History Main / HoldingOutForAHero

* ''''ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}'': In ''ComicBook/Aquaman1991'', this is invoked and subverted. Black Manta is confident the Atlanteans will rely on Aquaman to save them and stay out of the fight as they usually do--and he's floored when they do stand up and fight.

* In ''ComicBook/Aquaman1991'', this is invoked and subverted. Black Manta is confident the Atlanteans will rely on Aquaman to save them and stay out of the fight as they usually do--and he's floored when they do stand up and fight.
* Subverted in ''ComicBook/TheAuthority'' after the Authority retake the Carrier from their government-sanctioned replacement and have defeated the ridiculously overpowered hillbilly Seth. Because of the [[NiceJobBreakingItHero activities of the replacements]], the world faces total obliteration in 48 hours. Jack Hawksmoor not only says they're not going to do anything, he warns every other metahuman hero that he'll kick their asses if the heroes try to help world's leaders from solving the problem they were ultimately responsible for creating. It [[HandWave doesn't actually show]] ''how'' the world is saved, though.
* Explored in ''ComicBook/TheAuthority: Revolution'', where the Authority has been disbanded for three years. Member Jack Hawksmoor says that the world seems better off without the Authority.
* Averted in an issue of ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' where Jarvis goes to visit his mother, only to find a bully has been harassing the folks in her neighborhood. The rest of the neighborhood wants Jarvis to get his Avenger buddies to take care of the problem. Jarvis tells them that minor problems like this need to be taken care of by normal people. So Jarvis challenges the bully to a fight, only to start losing until the rest of the neighbors pitch in to help him.
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':

** And, as ''Battle for the Cowl'' demonstrated, Gotham does indeed become a lawless warzone the moment Batman disappeared [[spoiler: and only returns to something resembling normality (for Gotham) once Dick accepts that there must be Batman (and he's it)]].
** A large portion of the "Knight" arc (Knightfall/Knightquest/Knightsend),[[spoiler:apart from being a TakeThat at people who wanted a DarkerAndEdgier Batman]], was to point out that a huge part of the problem in Gotham was mostly psychological in nature, and that Gotham needs Batman, even a fake one.

** Justified with the reveal of the Court of Owls, an AncientConspiracy which has been controlling Gotham from behind the scenes and taking action to ''prevent'' it from getting better, bribing and browbeating those who are ever in a position to help into not doing so out of fear for their own lives. Batman and his allies are among the few people willing to stand up and try to improve things regardless.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Birthright}}'', the world of Terrenos has been fighting a losing war against [[EvilOverlord God-King Lore]], which only got worse when the Five, powerful magic users and the greatest champions of their land, decided that they were fighting a HopelessWar and they abandoned Terrenos. Their desperation is so great they teleport a little kid from Earth with no powers whatsoever because he is believed to be TheChosenOne. [[spoiler:And then said kid becomes a FallenHero and things become even worse.]]
* Averted in Creator/GarthEnnis' ''Comicbook/TheBoys'', where a team of superheroes known as the Seven try to prevent the comic's version of September 11th. The Seven fail miserably, with the moral of the story being that there are no such things as heroes.
* This trope was averted in the event of Franchise/MarvelUniverse's ''ComicBook/DarkReign'' as the superheroes were quite hesitant to defend a public that entrusted [[Characters/MarvelComicsNormanOsborn Norman Osborn]] and his band of supervillains as protectors along with the increased persecution of mutants following ''ComicBook/HouseOfM''. Thus, society will have to depend more on themselves for protection.
** Similar is to be expected in the ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel'' Universe in the face of ''ComicBook/{{Ultimatum}}'' as a good deal of the superheroes are dead, the Fantastic Four and Avengers are disbanded, Captain America is a fugitive, increased public persecution of mutants, and Gregory Stark's superhuman task force does not strike the readers as trustworthy.
* Subverted in Franchise/TheDCU version of World War II, where Hitler's TheSpearOfDestiny blocked out superhumans from entering the Axis campaign, thus leaving regular humans to fight the war.
* Averted in ''ComicBook/DistrictX'' where the New York City police department handles various superhuman threats throughout Mutant Town without help from the superheroes (although the X-Men member Bishop was a member of the police force).
* Spoofed in issue #0 of ''ComicBook/DrBlinkSuperheroShrink''. When [[CaptainErsatz Captain Omnipotent]] realizes that his never-ending superheroics are due to overachiever guilt at being the last son of Crypto, he [[HilarityEnsues cheerfully ignores people's cries for help]] so they won't be dependent on him.
* During Mark Waid's writing of ComicBook/TheFlash, it was revealed that one of the liabilities of having a superhero in your city is that people feel more at liberty to conduct dangerous experiments, thinking that a superhero will save them if things go wrong.

