History Main / SuperHeroParadox

Superheroes try to protect the world, but in the long term, they ''seem'' to make the world ''more'' dangerous.

* HeroInsurance -- The collateral damage that ensues is nothing to scoff at regarding the average citizen.
* HoldingOutForAHero -- The existence of superheroes inspires helplessness and/or recklessness among the civilians.
* ThePerilsOfBeingTheBest -- The better you are the more people will want to challenge you, seeking the glory and fame they will get if they defeat you.

To wit, [[CashCowFranchise as long as the hero's comic books continue to sell]], the company will continue to pump them out. And since most superhero comics are based around the Fight Against Evil, continued production of the comics necessitates [[StatusQuoIsGod the continued existence]] of Evil to be fought. [[SequelEscalation And as subsequent installments try to outdo their predecessors]], the threats grow ''[[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil worse]]'' over time: TheCape starts off by saving the CityOfAdventure from mobsters and bank robbers; but after a hundred issues, he's fighting planet-destroying aliens, would-be world-conquerors and mass-murdering lunatics. And of course, those aliens and conquerors and lunatics themselves [[EvilIsCool become popular among fans]], meaning that [[JokerImmunity they can't be killed off, retire from supervillainy, or otherwise cease activity]] without a loss in sales.

Pretty much ''every'' {{Long Runner|s}} superhero franchise has experienced this issue to some degree; consequently a number of them have [[DiscussedTrope discussed]] it in-universe. Rarely, if ever, is the idea that the villains could be responsible for their own actions addressed. And of course, all it takes is ''one'' OutsideContextProblem whose appearance the hero ''obviously did not provoke'' to debunk the complaint: once the hero's presence has been directly responsible for Earth not getting [[PlanetEater eaten]] by the local [[Characters/MarvelComicsGalactus Galactus]] {{expy}}, then the statement "We'd have been better off if you'd never shown up!" becomes ridiculous. Constant superpowered battle is bad, but planetary annihilation is worse.[[note]] Although FridgeLogic can still kick in with how ''common'' world- and cosmic-scale threats seem to become once superheroes are around. Earth somehow managed to survive four billion years or so (or about 10,000, if you're only counting from the start of human civilisation) despite the existence of such threats, and yet the heroes still wind up fighting them every other month. [[/note]] Even if superheroes are acquitted of causing these dangers, they may still get accused of influencing the populace into HoldingOutForAHero.

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': Zigzagged. The introduction of superpowers or "quirks" into the world resulted in superpowered individuals exploiting their gifts to commit crimes. Superheroes and Superhero Agencies emerged as a means of responding to this new threat but over the years the title of Superhero became one of prestige and celebrity. This clearly tarnished much of the noble veneer of the role of 'hero' and inspired new villains with both [[Main/WellIntentionedExtremist sympathetic]] and [[Main/NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist less-sympathic]] motives to either emerge in response to the corruption or exploit the corruption for their own agenda.

** DoubleSubversion with Pilaf. Goku has thwarted his plans to conquer the world time and again. However, Pilaf's final plan ends up freeing King Piccolo, who proves to be a worse threat than all of Goku's previous villains put together.

** In [[Film/{{Transformers}} the first movie]], this is inverted. The Decepticons are on Earth ''first'', seeking Megatron, who was seeking the [=AllSpark=]. The only Autobot on Earth was Bumblebee, who was keeping a low profile. The other Autobots arrive to stop the Decepticons.

* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':While Characters/{{Superman|TheCharacter}} is a magnet for criminals and alien powerhouses, it's worth noting that the "normal" human [[Characters/SupermanJimmyOlsen Jimmy Olsen]] is not harmless. Marvel's Rick Jones is an even more blatant counterpart. Superman is an interesting case, as (at least in current continuity) most of his biggest enemies were entrenched long before he arrived on the scene ([[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]], [[Characters/SupermanBrainiacCharacter Brainiac]], [[Characters/NewGodsDarkseid Darkseid]], Zod, Intergang) or created to dick with him personally ([[Characters/SupermanBizarro Bizarro]], Metallo). Also the ones that already were there (the aforementioned Darkseid and [[Characters/DCComicsMongul Mongul]] come to mind, along many, many others) took interest in Earth ''because'' of Superman.

* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': The Characters/{{Incredible Hulk|Bruce Banner}} brought this up in ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk: Gamma Corps'', while talking down the team sent to kill him. He mentioned that the greatest threats Earth had ever faced, namely Dormammu, [[Characters/MarvelComicsGalactus Galactus]], and [[Characters/MarvelComicsUltron Ultron]], had nothing to do with him. Dormammu was usually chasing ComicBook/DoctorStrange, [[Characters/FantasticFourTheFantasticFour Reed Richards]] had actually brought Galactus back to life so he could keep eating planets, and ComicBook/AntMan had built Ultron. Comparatively, the threat the Hulk posed at his worst and the threat his whole RoguesGallery posed to the world combined didn't add up to the threat posed by a single one of those guys. Though it's worth noting that at least in Galactus' case, [[NecessarilyEvil his existence is necessary for the universe to function properly]].

* Being averted in ''Series/{{Gotham}}''. Unlike most portrayals of Batman where he starts out his career fighting regular criminals and corruption then builds up his Rogue's Gallery of supervillains, the show has the supervillains arriving well before: the Penguin is already a crime boss, Zsasz is a mob enforcer/serial killer, Edward Nygma has already gone nuts and is becoming the Riddler, and at least one character hinted to become the Joker is already an axe-crazy murderer. In the show's universe, it appears it will be the existence of the villains that will create the need for the Dark Knight.
* Claimed for ''property'' damage in ''Series/{{Supergirl|2015}}'', with Maxwell Lord (who, admittedly, is a very UnreliableNarrator) saying that they have risen dramatically in Metropolis since Superman's arrival, and arguing that National City does not need the Metropolis problem. The actual villains are a bit more complicated -- they do seem to be on Earth as an indirect result of Kara, but it was completely unrelated to her actual superheroing (they just followed her pod out of the Phantom Zone once it get loose and headed for Earth again -- twelve years before she even decided to be a superhero). It was instead the villains' escalating actions that triggered Kara making her superheroing entrance. On the other hand, Project Cadmus has started to create supervillains in direct opposition to Superman and Supergirl. Also, White Martians arriving to Earth tend to follow J'onn J'onzz, the last Green Martian [[spoiler:or M'gann M'orzz, a repentant White Martian]]. Played straight in Season 4, as Agent Liberty was created by his life gradually being ruined by all the alien stuff (previously, he was a firm supporter of alien rights), and Mercy Graves continues the work Lex started.

* Lampshaded by Deke in ''Series/AgentsOfShield'' when they're trying to get him to rejoin Shield and go on a mission to, surprise surprise, save the world again:
--> '''Deke:''' You know, you guys are like... you're like doomsday magnets that's just attracting all this negative energy, and it's because you're vibrations are off! You know, I got a shaman. He could probably help you out with some of this stuff. I had this lower-back pain and--
--> '''Mack:''' ''Stop.'' Please, just... stop.
* [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] in ''Series/{{The Boys|2019}}''. As opposed to the [[ComicBook/TheBoys comic continuity]], the SuperSerum Compound V is much more secret and restricted, leading to a far lower [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual metahuman]] population with no costumed supervillains whatsoever. [[EngineeredHeroics To remedy this]] [[BewareTheSuperman for the sake of his own vanity]], [[BigBad Homelander]] began handing out Compound V to terrorist organizations around the world while badgering [[EvilInc Vought]]'s marketing team to call them [[InsistentTerminology supervillains]] as opposed to "super terrorists".
* ''Series/{{The Umbrella Academy|2019}}'' has a few examples of this. Reginald Hargreeves, in his apparent attempts to safeguard the world and prevent the apocalypse, [[spoiler: actually causes the apocalypse, by abusing the Academy members, suppressing Vanya's powers, and humiliating Harold Jenkins]]. As for the Hargreeves, their attempts to prevent the apocalypse [[spoiler: also fail, leading to multiple apocalypses]].

* ''Series/DoctorWho''. In "Asylum of the Daleks" it's suggested that the constant defeats inflicted on the Daleks by the Doctor have only spurred them to lift their own game in response.

