Big Good / Live-Action TV

Big Goods in Live-Action TV. Main and/or supporting heroes will become the major forces of good at some point of the plot/story, so beware of spoilers ahead.

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• 24:
  • President David Palmer (Senator in the first season) in the early years. As the President of the United States, he's the guy coordianting all the efforts to stop whatever bad thing is going on, while Jack Bauer is the one in the trenches actually fighting the terrorists and stopping the nuke/virus/nerve gas/whatever. There's a relationship of complete and absolute trust that exists between him and Bauer; while other Presidents show up in later years, they're usually more of an Obstructive Bureaucrat (if not an outright President Evil).
  • President Allison Taylor fulfills this role in the final two seasons, a refreshing change from the incompetent, obstructive, or outright evil presidents that followed Palmer. At least until her Face–Heel Turn in late Season 8, though she manages to pull herself back at the critical moment.
  • Bill Buchanan. During and right after his pre-death, sacrificial Heel–Face Turn, the trope also applies to George Mason as well.
  • President James Heller in "Live Another Day." Although he and Jack have previously butted heads and had their ideals clash in the past, he's more than willing to cooperative with him despite some misgivings, and is even ready to sacrifice himself if it can save everyone in London.
• Commander Adama from Battlestar Galactica (1978) and his counterpart William Adama from the new series.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  • Subverted with Giles, who is nominally this but in practice tends to defer to Buffy. Also subverted in that the Watchers Council seems to see themselves as this and is indeed traditionally in charge of the Slayer's fight against evil (a tradition Buffy never follows), but they also use cruel methods like torture and rendering Slayers defenseless before locking them up with a vampire.
  • A further subversion, emphasized in Angel, is that the celestial Powers That Be share similar Well-Intentioned Extremist flaws as the Watcher Council.
  • The presence of a greater Big Good is implied in the Season 3 episode where the First Evil was introduced. Angel is Driven to Suicide by the First Evil reminding him of every innocent life he's destroyed when evil. He attempts to commit suicide-by-sunrise, but fails because it suddenly clouds over and starts snowing just before the sun comes up. When they spent the entire episode complaining about the unseasonably warm and sunny weather they were getting that Christmas.
• Carnival Row: Absalom Breakspear: as Chancellor of the Republic of the Burgue, he's the elected leader of the Republic and the highest politician. Though imperfect, he is fair and progressive.
• Chouseishin Series:
  • Chouseishin Gransazer has Atsushi Misonogi, the director of Japan's Department of National Defense and main benefactor to the Gransazers. He starts off aloof towards the Gransazers and only hoping to harness their Humongous Mecha for Japan's military, but after seeing the threat the Cosmic Alliance poses he begins helping them in any way he can.
  • Genseishin Justiriser: Nolun is the hero who defeated Kaiser Hades in the past and one who empowered each of the Justirisers, but she's more a Greater-Scope Paragon as she lacks a physical form and has a limited extent to which she can interact with the world through Shadestar. Later we learn of a "legendary knight" from Planet Riser foretold to defeat the Hades Army, who turns out to be the Justirisers' foe Demon Knight, who was Brainwashed by Hades into betraying his people. In the end the best candidate for Big Good is Shouta, who is the one who leads the Justirisers and the one who unlocks most of their powerups.
  • Chousei Kantai Sazer X: Commander Shark is the founder and leader of the Sazer-X resistance against Neo Descal.
• Doctor Who:
  • The Doctor:
    • The Doctor's name inspires hope in all that is good and terror in all that is evil. Where he goes, freedom (and explosions) quickly follow. Frequently acknowledged as this, by friends and enemies alike. From "The Five Doctors":
      The Master: A cosmos without the Doctor scarcely bears thinking about.
    • In "Twice Upon a Time", the First Doctor reveals that one of the reasons he left Gallifrey was to discover why good continuously wins out in the universe, even though by all logic evil has all the advantages. Bill Potts clearly finds it hilarious when she tells him that maybe "some bloke" is running around the universe, fixing things. The First Doctor considers this a ridiculous fairy tale.
      First Doctor: You've travelled with my future self, haven't you? Does he ever figure it out?
      Bill: You know, I really don't think he does.
