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Hero Inside (Korean: 히어로 인사이드) is a CGI animated series created by Joogong Meang (creator of the global phenomenom Larva), Taewook Hoh, and Jeehyun Kim, and it was first released first in Latin America on Cartoon Network and Max on November 3, 2023. One week later on November,8, it premiered on its homeland at Tooniverse but also on Cartoon Network Korea and later on on KBS 1TV and later on in China through Tencent Video in early 2024 . A second season aired on Tooniverse in late 2024.

Comic book artist Scott mysteriously disappears, leaving behind 100 volumes of the superhero comic books he created scattered throughout San Francisco. When the imaginitive middle-school boy Mike stumbles upon one of said comics, Crying Man, his life is forever changed when he ends up summoning the titular superhero from the book. But it's not just Mike, many people begin to summon superheroes from these comic books, dubbed "hero books", leading to a series of events unfolding throughout San Francisco.

Tropes:

• 11th-Hour Superpower:
  • Mike somehow managing to summon and Comicalize five heroes at once to stop Dirk's bomb from destroying the city, leaving both Lucy and Dirk in amazement of such power.
  • Similarly, during his battle with Krista and Timo, the sight of Lucy about to be killed by the two villains allowed him to unlock the ability to tap into a new power, "Comical Create", to invent a new Comicalization ability for Crying Man.
  • The Comical Create power itself is a narrative version of this trope, in that a Reader can invent a completely new Super Move for their Hero, usually during moments of extreme tension and life-threatening situations.
• Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: Black Knight, in keeping with his Owl motif, can rotate his head 180 degrees to no ill effect.
• Abusive Offspring: Dirk treats his own elderly mother like dirt. After he yells at her for accidentally causing him to drop and break one of his figures she finally has enough and makes him move out.
• Affably Evil:
  • Unlike their Jerkass leader, Dirk O., most of the Council of Comics' members appear to be decent people who are both friendly with one another and genuine in their pursuit of making a Nerd Utopia. One of them even has a daughter.
  • Bobby Baek is also genuinely kind and courteous to those around him, so long as they aren't getting in the way of his goals.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • Zeus can be heard whenever Sparkules calls upon his Comicalization power, telling the hero in annoyance that he is not his son. It is left ambiguous if he is a fictional character summoned by the comic or the genuine deity.
  • It's unclear why Cynthia Young believes Super Scott is her son. Possibilities range from it simply being a delusion brought on by her deteriorating mental state, that Super Scott manipulated her into believing it, or there really is a familial connection between her and the real Scott that he's taking advantage of.
• Anonymous Benefactor: The mysterious man who gives Dirk O extra comics to use in his quest for world domination. Even more mysterious is him somehow being able to go toe-to-toe with heroes despite being a human and the wheelchair-bound old lady that's always with him. He turns out to be Super Scott, who is heavily implied to be involved in Scott's disappearance and plans to spread the hero books to all corners of the world. The old lady meanwhile is revealed to be his book wielder.
• Anti-Hero: X, a masked teenage girl who is going around retrieving hero books from those who are using them irresponsibly. Except she causes just as much if not more collateral damage as those she fights and doesn’t care that innocent people could get hurt or even killed, which as Mike points out is the exact opposite of what a real hero does. Her real identity is Lucy, who turns out to be Scott’s niece who has been searching for him ever since he disappeared. Her obsession with finding her uncle ended up making her lose sight of the truth that the hero books were created for the purpose of helping people, but thankfully she comes back to her senses with help from Mike and now strives to become genuinely heroic.
• Armless Biped: 25 Cent is a giant sentient quarter that can be thrown from the pair of muscular human legs he uses to walk around with.
• Artistic License – Physics: An in-universe example occurs when Professor Z remarks on his origin story to his Reader, Dr. Tennyson—who finds it hard to believe that a meteor could both strike him and become lodged in his skull without killing him.
• Ascended Extra: Downplayed, but Dirk O's Council of Comics are basically bit players that serve as just his lackeys in season one. In season two, we see more of them acting independently to Dirk O. Player straighter with Timo, who just has an important part in a vignette episode in season 1 and having a couple lines at the end of the season, but is more active as an antagonist in season 2, being part of Super Scott's field team alongside Krista.
• Asshole Victim:
  • "When You Hear That Funky Groove, I'm Coming For You!" revolves around a new vigilante using the power of the Disco Duo to hunt down bullies around Mike's school. One of these bullies starts the episode out by mugging a boy for all the money in his pockets, and another is a blatantly abusive Jerk Jock that does anything he wants because his rich father will ensure he doesn't suffer consequences.
  • From that same episode, Dirk O gets fought by a group of thugs for accidentally hitting one of them with a can, and then insulting them. The thugs themselves are subject to this once Krista arrives and effortlessly pummels them.
