Basic Trope: The hero gets called out for acting like a bad guy.
- Straight: The Hero attempts to Shoot A Dog and his teammates object.
- Exaggerated: The action was so heinous, that even the Big Bad calls him out.
- Downplayed:
- The Hero steals a cookie from the cookie jar and gets scolded over it.
- The teammates don't straight-up yell at the hero for his actions or even act cold with him, but they were a little disappointed in him nonetheless.
- Justified:
- If The Hero hadn't been called out, he would have kept sliding down the slippery slope.
- Up until now, The Hero has been a paragon of justice and humanity, so this act is surprising to his teammates, who can't help but wonder.
- The Hero in question is a merciless Anti-Hero and/or a Sociopathic Hero, who has no qualms about torturing villains and exacting revenge on their relatives, and both his teammates and the villains are disgusted by his heinous acts.
- The Hero's teammates have every right to point out that what he did was not something a hero should do.
- Inverted:
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame. The Hero does something awful, but rather than be called out for it, someone (the villain or The Rival) says "Way to go!" which causes the Hero to regret his actions.
- The villain (protagonist) or Token Evil Teammate Pets The Dog, which comes so out of left field that no one can help but point it out. In other words, What the Hell, Villain?
- The Token Evil Teammate scolds the hero for doing good deeds.
- The villain scolds the Token Good Teammate or Anti-Villain for doing something good.
- You Monster!
- Subverted:
- The hero has a perfectly good justification for what he did, and the one calling him out retracts his complaint.
- Arson, Murder, and Lifesaving.
- The one doing the calling out is revealed to be The Mole, causing the hero to dismiss the callout as psychological warfare.
- Superdickery
- Double Subverted:
- The hero has a justification for what he did... but after hearing it, the one calling him out still says he shouldn't have done it.
- Villain Has a Point, forcing the hero to still take the callout seriously regardless of its source.
- Parodied: The hero Pokes The Poodle, and everyone forms an angry mob over it.
- Zig Zagged:
- The objector tends to overreact to the smallest thing; however, when the hero commits a truly horrible act, he's the only one to call him out. The hero justifies his actions with I Did What I Had to Do, which the objector agrees with... until pointing out there was another way. Said option was workable, but involved massive risk and could have resulted in Heroic Sacrifice; it's left unanswered whether the hero's solution was more pragmatic or not.
- The objector calls out the hero arbitrarily, so it's impossible to tell whether it's out of moral objection or something else.
- Averted:
- The Hero does his immoral act and no one complains.
- The Hero commits no reprehensible acts.
- Enforced: "We must create tension. Quick, call him out for doing something bad!"
- Lampshaded: "Aw, man! This is gonna be one of those talks where you guys yell at me for needless property damage again, isn't it?"
- Invoked: The Hero specifically selects a Lancer who will call him out so as to prevent himself from falling freely to evil.
- Exploited: The Big Bad plans for The Mole to call out The Hero over something at just the right moment to cast doubts and weaken his Heroic Spirit so that the Big Bad can take advantage.
- Defied:
- The Designated Hero surrounds himself with yes-men who will not complain about his actions.
- The Hero, before undertaking any Dirty Business, talks with his team about it before going through with it.
- Shut Up, Kirk!
- "How dare you stand there and think that you're in any position to judge me! After all, haven't you done as many questionable things as I have?
- Discussed: "Ugh, The Hero might be "good and all", but you know he's going to slip up and we are not going to let him get away with it then."
- Conversed: "Finally! Someone called out the hero for being a douche."
- Played For Laughs: The Hero was caught jaywalking in the street, and everyone, and even the Big Bad chastised him for it.
- Played For Drama:
- The Hero got into a Heroic BSoD, and got lead to a big Guilt Complex since he did something he was up against. Eventually leading The Hero to a Despair Event Horizon.
- Because The Hero keeps getting called out for what he does, he becomes convinced that he is a Hero with an F in Good. This leads him to give up being a hero and either retire or do a Face–Heel Turn.
What's the big idea, leaving a link back to What the Hell, Hero??
