History Main / NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished

->"Nobody's going to tell you nothing. They'll wise to your act. You got rules. TheJoker, he's got no rules. Nobody's going to cross him for you. You want this guy, you got one way, but you already know what that is. Just take off that mask and let him come find you. Or you can let a couple more people get killed while you make up your mind."

->'''Norrington:''' One good deed is not enough to redeem a man of a lifetime of wickedness.\\
'''Jack:''' Though it seems enough to condemn him.\\
'''Norrington:''' Indeed.
-->-- ''{{Pirates of the Caribbean}}''

* In ''{{The Last Castle}}'', General Irwin, a convict sent to a military prison, engages in a battle of wits and wills with Colonel Winter, the prison warden. Long story short, Irwin teaches the ex con soldiers how to be men again, and angers the warden, whose hobby was dehumanizing them. At the film's climax, Irwin, after having taken control of the prison from the warden, heads to the flagpole in the prison yard, to raise the American flag upside down, to signal the distress of the mistreated prisoners. As he raises the flag, Winter shoots him fatally, claiming that he did not want him to dishonor the flag, however when Irwin raises the flag to its full height, it is clear that it is flying correctly, as the prisoners are no longer in distress.

* An episode of ''AdventureTime'' where Finn shares his food with a man who turns out to be a wizard. The wizard turns him into a giant foot for his kindness. The moral of the episode? [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop Some people are just jerks and you shouldn't help them.]]

* Ending of french comedy''Le folie des grandeurs'' - [spoiler: Blaze saved king's life, revealed all conspirators plotting against the king and sunk down Don Salluste scheme to ruin queen's reputation and even sacrificed his love to her so man who he impersonated could become her lover. Sadly, during all of it he make king believe he's in love with old Dona Juana and has to choose between marrying her or being sold to the slavery. He ended as a slave of the same Arabic Sheik who bought conspirators and Salluste. Good news – they don't hold a grudge against him. Bad news – Dona Juana comes after him.]]

** Make sure to get their family too, else they'll come for revenge
*** actually, just start killing people, we'll tell you when to stop

** Can't let the men think they did something right, after all (there's got to be a trope in there somewhere... )

** Plus, her attempt [[spoiler: to save Fiyero's life also kinda backfired. She saves him from death, but her panicky desperate wording of the spell "Let his flesh not be torn, let his blood leave no stain. When they beat him, let him feel no pain, let his bones never break" turns him into the Scarecrow.]]

* Buttons form the Animaniacs embodies this trope every episode has Mindy getting out of her harness or crib etc, and causing Buttons to go and save her. And at the end of every short the [[AdultsAreUseless parents]] scolds him every [[PrecisionFStrike FUCKING TIME!!]] Well, at least Mindy comforts him.

<<|MoralityTropes|>>

* ''ToKillAMockingbird'', by Harper Lee, where book the whole story revolves around a good deed that is punished.

** The most egregious example: Lelouch decides ''not'' to go over the MoralEventHorizon by murdering [[spoiler:Euphemia]] in cold blood and instead decides to accept [[TakeAThirdOption the third option]] that would allow everyone to get what they want without any bloodshed. Oops, we can't have that! Instead, [[spoiler:his MindControl EvilEye goes into ModeLock at the ''worst possible time'' and he ''accidentally'' forces the most innocent and idealistic character in the show to attempt ''genocide'']].

** And if your karma is too high, you will be hunted down by Talon Company mercenaries, who said you have 1000 caps on your head. Inverted if you are evil as well, as you will be hunted down the same way by the [[VigilanteMan Regulators]], though these guys are not as well armed as their evil counterparts so this trope is still played straight.

* Another Lindsay Lohan movie, ''GeorgiaRule'', gets outright literal in here: Mormon Harlan gets to Georgia's house to fetch her grand-daughter Rachel (who performed oral sex on him on a canoe) to convince her to get to his actual girlfriend together with him to release him for his sins. When Georgia yells at him that it wasn't a big deal, but just a blowjob, and Georgia comes into the scene in a severely shocked manner, Rachel just responses that ''[[LampshadeHanging "no good deed goes unpunished"]]''. SoYeah.

Ending of french comedy''Le folie des grandeurs'' - [spoiler: Blaze saved king's life, revealed all conspirators plotting against the king and sunk down Don Salluste scheme to ruin queen's reputation and even sacrificed his love to her so man who he impersonated could become her lover. Sadly, during all of it he make king believe he's in love with old Dona Juana and has to choose between marrying her or being sold to the slavery. He ended as a slave of the same Arabic Sheik who bought conspirators and Salluste. Good news – they don't hold a grudge against him. Bad news – Dona Juana comes after him.]]

*In # Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 3 #19 (February 1986): "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished", a group of Legionaires are forced to deal with the menace that the Sun-Eater they destroyed was intended to stop.

* There's a Donald Duck cartoon short where Donald gives an ant a bit of sugar out of kindness. In return for his good deed, the ants invade his house for more and eventually cause it to blow up, presumably killing Donald.