History Main / WideEyedidealist

** ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': While he's got a very misplaced reputation for being whiney and angsty (coming from the second two Raimi films playing up his Woobie points and the nineties being, well, [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks the nineties]]), [[Characters/MarvelComicsPeterParker Peter Parker]]'s main reason for being so popular isn't because of his powers, but because he'll always do the right thing, [[ThePollyanna no matter what the]] [[TheDeterminator world throws at him.]]

* Both Suzaku Kururugi and Princess Euphemia Li Britannia from ''Anime/CodeGeass'' genuinely believe they'll be able to reform the shockingly racist [[TheEmpire Britannian Empire]] and be facilitators for the peaceful integration of the Japanese people into the empire's fold. Cue DiabolusExMachina on a ''national'' scale. This is subverted in the second season, where Suzaku forms a reasonable, if rather myopic, plan to free Japan (the rest of the world isn't his concern) and begins suffering from a bad case of MotiveDecay until he realizes his ideals are nothing but smoke.

* ''Manga/DeathNote'' has Light: it's pointed out that he is "quite the positive thinker" and ironically it's his idealism that drives him to commit his atrocities in order to "[[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans make the world a better place]]."

* [[Characters/GravityFallsMabelPines Mabel Pines]] from ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' is a cheery GenkiGirl who tends to believe the best of everyone and that any situation will have a happy outcome. One episode, "Boss Mabel", has her arranging a bet with her great-uncle involving her being the boss of his place of business for three days. In keeping with her [[AllLovingHero all-loving]], [[ThePollyanna Pollyanna]] personality, prior to and at the beginning of the arrangement, she honestly believes that just being nice and letting the Shack's employees [[ExtremeDoormat do absolutely anything they want]] will yield positive results. It doesn't work out as planned, and she eventually realizes that [[GoodIsNotSoft sometimes in life, you have to put your foot down]]. She spends the first half of the episode looking [[https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Mabel%27s_the_Boss_Now literally wide-eyed]].

* ''Film/BoilerRoom'': Like [[Film/WallStreet Bud Fox]] before him, Seth is [[NaiveNewcomer too naïve]] to realize that JT Marlin is actually a [[spoiler:[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin boiler room]] - it's a [[WhiteCollarCrime "pump and dump" scam]], where the price of stocks of expired or fake companies (as well as speculative penny stocks) are artificially inflated through fraudulent, bogus or misleading statements, in order to sell the cheaply purchased stock at a higher price. Once the operators of the scheme "dump" (aka sell) their overvalued shares, the price falls and the investors lose their money]]. The film revolves entirely around [[WellDoneSonGuy Seth trying to earn a legitimate career to impress his father]], [[spoiler:but this actually endangers his father's career as a federal judge when the FBI's Financial Crimes unit gets wind of it. His father even [[WhatTheHellHero calls him out for this]] once he finds more about JT Marlin]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'': ''This'' is the real reason why Undyne won't let Papyrus join the Royal Guard. He's surprisingly strong, but he's so kind and innocent, and so dead-set in his belief that ''everyone'' can be a great person, and ''everyone'' is a potential best friend, that she knows he could never hurt another person. [[spoiler:You get to see the full depths of his idealism in a Genocide run. After witnessing your horrific behavior, Papyrus offers to just let you go without fighting, no strings attached, because he believes that with a bit of guidance from a good friend like him, you can be a good person again. Should you take him up on it, he's delighted and relieved and says you're already improving. If you don't and continue on your Genocide run, he still [[GoOutWithASmile smiles]], and says he still believes in you, encouraging you to be better. Many players have admitted to aborting or resetting an attempted Genocide run because of Papyrus, unable to bear hurting him after seeing just ''how'' unconditional his love is.]]

