Line #62 Main/SexuallyTransmittedSuperpowers


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5	[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/{{Empowered}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sexuallytransmittedsuperpowers.png]]]]
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7	Sometimes [[ContagiousPowers superpowers are contagious]]: that is, exposure to someone who is super can result in the SuperEmpowering of another.
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9	Well, characters who are in love, or who make love, are ''[[DoubleEntendre exposed]]'' to each other quite a bit.
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11	This trope doesn't necessarily involve a literal sex act, although it often does. The point is that a character gains superpowers through intimate contact with one who is already super.
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13	SubTrope of DeusSexMachina or ThePowerOfLove, and ContagiousPowers. May involve SexMagic. Compare SuperpowerfulGenetics and LamarckWasRight when superpowers are inherited from a parent (one ''[[{{Squick}} hopes]]'' they do not [[ParentalIncest overlap with this]]). Contrast VirginPower, where power is gained or maintained by ''avoiding'' sex.
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15	----
16
17	!!Examples
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19	[[foldercontrol]]
20
21	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
22	* ''Anime/DarlingInTheFranxx'': Zero Two is a human/Klaxosaur hybrid. As she pilots her mecha Strelitzia with pure human Hiro, a process that involves a lot of romantic and sexual metaphors, Hiro starts to gain Klaxosaur traits himself. [[spoiler:{{Justified\|Trope}}: We eventually learn that he ingested some of her blood when they met as young children after they EscapedFromTheLab where they were both created (their memories of the meeting were erased), and their piloting Strelitzia together is causing it to activate.]]
23	* In the YuriGenre manga ''Manga/SeifukuNoVampiressLord'', one of the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampiric traits]] is that if a vampire ever experiences OneTrueLove, the person they love acquires AgelessImmortality of a vampire without the rest of vampiric powers and drawbacks. Since this completely disregards the beloved's own free will, however, the vampire protagonist Yuunagi angsts for a while about accidentally making [[ChildhoodFriendRomance her childhood friend]] Nana immortal -- until Nana sets the record straight that she is perfectly happy with spending an eternity with her, too.
24	* {{Inverted\|Trope}} in ''Manga/{{Semelparous}}''. Yorino's birth mother Mikoto, a pureblood [[HumanAliens mure]], conceived her by taking her lover Maya's Aegis into herself. This caused Maya's powers as a Bulwark to weaken and eventually disappear by the time Yorino turned four.
25	* ''Manga/WorldsEndHaremFantasia'': Arc is empowered with the magic of a black dragon, Macht, by the dark elven sorceress Lati, who takes his virginity in a SexMagic ritual to accomplish this. Subsequently, Arc can increase the physical and magical powers of women by having them consume his blood, the price for which is having to repeatedly consume his bodily fluids to survive and recharge, which has all the sexual aspects you'd expect from an {{ecchi}} manga.
26	[[/folder]]
27
28	[[folder:Comic Books]]
29	* ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol'': Coagula gained the power to turn solids into liquids and liquids into solids with a touch of her hand after sleeping with Patrol member Rebis, a composite entity created from the life forces of Larry Trainor, Eleanor Poole, and the Negative Spirit Mercurius.
30	* ''ComicBook/{{Empowered}}'': Several supers got their abilities from having sex with superhumans/aliens/cyborgs. After Glorrp tells his story (finding a GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe crashed to Earth, starting a relationship with her, only for her to cheat on him and later that night he starts dissolving into his current Clayface-like form,) a superheroine chimes in with how it's important to note that you're just as likely to catch a super-STD from men as from women. It's apparently pretty common among capes, though for obvious reasons they try to avoid this becoming public knowledge.
31	* ''ComicBook/GodIsDead'': While moving across the world undercover, EthicalSlut Tansy sleeps with a variety of gods and supernatural creatures to keep herself alive. As a result, she gains the ability to detect gods and supernatural monsters even while they are disguised.
32	* ''ComicBook/{{Powers}}'': In the "Undercover" arc, Pilgrim gains superpowers after coming into contact with a super's semen.
33	* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'':
34	** In ''ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManDanSlott'', Electro kissed his [[BackFromTheDead recently resurrected]] girlfriend... and dropped dead. His powers transferred to her.
