The Unbelievable Gwenpool (TV series)/Tropes

* Adaptation Expansion: The comics never established how Gwenpool and Teddy ended up in the Marvel Universe (Word of God said it was because the fans voted for her to be a part of it). Finding out this is the main mystery in season 2.
*Adaptational Nice Guy: Gwenpool isn't as brutal as in the comics. She also displays more inclination towards heroics.
*Adaptational Personality Change: This version of Gwenpool realizes she is in a parallel universe and, thust, dosen't break the fourth wall. Her meta nature comes instead from her knowledge of superhero tropes.
* Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
** Gwenpool and Ms. Marvel don't really get along in the comics. The show, on the other hand, has Kamala as her mentor.
** Gwen and Batroc have a friendlier relationship in the comics.
*Affectionate Parody: The series isn't afraid to make fun of Marvel Comics, but is at the end of the day, an homage to the superhero media.
*Break the Cutie: The entire first season is one for Gwen, as she realizes she can't escape reality.
*Buddy Cop Show: The series is a superhero version of this, with superhero fan Gwenpool and veteran Ms. Marvel working together to save Jersey City.
* Casting Gag: This isn't Haley Tju's first time voicing an Adorkable Ascended Fangirl in a Disney show by Matt Braly.
*Comic Book Death: Lampshaded and cruelly subverted. Gwenpool at first refuses to believe Cecil isn't gone forever, insisting that "In superhero stories, people die and come back pretty much all time". Kamala sadly tells her that, while sometimes that happen, this may not be the case. And, as she foretold, Cecil remains dead.
**Kamala's comments also reconstruct the feeling of grief superheroes have in-universe. As she points out, the fact that they came back to life before dosen't mean they always come back, ergo, they could be permanently dead as far as they know,
* Composite Character: She-Hulk takes Doctor Strange's place as the one helping Gwen with her legal status.
* Curse Cut-Short: After duscovering she's fighting the Kingpin, Gwenpool utters a "Holy sh-" before being shot by the mobster's laser cane.
*Deconstruction:
** The series deconstructs the Ascended Fangirl trope by establishing that Gwenpool wants to live out her fantasies out of a refusal to face reality, and by having her discover the hard way that being a superhero in a comic book world is not as easy as she thougth. This later gets reconstruced, as she comes to terms woth reality but her oassion but superheroes still drives her to do the right thing.
** The series also deconstructs Gwen's Genre Savy nature by pointing out there are infinite potrayals of Marvel characters, and she isn't likely to be familiar with every single one of them. As such, she is caught offguard when she meets a character that dosen't line-up with the versions she is familiar with.
*Funny Moments: After Kamala calls Spider-Man "Peter" in front of Gwenpool, the latter states that "[she] knows a lot about [him]". Peter is left creeped out until Kamala explains.
*Fridge Brilliance: Certain moments such as the restaurant secene from Into the Spider-Verse are recreated by Gwen and her friends. With how much of a comic book geek she is, odds are some of these were Gwen intentionally evoking the Mythology Gag trope.
*Heartwarming Moments: Every time Gwen geeks out at seeing her heroes in the flesh, just like any Marvel fan would.
*Lampshade Hanging: Gwenpool occasionally emgahes on this, such as when sge asks She-Hulk about how the law works regardging individuals such as Ghost Rider who do what would normally be cobsidered vigilante work at the behest of interdimensional entities.
* Mythology Gag:
** The intro sees Gwenpool jumping througth panels, nodding to one of her comic book self's abilities. She also chanhes animation styles to ones resembling anything from Spider-Man (1967) to Silver Surfer to X-Men '97.
** Just like in the comics, Gwen displaying hints of knowing a superhero's secret identity (in this case, Kamala's) gets her in trouble with said superhero.
** Gwen and Kamala's talk regarding the multiverse takes place in a fast food restaurant, much like Miles and Peter B.'s first talk in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
** During said talk, Gwen revers to Kamala as her favorite "Inhuman/mutant/mix-up/whatever", referencing the character's complicated status througth her history.
** Upon taking on the name Gwenpool, Gwen takes the same pose Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur did in the pilot for their show.
**Kamala being Gwenpool's mentor is reminiscent of her time in the comics as Moon Girl's mentor.
**Gwenpool moves to an apartment very similar to the Raimiverse Spider-Man.
**In episode 3, Gwen talks to Kamala about wanting to go with her and "hero up".
**Gwenpool expects Kamala's foe to be some evil alien or creature. Her guest sppearance on the Champions comics had her making similar assumptions.