    • The Doctor's status as a savior is parodied in the non-canonical Affectionate Parody, "The Curse of Fatal Death", where the Doctor is said to have saved every planet in the known universe a minimum of twenty-seven times.
  • "The End of Time": The Doctor and Wilf are assisted by a mysterious woman in white who keeps appearing to the latter as an apparition and giving him advice. She's eventually revealed to be a Time Lady and one of only two members of the High Council to vote against Rassilon's reality-destroying plans, but her ultimate identity remains unknown.
• Dr. Donald Anspaugh on ER, head of County General. In his first couple appearances he's actually implied to be a tyrant, but after receiving a surprising amount of Character Development in season 4, wherein he cares for his leukemia-stricken son and resists a buyout attempt by a sleazy drug company exec, he stays firmly in this trope.
• Game of Thrones:
  • Ned Stark to the North as a whole. Indeed, he's somehow referenced in almost every episode since his death.
  • Jon indirectly becomes this to the entire series in Season 5 onward. Becoming the new Night's Commander, Jon is the one character acknowledging that the threat of the White Walkers far transcends the political fighting the rest of Westeros is engaged in. Stannis acknowledges this trait in Jon and even tries to recruit him in his campaign for the Iron Throne. He's the indisputable leader of "the living" after his coronation as the King in the North, in which he convinces the northern houses that the true enemy comes with the Winter storms. Depending on how accurate the prophecy of the Prince That Was Promised is, Jon may end up being the rebirth of the legendary hero Azor Ahai.
  • Bran becomes the Three-Eyed-Raven, and will be the one to face the Night King when the time comes.
  • Daenerys to her followers, since she is able to unite them and work together because they genuinely believe that she can make the world a better place and Tyrion fears that if she dies, everything will crumble to dust.
  • Robert was the leader of the rebellion against the Mad King, which elevated him to King of Westeros. He commands the respect and loyalty of many people across Westeros and manages to achieve a delicate but peaceful balance of the Seven Kingdoms.
• The Good Place: Michael is the designer and in charge of maintaining the Good Place neighborhood, so he initially comes across as this. Subverted by the end of Season 1 when it's revealed he's actually a demon; he designed the neighborhood to torture four deceased humans. Double Subverted after he Took a Level in Kindness in Season 2 and becomes an ally to the humans. By the midpoint of Season 3, he's the only member of the entire Celestial Bureaucracy who cares enough about humanity to do something about how horribly broken the system for judging people has become and by the penultimate Season 4 episode becomes the de facto ruler of the real Good Place.
• Rebel/Micah Sanders in Volume 4 of Heroes. Also, Angela Petrelli in Volume 3, which is jarring because she and the Company had been portrayed as villains in the first two seasons. Richard Drucker, an opponent of the Company, served this role in the Season 2 graphic novels plotline, but had no role in the main show's plot and appeared to be killed by the Company after a couple of appearances. The Volume 4 graphic novels show that Rebel was inspired partially by Drucker's legacy, though.
• Kamen Rider:
  • Takeshi Hongo/Kamen Rider #1 (Hiroshi Fujioka) is the Big Good of the Showa Era and, to an extent, all Kamen Riders in general.
    • As the actor for Shiro Kazami/Kamen Rider V3 (Hiroshi Miyauchi) proved easier to secure than Fujioka, V3 takes the lead when he returns in Kamen Rider X, Kamen Rider: Skyrider, the Kamen Rider Super-1 movie (voice only) and the Kamen Rider ZX TV special, while Hongo appears either as Stock Footage or a voice only Fake Shemp. Even when Fujioka came Back for the Finale in Kamen Rider Stronger, he was preceeded by Miyauchi as the first of the returning Riders.
  • The Heisei Era doesn't really have a single unified leader, though Tsukasa Kadoya/Kamen Rider Decade probably comes closest thanks to his taking up the role of Guardian of the Multiverse. In Kamen Rider × Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen when Decade reverts to his original role as Multiversal Conqueror and instigates a war with the Super Sentai, the remaining heroes turn to Hongo for leadership. Then it turns out that "Hongo" is actually Tsukasa in disguise. And then it turns out that Tsukasa is still a good guy and only pretended to be evil to lure out the real enemies.
    • In individual Heisei series, the eponymous hero will typically act as this amongst the Kamen Riders of the show.
