Contagious Powers: Difference between revisions

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And they kept listening...|'''[[Super Dickery]]'''}}

 

Being a [[Sidekick]], [[Love Interest]], or even just [[Innocent Bystander|general acquaintance]] to a [[Superhero]] sucks. There's [[I Have Your Wife|kidnappings]], [[Friendly Target|high mortality rates]], [[Shotgun Wedding|marriage threats]], [[Super Dickery]] and the ever present [[Sidekick Glass Ceiling]] to contend with.

 

 

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* Happened in ''[[Bleach]]'' to several friends if [[The Hero|Ichigo]], most notably Chad and Orihime. It was initially thought to be an effect of his massive power, but was eventually explained as an effect of [[MacGuffin|Hougioku]] hidden inside Rukia during the first arc.

** This is played with in regards to Harry's father, [[Norman Osborn]] was introduced a few issues before it was revealed he was the Green Goblin all along. Spider-Man and the audience met the Green Goblin a few years before Norman Osborn hit the scene but Norman was introduced before it was revealed he was a super-powered villain. This decision supposedly led to [[Steve Ditko]] leaving the series since he felt it was unrealistic.

** Mac Gargan was introduced as a private eye for one issue before turning into the Scorpion.

** And then there's the recent ''[[Spider Island]]'' storyline, where ''all of New York City'' develops Spider-Man's powers, including long-time supporting cast members like Mary Jane Watson and J. Jonah Jameson.

* In ''[[Supreme Power]]'', a mutagen spread by Hyperion's falling spaceship mutated the Amphibian and gave the Blur his powers. Later, the military's attempts to duplicate Hyperion's abilities using this mutagen also gave way to Tom Thumb and Redstone.

* Happens a lot to the nearest and dearest of Bruce Banner. Even if one discounts those who gained their powers from the same gamma blast that created the Hulk, there is still Betty Ross - briefly turned into the Harpy, Doc Samson - who uses the Hulk's own gamma energy to gain super strength, his cousin Jennifer Walters - who becomes [[She Hulk]] due to a blood transfusion and Rick Jones - who time shared his body with Captain Marvel, was briefly a Hulk himself and is now A-bomb... a blue version of the Abomination... and {{spoiler|Thunderbolt Ross and Betty are Red Hulk and Red She-Hulk, respectively.}}

** Rick Jones wife Marlo is now the New Harpy, his old enemy Elliot "The Clown" Franklin is the Griffin, Brian Tablot (brother of Bruce's rival Glenn) is Grey, Gideon Wilson (the father of Bruce's friend Jim) is Mister Gideon... At this point it's as though everyone he knows somehow develops powers eventually, because you may find this to be his entire supporting cast plus interest.

*** An attempt at invoking this was rejected when Jim Wilson, Hulk's sidekick from [[The Seventies]], was dying of AIDS and asked the Hulk (at the time with Banner's brain) for a transfusion to keep him alive, like he had done for his cousin Jen. Hulk refused.

* The ''[[Fantastic Four]]'' rarely have supporting characters who don't have one power or another. Johnny Storm's girlfriends either turn out to be [[Secret Invasion|Skrulls]] or later become heralds of [[Silver Surfer|Galactus]]. Ben's girlfriend Sharon Ventura started out with powers but eventually turned into his [[Distaff Counterpart]], becoming even more superhuman. They both dated Alicia Masters<ref>Sort of. Johnny actually dated a Skrull spy named Lyja who was impersonating Alicia, then dated Lyja again as herself.</ref> who was mostly normal until her father, the Puppet Master used her for his own means. She also dated the [[Silver Surfer]] for a time and was briefly given cosmic powers. Then we come to Reed and Sue. Their kids have godlike powers, their nanny was a sorceress who trained the [[Scarlet Witch]], and Reed's dad was eventually revealed to be a time traveler. Even [[Doctor Doom]] is not exempt from this. His adopted heir Kristoff ended up in a suit of [[Power Armor]] similar to Doom. Wyatt Wingfoot is a friend of the family and the only one without powers, it seems. Despite that, he is still a [[Badass Normal]] who has gone toe-to-toe with supervillains.

 

== [[Film]] ==

** Also, if [[Sam Raimi]] were [[Executive Meddling|allowed to utilize his original vision]], Dr. Conners would eventually turn into the villainous Lizard.

 

== Literature ==

* The pets of wizards in the ''[[Young Wizards]]'' series tend to "become strange", with the most common powers being increased intelligence and the ability to speak. Tom and Carl have a dog with super strength and a macaw that can look into the future, while Kit's dog Ponch develops the ability to create ''new universes''.

** After Kit uses magic to fix a remote control that doesn't work properly with its TV, the TV starts spontaneously developing new features, like receiving alien cable stations and hooking into alien chatrooms.

 

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

** But poor Xander gets absolutely nothing. Except for that magic army training, but he once said that that [[They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot|had worn off]].

** Some fans speculate that Mohinder's immunity to the Shanti Virus may qualify him for Hero status, though that's iffy considering he's only immune to one strain of the virus. Then again, blood type incompatibilities with his transfusion to Molly, The Haitian, and Niki haven't come up.

*** The lack of blood type incompatibilities could just mean he's Type O Rh negative, universal donor (as is the case of 2% of the population of India). Or just Type O in general (about 38% of the population of India) considering that 90% or so of the world's population is Rh positive and thus compatible. . .

* The first season of the 1990s ''[[The Tomorrow People]]'' series, Megabyte is the only one of the characters without powers, but then (surprise!) he gets them in the last episode of the first season

* ''[[Smallville]]''. Thanks to their dominance in the [[Green Rocks]] market, the citizens of Smallville (often kids at Clark's school that he "knew") receive powers quite frequently, and of course Clark's supporting cast gets sucked in eventually.

** Chloe was briefly able to make people tell the truth, before the producers decided to give her a set of Healing Powers. Then her already improbable ability to hack anything was upgraded to UBER superpowered proportions... which she left... and the healing power has seemingly been forgotten.

** Lex, it was hinted had an advanced immune system. He also received a set of fancy Kryptonian Powers

* In ''[[Lois and Clark]]'', twice Superman's powers were transferred via lightning. One was permanent (until removed deliberately), and the other temporary. The villain of the week also attempts to copy the superpower-copying lightning in a lab enormously. She succeeds, turning a mouse into a superpowerful killer of cats. She briefly gains Kryptonian powers until beaten and the device used to reverse the effect. Strangely, this does not happen more.

** Another time Lois Lane gets all of Superman's poer and he looses it all as a result of getting shot with Red Kryptonite.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* At the start of ''Persona4'', only the protagonist has the power to enter the TV world at will and summon his Persona. Through the course of the game, everyone who joins the investigation team picks up both of these abilities.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* ''[[Spinnerette]]'' seems to be doing this now.

 

 

== Western Animation ==

* In the 90s ''[[Fantastic Four]]'' cartoon, Johnny was afraid this had occurred when he kissed this foxy redhead and she immediately burst into flame. Turned out she had some kind of mutant power she'd repressed due to accidentally burning her house down as a child.. Then played straight when she got extra powers from Galactus in order to become his herald.

 

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