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** [[BigBad Homelander]] gave [[SuperSerum Compound V]] to terrorist groups around the world to deliberately invoke the SuperheroParadox and [[CreateYourOwnVillain give himself villains to fight]].
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** [[BigBad Homelander]] gave [[SuperSerum Compound V]] to terrorist groups around the world to deliberately invoke the SuperheroParadox and [[CreateYourOwnVillain give himself villains to fight]]. [[HoistByHisOwnPetard This ends up backfiring on him]] after he temporarily loses his VillainWithGoodPublicity status when a video of him [[DestructiveSavior inadvertently killing a bystander]] goes viral.
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* Deconstructed in an episode of ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' where the VictimOfTheWeek and his buddy set up a mugging similar to one that happened several months beforehand to impress his girlfriend only for the plan to [[GoneHorriblyWrong collapse in on itself]]. First, [[spoiler: the victim's gun was loaded with simulation rounds intended only to be shot at targets which he had stolen from a firing range. When the two 'struggled' for the gun it went off and the bullet struck the victim, disintegrating on contact but still causing a lethal wound.]] Second is the biggest problem with this plan - failing to properly predict what the [[DistressedDamsel patsy will do]]. [[spoiler: She attacked the mugger and ripped his mask off, forcing him to strike her over the head nearly killing her]]. Third is what happens when the scheme is exposed. [[spoiler: She is angry and upset that her boyfriend would do something so stupid. Had he survived she'd probably break up with him.]]
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* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' had an episode of Peg saving Al from a robber, and worse, having it caught on the news, which as you can imagine is a major embarrassment to him. Jefferson tries to help by having Al take Peg to a seedy bar, where a contact would insult Peg, Al would knock him out and Bud would get it on film. Unfortunately, when it comes time to deal the blow, Peg punches out the man herself just as Bud takes the photo. However, the end of the ep has Al successfully pulling this off using one of Kelly's dates.
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* ''Series/{{Monk}}'':
** In the episode "Mr. Monk and the Billionaire Mugger," computer billionaire Sidney Teal apparently has a nervous breakdown, and tries to mug an ex-cop named Archie Modine with a knife, only for Modine to fatally shoot him, and witnesses see a uniformed cop running away from the scene, who soon becomes known as "Fraidy Cop." Monk is suspicious about why Sidney was wearing knee and elbow pads at the time like he was expecting to be knocked down. Furthermore, a similar incident is described by Sidney in his autobiography about how in college, a mugger tried to rob him and his girlfriend in a parking garage. As it turns out, Sidney and Modine had been roommates, and Sidney, wanting to impress his girlfriend, asked Modine to pretend to mug him. It worked, and for a moment, Teal got to be Superman. In return, twenty years later, Modine began to have an affair with Sidney's wife, and found a way to kill Sidney: he contacted him, reminded him of the first prank, and asked Sidney to return the favor, knowing Sidney would never refuse the opportunity to relive one of the best nights of his life.
*** What further provides proof that the murder was deliberate is that Sidney always went the extra mile. In fact, he not only planned to get knocked down, but the so-called "Fraidy Cop" was an actor that Sidney had hired, who, after Modine "fought" off Sidney, was supposed to run up and congratulate Modine for his heroism.
** In "Mr. Monk Visits a Farm," Monk does this to raise Randy's spirits after he loses confidence in himself. After solving the case, Monk uses Randy's SleepLearning routine to subconsciously tell him how his uncle was killed. This works and Randy miraculously solves the case, regaining his confidence and returning home to rejoin the force.
** In the episode "Mr. Monk and the Billionaire Mugger," computer billionaire Sidney Teal apparently has a nervous breakdown, and tries to mug an ex-cop named Archie Modine with a knife, only for Modine to fatally shoot him, and witnesses see a uniformed cop running away from the scene, who soon becomes known as "Fraidy Cop." Monk is suspicious about why Sidney was wearing knee and elbow pads at the time like he was expecting to be knocked down. Furthermore, a similar incident is described by Sidney in his autobiography about how in college, a mugger tried to rob him and his girlfriend in a parking garage. As it turns out, Sidney and Modine had been roommates, and Sidney, wanting to impress his girlfriend, asked Modine to pretend to mug him. It worked, and for a moment, Teal got to be Superman. In return, twenty years later, Modine began to have an affair with Sidney's wife, and found a way to kill Sidney: he contacted him, reminded him of the first prank, and asked Sidney to return the favor, knowing Sidney would never refuse the opportunity to relive one of the best nights of his life.
*** What further provides proof that the murder was deliberate is that Sidney always went the extra mile. In fact, he not only planned to get knocked down, but the so-called "Fraidy Cop" was an actor that Sidney had hired, who, after Modine "fought" off Sidney, was supposed to run up and congratulate Modine for his heroism.
** In "Mr. Monk Visits a Farm," Monk does this to raise Randy's spirits after he loses confidence in himself. After solving the case, Monk uses Randy's SleepLearning routine to subconsciously tell him how his uncle was killed. This works and Randy miraculously solves the case, regaining his confidence and returning home to rejoin the force.