35	** During the ''ComicBook/SpiderIsland'' storyline, it's stated that the reason why Mary Jane didn't transform into a spider monster was due to "[[UnusualEuphemism sharing a toothbrush]]" with Peter.
36	* ''ComicBook/{{Valerian}}'': In the thirteenth volume, "On the Frontiers", the former Spatiotemporal Agent Jal seduces Kistna, an alien of a rare, unnamed race, in a cruiser in order to appropriate her amazing powers (breathing in the vacuum, ParanormalGamblingAdvantage, and HandBlast). Since he's dressed in armor like her, she thinks he's from her race. When she learns he's human, she refuses him because InterspeciesRomance is lethal for her race; Jal [[MoralEventHorizon desperately rapes her]] and uses his freshly-stolen powers to force the captain of the cruiser ship to give him an escape pod to Earth. He uses his gambling powers to become rich and lead terrorist operations, in order to cause a nuclear war that will restore the timeline and the future he and Valerian have come from. However, he is haunted by his memories of Kistna, [[spoiler:and his stolen powers eventually wear off.]]
37	[[/folder]]
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39	[[folder:Fan Works]]
40	* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'': Something like this happens in the sequel between Harry and Carol a couple of times, though no sex is involved - despite the rampant {{UST}}, they're JustFriends (it's half AnchoredShip, half CourtlyLove). However, both times are intensely intimate: She's kidnapped by [[spoiler: vampires]], this leads to her acting as a WillingChanneler for his consciousness and powers to protect her, and shortly after, he donates about four pints of blood to save her life. The magical chair used to donate the blood is designed for SuperEmpowering, and [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl with his injuries that much blood loss should]] [[HeroicSacrifice by all rights have killed him]], adding extra significance. So far, it hasn't done much that's obvious, but ''Unfinished Business'' reveals that it altered her enough to handle channeling a vast amount of energy ([[spoiler:at least half the magic of the Earth through her MorphWeapon as a makeshift Green Lantern]]) without burning to a crisp.
41	* ''Fanfic/ForceOfSouls'': Ichigo, by complete accident, literally fucks Shinigami powers into his girlfriends Orihime and Tatsuki.
42	[[/folder]]
43
44	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
45	* Implied at the end of ''Film/TheCompanyOfWolves''. [[spoiler: Rosaleen didn't turn into a wolf by herself.]]
46	* ''Film/CoolWorld'': Holli Would is a doodle, a cartoon character living in ToonTown. Artist Jack Deebs is a human living in the real world. Holli wants to visit the real world and experience its delights. For that, she draws Jack into her Cool World, where she seduces him. The climax transforms Holli into a real woman capable of venturing into the human world.
47	* Discussed and PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/EdgeOfTomorrow'': Cage awkwardly asks Rita if her ability to reset time can be transmitted through bodily fluids. Rita sees right through Cage's attempt to get in her pants, then explains that she tried it before and that it doesn't work. When Cage asks how many times she tried it, she decides to ChangeTheUncomfortableSubject by [[BlackComedy slamming a training robot into Cage's face]].
48	* ''Film/ModernVampires'': After she's attacked and tied to a bed by the Crip vampire hunters, Ulrike taunts them into gangbanging her (weirdly hilarious, as she's in her monster form at the time), before Van Helsing stakes her. She neglects to mention that vampiric sex turns humans into vampires, and the Crips use their new superhuman strength and ferocity to help Dallas against the Count.
49	[[/folder]]
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51	[[folder:Literature]]
52	* ''Literature/AlcatrazSeries'': The Smedry family have superpowers. Smedrys by marriage get superpowers that match their spouse's, as demonstrated by Folsom and his wife Himalaya.
53	* ''Literature/TheBelgariad'':
54	** The immortal sorceress Polgara falls in love with the mundane smith, Durnik... and coinciding with their marriage is the reveal that a mostly-unrelated event has turned him into a sorcerer as well, thus neatly avoiding the impending MayflyDecemberRomance. (In this setting, simply being a sorcerer automatically bestows you with immortality - the general theory as to why this is, is because it's all about will and the most fundamental 'will' is the Will to Live.)
