legendary
openSupporting cast doesn't cross-over Print Comic
It's common for superheroes to show up in each other's comics, but their non-super supporting cast usually doesn't. So the Fantastic Four might show up briefly in an issue of The Amazing Spider-Man, but their mailman Willie Lumpkin never does.
Is that a trope? (Please note that what I'm talking about is the kind of cross-over where it's not a team-up book; I mean where it's clearly one character's, or one team's, book.)
resolved People Know What the Author Knows (SOLVED!) Print Comic
I remember a trope in this wiki about authors (especially amateur ones, like Fan Fiction writers) assuming, either consciously or subconsciously, that the characters know the same things they do - the examples listed were how random characters assumed Supergirl was Superman's cousin, even though that wasn't common knowledge - she might be a sister, friend or even just a fan. Another example was the old Star Wars expanded universe, wherein characters somehow "knew" Darth Vader was Luke's father after the fall of the empire, despite Luke never going public - and nobody knowing Vader's real name and background to begin with.
Edited by Mac_RopenExact car trope Print Comic
So this guy has a Real Life '69 Charger, which is already a Cool Car, but then because he's a Ghost Rider, it comes with a whole bunch of supernatural powers.
Without the powers, the car has, and I quote: "A fuel-injected BDS 9-71 Roots-style blower, supercharged Hystler 426 Hemi V-8 and 900BHP." I don't know what any of that means but it sounds awesome.
So... Is this a Pimped-Out Car or something specific, or does "Cool Car" cover it?
openWhy Is The Sky Blue? Print Comic
Hello
I am trying to think of this trope, where some one asks some thing like; "Why must this happen!?", and some one responds with some thing like "Who Knows?".
Case in point, in "House Of M", Layla asks why it must be her who must help restore reality to Normal, before Emma Frost responds; "Why is the Sky Blue?".
Then, there is another trope, where some one takes the question literally, and answers that with the scientific explanation as to why the Sky is blue.
Does any one Know if there are tropes with some thing like the above?
Edited by BabClaytonresolved There's only one Vigilante (SOLVED) Print Comic
Is there a trope about the Fridge Logic that applies to countless superhero stories - that is, the fact that people in-universe always assume the superhero is a single guy, despite not knowing anything about him - and despite the fact that the superhero costume makes it easy for impersonators - for instance, J. Jonah Jameson always assumes Spiderman (the chameleon or Mysterio) robbing a bank is "proof" he's a criminal, rather than some other powered character buying the same costume.
Edited by Mac_RopenSubverted Timeskip Character Expectations Print Comic
Might be too specific - suppose a show features Alice, Bob (who's very rich) and Charlie (who's very poor). Then, one episode features a Time Skip. In that episode, older Alice mentions she knows someone who's very rich... and it turns out Charlie became a Fortune 500 CEO between years, while Bob lost all his money.
That twist can apply to anything - money, morality, appearance, skills, interests... and of course, it doesn't need to be a Time Skip - maybe an Alternate Universe, Parody, Deconstruction, Similar Squad...
Edited by Mac_RopenNo Title Print Comic
What's the trope for how supervillains never seem to have trouble acquiring the money for their expensive equipment? Goes double for any Mad Scientist Laboratory.
openNew Writer Breakup Print Comic
Though I've seen this in longrunning TV shows, it seems to be a mostly Comics thing, where a Canon couple has been through thick and thin, life and death, and then a new writer takes over the series and within an issue/episode "oh, we're not together anymore," and may not even give an explanation why. Do we already have that trope?
openRe-telling trope for comic book universe? Print Comic
What's the main difference between an Ultimate Universe and Alternate Continuity?
Is Ultimate Universe "an Alternate Continuity that's effectively often Darker and Edgier but does not cancel out the original continuity, but re-tells the story in its own way?".
openCharacter is disgusted - doesn't do the right thing as a result Print Comic
See the example in the 4-koma manga Seitokai Yakuindomo (read the left strip):
https://mangadex.org/chapter/32045/2
In the second strip, titled "I'm a guy", the boy character doesn't want to touch the codpiece out of disgust, even though he feels a sense of duty to confiscate it.
Is there any related trope?
openForced to work for the enemy Print Comic
While fighting overseas, Tony the scientist gets a piece of shrapnel lodged in his heart. He gets captured by the enemy, who promise to take it out safely- if he makes powerful weapons for them. If he refuses, they will leave him to die.
openFishing for self-incriminating answers Print Comic
Is there a trope for where Character A asks Character B for an answer that will make Character B look bad if they respond?
For instance, if in front of B's girlfriend, Character A asks B for the details of a porn flick they watched together.
This can be either intentional or unintentional.
openBreaking the Fourth Wall by Interacting with The Medium Print Comic
Do we have a trope that covers Breaking the Fourth Wall instances of characters in illustrated works interacting with the paper of the page they're drawn/ printed on? Like tearing off a corner, or crawling through a hole in the paper to reach the next page. Frame Break doesn't quite cover what I'm looking for, and Medium Awareness seems too broad.
(Specifically: I've encountered an example of an illuminated manuscript from the 15th century where an illustrator drew the front half of a small dog on page 469, and the back half of the dog on page 470. The dog is drawn as if it's crawling through a tear in the paper.)
openExclamation Point Above Head Print Comic
I can't find that thing where somebody who's surprised or noticing something has a cartoon exclamation point floating above their head. I expected to find that Sister Trope of Confused Question Mark listed on Briffits and Squeans, but I didn't. Alertness Blink uses a different icon, not an exclamation point.

Is there a trope for a story built around a Framing Device of a group of decadent and/or disfunctional characters getting together (sometimes against their will), with the plot being told through flashbacks to their younger, more active days?