Fanfic / The Last Son

The Last Son by The Writer With No Name began as a Crossover Fic of Superman^note Composite of various sources, including Smallville and the DC Animated Universe. and X-Men: Evolution. It quickly expanded to include various Marvel characters like The Avengers and later expanded again to include various DC characters like the Justice League. Characters that possess multiple continuities are given Adaptation Distillation while others have their backstories altered to integrate the two universes together.

Part 1 is the story of Superman beginning a new life at the Xavier Institute while covertly preventing disasters. Most of the story is Superman's effects on the X-Men and the plot loosely follows X-Men: Evolution. The Big Bad of this part is Magneto and he attempts to force Superman to lead the mutants to victory over normal humans.

Part 2 expands the character roster considerably and sets up the formation of the Justice League. It also introduces Superman's Love Interest (NOT Lois Lane). The plot diverges considerably from X-Men: Evolution at the climax of this part. The primary villain here is Doctor Doom but other villains have an impact as well.

Part 3 begins with the world adjusting to the existence of mutants, Superman, and his independent Justice League. Even more characters are brought in here and various factions attempt to bring down Superman. At this point the plot only vaguely resembles X-Men: Evolution, with the basic events still happening but going Off the Rails in creative ways. Three-quarters through this part the story begins the invasion arc where Shi'ar, Kree, and Skrulls invade Earth simultaneously in a race to seize the Kryptonian technology Superman possesses.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, this fic is MASSIVE. It contains over 1,506,103 words and the author has recently begun part 4 (which is currently on a hiatus since 2019). The long read is worth it for the various awesome moments, though early books are criticised for the overpowered Superman and the love interest. Now it has a wiki

The author has also posted a Spin-Off focused on Nir-El, a distant ancestor of Kal-El and one of the brains behind Sentrius, the first Kryptonian contact with the Skrull and Kree, and Nir-El's relationship with the Skrull princess Ly'Neia, called The Tragedy of Nir-El and Ly'Neia: A Tale of the Last Son Universe.

This series provides examples of:

• Absolute Xenophobe: Graydon Creed of the Friends of Humanity added aliens and other non-humans to his anti-mutant agenda after learning to his outrage of Superman's Kryptonian origins.
  • General Zod becomes this along as a Well-Intentioned Extremist after losing his love interest, Ursa, from Krypton's war with the Shi'ar, and blaming her death on all alien races; in which he generally viewed any non-Kryptonians as "primitives".
  General "Thunderbolt" Ross: "Primitives"? Is that what you think of us?
  General Zod: Your country holds itself up as the example for the rest of your species when it cannot even govern itself; it covets what does not belong to it, and chases shadows of threats with utterly reckless paranoia. I do not think you are primitive, Ross; I know it.
  • The Daxamites, as usual. They refused to join the Galactic Confederacy when offered. Though a few Daxamites expressed interest in joining the galactic community, as a result they were regarded as "traitors" by their own people.
• Absurdly Sharp Blade: The Sword of El is a Cool Sword from Krypton's ancient past, and is sharp enough to cut a yellow-sun powered Kryptonian, since Krypton had a yellow sun at the time it was made.
  • Then there's Excalibur, and the sword has the added benefit of being the only weapon yet known able to bypass Apocalypse's Healing Factor.
• Abusive Parents: A couple cases:
  • Siryn's parents left her alone with an abusive nanny, and sent her to an asylum when her powers emerged.
  • Graydon Creed didn't have a very happy childhood while being raised by Sabretooth that grew his hatred of mutants.
  • Doctor Doom was routinely beaten by his father when he was a child as to toughen him out and understand his family heritage.
  • Allison's aunt Embleth was emotionally and verbally abusive to her as a child (and even as an adult she still berates Allison a lot).
  • Callisto's father, which is a sore spot when the Question brought him up.
• Achievements in Ignorance: When Teth-Adam questions Billy Batson about the wizard Shazam, the kid doesn't know what he's talking about. By repeating the name, he calls the lightning bolt from the sky that transforms him into his Superpowered Alter Ego.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: In "The Big Uneasy", Gambit's ex-fiancée Belladonna is as much against their Arranged Marriage as he is, as opposed to her comics counterpart where she's a Stalker with a Crush.
• Adaptational Heroism: "Heroism" is too strong a word, but unlike his comic book self, Stryker did not murder his wife after she gave birth to a mutant son, Jason. Rather, he sent Jason to Xavier's school to be "cured" of his mutation (a nod towards his film self), and his wife later gave birth to a perfectly human daughter, whom Stryker actually cared about. Both were Mind Raped into committing suicide by Jason, with his daughter gnawing at her wrists until she bled to death! This act caused Stryker's Fantastic Racism to erupt like a volcano. So, while he's still a racist prick, he at least has a more or less sympathetic backstory.
  • Played more straight with Edward Kelly, who unlike his outright anti-mutant depiction in X-Men: Evolution, he was very divided on his views on mutants, but eventually adopted a more tolerable stance due to being basically influenced from having been saved several times by Superman. However, his brother Robert "Bob" Kelly filled his role.
  • Also Lex Luthor of all people, who was friends with Superman, Green Arrow, Aquaman, Flash and Cyborg in Smallville, and serves as sort of an analogue to the Justice League of America's mascot/collective sidekick Snapper Carr. Sadly that comes to an end come Book Four.
• Affectionate Nickname: Superman calls Spider-Man "Little Red", while Spider-Man calls Superman "Big Blue". Additionally, Logan has one for just about every member of the Xavier institute.
• Airborne Aircraft Carrier: As a countermeasure to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Helicarrier, Doctor Doom constructed his own air-fleet led by its flagship that is heavily armed and decked with UAV attack drones.
• Alien Invasion: The invasion arc in Book Three.
• Alien Non-Interference Clause: The Kryptonian version of the Prime Directive known as the Law of Riona Prime. This is based from an incident in which Krypton had helped an alien race that had suffered a meteor impact by providing them Kryptonian technology, but only within a week later for the race to destroy themselves due to the different factions fighting over the technology. Superman firmly followed this rule from having Kryptonian technology from the Fortress of Solitude falling into the hands of Earth's people; however, this became a complicating plot point whenever Superman uses Kryptonian technology, especially weapons, on Earth and raising concerns from Earth's governments. (See The World Is Not Ready).
• Alpha Bitch: Siryn, when she is first enrolled to Bayville High. Later Alison Blaire's rival Adrienne Cole.
• Amusement Park of Doom: Murderworld in "The Last Laugh".
• Ancient Astronauts:
  • The Kree visited Earth over a thousand years ago and were responsible for creating the Inhumans and the intelligent gorillas of Gorilla City.
  • The Kryptonian explorer Kon-Lir was stranded on Earth in the 16th century after forcing the Skrulls and Kree to vacate the planet. He is responsible for making an enemy out of Selene, whom she harbored a great hatred of the Kryptonian race, and made a first contact mishap with the Atlanteans which they greatly feared and referred the Kryptonians as the "Travelers". Lastly, believing that he doesn't have a chance of returning to Krypton, he decided to settle down and subsequently married a human woman, and inadvertently becoming the ancestor of Alison Blaire.
• Antagonistic Offspring: David Haller, AKA Legion, to Professor Xavier. On the heroes' side there's Android/Brainiac 5.
• Armour-Piercing Question: Clark asks the Kree Supreme Intelligence if the Kree even remember 'why' they're at war with the Skrull in the first place. The murmuring among the crowds showing that no, they don't.