  • In "Can You Water My Plants?", Timo tracks down a group of bank robbers and beats the tar out of them using his Hero Book character, Jelly King. Though he's not doing it out of heroism—rather, because one of the gang members was beating him at a video game. This same gang returns in "Strawberry in the Air" with the Hero Book Firehead under their control and end up being beaten up by Krista instead.
  • Two-Tone Tony in "The Good, The Bad, and The Jelly", who—after using his Hero Book to terrorize anyone who steps foot on his turf—gets a taste of his own medicine when Timo and Krista come after him.
• Atrocious Alias: Mike's persona as "Super Awesome Man". In his defense, he did come up with it in the heat of the moment.
• Author Avatar: An in-universe example with Super Scott, who years ago was created in Scott's own likeness with help from Lucy. It's also deconstructed to a degree, as the egotism and wish fulfillment intrinsic to the very concept of this kind of character makes him a dangerously overpowered menace when he decides to go rogue.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Comicalization allows heroes to unleash their most powerful moves, but at the cost of severely draining the energy of both them and their wielders. Nick even lampshades this, pointing out that it should only be used as a last resort.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Kung Fu Seven is a martial arts master who is capable of splitting into seven copies of himself.
• Baritone of Strength: Black Knight speaks with a deep, slightly raspy pitch akin to Batman from The LEGO Movie.
• Basement Dweller: Dirk was living in his mother's basement up until "Jewel of the Nile" after she kicked him out for his poor treatment of her. It's later revealed that all of the Council of Comics' members live with their parents, with the sole exception of Papa Princess, who lives with his daughter.
• The Beastmaster: Black Knight's Comicalization power allows him to command flocks of owls.
• Berserk Button: Mike really doesn't like it when people remind him that his father walked out on him and his mother.
• Beware the Silly Ones:
  • Several heroes like Crying Man and Ginseng Man are rather quirky and/or have outlandish powers, but they're no slouches in fights.
  • Dirk spends most of the first season being a Laughably Evil antagonist who (deservedly) suffers one misfortune after another. Then comes the final battle between him and Mike, where he's not only able to summon and control two heroes at once when most are limited to just one, but can combine their powers to make a bomb powerful enough to wipe the whole city off the map. Good thing Mike and his heroes were able to disarm it in time.
  • 25 Cent is arguably the biggest contender. Despite his outlandish appearance, He's able to No-Sell most physical attacks thrown at him and cause tons of destruction in the process.
• Beware the Superman: While almost all of the heroes in the series are genuinely heroic at heart, the series pulls no punches in displaying just how dangerous they can be when their powers are placed into the hands of people who are either completely irresponsible or have evil intentions. This is most explicit with Super Scott, the only hero who possesses both god-like physical abilities and lacks any heroism whatsoever.
• Beyond the Impossible: X being able to summon and Comicalize two heroes at once, much to Mike's bafflement when every hero book wielder seen so far has only ever been able to use one at a time. When Dirk later does the same, Mike one-ups him by mustering enough power to summon and Comicalize five of his own heroes to use their combined abilities to defuse Dirk's bomb before it has a chance to go off.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: Dirk O. and his Council of Comics, who plot to use the hero books to Take Over the World and get revenge on those who mistreated them.
• Big Bad Wannabe: While Dirk tries his hardest to be a real villain, he’s ultimately too incompetent for the role and he and his Council of Comics are thwarted relatively easily by Mike and Lucy.
• Big Friendly Dog: Lucky, a muscular humanoid poodle strong enough to rip lamp posts out of the ground and withstand Gravity's intensified gravitational fields.
• Blob Monster: Jelly King, an enormous red jellybean/Fall Guy-esque hero.
• Blood Knight: Some of the heroes actually don't mind a good fight between themselves every now and then, such as Crying Man being thrilled about squaring off against Mummy Girl controlled by Dirk in "Jewel of the Nile".
• Blow You Away: Sylph, who commands winds fearsome enough to destroy entire city blocks.
• Bolt of Divine Retribution: Parodied with Sparkules' Comicalization ability where he calls out to his father Zeus to help him deliver one to his opponents, only for Zeus to retort that Sparkules actually isn't his son nor did he ever want a son like him and zaps him alongside the intended targets.
• Boxing Battler: Kayoh. The young hero is clearly based on boxers.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Timo uses Jelly King to beat up anyone who crosses him. He's revealed in "Revolution" to have joined Super Scott's group, although he claims that he would've put the hero books given to Dirk to way better use.
• Broken Pedestal: Mike loses all affection and admiration for Lucy once he finds out that she's X. Later becomes a Rebuilt Pedestal after he hears her backstory and helps to steer her back on the right path to finding her uncle.
