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I wish I could sleep like normal people.
— Joseph Carey Merrick, better known as The Elephant Man
Normal? What do you know about "normal"? What does anyone in this family know about "normal"? We act normal, Mom; I want to be normal! The only normal one is Jack-Jack, and he's not even toilet-trained!
I just want to go home and be all normal!
I just want to be a normal girl.. a normal girl... NOOOOOOO!!!
They didn't want these powers, this magic, this curse, or whatever it is that was foisted upon them. The responsibility to save the world? Forget it! All those exciting adventures and the ability to potentially do anything? Take it away. They want nothing to do with it.
Needing to be normal often comes in waves. Often, it hits critical levels, and the character threatens to quit, or even does so temporarily.
While this is all well and good, most writers conveniently forget that after such an exciting and exceptional existence, everything else will seem dull and meaningless to most people. Not only are special abilities usually given up, but sometimes also cherished friends. Some people psychologically will be unable to adjust, and most will acquire deep-seated mental issues about the whole process.
This can also include situations where overt powers or the like are not involved, wherein the characters are involved in an exceptional situation. It can also occur when characters, for no particular reason other than that the show is ending or that they're leaving it, have a sudden and usually implausible epiphany that they really want to live a "normal" life. Somehow this almost invariably includes them cutting ties with the entirety of the rest of the characters and locations.
One common subversion is Can't Stay Normal where the character finally becomes normal, but is not able to adjust to it, and longs for their old life back. Or just as they achieve their normality, something happens where they NEED their abilities back, particularly to save the Love Interest. Either may be a Ten Minute Retirement, the former may be a Sequel Hook.
See also Cursed With Awesome, Who Wants To Live Forever, and Refusal Of The Call. Contrast Jumped At The Call, where wanting to be normal never even occurs to the hero. Naturally, the opposite of this trope is I Just Want To Be Special. Also see Blessed With Suck, when the hero has every reason to want to be normal.
Examples
Anime
- Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure Part 4 Big Bad Yoshikage Kira's main motivation was to live a normal and uneventful life. When you consider what his main hobby is it makes his goal kind of contradictory.
- One could argue that it was less the motivation to have a normal life and more the motivation to do whatever the hell he wanted, considering at the end of the series he has a good chance to take his normal life, but doesn't in favor of continuing his...activities.
- Most Magical Girls, especially Usagi of Sailor Moon, who spent all of the first arc of Sailor Moon R saying this and got two separate chances at it via reincarnation-induced amnesia - once before the show started, once at the end of the first series.
- Exception: Nanoha, from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, and Yui, from Corrector Yui, both of whom jump into the weirdness with both feet. Yui does this because she is a Genre Savvy Magical Girl Otaku, Nanoha because she is looking for a true calling. Shugo Chara is somewhere between the two extremes. The powers didn't seem to bother Amu,it's the charas that annoyed her.
- And now the justified version: Sailor Nothing. Oh, Sailor Nothing.
- Usagi is pretty justified too, what with the whole "having powers will kill you and your friends" angle. She even cried when she does get her powers back in Sailor Moon R because getting them back also means she remembers watching her friends and her lover all die in battle right in front of her.
- Parodied with Pretty Sammy, whose whole motivation for not wanting to keep her powers is because her outfit is lame and being a skimpily clad superhero is really embarrassing.
- Ichigo of Tokyo Mew Mew wanted to be normal out of fear that her crush Masaya would reject her if he found out — fighting aliens is really not a big deal compared to this.
- Pretear, on the other hand, is a strange case. By the time Himeno receives the Call To Adventure, she already doesn't consider her life to be "normal", since she is all of a sudden a member of a rich family and feels ridiculously out of place there. Turns out that something even weirder — namely, being a Magical Girl — actually fits her better. To the point when she almost gets a Heroic BSOD upon being Brought Down To Normal for one episode.
