History Main / HeroismAddict

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A Heroism Addict is an individual who craves the attention and [[FamedInStory glory that comes with heroism]]...and thus, creates a catastrophe to play TheHero in.

The Heroism Addict suffers from [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero_syndrome Hero Syndrome]], a RealLife disorder most often found in firefighters, in cases where they are also [[FirefighterArsonist arsonists who start fires]] so they can get recognition from putting them out or similar jobs like emergency workers or police officers. 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 fairly common trope in fiction and serves as a textbook example of EvilCannotComprehendGood. It is a symptom of {{Narcissis|t}}m; it is [[ItsAllAboutMe pathologically self-centered]], and involves a [[LackOfEmpathy callous disregard for the victim]]. A Heroism Addict does not care at all about the people they are supposedly "saving" and are [[GloryHound 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 [[ItAmusedMe thrill-seeking]] and the [[GlorySeeker 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 whatsoever]]; hence, he is almost always a villain or at best a very dark-shaded AntiHero.

Needless to say, has nothing to do with ChronicHeroSyndrome or DudleyDoRightStopsToHelp, which is about real heroes. Might be related to [[MunchausenSyndrome Munchausen By Proxy]]. Compare FakeUltimateHero, GloryHound. Contrast EngineeredHeroics and MonsterProtectionRacket, where the danger is faked. See also MinionManipulatedIntoVillainy, where the villain causes someone hardships or tragedies, so they can solve them in exchange for the person's loyalty.