• Avengers Assemble: When the Friends of Humanity kidnapped Professor Xavier and are preparing to launch the Sentinels upon Genosha and the world, Superman summons the help of the Avengers, who also brought along the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and Wonder Woman.
• Awesome, but Impractical: The second reason why Superman doesn't want to share his technology. Besides the fact that Kryptonian tech hasn't run on electricity in a long time, even if they could get around that with an adapter or something, they would take way too much power to practically use. If the US was given even one of the cannons defending the Fortress (admittedly power-guzzlers even by Kryptonian standards), they would have to redirect the entire power grid for one shot, and to fire a few more would require draining (and frying from the strain in the process) the rest of the world's grid.
• Balls of Steel: Spider-Man, after without any success against Ozymandias (whose entire body is made of stone), tries a Groin Attack and was shocked to "hear the loud click-sound of two pool-balls knocking together."
• Battle Cry: Has a few:
  • Namor: "Imperious REX!"
  • The Thing: "It's CLOBBERIN' TIME!"
  • Doctor Doom: "And in Latveria…Doom's will is LAW!"
• Bedmate Reveal: In "Tidings of Comfort and Joy", where the start of Green Lantern and Hawkgirl's romance began.
• Beta Couple: Scott and Jean, naturally.
  • And Kitty and Lance as Gamma, Remy and Rogue are Delta..., by Book Four, the author has worked his way about halfway through the Greek Alphabet.
• Big Applesauce: The final battle against General Zod ends at New York's Madison Square Garden.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: Magneto and Doctor Doom in Book Two. And also:
  • Mesmero and Baron Mordo.
  • Green Goblin and Metallo.
  • Joker and Arcade.
  • Erik Killmonger and Gorilla Grodd.
  • Mr. Mxyzptlk and Loki.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Irene's prophecy revealed that the "Darkness" is not one individual, but four. These are "The Warlord" (Apocalypse), "The Tyrant" (Darkseid), "The Machine" (Brainiac) and "The Beast" (who is unknown so far, but may be Trigon given his daughter Raven's existence in this universe and the mention of a prophecy regarding her).
  • Apocalypse, Red Skull and Darkseid in Book Four.
• A Boy and His X: Krypto in his debut in book 2's title dropped chapter "A Boy and his Dog".
• Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: Subverted. Galactus remains unimpeded from his attempts to devouring an alien planet, but Superman managed to feed him from a device that he created at the nick of time and satisfying his hunger. This allows Galactus to spare the planet and moving on to the next.
  • Played straight when local Jerk Jock and bully Duncan Matthews tries to punch Superman... and breaks his hand in the process. Becomes something of a Brick Joke when he and his father whine about it as if it was Superman's fault at every opportunity, while the people around them just laugh and rightly put the blame on Duncan for his arrogance and stupidity.
• Brought Down to Normal: How they finish General Zod, by cutting him off from yellow sunlight.
• Bullying a Dragon: The Friends of Humanity, as usual, constantly antagonize Superman, the Justice League, and the X-Men, thinking they can defeat the heroes, when in truth, their chances of success are less than zero, and they really should be thanking their lucky stars that Superman and his allies are not as vicious as they want everyone to think.
• Canon Welding: By its nature, this series features a few, including;
  • Namor and Namorita are Aquaman's cousins.
  • Gorilla City, like the Inhumans, is the result of a Kree experiment.
• Cape Busters: By Book Four, Project: Cadmus and their Suicide Squad seems to be leading into this, recruiting people with questionable backgrounds, and focusing their efforts more on Superman and his allies than any of the other active threats.
• Cat Fight: Dazzler vs. Siryn in Book Two. By Book Three, Power Girl vs. Skrull Empress Veranke. And in Book Four, Power Girl vs. Maxima.
• Chained Heat: Superman and Lobo along with Cyclops and Black Bolt are cuffed together in the "Worlds of War" storyline.
• The Champion: The ancient wizards who imprisoned Apocalypse in the past chose individuals to bestow their powers and gifts. Merlin previously chose King Arthur to wield Excalibur, and in the present time he gave it to Brian Braddock, while Shazam gave powers to Teth-Adam, although he later removed them and currently chose a young Billy Batson to wield them.
• Chekhov's Skill: In the "Deep Trouble" storyline, Leviathan's appearance was easily mistaken at first by Namor for a Lemurian (an enemy race of the Atlanteans) that he almost received a fist full to the face. Later, Leviathan used his appearance to infiltrate a Lemurian city.
• Christmas Episode: "Christmas with the X-Men", "Angels", and "Tidings of Comfort and Joy".
• Code Name: Played doubly straight, as all of the X-Men and Justice Leaguers have call signs in addition to their superhero names; i.e. Dazzler/Nightengale, Superman/Boy Scout, Green Arrow/Robin Hood, etc.
• Colony Drop: In book 3, M.O.D.O.C. uses an orbital rail gun to shoot space debris down at Earth.
• Continuity Cameo: Jen Masterson makes an unnamed appearance in the "When Heroes Fall" storyline as she is saved from General Zod by Superman. See Continuity Nod.
• Continuity Nod: In the one-shot "A Day at the Mall with Superman", Jen Masterson properly thanks Superman for saving her from General Zod.
• Cool Starship: The Argo and the Starjammer.
• Cool Sword: The Sword of El. The sword is sharp enough to wound even a yellow-sun-powered Kryptonian. Excalibur also counts, being the only weapon thus far that could inflict a wound on Apocalypse.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Happens a lot, but most notably when Superman fights a (demonically empowered) Deacon Frost.
• Creator Cameo: In Book Four, Clark Kent's superintendent is introduced as Stanley "Stan" Lehman.
• Crossover Relatives:
  • Aquaman is a cousin of Namor and Namorita.
  • A later chapter reveals that Black Canary, Siryn and Banshee are half-siblings, via having a Glorified Sperm Donor father.
  • Merlin and Shazam (the wizard, not the hero) are brothers.
• Dating Catwoman: So far Catwoman hadn't made her appearance, although it is still implied in the background between her and Batman.
  • Spider-Man to Black Cat, but their relationship is declared over and the former is willingly to arrest the latter since joining the Justice League in the "Night Stalkers" storyline.
• Dawn of an Era: Book Two ends with mutants and Superman formally revealed to the public and the formation of the Justice League.
  • Book Three ends with Earth surviving the combined alien invasion of the Skrull, Kree and Sh'iar, General Zod's treachery, and the Justice League and Earth possessing Krypton's superweapon Sentrius. The last chapter is aptly called "Brave New World". Although the ending is a mix of a Esoteric Happy Ending in which Sinister and Ozymandias are almost close to freeing Apocalypse, and Ronan the Accuser gets a surprise visit from Darkseid.
• Death by Origin Story: Amongst the usual figures like Thomas and Martha Wayne and Uncle Ben, Superman gets stuck with this too: Jonathan 'Pa' Kent.
• Debut Queue: The X-Men and the Brotherhood generally recruiting a new member in book 1. By the later chapters of book 2 introduces the eight heroes that would gathered to become the Justice League.
• Decomposite Character: In the comics, the current Black Canary is the daughter of the Golden Age version. Here she's the granddaughter of the previous one.
• Defiant to the End: Invoked by both heroes and villains that were beaten by General Zod.
• Deus Exit Machina: A benign example. Superman goes offworld when the X-Men set up a surprise birthday party for him.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Lobo pulls this off on Galactus.
  • Also, General Zod effortlessly beats up Thor.
    • This is largely due to the author admitting that their knowledge of the Avengers is fairly scanty, particularly that of Thor's power levels.
