Basic Trope: A character who wears a costume to do heroic duties, but doesn't actually have powers.
- Straight: Alex, also known as Monkey Man, wears a monkey-themed superhero costume to go out and fight crime. Despite this, he has no powers.
- Exaggerated: None of the superheroes have any powers, but still wear suits when they fight crime and save people anyway.
- Downplayed:
- Alex has some heightened senses and is great at fighting, but he's still only on Badass Normal levels, especially compared to other superheroes in the setting.
- Alex doesn't wear a full costume, but does wear some accessories such as a cape, a mask, gloves, and/or a Chest Insignia.
- Justified:
- Alex needs to wear the costume for some other reason, such as protecting himself or his Secret Identity.
- Alex feels that if he wants to be identifiable as a superhero, he needs to have a costume.
- Alex's hero days started when he, as a Souvenir Land employee, saved the live of 30 children while wearing the George Simian Suit and he follows Disney's rule about not breaking the illusion.
- Inverted:
- Someone wears a costume (despite not having powers) to do villainous acts.
- Alex / Monkey Man has powers, but always does his heroic deeds in Civvie Spandex.
- Subverted:
- Alex / Monkey Man is introduced as not having any powers, despite always wearing his suit. However, he gains powers later in the story.
- Alex / Monkey Man wears the suit at first, but ditches it later.
- Double Subverted:
- Alex is Brought Down to Normal.
- Alex decides to start wearing the suit again at a later date.
- Parodied:
- Alex wears the Monkey Man suit every time he does anything heroic, even if it's just donating to charity.
- The suit is a cheap Halloween costume.
- Zig-Zagged: ???
- Averted:
- Alex has no powers, and fights in Civvie Spandex.
- Alex / Monkey Man has powers, and wears a superhero suit.
- Enforced: Alex was going to have powers in an early draft of the film. The writers of the story liked the suit design anyway, so they kept it.
- Lampshaded: ???
- Invoked: Alex likes classic "comic book" superheroes and is trying to invoke their look.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Alex decides to wear something more practical for his job.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: "Monkey Man is a Badass Normal, so why is he wearing a suit just like the heroes who have superpowers?"
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