History Main / UpbringingMakesTheHero

* In ''Literature/RapunzelAndTheLostLagoon'' its implied that the Captain of the Guard is invoking this trope when he insists his adoptive daughter Cassandra to become the LadyInWaiting of Princess Rapunzel, due to Cassandra [[spoiler: [[DeceptiveLegacy unknowingly]] being [[InTheBlood the daugther]] of Mother Gothel, the kidnapper of Rapunzel]].

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/{{Hellboy}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/HellboyAndProfessorBroom_7847.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:{{Good Parent|s}}ing: is there [[TheAntiChrist any]] {{Angst}} it can't [[AntiAntiChrist cure?]]]]

These differences are often contrasted by pairing these characters together as an ActionHero and an ActionSurvivor in an ActionDuo or pitting them against each other as TechnicianVersusPerformer. The contrast can even be made an integral plot point by pitting the homey hero against a TykeBomb RaisedByOrcs, and exploring just how much upbringing can damn or redeem. Frequently, this is played with by revealing the hero has SecretLegacy for evil InTheBlood. In these cases, it's usually left implicit (or explicitly stated) that without their upbringing they'd have gone evil. The AntiAntiChrist in particular usually has this for a background.

** Subverted in the case of his father [[TheChosenOne Anakin Skywalker]], who had as good an upbringing as a slave could have thanks to his mother. However because he still grew up in a harsh environment as a slave, there were potential problems (as Yoda sensed in him). Furthermore, his mentors (acting as parental substitutes of sorts) were caring, but also aloof. When she died, horribly and just after Anakin rescued her, he took it very badly and the fear of losing his wife and unborn children as well were key factors in his fall to TheDarkSide, (though [[BigBad Palpatine]] easily capitalized on this to convert him).

** Subverted in the case of his father [[TheChosenOne Anakin Skywalker]], who had as good an upbringing as a slave could have thanks to his mother. However because he still grew up in a harsh environment as a slave, there were potential problems (as Yoda sensed in him.) Furthermore, his mentors (acting as parental substitutes of sorts) were caring, but also aloof. When she died, horribly and just after Anakin rescued her, he took it very badly and the fear of losing his wife and unborn children as well were key factors in his fall to TheDarkSide, (though [[BigBad Palpatine]] easily capitalized on this to convert him).

* In the ''ComicBook/NewGods'', Orion, the son of cosmic villain ComicBook/Darkseid, was exchanged as an infant as part of a peace treaty between New Genesis and Apokalypse. Although Orion has his father's evil rage InTheBlood, he was also raised with loving care and patience by New Genesis' Highfather. That with his friends on that idealistic world enabled Orion to master and channel his dark side to become his home's most powerful and fiercest hero.

These differences are often contrasted by pairing these characters together as an ActionHero and an ActionSurvivor in an ActionDuo or pitting them against each other as TechnicianVersusPerformer. The contrast can even be made an integral plot point by pitting the homey hero against a TykeBomb RaisedByOrcs, and exploring just how much upbringing can damn or redeem. Frequently, this is played with by revealing the hero has DeceptiveLegacy for evil InTheBlood. In these cases, it's usually left implicit (or explicitly stated) that without their upbringing they'd have gone evil. The AntiAntiChrist in particular usually has this for a background.

* In ''Literature/RapunzelAndTheLostLagoon'' its implied that the Captain of the Guard is invoking this trope when he insists his adoptive daughter Cassandra to become the LadyInWaiting of Princess Rapunzel, due to Cassandra [[spoiler: [[SecretLegacy unknowingly]] being [[InTheBlood the daugther]] of Mother Gothel, the kidnapper of Rapunzel]].

These differences are often contrasted by pairing these characters together as an ActionHero and an ActionSurvivor in an ActionDuo or pitting them against each other as TechnicianVersusPerformer. The contrast can even be made an integral plot point by pitting the homey hero against a TykeBomb RaisedByOrcs, and exploring just how much upbringing can damn or redeem. Frequently, this is played with by revealing the hero has SecretLegacy for evil InTheBlood. In these cases, it's usually left implicit (or explicitly stated) that without their upbringing they'd have gone evil. The AntiAntiChrist in particular usually has this for a background.

* In ''Literature/RapunzelAndTheLostLagoon'' its implied that the Captain of the Guard is invoking UpbringingMakesTheHero when he insists his adoptive daughter Cassandra to become the LadyInWaiting of Princess Rapunzel, due to Cassandra [[spoiler: being the daugther of the Kidnapper of Rapunzel]].

