History Main / NeverBeAHero

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. Buffy's little sister Dawn asks to help out with the slaying.
-->'''Buffy:''' Dawn, I work very hard to keep you away from that stuff. I don't want you around dangerous things that can kill you.\\

* ''ComicBook/DCComicsBombshells'': Harper Row is a teenage fangirl of Batwoman, and one time jumped into one of her battles and helped knock out the bad guys. Batwoman thanked her for the assist and gave her an autograph, but told her to go home and leave the crime fighting to the adults. She didn't listen. When Batwoman was enlisted into World War II, Harper formed a team called the Batgirls to protect Gotham City in her absence.

** Sheriff Robert Gualtieri, fed up with how the media were misconstruing things, was forced to hold a press conference and release the unedited dashcam footage directly to the public on his agency's YouTube channel to refute the media's claims.

** There was perhaps some [[JustifiedTrope justification]] for Superman getting her to sit things out for a while- she wasn't nearly as powerful as him, and came uncomfortably close to getting herself killed on multiple occasions. After she had gotten a bit more acclimated to her powers and Earth in general, she ''did'' get into the game in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'', and with her cousin's full support.

* ''Fanfic/AManOfIron'': Ned Stark disapproves of Iron Man's vigilante actions. Not only is it illegal, but he's worried that people, especially untrained peasants, will be inspired to imitate him, which will lead them getting killed. Ned says the proper procedure to dealing with crimes is to report them to the king or lord so that they and their knights can deal with it.

There are other out-of-universe effects depending on the medium: in live action TV, film video games etc., this means more coding, more (voice) actors, more special effects, etc. It's a lot more time and a lot more money and the budget might not stretch far enough to cover it. It's simpler to stay on one hero.

* In ''Manga/ACertainScientificRailgun'', Kuroko Shirai constantly scolds Mikoto Misaka and the others whenever they save the day, saying civilians should stay back and leave the heroics to members of Judgment or Anti-Skill. Mikoto and the others just ignore her, since Judgment and Anti-Skill [[TheCavalryArrivesLate are almost always late to crimes and disasters]]. Also, Mikoto is more powerful and mature than Kuroko and her help is often essential.

* Completely averted by John Henry Irons, AKA ComicBook/{{Steel}}. When Franchise/{{Superman}} saved his life he asked how he could repay him and got the answer "live a life worth saving". So he builds PoweredArmor and uses it to become a Superhero. He remains a respected member of the superhero community to this day. Although when John Henry's niece gained powers through the Everyman Project and became leader of ComicBook/InfinityInc, he complained she hadn't "earned" them. This was less about "you shouldn't be a hero" and more about the fact that Infinity Inc. was sponsored by Lex '[[FalselyReformedVillain reformed this time, honest]]' Luthor. There ''was'' a little bit of "you're not mature or responsible enough to be a hero yet", before she went to Luthor, in Steel's actions, but in his defense Natasha herself demonstrated that he wasn't ''entirely'' wrong about this. For example, she seemed to only be interested in the "beating up the bad guys" part of being a superhero and considered helping civilians rebuilt a wrecked city to be a waste of a hero's time. On the other hand, when he was at one point thought dead, Natasha picked up his hammer and triggered a fantastic recorded message saying "I don't want you to be a superhero like me, it's too dangerous, but since you'll probably ignore me, I rigged all my gear to answer to you. You'll be great." But then, [[LegacyCharacter taking up the]] [[TakingUpTheMantle mantle]] is a slightly different situation in Franchise/TheDCU.

** Played with in the Silver Age. When Kara Zor-El arrived on Earth, Superman insisted that his cousin kept her existence secret for a while during which he trained her. And she wasn't to operate openly until he gave his say-so. However he was kind of justified: she was a recently-orphaned teen ''PhysicalGod'' who needed desperately some kind of stability as she got used to her new life and learnt to use her godlike powers, several -imaginary and canonical- stories showed why being Superman's secret emergency-weapon was a good idea, and when he finally revealed her existence to the world, he stressed that his cousin was his ''partner'', no his sidekick.

* Syndrome from ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles''. Tries to be a superhero using technology, turns into the BigBad. Really, this trope is what "Incrediboy" ''thinks'' Mr. Incredible is invoking on him when all that's actually happened is that he's caught his idol at the worst possible time to introduce himself as his new sidekick without asking and messed up said introduction to boot. And then he in turn decides to take that rejection in the worst possible way. He still had his technological genius and all, he ''could'' simply have tried again under better circumstances...but no, he simply decided to {{rage quit}} right then and there.

