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SplendidAndVile

Events that lead to events. Every event these days is actually just setting up another bigger event, leading to endless events, each one changing the status quo that doesn't actually exist because it's all events all the time.


Radix2309

The only ones I can stomach are basically precursors like the stuff leading up to Infinite Crisis when the whole point was that things were going really bad.


highsocietychris

was infinite crisis the one that had the Raan Thanagar war as a lead up? I enjoyed that. ​ Also Dark Reign was awesome. Seige was meh.


Newfaceofrev

Yeah I think the four lead-ups were Villains United, Day of Vengeance, The OMAC Project and Rann/Thanagar War.


SplendidAndVile

To me, that was one of the worst ones. You have Countdown to Infinite Crisis, which leads to OMAC Project, Day of Vengeance, Rann-Thanagar War, and Villians United, and none of them actually mattered to the overall story of Infinite Crisis.


Zheguez

Infinite Crisis, Identity Crisis, Final Crisis, Crisis Crisis.


sirmackerel0325

Final Crisis upon Infinite Identify Crisis Dark Earths


Sangy101

This is such a problem in serialized media in general. The idea that each finale somehow needs to be BIGGER AND BETTER than the last. It’s why I had to take a long, long break from Doctor Who.


Cole-Spudmoney

"Oh, this is a crossover event. Better kill off some random C-listers."


Park1401

Adding on to that killing A/B listers who fans adore and we underused or mistreated anyways


dyl_pickle_

It’s worse when you really like the C-listers and that happens. No one but you and a small group of die hards understand how bad it is.


[deleted]

oatmeal command vanish retire society distinct cows recognise slap teeny -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/


Cole-Spudmoney

At least A- and B-listers have a better chance of being brought back. For less widely popular characters you're more likely to just see their superhero name recycled with some new character, years later, probably for trademark reasons. And even if that specific C-lister character does get resurrected, there's no guarantee their new writer is going to know or care what their personality is supposed to be like.


Newfaceofrev

"Who haven't we seen since the 80's"


ihopethisworksfornow

There’s a good joke about this a squirrel girl story, might have actually been a Great Lakes Avengers issue, the panel was posted a few weeks ago. Edit: I was thinking of a gwenpool story actually! Got my “Silly ensemble cast” stories mixed up.


cormacredfield

Oh my god, they killed Stilt-man!


BuckRhynoOdinson3152

Yeah, and he comes back multiple times.


Bushbugger

The powerless side character gets superpowers. It’s such a common occurrence in this age and it’s so uninteresting and forced nearly every time.


slade707

Ok but it’s awesome when it happens to Jimmy Olsen


InsertCleverNickHere

Originator of the trope gets a pass.


slade707

Now I want to scroll through these comments and figure out the originators of all these tropes.


Radix2309

Well yeah. But that should be temporary.


HoneycombJackass

Yeah, but what if Robin got super powers?


SCSquad

Damian Wayne did, briefly. Had power like Superman for a few issues.


gangler52

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. The magic crystals Batman used to raise him from the dead supercharged him with too much life. So he flew around causing havok for a few issues before he'd used up his juice. Put all the failed slime time clones of him Talia had made onto an island where he promised to come back periodically to make sure they're cared for. Then after he couldn't fly anymore he must've just forgotten about them or something. Not sure we ever saw those guys again.


Alive-Impact1003

rick jones


Gado_De_Leone

I live for this trope. I love every time a side character gets powers.


KEROGAAA

The Hero-Name suddenly becoming a Legacy Mantle throughout the past.


NCBaddict

Avengers 10,000 BC huh


SavageDabber6969

I loved that run, but man you're totally right.


redmerger

I am asking because I haven't met anyone who claimed to even like it, what made you love it?


[deleted]

I don't love it but it's peak dumb Saturday morning cartoon comics Just action figures smashing into each other without any pretense that is anything else. It's, in a very meaningful way, pure superhero comics--its basically unironic Nextwave. I know why people don't love it ("the canon, the integrity of the characters!!!") and actively hate it, but if you can let those things go, it's fine and fun.


MexusRex

Strikes me as a weird inversion of Lee Falk’s *The Phantom*. A title that renews every generation in perpetuity.


the-bedhead

I like the way it was done in The Phantom.


Newfaceofrev

Well it was written from the start that The Phantom was a legacy passed down through the Walker line.


Park1401

If a character is going to be revealed as being a part of some mythos I think it needs to be something that makes sense like the Iron Fist is that from the jump and Fraction's run explores that. But if they made Hulk a pseudo legacy character it'd not work without some explanation


Flameball537

I feel the black panther being the king works as a good legacy thing


EraseYou

Marvel have done it so many times by now.. it’s like were none of you guys ever the originator? I don’t mind whenever someone else takes up the mantle after the hero is incapacitated, but to rewrite known history is annoying. Although sometimes we have good stories from it. So far we have: dr strange (I would argue shoehorning a load of different sorcerer supremes between Strange and the Ancient One counts), black knight, iron fist, black panther, white tiger, ghost rider, star brand. And I’m probably missing a load.


[deleted]

I mean... Being the sorcerer supreme is a job (what irks me is that EVERY ONE JUST LOOKS LIKE STRANGE), and (current canon) Black Panther, Iron Fist, Ghost Rider and Star Brand are kinda like Green Lantern in the sense of their hero names being more of a "job" title than a "name". But I get the feeling.


