History Main / SuperheroParadox

** Although Batman is often accused of this, when you start examining his rogues you see that he actually had less involvement in his villain's origins than most other superheroes. Two-Face was a dual personality anyway, and is often associated more with Bruce Wayne than Batman. Also, his disfigurement is due to a mob trial, not Batman. Poison Ivy usually isn't even in Gotham when she's transformed, Harley is made by the Joker, Croc is just insane, the Ventriloquist is another split personality, Solomon Grundy had nothing to do with Batman, the Penguin, Zsasz, Ra's and Red Hood were all criminals beforehand. Really, the only rogues who can really be traced directly to Batman are the Riddler, Bane, Hush, and possibly the Joker, but who really knows about him?

* The Comicbook/{{X-Men}} aren't far off. When mutants were defenseless, they weren't a big target. Once the X-Men came around and started defending mutants, anti-mutant crime exploded. William Stryker, The Sentinel Project and even some aspects of Weapon X probably wouldn't be nearly so strong in-universe if not for humans (unreasonably) feeling threatened by the X-Men, whom some in-universe view as a private mutant army. Even the Brotherhood has seemingly grown more powerful in backlash against the X-Men. And one could go on for ''ages'' about all the alien threats brought to Earth as a result of the X-Men.

* Lampshaded and subverted in ''ComicBook/GoldDigger.'' Once the comic had been running for years, it was becoming increasingly clear that Earth in the Gold Digger universe was a huge FantasyKitchenSink, and that the public seemed aware of it. This begged the question, why amidst all this weirdness are there no superheroes? The answer is that there ''used'' to be. However, it eventually became clear to the cape n' spandex set that their high-profile adventures were ''attracting'' more superbaddies out of the woodwork than they were putting away. Their solution was to form Agency Zero, a MenInBlack-type organization of supers who still fight supernormal threats, but do it as quietly and anonymously as possible.

* In ''TheDarkKnight'', when the civilians at the press conference are calling for Batman to turn himself in, one of them points out, "Things are worse now than ever!" While mostly true, this ignores the fact that, without Batman's intervention, the League of Shadows would have succeeded in completely destroying Gotham (which they had been planning since long before Batman came on the scene).
** Gordon also hints at it at the end of ''BatmanBegins'', saying that since Gotham PD had Batman on its side, the criminals will find new ways to keep up. For instance, there's this hitter going around who uses a Joker card as his signature...

TheyFightCrime, but [[ZeroSumGame their victories never seem to make a real difference]]. They have a frightening tendency to [[WeirdnessMagnet attract villains]] (or worse, [[CreateYourOwnVillain create new ones]]). [[StatusQuoIsGod For some reason]], the members of this RoguesGallery [[JokerImmunity never die]], no matter how many times they cross paths with the hero -- when apprehended, they're sent to [[CardboardPrison a prison from which they inevitably escape]].

* Lampshaded and subverted in ''Series/GoldDigger.'' Once the comic had been running for years, it was becoming increasingly clear that Earth in the Gold Digger universe was a huge FantasyKitchenSink, and that the public seemed aware of it. This begged the question, why amidst all this weirdness are there no superheroes? The answer is that there ''used'' to be. However, it eventually became clear to the cape n' spandex set that their high-profile adventures were ''attracting'' more superbaddies out of the woodwork than they were putting away. Their solution was to form Agency Zero, a MenInBlack-type organization of supers who still fight supernormal threats, but do it as quietly and anonymously as possible.

* TheHulk brought this up in ''WorldWarHulk : Gamma Corps'', while talking down the team sent to kill him. He mentioned that the greatest threats earth had ever faced, namely Dormammu, Galactus, and Ultron, had nothing to do with him. Dormammu was usually chasing DoctorStrange, [[FantasticFour Reed Richards]] had actually brought Galactus back to life so he could keep eating planets, and AntMan had built Ultron. Comparatively, the threat the Hulk posed at his worst and the threat his whole RoguesGallery posed to the world combined didn't add up to the threat posed by a single one of those guys.

* In an issue of ''BirdsOfPrey'', Huntress stops a villain named [[{{ptitlei20tntia}} Carface]]. The police aren't thrilled with her presence, even when she mentions that she stopped the bad guy threatening the city. The cops state that the crime rate was low until the heroes showed up and vigilantes are just "[[WalkingDisasterArea trouble magnets]]".

* Specifically cited by the new Secretary of Defense in ''[[Film/{{Transformers}} Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen]]''. (In this case, because the Autobots have been killing Decepticons they find on Earth, they don't even have the excuse most such characters do.)
** This complaint is shot down with Optimus' version of the excuse in the description:
-->[''On the Secretary commenting how the Decepticons could only be on Earth for the Autobots, and asking whether they would leave if told'']
--> Optimus: Freedom is your right. If you make that request, we will honour it. But... what if we leave, and you're wrong?

