History Main / BeingGoodSucks

* In the season 2 premiere of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Discord gives [[BreakThemByTalking breaking speeches]] to each of the [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicTheManeCast Mane Six]] about how much friendship either sucks and how it's better off to be selfish in the end, right before inverting their personalities to be contrary to their normal selves.

** Zuko just can't catch a break with this trope.

* The ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' example on [[Quotes/BeingGoodSucks the quotes page]] comes from a scene in which Superman compares himself to his KnightTemplar EvilCounterpart from another dimension, and he ''won't'' reduce [[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]] to a splatter across the nearest building for the loss of Franchise/TheFlash. Since the League rescued Flash immediately after that, he could take pride in retrospect at showing how strong he ''really'' is, deep down.

* In the last season of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', Jack is growing tired of his quest to return to the past after having spent 50 years stuck in the {{Bad Future}} [[TheAgeless not having aged a day]] to the point where he even considers suicide to end his misery.

** Kyle always tries to do the right thing, even if it doesn't get him rewarded or gain happiness. It becomes more apparent when Cartman, a sociopath at the age of 10, is involved because despite Kyle hating him with all his heart, he could never let Cartman suffer from his own stupid actions and wants to at least see him do the right thing once in his life.
** Several of [[TheyKilledKennyAgain Kenny's deaths]] were {{heroic sacrifice}}s done to save the lives of others, but that doesn't change the fact that he [[ImmortalityHurts feels and remembers the pain of dying]] [[WhoWantsToLiveForever each and every time]].

* In the season 2 premiere of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Discord gives [[BreakThemByTalking breaking speeches]] to each of the Mane Six about how much friendship either sucks and how it's better off to be selfish in the end, right before inverting their personalities to be contrary to their normal selves.

** The crux of Steven's character throughout the show. While he starts off as a comical, somewhat obnoxious goof that's focused on having fun with the Gems and easily gets distracted, he gradually gains an understanding of how serious his missions actually are - first as he struggles to replicate even the most basic powers the other Gems can do, then as he attempts to harness his unique abilities shared by his mother. He displays doubts that he won't be able to live up to the reputation of his mother, especially as she was the leader of the Crystal Gems during the war. Throughout Season 1, he gains maturity as he tries to find a balance between his responsibility and finding time for fun, but after the season finale, he starts to come to terms that the enemy might not be so easy to deal with after he's captured by Jasper and is forced to watch as his friend Lapis Lazuli sacrifices herself to keep Jasper from hurting him. Season 2 shows that he's sadly become all too aware of the Gems' HeroWorship of Rose and that he starts to believe he really might be his mother and they might blame him for not being around. He learns of the horrific Gem experiments conducted by Homeworld and the frightening amounts of BodyHorror and near the end of the season starts to lose faith in Peridot, who he thought he could help to overcome her prejudices and backwards mindset. Thankfully he's proven right, but it's still a struggle to consider that there's some people he might be unable to save. Season 3 has him being forced to confront the horror of the Cluster as their thousands of fragmented minds psychically scream for help, learning to help Lapis with her deep-seated self-hatred and mental scars, and later come into conflict with an old Crystal Gem who tries to kill him over the ethics of war because of one of his mother's dark secrets. If that weren't enough, Jasper and a Homeworld Ruby can't be reasoned with and he has no way to save them, in the latter case having to strand her in space to survive, and they blame him for the [[spoiler:apparent]] death of Pink Diamond, who once again was because of Rose. If all that weren't enough, Season 4 shows that he suffers from mental trauma as he has flashbacks that he was unable to save Bismuth, Jasper, and Ruby, and feels guilt that a pacifist like him has no choice but to do darker things when an enemy refuses help. By now, he's had to go through immensely stressful situations, and, while not lacking his enthusiasm or desire to do good, it's cost him his innocence and is a far cry from the child he once was at the beginning of the series.
** Played with in Keystone Motel. When Garnet defuses due to Ruby and Sapphire disagreeing on how to deal with Pearl tricking them into fusing, Sapphire says they need to forgive Pearl for the good of the group while Ruby is frustrated that they always have to be 'the bigger Gem'.
** After [[spoiler: Peridot]] cements her HeelFaceTurn, she spends the next couple of hours descending into madness born of fear and confusion over her defection from Yellow Diamond. She admits it's hard for her not to have some lingering feelings for the place she came from, but thankfully she got over it.

