The Hero's Idol

"I'm gonna be a hero just like him!"

Bruce Wayne: As a kid I used to watch you with my father. The Gray Ghost was my hero.
Gray Ghost: Really?
Bruce: And he still is.

— Batman: The Animated Series, "Beware the Gray Ghost"

This is someone who the hero deeply admires, and who pushes them towards some ambition or aspiration, directly or not.

The hero's idol pushes the hero towards, if not a tangible goal, some version of themselves that brings out the best of them. It could be a superhero that inspires them to do good, a total badass that makes them work to be cooler, even just a humble citizen that showcases remarkable virtues.

The hero often devolves into a huge, geeky fan around their idols or is otherwise extra respectful around them. They might copy bits of their attitude, fashion sense, and philosophies. They could even base their moves and fighting style off the idol's.

The hero might not know their idol in person, but if they do, the idol could become anything from a mentor, a respecting ally, or even do something completely deplorable and make the hero lose all respect for them.

Watching this character die, especially after one final heroic act, will almost certainly break the hero's heart.

This character is the target of a Hero-Worshipper and likely a bestower of The Idol's Blessing. Hero's Muse is a related trope.

Overlaps with The Knights Who Say "Squee!". Also can lead to Broken Pedestal and/or Rebuilt Pedestal.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Diebuster: Nono idolizes a person she refers to as "Nono-Riri", who she describes as an ordinary girl who saved the Earth. As it turns out, "Nono-Riri" is a corruption of Noriko Takaya, the heroine of the previous series Gunbuster who had yet to return to Earth during the events of the anime.
• In Gravitation, Shuichi basically worships Ryuichi, a mega-star singer. He and his best friend spent hours imitating Ryuichi and his band as teenagers and they still take inspiration from them as adults. Shuichi even mentions cutting his hair to look like Ryuichi.
• GTO: The Early Years: Eikichi's idol is the legendary biker Kyosuke Masaki, who died before the start of the series. In the prequel Bad Company, Masaki welcomed Eikichi and his best friend Ryuji into the Bōsōzoku scene, and was a huge influence on their ethos of what bikers and biker gangs should be. In the sequel Great Teacher Onizuka, despite being dead for more than half a decade, Masaki shows up in a Dying Dream when Eikichi is in critical condition in the hospital, and gives him the motivation to recover.
• Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure has Captain Shalala, a Knight Captain who saved Sora as a small child ten years before the series, which inspired Sora to strive towards being a hero herself just like her savior.
• Little Witch Academia: Wide-Eyed Idealist Atsuko "Akko" Kagari's idol is the stage witch celebrity "Shiny Chariot". After attending one of her magic shows as a child, she makes it her dream to become a witch that makes people happy just like her by attending the magic school she graduated from. She is even chosen to wield her mystical artifact, the Shiny Rod, which left Chariot long ago.
• Macross Delta: Freyja is inspired to become an Idol Singer out of her adulation for the previous Idol Singers of the franchise, in particular Ranka Lee. In a Flashback to her childhood, Freyja is seen doing Ranka's signature Kira pose and singing her Signature Song, "Seikan Hikou".
• My Hero Academia: All Might is the "Symbol of Peace", a powerful and inspiring hero who many aspiring heroes look up to, including the protagonist Izuku Midoriya. Midoriya's heroism is inspired by All Might's bravery and selflessness in action, giving the quirkless^note "quirks" are an ability that most people are born with boy a source of motivation to become a hero when no one else believes he can. It's Midoriya's own heroism that inspires All Might to train him as a successor.
  All Might: You too can become a hero!
• One Piece: Luffy has a deep admiration for the pirate "Red Hair" Shanks, the man who saved his life as a child and gave him his iconic straw hat. He emulates a lot of Shank's traits like his fierce loyalty to his friends and unmatched Nerves of Steel. Even his goal of becoming King of the Pirates was a promise he made to Shanks to impress the pirate. Whenever the story shifts to Shanks's perspective, he'll often remark on Luffy's progress and look forward to where the young pirate goes next.
• Tiger & Bunny: Kotetsu was inspired as a kid by Mr. Legend to become a hero and convinced his powers could save people instead of just making him a freak.
• Yuri!!! on Ice: Yuuri's favorite figure skater is living legend Victor Nikiforov, whom he wants to skate on the same ice with and properly compete against. And then Victor becomes his coach, pushing Yuuri to new heights in his skating.
• Zombie Land Saga: In life Sakura had a deep admiration for the Idol Singer Ai Mizuno, the same Ai she'd go on to be part of a zombie idol group with. Ai's headstrong personality and determination were what helped Sakura out of a low and depressive point in her life, inspiring her to become an idol herself. After the two meet and work together in-person, Ai helps Sakura out of yet another low point in her now-undead life, encouraging the aspiring idol to keep pursuing her dream.

