HERO
Japanese	ＨＥＲＯ(ヒーロー) ＨＥＲＯ (kanji) ヒーロー (furigana) Hīrō (Rōmaji)
French	HÉROS
German	HELD
Italian	EROE
Korean	히어로 Hieolo (romanized)
Portuguese	Herói
Spanish	HÉROE
Anime appearances
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D Bonds Beyond Time
Manga appearances
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Members Support

"HERO" (ＨＥＲＯ(ヒーロー) 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.

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.

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 Japanese cards use 「Ｅ・ＨＥＲＯ(エレメンタルヒーロー)」, 「Ｅ－ＨＥＲＯ(イービルヒーロー)」, 「Ｄ－ＨＥＲＯ(デステニーヒーロー)」, 「Ｍ・ＨＥＲＯ(マスクドヒーロー)」 and 「Ｖ・ＨＥＲＯ(ヴィジョンヒーロー)」 at the start of their names so only those five would work with 「ＨＥＲＯ(ヒーロー)」. 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". How ever, "엘리멘틀" doesn't mean "Elemental", it is a transliteration that is pronounced "Elrimenteul". The real translation would be "엘리멘탈". And further, the only card that shows "Evil HERO" translated into Korean proper 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 and other languages they have changed the text to allow only "Destiny HERO" and "Elemental HERO" monsters to work with these related card effects. Most cards still need to be updated with the release of the "Evil HERO" to include them. "Elemental HERO Stratos" and "Elemental HERO Ocean" have been errata'd to support each type of "HERO". They were originally spelled in lower case, but as of the "Generation Force" booster pack, they were changed to have "HERO" in all capital letters to distinguish them from cards such as "Oscillo Hero" and "Hero Kid", who had "Hero" in their names but are not part of this archetype.

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

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

The "HERO" archtype is currently the biggest one.