origin story

[ awr-i-jin stawr-ee, or-i-jin ]

noun

1. a backstory, or established background narrative, that informs the identity and motivations of heroes and villains in a comic book or similar fictional work:

   The superhero’s origin story begins with a tragic accident that left him scarred, but also resulted in his supernatural powers.

Word History and Origins

Origin of origin story¹

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

The truth is that it’s difficult to track down exactly how a virus traveled very early in its origin story, especially when the origin is in wild animals which we don’t generally track closely.

From Popular-Science

Schlesinger, years earlier, had been the one who pitched the idea of a musical after reading the memoir, a freewheeling, origin story of the anxious young girl — she struggled with enuresis, or bed-wetting, until she was 16 — who became a comic star.

From Washington Post

Some of that appeal can surely be traced to her real-life origin story.

From Washington Blade

Your chosen origin story changes the introductory missions and gives you new dialogue options, but the biggest impact to decision-making relies on how you spend your time.

From Washington Post

I’ve always wondered how doctors came up with such a procedure in the first place, and as it turns out the endoscope’s origin story is quite a bizarre one.

From Popular-Science

The “origin story” episode of Rafi and Dirty Randy is insane.

From The Daily Beast

Millenium Series Godzilla erased the Heisei origin story of a Godzilla created by exposure to American atomic testing.

From The Daily Beast

But that book was an origin story, only the beginning of the start of my fight for the heart of my native home.

From The Daily Beast

The Bieber origin story—that if a young boy from a tiny town in Ontario can make it, you can too—was instrumental to his success.

From The Daily Beast

A fitting origin story for a woman who made a career out of her outsized personality and her ability to discern other talents.

From The Daily Beast

It is usually incorporated in an origin story, such as “The Origin of Monkeys.”

From Project Gutenberg