Heroes by Proxy are heroes who have no desire to be good or heroic, but were forced into it by circumstance or a story's unique angle. This can be due to things like betrayal from the villain, brainwashing, or having no option in the matter. Whatever the reason, these heroes do the right thing, but not by their own choice. They are the polar opposite of Villains by Proxy.

There are several models this can manifest in:

• The Nominal Hero: Heroes who do good, not because they feel their actions are right, but rather because they can directly benefit from the actions being taken. Heroes like The Bride from Kill Bill, Team Dark from Sonic the Hedgehog, Denji from Chainsaw Man or Varrick from The Legend of Korra are perfect examples of this.
• The Unwitting Hero: Neutral parties who are tricked into doing the right thing by others. Grim from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy.
• The Assigned Protagonist: Characters who become protagonists based purely on responsibility being thrust upon them, and not because they actually want to. Heroes like Doctor Venture of The Venture Brothers, Denji and Shinji Ikari epitomize this. Though some characters of this type, such as John Constantine, may eventually start doing the right thing of their own accord.
• The Best of the Worst: Heroes who are heroes only because they live in a Dystopia where, as bad as they are, they're still the best of a bad situation, such as The Boss from the Saints Row games.
• The Token Evil Teammate: Heroes who in any other scenario would be doing evil but do good, purely as a favor to another hero. Characters such as Hiei from Yu Yu Hakusho, Erika Wagner from Under Night In-Birth, and Alastor from Hazbin Hotel embody this concept.
• Reprogrammed Artificial Intelligence: Artificial intelligence villains that become heroes only because they were reprogrammed to be one. Heroes like IG-11 fall under here. In addition to having moral agency issues, they also never show remorse for their evil deeds. However, some, such as K-2SO and AP-5, can still willingly be heroes if they can freely choose to do what is right in addition to having a clear personality outside their programming.
• Villain's Side Heroes : Villains who are assisting the heroes only for defeating other villains that are far more dangerous than themselves. Heroes like Bowser from Super Mario, Plankton from SpongeBob SquarePants, and Dr. Neo Cortex from Crash Bandicoot are perfect examples of this.

Important Note: None of these characters are Pure Good since, unlike Heroes By Proxy, that category applies to intentional doing good. Also, don't add heroes who started off not wanting to be heroes but embraced the role later, even if they are not Pure Good. Save that for Reluctant Heroes. Due to these heroes not having any desire of being good, many of these heroes are also villains.