Subtrope of the [[SevenDeadlySins Sins]] of {{Pride}} and {{Lust}} (the Lust in this case being lust for glory and recognition).
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!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Animation]]
* ''Animation/{{Mechamato}}'': Payapi secretly sets fires so that he can put them out and be recognized as a hero for it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'': [[spoiler:Frost, Frieza's alternate self from Universe 6,]] initially seems like a [[GoodCounterpart cool and friendly hero]] who's beloved for ending wars and villainous plots all across the galaxy. In reality, the vast majority of conflicts and disasters that he stops were deliberately set up ahead of time by him and his agents. Once people are in danger, [[spoiler:Frost]] heads over and "defeats" the villains he himself created. He does this out of a mixture of extreme narcissism, greed, and [[PragmaticVillainy pragmatism]]; why conquer the galaxy when you can pretend to save it and get worshipped like a god in return?
* A minor recurring character named Sentinel Vengeance from ''Manga/FrankenFran'' is addicted to doing "good" and constantly cons people so he can appear as a hero as well as vanquish his thirst for revenge on the first two Sentinels. [[spoiler:When he suffers TheLoinsSleepTonight, he arranges for the deaths of all the people who supported him, so that he could feel self-righteous once more.]]
* Itsuki, the Bow Hero from ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'', is genuinely addicted to being seen as a selfless hero, when he's really the most vain hero of the four. The worst thing about it is, Itsuki tends to do "heroic" deeds while undercover to put up the facade that he is a truly humble hero who desires no praise for his actions. At one point, he even goes by the pretentious nickname "Perfect Hidden Justice."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* 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]].
* [[ComicBook/AntMan Hank Pym's]] fall from grace as a superhero began when, after being faced with a court-martial and removal from ComicBook/TheAvengers for his unprovoked attack on Elfqueen as she was trying to surrender, he attempted to do this by way of creating an indestructible robot to attack the team and only making it vulnerable to his stings, allowing him to swoop in and seemingly "save the day". The fact that he [[NeverLiveItDown hit his wife Janet]] when she tried to talk him out of this plan didn't help him at all. The plan failed because Janet destroyed the robot herself and everything came to light, resulting in not only Pym's removal from the Avengers, but Janet divorcing him. He has since recovered, only to have his reputation besmirched again by an impostor.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': The White Magician's shtick by the time Diana meets him is to sell stolen STAR Labs tech to low-level criminals and then fight those same criminals to protect the citizens, which leads to the perp's death in all cases where they'd have any hope of identifying him as their supplier. In one particularly cruel instance, he sold a computer to a teen that took over the teen's body and allowed the White Magician to puppet the terrified boy as he "fought" him and inflicted fatal burns on him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* ''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 childhood idol Mr. Incredible but sees no problem murdering actual heroes or attacking cities in pursuit of this, not to mention [[WouldHurtAChild blowing up children]]. To do this, he creates the Omnidroid, a powerful battle robot made to be NighInvulnerable, highly intelligent, and generally strong enough so that no one else could take it on, leaving him to stop it with the help of a remote control. [[spoiler:This backfires on him when it turns out that the learning robot "got smart enough to wonder why it had to take orders", recognizing the remote as its WeaksauceWeakness and getting it off of Syndrome with a sneak attack. Syndrome goes down fairly easily after that, leaving the Incredibles and Frozone to actually defeat the thing.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/{{Aquaman|2018}}:'' [[spoiler:Orm]] almost single-handedly disposes of the submarine that attacks his forces and the Xebellians. Except he is the one behind the attack, [[spoiler:as he paid Black Manta to get the submarine for him.]]
* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** Loki in his debut appearance in ''Film/{{Thor}}'' attempts to use such a situation as his final bid for power. [[spoiler:He brokers an agreement with his people's sworn enemy, Jötunheim and their king Laufey, to assassinate his adoptive father Odin. This act is done to deceive Laufey that Loki is his ally within Asgard. After granting them passage to the castle, Loki suddenly betrays Laufey right before he assassinates Odin and kills him, portraying himself as Odin's savior and giving himself justification to go to open war with Jötunheim]]. However the whole plot relies on Thor being stuck on Earth, which unfortunately for Loki, is not the case and his plot is exposed in front of his mother.
** This turns out to be [[spoiler:Mysterio]]'s modus operandi in ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome''. The entire thing about Elementals, his acts as a hero, his backstory, basically everything [[spoiler:was faked using holographic technology he invented for Stark Industries, along with help from his crew]] in order to make him look like a superhero [[spoiler:worthy as Iron Man's successor]].
* Captain Amazing in ''Film/MysteryMen'' arranges the release of his ArchEnemy Casanova Frankenstein 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 and gets himself killed as a direct result.
* Inverted in ''Film/{{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/NineOneOne'' uses this in the aptly titled "Hero Complex." Suspicious over a patient dying under the care of new paramedic Jonah, Hen and Chimney discover a pattern of Jonah's patients near death and saved. It seems as a kid, Jonah saved the life of his school bus driver and was hailed for the heroism which pushed him to become a paramedic. But Jonah took the wrong lessons as rather than do this to help people, he gets off on the accolades of others. The paramedics realize that Jonah is now deliberately putting patients at risk just so he can look better "saving" them. Sadly, he overestimates his skills with several of these victims dying when they didn't need to.
* An episode of ''Series/ChicagoFire'' has a man finding an infant thrown from a car in a crash. But when he pops up at another scene, they realize the guy wants to look like a hero and risked injuring the kid to place him in that place. He later throws a rock into a highway just to cause a crash and has the audacity to "help" the paramedics whose car ''was just hit by the rock'' and is arrested.
* ''Series/CriminalMinds'':
** A sniper from season one episode "L.D.S.K" who shoots people non-lethally turns out to be an ER nurse who wounds people so that he can care for them. Gideon refers to it as "Hero Homicide" even though the one person actually died was killed for being a suspect.
** Season three "Lucky" ends with Penelope being shot by her date. In the next episode "Penelope" the shooter turns out a sheriff's deputy who shot people so he could be the first one to respond and tried to kill Penelope because he thought she was on to him.
* ''Series/EvenStevens'': In "Louis in the Middle", Louis gets addicted to committing acts of heroism after he saves a kid from getting run over, and Tawny and Twitty have to try and snap him out of it before he gets hurt.
