History Main / FramedForHeroism

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' episode "Clouds on the Horizon", [[Characters/TheOwlHouseAmityBlight Amity Blight]] has been angrily trying to smash an energy barrier that she and her friends are trapped with her [[PowerFist abomination glove]]. When it suddenly breaks, she initially thinks that she managed to succeed with "the power of believing in myself", only for her father to show up and reveal that he actually [[CuttingTheKnot turned off the Abomatons generating the barrier]] (though he does helpfully inform her that she nearly broke it on her own).

* The downfall of the RedBaron may be this. It was long credited to a Canadian pilot, Arthur Roy Brown, but in recent years, reexaminations of the Baron's injuries and the events of that day indicated that he may have instead been killed by a bullet from an Australian machine-gunner.

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': In the episode "The 42 Year Old Virgin" Stan reveals that he's never killed anyone, and that all the times he was praised for doing so were just fortunate accidents. His first ever kill was carried out by a mugger, and, after he reveals his secret, his latest kill (shown at the start of the episode) is shown to have been made ''by the exact same mugger.''
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' episode "Clouds on the Horizon", Amity has been angrily trying to smash an energy barrier that she and her friends are trapped with her [[PowerFist abomination glove]]. When it suddenly breaks, she initially thinks that she managed to succeed with "the power of believing in myself", only for her father to show up and reveal that he actually [[CuttingTheKnot turned off the Abomatons generating the barrier]] (though he does helpfully inform her that she nearly broke it on her own).

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': ComicBook/NormanOsborn killing the Skrull Queen Veranke in ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion''. While the others have been battling for days, doing most of the dirty work, his team of [[ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}} maniacs, criminals, and lunatics]] comes in and [[VillainWithGoodPublicity steals the show]]. What really makes it a DownerEnding is that he kills the Skrull queen ''seconds'' before Wolverine was able to. Naturally, he was placed in charge of every registered superhero, the Avengers Initiative was renamed the Thunderbolts Initiative, and S.H.I.E.L.D. was disbanded and replaced with H.A.M.M.E.R., which is also run by Osborn.

* In the ''ComicBook/{{Tintin}}'' album ''The Crab With The Golden Claws'', Captain Haddock charges a whole band of desert raiders alone after a stray shot explodes his whisky bottle. They flee, and he believes for a moment that they did because they were scared of him. In fact, reinforcements were arriving behind him.

* Played with in ''ComicStrip/SnarfQuest'', where an evil wizard whom Snarf is facing off with suddenly goes "Urk!" and dies. The humanoid characters assume that Snarf actually ''scared him to death'', but the readers learn that their gaggaleech companion (actually a highly venomous death leech) had secretly dropped onto the wizard's back and bitten him.

* ''WebVideo/ImAMarvelAndImADC'': The appears during the finale of the second season of After Hours. The Joker holds Harley Quinn hostage, and eggs Franchise/{{Batman}} and Franchise/SpiderMan, the only two heroes left in the room, to shoot him with a gun he threw earlier at Batman. As the morals of the two prevent them from murdering anyone, the Joker prepares to leave; however, a gunshot is heard, and the Joker drops to the floor, seemingly dead ([[spoiler:though he isn't]]). Both Batman and Spider-Man are baffled, until they see ComicBook/ThePunisher, who had been imprisoned earlier on, holding the gun.

** In ''Interesting Times'' he gets used by LaResistance as a figurehead. Most of them think he's a powerful wizard except for the leader who knows he's a snivelling coward. On the few occasions he has to actually do wizardly things, the characters in the other story arc provide timely explosions that keep the mystique alive.

* In the ''Mortified'' episode "The Talk", Taylor attempts to scare off some bullies using her (non-existant) karate skills. They flee and Taylor is convinced that they are terrified of her martial arts prowess, unaware that they actually left because of the two police officers slowly approaching behind her.