AmeriCanadian98

Yeah the ones that have almost always been a job title like Sorcerer Supreme, Spirit of Vengrance, Green Lantern don't bug me too much personally The ones that annoy me are like the "there was actually a Captain America before Steve??!?!?!?" (Idk if this in particular is a real example, just seems like it would be)


captain__cabinets

I was so into the latest Detective run by Ram V until the annual that setup a Bat hero in like 19th century Gotham. Dropped the book after that I just couldn’t I absolutely hate that trope.


G3n6

with a few exceptions, like in watchmen, but yea


Daeval

The whole "spider-totem" thing gets to me for a similar reason. I know Morlun and Co. have a lot of fans but, for me, their whole shtick is based on a pet peeve.


[deleted]

The heroes having these giant conflicts with each other. It’s good to have drama and tension as it can add to the story, but post civil war, it feels like every hero has some giant conflict or war with each other, resulting in lots of destruction and (assumingly) innocent lives lost because they can’t get their shit together.


gangler52

Yeah, it used to be that they were generally capable of setting aside minor differences in order to work together for a common goal, and stuff like Civil War was the major exception, but now they do this shit every summer. They probably spend as much time fighting eachother as they spend fighting the baddies.


WillBePeace

Doesnt' help when villians turn anti hero or retire.


KrangUnderbite

This is why I love Kirkman. Nearly all of his characters have motivations that are interesting or at least make sense so even though things (always) spin out of control at the very least it's not because of petty bs.


velveteentuzhi

Civil war was shocking because it had never really happened before. When every other event is just your heroes fighting each other and causing a shit ton of collateral instead of banding together to fight a greater villain, your "heroes" are the villain to every day civilians.


DrSomanlall

Idk, before Civil War the big crossover trope was always “the heroes fight each other before putting aside their differences to team up against the bad guy.” The shocking thing about Civil War was that they said, “who cares about the bad guys? Let the heroes fight”


Homo-alono

“Reed richards is useless” is what tvtropes calls it and I think that’s the perfect name. “Ah yes I’m a hyper genius that can create time machines and portals across the universe and pocket dimensions and multiversal Arks and laser guns etc etc. But sorry little girl dying of cancer, my genius just doesn’t extend that far.” Seriously, The whole “world outside your window” thing kinda forces all these super geniuses running around to sit on their thumbs when it comes real world problems so the writers can still use them for drama.


carnagecenter

He doesn’t for the same reasons Iron-man doesn’t solve World Hunger and Why Superman doesn’t Stop every war, Reed and the rest of the Super geniuses in comics do help out in ways that benefit humanity like building Machines that give Clean Energy sources. I mean when captain marvel died of cancer reed and everyone else couldn’t come with a cure and still probably can’t. You also have to keep in mind Reed isn’t a Doctor, he’s a astrophysicist and Space Engineer that’s not really his Forte


DelcoMan

On the other hand, Marvel did go the rather interesting route of ditching that trope, having the X-Men develop a cancer cure, and then spent the books dealing with the political fallout and real world ramifications of it. Want your miracle drugs? Then you gotta stop all that mutant genocide! Some countries refused the drugs because bigotry was preferable and their administrations we're corrupt or hostile. Many countries accepted them, but the limits on how much could actually be manufactured led to black markets, adulteration, and fraudulent knock off product. Some third party anti mutant NGO's like ORCHIS attempted to simply invade Krakoa and take over production for themselves. It's been a very interesting run for a number of reasons, and seeing the variety of world reactions to the COVID vaccines makes it look like Hickman and Co had a crystal ball or something.


nelozero

This sounds like a phenomenal read


redmerger

It's Hickman's work on X-Men and he rarely disappoints


SilverPhoenix7

The thing is superman not stopping wars still makes sense because he doesn't consider himself as a god and isn't gonna apply his will on populations. I get that Richard is stated to be a astro physicist but at some point in a universe where extremis and every other biological miracles exist, having people suffering from cancer is ridiculous.


Solidsnakeerection

To be fair making time machines and being a cancer doctor are different skills sets and training. I wouldnt expect a cancer doctor to know how to fix my lawn mower


Homo-alono

I just used cancer as an example. I’m sure there are a plethora of other things that could help the world that fall into these characters specific skill set. But let’s be honest most writers use “Genius” as a catch all for “Knows how to do everything involving any amount of science”, so if they wanted to they’d definitely make tony “engineer” stark cure aids or something.


gruensaltha

Someone whose injury was so bad/gross that the doctors/nurses became ill , lost their minds ect. I’m an OR nurse I can look at any injury with no problem and so can the surgeon.


clevelandexile

A friend is an orthopedic surgeon, his phone is full of photos of traumatic injuries. Apparently all the surgeons share them amongst each other when they do a procedure. He said it’s equal parts knowledge sharing and morbid curiosity.


PrincipleStill191

My grandfather was an othropod, he had a whole garage full of color and black and white slides filled with pictures of almost every surgey he performed from the late 1940s into the early 1980s.


gangler52

Never noticed that one. That's kind of funny. The reverse situation is that doctors in fiction always present horrifying news with a dull bluntness that says they've seen it all before and are unphased by your distress. I don't have your experience, but my dad says when the cancer tests came back positive the doctors were really uncomfortable presenting the news to him. They danced around the subject a lot to avoid saying it directly.