** ''Characters/{{Superman|TheCharacter}}''. Even in the face of unquestionably dark odds, he still stands by his beliefs and ideals. He fully admits that the world isn't perfect, so he's not stupid, but he tries his damnedest to make it better.
** ''Characters/{{Supergirl|TheCharacter}}'': Pre-Crisis Kara Zor-El was an exceptionally innocent, trusting teenager. Her enemies often exploited her naivete and tried to earn her trust or seduce her so they could manipulate her and kill her or her cousin. Eventually she stopped being so gullible, but she kept believing that people are mostly naturally good-hearted. Post-Crisis Supergirl is less innocent (excepting some versions such as ''ComicBook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl'' Kara who was fooled by [[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]]) but she still stands by his ideals and always tries to do the right thing and be a hero, no matter how dark her world is or what bad things happen to her.
** ''[[Characters/SpiderManPeterParker Spider-Man]]'': While he's got a very misplaced reputation for being whiney and angsty (coming from the second two Raimi films playing up his Woobie points and the nineties being, well, [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks the nineties]]), Peter Parker's main reason for being so popular isn't because of his powers, but because he'll always do the right thing, [[ThePollyanna no matter what the]] [[TheDeterminator world throws at him.]]

** ''[[Characters/X23LauraKinney X-23]]'': Ironically, she has become this despite all the hell she's lived through. In contrast to Characters/{{Wolverine|JamesLoganHowlett}}'s pragmatic cynicism and willingness to compromise his beliefs, Laura has increasingly become an idealist seeking something noble to aspire to and is much much more uncompromising in her views of right and wrong (such as insisting on helping, rather than killing, Siphon once she discovered he was actually a ''victim'' of Paradise despite the extreme danger he presented when hungry [[spoiler: and it ''does'' eventually end up biting her on the ass]]). Laura notably went through a mini-FreakOut when she learned that, despite how bad things in her home reality are, the [[Comicbook/UltimateMarvel Ultimate Universe]] is ''[[CrapSackWorld even worse]]''.

* An interesting inversion of the DarkerAndEdgier creep described above is brought to us by ''ComicBook/XMen'' villain [[Characters/MarvelComicsExodus Exodus]]. A literal KnightTemplar who was turned into a SealedBadassInACan 800 years ago and revived in the modern-day, Exodus still holds true to the noble values of the knighthood and has no greater ambition than to protect and defend his people, even [[https://web.archive.org/web/20140901032741/http://cdn.comicartfans.com/Images/Category_27305/subcat_115248/IMAG0859.JPG dressing like a classic Silver Age hero]]. Unfortunately, he also holds to the uncompromising black-and-white thinking of his era, turning him into an AntiVillain who clashes with the X-Men because he is unable to admit that not all mutants are good and not all humans are bad.

** Reg Shoe is another Morporkian Wide-Eyed Idealist. In his case, he actually ''was'' killed as a result, as shown in ''Literature/NightWatchDiscworld'', but that [[OurZombiesAreDifferent hasn't dampened his enthusiasm any]].

* ''Literature/VillainsDontterrifying'': Fialux believes that criminals are pure evil and if they can all be stopped that the good people will be able to rise above their problems. It takes her a while to understand that Night Terror was doing more good for the city as the top villain than Fialux does as its top hero.

* Dorden, TheMedic of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}: Literature/GauntsGhosts'' has aspects of this, in trying to adhere to ThouShaltNotKill and preventing Gaunt from carrying out necessary ShootTheDog despite their [[CrapsackWorld World Half Empty]].

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* Charlie Morningstar from ''WesternAnimation/HazbinHotel'' has lived all her [[OlderThanTheyLook not particularly short]] life in Hell, being the daughter of Lucifer, and still somehow manages to be so manically idealistic she'll do a sugary singing number in front of other demons expecting to convince them of her plan to redeem sinners' souls at her Happy Hotel.
-->''"Inside of every demon is a rainbow,\\
Inside every sinner is a shiny smile!\\
Inside of every creepy hatchet-wielding maniac,\\
Is a jolly, happy, cupcake-loving child!"''
[[/folder]]

* ''Literature/VillainsDontDateHeroes'': Fialux believes that criminals are pure evil and if they can all be stopped that the good people will be able to rise above their problems. It takes her a while to understand that Night Terror was doing more good for the city as the top villain than Fialux does as its top hero.

