Hero Insurance: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

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Heroes never get in trouble for [[Roofless Renovation|plowing through buildings]], demolishing half the city, [[Protagonist-Centered Morality|killing seventeen people and injuring three]], [[Hero Stole My Bike|taking things that do not belong to them]], or [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|jaywalking]], as long as they're being ''heroic''. The necessary explanation seems to be that they've got very, very good insurance, that will take care of ''everything'', including the bribes for the people who want to sue the hero's spandex-clad bottom off.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a popular subject in [[Deconstruction]], where destructive heroes are often portrayed as [[Not So Different|not much better]] than the villains they're fighting.

However, many countries ''do'' have laws in place that prevent someone from being held liable for damage caused while saving someone's life. In the USA they are known as Good Samaritan laws. Such laws probably wouldn't apply in some of the more extreme cases of "heroic" destructiveness but is likely an easy enough excuse in situations where the damage caused is minor or where the threat stopped is sufficiently important. However, in some cases like bank robberies and other types of theft, stopping the villain always ends up costing more than just writing off what was stolen.

 

 

{{examples}}

* Kool-Aid Man qualifies as a hero. [[There Was a Door|OH YEAH!]]

 

== Anime and Manga ==

** In another instance, he wrecks a woman's balcony during a big fight. He apologizes mid-battle, and promised to come back and fix it. Later he does fix it, although given his sense of...style, it's debatable whether it's better than it was before.

** Double-subverted when he and Roy have a [[Wizard Duel]]. {{spoiler|Mustang and Edward end the episode cleaning up the damage with shovels, no alchemy in sight}}.

* The titular robot from ''[[The Big O]]'', a [[Humongous Mecha]] whose pilot is sometimes guilty of causing just as much, if not more, damage while fighting the [[Monster of the Week]] than the monster could cause all by itself. It's never really brought up whenever Roger Smith takes out another block or two. But hey, at least he pounded that other robot into the ground, right?

** The manga version of ''The Big O'' hangs a lampshade on it: Beck's flunkies, who lack [[Offscreen Villain Dark Matter]], are seen working construction repairing some of the damage afterwards in order to make some quick money.

** Isn't this the reason Dastun wants to find out the identity of the black Megadeus?

** I thought this was the job of all those maintenance men during the Season 2 finale arc who {{spoiler|fix the near completely ruined Big O before the final battle}}. It would certainly explain why damage never carries over, given how fast they are!

* Lampshaded in ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' episode 13 when Sailor Mars wants to blast some airplanes being used by the villain and Luna replies that she could never afford to pay for the damage. The joke actually made it through to the English dub.

* Heavily lampshaded in ''[[Dai-Guard]]'', where the company that owns the titular giant robot is responsible for all collateral damage the robot causes, and numerous insurance-related forms have to be signed before it can be deployed. It's FURTHER lampshaded in one episode where by the time all the paperwork is completed, Dai-Guard has already been deployed and beaten the [[Monster of the Week]].

** And when one considers that the only other way to destroy the monsters besides the titular giant robot is with ''nukes'', the insurance complaints seem rather inane. In-story they're ''still'' cleaning up after the first monster's rampage '''twelve years later'''.

*** Justified, since he accidentally {{spoiler|blew a chunk out of one of the moons; at that point, you can't really call him anything else}}.

** This trope is arguably deconstructed, alongside the [[Technical Pacifist]] trope, with the July 5th incident, the primary source of the bounty on Vash's head. Vash somehow managed to avoid killing a single soul when he blew up an entire city... but it probably would have been kinder if he ''had'' vaporised the population, because almost every last man, woman and child either died of thirst/starvation or was murdered for their supplies by their desperate fellows.

** Played horrifyingly straight when Androids 19 and 20 {{spoiler|aka Doctor Gero}} come calling. Goku tries to get them out of the city out of concern for the civilians. To cement his [[Complete Monster]] status, Android 20 ''destroys the city'' with his [[Eye Beams]]. Leading to this exchange:

{{quote|'''Goku:''' How could you do this?! Leave these people out of it!

* Averted in ''[[GaoGaiGar]]''; the villains realize early on the potential of handicapping the heroes by bringing fights to populated areas. The heroes respond by inventing a device to [[Phantom Zone|create a pocket dimension]] in which to fight the villains.

