Basic Trope: A hero uses his powers and abilities to defend the helpless and weak from evil, rather than for personal gain, revenge or side benefits.
- Straight: Parker Petersen, after being imbued with the very spirit of heroism itself, uses her fantastical abilities far beyond that of ordinary humans to help others and serve the greater good.
- Exaggerated: Parker's powers are so broadly defined they make her functionally invincible and next-to-godlike. She becomes a Goddess of Heroism to help her facet of creation run smoothly.
- Downplayed: Despite having immense power, Parker only uses it in emergency situations, but always to help others.
- Justified: Power is a dangerous thing, and Parker is well-aware that, like anyone else, she has the capacity to grievously misuse it.
- Inverted: Parker exclusively uses her powers for selfish reasons. Felicia Lung in particular is a common target of Parker's powers.
- Subverted: Having already been burned by the various pitfalls of power, Parker resigns herself to staying on the sidelines until dire circumstances force her to act.
- Parker has incredible powers, but that doesn’t mean she can handle the stresses of being a superhero, so she hangs up the cape before she ends up snapping under the pressure and makes a huge mess. Sometimes being responsible means knowing when not to act, because doing so will only cause bigger problems.
- Parodied: No matter how carefully she uses her powers, Parker is subjected to endless speeches by nearly everyone she knows about how she needs to be more responsible in her life. Felicia takes particular delight in making Parker's life a living hell while still getting away with it because Parker can't fight back, otherwise Parker would be considered as stooping to Felicia's lows and therefore just as bad, if not worse.
- Zig Zagged: As Parker's heroic career progresses, her definition of "responsibility" expands. She starts wanting only to protect her immediate family, friends, and the good people of her hometown and ends being a protector of the world at large.
- Averted: Parker has no intention of using her powers responsibly or irresponsibly, as she was driven insane by them upon receipt.
- Enforced: The power Parker has fluctuates depending on how it's employed; wanton and irresponsible usage weakens her, while prudent usage empowers her further.
- Lampshaded: Parker feels the physical weight of her powers on her body.
- Invoked: "'Getting ahead" is not something Parker believes in; she's more than happy to use her power to serve others.
- Defied: Parker realizes her powers are too much for any mortal to bear, since they can only be wielded properly by someone with ultimate moral authority. She renounces them to lead a normal life.
- Exploited: Parker's enemies applaud her restraint in using her powers, because they have no such limitations.
- Discussed:
- Parker's benefactors go on tangents about how human concepts like "power" and "responsibility" need to be given quantifiable meanings if they are to be of any use to her.
- Whenever Parker mentors younger heroes, she brings up what she likes to call "the ball and chain speech" to describe how their lives are going to go from now on.
- Conversed: Alice and Bob debate if Parker would beat Felicia up without having to break her code of conduct.
- Implied: Parker puts self-imposed limits on her power.
- Deconstructed:
- Parker's responsibilities as a hero are so burdensome, she feels compelled to use her powers nonstop and, as consequence, has little time for anything else.
- Parker has plenty of responsibility, but even with superpowers she doesn't measure up to it. She spends her life trying and failing to help others as a result.
- Parker has to always, always use her powers for great responsibility. This means she can't deal with bullies like Felicia without hurting them too badly and blowing her cover as a superhero.
- The whole "power and responsibility" thing is just a cover for a spectacular amount of self-loathing (with accompanying constant self-blaming for literally everything wrong that happens), suicidal ideation, obsession with other people and fear of commitment disguised as a drive to help people that, while not false, is still fallacious. The worst part is the "not false" detail, which means that any attempt at trying to make Parker see reason is automatically seen as an attack on her responsibility and answered in kind. There is just no way to fix this — Parker will literally work herself to death for the sake of her responsibility and all everybody else can do is watch.
- Reconstructed: After some soul-searching, Parker comes to realize big, grandiose gestures have less impact than gradual, concerted effort, and scales back her heroic efforts to something human-scale and more manageable.
"And a lean, silent Troper slowly fades into the gathering darkness, aware at last that on this website, with a Playing With page there must also come—a main page!"