* ''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/NCISNewOrleans'' uses a medical variant when a doctor from a pharmaceutical company uses ''Y. pestis'' bacteria (aka plague) to start an epidemic that [[PoisonAndCureGambit his company can create vaccines for]], largely to generate some profit to keep them from bankruptcy.
* ''Series/{{Neighbours}}'', in 2008, had the firefighter/arsonist variant 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 ''Series/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 Franchise/SherlockHolmes as one of these, playing on the suspicions that Scotland Yard officers had already voiced in previous episodes, with the masterstroke being Moriarty himself posing as an actor paid by Sherlock to pose as "[[DiabolicalMastermind master criminal]] James Moriarty".
* An episode of ''Series/{{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.
* Some from the ''Franchise/UltraSeries'':
** The series finale of ''Series/UltramanTaro'' has an Alien Valky who brought along a rampaging monster called a Samekujira, which he unleashed in the middle of the city to capture and prove himself as a powerful hunter. But Ultraman Taro got in the way.
** Gregorl-Man from ''Series/UltramanDyna'' is an alien posing as Ultraman Dyna, who wanted fame and glory for himself, which he does so by unleashing the supposedly-deceased kaiju, Monsarger, into the middle of the city, and then single-handedly defeating Monsarger while pretending to be Dyna before basking in the glory of the cheering crowd. The Defense team, Super GUTS is able to realize something isn't right because the ''real'' Ultraman Dyna wouldn't gloat about his victory in public.
** ''Series/UltramanMebius'' has Alien Mefilas, one of the ArcVillain before the series finale, who after brainwashing the population of the city into thinking he's the true hero and saviour instead of Ultraman Mebius, then revives the monster Gromite to attack the city, before destroying Gromite in front of the civilians to prove his heroism.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/BloodstainedRitualOfTheNight'': The Alchemist's Guild, fearing its power would dwindle as the Industrial Revolution replaced magic with science, plotted to summon an army of demons to the human world and then banish them, in order to show the world there were dangers that only they could deal with. It backfired spectacularly, as they summoned more demons at once than they could control and the human world turned into HellOnEarth.
* In ''VideoGame/DeadRising3'', Kenny Dermot is jealous of player character Nick Ramos for being a hero. In an attempt to prove that he's superior, he kidnaps a woman and unleashes a zombie on her, intending to save her from it. When Nick shows up and kills the zombie before Kenny can (in fact, Kenny was too slow and the zombie would have killed the woman if Nick hadn't intervened), Kenny yells at him for "ruining his big moment" and attacks him.
* ''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 [[TheHero hero]] protagonists think this guy is anything better than scum when they learn this.]]
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' it is implied that the natural disasters plaguing Hyrule were caused by Agahnim himself, who then proceeded to use his powers to "save" the kingdom. As a result, he was hailed as a hero and the king made him chief advisor and heir to the Seven Sages.
* The FanRemake of ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryII'' had hints that a previous hero of Shapeir 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!
* The final plot twist of ''Seven Photos: The Photographic Detective'' reveals that the entire game consisted of [[spoiler: [[TomatoInTheMirror Piper solving a crime she paid the culprit to perform.]]]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Visual Novel]]
* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'' has [[spoiler:Luke Atmey, a private eye]] who is planning heists with the thief he is chasing and proclaiming his heroism upon "recovering" the stolen objects.
-->'''[[spoiler:Atmey]]:''' Unable to find a rival worthy of my genius, I was forced to create one myself! Here I am, the tragic clown!
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Webcomic]]
* In ''Webcomic/TheComebackPathOfPrincessFromMars'', we have the case of Ritter Ely. He is a psychotic noble from the terran empire who is all but addicted to the praise and glory he gets from his "heroic" public image, so when he and the protagonist Olga Perez are sent to Mars by imperial decree, he first sabotages the transport, trying to kill Olga to eliminate the competition, and then partners with a terran sleeper cell sent in advance to have said cell attack random images so he can swoop in and stage a "rescue" for the cameras. Unfortunately for him, Olga survived his little stunt and limped over to the very first town these EngineeredHeroics were to take place, causing Olga to accidentally steal his limelight as she defended herself. At that point, he goes from merely wanting to kill Olga only because he was ordered to do it by his even more deranged father to wanting to make her utterly suffer as much as possible before her death for the affront and blames her for ''actually'' fighting his subordinates on camera as opposed to merely making a show for his image.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
** [[GloryHound 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.
** In one episode where the Planet Express crew become volunteer firefighters, the others notice that Bender has been present at most of the fires and think he's been setting them on purpose so he could play hero. [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope For once, however, Bender is entirely innocent]]. In reality, the fires had been set by a fire elemental that Bender had unknowingly been harboring inside his body.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': The first thing [[spoiler:[[AlphaBitch Chloé]]]] does after [[spoiler:getting her hands on the Bee Miraculous (other than transform in front of everyone to show off)]] is to try and prove how good a hero she is by doing some {{Trainstopping}}. But with no out-of-control trains to stop, she makes one of her own by [[spoiler:paralyzing the conductor]]. She then proceeds to fail miserably at stopping it. She quite deservedly [[WhatTheHellHero gets chewed out for this]] by Ladybug, on live TV no less. [[CharacterDevelopment She gets better though]].
* ''Franchise/ThePowerpuffGirls'': A couple.
** Major Man is a phony with genuine superpowers who presents himself as TheCape in a way the girls don't 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/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.
* 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/XMenEvolution'', 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]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Nils H., a German nurse and murderer who was sentenced to a lifetime in prison after killing over 100 patients in two hospitals he worked in. He was good at resuscitation and liked the attention and praise it got him, so he purposefully gave patients who didn't need them antiarrhythmic agents and was there to "help" them as soon as they got into cardiac arrest. But all too often, they still died.
* The phenomenon of firefighter arson. Perpetrators of this crime often seek out fire services not for public service, but because it provides an arena for excitement. This excitement-based motive is often classified as "hero syndrome".
[[/folder]]