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* ''Series/{{Monk}}'':
** In the episode "Mr. Monk and the Billionaire Mugger," computer billionaire Sidney Teal apparently has a nervous breakdown, and tries to mug an ex-cop named Archie Modine with a knife, only for Modine to fatally shoot him, and witnesses see a uniformed cop running away from the scene, who soon becomes known as "Fraidy Cop." Monk is suspicious about why Sidney was wearing knee and elbow pads at the time like he was expecting to be knocked down. Furthermore, a similar incident is described by Sidney in his autobiography about how in college, a mugger tried to rob him and his girlfriend in a parking garage. As it turns out, Sidney and Modine had been roommates, and Sidney, wanting to impress his girlfriend, asked Modine to pretend to mug him. It worked, and for a moment, Teal got to be Superman. In return, twenty years later, Modine began to have an affair with Sidney's wife, and found a way to kill Sidney: he contacted him, reminded him of the first prank, and asked Sidney to return the favor, knowing Sidney would never refuse the opportunity to relive one of the best nights of his life.
*** What further provides proof that the murder was deliberate is that Sidney always went the extra mile. In fact, he not only planned to get knocked down, but the so-called "Fraidy Cop" was an actor that Sidney had hired, who, after Modine "fought" off Sidney, was supposed to run up and congratulate Modine for his heroism.
**''Series/{{Monk}}'': In "Mr. Monk Visits a Farm," Monk does this to raise Randy's spirits after he loses confidence in himself. After solving the case, Monk uses Randy's SleepLearning routine to subconsciously tell him how his uncle was killed. This works and Randy miraculously solves the case, regaining his confidence and returning home to rejoin the force.
** In the episode "Mr. Monk and the Billionaire Mugger," computer billionaire Sidney Teal apparently has a nervous breakdown, and tries to mug an ex-cop named Archie Modine with a knife, only for Modine to fatally shoot him, and witnesses see a uniformed cop running away from the scene, who soon becomes known as "Fraidy Cop." Monk is suspicious about why Sidney was wearing knee and elbow pads at the time like he was expecting to be knocked down. Furthermore, a similar incident is described by Sidney in his autobiography about how in college, a mugger tried to rob him and his girlfriend in a parking garage. As it turns out, Sidney and Modine had been roommates, and Sidney, wanting to impress his girlfriend, asked Modine to pretend to mug him. It worked, and for a moment, Teal got to be Superman. In return, twenty years later, Modine began to have an affair with Sidney's wife, and found a way to kill Sidney: he contacted him, reminded him of the first prank, and asked Sidney to return the favor, knowing Sidney would never refuse the opportunity to relive one of the best nights of his life.
*** What further provides proof that the murder was deliberate is that Sidney always went the extra mile. In fact, he not only planned to get knocked down, but the so-called "Fraidy Cop" was an actor that Sidney had hired, who, after Modine "fought" off Sidney, was supposed to run up and congratulate Modine for his heroism.
**
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* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' deconstructs a version of this, where J.D. pays a hobo to fake a heart attack in front of his new girlfriend so he can rescue him. The hobo then proceeds to demand more money when J.D. tries it again and again.
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* ''Series/JourneyToTheWest1996'': The second season have the story of the Bear Demon and the Monk Jin-chi, where the Demon will attack villages and civilians, leading to Jin-Chi coming to the rescue and using his divine Buddhist powers to defeat the Demon. It turns out they're in cahoots with each other; the Bear Demon is a reformed villain who wants to seek enlightenment from the way of Buddha, only to have Jin-Chi taking advantage of him and using the Demon as servant to extort alms and offerings.
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* An inversion in the second season finale of ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' as Moriarty makes it appear that Sherlock has been setting up these crimes so he can "solve" them and look like a genius. It works thanks to how Sherlock has put down the police and reporters are being so stupid and people assuming it's impossible someone could really be so brilliant. The next episode (after a TimeSkip) reveals that it fell apart almost immediately and only improved his reputation.
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* An inversion in In the second season series 2 finale of ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' as ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'', Moriarty makes it appear does a very good job of framing Franchise/SherlockHolmes as one of these, playing on the suspicions that Scotland Yard officers had already voiced in previous episodes, with the masterstroke being Moriarty himself posing as an actor paid by Sherlock has been setting up these crimes so he can "solve" them and look like a genius. It works thanks to how Sherlock has put down the police and reporters are being so stupid and people assuming it's impossible someone could really be so brilliant. The next episode (after a TimeSkip) reveals that it fell apart almost immediately and only improved his reputation.pose as "[[DiabolicalMastermind master criminal]] James Moriarty".
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%%* An episode of ''Series/NewTricks'' deals with the serial arsonist version of one of these.
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* ''Series/NineOneOne'' uses this in the aptly titled "Hero Complex." Suspicious over a patient dying under the care of new paramedic Jonah, Hen and Chimney discover a pattern of Jonah's patients near death and saved. It seems as a kid, Jonah saved the life of his school bus driver and was hailed for the heroism which pushed him to become a paramedic. But Jonah took the wrong lessons as rather than do this to help people, he gets off on the accolades of others. The paramedics realize that Jonah is now deliberately putting patients at risk just so he can look better "saving" them. Sadly, he overestimates his skills with several of these victims dying when they didn't need to.
* An episode of ''Series/ChicagoFire'' has a man finding an infant thrown from a car in a crash. But when he pops up at another scene, they realize the guy wants to look like a hero and risked injuring the kid to place him in that place. He later throws a rock into a highway just to cause a crash and has the audacity to "help" the paramedics whose car ''was just hit by the rock'' and is arrested.
* ''Series/CriminalMinds'':
** A sniper from season one episode "L.D.S.K" who shoots people non-lethally turns out to be an ER nurse who wounds people so that he can care for them. Gideon refers to it as "Hero Homicide" even though the one person actually died was killed for being a suspect.
