History Main / UnderhandedHero

* John Rumford in ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'' doesn't steal much, but certainly practices stealth and manipulation. As an ex-military specialist in irregular warfare, he finds that his subversive skills are of excellent use both on and off the battlefield when tackling the corrupt state government and the organized crime cartels it protects.

** ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar:'' In his second appearance, Scott acts as a [[spoiler: booby-trap when Spidey steals Cap's shield, spends most of the fight messing with the insides of Tony's suit, and provides an [[IncrediblyLamePun enormous]] distraction so that Cap and Bucky can get away.]]

* RobinHood: A thief who steals from greedy nobles who outright steal from their citizens or tax them into oblivion. In virtually every incarnation of the character, he does so to get that money back from nobles and give it back to who it truly belongs to.

See also ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything, TheCowl, LovableRogue, TheSneakyGuy, and GuileHero for related character types.

* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreed'': The titular assassins only slay those who have committed grave crimes against their fellow man.

A heroic thief or assassin is by definition a Underhanded Hero, but the inverse is not always true. To qualify as an Underhanded Hero, a heroic character needs to be skilled in a combination of thievery, stealth, deception, acrobatics and manipulation.

The Underhanded Hero fulfills a particular fantasy in the minds of audiences. Where the PowerFantasy plays into an audience's desire to see the hero succeed through force, the Underhanded Hero plays to the [[FanOfUnderdog Underdog Fantasy]], in which the hero succeeds ''in spite'' of the odds being stacked against him. By being smart, cunning, and crafty and by avoiding danger rather than facing it head on, the Underhanded Hero can take down foes that [[DumbMuscle out-muscle]], [[ZergRush out-number]], or [[MoreDakka out-gun]] them by orders of magnitude.

GoodIsNotNice and GoodIsNotDumb are likely in effect, and a Underhanded Hero is likely to be a CombatPragmatist.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', Chase Stein's major value to the team is that he's willing to do things that his teammates will not in order to advance the team's goals, like hounding the members of the New Pride to make sure they never reconvene, or making deals with criminals like Pusher-Man and Maneater to acquire things that his team needs but cannot obtain legally.

** Nightcrawler was a circus performer and fashions himself after Creator/ErrolFlynn, who famously played Robin Hood. In ''Film/X2XMenUnited'', while being mind-controlled, he took out an entire Secret Service squad using nothing but acrobatics, short-ranged teleportation, and healthy dose of misdirection. And he came within a hair's breadth of killing the President.

** ComicBook/SteveTrevor will lie, cheat, steal, flirt and do whatever he needs to ingratiate himself with opponent in order to get an upper hand and learn more about their operations. He's also much more likely to kill an opponent than his more famous girlfriend.
** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': After her HeelFaceTurn Paula von Gunther will lie and pretend to still be a villain in order to get close enough to those endangering her new friends to kill them.

[[AC:Film - Live Action]]

** ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar:'' In his second appearance, Scott acts as a [[spoiler: booby-trap when Spidey steal Cap's shield, spends most of the fight messing with the insides of Tony's suit, and provides an [[IncrediblyLamePun enormous]] distraction so that Cap and Bucky can get away.]]

* ''Literature/TheHobbit'': In order to prevent a useless war between potential allies, Bilbo steals the Arkenstone, the crowning jewel of the treasure that the Dwarves seek to reclaim the first place, and hands it over to the Elves so they can bargain for a ceasefire and force Thorin to fullfill his obligations to the Men of Dale.

* ''Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy'': The plot to overthrow the EvilOverlord is basically a combination heist/scam by a talented elite theiving crew with the army only intended to be backup.

* ''Literature/TheSaint''. Simon Templar is a ConMan who has repeatedly taken out criminals by kidnapping them, tricking them into killing each other and even performing {{Vigilante Execution}}s.

* ''Series/BurnNotice'': Michael Westin is a burned spy, dumped in Miami after the CIA disavows him. To make ends meet, he uses the skills he picked up as a spy to deal with bad guys and help the innocent people said bad guys target. This usually involves actually infiltrating said group of bad guys, and running some sort of scam or con that causes them to overextend and get in trouble, mostly with other rival criminal organizations who then wipe out the trouble making group (or both wipe each other out). While Team Westin very rarely directly kills, they have absolutely no problem putting bad people in a position to die easy.

