Times where someone attempts to undercut, undermine and ruin the success of another in Comic Books.
- In issue 10 of The Amazing Spider-Man, it is revealed that J. Jonah Jameson suffers this in regards to Spider-Man. Hence his relentless persecution of the webslinger.Jameson: Am I always to be thwarted, embarrassed, frustrated by Spider-Man? I hate that costumed freak more than I've ever hated anyone before!...All my life I've been interested in only one thing: making money! And yet, Spider-Man risks his life day after day with no thought of reward! If a man like him is good— is a hero— then what am I?...Spider-Man represents everything that I'm not! He's brave, powerful and unselfish! The truth is, I envy him! I, J. Jonah Jameson—millionaire, man of the world, civic leader—I'd give everything I own to be the man that he is!
- This trope was given as the reason the depowered superheroes receive no outside help in JLA: Act of God, because it turns out that all the Muggles and world governments are secretly happy that their superpowered protectors are now "on the same level" as everyone else. Unless the depowering occurred on a universal scale, they'll probably be a lot less happy the next time someone like Mongul or Darkseid shows up, and the only defense they have left will be Badass Normal heroes like Batman. This is never brought up in the story, but then again, neither is some of the lost "powers" being technology or innate biological functions.
- During The Krakoan Age human allies have consistently been critical of the accomplishments that mutants have achieved after consolidating into a nation. Even though this is the greatest level of cooperation among the mutant community in recent memory, and they've taken the effort to share the fruits of their labor with any nations that recognize mutant rights, all their ostensibly not mutantphobic human allies can express is disappointment that mutants are apparently only out to support themselves. This is in spite of those same allies never involving themselves in addressing mutant hate like the federally funded killer robots commissioned to execute mutant citizens.
- Scrooge receives this treatment in The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. When he returns to his hometown after making his first billion, he's immediately pelted with tomatoes: "The Highlands were nae good enough fer ya, eh?".
- Which is hilariously built upon when Scrooge rages at the treatment, and the villagers are honestly shocked that he took offense.
- Scrooge had previously gotten this treatment after winning the battle for the Anaconda copper mine. Upon returning to town he is reviled by those he previously counted as friends. Howard Rockerduck informs him that this is what happens when you get rich.
- Lex Luthor feels this way about Superman, stating no one man should have that much power. However, Lex's logic is that no one but him should have that much power...
- Some comics in the Marvel Universe speculate this is why heroes there receive such poor responses from the general population. Super-heroes are extraordinary people with amazing abilities and dedicate their lives to improving the world around them, so normal humans feel weak and selfish by comparison. The Kingpin ties this into I Just Want to Be Normal and Muggle Power in a "The Reason You Suck" Speech in Ultimate Spider-Man #80.The Kingpin: They, "society," hate you because they don't want your help. You remind them of how weak-willed and sheep-like and unspecial they are. How gleeful they are, deep down, to be ordinary. They don't want heroes. They don't want special people around them. Because if there are special people and they aren't one of them— well, who wants that? Who wants a constant reminder that they aren't even trying to be special? See, the difference between you and I is that you really are just a child. You benefit from the wide-eyed optimism of youth. I do envy that, somewhat. But... like many of your decisions in life... it's just naive. And I don't envy that harsh cold slap of reality that will come your way soon enough. But I guess it's inevitable. People don't want to be special. I do think that. It is my philosophy. They— people want to be told what to do and how to live and they want men like me to tell them. They want to go to work and do as little as they can possibly get away with, and they want a big cookie at the end of the day for doing it. And they want men like me to give it to them.
- In one story of The Smurfs, they found a magic egg which fulfills wishes. One smurf wishes for a big cake, but doesn't want to share it. (Not nice, but justified if anyone else can have as many wishes as he likes.) The next smurf then wishes for said cake to disappear.
- Supergirl has gotten this poor treatment several times:
- Daily Planet journalist Cat Grant hates Supergirl, among other -mostly petty- reasons, because she can't stand seeing a super-powerful teenager around.
- In Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade, Lena Thorul hates super-powered beings, feeling they make baseline humans look bad. As soon as she finds out her best friend Linda is Supergirl, Lena turns on her.Supergirl: Lena... I'm still me! I'm your best friend!
Lena: Not anymore... Not now that I know the truth! You're my enemy now. I have no choice but to destroy you!
Supergirl: But why? I'm the same person you've been friends with for months! Why do you have to hate me?!
Lena: Because your kind offends the natural order! You float through the sky as if you own it! You change the course of rivers without a thought to the consequences! Your very existence undermines the purity of true human achievement!
- Wonder Woman:
- Wonder Woman: Volume 1: Cheetah (Priscilla Rich) will gladly tear down and straight up murder those around her if she thinks they're rising above their station, which in her mind means getting any accolades or attention which could theoretically be hers.
- Wonder Woman: Volume 2: Being an Expy of Lex Luthor, this is the source of Veronica Cale's hatred towards Diana. Cale is jealous that Diana is a beautiful, immortal. magical princess who can fly and is upheld as the ideal woman by the media while no normal woman could be expected to achieve what she has or live up to the ideals the media associates with her. Cale herself grew up in poverty and much of her wealth has been attained by ruthless and underhanded methods.