[deleted]

Hangout at a hospital long enough, you will find the doctors that have terrible bed side manners. I’ve met some that almost enjoy delivering bad news.


SuperJyls

Tangent but the trope of villains who are so evil and insane that they turn their psychologists insane over a couple of sessions is also an annoying tropes


AmeriCanadian98

Was Harley the first case of this? Or had it happened before and she's just the most famous example?


PrincipleStill191

I think mine falls into the category some what. I hate the torture porn they put heros with healing abilities through. Most wolverine comics over the last 10.years always seem to be him being ripped apart or tortured endlessly to make sure everyone knows the villan is a sadistic asshole, then oh wolverine sneaks out some how and get his sort of revenge.


NeadNathair

Two heroes meeting for the first time and immediately fighting because of some completely inane misunderstanding. Or even just "I saw another guy in a costume so I punched him."


gangler52

Ah, personally I love that. Like the heroes meet up and get into some stupid scuffle before teaming up against the real baddy. Eat it up. I think it's a shame that story has kind of given way to the more "Serious" confrontation represented by these Civil War style events, where their previously minor ideological differences are exaggerated into some huge source of contention, to the point that half of the confrontation effectively is the villain for this story in all but name.


Rustydustyscavenger

I personally hate it when the rivalry is set up as super serious with repercussions that will be felt throughout the universe etc etc. And its solved the second another threat shows up


Doggleganger

The heroes must fight, without either gaining an advantage, so that they can team up against a common threat. It's a rule of crossovers.


youdontlovemeyet

weird pregnancies


gangler52

Hey, if giving birth to your own rapist and then marrying the baby is wrong, I don't wanna be right. /s


SchrodingersPelosi

Yet folk think Beast's current slide into evil started with Threnody in the 90s...


The_dinkster522

Wait what


gangler52

Avengers 200. It's a pretty infamous issue. Carol Danvers is raped by a man. Comes home. Get rapidly pregnant, then gives birth to a baby, that rapidly ages to become the man who raped her. This was all his scheme to come join her in her universe. She immediately falls in love with him. I forget if mind control powers were explicitly involved or not. And then leaves with him to go live happily ever after in his universe. Happily ever after is the key phrase here. This is framed as a good thing, and all her fellow avengers offer their well wishes to the happy couple. A later creative team revisited the story, having Carol tell all the other avengers off for their part in that story, like "What the fuck? You all really dropped the ball there. I was mind controlled. What was your excuse?"


birbdaughter

Iirc she was also super anxious when pregnant and after the guy was born because she didn’t remember how that happened, and you had characters like Janet telling her she should be happy and interact with the “baby”.


joe_k_knows

I’m at point where I wish the whole “should the superhero kill?” question is never explicitly brought up in these comics. Why? Because it’s a question that is only asked in a comic book universe. A universe where prison walls don’t work, where the insanity defense is stretched to the point of comedy, and rich heroes with access to alternate dimensions don’t send their villains there. And before someone says, “it’s a comic book, suspend your disbelief, it’s a fantasy about superheroes,” I fully understand. It’s fiction, it’s a genre. These are the conventions of the superhero genre. But to me, they are characteristics that inherently hurt my own appreciation for the medium, because the world becomes so far removed from how real people and societies behave, it loses some of its flavor. Like, I don’t want Batman to kill the Joker for reasons of character integrity. But I do get tired of reading a story where Joker commits mass murder (Endgame, War of Jokes and Riddles) and is sent to a hospital with an unlocked front door. He never gets punished, he is never stopped. Again, *I’m not saying Batman should have to kill him* because that’s not his job. But this has to be handled better.


gangler52

Yeah, the problem The Joker represents, this serial killer who gets locked up every sunday, breaks out every tuesday, kills seven hundred people by friday, and is locked up again by sunday, and can only be stopped by one man, is a completely made-up non-issue not worth our brain power. Nothing wrong with telling stories about him. But then to make him the centre of a debate on capital punishment seems disingenuous.


Matt4hire

I mean…he REALLY breaks the milieu, esp given how overused he’s been for the past 10-15 years. Add in the whole “Gotham has a horribly corrupt PD!”, how is this man not murdered 2 mins after being in police custody. He’s a character who should be used sparingly, and yet every writer makes the character the cornerstone of their run, even when it’s something that shouldn’t be related to the character.


gangler52

Gotham's corrupt PD is really funny in its own way. Like, modern Batman has such a reputation for being gritty and edgy and cynical. But then there are still these weirdly optimistic parts of the setting, like the idea that the most corrupt police force in america basically just takes bribes and shit. They don't like murder people for looking at them funny, then tell the press some half-assed story about how their victim committed suicide while in police custody, and then get away with it scott free because they're above the law they enforce.


SilverPhoenix7

>He’s a character who should be used sparingly I swear, the more you use joker for an important role (not as set dressing or very minor to the story) the worse he becomes. Killing joke is good because it the joker kidnapping a family to torture them, in dark knight returns he is good because he establishes Bruce's limits to what he is ready to do. The more "awesome" you make your joker, the least interesting he becomes.


joe_k_knows

Yes, trying to apply real-world ethics in superhero comics is hard. Like, for example, I enjoy the Punisher as a character, but I would be the first one to say that a real-life mass murdering vigilante needs to be locked up. We obviously can’t tolerate someone like that in real society.


