History Main / SuperheroParadox

Superheroes try to make the world safer for innocents, but in the long term, they ''seem'' to make the world more dangerous.

They fight crime, but 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]]. They also apparently ''don't learn'' and keep challenging the hero they keep losing to, endangering more people in the process.

[[WatsonianVersusDoylist But underneath the surface]], the ''real'' cause of this is a cabal of extra-dimensional intelligences, intent on preventing the hero from hanging up their cape and retiring: the authors and readers of the series.

[[CashCowFranchise As long as the hero's comic books continue to sell]], the parent company will continue to pump them out. And since the grand majority of superhero comics are driven by the Fight Against Evil, continued production of the comics [[StatusQuoIsGod necessitates]] the continued existence of Evil to be fought. [[SequelEscalation And as subsequent installments try to outdo their predecessors]], the threats grow ''[[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil worse]]'' with time: TheCape begins his career by saving the CityOfAdventure from mobsters and bank robbers; but after a hundred issues' worth of hero-ing, he's regularly saving the city from planet-destroying aliens and would-be world-conquerors and garishly themed psychotic lunatics. And of course, those planet-destroying aliens and would-be conquerors and psychotic lunatics themselves become popular, meaning that [[JokerImmunity they can't be killed off or permanently taken out of the picture]] without ''their'' fans getting annoyed.

Pretty much ''every'' {{Long Runner|s}} superhero franchise has succumbed to this to some degree or other; consequently a number of series have addressed this issue. Rarely if ever is the idea that the villains in question could be responsible for their own crimes regardless of the hero's actions addressed. Of course, all it takes is ''one'' averted planet-devouring menace whose appearance the hero's actions or existence ''did not invite'' to obviate the basic logic of the complaint: once the hero's presence has been directly responsible for preventing the local [[Characters/MarvelComicsGalactus Galactus]] {{expy}} from eating the planet, then the statement 'We'd have been better off if you'd never showed up!' ceases to be a true fact. Constant superhero battle is bad, yes, but total planetary annihilation is ''worse''.[[note]] Although FridgeLogic can still kick in with how ''common'' world and cosmic-scale threats seem to become once superheroes get involved. The planet somehow managed to survive some four-billion odd years (only about 10,000, if anything pre-human civilisation is discounted) despite the existence of such threats, and yet the heroes still wind up fighting them every other month or so. [[/note]] On the other hand, it may be pointed that a population that relies too much on superheroes to solve those problems on their behalf may end up HoldingOutForAHero.


In many cases there is a MetaOrigin, MassSuperEmpoweringEvent or an implied MagneticPlotDevice working alongside this theory. One of the reasons why TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed.

** This plot point usually appears in non-[[ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures PKNA]] Paperinik stories: some supervillains were born ''specifically'' to defeat Paperinik (in particular, the criminals of Duckburg created a fake superhero named Pap-Man to get Paperinik pensioned, and the "Super Anti Heroes" series had a MadScientist create a new supervillain every time specifically to defeat Paperinik), he himself admitted that some of his interventions caused enormous collateral damage, and in some occasions Daisy became reckless because she knew Paperinik would save her ([[DependingOnTheWriter at least in stories where Daisy doesn't have a superhero alter ego herself and barely tolerates Paperinik]]). On the flip side, there's the reason the criminals created supervillains specifically to deal with Paperinik: he's extremely good at dealing with criminals (at least four stories depict him arresting ''every single criminal in Duckburg''[[note]]In one he had already arrested most of them and only three (plus that story's BigBad) remained between him and his well-deserved vacations, and he caught the first three before halfway during the story and the BigBad at the end. In another he wanted his well-deserved vacations, so he roamed all of Duckburg like a predator instead of doing his usual patrol and captured them all. In the third he wanted the rich people of Duckburg to contribute to a park for the kids, and when they refused citing the expense of defending themselves from criminals he ''lured them all in the same place before using a giant fishing net on them''. And in the fourth Gyro making an error in the maintenance of his gear caused him to suffer a series of defeats and the criminals spontaneously assembled in the same place-where Paperinik jumped them with repaired gear, ''captured them all'', and restored his past aura of terror by claiming the defeats had been part of a plan to lure them in a single place to catch them all.[[/note]], and the Pap-Man one had him ''visiting outsider criminals in their own homes to warn them away''), and without him Duckburg would be in much worse conditions.

