History Main / MartyrWithoutACause

Compare InspirationalMartyr and GreaterNeedThanMine for when they do have a clear cause. Also compare SenselessSacrifice and SelfPunishmentOverFailure.

Compare InspirationalMartyr when they do have a clear cause. Also compare SenselessSacrifice and SelfPunishmentOverFailure.

* Bella in ''Franchise/TheTwilightSaga'' is a variant -- it's not that she wants to be a hero, it's that, as other characters sometimes lampshade, [[GuiltComplex she blames herself for anything and everything that goes wrong]]. This leads to the same type of self-hatred (if not the same quantity) as TheAtoner, and while she doesn't often have the opportunity to risk her life, she clearly considers herself [[MoreExpendableThanYou more expendable]] than those around her, particularly Edward, but also her mother, father, unborn baby...

* Bella in ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' is a variant -- it's not that she wants to be a hero, it's that, as other characters sometimes lampshade, she blames herself for anything and everything that goes wrong. This leads to the same type of self-hatred (if not the same quantity) as TheAtoner, and while she doesn't often have the opportunity to risk her life, she clearly considers herself [[MoreExpendableThanYou more expendable]] than those around her, particularly Edward, but also her mother, father, unborn baby...

** Kingdom Hearts III has Braig accuse the entire main cast and their friends of this, sacrificing themselves for those who will sacrifice themself in turn, with no ultimate payoff in the end.

** It should be noted that the situation that inspired the page quote was an aversion. While Optimus ''was'' going to attempt a near-suicidal mission by ramming a KillSat with an exploding stasis pod, but he had every intention of bailing out before he could die. Megatron sabotages the pod, which turns this into an unintentional HeroicSacrifice. (Don't worry, Optimus got better.)

Then, there's heroes who seem to have a near-[[DeathSeeker suicidal]] insistence on being the one to die... [[StupidSacrifice even if the situation isn't all that dire!]] They'll put the OverprotectiveDad and MamaBear to shame in their zeal to ensure no one around them but themselves is in any risk. They'll discourage alternate plans for a given threat if any friends have to be in the slightest danger, even if they increase the odds for success and their own survival, and said friends are willing to take the risk. If someone gets hurt (or his little sister forbid, ''dies'') he'll be [[HeroicBSOD eaten up with guilt]]. This is often the Character Flaw of a MessianicArchetype and often combines with ChronicHeroSyndrome.

* In the second ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'', Gepetto accuses Yuri Hyuga of being this.

* [[TheEmpire The Imperium]] in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' has this trope as ''official government policy'', with phrases like "it is better to die for the Emperor than live for yourself" as their mottos. Naturally, considering [[CrapsackWorld the setting]], {{Senseless Sacrifice}}s abound. May be justified, as [[WeHaveReserves there's plenty more where that came from]].

* Nagi Kirima from the ''LightNovel/BoogiepopSeries'' sees herself as a vigilante meant to clean up the world, and often goes to great lengths to deal with things herself. At one point she even [[spoiler:temporarily gets killed by Manticore]] but [[spoiler:Echoes' intervention saves her life]]. Notably, in her backstory, her dying father's request for her was that she ''not'' be normal, and she seems to have taken it to heart (perhaps a bit too much).

* ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'''s Jacuzzi Splot has regularly demonstrated that he is willing to risk (or even hand over) his life for someone he's known for hours at most. His VictoriousChildhoodFriend has this to say about it, "He comes out on the losing end a lot but he's got a lot of friends."
* In ''LightNovel/{{Bakemonogatari}}'', Koyomi Araragi's defining flaw is a hidden lack of self-worth, which leads him to always try to sacrifice himself, even when he doesn't have to or it would even make things worse.

* Touma of ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex''. He helps anyone who comes to him with trouble and inevitably ends up in the hospital after helping. He even helps his enemies, refusing to hold grudges against people who tried to violently murder him and his friends for no good reason. He's also completely unaware that this tendency [[MagneticHero lands him lots of powerful friends]] ([[CluelessChickMagnet not to mention dozens of admirers]]). It comes to a head in the Magic God Othinus arc, where it turns out he feels he has so little self-worth that when Othinus alters reality so the world is perfect and everybody else is safe and happy, and all he has to do is die, he agrees. It takes The Will of the Misaka Network interfering and telling him he deserves to live as well for him to fight back.

