History Main / UnlikelyHero

See also WeirdnessMagnet and ItBeganWithATwistOfFate. Compare ActionSurvivor. If the character seems more likely as villain than hero, but ends up on the side of good anyway, they might be a NominalHero. An uncynical portrayal of TheUnchosenOne is usually this.

See also WeirdnessMagnet and ItBeganWithATwistOfFate. Compare ActionSurvivor. If the character seems more likely as villain than hero, but ends up on the side of good anyway, they might be a NominalHero.

* The English pop band The Hoosiers recently had a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa1T7SdkDXE song]] named this that played with this trope. Not to mention [[EarWorm it was rather catchy]].

* All ''Anime/{{Doraemon}}'' movies have the FiveManBand (Or just Nobita) doing something just to satisfy their wants with Doraemon's gadgets. Thus making them end up having to save the world or PlotDevice creatures countless times.

* Rick Jones from MarvelComics has elements of this. He is more of an Unlikely ''Sidekick'', though. He's just a normal guy who has ended up being the sidekick to a number of heroes from ComicBook/TheHulk to ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, usually because he stumbled onto the wrong place at the wrong time.

* In ''Film/TheRelic'' movie, Margo's just a scientist... who manages to kill the monster (in the book, MartyStu [but a likable one] Penderghast kills it unspectacularly).

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]
* Ash Ketchum from ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}''. He has come back from the dead thrice, been TheChosenOne of countless legends, is one of the few that can manipulate aura, saved the world countless times, and has helped more people then you could possibly imagine. [[DudeWheresMyRespect There's like maybe three people outside of his friends who respect him in some fashion.]]

[[folder: Comics]]

* Rick Jones from MarvelComics has elements of this. He is more of an UnlikelySidekick, though. He's just a normal guy who has ended up being the sidekick to a number of heroes from TheHulk to ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, usually because he stumbled onto the wrong place at the wrong time.

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[[folder: Literature]]

[[folder: Music ]]

[[folder: Myth and Legend ]]
* Sir Percival was originally the meekest and most naive of King Arthur's knights, having gained repect gradually through several misadventures. Eventually, he is, in one version of the Grail Legend, one of two knights (along with Galahad) to find the Grail. (Unfortunately, most versions after that tend to leave him out, only giving credit to Galahad.)

[[folder: Video Games ]]
* Gordon Freeman of ''Videogame/HalfLife''. Just an average everyday theoretical physicist until that fateful day, he ended up fighting off hordes of aliens while beating back those pesky black ops trying to keep him quiet, then ''goes into the other dimension to fight the creatures on their own turf, culminating in defeating their all-powerful overlord to prevent the entire earth from being invaded by the things.'' And all this with a magical satchel of fairly common weaponry with the occasional science fiction import.
* [[GitarooMan U-1]] is a really unlikely hero. Basically, he came back to his house after getting beaten up, which prompts his dog to teach him how to Gitaroo. ''Right after'', a demon with an axe threatens to chop U-1 in half, and the next thing you know, he's actually from a bloodline that automatically makes him the ChosenOne for a faraway planet. I don't get it either, just go with it.
* Harry Mason of ''Videogame/SilentHill1'' is an example. A writer in his early thirties is thrown into a situation of trying to find his loved one after a car crash by searching the creepy town from Hell which is full of monsters. The manual even states that he has no experience of using a firearm.
** All of the main SilentHill series games invoke this trope with two exceptions. Harry Mason is followed by James Sunderland in Silent Hill 2, a clerk. Heather in SH 3 is a teenage girl with no particular skills. Henry Townshend of SH 4 is probably a photographer. Travis of Silent Hill: Origins is just a truck driver. Silent Hill: Homecoming introduces the first possible action-oriented hero, ex-Spec Ops soldier Alex Shepard, except [[spoiler: Alex is an insane teen or young man who is deluded about being a Special Forces soldier, and the game gets most of the military details right ''except'' when it comes to Alex acting and looking like a green beret]]. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories brings back Harry Mason, and Silent Hill: Downpour introduces our second possible exception to the rule, Murphy Pendleton, an escaped violent convict. So to wrap up, we have a clerk, a photographer, a truck driver, a [[spoiler: schizophrenic young adult]], a convict, a writer, and a teenage girl, and most of them [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Punch Out Cthulhu]] at least once.

* In VideoGame/BadDayLA The protagonist is a homeless man that was once a hollywood agent. He was just trying to survive when shit hit the fan in Los Angeles.

[[folder: Webcomics]]
* Torg from ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' is just a normal ([[CloudCuckooLander if kind of ditzy]]) guy, but just keeps stumbling (sometimes literally) into situations where demon lords or {{Mad Scientist}}s or supervillains are threatening him, his friends, or the world at large.

[[folder: WebOriginal]]
* Ayla Goodkind of the WhateleyUniverse. He was just supposed to be the ShelteredAristocrat who would grow up to run the biggest MegaCorp in the world. He wasn't supposed to get superpowers. He wasn't supposed to become part of Team Kimba. He wasn't supposed to be a WeirdnessMagnet who can't let SuperheroSchool Whateley Academy without running into a supervillain. Or a flock of them.

[[folder: Western Animation]]
* Droopy, in about half the ''Creator/TexAvery'' shorts in which he appears, plays the DesignatedHero to Red, who's often victimized by Wolfie, Butch or Spike. [[BewareTheNiceOnes Then they wind up pissing Droopy off...]]