• Bully Hunter: Ed, one of Mike and Nick's classmates, becomes this using the Disco Duo, until he eventually realizes that he's become no better than the bullies he fights and surrenders his hero book to Mike.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • Nick is often the one to get the most slapstick.
  • Sparkules is this amongst the heroes, to the point that his Comicalization ability causes him self-harm alongside his opponents.
• Bubblegum Popping: in episodes 1 and 8 the comic store clerk does this multiple times.
• Calling Your Attacks: All the heroes do this.
• Captain Ersatz:
  • A few heroes are these, such as the Batman-esque Black Knight and the loosely Kamen Rider-themed Locust Man.
  • Bit Dave is essentially Super Mario (more specifically the 8-bit 1985 incarnation) with a mailman theme.
• Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Readers can only summon heroes if they possess a powerful imagination, which Nick lacks. The more imagination the wielder has, the more powerful the hero becomes.
• Cat Girl: Leora is one of these, complete with Super-Reflexes and Absurdly Sharp Claws.
• Colliding Criminal Conspiracies: The search to acquire the Hero Books in Season 2 gives way for conflict between all the main villains: Super Scott's group gathering them to gain power over the world, the Council of Comics gathering them to create their own Nerd-Utopia, and Bobby Baek and the mysterious organization he works for collecting them for a currently unknown purpose.
• The Comically Serious: Mr. Justice tackles any problem given to him by his wielder with the most serious of expressions, whether its planting seeds or getting attacked by raccoons.
• The Conspiracy: "Hard-Hitting Interview" implies the existence of a secretive organization who have been seeking out people who have special gifts for an unknown purpose. Said organization is almost immediately proven to be real, and Bobby Baek is revealed to be working for them—performing experiments with Professor Z's telepathy to boost Dirk's imagination.
• Corrupted Character Copy: Super Scott is an obvious sendup of Superman, sharing his powers (Super-Strength, Super-Speed, Eye Beams, etc), elements of his costume, and even his name. His civilian disguise, polite demeanor and glasses can even be considered analogous to Clark Kent. However, he lacks any of the hero's morals or responsibility.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Black Knight doesn't quite live up to his heroic self-image, but he's more than capable of holding his own in a fight.
• Counter-Attack: 100% Justice is Mr. Justice's Signature Move that returns the force of a hundred blows dealt to him back on his attacker through a supercharged punch of his own. The main drawback is that he has to survive being hit a hundred times, which can prove challenging when his opponent genuinely outclasses him such as during his battle with Super Scott. The principle benefit? Almost nothing can withstand getting hit by the combined power of their own attacks all at once. Not even Super Scott.
• Dance Battler: The Disco Duo attack with synchronized disco dancing and funky beats, with one of their moves being able to force opponents to dance endlessly.
• Dark Action Girl:
  • X aka Lucy, before her eventual Heel–Face Turn.
  • Super Scott's henchwoman Krista. Unlike most other Readers, she has incredible martial arts abilities in addition to the Hero Books in her possession, making her perfectly capable of fighting even without their powers—which she clearly enjoys doing.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • Nick has no shortage of sardonic quips.
  • Mummy Girl also gets in a few, such as this exchange in "Jewel of the Nile":
    Black Knight: Hey there! (while making a series of poses) How'd you like to spend some time with a real hero?
    Mummy Girl: Love to. Let me know when one shows up.
• Destructive Saviour: While her intention to collect all of the Hero Books is genuinely good, X tends to cause massive damage in her pursuit of each one without much consideration for the harm she's doing. Something that Mike tends to call her out on.
  X: Where are the comic books. Well?
  Mike: Why? So you can hurt more people and destroy more trolleys?! That public transportation is paid for by your tax dollars, you know!
• Disappeared Dad:
  • Mike's father is stated to have walked out on him and his mother sometime before the start of the series. Bringing this up in conversation is what sets Mike off the most, which Nick can attest to.
  • "Disappeared Uncle" for Lucy, who had been searching for Scott ever since he suddenly vanished without a trace after leaving a note telling his niece to protect the hero books from those who would abuse their power.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Timo using Jelly King to beat an armed gang within an inch of their lives all because one of them happened to kill him in an online game (which Timo believed could only have been down by cheating).
• Diving Save: Black Knight performs one to save a girl from a collapsing ceiling.
• Dragon Ascendant: Skullcrusher takes control of the Council of Comics in Dirk O.'s absence.
• Dramatic Irony: "Can You Water My Plants?" ends with Nick and Mike entering a café, with Nick remarking that they'll be able to recognize one of the Hero Book holders when they see them. All while being oblivious to the fact that every other Reader featured in the episode is also in the café.
• Easily Forgiven: Mike gets over X aka Lucy nearly killing him and dozens of other people pretty quickly after she reveals why she's been pursuing the Hero Books, and that his own heroism has inspired her to revaluate her methods.
