Webcomic / Jupiter-Men

The rising metropolis of Jupiter City has a hidden protector. A mysterious man with a cape that glimmers like the stars. He can be seen jumping between buildings, over the sea, and across mountaintops, but only from afar. He stops crime dead in its tracks to defend the helpless, but no camera has caught his likeness. A hero and a Living Legend whose story has been passed down for generations... Jupiter-Man!

But what happens when the city's greatest hero goes missing? Enter Quintin and Jackie Avalon, twin high-schoolers in over their heads when Jupiter-Man's duties are thrown into their lap. Will they survive long enough to find Jupiter-Man? Or will they crumble beneath the responsibility of handling monsters, magical disasters, and super villains he's been keeping at bay?

Jupiter-Men is a webcomic written by Actionkiddy that began serialization in August 2nd, 2022. It's currently running as a Webtoon Original and can be read for free here.

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Jupiter-Men contains examples of:

A to M

• Achievements in Ignorance: Nathan's aunt Binny somehow manages bypass all of his security measures to get into his Elaborate Underground Base despite being unaware of what it actually is.
• Agony Beam: Nathan's training drones shoot a beam that causes a painful jolt on contact but leaves no lasting harm. He has these drones chase Quintin and shoot at him to improve his manueverability and creativity with his powers. On higher settings the drones can cause Quintin's slime arms to burst.
• Attack Drones: Nathan's Deadly Training Area is filled with drones capable of shooting an Agony Beam that gives a painful jolt on impact but leaves no lasting harm. When these drones are controlled by a Star Struck, they become much more aggressive and dangerous, even slicing off Quintin's slime arm with one beam.
• Animesque: The art is soft and rounded with large eyes and animesque expressions. The art style of the comic greatly resembles Guruhiru's work on Avatar: The Last Airbender and Superman Smashes the Klan.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: Jupiter-Man's existence is common knowledge in Jupiter-City and his appearances are always accompanied by evidence of blatantly supernatural events like trees being shredded by claws larger than any known animal's. But Quintin is laughed at for believing Jupiter-Man has superpowers and these supernatural sightings are written off as ordinary property damage.
• Art Evolution: Before Jupiter-Men was picked up as a Webtoon Original, Jackie wore her hair on one side of her head in a Tomboyish Ponytail. But the artist found it too difficult to draw consistently, leading to Jackie's Girlish Pigtails in the final comic.
• As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Arrio's failsafe spell, "Disipar a Cenizar" isn't real Spanish. It's supposed to read as "Dispel to Ashes", but "cenizar" isn't a real word. The grammatically correct phrase would be "Disipar a Cenizas".
• Beta Outfit: Quintin and Jackie are wearing nothing but sporty civilian wear and a Domino Mask in the How We Got Here scene at the beginning of the comic. As shown by the title card, they eventually get much more developed superhero costumes.
• Big Fancy House: Nathan lives in his father's mansion, which is built into the side of a seaside cliff. Its modest lobby belies the sprawling complex only accessible by elevator, leading to an elaborate penthouse with a large kitchen, multiple bedrooms, and a huge living room/break room. Even deeper into the mansion is Jupiter-Man's Elaborate Underground Base, complete with a Deadly Training Area, a medical bay, and a tech room for building gadgets.
• Big "NO!": This is Quintin's reaction when a mugger that Jackie is trying to stop pulls a gun on her. Luckily for everyone involved, Jackie learns that she's bulletproof while her powers are active.
• Blade Brake: When Nathan is flung off a building by the starstruck raven's sonic cry, he saves himself from plummeting to his doom by creating a sword and digging it into the side of the building to slow his descent.
• Body Horror: Downplayed on account of both the art style and the tone of the story, but when Quintin uses his powers, his stretched-out bones can be seen through his goo body. It's not instantly horrific, but it can be mildly disconcerting. Jackie is also creeped out when Quintin stretches his neck to inhuman lengths to peer through a warehouse window.
• Blush Sticker: Jackie has these while going "tee-hee" when Arrio points out that she's a straight-C student after she ribs him over his problems with Spanish class.
• Both Sides Have a Point: Quintin and Jackie bicker over Nathan trying to recruit them into being Jupiter-Man's replacements. On one hand, Quintin is right that these situations involving starstruck monsters are going to keep happening and they're the only ones able to stop them. On the other, Jackie is understandably furious with Quintin for not respecting her feelings in the matter and pulling her into one life-threatening crisis after another. They reconcile during the Man-Eating Plant attack at the mall, with both twins apologizing for their earlier mistakes.
• Bribe Backfire: Quintin is so desperate to avoid seeing a doctor for his strange new powers that he offers to buy Jackie whatever clothes she likes if they visit the construction site where they got their powers first. Unfortunately for him, the explosion from the previous night caused such a fuss that the entire site has been cordoned off. It isn't long before he's forking over $50 to buy Jackie a new outfit and he would've gone to the doctor anyway if he hadn't stumbled upon a mugging and decided to intervene.
• Broken Masquerade: Nathan and his father, Jupiter-Man, have worked to maintain The Masquerade for years as Star Guardians. But it's become increasingly difficult to contain signs of extradimensional phenomenon following Jupiter-Man's disappearance. This culminates in the events of Episode 31-33, in which the heroes' activities are caught on camera and Quintin introduces the team to onlookers as the Jupiter-Men, turning the monster sightings into front page news.
• Calling Card: When Quintin begins fighting crime at night, he leaves sticky notes next to the robbers and crooks he catches letting the police know that the Jupiter-Men saved the day. This bites him in the rear when his mom finds his sticky notes while cleaning his room and realizes that his handwriting matches the sticky notes left by the Jupiter-Men.