** That said, if the story of the episode needed to have more of a rousing conclusion, GGG does have a small army of Tool based robots ready to repair any damage done.

** And again in the manga. When Shin Getter Robo accidentally blows up a city and puts one of its pilots into a coma from the trauma, people aren't happy.

** And once more in ''Shin [[Getter Robo]] VS. Neo [[Getter Robo]]'', where the massive amounts of property damage caused by [[They Killed Kenny|Musashi]]'s [[Heroic Sacrifice]] causes the government to abolish Getter Energy research.

* Averted in ''[[Kurogane no Linebarrel|Linebarrels Of Iron]]'', the main character ends up not only destroying large parts of the city, but believes that he is a "hero of justice" and as such gets very miffed when the authories cover up the battles as malfunctioning mecha. He eventually blows over about this, destroying more of the city with his humongous mecha whilst demanding why no one will praise him for saving their lives, oblivious to the fact that he his in fact being a bigger threat to people's safety than the bad guys. After his friend is killed by another humongous mecha, he goes into a rage and nearly obliterates the city in his rampage. Later he is called out on his behaviour, being told to his face that his selfish actions have done more harm than good, and that if anyone is to blame for his friend's death, it's him.

* Averted in ''[[X 1999|X]]'', the good guys create a barrier/parallel dimension to protect the battle zones which in this case can't be considered collateral damage, tearing down the buildings is the primary objective of the bad guys. If the good guys die, the area retains the damage from the battle.

* Horribly messed up in ''[[Shakugan no Shana]]'' battles take place in barriers similar to ''X'' but the writers can't make up their mind about whether time passes normally outside the barrier or not, after the battles end, human lives are consumed to repair the collateral damage.

** Depends on who wins. Bad guys use human lives to repair the damage. Good guys use the bits inside "Torches" (the remnant echos of humans whose existence has been consumed by the bad guys).

** Heavily averted; in fact it's a running gag. She's basically what you get if you turn [[Trigun|Vash the Stampede]] into a sorceress and take away the insurance girls. While the audience/readers and her close friend know she is a hero, her path of destruction has made her a feared villainess in her world. Even when she does something truly heroic and redeemable, she blows it by losing her cool and nuking the town she just saved. She rarely gets to claim her reward because it will likely be the down payment on rebuild the town from the ground up around the huge crater she just made.

* ''[[Ranma ½]]'': Soun Tendo is on the city council, but one has to wonder if that really helps given the amount of destruction his "son-in-law" and friends dish out on a regular basis. Even though there are those "Do Not Smash Wall" and "Do Not Crush Pole" signs everywhere.

* In ''[[S-Cry-ed]]'', Alter powers can't ''not'' cause damage, as they rely on the surrounding matter for both energy and mass to make the Alter forms, and the Alter Users don't have much control over what matter gets used.

* Averted in ''[[Zambot 3]]'' about as far as it can go. Many battles happen in cities that had been destroyed in ''previous'' battles and the people of the Japan don't take too kindly to the heroes.

* Averted in ''[[Fairy Tail]]'', as [[Destructive Saviour|the massive property damage the members of the titular guild cause]] is the main reason they aren't more wealthy or influential despite the considerable power of their mages. In fact the council regulated them would have probably ''disbanded them'' several times if [[Screw the Rules, I Have Connections|their leaders wasn't friends with (an increasingly small number of) council members]]. Hell, Lucy even states that no matter how high-ranking and well-paying the missions she completes are she's never getting most of it as long as her partners Natsu and Gray keep breaking crap.

** At the current point in the manga (low 200s) the council is actively looking for a reason to disband them.

** ''[[End of Evangelion]]'' opened to the image of Tokyo-3 after all of the battles had come to an end. With funding drying up, Tokyo-3 hasn't seen any repairs recently and most of the civilian population has fled.

*** It's not even a question of funding. The destruction of Eva-00 was a bigger explosion than any of the previous battles. We know Shinji's friends fled, but it's also a case of [[Inferred Holocaust]], even with the population in shelters.

* [[Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt|Panty and Stocking]] must have this in spades considering how destructive their fights with the Ghosts are. Then again, everyone in this universe appears to be [[Made of Iron]].

