No Heroics

A normal city with a small difference

A short-lived British comedy series, No Heroics was the first sitcom produced by ITV2 and ran from September to October 2008 for six 20-minute episodes.

The series is set in modern-day Britain, in what the opening describes as "a normal city with one small difference: there are superheroes". They're pretty much common-place, with powers ranging from super strength to controlling monkeys, and since the public knows about them, they just hang out in capes all day. Our main characters themselves are a group of "capes" who meet after work in The Fortress — the pub where superheroes go to unwind and where there are "No Masks, No Powers, No Heroics", hence the title.

Of course, the series parodies a good number of superhero tropes and there's a lot of Genre Savvy and shout outs going on.

Tropes used in No Heroics include:

She-Force: You should use your powers for good.
Lightkiller: Yeah, yeah, right. So being able to plunge the world into complete darkness is an ideal power for a good guy, right?

  • Cape Busters: Anti-cape leagues go around beating up low-powered capes.
  • Chest Insignia: They all have one.
  • Clark Kenting: No one recognizes She-Force when she's Jenny at work, even though she just put a pair of glasses on. Justified, as there are so many superheroes that you'd have a hard time figuring out who's who anyway.
  • Comes Great Responsibility: Played straight for some capes, parodied for most as they fight crimes to be famous and get money from goodies.
  • Dating Catwoman: She-Force considers dating one of her former foes, Lightkiller.
  • Dating What Daddy Hates: Sarah asks Alex to pretend they're dating again because she knows her dad hates him.
  • Everything Sounds Sexier in French: The Hotness tries to invoke this during one of his date.
  • Eye Beams: Part of Excelsor's powers.
  • Fail O'Suckyname: Ladytrouble. People keep making fun of The Hotness, too.
  • Fan Dumb: In-universe, when She-Force and Electroclash go meet the fanclub of their old superheroine team.
  • Fantastic Racism: Some normal people hate superheroes and create anti-cape leagues.
  • Form-Fitting Wardrobe: Almost all the capes wear tight spandex, including out of shape men.
  • Good Powers, Bad People: Invoked with Excelsor, who has all of Superman's powers but is a major Jerkass.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Parodied with the death of Thundermonkey:

The Hotness: A terrible, terrible waste of human life.
Timebomb: A terrible, perfectly avoidable waste of human life.

Timebomb: At least you got to break somebody's arm. I miss that.
She-Force: Oh, Don, I know you do. That's why you're taking time off.

  • Power Perversion Potential: Excelsor has a whole speech dedicated to how his powers make it impossible for him not to please a woman.
  • Reckless Sidekick: Justified as heroes are assigned troubled sidekicks as part of community service.
  • Secret Identity: She-Force is the only member of the group who even tries to have one. She works as an accountant.
  • Sensual Spandex: Everyone, really.
  • Sidekick: Jackrabbit to Electroclash.
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran: Norse Dave, the barman.
  • Shout-Out: Too many to count, as the people who made the series were real geeks.
  • Smug Super: Excelsor.
  • Soaperizing: Most of the show centers on what happens in The Fortress, with only a few minutes of actual hero action in the whole series.
  • Stripperiffic: Electroclash's costume is tame compared to what comic book heroines wear, but she still gets remarks.

Electroclash: Have you seen my costume? It's fucking tiny.
Thundermonkey: It's not my fault you dress like a slag.

  • Strange Minds Think Alike: Everyone thinks Alex's beard makes him look like a pedophile.
  • Superpower Lottery
  • Super Strength: She-Force.
  • Super Villain: A lot, including Doomball and Lightkiller.
  • The Cape (trope): The term is used to describe any super in the universe but the only one who'd seem to fit the trope is actually Electroclash's dad, Rampart.
  • The Hero: Subverted with Excelsor who's basically Superman but acts like a complete asshole to everyone in The Fortress.
  • Theme Tune: "Make way for Ladytrouble!"
  • The Stoic: Don/Timebomb.
  • Unfortunate Names: She-Force and Electroclash used to be a team of superheroines called Ladytrouble.
  • Verbal Tic: Fuseboss fuses words. "New friend. Nend."
  • What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Avoided in most cases, since even capes with the power of photocopy are put to good use. Played straight with Thundermonkey, who can summon monkeys:

Electroclash: How long does it take for the monkeys to get there after you've summoned them?
Thundermonkey: About two and a half hours.

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