The Superwomen of Eva series is an ongoing Fanfic project by Mike313, OrionPax09, and several other authors that crosses over Neon Genesis Evangelion with either Marvel Comics or DC Comics. Formed in response to a glut of fics that gave Eva's leading boy, Shinji Ikari, superpowers, the SoE stories seek to do the same for the women of Eva — hence the name. As such, each story is a Fusion Fic that focuses on one of the female Evangelion characters getting the powers of a known superhero (with two exceptions) and can largely be divided into two series based on which universe is being fused. In addition, there are the Superwomen Of Eva Alterverse and Superwomen of EVA Tribute, which are different enough to deserve separate mentions, and a few other Follow the Leader false starts which are not listed here.
- Superwomen of Eva is mostly written by OrionPax09 and focuses on the Evangelion girls gaining the powers of Marvel superheroes and superheroines (plus the two exceptions noted above). As the name suggests, this is the original SoE series, itself starting with Superwomen of Eva: Emerald Fury. It contains 14 different stories (and one sequel) by four different authors.
- Superwomen of Eva 2 is mostly written by Mike313 and focuses on the Evangelion girls gaining the powers of DC superheroes and superheroines. It is the second SoE 'verse to be formed and was originally started by Mike313 with Superwomen of Eva 2: Emerald Courage on the basis that he simply preferred DC Comics. It has 13 stories, eleven by Mike313 and two others by different authors.
- The Superwomen Of Eva Alterverse is written by Archdruid-Sephiroth and takes a completely different approach, starting five years after a failed Third Impact and written as a single continuity, consisting of three stories: Duality, Fringe, and Doom. Like the original Superwomen of Eva series, it is a crossover with the Marvel Universe.
- Superwomen of Eva: Legacies is written by Cody Fett and Cyclone. As the name suggests, every Eva girl ends up being a legacy character to a deceased or retired hero of the DC Universe. It also provides a twist in all of the stories being part of a Shared Universe, with the events of one story influencing the rest (and various scenes revisited through different viewpoints).
- Superwomen of Eva Tribute is helmed by Author0fntent and, as the name implies, is an ongoing 'tribute' to both the original Superwomen of EVA and Superwomen of EVA 2, with each entry in the series taking place in tangent variations of both universes of stories (with one exception). Unlike those mostly-disparate stories, but like Legacies, Tribute posits more interconnectedness among the characters and their stories. The majority of Tribute is anchored by fan art with minor amounts of prose, and features the addition of more DC and Marvel characters, both well-known and obscure. The major Evangelion elements of this are the inclusion of other extracanonical female characters from other Evangelion continuities, namely Nene Matsukaze (from the visual novel Neon Genesis Evangelion Gaiden Vol. 2 ~ Feast of Dolls); Dr. Hitomi Kaga (from the video game The Secret of the Evangelion); Aoi Mogami, Satsuki Ooi, and Kaede Agano (the bridge bunny trio from the video game and manga series The Shinji Ikari Raising Project); and Kotone Suzunami and Hitomi Amagi (from the mobile game Evangelion Battlefields).
With the exceptions of Superwomen of Eva: Codename XJ9, Superwomen of Eva 2: Soaring High, SOE Alterverse: Doom, the Superwomen of Eva Legacies series, and Superwomen of EVA Tribute, the stories can be found here, while their trope pages are linked below. Obviously, they are still under construction.
- Superwomen of Eva: Emerald Fury by OrionPax09 — The first SoE story, in which Misato Katsuragi gains the powers and abilities of the Hulk.
- Superwomen of Eva: Spirit by Mike313 — Hikari Horaki is exposed to contaminated drinking water due to NERV's negligent dumping of chemical waste, and gains her own original superpowers, taking the name "Spirit". Although Hikari's powers are not based on a character from the Marvel Universe like the other SoE stories, Superwomen of Eva: Spirit is still part of the SoE meta Fan Verse due to Broad Strokes crossovers and enjoys Wolverine Publicity (see below).
- Superwomen of Eva: Lilith's Herald by OrionPax09 — Rei Ayanami gains the powers and abilities of the Silver Surfer.
