Thank you for you comment Adam. As for your question. The problem with making the lens flare without any plugins would be very difficult. I suppose that you could use a blue layer and cut it out using the pen tool into the shape that you want the lens flare to take shape as. Then you could mess with the transfer modes. However, After Effects comes with the effects and presets for a reason and it is great to experiment with them. There is even a lensflare preset that would look great in this effect. The thing you must understand about Visual Effects is that it takes a lot of messing around and tinkering to get the effect you are looking for. That's what art is all about. Trial and error. I am glad that you liked the tutorial and keep tuned for our second Heroes Training Series!

Levi Borland
LFP-Industries

This is a great tutorial! I'm glad someone has decided to cover the Heroes effects. I liked the helpful dot on the hand! One minor quandry is the lens flare that occurs just as Peter fires off the arc, is there any way to do this using AE without any plug-ins? Not that yours doesn't look great as it is, it's just a curiosity thing. Good work, Levi.