History Main / HeroSyndrome

[[redirect:HeroismAddict]]

Hero Syndrome is a behavioral phenomenon where an individual craves the attention and [[FamedInStory glory that comes with heroism]]...and thus, creates a catastrophe to play TheHero in. It is a RealLife disorder most often found in firefighters, in cases where they are also arsonists who start fires so they can get recognition from putting them out, or similar jobs like emergency workers or the police. Usually they are also losers -- they have huge egos, but they tend to be low on the hierarchy of whatever job they have (for example, a Deputy who thinks he should be Sheriff), and thus their delusions of grandeur do not match their reality. Acting the hero thus gives them the chance to be the center of attention before they go back to their menial work.

It is a fairly common trope in fiction and serves as a textbook example of EvilCannotComprehendGood. Hero Syndrome is a symptom of Narcissism; it is pathologically self-centered, and involves a callous disregard for the victim. Someone with Hero Syndrome does not care at all about the people they are supposedly "saving" and are only interested in the glory, whereas the true [[TheHero Hero]] traditionally ''always'' cares about the people they are saving and, while they may be susceptible to thrill-seeking and the limelight, they don't let that override their sense of duty and empathy. This guy, however, has a warped sense of duty and [[LackOfEmpathy no sense of empathy]]; hence, he is almost always a {{Villain}}, or at best an AntiHero.

Needless to say, has nothing to do with ChronicHeroSyndrome, which is about real heroes. Might be related to [[MunchausenSyndrome Munchausen By Proxy]]. Compare FakeUltimateHero, GloryHound.
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[[WMG: Examples]]

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Comicbooks ]]

* [[AntMan Hank Pym's]] fall from grace as a superhero began when he attempted to do this (along with [[NeverLiveItDown/ComicBooks hitting his wife]]). He has since recovered, only to have his reputation besmirched again by an impostor.
* BoosterGold is an actual hero but he's been known to do this a few times. Most major was in ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'', where he was caught red handed after Skeets kept messing up with the time certain events were supposed to be, making his scheme to use his knowledge of the future to his advantage. [[spoiler:Subverted in the end, when we find out Booster was just trying to fool Skeets, who was under the control of Mister Mind.]]
* In the "Tarnished Angel" arc of ''Comicbook/AstroCity'' [[spoiler:superhero El Hombre got caught doing this, and tries to do it again under a new identity to regain his heroic reputation]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'': This is Syndrome's problem, though the name is probably a (wonderful) coincidence. He wants to be a great and famous hero like his idol Mr Incredible, but sees no problem murdering actual heroes or attacking cities in pursuit of this, not to mention [[WouldHurtAChild blowing up children]].
* Captain Amazing in ''MysteryMen'' arranges the release of his ArchEnemy from the mental institution since he is losing his corporate sponsors thanks to the lack of crime in the city. This backfires when he underestimates his old foe.
* Inverted in ''{{Unbreakable}}'', when we discover that [[spoiler: Elijah masterminded a number of catastrophes to search for a hero, because he thinks of himself as a supervillain and needs a WorthyOpponent.]] Yes, he's [[YoureInsane insane.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature]]
* The villain in Tamora Pierce's ''[[Literature/CircleOfMagic Cold Fire]]'' is a firefighting expert whose skills are basically the only thing he has in his life. Unfortunately for him, he's been so successful at getting the fire rate down that people are starting to take him for granted and not listening to him...so of course he starts setting more fires to teach them a lesson.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action Television ]]