* [[Exaggerated Trope|Exaggerated]] in ''[[Dirty Pair]]''. The Lovely Angels' recklessness in their cases mingles with [[Finagle's Law]] to frequently cause the destruction of cities, if not entire planets; nevertheless, the Central Computer of their employer infallibly clears them of blame every time. Which isn't enough to keep them from being hated and feared by most of humanity.

* At the end of the LXE arc of ''[[Busou Renkin]]'', Kazuki attempts to reach Victor's regeneration capsule before he awakens by using Sunlight Heart to rocket to the roof of his school, blasting through floors in the process, as he was inside when he came up with this idea. Because of this, Kazuki ultimately caused more property damage than the entire LXE.

* Averted in ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]''. Damages incurred by a superhero must be paid for either by his/her sponsor company or the hero him/herself. In the very first episode [[Destructive Saviour|Kotetsu]], the protagonist, is berated for damaging a monorail track in order to stop a hijacker. And in episode 5 he is brought before a judge who rules that his company be fined for the property that was destroyed during one of his rescue attempts in episode 4.

** To be precise, the city pays for any damage deemed necessary for the hero to capture a criminal and/or protect civilians. However, anything the city deems unnecessary is billed to the hero's sponsor company. So a hero who pulls a chunk out of the road in order to stop a bystander being shot would not be charged, but a hero who stomps a car's roof in when he could have just run around it would be charged. All of the heroes in the show are employees or owners of companies which use the hero's "brand" to generate money, so that they don't personally have to pay these charges (and also to generate a living wage for them, as they aren't directly paid to be heroes). One of the reasons co-protagonist Wild Tiger is nicknamed the "Crusher for Justice" is due to his habit of smashing things up with his super strength and earning himself a constant stream of large bills for his sponsor company to pay. The show actually begins with {{spoiler|his original sponsor company going out of business due to the large bills he receives. The only reason he agrees to be in a partnership with Barnaby is because the next company to hire him tells him to do it or quit, and implies that no other sponsor company would agree to take on a hero who's fame (and ability to generate money) is waning but continues to rack up such large bills.}}

* Heck, how is ''[[D.Gray-man]]'' not in here yet? Averted when Allen gapes at a massive hole Lavi puts in a building using his Size-Shifting Hammer and Lavi carelessly mentions not to worry about it and that Komui will 'foot the bill.' Apparently the Vatican have very deep pockets, considering the damage the Exorcists tend to create during their fights.

* One of the reasons Train and Sven from "[[Black Cat]]" are so poor is because most of their bounty money is used to pay for damage they cause when catching criminals.

 

== Comic Books ==

* ''[[Kingdom Come]]'' addresses this in the novelization. Heroes are impoverished and uncontrollable, so there's no way to deal with the destruction superheroes cause. No one owns automobiles due to the skyrocketing insurance, and public monuments tend to be left where they lie. Yes, there is [[No Endor Holocaust|suffering]].

* Spoofed in the late 1980s in Scott McCloud's ''Destroy!!'', which consisted of nothing but one-frame pages depicting a battle between two superhumans which effectively totals the city around them.

** Marvel has also at times claimed that, despite having probably caused more property damage than [[Godzilla]], the Hulk hasn't actually killed any civilians during his rampages. Ever.

*** Amadeus Cho even claimed that Hulk didn't any ''military'', either!

* In the "Guardian Devil" arc for Marvel Comics character [[Daredevil]], DD mentions that New York City has a billion-a-year insurance policy on damages caused by superheroes.

* In the comic book series ''[[The Boys]]'', a CIA subdivision is set up to take superheroes to task for the damages they incur. One character's girlfriend was graphically killed in front of him by a speedster throwing another superhuman into her, right after they traded "I love yous" for the first time.

* ''[[The Authority]]'', which takes a rather cynical view of superhero conventions, actually has the Authority helping out before and after supervillain attacks.

** Also somewhat unique in that the Authority often acknowledges that what they're doing will cause property damage and probably cost civilian lives. The characters justify it with the excuse that the bad guys would have done much worse if nobody had stopped them, but the fact that they ''openly acknowledge'' the cost of what they do is unique in itself.

* There was an amateur comic in ''Svenska Serier'' where villain and a [[Designated Hero]], both musclebound bricks, bust out against each other at a high-class party, tearing the place up in the process. The destruction soon turns to ludicrous levels until suddenly calling it off and donning their civilian disguises. The manager of the party at the introduction, now the only apparent survivor who is sobbing on his knees in the midst of the destruction, is then approached by two surprisingly muscular suits who inform him that the insurance policy they provide would be excellent should something like this happen again.