** Season three "Lucky" ends with Penelope being shot by her date. In the next episode "Penelope" the shooter turns out a sheriff's deputy who shot people so he could be the first one to respond and tried to kill Penelope because he thought she was on to him.
* ''Series/CriminalMinds'':
** A sniper from season one episode "L.D.S.K" who shoots people non-lethally turns out to be an ER nurse who wounds people so that he can care for them. Gideon refers to it as "Hero Homicide" even though the one person actually died was killed for being a suspect.
** Season three "Lucky" ends with Penelope being shot by her date. In the next episode "Penelope" the shooter turns out a sheriff's deputy who shot people so he could be the first one to respond and tried to kill Penelope because he thought she was on to him.
* ''Series/NCISNewOrleans'' uses a medical variant when a doctor from a pharmaceutical company uses ''Y. pestis'' bacteria (aka plague) to start an epidemic that [[PoisonAndCureGambit his company can create vaccines for]], largely to generate some profit to keep them from bankruptcy.
* ''Series/LieToMe'' did this once with an ambulance driver who changed traffic lights to cause car crashes in order to be the first on the scene; she wants to make up for accidentally causing a car crash that killed her mother and left her brother brain damaged by saving the new victims instead. [[spoiler:It turns out her brother was the one causing the accidents; she saved his victims out of guilt for what he did, and what she did to him and their mother, and he enjoyed controlling her through that guilt because he wanted revenge on her.]]
* ''Series/{{Neighbours}}'', in 2008, had the firefighter/arsonist variant in a character named Jay Duncan, who reflects the TruthInTelevision of this trope - not only has he done this multiple times, ending up on the front page of newspapers, but he reflects the attitude that while not outright ''trying'' to kill people (and showing remorse when confronted), it's clear he enjoys the hero worship too much to stop on his own. After his fire at the park in Erinsborough kills at least one person (Marco Silvani) and hospitalises others, he's eventually caught whilst in the process of threatening Steph (demonstrating his mental instability - all photos of him on newspapers depicted him having rescued single, blonde-haired mothers with a child). However, he's pitiful at best and pathetic at worse - Kirsten Gannon (herself having shown selfish traits in the past) sympathises with the fact that "he must feel lonely" despite being angry that he hospitalised her; Carmella Cammeniti, whose husband died, makes it clear that she views him as little more than a pathetic waste of life before leaving the room, reducing him to a sobbing wreck.
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* Some from the ''Franchise/UltraSeries'':
** The series finale of ''Series/UltramanTaro'' has an Alien Valky who brought along a rampaging monster called a Samekujira, which he unleashed in the middle of the city to capture and prove himself as a powerful hunter. But Ultraman Taro got in the way.
** Gregorl-Man from ''Series/UltramanDyna'' is an alien posing as Ultraman Dyna, who wanted fame and glory for himself, which he does so by unleashing the supposedly-deceased kaiju, Monsarger, into the middle of the city, and then single-handedly defeating Monsarger while pretending to be Dyna before basking in the glory of the cheering crowd. The Defense team, Super GUTS is able to realize something isn't right because the ''real'' Ultraman Dyna wouldn't gloat about his victory in public.
** ''Series/UltramanMebius'' has Alien Mefilas, one of the ArcVillain before the series finale, who after brainwashing the population of the city into thinking he's the true hero and saviour instead of Ultraman Mebius, then revives the monster Gromite to attack the city, before destroying Gromite in front of the civilians to prove his heroism.
** The series finale of ''Series/UltramanTaro'' has an Alien Valky who brought along a rampaging monster called a Samekujira, which he unleashed in the middle of the city to capture and prove himself as a powerful hunter. But Ultraman Taro got in the way.
** Gregorl-Man from ''Series/UltramanDyna'' is an alien posing as Ultraman Dyna, who wanted fame and glory for himself, which he does so by unleashing the supposedly-deceased kaiju, Monsarger, into the middle of the city, and then single-handedly defeating Monsarger while pretending to be Dyna before basking in the glory of the cheering crowd. The Defense team, Super GUTS is able to realize something isn't right because the ''real'' Ultraman Dyna wouldn't gloat about his victory in public.
** ''Series/UltramanMebius'' has Alien Mefilas, one of the ArcVillain before the series finale, who after brainwashing the population of the city into thinking he's the true hero and saviour instead of Ultraman Mebius, then revives the monster Gromite to attack the city, before destroying Gromite in front of the civilians to prove his heroism.
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* ''Franchise/KamenRider'':
** ''Series/KamenRiderWizard'': The White Wizard is an unusual case in that he's not engineering his ''own'' heroics, but rather he's both the one providing Wizard with his powers and creating the Phantoms that he fights against, all for the purpose of gathering four wizards and training their magic to the point where he'll be able to use them for his master plan.
** ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'': The entire first arc of the show is the heroes dealing with problems which were caused by the same alien responsible for giving them their powers, for the specific purpose of training those powers in service of his evil scheme. Even after the heroes become aware of the ruse, Evolt continues to engineer situations which will require them to improve themselves in ways that advance his goals. In the end, Build points out the irony of Evolt being HoistByHisOwnPetard when he finally loses control of the situation and ends up being killed by the fake heroes he spent so much time creating.
** ''Series/KamenRiderZeroOne'': This is the entire shtick of ArcVillain Kamen Rider Thouser, a ripoff of Zero-One developed by a rival company who paints himself as being able to do 1000% of what Zero-One can do. By the end of the arc it turns out that he's been directly responsible for the creation of all the killer cyborgs that the heroes have been fighting against during the arc, all for the purpose of marketing the same product which ''creates'' those cyborgs as a self-defense tool.