• The Call Knows Where You Live: Jackie grows tired of Quintin dragging her into one life-threatening situation after another and refuses to be a stand-in for Jupiter-Man. It's not until starstruck bee-like creatures attack the mall she was hanging out in after cheerleading that she realizes that she can't stand on the sidelines.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Each part of Jupiter-Man's lair is predominantly one color. The containment bays are red, the break room is orange, the tech room is green, the training room is blue, the medbay is pink, and the main hub is purple. This makes it easy to tell where in the facility the characters are and doubles as a Shout-Out to Power Rangers.
• Covered in Gunge: While being attacked by an enormous starstruck raven, Arrio is covered in cosmic spit when Jackie holds the raven back from snapping at him. Arrio is appropriately disgusted and hopes that it won't mutate him or anything while wiping it off.
• Crime of Self-Defense: Arrio's checkered past as a Former Teen Rebel years ago earns him three weeks detention for defending himself when Rick picks a fight with him. By contrast, Rick is a highly popular athlete with an influential mom, so he walks away scot-free aside from getting a black eye from the earlier fight.
• Crystal Prison: The second Star Struck monster the Avalon twins face is a Man-Eating Plant that's able to turn its petals into flying bee-like drones. These bees can shoot their "stingers" as projectiles. Anyone whose skin is penetrated by them is encased in crystal and rendered helpless as the monster drags them into its maw to be digested.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Rick picks a fight with Arrio after Arrio refuses to help Rick flirt with Jackie. The fight lasts just a few panels and it's clear that Arrio beats the snot out of Rick. In the aftermath, Arrio is untouched while Rick is busy holding an ice pack to his eye in the principal's office.
• Cuteness Proximity: Nathan warns Jackie to detox all star-struck creatures as they're all dangerous no matter what they look like. But she decides to keep a rabbit-shaped one because it's just too cute for her to resist. Nathan's warnings prove true when the rabbit-like creature starts multiplying out of control while the Jupiter-Mens' attempts to contain them without Nathan's expertise wind up doing even more harm than good.
• Damned by Faint Praise: Mari congratulates Pepper on not falling over while cheerleading at a basketball game. Pepper doesn't see the slight and is simply happy that she didn't ruin the performance for everyone.
• Dangerous 16th Birthday: Arrio becomes the target of the first supervillain attack in the story on his sixteenth birthday because of the spell book and ring he got as a memento from his mother the previous day. Even before the supervillain comes knocking, Arrio gets into a heated argument with the twins over their constant absences because he's worried they've gotten involved with a gang. Arrio then has to defend himself from Rick, a super popular jock who only has eyes for Jackie, and gets three weeks detention for the Crime of Self-Defense.
  Arrio: Worst. Birthday. Ever.
• Death Glare: While trying to take cover from a Man-Eating Plant, Nathan tells the twins to keep their voices low to avoid drawing its attention. Quintins gets an idea on how to reach the Toxic Star and starts shouting about it, earning an annoyed glare from Nathan that makes Quintin lower his voice.
• Deducing the Secret Identity: Quintin's mom Beatrice, a cop for the Jupiter City Police Department, realizes that the handwriting on the sticky notes left by the Jupiter-Men matches Quintin's handwriting while cleaning his room. She soon confronts him about his absences and can tell he's lying. The only reason she doesn't blow the lid on Quintin's Secret Identity is because Nathan arrives and gives a hasty, more palatable excuse for Quintin's behavior. Although Quintin's alibi is flimsy, Beatrice takes this excuse if only because she'd rather not confront the idea that her son is risking his life to fight monsters.
• Deep Cover Agent: Lavani believes Arrio is this, as she can't fathom the idea that a Magite would be allowed on Prime without authorization from the Star Guardian. She starts needling Arrio with questions in an attempt to prove that he's lying in a convoluted attempt to take the Star Seed, but her prejudices refuse to let her believe he's telling the truth about being born on Prime.
• Delayed Reaction:
  • When Quintin manages to stretch his arm for the first time, he looks on in a state of shock as he gets pulled toward the wall he accidentally sticks his hand to. It takes him a few seconds before he starts screaming and fleeing out the door with a half-empty sleeve from the slime he left behind.
  • After finding a picture of famed tech CEO Daejung Mun in Nathan's base, Quintin asks if Nathan admires him or something. Nathan replies that it's true, because Mun is his dad (and thus Jupiter-Man), leading to this response.
    Quintin: Yeah... he makes the coolest things... Even my laptop is— Uh-Wha?! D-Dad?! This is Jupiter-Man?!
• Department of Child Disservices: Mrs. Jones, a social worker for child services, places Binny as Nathan's interim guardian after Daejung's disappearance. Nathan immediately pins Binny as a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing and a Gold Digger who wants nothing more than to gain access to the Mun fortune, but Child Services does not. In the end, Nathan is only able to get Binny off his back by bribing her with his personal funds to stay out of his life and not touch his family's finances.
• Didn't Think This Through: Quintin picks a fight with Rick who is twice his size. Quintin hopes he can stand a chance if Rick's victim teams up with him, but said victim instead flees for the hills, leaving Quintin to face Rick alone. Quintin admits that this situation played out a lot differently in his head. Rick even says this trope verbatim while pushing Quintin's head against the wall.
• Digging Yourself Deeper: Jackie is furious with Quintin for getting them both in hot water when their mom texts that she'll be home early while they're defying Quintin's grounding to go looking for his camera. Quintin then points out that it's Jackie's fault for following him as he had planned to go alone. She shuts him up by pulling his hoodie shut, after which he appeases her by saying he knows a shortcut.