• Didn't See That Coming:
  • Most with their reactions to Superman's powers.
  • At the end of Book 2, after Superman and the X-Men have been seen in public, Nick Fury lays out a plan to cover this up as "special operatives," that Superman joins the Avengers and the U.S. government takes over the Fortress. Fury tells Superman, "If you want this plan to work, you have no choice,"...only for Superman and the X-Men to say they're not doing any coverup but are ready to tell the world about them. For Fury, the master of keeping secrets, seeing Superman ready to go so public is unexpected and he has to go with it.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • Magneto was so confident that Superman would accept the role of being Genosha's leader in Book Two that he never even considered the possibility that Superman would refuse. When Superman, naturally, did refuse, Magneto had no contingency plan and was forced to go into hiding.
  • Duncan stupidly punched Superman in the face when it was clear his attempts at racist bullying weren't working...and broke his hand in the process while Superman was completely unfazed.
• Dirty Coward: Shinobi Shaw, Gradyon Creed, and the Dheronians are all examples of this.
• Do Not Adjust Your Set: Happens in Book Three:
  • Mongul brings Warworld to Earth and broadcast it live across the planet.
  • The Joker publicly announced to the kidnappings of several Bayville high students to an Amusement Park of Doom.
  • General Zod giving his Kneel Before Zod speech.
• Eagleland: The more political-relations with superheroes always center around in the US; it is sort of justified as most of the world's mutant populations are commonly found in the U.S. and by extent North America. Subverted when the entire planet is involved in the intergalactic community and becomes a United Nations matter.
• The Empire: The Shi'ar, Skrull, and Kree Empires.
• Enemy Mine: Various villains including Magneto put their ambitions aside and help the heroes when the alien invasion is about to arrive.
• Entitled Bastard: So many villains believe they should have access to Kryptonian technology, even after Superman already explained that they wouldn't be able to use it anyway.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Amanda Waller is pretty ruthless, but she won't hesitate to pull the plug on any of her projects—no matter how much she stands to benefit from them—if there's even the slightest chance that they will backfire and cause large-scale destruction and carnage.
• "Everybody Laughs" Ending: Part 1 Chapter 7.
• Everyone Went to School Together: Superman had known and befriended Green Arrow, Flash, Cyborg, Aquaman, Lex Luthor, and Alison Blaire while growing up in Smallville. As well as knowing Emma Frost.
  • Professor Xavier was Reed Richards' (aka Mr. Fantastic) teacher while attending at Harvard University. He was also close friends with Thomas and Martha Wayne, and comforted a young Bruce the night of their funeral.
  • In a military example, Green Lantern John Stewart personally served with Captain America and the Avengers when he was in the marines.
  • In another military example, Nick Fury, Wolverine, Captain America, and Namor had served together in World War II.
  • Both Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne attended MIT at the same time, and were friends on top of that.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Magneto, Doctor Doom, Sebastian Shaw, General Zod, and Apocalypse cannot understand why Superman does not use his powers and technology to conquer the world.
  • Also Darkseid, as usual. It comes with the territory of being the God of Evil and all.
• Evil Is Petty: Why did Selene coerce Winston Frost into sabotaging the friendship between his daughter Emma and Clark Kent? Just to cause the Kryptonian to suffer.
  • For all his words about hating mutants as abominations, in the end, Graydon Creed's issues can be traced back to being abandoned and abused by his mutant parents, with even the other members of the F.O.H. considering this a pathetic reason to hate them.
• Evil Knockoff: Three cases:
  • Noram is the "son" of Namor and is spliced with Lemurian genes, and created by Attuma and Doctor Doom. Like Namor, he is attracted to pretty blondes who are already in a established relationship, specifically Alison Blaire.
  • Bizarro, who is cloned from Superman's blood by Doctor Doom. He is simply misguided and manipulated by Doom into framing Superman.
  • Galatea, a clone of Alison Blaire/Power Girl created by HYDRA.
• Evil Plan: Doctor Doom's plan to capture Superman and understand his people's knowledge involves assisting Attuma against Namor by creating Namor's clones, Garth and Noram, based on the blood collected from Namor in exchange for the Circlet of Morpheus; and later arrange a deal with Shinobi Shaw in overthrowing his father Sebastian and obtaining Superman's blood to clone Bizarro. Doom then used Bizarro as a diversion to frame Superman while finding Superman's secret identity in Smallville and threatening Martha Kent to lure Superman when he is alone, which he then expose him to a sliver of kryptonite and putting him into a dream world with the Circlet of Morpheus, thus allowing Doom to probe Superman's memories. Doom would have gotten away if his daughter didn't rat him out to the heroes.
• Eviler than Thou: It's said that even the Devil himself is wary of Darkseid.
• Evil Versus Evil: Teth-Adam us a Fallen Hero obsessed with regaining his power, but still wants to be the one to finish off Apocalypse.
• Excalibur in the Stone: Literally, the aforementioned sword rests in the stone, until Brian Braddock pulls it out like King Arthur did before him.
• Eye Scream: Superman burns out Selene's right eye with his laser vision, prompting this. In fairness, she was about to kill his teammates. She apparently is still wary of this, since when he threatens to do the same to her other eye in Book Four, she actually cringes a little.
• Face–Heel Turn: Daredevil (and a few other heroes) think that Spider-Man has done this during the "Tangled Webs" storyline. He didn't, by the way.
• Face Palm: Superman sometimes does this when he forgets to bring his holowatch.
• Fallen Hero: Teth-Adam was chosen as The Champion by the wizard Shazam, and from his account he even fought against Apocalypse in the past. However, he was imprisoned for as of yet undisclosed reasons.
• Faking the Dead: Laura/X-23 does this after killig a group of Hydra agents, so the remaining agents think the information the slain agents were carrying was still secure.
• Fantastic Nuke: The Kryptonian-made Nova Javelins.
• Fantastic Slur: In addition to the canon "muties" for mutants, Creed eventually creates the anti-Kryptonian term "krypper" by bastardizing the word Krypton.
• Fastball Special: Used several times by Superman and other characters. It is later played straight between Superman and Wolverine.
• The Federation: The Galactic Confederacy represented by Councillor Winema Wazzo.
• For Science!: Pretty much the sole motivation for Dr. Mary Storm. Her son and daughter are not amused.
• For Want Of A Nail: In the show, Jean's best friend Taryn shuns both her and Scott (the boy she has a crush on) after their public reveal. In the story, she finds out before the the public reveal and supports them.
• Foreshadowing:
  • In Book One, Captain America had given Superman a communicator whenever he needed to call the Avengers for help. By the time of the "Zero Hour" storyline, Superman saw the right time to call them.
  • In Book One, Cyclops comments Superman for having the makings of a real leader and possibly having his own team, in which Superman is dubious about leading his own "Hero Legion". By book 2, he becomes the founding member and leader of the Justice League.
  • In Book Two, Hawkgirl forewarns Superman that his presence on Earth could attract the attentions of the Kree and Skrulls, who are determined to use him to unlock the secrets of Kryptonian technology. A couple chapters later Ronan the Accuser makes his appearance and becomes a sworn enemy of Superman. By Book Three, the Skrulls, Kree, and Shi'ar invade Earth to seize Superman's Kryptonian technology.
  • While talking about the history of General Zod, Android comments that the only chance of survival for Zod's enemies was to run. By the events of the "When Heroes Fall" storyline, both heroes and villains beats a hasty retreat after being beaten by Zod, who sneered that they have "finally learned."