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The Heroism Addict suffers from [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero_syndrome Hero Syndrome]], 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 police officers. 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.

* Itsuki, the Bow Hero from ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'', is genuinely addicted to being seen as a selfless hero, when he's really the most vain hero of the four. The worst thing about it is, Itsuki tends to do "heroic" deeds while undercover to put up the facade that he is a truly humble hero who desires no praise for his actions. At one point, he even goes by the pretentious nickname "Perfect Hidden Justice."

A Heroism Addict is an individual who craves the attention and [[FamedInStory glory that comes with heroism]]... and thus, creates a catastrophe to play TheHero in.

* Itsuki, the Bow Hero from ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'' is genuinely addicted to being seen as a selfless hero, when he's really the most vain hero of the four. The worst thing about it is, Itsuki tends to do "heroic" deeds while undercover to put up the facade that he is a truly humble hero who desires no praise for his actions. At one point, he even goes by the pretentious nickname "Perfect Hidden Justice."

* ''Series/NineOneOne'' uses this in the aptly titled "Hero Complex." Suspicious over a patient dying under the care of new paramedic Jonah, Hen and Chimney discover a pattern of Jonah's patients near death and saved. It seems as a kid, Jonah saved the life of his school bus driver and hailed for heroism which pushed him to become a paramedic. But Jonah took the wrong lessons as rather than do this to help people, he gets off on the accolades of others. The paramedics realize that Jonah is now deliberately putting patients at risk just so he can look better "saving" them. Sadly, he overestimates his skills with several of these victims dying when they didn't need to.

* In ''Webcomic/TheComebackPathOfPrincessFromMars'', we have the case of Ritter Ely. He is a psychotic noble from the terran empire who is all but addicted to the praise and glory he gets from his "heroic" public image, so when he and the protagonist Olga Perez are sent to Mars by imperial decree, he first sabotages the transport, trying to kill Olga to eliminate the competition, and then partners with a terran sleeper cell sent in advance to have said cell attack random images so he can swoop in and stage a "rescue" for the cameras. Unfortunately for him, Olga survived his little stunt and limped over to the very first town these EngineeredHeroics were to take place, causing Olga to accidentally steal his limelight as she defended herself. At that point, he goes from merely wanting to kill Olga only because he was ordered to do it by his even more deranged father to wanting to make her utterly suffer as much as possible before her death for the affront, and blames her for ''actually'' fighting his subordinates on camera as opposed to merely making a show for his image.

** 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.

* Nils H., a German nurse and murderer who was sentenced to a lifetime in prison after killing over 100 patients in two hospitals he worked in. He was good at resuscitation and liked the attention and praise it got him, so he purposefully gave patients who didn't need them antiarrhythmic agents and was there to "help" them as soon as they got cardiac arrest. But all too often, they still died.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'': A couple.

* ''Series/{{911}}'' uses this in the aptly titled "Hero Complex." Suspicious over a patient dying under the care of new paramedic Jonah, Hen and Chimney discover a pattern of Jonah's patients near death and saved. It seems as a kid, Jonah saved the life of his school bus driver and hailed for heroism which pushed him to become a paramedic. But Jonah took the wrong lessons as rather than do this to help people, he gets off on the accolades of others. The paramedics realize that Jonah is now deliberately putting patients at risk just so he can look better "saving" them. Sadly, he overestimates his skills with several of these victims dying when they didn't need to.