- Superwomen of Eva: Vengeful Devil by OrionPax09 — Asuka Langley Soryu, after nearly dying, becomes the Ghost Rider.
- Superwomen of Eva: Treacherous Web by OrionPax09 — Ritsuko Akagi gains the powers and abilities of Spider-Man, and becomes a distinct take on Spider-Woman.
- Superwomen of Eva: The Truth Is... by The Rei-Fan — Mana Kirishima dons an advanced techno-armor as Iron Maiden; fittingly, the character originates from the 1997 video game Neon Genesis Evangelion: Iron Maiden. Partially rewritten by OrionPax09 under the title Superwomen of Eva: Iron Resolve; The Rei-Fan felt they couldn't finish the story and OrionPax09 took over writing duties.
- Superwomen of Eva: The 4th Degree by OrionPax09 — Maya Ibuki gains the powers and abilities of the Fantastic Four. All of the Fantastic Four.
- Superwomen of Eva: Tempest Aterna by Archdruid-Sephiroth — Mayumi Yamagishi (from the 1997 video game Neon Genesis Evangelion: Second Impression) gains the powers and abilities of Storm of the X-Men. Branches off into its own micro-continuity following the story's conclusion.
- SOE: The X-Factor Chronicles by Archdruid-Sephiroth — The sequel to Tempest Aterna.
- Superwomen of Eva: Fiery Return by OrionPax09 — Yui Ikari comes back to life as the Phoenix.
- Superwomen of Eva: Triple Threat by OrionPax09 — Naoko Akagi returns as three separate versions of herself, each one with the respective powers and abilities of three Spider-Man-adjacent characters: Venom, Cloak and Dagger.
- Superwomen of Eva: Soul's Haven by OrionPax09 — Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu gains the powers and abilities of Darkhawk.
- Superwomen of Eva: American Dream by OrionPax09 — Mari "Illustrious" Makinami is Steve Rogers's great-granddaughter, and goes through the same process he did to become the new Captain America.
- Superwomen of Eva: CODENAME: XJ9 by The Rei-Fan — During the battle with Ramiel, Jenny Wakeman appears in Tokyo-3. Like Superwomen of Eva: Spirit, this story is set firmly in the SoE Fan Verse due to being a crossover with (or sequel to?) Superwomen of Eva: The Truth Is..., despite not being a Fusion Fic like other SoE stories.
- Superwomen of Eva: Storm Bringer by OrionPax09 — Maria Vincennes, from the 1996 RPG Neon Genesis Evangelion RPG: The NERV White Paper, gains the powers and abilities of The Mighty Thor.
- Superwomen of Eva 2: Emerald Courage by Mike313 — Misato Katsuragi is recruited to become a Green Lantern.
- A sequel, Superwomen of Eva 2: The Sinestro Corps War, has been announced.
- Superwomen Of Eva 2 Lone Heir Of Krypton by Mike313 — Asuka Langley Soryu discovers her Kryptonian heritage and becomes Power Girl (at first).
- A sequel, Superwomen of Eva 2: World's Finest, has been announced.
- Superwomen of Eva 2: Amazing Amazon by Mike313 — Rei Ayanami is chosen by the gods of the Ancient Greek pantheon to become the new champion of the Amazons as Wonder Girl. (And she actually gets the powers of Wonder Woman too.)
- Superwomen of Eva 2: Dark Lady of Tokyo-3 by Mike313 — Mayumi Yamagishi is vengeance. She is the night. She! Is! Batgirl!
- Superwomen of Eva 2: The Magic Touch by Mike313 — Maya Ibuki embraces her magical bloodline and adopts the moniker of Zatanna.
- Superwomen of Eva 2: Hunter's Legacy by OrionPax09 — After a Freak Lab Accident involving microbes from a piece of rock brought back from the planet Mars, Hikari Horaki is transformed into the Martian Manhunter. (Or in this case, given her age, Miss Martian.)
- Superwomen of Eva 2: Blue Defiance by Mike313 — Ritsuko Akagi finds and bonds with a techno-organic alien Scarab, becoming the Blue Beetle in the process.
