History Main / NeverBeAHero

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* ''Smallville''. Almost every Monster of the Week just went crazy because they got superpowers. Chloe even lampshaded it: when she became a Meteor Freak, she got afraid of going crazy or uncontrolled (her mother also had mental issues, so it wasn't just this, but...). Even Lana "Mary Sue" Lang became evil the first two times she was empowered, first as a vampire-like frat girl, later with kriptonian powers. Of course, the third time she kept the powers, but then was, happily, PutOnABus.
** This is slightly more justified/explained than most cases, as it is considered a side-effect of being exposed to meteor rock, and the reason why Clark gets to be exempt from all this is because he's an alien, not a mutant.

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** Although when John Henry's niece gained powers through the Everyman Project and became leader of InfinityInc, he complained she hadn't "earned" them. Mind you, this was less about "you shouldn't be a hero" and more about the fact that Infinity Inc. was sponsored by Lex '[[{{Civillain}} totally reformed this time, honest]]' Luthor.

* One of Columbus' rules in ''{{Zombieland}}'' is this. [[spoiler: But he breaks his own rule in the end.]]

* One of Columbus' rules in ''Zombieland'' is this. [[spoiler: But he breaks his own rule in the end.]]

** [[TheMasquerade As far as]] [[SecretIdentity we know, anyway.]]

*** Not to mention Vigilantes, which tend to issue "justice" by beating the pulp out of "wrongdoers" just short of killing them, or outright killing them simply because they may or may not have actually done a crime they were accused of and either "escaped" from being sentenced or the punishment they received wasn't enough. Then there's lynch mobs.
** Yeah, and thanks to that thousands of people die every year because the common man mixes up "playing the hero" with "giving fucking FIRST AID" or just calling or helping in ANY way other than ignore someone dying at the street sides.
*** Subverted by other cultures actively fighting this trope. Germany has both laws punishing denied help (if you could so without endangering yourself) and placing everybody doing first aid automatically under a public liabillity insurance, covering for damages you might do while trying to help. Many other jurisdictions have "Good Samaritan" laws that protect people from liability for assitance given in good faith as long as they get consent (and unresponsive victims are assumed to consent to medical care).
*** But not ''all'' jurisdictions. It's a sad but true fact that you ''can'' get into deep financial or legal trouble for doing the right thing in many places, even if you are trained and skilled in doing that thing. Predatory law lawyers and lawsuits are TruthInTelevision.
*** Unless someone has had some first aid training, it is generally not a good idea for them to try and render assistance. Most acts that seem right, aren't. A first impulse when seeing someone thrashing about in the grips of an epileptic attack would be to restrain the victim so he/she doesn't hurt herself. ''Wrong''. So is propping a person's head on a pillow, or even moving them out of a vehicle that is not on fire or in danger of falling. Add to that the fact that ''properly done'' CPR can ''break ribs'' (and the older the victim, the more likely this is; for seniors it's more or less inevitable), and you start to see that ''simple'' First Aid is really not so simple after all, and that improperly administered First Aid can kill faster than waiting for trained responders to arrive on the scene.
**** The problem comes from giving CPR when it isn't needed (i.e., the victim's pulse is present, but the rescuer doesn't find it or forgets to check for it). If someone actually needs CPR, their condition cannot possibly get any worse than it already is. They are going to die without help, so improper CPR is better than no CPR. This is one reason why AED machines are so useful; they'll tell you if CPR is needed or not.
**** The other big exception here is applying pressure to rapidly bleeding wounds. Very hard to mess it up, and with the right wounds a person can lose a lot of blood in a relatively short time.
***** Even then you should be careful. Ideally, have latex gloves to help avoid contact with the blood as to avoid potentially catching various blood born diseases if you have any open sores)

So basically, this aesop is logical when both the hero and muggle are low on the SuperWeight scale... but gets really [[DarthWiki/WallBanger plaster smashing]] when someone who by all rights ought to have been treated as a young hero in need of guidance, isn't.