- Chisame Hasegawa in Mahou Sensei Negima was fed-up with her strange classmates even before she got a Cute Shotaro Boy for a teacher. Naturally, things go downhill from there.
- She eventually just gives up entirely after traveling to the Magic World with Ala Alba.
- Another of the less blatantly eccentric ones, Asuna, turns out to only be normal because she succeeded at this, with the help of some Laser Guided Amnesia. When the aformentioned Cute Shotaro Boy appears, she goes back to paranormal of her own will not as a deliberate choice, but because she doesn't remember choosing to become normal in the first place, much less being abnormal. Remember, always analyze what you would do if you didn't know what you know if you plan on getting rid of that knowledge.
- Kahlua from Galaxy Angel Rune and Galaxy Angel II, as a child, had tried to save a friend with her magic, but said friend was less than grateful, instead scared away by her strength. The result was a fear of not being normal, and she mentally sealed away a large percentage of her own power by choice. This created her Superpowered Evil Side, Tequila.
- A Little Snow Fairy Sugar rather poorly handles this in its resolution.
- Haunted Junction, in its two-part finale, shows very clearly that a life of "normalcy" is in fact nothing to enjoy and criticizes the trend.
- It is fairly common in Real Robot series for the main character to wish for a return to their regular life, usually due to the fact that their unique situation is brought on by warfare.
- It takes several episodes of Bleach for main character Ichigo Kurosaki to accept the responsibility of his borrowed Shinigami powers.
- A variant of this occurs in Hayate The Combat Butler. After finding out Hayate wants a normal girl and normal life, Nagi finds Ayumu Nishizawa, essentially the most normal person in the cast. (The narrator pointed this out.) and follows her all day, learning how to be "normal". In the end, she realizes that normal is "an extremely scaled down version of what I normally do."
- We're still not sure what the hell's going on in Suzumiya Haruhi, especially in relation to Kyon. He continually mentions how he wishes Haruhi would just settle down and be a normal, well-adjusted schoolgirl (Hell, it's even in his Image Song), but the fact that he's an Unreliable Narrator (in regards to his feelings, anyway) and that he was once stuck in a universe where everything was normal and he still attempted to revert it to its very Haruhi, abnormal state may prove otherwise...
- And how can we forget Yuki Nagato, starting in Disappearance, which essentially makes her The Woobie.
- In Guyver, Sho doesn't want to have the powers. When he technically has the opportunity to get rid of them (when the Guyver Remover is found), he still keeps them because he needs to protect his friends. The new anime adds a nice twist to this, with Tetsuro picking up the G-Unit first and then passing it to Sho only when it started sprouting tentacles.
- In Ranma 1/2, most of the characters just want to be rid of their curses. Granted, most would be pretty damn weird even without their curses.
- The characters of Ranma 1/2 fit this trope only tenatively. They have absolutely no complaints with their abnormal lives or their superhuman abilities, and most would probably hate being forced into normality in that fashion; the sole element of their lives they want gone are their Jusenkyo curses, which all but one character finds at the least annoying and at worst actively harmful to their lives. The one exception grew up with his curse... and also happens to go from cruel, egotistic Bishonen to a giant monster that the best martial artists of his generation have serious trouble defeating.
- Shinji Ikari from Neon Genesis Evangelion really, REALLY doesn't want to pilot a giant mech and save the world.
- Rei Ayanami in the Alternate Continuity spinoff Angelic Days takes up this role. She transfers schools so often that she just can't find any time to adapt to her surrroundings and make any stable friendships.
- Tsuna Sawada from Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Of course he's not a mafia boss, really.
- In Naruto, unlike virtually everyone else in a cast of thousands who are either trying to become heads of state, living legends, outright immortals, gain the acceptance of their persecutors, avenge horrific wrongs, or various combinations thereof- Shikamaru Nara's driving goal in life has ever been to achieve a basic level of competence as a ninja, meet a decent girl, get married, have two kids, and stay alive until retirement. Poor bastard never had a chance.
