History Main / FadSuper

* ''ComicBook/BruteForce'' was Marvel's attempt at cashing in with the Franchise/{{Transformers}} fad as well as a more broad "toy animal craze" of the 80's/90's. It didn't quite work, considering the series was cancelled very quickly and was only acknowledged mockingly in an issue of ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}''. Even the writers seem to have foreseen that this was a crashing ship, seeing as the early issues semi-sarcastically mock the whole premise.

-->-- ''Website/{{Cracked}}'', "[[https://www.cracked.com/blog/7-comic-characters-who-outlasted-trends-that-made-them/ 7 Comic Characters who Outlasted Trends That Made Them]]"

* ComicBook/ShangChi, Master of Kung Fu, first appeared in 1972 as part of the '70s kung fu revival. Not only was Shang-Chi meant to invoke Creator/BruceLee, but his creation came about as part of an aborted attempt at doing a comic book adaptation of the ''Series/KungFu'' TV series.

* ''Literature/{{Wild Cards}}'', being full of nods to the history of comics, created these characters on purpose. Mark Meadows, a hopeless nerd who wants to be a hippie, gets various abilities from different strains of LSD he created, and has various secret identities named after songs from the 60s and 70s. It's inherent in his backstory; by the time he managed to fit into the hippie crowd, the fad was already pretty much dead. Fortunato's motif incorporates the mysticism and occultism fad of the 60s. He actually doesn't give a crap about any of that stuff; a prostitute who worked for him (he was a very high-class pimp) introduced him to the subject and convinced him to study it when he got his powers.

* Comicbook/{{Vibe}}, a member of the [[DorkAge much-maligned]] Detroit-based Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica, was a breakdancer with vibrational powers. To get an idea of what he used to be like have a look at [[http://youtu.be/2UTKRR3KRyQ this DC short.]] He got rebooted in the ComicBook/{{New 52}} and ''Series/TheFlash2014'', dropping the breakdancing but keeping the vibrational powers.

* ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes' ComicBook/KarateKid, though not in the way you might think. He was created when there was a karate fad in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s, and he was reworked to fit the kung fu fad of the 1970s, so he actually predates the movie ''Film/TheKarateKid'' by decades,[[note]]In fact, the film states that it's not related to the DC Comics character, and had to get DC's permission to use the title.[[/note]] and as such he's not quite as derivative as he sounds. He has since moved beyond his fad into a fairly RoundedCharacter.

* The ''Comicbook/{{Earth 2}}'' version of ComicBook/JimmyOlsen from the ComicBook/{{New 52}} is an Edward Snowden-style "[[TheCracker Hacktivist]]" rather than a print journalist.

* Books like ''Comicbook/TheMovement'' and ''Comicbook/WeAreRobin'' were created in response to youth-heavy social movies of the 2010's, like Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street. ''The Movement'' also had a counterpart book, a relaunch of a failed 1970s concept of rich-kid adventurers called ''ComicBook/TheGreenTeam''. The idea was that the Movement was "the 99 percent" while the Green Team was "the 1 percent".
* ''Comicbook/{{Superboy|1994}}'' (Kon-El/Connor Kent) was very [[TheNineties 90s]], created to be a TotallyRadical reimagining of the "kid Superman" concept.

** The third costume (which he kept up until the ''Comicbook/{{New 52}}'' reboot) was an extensive overhaul. It ditched the jacket, skintight costume, earring, shades and TotallyRadical attitude (the CivvieSpandex look took a heavy turn toward "civvie", with a t-shirt and jeans). Instead, he became more dark, brooding, and angsty, which became popular in the mid-2000s.
* ''Comicbook/LadyShiva'' was created to cash in on the 1970s Creator/BruceLee Kung-Fu craze. She debuted within the pages of ''ComicBook/RichardDragonKungFuFighter'', but her popularity outlasted that series. She's still a martial arts master, but no longer looks like a 1970s DragonLady.

* ComicBook/{{Dazzler}}, who later became a member of the Comicbook/XMen, was introduced with disco-based powers and costume (white jumpsuit and roller skates) just as disco was dying. It didn't help that she was given a big marketing push, meeting up with the likes of Galactus in a vain attempt to make the character cool, or that the entire project had begun as a proposal for a [[LiveActionAdaptation live action film]] in which the character was at one stage to be black, and there are [[http://holdyourfireal.smugmug.com/COMIC-BOOK-IMAGES/Characters/Dazzler/JRJRDazzBogart/871688078_cKqUM-L.jpg John Romita Jr. sketches]] that exist of this early Dazzler. At one point they actually had a singer who was to play the Dazzler persona but the deal between Marvel and Casablanca fell apart. Later on, Jim Shooter put together a treatment for the aforementioned movie (also to feature Music/DonnaSummer, Music/{{Cher}}, Creator/RodneyDangerfield, [[Series/LaverneAndShirley Lenny and Squiggy]], Creator/RobinWilliams, Music/TheVillagePeople and Music/{{KISS}}), and the now revived Dazzler concept's appearance ended up based mainly on Creator/BoDerek, who was slated to star (and when she was still attached to the role, ''People Magazine'' even had her on the cover, the same month the character debuted, [[https://web.archive.org/web/20160411111032/http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/19800211-750-0.jpg with her husband holding a whole bunch of Marvel mags for research!]]). But at least she wasn't called the Disco Dazzler, as originally planned.