- Superwomen of Eva 2: Girl of Steel by Mike313 — Mana Kirishima dons a suit of Powered Armor and becomes a version of Steel.
- Superwomen of Eva 2: The Hand of Fate by Mike313 — Yui Ikari is chosen by Kent Nelson to become the new Doctor Fate.
- Superwomen of Eva 2: The Ultimate Rush by Mike313 — Following a Freak Lab Accident involving a modified batch of LCL in her EVA's entry plug, Mari "Illustrious" Makinami gains Super-Speed and becomes the newest version of The Flash.
- Superwomen of Eva 2: Unfinished Business by Mike313 — Naoko Akagi becomes the new host of The Spectre.
- Superwomen of Eva 2: Electric Return by Mike313 — Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu gets fused with a cosmic being and years later comes back from the dead as a Strange Visitor. (Certainly the most obscure fusion yet.)
- Superwomen Of Eva 2 Soaring High by Rassilon001 — Toji's little sister, Chiyo Suzuhara, finds a winged harness (and a few other items) in a museum and becomes Hawkgirl.
- Superwomen of Eva: Legacies: New Daughter Of Krypton by Cyclone — Rei Ayanami discovers she has the powers of Supergirl.
- Superwomen of Eva: Legacies: Batgirl Beyond by Cyclone — Mana Kirishima meets an elderly Bruce Wayne, taking up the mantle he's put down to become Batgirl.
- Superwomen of Eva: Legacies: Marvelous Future by Cody Fett — Sakura Suzuhara stumbles upon an artifact left behind by the wizard Shazam and becomes the successor to Mary Marvel.
- Superwomen of Eva: Legacies: True Blue by Cody Fett — While trying to help Toji find his sister, Hikari Horaki discovers a certain scarab and becomes the next Blue Beetle.
- Superwomen of Eva Tribute: The (Un)Official Handbook of Who's Who — the main 'series' within Tribute, done in the vein of classic 'biography' comics such as Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe and The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. The entries in the series are comprised of fan art (whether done by the author themselves or through pieces commissioned by them) accompanied by prose detailing the character's background and how they fit in the overall Superwomen of Eva narrative environs (or the tangent thereof). Inspired by the crossovers found in the omakes of both the Superwomen of Eva and Superwomen of Eva 2 stories, the DC/Marvel characters featured are either visually based on certain characters from other anime/manga, or are actual characters from other anime/manga given a DC/Marvel character's mantle and/or powerset.
- Superwomen of Eva: Earth's Mightiest, United — the first full-on long-form story in Tribute, in which the Marvel-based superwomen (along with their allies) band together to deal with the arrival of Galactus and his heralds, eventually leading to them forming the Avengers. Done in tribute to OrionPax09's announced but never written "Heroes United" story, though with different narrative liberties taken compared to their stories. Features the appearance of characters from other Gainax/Khara anime franchises, such as GunBuster's Noriko Takaya (as Quasar), Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann's Yoko Littner (as Domino), FLCL's Haruko Haruhara (as Dazzler), and the title heroine of Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (as the new Sub-Mariner).
- Has a one-shot follow-up titled Superwomen of Eva Tribute: All Joking Aside, in which Sylene (the daughter of Loki) uses a spell to make herself invisible so she can pull all sorts of pranks on the Avengers. Based on Bill Morrison's story "The Roots of All Evil" from 2002's Marvel Double-Shot #2.
- Superwomen of Eva Tribute: Shades of Saturday Mornings Past — A script-styled two-shot that puts the superwomen in parodies of the opening title sequences of two classic animated superhero TV shows. Part one spoofs Super Friends, specifically the Challenge of the Super Friends incarnation; while part two riffs on Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, with Spider-Woman/Ritsuko standing in for Spider-Man and She-Hulk/Misato and Maya/Ms. Fantastic replacing Iceman and Firestar.
Tropes that apply to the Superwomen of Eva series in general include:
- Action Girl: Kind of the whole point, by way of Adaptational Badass.
- Adaptational Badass: Aside from the titular Action Girls (which are also an example of this), many characters take a level in badass before the stories are done.