** ''Series/KamenRiderGeats'': Morio Koganeya/Kamen Rider Mary is a nice guy on the surface, but the first sign that he's actually an opportunistic BitchInSheepsClothing is when he starts deliberately drawing monsters towards civilians in the middle of battle so that he can then earn points for rescuing them.
** ''Series/KamenRiderWizard'': The White Wizard is an unusual case in that he's not engineering his ''own'' heroics, but rather he's both the one providing Wizard with his powers and creating the Phantoms that he fights against, all for the purpose of gathering four wizards and training their magic to the point where he'll be able to use them for his master plan.
** ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'': The entire first arc of the show is the heroes dealing with problems which were caused by the same alien responsible for giving them their powers, for the specific purpose of training those powers in service of his evil scheme. Even after the heroes become aware of the ruse, Evolt continues to engineer situations which will require them to improve themselves in ways that advance his goals. In the end, Build points out the irony of Evolt being HoistByHisOwnPetard when he finally loses control of the situation and ends up being killed by the fake heroes he spent so much time creating.
** ''Series/KamenRiderZeroOne'': This is the entire shtick of ArcVillain Kamen Rider Thouser, a ripoff of Zero-One developed by a rival company who paints himself as being able to do 1000% of what Zero-One can do. By the end of the arc it turns out that he's been directly responsible for the creation of all the killer cyborgs that the heroes have been fighting against during the arc, all for the purpose of marketing the same product which ''creates'' those cyborgs as a self-defense tool.
** ''Series/KamenRiderGeats'': Morio Koganeya/Kamen Rider Mary is a nice guy on the surface, but the first sign that he's actually an opportunistic BitchInSheepsClothing is when he starts deliberately drawing monsters towards civilians in the middle of battle so that he can then earn points for rescuing them.
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EngineeredHeroics in LiveActionTV series.
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* ''Series/ThirtyRock'':
** Dennis became the Subway Hero after pushing a woman in front of a subway car then saving her.
** Parodied a second time when Tracy has Kenneth kill a "Hero Cat" who saved his owner's life by dialing 911. When Tracy forgets the whole thing, Jenna ends up "rescuing" the cat (who then dials 911 to save Kenneth).
* ''Series/Batman1966'' had this when the Penguin was running for mayor of Gotham City. He'd send his mooks out to commit crimes so he could thwart them and come off as a hero.
* Sheldon tries to set this up in ''Series/TheBigBangTheory''. He pretends to be unable to open a jar in order to make Leonard seem like an alpha male. It then fails because Leonard can't open it, despite Sheldon having loosened the lid.
* ''Series/TheBoys2019'':
** [[BigBad Homelander]] gave [[SuperSerum Compound V]] to terrorist groups around the world to deliberately invoke the SuperheroParadox and [[CreateYourOwnVillain give himself villains to fight]].
** [[spoiler:Stormfront slaughters some bystanders both because [[SuperSupremacist she's a racist sociopath]], and to put the blame on that in her next victim, with a "public story" that she killed a super terrorist who had just attacked the building.]]
* ''Series/BurnNotice'' pulls this in almost every single episode. With some exceptions, Mike's plans generally follow the same structure: First, Mike causes a problem (or exacerbates an existing problem, or creates the illusion of a problem) for the target. Second, he poses as someone who can solve that problem. Third, he uses this problem-solving persona to get closer to the target, usually while covertly making the problem worse the whole time, so that the target becomes more desperate for Mike's help. Finally, Mike uses his position to get what he wants, which is almost invariably either destroying the target's operation, making the target look like a traitor to ''their'' boss, stealing something, or blackmailing the target into doing something Mike needs.
* An episode of ''Series/CSIMiami'' is eventually revealed to have started out this way, with the brother of a repressed family man hiring a company to set up a real-life game for his brother involving defending an attractive waitress from a jerk in a club. He's then supposed to discover said jerk dead in the men's room and have a brief adventure, complete with running away from the cops and making him think he slept with the waitress. Somehow, though, the "waitress" ends up dead for real, and the guy is freaking out, thinking that everyone is out to get him. [[spoiler:Then it turns out that the guy's suspicious wife showed up to the hotel room, saw him passed on in bed and, naturally, assumed he cheated. She forced her way into the room, accidentally pushing the "waitress" to fall and hit her head on the coffee table, killing her]].
* Deconstructed in an episode of ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' where the VictimOfTheWeek and his buddy set up a mugging similar to one that happened several months beforehand to impress his girlfriend only for the plan to [[GoneHorriblyWrong collapse in on itself]]. First, [[spoiler: the victim's gun was loaded with simulation rounds intended only to be shot at targets which he had stolen from a firing range. When the two 'struggled' for the gun it went off and the bullet struck the victim, disintegrating on contact but still causing a lethal wound.]] Second is the biggest problem with this plan - failing to properly predict what the [[DistressedDamsel patsy will do]]. [[spoiler: She attacked the mugger and ripped his mask off, forcing him to strike her over the head nearly killing her]]. Third is what happens when the scheme is exposed. [[spoiler: She is angry and upset that her boyfriend would do something so stupid. Had he survived she'd probably break up with him.]]
* In one episode of ''Series/DiagnosisMurder'', the VillainOfTheWeek is a mentally unstable former Air Force pilot who was given a dishonorable discharge for disobeying orders and has been trying to find work as a commercial airline pilot. He drugs the flight crew of a plane he's traveling on, knowing that as the only passenger with cockpit experience, he'll be chosen to land the plane safely.