* On ''Series/PersonOfInterest'', Finch and Reese operates in this way to save the Numbers (people about to be murdered). Reese is a CombatPragmatist who likes to shoot bad guys in the knees and regularly assumes fake identities in order to get close to a Number. Finch is a computer genius and hacker who will as a matter of course hack the Number's cellphone and generally invade his/her privacy in order to figure out the source of the threat. They are later joined by the sociopathic Shaw and former PsychoForHire Root who employ even more questionable methods in order to stop the bad guys.

* ''VideoGame/StyxMasterOfShadows'': The goblin thief Styx starts the game trying to steal the Heart of the World Tree, one of his world's greatest treasures. By mid-game, however, after been offered enough coin and [[AppliedPhlebotinum Amber]] to care, he starts using his skills as a thief to bring down the corrupt humans who are trying to start a war between men and elves.

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick:'' Haley Starshine, the party's rogue. She's stealthy, greedy, and crafty, but she once she realized the fate of the world was at stake, she decided to turn her efforts to saving it. Probably her best moment was convincing a raging flesh golem to [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0979.html turn on its creator]] using nothing but the truth, then tricking it into walking into [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0981.html an active volcano]].

--> ''(After taking Leo by surprise and tripping him)''
--> '''Splinter:''' Was that fair?
--> '''Leo:''' No!
--> '''Splinter:''' Did I win?
--> '''Leo:''' ''[{{Beat}}]'' I see your point.
--> '''Splinter:''' Seek victory. Not fairness.

** The rest of the [[Characters/BatmanAndBatFamily Bat Family]] also fit this trope, even wheelchair-bound ComicBook/{{Oracle}}.

-->'''Scott Lang:''' My days of breaking into places and stealing shit are over. What do you want me to do?
-->'''Hank Pym:''' I want you to break into a place and steal some shit.
-->'''Scott Lang:''' ...Makes sense.

** The 3.5 book "Complete Adventurer" had a pair of prestige classes called the Shadowbane Inquisitor and Shadowbane Stalker, both of which require the ability to Sneak Attack and the ability to cast ''Detect Evil'' in order to join. This means that players wishing to join must take levels in Rogue and Paladin, the later of which requires the character to be LawfulGood.

-->'''Garrett''': I've never robbed a god before. It'll be a challenge.

--> ''After taking Leo by surprise and tripping him''

* ''Literature/TheHobbit'': In order to prevent a useless war between potential allies, Bilbo steals the Arkenstone, the crowning jewel of the treasure that the dwarves seeked to reclaim the first place, and hands it over to the elves so they can bargain for a ceasefire and force Thorin to fullfill his obligations to the Men of Dale.

** In ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' and later editions of D&D, many of these skills are rolled into another broader skill, Thievery.

* ''Literature/TheHobbit'': In order to prevent a useless war between allies, Bilbo steals the Arkenstone, the reason the dwarves even came to the mountain in the first place, and hands it over to the elves so they can bargain for a ceasefire.

** The rest of the [[Characters/BatmanAndBatFamily Bat Family]] also fit this trope, even wheelchair-bound Oracle.

** ''Film/AntMan'': Scott Lang is a former [[InsistentTerminology burglar]], fresh out of prison. He's trying to turn over a new leaf and leave his old life behind, but the skills he perfected as a thief are exactly what Hank Pym, the original Antman, needs to stop a powerful villain.

* ''[[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse Marvel Netflix]]:'' ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'' and ''Series/JessicaJones'' both fit this trope.

* Many of the ''[[ComicBooks/{{XMen}} X-Men]]'' fit the trope being outlaw heroes. But in particular:

* ''ComicBook/{{ThePunisher}}'', in as much as [[AntiHero Frank Castle can be considered a "hero"]]. He avoids a fair fight as much as possible, and when an outright armed assault won't work out, he'll blackmail, extort, manipulate, and intimidate his way to his objective.

--> '''Splinter:''' Seek victory. Not fairness.