• Disappeared Dad: Quintin's notes say that his father is one of the most influential figures in his life. But he's nowhere to be seen in the first four chapters. Quintin's mom seems to be the only one raising him and Jackie, asking Jackie to look after her brother because there's no one else around to. Quintin also treasures the camera his dad commissioned for him, taking it everywhere he goes and defying his mom's grounding order to retrieve it. That said, both twins still talk about their dad in the present tense and as if he's still present, meaning that he's likely away for work-related reasons.
• Dish Dash: Binny brings Nathan breakfast in bed. But Nathan is too used to living alone following his father's disappearance, instinctively throwing a palm strike in a bit of Wake Up Fighting before realizing what's happening. He then quickly catches the tray, the plate of pancakes, french toast, and the glass of orange juice without spilling a drop. He even manages to grab the falling knife with his teeth.
  Binny: [clapping in awe] Nice catch!
• Dishing Out Dirt: The final opponent of Season 1 is an enormous rock monster the size of a skyscraper. It's able to telekinetically control rock and earth while repairing damage dealt to it by pulling from the ground and converting concrete into more rock. The big twist is that it's not a Starstruck but a member of Kronos' gang controlling everything.
• Distinction Without a Difference: When Nathan first shows a picture of cosmic energy to the twins, Quintin instantly calls it a cloud. Nathan denies it, calling it a gathering of cosmic energy that builds up until it dissipates by falling to the ground. Jackie then points out how it sounds exactly like a cloud, after which Nathan drops the subject.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: The revelation that Arrio's mother was a Magite who entered Prime in violation of interdimensional treaties brings the subject of immigrants illegally crossing a country's border to mind. This image is only strengthened when Nathan threatens to deport Arrio for being part-Magite despite him living his whole life on Prime. The introduction of Lavani triples down on this, as she interrogates him on his ties to Magi and continues to believe that he doesn't have clearance to be on Prime despite explicitly promising Nathan that she wouldn't push the issue.
• Don't Make Me Destroy You: Arrio, an ex-gang member trying to go straight, warns Barbaric Bully Rick not to pick a fight with him. Rick doesn't heed that warning and throws a punch that misses. A few panels later, they're both in the principal's office. Arrio is unscathed while Rick is nursing a black eye.
  Arrio: [shoving Rick out of the way] Now move.
  Rick: [shoves him into the locker] No, I don't think I will.
  Arrio: [glaring] Don't do this man.
  Rick: A little late for that! [misses his punch before Arrio grabs him and punches him three times]
• Double Take: Arrio pats Quintin on the back and says that he loves Quintin's childlike wonder and positivity. Quintin thanks him before stopping and realizing that Arrio just called him childish.
• Dumpster Dive: Quintin is covered in trash when he and Jackie go rummaging through a dumpster and a pile of garbage bags for his missing camera.
• Dynamic Entry: Jackie delivers a Diving Kick to the first supervillain in the story when he tries to cut off Arrio's finger and take his ring and spell book.
• Earth Is the Center of the Universe: The planet is known today as Earth was once known as "Prime", a planet overflowing with cosmic energies. The denizens of Prime, the Primari, left for other dimensions in search of new and powerful ways to utilize their connection to Prime's energies. But in time, this separation severed their ability to connect to Prime, resulting in these ex-Primari trying their best to return to Prime by force, starting a Great War that threatened to destroy Prime. During this time, a powerful Primari known as Mother Nature created the Star Seed to control Prime's cosmic energies, free her captured Primari brethren and beat back the foreign invaders.
• Eat Me: To deal with a Man-Eating Plant whose Toxic Star is inside its digestive system, Quintin proposes that he and Jackie hitch a ride on one of the crystallized people that the plant is trying to eat to reach it. Given that the alternative involves risking the people inside the plant by blowing it up, Nathan reluctantly lets the twins do it.
• Elaborate Underground Base: Deep in the Mun family mansion is Jupiter-Man's lair. It has at least five rooms for various purposes, including a sprawling Deadly Training Area, a medical bay for treating injuries, a tech room for designing and constructing gadgets, and a line of containment cells for detaining people of interest.
• Ensemble Cast: The story focuses on the titular Jupiter-Men in their efforts to stop rampaging starstruck creatures and extradimensional villains. While Quintin and Jackie have the important task of detoxing starstruck creatures, the focus on the heroes varies from arc to arc.
• Enter Stage Window: In Episode 23, Arrio appears in Jackie's room by climbing in through the window as he's done for years, letting him catch an earful of the twins' conversation about being Star Guardians.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Quintin is so embarrassed and freaked out by his newly developed powers at first that he hides in the janitor's closet. He fears he's turning into a goopy zombie due to his translucent slime arm with bone-like structures inside. His next conclusion is that this is somehow a side effect of puberty, as he hadn't been paying enough attention in health class to know for sure. Jackie concludes from his hysterics that he's taken a swig of coffee, which he vehemently denies.
  Quintin: I don't know if I'm dying! Or is this part of puberty?! I don't think they taught this in health class did they?! I wasn't paying attention!! I don't remember! Do you remember?!
  Jackie: [unamused] Quintin... you're intolerant to coffee. How many times do mom and I have to tell you?
  Quentin: I'm not on coffee! You know I don't drink it because of the "INCIDENT!"
• Establishing Character Moment: The first two chapters serve as this for Quintin and Jackie. Quintin's meticulous presentation about Jupiter-Man for his social studies project and his confidence in his assertions that the hero has superpowers illustrate Quintin's obsession with him. He then instantly rushes to the aid of a bullied kid but is blindsided when the kid runs to save his own skin from Rick who's ready to pummel Quintin. That's when Jackie walks in and calmly talks Rick down while he invites her to go to a party he's hosting. This demonstrates how she's much more sociable than Quintin is as well as her more normal teen priorities.
• Exhausted Eye Bags:
  • Nathan is so haggard from dealing with his aunt Binny that he has these when asking to stay at the Avalons' house to just get away from her.