- He's not technically even a Bookworm despite being a genius. He's that damn lazy. He really doesn't want to fight, but he will kick your ass when pressed.
- Given his Character Development in Shippuden, it would appear that his goals have become somewhat more lofty.
- Nagisa spends almost all of the two Iczelion OVAs whining and crying about being chosen to bond with the Iczel.
- Simon of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is both an example and an aversion. It was a constant of the first few episodes that he would plead with Kamina to return home once the Ganmen Of The Week started pulverising them, but Kamina's Manly Spirit (TM) forced him to repeatedly change his tune, eventually reaching the point where his obligatory Heroic BSOD is completely shattered and the trope abandoned in favour of Simon delivering a never-ending stream of Crowning Moments Of Awesome.
- In the first page of the spin off manga, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - Guren Gakuenhen, Simon prays to his dead parents "Please, Please! Let me have an extremely normal life". In the second page, Kamina kicks down his window in an attempt to be Moe Moe.
- In Fate/stay night this was Saber's entire motivation to win the Holy Grail, though with the intent of remaining normal so the country she led would have a better ruler.
- "I JUST WANT TO BE A CHEF, GODDAMMIT!"
- In One Piece, at the end of his fight with Zoro, Kaku expressed regret that he never got to lead a normal life, having been raised to be an assassin. In the manga, him and the rest of CP 9 take a stab at this with the World Government hot on their tails.
- In Strawberry Panic, Amane doesn't want to be Etoile and didn't ask for her legions of fangirls — she just wants to ride her horse in peace. Her rival, Kaname, finally makes the point to her that only she can win the Etoile election for Spica; the whole school has placed its hopes with Amane, and like it or not, that gives her a responsibility. It's strange how this particular Aesop feels more Broken with a normal human being than with a superhero, Slayer, or whatever.
- Sakaki in Azumanga Daioh is a deeply shy girl who's cursed with being Tall Dark And Bishoujo. Other girls mistake her silence for coldness, and this has made her an idol — which embarrasses her, but she's too shy to say that either. Sakaki would much rather be small and cute like Chiyo-chan... who would much rather be big and tall like Sakaki.
- Zelgadis in The Slayers is a prime example. Cursed With Awesome in the form of being merged with a stone golem and a demon, in the anime his quest can actually make him seem motivated by vanity, due to the fact his warped body isn't unattractive in an exotic sort of way (almost a Cute Monster Guy), he doesn't really care about people anyway (which makes their being afraid of him when they see him have less impact), and most importantly his body gives him super powers. It boosts his energy reserves, allowing him to cast more spells than either of his companions, allows him to go for ages without food or water, gives him superhuman strength, speed, hearing and stamina, and makes him Nigh Invulnerable to all practical purposes (only incredibly powerful attacks can hurt him- Demon Lords, the Sword of Light, etcetera).
- Night Wizard's Renji is one of the most powerful Wizards around and can easily save the world with very little work. Except he wants to stop going on missions and actually get a chance to finish school, which is all but impossible with the number of times Anzelotte keeps calling him away.
- Oboro from Basilisk would just love to marry her fiancé Gennosuke and live Happily Ever After. However, they're both the heirs and leaders of warring Ninja clans...
- There's also Genki Boy Yashamaru, who views the clan truce as his chance to get married to his beloved fiancée and fellow Iga Ninja Hotarubi. They both get bloodily killed off. Sniff.
- Kenichi is usually pretty happy with the changes in his life due to meeting Miu (i.e., Miu herself), Training From Hell aside. However, he's less than happy with the fights that he's forced into as a result. It's best illustrated here
 as he sneaks into the cruise ship of a worldwide criminal organization led by some of the most dangerous martial artists in the world, whose disciples want to kill Kenichi to prove their Badassitude.
Kenichi: Where did I go wrong in life?