** Once the "disco diva" gimmick was dropped, Dazzler became a fairly popular second-tier X-Woman. Dazzler revisits the disco diva gimmick during some of her performances as part of a tribute. She's a main character in ''ComicBook/MarvelZombies vs. Comicbook/ArmyOfDarkness'', and Ash hits on her repeatedly.

* The 2001 ReTool of ''ComicBook/XForce'' (later ''Comicbook/XStatix'') cast the new team as a group of fame-hungry [[ThePrimaDonna Prima Donnas]] right around the time ''Series/BigBrother'' and other [[RealityShow reality shows]] were becoming wildly popular.

* Night Thrasher, leader of the ComicBook/NewWarriors in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, was created in 1990 with a skateboard grafted onto his urbanized Franchise/{{Batman}} schtick to cash in on the rising popularity of the sport in the late '80s. As the '90s progressed, he used the board less and less and settled on a CoolBike early in the series, plus as any connection between skateboards and the term "thrashing" largely passed out of public awareness, his name [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast just sounds]] awfully nasty (although Spider-Man [[LampshadeHanging made a joke]] along this line in ''1991''.) He fought with twin eskrima sticks so the thrashing part of his name could easily be applied to his weapons of choice. An odd detail that downplayed it with time was that he's a ''black'' skateboarder. For the uninitiated - his heyday was long before there were any big-name black skaters. (The aforementioned Rocket Racer, Marvel's ''other'' black skateboarding superhero, has much the same problem at first.) The concept has become less baffling now, since there is a subculture of African-American skateboarders. Music/LupeFiasco's hit "Kick, Push" is credited with helping popularize the sport among black teenagers. While a superhero on a skateboard is fodder for jokes, in-universe ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'' noted how versatile Night Thrasher's skateboard actually was: "I called it stupid? It's a shield, a weapon and transport. Maybe ''I'' should get one..."

* Grunge from ''ComicBook/{{Gen13}}''. Adam Warren had one of his sparring partners mock his name by calling him "Easy Listening" and other musical genres. Gail Simone's run explains this as a reference to the fact that he has "grunge under his fingernails", although Roxy provides a LampshadeHanging with the comment "Grunge? You mean the stuff dinosaurs have on their iPods?"

** Though the Wetherlight might draw comparisons to ''Franchise/StarTrek'' and probably capitalized on contemporary ''Star Trek'' revivals (as well as ''Series/{{Firefly}}''), being a crew aboard a ship travelling to different worlds, most of the characters and their dynamics are actually based on ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' ones.

** 2015 saw the funding of the Gatewatch, with several established planeswalker's forming their take on the Avengers; this roughly coincided with the popularity of the Marvel cinematic universe. ''Literature/WarOfTheSparkRavnica'' is unapologetically ''Magic'''s take on ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', with the Gatewatch and various other planeswalkers facing against Nicol Bolas in an allegedly epic confrontation. The Gatewatch as a concept suffered severe backlash because of all of this (not helped by said even being disliked by fans for various reasons), and so ''Magic'''s storyline has toned them down from 2019 onwards, though they still exist and are slated to have a similar event against the phyrexians.

** Though the Wetherlight might draw comparisons to ''Franchise/StarTrek'' and probably capitalized on contemporary ''Star Trek'' revivals (as well as Series/{{Firefly}}''), being a crew aboard a ship travelling to different worlds, most of the characters and their dynamics are actually based on ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' ones.

* Adam-X the X-Treme, from the early '90s ([[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks of course]]), whose mutant superpower is that he can make blood combust. Vanished from comics post-''ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse'' and was apparently regarded as OldShame for some time after that, making only a handful of appearances over the next two decades mostly played for laughs. Couldn't be completely forgotten, however, due to being heavily implied (but [[WhatCouldHaveBeen never revealed]]) to be [[TangledFamilyTree the third Summers brother]]. About a decade later the third Summers brother was revealed to be somebody else, but it's still entirely possible Adam-X is the ''fourth'' Summers brother.

** UnreliableNarrator Mephisto the Mentalist notes the large number of atomic-power themed superheroes and super-villains during the 1950s - most of whom had died of cancer or acute radiation sickness by 1960.