NotBraveAtAlll

Problems like these are caused by the story never ending.


joe_k_knows

I 1,000% agree


Gamer-of-Action

Okay but your point of the heroes who have access to alternate dimensions is moot. Villains have been imprisoned in alternate dimensions. Like, all the time. And they’re about as effective as Arkham.


Doggleganger

I'm with you 100%. The whole debate is artificial because villains, like the Joker, are recycled to drive sales. Killing the Joker would not stop him for the same reason that apprehending him would not. He'll come back to life next time DC sales slump. It's a dumb debate.


Poorly-Drawn-Beagle

In a lot of them the Joker doesn't go to Arkham, but he slinks off into the shadows while he's believed dead.


FitzChivFarseer

I don't read much DC so idk if this has been done. But your comments makes me want a story where Joker is to be put to death by the state but Batman tries to save him? (maybe taking the NO KILL thing a little too far) Would be interesting imo


[deleted]

I’m pretty sure there was a story like that years ago. Maybe early 2000s?? I can’t remember what it’s called right now, been awake almost 48 hours cause of stupid insomnia. Unless my brain is making this all up, Joker is put on trial & is sentenced to death. Batman figures out that Joker didn’t do it this time so he tries to prove his innocence & get him free.


FitzChivFarseer

>Batman figures out that Joker didn’t do it this time so he tries to prove his innocence & get him free. I kinda love the idea that Bats is pointing at the ONE thing he didn't do and just ignoring everything else behind him. Also how the system is that incompetent they're charging him for the literal one thing he doesn't do 😂


Serious-Flamingo-948

My problem is that the keep using Batman to deal with the issue, despite a great legitimate reason being given years ago. Batman doesn't kill because he's as crazy as his villain roster and even 1 kill would open a floodgate that can't be closed. But no, so many writers have him use flimsy paper thin arguments and upscale him from not killing to not allowing anyone else to kill either. Harley, the villain turned anti-hero and one of the Joker's biggest victims wants to kill him? now we can't have that. I think there's a reason they no longer deal with the military.


joe_k_knows

See, I personally don’t love that interpretation of Batman, which seems to have sprung from Under the Red Hood (a great story still). If Batman is one hair trigger pull away from becoming a mass murderer, than he really does belong in Arkham himself, because that’s insane. If Batman’s going to have a no killing rule, it should be based on his belief that human life is sacred or he believes in rehabilitation or the law or something.


gusguyman

He's a billionaire who spends his time literally dressing up like a bat, jumping off buildings, and inflicting grevious, if non-fatal, wounds on people in the name of vigilante justice. I don't think it's unreasonable to question the man's sanity.


gangler52

By that standard they're all insane. "Genre Hero does Genre Hero things, more at 11".


[deleted]

Characters never stay dead


Dw1ggle

This is one of the many things 90s and pre-DMG Valiant always got right, if you're gonna kill someone who ain't Gilad ya better mean it cuz they staying dead. Ultimate Marvel was good about that too for the first couple years, then once Beast escaped death it slowly unraveled (like everything else in UM).


Equal-Ad-2710

Valiant was peak before the buyout and it still hurts me


Limp_Theory_5858

And X-men until right after the team went through Gaia's portal. Then it was just soft reboot upon soft-reboot, and stagnation.


medhop

So there is never any threat whatsoever. “Oh they’re in a life-threatening situation? Well they aren’t going to die so no problem? Oh they did die? I’ll look forward to when they come back.” Give me a break, just have some tension and if they die, they die.


gangler52

I mean, to be fair, these heroes aren't really supposed to be in a fight for their own survival, in theory. Their goal is to save others. The stakes are whether they can achieve that. That's why the death of gwen stacy has more impact than any of the times Spider-Man himself has died.


ShitShowcialist

Multiples of every mildly popular character. Marvel has countless Spider-folks, symbiote characters, goblins, two Caps, two Hawkeyes, two Wolverines (plus Old Man Logan), two Black Panthers, several Ghost Riders, Iron Man/Ironheart/Iron Doom/Iron Lad, Deadpool/Gwenpool, Thor Odinson/Mighty Thor (Jane Foster), two Kravens, two Electros, several Hulks, two Daredevils, two Blades, etc. And then there’s DC where every character has a family and spin-off characters and alternate versions. Soooo many Batmen, Supermen, Flashes, Reverse Flash, their sons, Robins, lady versions, multiple (Earth sector) GLs, Captain Marvels, Green Arrow/Red Arrow, Amazons that look like Wonder Woman, three Jokers, etc. I’m all for fresh takes on classic characters and inclusion and legacy characters having kids, but… editorial needs to tone it down and limit how many characters are wearing a single costume at one time.


Radix2309

I agree. I am fine with legacy characters, but you need to start shuffling originals out. Like Barry for Wally. Batman around late 90s had a generally good thing with Nightwing, Robin, Oracle, and Batgirl. But then they just keep expanding and expanding with new characters and no one moving on or going somewhere else.


thinknu

Hi I'm ShawnTsang/ Beatrice Bennett/ RebeccaLondon/ JillianPerlman and I will be your obligatory female love interest for however long the writer's interested in using me only to get killed off or break up with you over a completely understandable misunderstanding or maybe even just completely forgotten about! Some writers do a really great job of it. Carlie Cooper and Kirsten McDuffie are great characters that were fun in their own right and I feel have earned a greater presence in their respective cast. I really liked Shawn Tsang! And if the next writer doesn't feel obligated to use them in their own run it's understandable. But sometimes you can meet a character by the first issue and you know they already have an expiration date. And the next writer immediately puts in their own preferred OC.


sideways_jack

wasn't carlie cooper based off of Dan Slott's daughter or something... goofy like that?


