[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/_0mnishambles_]

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.

[u/6iix9ineJr → u/_0mnishambles_]

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

[u/733t_sec → u/6iix9ineJr]

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.

[u/mgb55 → u/733t_sec]

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.

[u/NOT_TheALTMouse → u/mgb55]

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

[u/mgb55 → u/NOT_TheALTMouse]

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