* In Creator/JohnOstrander's writing of ''ComicBook/FirestormDCComics'', the eponymous hero is blackmailing Earth into abolishing nuclear weapons. When President Ronald Regan asks Superman for assistance in defeating Firestorm, Superman declines ("I might stand for truth, justice, and the American Way, but that does not make me your enforcer.")
* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': Justified in a late 1970s issue, with the Hulk rampaging desperately through New York and all the regular authorities like the NYPD can't stop him. As a cameraman is getting this, he is wondering where The ComicBook/FantasticFour, ComicBook/TheAvengers or [[Characters/MarvelComicsPeterParker Spider-Man]] are to help stop the monster.
* In the first arc of Creator/GrantMorrison's ''ComicBook/JLA1997'', Superman explains why superhumans haven't done all the things the Hyperclan ([[spoiler:secretly White Martians conning the planet into trusting them]]) are doing: it causes people to be even more unwilling to solve their own problems.

* Somewhat averted in Mark Waid/Barry Kitson's 2004 remake for ''Comicbook/LegionOfSuperHeroes''. The eponymous characters describe themselves as a social youth movement rather than a super-hero team. Cosmic Boy says that the Legion exists for the purpose of their teenage followers.
* Averted in ''ComicBook/{{Manhunter|DCComics}}'' (Kate Spencer version, 2004-2007), where the titular character/prosecutor decides not to execute the Shadow Thief in hopes that the criminal justice system can ultimately deliver a just verdict/security.
* Subverted in the the alternate Marvelverse ''Comicbook/ThePunisherKillsTheMarvelUniverse'', which highlights how easy it is to kill a large number of both superheroes and supervillains (especially if you have Creator/GarthEnnis [[WriterOnBoard writing]] the [[ForgotAboutHisPowers comic]]). Punisher [[spoiler:kills off the Avengers, X-Men, Brotherhood of Evil Mutants with a teleporter device and nuclear weapons]]. Imagine how much more peaceful the world would be if the public adopted the Punisher's common sense approach in disposing of supervillains.
** This very idea was fulfilled in another alternate universe: ''ComicBook/TheLastAvengersStory''. [[spoiler:The government used superheroes to capture supervillains and then executed them.]] After that most heroes retired, and their replacement had stagnated without strong enemies until [[spoiler:Kang killed them]].
* {{Deconstructed|Trope}} in ''[[ComicBook/RatMan1989 Rat-Man]]'': superheroes exist to be of example and inspire people to step up and solve their problems, but the existence of too many heroes leads to people becoming overreliant on them, and when the people lose faith in their superheroes they're quick to place their trust into the first apparent messiah with the power to back it up... That just happens to be the BigBad, [[EldritchAbomination the Shadow]]. Hence why [[spoiler:the Shadow ''created'' the many additional superheroes ''and'' the supervillains they fought and orchestrated their fall by exposing the fact they had all been created by the same agent of the Shadow]].

** During the 1960s series, he was fighting an evil duplicate in outer space. The Kremlin was watching this battle and was wondering if it was time to ally with the United States in the fight against a common enemy.
** Subverted in ''Silver Surfer'' #5 where a space alien decides to destroy humanity. Silver Surfer's human companion sacrifices his life to defuse a bomb set up by the space alien. The selfless sacrifice convinces the alien invader that humanity has enough nobility in them to be spared.
* In ''ComicBook/TheSpectre #22'' (third series) the title character removes all the pollution that was created from him destroying the country of Vlatava and hurls it into outer space. Superman asks Spectre why he doesn't do that with all of Earth's pollution. Spectre responds that it is too dangerous for humanity to become too dependent on superhumans to solve their problems.
* Averted in Creator/AlanMoore's ''Comicbook/SwampThing'' where the eponymous character considers using his power to undo mankind's environmental destruction. Realizing that such actions would encourage further defilement of the planet and render environmentalism pointless, our hero declines to fix the environment.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** His comics have explored this on many an occasion. Supes himself seems particularly worried that the world will grow over-reliant on him and become unable to function if anything happens to him. As a result, he holds off on stopping most crimes and natural disasters; his general philosophy is that if humanity can handle it on their own, he's going to let them try. Lex Luthor pretends this is his beef with Superman... since Luthor wants humanity over-reliant on ''him''.