- The main character of Nurarihyon no Mago starts this way, wanting to just live a normal life as a human despite being the heir to a huge clan of youkai and a quarter-youkai himself. But it's averted early on in the first real story arc, when he begins to fully understand his youkai nature and learns of the impact his attitude is having on others firsthand. He decides that while he does want to live a peaceful life, protecting the people close to him and leading his clan is far more important.
- In a rare non-supernatural example, Mio. She chose bass instead of guitar because she doesn't like to be the center of attention. Wildly subverted in the anime; Mio's forced to take the lead singer's place in the 3 lives the girls perform.
Comic Books
- Peter Parker has attempted to give up the Super Hero life several times, only to come back when someone is in need. Such an attempt was the foundation of the second movie's plot.
- This is also common for mutants in the Marvel Universe, who tend to become social pariahs if their status becomes public.
- The Teen Titans comic inverted this, with Beast Boy losing his powers in a particular Story Arc. Everyone assumes that he'll be happy about being normal again, until he states that he never wanted to be normal.
- While Teen Titans the animated series plays it painfully straight...
- The Titans comic also played it as straight as can be with Beast Boy's best friend Cyborg. Half-human half-machine Vic Stone has struggled with I Just Want To Be Normal for decades.
- Titans supporting character Frances Kane has tried very hard to be normal over the years; unfortunately, a combination of Superpowered Evil Side and the writers' desire for a Chew Toy tends to get in the way.
- Used in a rather awesome way in the third Blue Beetle comic series, when the villainous Eclipso grants the Blue Beetle all his deepest, most secret desires. Turns out he wants to be a dentist.
- Runaways character Karolina Dean would rather be a normal, Hollywood teenager, rather than the lesbian child of two alien criminals.
- Only when things go awkward, as when she tried to kiss Nico and turned out she wasn't interested. At the end of the first series she was the first one who ran out of her foster house and contacted everyone, as she wanted to "fly again".
- Ben Grimm, The Thing, is the poster boy for this trope. Despite his complaints about being an orange rock monster, every time he's be "cured", he finds a reason to become The Thing, again. He actually enjoys being the FF's strong man and "The Idol of Millions", but just wishes he could walk down the street without being stared at.
- Which by this point is probably more because of the whole "Idol of Millions" thing than because of his appearance, so he's got nothing to complain about.
- Nothing to complain about. He accidently breaks things when he touches them, and he is almost certainly celibate as a result of his condition.
- In The Bulleteer, both Alix and her "archnemesis" Sally Sonic wish they were normal people; It was this intense desire to live a normal life that led Sally to provoke Alix's husband to killing himself, because she so wanted to be in her place and be genuinely loved by a normal man.
- Alix also can't stop meeting up with people who are the opposite, especially the uber-pathetic Mind Grabber Man.
- Subverted with Man-Thing. A scientist who was transformed into a walking, empathic compost heap should be all over this trope, but most of the time he doesn't simply because his transformation cost him his mind- he's little more than, well, a big plant, and any human memories are gone.
Film
- Sally Owens (Sandra Bullock) in Practical Magic.
- Extreme example: in The Matrix, Cypher wants to return to life in the Matrix so much that he makes a deal with the machines to help them capture Morpheus, on the condition that they plug him back in and erase his memories of life outside. Admittedly, he does request that he be turned into someone important, like a famous actor.
- An entire faction of enemies in the sequel game The Matrix Online shares Cypher's point of view, however it is revealed that such a process is actually imposssible.
- Susan in Monsters Vs Aliens, who spends the first half of the movie fantasizing about shrinking back to normal and having a normal life with her husband-to-be. She eventually comes to terms with her new body and ability, culminating in taking the name Ginormica as her own.
- Godzilla vs. Destoroyah includes a scene of two psychic women at the UNGCC base, discussing the fact that their Psychic Powers are slowly disappearing. One of them says that she wants to live a normal life, with a husband and kids, earning her a look of purest bewilderment and contempt from the other.