* ''Anime/OnePunchMan'':
** Inverted when Saitama kills the Deep Sea King in plain view of everyone, but makes it seem like it was the other heroes who defeated him, claiming that they weakened the monster enough for him to swoop in and deal the final blow, and thus [[ZeroApprovalGambit making himself look like a credit-stealing jerk in order to ensure that everyone else will get the recognition they deserve.]]
** [[spoiler:King's]] entire reputation as a steely-gazed badass who can murder monsters as easily as breathing comes solely from coincidentally being near Saitama when he took out the monsters (as Saitama wasn't a registered hero). He didn't particularly want to at first, but apparently the people looked so grateful that he went along with it. His stoic demeanor comes solely from trying his hardest to not show how pants-pissingly terrified he is, and the supposed [[spoiler:King Engine that goes "Doom Doom Doom" when he gets angry]] is actually his heart beating so loud other people can hear it.

* In ''Manga/DragonBall Z'', Mr. Satan tried to shoot Buu with a pistol, and it seemed like it had cut Buu in half, but it was actually Goku that did it

** Inverted when Saitama kills the Deep Sea King in plain view of everyone, but makes it seem like it was the other heroes who defeated him. Claiming that they weakened the monster enough for him to swoop in and deal the final blow. [[ZeroApprovalGambit Making himself look like a credit-stealing jerk in order to ensure that everyone else will get the recognition they deserve.]]

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': ComicBook/NormanOsborn killing the Skrull Queen Veranke in ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion''. While the others have been battling for days, doing most of the dirty work, his team of [[ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}} maniacs, criminals, and lunatics]] comes in and [[VillainWithGoodPublicity steals the show]]. What really makes it a DownerEnding is that he kills the Skrull queen ''seconds'' before Wolverine was able to. Naturally, he was placed in charge of ''every registered superhero, the Avengers Initiative was renamed the Thunderbolts Initiative, and S.H.I.E.L.D. was disbanded and replaced with H.A.M.M.E.R., which is also run by Osborn''.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': ComicBook/NormanOsborn killing the Skrull Queen Veranke in ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion''. While the others have been battling for days, doing most of the dirty work, his team of [[ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}} maniacs, criminals, and lunatics]] comes in and [[VillainWithGoodPublicity steals the show]]. What really makes it a DownerEnding is that he kills the Skrull queen ''seconds'' before Wolverine was able to. Naturally, he was placed in charge of ''every registered superhero, the Avengers Initiative was renamed the Thunderbolts Initiative, and SHIELD was disbanded and replaced with HAMMER, which is also run by Osborn''.

* Variant occurs in ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994''. Simba is trying to roar to scare off the Hyenas from the elephant graveyard, and him being a cub, it sounds more like a cat meowing. On his second try, he suddenly lets loose with a loud, deep, echoing roar.... Except it's [[PapaWolf his father coming to save him.]]

* Inverted in ''Anime/OnePunchMan''. Saitama kills the Deep Sea King in plain view of everyone, but makes it seem like it was the other heroes who defeated him. Claiming that they weakened the monster enough for him to swoop in and deal the final blow. [[ZeroApprovalGambit Making himself look like a credit stealing jerk in order to ensure that everyone else will get the recognition they deserve.]]

* In the ''ComicBook/{{Tintin}}'' album ''The Crab With The Golden Claws'', Captain Haddock charges a whole band of desert raiders alone. They flee, and he believes for a moment that they did because they were scared of him. In fact, reinforcements were arriving behind him.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' has an excellent episode, titled "The Man Who Killed Batman". It's told from the perspective of a nobody mob underling voiced by Matt Frewer, "Sid the Squid", who was the lookout on a job in which Batman is apparently killed. From Sid's perspective, Bats fell into a gas explosion, but everyone else thought Sid pushed him. He has to deal with a jealous Joker, an obsessed Commissioner Gordon, and a few rival mob bosses who can't believe his story. In the end, Bats turns out to have survived unharmed. In prison, a fulfilled Sid becomes, [[VillainCred "The Man Who Almost Killed Batman, and who also made a fool of the Joker"]].