- Shinji in some stories, turning into a full-blown Badass Normal.
- Adaptational Muscles: Several of the superwomen get extra muscularity as part of their power package. Pretty much all of them had no hint of muscularity in canon materials.
- Amazonian Beauty: Many of the superwomen can be considered examples of this, and if it's not emphasized in the story you can sure as heck bet that it'll be emphasized in the Fanart. (As seen on DeviantArt.)
- Apocalypse Cult: The Light of the Divine — which believes that the Angels are God's messengers and that The End of the World as We Know It is God's will — appears in multiple SoE2 stories, sometimes as part of the background, other times as a Starter Villain. In a number of said entries, it is also revealed that Gendo Ikari created and secretly funds the cult in order to have a roster of expendable, deniable "soldiers" to assassinate potential threats to "the Scenario".
- The Light of the Divine appears in Super-Wackos of EVA: NERV Freaks Out, their sometimes-status as a Starter Villain satirized in that they're the first foes Freakazoid faces in Tokyo-3, where he prevents them from abducting the NERV-Central pilot corps. An American chapter of the group appears in a later 'episode' of the story when Freakazoid pays his home country a visit, which sees him come to the rescue of the two US-based Evangelion pilots when the Light of the Divine kidnaps them from a mall.
- Audience Surrogate: Shinji's main role whenever he appears.
- Battle Harem: In the meta sense. None of the stories feature a harem per se, but the vast majority of SoE stories have the resident superheroine hooking up with the canon Audience Surrogate Shinji Ikari.
- This is pretty ironic when one considers that this torpedoes any chance of the vast majority of superheroines being involved in team-ups that are in-continuity for both stories, one of the main staples of the superhero genre; and has the girl hooking up with the everyman Audience Surrogate, one of the main staples of the Super Fic genre the stories were meant to be a counterpart to.
- Breast Expansion: Especially if the story is being written by OrionPax09, the superwomen often end up with notably increased bustlines instead of, or in addition to, their Adaptational Muscles. A particularly notable example is Asuka in Lone Heir of Krypton; she is partially based on the notoriously well-endowed Power Girl, after all.
- Broad Strokes: The stories that have other superwomen besides the main character take this approach with events described in the other superwomen's stories. This is necessary due to the incompatible shipping, if for no other reason (see Battle Harem above).
- Butt-Monkey: Shinji, in the omakes. In the stories proper, he sometimes suffers problems and is sometimes a Non-Action Guy outside of the Evangelion, but he is useful somehow, either by having a Big Damn Heroes moment with said Evangelion or just by being The Heart. On the omake, either said Battle Harem thrashes the apartment (not to mention the rest of Tokyo-3) competing for his affections, he's given crappy powers, given cool powers for just a couple of seconds, and generally given hell. Not even alternate versions of him are safe around the superwomen.
- Capepunk: To make a long story short, being a superhero in Tokyo-3 is a long road full of hardships.
- City of Adventure: Tokyo-3 is this in pretty much every story in the series. Depending on the story, it also can have some traces of being a Wretched Hive (at least, whenever NERV is involved).
- Crossover: While the inter-franchise crossover element is fairly obvious, there are other crossover elements that also come into play thanks to frequent cameos of the series heroines in each other's stories, with a few exceptions.
- Character Overlap: In addition to the canon characters (obviously), several of the stories have Broad Strokes versions of one or more superwomen from other SoE stories appear. A couple of Original Characters have also appeared in multiple SoE stories, namely Section Two Chief Chiron and (less frequently) his right-hand man, Sato.
- Also, some omake by the authors pit the superwomen against other fanfiction settings they have written. Most typical result: a Curb-Stomp Battle to whoever annoyed the superwomen, and poor Shinji becoming the Butt-Monkey again.