• The Empath:
  • Crying Man can even get worked up over empathy for other people, like when Dirk yells at his mother and stomps on the lemon bars she made.
  • The telepath Professor Z can take on the emotions of whoever he is reading the mind of.
• Enfant Terrible: Timo, a young Reader who uses his hero Jelly King to beat the tar out of people for petty reasons and also works for Super Scott.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: One of the Council of Comics' members, Papa Princess, has a young daughter that he clearly loves—even if she expresses concerns over him spending so much time with his fellow comic nerds.
• Evil Is Bigger: After he tanks a punch from him, the camera zooms out with the unsettling reveal that Mr. Justice is both shorter and less muscular than Super Scott.
• Evil Teacher: Mike, Lucy and Nick's new biology teacher, Bobby Baek, who has a particular interest in imagination and later appears collecting Hero Books for his own purposes. He's later revealed to be an agent for an enigmatic organization that seeks out people with unique abilities. It's implied that he may have actually been sent to the school to seek out Readers like Mike and Lucy.
• Evil Versus Evil: Once the Hero Books become public knowledge, many episodes afterwards involve various villains competing with one another to get their hands on them. "Special Delivery", "Get The Book!" and "Battle on the Bridge" brings this conflict to its logical conclusion, as the Council of Comics and Super Scott's group come to blows over their respective Hero Books.
• The Faceless: Scott's appearance in "Revolution" has his face always cut off the screen. This is averted in the next episode, "Villains vs. Heroes", which gives the reason his face was hidden: to preserve The Reveal that the Dirk's mysterious benefactor is actually Scott's own Author Avatar, Super Scott.
• Family-Friendly Firearms: Averted. Police and criminals alike all have access to genuine firearms, though these end up being almost next to useless against the various superpowered beings they have to deal with. Not that it doesn't stop a few from trying.
• Family Pillar Death: When Professor Z reads Bobby's mind, it's revealed that he lost his mother as a child, though it's currently not known how she died.
• Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Lucy's father never approved of Scott's comic business or wanted Lucy hanging around him out of the belief that his brother would be a bad influence on her. This didn't stop Lucy and Scott from doing so anyway under the respective aliases "X" and "Super Scott", the latter becoming the name for one of Scott's comic book heroes, until Scott disappeared after being kicked out for disregarding his brother’s wishes. Then two months prior to the start of the series, Lucy received a letter from her long-lost uncle telling her to protect the hero books from those who would misuse them, inspiring Lucy to collect them all as X believing it would bring her closer to finding him.
• Fat Bastard:
  • Dirk O is rather portly and a real Jerkass to everyone around him, even his own mother.
  • The initial wielder of Lucky, who uses him to terrorize a dog park to get revenge on someone who allegedly did her wrong.
• Faux Affably Evil: Dirk O's benefactor, Super Scott, acts polite and cordial. However, this is all a front—as, when he's given a chance to cut loose, he reveals himself to be a Smug Snake with nothing but disgust for his opponents.
• Fights Like a Normal: Though she has access to hero books and will often use them, Christa isn't afraid to get her hands dirty and fight the human heroes directly as a former MMA fighter.
• Finger Poke of Doom: Great Finger can enlarge his hand to deliver giant flicks to his opponents.
• Flaming Hair: Fire Head can turn her hair into flames and launch fireballs from it.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Scott was always seen as the more irresponsible sibling between him and Lucy's father, especially after his comic writing got him fired from his old job. It was because of this that Scott was forbidden from being around Lucy lest he become a bad influence on her and was eventually kicked out for disregarding his brother’s wishes, leading to his disappearance in the present day.
• Formerly Fat: Dirk is shown to have slimmed down a lot when he returns at the end of Season 2.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Super Scott wears a pair of square-rimmed glasses as a reflection of the person he's modeled after, and he's a sociopath who seeks to use his overwhelming strength to take over the world.
• The Ghost: Scott, the hero books' enigmatic creator who mysteriously disappeared sometime before the start of the series. He finally makes an onscreen appearance in “Revolution”, albeit in flashbacks.
• Goo-Goo-Godlike: How Timo sees himself with the powers of the Hero Books, always bragging that he could be much more destructive and chaotic than other villains, and taking a sociopathic joy in using them for violence.
• Grail in the Garbage: The events of the series are kicked off by Mike picking up Crying Man's Hero Book at his local comic shop, with the cashier even calling it "garbage".
• Gravity Master: The titular hero Gravity, who is capable of erecting gravitational fields.
• Greater-Scope Paragon: Scott, the enigmatic author/writer behind "Scott Comics" and the one who created the Hero Books (seemingly) for the purpose of helping the world. He's also Lucy's uncle, the one who created her "X" persona and inspired her to track down his collection of Hero Books to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. Later, it's further revealed that he was a Reader himself, once using his Super Scott comic to help foil a bank robbery.