  • Quintin gains these while overworking himself as a Triple Shifter going to school, working as a Star Guardian, and fighting crime as a vigilante against Nathan's advice.
• Facepalm: Jackie facepalms and cringes when Quintin loudly asserts that Jupiter-Man has superpowers to everyone in class, prompting snickering and mockery from the rest of their classmates.
• Flashback: It's implied that part of the reason for Quintin's fixation on Jupiter-Man is his strange, sketchy visions in which Jupiter-Man is speaking directly to him, which he insists are more than just dreams. When he accidentally touches the glowing energy ball in the construction site, he's overwhelmed by similar visions where Jupiter-Man is taking his hand and telling him, "It's okay. I've got you. You know, you're a real trooper, kid." Episode 22 specifies that these are not visions but Quintin's hazy memories of when he was in a car accident and Jupiter-Man saved his life.
• Forgotten Birthday: The twins are so tired from constantly training to be superheroes that they forget Arrio's birthday. This devastates both the twins and Arrio after they get into an argument over the twins' constant lying and absences.
• Funny Background Event:
  • While Jackie talks down Rick from beating Quintin, Quintin starts chewing Rick's hand. Rick doesn't seem to notice at all and continues speaking as though nothing is happening.
  • In Episode 32, Quintin asks how the bunny containment efforts are going. In the background, Jackie can be seen shaking a tree with some flaming bunnies in it while shouting, "Get off it! You adorable sacks of fire!"
• Fury-Fueled Foolishness: Bea is so overcome with Anger Born of Worry for Quintin at one point that she rushes into a fight the Jupiter-Men are having with a starstruck monster to see if Gusher is Quintin. This nearly gets her killed when the monster's attacks throw her off a building, forcing Quintin to save her by leaping after her and wrapping them both in slime to cushion the fall.
• Gilligan Cut:
  • Quintin rushes off to find his camera after he realizes that he lost it back in the alleyway where he took a picture of Jupiter-Man. Jackie has to race after him while she shouts that he will. not. find. that. camera. The next panel has Jackie pull the camera out of a pile of trash and saying, "I can't believe we found the camera."
  • When Jackie explains how she and Quintin got their powers, she says it's a long and convoluted story. Arrio, who recently discovered his magical powers, says it can't be that long and convoluted. The next panel shows him concluding that yes, it was long and convoluted.
• Glamour Failure: The Mun Tech holograms used to keep the Jupiter-Men's identities safe do not work on travelers from other dimensions. Lavani is able to immediately identify Quintin and notice that he doesn't look like Daejung at all, while the invading Magite instantly recognizes Arrio from their previous encounter.
• Hands Looking Wrong: Quintin examines himself for injuries after he and Jackie are at the epicenter of the Star Seed's explosion. He soon finds that his hands have completely melted away into green slime, the rest of his arms slowly following suit. He panics and shuts his eyes while trying to convince himself it's all in his head, finding relief when he opens his eyes to find his arms and hands intact. This is the prelude to him discovering his Elemental Shapeshifter powers.
• Head-Turning Beauty: The Doll Set is a Girl Posse of perfectly groomed and dressed girls who are the talk of Jupiter High. As their title implies, they're dressed almost like dolls, and the sight of them sparks gossip, hushed whispers, and flirtatious comments from passersby.
• Hollywood Acid: The inside of the Man-Eating Plant has channels that emit burning stomach acid. Quintin later has to plug a hole in it with his slime arms to buy time for Jackie to break them free as she strains to reach Nathan's drone for a recharge.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: The Man-Eating Plant monster the twins face repeatedly attacks them with a Flechette Storm of projectiles. Quintin gives it a taste of its own medicine by using a slime arm as a slingshot to shoot one of the monster's projectiles back at it to knock down the pod containing its Toxic Star.
• How Do I Shot Web?: Quintin and Jackie spend their first day with superpowers suffering from Power Incontinence as they stick to and break everything they touch respectively. Quintin accidentally flings himself into a gun-toting mugger while trying to push him over and then jams the gun with slime while trying to stick his hands up. Following this, they practice using their powers enough to get a proper hold of them and use them at will.
• How We Got Here: The story opens with Quintin and Jackie fleeing from an enormous monster that manages to pin and corner them. That's when Quintin hits the rewind button and brings the story back to before he and Jackie got their powers.
• Implausible Deniability:
  • In Episode 22, Nathan goes upstairs to get some air and locks Quintin and Jackie in the training room so they'll keep training without his supervision. Quintin follows Nathan and asks if he locked them down there on purpose. Nathan has a Beat Panel before saying "No." Quintin replies that it wouldn't have worked anyways because he memorized the passcodes with his Photographic Memory.
  • In Episode 49, Jackie presses Nathan on how to start up the video games in his living room. She adds that she saw him playing so he can't deny it. He tries to change the subject by saying that if she saw him playing, then she wasn't training. Jackie fires back by asking why wasn't he training.
    Nathan: I'll let that one slide. I'm in a good mood.
    Arrio: I let things slide when I don't have a comeback too.
• Inertia Is a Cruel Mistress: Jackie makes a point of catching the crook that flies out of the truck she stops with her Super-Strength. She even lampshades it, noting that he can't have her dying on him lest her hero card get revoked.
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: While demonstrating his growing mastery of his powers to Jackie, Quintin declares that he's pretty much mastered his abilities right before accidentally reeling a soda can into his head.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: Quintin asks if it's really okay for Nathan's aunt Binny to be living in the same penthouse as him, as she could potentially find his Elaborate Underground Base. Nathan says that's impossible because of the safeguards in place to keep people out and shows the video footage on his phone to prove it. That's when Jackie compliments Binny's hair, revealing that Binny had somehow gotten past all those safeguards.