* The [[Creator/MarquisDeSade]]'s [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justine_(de_Sade_novel) most famous novel]] is literally subtitled ''The Misfortunes of Virtue.''

* The [[UsefulNotes/MarquisDeSade]]'s [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justine_(de_Sade_novel) most famous novel]] is literally subtitled ''The Misfortunes of Virtue.''

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justine_(de_Sade_novel) The Marquis de Sade's most famous novel]] is literally subtitled ''The Misfortunes of Virtue.''

--->'''Wildcat:''' This life ain't for you, Green-Eyes. Everybody hates ya, you got no life of yer own, and ya could end up arthritic and crippled.

** Since a young age, Metro Man has always been known to have powers and his foster parents raised him to use them to help others. Now as an adult, after years of continually fighting his nemesis Megamind, Metro Man's belief in this trope led to him [[spoiler:[[FakingTheDead faking his own death]] so that he could finally get a chance to live his own life]]. However, he is aware of the struggles that Megamind is going through and deduces that Megamind has enough potential to take responsibility and become the town's new hero, which actually happens in the end.
** [[spoiler:Hal]] also comes to this conclusion. [[spoiler:After Roxanne rejects his advances, he decides that there's no real reward in using his new superpowers for good and chooses to become a villain instead. Of course, this conclusion wouldn't have been reached if he would find ''anything'' else than Roxanne's affections rewarding. And even if he didn't enjoy making the world a better place on its own, for someone with god-like powers and half a brain this shouldn't be that hard; unfortunately for everyone, [[StupidEvil he doesn't even have that half]]]].

* Big Ears from ''Webcomic/{{Goblins}}'': puts it best.

* Being responsible for someone else's wellbeing. The hero may try to help people but do so much that it harms the other person instead, all because the hero believed they were doing the right thing and were trying to help. As harsh as it is, the hero must learn that they aren't responsible for someone else's happiness and they can't fix everything.

* ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar II - Chaos Rising'' has this as a gameplay mechanic. Keeping your squad pure from corruption means that you need to refrain from equipping the best weapons in the game as those tend to be tainted with the power of Chaos. The missions will also have conditions that needs to be done if you want the squad to avoid or lose Chaos corruption. Most of the time, those conditions will wind up making the missions harder than it needs to be. Finally, if you manage to keep your squad free of corruption, [[spoiler: [[TheMole the traitor]] will be Martellus rather than any of your squad members. That sounds good until you realize that [[ThatOneBoss he is one of the hardest bosses in the game if not the entire series]]]].

-->'''Trevor''': We spent a couple of months living ''your'' life: [[KnightErrant adventures]] and [[KnightInShiningArmor victories]]. Now... we're living '''[[KnightInSourArmor my]]''''' life.

-->'''Trevor''': We spent a couple of months living ''' your'' life: [[KnightErrant adventures]] and [[KnightInShiningArmor victories]]. Now... we're living '''[[KnightInSourArmor my]]''''' life.

** Since a young age, Metro Man has always been known to have powers and his foster parents raised him to use them to help others. Now as an adult, after years of continually fighting his nemesis Megamind, Metro Man's belief in this trope led to him [[spoiler:[[FakingTheDead faking his own death]] so that he could finally get a chance to live his own life]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': At any point, Batman could give up his identity and live the easy life as Bruce Wayne. Instead, he goes out, night after night, fighting everything from common thugs to a MonsterClown to gods.

* ''Comicbook/{{Daredevil}}'' Daredevil's life is even ''worse than Spider-Man's'' because his job as both a crime-fighter and lawyer has given him nothing but pain. Being good sucks, but it really, really sucks when you fight crime with both identities in "Hell's Kitchen".