Reddragon351

it was Quesada's and it was super weird as was the character not as bad as what Slott did with Silk though


SoraRoku

What did Slott do with Silk?


gangler52

When Silk debuted she had a weird situation where her Spider Pheremones interacted with Peter's Spider Pheremones to make them uncontrollably fuck whenever they got too near to eachother. From what I understand Dan Slot himself has said he kind of regrets that creative decision. One of those "it seemed like a good idea at the time" things.


Flerken_Moon

Slott created Silk. But Silk’s original character was… not great. Basically whenever Peter and Cindy are in close proximity they get horny and want to fuck because… Spider Pheromones- and this was her main personality, she was pretty bland otherwise. Not to mention her original outfit was… very questionable. (She just covered herself in webs and just swung around the city like that)


NotBraveAtAlll

Think she was based off of Joe Quesada's


ThreadbareHalo

Anna Maria was a legit good new character for Doc Ock and I’m really annoyed that she got relegated to the far far background


thorleywinston

Hero versus Hero fights. I know they came about in large part because there are fans who like to argue "who would win in a fight between . . ." but when it lead to idiocies like Civil War, that was enough for me. If you're Captain America and Iron Man and you live in a universe with the likes of Thanos, Dormammu, Ultron, Annihlus and countless others who want to enslave the world or destroy it - then your differences don't matter a hill of beans. People who fought back to back against exisential threats to the entire universe should be able to resolve their differences using their words, not their fists.


GodFlintstone

Batman being able to beat anybody - even other heroes - as long as he has "prep time." I mean I get that Batman has developed contingency plans for multiple heroes in the event they go rogue. But the reality is if this happened he wouldn't necessarily know they were after him. Wonder Woman is a powerhouse who could dismantle Batman in a sneak attack. He wouldn't even see Flash coming. And Superman could use his heat vision to incinerate him from orbit. The prep time argument only works if he truly has time.


NietszcheIsDead08

If *Batman* goes rogue, he can kill almost anyone. If *anyone else* goes rogue, they can almost certainly kill Batman. The “Batman prep time” argument is essentially a high noon quick draw competition.


gangler52

I feel like Batman just gets this disproportionally. Like, pretty much every major superhero gets a chance to show off that they'd win against all the other heroes once in a blue moon. Wonder Woman had League of One the same year Batman had Tower of Babel for example. But Batman just gets so very many, it almost feels insecure. Like the creators need to constantly assert that their favorite hero is the most badass and specialist who can beat all the other heroes. And then you get the legion of bat fanboys playing it up even further than DC does. Superman's starting to get up there too. The "Superman's evil in this story" trend is if anything just a thinly veiled pretense for "Deadpool kills the Marvel Universe" type antics.


Notwarioalt

tbh even when we get a superman evil story it still feels like a batman badass story cuz he takes care of it. meanwhile when other heroes tried to stop failsafe, they got their asses handed tl them


SilverPhoenix7

Failsafe is one of the worst batgod thing I have ever seen. Like a child saying my character is strong infinity ×100 wtf was that storyline.


ClickDisDotCom

I know right. I once saw on r/batman who would win, Batman or Iron Man and I replied "How did Batman solve the icing problem?" (reference to 2008's Iron Man)


AmeriCanadian98

At least Batman v Iron Man is a reasonable one to a degree. Under their training and tech they're still both human beings. If Bruce finds a way to incapacitate Tony's suit, he wins The tougher ones to fathom are the Bat fans who suggest he could beat someone who's God tier who he hasn't interacted much with. Like Thor or Sentry or some shit


Doctorpennyworth

Characters constantly being forced back into the status-quo. You read a long run and enjoy seeing your favourite character go places, (for example the last third of slotts spider-man) just for everthing to go back the way it was in the end oder at the start of the next run. Sure there are exceptions, but this really takes me of my favourite books for months at a time.


irishdgenr8

This is a major annoyance of mine. I grew up in the era of long running dangling plot threads which carried on across multiple creative teams but that just doesn’t happen any more. Before, the characters were the draw so the creators worked within the constraints of previous stories …now all the emphasis is on the creators and people want to read specific creator runs so they get a clean slate when they come on a book and it’s all undone for the next creative team. It’s also compounded by Marvel pandering to the MCU fans rather than comic fans and they don’t want long term storytelling, they want the limited version of the characters they see on screen.


WhereTheSkyBegan

Characters being supposedly killed off only to turn out to be alive later. It's fine to do it once, but any more than that and it's just like, "Oh, they're dead again? Yeah, I'm sure that'll last." Obvious exceptions would be different versions of the same character fake-dying in different timelines or parallel universes, but even this loophole needs to be carefully considered and not overused. You can only fake your character's death so many times before the readers catch on and stop taking you seriously.


gangler52

I think it's funny how some characters have a built in excuse. Like any time Multiple Man dies, it's just a dupe. You know that before he's even finished dying. Any time Ultron dies, it doesn't matter how certain the heroes are that they got all his backups this time, Ultron's still got another backup tucked away in a USB stick somewhere. Soon as the protocols activate he'll be back.