• It Began with a Twist of Fate: The event that gives Quintin and Jackie their powers starts with Quintin losing his camera and rushing out to find it. Jackie follows him to drag him home and they take Quintin's shortcut through a construction site. After tripping and sliding down a slope, they encounter an energy ball that Quintin touches by accident after Jackie is spooked by falling debris. The resulting explosion of energy gives them their superpowers.
• It Makes Sense in Context: Subverted. Arrio tells Lavani that he plans to stuff his face with junk food until his heart almost gives out while nursing an injured arm. Lavani asks if there's some kind of Prime context that she's missing because of how troubling that sounds. Arrio says no, it sounds equally troubling with context.
• Jaw Drop: This is Nathan's reaction when he learns that Binny has somehow gotten past all of Jupiter-Man's safeguards to access his Elaborate Underground Base. It says a lot about Nathan's shock and disbelief given that he's usually The Stoic.
• Keeping Secrets Sucks: Nathan's insistence that the twins keep their friends and family out of the superhero life puts serious strain on Quintin's and Jackie's relationship with Arrio. The twins constantly make flimsy excuses as to why they can't hang out like usual and have no time to relax due to Nathan's Training from Hell. Arrio is constantly worried about the twins' inability to explain why they're suddenly so busy. This comes to a head when Quintin and Arrio, both normally cheery and easy-going people, get into a heated argument in which Arrio assumes the twins have gotten involved in a gang due to their unwillingness to come clean to him.
• Keystone Army: Downplayed. Bea mentions that the Titans, a gang that runs in Jupiter City, have gotten a lot less dangerous now that the police have arrested the the gang's leader, Kronos. But the gang refuses to surrender even though they're running around like headless chickens compared to the more organized crime they did before.
• Malicious Misnaming: Victoria misnames Arrio, calling him "Allan" while they're passing each other in the hallway. Arrio mentions that she's done it enough times that she has to be doing it on purpose. In Episode 41, she calls him "Mario", upon which he shouts that they have four classes together so she ought to have it right by now.
• Magic A Is Magic A: All superpowers in the story are expressions of dimensional energy usage as the ability to channel it descends from the Primari who left for other dimensions. From turning into slime to Super-Strength to magic, everything can be tied to the use of dimensional energy. This also means that the Power Nullifier handcuffs that Nathan uses are universally effective on human-sized superhumans.
• The Magic Versus Technology War: The Rochambeau War was an interdimensional war fought between the two most powerful factions of ex-Primari: the Magitte and the Mechi. While the Magitte possesses the unique ability to manipulate the forces of nature with magic, the Mechi developed extremely advanced technology. Both factions hate each other and consider the other abominations, and their attempts to take Prime for themselves nearly destroyed it, necessitating the creation of the Star Seed by Mother Nature to repel both factions and regulate the flow of cosmic energy.
• Mainlining the Monster: The Titans have been gathering the residue left behind by Starstruck attacks in order to make Super Serum patches for their members.
• The Masquerade: Jupiter-Man has been trying to keep knowledge of the supernatural a secret from the general populace of Earth/Prime. Furthermore, all ex-Primari are banned from returning to Prime. With his disappearance, Nathan has been trying to pick up the slack and threatens to wipe Quintin and Jackie's memories of having superpowers to maintain it. Unfortunately, the Man-Eating Plant was caught on camera, revealing the existence of starstruck creatures to the rest of Jupiter City.
• Medium Awareness: In Episode 31, Arrio and Nathan glare daggers at each other, creating a jagged rift in the middle of the panel. Quintin literally breaks up the argument by pushing these two parts of the panel apart like a curtain from a Looney Tunes short. Both Arrio and Nathan have to move their heads out of the way and into the white space as a result.
• Mistaken for Related:
  • Inverted with the Avalon twins. Given how they avert Always Identical Twins, it never occurs to Rick that Quintin could be Jackie's twin brother, initially assuming that Jackie and Quintin are just friends or acquaintances.
  • Inverted. When Nathan brings the twins to his base without blindfolds, they find a picture of Daejung Mun, the wealthy CEO of Mun Tech Industries. Quintin asks if Nathan admires him to have a picture of a celebrity in his home. Nathan replies that Mun is his dad.
• Mugging the Monster: Rick picks a fight with Arrio when Arrio refuses to help Rick flirt with Jackie. This fight ends with Rick nursing a black eye from getting three punches to the face while Arrio is completely unscathed. Rick only learns that Arrio is an ex-gang member after the fact. Arrio replies that Rick is lucky he only gave him a black eye.
• Mythology Gag: When Arrio wakes up in Episode 25, his hair is a frazzled mess in contrast to the combed pompadour he usually keeps it in. But his pre-groomed hair is identical to that of older concept art for him on the artist's DeviantArt page.
• Myth Prologue: Following the In Medias Res action sequence, the story opens with Quintin narrating the backstory of Jupiter-Man, Jupiter City's own superhero as part of a How We Got Here. Quintin then declares his belief that Jupiter-Man has superpowers, which earns him a fat F since this is supposed to be a social studies project. Unbeknownst to his classmates, Quintin is more correct than he realizes...

N to Z

• Non-Answer: Arrio is repeatedly pressed about whether he has a driver's license or not when he asks to drive Nathan's car. Arrio responds with "I know how to drive." instead of saying "yes" or "no". After taking Nathan's car for a spin, Arrio asks why anyone would need a license while swerving through traffic in a car chase, revealing for certain that Arrio doesn't have one.
• Noodle Incident: Quintin and Jackie make overtures toward "the Incident" where Quintin consumed coffee. When he's borderline hysterical about his arm turning into slime, the first thing Jackie asks is if he's consumed any coffee. He denies this and says he hasn't drank any since then.