* [[Characters/MarvelComicsKamalaKhan Kamala Khan]] deals with this a bit during her post ''ComicBook/{{Secret Wars|2015}}'' run. A number of citizens comment that Ms. Marvel's activities have led to problems and 'crazy New York sh*t' to come to Jersey City. However, what isn't noted is that a lot of the problems Ms. Marvel fights do not originate in direct response to her: The Inventor was already there, and the Inhuman and Hydra villains were either created at the same time she was, or were long existent. While a few incidents were caused by her presence, many of the issues the people are upset about would have been a thing regardless of if she had or hadn't taken up the mantle. Heck, many of the issues the (right wing) citizens put at her feet originate from ''Loki'', who, while he did come to the city after she took up the mantle, was sent in response to the ''Inventor's'' actions, not Kamala's.

* In chapter 48 of ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'', Minerva [=McGonagall=] observes that the heroes are coming back, with a new Golden Age of heroism like the Greek Myths... but the heroes have to something to fight. So the monsters are coming back too.

** Also played with in the ''[[Film/SpiderManHomecomingTrilogy Spider-Man]]''-movies: Peter Parker got his power when both superheroes and supervillains were already an existing thing in the MCU. Both villains he fights in ''[[Film/SpiderManHomecoming Homecoming Homecoming]]'' and ''[[Film/SpiderManFarFromHome Far From Home]]'' were directly or indirectly motivated by the existence of superheroes, namely Iron Man. However, Spider-Man himself hasn't to do anything with their creation and in turn was himself inspired to fight them by their action, making the paradox a both-sided variation - while superheroes do attract the rise of supervillains, supervillains in turn do attract new superheroes too.
* Surprisingly {{Averted|Trope}} in Sam Raimi's Film/SpiderManTrilogy: While the superpowered villains Spidey fights in that movie came after Peter got bitten by the spider and became an active crimefighter, Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus and Sandman[[note]]Sandman even is responsible for the death of Uncle Ben, [[CreateYourOwnHero which inspired Peter to fight crime in the first place]][[/note]] were created completly independent from Spider-Man and would be there even if Spider-Man didn't exist - without having someone to stop them. While Eddie Brock and Harry Osborn are directly motivated by Spider-Man, the ComicBook/{{Venom}}-symbionte would have come to Earth anyway and would probably have infected someone else and Harry was in to [[AvengingTheVillain take revenge for his supervillain father]], so Peter's real role in creating is debatable.

* Surprisingly {{Averted|Trope}} in Sam Raimi's Film/SpiderManTrilogy: While the superpowered villains Spidey fights in that movie came after Peter got bitten by the spider and became an active crimefighter, Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus and Sandman[[note]]Sandman even is responsible for the death of Uncle Ben, [[CreateYourOwnHero which inspired Peter to fight crime in the first place]][[/note]] were created completly independent from Spider-Man and would be there even if Spider-Man didn't exist - without having someone to stop them. While Eddie Brock and Harry Osborn are directly motivated by Spider-Man, the [[ComicBook/Venom]]-symbionte would have come to Earth anyway and would probably have infected someone else and Harry was in to [[AvengeTheVillain take revenge for his supervillain father]], so Peter's real role in creating is debatable.

** Also played with in the [[Film/SpiderManHomecomingTrilogy Spider-Man]]-movies: Peter Parker got his power when both superheroes and supervillains were already an existing thing in the MCU. Both villains he fights in ''[[Film/SpiderManHomecoming Homecoming Homecoming]]'' and ''[[Film/SpiderManFarFromHome Far From Home]]'' were directly or indirectly motivated by the existence of superheroes, namely Iron Man. However, Spider-Man himself hasn't to do anything with their creation and in turn was himself inspired to fight them by their action, making the paradox a both-sided variation - while superheroes do attract the rise of supervillains, supervillains in turn do attract new superheroes too.

** In one issue of ''ComicBook/TheFlash'' (during Wally West's time in the role), Captain Cold notes much the same thing about Barry Allen - that he made it all a game to the Rogues, and thus prevented them from doing a lot more than they otherwise could have because they were so fixated on him. Cold's attitude shifts when Barry comes back. He notes that the Rogues had Wally convinced it was all something of a game for years - he'd stop their crimes, but he'd also work with them against worse threats or during their various attempts to go straight. Barry, a cop, always treated the Rogues like what they are: dangerous criminals.