* ''Series/LieToMe'' did this once with an ambulance driver who changed traffic lights to cause car crashes in order to be the first on the scene; she wants to make up for accidentally causing a car crash that killed her mother and left her brother brain damaged by saving the new victims instead. [[spoiler:It turns out her brother was the one causing the accidents; she saved his victims out of guilt for what he did, and what she did to him and their mother, and he enjoyed controlling her through that guilt because he wanted revenge on her.]]
* ''Series/CriminalMinds'': A sniper from the first season who turns out to be [[spoiler:the ambulance driver]] is one of these, though Gideon refers to it as "Hero Homicide" (though, only one person actually died, and that was for imitating him). In the third season, a sheriff's deputy is discovered to have this after he shoots [[spoiler: Penelope]] to conceal his crime-spree.
* An episode of ''NewTricks'' deals with the serial arsonist version of one of these.
* In the series 2 finale of ''{{Series/Sherlock}}'', Moriarty does a very good job of framing SherlockHolmes as one of these, playing on the suspicions that Scotland Yard officers had already voiced in previous episodes, with the masterstroke being [[spoiler:Moriarty himself posing as an actor paid by Sherlock to ''pose as "[[DiabolicalMastermind master criminal]] James Moriarty"'']].
* ''{{Neighbours}}'', in 2008, had the firefighter/arsonist varient in a character named Jay Duncan, who reflects the TruthInTelevision of this trope - not only has he done this multiple times, ending up on the front page of newspapers, but he reflects the attitude that while not outright ''trying'' to kill people (and showing remorse when confronted), it's clear he enjoys the hero worship too much to stop on his own. After his fire at the park in Erinsborough kills at least one person (Marco Silvani) and hospitalises others, he's eventually caught whilst in the process of threatening Steph (demonstrating his mental instability - all photos of him on newspapers depicted him having rescued single, blonde-haired mothers with a child). However, he's pitiful at best and pathetic at worse - Kirsten Gannon (herself having shown selfish traits in the past) sympathises with the fact that "he must feel lonely" despite being angry that he hospitalised her; Carmella Cammeniti, whose husband died, makes it clear that she views him as little more than a pathetic waste of life before leaving the room, reducing him to a sobbing wreck.
* An episode of {{Smallville}} featured a policeman who kidnapped Chloe in an attempt to get credit for finding her. When that failed due to him and Lana having a telepathic connection, he decided he'd rather get the credit for solving the latter's murder...
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* ''{{VideoGame/Disgaea 3|AbsenceOfJustice}}'' has [[spoiler:Super Hero Aurum, who, after defeating an apparently ''benevolent'' demon overlord, raised his son to be the biggest villain he could achieve, hoping to return to glory by defeating him in the climactic battle. ''None'' of the NobleDemon or genuine {{Hero}} protagonists think this guy is anything better than scum when they learn this.]]
* The FanRemake of ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryII'' had hints that a previous hero of Shapier had this kind of personality. When you go to the Adventurer's Guild it has various stuffed heads of {{Random Encounter|s}} enemies from that game. When you look at one it mentions the name of the guy who killed it. Ask about him, and you'll be informed that he killed a bunch of monsters and was generally a GloryHound, but he became angry when he was "rejected" and the Guild stopped accepting all the heads he kept trying to donate. Unhappy at missing out on the adulation, he became a bandit instead. [[spoiler:Put together some cryptic clues and he'll become a BonusBoss]].
* Captain Qwark, [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor enemy, friend and all around pest]] to VideoGame/RatchetAndClank, is driven by the need to be loved and seen as a hero, with all the perks it includes. In the first game he helps the BigBad so he can be the hero of the planet Drek is making, and in the second game tries to instigate a brand new disaster to save the universe from. In later games he's settled for taking credit for Ratchet and Clank's activities. This exchange in ''All 4 One'' sums up Qwark well.
-->'''Ratchet:''' I guess parades and groupies just aren't everyone's thing.
-->'''Qwark:''' Wait a minute- BOTH of those are my thing!