* Here's a subverted/averted example. In the ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' episode "The Other Guys", Dr. Felger is a real fanboy of [=SG1=]. When he sees [=SG1=] is getting captured by Jaffa, he insists on rescuing them. Of course, he quotes their motto "Never leave a man behind", so he takes another scientist with him and they beam themselves on the Ha'tak to rescue them. Turns out [=SG1=] was deliberately letting themselves be captured and they now screwed them up. Of course, O'Neill is very angry at them for doing this. In the end though, the two are indeed responsible for rescuing [=SG1=] (as the undercover operative they were supposed to meet up with had been found out and executed) and they both get a medal (although that particular part was AllJustADream of Dr. Felger).

So basically, this aesop is logical when both the hero and muggle are low on the SuperWeight scale... but gets really [[WallBanger plaster smashing]] when someone who by all rights ought to have been treated as a young hero in need of guidance, isn't.

* MassEffect has the recurring character [[HeroWorshipper Conrad Verner,]] who really wants to help his idol Sheperd save the galaxy. Thing is, Conrad is a civilian without Sheperd's military training, and is basically an idiot high on hero worship and doesn't realize his limitations. After a brief stint at trying to be a {{Badass}} BountyHunter or Alliance officer, the trope is subverted when it's revealed Conrad's doing genuine good without being a badass. [[spoiler: Sheperd inspired him to set up a charity which is really helping all the orphans and people hurt in the wake of the first game's FinalBattle.]]

* There was an example of this in the ''SheRaPrincessOfPower'' cartoon, where one episode centered around a "lesser" rebellion member thinking she could be a real hero and stepping above her station, with disastrous results and explicit end of the show Aesop. The scariest thing was, [[WallBanger the character had actually formed the rebellion when [=SheRa's=] alter ego was still working for the Big Bad, but now she's apologizing for "getting a big head" and thinking she could actually contribute.]]

*** Subverted by other cultures actively fighting this trope. Germany has both laws punishing denied help (if you could so without endangering yourself) and placing everybody doing first aid automatically under a public liabillity insurance, covering for damages you might do while trying to help. Many other jurisdictions have "Good Samaritan" laws that protect people from liability for assitance given in good faith as long as they get consent(and unresponsive victims are assumed to consent to medical care).

** Although when John Henry's niece gained powers through the Everyman Project and became leader of Infinity Inc, he complained she hadn't "earned" them. Mind you, this was less about "you shouldn't be a hero" and more about the fact that Infinity Inc. was sponsored by Lex '[[{{Civillain}} totally reformed this time, honest]]' Luthor.

However, if a {{Muggle}}, SideKick, or some other [[WhatMeasureIsANonSuper "mundane"]] gains superpowers and tries to be a HeroForADay it will [[GoneHorriblyWrong end badly.]] Only the Real Hero is allowed to beat up crooks and save the day. Why? Because he says so.

However, if a {{Muggle}}, SideKick, or some other [[WhatMeasureIsANonSuper "mundane"]] gains superpowers and tries to be a HeroForADay it will [[GoneHorriblyWrong end badly.]] Only the [[TheRealHeroes Real Hero]] is allowed to beat up crooks and save the day. Why? Because he says so.

However, if a {{Muggle}}, SideKick, or some other [[WhatMeasureIsANonSuper "mundane"]] gains superpowers and tries to be a HeroForADay it will [[GoneHorriblyWrong end badly.]] The ''Real'' [[TheRealHeroes Real Hero]]? Is the only one allowed to beat up crooks and fight super villains. Why? Because he says so.

But Superheroes don't exist in this world, so why is it wrong to try to be one in a fantasy world anyway?

The justification (if any is given) for this FantasticAesop can be any or all of the following:
# The main reason supposedly is that any {{Muggle}}s should be TheRealHeroes, but as we all know those stories [[HoldingOutForAHero do a piss poor job of encouraging it.]]

**** The other big exception here is applying pressure to rapidly bleeding wounds. Very hard to mess it up, and with the right wounds a person can loose a lot of blood in a relatively short time.