* Subverted with [[Batman]] as, being rich, he actually ''can'' afford to pay for damage. Was mentioned in the video game of ''[[Batman Begins]]'', in which Batman damages a large section of water mains to chase away some corrupt cops from a scene. As he makes his plan, Alfred notes that Wayne Enterprises will likely be making a donation to the water board the next day.

* In the after-effects of the ''[[Green Lantern]] Sinestro Corps War'', the dozens of alien lanterns who ended up on Earth decide to stick around for a bit and clean up their messes. John Stewart, a long standing Earth based GL, cleans up the skyscraper damage in Coast City all by himself.

** Even worse, it wasn't a car. It was a school bus full of children.

* The "superhero kids" comic ''[[PS238]]'' tries to handle the social consequences of superpowers realistically, and has brought up the concept of the "Super Samaritan Laws," which were lobbied for and passed to give superheroes some legal protections from the occasionally destructive consequences of super fights, considering the fact that if they ''didn't'' intervene, worse damage would likely happen. It helps that, in the [[PS238]] 'verse, many supers have gone into private and public work that ''doesn't'' involve crimefighting, and the [[Mega Corp]] Clay Industries (founded by a metahuman super-intellect) is explicitly mentioned at one point to create 'instant-buildings' used to rapidly re-build urban areas damaged by superhero battles.

* The first incarnation of Marvel's ''[[Thunderbolts]]'' finished winning the hearts of [[Big Applesauce|New York City]] in their first issue by staying behind to repair the damage to [[Monumental Battle|the Statue of Liberty]] caused in one of their battles.

* The [[Fantastic Four]] had a storyline that began as something of a [[Humiliation Conga]]. First, [[Incredibly Lame Pun|their financial wizard disapparated with all their money]], then New York "thoughtfully" let them off the bill for all the damage that's been inflicted to New York during their battles ''on the condition they handed over their HQ''.

** Similar, in the first issue of [[JMS Spider-Man|JMS run on Spider-Man]], Spidey ''levels down'' a building scheduled for demolition, to work out some anger issues, and wrecking crew just call it a day.

* In the [[Doctor Strange]] minseries ''The Oath'', after Night Nurse finishes operating on Dr. Strange after he is shot by an intruder, Strange mentions that he might still be covered under the Defenders' group health insurance plan. For reference, the Defenders were a somewhat mismatched superhero team-up that included the Silver Surfer, the Hulk, and Submariner.

** That isn't that surprising when you remember that the ''Doctor'' in Doctor Strange is for his M.D., so he would have thought of something doing that.

* In Supergirl #12 new hero Terra (now called Atlee) helps Supergirl take out a giant dinosaur; after the battle she uses her earth powers to repair the streets and even fix a fire hydrant. It is later revealed in the Terra miniseries that she apparently does this after every battle.

* Subverted in a barfight between Colossus of the [[X-Men]] and the Juggernaut, where Cain actually pays for damages afterwards.

* Speaking of X-Men, Cyclops always advises the team to avoid collateral damage (ie, no throwing random cars at bad guys), or at least cut a check to affected parties afterwards, since a mere diversionary tactic could mean years of debt for a civilian.

* Also sort of lampshaded by Rogue in an issue of Xtreme X-Men, where she comments that "the X-Men may cause more collateral property damage than God," but they don't kill innocents.

* Shortly before ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' death, the Shield pointed out how dangerous an uncontrolled Spider-Man was when a battle between him and boomerang did almost one million dollars in damages, when Boomerang was just robbing a jewelry for a few dozens of thousand dollars.

 

* In ''[[More Than Human]]'', the city of Townsville has higher tax rates to pay for the large amount of damages done by monster attacks and by [[The Powerpuff Girls]] fighting back.

* The story [[Eiga Sentai Scanranger]] lampshades this, saying the rangers' backers also supply the people and resources to fix everything that gets broken during their fights.

* Mentioned (for laughs) in [[DC Nation]] where Roy Harper is bitching about having to take out additional insurance for a rented Winnebago ''because'' he is a publicly-out "cape." [http://community.livejournal.com/jla_watchtower/tag/strangers Turned out he NEEDED the coverage] when six rogues, a corresponding number of Titans, Wonder Woman, and a Green Lantern show up at his location (middle of nowhere Arizona) for a throwdown.