• Forever War:
  • During Krypton's ancient past, warfare had reached a violent peak that it had entered into a near-endless conflict known as the Age of Wars.
  • The Kree-Skrull War, and the cause for the conflict is unknown. There was an attempt by the Kryptonians that tried to mediate both sides, but only for the Kree and the Skrulls to steadfastly refuse to and instead tried to conquer Krypton and obtaining their advanced technologies in order to have the field advantage over the other. It only took another thousand years for the Kree (the Skrulls had earlier realized the futility and left) to give up on their campaign on Krypton. Superman even addressed this issue and plead with the Kree Supreme Intelligence for a peaceful end to the war. Although moved, the Supreme Intelligence stated otherwise that even if the Kree lay down their arms, there is no guarantee that the Skrulls would do the same; or if the Kree did attempt to make peace, the Skrulls would see this as a sign of weakness and used this to their advantage.
    • Zod manages to finally end the Skrull/Kree war after their failed invasion of Earth, and reveals that it started after the Kree attacked another race that developed on their homeworld and stole the technology they had gained from trading with the Skrulls.
• Forgotten Friend, New Foe: Chapter 12 of Book Four reveals that Emma Frost is this to Superman. They had met at age 13 in Smallville when her father tried (unsuccessfully) to buy the lands of the farmers, and Clark rescued her from a fire. They struck a friendship for a time, but after she left, Selene manipulated Emma's father to intercept Clark's mail just to hurt him, and Emma though he had forgotten about her. This revelation causes her to be Driven to Suicide, but fortunately Superman steps in and convinces her to come with him, beginning her Heel–Face Turn.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Many villains end up on the receiving end of this:
  • Magneto became a monster due to his past as a Holocaust survivor, and fell into a Cycle of Revenge because he wasn't satisfied after he was done with the Nazis who killed his family. When Superman reveals this fact to Wanda, she remarks that's no excuse for his actions and Superman agrees.
  • Graydon Creed hates mutants with a passion because of his abusive father Sabretooth. His Friends of Humanity operatives quickly turned their backs on him when Superman made this fact public.
  • General Zod went mad after the death of his fiancée Ursa in the Shi'ar War, which he uses to justify his hatred for non-Kryptonians. Naturally when the heroes find this out, they lose any shred of sympathy they could have had for him.
• General Ripper: Generals Zod, Lassider, and (subtly) Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross.
• Gilligan Cut: In "Best of Enemies, Part One", Alison Blaire refuses anyone to change her mind on looking after Siryn and Princess Audrey. Thirty minutes later...
  • In the final chapter of Book One: "No, Kitty. I'm sorry, but we are not going to just drop in unannounced just so my Ma can fix us a meal. You can beg all you want, but I am not going to cave." Fifteen minutes later, they're all on the Blackbird, and Supes is muttering that he can't believe he caved. BEWARE the puppy-dog eyes of Kitty Pryde!
• Girl on Girl Is Hot: Quicksilver, Berzerker and Mimic all seem to think so, at least.
• Gladiator Games: The "Worlds of War" story-line.
• Glorified Sperm Donor: Siryn, Banshee and Black Canary's biological father is referred as this after they find out that they're half-siblings.
• A God Am I: Doctor Doom, Darkseid, Apocalypse, Selene, and General Zod fancy themselves as gods.
• A God I Am Not: By contrast, Superman makes it clear from day one that he doesn't want to be worshipped or deified by anyone.
• Godzilla Threshold: Remember The Law of Riona Prime, which the Kryptonians created to prevent a great tragedy from repeating itself? Well, the Gibborim are so bad that the law was temporarily overturned to stop them, and an addendum written in allowing for similar actions to take place in the future in order to prevent more incursions after the Gibborim slaughtered a planetary population. Considering how dedicated to the Law Krypton was, it really drives in how dangerous Krypton felt the Gibborim were.
• Good Republic, Evil Empire: The Shi'ar Republic and The Remnants of the Shi'ar Empire.
• Götterdämmerung: It is according to Volla that Loki is destined to lead Ragnarök. But in a twist, it is not Thor who will be going against his brother and preventing the Twilight of the Gods: Superman. It is suspected by Loki that Odin had foreseen this and carefully planned to ensure Superman's safety.
• Great Gazoo: Mr. Mxyzptlk in Book Three, "Myxed Up". An appropriate chapter with the trickster god Loki in a Villain Team-Up with Mxy in which the trope is based off.
• Groupie Brigade: Central focus in "The Price of Fame" in Book Three, where hordes of fans and news reporters crowded the front gates of the Xavier Institute. Even Logan shared his annoyance that he doesn't know which is worse: anti-mutant protesters or "those animals." The problem is resolved with Alison Blaire's aunt Bridget becoming the Justice League and X-Men's P.R. person.
• Guilt by Association: In chapters 5 & 6 of Book Four, the Friends of Humanity captured and threaten to kill the friends and family members of the X-Men. They also plan to kill Superman's human mother for "selfishly" raising an alien.
• Heel–Face Turn: Superman has this effect on a LOT of people.
  • Most especially in the very first chapter of Book Four when Magneto had a Heel Realization and allied with Professor Xavier in stopping Apocalypse.
  • In Book Four Chapter 12, he manages to win over Emma Frost of all people, after it was revealed that they had met before in their teenage years, but Selene manipulated her father into intercepting Clark's mail just to spite him.
• Heel Realization:
  • As mentioned under Heel–Face Turn, Superman has this effect on a lot of people.
  • After seeing Noram's obsession with Allison Blaire, Namor realizes how inappropriate his interactions with Susan were and apologizes for it.
• Heroic BSoD: Superman and Allison go through one when she leaves after finding out about her origins, but they get better once they're reunited. Batman almost has one of these when he finds Arcade's murdered parents and he begins flashing back to his own parents' death. Wonder Woman snaps him out of it, though.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: By the aftermath of Book Three, the Justice League gets a bad reputation for previously being associated with General Zod and inadvertently leading to parts of Earth devastated and many lives lost. The blame is especially directed at Superman for having convinced everyone to trusting Zod and helping him to recover Sentrius which lead to the general holding Earth hostage.
• Hidden Depths: He denies it, but beneath his malevolent and imperious demeanor, Darkseid is deeply haunted by the death of his first wife, Suli. He tries to tell himself that her death was Necessarily Evil to ensure his rise to power, but it's pretty clear (to Highfather, at least) that if he had to choose between universal domination or Suli being alive, he'd pick the latter without hesitation.
• Hurl It into the Sun: The kryptonite pieces that Superman encountered are disposed this way.
• I Have No Son!: Daisy's father disowns her for siding with the mutants. Kicked out of her home and having nowhere else to go, Cannonball's family took her in.
• Ideal Hero: Invoked by J. Jonah Jameson when he first met Superman:
  J. Jonah Jameson: My God, that's what a hero is supposed to look like! Red-and-blue, the colors of a real hero! And talk about stature: why, one glare from him would make the Kingpin wet himself! And no mask! Takes a real man to show his face, and not hide behind some glorified ski-mask!
  Peter Parker: Mr. Jameson...I thought you said you were through trashing Spider-Man...
  J. Jonah Jameson: One step at a time, Parker. One step at a time.
• If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: Superman stops Wanda from killing Magneto by invoking this.
• I Never Got Any Letters: Turns out Clark had previously met Emma Frost at age 13, and they struck a friendship for a time. Selene manipulated Emma's dad to intercept Clark's mail, leading her to believe he had forgotten about her.
• Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: Quite a few people fall victim to this when dealing with Superman at first, with most considering him 'just' an extremely powerful mutant until his alien heritage becomes public.
  • At one point, even Doctor Doom falls victim to this, unaware that Superman was sent to Earth just before Krypton's destruction. When Doom offers Superman a mystical artefact that would allow him to go home and Superman reveals that there isn't any home for him to go back to, Doom abandons his current plan with what could be considered sympathetic regret by Doom's usual standards.
  • As a positive note, Garth was genuinely unaware of his status as Namor's clone, which leads to him being adopted by his "template".
• In the Blood: The families of the Houses of El and Zod follow the traditions of being geniuses and soldiers, respectively. So it is not surprising that these two families would form very a formidable team in times of conflict, especially the relationship between Dru-Zod and Jor-El.
• Insufficiently Advanced Alien: The technology used by the Skrulls and the Kree has barely changed since the Kryptonians first encountered them millenia ago.
• Intercontinuity Crossover: The Writer With No Name's 6teen one-shots "A Hero Among Us" and "A Day at the Mall with Superman".
• Interrupted Suicide: Two instances. First one in Book Three, Alison finds Tinya when she's about to jump of a building. The second one in Book Four, with Superman preventing Emma Frost from jumping off her apartment after she had a Villainous BSoD with the revelation that Selene had manipulated her father years ago just to hurt Clark.
  • Rachel Roth/Raven, despairing at being unable to find a way to avert the prophecy, tries to commit suicide by Annihilator, only for Amanda to tackle out of the way.
• Interspecies Romance: Several couples:
  • Superman (Kryptonian) and Alison Blaire (human/Kryptonian hybrid)
  • Leviathan (human mutant) and Namorita (Atlantean).
  • John Stewart and Hawkgirl (Thanagarian)
  • Mystique (human mutant) and Martian Manhunter (Martian)
  • The side story has a relationship between Superman's Kryptonian ancestor Nir-El and the Skrull princess Ly'Neia.
• Invincible Hero: A criticism leveled at Superman, and justifiably. He doesn't meet a real challenge until he goes up against General Zod.
• Invisible President / Our Presidents Are Different: Averted. Barack Obama makes a couple appearances in Book Three.
• Ironic Echo: In "Zero Hour, Part One", Superman had dropped into Gotham to beat up some thugs that Batman was following:
  Batman: I could have handled that alone.
  Superman: I know. I was just in the neighborhood.
  • Later, in "Zero Hour, Part Three", Batman had just arrive in assisting Superman and several heroes against Brainiac Mark VI:
  Superman: We could have handled that alone.
  Batman: I know. I was just in the neighborhood.
• It Amused Me: Joker naturally falls into this category. This is also Mr. Mxyzptlk's reasons for allying with Loki.
  Superman: You do know this guy (Loki) was just using you, right?
  Mr. Mxyzptlk: (shrugs) Eh. Long as I get a laugh out of it…
• Jerkass Has a Point: The North Korean diplomat is extremely hostile towards Sentrius. Considering what she did to North Korea on General Zod's orders, his antipathy is understandable.
• Kangaroo Court: Occurs when Ronan the Accuser abducted the X-Men for their "crimes" for harboring Superman, up to and including deliberately not informing the X-Men of their rights as the accused, like their right to have the trial on Earth, which Superman calls him out on (admittedly, this is in part to try and lure Superman into a trap). The trope is called out by Cyclops:
  "This isn't a trial! It's nothing but a farce! You'd made up your mind before we'd even gotten here! Why bother with this stupid kangaroo-court?"
• Kill Sat:
  • A.I.M. constructed an orbital railgun as part of a blackmail scheme with Kaznia.
  • Battlestation Sentrius.
• Kryptonite Is Everywhere: Downplayed. It seems that most of the Kryptonite that fell in Kansas with Superman's arrival was destroyed, but several of the villains still managed to get their hands in a fair amount of it to cause trouble. S.H.I.E.L.D. confiscated enough of it to load a nuclear missile with it, which they planned to use to kill Zod (as well as Superman) during the climax of Book Three.
• Kryptonite-Proof Suit: In Book One, Superman creates a space suit composed of nanomachines to go on outerspace missions. Starting on Book Two, he repurposes it so it can protect him from kryptonite radiation.
• Last of His Kind: Superman and the Martian Manhunter are the last Kryptonian and Martian, respectively.
  • However, Krypto, Supergirl, Alison Blaire (who is half-Kryptonian), and numerous criminals from the Phantom Zone mitigated this status.
  • Also, J'onn is not alone anymore as he found out his wife and daughter are still alive on Mars. Unfortunately, J'onn's wife soon dies from natural causes. Only his daughter is his last kin and becomes Miss Martian.
  • Lobo is the last Czarnian after he blew up his planet for his high school project.
• Language Barrier: Happens sometimes when the heroes meet aliens or foreign people who speak in languages they don't know.
  • When rescued at the end of Book Two, the first thing J'onn J'onnz does is to assimilate the English language from Professor Xavier to avert this.
  • Starfire, being a Tamaranean, goes on a rampage because nobody understands her, until Superman, who does, steps in. She then kisses Robin in the lips to learn English.
  • When first encountered, Teth-Adam speaks ancient Egyptian. J'onn has to establish a mental link to communicate with him. He's later given English while at the Battlestation Sentrius.
• Last-Second Chance: Superman tries to give General Zod one of these, who rejects it and instead goes on a rampage. Later, when he tries to plead for mercy after being defeated, Superman is having none of it.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: The moment General Zod is freed, he is already The Man Behind the Man of Book Three if anyone haven't read the very first chapter of Book One.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Deadpool when he appears, obviously.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Basically sums up the reason for Zod’s defeat; while he is a tactical genius, Zod became so used to relying on his powers putting him above all of his potential opponents on Earth that he was unprepared for the heroes to catch him in a trap that drained his body’s solar energy reserves, bringing him down to a strength level where the heroes could more easily oppose him, particularly after they exposed his duplicity to Sentrius.
• Let's You and Him Fight:
  • This happens between Superman and Blade when the Justice League first encountered vampires, and goes from their petty fight to arguing over killing vampires. See What Measure Is a Non-Human?.
  • The Avengers (minus Thor and Hulk) comes to blows with the Justice League when Superman is framed by Bizarro.
• Long-Lost Relative:
  • Tina is revealed to be the lost daughter of Councillor Wazzo.
  • In Chapter Five of Book Four, it's revealed that Black Canary, Siryn, and Banshee are half-siblings, and a later chapter implies they might have more half-siblings out there.
• Logical Weakness: When fighting against the Hulk, Superman realizes that the Hulk, since he's still basically human, still needs to breathe, and manages to grab him in a choke-hold and cut off his oxygen, calming him down enough for Xavier to reach his mind and get him to stop his rampage.
• Lotus-Eater Machine: The Circlet of Morpheus used as part of Doctor Doom's Evil Plan.
• Love at First Sight: Several occurrences.
  • Alison Blaire was smitten with Clark when they were children.
  • Also Leviathan to Namorita.
  • Happened when Pietro first met Crystal and embarrassingly tried to introduce himself.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Lorna Dane's revelation to be Magneto's daughter in "Polarity".
  • Alison Blaire's long lost mother is Madame Hydra.
• Mad Scientist: Doctor Doom and Sinister.
• Make My Monster Grow: After Superman, Green Lantern, and Hawkgirl seemingly destroyed Brainiac Emulater Unit Mark VI, but only for it to merge with the destroyed Sentinels and becoming a 200 foot-tall metal monstrosity.