** The "Camelot Falls" arc of Superman has Arion argue the world is supposed to go through periods of prosperity and catastrophe in an inevitable cycle. Society gets knocked back to the dark ages to build itself back up again. By thwarting supervillains that would endanger the world, superheroes like Superman are only encouraging the rise of a villain powerful enough to defeat them and the resulting catastrophe that will be brought about will be one humanity would not survive. His argument is also predicated on Clark being an alien element in Earth's ecosystem, throwing off its natural destiny.

** The "Camelot Falls" arc of Superman has Arion argue the world is supposed to go through periods of prosperity and catastrophe in an inevitable cycle. Humanity takes a blow that they rebuild from. By thwarting supervillains that would endanger the world, superheroes like Superman are only encouraging the rise of a villain powerful enough to defeat them and a resulting catastrophe that humanity will not survive. His argument is also predicated on Clark being an alien element in Earth's ecosystem, throwing off its natural destiny.

** The "Camelot Falls" arc of Superman has Arion argue that the world is supposed to go through periods of prosperity and catastrophe in an inevitable cycle. Humanity takes a blow that theu rebuild from. By thwarting supervillains that would endanger the world, superheroes are only encouraging the rise of a villain powerful enough to defeat them and a resulting catastrophe that humanity will not survive.

* Implied in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'': Once {{Super Hero}}es are outlawed, all supervillains disappear, too (except for [[LoonyFan one particularly obsessive fanboy...]]). According to the tie-in comic, and implied by the movie itself, the super-villains more or less were all imprisoned or forcibly depowered by the government. Though a few more did manage to lie low...

* In ''{{ComicBook/Watchmen}}'', the presence of costumed vigilantes (particularly the genuinely superpowered Dr. Manhattan) tips the UsefulNotes/ColdWar balance of power enough to bring the world to the brink of [[WorldWarIII nuclear war]]. But if you look closely, [[spoiler:the superpowers seem to be patching things up by the time Ozymandias pulls off his plan, implying that they didn't do as much harm as they caused - ''until'' someone was dumb enough to try to clean up after them; what'll happen when the cover-up inevitably tumbles apart?]]

* In ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', once Touma Kamijou made his presence known, several members of the Magic Side target him and his home Academy City, seeing the existence of his [[AntiMagic Imagine Breaker]] as an offense to God. Etzali, the Mitsuki Unabara imposter, even angrily tells Touma that if he had never shown up, his friends would have never been endangered. After Touma helped end WorldWarIII, the organization GREMLIN was formed to counter him, willing to do things like attempt a ColonyDrop that would trigger a second Ice Age ''[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill just to kill him]]''. {{Subverted|Trope}} in that many of these enemies had been in operation ''long'' before Touma showed up[[note]]We're talking before he was ''born'' and even before the current phase of the universe existed[[/note]] and had already been planning to attack Academy City; Touma just provided a scapegoat. Also, without Touma, many of them would have '''succeeded'''.

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* Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse:

*** There's 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 they do, many would be out there causing mayhem regardless. (The villains even ''agreed''-- "And since we ''are'' all so nasty, rotten and depraved, we're going to waste you anyway!") That mayhem, incidentally, was what created Batman.
*** Interestingly enough, various villains attacked Batman’s SecretIdentity: Kyodai Ken wanted revenge on Bruce Wayne in "Night of the Ninja." Roland Dagget hired Clayface to get rid of Bruce Wayne in "Feet of Clay", while Mr. Freeze wanted to destroy Bruce Wayne’s life in "Cold Comfort." Robin lampshades that Lock-Up was a case of CreateYourOwnVillain for the Wayne Foundation in his eponymous episode. ''[[WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm Mask of the Phantasm]]'' had Salvatore Valestra wanting to hire the Joker to kill Batman and SleazyPolitician Councilman Arthur Reeves orders the police to chase the Batman with lethal force.
*** Despite its highly episodic nature, the first two seasons chronicle the StoryArc of the fall of traditional crime and the rise of supervillains in Gotham City. When the series begins the Joker and the Penguin are the only active supervillains (we see almost everyone else's StartOfDarkness, and Ra's Al-Ghul only comes to Gotham to meet the Batman). CorruptCorporateExecutive Roland Dagget runs the city, along with Rupert Thorne and Arnold Stromwell, traditional gangsters. Over the course of the series, Dagget gradually loses his fortune as legal fees and criminal charges catch up to him, and Thorne and Stromwell have their operations systematically taken apart as new, colorful villains appear in the scene. This comes to a head in "Batgirl Returns", when Dagget is arrested, and "Shadow of the Bat," where Thorne himself is arrested after another of his criminal operations is busted and it is revealed that Two-Face has been taking control of Gotham's mob behind the scenes. By the time of ''The New Batman Adventures'', almost all criminal activities are the work of costumed and themed supervillains. Then we see Jack Ryder claiming on his {{show|WithinAShow}} that Batman [[CreateYourOwnVillain created]] [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]] seven years ago...