* Kaname chews Sousuke out for this behavior in the first volume of ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'' after he insists [[IWillOnlySlowYouDown she leave him behind and escape Sunan alone]]. As far as she's concerned, noble {{Heroic Sacrifices}} are neither noble nor heroic when you clearly don't care if you live or die, and if he really wanted to do something for her, he ought to ''live'' for her. [[WorthLivingFor So he does.]]

* In Robert Jordan's ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'', Rand al'Thor suffers badly from this, at least if it's a woman on the line. He {{wangst}}s on endlessly if even a single woman is killed and he is sort of to blame -- regardless of whether said woman was trying to kill him and everyone else around him. This is much to the reader's chagrin, since most women in ''Wheel of Time'' are {{jerkass}}es [[StrawFeminist whom no reader would miss]]. Much of this is due to Rand's growing insanity over the course of the series; once he [[BoredWithInsanity clears that up,]] he stops discriminating by sex and becomes much more pragmatic, although he still insists on focusing as much risk onto himself as possible to keep others safe. It isn't until [[spoiler: Egwene's dying spirit]] convinces him that this is selfish that he finally relents.

** [[spoiler:Kurt Godel]] may be one of these too. [[spoiler:According to Nodoka's artifact, he himself was not involved in the attack on Negi's village, however Godel says that he has no intention of running from his sins and promises, once everything is over, to let Negi beat him to death if that's what it takes to satisfy Negi's desire for revenge.]]'

** In ''Fanfic/ThinkBeforeYouSpeakMHA'', "Eraserhead" Aizawa[[note]]who [[AccusationFic in this particular fic universe]] has [[AdaptationalJerkass his jerk levels up to eleven]] by trying to exploit a training accident (caused by Bakugou and that hurt Iida) to get Deku kicked out via MaliciousSlander because he's not allowed to expel him himself[[/note]] tries to defend his decision when [[HauledBeforeASenateSubcommittee he's being given the third degree by his higher-ups in the Hero community]] by pointing out that Deku has a very visible martyr complex and he shouldn't be a Hero, only for Endeavor ([[EveryoneHasStandards of all people]]) to [[ArmorPiercingQuestion ask Aizawa]] if it really is going to help his reputation as it currently stands to let Izuku go - the kid will still be a Hero or literally die trying, training or not, so Aizawa not wishing to do anything to help him is just irresponsible.

* The above bullet point of ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' canon tends to encounter {{Flanderization}} in fan fiction. Whether or not he has powers, whether or not [[AdaptationalIntelligence his intelligence has increased]], and whether or not he is [[AdaptationalBadass comparatively a bigger badass than canon]], Izuku Midoriya tends to be even more suicidally reckless in his heroism (to the point that in some stories it's flat-out stated that he's got a death wish). An example of this is ''Fanfic/ViridianTheGreenGuide'', in which in one chapter Izuku is in a situation in which he may get killed and [[SkewedPriorities he's more concerned about]] how this may ruin Kacchan's (a.k.a. the bully who wants him gone just because he exists) chances to be a Hero than the fact he may die or what [[OutlivingOnesOffspring his mother may suffer]] from finding out he's dead (and a vigilante).

* [[GrumpyBear Haruka and Michiru]] in ''Anime/SailorMoon S'' were notoriously this. They just seemed to be completely unwilling to accept the possibility of saving the world without having to do some awful sacrifice (be it their own lives or someone else's with them as the executioners), even once trying to hurt Usagi (a.k.a. the reincarnation of their Princess and person they swore to protect with their lives) for having the gall of telling them ThePowerOfLove was a (more evidently) effective method.