* ''Series/TheGuardiansOfJustice'' asks what happens when a world-protecting all-powerful super-successful superhero eventually ''dies'' - and the answer is not pretty. [[spoiler:And of course, there's also Dark Heroes who, while intending to protect the world from greater threats, become oppressive dictators that corrupt everyone.]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* An interesting version exists in ''Series/{{Dexter}}'', in the first episode Dexter mentions how low the homicide solve rate is in Miami. Obviously this would attract the criminal element into Miami and logically increase the numbers of murderers who Dexter can then target. And why is the solve rate so low? Probably due to the guy who keeps killing murderers before they are caught. By the time of later seasons, Dexter pretty blatantly tampers with evidence in order to make sure the serial killers stay off the radar so he can kill them. The police are usually good enough to catch onto them anyway, and sometimes Dexter has to tamper with evidence like this because he himself left evidence at the scene. Either way, he started actively sabotaging murder investigations from within, instead of only killing ones who definitely got away.

* In the Series/{{Arrowverse}}:

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'': It's not until Terry becomes Batman that we get ''genuine'' super-villains again like Blight, Big Time, Shriek, Spellbinder, Stalker, and Willy Watt -- many of whom Batman had a hand in creating, while others were already operational, and hit a bat-shaped wall when they came to Gotham. The Royal Flush Gang even explicitly returned to Gotham because Batman had, as the gang has a history with the Bruce Batman and wanted to settle things with the new one. On the other hand Terry also has a tendency to see his villains (and a couple of Bruce's) get shut down. Permanently. Terry freely acknowledges that he created Blight (or at least that he caused his transformation, Powers was a criminal already) -- and he's perfectly okay with that, as Blight [[YouKilledMyFather ordered his father's death]]. Gotham was also hardly at peace: the gangs and corporate crime created the Terry Batman, who in turn led to super-vilains.

* Stated outright in ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' Evidently the villains like the "arch" (as in -enemy) system, in which each is matched with a nemesis. Break up the system and you're just going to have a bunch of pissed-off guys with death rays, and that wouldn't be good for anyone.
* Played straight in ''WesternAnimation/{{Young Justice|2010}}'' where it's established that the Justice League are so good at their job that [[Characters/DCComicsVandalSavage Vandal Savage]] forms a sophisticated LegionOfDoom stand-in known as The Light which consists of himself and a cadre of other {{Diabolical Mastermind}}s using the bulk of Earth-based super villains as their minions. They are so successful that many of the "victories" the heroes pull off are revealed to have been {{Xanatos Gambit}}s that actually served the interests of the Light, and for most of season 1 the heroes don't know that the Light even ''exists''.

* This happens with Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}} so often that we might as well have called this the Batman Paradox. Batman's greatest success is breaking the mob's hold on Gotham and its government, but the question of whether it's his fault that a RoguesGallery of costumed freaks has risen in their place is always there, waiting to be asked.

** In ''Comicbook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'', a psychologist claims Batman's RoguesGallery are the ''real'' victims -- that Batman's actions were somehow responsible for their mental instability and criminal behavior. He's partly right, as [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]] had given up supervillainy after Batman retired -- then [[ISurrenderSuckers resumed his villainy after the Bat's return]]. Then the psychologist [[TooDumbToLive declares the Joker rehabilitated, and then gets killed by him]]. That said, the only reason Batman came back in the first place was because Gotham (and as ''ComicBook/TheDarkKnightStrikesAgain'' shows, ''the entire planet'') had degraded from CrapsackWorld to a full-blown {{Dystopia}}, so probably subverted.

