History Main / TheEveryman

See also NormalPeople and TheGenericGuy. RidiculouslyAverageGuy is when this is taken to an extreme. A character who ''starts out'' like this but later becomes a hero (or a villain) better fits the UnlikelyHero or FromNobodyToNightmare Tropes.

* Homer Simpson from WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons.

* Arnold eventually in the later seasons ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold''

** For some fans, however, Peter lost some of his everyman cred when he sold his marriage to his beautiful, loving young wife to the devil in order to save the life of his ugly, withered, 104 year old aunt. Not very everyman of him.

* [[WhatEverHappenedToTheManOfTomorrow Jordan Elliot.]]

* Minako from SailorMoon in the first series prior to TakingALevelInDumbass was more of [[TheEveryMan the every girl]] compared to [[TheDitz Usagi]] [[TheSmartGuy Ami]] [[HotTempered Rei]] and [[NoGuyWantsAnAmazon Makato]] she had a few odd character quirks like messing up her proverbs but it wasn't until Sailor Moon S when she was flanderized into being a dumb blonde and The CloudCuckooLander

** How well Peter Parker actually works as an Everyman is of course open to debate. He is not just highly intelligent, but in his very first appearances he was shown to be a scientific genius, able to come up with the web-formula and construct web-shooters and Spider-tracers while still in his teens and whip up a formula to turn the Lizard back into Curt Connors in a matter of hours. He is also the orphaned son of two super secret agents and always had several highly attractive women vying for his attention. And of course he only comes across as something approaching "average" when you compare him to the right people - i. e. Reed Richards, but not the Thing (who also has been described as an Everyman), the Invisible Woman or the Human Torch, to Iron Man and Thor, but not to Captain America (see below), Daredevil or Iceman.

TheEveryman really has no distinct personality, except what is defined by others' interactions with them. They end up being the DesignatedHero, despite them having no real abilities that qualify them for the job. On the other hand, they don't have any abilities that mean they shouldn't take the job, either. One gets the distinct feeling that if people weren't trying to kill them / wacky circumstances didn't happen to them / the fate of the world didn't fall into their laps / their wacky neighbors weren't around, TheEveryman would be the most boring person in the world.

See also NormalPeople and TheGenericGuy. RidiculouslyAverageGuy is when this is taken to an extreme.

* [[{{Peanuts}} Charlie Brown. You can't help but identify with him. [[WordOfGod Charles Shultz relates a letter he got from a fan, who said "my son came home from school one day with a sad frown, slammed his bookbag to the floor, and said, 'Mom, I feel just like Charlie Brown.' He didn't have to say another word. I knew exactly how he felt."

* Earl Sinclair from ''{{Dinosaurs}} is an every-dinosaur.

* Homer Simpson from TheSimpsons.

%%* Reg, the title character of ''RegularGuy''.

* Arnold from ''HeyArnold''- or if you're listening to [[ThatGuyWithTheGlasses Doug Walker's]] opinion.

%%* The play ''Everyman'' is about an {{Everyman}} going on an adventure to {{Death}}.
%%* Mark from ''{{Rent}}''. Via SupportingProtagonist and YouHaveToHaveJews.
%%* OlderThanPrint: These were often the protagonists of medieval everyman plays.
%%* Stella from AStreetcarNamedDesire is an everywoman.

%%** [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Link]]. [[MeaningfulName This is the reason why he is named that]].
%%** [[EarthBound Ness]]
%%** [[{{Pikmin}} Captain Olimar]]
%%** {{Chibi-Robo}}
%%** [[GameAndWatch Mr. Game and Watch]] is probably Nintendo's first everyman.

%%* The titular character from ''{{Doug}}''.

** In later seasons, if the authors were feeling particularly conservative that week, he started giving lengthy {{Author Filibuster}s on the evils of [=McMansions=], gratuitous lawsuits, gentrification, {{Hipster}}s, protesters, the porn industry, etc and ended up simply being right without any sort of comedic twist.

** In later seasons, if the authors were feeling particularly conservative that week, he started giving lengthy {{Author Fillibuster}}s on the evils of [=McMansions=], gratuitous lawsuits, gentrification, {{Hipster}}s, protesters, the porn industry, etc and ended up simply being right without any sort of comedic twist.
%%* Arnold from ''HeyArnold''- or if you're listening to [[ThatGuyWithTheGlasses Doug Walker's]] opinion.
%%* Stan in later episodes of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''.
%%* WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}.
%%* Horace in ''TheProblemSolverz''.

* Arnold Shortman eventually becomes this in the later season of ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold!''.

** The headless titular character in ''Quidam'' is ''literally'' an Everyman (the word 'Quidam' means 'nameless passerby', and the soundtrack album version of the title song has the male singer explicitly state "I'm everyman"), but the main character Zoe is ''also'' a, less literal, Everygirl. With an Everyfamily made up of an Everyman and an Everywoman. It... gets a little bit confusing, but the point of the show is that ''every person'' counts as The Everyman in some way.

* The usual CirqueDuSoleil protagonist (if the show has a protagonist) is a version of this: see ''Quidam'', ''"O"'', ''La Nouba'', ''Corteo'', ''KOOZA'', even the ''Delirium'' concert tour. Often they are pulled into the plot by a {{Trickster}}. In ''"O"'', it's set up that he appears to be an audience member.
** The headless titular character in ''Quidam'' is ''literally'' an Everyman (the word 'Quidam' means 'nameless passerby', and the song 'Quidam' explicitly states "I'm everyman"), but the main character Zoe is ''also'' a, less literal, Everygirl. With an Everyfamily made up of an Everyman and an Everywoman. It... gets a little bit confusing.