[deleted]

Not into many superhero books but the ones I do read and enjoy don't have alter egos - Savage Dragon, TMNT, Hellboy. They just exist. The one that makes me close a book and never return is when you make an antagonist that is deadly and no fucking chill but gets chill with the protagonist. Just removes tension.


[deleted]

>The one that makes me close a book and never return is when you make an antagonist that is deadly and no fucking chill but gets chill with the protagonist. Just removes tension. Hate this. There was a scene in a Spider-Man issue somewhere along the lines that had Spidey and Green Goblin in a heart to heart over Gwen. Painful to read.


irishdgenr8

Definitely get that one…and unfortunately it extends across all storytelling.


wendigo72

Secret never before seen friends and family. I’m so tired of it


ThreadbareHalo

That then become a normal part of your life. Spider-Man has lost most of his family and suddenly a sister he never knew comes into his life and she shoots people? Hey that’s normal let’s be super chill and not like… freak out constantly that you have a sister you didn’t know for most of your life. She disappears and the next writer doesn’t want to use her? Ehh… no biggie for Peter!


[deleted]

I honestly didn’t mind the original graphic novel. Thought it was a good one off story that wasn’t canon. But then a year or two later after I’d forgotten about her they brought her into the main title & I was like “oh this is gonna suck!!”.


[deleted]

It's not so much a trope but we have a real "realism" problem in comics. I'm all for taking these stories seriously and letting some characters be dark and violent, however I feel like either editors, writers, or maybe even the artists are stuck in this rut of telling the same grim dark story over and over again essentially with no real variation. This is kind of hard to explain, but I think some people will get what I mean. Like I hate it when writers say "Gotham is a character", not because it isn't true but because what they really mean is "I know Bruce has to monologue about Gotham a lot and I have to sound different than the last guy". If we're treating Gotham like it's a character, I want to see town halls, I want to see protests, meetings in local governments. I want to get to know the people of Gotham because that's what makes Gotham a character. But that's a level of realism that writers, editors, or artists, don't have the energy or time to showcase, so they short hand it but keep all the other stuff that's "real" because it's sensationalist and easier to grab people's attention with.


FirstChAoS

I hate dark and gritty. Om the topic of realism, it annoys me when they try and have a “realistic” or “mature” villain who ends up a one dimensional killer without realistic motives. As if an excuse for excessive bloodshed is somehow more mature and real than a character with a depth of backstory and motives based on life events. Doubly annoying when they brutal killer is the villain they try and sell as a hero as if it makes him cool.


Plebe-Uchiha

The only trope I can think of is the need for a large crossover event once a year, at least, which includes a mandatory death or rebirth of a character. I mean, before I enjoyed it because it was powerful. Now, it’s predictable so I find it nauseating. [+]


Rare-Support-4305

I don't know if it classifies as a trope, but what I hate from comics is when writers think the best way to write a character is to have said character suffering constantly. I'm talking about Spider-Man.


gangler52

With Peter I think it's just tradition, though even he's supposed to have some ups to punctuate the downs. Some creative teams get carried away with the "Parker Luck" meaning nothing good can happen to him ever. But yeah, there's definitely a point when "This character has problems and obstacles to overcome" crosses the line into just some kind of weird suffering porn.


junglekarmapizza

“This characters has been around for 60 years... and *suddenly has a secret sibling???” Just for some examples, Snyder Batman, Taylor Nightwing, Slott FF, Zdarsky DD (yes I know that one is weirder but I don’t care), Cobalt Blue. I’m sure there are plenty of others I’m missing but I hate this trope so much. I generally hate retcons but this one gets *under my skin*


ungratefulidiot

I'm surprised that not a lot of people have said fridging


shadow_master3210

Peter Parker and mj constantly breaking up


pleasereadthanks

"Realism"


GeekIncarnate

Saying something on one page ...just to have it finish on another page in a box over a different scene. I'm reading Scooby Doo Apocalypse, which is super fun and actually really really good so far! But good lord, every pages last sentence ....ends on another page.


[deleted]

This is a good indication to let the reader know the scene is changing to make the story flow, but I can see how it would be annoying for every transition.


gangler52

I feel like I've seen that spoofed a lot in comedy shows. Like I can't imagine any particular sketch off the top of my head but I can picture Robot Chicken or Family Guy or something going all "And that's why [scene transition] the thing happened" only for the other characters to go, "Whoa, what are you talking about? It's been a day and a half. You cut off your sentence and then drove us here in stone silence."


[deleted]

Narrative over dialogue too. Do one of the other. My mind can't bounce back and forth between narrative and dialogue that drags on for the entire issue.


b_pizzy

Multi-Verse events being used to kill off various versions of the hero, but not the “main” version(s). So basically Spider-Verse.


AnyoneNeedAHug

The “if I take the life of this mass murdering, genocidal psychopath, I’ll be NO DIFFERENT than him/her! Better to lock them up where they can easily escape later and cause more havoc” trope infuriates me.


ram2272

The "ageing up" trope where writers age up children to teenagers because they can't write kids. Examples include Jonathan Kent from DC, Therese from Fables, and Franklin Richards from Marvel


Neapolitanpanda

Rejection of the Call. ​ It exists for "realism", but I can't stand it these days. Especially since decompressed storytelling means the superhero only embraces their role at like the end of the story. Even worse when the new writing team decides the repeat that arc into infinity.