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'': A couple.
** Major Man is a phony with genuine superpowers who better resembles the classic, {{Franchise/Superman}}-esque hero than the girls, and wins over the City of Townsville because of that. But most of his crimes are engineered, and he's hopeless when he thinks he's faced with a ''real'' crisis, such as a giant monster attack, making him a MilesGloriosus as well.
** Princess Morbucks is a regular member of the girls RoguesGallery and started off like this, though she's more interested in having superpowers than acting the hero and is driven more by greed and revenge.
** In the [[Anime/DemashitaPowerPuffGirlsZ anime version]], Princess Morbucks' older sister does this: setting up everything in the episode she is in, even employing the services of Mojo, along with film editing, to make it look like she saved the day as well as bested the Power Puff Girls. One of the rare cases where she actually gets away with it.
* [[{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}} Zapp Brannigan]] does this sometimes, though his plans are rarely well-thought out and they never go as well as he makes it out. More usually though he just causes disasters and shifts the blame onto somebody else.
* This happens in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansTroubleInTokyo'', used by [[spoiler:the commander of the local police. The only supervillain he ever caught was Brushogun, but Brushogun's MookMaker powers gave him limitless criminals to capture for additional fame.]]
* After an incident that causes the Brotherhood to become {{Accidental Hero}}es on ''{{WesternAnimation/X-Men Evolution}}'', they create accidents to fix and gain fame. When they set out to stop a runaway train, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere they leave after being reminded that there is a second train that will cause a collision]]. Avalanche, however, ''does'' return to help the X-men avert the disaster - after which he tells them not to expect his help again but that the Hero Syndrome won't happen again. To his credit, he was generally the more responsible member of the group anyway, though [[NobleDemon he doesn't want to admit it]].
* This is how FallenHero Captain Nemesis makes his debut in ''Ben10UltimateAlien''; to make a comeback, Nemesis arranges for disasters to thwart, the first being an attempted kidnapping of Jennifer Nocturn, and then an attack by KillerRobot Computron. Both are actually halted by Ben, and pretty soon Nemesis goes full-on villain.

[[/folder]]

** In the [[Anime/DemashitaPowerPuffGirlsZ anime version]], Princess Morbucks older sister does this. Setting up everything in the episode she is in, even employing the services of Mojo, along with film editing, to make it look like she saved the day as well as bested the Power Puff Girls. One of the rare cases where she actually gets away with it.

* The villain in Tamora Pierce's [[Literature/CircleOfMagic Cold Fire]]'' is a firefighting expert whose skills are basically the only thing he has in his life. Unfortunately for him, he's been so successful at getting the fire rate down that people are starting to take him for granted and not listening to him...so of course he starts setting more fires to teach them a lesson.

[[folder Literature]]

* In the "Tarnished Angel" arc of ''AstroCity'' [[spoiler:superhero El Hombre got caught doing this, and tries to do it again under a new identity to regain his heroic reputation]].

* After an incident that causes the Brotherhood to become {{Accidental Hero}}es on ''{{WesternAnimation/X-Men Evolution}}'', they create accidents to fix and gain fame. When they set out to stop a runaway train, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere they leave after being reminded that there is a second train that will cause a collision]].
** Avalanche, however, does return to help the X-men avert the disaster - after which he tells them not to expect his help again (which they do get in the series finale), but that the Hero Syndrome won't happen again. To his credit, he was generally the more responsible member of the group anyway, though [[NobleDemon he doesn't want to admit it]].

Hero Syndrome is a behavioral phenomenon where an individual craves the attention and [[FamedInStory glory that comes with heroism]]...and thus, creates a catastrophe to play TheHero in. It is a RealLife disorder most often found in firefighters, in cases where they are also arsonists who start fires so they can get recognition from putting them out, or similar jobs like emergency workers or the police. Usually they are also losers -- they have huge egos, but they tend to be low on the hierarchy of whatever job they have (for example, a Deputy who thinks he should be Sheriff), and thus their delusions of grandeur do not match their reality. Acting the hero thus gives them the chance to be the center of attention before they go back to their menial work.

It is a fairly common trope in fiction and serves as a textbook example of EvilCannotComprehendGood. HeroSyndrome is a symptom of Narcissism; it is pathologically self-centered, and involves a callous disregard for the victim. Someone with HeroSyndrome does not care at all about the people they are supposedly "saving" and are only interested in the glory, whereas the true [[TheHero Hero]] traditionally ''always'' cares about the people they are saving and, while they may be susceptible to thrill-seeking and the limelight, they don't let that override their sense of duty and empathy. This guy, however, has a warped sense of duty and [[LackOfEmpathy no sense of empathy]]; hence, he is almost always a {{Villain}}, or at best an AntiHero.