**Kingpin wears a black outfit as a nod to his Spider-Verse iteration. He also uses a cane with special abilities much like his potrayal in Spider'Man: The New Animated Series.
**During his first fight with Gwenpool, Kingpin grabs a car's door and attempts to smash Gwen's head with it.
**Kimgpin offers payment to Gwenppol in exchange for information about superheroes. In the Born Again storyline, he gave Karen Page money for drugs after she sells out Daredevil's secret identity. This also nods to the Gwenpool comics, where she had to work for M.O.D.O.K. early in her run.
**After Cecil dies at Kingpin's hands, Gwenpool claims he'll return. In the comics, he returned, albeit as a ghost.
**The sight of Spider-Man leads to Gwenpool excitedly exclaim "He's jumping! He's swinging! He's climbing througth walls! He is doing whatever a spider can!".
**The season finale has Gwenpool grabbimg a Hulk toy and claiming its a bomb. Skye did this in the season one finale of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
**After her landlord asks her for rent, Gwen says "You'll get your rent when you fux this damn door". Much more sardonically, by the way.
**When Agents Coulson and May show up at her doorstep, Gwen would call Kamala and say "Kamala. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. They are at my doorstep".
**In Gwen's conspiracy board regarding her arrival to the Marvel Universe, drawings of things like the Super-Collider from Into the Spider-Verse, the Runes of Kofkol from Spider-Man: No Way Home, and the Siege Pelirous can be seen.
*Real World Theme Tune: Tje end credits scene is a cover of "The Merry Marching Marvel Society", a song that served as both the ending for The Marvel Superheroes series in the 60s and was the official theme for Marvel's fan club.
*Rogue Galleries' Transplant: Kingpin never faced against neither Gwenpool nor Ms. Marvel in the comics. Here, he serves as the main antagonist in season 1 and is being chased by Kamala.
**This gets lampshaded after Gwenpool learns they are fighting Kingpin, as she points out he usually deals with either Spider-Man or Daredevil.
*Role Reprise:
**Cree Summer reprises her role from 1996's The Incredible Hulk as She-Hulk
**Sandra Saad reprises her role from the 2018 Avengers videogame as Ms. Marvel.
**Vincent D'Onofrio reprises his role ftom the MCU as Kingpin
**Kristen Ritter and Ming-Na Wen make their return as Jessica Jones and Melinda May in season two.
* Self-Plagiarism: Both Gwen and Teddy's first scenes in the Marvel Universe are recreations of scenes from Amphibia, which was also created by Matt Braly.
* Shout-Out:
** The scene where Gwen's TV glitches before being transported to the Marvel Universe resembles the TV scene from Poltergeist.
** Gwen's training montage has her redreating scenes from Rocky.
**While trying to swing during a fight, Gwenpool crashes while Ms. Marvel tries to warn her ála George of the Jungle.
**Ms. Marvel's animation is inspired by cartoons from the Ruberhouse era.
*Simple Solution Won't Work: In season 2, when Agent Coulson suggests contacting Doctor Strange for help in learning how Gwen and her brother were transported to the MU, Gwen shoots down the idea by pointing out they know nothing about their arrival, much less if it was the product of magic and, thus, Strange's area of expertise. Agent May acknowleges she has a point.
* Take That!: Upon meeting She-Hulk, Gwen asks she ever was grey or had a gamma boost. When Jennifer denies it, Gwen says "Thank god". This is a jab towards Shulkie's Audience-Alienating Era, which saw hef becoming more Hulk-like.
*Tearjerker: Cecil's death. He was Gwen's second friend in the Marvel Universe, after Kamala. And he was just... gone. Even worse is Gwen's insistence that he will return somehow, which sounds a lot like denial.
**There's also Kamaka's explication to Gwen, which points to the harsh truth behind Comic Book Deaths: Dead people returning isn't a guarantee, and, for some, holding out to that hope makes the cases wbere they don't return even harder.
*Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: The Unbelievable Gwenpool is for the most part a lighthearted comedy series about a young comic bpok fan trying to ve a superhero. But Kingpin is a ruthless and dangerous mob boss who is played as straight as possible in a young adult Disney animated series, with almost no humor found in his scenes.
*Wham Line: As the villains' boss emerges, a familiar voice both for Gwenpool and the audience says "So, you think you've got this all under control, don't you?", followed by...
*Wham Shot: ...A wude shot unveiling the main villain to be the Kingpin, once again played by Vincent D'Onofrio.