* The above bullet point of ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' canon tends to encounter {{Flanderization}} in fan fiction. Whether or not he has powers, whether or not [[AdaptationalIntelligence his intelligence has increased]], and whether or not he is [[AdaptationalBadass comparatively a bigger badass than canon]], Izuku Midoriya tends to be even more suicidally reckless in his heroism (to the point that in some stories it's flat-out stated that he's got a death wish). An example of this is ''Fanfic/ViridianTheGreenGuide'', in which in one chapter Izuku is in a situation in which he may get killed and he's more concerned about [[SkewedPriorities how this may ruin Kacchan's chances to be a Hero than the fact he may die]] or what [[OutlivingOnesOffspring his mother may suffer]] from finding out he's dead (and a vigilante).

* The title character of ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' leans in this direction occasionally, especially during the Pain arc, telling everyone else to stay the hell away. When [[spoiler:[[LivingEmotionalCrutch Hinata]]]] doesn't and [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice almost gets killed right in front of Naruto]]... [[SuperpoweredEvilSide needless to say, it's not pretty]]. He is better most of the time though, trusting his teammates, but he'd rather fight the most dangerous enemies himself.

* [[GrumpyBear Haruka and Michiru]] in ''Anime/SailorMoon S'' were notoriously this.

Then, there's heroes who seem to have a near [[DeathSeeker suicidal]] insistence on being the one to die... [[StupidSacrifice even if the situation isn't all that dire!]] They'll put the OverprotectiveDad and MamaBear to shame in their zeal to ensure no one around them but themselves is in any risk. They'll discourage alternate plans for a given threat if any friends have to be in the slightest danger, even if they increase the odds for success and their own survival, and said friends are willing to take the risk. If someone gets hurt (or his little sister forbid, ''dies'') he'll be [[HeroicBSOD eaten up with guilt]]. This is often the Character Flaw of a MessianicArchetype, and often combines with ChronicHeroSyndrome.

Expect friends, family, and loved ones to scold him repeatedly on this risk-hogging behavior, and villains to use FlawExploitation to make the most of it by engineering threats. If it's [[AnAesop that kind of show]], expect an episode or two about how the hero needs to learn to trust his [[TrueCompanions teammates]], and realize he can't control fate and protect them from all harm.

** In the case of Shiryu, it is hard to tell if that's a ''bad'' trait of him; he seems to [[DisabilitySuperpower become more powerful/skilled whenever he starts getting disadvantages]], like being blinded or losing his armor off (though in ''Saint Seiya'' universe, warriors can still be a deadly threat as long as they are alive, and losing perceptions ACTUALLY allows reaching enlightenment, as Virgo Shaka vs Ikki lampshades). There's even a running-gag between fans that say "if Shiryu isn't blind or naked, the battle isn't done yet". Hell, he only managed to perform Excalibur the first time after his enemy pointed out he was hiding behind his resurrected Bronze Cloth (with protective ability nearly on par with Gold Cloths), and him accepting that he was unconsciously relying on his armor to protect him, and consequently casting it off. He was too immature (this gets lampshaded at several times in the series, too) at this point to channel his full power normally, so he HAD to put himself in a truly desperate situation, to bring out the power level necessary to activate Excalibur. He has to become a Martyr to get the proper motivation.

* Nagi Kirima from the ''LightNovel/BoogiepopSeries'' sees herself as a vigilante meant to clean up the world, and often goes to great lengths to deal with things herself. At one point she even [[spoiler:temporarily gets killed by Manticore]] but [[spoiler:Echoes' intervention saves her life]]. Notably, in her backstory her dying father's request for her was that she ''not'' be normal, and she seems to have taken it to heart (perhaps a bit too much).

* ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'': Vash The Stampede takes this to ludicrous levels. His body is covered with scars he's suffered while protecting others -- including his enemies. He'd rather die than allow ANYONE around him to get killed, and the people who are shooting at him are not exempt from that. Good thing his ImprobableAimingSkills are just as overpowered as his morals...

* In ''LightNovel/{{Bakemonogatari}}'', Koyomi Araragi's defining flaw is a hidden lack of self worth, which leads him to always try to sacrifice himself, even when he doesn't have to or it would even make things worse.