• No Ontological Inertia: The only thing keeping the Magite supervillain on Prime is the magical flower on his chest. When Quintin douses that flower with acid to destroy it, the supervillain is quickly sent back to his own dimension.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Jackie will not let it go about Nathan accidentally ripping out her soul that one time while griping about how traumatic it was.
  Jackie: Just to be extra, super clear. I'm just getting scanned, right? I'm not getting my soul sucked?
  Nathan: You're not going to let that go, are you?
• Out of the Frying Pan: Jackie's suffers from Cuteness Proximity to a rabbit-shaped starstruck monster bringing it home against her better judgement. It then multiplies out of control, filling the entirety of the Avalons' house with bunnies. Arrio comes up with the idea of trying to use Fuerza de Fuego to contain them in a bubble of fire. But he messes up the incantation, setting the bunnies on fire instead. Worse still, this fire won't go out even when water is splashed on them. Then the rabbits escape into the rest of Jupiter City and start igniting everything they touch. Arrio tries to blow them out with another spell, but this just sends them spiraling throughout the area, setting even more fires in the process. The Jupiter-Men don't get a handle on the situation until Nathan arrives and starts directing them.
• Overworked Sleep:
  • Quintin passes out at his desk after rushing home to avoid getting busted for sneaking out of the house and to work on his makeup project. Jackie is similarly exhausted and collapses on his bed helping him. Never mind how both of them were at the epicenter of an explosion that would give them superpowers that same night.
  • The twins are so wiped after a long, grueling training session with Nathan that they pass out almost immediately after Arrio invites them to play a video game he "borrowed" from a friend.
• Painting the Medium:
  • After dozing off at his desk the night of the explosion, Quintin's hand starts melting again, and the resulting green slime drips onto the speech bubble below it.
  • When Quintin focuses on a photo of Daejung Mun, whom he just learned is Jupiter-Man, the text in the subsequent bubbles is blurred to emphasize that he's not paying attention to everything around him. The text returns to normal when he's snapped out of it by a news report on the destruction caused by the latest starstruck.
• Passive-Aggressive Kombat: Jackie and Victoria frequently trade barbs as rivals near the top of the social pecking order at Jupiter High. But their bickering is played up a sweet gossip and conversation due to wanting to keep up their respective images until they drop it and start slinging insults for real.
  Victoria: Well, I didn't see you at Rick Chang's party.
  Jackie: So?
  Victoria: The poor guy is obviously infatuated with you. Though, maybe it's best that you didn't go. Especially if you were going to wear that tacky getup you have on now.
  Jackie: I learned from the best! No one can beat you though!
• Pedestrian Crushes Car: When the Titans are fleeing from the Jupiter-Men in a speeding truck, Jackie jumps in front of said truck, crushing the front of it against her Super-Strength and Super-Toughness to stop it in its tracks.
• Playing with Fire: The first supervillain in the story is capable of throwing fireballs and spears of fire with enough precision to snipe Arrio's phone and hurl a man into a wall without killing them. He can also create blue flames that solidify on contact with the target, trapping the victim in a crystalline structure.
• Plot-Triggering Book: Arrio is given a Spell Book and a Ring of Power for his sixteenth birthday as mementos from his late mother. Touching them awakens Arrio's magical abilities and marks him as a target for an invading Magite who would like to take the book and ring for himself.
• Power Incontinence: When Quintin and Jackie first get their powers, their abilities activate in their sleep. Quintin's hand starts melting into slime while Jackie drains power from her phone next to her bed. The following school day, Quintin starts sticking to everything involuntarily and flinging slime around while trying to make the stickiness stop. Meanwhile, Jackie suffers from being unable to control her Super-Strength, making one volleyball pop, burying another one in the ceiling, and crushing her phone in her hands.
• Pragmatic Villainy: The supervillain who appears in Episode 24 is clearly capable of melting through metal with his Playing with Fire powers, but purposefully avoids killing people in his way to keep the Star Guardian, Jupiter-Man, from going on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!:
  • Jackie insists that Quintin "will. not. find. that. camera." after losing it in the alleyway he entered while trying to chase after Jupiter-Man.
  • Arrio declares his sixteenth birthday the "Worst. Birthday. Ever." after getting into a heated argument with Quintin and then being given three-weeks detention for the Crime of Self-Defense while Rick, the instigator, walks away scot-free.
• Rapid-Fire "No!": The first thing Quintin sees when he wakes up from the explosion that gives him his powers is his hands melting into slime. He panics and shuts his eyes while whispering, "No...! No! No! No..." When he opens his eyes, his hands are back to normal, which he attributes to being all in his head.
• Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: A notable and troublesome gang known as the "Titans" run around in Jupiter-City. They were led by a man named "Cronus" until he was arrested and taken into custody. This is in stark contrast to the name of Jupiter City and its hero, Jupiter-Man, who is named after the Roman counterpart of Zeus, who overthrew the Titans and Cronus in Greek mythology.
• The Scream: After Quintin turns his arm into slime for the first time, the panel cuts away to the ceiling as Quintin's scream of panic fills most of the space. The scream's speech bubble then stretches across the empty white space of the webcomic all the way down to the next panel where Quintin is clutching his half-empty sleeve and fleeing into the janitor's closet.
  Quintin: Ah... AAAHHHHHH!
• Secret Identity: Deconstructed. Nathan tells the twins to keep their role as Star Guardians a secret from even their closest friends and family to hold up The Masquerade as much as possible and prevent panic. This puts a serious strain on Quintin's and Jackie's normal lives. Arrio comes to the mistaken conclusion that they'd gotten caught up in gang activity and Bea is beside herself with worry when Arrio tells her about the twins' strange behavior. This comes to a head when Arrio gets into a heated argument with the twins over their refusal to tell the truth. Later on, Quintin tries to protect Arrio as Gusher. But Arrio refuses to trust "Gusher" because he doesn't know anything about him. That's when Quintin makes the decision to unmask himself to Arrio to finally remove this barrier of dishonesty.
