History Main / HeroicWillpower

** Also used in the VideoGame/SonicStorybookSeries entry ''Sonic and the Black Knight'' as this was one reason how [[spoiler:Sonic was able to summon Excalibur and become Excalibur Sonic!]]

* In ''VideoGame/Disgaea4APromiseUnforgotten'', Valvatorez is the only character not to be infected with the A-virus. He attributes this to his strength of will [[TrademarkFavoriteFood and sardines]].
** In ''VideoGame/Disgaea5AllianceOfVengeance'', Usalia has use of an extremely potent SuperPoweredEvilSide in the form of "Murmur of Rage" as a result of [[{{Necromancer}} Majorita's curse]], but after chapter 10-5, Usalia manages to use her own resolve against Majorita to forcibly somehow flip the curse into an Overload (a super power only Overlord's can use), giving her instant access to the ability whenever she wants, with the ability to turn it off and on at her own command.

See also SheepInWolfsClothing, CursedWithAwesome, TheDarkSide, EvilIsCool, NoOntologicalInertia, TheVirus, ViralTransformation, DoomedProtagonist.

* ''Film/PumaMan'': all of the good guys ''except'' the so-called "hero" manage at one point or another to resist the effects of the ancient mind control mask.

** But Heroic Willpower is usually an attribute which sets apart the {{BadAss Normal}}s from the RefugeInAudacity named badass characters, and commonly just the elite forces from the less-so.
** Blood Angels Chief Librarian Mephiston is the first Blood Angel to succumb to the Black Rage and come back from the frothing berserker state is usually induces, through sheer force of will. This has the side effect of giving him a near unprecedented control of his pyschic powers, earning him the title "the Lord of Death." A slightly lesser example, also from the Blood Angels, Chaplain Lemartes also fell to the black rage. But while Mephiston can actually ''control'' his rage, Lemartes is really only able to ''aim'' it. So while he's lucid, he's kept in stasis when not in battle for the safety of those around him.

** One example is Fulgrim: [[spoiler: At first his soul was trapped in a portrait by a demon of Slaanesh, but he was able to master demonic powers and regain control of his body. While trapping the demon in the portait he was imprisoned in.]]

** One example is Fulgrim [[spoiler: at first his soul was trapped in a portrait by a demon of Slaanesh, but he was able to master demonic powers and regain control of his body. While trapping the demon in the portait he was imprisoned in.]]

** Liara speculates that this was how Shepard was capable of withstanding the effects of the [[FlingALightIntoTheFuture Prothean Beacon]] in the first game, which on a WeakWilled individual would most likely have [[MySkullRunnethOver destroyed their mind entirely]]. During their mind-melds, the sheer volume of information being depicted by the vision actually leaves Liara visibly exhausted after each attempt, while Shepard actually appears to become ''more'' resistant to it's effects.

* Music/LudwigVanBeethoven suffered from his deafness after his earlier period of composing more Classical works. Initially, he had a hard time accepting this handicap (which would usually be an obvious death sentence for a music carreer), and even [[DrivenToSuicide wrote the Heiligenstadt Testament which he mentioned losing the will to live]]. He got better, though, and went on to compose his later masterpieces including the 3rd (Eroica), 5th (Fate), 6th (Pastoral), and 9th (''Ode to Joy'') Symphonies, ''Moonlight Sonata'', a Violin Concerto, and his only opera ''Fidelio'', and he is now considered as the pioneer of Romantic Music.

** Zigzagged in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. The great war hero Sephiroth has an absurdly strong will which enables him to be in full control of his SuperSerum-TheVirus-induced powers. Unfortunately, he retains this once he's not heroic, allowing him to keep his sense of self after becoming submerged in TheLifestream and even use it to spread his will. The game's hero, Cloud, does ''not'' have a strong will and has a lot of unexamined self-loathing besides, making his sense of self-identity [[FakeMemories malleable]], his goals and feelings open to Sephiroth's MoreThanMindControl, and meaning that when he is submerged in Lifestream he is overcome by its information and completely loses his mind - a wilful villain and a hero with no will. Once Cloud understands this, he discovers his will and becomes immune to Sephiroth's control, cutting him to pieces in a spiritual battle when Sephiroth's dying spirit tries to take his mind down with him.