• Jacob from Lost. Somewhat subverted in that he's a very "hands-off" kind of Big Good, doesn't put in any actual appearances until the final season, and he turns out to be a bit of a dick. The entire show was his giant Secret Test of Character in order to find his replacement because he self-consciously realized he wasn't cut out for this whole Physical God thing. Accidentally turning your own brother into the ultimate incarnation of evil and the Big Bad tends to do that to you. In the end, the best possible candidate (Hurley) ends up succeeding him.
• Metal Heroes: Qom of the Galactic Union Patrol serves as the commander of Space Sheriff Gavan, Space Sheriff Sharivan and Space Sheriff Shaider.
  • By Space Sheriff Gavan The Movie and into Space Squad, Retsu Ichijouji, the original Gavan, serves as this for the new Gavan and the next generation of Space Sheriffs.
• Nowhere Boys: Ellen takes up this role in the final two seasons, where she guides the younger Nowhere Boys.
• Oz:
  • Tim McManus, the head of Em City. While he's far from perfect, he's one of the only people in the prison administration who actually gives a damn about the inmates, and does his damnedest to give them more opportunities to be rehabilitated while fighting to stop Governor Devlin from cutting off any more of that little rights they have.
  • Kareem Saïd arrogantly believes himself to be this when he first arrives in the prison, seeing himself as the righteous champion for the oppressed prison population. After a long Humiliation Conga, Saïd becomes more self-aware and accepts that he's just as flawed as anyone, which in turn leads to him becoming this for real.
• Person of Interest: The Machine combines this with Deus est Machina and God Is Good. It was designed to spy on the entire world in order to predict terrorist threats, with the side effect of also predicting all sorts of crimes irrelevant to national security. The protagonists work off this Irrelevant List to save the lives of common people. But as the show goes on, it becomes clear that the Machine is more alive than Harold pretends. It is a true AI, dedicated to nothing but protecting people. This especially becomes clear once it acquires an "analog interface" (the hacker Root). She conveys the Machine's desire to protect anyone and everyone, to the point that she's not allowed to kill assassins coming to kill her. The Machine understands that sometimes its agents kill people, but never orders such things itself. In fact, a good number of problems arise because the Machine is too good, refusing to allow innocents to be killed even for the sake of the entire world.
  The Machine: Trust in me. I am always watching.
• Power Rangers:
  • Zordon from the first series up to Power Rangers in Space.
    • After Zordon's death, Jason Lee Scott, the original Red Ranger and leader of the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, and Tommy Oliver, the original Sixth Ranger, Jason's successor as leader and Red Ranger himself in Power Rangers Zeo and Power Rangers Turbo, serve as this as the number of Ranger teams continue to grow: Tommy and Jason take the lead together in the Milestone Celebration episode Forever Red, Tommy leads a new team in Power Rangers: Dino Thunder, where he is revealed to be keeping an archive of Ranger history, is said to be a "legend" at the academy exactly exty years in the future in Power Rangers S.P.D., leads the Legendary Battle in Power Rangers Super Megaforce and in Dimensions in Danger and is suggested to be the ancestor of future Rangers in Zeo. Then Jason comes back for Power Rangers Beast Morphers.
  • Supreme Commander Fowler/Doggie Cruger from Power Rangers S.P.D..
  • Captain Logan and Alex Drake from Power Rangers Time Force.
  • Captain William Mitchell from Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue.
  • Animus from Power Rangers Wild Force.
  • Sensei Kanoi Watanabe from Power Rangers Ninja Storm.
  • The Mystic Mother from Power Rangers Mystic Force, a famous villain and former Big Bad after a Heel–Face Turn.
  • Andrew Hartford from Power Rangers Operation Overdrive.
  • Gosei from Power Rangers Megaforce.
  • Keeper from Power Rangers Dino Charge.
• Suleyman Shah, the chieftain of the Kayi clan, plays this role in Resurrection: Ertuğrul until he dies in the final moments of season 1, leaving his wife Hayme to take the position until sometime in season 2, when Ertugrul legally becomes the new head of the Kayis.
  • Korkut and Candar Beys (Seasons 2 and 3, respectively) are downplayed variants of this trope because although they have some seniority over Ertugrul, they enforce separate clans from his and therefore are relatively limited in terms of interfering in Ertugrul’s affairs.