* One of Columbus' biggest rules in ''Film/{{Zombieland}}'' is ''Don't be a hero''. [[spoiler:But he breaks his own rule in the end.]]

* Averted in Literature/TheBible, book of Mark 9:38-41. When told by John that the apostles had stopped a man driving out demons in his name, Jesus tells them not to.
** And then played straight with Simon Magus in Acts 8:9-24, because he wanted to ''buy'' that kind of power.

** Other stories involving Batman will actually ''invert'' this trope to a limited extent. Batman frightens criminals, but most of Gotham's normal, law-abiding citizens take him as an inspiration to be courageous in smaller ways, such as standing up to corruption and violence found all around the city. One memorable moment from ''ComicBook/DarkKnightReturns'' shows an older man who's not sure how to feel about the stories of Batman's vigilantism in the newspaper... and then to his own surprise feels emboldened enough to help a woman being mugged outside his store.

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 character's thunder. They become less special, unique, and one-of-a-kind. Never mind that even if [[ComicBook/TopTen everyone in the setting]] [[Comicbook/{{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. Averting this often leads to an expanding cast that might turn into a HeroesUnlimited or TheChosenMany, or even grounds for a spinoff.

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

* Several years prior to the beginning of ''ComicBook/PowerGirl'' story ''Fanfic/AForceOfFour'', Lyta wanted to quit college and become the next ''Franchise/WonderWoman''. Her mother' retort was: "Like Hell". She would not allow it until Lyta was of legal age.

There's a strange DoubleStandard regarding superheroics. Most superheroes [[HowToGiveACharacterSuperpowers get their powers by accident]] and choose to use them for good with little to no training beforehand. This is what makes them {{Heroes}}.

** Similarly, in situations where civilians have involved themselves in stopping a crime in progress, it's common to hear a police spokesperson cautiously congratulate the person's bravery whilst still stressing that ordinary civilians should leave the crime-fighting to the police, as the police have undergone extensive training to deal with such situations in a way as to make sure that as few people as possible are killed or injured in doing so, and most civilians haven't. The police can't stop every crime in progress, but that is ''not'' a license to take rash actions.
** Although, when taken too far, this leads to BystanderSyndrome.

* The Pinellas County Sheriff's Department in Florida became the subject of controversy for this. To elaborate:
** In the early hours of March 31, 2016, one of their cruisers chased down a car that had been stolen by three teenage girls with lengthy criminal records. Said stolen car went off the road and into a swamp, where it sank rapidly and became mired in the mud and vegetation, and the three girls drowned.
** Many in the public and the media criticized the deputies for not trying to mount a rescue attempt, especially since the media outlets chose what footage to show in order to stir up controversy. The media alleged that deputies failed to make any effort to rescue the teens [[ManipulativeEditing while deliberately omitting from their coverage dashcam video which confirmed the deputies' statements]].
** Sheriff Robert Gualtieri, fed up with how the media were misconstruing things, was forced to hold a press conference and release the unedited dashcam footage directly to the public on his agency's YouTube channel to refute the media's claims.
** The full videos showed that deputies stripped down in an attempt to enter the water. In the edited videos, the deputies were supposedly shown standing or sitting around casually discussing watching the girls struggling in the car. The unedited video showed that the deputies were only doing this once it became apparent that they could not reach the vehicle, and they were explaining the situation to deputies who had just arrived on the scene. The vehicle had been driven into the middle of an overgrown, muddy bottomed 15-foot deep Florida pond at 3:30 in the morning. That is a nearly impossible situation to attempt a rescue from, due to the inability to see and the possibility of alligators being in the area. It took a team of trained divers along with a heavy-duty wrecker several hours in daylight to get the vehicle and the three trapped girls out of the pond. The muddy bottom and the overgrown vegetation made entry into the water by deputies impossible. And even if they had been able to reach the vehicle somehow, by the time they would have been able to make there, the survival prospects for the vehicle occupants was zero.

*** The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Department in 2016 became the subject of controversy when one night, one of their cruisers chased down a car that had been stolen by three teenagers with lengthy criminal records. Said stolen car went off the road and into a swamp, where it sank, killing the three inside. Many criticized the police for not trying to mount a rescue attempt, when in fact they did, but turned back because of the conditions in the swamp, since a common sense rule of rescuing a drowning victim is that you don't attempt a rescue when doing so could make yourself a victim.