• Greater-Scope Villain: On the other hand, there's Dirk O's benefactor, Super Scott, who gave the Council of Comics extra Hero Books to make their power known, and is heavily implied to be behind Scott’s disappearance.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Appears to be a recurring theme throughout the first season.
  • Dirk and his Council of Comics were people who using the hero books sought revenge on those who mistreated them for their nerdy interests, but in doing so they became far worse than their assaulters as Mike points out to them.
  • Ed had been using the Disco Duo to get revenge on the bullies who made his life a living hell, until his confrontation with Mike makes him realize that he's become no better than those he targets and willingly surrenders his hero book.
  • Lucy was instructed by her uncle to retrieve all the hero books so their power wouldn't be abused, but became so fixated on her mission that she failed to realize that she had been causing just as if not more collateral damage than those she fights and putting dozens of innocent people in harm's way. Fortunately, she sees the error of her ways thanks to Mike and vows to use her heroes in less destructive ways.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: Many of the heroes, such as Crying Man or Great Finger, have powers that sound ridiculous on paper but are highly effective in practice.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Mike and Lucy become this in Season 2, when the Hero Books are labelled as weapons and their Readers vigilantes, with the police threatening to arrest anyone who is caught holding one.
• Hidden Agenda Villain: Bobby Baek's motives for taking part in the conspiracy to acquire people with powerful abilities and experimenting on Dirk to boost his imagination are currently unknown.
• Hurricane of Puns: Many of the heroes tend to make these relating to their powers and/or professions.
• Husky Russkie: Gravity speaks with a thick Russian accent.
• I Just Want to Be Free: Super Scott's primary motivation, which wouldn't be so bad if being trapped in his book for so long hadn't rendered him too murderously insane to be allowed outside of it.
• Imagination-Based Superpower: It is believed that the stronger one imagination is, the more powerful their Hero Books will become. makes summoning a hero much easier.
  • Scott was able to visualize new comicalize attacks in season 2.
• Imagine Spot: A Running Gag has Mike having one about Lucy falling in love with him whenever the two interact. After learning that she’s X, they become ones where he can only see her as such.
• Implausible Deniability: The police are initially dismissive of the presence of superheroes, writing off the tram incident in "Give Me My Gloves" as a routine derailment despite clear physical evidence and witnesses to say otherwise. They are no longer able to do this come Season 2, once the Hero Books become public knowledge.
• Intrepid Reporter: Mike’s mother is a journalist for a pet fashion magazine with dreams of becoming a serious reporter someday. It’s because of this that she decides to investigate the mystery of the hero books in hopes of making a name for herself.
• Karmic Butt-Monkey: Dirk has no shortage of misfortune and slapstick thrown his way, but you don't have to feel too sorry for him due to how much of an obnoxious Jerkass he is to everyone around him.
• Knight of Cerebus: Super Scott and his gang all qualify. Whereas most evil Readers in the series are either petty criminals or goofballs who wouldn't be a threat without their Hero Books, Krista and Timo are legitimately dangerous—Krista especially, as a Badass Normal Blood Knight capable of beating people just as efficiently as most of the heroes in her possession. When she and Timo confront Mike and X for the first time, they effectively wipe the floor with them. And Super Scott is even more threatening, nearly killing all his enemies when they finally meet.
• Knight Templar: Super Scott's true motives are to unleash his own personal brand of justice upon a world he sees as flawed and corrupt.
• Laughably Evil: Dirk’s attempts to make himself look imposing often makes him come off as this.
• Lethally Stupid: It's made clear early on that some people can't be trusted to wield the hero books responsibly lest they be prone to this behavior. One example is the homeless guy in "Two Smiles" whose attempt to use Sylph to get revenge on everyone who looked down on him ends in her almost destroying several city blocks.
• Lethal Klutz: While breaking into a house to steal Mummy Girl's book, Dark Knight knocks over a lit candle and starts a house fire that nearly kills him.
• Limit Break: Comicalization allows heroes to unleash their strongest abilities. However, it causes both them and their book wielder to deplete most of their energy.
• Living Gasbag: Toxo appears to be something akin to this.
• Logical Weakness: Some heroes can be defeated this way. Mummy Girl’s bandages for example are useless in gravitational fields and against bladed weapons while Crying Man suffers against electric attacks.
• Magical Girl: Sugarsugar Pangpang is a walking homage to the genre.
• Magnetism Manipulation: Mag B wields the power of magnetism.
• Make Way for the New Villains: "Criminals & Chameleon" introduces Two-Tone Tony, a goofy mob boss with a duality gimmick, whom Mike and X are able to fight efficiently before they are interrupted by the police. His very next appearance has the heroes coming across him while he's receiving serious beatdown by Timo and Krista, getting them to realize they are a far bigger threat than any evil Readers they've encountered previously.