55	** A darkly amusing detail appeared in the ''Polgara the Sorceress'' prequel novel, which reveals that several hundred years ago she fell in love with a KnightInShiningArmor type, and seriously planned to settle down with him. When her father sarcastically asked what she intended to do when he grew old and weak while she stayed forever young, she just shrugged and said, "Maybe if we marry, he'll become immortal too." Needless to say, [[BecauseDestinySaysSo it wasn't meant to be]], but that was still remarkably acute of her.
56	* ''Literature/BewareOfChicken'': Jin's connection to the land is expanded to include his wife, on their wedding night. When she wakes up the next morning and finds that she has access to a pool of [[KiManipulation qi]], making her a cultivator, she internally notes that she suspected something like that might happen.
57	* {{Inverted\|Trope}}, [[DiscussedTrope in theory]], in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles: Literature/BloodRites''. The youngest Raith sibling, Inari, has yet to feed on a human to unlock her full power as an EmotionEater White Court vampire. She also has a human boyfriend, Bobby, whom she leaves Chicago with at the end of the book. Harry theorizes at the end of the novel that, since White Court vampires are [[ThePowerOfLove harmed by attempting to feed on someone in love]], Inari might be able to become fully human if she has her first time within a loving relationship.
58	* ''Literature/JKHaruIsASexWorkerInAnotherWorld'': [[spoiler:It's eventually revealed that Haru [[PowerCopying gains the powers and XP of anyone she has sex with]].]]
59	* PlayedForHorror in ''[[Literature/TheMagicians The Magician King]]''; a group of magicians attempt to summon a benevolent demigoddess in the hope of learning from her... only to get the attention of a monstrous TricksterGod who kills most of them. Then, [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor as a sick joke]], he gives one of the survivors all the divine knowledge the group wanted by brutally raping her, tearing her soul out for good measure. Once it's all over, the victim staggers away, naked and covered in blood... and then, drawing on powers unknown to her, [[IBelieveICanFly takes flight]]. [[spoiler:The victim is none other than Julia Wicker, Quentin's old friend.]]
60	* ''Literature/MercyThompson'': Werewolf packs have something called Pack Magic that provides some benefits to all pack members. If a non-werewolf marries a werewolf, they can become part of the pack (though they must view themselves as such, which is why Adam's human ex-wife never had any sort access to it). A blind white witch who becomes the mate of the Seattle pack leader winds up gaining a limited form of sight when she's near her mate. Mercy gains access to Adam's CompellingVoice after she marries him and can also reach through the pack bond to do things like finding other members of the pack and [[spoiler:pull silver out of pack members into her own body]].
61	* ''Literature/{{Palimpsest}}'': The ability to enter the city of Palimpsest always starts by having sex with someone who bears a tattoo of part of the city's map.
62	* In the ''Literature/TortallUniverse'', it can work this way with gods. Daine's mother used to be an ordinary midwife in a remote village until she happened to have an encounter with the God of the Hunt during one of his visits to the mortal realm. It didn't kick in right away, but after she "died", her erstwhile lover essentially helped her soul AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence, making her the brand-new Goddess of Midwives. So now they're married. In heaven. And neither one of them considered it worthwhile to inform their daughter of this arrangement until several years later, leaving her to blunder around and nearly drive herself insane with her half-god powers in the meantime. Okay, so they were both on probation due to the whole new-goddess-and-guarantor thing, but you'd think they could've at least sent the kid a note, eh?
63	* ''Literature/WiedergeburtLegendOfTheReincarnatedWarrior'': After his partner Kari was murdered in the original timeline along with their daughter, Eryk gained access to her light element. He assumed at the time that Kari somehow gave it to him in her final moments, but in the new timeline he eventually figures out that it's a combination of 1) him being a [[HalfHumanHybrid half-"godling"]] who 2) has sex with someone with a different elemental affinity and 3) ingests their blood -- the latter of which he did when he kissed her as she lay dying. Drinking a cup of one's partner's blood also happens to be part of the traditional Nevarian marriage rite, which he and Kari never underwent in the original timeline; Eryk suspects the tradition comes from "godlings" who fought in the previous war with the Sekbeists thousands of years ago. Meanwhile, his lovers in the new timeline start to [[PsychicDreamsForEveryone regain their memories]] of the BadFuture in their dreams through sleeping with Eryk, which Kari gets the best of since she survived the longest: by volume 12 she's begun to re-learn rune crafting, a lost art in Nevaria.
