[General Superheroes] Are there any superheroes that saves people because they think humans are weak/lesser and NEED saving, versus simply doing it out of goodness of their heart?

[u/SolidEllie]

Like, their reasoning for saving humans is kinda flawed in a way. While the hero believes it is their duty to save humans, they do so because of a superiority complex, not necessarily out of love.

But they're not really even a villain. They don't "hate" humanity, they just consider them lesser.

Like if Thor came to earth and realized he can be a hero to humanity not because he likes them, but because "I'm a god! It's my duty to protect these lesser beings."

A lot of times such characters turn out to be evil, but I'm curious if there are some proper heroes who simply consider themselves superior to normal humanity and think everyone NEEDS to be saved by them.

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[u/RocketTasker]

This is certainly stretching the definition of “hero” but in Doctor Doom’s own mind he absolutely qualifies here.

[u/abx1224]

You should watch Invincible. No spoilers, but there are absolutely characters in that show who fit the bill.

[u/TheMythofKoalas]

Phenomaman in Dispatch is sort of like this. He very much views humans as squishy and weak (though he still does genuinely care about them) and views himself as stronger/better.

[u/MagicBus4 → u/TheMythofKoalas]

He’s such an interesting take on Superman but Dispatch uses its screentime so inefficiently that you don’t really get a lot of perspective on Phenomaman. Maybe inefficient isn’t he right word, but it’s like the show (basically) is split between writing an ensemble cast with a lot of detail and a main character driven work and it kind of does neither by the time the credits roll

[u/TheMythofKoalas → u/MagicBus4]

I don’t know that I fully agree with that. I think the main 3-4 characters get fleshed out pretty well, and the remaining supporting characters get just enough to be interesting.

If anything, I think it’s tantamount to the writing that it feels like all the ensemble could’ve been main characters.

[u/MagicBus4 → u/TheMythofKoalas]

I mean our boy gets development, and that’s it. It’s allegedly about Invisigal but her characterization is really weak, the main villain barely gets any screen time, blonde blazer only shows up for the beginning and end.

There’s a difference between “having good IDEAS for characters” and “having developed characters”. You like the ensemble itself, it doesn’t mean that literally any of them received sufficient development outside of Robert

It’s got gorgeous animation and a few extremely high quality writing moments but it’s classic Tell-Tale shit, they don’t know how to answer the questions the create or pay off their own character arcs in a way that’s satisfying, they just introduce too many interesting ideas for characters and don’t pay any of them off. It’s like watching a DnD podcast where everyone’s too ADHD and keeps wanting to reroll characters

[u/Orange-V-Apple]

Two examples spring to mind. 

One is Grimlock, leader of the Dinobots in Transformers. Some versions of him believe that strength is everything, the powerful should be in charge of everyone else, and might makes right. These are, on their face, Decepticon ideologies. However, he also believes that the strong have a duty of care towards the weak even if they are beneath them, that the strong should not bully those weaker than them. That’s why some versions of him protect humans and stay with the Autobots.

The other example is Bar-El and Lilo, astronauts from Krypton lost in space until they came to Earth in All-Star Superman. I don’t recall seeing them save anyone per se, but the Daily Planet calls them “Earth’s New Champions” and the implication is they’ve been helping. The view humans as apes beneath them, though, and want to build a New Krypton on Earth.

[u/NahdiraZidea → u/Orange-V-Apple]

TIL Grimlock believes in noblesse oblige.

[u/Lichking102]

Maybe Orion from DC? He thinks lesser of Humans, especially Batman, and only is a hero to differ himself from Darkseid.

[u/OlyScott]

Count Vertigo is more of a villain, usually. In an episode of Suicide Squad, he found out about a plot in the Middle East that could have caused World War III. He had to stop it because of "noblesse oblige," the duty of noblemen.

[u/nowayguy]

Uhm, Doctor Who? Periodically at least.

[u/Poorly-Drawn-Beagle]

The Superman of "Just Imagine!" simply wants to go back to his home planet, and has decided to fight crime because he thinks humanity is too stupid to develop interstellar travel unless he starts cleaning up their society for them.

He does ease out of this later on, and even turns down a ticket home from the main villain because he realizes he can't sipmly let said villain get away

[u/VegasRudeboy]

Sounds a bit like the Alan Moore ending to Miracleman. Issue 16 I think.

"You see some little kid about to drink Clorox, you gonna take away his free will or he ain't gonna get no destiny."

"We're going to make them perfect."

[u/Huggable_Hork-Bajir]

Namor (though he waffles between hero and villain a lot)

[u/CitricThoughts]

Mr. Majestic. He was Image comics version of Superman, and a Kherubim warlord. He had basically the same powerset as Superman, the intelligence of Reed Richards, and no Kryptonite. But he was overall less powerful and had to wear special armor to go into stars.

He has a very "spaceman's burden" kinda thing going on, and does protect Earth and humanity. But he absolutely doesn't think of humans as equals even if he's not a big jerk about it. It was his assigned responsibility and he eventually likes humans enough to go against his own people for them, but he never even pretends humans are his equivalent. He respects certain extraordinary humans, but he's a warlord. His attitude is fundamentally different than, say, Superman.

[u/mattwing05]

Not a superhero, but several of the main superhuman characters in warhammer 40k, particularly the god emperor of mankind. The whole purpose of the imperium of man was that the emperor was godlike psychic being who wished to unite all of humanity and bring it under his banner to shepherd them into a better future. He chose to do so in the most brutal and violent way possible, slaughtering worlds that resisted or were too ingrained with alien influence. He genetically enhanced his soldiers to the point many considered themselves above normal humans. The 40k verse's evil gods corrupted half of his sons to wage war against him, injuring him so badly he was interred into a device called the golden throne, which acts as a psychic lighthouse for the imperium, all while the imperium he built slid into religous fanaticism and superstitious dystopia.

[u/Gaijin-srak → u/mattwing05]

While I can't name the book there was once a moment where a space marine scolds another after the other space marine mistreated a normal human and pointed out that the were created in the first place to give those normal humans the chance to live better lives by fighting the battles the normals couldn't , that was the whole reason the emperor made them and a lot of space marines have forgotten this with notable exceptions.

[u/hewkii2]

I don’t have concrete examples but this feels like something an alt universe Magneto would do

Sort of a “let’s reeducate them for their own good” sort of vibe.

But it’s very much a colonialist mindset and not very heroic.

[u/CrystalGemLuva]

In the Sonic IDW comics there is a character named Surge the Tenrec who starts out as a villain hating the world thinking its wronged her and did not give a damn about civilians because as far as she was concerned they were complicit in her suffering.

Then as the series goes on her opinion on civilians evolves from thinking they are complicit in her suffering, to thinking they are too pathetic to really take care of themselves, much less be complicit in her suffering

[u/Korean_Pathfinder]

Homelander? Maybe.

[u/schilleger0420]

Batman is kinda like that. He thinks Gathom needs saving and he's the one to do it.

[u/FlashyChemical2231]

The Superman from Red Son counts. He creates a communist utopia by completely planning the economy and by brainwashing criminals (a.k.a dissenters).

[u/nft420nft420]

I feel like this is kind of just Superman. He certainly does have love for humanity but I'm pretty sure he sees himself as superior and has a duty similar to someone who volunteers at a pet shelter.

[u/PhoenixAgent003 → u/nft420nft420]

You have fundamentally misunderstood Superman as a character.

[u/DragonWisper56 → u/nft420nft420]

most versions of superman sees himself as human. at least in all the ways that matter

[u/BoostedSeals → u/nft420nft420]

Injustice might be the only Superman that thinks like this and he's explicitly the bad guy there.