** The whole Superman holding back ordeal started in the Bronze age with Elliot S. Maggin's ''ComicBook/MustThereBeASuperman?'' from Superman #247. In it, [[ComicBook/GreenLantern The Guardians of the Universe]] drag Superman to Oa and tell him, point-blank, that his superheroics are causing human evolution to stagnate and to cut it out. He's shaken by it and decides to hold back on the situations that regular humans would be fine with dealing.

** Superman preached the dangers of this sort of thing to [[ComicBook/GreenLantern Kyle Rayner]] when he first got the Ion power, and was basically able to be everywhere and prevent any problem. We later see Kyle watch some firefighters saving someone, and allow them to have to struggle to do it. He almost steps in, but they make it ok, and he acknowledges to Alan Scott that Superman was right.
* On various occasions, the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit has handled superhuman threats such as Metallo, and Parasite without help from Superman.
* Somewhat averted in the ''Ultimate Marvel Universe'', where regular troops are kept fighting in wars. When the Ultimates intervened to help the US government overthrow a rogue state government, a band of superhumans known as the Liberators (supported by various nations), invaded America in response for using superhumans to intervene in political affairs.
* Somewhat averted in the ''Ultimate Secret'' mini-series, where the Ultimate Universe counterpart of Captain Marvel lends his scientific knowledge to NASA to help humanity save themselves by being able to flee from Galactus' destruction. Captain Marvel's efforts are cut short when the Kree sabotage the experimental spacecraft.
* Subverted with ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'', where V tells the public that they either take responsibility for taking down the totalitarian dictatorship or V will obliterate both them and the totalitarian dictatorship.
* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}''. The police went on strike until a SuperRegistrationAct was passed.

* Averted in ''ComicBook/WhatIf: ComicBook/{{Civil War|2006}}'' where ComicBook/{{SHIELD}}, under the guidance of Henry Peter Gyrich, kills or imprisons [[spoiler:all the superheroes and supervillains on Earth]] using an [[spoiler:army of Thor clones]]. Gyrich then goes on to [[spoiler:win the US presidency]].
* In ''ComicBook/YTheLastMan'' the leader of the Fish & Bicycle Troupe deliberately conceals the existence of a living male monkey (which implies the existence of other surviving males) to prevent false hope amongst women that some man is going to come along and save them.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Birthright}}'', the world of Terrenos has been fighting a losing war against [[EvilOverlord God-King Lore]], which only got worse when the Five, powerful magic users and the greatest champions of their land, decided that were fighting a HopelessWar and they abandoned Terrenos. Their desperation is so great they teleport a little kid from Earth with no powers whatsoever because he is believed to be TheChosenOne. [[spoiler:And then said kid becomes a FallenHero and things become even worse.]]

* In ''ComicBook/{{Birthright}}'', the world of Terrenos has been fighting a loosing war against [[EvilOverlord God-King Lore]], which only got worse when the Five, powerful magic users and the greatest champions of their land, decided that were fighting a HopelessWar and they abandoned Terrenos. Their desperation is so great they teleport a little kid from Earth with no powers whatsoever because he is believed to be TheChosenOne. [[spoiler:And then said kid becomes a FallenHero and things become even worse.]]

* In pretty much all ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games, we see [[PoliceAreUseless useless police]] and ApatheticCitizens who wait for [[PlayerCharacter some random 10-year-old]] to do everything for them.

* In ''Manga/OnePunchMan'', a very arrogant martial artist, Suiryu thinks rather lowly of heroes, who tend to be hypocritical douchebags and he has a SocialDarwinist view of life, explaining that there's really no reason to save so many innocents when random monsters will show up again and again. However, he receives a ''big'' BreakTheHaughty treatment [[spoiler: when he gets beaten by two powerful monsters, Gouketsu and Bakuzan. Suiryu is eventually driven into the DespairEventHorizon and shouts for any heroes to rescue him. Thankfully, Saitama comes to save the day. After a few OhCrap moments and a JerkassRealization, [[CharacterDevelopment Suiryu came to understand what it takes to be a hero and eventually wants to become one himself]].]]

* ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'' has a lot of this among the general populace, since they expect the summoned heroes to save them from the waves and solve their problems. Unfortunately, three of the four heroes are [[ThePoorlyChosenOne utter twits]] who treat the world like a RPG game, and their carelessness [[DestructiveSaviour tends to cause more trouble than good]], with the titular protagonist forced to pick up the slack and clean up the messes they made. This comes to a head when the [[CorruptChurch Church of the Three Heroes]] gets fed up with their constant failures and decides to kill them off and summon new heroes to replace them. [[spoiler:Later in the novel, this is explained as the heroes were meant to be summoned each a in different ritual done in a different kingdom (thus the mass summoning interfered with the choice ability of the Cardinal Weapons), and so the King of Melromarc hoarding all the heroes and founding the aforementioned heretic church as part of a revenge ploy against the Shield Hero purely out of hatred towards demihumans was absolutely irrational and petty.]]

