Basic Trope: A character who refuses to harm children.
- Straight:
- Hiro is against the thought of himself hurting children.
- Emperor Evulz has no qualms on harming innocents, but doesn't harm children.
- Exaggerated:
- Hiro is an Incorruptible Pure Pureness who devotes himself in avoiding doing the slightest harm on children, even to dangerous Enfant Terribles.
- Evulz even avoids attacking Redshirts with families, to avoid harming the children by proxy.
- Evulz would make sure any adult who'd dare to hit children wouldn't get away with it, as even he finds that appalling.
- Hiro won't hurt teenagers either.
- Downplayed:
- Evulz doesn't attack children, but has few qualms regarding putting them in harm's way or having them injured/killed as a result of collateral damage.
- Evulz only attacks children, for as long as they're evil.
- Professional Killer Evulz doesn't hurt children, but only because his employers forbid it rather than any personal conviction.
- Justified:
- Hiro knows that children are harmless and defenseless and hates seeing them being harmed by abusive individuals.
- Evulz has standards.
- He wouldn't benefit from harming children anyway.
- The defense of infancy is treated seriously, as the public is convinced that children are incapable of committing a crime.
- Inverted:
- Hiro is a Kid Hero who abhors the thought of harming adults.
- Exaggerated examples of Would Hurt a Child.
- Subverted: Hiro claims to never have lay a single hand on children, just until he attacked one.
- Double Subverted: It turned out to be one of Dr. Evulz's androids.
- Parodied:
- Hiro won't even insult a child.
- After being unwilling to kill his child target, Hiro comes back years later on their 18th birthday to finish the job.
- Zig Zagged: Evulz won't directly attack children but some of his actions have indirect results of killing innocent kids, something that he didn't bother averting.
- Averted: Hiro kills children like any other Mook
- Enforced: The show runners want to keep Evulz and Hiro sympathetic. No way they can be shown stabbing kindergartners and still be sympathetic.
- Lampshaded: "Some guy like you sure don't like to hurt those little rascals."
- Invoked: Evulz tries to embellish his reputation by sparing children and showing that he isn't a Complete Monster.
- Exploited:
- Hiro's enemies know he won't hurt children, so they send a Tyke-Bomb after him.
- Or the Big Bad is an Enfante Terrible.
- Defied:
- Evulz trains his minions using child-sized, look-alike targets, to make them less reluctant to harm minors.
- Children who give Evulz lip tend to lose all of their teeth.
- Discussed: "You just don't hit kids, you just don't..."
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed:
- Hiro is so dedicated to never harming children that it extends to evil Enfant Terribles who have no qualms in harming adults, and know they can get away with it because they're underage.
- Sure, Hiro spared all of the kids, but their parents were Monsteros' Mooks. Kids grow up, and they can certainly hold a grudge against Hiro for killing their parents.
- Reconstructed:
- Hiro won't hurt any child, but if they're evil, he will send them to prison.
- Hiro is wise enough to send children to orphanages were they end up living with good adoptive parents that teach them that revenge isn't the solution to anything.
- Played for Laughs: Hiro won't hurt Abby. This allows Abby to lead Hiro into an endless barrage of "Home Alone" Antics.
- Played For Drama: Hiro won't hurt Jackson. This allows Jackson to make Hiro's life a living hell.
- Played For Horror: Hiro won't hurt Abby... so he swears he will hunt her down when she's of age. After what she saw Hiro do to the people he really wants to kill, Abby fears the day she will turn 18 (or 21).
- Implied: Hiro refuses to participate in a battle in an area when children are present, but it's not clear if this is why.
Back to Wouldn't Hurt a Child.
