Punch Clock Hero/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: A hero does what he do because of being told.

  • Straight: Bob works for Heroes-R-Us, but he will never take the initiative of saving the world without orders.
  • Exaggerated: Bob works for Heroes-R-Us, but you can rob a bank in front of him, it's not his job to stop this.
  • Justified: If Bob showed initiative, the results would be worse than letting the evil alone.
  • Inverted: Punch Clock Villain
  • Subverted: Bob works for Heroes-R-Us, but if his chief give him no orders when the Big Bad is playing, expect him to unleash himself.
  • Parodied: Eh, Bob, Heroes-R-Us is a serious company! Yes, you will save the world for Doctor Villain. So writes your saving the world plan, 100 pages, and make it approved by all executive directors !
  • Enforced: The production insist that heroes must be a kind of super-police force, no vigilante putting themselves above the laws.

Quittin' time boys! We only had to save the world once today, let's go back to Punch Clock Hero.

Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Punch_Clock_Hero/Playing_With?oldid=529505"