* Literature/WhateleyUniverse: A few of them show up in the series backstory. Most prominent of these is the {SuperheroSchool Whateley Academy]] Mystic Arts teacher now known as Earth Mother, whose original code name was Flower Child.

* Not superheroes, but many of the New Gods in ''Literature/AmericanGods'' embody technologies that were hailed as revolutionary and miraculous when they first appeared (railroads, telephones, television) but are looking more and more hackneyed as humanity comes to take them for granted and even regard them as antiquated.

* ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' has an early pair of superheroes, Uber and Leet, who seem patterned off of streaming sites like Twitch: they livestream their crimefighting and dress up in different pop-culture inspired costumes each outing. In a {{Lampshading}} of the trope, they are considered very silly and ineffective capes in-universe, and Taylor suggests most of the people who watch their streams do it just to laugh at them.

[[caption-width-right:350:I must be a creature of the night, black, terrible...\\

[[quoteright:320:[[ComicBook/{{Dazzler}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dazzler_removebg_preview.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:320:I must be a creature of the night, black, terrible... '''a mirror ball!''']]

* ComicBook/{{Dazzler}} (who provides the page image), who later became a member of the Comicbook/XMen, was introduced with disco-based powers and costume (white jumpsuit and roller skates) just as disco was dying. It didn't help that she was given a big marketing push, meeting up with the likes of Galactus in a vain attempt to make the character cool, or that the entire project had begun as a proposal for a [[LiveActionAdaptation live action film]] in which the character was at one stage to be black, and there are [[http://holdyourfireal.smugmug.com/COMIC-BOOK-IMAGES/Characters/Dazzler/JRJRDazzBogart/871688078_cKqUM-L.jpg John Romita Jr. sketches]] that exist of this early Dazzler. At one point they actually had a singer who was to play the Dazzler persona but the deal between Marvel and Casablanca fell apart. Later on, Jim Shooter put together a treatment for the aforementioned movie (also to feature Music/DonnaSummer, Music/{{Cher}}, Creator/RodneyDangerfield, [[Series/LaverneAndShirley Lenny and Squiggy]], Creator/RobinWilliams, Music/TheVillagePeople and Music/{{KISS}}), and the now revived Dazzler concept's appearance ended up based mainly on Creator/BoDerek, who was slated to star (and when she was still attached to the role, ''People Magazine'' even had her on the cover, the same month the character debuted, [[https://web.archive.org/web/20160411111032/http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/19800211-750-0.jpg with her husband holding a whole bunch of Marvel mags for research!]]). But at least she wasn't called the Disco Dazzler, as originally planned.

* ComicBook/{{Dazzler}} (who provides the page image), who later became a member of the Comicbook/XMen, was introduced with disco-based powers and costume (white jumpsuit and roller skates) just as disco was dying. It didn't help that she was given a big marketing push, meeting up with the likes of Galactus in a vain attempt to make the character cool, or that the entire project had begun as a proposal for a [[LiveActionAdaptation live action film]] in which the character was at one stage to be black, and there are [[http://holdyourfireal.smugmug.com/COMIC-BOOK-IMAGES/Characters/Dazzler/JRJRDazzBogart/871688078_cKqUM-L.jpg John Romita Jr. sketches]] that exist of this early Dazzler. At one point they actually had a singer who was to play the Dazzler persona but the deal between Marvel and Casablanca fell apart. Later on, Jim Shooter put together a treatment for the aforementioned movie (also to feature Donna Summer, Cher, Rodney Dangerfield, [[Series/LaverneAndShirley Lenny and Squiggy]], Creator/RobinWilliams, the Village People and KISS), and the now revived Dazzler concept's appearance ended up based mainly on Creator/BoDerek, who was slated to star (and when she was still attached to the role, People magazine even had her on the cover, the same month the character debuted, [[https://web.archive.org/web/20160411111032/http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/19800211-750-0.jpg with her husband holding a whole bunch of Marvel mags for research!]]). But at least she wasn't called the Disco Dazzler, as originally planned.

** Film/GodzillaVsHedorah is a response to Japan's various pollution-related health disasters.
** Film/GodzillaVsMegalon was originally a film starring Anime/{{Mazinger|Z}} / [[Franchise/UltraSeries Ultraman]] hybrid Jet Jaguar, but Godzilla was tackled-on in hopes of better profits.
** Film/GodzillaVsMechagodzilla had a robotic villain to cash on the still-current Main/SuperRobotGenre anime fame.

** Wotan from "The War Machines" (1966). It's a 1960s computer that lives in the Post Office Tower, which was then an emblem of the bright and glorious future. It is capable of 'ringing up other computers to talk to them', a simplification of what we'd now recognise as the Internet, only this was portrayed as having it actually call up the computers to talk to them over the phone in a creepy whispering voice.

