History Main / ReasonableAuthorityFigure

* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity'' Dean Hardscrabble, though some of her decisions are a tad personal. She holds an understandable grudge against Mike and Sulley [[spoiler: for breaking her scream canister]] and she's often unpleasant to Mike about his endeavors. Still, she enforces fair punishment and still permits them a chance of redemption at the Scare Games and [[spoiler: does not let Oozma Kappa suffer for the actions of Mike and Sulley.]]

** It's implied that Gusteau was one, given that his motto is "Anyone can cook" and his entire staff is full of colorful characters united by their ability to cook.

* The [[Comicbook/{{Avengers}} Avengers]] are usually stuck with superhuman-hating Henry Peter Gyrich as their official government liason. For a while, though, they got Duayne Freeman, a genuine fan and supporter of the team. They didn't always agree on everything and Freeman was no pushover, but he was a solidly responsible official who saw the Avengers as a force for good in the world. Sadly, he made a HeroicSacrifice to help save the day during one of the team's fights; after which they were stuck with Gyrich again.

* In ''Comicbook/SupergirlRebirth'', Cameron Chase is Director of Department of Extra-normal Operations, a Government agency created to neutralize hostile alien threats. She doesn't trust her newest agent ''Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}'', but she's willing to work with her and give her a chance to earn her trust. She is also pretty indulgent towards her subordinates.

* Hank Pym is this towards the ComicBook/{{Runaways}}. After Nico Minoru casts a spell that enables him and Tigra to see things from the kids' perspectives, he finally ends the Avengers' longstanding policy of trying to forcibly disband the Runaways, in exchange for the Runaways reporting to ComicBook/AvengersAcademy once a month so that he can be assured that they're all still alive, and rather than ask them to bring Molly and Klara to teach them actual school classes, he created a robot to do that for them. Admittedly, he had some selfish motivations for this change in policy: one of the Runaways is technically his grandson.
* Although less famous than Gordon, Franchise/{{Spider Man}} has had a few cops that see past J. Jonah Jameson's rants and recognize Spidey for the hero he is, and give him whatever help they can. Notable examples include George Stacy, Jean [=DeWolff=], Lou Snider, and William Lamont. (In terms of "obstacles intervene", two of them are dead, though one may have returned as a demonic monster.)

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'': Oogway is this and a BunnyEarsLawyer. He advises Shifu that trying to stop Tai Lung from escaping prison may lead to Shifu causing the escape, while showing sympathy about Shifu's anguish. When he chooses Po as the Dragon Warrior, the tortoise goes to comfort the panda after his disastrous first day and encourages him not to give up or worry about his future. Before he dies, Oogway makes Shifu promise to train Po and believe in him.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'': Dicker's complaints about having to fix Bob's messes over and over again have merit. It's not that Rick doesn't care, it's that he realizes always jumping in with super-heroics isn't sustainable. As he says "Someone's ''always'' in trouble" but even though frustrated at Bob's actions, he still offers to help Bob just once more "for old times' sake". Later when Syndrome is revealed as a super-villain and terrorist, Rick takes the pragmatic action of immediately freezing all of his assets.

* The Grand Councilwoman from ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'' is rather reasonable for being the head of the [[TheFederation Galactic Federation]], although like most aliens, she believes Pleakly when he tells her to spare Earth from destructions because mosquitos are endangered.
** She's also willing to give Stitch a chance to speak for himself when he's initially introduced at Jumba's trial, rather than outright condemning him. Then at the end of the film [[spoiler:she expresses regret at having to take Stitch in after he's shown to have calmed down and matured somewhat, and seems rather satisfied when [[LoopholeAbuse Lilo provides a loophole]] as to why the Grand Councilwoman can't take Stitch]].

** Ambassador Colias Paleano never once lies to, hinders, insults, annoys or ignores Edgeworth. He always gives all the help and information he can to the best of his ability. It is refreshing for both players and Edgeworth to have a genuinely helpful witness for once.

* After years and years of the WWF being run by unscrupulous heels like Wrestling/VinceMcMahon and Wrestling/TripleH who screwed the faces at any chance, a bit of fresh air surfaced when Wrestling/MickFoley became Commissioner in 2000 and actually treated everybody equally. It was a nice if brief change of pace to watch a heel like Triple H finally get his just deserts -- at the hands of the man he forcefully retired, no less. Besides Triple H, Foley's actions would frequently anger Wrestling/{{Edge}}, Wrestling/{{Christian}}, and Wrestling/KurtAngle. Wrestling/ChrisBenoit got it the worst when two of his world title victories were overturned by Foley due to the referees making bad calls. Still, Mick's reasonableness didn't save him from getting booed when backed into a corner by Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin.