** This happens so frequently in the MCU that later movies begin using it as a plot point. Supervillains that owe their existence to the heroes in some way or another include Iron Monger,[[note]]already a CorruptCorporateExecutive, but built the suit in order to copy Iron Man's tech[[/note]] the Abomination,[[note]]already a BloodKnight, he took a Hulk-derived serum in order to fight him[[/note]] Whiplash,[[note]]attempted revenge on Tony Stark for Howard deporting his father, helped by a CorruptCorporateExecutive trying to match or surpass Iron Man's tech[[/note]] the ([[spoiler:fake]]) Mandarin,[[note]]attempted revenge on Tony for Tony's own dissing of him, but also going power-hungry on his own[[/note]] Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch,[[note]]traumatized by war that involved Stark-brand weaponry and volunteered for terrorist SuperSoldier experiments for revenge on America and Stark; and while they did make a HeelFaceTurn, joining the heroes just led to more trauma that ultimately caused [[Series/WandaVision more]] [[Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness problems]][[/note]] Ultron,[[note]]literally created by Tony and Bruce, with some prodding from Wanda[[/note]] Yellowjacket,[[note]]CorruptCorporateExecutive using Hank Pym's Ant-Man tech (and possibly corrupted by improper use)[[/note]] the Vulture,[[note]]salvage contractor turned xenotech arms dealer after Tony Stark (again?!) took his job just after he heavily invested in it[[/note]] Killmonger,[[note]]the nephew of Black Panther T'Chaka, who killed his father and then abandoned him rather than risk Wakanda's isolationism[[/note]] Ghost,[[note]]gained her powers in a FreakLabAccident that was trying to duplicate Pym's tech, and driven to villainy by those same powers painfully killing her[[/note]] Mysterio,[[note]]the face for a whole ''collective'' of bitter former Tony Stark (AGAIN) employees[[/note]] the Power Broker,[[note]]on the run and forced to turn to crime after betraying the government to help Steve Rogers, and embittered once he forgot and abandoned her afterward[[/note]] the "Sinister Six",[[note]]pre-existing supervillains, gathered in this dimension by a miscast spell by Spider-Man and Dr. Strange[[/note]] and Arthur Harrow.[[note]]recruited to be a superhero, but became disillusioned with punishing evil after the fact and started advocating for [[PrecrimeArrest Precrime Execution]][[/note]]

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': Zigzagged. The introduction of superpowers or "quirks" into the world resulting in superpowered individuals exploiting their gifts to commit crimes. Superheroes and Superhero Agencies emerged as a means of responding to this new threat but as the title of Superhero became one of prestige and celebrity. This clearly tarnished much of the noble veneer of the role of 'hero' and inspired new villains with both [[Main/WellIntentionedExtremist Sympathetic]] and [[Main/NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist less-sympathic]] motives to either emerge in response to the corruption or exploit the corruption for their own agenda.

''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': Zigzagged. As the introduction of superpowers or "quirks" into the world resulting in superpowered individuals exploiting their gifts to commit crimes. Superheroes and Superhero Agencies emerged as a means of responding to this new threat but as the title of Superhero became one of prestige and celebrity. This clearly tarnished much of the noble veneer of the role of 'hero' and inspired both {{Main/WellIntentionedExtremist}}s and {{Main/NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist}}s to either emerge in response to the corruption or exploit the corruption for their own agenda.

