ViewerGenderConfusion?
Not sure how to fit it in, but comic publishers other than Marvel and DC legally cannot use the word "Superhero," as the Big Two have the trademark for that. While the word can be used within the works, they cannot show up in titles or merchandise.
Where it gets ugly is that while legally, Marvel and DC can only sue for use in titles and product names, Marvel in particular has a history of suing people at the slightest provocation, even knowing they won't win, because they were large enough to drive the competition broke.
Marvel was recently bought out by another company that not only has a similar history, but taught them the trick by trying to drive them out of business the same way. This has made small publishers reluctant to use the term more out of fear of being driven out of business than any desire for realism. Also, not all small publishers are aware of the limits on the trademark, and they may believe that it applies to its use within the work as well.
Edited by BlackWolfe But soft! What rock through yonder window breaks? It is a brick! And Juliet is out cold. Hide / Show Replies
Okay so Superhero is trademarked and no one is allowed to use that. If I'm not mistaken Marvel (or fox) Has "Mutant" and "Mutate" trademarked too and DC has "Meta" or "Metahuman' Trademarked so like what can an aspiring writer legally use to describe Mutant like characters and other superpowered individuals. In marvel "Mutant" is people born with abilities (aside from aliens) and "Mutate" is people given abilities. In DC "meta" or "metahuman" is a kind of cover all for "mutants" and "mutates". I've searched dozens of sites but I have yet to find one that actually says what words are trademarked and what words are not.
There's no hunting like the hunting of man,and those who have hunted armed men long enough, and liked it never care for anything else. -E.H.
I moved the name over from Differently Powered Individuals as a plural. While for this trope, it's not a reference to the particular references per say, the common format is to have tropes in the singular and if any would need a plural they can make one with the curly brackets. Making this conform to standards means nobody will slip up when they remember Differently Powered Individual but not that this particular trope uses the plural and it allows more flexibility.
Not sure how best to put this in the entries, but I believe that English-speaking anime fandom adopted the term 'esper' after its use in Kimagure Orange Road, one of the foundational "empowered romcom" series and one of the earliest series to be released in the US with subtitles and a Japanese soundtrack. If I'm remembering right, the show explicitly used the term esupaa for its family of psychics.
No matter how fast light travels it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it. —Terry Pratchett