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  • Asterix:
    • At the end of Asterix and The Cauldron, the eponymous (money-filled) cauldron falls off a cliff onto the pirates' ship. The panel even has a caption reading "And for once, the pirates are happy!" (though Asterix and Obelix DID kick their asses as usual earlier in the book, albeit unjustly).
    • There are also a few occasions in which Cacofonix saves the day with his dreadful music, and the villagers reward him by letting him participate in the victory feast (as opposed to tying him up to prevent him from singing as per the usual Running Gag) - most notably Asterix and the Normans, where he actually gets to perform for the village with the One-Shot Character whose life he saved (although he still isn't allowed to sing). Also, when he's been having a run of especially bad luck to the point where the other characters picking on him further would make them unlikeable, they tend to let him sing as an Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other moment - his usual nemesis Fulliautomatix asks him to sing for him to cheer him up in The Secret Weapon after the village women run him out of town, and in The Falling Sky, where he has had the worst luck he's ever had and ended up losing all of his possessions due to Ethnic Scrappy aliens immolating his house and then erasing everyone's memory of it, he's even allowed to sing at the banquet, even though everyone else is obviously in intense pain.
    • At the end of Asterix at the Olympics Games, the Romans Glutius Maxmus and Veriambitius, after spending the entire book being upstaged and humiliated by the Gauls' antics, are given the Palm of Victory Asterix won to present to Caesar, with Asterix admitting they needed it more than he did. A caption reads, as Caesar rewards the Legionaries, "For once, Caesar is pleased!"
  • Disney Ducks Comic Universe:
    • Donald Duck did get the upper hand on Gladstone Gander about 10% of the time in Carl Barks' classic comics.
    • Don Rosa loved doing this to Donald. The Duck Who Never Was did it as a sixtieth birthday present to the character via It's a Wonderful Plot, while The Magnificent Seven (Minus Four) Caballeros sees Donald's foreign friends from The Three Caballeros make a return and take him on an adventure to cure his depression.
    • Often Donald Duck stories involve short-sighted get rich quick schemes that fail spectacularly and painfully, because Donald tries to use shortcuts instead of putting real effort in. Then there's the one story where Donald fails spectacularly to take care of Uncle Scrooge's car near the beginning of the story and then desperately needs to make a million dollars in one day just so he can buy a replacement before Uncle Scrooge finds out. Donald actually pulls it off, buys a replacement car, and nearly fools Scrooge. Except it turns out the original car wasn't destroyed at all, and Donald gets to drive off the scene in his legitimately-earned super expensive car, to Scrooge's astonishment. The lesson seems to be that Donald is potentially just as good at Scrooge when it comes to honestly making money... but most of the time Donald's own greed and pride prevents him from succeeding.
  • There was a brief scene in Gotham Knights where for once, Batman accepted Spoiler, even telling her that he doesn't mind the company.
  • In Volume 5 of Empowered Emp (kidnapped along with a bunch of the Superhomies' celebrity doubles) wriggles out of her restraints, dons her super suit (which she'd wrapped around her waist) and tells off the double who insulted her earlier. Then for once, just once, she actually smiles in anticipation because the mooks have no idea what's coming.
  • The tract Stinky from Chick Tracts has a mild example: The title demon after failing his task, is seen happily slacking and relaxing at the end while his master is being punished by his boss, Satan. What makes this special is that all previous tracts ended with all the bad guys, without exception, being thrown to Hell or punished for their failure.
  • Spider-Man:
    • Because of his status as one of the first Chew Toys of the Marvel Universe, occasionally writers will throw him a bone here and there. Such as Stan Lee giving him a motorcycle, introducing him to Mary Jane, and generally making his life better after Stan's fellow plotter Steve Ditko quit Marvel.
    • There are numerous occasions where Spider-Man gets lucky breaks. But the biggest one is where Cable revealed that he will be remembered as ''the greatest hero in the history of the world", and that on some occasions, he's also remembered as the only hero of his time, because of how often he helped the average citizen compared to every other hero of his time. That means that despite all the tragedies and heartbreak he has gone thought, his undeserved reputation as a menace by the public he's trying to protect, someday Spider-Man will be seen as the hero he is and the public will appreciate his work to protect them.
    • At the end of Spider-Island, the entire city recognizes that Spider-Man saved the day, there's major Ship Tease with Peter and MJnote , and the Empire State Building is lit up in red and blue lights that night (under the orders of Mayor J. Jonah Jameson, no less!)