* The classic ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E4TheEnemyOfTheWorld The Enemy of the World]]" played this straight not once, but twice.
** To infiltrate Salamander's security, Jamie stages an attempt on Salamander's life so that he can save the man at the last minute, earning jobs for both himself and Victoria.
** Salamander's whole plan to sway public opinion in his favor hinges on [[spoiler:causing natural disasters so that he can "predict" them and save people by warning them and evacuating affected areas]].
* In the ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'' episode "Haunted," a character describes how her childhood nanny once baked cookies with ground-up glass in them so that she could discover them and be the big hero. Unfortunately, the character sneaked her dessert early and had to go to the hospital.
* Subverted in an episode of ''Series/DrakeAndJosh''. Drake accidentally let it slip that a girl he was dating was part of a competition between him and his brother...only he actually liked her. One of his several attempts to show her that he's "honest" involves two nerd "friends" that he constantly takes advantage of to make it seem like he found one of their wallets and returned it to them. The girl clearly sees through this and walks off...and then one of the nerds come back and asks Drake if he stole his mom's credit card from the wallet. [[spoiler:He did.]]
* ''Series/FatherBrown'': In "The Theatre of the Invisible", [[spoiler:Jeremy Mayhew-Bowman]]'s engineered heroics result in AccidentalMurder. He arranges a house fire while the boarding house is empty, so he can dash in and save some kittens and impress Bunty. However, the landlady had returned home early as was caught in the trap and killed.
* In an episode of ''Series/FlightOfTheConchords'', Bret is trying to woo a lady who works at a pet store and convinces Jermaine to pretend to mug them so he can impress her. Jermaine has his friend John, an actual mugger, help out, but he doesn't get the concept and actually steals her purse.
* In ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', Daphne's dad had a money-making scam that involved him making crude passes at women in Manchester pubs, then getting pretend beaten up by their dates.
* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'':
** Subverted when Will has his friend hire a thug to 'rob' a store, and he'd beat the robber to impress his girlfriend. But then a REAL robber holds up the store, and Will nearly gets himself killed hamming it up before he does take down the robber. His girlfriend ends up ''pissed'' that he stood up to a man with a gun. When Jazz explains the guy Will took down was a crook with a real gun, Will instantly faints.
** Another episode had Will have a friend go to a girl and act like a total sleaze before he came in and dismiss him to impress said girl.
* ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'': In "The Mother of All Monsters", Demetrius rescues Alcmene from a mugging arranged by his men so that [[RescueRomance she'll fall for him]] and he can lure her and Hercules into a trap.
* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' had an episode of Peg saving Al from a robber, and worse, having it caught on the news, which as you can imagine is a major embarrassment to him. Jefferson tries to help by having Al take Peg to a seedy bar, where a contact would insult Peg, Al would knock him out and Bud would get it on film. Unfortunately, when it comes time to deal the blow, Peg punches out the man herself just as Bud takes the photo. However, the end of the ep has Al successfully pulling this off using one of Kelly's dates.
* In ''Series/MenBehavingBadly'' Gary hides behind a paper when his girlfriend is being threatened while driving and spends the whole episode worried about his reputation. So he rings up an agency to send over a big bloke in a leather jacket to his local pub for him to beat up. He finds a big bloke in a leather jacket who he quickly beats up. Then a much smaller, skinnier guy in a leather jacket appears wanting to fight Gary. He runs away shortly after.
* ''Series/{{Monk}}'':
** In the episode "Mr. Monk and the Billionaire Mugger," computer billionaire Sidney Teal apparently has a nervous breakdown, and tries to mug an ex-cop named Archie Modine with a knife, only for Modine to fatally shoot him, and witnesses see a uniformed cop running away from the scene, who soon becomes known as "Fraidy Cop." Monk is suspicious about why Sidney was wearing knee and elbow pads at the time like he was expecting to be knocked down. Furthermore, a similar incident is described by Sidney in his autobiography about how in college, a mugger tried to rob him and his girlfriend in a parking garage. As it turns out, Sidney and Modine had been roommates, and Sidney, wanting to impress his girlfriend, asked Modine to pretend to mug him. It worked, and for a moment, Teal got to be Superman. In return, twenty years later, Modine began to have an affair with Sidney's wife, and found a way to kill Sidney: he contacted him, reminded him of the first prank, and asked Sidney to return the favor, knowing Sidney would never refuse the opportunity to relive one of the best nights of his life.
*** What further provides proof that the murder was deliberate is that Sidney always went the extra mile. In fact, he not only planned to get knocked down, but the so-called "Fraidy Cop" was an actor that Sidney had hired, who, after Modine "fought" off Sidney, was supposed to run up and congratulate Modine for his heroism.
** In "Mr. Monk Visits a Farm," Monk does this to raise Randy's spirits after he loses confidence in himself. After solving the case, Monk uses Randy's SleepLearning routine to subconsciously tell him how his uncle was killed. This works and Randy miraculously solves the case, regaining his confidence and returning home to rejoin the force.
* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000: [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S11E08TheLovesofHercules The Loves of Hercules]]''. When the riffers reach the scene where Hercules rescues Queen Deianira from a rampaging bull, they speculate that Herc and the bull arranged this beforehand to impress Deianira.
-->'''Jonah:''' ''(as Hercules, to the bull)'' Good job, Elmer. She bought it. We'll split the money later.