* In the 1990 ''[[HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse He-Man]]'' revival, where a kid was given PoweredArmor. Now I can't remember the second half. Perhaps the suit did break down, or go haywire, but before that, the suit was working fine, and the kid used the power to ''save someone's life''. Know what the adults told him? He was abusing the suit, and he should tone it down.

* Another aversion in ''{{Lois And Clark}}'': When Superman's powers are transferred to Lois Lane, he (and his parents) spend most of the episode coaching her with her newfound abilities and turning her into a proper superhero. She acquits herself pretty well, though [[StatusQuoIsGod everything's back to normal by the end of the episode]].
*** Ironically, at the end of the episode Lois actually accepts Clark's marriage proposal, which makes the ''everything's back to normal'' bit kinda stupid.

** Similarly, [[MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail strange women lying in ponds distributing swords]] is no basis for a system of government.

*** The Everyman Project arc itself might be an example. The basic idea - that you can't just take someone off the street, give him some power and authority, and then send him back out to "fight for justice," however he may personally define that, and then expect that to lead to anything other than disaster - makes perfect sense. It's just that a lot of ordinary superheroes also have no formal training and answer to no particular authority, making the moral of the story some sort of reversed FantasticAesop: it's true in the real world, but if we accept that in the DC Universe, human nature is sufficiently different from the real world that leaving the crime-fighting to costumed vigilantes actually ''works'' - well, then it it becomes little hard to see why the Everyman Project might not also work there...
**** Not so hard when you remember all the applicants were being vetted through Lex Luthor.
**** Or when you consider that for every superhero in the DCU there are about 10 to 20 super villains.
**** Still it's odd that ''no'' heroes came from the project despite the fact that most of them are shown ''wanting'' to be heroes. Is there a reason that the common DC method of random selection is apparently a much better system than, you know, choosing people who aspire to be superheroes? The one, ''one'' Everyman superhero shown as a real hero was Natasha, who was already a superhero, and who lost her powers and went back to her original powerset afterward. You can tell the writers [[StatusQuoIsGod weren't permitted to change too much]].
**** You didn't really read about what happened at New Years, did you? When Lex turned off nearly everyone of his customers' powers except for his Infinity Inc.? Thousands of "heroes" died in one way or another, more were severely injured, and others were already using their powers for less than moral purposes. In the end, most of the "heroes" that remained were turned off when Lex was arrested at the end of the story.
**** Most of the people in [[LexLuthor Lex Luthor's]] everyman project seemed like they were far more interested in [[AttentionWhore being famous]] than they were in being [[SuperHero superheroes]]. That and they were completely disrespectful to the established heroes, and they couldn't/wouldn't do anything actually heroic when it actually mattered. Looking at it from this perspective, the whole thing may have actually been a giant stealth aesop about people on reality television.

The real reason for the existence of this trope is that if lots of people gain powers and become superheroes, then it steals some of the main characters thunder. They become less special, unique, and one-of-a-kind. Never mind that even if [[TopTen everyone in the setting]] [[{{Legion Of Super-Heroes}} had powers or gadgets]] it can be a compelling read, some authors must have felt insecure enough about this that they kept reusing this trope. Subverting this often leads to an expanding cast that might turn into a HeroesUnlimited or TheChosenMany, or even grounds for a spinoff.

The real reason for the existence of this trope is that if lots of people gain powers and become superheroes, then it steals some of the main characters thunder. They become less special, unique, and one-of-a-kind. Never mind that even if [[TopTen everyone in the setting]] [[LegionOfSuperheroes had powers or gadgets]] it can be a compelling read, some authors must have felt insecure enough about this that they kept reusing this trope. Subverting this often leads to an expanding cast that might turn into a HeroesUnlimited or TheChosenMany, or even grounds for a spinoff.

* This was, for the most, completely avoided in the ''GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse''. It was even remarked upon by in-universe scientists studying the hows and whys of superpowers that only about a half of the people who ended up empowered possessed powers that were... well... ''powerful'' enough to become superheroes or villains, and out of that half, only about a third ever did. The rest either did nothing with the powers, or found some other purpose for them (like the super-strong "forklift operator" who didn't need a forklift, or the faith-healing televangelist who could actually heal).