• Masked Luchador: Great Finger’s attire greatly resembles this.
• Medium Awareness: An in-universe example where the heroes know they are fictional characters from comic books and explain how the mechanics of controlling them works.
• Might Makes Right: Super Scott believes that his overwhelming strength gives him to the right to decide who deserves to be saved.
• Monumental Damage: The Golden Gate Bridge is ripped open by the titular fight in "Battle on the Bridge".
• Muggles: The Hero Books can only be used by individuals with a significant imagination; as such, people without enough imagination are unable to use them. The only explicit case of this is Nick, though whether or not he will be permanently without this ability or will be able to develop the imagination necessary to use the books is left unsaid.
• Mundane Utility:
  • Mike using Crying Man to do his chores like watering plants around the house, which Nick admonishes him for.
  • The episode "Can You Water My Plants?" revolves around various hero book wielders doing this with their heroes, such as an old lady who uses Mr. Justice to clean up her garden and fight off raccoons. A villainous example occurs in the same episode with an office clerk-turned-pickpocket who uses Hummingbird Man to rob his targets, much to the latter’s dismay as he considers doing so to be a squandering of his powers.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Crying Man’s "sad sense", which compels him to go wherever sadness is present.
• New Era Speech: Dirk gives one when he and his cronies overtake city hall in "Revolution".
  Dirk O.: Citizens! We are the five saviors who will start a revolution in this city. We are the Council of Comics! For too long this city has looked down on and discriminated against nerds, dorks, dweebs and people who just generally are weirdos! They've driven us further and further into the shadows! But being different is not wrong. We're not the ones who are wrong! It's this city! These Hero Books—through their mystical power bestowed on us by the great and powerful Scott—we, the alienated ones, have shown that even we can be heroes! And today, right here, we shall construct our nerd utopia! A NERD-TOPIA, IF YOU WILL! City Hall is ours now! So come out from the basement, fellow nerds. Dawn is coming!
• Noodle Incident: A particularly dark example occurs in the flashback opening of "Special Delivery". It's revealed that the reason Scott had to seal up Super Scott in his Hero Book was because of a mission gone wrong in which he willfully let a group of people die because he believed it wasn't worth his time to save them. If the smoke coming off of the city in the distance is any indication, this mission was particularly disastrous.
• No Name Given: The majority of evil Readers throughout the series are not named in their appearances, such as the woman who summoned Lucky, the pick pocketer using Hummingbird Man, the crazy homeless guy who unleashed Sylph on San Francisco, and so on.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist:
  • Dirk O. and his Council of Comics attempt to rally support to their side by claiming that they're heroes who want to use their newly attained powers to stand up for all those who have been bullied and rejected by society, inviting their fellow nerds to stand up alongside them. Ignoring the fact that Dirk's previous appearances had proven he was a selfish Jerkass even before he got his hands on the Hero Books, he and the Council of Comics already undermined their point by attacking and nearly killing dozens of innocent people who had done nothing to hurt them. And when Mike and Lucy defeat him, Dirk reveals just how little he cares about helping anyone but himself by pulling a Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum to destroy San Francisco (and possibly the world) out of spite.
  • Super Scott is the same. He plans to free Scott from the Dizzy 7 Hero Books so that he can be released from his own Hero Book, so that he can finally deliver the kind of justice the world needs. However, Lucy can tell from within seconds of meeting him that the kind of justice he wants would mean disaster for the world at large, and that he's nothing more than a sociopathic narcissist.
• Pain and Gain: Mr. Justice can increase his strength by absorbing attacks. In "Battle on the Bridge", after taking 100 punches from Super Scott, he's able to take him out with just one punch.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Dirk O. and his Council of Comics cronies all wear black domino masks to conceal their identities. Humorously, this disguise actually is enough to fool Mike briefly.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Almost all of the Hero Book characters qualify, as most are able to dish out mass destruction using their respective abilities—especially when in the hands of irresponsible or malicious Readers. Season 2 takes things a step further as the SFPD label all Hero Books and the heroes they create as weapons of mass destruction.
• Plant Person: Ginseng Man, who as his name implies is an anthropomorphic ginseng root capable of extending his limbs to attack from afar.
• Poisonous Person: Toxo, whose attacks involve spraying poisonous gasses at opponents.
• Police Are Useless: Refreshingly Averted. They put up a decent fight against the Council of Comics at City Hall, ultimately only losing to the overwhelming power of the Hero Books and absurd nature of some of their Heroes Abilities.
  • They keep this up in Season 2, as they get Hero Books declared illegal, and while they still can't take down a Reader without help, they always readily respond to Hero Book fights and do a lot of ground work into uncovering the identities of Readers.