- This is the premise of Hancock.
- Bethany in Dogma. Jesus is said to have also been like this for some years—the ones not recounted in the Bible.
Literature
- In her first appearance in the Discworld novels, Susan Sto Helit refused to believe she was Death's granddaughter. In later appearances she still attempts to maintain a "normal" life, and insists on being sensible and using logic, often denying her own abilities. Ironically, because she lives on the Discworld, what she thinks of as the "normal world" is actually just as illogical and fantastic as the underlying world of her grandfather.
- By Thief of Time, she seems to have accepted her powers, even if she's still irritated at being occasionally tapped by her grandfather for help. As a teacher she uses them to make her students' lessons more...interesting, such as taking them to view ancient battles firsthand. She also, at the end of Thief of Time, takes them to see Nanny Ogg, which, as she says to herself, is the equivalent of two lessons.
- There's also Rincewind, an unremarkable wizard who has a bad habit of getting into adventure. He's even quite aware of it, but still insists that he wants to go home. When people try to say that he must enjoy it, he retorts that he rather likes being bored, as it generally means no one's trying to harm him.
- And Carrot, a Hidden Heir who's quite happy to stay hidden.
- Calling Carrot normal is a bit of a stretch, though, and he doesn't seem to have any problem with that.
- Two of Tolkien's books, The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings use and subvert this trope. In The Hobbit, Bilbo gets swept up into an adventure that hobbits usually despise in favor of a quiet life, and later on in LOTR Bilbo expresses interest in going on an adventure again. Frodo has a talk with Gandalf expressing this trope, and is almost ready to go back to living a normal hobbit life after reaching Rivendell (which is only the beginning of his journey).
- The end of the third book explores this more—probably somewhat due to Tolkien's own experience in war. Frodo (and crew) DO go back to the shire—their idea of "normal", for which they have been yearning ever since they left... except they aren't normal themselves, anymore. They can never "go back", particularly Frodo and Sam (who have had the experience of literally carrying the fate of the world on their shoulders/around their necks) and eventually both head off into the West with the Elves, rather than living out the rest of their lives with people who cannot understand them (and don't care to try) in a world with values that now alienate them. Or at least that's how I read it. (Comment: Sam was already well over 90, widowed, granddad and longest-serving mayor when he went west..)
- Subverted in Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, where the protagonist spends most of the book (or series) trying to get back to his normal life, and when he finally succeeds, realizes he doesn't want that any more, and returns to the "fairy world".
- Harry Dresden of The Dresden Files repeatedly mentions he'd have liked to live a normal life and especially not know about all the supernatural nasties out to get/eat humans. He makes a similar note about The Archive, a little girl who has all of humanity's accumulated knowledge and thus never really had a childhood. She also all has all the memories of her maternal ancestors, including her mother who committed suicide to avoid bearing the burden of being The Archive while being jealous that her daughter would otherwise avoid it all her life. Thus the girl carries the memories of her mother's hatred towards her.
- Here's some fun: try counting the number of times Harry Potter says or thinks this.
- Especially as the normal he wants includes magic and a godfather who can turn into a dog.
- In fairness to Harry, the normal he wants basically translates to "I'm okay with learning that there's a secret magical world and I'm a part of it, but can I not be the part that draws all the Big Bads and plot points trying to kill me every fucking year, please?" He'd just rather not be The Chosen One.
- In the Andalite Chronicles, a spin-off set of books from the Animorphs series, Elfangor, the Andalite prince who gave the Animorphs their powers in the first place, gives up his life as a war leader to live on Earth with a human woman, until the Ellimist shows up and makes him give it all up. It's later revealed that he had a son on Earth, who 'became' one of the Animorphs.
- At the end of Good Omens, Adam Young has decided not to use his reality-warping powers in any form for good or evil and to continue his life as a normal human. Which is fortunate for the world and all we know of it, as he was originally created to bring about the Apocalypse with his powers.