* Franchise/SpiderMan: Spider-Man is the best of the good guys ''because'' he always has the option of walking away. He can just throw away his costume and live in obscurity whenever he chooses, but he doesn't. He accepts that the good he does is worth the price he pays and fights the good fight. It's slightly masochistic, really but [[ChronicHeroSyndrome it's not his fault.]]
* Comicbook/{{Daredevil}}'s life is even ''worse than Spider-Man's'' because his job as both a crime-fighter and lawyer has given him nothing but pain. Being good sucks, but it really, really sucks when you fight crime with both identities in "Hell's Kitchen".
* The Comicbook/XMen protect a world that fears and hates them. This is why The Brotherhood never wants for recruits.
* ''Comicbook/DoomPatrol''. The world thinks they're freaks, the other superheroes think they're strange, and they have the ''highest fatality rate'' of any hero team in the DCU. No less than three of the team's incarnations have died.
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}''. Sure, he has better publicity than Spider-Man [[spoiler:except for the government conspiracy that wants to kill him and all of his people]] and most of his friends and family are still around (except for Pa Kent), but deep down [[IJustWantToBeNormal he really just wants to be Clark Kent]]. Like Spider-Man, he ''could'' just leave the Superman identity behind and live his life -- if he could ignore the screams for help his super-hearing picks up ''[[SamaritanSyndrome every minute of every day]]''.[[note]]This could be debated, as any time Clark has [[BroughtDownToNormal lost his powers]], he almost never dealt with it well. It would be more accurate to say he wishes for a world where Superman isn't needed.[[/note]]
* Superman had powers since he was a child, but Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} was a normal, fifteen-year-old girl until she arrived on Earth. She remembers having a normal life and [[https://maidofmight.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/superman-282_01.jpg she just wants to be a normal girl again]], free from the pressure and the burdens of having super-powers. And she often feels she isn't good or worthy enough to be a hero. Several times she has wanted to give up her Supergirl identity but she can not stop herself from helping people.
* This is one of the major themes of ''ComicBook/SinCity''. Every protagonist goes through crap and sometimes has to forfeit his life in order to do the right thing.
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'': At any point, he could give up his identity and live the easy life as Bruce Wayne. Instead, he goes out, night after night, fighting everything from common thugs to a MonsterClown to gods.

* John Constantine the ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}'' is a KnightInSourArmor. When there's a time that he's being a goody-good shoes, the world fucks him. Not only that, his friends, that sometimes joins him in his goodly crusades, get fucked too.
%%* The opening narration of ''ComicBook/ForeverEvil2013'' Issue 1, provided courtesy of Lex Luthor, takes this tone. This changes by the end of the issue when the Crime Syndicate takes charge.
* The ComicBook/{{Runaways}} have spent several years serving as Los Angeles' only significant superhero presence, protecting the area against aliens, monsters, and the occasional supervillain. And what is their reward? [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] has repeatedly tried to shut them down, and once managed to drive them out of Los Angeles, not to mention [[DepartmentOfChildDisservices repeated harassment by social services]].
* Harry Ebbing, an arc villain from ''ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX'' is an [[CorruptCorporateExecutive energy tycoon of loose morals]] who is nevertheless beloved by all his employees for the [[AFatherToHisMen generous salaries and benefits he gives all his workers and his insistence on personally addressing any of the problems they bring to him.]] When one of Harry's employees threatens to get the FBI involved over a scheme to black out the state of Florida to create a local monopoly, his [[TheStarscream second-in-command]] has the employee beaten and anally raped by street punks, which sets The Punisher on their tail. The whistleblower returns to throw himself at his boss' mercy and is promptly forgiven.

