And most are thoroughly explored by myth.

One of the biggies is the elect boy, (usually orphaned, or of dubious parentage), coming to manhood and claiming his destiny. He usually has an older mentor, a main sidekick, a handful of loyal companions, (each of which brings a particular skill to help him in his quest), a magical weapon, an arch villain, a fair maiden, and so on.

I'm sure you can already come up with variations of each of these. For example:

Luke-Arthur-Frodo-Potter-Paul
Vader-Mordred-Sauron-Valdemort-Harkonnen
ObiWan-Merlin-Bilbo-Dumbledore-Leto
Solo-Launcelot-Gandalf-Ron-Duncan
Leia-Guinevere-Galadriel-Hermione-Chani

There are differences, of course, but the patterns are clear: Lightsaber/Excalibur/Sting;
usually a long journey is involved and a great battle at the end settles the issue. Robin and his Merry Men, Jason and the Argonauts, Perseus and Andromeda, its the same old shoot-em-up, same-old-rodeo. And of course, look at the Superman myth, Jor-el, Kal-el, Lex Luthor, Ma and Pa Kent, and the usual suspects: Perry White, Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane.

Even incest makes an occasional appearance, in some form. Luke has the hots for his sister, and their father is the villain, Morgan Le Fay seduces her brother Arthur, and their son Mordred does double duty as the heavy.

Joseph Campbell writes extensively about this, he made a cushy scholarly career of exploring myth in folk tale and literature through history, and it has been mined by literature and Hollywood ever since.