* Variant occurs in ''Disney/TheLionKing''. Simba is trying to roar to scare off the Hyenas from the elephant graveyard, and him being a cub, it sounds more like a cat meowing. On his second try, he suddenly lets loose with a loud, deep, echoing roar.... Except it's [[PapaWolf his father coming to save him.]]

* ''[[Film/OceansEleven Oceans Thirteen]]'' features an intentional example when Terry Benedict tries to screw over his fellow thieves after helping them rob a rival {{Jerkass}} casino owner, and the thieves retaliate by donating his cut of the stolen cash to charity and drawing very public attention to his "generosity". He ends up on talk shows having to humbly playing down his apparent philanthropy while privately angry that he lost his money.

* ''[[Film/OceansEleven Oceans Thirteen]] features an intentional example when Terry Benedict tries to screw over his fellow thieves after helping them rob a rival {{Jerkass}} casino owner, and the thieves retaliate by donating his cut of the stolen cash to charity and drawing very public attention to his "generosity". He ends up on talk shows having to humbly playing down his apparent philanthropy while privately angry that he lost his money.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': ComicBook/NormanOsborn killing the Skrull Queen Veranke in ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion''. While the others have been battling for days, doing most of the dirty work, his team of [[ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}} maniacs, criminals, and lunatics]] comes in and [[VillainWithGoodPublicity steals the show]]. What really makes the it a DownerEnding is that he kills the Skrull queen ''seconds'' before Wolverine was able to. Naturally, he was placed in charge of ''every registered superhero, the Avengers Initiative was renamed the Thunderbolts Initiative, and SHIELD was disbanded and replaced with HAMMER, which is also run by Osborn''.

* Variant occurs in ''Disney/TheLionKing''. Simba is trying to roar to scare off the Hyenas from the elephant graveyard. On his second try he suddenly lets loose with a loud, echoing roar.... Except it's [[PapaWolf his father coming to save him.]]

* In the [[Literature/StarTrekNewFrontier Mackenzie Calhoun]] instalment of the ''Captain's Table'' series, we find out why Captain Calhoun decked an Admiral and resigned (temporarily) from Starfleet. While Mackenzie was still First Officer of the USS Grissom, his Captain's brother and niece came aboard as ambassadors to try and negotiate a peace between two planetary governments. Even when threatened with being instantly killed if they beamed down to the warmongering planet, [[AssInAmbassador they still did so]]. [[spoiler: One missed hourly check later, and two mutilated corpses are beamed back to the ship, while Kradius, leader of the planet, calls the ship to gloat. Captain Norman Kenyon has a breakdown, but hides it almost perfectly due to his massive popularity among and loyalty from the crew. Mackenzie is pretty much the only person who notices something amiss, but decides not to confront his Captain, as a First Officer's job is to support his Captain.]] After contacting HQ for further orders, they upgrade the weapons of the main butt monkeys for Kradius' planet so that they have a chance to actually defend themselves, then warp off. Two months later they come back, because Starfleet is concerned about the military buildup in the sector. [[spoiler: Kradius' planet's victims have all banded together to wipe out Kradius and his people, and the USS Grissom is invited to take part. Mackenzie realises that he's been fooled, there were no orders to upgrade the locals' weapons, and Capt Kenyon is here for revenge. Due to his popularity, Kenyon is able to charge Mackenzie with mutiny, and it is only after the [[OrbitalBombardment alliance fleet is victorious]] does anyone admit that the Captain has lost it and Mackenzie isn't a mutineer. Mackenzie beams down and tries to talk Kenyon out of executing Kradius, but Kenyon has lost his mind with grief over the death of his brother and niece, and cannot have peace until Kradius is dead. Mackenzie shoots Kradius to give Kenyon closure]] - and it is only when the corpse falls down does anyone realise that [[spoiler: Kradius]] had palmed a phaser and was about to shoot [[spoiler: Kenyon]]. Everyone thinks Mackenzie is a hero for shooting so quickly, but Mackenzie can only see it as the culmination of [[MyGreatestFailure his greatest failure]], for not intervening sooner. The investigatory panel exonerates him, so he decks the presiding Admiral, previously one of his greatest supporters, and resigns.