** Avalanche, however, does return to help the X-men avert the disaster - after which he tells them not to expect his help again (which they do get in the series finale), but that the HeroSyndrome won't happen again. To his credit, he was generally the more responsible member of the group anyway, though [[NobleDemon he doesn't want to admit it]].

It is a fairly common trope in fiction and serves as a textbook example of EvilCannotComprehendGood. HeroSyndrome is a symptom of Narcissism; it is pathologically self-centered, and involves a callous disregard for the victim. Someone with HeroSyndrome does not care at all about the people they are supposedly "saving" and are only interested in the glory, whereas the true [[TheHero Hero]] traditionally ''always'' cares about the people they are saving and, while they may be susceptible to thrill-seeking and the limelight, they don't let that override their sense of duty and empathy. This guy, however, has a warped sense of duty and [[LackOfEmpathy no sense of empathy]]; hence, he is almost always a {{Villain}}, or at best [[SlidingScaleOfAntiHeroes a Type IV or V Anti Hero]].

* ''{{VideoGame/Disgaea 3|AbsenceOfJustice}}'' has [[spoiler:Super Hero Aurum, who, after defeating an apparently ''benevolent'' demon overlord, raised his son to be the biggest villain he could achieve, hoping to return to glory by defeating him in the climactic battle. Needless to say, ''none'' of the NobleDemon or genuine {{Hero}} protagonists think this guy is anything better than [[CompleteMonster scum]] when they learn this.]]

* [[ComicBook/TheAvengers Hank Pym's]] fall from grace as a superhero began when he attempted to do this (along with [[NeverLiveItDown/ComicBooks hitting his wife]]). He has since recovered, only to have his reputation besmirched again by an impostor.
* Booster Gold is an actual hero but he's been known to do this a few times. Most major was in ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'', where he was caught red handed after Skeets kept messing up with the time certain events were supposed to be, making his scheme to use his knowledge of the future to his advantage. [[spoiler:Subverted in the end, when we find out Booster was just trying to fool Skeets, who was under the control of Mister Mind.]]
* In the "Tarnished Angel" arc of ''Astro City'' [[spoiler:superhero El Hombre got caught doing this, and tries to do it again under a new identity to regain his heroic reputation]].

Hero Syndrome is a behavioural phenomenon where an individual craves the attention and [[FamedInStory glory that comes with heroism]]...and thus, creates a catastrophe to play TheHero in. It is a RealLife disorder most often found in firefighters, in cases where they are also arsonists who start fires so they can get recognition from putting them out, or similar jobs like emergency workers or the police. Usually they are also losers -- they have huge egos, but they tend to be low on the hierarchy of whatever job they have (for example, a Deputy who thinks he should be Sheriff), and thus their delusions of grandeur do not match their reality. Acting the hero thus gives them the chance to be the center of attention before they go back to their menial work.

Hero Syndrome is a behavioural phenomenon where an individual craves the attention and [[FamedInStory glory that comes with heroism]]...and thus, creates a catastrophe to play TheHero in. It is a RealLife disorder most often found in firefighters, in cases where they are also arsonists who start fires so they can get recognition from putting them out, or similar jobs like emergency workers or the police. Usually they are also losers -- they have huge egos, but they tend to be low on the hierarchy of whatever job they have (for example, a Deputy who thinks he should be Sheriff), and thus their delusions of grandeur do not match their reality. Acting the hero thus gives them the chance to be the center of attention before they go back to their menial work.