- A Running Gag throughout the omake of OrionPax09's SoE 'fics is the appearance of Happosai in Tokyo-3, up to his typical Dirty Old Man escapades. Being an Old Master (and also because of the Rule of Funny), the superwomen have an outrageously hard time dealing with him (even the ones which would severely injure him if not flat-out One-Hit Kill him). The 'Omake Interlude' chapter of Superwomen of EVA: Earth's Mightiest, United offers a potential conclusion to this running gag, when following multiple failed attempts at catching Happosai on the part of the superwomen, She-Hulk/Misato uses the fourth wall-breaking powers that come with the mantle to call in Rumiko Takahashi herself to put a stop to the old man's antics.
- A similar gag also runs throughout various omakes in both OrionPax09's and Mike313's stories (and in a couple of instances, some of the latter's non-SOE stories), involving Lupin's gang trying to pull a job or two in Tokyo-3, only for the superwoman of the story to unexpectedly stumble upon them, much to their chagrin.
- Supergirl/Asuka, Wonder Girl/Rei, Green Lantern/Misato, and Blue Beetle/Ritsuko 'guest-star' in chapter 36/'Episode 30' of an unrelated fanfic of Author0fntent's, Super-Wackos of EVA: NERV Freaks Out. A crossover between Evangelion and, of all shows, Freakazoid!, this was done on the writer's part as an in-joke over how both Freakazoid! and DC Comics are owned by Warner Bros. The quartet are brought to the world the story takes place in due to interdimensional portal shenanigans in order to help Freakazoid against his arch-nemesis the Lobe and his minions. Once done, after thanking them, Freakazoid whisper-asks if they're ready to return home to their universe, noting how the author was worried Mike313 would throw a fit.
- Distaff Counterpart: Originally formulated as this.
- Exact Words: In the interlude omake of Earth's Mightiest, United, the superwomen become fed up with Happosai terrorizing Tokyo-3 with his particular brand of sexual harassment and, because he has proven implacable to the shows of force of the superheroines, they do the thing they know will put him in his place: make him meet his maker. By which they mean, when Happosai gloats that he knows they have a no-kill code, that they will summon Rumiko Takahashi and have her drag him by the ear (or in this case, powerfully kick him in the rear) back to Nerima.
- Fan Verse: Most stories are self-contained, but some do cross over with each other (in a Broad Strokes sense, at least). As expected of a comic book universe, some of those encounters go pretty badly. Superwomen of Eva Tribute embraces more of a fan-verse style with its approach to integrating elements of those same stories.
- Fix Fic: To the canon Evangelion events. Even with superpowers, the characters must fight for it.
- Fusion Fic: The premise is fusing comic book characters and Evangelion characters.
- Helping Would Be Kill Stealing: Inverted. The superwomen want to help save the world and so they help destroy the Angels. Asuka, who has built her identity around proving her worthiness as an Evangelion pilot, sees their help as kill-stealing and them getting her bacon out of the fire as an Unwanted Rescue, and in the tales where she is an antagonist these are outright unforgivable insults.
- Lighter and Softer: Than canon Evangelion.
- Omake: Frequent.
- Original Character: Chiron, head of Section Two, shows up in several SoE stories across both series, sometimes just as a Jerkass and other times as The Dragon. His right-hand man, Sato, has appeared in a few as well. (Chiron has also appeared in an unrelated story of Mike313's, Shinji the Mighty, a crossover between Evangelion and Birdy the Mighty.)
- Chiron and Sato appear in Author0fntent's Super-Wackos of EVA: NERV Freaks Out, though in portrayals that are caricatures of their usual selves in the original Superwomen of Eva and Superwomen of Eva 2 stories. As stated by the author, this version of Chiron's characterization parodies Sheriff Buford T. Justice from Smokey and the Bandit, while Sato lampoons Barney Fife from The Andy Griffith Show.
- Outside-Context Problem:
- Running Gag throughout the stories is NERV being blind-sided by the appearance of the superwoman (or superwomen) in question and Gendo scrambling to find a way to remove them from his beloved "scenario" (at the least creating a "try-to-kill-the-superwomen-on-sight" standing order for his subordinates to follow). How far he'll go to ensure their destruction changes slightly from fic to fic, but is usually nasty. Except for a handful of fics, SEELE is also blindsided by the superwomen, and even then, they underestimate the girls' chances, and don't step in at first because they don't want to show their hand to Gendo so early in the game. A
- On the same note, various villains that are part of the original mythos of the fused superhero (or the DC/Marvel Universes as a whole) are also this to NERV and/or SEELE, all of a sudden intruding on and disrupting things, and neither of the aforementioned conspiracies being in any way able to do much to stop them, leaving the superwoman of the story to do things herself and making them look like chumps (very much to their ire).