* This trope was averted in the event of Franchise/MarvelUniverse's ''ComicBook/DarkReign'' as the superheroes were quite hesitant to defend a public that entrusted Norman Osbourne and his band of supervillains as protectors along with the increased persecution of mutants in the event of House of M. Thus, society will have to depend more on themselves for protection.
** Similar is to be expected in the ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel'' Universe in the face of Ultimatum as a good deal of the superheroes are dead, the Fantastic Four and Avengers are disbanded, Captain America is a fugitive, increased public persecution of mutants, and Gregory Stark's superhuman task force does not strike the readers as trustworthy.

* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': Justified in a late 1970s issue, with the Hulk rampaging desperately through New York and all the regular authorities like the NYPD can't stop him. As a cameraman is getting this, he is wondering where are The ComicBook/FantasticFour, ComicBook/TheAvengers or [[Characters/SpiderManPeterParker Spider-Man]] to help stop the monster.

* In ''Film/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'', while the Rangers are on Phaedos in search of the Great Power, Earth is left defenseless as Ivan Ooze finally unleashes his Eco-Morphicon Titans. As Alpha and a dying Zordon watch helplessly from the Command Center, you can hear a news reporter asking "Where are the Power Rangers?"

* Subverted in the the alternate Marvelverse ''Comicbook/ThePunisherKillsTheMarvelUniverse'', which highlights how easy it is to kill a large number of both superheroes and supervillains (especially if you have Creator/GarthEnnis [[WriterOnBoard writing]] the [[PlotInducedStupidity comic]]). Punisher [[spoiler:kills off the Avengers, X-Men, Brotherhood of Evil Mutants with a teleporter device and nuclear weapons]]. Imagine how much more peaceful the world would be if the public adopted the Punisher's common sense approach in disposing of supervillains.

** Justified, at least, with the Vah Ruta crisis in Breath of The Wild. The only thing that can begin to affect the divine beast is a kryptonite factor for the residents. They tried to solve the problem themselves already, and switched to finding someone more electricity resistant when that failed.

** Ever since the death of the former daimyo Kozuki Oden, the inhabitants of Wano are waiting for the Nine Red Scabbard who will take down Kaido and current daimyo Orochi's reign as prophesied by Oden's wife, Kozuki Toki, before dying. Publicly nobody believes it, but the Kozuki supporters are still waiting and quickly gather when the Akazaya Nine return. Orochi himself believes the prophecy and is wary of the samurais' return.

* ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'' has a lot of this among the general populace, since they expect the summoned heroes to save them from the waves and solve their problems. Unfortunately, three of the four heroes are [[ThePoorlyChosenOne utter twits]] who treat the world like a RPG game, and their carelessness [[DestructiveSaviour tends to cause more trouble than good]], with the titular protagonist forced to pick up the slack and clean up the messes they made. This comes to a head when the [[CorruptChurch Church of the Three Heroes]] gets fed up with their constant failures and decides to kill them off and summon new heroes to replace them.

* Utilized in a very dark way in ''WesternAnimation/SupermanDoomsday''. After seemingly coming back from the dead, one of Superman's first acts is to save a little old lady's cat from being stuck in a tree. However, he then gives an uncharacteristically [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech cold lecture]] to the old woman that there were larger crimes going on and that he cannot always be there for the little things that he thinks people should take care of. At the same time, he sees Metropolis as ''his'' city and even mentions his actions are for their own good. [[spoiler:It turns out this Superman is actually a [[CloningBlues modified clone]] created by Lex Luthor as part of an experiment to create an army of Supermen to serve him. However, said clone is still Superman at the core and he proceeds to stop Luthor's plan and he ultimately must be stopped by the real Superman (alive, but weakened) with help from Lois and Jimmy.]]

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVII'' picks this apart in small-scale with the LoveDodecahedron in Verdham. If Linda simply talked to [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Borlock]] and explained she loved Pepe and not his son [[UpperClassTwit Iwan]], she could easily get him to abandon the ArrangedMarriage and find some other way of repaying her late parents' debt. Instead, Linda expects Pepe to sweep in and fix everything, despite knowing that Pepe is an ExtremeDoormat whom she's forcing to choose between [[FriendOrIdolDecision her love and his family's welfare]]. Ultimately, this FatalFlaw costs her everything when Pepe decides the only way to resolve the situation is to [[DidNotGetTheGirl take himself out of the picture]].