* ''Series/911'' uses this in the aptly titled "Hero Complex." Suspicious over a patient dying under the care of new paramedic Jonah, Hen and Chimney discover a pattern of Jonah's patients near death and saved. It seems as a kid, Jonah saved the life of his school bus driver and hailed for heroism which pushed him to become a paramedic. But Jonah took the wrong lessons as rather than do this to help people, he gets off on the accolades of others. The paramedics realize that Jonah is now deliberately putting patients at risk just so he can look better "saving" them. Sadly, he overestimates his skills with several of these victims dying when they didn't need to.

* ''Series/NineNineOne'' uses this in the apty titled "Hero Complex." Suspicious over a patient dying under the care of new paramedic Jonah, Hen and Chimney discover a pattern of Jonah's patients near death and saved. It seems as a kid, Jonah saved the life of his school bus driver and hailed for heroism which pushed him to become a paramedic. But Jonah took the wrong lessons as rather than do this to help people, he gets off on the accolades of others. The paramedics realize that Jonah is now deliberately putting patients at risk just so he can look better "saving" them. Sadly, he overestimates his skills with several of these victims dying when they didn't need to.

The Heroism Addict suffers from [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero_syndrome Hero Syndrome]], 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 police officers. 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 fairly common trope in fiction and serves as a textbook example of EvilCannotComprehendGood. It is a symptom of {{Narcissis|t}}m; it is [[ItsAllAboutMe pathologically self-centered]], and involves a [[LackOfEmpathy callous disregard for the victim]]. A Heroism Addict does not care at all about the people they are supposedly "saving" and are [[GloryHound 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 [[ItAmusedMe thrill-seeking]] and the [[GlorySeeker 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 whatsoever]]; hence, he is almost always a villain, or at best a very dark-shaded AntiHero.

* 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]].
* [[ComicBook/AntMan Hank Pym's]] fall from grace as a superhero began when, after being faced with a court-martial and removal from ComicBook/TheAvengers for his unprovoked attack on Elfqueen as she was trying to surrender, he attempted to do this by way of creating an indestructible robot to attack the team and only making it vulnerable to his stings, allowing him to swoop in and seemingly "save the day". The fact that he [[NeverLiveItDown hit his wife Janet]] when she tried to talk him out of this plan didn't help him at all. The plan failed because of Janet destroying the robot herself and everything came to light, resulting in not only Pym's removal from the Avengers, but Janet divorcing him. He has since recovered, only to have his reputation besmirched again by an impostor.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': The White Magician's shtick by the time Diana meets him is to sell stolen STAR Labs tech to low level criminals and then fight those same criminals to protect the citizens, which leads to the perp's death in all cases where they'd have any hope of identifying him as their supplier. In one particularly cruel instance he sold a computer to a teen that took over the teen's body and allowed the White Magician to puppet the terrified boy as he "fought" him and inflicted fatal burns on him.

* ''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 childhood idol Mr. Incredible, but sees no problem murdering actual heroes or attacking cities in pursuit of this, not to mention [[WouldHurtAChild blowing up children]]. To do this, he creates the Omnidroid, a powerful battle robot made to be NighInvulnerable, highly intelligent, and generally strong enough so that no one else could take it on, leaving him to stop it with the help of a remote control. [[spoiler:This backfires on him when it turns out that the learning robot "got smart enough to wonder why it had to take orders", recognizing the remote as its WeaksauceWeakness and getting it off of Syndrome with a sneak attack. Syndrome goes down fairly easily after that, leaving the Incredibles and Frozone to actually defeat the thing.]]

* Captain Amazing in ''Film/MysteryMen'' arranges the release of his ArchEnemy, Casanova Frankenstein, 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, and gets himself killed as a direct result.
* Inverted in ''Film/{{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]].

* ''Series/{{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.

* 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.

** 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.

** Major Man is a phony with genuine superpowers who presents himself as TheCape in a way the girls don't, 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.