* In ''Series/{{Chuck}}'', our eponymous hero is on a 'Red test', where he must kill someone to graduate as a fully-fledged CIA agent. Since Chuck has never killed anyone, preferring to carry a tranq-pistol, he faces a moral dilemma until Casey shoots the target from a hidden position nearby

* ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'' did an interesting variation on this: in the series premier, "Under The Night", Dylan survives a fight which Rhade clearly dominates. We are led to believe that it's his strength of character and force of will that bought his victory. But the {{Flashback}} episode "The Unconquerable Man" reveals the truth seasons later: Rhade threw the fight, having witnessed the dire consequences for the universe should he take the role of leading man.

* [[TheFundamentalist Tiffany "Pennsatucky" Doggett]] in ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack'' goes through a villainous variant of this trope in her backstory, where everyone misunderstands the ''reasons'' behind her actions. She winds up at Litchfield Penitentiary for brutally murdering a doctor at an abortion clinic, and gets hailed as a hero by a conservative Christian group in the process. In truth, she actually [[DisproportionateRetribution killed the doctor for making a snide remark at her]], and she was going to the clinic to get an abortion herself (her ''fifth'' abortion, in fact) when it happened. She decides to stay quiet after a high-profile Christian lawyer offers to defend her at her trial, knowing that Pennsatucky is the perfect poster child for the group's pro-choice efforts.
* In ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', during the big group battle scene in the "This is Your Sword" episode, Felicity Smoak has her tablet computer ruined by a member of the League of Assassins, she retaliates by throwing the tablet at him, hitting him in the throat, and becomes giddy as he falls down dead, then realizes his death was due to Malcolm Merlyn shooting the guy in the back with an arriw, to which she responds, "Oh, that makes way more sense", but for a moment, both she and the audience believe it was her that killed the League member.

* ''WebVideo/ImAMarvelAndImADC'': The appears during the finale of the second season of After Hours. The Joker holds Harley Quinn hostage, and eggs Franchise/{{Batman}} and Franchise/SpiderMan, the only two heroes left in the room, to shoot him with a gun he threw earlier at Batman. As the morals of the two prevent them from murdering anyone, the Joker prepares to leave; however, a gunshot is heard, and the Joker drops to the floor, seemingly dead ([[spoiler:though he isn't]]). Both Batman and Spider-Man are baffled, until they see ThePunisher, who had been imprisoned earlier on, holding the gun.

* ComicBook/SpiderMan: ComicBook/NormanOsborn killing the Skrull Queen Veranke in ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion''. While the others have been battling for days, doing most of the dirty work, his team of [[ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}} maniacs, criminals, and lunatics]] comes in and [[VillainWithGoodPublicity steals the show]]. What really makes the it a DownerEnding is that he kills the Skrull queen ''seconds'' before Wolverine was able to. Naturally, he was placed in charge of ''every registered superhero, the Avengers Initiative was renamed the Thunderbolts Initiative, and SHIELD was disbanded and replaced with HAMMER, which is also run by Osborn''.

* ''WebVideo/ImAMarvelAndImADC'': The appears during the finale of the second season of After Hours. The Joker holds Harley Quinn hostage, and eggs Franchise/{{Batman}} and SpiderMan, the only two heroes left in the room, to shoot him with a gun he threw earlier at Batman. As the morals of the two prevent them from murdering anyone, the Joker prepares to leave; however, a gunshot is heard, and the Joker drops to the floor, seemingly dead ([[spoiler:though he isn't]]). Both Batman and Spider-Man are baffled, until they see ThePunisher, who had been imprisoned earlier on, holding the gun.

This is sometimes a variant of BaitAndSwitchGunshot or CorrelationCausationGag. It could overlap with BigDamnHeroes, BigDamnVillains, or ChangedMyMindKid.

This is sometimes a variant of BaitAndSwitchGunshot. It could overlap with BigDamnHeroes, BigDamnVillains, or ChangedMyMindKid.

A hero tries a desperate, futile attack against the enemy, charging in against an armored killing machine armed with, say, a pointed stick.