** When it comes to Hanekawa's issues, before he thinks of anything else, he comes up with a plan that depends on her ripping him in two and accidentally touching the sword he hid inside his body. It works, but nearly gets her killed and requires someone else to bail them both out. Even if it had worked, he completely fails to realize the effect his death would have everyone.
** For Kanbaru Suruga, he goes into a fight he has no real chance of winning believing that if he just dies everyone else will be happy. He survives, but in the process he convinces her that deep down she's a murderer who only avoided killing someone because of blind luck, which leaves her mentally scarred for some time.
** In the end, it's when he ''averts'' this trope that he has the greatest success with helping people: He brought Senjogahara to a genuine specialist, he decided to risk his life for his sister because he genuinely loves her and does not care [[spoiler:that she's some kind of body hopping parasite spirit]] and when he chose to talk things out with a con man rather than doing anything stupid.

* Touma of ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex''. He helps anyone who comes to him with trouble, and inevitably ends up in the hospital after helping. He even helps his enemies, refusing to hold grudges against people who tried to violently murder him and his friends for no good reason. He's also completely unaware that this tendency [[MagneticHero lands him lots of powerful friends]] ([[CluelessChickMagnet not to mention dozens of admirers]]). It comes to a head in the Magic God Othinus arc, where it turns out he feels he has so little self-worth that when Othinus alters reality so the world is perfect and everybody else is safe and happy, and all he has to do is die, he agrees. It takes The Will of the Misaka Network interfering and telling him he deserves to live as well for him to fight back.

* In ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'', Team Galactic once trying to kidnap Platinum aside, Pearl tells Diamond that there's no reason to put themselves in danger by being involved with them after Diamond nearly gets himself killed stealing a camera from Cyrus. Diamond states that he refuses to standby and do nothing when there's an obviously evil and dangerous group running around.

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': Izuku "Deku" Midoriya wants to be a Hero above anything. ''Anything''. For all of his high intelligence, he is horrfyingly lacking in self-preservation and ''will not'' hesitate to use One For All in combat, even if [[HeroicRROD it inevitably will break several bones of his body]] at the percentage it takes to hurt the enemies he encounters.

* Tony "ComicBook/IronMan" Stark's third answer to everything appears to be "Electrocute/asphyxiate/experiment on myself" right after "[[BeamSpam Build more guns]]" and "[[TakingTheBullet Jump in front of the thing being aimed at my]] [[HeterosexualLifePartners better armored teammate]] [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica famous for his use of a shield.]]" Given the amount of awful shit he's been subjected to it's quite possible that [[DeathSeeker another trope]] is at play here. Interestingly, the ''Avengers'' film makes this part of his CharacterDevelopment: Captain America initially calls him out on his ''un''-willingness to sacrifice himself (while Stark claims he can always TakeAThirdOption), making [[spoiler:his (almost) sacrifice to save the city from a nuke at the end]] a pretty big turning point for him.
* [[ComicBook/XMen Colossus]] is noted to have this problem in 2014's ''Amazing X-Men'', where the rest of the cast point out/poke fun at his faintly absurd tendency to try and sacrifice himself at the drop of a hat. While this might seem a little cruel, several of the team had died at least once (usually in a HeroicSacrifice), and his habit was beginning to drift towards absurdity. He lampshaded this in his inner monologue while fighting the Juggernaut, and after winning (by [[DeadlyDodging dodging]] as the Juggernaut ran off a cliff), assumed he was about to die and collapsed near the edge... then realized that everyone was patiently waiting for him to get up (they weren't going to lift him up, because as Nightcrawler pointed out, he's their friend, but he's also very heavy).