* ''[[Ultimate Sleepwalker|Ultimate Sleepwalker: The New Dreams]]'' has the title character using his [[Reality Warper|warp]] [[Eye Beams|vision]] to repair some of the property damage caused by his murderous fight with [[Evil Counterpart|Psyko]].

 

== Film ==

* One just has to wonder how much of the budget for the [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] movies is set aside for stuff for Bond to drive through.

{{quote|'''Q''': Need I remind you, 007, that you have a license to kill, not to break traffic laws.}}

** During filming of the chase scene in ''[[The Man with the Golden Gun]]'', they actually had a guy running following the cars with a checkbook to pay for damages.

* In the second ''[[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]]'' [[Fantastic Four (film)|film]], Sue is seen disputing a report from the cops about how many cars were destroyed on a recent mission.

** The ''first'' movie featured the Thing tossing a car at Dr. Doom. We don't hear from the car's owner and he doesn't get called on it.

* The setup for the film ''[[The Incredibles]]'' is, roughly, that superheroes in general were forced to go into hiding specifically to avoid litigation for collateral damage. That was basically the cost of the government providing them Hero Insurance.

** And they end in a Battle Royale against Syndrome that causes massive collateral damage to the city. Amazingly, it ''restores the public's faith in superheroes''.

*** It was mostly the ''villain'' doing damage to the city there; heroes might occasionally break something, or [[Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like|save a suicidal guy]] but they're at least ''trying'' to help. Without super''heroes'', who'll stop super''villains''? Of course, even with that, heroes doing the same thing they got in trouble for in the event that got them out of trouble still doesn't make much sense.

**** Because after people have something for a while they often begin to take it for granted. After the Supers have been protecting people from the villains for so long, people forgot that the villains were a threat, that the Supers were doing something necessary and important. So they started getting pissy about little things. After Syndrome's attack, people remember the importance of them, again.

***** Well, this is just [[Wild Mass Guessing]], but perhaps supervillains were on the decline by the start of the movie and government agencies, with improving technology from people like Syndrome who decided to ''sell'' their super tech, were able to deal with what little supervillainy was going on.

***** When Mr. Incredible is reading through Syndrome's plans (after escaping the first time) we see that there where (at one point anyway) a goodly number of superheroes. It's entirely possible that any real supervillain had already been dealt with, and if the people who build jails are better in that universe than in ours, there wheren't a whole lot of real dangerous types left (until Syndrome showed up). Thats how you end up with the Superman-esque Mr. Incredible "fighting" a guy who looks like an animated version of some one from the ''Ocean's 11'' movie.

*** Do they even know he was the one who robbed the train and drove it into the ravine? I always thought it was because of his role in bringing Tannen to justice.

*** Doc and Clara stayed behind, and ''they'' know it's him. Besides, it's not a train robbery, [[For Science!|it's a science experiment]].

* Neo from ''[[The Matrix Reloaded]]'' destroys what looks like a good chunk of a city in his hurry to save Trinity. Probably justified by the fact that any innocent bystander in the Matrix can spontaneously turn into an agent. Also, he probably won't need to pay for damages because he doesn't live inside the Matrix.

** Or rather because the Matrix is a [[Lotus Eater Machine|computer simulation]] and nothing inside it is even real.

{{quote|'''Boy''': Godzilla! Bye bye.

'''Tom Servo''': Thanks for leveling our country! }}

** In the book version it is mentioned that she only just gets away with it thanks to Tracee's dad being a lawyer.

** [http://nowyourethinkinglikealawyer.blogspot.com/2009/07/i-love-you-beth-cooper-final-exam.html This blog] suggests that the law might have made a legal defense difficult.

{{quote|'''Danny:''' He only took your badge because you destroyed more of the city than usual.}}

* ''[[Speed]]'' is also a nice example of this. The amount of destruction caused by keeping the bus at its required speed looks like it should cost the city at least 100 times what paying the ransom would have cost. The airplane at the end alone...