* Completely averted by John Henry Irons, AKA {{Steel}}. When Franchise/{{Superman}} saved his life he asked how he could repay him and got the answer "live a life worth saving". So he builds PoweredArmor and uses it to become a Superhero. He remains a respected member of the superhero community to this day. Although when John Henry's niece gained powers through the Everyman Project and became leader of ComicBook/InfinityInc, he complained she hadn't "earned" them. This was less about "you shouldn't be a hero" and more about the fact that Infinity Inc. was sponsored by Lex '[[FalselyReformedVillain reformed this time, honest]]' Luthor. There ''was'' a little bit of "you're not mature or responsible enough to be a hero yet", before she went to Luthor, in Steel's actions, but in his defense Natasha herself demonstrated that he wasn't ''entirely'' wrong about this. For example, she seemed to only be interested in the "beating up the bad guys" part of being a superhero and considered helping civilians rebuilt a wrecked city to be a waste of a hero's time. On the other hand, when he was at one point thought dead, Natasha picked up his hammer and triggered a fantastic recorded message saying "I don't want you to be a superhero like me, it's too dangerous, but since you'll probably ignore me, I rigged all my gear to answer to you. You'll be great." But then, [[LegacyCharacter taking up the]] [[TakingUpTheMantle mantle]] is a slightly different situation in Franchise/TheDCU.

# Only the hero has the moral fiber to resist succumbing to TheDarkSide. Anyone else will quickly get drunk with power and become a [[MonsterOfTheWeek Villain Of The Week.]]

** Interestingly, there was one case where he did this not because of his "This is My City" but because of the sad circumstances of the guise the person was taking. During a team-up with ComicBook/DeathstrokeTheTerminator, a former GCPD officer named Pat Trayce came into possession of the costume of the Vigilante, a ComicBook/ThePunisher-styled vigilante whose last name bearer, Adrian Chase, ended up being DrivenToSuicide in his mission. Batman suggested that she just dump the costume and the name in some sewer and let it rot before it took her, too. She didn't and, surprisingly, she's still alive.

* Completely averted by John Henry Irons, AKA {{Steel}}. When Franchise/{{Superman}} saved his life he asked how he could repay him and got the answer "live a life worth saving". So he builds PoweredArmor and uses it to become a Superhero. He remains a respected member of the superhero community to this day. Although when John Henry's niece gained powers through the Everyman Project and became leader of ComicBook/InfinityInc, he complained she hadn't "earned" them. This was less about "you shouldn't be a hero" and more about the fact that Infinity Inc. was sponsored by Lex '[[CivilianVillain reformed this time, honest]]' Luthor. There ''was'' a little bit of "you're not mature or responsible enough to be a hero yet", before she went to Luthor, in Steel's actions, but in his defense Natasha herself demonstrated that he wasn't ''entirely'' wrong about this. For example, she seemed to only be interested in the "beating up the bad guys" part of being a superhero and considered helping civilians rebuilt a wrecked city to be a waste of a hero's time. On the other hand, when he was at one point thought dead, Natasha picked up his hammer and triggered a fantastic recorded message saying "I don't want you to be a superhero like me, it's too dangerous, but since you'll probably ignore me, I rigged all my gear to answer to you. You'll be great." But then, [[LegacyCharacter taking up the]] [[TakingUpTheMantle mantle]] is a slightly different situation in Franchise/TheDCU.

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 character's thunder. They become less special, unique, and one-of-a-kind. Never mind that even if [[TopTen everyone in the setting]] [[Comicbook/{{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. Averting this often leads to an expanding cast that might turn into a HeroesUnlimited or TheChosenMany, or even grounds for a spinoff.

* Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}: Played with in the Silver Age. When Kara Zor-El arrived on Earth, Superman insisted that his cousin kept her existence secret for a while during which he trained her. And she wasn't to operate openly until he gave his say-so. However he was kind of justified: she was a recently-orphaned teen ''PhysicalGod'' who needed desperately some kind of stability as she got used to her new life and learnt to use her godlike powers, several -imaginary and canonical- stories showed why being Superman's secret emergency-weapon was a good idea, and when he finally revealed her existence to the world, he stressed that his cousin was his ''partner'', no his sidekick.

* ''Franchise/MassEffect'' has the recurring character [[HeroWorshipper Conrad Verner]], who really wants to help his idol Shepard save the galaxy. Thing is, Conrad is a civilian without Shepard's military training, and is 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: Shepard 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.]]

* The premise of ''Film/SkyHigh'' is this trope being applied to high school cliques-- the popular kids with the cool powers get to be heroes, the [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway freaks and geeks]] get swept under the [[SidekickGlassCeiling Hero Support Glass Ceiling]].