• Self-Deprecation: Episode 6 makes fun of starving artists not unlike the story's writer/artist when an artist is mugged at gunpoint. The mugger insists that the artist must be holding out on him, but said artist reveals his studio art major as an explanation. The mugger than shouts, "How is your poor life decision my problem?!" Jackie also tells the mugger to give the money back to the "nice bum".
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Arrio books it and doesn't look back while trying to call 911 after a supervillain walks into his school and hurls a teacher across the room with a fireball.
• Shout-Out:
  • The author has stated that Nathan's design was inspired by comic book heroes like Snake Eyes, Green Arrow, and Nightwing. Nathan is forced to lead and discipline newer, younger superheroes also mirrors the aftermath of Final Crisis, in which Nightwing is forced to take on the mantle of Batman and mentor the rowdy new Robin, Damian, after Bruce Wayne was seemingly killed by Darkseid's Omega Beams.
  • The title of the comic was explicitly inspired by the X-Men comics as a more "superheroy" idea than the author's original working title, "Supercell".
  • The differently-colored rooms of Jupiter-Man's lair are inspired by the differently-colored Power Rangers.
  • Nathan's yellow Volkswagen Beetle is based on the heroes' car in Lupin III.
• Sickly Green Glow: When Quintin is touching the Star Seed, his eyes, hands, arms, and neck begin glowing a sickly shade of green as Jackie begs him to let go of it. Seeing this is what convinces her to grab it herself to pry it out of his hands.
• "Silly Me" Gesture: When Jackie ribs Arrio over his struggles in Spanish class, he points out that she's a straight-C student. Jackie responds by knocking herself on the head while saying "tee-hee" with a blush sticker.
• Some Nutty Publicity Stunt: When monster bees invade the local mall, Victoria tries to brush it off as someone filming a movie. She continues to try to cling to this showing of "special effects" until people, including members of her cheerleading team, start getting stung and encased in crystal.
• Spit Take: Nathan is drinking water when he gets the news of flaming rabbits all over Jupiter City, resulting in him spitting his drink out. The rest of the Jupiter-Men are then caught on camera and Nathan screams when he realizes who's responsible.
• Spoiler Cover: The fact that Jupiter-Man is missing is The Reveal in-story and a major revelation that gives context to Quintin's and Jackie's powers. But pretty much every reader will know about it in advance by virtue of the comic's blurb mentioning it in the first few sentences.
• Stage Magician: Official art from the artist's Twitter account, depicts Arrio as one pulling Jackie out of a hat. He isn't one in the story itself, but it's a spin on his role as the Token Wizard on the Jupiter-Men.
• Sticky Situation: Quintin's powers do this to himself when he's suffering from Power Incontinence. After Jackie shoves him into the door of the janitor's closet, he's stuck to it like flypaper. But every time she tries to pull him off, she flings him into another wall because she can't control her super strength where he gets stuck again. It's implied that he winds up stuck to every surface of the closet and he begs her to stop after getting thrown around enough times.
• Stringing the Hopeless Suitor Along: Jackie has no interest in Rick Chang, her Abhorrent Admirer who is also a Barbaric Bully. But his family's wealth means that he throws wild parties that Jackie loves to attend. As a result, she doesn't tell him "no" and continues to let him believe he has a chance to keep getting invited. This is discussed by Arrio, who points out that Rick will never get the hint if Jackie continues being lukewarm around him. Arrio also feels betrayed by Jackie's willingness to party with the guy who picked a fight with him and tried to beat up Quintin.
• String Theory: Quintin unfurls his project on Jupiter-Man to reveal an oaktag poster covered in in a motley mess of pamphlets, photos he's taken himself, and newspaper clippings. He's proud of how he used red string to make it easier to follow and is confused when his teacher writes his research off as mythology and conspiracy theories.
• Stuffed Into A Trash Can: After getting the hang of her Super-Strength, Jackie subdues a member of the Titans by throwing an entire dumpster on top of him, leaving him banging on the walls to get out.
• Stunned Silence: Quintin and Nathan give Jackie a wide-eyed stare of shock when Jackie says to "get RID" of Binny along with a chopping motion along her neck. Jackie then specifies that she means to bribe Binny, confusing Quintin who clearly thought she meant something else.
• Super-Empowering: In the season one finale, it’s revealed that the Titans can process the Ominous Obsidian Ooze left behind by the Starstruck into patches that grant their users dimensional superpowers similar to Quintin and Jackie.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: When Nathan is thrown off a building by a monster's sonic attack, he catches himself by digging his sword into the wall as a Blade Brake. But trying to support his body weight with one arm injures his shoulder, leaving him clutching it in pain as he barks orders at the other Jupiter-Men.
• Sweet and Sour Grapes: Quintin's stint as a solo vigilante on top of his duties as a Star Guardian quickly wears him out as a Triple Shifter. He gets chewed out by all of his teammates for a nearly catastrophic mistake and nearly loses his Secret Identity when his mom catches onto him. But Quintin's actions convince Jupiter-City to trust the Jupiter-Men, with the police helping to evacuate the area when a starstruck monster hits. In addition, Nathan acknowledges that there's no stopping Quintin from trying to help people, compromising with him by offering to help him go after crime they encounter while acting as Star Guardians instead of letting Quintin get himself hurt seeking out crime himself.