* A back-up story, "The Day the Strangers Came", in ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' Volume 1, Annual #19 (July 1990), has a HeroWorshipper named Hubie who discovers the people staying at his parents' bed-and-breakfast are actually the Avengers. He rushes to tell his brother this, only to discover his brother is the leader of the terrorist group the heroes are trying to locate, and he's planning on nuking Los Angeles and New York City. With a heavy heart, he goes into the guests' room and confesses what he's learned. Then, as the radio gives a news report about the Avengers thwarting the terrorist threat, he sadly goes to his room, puts away his super-hero costume, and takes down all of his super-hero posters.
-->''It's not that he doesn't like the Avengers anymore; He still does... And it's not that he won't do the right thing— the heroic thing— if it falls to him again. He just won't look forward to it anymore. That's all.''
* [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in ''ComicBook/{{Invincible}}''. After teaming up with the AntiVillain Titan, Mark suggests a HeelFaceTurn to him. Titan, being surprisingly GenreSavvy, explains that being a supervillain is easier than a hero as they face less risk since [[ThouShaltNotKill superheroes rarely kill]], EvilPaysBetter, and when they actually do get caught [[CardboardPrison people with superpowers rarely stay imprisoned long]].
* Big time in ''ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck''. Scrooge does his best to strike it big without compromising his honesty or sense of fair play. Time and time again, this ends with him getting cheated out of everything he earns until he finally snaps and tosses his moral code out the window. Then we get a look at the [[BeingEvilSucks flipside]] of this trope; Scrooge's descent into bitterness and cruelty drives away his family and leaves him alone for decades.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', Earl Cooper was a car engineer for [[BlandNameProduct Global Motors]]. He reported a design flaw in one of their cars to the board of directors. [[CorruptCorporateExecutive However, they refused to remove the product from the market on their lawyers' advice.]] Earl was determined to talk to the authorities as lives were at stake. The executives sent a bunch of thugs to silence him, but thankfully Batman saved him. Earl's testimony then rocked Global Motors in a massive scandal. Years later, Earl found himself out of a job because he got a reputation as a whistleblower.

* ''Film/DemonKnight'': Alright, let's pro/con the Demon Knight thing. Pro: you're TheChosenOne with a greatly prolonged lifespan. Cons: ...you're ''constantly'' on the run and when your time is up you'll have to pick a successor dooming them to continue this chase. Oh, and EvilOnlyHasToWinOnce and if it does, it'd be a universal-scale CosmicHorrorStory apocalypse.

* [[Film/SchindlersList Oskar Schindler]], [[GuileHero due to his way with people]], managed to shelter over 1200 Jews during UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust by claiming they were "essential workers" at his enamel factory. He saved all of them from suffering and death. Unfortunately this bankrupted him, and he lived on charity from the people he saved.

** This trope is notably subverted in the prequel novella series, ''Literature/TalesOfDunkAndEgg''. Dunk, who would later be known as Ser Duncan the Tall, assaults a Targaryen prince [[HonorBeforeReason in spite of the consequences]] for savagely beating an innocent woman. For this, he expects to be reviled by everyone for attacking one of royal blood, but to his surprise, both the smallfolk and several nobles rally in support of him for remembering his knightly vow to defend the innocent. They do everything in their power to help him in the ensuing trial by combat, some by providing him with better equipment on the cheap, others by volunteering to fight alongside him during the trial.

** This trope is notably subverted in the prequel novella series, ''Literature/TalesOfDunkAndEgg''. Dunk, who would later be known as Ser Duncan the Tall, assaults a Targaryen prince for savagely beating an innocent woman. For this, he expects to be reviled by everyone for attacking one of royal blood, but to his surprise, both smallfolk and several nobles rally in support of him for remembering his knightly vow to defend the innocent. They do everything in their power to help him in the ensuing trial by combat, some by providing him with better equipment on the cheap, others by volunteering to fight alongside him during the trial.

** This trope is notably subverted in the prequel novel, ''Literature/TalesOfDunkAndEgg''. Dunk, who would later be known as Ser Duncan the Tall, assaults a Targaryen prince for savagely beating an innocent woman. For this, he expects to be reviled by everyone for attacking one of royal blood, but to his surprise, both smallfolk and several nobles rally in support of him for remembering his knightly vow to defend the innocent. They do everything in their power to help him in the ensuing trial by combat, some by providing him with better equipment on the cheap, others by volunteering to fight alongside him during the trial.

** This trope is notably subverted in the prequel novel, ''Literature/TheTalesOfDunkAndEgg''. Dunk, who would later be known as Ser Duncan the Tall, assaults a Targaryen prince for savagely beating an innocent woman. For this, he expects to be reviled by everyone for attacking one of royal blood, but instead, both smallfolk and several nobles rally in support of him for remembering his knightly vow to protect the innocent. They do everything in their power to help him win the ensuing trial by combat, some by providing him with better equipment on the cheap, others by volunteering to fight alongside him during the trial.