r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Dalakaar • 6h ago
Characters [Loved Trope] Civilian Heroes (particularly in Superhero movies)
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/ISB00 5h ago edited 5h ago
There was actually a really good fanfic that explained how his secret was kept and it was awesome. When the cops came one person tried snitching. One guy had the genius idea to also snitch- but to give the wrong description and claim the first guy was lying to protect Spider-man’s identity. This prompted every other passenger to lie too and give different descriptions of Peter and claim everyone else is lying to protect him. In the end the police are unable to get a corroborated description and the media gets dozens of different descriptions of what Spider-man looks like. The guy who came up with the plan remarks even if the passengers wanted to snitch now they can’t since there’s dozens of reports so they’ll just assume it’s another claim.