* ''Series/ProdigalSon'': In the episode "Q&A", another inmate at Martin's asylum stabs a guard and Ainsley's boyfriend/cameraman, causing a lockdown while both Ainsley and Malcolm are visiting Martin. Martin uses his surgical skills to save Jin, which impresses Ainsley, but as Malcolm figures out by the episode's end, Martin goaded the inmate into doing it in the first place during one of their group sessions, all so that he could present himself as the hero.
* This is the plan of the United States government in the second season of ''Series/{{Revolution}}''. Their initial step started with Randall's actions at the end of the first season. After that they pulled the same gambit on a smaller scale: put people in danger through an intermediary, then ride in at the last minute to save the day.
* Cyrus Beene of ''Series/{{Scandal}}'' is a master of this, either for others or occasionally himself.
** Thinking Frankie Vargas might be a good president, Cyrus gives the low-level governor a boost by arranging for a troubled man to attack the state government building and Vargas is seen on video confronting the man, offering himself up before the attacker is killed by security. Just as Cyrus had planned, Vargas' name is instantly all over the news, giving him a push for his campaign.
** Cyrus is forced on a trip on Air Force Two when it's hacked and soon headed toward Washington. Cyrus gives a big speech to the passengers on how they might be shot down and that's a sacrifice he's willing to make. A reporter on board records it and manages to get it out online, supposedly on her own. But in the final scene of the episode, Liv confronts Cyrus who admits he was behind the whole thing to make himself look Presidential.
* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' deconstructs a version of this, where J.D. pays a hobo to fake a heart attack in front of his new girlfriend so he can rescue him. The hobo then proceeds to demand more money when J.D. tries it again and again.
* An inversion in the second season finale of ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' as Moriarty makes it appear that Sherlock has been setting up these crimes so he can "solve" them and look like a genius. It works thanks to how Sherlock has put down the police and reporters are being so stupid and people assuming it's impossible someone could really be so brilliant. The next episode (after a TimeSkip) reveals that it fell apart almost immediately and only improved his reputation.
* In the ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' episode "Splinter", Clark Kent gets infected by silver kryptonite and suffers from hallucinations and paranoia. When he is about to murder Lana for "cheating on him," Brainiac shows up, stops him, and cures him. Later, it is revealed to the audience that Brainiac sent the kryptonite so that he could save Clark and gain his trust.
* On ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', Lucius Lavin goes into the engineered heroics business after his MindControl empire falls through. Then he tries to haggle on the payment ''after'' the hired villains did their part... When the protagonists show up, the hired villains, as their sworn enemies, perform some actual villainy.
* ''Series/Supergirl2015'':
** In "Mr. and Mrs. Mxyzptlk", Mxyzptlk tries to woo Supergirl by summoning Parasite, having him rampage through downtown, then showing up in a Superman costume to defeat him. Supergirl is not impressed, especially since he freely confesses what he was doing.
** This is ComicBook/LexLuthor's big EvilPlan in Season 4 -- he helps [[{{Ruritania}} Kaznia]] train the Supergirl clone Red Daughter and prepare to invade America, just so that he can swoop in and defeat them, thus presenting himself as a national hero.
* Attempted in ''Series/TedLasso'', Rebecca Welton's fundraising gala is thrown off-track when the main entertainment, Music/RobbieWilliams, cancels unexpectedly. Her anxieties only worsen when her sleazy ex-husband Rupert shows up to upstage her and virtually takes over the event himself. In an attempt to show his sincerity to Ted, Rupert tells him that Robbie is a personal friend of his and offers to convince him to return just in time to save the event. Ted, however, has caught onto Rupert's true nature by this point.
-->'''Ted:''' Hey Rupert, something just occurred to me. If you could've texted Robbie Williams asking him to come tonight... you could've probably just as easily asked him ''not'' to come.
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EngineeredHeroics in LiveActionTV series.
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* ''Series/ThirtyRock'':
** Dennis became the Subway Hero after pushing a woman in front of a subway car then saving her.
** Parodied a second time when Tracy has Kenneth kill a "Hero Cat" who saved his owner's life by dialing 911. When Tracy forgets the whole thing, Jenna ends up "rescuing" the cat (who then dials 911 to save Kenneth).
* ''Series/Batman1966'' had this when the Penguin was running for mayor of Gotham City. He'd send his mooks out to commit crimes so he could thwart them and come off as a hero.
* Sheldon tries to set this up in ''Series/TheBigBangTheory''. He pretends to be unable to open a jar in order to make Leonard seem like an alpha male. It then fails because Leonard can't open it, despite Sheldon having loosened the lid.
* ''Series/TheBoys2019'':
** [[BigBad Homelander]] gave [[SuperSerum Compound V]] to terrorist groups around the world to deliberately invoke the SuperheroParadox and [[CreateYourOwnVillain give himself villains to fight]].
** [[spoiler:Stormfront slaughters some bystanders both because [[SuperSupremacist she's a racist sociopath]], and to put the blame on that in her next victim, with a "public story" that she killed a super terrorist who had just attacked the building.]]
* ''Series/BurnNotice'' pulls this in almost every single episode. With some exceptions, Mike's plans generally follow the same structure: First, Mike causes a problem (or exacerbates an existing problem, or creates the illusion of a problem) for the target. Second, he poses as someone who can solve that problem. Third, he uses this problem-solving persona to get closer to the target, usually while covertly making the problem worse the whole time, so that the target becomes more desperate for Mike's help. Finally, Mike uses his position to get what he wants, which is almost invariably either destroying the target's operation, making the target look like a traitor to ''their'' boss, stealing something, or blackmailing the target into doing something Mike needs.