* This is actually a symptom of a personality disorder known as [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Primus_apotheosis Primus apotheosis]] in the ''ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW''. The affected individual ends up idolizing [[BigGood Optimus Prime]] ''way'' too much and instead of being merely willing to risk their lives for the sake of others in need, as Prime would, they go out of their way to find even the most minor of 'noble sacrifices' which would cost them their lives. This problem is widespread enough to affect 1 in every 50 Autobots (and the occasional Decepticon). Pyro, in ''ComicBook/TheTransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers'' is called by Autobot psychiatrist Rung "the worst case of Prime apotheosis [I've] ever seen." He spends the entire series obsessing over dying in a blaze of glory or complaining that various ways the team is about to die aren't great enough. [[spoiler: Ultimately he dies when he's unceremoniously torn limb from limb by a pack of Decepticons during a failed HeroicLastStand]].

* ''Fanfic/EscapeFromTheHokagesHat'': Naruto natch. Due to his crappy childhood, NoSocialSkills and ChronicHeroSyndrome the kid is so messed up he feels the need to save EVERYONE and being unable to do so means he's useless (in his mind). When Hinata calls him on this and points out she protects him because she ''WANTS'' to and Shizune says they care and are trying to fight ''with'' him not ''for'' him, he has a hard time processing these facts because he doesn't consider himself worth it.

* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/15597090/chapters/36212475 Nino Has Done Nothing To Deserve This]]'': Adrien as Chat Noir is noted by both Nino and Alya to do this, often throwing himself in front of attacks to protect Ladybug. This steams from growing up with controlling parents and only having [[AlphaBitch Chloe]] as a ChildhoodFriend before joining school. Ladybug was the first person to show him genuine affection in a long time, and thus the reason he puts himself in risk to protect her. A major goal of Nino and Alya is to help Adrien out of that mindset.
* ''Fanfic/UsAndThem'': Discussed in the sequel ''Life Renewed, Love Renewed'', where [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Aeris and Sephiroth]] have a heart-to-heart where Seph brings up her self-sacrificial tendecies, but she protests that she's not just some tragic altruist waiting to go down in a blaze of glory.
* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/38241979 To All but Himself]]'': While [[Manga/DiamondIsUnbreakable Josuke Higashikata]] has [[HealingHands the power to heal others]], he is unable to heal himself. That doesn't stop him from putting himself in life-threatening danger to protect others while covering up his injuries. This also stems from his SelfHarm habit from getting an adrenaline rush whenever he gets hurt. His friends and family are all horrified when they find the out the truth.

** In ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', this is outright discussed as Captain America's FatalFlaw. For all his heroism and valor, he feels he needs to be fighting for something in order for his life to have meaning. Tony Stark even accuses him of opposing peacekeeping initiatives such as Insight, Ultron and [[spoiler:the Vision]] out of fear they'll render him obsolete (though in fairness to Cap, he ended up being right about the first two).
** And by ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' Stark points out to Steve that he's not going against the Sokovia Accords because he fears that they will be used against the Avengers and they will risk having bad people being their overseers and thus they will turn into tools of oppression, but because that means he will have less fights to throw himself at hoping to martyr himself. [[spoiler:Rogers still turns out to be somewhat right about the Accords in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' when the oversight group showcases itself to be a HeadInTheSandManagement fuelled by "Thunderbolt" Ross' pettiness.]]

** Castiel displayed this as well through his whole stay on the show, made worse the more he sees himself as expandable and thinks risking his life, dying, [[spoiler:Being possessed by Lucifer on season 11]] are the only ways to help and make himself worthy because he is [[spoiler:not as powerful as he used to be after metatron took his grace and damaged it.]] On season 12 [[spoiler:He deemed that giving the Winchesters 3 minutes of distracting Lucifer by offering himself to be beaten up then killed is a fair enough sacrifice.]]

** The Tenth Doctor does this the most, [[spoiler: daring the Daleks to go ahead and kill him]] in ''Evolution of the Daleks'' after they [[spoiler: impassively murder a man who made an honest heartfelt plead for mercy]]. He also does this in ''The Poison Sky'', when he is prepared to [[spoiler: destroy an entire Sontaran Fleet, which is about ready to end all human life. But being so determined to give his enemies a chance to make a better choice, he insists that he goes up with the bomb to give the Sontarans a chance to surrender. The Sontarans themselves point out how stupid this is.]]