• Prehensile Hair: Hairy Harry attacks using the large tendrils of hair from his body.
• Prone to Tears: Unsurprisingly, Crying Man is this.
• Rage Against the Author: Super Scott outright treats Scott like his Arch-Enemy for not only trapping him in his comic book for so many years but also for limiting him to being a superhero to begin with, believing such a position to be beneath someone of his power. He's notably the only superhero thus far who outright rejects the way he was written.
• Refugee from TV Land: The series revolves around superheroes, all made by the same creator, somehow appearing in real life and are able to be commanded by those who are in possession of their comic books.
• Refusal of the Call: Throughout most of Season 1, Mike is generally quite indifferent to using his abilities to be a hero and prefers not to get involved with potential Hero Book-related problems if he can help it. However, constant reminders of how he can't stand by as well as the growing presence of Hero Books across the city eventually gets him to embrace his role.
• Robot Superhero: Honey's hero Carrie. Subverted, as she's working with the bad guys.
• Sadly Mythtaken: In-universe example with Sparkules, specifically when he tries to use his comicalize "Wrath Of Zeus" which shows an angry Zeus who is very pissed off at Sparkules for claiming to be one of his children.
• Satellite Love Interest: Lucy to Mike, who can’t help but fall into an Imagine Spot of her falling in love with him every time he runs into her. The "satellite" part is greatly lessened once she's revealed to have a lot more involvement in the plot than expected.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: Black Knight, to the point that Mike and Crying Man mistake him for a little girl trapped in a burning building.
• Seductive Mummy: Mummy Girl, who utilizes her bandages as weapons. Posts on the official Instagram really play up her Ms. Fanservice status.
• Shock and Awe: Sparkules attacks with lightning bolts.
• Shooting Superman: The trope is played in earnest in "Coin Robber" when a flashback shows a bank robber trying to shoot at Super Scott, when he was still under the real Scott's control. After emptying his gun on the hero, he tries throwing it at him in desperation.
• Shout-Out:
  • In addition to the various Captain Ersatz comic characters, one of the action figures in Mike's bedroom is a dead ringer for Spider-Man.
  • To stop a runaway railcar heading for the bay, Mike calls on Mummy Girl to use a net of bandages to stop it in the exact same way as in Spider-Man 2, even collapsing from exhaustion after the ordeal. He even lampshades the idea by mentioning he "saw it in a movie."
  • When Lucy manages to grab Mike as he's getting sucked into Sylph's tornado, she says "Don't worry, I've got you", to which he responds "But who's got you?!"
  • The comic shop that Mike frequents is called "Phantom Zone".
  • The shirt Dirk O. is always wearing depicts a ghost with a red circle surrounding it.
  • Mike, Lucy and Nick take a trip into Crime Alley in "Criminals & Chameleon". The same episode introduces Two Tone Tony, a mob boss obsessed with duality, akin to Two-Face.
• Skewed Priorities: When Mike and Lucy rush in to exchange blows with the Council of Comics, the only thing running through Mike's mind is the realization that he forgot to do his math homework.
• Smug Super: After he reveals his true identity, Super Scott expresses nothing but sneering contempt for the humans around him. Unfortunately, he also has more than enough power at his disposal to justify his sense of superiority.
  • Timo also acts like this simply because he has access to Hero Books, frequently boasting how amazing he is with them and how much better he could be than other villains.
• Spotting the Thread: While examining Scott's belongings to find any clues to his whereabouts, Mike, Nick and Lucy come across a stack of coupons to a business called Dizzy Donuts. Crying Man and Gravity remark on how they love their donuts, making Mike realize that Dizzy Donuts appears in all of Scott's Hero Books, and that the real business might be a lead they can follow up on.
• Standard Evil Organization Squad: The heroes have multiple to deal with.
  • The Council of Comics, led by Dirk O. and later Skullcrusher, consisting of them, King Blockbuster, Hot Button 81 and Papa Princess.
  • Super Scott's group, consisting of Krista, Timo, Honey and Cynthia Young.
• Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum: Dirk O attempts to use Mag B and Sparkules' respective abilities to create a giant meteor of flaming metal to destroy all of San Francisco in retaliation for Mike and Lucy defeating his Council of Comics.
• Super Mob Boss: Two Tone Tony, a local mobster with a duality gimmick—down to wearing a pinstripe suit with dual colors and having identical twin sons as henchmen—who uses his Hero Book Chameli to eliminate anyone who steps onto his turf.
• Super Smoke: Mist is a sentient knight helmet that emits an endless stream of mist capable of totally blocking out light.
• Super-Speed: Hummingbird Man, so much that he’s capable of slipping in and out of Bullet Time.
• Super-Toughness: Mr. Justice was created to be extremely durable taking several hits that have knock-out two other heroes previously.