* An episode of ''Series/CSIMiami'' is eventually revealed to have started out this way, with the brother of a repressed family man hiring a company to set up a real-life game for his brother involving defending an attractive waitress from a jerk in a club. He's then supposed to discover said jerk dead in the men's room and have a brief adventure, complete with running away from the cops and making him think he slept with the waitress. Somehow, though, the "waitress" ends up dead for real, and the guy is freaking out, thinking that everyone is out to get him. [[spoiler:Then it turns out that the guy's suspicious wife showed up to the hotel room, saw him passed on in bed and, naturally, assumed he cheated. She forced her way into the room, accidentally pushing the "waitress" to fall and hit her head on the coffee table, killing her]].
* Deconstructed in an episode of ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' where the VictimOfTheWeek and his buddy set up a mugging similar to one that happened several months beforehand to impress his girlfriend only for the plan to [[GoneHorriblyWrong collapse in on itself]]. First, [[spoiler: the victim's gun was loaded with simulation rounds intended only to be shot at targets which he had stolen from a firing range. When the two 'struggled' for the gun it went off and the bullet struck the victim, disintegrating on contact but still causing a lethal wound.]] Second is the biggest problem with this plan - failing to properly predict what the [[DistressedDamsel patsy will do]]. [[spoiler: She attacked the mugger and ripped his mask off, forcing him to strike her over the head nearly killing her]]. Third is what happens when the scheme is exposed. [[spoiler: She is angry and upset that her boyfriend would do something so stupid. Had he survived she'd probably break up with him.]]
* In one episode of ''Series/DiagnosisMurder'', the VillainOfTheWeek is a mentally unstable former Air Force pilot who was given a dishonorable discharge for disobeying orders and has been trying to find work as a commercial airline pilot. He drugs the flight crew of a plane he's traveling on, knowing that as the only passenger with cockpit experience, he'll be chosen to land the plane safely.
* The classic ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E4TheEnemyOfTheWorld The Enemy of the World]]" played this straight not once, but twice.
** To infiltrate Salamander's security, Jamie stages an attempt on Salamander's life so that he can save the man at the last minute, earning jobs for both himself and Victoria.
** Salamander's whole plan to sway public opinion in his favor hinges on [[spoiler:causing natural disasters so that he can "predict" them and save people by warning them and evacuating affected areas]].
* In the ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'' episode "Haunted," a character describes how her childhood nanny once baked cookies with ground-up glass in them so that she could discover them and be the big hero. Unfortunately, the character sneaked her dessert early and had to go to the hospital.
* Subverted in an episode of ''Series/DrakeAndJosh''. Drake accidentally let it slip that a girl he was dating was part of a competition between him and his brother...only he actually liked her. One of his several attempts to show her that he's "honest" involves two nerd "friends" that he constantly takes advantage of to make it seem like he found one of their wallets and returned it to them. The girl clearly sees through this and walks off...and then one of the nerds come back and asks Drake if he stole his mom's credit card from the wallet. [[spoiler:He did.]]
* ''Series/FatherBrown'': In "The Theatre of the Invisible", [[spoiler:Jeremy Mayhew-Bowman]]'s engineered heroics result in AccidentalMurder. He arranges a house fire while the boarding house is empty, so he can dash in and save some kittens and impress Bunty. However, the landlady had returned home early as was caught in the trap and killed.
* In an episode of ''Series/FlightOfTheConchords'', Bret is trying to woo a lady who works at a pet store and convinces Jermaine to pretend to mug them so he can impress her. Jermaine has his friend John, an actual mugger, help out, but he doesn't get the concept and actually steals her purse.
* In ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', Daphne's dad had a money-making scam that involved him making crude passes at women in Manchester pubs, then getting pretend beaten up by their dates.
* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'':
** Subverted when Will has his friend hire a thug to 'rob' a store, and he'd beat the robber to impress his girlfriend. But then a REAL robber holds up the store, and Will nearly gets himself killed hamming it up before he does take down the robber. His girlfriend ends up ''pissed'' that he stood up to a man with a gun. When Jazz explains the guy Will took down was a crook with a real gun, Will instantly faints.
** Another episode had Will have a friend go to a girl and act like a total sleaze before he came in and dismiss him to impress said girl.
* ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'': In "The Mother of All Monsters", Demetrius rescues Alcmene from a mugging arranged by his men so that [[RescueRomance she'll fall for him]] and he can lure her and Hercules into a trap.
* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' had an episode of Peg saving Al from a robber, and worse, having it caught on the news, which as you can imagine is a major embarrassment to him. Jefferson tries to help by having Al take Peg to a seedy bar, where a contact would insult Peg, Al would knock him out and Bud would get it on film. Unfortunately, when it comes time to deal the blow, Peg punches out the man herself just as Bud takes the photo. However, the end of the ep has Al successfully pulling this off using one of Kelly's dates.
* In ''Series/MenBehavingBadly'' Gary hides behind a paper when his girlfriend is being threatened while driving and spends the whole episode worried about his reputation. So he rings up an agency to send over a big bloke in a leather jacket to his local pub for him to beat up. He finds a big bloke in a leather jacket who he quickly beats up. Then a much smaller, skinnier guy in a leather jacket appears wanting to fight Gary. He runs away shortly after.
