History Main / OutdatedHeroVsImprovedSociety

* PlayedForLaughs in ''Anime/DDFistOfTheNorthStar'' where the great nuclear wars of 199X never happened. As a result, there are no barren wastelands, no bloodthirsty bandits, and no need for Hokuto Shinken. As such, Kenshiro, Raoh, and Toki usual skills are next to useless, with Kenshiro having been fired from his job at the start of the story, and the plot revolves around the brothers competing against each other for the position of a part-time convenience store worker.

* ''Film/JamesBond'': Ever since ''Film/{{Goldeneye}}'' and especially in the Creator/DanielCraig reboot series, one of the underlying plot points of the franchise is how super-spies like Bond are seen as [[WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell relics of the Cold War]], useless because everybody thinks that drones and hackers are the way of the future, terrorism is a murkier enemy and even that Bond's [[GirlOfTheWeek preference for sleeping around]] is a representation of sexual predation. The answer: espionage will always be necessary for the defense of national security, it will never be a nice business, and believing that all of it can be done without having someone on the field is utter foolishness.

* In the first season of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', the [[MugglePower Equalist Movement]] holds this opinion of the Avatar, the one person in the world with the power to [[FullContactMagic bend]] all four elements who is usually also a world-renowned hero (or is destined to be one). Korra, the titular character, is the current living Avatar and isn't quite fully trained when all this goes down. Deconstructed, in that the Equalist Movement really isn't a movement for an improved society but an extremist movement symptomatic of a class divide between benders and non-benders that had been festering since Aang, Korra's predecessor, had died.

** This trope also applies to William Burnside, who was Captain America's replacement in the 1950s. A social conservative who was also preserved in stasis, he's [[BadPresent absolutely horrified by modern America]]. Whilst he was seen in his own time as a heroic, patriotic, and affable individual, in the modern era, his attitudes are seen as at best quaintly old-fashioned and at worst offensive, racist and sexist, with the only people who seem to share his values that "the commies have won!" being derided as bigots and hate groups. Combined with a mind [[PsychoSerum already unhinged by failed super-serum]], and it's little surprise that Burnside [[EvilReactionary has become a supervillain fighting to restore Aerica to its 1950s values]].

The setting does not have to be LikeRealityUnlessNoted, but it cannot be {{dystopi|a}}c. If the change is something modern-day RealLife considers "wrong" (everyone is now extremely obese), issues that make it "bad" must be addressed in-universe (obesity is not only attractive in this world, but the related health issues and disabilities are a thing of the past). If the change is morally-complicated, then at some point, [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope the old-fashioned character]] MUST be on the "wrong" side.

* ''LightNovel/OurLastCrusadeOrTheRiseOfANewWorld'': A century ago, the Empire branded women born with magical power as "witches", hunted them down, and killed them. One of the most powerful of these witches, Nebulis, rebeled and led her fellow witches against the Empire, forming the Sovereignty of Nebulis before she was eventually sealed away. A century later, and both the Empire and Nebulis are still locked in a ForeverWar that both Alice (a witch and direct descendant of Nebulis) and Iska (an elite swordsman of the Empire and successor of the swordsman who sealed Nebulis) wish to end to stop the senseless bloodshed. After Nebulis is released from her seal, declares her intention to destroy the Empire and everyone in it, and then attacks Alice when she tries to reason with her, both Alice and Iska realize that regardless of her actions a century ago, she's now a threat that needs to be dealt with.

** This trope also applies to William Burnside, who was Captain America's replacement in the 1950s. A social conservative who was also preserved in stasis, he's [[BadPresent absolutely horrified by modern America]]. Whilst he was seen in his own time as a heroic, patriotic and affable individual, in the modern era, his attitudes are seen as at best quaintly old-fashioned and at worst offensive, racist and sexist, with the only people who seem to share his values that "the commies have won!" being derided as bigots and hate groups. Combined with a mind [[PsychoSerum already unhinged by failed super-serum]], and it's little surprise that Burnside [[EvilReactionary has become a supervillain fighting to restore Aerica to its 1950s values]].

* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': As recently as the beginning of Queen Moon's rule (the mother of the teenage protagonist Star), Mina Loveberry was considered a hero to Mewni for fighting in its wars against armies of monsters. Times since have become more peaceful, so Mina's gung-ho attitude is thought of less favorable. When Eclipsa becomes queen, and most of the kingdom at least ''tolerates'' her pro-monster reforms, Mina becomes an outright EvilReactionary who wants her dethroned.

* Similar to Black Adam is [[Characters/XMenAcolytes Exodus]], an ancient mutant who was a knight during UsefulNotes/TheCrusades and faithful ally of the Black Knight before his dormant powers were awakened by ComicBook/{{Apocalypse}} who intended to use him as a herald. While Exodus was able to come back to his senses and stop himself from killing the Black Knight, he was entombed for centuries before being awoken by Magneto above, who indoctrinated him into the modern-day crusade of mutant supremacy. Just like Black Adam, Exodus's methods proved incompatible with the modern day and only served to get him into conflicts with superheroes. Perhaps because he is a younger immortal, Exodus has been growing out of this with time, once being recruited by ComicBook/SHIELD to lead their psi division and currently being entrusted with the critically important duty of educating mutant children in ComicBook/JonathanHickmansXMen. He's not out of the woods yet (he still idolizes Magneto beyond reason and parrots mutant propaganda about the ComicBook/ScarletWitch), but all in all he has a better chance of outgrowing this trope than most of the other character's on this list.

* ComicBook/{{Magneto}}, DependingOnTheWriter, may fit this trope during his StartOfDarkness origins. After surviving horrible atrocities against the worst types of human beings (usually [[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust Nazi concentration camps]] during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII), the young man who would be Magneto saw similar [[FantasticRacism hate-mongering]] starting to appear against [[WitchSpecies mutants]], which he himself was. At some point, he joined forces with another mutant named Charles Xavier and the two made great achievements protecting and advancing mutantkind. However, Magneto remained convinced that human-mutant coexistence was impossible and that mutants had to eventually take control from humanity. The falling out between himself and Charles and their incompatible ideologies is the impetus for the ''Franchise/XMen'' series. In particular, Creator/GrantMorrison's run on X-Men directly makes the claim that Magneto's contribution to mutantkind is over and that even the mutant populace would rather fondly remember him as an obsolete hero.

->'''San Angeles citizen''': What would you say if I called you a brutish fossil, symbolic of a decayed era gratefully forgotten?
->'''John Spartan''': I don’t know—thanks?
-->-- ''Film/DemolitionMan''

--->'''John Spartan, in the epilogue''': [To DaChief] You're gonna get a little dirtier, [to Edgar Friendly] and you're gonna get a ''lot'' cleaner... and somewhere in the middle, I think things will work out.

* Observe the Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment. [[note]]Remember: a {{dystopia}} disqualifies an example from being this trope. Thus, no matter ''what'' the characters, setting or narrative says, any societal changes that involve ethical or human rights violations ''as established by modern standards'' (ecological damage, slavery, abuse, bigotry, lower "quality of life", etc.) should be considered an automatic "downside" and thus disqualified.[[/note]]

* Observe the Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment. [[note]]No matter ''what'' the characters, setting or narrative says, any societal changes that involve ethical or human rights violations ''as established by modern standards'' (ecological damage, slavery, abuse, bigotry, lower "quality of life", etc.) should be considered an automatic "downside" and thus disqualified.[[/note]]

Someone who was unambiguously considered to be TheHero or ALighterShadeOfGrey in the past has now reached the point where their actions or viewpoint can be considered unnecessary, bigoted or even outright villainous.

They may become a [[HeelFaceTurn Heel]] or [[TookALevelInJerkass Jerkass]] after SlowlySlippingIntoEvil or suffering MotiveDecay, but they're roughly the same as they ever were. It's just that, now, their ideologies, goals or methods, which once could have been seen positively, are now widely considered outdated. At best, they've become a PoliticallyIncorrectHero. If they slip further, they can become an AntiHero who opposes TheHero or the BigGood but otherwise has [[WellIntentionedExtremist good intentions]]. However, at their worst, [[ValuesDissonance society has progressed]] so far in morality that now they're [[EvilReactionary unambiguously the bad guy]].