- Outside-Genre Foe: The appearance of honest-to-the-deities In-Universe Real Life superheroes and supervillains from out of the woodwork is a slap in the face of everybody within the cast. Their Character Development (or their Start of Darkness) commences with them wrapping their minds around this concept.
- Patchwork Fic: Because of how much stuff there is on the mythos on both the comic book and anime parts of the fusion, this is a given (example: Mari "Illustrious" Makinami interacting with a timeline mostly based on the TV series).
- Section Two Is Useless: A recurring theme in several of these stories (the ones where the superwoman in question is a member of NERV) is how incompetent Section Two is (when they aren't Professional Killers with a penchant for Cold-Blooded Torture, as they tend to be when the titular superwoman isn't a member of NERV), and how easily the superwoman of the story can slip her Section Two bodyguards, often even without using superpowers.
- Right Hand Versus Left Hand: The struggle of SEELE, NERV and the JSSDF to do something about the superwomen (be it kill them for the former or ally themselves for the latter (at least sometimes)) without exposing their hand to the other groups too early (doubly so for SEELE on the handful of fics where it has some countermeasures in place to deal with them) is a running plot point throughout the stories of the series.
- Shared Universe: The specific mission statement of the Legacies stories is to be this (many of the other Superwomen stories so far share characters but firmly stand as separate universes because of things like who Shinji ends up with). Tribute's aim is to be more of this with tangents of the Superwomen of Eva and Superwomen of Eva 2 narrative environments.
- Silliness Switch: A great many of the post-chapter omake are nuts, anything from retelling a scene in a more silly fashion to them interacting with the author (sometimes chewing him out for something that happens on the fic) to showing a MythBusters special being filmed on Tokyo-3 to small showcases of the girls having alternate power sets. Some of the most dramatic chapters do not have these omakes.
- Super Fic: Superhero mecha pilots! (Or support staff...)
- Villain with Good Publicity: The propensity for the authors to make NERV the Big Bad (reserving SEELE for the The Man Behind the Man role) tends to result in this, what with NERV being an organization created to save the world from the Angels.
- Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World: A given, with many of the characters being high-schoolers. Finding ways to prevent NERV from finding them out, and their fears of what NERV could do if they do find them out, are important plot points on several of the stories.
- Wolverine Publicity: Examples in each of the series:
- SoE has Spirit showing up in a lot.
- For Superwomen of Eva 2, let's look at each superwoman's guest appearances and off-screen mentions:
- Power Girl/Supergirl/Asuka: Superwomen of Eva 2: Emerald Courage, Superwomen of Eva 2: Amazing Amazon, Superwomen of Eva 2: Girl of Steel, Superwomen Of Eva 2 Soaring High: 4 guest appearances
- Wonder Girl/Rei: Superwomen of Eva 2: Emerald Courage, Superwomen Of Eva 2 Lone Heir Of Krypton, Superwomen of Eva 2: Girl of Steel (mention only), Superwomen Of Eva 2 Soaring High (mention only): 2 guest appearances, 2 off-screen mentions
- Green Lantern/Misato: Superwomen of Eva 2: Blue Defiance, Superwomen Of Eva 2 Soaring High (mention only): 1 guest appearance, 1 off-screen mention
- Batgirl/Mayumi: Superwomen of Eva 2: Girl of Steel, Superwomen Of Eva 2 Soaring High (mention only): 1 guest appearance, 1 off-screen mention
- Blue Beetle/Ritsuko: Superwomen Of Eva 2 Soaring High (mention only): 1 off-screen mention only
- Steel/Mana: Superwomen Of Eva 2 Soaring High (mention only): 1 off-screen mention only
- None of the other superwomen have any guest appearances or even mentions outside their own stories.