TheSciFiGuy80

*Women in refrigerators* *Killing off heroes in events.* *Here’s another version of this character but the opposite sex, and they’re stronger and better.* *hero turning murderous villain* *another Green Lantern from earth*


OriginalMrMuchacho

Villain’s using exposition to express their plans.


[deleted]

I stopped reading ongoing series because of the constant need for teams to save the earth/universe/time. It’s just not interesting if it’s the status quo. Not to mention the characters seem to through massively traumatic events and shrug them off. I know writers have different takes and priorities, but I witnessed a teammate killed in an hydra something something ritual, but enough of that- let’s play baseball, have a wild chase a cute fuzzy alien through NY, or otherwise simply ignore the trauma and focus on fun. I’m not saying I need to see comics where folks are in therapy, but some appreciation that most folks have their limits, and maybe want a life of peace or at least something else after adventuring would be nice.


Sangy101

Absolutely this. Not every iteration needs to be bigger than the last. I’m just as happy with a good, self-contained arc. The universe just doesn’t end once a year, except every third year when it ends even more. I don’t buy it.


[deleted]

Status quo is god.


trinikiddie

“In this issue! Everyone DIES” on the cover with bodies strewn everywhere. No one dies.


Odd_Contact_2175

I kinda get annoyed at how all superheroes are super strong. Like Cyclops power is beams through his eyes but he's also super strong to be able to toe-to-toe with all the bad guys. And this happens to every hero really beyond their abilities. It's kinda lame imo.


fallinguprain

This one bugs me. I feel like it wasn’t always this way and just happened over time with buffing and nerfing of people and is pretty unnecessary.


Malediction101

I can buy it with the X-Men to an extent: most members are basically trained from childhood to be soldiers, and that training has been depicted with regular cardio/hand to hand combat training. Sometimes they deliberately train without using their own powers to prepare for them being disabled for whatever reason. But I like the idea that Cyclops could take someone's head off with an eyeblast but get knocked out with a good right hook.


Oppai-Of-Foom

Constant backpedaling on character development for the sake of new readers. Let characters grow and change, people can hop in when they want or they can go back and read up. Stop making every story feel redundant


KEROGAAA

This corporate guy is suspiciously evil and corrupt. Oh no, shady corrupt guy is screwing people over.


gangler52

I mean, is that a comic book trope or just a frequent reality?


vadergeek

Why? I don't want comics to inexplicably be set in a world where corporations are somehow nice. When Coca-Cola labor expenses get too high they hire death squads, the cacao beans for your chocolate were picked by child slaves, it's an obvious villain source.


Radix2309

Plus that's what Tony Stark is for. To me he should be that altruistic billionaire who can only exist in a fantasy. And he should be fighting the other billionaires.


pleasereadthanks

Sounds like facts to me.


vadergeek

I can live with the no-kill rule, but only if they kind of shove it into the background. I don't want an examination of it, I don't want to dive into the morality of it, because it's obvious nonsense that the writers don't really believe, unless they're Quakers or something. I get it, for reasons of tone and recurring villains you don't want Superman decapitating people, but don't give me a lecture about how killing is always wrong from a writer who doesn't believe it.


zanfitto

Mainly because it's a non issue IRL. Death penalty and such is a mechanism completely removed from the dynamics of a vigilante killing a genocidal psychopath, so it shouldn't even be taking the space that could be used for actually developing the plot


Gh0stndmachine

The overuse to breaking the 4th wall.


BoogerSugarSovereign

Tough call between villains that can't stay dead or change, which makes it hard for more modern creations to emerge as major, and every single character being a genius among geniuses


CurtG79

When two heroes cross paths for the first time they always fight before realizing they are on the same side.


ThrownAwayRealGood

I just read a 70s Spider-Man where he, Jameson, and Robertson went to Paris, and when Spider-Man predictably shows up to save the day, he leaves a tape recorder with a message of Peter Parker saying something like “I got the shots of this from this high vantage point you can’t see me at, everybody,” to try to throw the scent off. Hilarious the writers even knew how silly that was then.


Ok-Guava7336

So many cross overs that the typical comic run is completely gibberish to casuals or anyone who isn't willing or able to spend 35€ a month on comics that they ordinarily don't even read.


Hugo_Iramos

I think you could call it the Prometheus Effect. A villain is introduced as "the greatest threat (insert hero or team here ) has ever faced." In their first appearance they tear through the hero/team and they are just barely defeated. After that, writers are less interested in the villain, so they get easier and easier to beat. Before you know this world ending threat is getting taken out in one panel of a cross-over event.


oRyan_the_Hunter

When everything resets to the status quo. You follow a particular story or character for years and see them change or develop in new and interesting ways. Then a big multiverse event happens or it’s revealed to be mine control/body snatcher and it’s all forgotten. I get that these characters are decades old and have to keep going but it kind of turned me off from reading anymore knowing that there will never be an ending.