* Charlie Morningstar from ''WebAnimation/HazbinHotel'' has lived all her [[OlderThanTheyLook not particularly short]] life in Hell, being the daughter of Lucifer, and still somehow manages to be so manically idealistic she'll do a sugary singing number in front of other demons expecting to convince them of her plan to redeem sinners' souls at her Happy Hotel.

* ''Literature/DaughterOfTheSun'': Orsina describes herself as an idealist who's dismayed how older {{paladin}}s are often much more cynical, fighting with the Temple of Iolar (their organization, the Order of the Sun, is also dedicated to Iolar), wishing they could get along because after all they have a common faith and shared goals. She believes sincerely in her work as a paladin and their ideals. Orsina has to face dangers which challenge her idealism while the story's unfolding.

** Characters/{{Superman|TheCharacter}}. Even in the face of unquestionably dark odds, he still stands by his beliefs and ideals. He fully admits that the world isn't perfect, so he's not stupid, but he tries his damnedest to make it better.
** Characters/{{Supergirl|TheCharacter}}: Pre-Crisis Kara Zor-El was an exceptionally innocent, trusting teenager. Her enemies often exploited her naivete and tried to earn her trust or seduce her so they could manipulate her and kill her or her cousin. Eventually she stopped being so gullible, but she kept believing that people are mostly naturally good-hearted. Post-Crisis Supergirl is less innocent (excepting some versions such as ''ComicBook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl'' Kara who was fooled by [[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]]) but she still stands by his ideals and always tries to do the right thing and be a hero, no matter how dark her world is or what bad things happen to her.
** Similar to the above, Franchise/SpiderMan. While he's got a very misplaced reputation for being whiney and angsty (coming from the second two Raimi films playing up his Woobie points and the nineties being, well, [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks the nineties]]), Peter Parker's main reason for being so popular isn't because of his powers, but because he'll always do the right thing, [[ThePollyanna no matter what the]] [[TheDeterminator world throws at him.]]
** Characters/{{Robin}}. All of them, except Damian, play against Batman's seriousness and the griminess of Gotham. [[Characters/NightwingDickGrayson Dick]] stayed happy and upbeat after his parents died in front of him and became the Boy Wonder, Jason too, until the world broke him in ''A Death In The Family'' and broke him again in ''Under The Hood'', [[ComicBook/Robin1993 Tim]]'s entire reasoning for becoming Robin was that Batman needed one to keep him off the edge, and [[ComicBook/Batgirl2009 Stephanie]]'s entire MO is to [[ThePollyanna stay upbeat about everything even in the worst situation]]. Barbara too, though that was decreasing when she retired as Characters/{{Batgirl}} and shattered after ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke''.

** Ironically, [[Characters/X23LauraKinney X-23]] has become this despite all the hell she's lived through. In contrast to Characters/{{Wolverine|JamesLoganHowlett}}'s pragmatic cynicism and willingness to compromise his beliefs, Laura has increasingly become an idealist seeking something noble to aspire to and is much much more uncompromising in her views of right and wrong (such as insisting on helping, rather than killing, Siphon once she discovered he was actually a ''victim'' of Paradise despite the extreme danger he presented when hungry [[spoiler: and it ''does'' eventually end up biting her on the ass]]). Laura notably went through a mini-FreakOut when she learned that, despite how bad things in her home reality are, the [[Comicbook/UltimateMarvel Ultimate Universe]] is ''[[CrapSackWorld even worse]]''.

