History Capepunk / ComicBooks

* ''ComicBook/XMen'': The series was one of the earliest to treat superpowers as a BlessedWithSuck situation. While they were initially treated as heroes by the public, their reception became gradually worse and worse with hate-groups, discrimination, and a number of attempted genocides against them. Events in their past have included: Operation: Zero Tolerance, the destruction of Genosha, Weapon X creating a death camp, the attempt to "cure" the mutant gene, and the Scarlet Witch getting rid of the vast majority of their powers. These are just some of the crappy situations they've had to deal with.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': The series was originally quite revolutionary. The idea of a superhero struggling with his normal identity's everyday problems as well as crippling guilt for [[MyGreatestFailure his failures]] was something new to the genre. It soon became Marvel's standard and a case of OnceOriginalNowOverdone but worked well for bringing in new readers.

* Creator/AlanMoore is possibly the TropeCodifier:
** One of the earliest examples of the genre is Moore's ''ComicBook/{{Miracleman}}''. A DeconstructorFleet of the goofy [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]]-esque stories about such a hero, which are shown to be lies, propaganda, and subversions. It remains one of the most influential comics most American readers had never heard of - until Marvel finally acquired the publishing rights.
** ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' changed the way superhero comics were written forever, by focusing on the kind of neuroses which would afflict people drawn to fighting crime in costume and how superpowers would affect the world.
* Creator/GarthEnnis' ''ComicBook/TheBoys'' is pretty much built on how much super-powered humans suck and do not live up to their claims of heroism. They range from SmugSuper jerkasses to utter horrors with very little in-between, with the few good supers being shining examples of DumbIsGood.
* ''ComicBook/{{Invincible}}'' thrives on providing a sense of continuity and world-building for someone entering into a superhuman world for the first time. It runs on a basic premise of what if there is no {{status quo|is god}} and the world and the characters within it continue to grow and evolve? Sometimes for better and sometimes for worse.
* Creator/MarkWaid's ''ComicBook/{{Irredeemable}}'' series takes a lot of the Silver Age tropes built around Franchise/{{Superman}} and then proceeds to tear them down ruthlessly as well as the idealism behind them to create a VillainProtagonist. Its sister series ''Incorruptible'' then switches to taking an utter monster and showing just how much work it would take to [[HeelFaceTurn turn him into a hero]].
* Creator/MarkMillar has had tremendous commercial success working within these themes:
** ''ComicBook/{{Wanted}}'' is ultimately revealed to be one of these. It's not until the last panel the satirical nature of the story is revealed. This used to be a world of hope, joy, and love but the villains have stripped it of such and it was because of fans like the reader who let it happen. It's a TakeThat at comic book fans who wanted less wonder and joy in their entertainment.
** One of the original ideas behind the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel was to try and update the superhero franchise to a modern day 'real-world' context. Superheroes were all registered with ComicBook/{{SHIELD}}, death largely meant death, and real-world events affected events in the comic book and vice versa. While DarkerAndEdgier, it was a wildly successful experiment that saw many elements adopted into the 616 continuity. That was, however, before they went off the deep-end with the concept...
** Marvel's ''ComicBook/CivilWar2006'' played with the idea that superheroes were an unregulated bunch of amateurs needing supervision after a supervillain blows up a school. Instead, much of the story devolved into illustrating how the government would do ''anything'' to gain complete control over superhumans.
** ''ComicBook/JupitersLegacy'' is about a group of long-lived superheroes who now have to deal with the modern world, where ThouShaltNotKill results in needless death, their children are dysfunctional due to high expectations, and one of them is so hellbent on averting ReedRichardsIsUseless [[spoiler:That he's willing to have his own brother killed. And even then his efforts are thwarted simply because his ideas turned out to be terrible.]]
* One of Creator/MarvelComics' other attempts to do realistic superheroes was ''ComicBook/TheNewUniverse'', which was intended to be more grounded in reality than the mainstream Franchise/MarvelUniverse. The setting was explicitly stated to be the real world until a MassEmpoweringEvent provided a PointOfDivergence. Several of the super-powered "paranormals", instead of fighting criminals, were on the run from people who wanted to exploit their abilities. A few of the protagonists were {{Jerkass}}es who didn't want to help anybody. ComicBook/StarBrand briefly tried to be a traditional superhero, but it didn't work; in one memorable scene, he met an AuthorAvatar of writer Creator/JohnByrne, who explained to him that it would be easy for someone to learn his SecretIdentity.
* As mentioned, ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' was originally quite revolutionary. The idea of a superhero struggling with his normal identity's everyday problems as well as crippling guilt for [[MyGreatestFailure his failures]] was something new to the genre. It soon became Marvel's standard and a case of OnceOriginalNowOverdone but worked well for bringing in new readers.
* The ''ComicBook/SquadronSupreme'' series is another early example of the genre, dealing with a group of Justice League {{Expy}} characters who attempt to avert ReedRichardsIsUseless only to have it backfire on them horribly.