• The Man Behind the Man:
  • Doctor Doom, Magneto, and Sebastian Shaw to the Friends of Humanity.
  • Red Skull to Madame Hydra.
  • Apocalypse to Mesmero, Ozymandias, and Sinister.
  • Darkseid to the Dheronians.
• Mecha-Mooks:
  • Doctor Doom's Doombots
  • The Sentinels
  • Sentrius' crystal Infantry and Commando Drones; however, unlike the aforementioned above they are VERY hard to beat.
• Moral Myopia: Black Cat blames Superman, Spider-Man and the Justice League for putting her father in jail, even though he took responsibility for his actions.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: Siryn tries this against Dazzler.
  • Maxima tries to do the same later on.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: While a young Charles Xavier is having a tense conversation with Erik Lensherr he felt Krypton's destruction and the dying screams of its people before it stops with a sudden dead silence. Xavier doesn't know what to make of it, but he knew something very terrible has happened.
  • The effects of Krypton's destruction had also resonated to the realm of Asgard, in which Odin had called for a mass moment of silence and mourning, as the death of Krypton's people also served as a sad reminder for the coming of Ragnarok.
• Mythology Gag: Many and varied, often with characters substituted where appropriate. Such as Lex Luthor related moments being given to other villains like the Kingpin.
• A Nazi by Any Other Name:
  • Captain America straightly told Graydon Creed that his bigotry is the kind that died out when Hitler committed suicide, or should have, at least.
  • Interestingly invoked by General Zod when he is accused for being "another racist tyrant" by Magneto; however, Zod states that his comparison to Hitler is inaccurate because while Hitler's claim to supremacy was based on pseudoscience, whereas Zod has the might of an entire civilization behind him.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Superman was immediately trustful of General Zod and never giving any second thoughts as to why he was imprisoned in the Phantom Zone. This leads to Zod carefully planning to conquer Earth and claiming Sentrius with the unwitting help of Superman and his allies.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: General Zod gives one to practically every hero in the Last Son 'verse, including, but not limited to: The X-Men, the Avengers, the Justice League, the Fantastic Four, the Brotherhood, Doctor Doom, the Hulk, and Magneto. He beats Spider-Man almost to the point of killing him, tries to strangle Power Girl, and almost incinerates Pyro.
• No-Sell: Superman is explicitly referred to as immune to X-Gene powers (at least ones like Rogue's Power Copying or Psychic Powers like Xavier and Emma Frost's mind reading, energy blasts and such can still affect him somewhat). It later turns out that all Kryptonians are immune to X-Gene powers.
• Not Good with Rejection: Maxima didn't take this well other than being rejected but learning that Superman is already been taken, and decided to take out Alison Blaire instead.
  • Amazing Grace absolutely explodes when Superman rejects her advances. She pins him down, slaps him a couple of times while giving him a vicious tongue-lashing, and likely would have raped him had her brother not interrupted her.
• Not Quite Dead: This is what happened to Brainiac when he was destroyed by Brainiac 5, but leaving only a surviving piece of his head.
  Emergency Upload complete.
• Not-So-Omniscient Council of Bickering: The UN debate over Kryptonian technology when the Fortress of Solitude is exposed to the world and later the custody over Battlestation Sentrius after it wiped out the Kree-Skrull invasion; which it then spew over more when Superman gave it up to the UN. Lampshaded by Zod:
  General Zod: And this administration is your planet's governing body?
  Cyclops: Not exactly. Each country handles its own internal affairs; U.N. delegates debate issues that affect the planet as a whole…
  General Zod: (flatly) An assembly with over a hundred squabbling politicians instead of twelve, and even less decision-making power. Splendid.
  • Also, Krypton's Council of Twelve is viewed this way, especially from Zod's perspective during the Krypton-Shi'ar War.
• Nuke 'em: North Korea attempts to nuke Sentrius (with absolutely no effect) and were paid in return. Also General Lassider send a Kryptonite-payload missile at where the Justice League and the X-Men were fighting General Zod while even disobeying the President's order to dissuade him from firing.
• Older Than They Look: Several characters, aside from gods and demigods, that includes Nick Fury, Wolverine, and Namor.
  • Iron Man tries to hit on Wonder Woman and her response:
    Wonder Woman: Tell me, Anthony Stark, how old are you?
    Iron Man: Oh, going on thirty, but, hey, what's a few years, here and there?
    Wonder Woman: Indeed. I, Stark, am one thousand, five hundred twenty-three years old, this August.
    Iron Man: (his smile dropped) Damn!
    Wonder Woman: Mm-hm. What's more, Stark, is that, though it is all but unheard of in my homeland, pedophilia is still considered morally reprehensible among Amazons. (eyes narrowed) So any suggestions that we indulge in such activities would be highly offensive.
    Iron Man: (gulping and slamming his suit's visor back down) Oh, wouldn't you know it – my schedule's full, this year.
    Wonder Woman: As I thought.
• Old Flame: Black Panther and Storm.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Teth-Adam claims that he's the only one who can defeat Apocalypse, founding on the fact that he fought and helped him imprison him millennia ago.
• Only the Chosen May Wield: The Sword of El is DNA-codified so only Von-El's direct descendants can draw it from the scabbard and wield it. Similarly, Merlin enchanted Excalibur so only his chosen champion can pull it out of the stone, like King Arthur and Brian Braddock.
• Organic Technology: The bio-processing unit (basically a massive brain serving as a living supercomputer) created by A.I.M. and later by Lex Luthor in "Testing Mettle"; in the same chapter, the unit becomes an important part of M.O.D.O.C.'s origin story.
• Orphean Rescue: Power Girl and her allies goes to Apokolips to rescue Superman.
• Outside-Context Problem: The Brainiac Emulater Unit Mark VI takes everyone by surprise in Book Two.
• Over Shadowed By Awesome: Pietro is not happy about being slower than Superman (and he later has a similar reaction to Flash). Neither Hellion nor Shinobi Shaw were too impressed by Superman.
• Parental Marriage Veto: Namor judges Leviathan's worthiness to be with his cousin Namorita. He approves Leviathan, BUT he must also needs the permission of Namorita's mother Namora...
  • Superman's godfather, General Zod, doesn't approve of his godson's relationship with Alison Blaire, who is part Kryptonian, and sees her as something less than an animal. He explains this to Alison while choking her.
• Parental Neglect: Several characters had some parental issues:
  • Alison Blaire's father, Carter, becomes very distant after his wife mysteriously disappeared from their lives. Carter later warms up to his daughter after receiving a "The Reason You Suck" Speech from Clark in a Christmas Episode.
    • And then there's her mother...
  • When Cyclops is reunited with his thought-to-be-dead father, Corsair, he angrily accused him of being one as he believed that while he and his brother were orphaned Corsair was "playing Han Solo" for all this time.
  • Lex Luthor's relationship with Lionel Luthor. Lex was glad for his father to kick the bucket and went far from not being referred to as "Mr. Luthor" as it reminds him of his father.
  • Adrianna Tomaz's mother didn't work at all, and when men came to buy her daughter, she gladly accepted to sell her for a quick buck.
• Person of Mass Destruction: This is what General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross outright said about Superman and the Justice League to Professor Xavier and Storm as "P.M.D.'s" in regarding to the U.S. military and government's weary view on the heroes.
• Portal Network: The World-Gate network that were used by the people of Krypton to travel around and explore the universe, and was responsible for allowing intergalactic trade and commerce, which led to the creation of the Galactic Confederacy. The gates were permanently shutdown from allowing the Skrulls, Kree, and later the Shi'ar to use them to expand their territories. Superman later finds a World-Gate orbiting around Jupiter and used it to travel with his friends to Krypton's star system and rescuing his cousin Kara Zor-El.
