Heroic Karma Houdini

“	Do you know what you get for being a hero? Nothin'. You get shot at. Pat on the back, blah blah blah. 'Attaboy.' You get divorced... Your wife can't remember your last name, kids don't want to talk to you... You get to eat a lot of meals by yourself. Trust me kid, nobody wants to be that guy. I do this because there is nobody else to do it right now. Believe me if there was somebody else to do it, I would let them do it. There's not, so I'm doing it. That's what makes you that guy.	„
	~ John McClane on the price of being a hero.

“	Isabella: You were very brave. Phineas: Thanks! You were too! Ferb: Um, hello? Entire lower half of amazing superhero here... I guess there's no glory in thighs.	„
	~ Ferb feeling that he escaped from being rewarded

Heroic Karma Houdini, unlike its villainous counterpart, is a hero who is never or rarely adequately awarded for their noble actions by the end of a story, thus escaping Karma on the opposite end. However, despite this, these characters can have a positive outcome from their mistakes or otherwise.

This isn't to be confused on the Villains Wiki where it's impossible for a villain to be both a Scapegoat and a Karma Houdini. A hero on this page can just as well be a Scapegoat and a Heroic Karma Houdini. If they're never rewarded and always dragged down by villains this may corrupt and make fall the hero.

An example of this can be Scratchy from The Simpsons, who despite his heroic and kind deeds, always ends up killed by the villain.

Important Note: Do not list here morally ambiguous heroes who do not answer for their morally ambiguous deeds, neither former villains who never were punished for their previous misdeeds. This article is about inadequately rewarded heroes. A hero whose heroism is never properly acknowledged and repaid, or rarely at best.

Trending pages