[[AC:Comicbooks]]

[[AC:Film]]

[[AC:Live Action Television]]

[[AC:Video Games]]

[[AC:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'': A couple.
** Major Man is a phony with genuine superpowers who better resembles the classic, {{Franchise/Superman}}-esque hero than the girls, and wins over the City of Townsville because of that. But most of his crimes are engineered, and he's hopeless when he thinks he's faced with a ''real'' crisis, such as a giant monster attack, making him a MilesGloriosus as well.
** Princess Morbucks is a regular member of the girls RoguesGallery and started off like this, though she's more interested in having superpowers than acting the hero and is driven more by greed and revenge.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'': A couple.
** Major Man is a phony with genuine superpowers who better resembles the classic, {{Franchise/Superman}}-esque hero than the girls, and wins over the City of Townsville because of that. But most of his crimes are engineered, and he's hopeless when he thinks he's faced with a ''real'' crisis, such as a giant monster attack, making him a MilesGloriosus as well.
** Princess Morbucks is a regular member of the girls RoguesGallery and started off like this, though she's more interested in having superpowers than acting the hero and is driven more by greed and revenge.
** In the [[Anime/DemashitaPowerPuffGirlsZ anime version]], Princess Morbucks older sister does this. Setting up everything in the episode she is in, even employing the services of Mojo, along with film editing, to make it look like she saved the day as well as bested the Power Puff Girls. One of the rare cases where she actually gets away with it.

* [[ComicBook/TheAvengers Hank Pym's]] fall from grace as a superhero began when he attempted to do this (along with [[NeverLiveItDown/ComicBooks hitting his wife]]). He has since recovered, only to have his reputation besmirched again by an impostor.
* [[{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}} Zapp Brannigan]] does this sometimes, though his plans are rarely well-thought out and they never go as well as he makes it out. More usually though he just causes disasters and shifts the blame onto somebody else.

* Captain Amazing in ''MysteryMen'' arranges the release of his ArchEnemy from the mental institution since he is losing his corporate sponsors thanks to the lack of crime in the city. This backfires when he underestimates his old foe.
* This happens in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansTroubleInTokyo'', used by [[spoiler:the commander of the local police. The only supervillain he ever caught was Brushogun, but Brushogun's MookMaker powers gave him limitless criminals to capture for additional fame.]]

* Captain Qwark, [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor enemy, friend and all around pest]] to RatchetAndClank, is driven by the need to be loved and seen as a hero, with all the perks it includes. In the first game he helps the BigBad so he can be the hero of the planet Drek is making, and in the second game tries to instigate a brand new disaster to save the universe from. In later games he's settled for taking credit for Ratchet and Clank's activities. This exchange in ''All 4 One'' sums up Qwark well.

* In the series 2 finale of ''{{Series/Sherlock}}'', Moriarty does a very good job of framing SherlockHolmes as one of these, playing on the suspicions that Scotland Yard officers had already voiced in previous episodes, with the masterstroke being [[spoiler:Moriarty himself posing as an actor paid by Sherlock to ''pose as "[[DiabolicalMastermind master criminal]] James Moriarty"'']].
* Inverted in ''{{Unbreakable}}'', when we discover that [[spoiler: Elijah masterminded a number of catastrophes to search for a hero, because he thinks of himself as a supervillain and needs a WorthyOpponent.]] Yes, he's [[YoureInsane insane.]]

* Booster Gold is an actual hero but he's been known to do this a few times. Most major was in ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'', where he was caught red handed after Skeets kept messing up with the time certain events were supposed to be, making his scheme to use his knowledge of the future to his advantage. [[spoiler:Subverted in the end, when we find out Booster was just trying to fool Skeets, who was under the control of Mister Mind.]]
* ''{{Neighbours}}'', in 2008, had the firefighter/arsonist varient in a character named Jay Duncan, who reflects the TruthInTelevision of this trope - not only has he done this multiple times, ending up on the front page of newspapers, but he reflects the attitude that while not outright ''trying'' to kill people (and showing remorse when confronted), it's clear he enjoys the hero worship too much to stop on his own. After his fire at the park in Erinsborough kills at least one person (Marco Silvani) and hospitalises others, he's eventually caught whilst in the process of threatening Steph (demonstrating his mental instability - all photos of him on newspapers depicted him having rescued single, blonde-haired mothers with a child). However, he's pitiful at best and pathetic at worse - Kirsten Gannon (herself having shown selfish traits in the past) sympathises with the fact that "he must feel lonely" despite being angry that he hospitalised her; Carmella Cammeniti, whose husband died, makes it clear that she views him as little more than a pathetic waste of life before leaving the room, reducing him to a sobbing wreck.
* In the "Tarnished Angel" arc of ''Astro City'' [[spoiler:superhero El Hombre got caught doing this, and tries to do it again under a new identity to regain his heroic reputation]].