• Pregnant Badass: Sue Storm isn't letting her pregnancy slow her down much.
• The Prophecy: It is according to Irene Adler that Superman will have a profound and destined role that will change Earth forever. Magneto and Doctor Doom misinterpret the prophecy with the belief that Superman was meant to lead mutantkind and rule over humankind. This becomes an important overarching plot point throughout the series.
• A Protagonist Shall Lead Them: According to The Prophecy of Irene Adler, Superman will have a profound and destined role that will change Earth forever. Magneto and Doctor Doom misinterpret the prophecy with the belief that Superman was meant to lead mutantkind and rule over humankind. This becomes an important overarching plot point throughout the series.
• Put on a Bus: Averted. Evan's bus ticket gets revoked here. Superman convinces him to stay when he's supposed to join the Morlocks.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Invoked by Apocalypse when he meets the heroes for the first time.
  Apocalypse: My old vizier told of you and yours, but seeing it is another matter. In my ascent, the old Pharaoh sent entire armies against me: legions upon legions of soldiers, cavalry, and armed chariots… yet THIS is all that musters against me now? A ragtag band of outcasts? An army of misfits? CHILDREN?
  Supergirl: It's better than being the one about to get his butt kicked by "ragtags and children," you primitive psychopath.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Senator Isaac Martin shares a more positive view on mutants and the Justice League than his counterpart Robert Kelly. President Barack Obama is also viewed this way whenever he appears and downplays Senator Kelly.
• Related in the Adaptation:
  • Aquaman is the cousin of Namor and Namorita. There's also Black Canary, Siryn, and Banshee who are all half-siblings.
  • In "Upon The Misty Moors", it's revealed that Merlin and Shazam are brothers.
• Riding the Bomb:
  • In Book One, Superman and Captain America stopped two intercontinental ballistic missiles from hitting New York.
  • In Book Three, Superman diverted two nuclear missiles from hitting the Fortress of Solitude, and surviving a nuclear blast while keeping one missile exploding into outer space. Captain America gives his credit to Superman for beating him out of the "Nuclear-Bonehead-Maneuver" category.
• Robo Sexual: Android/ Brainiac 5 and Tinya Wazzo.
• Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies: The climax of Book One has Superman averting this.
• Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Superman gets the ire of established villains from the likes of the Kingpin to Ronan the Accuser.
• Roswell That Ends Well: J'onn J'onzz is responsible for the Roswell incident after his spaceship was shot down by the Chitauri when he attempted to shoot down every Chitauri ship from landing on Earth.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: General Zod and Apocalypse. Teth-Adam also might count, since it's implied he was imprisoned after he became corrupted by his power.
• Secret Message Wink: In the climax of Book 3, Superman apparently decides to join up with General Zod, on the grounds of being sick of people who distrust him and even try to destroy him despite his efforts to do good. He then says to Agent Pryor "After today, things will get better for Earth" before winking, cluing her and Nick Fury that he's actually pulling a Fake Defector on Zod.
• Ship Tease: Early on Clark and Rogue kiss and absolutely nothing happens. They just stay friends after that.
• Shooting Superman: Happens to the Trope Namer.
  • After General Zod punctuated his refusal for turning over Sentrius to America by pushing down General Ross with his finger in front of the entire US Army, who were aiming at him, Zod then immediately points out to them that they had just witnessed what Kryptonian might can do against the Kree and Skrull Empires that they had tried and failed miserably to beat Krypton for millennia, and retort if they could do any better. The army nervously chose to lower their weapons.
• Shoot the Television: Graydon Creed does this twice. The first time when the Friends of Humanity failed to capture Beast and frustrated by how the public viewed Superman as a hero. The second he emptied an entire clip when he learned about Superman's alien origins.
• Smug Snake: Graydon Creed, all the way. He severely overestimates his organization's abilities and public image, underestimates his enemies to an utterly astronomical degree, all of his half-assed plans revolve around Bullying a Dragon (see above) with comparatively primitive weaponry and empty threats, and the only reason he is still alive is because Superman isn't the monster he wants everyone to believe. And he and the FOH have been manipulated by multiple other groups, including Magneto and his allies.
  • Shinobi Shaw as well. A Spoiled Brat, Dirty Coward, and Entitled Bastard, he really doesn't have much going for him.
  • And who could forget Senator Robert Kelly? An Obstructive Bureaucrat and Ungrateful Bastard (and Entitled Bastard) whose racism towards mutants and aliens is only slightly less extreme than the F.O.H., he also shares their habit of Bullying a Dragon, though, again, to a lesser extent.
• Space Age Stasis: The Kree and Skrull, in part because of their obsession with obtaining Kryptonian technology instead of developing their own, have barely advanced in several centuries.
• Space Police: Lar Gand is a constable of the Galactic Space Police Force. The Green Lantern Corps also count as this.
• Spared by the Adaptation: J'onn's wife M'yri'ah and daughter K'hym died in the original comics. But in this fic, they lived. Tragically, M'yri'ah takes a shot for her husband; though she admits she was dying from radiation anyway.
• Spin-Off: The Tragedy of Nir-El and Ly'Neia: A Tale of the Last Son Universe, a story about how Krypton first encountered the Kree and Skrulls.
• Stop Worshipping Me: Superman and Power Girl are uncomfortable with Starfire viewing them as gods. Ever since the Tamaraneans first encountered a Kryptonian outpost and began worshipping them.
• Start of Darkness: This is heavily implied for Lex Luthor, who after waking up from his coma and suffering from a degree of amnesia starts blaming Superman and his allies for all the troubles befell on Earth, and then secretly joining Project Cadmus.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Batman of course. This goes to grate on Spider-Man.
  Spider-Man: (muttering) One of these days… One of these days, I am going to leave before he does, and see how he likes it!
• Super Registration Act: Senator Robert Kelly had been repeatedly trying to pass a law to have government regulation and control over superhumans ever since mutants were revealed to the public, but so far it's fallen on deaf ears.
• Team-Up Series: Superman and the X-Men usually team-up with other superheroes. By Book 3, it becomes a regular occurrence, especially the Justice League and the X-Men working alongside.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: This became problematic when Superman first dealt with vampires and ultimately allowed Deacon Frost to die under daylight, becoming the first living being to be (indirectly) killed by the Man of Steel (albeit because there was literally no way for Frost to be saved). It goes from there that Superman is forced to dangerously dance around his no-kill policy that Sebastian Shaw mockingly points this out to him:
  Sebastian Shaw: You know, I've heard of your more recent exploits. Letting a man – a vampire, really, but still – immolate himself? Cutting off the King of Lemuria's hand, after launching a weapon of mass destruction at his forces? *tsked* No small wonder Fury and his ilk are so paranoid about you; and they call my organization a threat.
• Threat Backfire: Doom threatens to release Superman's Secret Identity to the world if he does not submit to him. Superman rapidly points out that, if Doom (who believes himself the smartest person in the world) did that, he would be admitting to having lost against "a Kansas country farmboy," hitting him right in his Pride.
• Three Laws-Compliant: The Kryptonians had the Three Directives, which is explained to be a more flexible version of the Three Laws of Robotics.
• Time Skip: The first chapter of Book 1 starts with Superman's origins and the next chapter skips to the modern day where he finished his training in the Fortress of Solitude and his first meeting with the X-Men.