** Because the writers needed to find a way to write Zhaan out of the series, due to the fact that her actress's health was being severely damaged by all the blue body paint she had to wear. You'll note that in the season leading up to her death, Zhaan tended more and more towards full-body clothing whereas in the first season she'd been seen mostly (sometimes entirely) naked. Virginia Hey's kidneys were reacting startlingly badly to something in her makeup. One might call it Executive Meddling, if one considers her doctor to be an executive. In any case, the ''character'' was already dying, so, as she reasoned, why ''risk'' anyone else's life if she was going to be dead in a few weeks at most anyway.

* Jack from ''Series/{{Lost}}'' always insists on personally going on the most dangerous missions, despite being the doctor and unofficial leader of the survivors, and thus arguably the most indispensible one. He especially insists that Kate never ever risk ''her'' life by coming on these missions, despite the fact that she's handy with a gun and a skilled tracker.
* Malcom Reed on ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' is obsessed with dying heroically, moereso than other security chiefs in Starfleet. He apparently got this from an great-uncle in the [[UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships Royal Navy]] who sealed himself in the engine compartment of his crippled nuclear submarine to allow the rest of his shipmates to escape.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' Faith is a firm believer in redemption by death, particularly in ''Series/{{Angel}}''. It comes to a head in "Orpheus" where its revealed she was a little too willing to go along with Wesley's dangerous plan.

* ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac'': This trope is Lampshaded, Deconstructed and justified with Cyrano. ''Lampshaded'' by Le Bret when Cyrano fights against one hundred men when all Ligniere asked was to ''sleep at his house''. Later, Cyrano will rescue De Guiche's white scarf from enemy lines… ''just so he can boast to De Guiche''. Cyrano is badass enough to survive and win, but then the play ''deconstructs'' this trope showing how this attitude arises not only in perilous situations, but in all aspects of the life of a person: [[MartyrWithoutACause Cyrano throws away every chance of glory]] or [[LoveMartyr love he has]]. [[OnlySaneMan Le Bret]] continuously scolds Cyrano about this attitude. Cyrano simply [[JerkJustifications says that he is trying to live without compromises]], but the sad truth is that this trope is ''justified'' because Cyrano's attitude is the logical conclusion of a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy badass]] without [[MommyIssues any self esteem]] raised in a MartyrdomCulture.

** The resident Cid's first instinct when presented with any problem seems to be "catastrophically crash the airship into it". Other characters treat this with a mixture of humor and exasperation. Rikku Lampshades this when they learns Guado and fiends have infiltrated the airship:

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' Azama accuses [[spoiler: his potential girlfriend Effie]] of being this in their [[spoiler:''Revelation'']] supports. It's not helped by how they met when she shielded him from a enemy attack so [[AfterActionPatchUp he has to heal her]], and in their A support [[spoiler: protects an ''enemy'' almost at the cost of her own life, after she realised he was a very young kid who had been borderline ForcedIntoEvil.]]
* One of the biggest strikes against ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' is that [[spoiler: you inexplicably turn into one of these in the ending by going into an irradiated room, instead of sending in one of your radition-immune companions to do it instead.]] ''Broken Steel'' remedies this, in addition to adding a PlayableEpilogue quest line (though choosing the option to [[spoiler:let a radiation-immune character do the job]] is considered a cowardly option by the narrator rather than a practical one).

* Shirou Emiya of ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', to an intentionally [[DeconstructedTrope infuriating degree]]. Many characters call him out on this, and it comes back to bite him in more ways than simply being smeared across the pavement. [[spoiler:Archer, and by extension Shirou himself,]] is a walking deconstruction of this trope, as is most clear in the Unlimited Blade Works route in the VisualNovel. The big reason this comes across as stupidity is because [[AdaptationExplanationExtrication the first anime (and by extension, the Fate route) never explains or explores Shirou's behaviour and mindset like UBW does]]; In one rather disturbing example, Shirou is stabbed in the arm, [[SkewedPriorities and he's more concerned that Rin is now covered in his blood than the fact that he's got a]] ''[[MajorInjuryUnderreaction giant stab wound in his arm]]''.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Jaune Arc fell into this for a time in the Mistral Arc (Volumes 4-6), due to [[spoiler: the death of his partner and LoveInterest Pyrrha in the Fall Of Beacon]]. His team mates are eventually able to pull him out of it once they realize how self-destructive he's becoming.