* Part of the ''{{Ghostbusters}}'' montage chronicling their success, Larry King does a segment on them, mentioning the possibility of them of being the very cause of the paranormal activity they combat.
** That was more an accusation that they were con-artists faking the incidences rather than that they were attracting ghosts.

* LexLuthor, of all people, subverted this. In the SilverAge, he told {{Superman}} that if not for him then he would rule the planet.

** Which directly contredicts what Hollis Mason says in both the book and the film. In the ''Watchmen'' universe, costumed criminals came first (wearing disguise meant they couldn't be recognised), and crime fighters started wearing costumes to "finish what the law couldn't".

** In the ''Penguin Triumphant'' graphic novel, a psychologist postulates that Batman is like a lightning rod for supervillains. But he argues that this a good thing, [[AnologyBackfire pointing out what happens to buildings that don't have lightning rods]]. Essentially he argues that the villains concentrate on Batman rather than doing even worse damage to Gotham.

** In the ''Penguin Triumphant'' graphic novel, a psychologist postulates that Batman is like a lightning rod for supervillains. But he argues that this a good thing, pointing out what happens to buildings that don't have lightning rods. Essentially he argues that the villains concentrate on Batman rather than doing even worse damage to Gotham.

** And on a smaller scale, their existence causes a police strike in New York, which in turn encourages rioting and looting.

* Lampshaded and subverted in ''[[Comicbook/GoldDigger]].'' Once the comic had been running for years, it was becoming increasingly clear that Earth in the Gold Digger universe was a huge FantasyKitchenSink, and that the public seemed aware of it. This begged the question, why amidst all this weirdness are there no superheroes? The answer is that there ''used'' to be. However, it eventually became clear to the cape n' spandex set that their high-profile adventures were ''attracting'' more superbaddies out of the woodwork than they were putting away. Their solution was to form Agency Zero, a MenInBlack-type organization of supers who still fight supernormal threats, but do it as quietly and anonymously as possible.

* Inverted and subverted in ''[[http://www.eclipse.net/~rms/dw2.shtml Drunkard's Walk II]]'' by [[@/LooneyToons Robert M. Schroeck]], when CorruptCorporateExecutive BigBad Quincy of the anime ''BubblegumCrisis'' reveals that [[spoiler:he is a superhero fan who built himself up into a Lex Luthor-style supervillain in order to ''force the universe to spawn real superheroes to oppose him'']].

* ''{{Batman the Animated Series}}'' had an episode where the new DA of Gotham City wanted to arrest Batman, until she and Batman were captured in Arkham Asylum by the villains and Batman was put on trial by them for this trope. The ultimate conclusion, incidentally, was that in the Batman animated universe this trope worked both ways. While Batman may have inspired most of his foes to use the gimmicks the do, many would be out there causing mayhem regardless. That mayhem, incidentally, was what created Batman.

* The Comicbook/{{X-Men}} aren't far off. When mutants were defenseless, they weren't a big target. Once the X-Men came around and started defending mutants, anti-mutant crime exploded. William Stryker, The Sentinel Project and even some aspects of Weapon X probably wouldn't be nearly so strong in-universe if not for humans (unreasonably) feeling threatened by the X-Men, whom some in-universe view as a private mutant army. Even the Brotherhood has seemingly grown more powerful in backlash against the X-Men. And one could go on for ''ages'' about all the alien threats brought to Earth as a result of the X-Men.

** According to the recent tie-in comic, the super-villains more or less were all imprisoned or forcibly depowered by the government. Though a few more did manage to lay low...

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* ''DragonBall'' has this: until Son-Goku showed up, there weren't that many villains. In fact, the other Saiyans, Freezer, Cell, and Buu only threaten Earth because of the heroes.

** Although in the episode [[ItsAWonderfulPlot "The Wish"]] we get to see that Sunnydale [[ForWantOfANail most definitely]] ''[[ForWantOfANail is]]'' better off with Buffy around.

* Inverted and subverted in ''[[http://www.eclipse.net/~rms/dw2.shtml Drunkard's Walk II]]'' by [[LooneyToons Robert M. Schroeck]], when CorruptCorporateExecutive BigBad Quincy of the anime ''BubblegumCrisis'' reveals that [[spoiler:he is a superhero fan who built himself up into a Lex Luthor-style supervillain in order to ''force the universe to spawn real superheroes to oppose him'']].