* Nils H., a German nurse and murderer, who was sentenced to a lifetime in prison after killing over 100 patients in two hospitals he worked in. He was good at resuscitation and liked the attention and praise it got him, so he purposefully gave patients who didn't need them antiarrythmic agents and was there to "help" them as soon as they got cardiac arrest. But all too often, they still died.

* In ''VideoGame/Persona5'', [[spoiler:it turns out that KidDetective Goro Akechi has been doing this on a massive scale for two years. He possesses the unique ability to cause someone's ShadowArchetype to have a breakdown, making the real person act erratically and dangerously. He then "solves" the crimes that he made them commit, turning him into a legendary private detective. He tries something similar on the party, by framing them for a murder that he committed and then "catching" them. Unfortunately for him, the Phantom Thieves catch on fast.]]

* [[ComicBook/AntMan Hank Pym's]] fall from grace as a superhero began when, after being faced with a court-martial and removal from ComicBook/TheAvengers for his unprovoked attack on Elfqueen as she was trying to surrender, he attempted to do this by way of creating an indestructible robot to attack the team and only making it vulnerable to his stings, allowing him to swoop in and seemingly "save the day". The fact that he [[NeverLiveItDown hit his wife Janet]] when she tried to talk him out of this plan didn't help him at all. The plan failed and everything came to light, resulting in not only Pym's removal from the Avengers, but Janet divorcing him. He has since recovered, only to have his reputation besmirched again by an impostor.

* [[ComicBook/AntMan Hank Pym's]] fall from grace as a superhero began when, after being faced with a court-martial and removal from ComicBook/TheAvengers for his unprovoked attack on Elfqueen as she was trying to surrender, he attempted to do this by way of creating an indestructible robot to attack the team and only making it vulnerable to his stings, allowing him to swoop in and "save the day". The fact that he [[NeverLiveItDown hit his wife Janet]] when she tried to talk him out of this plan didn't help him at all. The plan failed and everything came to light, resulting in not only Pym's removal from the Avengers, but Janet divorcing him. He has since recovered, only to have his reputation besmirched again by an impostor.

* [[ComicBook/AntMan Hank Pym's]] fall from grace as a superhero began when, after being faced with a court-martial and removal from ComicBook/TheAvengers for his unprovoked attack on Elfqueen as she was trying to surrender, he attempted to do this by way of creating an indestructible robot to attack the team and only making it vulnerable to his stings, allowing him to swoop in and "save the day". The fact that he [[NeverLiveItDown hit his wife Janet]] when she tried to talk him out of this plan didn't help him at all. The plan failed and everything came to light, resulting in not only his removal from the Avengers, but Janet divorcing him. He has since recovered, only to have his reputation besmirched again by an impostor.

* [[ComicBook/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.

* Nils H., a german nurse and murderer, who was sentenced to a lifetime in prison after killing over 100 patients in two hospitals he worked in. He was good at resusciation and liked the attention and praise it got him, so he purposefully gave patients who didn't need them antiarrythmic agents and was there to "help" them as soon as they got cardiac arrest. All to often, they still died.
[[/folder]]

Hero Syndrome is a fairly common trope in fiction and serves as a textbook example of EvilCannotComprehendGood. It is a symptom of {{Narcissis|t}}m; it is [[ItsAllAboutMe pathologically self-centered]], and involves a [[LackOfEmpathy callous disregard for the victim]]. A Heroism Addict does not care at all about the people they are supposedly "saving" and are [[GloryHound 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 [[ItAmusedMe thrill-seeking]] and the [[GlorySeeker 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 a very dark-shaded AntiHero.

* Itsuki, the Bow Hero from ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'' is genuinely addicted to being seen as a selfless heo, when he's really the most vain hero of the four. The worst thing about it is, Itsuki tends to do "heroic" deeds while undercover to put up the facade that he is a truly humble hero who desires no praise for his actions. At one point, he even goes by the pretentious nickname "Perfect Hidden Justice."

--> [[spoiler:Atmey]]: Unable to find a rival worthy of my genius, I was forced to create one myself! Here I am, the tragic clown!

* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'' has [[spoiler:Luke Atmey, a private eye]] who is planning heists with the thief he is chasing and proclaiming his heroism upon "recovering" the stolen objects.
--> [[spoiler:Atmey]]: Unable to find a rival worthy of my genius, I was forced to create one myself! Here I am, the tragic clown!