* Played with in the ''[[Transformers Film Series|Transformers]]'' films. The US government is implied to cover any Cybertronian-related damage. Unfortunately, the Autobots cause a ''lot'' of collateral damage in their fights. To the point that [[Barack Obama|the President]] sends a government official to express his concern to Prime and his team. The third film also implies that civilians are not exactly happy with all the damage inflicted on their homes and businesses (poll results show that half the world would feel safer without the Autobots; they aren't exactly in the wrong here).

** Additionally, Sam's dad says the government will pay for the damages to their house (caused by Bumblebee shooting at some Allspark mutations). Sam's mom decides to exploit this by demanding a hot tub to be built in the backyard.

 

== Literature ==

* In a ''[[The Man from U.N.C.L.E.]]'' novelization, Solo and Kuryakin actually give a woman UNCLE's insurance agency's card, to pay for the hole they cut in her floor.

** Only to save their own hides. Other Death Eaters would've seen the damage and known where they were.

* The [[Spider-Man]] book "Secret of the Sinister Six" features a radio advertisement for metahuman insurance, including testimonials from people who had the Hulk thrown through their kitchen.

* Averted in Simon R. Green's ''Nightside'', where the protagonist, John Taylor, is now classified under Acts of Gods by the insurance companies.

* When the [[X Wing Series|Wraiths]] start a [[Bar Brawl]] as phase one of their latest [[Zany Scheme]], they actually pay for the damages to the bar. Or more accurately, they rob the soldiers they had beaten up and use that money to pay for the damages.

 

== Live Action TV ==

* Lampshaded in ''[[Charmed]]''. In Billie's first battle with a demon, she hits an empty seat in a movie theater with a fireball, and wonders, "Now help me out here, I'm new at this. Who pays for that?" But mostly averted with the No Personal Gain rules, the sisters must cover damage done to the home out of their own pocket. They lampshade it by noting one window repair man likes their business.

* Also Lampshaded in ''[[Angel]]'': after a [[Super Window Jump]] he comments that the demons were now good guys who "own a number of restaurants with pretty expensive windows"

** It has also often been lampshaded throughout the show's run. Early on, battles took place in the "abandoned warehouse district", presumably because abandoned warehouses are just ''begging'' to be blown up (or possibly because the city residents wisely abandoned the district when they noticed how often megazord battles took place there). Additionally, one warehouse was apparently still in use, as its smokestack was destroyed [[Stock Footage|every week]] by the Dragonzord, yet it was remarkably [[Reset Button|good as new]] the next week - perhaps they really ''did'' have hero insurance?

** Partial aversion in [[Power Rangers RPM]]. When [[Heroic Sociopath]] [[Creepy Twins]] Gem and Gemma bust down the door to a candystore to stop a petty criminal, they are forced later on to repair the door themselves. They are, however, still off the hook for any damage incurred fighting the minions of the [[Big Bad]], however.

* In ''[[Doctor Who]]'', the Doctor causes destruction and mayhem on a regular basis, on one occasion draining the River Thames, and he ''never'' sticks around to clear up the mess.

** It is kinda hard to charge him for damages considering he can simple escape by jumping around through time and space. Not to mention changing his appearance every now and then.

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* '''''[[GURPS]]''' Powers'' has a table for you to roll on to decide how many dollars of collateral damage were dealt during a fight. It's up to the GM who exactly has to pay for it.

 

* Lan/Netto commits so many felonies during the course of the ''[[Mega Man Battle Network]]'' series that the [[Let's Play]] of it actually harps on the fact.

** It's actually less egregious than other examples because he very rarely breaks physical stuff - Lan mostly sneaks somewhere he is not allowed to be in pursuit of of the current villain. And because he manages to save the day, officials can let it slide.

* In ''Superman Returns'', as Superman is invincible, the life bar is that of collateral damage done to Metropolis. Which is a brilliant idea in a shitty game.

* While the first ''[[Red Faction]]'' was notable for allowing the player to break stuff up to and including the level geometry itself, the [http://www.gametrailers.com/player/48459.html sequel] looks to be taking this to [[Impressive Pyrotechnics|ludicrous]] [[Stuff Blowing Up|extremes]]. Not only does the ultramodern architecture give way like [[Made of Explodium|wet tissue paper]], the protagonist effectively levels an entire city to protect the citizens of said city.

** And the icing on the cake: the game TRACKS how much property damage the Ghostbusters incur.

* Subverted in ''[[Super Paper Mario]]'', where Mario breaks Mimi's vase and is forced to work off the debt for the rest of the chapter - of course, since Mimi is working for the [[Big Bad]], it's all just a scheme.