** The Third Doctor (1970-1974) wears what was referred to at the time as 'a stylish modern suit' (what is referred to today as 'a frilly velvet monstrosity'), [[SuddenlyAlwaysKnewThat was suddenly proficient in kung fu]], and was interested in Buddhist mysticism and the environment. Many have also pointed out an influence of {{Glam Rock}} on his era, particularly the use of trippy visuals also seen in Series/TopOfThePops glam performances. (And check out how [[Music/DavidBowie Ziggy Stardust]] Kronos's female form is in "The Time Monster"!)

** Lord Skagra from "Shada" (1979) wears a shiny white disco outfit, complete with a silver fedora, a sparkly cape, an open chest and a medallion. His power is that he sucks people's brains out with a shiny silver (disco) ball.

** Any of the numerous Margaret Thatcher-themed villains in the mid-to-late 80s would qualify, but especially Helen A from "The Happiness Patrol", a crazed, bigoted, hedonistic fascist with a ghastly hairdo and a HenpeckedHusband, fitting the contemporary satirical shorthand.
** "Bad Wolf" (2005) has Nine, Rose, and Jack thrust into Dalek-controlled reality television programmes (Big Brother, Weakest Link, etc).

** "The Bells of St John" (2012) gives us Website/{{Twitter}} 'Egg' Wi-Fi monsters from The Shard (which had been recently completed).
** "Smile" (2017) gives us killer robots with Emoji faces and [[EverythingIsAnIpodInTheFuture a white, Apple Store-esque design.]]

* Naturally, any Soviet-themed comic character [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp that is now hopelessly dated]]. Granted, the USSR was around for more than seven decades, so it's a pretty long fad. Combining this with ComicBookTime gives nearly every one of these characters his or her own ContinuitySnarl.

* The ''ComicBook/HeroesForHire'', [[ComicBook/LukeCage Power Man]] and ComicBook/IronFist, capitalized on the popularity of blaxploitation and kung fu movies, respectively, by combining the two trends. As did their female counterparts, the ''ComicBook/DaughtersOfTheDragon'' ComicBook/MistyKnight and ComicBook/ColleenWing. And the vaguely affiliated Sons of the Tiger.

* The Koopalings, introduced in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'', were generally given a punk aesthetic to reflect [[TheEighties Eighties]]-era trends (the most notable exception being [[Music/LudwigVanBeethoven Ludwig von Koopa]]). They went on hiatus after ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'', which would seem to reflect on Nintendo abandoning past fads. Luckily for them, they got a comeback in the last dungeon of ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'', followed by top billing in ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosWii'', becoming franchise mainstays since; WeirdAlEffect is definitely present, though.

* Screentime, from the 2020 line-up of the (possibly cancelled) New Warriors comic, is rather transparently an attempt to create an internet age superhero with...[[TotallyRadical mixed results]]. His mind was permanently connected to the internet by way of exposure to "experimental internet gas" and his bio helpfully informs readers that he can "instantly Google any fact".

* In probably their most spectacular failure ever, Marvel had the insane idea to create two new characters called "Snowflake" and "Safespace" incorporating just about every "woke" hot button issue of the day in the most horribly misguided, out of touch and offensively stereotypical fashion possible. The backlash was colossal and the comic the characters debuted in was swiftly cancelled after a tsunami of vitriol and hatred of the company's utter misstep.

* ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}' ComicBook/KarateKid, though not in the way you might think. He was created when there was a karate fad in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s, and he was reworked to fit the kung fu fad of the 1970s, so he actually predates the movie ''Film/TheKarateKid'' by decades,[[note]]In fact, the film states that it's not related to the DC Comics character, and had to get DC's permission to use the title.[[/note]] and as such he's not quite as derivative as he sounds. He has since moved beyond his fad into a fairly RoundedCharacter.

* The ''Heroes for Hire'', ComicBook/{{Luke Cage|HeroForHire}} and [[ComicBook/ImmortalIronFist Iron Fist]], capitalized on the popularity of blaxploitation and kung fu movies, respectively, by combining the two trends. As did their female counterparts, the ''ComicBook/DaughtersOfTheDragon'' ComicBook/MistyKnight and ComicBook/ColleenWing. And the vaguely affiliated Sons of the Tiger.

* In probably their most spectacular failure ever, Marvel had the insane idea to create two new characters called "Snowflake" and "Safespace" incorporating just about every "woke" hot button issue of the day in the most horribly misguided, out of touch and offensively stereotypical fashion possible. The backlash was colossal and the comic they characters debuted in was swiftly cancelled after a tsunami of vitriol and hatred of the company's utter misstep.