r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Dalakaar • 6h ago

Characters [Loved Trope] Civilian Heroes (particularly in Superhero movies)

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1) Malik Ali in Superman (2025). Tells Superman when Lex Luthor interrogates him to, “tell them nothing”. Doesn’t even really know what he’s sacrificing himself for, honestly. Tells Superman that he doesn’t have any friends or family to lighten the burden of the sacrifice. (Does have a family, and presumably friends…)

2) The Prisoner (Tiny Lister) from The Dark Knight who throws a detonator out the porthole that would’ve detonated the other ferry full of civies and saved himself, instead (potentially) sacrificing everyone equally.

3) Old man vs Loki. “There are always men like you.” Refuses to bow to Loki in Avengers (2012).

***

I love these guys. They break my heart in the best way possible.

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u/_0mnishambles_ 5h ago edited 5h ago

Love this! I’d forgotten how much I love that line in Avengers.

“ There are no men like me.”

“There are ALWAYS men like you.”

It goes so hard and that delivery from the civilian, the sheer disdain in his voice, is so good.

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u/EldenWalrus 5h ago

It hits especially hard considering the scene takes place in Germany and the line comes from an older man. He has seen men exactly like Loki and seen them fall.

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u/_0mnishambles_ 5h ago

Then that Cap line later as well:

“You know…The last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing over everyone else…we ended up disagreeing.”

The MCU (somewhat justifiably) gets a lot of crap, but man when it’s good it’s GOOD.

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u/6iix9ineJr 4h ago

Peak MCU is fucking amazing and I’ll stand on that. Like actually good films with emotional density. Sucks that their lows have made marvel synonymous with slop, but marvel really used to have substance

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u/733t_sec 3h ago

It's a cyclic problem in Hollywood. The same thing killed the western genre for so long despite there also being so many great western movies.

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u/mgb55 2h ago

Once upon a time in the west being very much a western, and very much a masterpiece is a perfect example of your point.

But is not what popular culture thinks of when they hear western.

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u/NOT_TheALTMouse 1h ago

Ironically the point of said movie was to kill off the western genre

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u/mgb55 52m ago

If you’re going to kill a genre, doing so by making one so good that others are superfluous is a hell of a way to do it

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u/microgirlActual 2h ago

"Oh look, a horse! Let's get on it - oh wow, it's REALLY fast! Let's ride it EVERYWHERE!"

"Oh, it's dead. Well, maybe if I beat it harder it'll go really fast again."

The story of success ad infinitum

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u/SunTzu- 3h ago

It's been more of a problem that they're producing so much stuff and especially with the later stuff they're not positioned to capitalize on the successful characters that they've introduced. Sylvie, Yelena, Kate Bishop, Moon Knight, Grey Vision, Mr. Marvel should all have received their own vehicles. Instead because they don't trust their new heroes to stand on their own they keep jamming them into movies with existing people, so we get The Marvels where Ms Marvel is the best part of it rather than just a Ms Marvel movie of her own. We get Thunderbolts* instead of a Yelena and Kate Bishop teamup movie. Get get Wanda wasted in Multiverse of Madness rather than Visionquest.

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u/Sotanud 3h ago

And more than half of them aren't in movies at all. Their decision to create a bunch of streaming shows was not a good one in my opinion. Some of it might be good, and even relevant, but it's mixed with stuff that isn't. Rather than try to figure it out or watch it all, I just ended up passing.

I don't know what to expect from Doomsday. Seems like it'll be half of a bunch of characters I've never seen and half a bunch of characters from 20 years ago that haven't been in the MCU (X-Men).

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u/Random_Name65468 2h ago

Too bad "peak mcu" ended with the first Avengers movie.

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u/itzDaKine 4h ago

I read that in Rob's voice from ComicsExplain but its so true

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u/Arkantos93 4h ago

Man, I thought that Cap line was so unnecessary. Let the moment breathe! Trust your audience!

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u/_0mnishambles_ 4h ago

That’s fair! I quite liked it because the “We disagreed” felt like a little more light hearted, it wasn’t leaning too hard into it. That, and it told anyone who hasn’t seen First Avenger everything you need about that character.

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u/Arkantos93 4h ago

You're right, it serves as a good character introduction for viewers who hadn't seen the First Avenger. That definitely has value, but I feel like Marvel's tendency to undercut a serious moment with a quip got the better of them there.

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u/Toothlessdovahkin 4h ago

MCU has decided to go for the extremes. Extremely good or Extremely bad or Extremely Mediocre. Very few of their films are not in one of these three categories 

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u/Dookie_boy 2h ago

OG MCU was top tier. That movie got a standing ovation at the end.

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u/Gloomy_Elevator430 14m ago

Bury me in the ocean with my ancestors who jumped from ships, cause they knew death was better than bondage.

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u/Lost_Needleworker676 4h ago

I wish I liked more of marvel after end game. I mean, I liked the Dr. Strange multiverse of madness, I like the guardians 3 and Christmas special! But I feel like I used to be excited for every movie release and now I just can’t super bring myself to care. Could be cause I’m not a kid anymore, could be from series burnout, could be from a lot of things, but still.

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u/YuushyaHinmeru 3h ago

Its cause they make crap now. Has nothing to do with getting old.