** The is a major plot point in ''Comicbook/DetectiveComicsRebirth''; the Victim Syndicate are a gang of former {{Innocent Bystander}}s who were mutated in some way by being caught in a superhero battle, and have decided it's all Batman's fault, and they're going to make the rest of the city see him as the threat he is. Spoiler quits the Bat-Family because she begins to agree with their beliefs, if not their methods.
* In one issue of ''ComicBook/TheFlash'' (during Wally West's time in the role), Captain Cold notes much the same thing about Barry Allen - that he made it all a game to the Rogues, and thus prevented them from doing a lot more than they otherwise could have because they were so fixated on him. Cold's attitude shifts when Barry comes back. He notes that the Rogues had Wally convinced it was all something of a game for years - he'd stop their crimes, but he'd also work with them against worse threats or during their various attempts to go straight. Barry, a cop, always treated the Rogues like what they are: dangerous criminals.
* The "Camelot Falls" arc of ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' has Arion argue the world is supposed to go through periods of prosperity and catastrophe in an inevitable cycle. Society gets knocked back to the dark ages to build itself back up again. By thwarting supervillains that would endanger the world, superheroes like Superman are only encouraging the rise of a villain powerful enough to defeat them and the resulting catastrophe that will be brought about will be one humanity would not survive. His argument is also predicated on Clark being an alien element in Earth's ecosystem, throwing off its natural destiny.
* The Comicbook/XMen aren't far off.
** When mutants were defenseless, they weren't a big target. Once the X-Men came around and started defending mutants, anti-mutant crime exploded. William Stryker, The Sentinel Project and even some aspects of Weapon X probably wouldn't be nearly so strong in-universe if not for humans (unreasonably) feeling threatened by the X-Men, whom some in-universe view as a private mutant army. Even the Brotherhood has seemingly grown more powerful in backlash against the X-Men. And one could go on for ''ages'' about all the alien threats brought to Earth as a result of the X-Men.
** One X-Man villain is even cunning enough to take advantage of this. Cameron Hodge has the first five X-Men form ComicBook/XFactor, which is supposed to be a mutant neutralization group, but secretly finds mutants and trains them. The amount of good X-Factor did (a lot) was far outweighed by the amount of anti-mutant hysteria they stirred up.
** On the other hand, it could be argued that anti-mutant paranoia started exploding when Magneto first attempted to hijack nuclear weapons with which to blackmail all of Earth -- which was in Uncanny X-Men #1.
*** Actually, the sentient bacteria Sublime was using his psychic powers to stir up anti-mutant perspectives, given that mutants were immune to his powers and therefore, a threat to his domination of all living creatures. He even manipulated Stryker and started the Weapon X program.
* In ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'', the new batch of {{Nineties Antihero}}es kill off all of the old supervillains and then proceed to tear up the world fighting each other because there aren't any more supervillains to fight.
* ''{{ComicBook/Watchmen}}'':
** The presence of costumed vigilantes (particularly the genuinely superpowered Dr. Manhattan) tips the UsefulNotes/ColdWar balance of power enough to bring the world to the brink of [[WorldWarIII nuclear war]]. But if you look closely, [[spoiler:the superpowers seem to be patching things up by the time Ozymandias pulls off his plan, implying that they didn't do as much harm as they caused - ''until'' someone was dumb enough to try to clean up after them; what'll happen when the cover-up inevitably tumbles apart?]]
** And on a smaller scale, their existence causes a police strike [[strike: in New York]] across the country, which in turn encourages rioting and looting, and requires an act of Congress to rectify (outlawing vigilantes).
** Supervillains are specified to be regular criminals who started wearing costumes because the heroes were doing it but the costumed criminal fad died down after a few years.
** In the ''ComicBook/DoomsdayClock'' sequel, people have noticed that the majority of metahumans are American and didn't appear until ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' became active so conspiracy theorists think the U.S. government created most metahumans after studying Superman's D.N.A.
* Creator/JMichaelStraczynski posits this theory during his run on ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' as the reason why Spidey has so many enemies with AnimalMotifs -- he is being assaulted by jealous pretenders who subconsciously realize that his power comes directly from its source. Magic is confusing.