* The ''Franchise/XMen'' were one of the early franchises to treat superpowers as a BlessedWithSuck situation. While they were initially treated as heroes by the public, their reception became gradually worse and worse with hate-groups, discrimination, and a number of attempted genocides against them. Events in their past have included: Operation: Zero Tolerance, the destruction of Genosha, Weapon X creating a death camp, the attempt to "cure" the mutant gene, and the Scarlet Witch getting rid of the vast majority of their powers. These are just some of the crappy situations they've had to deal with.

* Garth Ennis' ''ComicBook/TheBoys'' is pretty much built on how much superpowered humans suck and do not live up to their claims of heroism. They range from SmugSuper jerkasses to utter horrors with very little in-between, with the few good supers being shining examples of DumbIsGood.
* ''ComicBook/{{Invincible}}'' thrives on providing a sense of continuity and world-building for someone entering into a superhuman world for the first time. It runs on a basic premise of what if there is no status quo and the world and the characters within it continue to grow and evolve? Sometimes for better and sometimes for worse.

* As mentioned, ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' was originally quite revolutionary. The idea of a superhero struggling with his normal identity's everyday problems as well as crippling guilt for [[MyGreatestFailure his failures]] was something new to the genre. It soon became Marvel's standard and a case of SeinfeldIsUnfunny but worked well for bringing in new readers.

** Marvel's ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' played with the idea that superheroes were an unregulated bunch of amateurs needing supervision after a supervillain blows up a school. Instead, much of the story devolved into illustrating how the government would do ''anything'' to gain complete control over superhumans.

** One of the earliest examples of the genre is Moore's ''ComicBook/Miracleman''. A DeconstructorFleet of the goofy [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]]-esque stories about such a hero, which are shown to be lies, propaganda, and subversions. It remains one of the most influential comics most American readers had never heard of - until Marvel finally acquired the publishing rights.

** One of the earliest examples of the genre is Moore's ''ComicBook/MiracleMan''. A DeconstructorFleet of the goofy [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]]-esque stories about such a hero, which are shown to be lies, propaganda, and subversions. It remains one of the most influential comics most American readers had never heard of - until Marvel finally acquired the publishing rights.

* One of Creator/MarvelComics' other attempts to do realistic superheroes was ''ComicBook/TheNewUniverse'', which was intended to be more grounded in reality than the mainstream Franchise/MarvelUniverse. The setting was explicitly stated to be the real world until a MassEmpoweringEvent provided a PointOfDivergence. Several of the super-powered "paranormals", instead of fighting criminals, were on the run from people who wanted to exploit their abilities. A few of the protagonists were {{Jerkass}}es who didn't want to help anybody. Star Brand briefly tried to be a traditional superhero, but it didn't work; in one memorable scene, he met an AuthorAvatar of writer Creator/JohnByrne, who explained to him that it would be easy for someone to learn his SecretIdentity.

* Creator/MarkWaid's ''ComicBook/{{Irredeemable}}'' series takes a lot of the Silver Age tropes built around Franchise/{{Superman}} and then proceeds to tear them down ruthlessly as well as the idealism behind them to create a VillainProtagonist. Its sister series ''ComicBook/{{Incorruptible}}'' then switches to taking an utter monster and showing just how much work it would take to [[HeelFaceTurn turn him into a hero]].

** In the warped reality of ''ComicBook/HeroesReborn2021'' they turn out ''worse''. They are now [[PatrioticFervor jingoistic]], [[BloodKnight bloodthirsty]] sociopaths with all the backing of the US government. Their ability to handle world ending crises with ease results in tons of collateral damage, and are willing to turn everywhere outside of America a CrapsackWorld, with Doctor Spectrum turning space into hell due to being an AbsoluteXenophobe. Even the [[TokenGoodTeammate more stable members]] of the team starts to [[TookALevelInJerkass end up as horrible people]] as time goes on. [[spoiler:And there's also the fact they aren't even real people, just simulacrum's created by Mephisto's Pandemonium Cube used by a corrupted [[PresidentEvil Phil Coulson]] [[NotSoWellIntentionExtremist on a power high]].]]

* ''ComicBook/JupitersLegacy'' is about a group of long-lived superheroes who now have to deal with the modern world, where ThouShaltNotKill results in needless death, their children are dysfunctional due to high expectations, and one of them is so hellbent on averting ReedRichardsIsUseless [[spoiler:That he's willing to have his own brother killed. And even then his efforts are thwarted simply because his ideas turned out to be terrible.]]

** Marvel's ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' played with the idea that superheroes were an unregulated bunch of amateurs needing supervision after a supervillain blows up a school. Instead, much of the story devolved into illustrating the government would do ''anything'' to gain complete control over superhumans.