- Although, from the ending, it seems he lied. "Human incarnate", as Crowley puts it.
- In Lisa Shearin's Magic Lost, Trouble Found and sequel Armed and Magical, main character Raine Benares is an average magic user who specializes in finding lost items. Then she forms a psychic link with the Saghred, an ancient stone with apocalyptic power that eats souls for breakfast. The books focus on her trying to break the link with the Saghred while being pursued by villains who want to harness the Saghred's power.
- The titular character in the Alex Rider series has an I Just Want To Be Normal moment at least once in every book he's been in...and he's been in seven.
- Hugo Danner, the world's first superhero, suffered from this. Philip Wylie wrote the novel Gladiator in 1930, featuring Hugo who was super-strong, fast, and with skin too tough to be pierced by a machine gun. Naturally he mopes about it for 332 pages before being struck by lightning and reduced to ash. On the bright side, two Jewish kids from Cleveland read the novel and came up with a more cheerful version.
- Flinx, the major protagonist of Alan Dean Foster's Humanx Commonwealth universe, frequently has occasion to wish he did not have empathic powers as the result of a genetics experiment by a group of Evilutionary Biologists. Especially when the Bad Ass allies, Cool Starship, and the whole exploring the galaxy thing get overshadowed by being told he's The Chosen One fated to confront an Ultimate Evil; being pursued by people who want to variously "fix" him, imprison him, or kill him for being The Chosen One; and possibly his brain exploding from his evolving powers. Wangst, thy name is Flinx.
- Nudge in Maximum Ride. In fact, in Max, she so desperately wants to go to a "normal" school, that she's willing to cut her own wings off. She doesn't, though, because Max lets her go. After a while, she comes back, wings and all.
Live Action TV
Video Games
- In a non-superpower example, Solid Snake of the Metal Gear series made three separate attempts to live a normal life in isolation, attempting to escape the cycle of violence and death that had killed so many people around him. Without fail, he was back fighting the titular Humongous Mecha within a few years at most.
- Chun Li in the Street Fighter franchise. Within the games themselves, she is often mentioned as wanting to go back to living a normal life after she avenges her father. However, since she just Cant Stay Normal, her attempts at living said normal life tend to go astray mainly because she actually does like street fighting.
- In The Sims 2, this is generally how sims without the knowledge aspiration react to being turned into a monster. They will constantly have the want to be normal come up in their slot, or the want for one of their friends or family to be normal. You can just ignore this with no negative consequences though, or you can cash in on the points and buy the curing potion. Note that sims who do have the knowledge aspiration have this a fear instead.
Webcomics
- Nicely subverted in this strip from the webcomic Minus.
- Nowhere University: Edward has a brief spell of this after discovering Psychic Powers, but quickly thinks better.
- In Arthur, King Of Time And Space, Arthur doesn't want to be High King of Britain (or High King of British Space, or C.E.O. of Excallicorp), but his sense of responsibility is too strong to give it up.
- Zoe is like this a bit in Sluggy Freelance. She just wants to graduate from college and get a good job, while all her friends are more interested in summoning demons, exploring other dimensions, building giant robots, fighting vampires, or conocting various Zany Schemes. It doesn't help that, while the other characters can cast spells, build Mad Scientist style inventions, or kill demons with a swing of their sword, Zoe's "power" is turning into a camel whenever someone says "shupid" (which her friends do whenever they're feeling a bit vengeful).
- In Misfile this is Ash's eternal lament. What with the Gender Bender, the drunken angel posing as her boyfriend, and being treated like the local Badass's surrogate little sister you can't really blame her.
- Interestingly, Emily is actually enjoying her new life more than her old one, and is beginning to resent Ash's desire to return to the way things were.
- Played straight by Kei in Circumstances of the Revenant Braves, until he realizes that having the power to do real good is what he's always wanted.