''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': Zigzagged. As the introduction of superpowers or "quirks" into the world resulting in superpowered individuals exploiting their gifts to commit crimes. Superheroes and Superhero Agencies emerged as a means of responding to this new threat but as the title of Superhero became one of prestige and celebrity. This clearly tarnished much of the noble veneer of the role of 'hero' and inspired both 'Main/WellIntentionedExtremist's and 'Main/NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist's to either emerge in response to the corruption or exploit the corruption for their own agenda.

''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': Zigzagged. As the introduction of superpowers or "quirks" into the world resulting in superpowered individuals exploiting their gifts to commit crimes. Superheroes and Superhero Agencies emerged as a means of responding to this new threat but as the title of Superhero became one of prestige and celebrity. This clearly tarnished much of the noble veneer of the role of 'hero' and inspired both Main/WellIntentionedExtremists and Main/NotSoWellIntentionedExtremists to either emerge in response to the corruption or exploit the corruption for their own agenda.

''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': Zigzagged. As the introduction of superpowers or "quirks" into the world resulting in superpowered individuals exploiting their gifts to commit crimes. Superheroes and Superhero Agencies emerged as a means of responding to this new threat but as the title of Superhero became one of prestige and celebrity. This clearly tarnished much of the noble veneer of the role of 'hero' and inspired both WellIntentionedExtremists and NotSoWellIntentionedExtremists to either emerge in response to the corruption or exploit the corruption for their own agenda.

* The main theme of Comicbook/CivilWar. The New Warriors, a band of untrained irresponsible teenagers with superpowers, attacked Nitro to film a reality show. Nitro blow up like an atomic bomb, taking the city of Stamford with him. That the last thing the cameraman filmed live was the kids in the school next to Nitro, caught in the Ground Zero, did not help. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome A huge anti-superhero hysteria ensues]], and the Congress sanctions [[SuperRegistrationAct a law forcing all superhumans to register]] with Comicbook/{{SHIELD}} ComicBook/IronMan supports the law, Captain America resists it with a guerrilla group, but surrenders when he realized that [[JerkassHasAPoint Iron Man has a point]].

* Discussed in ''Fanfic/ConnectingTheDots'', a ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague''-''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans''-''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' {{Crossover}}: The reason Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}} doesn't want Characters/{{Wonder Woman|TheCharacter}}'s help in Gotham is because she attracts supervillains and suchlike by acting like a hero, flying around, showing herself and [[GlorySeeker thus being a challenge for every villain wannabe]].

** And speaking of Kami - a great portion of villains in Dragon Ball (as well as Vegeta and Nappa in ''DBZ'') engage in schemes to obtain the magical wish-granting balls that he created. If there were no balls, Pilaf's, for example, ambitions to conquer the world would be just regular squabbles of mortal kingdoms.

* [[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]], of all people, subverted this. In UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}}, Lex told Superman that if not for him then he would rule the planet.

** That being said, in many continuities, it's the Decepticons who start the war. Usually it comes down to megatron's ego refusing to accept peace or a place below Optimus.

** This happens again in the ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' animated series; one episode begins where Egon announces the Ghostbusters are out of work....because they have eradicated all paranormal activity in New York. Their solution? Rebrand themselves as the ''[[TheyFightCrime Crimebusters]]'' and clean up New York's criminal underworld. Turns out they are even ''better'' at that because by the end of the episode New York is ''crime free'' and they are once again unemployed...fortunately, right as they realize that, [[StatusQuoIsGod the ghosts have come back.]]

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* Implied in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'': Once {{Super Hero}}es are outlawed, all supervillains disappear, too (except for [[LoonyFan one particularly obsessive fanboy...]]). According to the tie-in comic, and implied by the movie itself, the super-villains more or less were all imprisoned or forcibly depowered by the government. Though a few more did manage to lie low...

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOBatmanMovie'', all of the Batman continuities are canon, meaning Batman has been fighting crime in Gotham for nearly ''80 years''. Barbara Gordon, succeeding the position of police commissioner after her father James, states this directly in her opening speech, declaring it's time Gotham try for BoringButPractical methods to actually improve the city. Said methods include statistics, compassion, and turning Batman into a cop, all of which Batman himself finds very unexciting.
* Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6''; the titular team is created with the objective of stopping Yokai.