In fact, heroes with a down to earth upbringing tend to have a unique advantage over the more badass and epic ones: they're more centered. While they won't be saints, they'll have a strong enough moral compass to navigate most moral dilemmas, resist TheDarkSide, and even [[ShutUpHannibal refute]] {{Hannibal Lecture}}s that more emotionally fragile heroes struggle with. If they [[JustForFun/HowToGiveACharacterSuperPowers gain super powers]] they won't [[MugglePower forget "the little people"]] and turn into a SmugSuper with [[BewareTheSuperman delusions]] of [[AGodAmI grandeur]]. Though they didn't gain the crime fighting prowess of a lifetime of [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower Charles Atlas training]], or the street savvy of an orphan with a DarkAndTroubledPast, they also didn't [[SacrificedBasicSkillForAwesomeTraining sacrifice basic skills]] or their social life.

** Goku was supposed to destroy the Earth, but was raised by a kind old man (and got a bit of brain damage hitting his head as a baby), becoming a hero.

** ''Comicbook/TheDeathOfClarkKent'': 90s villain Conduit hated Clark due to an extreme case of WhyAreYouNotMySon; so extreme that his dad continued comparing him to Clark while standing over his grave... and right next to Superman, who snapped that he became the man he was because of his parents, and Kenny / Conduit might have turned out better with a halfway-decent father.
** In ''Comicbook/WarWorld'' Superman sees a vision of his adoptive father and says his Earth parents taught him honor, morality and a sense of justice.

** In ''ComicBook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl'', Commisioner James Gordon was a real cop. He swore to protect the good people of Gotham from criminals and took his duty very seriously. And so his daughter Barbara does when she becomes Comicbook/{{Batgirl}}.

* Invoked in ComicBook/XForce, where Fantomex creates a virtual simulation childhood for a superhuman he's growing in a lab that is uncannily similar to Superman's (set in Kansas, kindly old-fashioned parents etc.), hoping that it'll raise him as a hero. [[spoiler: It's for a child clone of Apocalypse.]]

* Eddie Bloomberg/Kid Devil/Red Devil is a mixed bag. He has issues with his parents' neglect, but his Aunt Marla raised him well until her death and his hero ComicBook/BlueDevil served as a fairly good role model for a time. While Eddie often makes bad choices due to his lack of guidance, he does try to be a good hero.

* [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] both averts this and plays it straight. It's clear that Billy Batson was raised by a good, loving couple that instilled good morals in him, which explains where the foundations for his personality come from. But at the same time, once they were brutally murdered, Billy was thrown out onto the street by the person who was entrusted to be his guardian, leaving him homeless and penniless. But instead of becoming bitter about this, Billy not only held on to the beliefs of his parents, but gained a sense of empathy and compassion for people who suffer any kind of tragedy. This idealism in the face of a such situation was what convinced the wizard Shazam that young Billy was the first person in 5,000 years to be worthy to wield his power.

* ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'' is all over the map with this trope. On the one hand, some of its members with abusive backgrounds (like Chase) turned out more or less okay, while others (like Xavin or Klara) needed some extra factor (like Xavin's love for Karolina or Klara's foster parents) to start to turn themselves around. On the other hand, loving parents did not preclude Alex from becoming a sociopath, but it may have been what stopped Nico from becoming an evil witch or Molly from becoming an evil mutant, as their respective sets of parents were. And then there's Victor, who was given a humble background with a loving single mother, and thus became the most altruistic member of the team... except that his dad is ''Ultron'', and he's a cyborg who is programmed to become the world's greatest hero before betraying his friends and allies and ushering in a BadFuture.

* PlayedStraight in ''FanFic/TheBridge'' with Godzilla Junior. While we knew he was a GentleGiant towards humans, unlike his predecessor; we do see the full implications of the love and care he [[Film/GodzillaVsMechagodzillaII received]] under [[MuggleFosterParents Azusa Gojo]] as a baby now that he's all grown up. It turned him into his world's BigGood instead of its next big EldritchAbomination despite being one of the more powerful kaiju of all time. The spin off, ''Sound of Thunder'', shows exactly what happens when this ''isn't'' the case: Junior's MirrorUniverse self instead got Mirror Azusa, who was [[AbusiveParents a cruel witch to him]] and his birth mother abandoned his egg. The result is him being his world's BigBad and an utter psychopath with no regard for life in any form. Prime Junior even outright states this is the case as a ShutUpHannibal to [[spoiler:Grand King Ghidorah]]'s YouCouldHaveUsedYourPowersForEvil speech.