* ''{{Neighbours}}'', in 2008, had the firefighter/arsonist varient in a character named Jay Duncan, who reflects the TruthInTelevision of this trope - not only has he done this multiple times, ending up on the front page of newspapers, but he reflects the attitude that while not outright ''trying'' to kill people (and showing remorse when confronted), it's clear he enjoys the hero worship too much to stop on his own. After his fire at the park in Erinsborough kills at least one person (Marco Silvani) and hospitalises others, he's eventually caught whilst in the process of threatening Steph (demonstrating his mental instability - all photos of him on newspapers depicted him having rescued single, blonde-haired mothers with a child). However, he's pitiful at best and pathetic at worse - Kirsten Gannon (herself having shown selfish traits in the past) sympathises with the fact that "he must feel lonely" despite being angry that he hospitalised her; Carmella Cammeniti, whose husband died, makes it clear that she views him as little more than a pathetic waste of life before leaving the room, reducing him to a sobbing wreck.

* Booster Gold is an actual hero but he's been known to do this a few times. Most major was in [[FiftyTwo 52]], where he was caught red handed after Skeets kept messing up with the time certain events were supposed to be, making his scheme to use his knowledge of the future to his advantage. [[spoiler:Subverted in the end, when we find out Booster was just trying to fool Skeets, who was under the control of Mister Mind.]]

* Booster Gold is an actual hero but he's been known to do this a few times. Most major was in [[FiftyTwo 52]], where he was caught red handed after Skeets kept messing up with the time certain events were supposed to be, making his scheme to use his knowledge of the future to his advantage. [[spoiler:Subverted in the end, when we find out Booster was just trying to fool Skeets, who was under the control of Mister Mind.]]

* After an incident that causes the Brotherhood to become {{Accidental Hero}}es on ''{{WesternAnimation/X-Men Evolution}}'', they create accidents to fix and gain fame. When they set out to stop a runaway train, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere they leave after being reminded that there is a second train that will cause a collision]].

* ''TheIncredibles'': This is Syndrome's problem, though the name is probably a (wonderful) coincidence. He wants to be a great and famous hero like his idol Mr Incredible, but sees no problem murdering actual heroes or attacking cities in pursuit of this, not to mention [[WouldHurtAChild blowing up children]].

** Major Man is a phony with genuine superpowers who better resembles the classic, {{Comicbook/Superman}}-esque hero than the girls, and wins over the City of Townsville because of that. But most of his crimes are engineered, and he's hopeless when he thinks he's faced with a ''real'' crisis, such as a giant monster attack, making him a MilesGloriosus as well.

* ''CriminalMinds'': A sniper from the first season who turns out to be [[spoiler:the ambulance driver]] is one of these, though Gideon refers to it as "Hero Homicide" (though, only one person actually died, and that was for imitating him). In the third season, a sheriff's deputy is discovered to have this after he shoots [[spoiler: Penelope]] to conceal his crime-spree.

* ''{{Disgaea 3|AbsenceOfJustice}}'' has [[spoiler:Super Hero Aurum, who, after defeating an apparently ''benevolent'' demon overlord, raised his son to be the biggest villain he could achieve, hoping to return to glory by defeating him in the climactic battle. Needless to say, ''none'' of the NobleDemon or genuine {{Hero}} protagonists think this guy is anything better than [[CompleteMonster scum]] when they learn this.]]