* Subverted in the [[Excuse Plot]] for ''Stair Dismount'' a.k.a ''Porrasturvat'': The main character is a superhero who has just wrecked the city in a big fight, and has to pay for the damages by commiting insurance fraud. How, you may ask? [[Ragdoll Physics|By pushing himself down a flight of stairs]].

* [[Lampshaded]] in ''[[Marvel Ultimate Alliance]] 2''. A collectible allows the player to hear a commercial for an insurance company that specilizes in superhuman related damages.

* In ''[[Freedom Force]]'', collateral damage incurs a prestige loss. Prestige is used to recruit new superheroes to your team and keep score, and therefore smashing up things too much and letting civilians get KOed will reduce your hiring rate and your high score. There are no other penalties.

* Even though what they do is to take back their cities from bad guys, player tank in ''[[Choro Q|Seek And Destroy]]'' never needs to pay for whatever damage he cause to those cities, and they are miraculously restored right after the hero troop conquer them.

 

* In ''[[Megatokyo]]'' the TPCD takes the part of clean-up and repair after the many scheduled and unscheduled disastrous events in Tokyo. [http://www.megatokyo.com/index.php?strip_id=1069 They even take requests from affected house-owners for changes on rebuild.]

* ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'' has an unorthodox approach to hero insurance. Because the populace acknowledges that McNinja's vigilantism is actually beneficial to the community despite the crimes he commits in the process, he and the police have worked out an agreement: After committing a crime, Dr. McNinja needs only to return to his office and call "base" in order to have his crimes absolved.

* In ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]],'' part of the [[Running Gag]] about Bob's roof repeatedly getting destroyed is that each story arc ends with the roof either getting repaired, or Bob receiving just enough money to repair it.

* In ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' the [[Humongous Mecha|GOFOTRON]] crew doesn't seem to get in any trouble when they slice a [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever|giant broccoli monster]] into pieces, and one of said pieces crushes all the [[Innocent Bystanders]].

 

== Web Original ==

* Averted in the [[Whateley Universe]]. An early story features an English class which specifically mentions that insurance and damage laws have evolved to address superhero-supervillain battles. Also, one of the major purposes of the school is to teach enough self-control that the kids are ''not'' destroying everything in sight while fighting the villain. And finally, in a novel set over Thanksgiving of first term, the kids find out that a brutal battle years ago in New York City has led to the point that everyone at school has to have a Mutant Identification card filled out in a meeting with the Mutant Commission Office, or they can't return to the school.

* Subverted in ''[[The Mad Scientist Wars]]''. Xyon City has an "abandoned warehouse district" that is paid for by a tax on explosives. When old abandoned warehouses are destroyed, new ones are built. The reasoning seems to be that if people are going to blow stuff up, it might as well be in a designated area away from the important stuff. Played straight in that this doesn't always work.

** Contractors in the city give discounts depending on the number of times your house has been destroyed.

* Subverted in a early arc of ''[[How to Succeed In Evil]]''. It is openly stated that Superhero Insurance dosen't exist because it would be too damn expensive. Dosen't stop Edwin from selling {{spoiler|(and by selling we mean threatening into submission)}} it anyways.

 

== Western Animation ==

* Megas in ''[[Megas XLR]]'' regularly destroys significant chunks of the vicinity while he smashes the [[Monster of the Week]]. It's mostly [[Played for Laughs]] since Coop's a loveable buffoon, and the stuff he destroys often has signs that say things like "Conveniently Empty Building" and "We Were Going to Tear This Down Anyway". Plus it takes place in New Jersey, where such destruction might actually serve as an improvement...

** There was an episode where a [[Science Ninja Team Gatchaman|Gatchaman]]/[[Power Rangers|Power Ranger]] [[Expy]] group fought Coop, after watching some videos of his blunders at piloting the robot, under the idea he was a villain. Even the team's own villain thought Coop was evil. They eventually realized Coop is a good guy, just really clumsy, and became allies.

{{quote|'''Citiesville Mayor''': ''At what time'' did it seem like a good idea to blow up the Citiesville Bridge? Do you realize that the bank robbers you captured stole approximately $400? Do you realize you did ''several million dollars'' IN PROPERTY DAMAGE TO THAT BRIDGE?!!"}}

* In the universe of ''[[The Venture Bros]]'', fully-certified membership with the OSI includes a literal license to kill.