** Interestingly, this was actually defied in the original Amazing Spiderman 50. The famous "Spider Man No More" story where Peter quits being Spider-Man due to thinking he never has enough time and that he is nothing but a menace for the world. But because Spiderman had his costume publicly revealed, [[Characters/MarvelComicsTheKingpin The Kingpin]] begins his takeover of New York, making things tangibly worse for the city with daylight robberies and the police overwhelmed. So Spiderman was essential to keep crime in check, no matter how many villains might arise while he's around.
** This is actually invoked in Marvel Knights Spider-Man, where Spidey learns (from [[Characters/MarvelComicsMacGargan Mac Gargan]] of all people) that many of the villains who confront heroes on a regular basis, were actually created by organizations (mostly associated with white collar crime) as a way of distracting superheroes from noticing the crimes committed by these people and organizations.
* While Characters/{{Superman|TheCharacter}} is a magnet for criminals and alien powerhouses, it's worth noting that the "normal" human [[Characters/SupermanJimmyOlsen Jimmy Olsen]] is not harmless. Marvel's Rick Jones is an even more blatant counterpart. Superman is an interesting case, as (at least in current continuity) most of his biggest enemies were entrenched long before he arrived on the scene ([[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]], [[Characters/SupermanBrainiacCharacter Brainiac]], [[Characters/NewGodsDarkseid Darkseid]], Zod, Intergang) or created to dick with him personally ([[Characters/SupermanBizarro Bizarro]], Metallo). Also the ones that already were there (the aforementioned Darkseid and [[Characters/DCComicsMongul Mongul]] come to mind, along many, many others) took interest in Earth ''because'' of Superman.
* In an issue of ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey'', [[Characters/BatmanHuntress Huntress]] stops a villain named [[AtrociousAlias Carface]]. The police aren't thrilled with her presence, even when she mentions that she stopped the bad guy threatening the city. The cops state that the crime rate was low until the heroes showed up and vigilantes are just "[[WalkingDisasterArea trouble magnets]]".
* Lampshaded and subverted in ''ComicBook/GoldDigger.'' Once the comic had been running for years, it was becoming increasingly clear that Earth in the Gold Digger universe was a huge FantasyKitchenSink, and that the public seemed aware of it. This begged the question, why amidst all this weirdness are there no superheroes? The answer is that there ''used'' to be. However, it eventually became clear to the cape n' spandex set that their high-profile adventures were ''attracting'' more superbaddies out of the woodwork, most specifically to challenge them. Their solution was to form Agency Zero, a Film/MenInBlack-type organization of supers who still fight supernormal threats, but do it as quietly and anonymously as possible. They've found it works, as after a few rounds of LaserGuidedAmnesia convinces most would-be villains that their plots have just been failing on their own, they simply give up.
* [[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]], of all people, subverted this. In UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}}, Lex told Superman that if not for him then he would rule the planet. In the modern age, Superman left for a year, and when he came back, he told Lex that Lex ''had'' a year without Superman, and spent all of it preparing to fight Superman when Supes returned.
* The Characters/{{Incredible Hulk|Bruce Banner}} brought this up in ''Comicbook/WorldWarHulk: Gamma Corps'', while talking down the team sent to kill him. He mentioned that the greatest threats Earth had ever faced, namely Dormammu, [[Characters/MarvelComicsGalactus Galactus]], and [[Characters/MarvelComicsUltron Ultron]], had nothing to do with him. Dormammu was usually chasing Comicbook/DoctorStrange, [[Characters/FantasticFourTheFantasticFour Reed Richards]] had actually brought Galactus back to life so he could keep eating planets, and ComicBook/AntMan had built Ultron. Comparatively, the threat the Hulk posed at his worst and the threat his whole RoguesGallery posed to the world combined didn't add up to the threat posed by a single one of those guys. Though it's worth noting that at least in Galactus' case, [[NecessarilyEvil his existence is necessary for the universe to function properly]].