* This happens in ''TeenTitansTroubleInTokyo'', used by [[spoiler:the commander of the local police. The only supervillain he ever caught was Brushogun, but Brushogun's MookMaker powers gave him limitless criminals to capture for additional fame.]]
* The FanRemake of ''QuestForGloryII'' had hints that a previous hero of Shapier had this kind of personality. When you go to the Adventurer's Guild it has various stuffed heads of RandomEncounter enemies from that game. When you look at one it mentions the name of the guy who killed it. Ask about him, and you'll be informed that he killed a bunch of monsters and was generally a GloryHound, but he became angry when he was "rejected" and the Guild stopped accepting all the heads he kept trying to donate. Unhappy at missing out on the adulation, he became a bandit instead. [[spoiler:Put together some cryptic clues and he'll become a BonusBoss]].

* ''TheIncredibles'': This is Syndrome's problem, though the name is probably a (wonderful) coincidence. He wants to be a great and famous hero like his idol Mr Incredible, but sees no problem murdering actual heroes or attacking cities in pursuit of this, not to mention blowing up children.
* ''ThePowerPuffGirls'': A couple.
** Major Man is a phony with genuine superpowers who better resembles the classic, {{Superman}}-esque hero than the girls, and wins over the City of Townsville because of that. But most of his crimes are engineered, and he's hopeless when he thinks he's faced with a ''real'' crisis, such as a giant monster attack, making him a MilesGloriosus as well.
** Princess Morebucks is a regular member of the girls RoguesGallery and started off like this, though she's more interested in having superpowers than acting the hero and is driven more by greed and revenge.
** In the [[PowerPuffGirlsZ anime version]], Princess Morbucks older sister does this. Setting up everything in the episode she is in, even employing the services of Mojo, along with film editing, to make it look like she saved the day as well as bested the Power Puff Girls. One of the rare cases where she actually gets away with it.

* [[ComicBook/TheAvengers Hank Pym's]] fall from grace as a superhero began when he attempted to do this (along with [[NeverLiveItDown hitting his wife]]). He has since recovered, only to have his reputation besmirched again by an impostor.
* [[{{Futurama}} Zapp Brannigan]] does this sometimes, though his plans are rarely well-thought out and they never go as well as he makes it out. More usually though he just causes disasters and shifts the blame onto somebody else.
* ''[[{{Disgaea3}} Disgaea 3]]'' has [[spoiler:Super Hero Aurum, who, after defeating an apparently ''benevolent'' demon overlord, raised his son to be the biggest villain he could acheive, hoping to return to glory by defeating him in the climactic battle. Needless to say, ''none'' of the NobleDemon or genuine {{Hero}} protagonists think this guy is anything better than [[CompleteMonster scum]] when they learn this.]]

* In the series 2 finale of ''{{Sherlock}}'', Moriarty does a very good job of framing SherlockHolmes as one of these, playing on the suspicions that Scotland Yard officers had already voiced in previous episodes, with the masterstroke being [[spoiler:Moriarty himself posing as an actor paid by Sherlock to ''pose as "[[DiabolicalMastermind master criminal]] James Moriarty"'']].
* Inverted in ''{{Unbreakable}}'', when we discover that [[spoiler: Elijah masterminded a number of catastrophes to search for a hero, because he thinks of himself as a supervillain and needs a WorthyOpponent.]] Yes, he's [[YoureInsane insane.]]

* LARP especially boffer [=LARPs=] with PvE is based on this concept.

* Inverted in ''{{Unbreakable}}'', when we discover that [[spoiler: Elijah masterminded a number of catastrophes to search for a hero, because he thinks of himself as a supervillain and needs a WorthyOpponent.]] Yes, he's [[YourInsane insane.]]

* In the series 2 finale of ''{{Sherlock}}'', Moriarty does a very good job of framing SherlockHolmes as one of these, playing on the suspicions that Scotland Yard officers had already voiced in previous episodes, with the masterstroke being [[spoiler:Moriarty himself posing as an actor paid by Sherlock to ''pose as "[[DiabolicalMastermind master criminal]] James Moriarty"'']].