- Girl Genius - ironically, the deepest thoughts on the subject are given by the supposed moron.
- In Everyday Heroes, Summer Mighty has inherited her father's powers, which caused her former friends to avoid her.
Web Original
- Emma uses the exact phrase in the lonelygirl15 episode "Decision Time". The series also contains a non-superpower-related example, which Daniel expresses in "The Ascension". Jonas does too, to a lesser extent.
- None of the protagonists in the web fiction serial Dimension Heroes want their super powers. Of course, that doesn't stop some of them *coughRobcough* from enjoying them.
Western Animation
- Several episodes of My Life As A Teenage Robot deal with Jenny's quirky attempts to achieve normality.
- In the Legion Of Super Heroes cartoon episode "Legacy," Alexis dismisses her trillionaire heiress Lonely Rich Kid / Rich Bitch lifestyle with "I Just Want To Be Normal." As her first real friend apparently ever, she tries to hold on to her relationship with Superman, and thus normality, by scheming and manipulating and eventually going completely off the deep end into supervillainy, Luthor-style, giving up on normality in favor of Revenge.
- Aang in Avatar The Last Airbender, in regards to being the Chosen One. Even after being forced to accept the call, he still holds some desire to be a normal kid. In the third season, he goes as far as to take the huge risk of enrolling in a Fire Nation school just to experience what it's like being a normal kid, despite his friends' protests.
- A main plot point of the 80's Dungeons And Dragons cartoon was the kids wanting to leave their new sword-and-sorcery life behind and return to the normal world.
- In The Spectacular Spider Man Peter Parker suffers a brief bout of this. When Peter is caught having taken pictures of his alter-ego's battle with mutated geneticist the Lizard, after claiming he was going home, his friends and superiors at the ESU labs distrust him, and fire him from his internship. Stealing a gene cleanser from the lab, Peter briefly considers taking it before remembering his credo. He does, however, keep it hidden under his desk.
- In Transformers Animated, Blackarachnia is obsessed with removing her organic side and becoming fully robotic again despite being both Cursed With Awesome and tremendously physically attractive to about half the cast.
- Used and subverted in Disney's Hercules. Because Hercules' strength often causes accidents, Hercules is shunned by the community, even though he just wants to fit in. This desire fades after he becomes a hero and puts his strength to good use. Late in the movie, Hades forces him to give up his powers to save the life of his love interest. After being drained, Hades pins Herc to the ground by throwing a barbell at him and stands over him taunting, "Now you know how it feels to be like everyone else. Isn't it just...peachy?"
- Despite the page quote, Zim is not an example of this trope - he just tries to pretend he is normal.
- In the season two finale of The Venture Brothers, Dean ends up admitting this during a fit of delusion.
- In South Park, Craig is shown to be The Chosen One who will defeat the giant Guinea Creatures as foretold by an Incan prophecy, though he states throughout the episodes that he doesn't want to get involved in any weird adventures and just wants to stay away from the main characters (whose every schemes always ends up in Hilarity Ensuing). Subverted in that his attempts at refusing the call ends up leading him to fulfill his destiny and defeat the Guinea Pirate, with him noting that life is unexpected in the end (though he still learns to never trust the gang with anything).
- Heathens! Don't you recall ... the most famous reindeer of all?
- In Danny Phantom, Danny tries to split his ghost and human halves to have some plain fun...with mixed results. Similarly, in the finale, Danny permanently gets rid of his ghost half so he can be normal, even if he does eventually get his powers back.
- In Jackie Chan Adventures Jackie would love nothing more than to go back to his life as a quiet and unassuming archaelogist rather than his current life as a secret agent who routinely defends the world from demons and what not.
- In one of the more recent My Little Pony animated specials, Lily Lightly is the only unicorn whose horn glows when she's excited or really happy, so she tries to hide it from everyone else. She even has an I Want Song about it.
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