• Torches and Pitchforks: The Fantastic Four and Alison Blaire encountered an angry Laterivan mob after they failed to ally with Doctor Doom in the prelude to the alien invasion. Fortunately it is peacefully averted by Siryn.
  (the Fantastic Four and Alison Blaire sees the aforementioned angry Latverian mob coming towards them)
  Human Torch: Oh, great! A perfect end to a perfect day!
  Mr. Fantastic: We'll be okay, Johnny. We just have to stay calm…
  Human Torch: (incredulously) Reed, are you kidding me? Have you even watched any classic horror-movies? The minute the angry mob shows up, it all goes to hell in a handbasket!
• The Stations of the Canon.
• Underestimating Badassery: This is basically the reason that the heroes defeated General Zod; after Zod delivered a Curb-Stomp Battle to virtually all of Earth’s heroes, they subsequently managed to outmanoeuvre him by presenting Sentrius with proof of the criminal charges he faced on Krypton before its destruction and then lured him into a contained area that was being exposed to red sun radiation, resulting in Zod draining his body’s solar energy reserves while even Superman (who would normally be subject to the same issue) still has enough energy left to hold his own.
• The Unmasqued World: Superman's rumored existence and mutants are revealed to the public in the "Zero Hour" storyline.
• Villainesses Want Heroes: Siryn to Superman.
  • Also Enchantress to Thor, but later temporarily grew bored of her intended crush and sets her eyes on Superman in the "Myxed Up" storyline.
  • Amazing Grace becomes attracted to Superman during his brief time on Apokolips.
• Villains Want Mercy: A few instances, the most notable case being General Zod at the climax of Book Three.
• Villainous Breakdown: Happens a lot to Graydon Creed, which is not surprising for being the son of Sabertooth.
  • Magneto riled over Superman's refusal to lead mutant supremacy in Book Three.
  • General Zod finally lost it after losing the control of Sentrius and Fort Rozz.
• We Can Rule Together: This is Magneto and Doctor Doom's main goal of having Superman to join their cause, whether he likes it or not, due to learning from Irene Adler's prophecy.
  • In Book Three, General Zod propose this to his Kryptonian compatriots Superman, Supergirl, Krypto...and Power Girl...to rule over Earth.
  • In Book Four, Apocalypse gives a Join or Die offer to the Justice League and X-Men. In response, Power Girl lampshaded by declaring that "every major mutant/Earth-born lunatic we've met has asked that."
• Weaksauce Weakness: Namor notes at one point that he and his family are dependent on access to water for their powers, but have trained to overcome this particular weakness so that they can be out of water for longer periods of time. This trait is used against Noram, Namor's clone, who is too "young" to have properly trained himself to the same extent, and so requires more regular access to water where Namor and Aquaman can outlast him.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Amanda Waller. Her colleagues? Not so much.
  • Magneto and Doctor Doom like to think of themselves as this.
• Wham Episode:
  • "The Sins of the Mother". Alison Blaire is the daughter of Madame Hydra and was actually part of a science experiment to create HYDRA's own Kryptonian. Worst, there had been many difficulties in conceiving "imperfect" subjects before Alison was born and those that didn't meet HYDRA's expectations were "miscarried".
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Blade argues with Superman that vampires deserved to be eradicated with an "us or them" reason.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Superman asks Zod this a LOT.
  • Pepper Potts to Tony when she learned that he almost shot himself in the head when Obadiah tried to take over his company, and never told her about it.
• White Sheep: Ly'Neia, the second Skrull princess, was this in the royal family. Though her younger brother Il'Nar was the only one who cares for her.
• Who Would Want to Watch Us?: Logan told Superman about a publicist offering the Justice League movie contracts, product licensing, and TV show deals; in which Superman is incredulous about the very latter subject.
  Superman: (thinking) Okay, now this is just getting dumb; I mean, a TV show? Us?
• Why Won't You Die??: Graydon Creed says this to Superman as he tries to shoot the latter.
  Graydon Creed: Die! Die! DIE! WHY WON'T YOU DIE, YOU FUCKING FREAK?
• The World Is Not Ready: It had been invoked, subverted, AND averted several times:
  • As Professor Xavier believes that humans aren't ready to accept mutants, nor does the world will immediately embrace Superman since coming onto the world stage and his heroics would only risk exposing mutants to the public. After mutants and Superman were exposed, the public are divided on their views on mutants, in which the more negative attitude is curbed by the Justice League.
  • Superman and other surviving Kryptonians repeatedly argues that benefiting Earth with advanced alien technology, especially based on Krypton, would ultimately harm or destroy the planet as according to the Law of Riona Prime. This doesn't stop S.H.I.E.L.D. from confiscating a downed Kree ship that was sunk centuries ago and reverse-engineered its tech that gives Lieutenant Carol Danvers her powers as Miss Marvel.
    • It's important to note that the Kryptonians learned from experience when creating The Law of Riona Prime. Basically, they gave what was essentially a single Kryptonian generator to a race that had been devastated by an asteroid impact, the Kryptonians having calculated that the species would likely be driven into extinction if left alone. The race destroyed themselves warring over the generator in a manner of weeks, with the Law created to ensure that the tragedy would never be repeated.
  • The Galactic Confederacy later offered intergalactic membership to Earth. Needless to say, Earth is divided on its decision on being involved on the galactic stage and the United Nations is left to debate on this at a later date; however, the deadline is interrupted by the alien invasion and leaving the entire planet littered with damaged Skrull and Kree ships left to be plundered and salvaged.
  • Another problem is that Kryptonian technology runs on a different power source altogether, one that isn't present on Earth. When President Obama asks if Superman can make an exception in the event that using Kryptonian weaponry would allow Earth to fight off the Kree-Skrull invasion, Superman finally explains this, stating that every nation on Earth would have to sacrifice its entire power grid to juice up a Kryptonian space cannon, and even then, they'd only be able to fire it two or three times. President Obama sums up Superman's explanation as follows:
  President Obama: So, even if you gave us your technology, we wouldn't be able to use it.
• Would Hurt a Child: The Friends of Humanity are willing to go to any lengths to rid Earth of mutants, no matter that many of them are a bunch of underage kids. Even their non-mutant relatives and friends.
  • Teth-Adam, obsessed with regaining the power he believes is rightfully his, wants to kill Shazam's current champion, regardless of the fact that he happens to be the pre-teen Billy Batson.
• Xeno Fiction: Occurs from Krypto's POV in "A Boy and his Dog".
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Happens several times:
  • Graydon Creed declared to the former Weapon X doctor after losing Wolverine and Sabretooth that his project is terminated.
  • The Hungan had his mind turned into a vegetable by Apocalypse when he is being interrogated by Black Panther on the identity of his benefactor.
  • Ronan the Accuser gives this to Lobo after he is caught by Mongul as, having no need for the bounty hunter, Mongul already worked on Ronan's behalf on having Superman imprisoned on Warworld. However, Lobo is NOT happy about this and if Ronan hadn't left him for dead, he wouldn't have his Humiliation Conga.
  • The Hellfire Club does this to the Hellions to be used as a expendable trap for Superman, the Justice League, and the X-Men. However, Selene also viewed the Hellfire Club in the same manner and planned on turning on them until Shinobi Shaw changed her mind in a plan to backstab his father.
  • Apocalypse tries to do this to a group of his followers that failed him. Interestingly enough, he later inverts the trope when Legion convinces him to spare some non-mutants who want to follow him, appealing to the fact that they'll need slaves to build monuments, scribes to write about him, among many other physical work.