* In the {{Ben 10}} franchise, the titular character obtained the Omnitrix by accident. While he uses it for selfish reasons from time to time, his first thought when he got it as a ten year old was that he can be a hero. The ChronicHeroSyndrome continued on from there.
* Timmy Turner in ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' movie Wishology. He was mistakenly believed to be TheChosenOne to defeat the darkness, but he was able to save the universe by [[spoiler: befriending it.]]

* Richard of the ''SwordOfTruth'' considers himself this for the first book and part of the second. He finally accepts his powers and heritage, and the responsibilities that come with them.

* Joe in ''JoeVersusTheVolcano''. [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099892/]]

* Also from a Creator/SimonPegg movie, ''Film/TheWorldsEnd'''s Gary King is an unemplyoyed, [[spoiler:suicidally depressed]] ManChild trying to relive the glory days of his youth by going on a drunken bender with his former friends. He and his friends (well, [[spoiler:two of them]]) also fight off and survive a horde of body snatching robot duplicates and he's eventually the one to tell [[spoiler:the Network]] to fuck off an leave humanity to its own devices. All of this during the aforementioned bender. [[spoiler:He becomes a more conventional hero AfterTheEnd by fighting for the now [[FantasticRacism discriminated-against]] Blank versions of his friends.]]

* Most of the ''SinCity'' heroes are often on the lower rungs of society and try to live normal lives. They just keep getting wrapped up in the craziness of the city against their wills.
* Rick Jones from MarvelComics has elements of this. He is more of an UnlikelySidekick, though. He's just a normal guy who has ended up being the sidekick to a number of heroes from TheHulk to CaptainAmerica, usually because he stumbled onto the wrong place at the wrong time.

* Also from a Creator/SimonPegg movie, ''Film/TheWorldsEnd'''s Gary King is an unemplyoyed, [[spoiler:suicidally depressed]] ManChild trying to relive the glory days of his youth by going on a drunken bender with his former friends. He and his friends (well, [[spoiler:two of them]]) also fight off and survive a horde of body snatching robot duplicates and he's eventually the one to tell [[spoiler:the Network]] to fuck off an leave humanity to its own devices. All of this during the aforementioned bender. [[spoiler:He becomes a more conventional hero AfterTheEnd by fighting for the .]]

%% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1345469992079860100
%% Please start a new thread if you'd like to suggest an image.

* Coop in ''MegasXLR'' is just a fat slacker who obsessively plays video games and works on his automotive craftsmanship. He also happened to stumble upon the titular HumongousMecha at a junkyard and got it for a steal, modifying it to work with his car. All the while, he remained oblivious about its importance until he finds himself face to face with a girl from the future and is reluctantly chosen to be the hero because only he can pilot it at that point. From there, he mostly regards this role as secondary to eating and playing video games.

* All ''{{Doraemon}}'' movies have the FiveManBand (Or just Nobita) doing something just to satisfy their wants with Doraemon's gadgets. Thus making them end up having to save the world or PlotDevice creatures countless times.

* The title character of ''TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'' is described as the World's Most Average Man who has suddenly become a WeirdnessMagnet. He has proven himself a hero repeatedly, mostly just by having courage, compassion, and integrity rather than any obvious action hero traits.

* ComicBook/ScottPilgrim. The fact that he was played by MichaelCera in the movie doesn't help either.

* Ash in the original ''The Franchise/EvilDead'' film is all over this trope. He works in the hardware department of [[BlandNameProduct S-Mart]] and is just a regular guy. By the end of the film, he's in near-hysterics and is covered in mud, blood, and his own excrement. Of course, in the sequels, [[TookALevelInBadass this changes dramatically]].
* Lionel in ''{{Braindead}}''/''Dead Alive'' is a great example of this trope. He starts out the movie as a timid man living with his mother, and ends up dispatching all the zombies with a lawnmower.

* Caspian Knoll of ''Literature/AstralDawn'' is this. Even he doubts he could be that important until he rises to the occasion.

* Caspian Knoll of ''{{Literature/Astral Dawn}}'' is this. Even he doubts he could be that important until he rises to the occasion.

* {{Ben 10}} obtained the Omnitrix by accident. While he uses it for selfish reasons from time to time, first thought when he got it was he can be a hero and the ChronicHeroSyndrome continued on from there.

* {{Ben 10}} obtained the Omnitrix by accident. While he does uses it to be a hero, he does use it for personal uses.

* Droopy, in about half the ''TexAvery'' shorts in which he appears, plays the DesignatedHero to Red, who's often victimized by Wolfie, Butch or Spike. [[BewareTheNiceOnes Then they wind up pissing Droopy off...]]

** Mind you, hitching your house to a thousand balloons and flying off on an adventure was asking for something to happen.
** Now that this troper thinks about it, pretty much every Pixar character embodies this trope ([[TheIncredibles with a few very notable exceptions]]).

See also WeirdnessMagnet. Compare ActionSurvivor. If the character seems more likely as villain than hero, but ends up on the side of good anyway, they might be a NominalHero.

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

[[folder: Comics ]]

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

[[folder: WebOriginal ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* {{Ben 10}} he obtained the Omnitrix by accident, although he does uses it to be a hero, he does use it for personal uses.

* Shaun in ''Film/{{ShaunOfTheDead}}'' never wanted to be a hero saying his loved ones from the ZombieApocalypse, he just seemed to be the one could could deal with it pragmatically.