** The Judge is easily swayed, intimidated and distracted by prosecutors and witnesses but never ignores a possibility or discrepancy that's presented, no matter how minor and occasionally has moments of incredible wisdom and courage.

** Klavier Gavin doesn't care about winning, only the truth. He's willing to share information and indirectly help Apollo from the get-go.

* ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney'' is lacking in these, but there are a few. The Judge is easily swayed, intimidated and distracted by prosecutors and witnesses but never ignores a possibility or discrepancy that's presented, no matter how minor and occasionally has moments of incredible wisdom and courage.

** The Japanese judge from ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney''. He allows Ryunosuke a fair chance to prove his own innocence despite the politicians wanting a convenient scapegoat for the murder of a foreign national on Japanese soil, and later allows Susato to defend a csse disguised as a man despite women not being allowed to be lawyers in Meiji Japan. The former example becomes particularly interesting when the final case of the duology reveals that [[spoiler:he orchestrated the murder in the first place and had everything to gain from throwing Ryunosuke under the bus to protect himself and his assassin]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouile}}'':

# Despite giving the heroes a fair chance to prove themselves, circumstances or bad luck have led to the heroes' inability to provide sufficient proof of their claim, and the authority figure ultimately refusing to help until better proof can be provided. This usually comes with a sympathetic explanation that they want to help, but that it would be unreasonable of them to spend so much money or to put others at risk without sufficient proof of the necessity of the action.
# The hero's claim appears to be so patently false/unbelievable (despite actually being true) that the authority figure doesn't believe them for a moment, but humours them by at least trying to verify the claim, with an obvious lack of success.

# Of course, sometimes the threat is so [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt overwhelmingly catastrophic]] that even his help merely upgrades the heroes' situation from "completely hopeless" to "fighting chance."

It should be noted that a reasonable authority figure isn't somebody who simply says yes to all of their subordinates' requests. It may be that they have a good reason to deny a request, perhaps because it would interfere with the big picture and throw off some other more important task that must be completed, or that there is a morally ambiguous situation and while he has sympathy for his subordinate's position he can't agree with it due to conflicting ethics. This often crops in ToBeLawfulOrGood situations. It may also be that while he personally believes his staff when they come to him with an outlandish story, he's aware that his own superiors may not and would require proof, and therefore must refuse their requests on that basis. Conversely, a leader who lets his subordinates do whatever they please may not be a good leader at all, but may be completely ineffectual, or even possibly malevolent, for example by making his subordinates so loyal to him that they willingly and eagerly hurl themselves into situations for him that more guarded people would realise were insane. In other words, a reasonable authority figure doesn't always have to support his underlings if he has good reasons not to, and somebody who does always back his subordinates up isn't always a reasonable authority figure.

* ComicBook/JudgeDredd. He's tough, but he's fair. As long as you're a citizen of Mega-City One, you're under his full protection and he'll risk life and limb for you, and if you commit a crime, he will use the exact amount of force necessary to turn you in and give you the exact sentence you've earned. [[IncorruptiblePurePureness He is also thoroughly, almost supernaturally incorruptible]].

* The [[Comicbook/{{Avengers}} Avengers]] are usually stuck with superhuman-hating JerkAss Henry Peter Gyrich as their official government liason. For a while, though, they got Duayne Freeman, a genuine fan and supporter of the team. They didn't always agree on everything and Freeman was no pushover, but he was a solidly responsible official who saw the Avengers as a force for good in the world. Sadly, he made a HeroicSacrifice to help save the day during one of the team's fights; after which they were stuck with Gyrich again.

* The [[Comicbook/{{Avengers}}]] are usually stuck with superhuman-hating JerkAss Henry Peter Gyrich as their official government liason. For a while, though, they got Duayne Freeman, a genuine fan and supporter of the team. They didn't always agree on everything and Freeman was no pushover, but he was a solidly responsible official who saw the Avengers as a force for good in the world. Sadly, he made a HeroicSacrifice to help save the day during one of the team's fights; after which they were stuck with Gyrich again.

Fully aware that MachiavelliWasWrong, he'll listen to those "[[RagtagBunchOfMisfits crazy kids]]" when they say there's a fugitive nearby, and logically consider their arguments instead of dismissing them outright. However, their openness to the heroes' ideas doesn't mean they'll follow AgentMulder's crazy ideas blindly. Often, they'll ask for [[WeNeedToGetProof proof]] and facts rather than follow baseless accusations, but even then, they'll usually humor the heroes and go check out their theories; whether it pans out or turns into a [[NotSoImaginaryFriend dead end]] depends on how far along the story is.

* ''In TabletopGame/InNomine'', the player characters are often angels reporting to Archangels. The books give directions for the GM to play these Archangels as anything from KnightTemplar fanatics to Reasonable Authority Figures. Their counterparts, the Demon Princes, not so much.