HERO

"HERO" ( Hīrō) is a group of five archetypes introduced in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. In the anime, Jaden uses "Elemental HERO" and "Neo-Spacian" monsters, Aster uses "Elemental HERO" and "Destiny HERO" monsters, and Jaden as The Supreme King uses "Elemental HERO" and "Evil HERO" monsters. In the manga, Jaden uses "Elemental HERO" and "Masked HERO" monsters while Aster uses "Vision HERO" monsters.

"HERO" monsters are often based on comic, cartoon, or movie style heroes.

The "HERO" archetype is one of the three biggest, along with Blackwings and Numbers.

History
At first they were divided into "Elemental HERO", "Evil HERO" and "Destiny HERO", "Masked HERO" and "Vision HERO", but later they shifted towards unification of the five archetypes. "HERO's Bond" and the manga-exclusive "Legacy of a HERO" are both Spell Cards that part of the HERO archetype without being a part of any of the five sub-archetypes. The "Contrast HERO Chaos" and the Illegal Match winner "E☆HERO Pit Boss" are the only HERO monsters not to be part of any of the five sub-archetypes.

Cards whose text specifically reference this unification include "Elemental HERO Stratos", "Elemental HERO Ocean", "Elemental HERO Divine Neos", "Evil HERO Infernal Prodigy", "Elemental HERO Absolute Zero", and "HERO's Bond", where the effects are based on cards present on the field whose names contain "HERO", allowing them to be used with "Elemental HERO", "Evil HERO", "Destiny HERO", "Masked HERO", and "Vision HERO" monsters.

The "Masked HERO" and "Vision HERO" monsters made their debut in the fiftieth chapter of the GX manga.

Naming
The Japanese cards use 「」, 「」, 「」, 「」, 「」 and 「」 at the start of their names so only those five would work with 「」. Note that "Elemental HERO" and "Evil HERO" use 「Ｅ・ＨＥＲＯ」 and 「Ｅ－ＨＥＲＯ」, and their furigana is different: "Elemental HERO" monsters have 「エレメンタルヒーロー」 and "Evil HERO" monsters have 「イービルヒーロー」.

The Korean cards use "히어로" to indicate "HERO". "Elemental HERO" and "Evil HERO" monsters are denoted by "엘리멘틀 히어로", and "Destiny HERO" monsters are denoted by "데스티니 히어로". However, "엘리멘틀" doesn't mean "Elemental", it is a transcription that is pronounced "Ellimenteul". Furthermore, the only card that shows "Evil HERO" translated into Korean properly is "Evil HERO Inferno Wing" and only in the Ultra Rare version of this card. So the proper translation of "Evil HERO" is "이블 히어로".

In English, originally text supporting them specified "Elemental Hero" and "Destiny Hero" monsters without acknowledging the archetype itself. However, after the TCG release of "Evil Heroes", errata for HERO support cards was issued to include them. With the Problem-Solving Card Text, in anticipation of the Masked HERO and Vision HERO sub-archetypes, "Elemental Hero", "Destiny Hero" and "Evil Hero" were renamed "Elemental HERO", "Destiny HERO" and "Evil HERO", respectively; they were first printed this way in Generation Force. From this booster pack onward, in English HERO has been supported as an archetype rather than a collection of the three archetypes. "HERO" is rendered in all capital letters to distinguish these cards from cards such as "Oscillo Hero" and "Hero Kid", who have "Hero" in their names but are not part of this archetype.