* This trope describes the economic concept of "Moral Hazard", which is the idea that a party insulated from risk will behave differently than they would if fully exposed to the risk. The UrExample used in class is the "seatbelt law". Studies have shown that people who wear seatbelts tend to drive faster than those who don't, the idea being that because the seatbelts make them safer, they take more risks.
** This is also known as "Risk Compensation."

* Look at how many students do not do their schoolwork or turn in substandard work, thinking that the teacher will throw in a bunch of extra credit or other ways to boost the student's grades.
** Doubly funny when the extra credit work is usually harder or more tedious than the main coursework, defeating the purpose of slacking off and relying on extra credit work only.
* One wonders if more banks will be willing to offer irresponsible loans, and people will feel tempted to take them, thinking that the US government is going to bail them out as in the case of Lehman Brothers and General Motors... and the Savings and Loan crisis of the early 1990s.
** That depends on whether those institutions believe they will get another bailout, which seems rather unlikely given the unpopularity of the last one. It's worth noting that the last financial crisis didn't come about because the banks expected to be saved, but because they failed to notice the risks they were taking even when economists warned them. There was also an element of hot potato involved as the trades that caused the problem were extremely lucrative as long as you weren't stuck with them at the end.

* Averted in ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "Turn Left": [[spoiler:The episode shows an alternate timeline where the Doctor ends up dying and thus the Earth is robbed of its greatest protector in a hostile universe. However, humanity wasn't sitting around waiting for a hero but instead successfully fought off several threats that were defeated by the Doctor in the original timeline. Unfortunately, the methods and means used resulted in huge casualties that added up and led to devastating consequences.]]

* ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'' has a lot of this among the general populace, since they expect the summoned heroes to save them from the waves and solve their problems. Unfortunately, three of the four heroes are [[ThePoorlyChosenOne utter twits]] who treat the world like an RPG game, and their carelessness [[DestructiveSaviour tends to cause more trouble than good]], with the titular protagonist forced to pick up the slack and clean up the messes they made. This comes to a head when the [[CorruptChurch Church of the Three Heroes]] gets fed up with their constant failures and decides to kill them off and summon new heroes to replace them.

* In ''Manga/OnePunchMan'' an very arrogant martial artist Suiryu thinks rather lowly of heroes, who tend to be hypocritical douchebags and he has SocialDarwinist view of life, explaining that there's really no reason to save so many innocents when random monsters will show up again and again. However, he receives ''big'' BreakTheHaughty treatment [[spoiler: when he gets beaten by two powerful monsters Gouketsu and Bakazan. Suiryu is eventually driven into DespairEventHorizon and shouts for any heroes to rescue him. Thankfully, Saitama comes to save the day. After few OhCrap moments and JerkassRealization, [[CharacterDevelopment Suiryu came to understand what it takes to be a hero and eventually wants to become one himself]].]]
** The series in general plays with this trope in regards to Hero Assocation and how corrupt they can be, particularly in later arcs of the story.

** Ever since the death of the former daimyo Kozuki Oden, the inhabitants of Wano are waiting for the Nine Shadows who will take down Kaido and current daimyo Orochi's reign as prophesied by Oden's wife, Kozuki Toki, before dying. Publicly nobody believes it, but the Kozuki supporters are still waiting and quickly gather when the Akazaya Nine return. Orochi himself believes the prophecy and is wary of the samurais' return.

** Arguably, the [[AnAesop aesop]] of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWingEndlessWaltz'' is "Don't wait for the heroes, do it yourself", a point emphasized by {{Re|belliousPrincess}}lena abandoning her stance of [[ActualPacifist Total Pacifism]] to encourage the [[{{Muggles}} civilians]] to stand up to the invading army, and by [[DarkChick Dorothy Catalonia]]'s rather effective [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech Reason You Suck Speech]] to them when they still don't grasp what Relena was telling them.

* ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'' has a lot of this among the general populace, since they expect the summoned heroes to save them from the waves and solve their problems. Unfortunately, three of the four heroes are [[ThePoorlyChosenOne utter twits]] who treat the world like an RPG game, and their carelessness [[DestructiveSaviour tends to cause more trouble than good]], with the titular protagonist forced to pick up the slack and clean up the messes they made. This comes to a head when the [[CorruptChurch Church of the Three Heroes]] gets fed up with their constant failures and decides to kill them off and summon new heroes to replace them.