The setting does not have to be LikeRealityUnlessNoted, but it cannot be {{dystopi|a}}c. If the change is something modern day RealLife considers "wrong" (everyone is now extremely obese), issues that make it "bad" must be addressed in-universe (obesity is not only attractive in this world, but the related health issues and disabilities are a thing of the past). If the change is morally-complicated, then at some point, [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope the old-fashioned character]] MUST be on the "wrong" side.

This is an UndeadHorseTrope and the polar opposite of GrayingMorality. Because of that, it's far more common to see aversions, inversions, subversions or deconstructions of this trope, such as CrapsaccharineWorld, HappinessIsMandatory, GrayAndGreyMorality, GoodIsOldFashioned, GoodIsBoring, VictoryIsBoring, BadFuture, or BadPresent.

* The reason the DC version of [[ComicBook/HerculesUnbound Heracles/Hercules]] is often depicted as a villain is because society has changed greatly since Ancient Greece while Herc has stayed exactly the same and the actions that used to get him acclaimed as a great hero now get him condemned as a monster.
* ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'': PlayedWith, because in his case society may have improved, but the government running it hasn't. While he laments some things he did during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, he remained TheCape and fought for what he understood to be good in accordance to contemporary values. Helping matters was the fact that, during his day, America was an isolationist country and not quite the HegemonicEmpire it became during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. During comic book arcs that were published during TheSixties, TheSeventies and TheEighties, a lot of angst was tossed his way because certain things like UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar and a lot of corrupt government officials generated an extreme (InUniverse and out) hatred for "TheMan" and anything that represented him (like Cap). In nearly all portrayals of the character, Cap reaches a point where he realizes that his country isn't merely defending the world from evil, but has in its own its way become the problem. DependingOnTheWriter, his stories either take a GrayingMorality bent, whereas Cap is OnlySaneMan, or ''this'' trope, whereupon Cap realizes that he ''is'' on the wrong side. But really it depends on [[WriterOnBoard what point that particular writer wants to make.]]

--->'''John Spartan, in the epilogue''': [To DaChief] You're gonna get a little dirter, [to Edgar Friendly] and you're gonna get a ''lot'' cleaner... and somewhere in the middle, I think things will work out.

* ''Literature/SpeakerForTheDead'': At the end of ''Literature/EndersGame'', Ender is universally respected as the savior of humanity for his defeat of the Buggers. By the time of this sequel set 3000 years later, however, he is universally reviled for his extermination of the Buggers, who are regarded sympathetically. This shift is largely due to his own actions; Ender himself was empathetic to the Buggers, and wrote a book from their perspective that proved to be very influential.

* ''Series/BarneyMiller'': [[DeskJockey Inspector Luger]] goes out on a call with one of the detectives to catch a thief. When they do, the Inspector cuffs him and then smacks the perp around until he gives up the goods, which used to be the norm but isn't allowed any more. The Inspector's temporary partner Wojo is quite upset over this.
* In ''Series/BlueBloods'' there's a recurring theme of how being a CowboyCop was a lot more accepted when Grandpa Henry was on the force than it is now: the streets of New York were rougher and there weren't any cell phone cameras. In one episode, there's a threat to an officer from organized crime, and Henry remarks to an old friend about how in a similar situation when he was police commissioner, he sent the boys in blue out to crack heads until somebody coughed up a name. This then shows up on Website/YouTube as [[ManipulativeEditing Henry admitting to]] PoliceBrutality. [[spoiler:It's revealed later that Henry was being a PapaWolf: the officer in danger was his son Frank Reagan, the current PC.]]