* ''Series/NCISNewOrleans'' uses a medical variant when a doctor from a pharmaceutical company uses ''Y. pestis'' bacteria (aka plague) to start an epidemic that his company can create vaccines for, largely to generate some profit to keep them from bankruptcy.

** 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.

* ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'': [[spoiler:Frost, Frieza's alternate self from Universe 6,]] initially seems like a [[GoodCounterpart cool and friendly hero]] who's beloved for ending wars and villainous plots all across the galaxy. In reality, the vast majority of conflicts and disasters that he stops were deliberately set up ahead of time by him and his agents. Once people are in danger, [[spoiler:Frost]] heads over and "defeats" the villains he himself created. He does this out of a mixture of extreme narcissism, greed, and [[PragmaticVillainy pragmatism]]; why conquer the galaxy when you can pretend to save it and get worshipped like a god in return?

* 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]].

* Captain Amazing in ''Film/MysteryMen'' arranges the release of his ArchEnemy, Casanova Frankenstein, 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, and gets himself killed as a direct result.

* ''Film/{{Aquaman|2018}}:'' [[spoiler:Orm]] almost single-handedly disposes of the submarine that attacks his forces and the Xebellians. Except he is the one behind the attack, [[spoiler:as he paid Black Manta to get the submarine for him.]]

* ''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/{{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.

* ''Series/NCISNewOrleans'' uses a medical variant when a doctor from a pharmaceutical company uses ''Y. pestis'' bacteria (aka plague) to start an epidemic that his company can create vaccines for, largely to generate some profit to keep them from bankruptcy.

* 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.

* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'' has [[spoiler:Luke Atmey, a private eye]] who is planning heists with the thief he is chasing and proclaiming his heroism upon "recovering" the stolen objects.
--> [[spoiler:Atmey]]: Unable to find a rival worthy of my genius, I was forced to create one myself! Here I am, the tragic clown!
* In ''VideoGame/DeadRising3'', Kenny Dermot is jealous of player character Nick Ramos for being a hero. In an attempt to prove that he's superior, he kidnaps a woman and unleashes a zombie on her, intending to save her from it. When Nick shows up and kills the zombie before Kenny can (in fact, Kenny was too slow and the zombie would have killed the woman if Nick hadn't intervened), Kenny yells at him for "ruining his big moment" and attacks him.
* In ''VideoGame/Persona5'', [[spoiler:it turns out that KidDetective Goro Akechi has been doing this on a massive scale for two years. He possesses the unique ability to cause someone's ShadowArchetype to have a breakdown, making the real person act erratically and dangerously. He then "solves" the crimes that he made them commit, turning him into a legendary private detective. He tries something similar on the party, by framing them for a murder that he committed and then "catching" them. Unfortunately for him, the Phantom Thieves catch on fast.]]

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' it is implied that the natural disasters plaguing Hyrule were caused by Agahnim himself, who then proceeded to use his powers to "save" the kingdom. As a result, he was hailed as a hero and the king made him chief advisor and heir to the Seven Sages.
* ''VideoGame/BloodstainedRitualOfTheNight'': The Alchemist's Guild, fearing its power would dwindle as the Industrial Revolution replaced magic with science, plotted to summon an army of demons to the human world and then banish them, in order to show the world there were dangers that only they could deal with. It backfired spectacularly, as they summoned more demons at once than they could control and the human world turned into HellOnEarth.

* ''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.
** In one episode where the Planet Express crew become volunteer firefighters, the others notice that Bender has been present at most of the fires and think he's been setting them on purpose so he could play hero. [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope For once, however, Bender is entirely innocent]]. In reality, the fires had been set by a fire elemental that Bender had unknowingly been harboring inside his body.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': The first thing [[spoiler:[[AlphaBitch Chloé]]]] does after [[spoiler:getting her hands on the Bee Miraculous (other than transform in front of everyone to show off)]] is to try and prove how good a hero she is by doing some {{Trainstopping}}. But with no out-of-control trains to stop, she makes one of her own by [[spoiler:paralyzing the conductor]]. She then proceeds to fail miserably at stopping it. She quite deservedly [[WhatTheHellHero gets chewed out for this]] by Ladybug, on live TV no less. [[CharacterDevelopment She gets better though]].