** Aang starts off this way. But being shouldered with the weight of the Avatar Spirit, his entire people dying, Appa's kidnapping, and the horrors of war quickly got rid of it.
** Zuko also started out this way. [[BreakTheCutie Then his father burned his face off and kicked him out of the country as punishment for his idealism.]]
** Katara is this to some degree, at least in the earlier episodes. Her idealism is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d by the portrayal of her by an actor in the Lampshade Extravaganza episode, The Ember Island Players:

* [[EnlightenedAntagonist Zaheer]] of SequelSeries ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' is a villainous example who merits inclusion here as well as under WellIntentionedExtremist - he plans to [[BombThrowingAnarchists topple the Avatar world's governments]] so a better world can rise from the ashes, but he seems to think that the world will naturally turn into a utopia as soon as those pesky authority figures are out of the way, with [[MissingStepsPlan no other steps required]]. Things don't quite work out that way, and his assassination of the Earth Queen only leads to an even worse and more restrictive regime taking the place of the old one.

* Spongebob from ''WesternAnimation/{{SpongeBob SquarePants}}'' is the most optimistic and kindest character in the show and it actually gets him through most things.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' is this in spades. However, unlike some other Idealists, he actually survives, making this a possible subversion.

** In the early seasons, Lisa started out as this but as the series progressed, she became a DeadpanSnarker who has as much compassion as a housecat towards her own brother and Homer from time to time.

* Mabel Pines from ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' is a cheery GenkiGirl who tends to believe the best of everyone and that any situation will have a happy outcome. One episode, "Boss Mabel", has her arranging a bet with her great-uncle involving her being the boss of his place of business for three days. In keeping with her [[AllLovingHero all-loving]], [[ThePollyanna Pollyanna]] personality, prior to and at the beginning of the arrangement, she honestly believes that just being nice and letting the Shack's employees [[ExtremeDoormat do absolutely anything they want]] will yield positive results. It doesn't work out as planned, and she eventually realizes that [[GoodIsNotSoft sometimes in life, you have to put your foot down]]. She spends the first half of the episode looking [[https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Mabel%27s_the_Boss_Now literally wide-eyed]].

* ''Series/Legion2017'':

* Ai Tanabe, the [[NaiveNewcomer newest member of Section 7]] in ''Anime/{{Planetes}}''. Her first name means "love," and it just picks up from there. She's taken to task for it countless times by [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold fellow Section 7 crewman Hachimaki]] and [[{{Jerkass}} Claire]], Hachi's former {{Love Interest|s}}, the latter of which causes her to doubt her own ideals. And yet, although she's set up for a particularly cruel [[spoiler: DiabolusExMachina]], which she could avoid by betraying her convictions, she stands by them [[spoiler: to the absolute, [[HeroicSacrifice heart-wrenching end]], to Claire's shock]]. Given the nature of the series, [[spoiler:she's proven right at the end]].

** Keitaro in ''Series/KamenRiderFaiz'' just wants to [[ForHappiness make people happy]], which would be easier to do if he wasn't in one of the darker installments of the franchise. Compounded by the fact that (aside from one non-canon instance) he is incapable of using any of the [[TransformationTrinket Rider Gear]] despite how much as [[RefusedByTheCall he'd like to.]]

* ''{{Series/Legion|2017}}'':

--->'''Charles''': We can change.\\
'''Gabrielle''': People don't change.\\
'''Charles''': I don't believe that.\\
'''Gabrielle''': That's sweet.

--->'''Charles''': You're right, it's my fault. I've been naïve. [...] See, I came here for friendship. Because I've been to war, David. I've seen what people do. But this Farouk, he... He's a monster.

* The singer of Music/LloydCole's ''Are You Ready to be Heartbroken?'' clearly thinks that the person being addressed is dangerously naive -- hence the title question.

* The singer of Music/LloydCole's Are You Ready to be Heartbroken? clearly thinks that the person being addressed is dangerously naive -- hence the title question.