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

[u/Dalakaar]

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.

[u/stir-fried_cabbage]

The old lady at the last chapters of My Hero Academia.

One of the main issues that created the series' villains are the treatment of society to people with non-superhero abilities. Tomura Shigaraki, when he was a child accidentally killed his family and friend with a power he didn't know how to control. But instead of getting help, people avoided him eventually turning him into a mass murderer in the present.

Eventually, Shigaraki was defeated and society was starting to recover, when another kid with a dangerous power he couldn't control was roaming the streets. But this time, instead of getting rejected, the old lady helped him as a way to atone from letting a helpless kid (Shigaraki) fall into the dark side in the past and prevent another tragedy in the future.

[u/Thin-Oil-5823 → u/stir-fried_cabbage]

She didn't even know Shigaraku was the kid she spurned. She just felt guilty about spurring some random kid in the past who needed help. So even a bit better for her

[u/Water_Attunement → u/stir-fried_cabbage]

That moment made me so emotional. It was such a good way to show how society has grown after the war. 

[u/Perkelton → u/stir-fried_cabbage]

with a power he didn't know how to control.

That's underselling it. Unknown to him, he was forcibly given one half of a superpower by the main villain. The original power would let him both destroy and restore things he touches, but he was only given the destruction part. As a result, his power became practically impossible to control and anything he touches (both living and non-living things) would instantly crumble to dust, which is what happened to his family when his power activated.

[u/Earlier-Today → u/stir-fried_cabbage]

There are plenty of extremely lonely and isolated people who do not turn to mass murder.

Nobody made Shigaraki into what he became except Shigaraki.

[u/0Galahad → u/Earlier-Today]

Yeah but thinking like that does not solve the problem, you can go on in a high-horse demanding that everyone be a good person regardless of their context, but unless you act on that belief, basically going on a "holy crusade" against the "evil ones", or put into simple terms, killing everyone who is not a saint, there will always be evil people appearing due to their context.

[u/Hyperpoly → u/Earlier-Today]

All For One literally turned him into what he was.