* The main theme of Comicbook/{{Civil War|2006}}. The New Warriors, a band of untrained irresponsible teenagers with superpowers, attacked Nitro to film a reality show. Nitro blow up like an atomic bomb, taking the city of Stamford with him. That the last thing the cameraman filmed live was the kids in the school next to Nitro, caught in the Ground Zero, did not help. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome A huge anti-superhero hysteria ensues]], and the Congress sanctions [[SuperRegistrationAct a law forcing all superhumans to register]] with Comicbook/{{SHIELD}} ComicBook/IronMan supports the law, Captain America resists it with a guerrilla group, but surrenders when he realized that [[JerkassHasAPoint Iron Man has a point]].
* A ''ComicBook/WhatIf...'' has the wife and sons of [[ComicBook/ThePunisher Frank Castle]] killed in the crossfire of a superhero vs. supervillains fight. His solution? [[ComicBook/ThePunisherKillsTheMarvelUniverse Kill the Marvel Universe]].
* The ''ComicBook/DisneyMouseAndDuckComics'' superhero stories sometime tackle this:
** This plot point usually appears in non-[[ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures PKNA]] Paperinik stories: some supervillains were born ''specifically'' to defeat Paperinik (in particular, the criminals of Duckburg created a fake superhero named Pap-Man to get Paperinik pensioned, and the "Super Anti Heroes" series had a MadScientist create a new supervillain every time specifically to defeat Paperinik), he himself admitted that some of his interventions caused enormous collateral damage, and in some occasions Daisy became reckless because she knew Paperinik would save her ([[DependingOnTheWriter at least in stories where Daisy doesn't have a superhero alter ego herself and barely tolerates Paperinik]]). On the flip side, there's the reason the criminals created supervillains specifically to deal with Paperinik: he's extremely good at dealing with criminals (at least four stories depict him arresting ''every single criminal in Duckburg''[[note]]In one he had already arrested most of them and only three (plus that story's BigBad) remained between him and his well-deserved vacations, and he caught the first three before halfway during the story and the BigBad at the end. In another he wanted his well-deserved vacations, so he roamed all of Duckburg like a predator instead of doing his usual patrol and captured them all. In the third he wanted the rich people of Duckburg to contribute to a park for the kids, and when they refused citing the expense of defending themselves from criminals he ''lured them all in the same place before using a giant fishing net on them''. And in the fourth Gyro making an error in the maintenance of his gear caused him to suffer a series of defeats and the criminals spontaneously assembled in the same place-where Paperinik jumped them with repaired gear, ''captured them all'', and restored his past aura of terror by claiming the defeats had been part of a plan to lure them in a single place to catch them all.[[/note]], and the Pap-Man one had him ''visiting outsider criminals in their own homes to warn them away''), and without him Duckburg would be in much worse condition.
** Even ''Paperinik New Adventures'' tackled the problem from time to time-namely, the Evronians sent [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Trauma]] to Duckburg specifically to ''kill him'', and in one of the summer specials supervillains from the rest of the United States went to Duckburg just to challenge him.
** It's rarer in Super Goof stories, but once in a while a supervillain comes to Mouseton or is made specifically to defeat him. The most notable example is Megatop, [[spoiler:a superpowered robot]] that Emil Eagle brings to Mouseton [[spoiler:(apparently: he actually made it himself)]] specifically to destroy Super Goof. The same stories also present a more positive side, because as long as the villains are busy with Super Goof they aren't trying to conquer the world (in the Megatop story, [[spoiler:one of Emil's underlings asks the other why their boss can't just build an army of Megatops and TakeOverTheWorld with those and the other reminds him that question annoys Emil]], hinting at Emil being just too fixated with Super Goof to do the pragmatic thing).
* [[Characters/MarvelComicsKamalaKhan Kamala Khan]] deals with this a bit during her post ''ComicBook/{{Secret Wars|2015}}'' run. A number of citizens comment that Ms. Marvel's activities have led to problems and 'crazy New York sh*t' to come to Jersey City. However, what isn't noted is that a lot of the problems Ms. Marvel fights do not originate in direct response to her: The Inventor was already there, and the Inhuman and Hydra villains were either created at the same time she was, or were long-existent. While a few incidents were caused by her presence, many of the issues the people are upset about would have been a thing regardless of if she had or hadn't taken up the mantle. Heck, many of the issues the (right wing) citizens put at her feet originate from ''Loki'', who, while he did come to the city after she took up the mantle, was sent in response to the ''Inventor's'' actions, not Kamala's.