* Torg of ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' will literally sacrifice himself at the first hint that any one of his friends might be in danger if he doesn't. This actually puts his teammates in a lot ''more'' danger because every time he tries this, they (duh!) have a mad scramble to rescue him. Then he yells at them for putting themselves in danger while he was trying to die, but is too stupid to take the hint that they're going to keep saving him. [[DysfunctionJunction They're all messed up that way.]]

** This is played with in the IDW comics. Optimus is a lot more pragmatic there (to the point where the destruction of planets during battles with Decepticons is chalked up as acceptable collateral damage), but is still prone to doing things like throwing himself at the biggest, baddest threat on the battlefield. It turns out that he was once a super cop and did that sort of thing anyway, since he really could handle just about any situation. When he's depressed or despondent (e.g. after the All Hail Megatron storyline) he acts like this, giving himself up to the humans in the hopes they'll forgive the other Cybertronians for the Decepticon invasion.
** IDW Optimus is a lot better about this in the Death of Optimus Prime oneshot, where he symbolically dies (i.e. gives up the name Optimus Prime) so his Autobots can remain on a restored Cybertron while he is exiled for being a living symbol of the now-ended war. He takes his old name of Orion Pax and immediately begins wandering space, doing good wherever he can like a knight errant. He's actually quite happy, since he is no longer weighed down by the TheChainsOfCommanding.

* The title character of ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' leans in this direction occasionally, especially during the Pain arc, telling everyone else to stay the hell away. When [[spoiler:[[LivingEmotionalCrutch Hinata]]]] doesn't and [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice almost gets killed]] [[ForcedToWatch right in front of Naruto]]... [[BerserkButton needless to say]], [[SuperpoweredEvilSide it's not pretty.]] He is better most of the time though, trusting his teammates, but he'd rather fight the most dangerous enemies himself.
** Considering that [[PersonOfMassDestruction Pain]] was slaughtering everyone, {{Red Shirt}}s and [[MauveShirt Heroes]] alike, and that Naruto was literally the only one who had a chance of beating him, it is understandable for all of those other characters that CantCatchUp to get the heck out of the way. MartyrWithoutACause would have been if he submited to Pain for Pain's twisted idea of Peace.
** Naruto later gets [[WhatTheHellHero called out on this behavior]] by [[spoiler:Itachi, of all people,]] who points out that trying to do everything by himself is disrespectful to his friends, and that it's egotistical to think that only he can solve all the world's problems.

** This trope finally hits its apogee during the Paranormal Liberation Arc, where Izuku reacts to society [[UrbanHellscape going to hell]] courtesy of the villains' plans ruining the Hero community and the belief that All For One [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies will come gunning for him]] to go vigilante and spend several weeks in a non-stop campaign of wandering around saving people that sees him, by the end, insomniac, malnourished and dirtied like a homeless person (a design that the author labeled "[[TheCowl Dark Deku]]") and all of his friends literally need to [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan beat the everliving crap out of him]] (easier said than done, [[OneManArmy he's that driven]]) to force him to understand [[YouAreNotAlone this is definitely something he cannot do all by himself]].

** This trope finally hits its apogee during the Paranormal Liberation Arc, where Izuku reacts to society [[UrbanHellscape going to hell]] courtesy of the villains' plans ruining the Hero community and the belief that All For One [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies will come gunning for him]] to go vigilante and spend several weeks in a non-stop campaign of wandering around saving people that sees him, by the end, insomniac, malnourished and dirtied like a homeless person (a design that the author labeled "[[TheCowl Dark Deku]]") and all of his friends literally need to [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan beat the everliving crap out of him]] (easier said than done, [[OneManArmy he's that driven]]) to force him to understand [[YouAreNotAlone this is definitely something he cannot do himself]].