* ''VideoGame/Sly2BandOfThieves'': Jean Bison is a nineteenth century Canadian lumberjack who has survived into the modern via being frozen alive following an avalanche. He is oblivious to the need to conserve natural resources as he seeks to continue his mission to "tame the wild North" via unrestrained chopping down of forests. The writers acknowledge the DeliberateValuesDissonance by having Sly Cooper mentioning that Bison would have been a Hero in his time.

* In the first season of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', the [[MugglePower Equalist Movement]] holds this opinion of the Avatar, the one person in the world with the power to [[FullContactMagic bend]] all four elements who is usually also a world-renowned hero (or is destined to be one). Korra, the titular character, is the current living Avatar, and isn't quite fully trained when all this goes down. Deconstructed, in that the Equalist Movement really isn't a movement for an improved society but an extremist movement symptomatic of a class divide between benders and non-benders that had been festering since Aang, Korra's predecessor, had died.

The setting does not have to be LikeRealityUnlessNoted, but it cannot be {{dystopi|a}}c. If the change is something modern day RealLife considers "wrong" (everyone is now extremely obese), issues that make it "bad" must be addressed in-universe (obesity is not only attractive in this world, but the related health issues and disabilities are a thing of the past). If the change is morally-complcated, then at some point, [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope the old-fashioned character]] MUST be on the "wrong" side.

* ''Film/DemolitionMan'': one of the mayor plot points is how John Spartan, your average Eighties/Nineties red-blooded American CowboyCop, is seen by everybody in the futuristic city of San Angeles (which runs on PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad) as a curiosity at best and a mindless brute at worst (they [[SmugSnake really have no problem calling him terms like]] "neanderthal" to his face). Of course, the reality is San Angeles runs on a very prissy kind of fascism and it takes someone with Spartan's will to point it out, let alone do something about it.

* ''Film/JamesBond'': Ever since ''Film/{{Goldeneye}}'' and especially in the Creator/DanielCraig reboot series, one of the underlying plot points of the franchise is how super-spies like Bond are seen as [[WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell relics of the Cold War]], useless because everybody thinks that drones and hackers are the way of the future and even that Bond's [[GirlOfTheWeek preference for sleeping around]] is a representation of sexual predation. The answer: espionage will always be necessary for the defense of national security, it will never be a nice business, and believing that all of it can be done without having someone on the field is utter foolishness.

** Party member Urdnot Wrex felt this way about his father. Decades or even centuries before the start of the games, Wrex and his father [[ArchnemesisDad came to blows]] about how to save their DyingRace. His father was a krogan hero who'd fight all the way back in the [[BugWar Rachni Wars]]. He was set in the old ways, [[ProudWarriorRace seeking to go to war with everyone]] regardless of the fact that doing so at this point would be suicide. Wrex, trying to think radically about their survival, wanted to create a more civilized society of krogan. This made him very unpopular with his old man and ''many'' of their race. In the end, his father tried one last time to sway Wrex to his side, and when Wrex refused, [[OffingTheOffspring he sprang his trap]]. Wrex killed his father and fled the planet.

* ''Film/StarTrekBeyond'': Captain Balthazar Edison was a hero of the [[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Romulan and Xindi Wars]]. When Starfleet was formed and the Federation preferred cooperation between alien species rather than waging wars, Edison, a SpaceMarine, was made a SpaceNavy captain and given an exploration ship. That, coupled with [[spoiler:being abandoned[[note]]So he thinks. In reality the Federation simply never received his DistressSignal due to electromagnetic interference.[[/note]] in uncharted territories by the society he once proudly served was the final straw that drove him mad and led him to swear vengeance, becoming the film's villain Krall.]]

[[folder:Live-Action Television]]

[[folder:Videogames]]

* In the first season of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', the [[MugglePower Equalist Movement]] holds this opinion of the Avatar, the one person in the world with the power to [[FullContactMagic bend]] all four elements who is usually also a world-renowned hero (or is destined to be one). Korra, the titular character, is the current living Avatar, and isn't quite fully trained when all this goes down. Deconstructed, in that the Equalist Movement really isn't a movement for an improved society but an extremist movement symptom of a class divide between Benders and Nonbenders that had been festering since Aang, Korra's predecessor, had died.