    • One of the biggest changes is in Ultimate Spider-Man where in J. Jonah Jameson stops hating Spidey and becomes pro Spider-Man! Plus he knows that he's Peter Parker and vows to never reveal his identity to anyone!
    • In The Amazing Spider-Man, Spider-Man is refreshed by the Ringmaster's audience actually being glad to see him as opposed to demanding his head on a pike.
    • In the first issue of The Amazing Spider-Man (2018), Peter Parker loses his job, his doctorate, his reputation... but he gets back together with Mary Jane Watson.
    • At the end of The Superior Foes of Spider-Man, after being the butt of all sorts of jokes as well as the recipient of all sorts of crap, Shocker ends up defeating the Punisher in a single blow and is installed by Silvermane as the new boss of the Maggia. Similarly, Speed Demon ends up successfully suing Iron Fist for an injured ankle and also ends up wealthy.
  • After watching over and over again as Kid-Loki tries to remember his brother—and after that have the memories but no one else does, and watch everyone call Tanarus his brother to his face while Loki's clearly getting angrier and more distraught, Loki manages to recover Mjölnir and gain his first ally in the search for his brother. Who is this ally? The Silver Surfer.
  • A very unintended side effect from the Screwed by the Lawyers-mandated Cosmic Retcon of Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics) as Sonic comes back from his adventure with Mega Man to find out Mobius has changed for the better - all the damage done by years of war against Robotnik and Eggman have been undone, the injuries and sadnesses and heartache that came from these adventures never occured. It hits home initially when he finds out that King Max Acorn isn't a massive jerk like he was in the old universe and the bones just keep being tossed at him.
  • In Booster Gold #1,000,000 (a tie-in with DC One Million), a series of events that make Booster an epic-level Butt-Monkey has him quit Rip Hunter's team and halfway to retiring from heroics entirely when he gets a call from Batman. Bruce shows Booster photographs from the night Joker paralyzed Barbara Gordon, revealing that he knows Booster tried to save her (but sadly failed), and admits that he was wrong to think Booster was just a greedy idiot. He tells Booster "Let the world think you're crazy if that's what it takes to be the best you can be" and adds that if he ever needs someone to just talk to, he'll be there. Then when Booster goes back to Rip to rejoin, he finds his sister Michelle alive and well, thanks to Rip bending the rules of time travel to save her. As they leave to eat lunch, Rip smiles and says "Keep it up, Dad" quietly, and the ending narration notes that despite the fact that Booster Gold is considered the Black Sheep of the Carter family, every photograph of him shows him smiling happily.
  • Brightest Day: After everything they went through since Aquababy died up to Aquaman's earlier death and Mera bottoming out and going Red Lantern, Aquaman and Mera get a second chance following the former's revival at the end of Blackest Night and actually make it through the arc earn a long overdue happy ending.
  • Superman:
    • During the course of Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, conceived as the final Superman story, Superman loses in quick succession his Clark Kent identity, his family, friends and dog, his Fortress of Solitude and finally his powers. At the end, though, he's allowed to marry Lois Lane. As Alan Moore puts in the introductory text: "All the things he had were taken from him save for one."
    • In Action Comics #252, Supergirl arrives in Earth after losing her parents and meets her only living relative Superman, who proceeds to dump her in an orphanage right away, as telling her she has to keep her existence and her powers a secret until he deems her ready. During the next two years, Kara couldn't get a break at all: she couldn't find decent adoptive parents, every attempt to convince her overbearing cousin that she was ready ended up in failure, and she couldn't even join the Legion of Super-Heroes, in spite of passing their tests, due to a temporary technicality. Even her attempt to build her own private Fortress goes awry. Finally, in The Unknown Supergirl she gets adopted by a loving couple, and Superman reveals her existence to the world and declares she's his equal partner in crimefighting from now on.
  • Gaston Lagaffe: Fantasio and Prunelle sometimes manage the impossible task of getting Gaston to work, usually by tricking or scaring him. He once works straight a whole day, being under constant surveillance by Mr. Boulier. As the day closes, he is called away for a doping test...
  • Thanos' decision to sacrifice his existence in order to restore the universe in Marvel Universe: The End is rewarded with the one thing he has always wanted - a kiss from Mistress Death.


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