** Dr. Neuman was given the Mask by Stanley who wanted to get rid of it, so he agrees to keep it. However, he eventually noticed how the Mask glows, prompting him to put it on which then attaches itself to him, which also turns him into a psychotic and insane nutjob, though in his case his lunacy manifests in his belief of a disorder called "Ipkissa Maskosis". He does however try and keep himself under control, such as when on a rescue mission to save the world from this disorder (which apparently involves putting anyone he can find in wedgie straitjackets). That said, he does occasionally lose control of himself, like when after Charlie mentions Stanley, he ended up literally blowing steam out of his ears and tried to do a lobotomy on him only to snap himself out of it after his appointment alarm went off. He also still retains his morals such as agreeing with everyone that Pretorius is insane, even though he agreed to help him with his plan and even though he was trying to kill Stanley, he decide to mess around with him first (such as putting him in a shower which, while it didn't serve much purpose, did knock him off-guard) showing that though Dr. Neuman as the Mask is a lunatic, he does try and keep himself in control, as he's a professional who refuses to lose his cool no matter what.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheMask'': Stanley Ipkiss is a normal, sweet, kind and {{Nice Guy}} who puts on the Mask of Loki and becomes the titular Mask, a genuinely insane cartoonish man. But thanks to the fact that he retains most of Stanley's traits he fights the supervillains who attack the people who live in the city with him, saves his friends who are in danger and will refuse to team up with anyone who will hurt people.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheMask'': Stanley Ipkiss is a normal, sweet, kind and {{Nice Guy}} who puts on the mask of loki and become The Mask who is a genuinely insane cartoonish man but however thanks to the fact that he retains most traits of Stanley's personality he fights the supervillains who attack the people who live in the city with him, saves his friends who are in danger and will refuse to team up with anyone who will hurt people.
** Evelyn is the same as Stanley as after she accidentally puts on the mask she becomes Eve a southern american girl who like The Mask is insane and cartoonish but still retains Evelyn's personality traits such as being kind, sweet and a {{Nice Girl}}.
** Dr Neuman was given the mask by Stanley who wanted to get rid of it so he agrees to keep it but however he saw that the mask glows so he puts it up to his face which after it gets attached to him turns him into a psychotic and insane madman who believes there is a disorder called Ipkissa Maskosis but however he does keep himself in control while on a rescue mission to save the world from this disorder such as putting anyone in wedgie straitjackets but however he does lose control of himself such as after Charlie mentions Stanley he blows up stream out of his ears literally then tries to do lobotomy of him but does regains control of himself after his appointment alarm goes off, he also still retains his morals such as agreeing with everyone that Pretorius is insane even though he agree to help him with his plan and even though he was trying to kill Stanley he decide to mess around with him first such as putting him in a shower which does not serve much purpose but put him off guard showing that though Dr Neuman is now a insane green headed madman he does keep himself in control and keeps his insanity in check which shows that he is a professional who will not lose his cool no matter what.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 4|A Promise Unforgotten}}'', Valvatorez is the only character not to be infected with the A-virus. He attributes this to his strength of will [[TrademarkFavoriteFood and sardines]].
** In ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea5}} Alliance of Vengeance, Usalia has use of an extremely potent SuperPoweredEvilSide in the form of "Murmur of Rage" as a result of [[{{Necromancer}} Majorita's curse]], but after chapter 10-5, Usalia manages to use her own resolve against Majorita to forcibly somehow flip the curse into an Overload (a super power only Overlord's can use), giving her instant access to the ability whenever she wants, with the ability to turn it off and on at her own command.

** In "Gabriel Agreste" [[spoiler:Félix]] successfully resists being akumatized much like [[spoiler:Chloé]]. What's notable about this is that unlike the other characters who have resisted or broken akumatization, he's the only one who hasn't been akumatized previously.

** In "Gabriel Agreste" [[spoiler:Félix]] successfully resists being akumatized much like [[spoiler:Chloé]].

** In "Rocketear", [[spoiler:Nino]] also manages to break free from akumatization after being transformed just like the example above.

* Pikachu in ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' used his strong force of will to resit Team Plasma's third attempt to control him, although he had help from his electricity.

* In ''ComicBook/BatmanHush'', Franchise/{{Superman}} is controlled by Poison Ivy's special Kryptonite blend of mind-control lipstick, leading to a big fight with Batman, who frantically stacks the deck by playing Superman's innate boy-scout tendencies against him---those base-level urges are so innate to Superman that Poison Ivy couldn't make him ignore them. The control is finally broken by a supreme burst of Heroic Willpower caused by Catwoman shoving Lois Lane off of a building.

* Danny "[[ComicBook/ImmortalIronFist Iron Fist]]" Rand can focus his chi so intensely that he can punch through steel and cure cancer. At the same time.