*** The Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse actually gives many justifications for Anakin Skywalker's eventual fall. After being adopted by the Jedi, the other Jedi didn't exactly welcome him lovingly. Instead, Anakin spent his adolescent years being mostly alienated by his masters and peers; he also would rather clutter the Temple's halls with droids he built and join illegal street races than meditate, and the few genuine friends he did make ended up dead or left the Order. By the time he made the choice to fall, Mace Windu was fully aware that Skywalker was a tangled emotional wreck who had been bounced around between conflicting allies and didn't know where to turn, but unfortunately Mace didn't know how he could help Anakin with his troubles without making them worse. Prequel-era Jedi in general are often portrayed as not being very competent regarding psychological stability despite all their preaching about peace and calmness, which is why many Jedi had rebelled during the Clone Wars.

** David spent his childhood working as a Shepherd for his father. Similarly to Moses, David also got TheCall from God.

* Invoked in ''Literature/HarryPotter''. Dumbledore wanted Harry to be raised by his Muggle aunt and uncle so that he wouldn't buy into his own publicity and become an entitled SmugSnake. This wound up backfiring in a lot of ways, because the Dursleys were horribly abusive towards Harry because they hated magic, but it also wound up working better than Dumbledore could've hoped: Harry's mistreatment because of his "difference" made him one of the most empathetic characters in the series when it came to the plights of people in trouble or [[FantasticRacism individuals, groups or races being mistreated]], and therefore one of the first to dive head-long into danger to help others.

* Zig-zagged in Literature/BelisariusSeries. Rajiv, Shakuntala, and Eon are of royal or noble blood and are trained intensely by the best warriors in the world; all three of them also turn out to be great warriors themselves. Belisarius, by contrast is a petty Thracian country gentleman who learned on the job to be the best general in history. One way or another all of them turned out to be badass.

* A definite source of constant debate among the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' fandom, where you can choose the background of the PlayerCharacter. One involves a sixteen-year-old escaping an EXTREMELY horrific massacre of his/her hometown, and another involves growing up in the overpopulated, gang-ridden slums of an Earth city. The third involves being raised aboard ships and space stations (with at least one surviving parent). Of course, it's the other major background choice and the choices of the player throughout the games that really explains what kind of person the PlayerCharacter truly is.

* ''WebComic/TheOrderOfTheStick'''s bard Elan was raised by a ChaoticGood barmaid in what was implied to be a peaceful village. His EvilTwin Nale, on the other hand, was raised by a LawfulEvil warlord in a continent full of constant fighting, with other warlords trying usurp each other's power. Though a flashback shows that Nale was always the more aggressive of the twins, even as babies, Elan wonders what might have been if their positions had been switched.

* Deconstructed in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'', where we're shown two parallel versions of Peter. One lost Aunt May in addition to Uncle Ben, and in grief decided to embrace the Carnage symbiote, becoming evil. The other never lost Uncle Ben at all; although he wasn't evil, he never saw firsthand the possible consequences of using his powers selfishly, and became a JerkAss who uses his powers mostly to be a celebrity.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SupermanDoomsday'', after Superman dies from injuries sustained from fighting Doomsday, he comes back to life and returns to his heroics. At first, people who encounter him noticed that [[CameBackWrong he seems "off" somehow, including Lois Lane,]] whom secretly knew he was Clark Kent all along. It's then revealed that this Superman is actually [[spoiler: a clone created by [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Lex Luthor,]] who essentially raised him.]] Naturally this new Superman expressed the characteristics of [[spoiler: a man who is willing to use force to get what he wants, [[BewareTheSuperman and flaunt the law because he knows they can't do anything to stop him.]]]]

* The ancient Chinese were also big believers of this Trope. And not just for heroes, but in making good citizens and decent human beings, upbringing and education was key. Mencius, the most famous Confucian after Confucius himself was actually the product of this, as [[EducationMama his mother supposedly moved three times just to ensure the right environment for her son]]. It paid off.

* Jaime Reyes, the third ComicBook/BlueBeetle, has his parents supporting and advising him on his (admittedly unexpected) superhero career.

* ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'' is all over the map with this trope. On the one hand, some of its members with abusive backgrounds (like Chase) turned out more or less okay, while others (like Xavin or Klara) needed some extra factor (like Xavin;s love for Karolina or Klara's foster parents) to start to turn themselves around. On the other hand, loving parents did not preclude Alex from becoming a sociopath, but it may have been what stopped Nico from becoming an evil witch or Molly from becoming an evil mutant, as their respective sets of parents were. And then there's Victor, who was given a humble background with a loving single mother, and thus became the most altruistic member of the team... except that his dad is ''Ultron'', and he's a cyborg who is programmed to become the world's greatest hero before betraying his friends and allies and ushering in a BadFuture.