* ''[[Danny Phantom]]'': Danny apparently has no Hero Insurance since he actually feels bad about any collateral damage he causes while capturing ghosts, especially when people he knows bear the brunt of it. When he accidentally destroys a section of the mall, Tucker comments, "I sure hope they're insured." This could be either because, or partly why, Amity Park is an [[Untrusting Community]].

{{quote|'''Mayor:''' ''Thank you, mysterious heroes! The value of the Gemerald you saved is slightly greater than the cost of the damage you caused to this museum: A net gain for our great city!''}}

** When The Tick went to Europe for a hero exchange program, he was prevented from [[Roof Hopping]] due to damaging historically important buildings.

** At one point, he's vetoed from starting a fight with a supervillain in the supervillain's evil... Apartment?... On the basis that the supervillain will lose his cleaning deposit if it gets messed up. They decide to go fight on the roof instead.

** At the end of the Marvel/Supes battle, Superman even offers to repay the cost of the damage from the Justice League coffers. Apparently they have a very large stash of money somehow.

*** Squeezing coal into diamonds is one of Supes' powers.

*** Merchandizing. JLA gets royalties for every movie, action figure, poster comic, talk show,etc they do. They actually mention this as one source of income. And then there's Batman using his super computer systems for insider trading through dummy accounts to set up hundreds of discrete accounts they can draw funds from.

* In ''[[Superman: Doomsday]],'' Supes throws Doomsday through a building on more than one occasion, and eventually defeats him by taking him to orbit and slamming him into the ground in the middle of Metropolis hard enough to level the entire block. In real life, Supes would've racked up a higher death toll than all the villains in the movie put together. And he may well have, as this being a direct-to-DVD release rather than a TV episode, people were being explicitly killed in the show...but he was "dead" at that point, and he ''did'' stop Doomsday, who had wiped out entire ''worlds'' on his own.

** To put this in perspective, Metropolis is essentially in the same place as New York City. In the comic arc that this was based on the Justice League engaged Doomsday in central Ohio, and would have been completely wiped out if Superman hadn't shown up when he did. The battle between the two stretched over a third of the country, and left more than a thousand dead in its wake. The government's position was that anything that could take that kind of punishment was a serious enough threat that even losing Metropolis completely would have been a small price for putting it down.

** Also played with a little bit in the live-action movie. In most cartoons, the Transformers trot around human areas with little to no difficulty. The movie shows just how destructive having giant, heavy robots mill about your back yard would be, even if they were trying to be not just careful but stealthy.

** Played with further during one scene showing Optimus Prime running along a busy road; his feet chew giant holes in the tarmac, but he doesn't hit a single car.

** This never came up in the Generation One series because they mostly fought in desert areas and even the city locations didn't have too much collateral damage. But [[Transformers Animated]] tries to balance it out considering the Autobot heroes are occasionally seen helping to put the city back together after a battle. [[Robot Chicken]] had a segment that mocked this trope, however.

* One episode of ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'' had this factor into public opinion about him, with one member of the public complaining that he stepped on her foot and a construction worker complaining he somehow knocked a building out from under him. Not bad, for [[Badass Normal|someone without any actual superpowers]].

* Cyborg from ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' once used a ''building'' against Plasmus. Perhaps [[The Abridged Series]]' line that "This city already has its own destructive jerks - the Teen Titans!" was closer than you'd think.

** And how many cars has Raven telekinetically thrown at villains?

* One of [[Inspector Javert|Commander Feral's]] main points when speaking out against the [[Swat Kats]] to the media is the amount of collateral damage they cause. The Mayor/Deputy Mayor accept that the big [[Villain of the Week]] will cause more damage with the huge mecha/giant spider/ultratank/whatever else if left unchecked. Because the Enforcers can't stop them using Feral's tactics to 'minimize damage'. Not that Feral cares. He's tried to have them arrested several times and tried to hold them accountable for city damage.

* In a radio interview, [[Veggie Tales|Larry-Boy]] complained about how he has a really high insurance deductible, even though most of the things he breaks while fighting crime are only worth about five dollars.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Fight Scene]]

[[Category:Morality Tropes]]