Comic Books

• Ms. Marvel (2014): Kamala Khan has a great of admiration for Carol Danvers, to the point that she transformed into Carol when her powers manifested. After Carol officially changed her alias to "Captain Marvel", Kamala took on the Ms. Marvel moniker for herself.

Fan Works

• In The Apprentice, the Student, and the Charlatan and its sequel The Archmage's Last Bow, Nova Shine idolizes Star Swirl the Bearded like Twilight does, but also Nova Shine I, his namesake and a pony said to be on par with Star Swirl in how much they contributed to magical knowledge.
• The Force Is Not A Quirk!:
  • Rex becomes this for Izuku instead of All Might, giving him living proof that someone can be a great hero without having a Quirk. Though that's not to say Izuku doesn't still idolize All Might.
  • Bakugo still looks up to All Might, but Padme/Star Might is also this to him after she saved him from the Sludge Villain. He's still a foul-mouthed Jerkass, but he took the "The Reason You Suck" Speech that the woman gave to his would-be rescuers to heart: he absolutely refuses to ever be a bystander when someone else needs saving.

Films — Animation

• The Incredibles: In the film's prologue, Mr. Incredible has a fan in the form of Buddy, an enthusiastic but very careless and obsessive boy who wants nothing more than to impress his hero. This is eventually subverted though; Buddy's obsession with Incredible and his power eventually leads to him growing up to become the film's antagonist, Syndrome.
• Kung Fu Panda: Po the panda admires the Furious Five, to the point of constructing action figures in their image. Po is even willing to ride a rocket chair just to get a glimpse of his heroes. It's almost a Deus ex Machina that Master Oogway chooses Po to become a Dragon Warrior trainee. This means Po will be learning ultimate Kung Fu alongside his five idols.
• Surf's Up: Cody Maverick was inspired to be a surfer by Big Z, who has been presumed dead for years. When discovered by Cody, Z teaches him how to surf. It's done reluctantly at first, but Z warms up to Cody over time.

Films — Live-Action

• Marvel Cinematic Universe: Peter Parker a.k.a. Spider Man's biggest influence growing up was Tony Stark a.k.a. Iron Man. Tony tries to guide this younger, more impulsive Spider Man to making smarter choices as a hero. Peter is likewise devastated by Tony's death at the end of Avengers: Endgame.
  • In Thor: Love and Thunder Thor reveals that h deeply idiolizes Zeus and styled himelf after him (being the Norse God Of Thunder while Zeus is the Greek God of Lightning). However, after finally meeting his idol Thor is very disappointed when he realizes Zeus is in fact a Jerkass God.

Literature

• Played With in American Psycho. Villain Protagonist and Yuppie Serial Killer Patrick Bateman is infatuated with Donald Trump. In Patrick's view, Trump's public image defines the positive features of a life of supreme wealth, luxury, and extravagance which Patrick wants for himself, and he consequently tries to live as similarly as possible. However, Patrick's own pursuits of such a lavish, materialistic lifestyle leave him a Broken Ace leading a meaningless existence—hollow, sentimentally empty, alienated, morally bankrupt, and purely evil.
• Soon I Will Be Invincible: Baron Ether is the world's first supervillain and, despite being in a retired state at the start of the story, was a major influence on Dr. Impossible's own career. So much so that, when he needs advice for the next steps in his latest take over the world plan, Impossible breaks into Ether's home/prison to talk with him.
• In 10 Things to Do Before I Die, Ted is a huge fan of Wes Levitiz, the lead man for his favorite band, and plays guitar trying to chase him. He obsessively catalogues information about Wes and is star struck when they meet...only for Ted to discover Wes is not the kind of person he wants to be at all.

Live-Action TV

• Hawkeye (2021): Clint Barton a.k.a. Hawkeye is the inspiration for Kate Bishop becoming a hero, to the point where she mastered archery like him. This admiration was born from Kate seeing him in action during the Battle of New York, all the way back in the first Avengers. Clint at first is reluctant to let her tag along with him on his adventure, but he grows fond of her through the course of the series, eventually passing on the mantle of Hawkeye to her.