* Completely averted by John Henry Irons, AKA {{Steel}}. When {{Superman}} saved his life he asked how he could repay him and got the answer "live a life worth saving". So he builds PoweredArmor and uses it to become a Superhero. He remains a respected member of the superhero community to this day. Although when John Henry's niece gained powers through the Everyman Project and became leader of ComicBook/InfinityInc, he complained she hadn't "earned" them. This was less about "you shouldn't be a hero" and more about the fact that Infinity Inc. was sponsored by Lex '[[CivilianVillain reformed this time, honest]]' Luthor. There ''was'' a little bit of "you're not mature or responsible enough to be a hero yet", before she went to Luthor, in Steel's actions, but in his defense Natasha herself demonstrated that he wasn't ''entirely'' wrong about this. For example, she seemed to only be interested in the "beating up the bad guys" part of being a superhero and considered helping civilians rebuilt a wrecked city to be a waste of a hero's time. On the other hand, when he was at one point thought dead, Natasha picked up his hammer and triggered a fantastic recorded message saying "I don't want you to be a superhero like me, it's too dangerous, but since you'll probably ignore me, I rigged all my gear to answer to you. You'll be great." But then, [[LegacyCharacter taking up the]] [[TakingUpTheMantle mantle]] is a slightly different situation in Franchise/TheDCU.
* [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] ComicBook/LoisLane used to get powers all the time, and every time there was an Aesop that she couldn't use them properly, with a huge unspoken "Because she's a ''[[StayInTheKitchen girl]]''". In fact, check out SuperDickery or the picture in ContagiousPowers for an idea of what Lois (and Lana) would typically do when they got powers.
** The website [[http://www.superdickery.com/ Superdickery's]] truly lethal DrinkingGame based around taking a shot every time ComicBook/JimmyOlsen [[SuperPowerSillyPutty gets superpowers.]]

** An argument can be made that Gotham is ''not'' a city that most heroes can operate in, however. This is not a city with people like Lex Luthor, who causes collateral damage, or Gorilla Grodd with his temporary and easily-fixed MindControl. Gotham has villains like the Joker, who kidnaps dozens of babies ''just because he enjoys screwing with Batman,'' or Killer Croc, a cannibal with monstrous strength. Batman's villains may not be high on the totem pole of supervillain ''power,'' but they're the reigning champions as far as terrifying and squick-inducing go. There's the added bonus that it typically requires intelligence to stop their plans in time. Sure, Superman ''could'' catch Joker--but if the Joker knew he would be facing off against Superman ahead of time, could the Big Blue Boyscout do it quickly enough to stop his plan or save the hostages?

*** There was perhaps some [[JustifiedTrope justification]] for Superman getting her to sit things out for a while- she wasn't nearly as powerful as him, and came uncomfortably close to getting herself killed on multiple occasions. After she had gotten a bit more acclimated to her powers and Earth in general, she ''did'' get into the game in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'', and with her cousin's full support.

* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' had a case of this. As {{Supergirl}} has all the powers of Superman, and a love for the big city, yet Superman still forces her to live her life on the Smallville farm under a secret identity (even though such an identity is even MORE useless for her).

*** There was perhaps some [[JustifiedTrope justification]] for Superman getting her to sit things out for a while- she wasn't nearly as powerful as him, and came uncomfortably close to getting herself killed on multiple occasions. After she had gotten a bit more acclimated to her powers and Earth in general, she ''did'' get into the game in ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', and with her cousin's full support.

* Completely averted by John Henry Irons, AKA {{Steel}}. When {{Superman}} saved his life he asked how he could repay him and got the answer "live a life worth saving". So he builds PoweredArmor and uses it to become a Superhero. He remains a respected member of the superhero community to this day. Although when John Henry's niece gained powers through the Everyman Project and became leader of ComicBook/InfinityInc, he complained she hadn't "earned" them. This was less about "you shouldn't be a hero" and more about the fact that Infinity Inc. was sponsored by Lex '[[CivilianVillain reformed this time, honest]]' Luthor. There ''was'' a little bit of "you're not mature or responsible enough to be a hero yet", before she went to Luthor, in Steel's actions, but in his defense Natasha herself demonstrated that he wasn't ''entirely'' wrong about this. For example, she seemed to only be interested in the "beating up the bad guys" part of being a superhero and considered helping civilians rebuilt a wrecked city to be a waste of a hero's time. On the other hand, when he was at one point thought dead, Natasha picked up his hammer and triggered a fantastic recorded message saying "I don't want you to be a superhero like me, it's too dangerous, but since you'll probably ignore me, I rigged all my gear to answer to you. You'll be great." But then, [[LegacyCharacter taking up the]] [[TakingUpTheMantle mantle]] is a slightly different situation in [[DCComics the DCU]].