* ''Series/{{Monk}}'':
** In the episode "Mr. Monk and the Billionaire Mugger," computer billionaire Sidney Teal apparently has a nervous breakdown, and tries to mug an ex-cop named Archie Modine with a knife, only for Modine to fatally shoot him, and witnesses see a uniformed cop running away from the scene, who soon becomes known as "Fraidy Cop." Monk is suspicious about why Sidney was wearing knee and elbow pads at the time like he was expecting to be knocked down. Furthermore, a similar incident is described by Sidney in his autobiography about how in college, a mugger tried to rob him and his girlfriend in a parking garage. As it turns out, Sidney and Modine had been roommates, and Sidney, wanting to impress his girlfriend, asked Modine to pretend to mug him. It worked, and for a moment, Teal got to be Superman. In return, twenty years later, Modine began to have an affair with Sidney's wife, and found a way to kill Sidney: he contacted him, reminded him of the first prank, and asked Sidney to return the favor, knowing Sidney would never refuse the opportunity to relive one of the best nights of his life.
*** What further provides proof that the murder was deliberate is that Sidney always went the extra mile. In fact, he not only planned to get knocked down, but the so-called "Fraidy Cop" was an actor that Sidney had hired, who, after Modine "fought" off Sidney, was supposed to run up and congratulate Modine for his heroism.
** In "Mr. Monk Visits a Farm," Monk does this to raise Randy's spirits after he loses confidence in himself. After solving the case, Monk uses Randy's SleepLearning routine to subconsciously tell him how his uncle was killed. This works and Randy miraculously solves the case, regaining his confidence and returning home to rejoin the force.
* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000: [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S11E08TheLovesofHercules The Loves of Hercules]]''. When the riffers reach the scene where Hercules rescues Queen Deianira from a rampaging bull, they speculate that Herc and the bull arranged this beforehand to impress Deianira.
-->'''Jonah:''' ''(as Hercules, to the bull)'' Good job, Elmer. She bought it. We'll split the money later.
* ''Series/ProdigalSon'': In the episode "Q&A", another inmate at Martin's asylum stabs a guard and Ainsley's boyfriend/cameraman, causing a lockdown while both Ainsley and Malcolm are visiting Martin. Martin uses his surgical skills to save Jin, which impresses Ainsley, but as Malcolm figures out by the episode's end, Martin goaded the inmate into doing it in the first place during one of their group sessions, all so that he could present himself as the hero.
* This is the plan of the United States government in the second season of ''Series/{{Revolution}}''. Their initial step started with Randall's actions at the end of the first season. After that they pulled the same gambit on a smaller scale: put people in danger through an intermediary, then ride in at the last minute to save the day.
* Cyrus Beene of ''Series/{{Scandal}}'' is a master of this, either for others or occasionally himself.
** Thinking Frankie Vargas might be a good president, Cyrus gives the low-level governor a boost by arranging for a troubled man to attack the state government building and Vargas is seen on video confronting the man, offering himself up before the attacker is killed by security. Just as Cyrus had planned, Vargas' name is instantly all over the news, giving him a push for his campaign.
** Cyrus is forced on a trip on Air Force Two when it's hacked and soon headed toward Washington. Cyrus gives a big speech to the passengers on how they might be shot down and that's a sacrifice he's willing to make. A reporter on board records it and manages to get it out online, supposedly on her own. But in the final scene of the episode, Liv confronts Cyrus who admits he was behind the whole thing to make himself look Presidential.
* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' deconstructs a version of this, where J.D. pays a hobo to fake a heart attack in front of his new girlfriend so he can rescue him. The hobo then proceeds to demand more money when J.D. tries it again and again.
* An inversion in the second season finale of ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' as Moriarty makes it appear that Sherlock has been setting up these crimes so he can "solve" them and look like a genius. It works thanks to how Sherlock has put down the police and reporters are being so stupid and people assuming it's impossible someone could really be so brilliant. The next episode (after a TimeSkip) reveals that it fell apart almost immediately and only improved his reputation.
* In the ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' episode "Splinter", Clark Kent gets infected by silver kryptonite and suffers from hallucinations and paranoia. When he is about to murder Lana for "cheating on him," Brainiac shows up, stops him, and cures him. Later, it is revealed to the audience that Brainiac sent the kryptonite so that he could save Clark and gain his trust.
* On ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', Lucius Lavin goes into the engineered heroics business after his MindControl empire falls through. Then he tries to haggle on the payment ''after'' the hired villains did their part... When the protagonists show up, the hired villains, as their sworn enemies, perform some actual villainy.
* ''Series/Supergirl2015'':
** In "Mr. and Mrs. Mxyzptlk", Mxyzptlk tries to woo Supergirl by summoning Parasite, having him rampage through downtown, then showing up in a Superman costume to defeat him. Supergirl is not impressed, especially since he freely confesses what he was doing.
** This is ComicBook/LexLuthor's big EvilPlan in Season 4 -- he helps [[{{Ruritania}} Kaznia]] train the Supergirl clone Red Daughter and prepare to invade America, just so that he can swoop in and defeat them, thus presenting himself as a national hero.
* Attempted in ''Series/TedLasso'', Rebecca Welton's fundraising gala is thrown off-track when the main entertainment, Music/RobbieWilliams, cancels unexpectedly. Her anxieties only worsen when her sleazy ex-husband Rupert shows up to upstage her and virtually takes over the event himself. In an attempt to show his sincerity to Ted, Rupert tells him that Robbie is a personal friend of his and offers to convince him to return just in time to save the event. Ted, however, has caught onto Rupert's true nature by this point.
-->'''Ted:''' Hey Rupert, something just occurred to me. If you could've texted Robbie Williams asking him to come tonight... you could've probably just as easily asked him ''not'' to come.
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