* ''Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}'': Usually, Kara Zor-El's parents are decent people who try to be good role models. when Kara arrives on Earth, Franchise/{{Superman}} helps to raise her, teaches her how to use her powers, and tries to instill the Kents' teachings in her. The result? Some Supergirl incarnations can be sort of bratty or emo at the beginning, but ultimately all Supergirls develop into TheCape.
** In ''ComicBook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl'', Commisioner James Gordon was a real cop. He swore to protect the good people of Gotham from criminals and took his duty very seriously. And so his daughter Barbara does when she becomes ''Comicbook/{{Batgirl}}''.

* Traditionally ComicBook/WonderWoman's upbringing just helped to reinforce her naturally stellar personality and sense of responsibility but on some Elseworlds, such as ''ComicBook/SensationComicsFeaturingWonderWoman: Generations'', it's made clear that her heroic nature is due to her mother's careful guidance and the fact that she and the other Amazons worked hard to instil the Amazon's code of ethics, which rejects killing if at all feasable even if it endangers themselves, into the superpowered child on their island.

* Deconstructed with Mark Milton aka Hyperion in ''ComicBook/SupremePower'', who is basically a Superman {{Expy}}... who was raised by military officers ordered to pretend they were a HappilyMarried couple. He told his "father" that ''the only reason'' he didn't simply fly away and do whatever he wanted was because his "parents" loved him, and they didn't want him to. Then they were retired in a faked fishing accident. He's not doing so good since.

[[folder: Fan Works]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

* This trope appears in the ''Franchise/MetalGear'' series: [[spoiler:Solid Snake and Liquid Snake were both created as clones of Big Boss through the ''Les Enfants Terribles'' project. When the project was abandoned following their birth, one of the cloned sons, David, lived among several foster families in the United States and had a relatively normal childhood. He would enlist in the US military and eventually join Foxhound, becoming the legendary war hero "Solid Snake". The other clone, Eli, was shipped off to England, where he was abused by his handlers, making him misanthropic and prompting him to escape from their custody in Africa, becoming a child soldier. He would learn of the fact that he was a clone, believe he was made using Big Boss' recessive genes, and go on to become the villainous "Liquid Snake".]]

* One Creator/KimNewman short story (based on [[https://vimeo.com/13899682 a short film]]) has an obvious Superman {{Expy}} crash landing on a farm and being raised by goodhearted rural folk... in Weimar Germany during the rise of the Third Reich. Although he upholds Nazi ideals instead of the American Way, he does eventually realize how the extent of the Reich's atrocities and decides to voluntarily surrender himself.

** In ''ComicBook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl'', Commisioner James Gordon was a real cop. He swore protect the good people of Gotham from criminals and took his duty very seriously. And so his daughter Barbara does when she becomes ''Comicbook/{{Batgirl}}''.

* ''Videogame/DetroitBecomeHuman'': A [[PacifistRun Pacifistic]] [[RebelLeader Markus]] can portray his relationship with his former owner Carl as this trope. An android lucky enough to belong to an owner who loved and encouraged independent thought in him, to the point of being a ParentalSubstitute, goes on to fight for a world where humans and androids coexist equally and peacefully

* The ancient Chinese were also big believers of this Trope. And not just for heroes, but in making good citizens and decent human beings, upbringing and education was key. Mencius, the most famous Confucian after Confucius himself was actually the product of this, as his mother supposedly moved three times just to ensure the right environment for her son. It paid off.

* Deconstructed in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpiderMan'', where we're shown two parallel versions of Peter. One lost Aunt May in addition to Uncle Ben, and in grief decided to embrace the Carnage symbiote, becoming evil. The other never lost Uncle Ben at all; although he wasn't evil, he never saw firsthand the possible consequences of using his powers selfishly, and became a JerkAss who uses his powers mostly to be a celebrity.

* ''Videogame/DetroitBecomeHuman'': A [[KarmaMeter Pacifistic]] [[RebelLeader Markus]] can portray his relationship with his former owner Carl as this trope. An android lucky enough to belong to an owner who loved and encouraged independent thought in him, to the point of being a ParentalSubstitute, goes on to fight for a world where humans and androids coexist equally and peacefully

* ''Videogame/DetroitBecomeHuman'': A [[KarmaMeter Pacifistic]] [[RebelLeader Markus]] can portray his relationship with Carl as this trope. An android lucky enough to belong to an owner who loved and encouraged independent thought in him, to the point of being a ParentalSubstitute, goes on to fight for a world where humans and androids coexist equally and peacefully