• Swiss-Cheese Security: The warehouse the twins investigate in Episode 9 has no guards and only an electric lock keeping any thieves away. Even turning on the lights and walking around unannounced fails to trip any kind of alarm. Lampshaded by Jackie, who mutters that the place has awful security.
• Taking the Bullet: Jackie is ambushed by one of the crystal-producing wasps while trying to get to some electronics to activate her powers. Arrio dives in the way to protect her and gets encased in crystal instead. This is the breaking point for Jackie, who sheds Berserker Tears as she absorbs as much power as she can from nearby appliances before tearing out a light pole and declaring, "You messed up."
• Telephone Polearm: Jackie rips up the lamps at the mall both as a source of electrical power and to use as a weapon against the petal bees.
• Title Drop: After dealing with the Man-Eating Plant monster, Quintin declares that as Jupiter-City's first-ever superhero team, they should call themselves the Jupiter-Men, followed by a panel of the series' logo.
• Touché:
  • Quintin wonders how Arrio, who is partly Hispanic, is failing an "easy" subject like Spanish. Arrio asks how Quintin is failing social studies. Quintin mutters touché and drops the subject.
  • In Episode 50, Arrio is about to relax and play video games in his room when he's spooked by Jackie appearing out of nowhere. Arrio asks if she's ever heard of a front door. Jackie points out that Arrio frequently climbs into her room through the window, to which he mutters touché and asks what she wants.
• Training from Hell: The drills Nathan puts the twins through are grueling to the point that they're utterly wiped and pass out from exhaustion by the time they get home. Jackie declares that the drills are worse than cheer practice and Nathan won't let them take a break until they clear said drill.
• Trespassing Hero:
  • Subverted. In his single-minded pursuit of Jupiter-Man, Quintin ducks under the police tape to gain access to an alleyway in Episode 3. None of the police officers present seem to notice him or care until he slips from a stepladder and is caught by his mom. She then proceeds to drag him home and grill him about it.
    Quintin: You're not going to believe what I saw!
    Bea: It definitely wasn't the police tape.
    Quintin: [police tape still stuck to his shoes] Police tape?
  • In Episode 9, the twins enter a warehouse damaged by the monster they're looking for, turning on the lights and walking around without permission.
• Twisted-Knee Collapse: Quintin falls to his knees with relief rather than dejection after a bullet aimed at Jackie's head pings harmlessly off her skin thanks to her powers. This is right after he had a Big "NO!" when the gun came out.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight:
  • While sightings of Jupiter-Man tend to elicit enormous buzz among young people, no one seems to realize that the remnants of the scene are more than just a mere crime bust. For instance, claw-shaped gouges in concrete and a tree ripped up by enormous scratch marks larger than any animal's elicit less of a response than how Jupiter-Man was in the area until recently.
  • When Quintin accidentally covers his entire math class with slime, the teacher mistakes it all for snot and demands he visit the nurse's office. The next person to use the restroom Quintin was in thinks little of him fleeing out the door screaming. Similarly, Jackie's classmates in the gym are largely indifferent to how she made a volleyball pop and bumped another one into the ceiling, calling the ball and the ceiling "flimsy".
  • Subverted in Episode 23. It's blatantly clear from Quintin's bad lying and constant absences that he and Jackie are hiding something, but Arrio has known them for so long that he believes the twins wouldn't hide anything from him. But as they continue to be absent and make up awfully specific excuses, Arrio realizes that they are hiding something and wants to get to the bottom of it.
  • By Episode 33, Jupiter City as a whole stops being oblivious and things dovetail into an almost completely Broken Masquerade after flaming bunny monsters nearly set the entire city on fire.
• Vancian Magic: Magite must prepare mediums like magic seeds in advance to use their spells. Each seed can only be used once to invoke a single spell, making casting magic recklessly a prohibitively expensive venture. This is why a Spell Book like Arrio's is so valuable, as it allows a Magite to bypass the requirement for physical materials and cast magic at will.
• Vertical Power Play: In Episode 18, Quintin makes a lot of noise while trying to get Nathan's attention even though Nathan explicitly told him to keep it down. Nathan responds by leaning menacingly over Quintin and cowing him with a Death Glare, making Quintin lower his voice to a whisper.
• Villainous Breakdown: A gangster that Quintin and Jackie trap in a dumpster rants that the Titans will avenge him. Later on, Bea and her partner find the gangster still trapped and whimpering about whether anyone is out there. He then promises to be better if someone would let him out.
• V-Sign: The title card for the series depicts Quintin using one of his slime arms to flash a three-fingered v-sign at the viewer to emphasize the playfulness of it.
• Wham Shot:
  • Panels of the Titans carrying vials of cosmic goo like that's emitted by starstruck creatures imply that they have plans involving cosmic energy down the line.
  • At the very end of Season 1, Quintin and Jackie infiltrate the body of an enormous rock monster to find its Toxic Star, only to find a person controlling everything instead. This radically reshapes the heroes' understanding of what's possible with dimensional energy.
  • Also from the end of Season 1, the remains of the battlefield leave an enormous fire that spells out K-R-O-N-O-S, revealing the Titan's role in the destruction as a new Big Bad watches them from inside his lair. The next phase of his plan involves "[taking] out the competition", showing that he knows what dimensional energy is and has plans to destroy the Jupiter-Men.
• What the Hell Are You?: The mugger whom Quintin and Jackie stop shouts, "You freak! What the heck are you?" after Quintin covers the mugger's gun in slime that stops a bullet in its tracks.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: After nearly blowing up Styx and Stones with her powers, Jackie admits to Arrio that she doesn't feel special or worthy of being a hero of any kind, especially compared to Quintin who Jumped at the Call. Arrio assures her that he's felt the same way at times, but it's because of her willingness to step up to the plate despite being a normal girl not long ago that makes her a hero.

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