• Swiss-Army Tears: A weaponized example with Crying Man, who as his name implies has high-pressure tear ducts as his superpower.
• Telepathy: Professor Z is capable of this, much to his wielder’s annoyance.
• Trademark Favorite Food: All of the Hero Book characters love the food from Dizzy Donuts, a donut shop that Scott included in all of his comics.
• Turns Red: Lucky’s Comicalization power makes him turn into a gigantic red berserker.
• Uncertain Doom:
  • The homeless man in "Two Smiles", who never appears again after he gets sucked into the Sylph's tornado.
  • Dr. Tennyson also appears to be murdered by Bobby Baek in "Hard-Hitting Interview".
• Ungrateful Bastard: Crying Man directly calls Dirk out as one, after he verbally abuses his mom and crushes her lemon squares.
• The Unintelligible:
  • Lucky is one of the few heroes who can't speak, only communicating through growling and roaring.
  • Also Jelly King, whose lines are nothing but gurgling chuckles.
• Unwitting Pawn: Dirk turns out to be this to Super Scott, who only gave him the extra hero books to demonstrate to the world their power and give a prelude of what's to come.
• Victory by Endurance: How Mr. Justice wins fights. He's not much tougher than the average person, but his sheer dedication to the pursuit of justice allows him to endure any amount of punishment, until his opponents inevitably wear themselves out.
• Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: While the series is fairly light-hearted, the main villains are anything but. Dirk O. starts out as a Laughably Evil Basement Dweller who only poses a passing threat, but very quickly reveals himself to be a sociopath when he threatens to destroy the entire city in a spiteful Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum. Krista is a no-nonsense brawler capable of beating people with her fists just as effectively as with her Hero Books. Her boss Super Scott is the worst of all, wanting to subjugate the world to his own brand of justice while being more than willing to use his powers to their full, devastating effect. And Bobby Baek, though his motives are ambiguous, appears to be just as willing to kill to get what he wants and works for an organization implied to Kidnap For Experimentation. This even extends to some of the lower-tier villains, some of which don't use Family-Friendly Firearms and others who are more than willing to use their respective Hero Books to kill/maim those who cross them.
• Villain Ball: Krista grabs it firmly in "Special Delivery", when she decides to let King Blockbuster and Hot Button 81 live after their fight, thinking it would be crueler to let them live rather than finish them off. This comes back to bite her in the following episode, when Blockbuster proves smart enough to track her down and the Council of Comics ambush Super Scott's gang in their hideout.
• Villain Team-Up: "Hard-Hitting Interview" reveals that Bobby Baek has joined forces with Dirk O..
• Villainous Breakdown: Dirk completely loses it when his Council of Comics is defeated and Mike vows to always stop him, prompting Dirk to try and destroy the city using an improvised bomb made with the combined powers of Mag B and Sparkules. Fortunately, Mike musters enough power to summon and Comicalize five heroes at once to stop it.
• Virtual Assistant Blunder: Carrie is a robot version of Siri and has trouble understanding commands, making her mostly useless.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Black Knight is easily stopped by large amounts of light. Even smaller lights like camera flashes are enough to send him running.
• Wham Shot: Season 1 ends with the reveal of what Scott looks like, when earlier he had been The Faceless. He looks exactly like Dirk's mysterious benefactor—because he's actually Super Scott, one of his creations. The very next shot reveals the old woman he's always with is actually his Reader.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Mike calls out X at several points for not caring about all the destruction she’s caused in her pursuit of the Hero Books, especially in “Give Me My Gloves” where she almost gets dozens of people hurt or killed by a runaway tram. Lucy eventually admits that Mike was right after he defeats her in "Top of Coil Tower", realizing that her obsession with gathering the comics caused her to lose sight of the fact that her uncle created them to help people. She thanks Mike for helping her come back to her senses and becomes more open to working with him.
• With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: The power of the hero books are just as capable of being abused as they are able to be used for good, which the heroes themselves lampshade whenever the wielders of their books want to do something that Scott would never approve of. Sadly, many wielders aren’t as responsible as Mike and end up using them for their own selfish desires, prompting Mike to retrieve as many as he can from them. The masked vigilante X is also collecting them for the same reason, except she’s just as bad if not worse in regards to causing mass destruction as Mike points out. Fortunately, Lucy reevaluates her methods with help from Mike and vows to start using her heroes in ways that don't endanger innocent people.
• Would Hurt a Child: Most of the villains have no reservations about attacking Mike.
• The Worf Effect:
  • Sparkules is subjected to this in "Give Me My Gloves" as he is singlehandedly defeated and thrown back into his Hero Book by Dirk's new benefactor just to demonstrate how big of a threat he is.
  • This happens again in "Get the Book!" and "Battle on the Bridge" when all of the Council of Comics' Hero Books are easily felled by Super Scott in another demonstration of his power.