Video Games

• Final Fantasy VII: Sephiroth is a legendary warrior who carried the success of SOLDIER, an elite military group. Growing up with low self-esteem and considering himself weak, the protagonist Cloud Strife looked to Sephiroth as a source of strength. Unfortunately this all shatters after Sephiroth snaps and burns down Cloud's village, killing Cloud's mother in the process. Cloud responds by stabbing him through the chest with a sword.
• In IDOLiSH7, each of the idols strives to be like the legendary idol Zero in some way, but Riku actually calls his own brother, Tenn, an angel and aspires to be just like the twin who spent hours entertaining and caring for his sickly brother.
• Inazuma Eleven: Endou Mamoru's grandfather, Daisuke, was a legendary goalkeeper in his prime years and is the main reason why he aspired to become one. Throughout the series, he learns many techniques from his grandfather's notebooks. Unfortunately, Daisuke's apparent demise is also the reason why Mamoru's mother is at first reluctant to let her son play soccer.
• The King of Fighters: Protagonist Kyo Kusanagi attracts a passionate fanbase due to his victories in the KOF tournament, including series fighter Shingo Yabuki. Shingo goes so far as to study Kyo's family style of martial arts, training under the latter's father Saisyu. Kyo becomes good friends with Shingo and even invites him to join his team at several points.
• In Puck OFF, while the world's best player, Dominator, starts off with being The Hero's idol, as the story progresses the mantle is starting to shift towards Coach. Later on, it's revealed that they were indeed the same person. Irony, right?
• Street Fighter:
  • The Series Mascot, Ryu, finds himself a fan and semi-apprentice in Sakura, a teenage martial arts fan. Sakura's own fighting style is based on studying Ryu's, including copying many of his Signature Moves^note The Hadoken and the Shinku Hadoken while putting her own twist on others^note Shunpukyaku and Shououken. He himself is very supportive of her pursuits and will spar with her whenever they meet.
  • The series's premier grappler Zangief is a monumental figure in the world of pro wrestling, and the main inspiration to series regular Rainbow Mika. She follows news of his career passionately and even becomes his understudy in V, and will go total Fangirl whenever he displays his Iron Body technique.
• Yakuza: Kiryu's ideals as a Yakuza are inspired by his father figure, Shintaro Kazama, a legendary yakuza and patriarch of the Kazama family. Kiryu pursues the image of Neighbourhood-Friendly Gangsters that works for the community, something Kazama does behind the scenes like funding orphanages and aid groups. Ironically, Kazama never wanted Kiryu to become yakuza in the first place out of fear of him being trenched in the dark reality of organized crime, where most of their clan is outright villainous and actively opposed to Kazama.

Webcomics

• Tech from NEXT!!! Sound of the Future is main protagonist Shine's favorite Idol Singer. Even though Shine wasn't created until after Tech retired, she would often watch Tech's old performances to cope with the fact that she was told her dreams were impossible because of her inability to sing. After meeting Tech in the second chapter, Tech gives her a speech about always pursuing her dreams no matter what, which partially inspires Shine to regain her desire to be an idol. This ends up being deconstructed as the series progresses, with Tech being horrified that the inspiration she gave Shine led to her trying to be an idol since she believes the industry is full of nothing but pain and misery.

Western Animation

• Adventure Time: Finn and Jake have one in the form of Billy, a legendary hero who inspired them to become heroes themselves.
• In Batman: The Animated Series, while we all know his famous origin story, Batman in universe was inspired by a film detective named the Grey Ghost as far as his methods and look were concerned. Later on, one case actually gives Batman the opportunity to work with the actor behind the role, and while the actor in question has become jaded, he is extremely flattered to discover that Batman has deliberately been modeled after the Grey Ghost, up to and including the Batcave being modeled after the Grey Ghost's Lair.
• Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot: Big Guy has been a Giant Mecha protecting New Tronic City from supervillains and kaiju. His planned replacement is the robot boy Rusty. However, Rusty is too inexperienced to solo against supervillains and kaiju, so Big Guy stays in service to mentor Rusty. Rusty views Big Guy with childlike admiration, and does his best to make Big Guy proud. Rusty's creators choose to keep secret that Big Guy is piloted by a human being, Dwayne Hunter.
• Bravestarr: Jingles Morgan was this for Marshall Bravestarr while at the Academy. Morgan's no nonsense approach to law and order is what inspired Bravestarr's own stoic support of the law. Becomes a Broken Pedestal when Jingles is accused of murder and Bravestarr is forced to hunt him down.
• Gravity Falls: Dipper idolizes "The Author", an unseen character for most of the series who wrote the research journal he always carries around. Dipper finally gets to meet the Author at one point (who turns out to be his long-lost great uncle, Stanford "Ford" Pines), and continues to see the Author as an important mentor and idol especially after finding out they're related.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Twilight Sparkle idolizes the ancient Unicorn sorcerer Star Swirl the Bearded, often raving about his advancements in the field of magic. In addition, her entire motivation for learning magic is owed to Princess Celestia and her appearance at the Summer Sun Celebration, and Princess Celestia becomes her mentor.

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