  • Berke Khan, leader of the Golden Horde, becomes this at the end of season 5, leading the Muslims against Hulagu Khan after Ertugrul forms an alliance with him.
• Stargate SG-1:
  • For seasons 1-7, Major General George S. Hammond, commanding officer of Stargate Command. He was replaced for season eight by SG-1's commander Jack O'Neill, then Jack was Put on a Bus and replaced with Maj. Gen. Hank Landry.
  • On a galactic level the role falls to the ever-benevolent Asgard, and particularly their leader, Supreme Commander Thor. They try to help every planet to the best of their ability and become the most crucial allies to the humans of Earth, among other things, against the Goa'uld. Unfortunately their unparalleled technological prowess also makes them a massive Story-Breaker Power, so the Forever War against the Replicators was written, which is just about the only reason why they can't just wipe out the Goa'uld. All they could do was put several worlds (including Earth) under the Protected Planets Treaty with the Goa'uld which was basically a major bluff, as they didn't actually have the military power available to fight the Goa'uld if it came down to it. Despite that they are possibly the most inspirational race in the Stargate-verse and eventually even leave all their knowledge and technology to Earth as a final gift.
• In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as Gul Dukat asserts himself as the Big Bad, Ben Sisko was brought up by The Prophets (who are usually unconcerned with mortal dealings) to become the ultimate force for good. It can be questioned how much Ben Sisko was the embodiment of good. He was an accessory to two murders of Garak's to trick the Romulans into the Dominion War, and he poisoned the atmosphere of a Maquis planet (warning the inhabitants and giving them enough time to evacuate) to defeat Michael Eddington's attempts to push the Maquis agenda. From a consequentialist perspective, those actions were clearly justified by the general good, but a deontologist would say the actions were wrong on principle, no matter if they won the Dominion War and helped to defeat the Maquis.
• Supernatural has Jack Kline, an ultra-powerful nephilim and the son of Lucifer. Fortunately, he takes after his idealistic mother Kelly and adopted father Castiel and eventually becomes the new God, being much more benevolent than his predecessor.
• Super Sentai:
  • The franchise as a whole has AkaRed, the closest thing to a Physical God Ranger. Though originally an Original Generation character for Boukenger vs Super Sentai, his role in Gokaiger expanded him into this.
  • Akarenger and Big One were the two leaders in the Legend War and in Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai, the latter played this 100% straight.
• Scott McCall from Teen Wolf. Not only is he the "True Alpha" (which is a once-in-100-years-werewolf who becomes an Alpha or rises to Alpha status through the goodness and nobility of their character, their strength of will and without taking the power from other werewolves) along with being The Hero, The Leader, The Heart, a Magnetic Hero, an All-Loving Hero, a Hope Bringer, The Paragon, The Cape, and an Ideal Hero, but Scott has the highest and strongest morals, values and ideals of any character on the show. Scott stands for heroism, justice, compassion, kindness and he is a natural-born leader who inspires others to come together for a common purpose. He is also strongly opposed to killing, believes that every one can be saved somehow (including villains, such as Jackson as the Kanima and Deucalion, for example) and he always tries to see the best in everyone, even his own enemies. He's also a Morality Pet or Morality Chain for Derek, Allison, Isaac and Stiles (after he is possessed by the Nogitsune) and had a strong influence on both Derek and Isaac becoming much nicer, gentler and kinder in personality.
• Twin Peaks' Gordon Cole seems to be this for the FBI characters, with elements of Da Chief. Aptly, he is played by series co-creator (and frequent episode director) David Lynch. There's also The Giant, aka The Fireman, a mysterious Humanoid Abomination that - particularly in the third series, The Return - seems to be this trope for the more supernatural characters on the show, although a lot of this is ambiguous.
• Ultra Series: The classic Showa universe has two: the Father of Ultra/Ultra Father and Ultraman King. The former is the Supreme Commander of the Space Garrison, so he's the guy who assigns Ultras to protect Earth or missions to other parts of the universe, while Ultraman King, although not actually the king of the Land of Light, is extremely respected amongst Ultras due to his Physical God-level powers. Alternatively, Father of Ultra is the Big Good and Ultraman King is the Greater-Scope Paragon.
• Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego has the Chief in opposition to the titular Master Thief.