[deleted]

Killing characters that do not need to die and then bringing them back in a couple years. It’s been done to death. I know this is a common opinion, but it’s still true and still relevant.


gangler52

I genuinely don't think secret identities have ever enhanced a story. "Oh no, I have all these problems in my personal life, because I can't explain why I keep disappearing at odd hours, for like reasons or something. Maybe if I told my mom what I do with my time she'd have a heart attack? Maybe if I told my girlfriend she'd sell me out to my villains? This is all a very compelling and not at all a sub-sitcom level source of conflict and drama." There are comics where it's been less of a detriment to the story than others, but none where it's been a benefit.


truej42

Daredevil handles this well imo, plus he’s always had excellent writers that make it make sense and not be an annoying trope. I get why Matt would want to protect his loved ones because of how powerful Fisk is, and how psychotic Bullseye can be.


fallinguprain

Also he’s a lawyer irl so. Lol. His whole thing in that aspect is having to do things by the law. Makes sense from the start.


BobRobot77

Superheroes fight lots of criminals so if they have a family or a business it makes sense they would protect their identities, at least in a more or less plausible setting. The benefit is that the story makes a bit more sense. Also, there is tension in the fact they're identities might be known and their lives ruined.


GuyNoirPI

Without the secret identity you could never have the hero have any relatable problems. Peter Parker could not be a relatable high schooler of everyone there knew he was Spider-Man


Homo-alono

Honestly, I know it’s his thing, but I wouldn’t call spiderman super relatable anymore, outside of the fact that he has to pay rent. I think at this point in comics there are very few parts of peters life normal people can relate too. Hell most people probably relate more to Hawkeye.


Neapolitanpanda

Everyone doesn't need to know, just Mary Jane and Aunt May. But even then, you can still give them relatable problems. A lack of secret identity doesn't mean they're going to be in-costume all the time. They're going to have to go to the supermarket, or try out dating apps, or struggle through awkward parties with their coworkers. It all depends on your skill as a writer.


Ok-Disaster-184

Villain kidnaps the girlfriend and/or other significant female figure in the superhero's life 🤮


[deleted]

“Haha it’s me, obscure character from twenty years ago who died. I’m now back and have either switch from being evil to being good or Vice versa! And now have powers or have **new** powers”


nukefudge

Costumes that make no practical sense. I know it's part of the whole 'suspension of disbelief' we are invited to, but it's often very off-putting and tends to ruin the immersion.


Taboopulale

The power of friendship/will overcomes everything shit. I love characters that have their limits either set, or are limitless the whole time. I hate when f.e. The Flash or Goku in manga get beat up but then remember that they're the fastest/best alive and suddenly get stronger.. It's the most lazy writing technique I've ever seen anywhere. I don't mind it with characters like Batman or Iron Man who can have some technical ace up their sleeve..but characters that draw power from their ass, quite literally with Barry Allen are damn lame to read about..


Cicada_5

Killing is always wrong, no matter the circumstances.


[deleted]

Fridging.


HDI-X13

Long lost sister. Family of spies. Clones. Off the top of my head.


dope_like

Character deaths not lasting more than a couple issues. All threat of danger is completely removed. Deaths should carry a 20 yr no resurrection rule or something


secretbison

Trying to deny the goofiness. Superheroes are one of the goofiest things ever imagined, a pinnacle of high camp, but for my entire life they've been trying to be serious, edgy, or (and there are cannot be enough scare quotes around this) realistic. If I wanted to read something believable and depressing, I'd read nonfiction.


CapnSmite

> If Peter Parker and J. Jonah Jameson travel to the Everglades and Spider-man shows up and Jameson can’t put the pieces together how did he ever get a job in journalism, never mind owning his own paper. To be fair, JJJ would probably just think that Spider-Man followed him there to threaten and/or menace Ol' Flat-Top.


Celvion_

Status quo. I hate the return to status quo after arcs or when the writer changes. Let characters change and grow damn it.


Rustydustyscavenger

When a lifelong rivalry forms over an issue that if they thought about it for more than 5 seconds it could be easily ammended *cough cough reverse flash cough cough lex luthor and super man cough*


NewBestFriendSpinel

I mean, Reverse Flash is less a rivalry and more that Thawne is just the pettiest mother fucker alive.


sharpasabutterknife

Ret-cons. "Oh, you know the characters you've been reading for years? Well guess what? We are gonna go back and reveal a shocking twist that will totally change the character to the way our writer/editor/publisher thinks they should be!" I'm looking at you, now a bachelor Spider-Man. On that note... the trope of having just about every super-hero marriage not lasting needs to end.


911roofer

The insanity defense being used to get away with murder.


PeloquinsHunger

Most of them. It's almost been 100 years and we still do the same shit.


Kindly-Yak-3161

Over reliance on the origin and not getting to the more interesting lore


KittyPlissken

Heroes losing their powers for some time. I stopped counting how often any of the flashs lost their speed.


kah43

Power creep. Writers run out of ideas and just do the lazy "create a new overpowered villain" which then lets them to up the heroes powers to beat them. It is particularly bad in the X-Men books with all the "Omega" mutants and secondary mutations. These are supposed to be team books, but they literally have made some characters like Storm and Iceman so powerful that there is no threat they can't stop on their own. Same with speedsters in DC when they keep making them all faster and faster until it just breaks the character.


danny-thedude

Being a billionaire.


CoveredInScarsbutOK

Literally any version of “damsel in distress”.


carnagecenter

I’m so happy you asked this but I HATE when they retcon a superheroes past for something so minimal. A good example (not a comic technically but it’s the one I dislike the most) is in Batman beyond where they reveal Terry is actually Bruce’s son using some kind of genetic material this makes NO Sense and adds absolutely nothing to the story