| abstract
| - While Villains often face terrible fates, the life of a hero isn't always a happy one either, for No Good Deed Goes Unpunished. This Sub-Trope of No Good Deed Goes Unpunished pits two heroes against each other. The trope starts with a bad thing about to happen. Maybe local supervillain Alice is about to rob a bank. Superbob suddenly appears and asks her to stop. A fistfight ensues and Carol the cop arrives. She arrests Superbob and Alice goes free. Note that it doesn't count if the authorities are themselves evil. In other words, normally Bob would expect Carol to help him, but as far as Carol is concerned, Bob was the villain. He might be charged with anything from Police Brutality to attempted murder to a charge that had nothing to do with the incident. Sometimes the issue is resolved in a Kangaroo Court and the hero is given Soap Opera Justice. Compare Crime of Self Defense, Police Brutality Gambit, Why Did You Make Me Hit You?, Wounded Gazelle Gambit. There can be any number of reasons for the decision to arrest the hero:
* The arresting officer might turn out to actually be a Corrupt Cop, Jerkass, Bad Cop, Incompetent Cop, etc.
* It might be normal in that setting, because:
* Police Are Useless.
* In a setting where Black and White Morality holds, the hero Can't Get Away with Nuthin' because he's the hero. It's OK for the villain to be naughty, because he's BAD, but the hero has to be held to a higher standard because he's a role model.
* The hero in question is Lord Error-Prone, the series' Butt Monkey, etc.
* The authorities are honestly concerned that the hero might:
* become a Knight Templar if he's allowed to continue playing vigilante.
* harm the villain before he's had a chance to talk.
* actually be guilty of Police Brutality.
* be a Destructive Savior, inflicting massive property damage because there's no such thing as Hero Insurance.
* The police are honestly concerned that arresting the villain will backfire, because:
* The police will be accused of having a double standard if they ignore the hero's questionable methods.
* The villain will likely be acquitted without airtight evidence.
* The villain is known to be a Villain with Good Publicity, Magnificent Bastard, etc., and they suspect the villain will use his arrest to his advantage somehow.
* Often it's a simple case of bad timing. The cops never actually saw the villain do anything wrong, they have only the hero's word that it was the villain who broke into the Elaborate Underground Base.
* If the perpetrator is a Superhero and on the wrong side of a Super Registration Act, this is pretty much inevitable to happen at some point or another.
* The authorities are not in on the Masquerade, and don't believe that the person the hero attacked was a demon or an evil cultist or what have you.
* It is a Crapsack World. Examples of Arrested for Heroism include:
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