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': Zigzagged. The introduction of superpowers or "quirks" into the world resulting in superpowered individuals exploiting their gifts to commit crimes. Superheroes and Superhero Agencies emerged as a means of responding to this new threat but as the title of Superhero became one of prestige and celebrity. This clearly tarnished much of the noble veneer of the role of 'hero' and inspired new villains with both [[Main/WellIntentionedExtremist sympathetic]] and [[Main/NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist less-sympathic]] motives to either emerge in response to the corruption or exploit the corruption for their own agenda.

** Averted in general as most of the girls RoguesGallery (with the expection of Mojo Jojo, who was created at the same time as them, and The Rowdyruff Boy who were created by Mojo) was both already present and already evil before they were born.

* Subverted in {{WesternAnimation/Danny Phantom}}, the villainous ghost begin to appear after Danny Fenton becomes Danny Phantom but it’s later revealed that the first ghosts Danny ever fought were actually henchmen of his {{evil counterpart}} Vlad who was already a ghost {{supervillain}} well before Danny was a ghost {{superhero}} if not before Danny was born.

[[WatsonianVersusDoylist But underneath the surface]], the ''real'' cause of all this is an all-powerful cabal of extra-dimensional beings whose sole objective is to keep the hero fighting: '''the authors and readers of the series'''. [[YouBastard These sick, twisted folk]] are responsible for spawning innumerable threats to the superhero's world, all for the sake of their own amusement and profit.

To wit, [[CashCowFranchise as long as the hero's comic books continue to sell]], the company will continue to pump them out. And since the grand majority of superhero comics are driven by the Fight Against Evil, continued production of the comics necessitates [[StatusQuoIsGod the continued existence]] of Evil to be fought. [[SequelEscalation And as subsequent installments try to outdo their predecessors]], the threats grow ''[[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil worse]]'' with time: TheCape starts off by saving the CityOfAdventure from mobsters and bank robbers; but after a hundred issues, he's fighting planet-destroying aliens, would-be world-conquerors and mass-murdering lunatics. And of course, those aliens and conquerors and lunatics themselves become popular among fans, meaning that [[JokerImmunity they can't be killed off, retire from supervillainy, or otherwise get taken out of the picture]] without a loss in sales.

Pretty much ''every'' {{Long Runner|s}} superhero franchise has experienced this issue to some degree; consequently a number of them have [[DiscussedTrope discussed]] it in-universe. Rarely, if ever, is the idea that the villains could be responsible for their own actions addressed. And of course, all it takes is ''one'' OutsideContextProblem whose appearance the hero ''obviously did not provoke'' to debunk the basic logic of the complaint: once the hero's presence has been directly responsible for Earth not getting [[PlanetEater eaten]] by the local [[Characters/MarvelComicsGalactus Galactus]] {{expy}}, then the statement "We'd have been better off if you'd never shown up!" becomes ridiculous. Constant superpowered battle is bad, but planetary annihilation is worse.[[note]] Although FridgeLogic can still kick in with how ''common'' world- and cosmic-scale threats seem to become once superheroes are around. Earth somehow managed to survive four billion years or so (or about 10,000, if you're only counting from the start of human civilisation) despite the existence of such threats, and yet the heroes still wind up fighting them every other month. [[/note]] Even if superheroes are acquitted of causing these dangers, they may still get accused of influencing the populace into HoldingOutForAHero.

** It is also {{subverted|Trope}} on a universal scale. Although the Earth itself may have been better off without Goku or the Nameless Namek, if they weren't around, Frieza would still be alive terrorizing the universe along with the remaining Saiyans. And Buu would still exist, waiting to be awakened one day and destroy the universe. Also, who's to say that neither Frieza or the Saiyans wouldn't one day go to Namek and use their Dragon Balls or go to Earth to sell it?

** Chief Rojas just will not stop bringing this up. The creators of the show state as much, by saying that Batman's work defeating organized crime in Gotham has opened the door for supervillains. The "heroes are ineffective" aspect is averted in the first episode where it's stated that Gotham is now the most crime-free city in the country. ''Gotham''. Think about that.

* Defied in ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug''. In the origin story, Hawk Moth attempts to turn Paris against Ladybug and Cat Noir by accusing ''them'' of being responsible for his attacks. Ladybug flatly turns it around by firmly declaring that he's the villain, not them, and the events of said origin story make it clear that neither hero gained their powers or were even aware there were powers to gain until after Hawk Moth fired the first shot by akumatizing Ivan into Stoneheart motivated by nothing but his own personal benefit.