64	[[/folder]]
65
66	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
67	* In ''Series/TheMagicians2016'', humans can temporarily gain the raw power of gods by being exposed to their semen, either orally or through coitus. Alice is simply given a jar of semen to drink, while Julia is raped by a god and gets the boost as an unintended consequence.
68	* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995''. Used for CruelTwistEnding of "The New Breed". In the final scene, the cut on Judy Ledbetter's finger is healed within seconds, indicating that her fiancée Dr. Andy Groenig passed the nanobots onto her while they were having sex and that she will experience the [[BodyHorror same transformation that he went through]].
69	* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'': "[[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS04E17Bound Bound]]" reveals that Vulcans are immune to Orions, who usually make everyone fall in love with them at first sight unless there's an IncompatibleOrientation, and if a human has slept with a Vulcan, they gain this immunity (though it's implied this may be due to the [[MindLinkMates mental link established]] rather than anything physical).
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71	[[/folder]]
72
73	[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
74	* Wrestling/AJLee {{invoked\|Trope}} and then {{subverted\|trope}} the trope during her feud with Wrestling/TheBellaTwins when she told them that "talent is not sexually transmitted". For context, Brie's couple is [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]], and Nikki's at the time was Wrestling/JohnCena.
75	[[/folder]]
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77	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
78	* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition'': The ''Book of Vile Darkness'' and ''Book of Exalted Deeds'' sourcebooks for 3.5E had the feats "Lichloved" and "Nymph's Kiss", both of which provided some minor magical benefits in exchange for maintaining "friendly" relationships with an intelligent undead or fey being, respectively. While technically neither one required the relationship to be sexual, it was very obvious that it was expected to be.
79	* In ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension,'' the character template "Shapeshifter" was [[SuperEmpowering Awakened]] when she lost her virginity to a Verbena mage, mimicking his own shapeshifting talents perfectly over the next few hours of sex until she emerged on the other side as a fellow mage.
80	[[/folder]]
81
82	[[folder:Video Games]]
83	* In the "True Freedom" ending of ''VideoGame/{{Catherine}}'', Vincent [[spoiler:marries the [[SuccubiAndIncubi Succubus]], Catherine, and after a TimeSkip, he's turned into a demon himself and [[HellHasNewManagement becomes the new King of Hell]].]]
84	* [[spoiler:Ky Kiske]] from ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'' somehow ended up becoming a human/Gear hybrid by the time of ''Guilty Gear Xrd''. Exactly how this happened isn't explained, but the fact that [[InterspeciesRomance he is married to a Gear and fathered a child with her]] probably has something to do with it.
85	* The ''Episode'' story ''The Clumsy Super Girl'' is about a girl kissing her crush and stealing their powers on accident.
86	[[/folder]]
87
88	[[folder:Webcomics]]
89	* In ''Webcomic/GrimTalesFromDownBelow'', Mandy (of ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' fame) winds up marrying TheGrimReaper himself after growing up -- and even before then, the fact that he's in love with her grants her virtual immortality simply by virtue of the fact that he ''refuses to reap her''. It's never made entirely clear how powerful she's gotten since then, but she's widely regarded as the single most feared entity in the netherworld...
90	* The pornographic webcomic ''Webcomic/PeterIsTheWolf'' reminds us that [[TheVirus lycanthropy]] can be a sexually transmitted disease as well. For added amusement, the couple in this case is Peter, a runt of a werewolf, and his accidentally infected girlfriend, who turns into a large-breasted gargantuan superwolf. Thus making it one of the few cases where the liaison makes the newly superpowered individual ''stronger'' than her benefactor.
91	[[/folder]]
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93	[[folder:Western Animation]]
94	* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': In "[[Recap/RickAndMortyS3E9TheABCsOfBeth The ABCs of Beth]]", Jerry has a new alien girlfriend, and briefly gains [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]] by sleeping with her.
95	[[/folder]]

Context Main / SexuallyTransmittedSuperpowers