Self-Restraint: Difference between revisions
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* One of the first superhuman villains [[Spider-Man]] fought (established via [[Retcon]] in ''[[Untold Tales of Spider-Man]]'') was David Lowell, called Sundown by the superhuman community. A [[Freak Lab Accident]] granted him powers on the cosmic scale, including super-strength (potentially rivaling the Hulk's), flight, durability, energy projection, instant healing abilities, the ability to grow to giant size (better than Hank Pym) and teleportation. But gaining these powers also sent him into a pain-induced rage that threatened to level New York. When Spidey showed up, nothing the hero could do could so much as scratch him. Then [[The Avengers]] , [[The Fantastic Four]], the [[X-Men]] and various other New York heroes showed up to help. Nothing ''they'' could muster could [[No Sell|so much as scratch him!]] ("He even stood up to Thor!" Peter relates to Mary Jane in a present-day story. "''To Thor!'' Can you imagine?") Eventually, a young girl who had admired him pleaded with him to stop, and in his rage, he turned an energy blast on her, only stopping when he saw [[My God, What Have I Done?|who he had just injured.]] A later story details that he plead guilty, and while breaking out of jail for him would have been easier than most other villains who had, he would not, staying out of guilt until he was paroled ten years later, [[The Atoner|still hating himself.]] Ironically, Spidey seemed far more willing to forgive than he was to forgive himself; while he redeemed himself, he scoffed at the idea of using his powers heroically, [[Refusal of the Call|feeling New York wouldn't accept an ex-con hero]].
* One of the oddest crimefighters in [[The Golden Age of Comic Books]] (and one of the oddest examples of this Trope) was #711, created by George Brenner, the creator of the Clock, the first hero in comics to adopt the [[Coat, Hat, Mask]] style. #711 was originally an attorney named Daniel Dyce who decided to do an extraordinary favor for his friend Jacob Horn after the latter is arrested for murder. Dyce confesses to Horn's alleged crimes (it is never truly revealed whether Horn is guilty or not) so Horn can visit his wife, who is about to give birth to her son. Horn promises to turn himself in later and recant Dyce's confession, and he intends to keep this promise, but in a bizarre twist, he's killed in a car accident while going to do so. With nobody to clear him, Dyce is convicted and sentenced to life in prison, but in another bizarre twist, he accidentally discovers a forgotten tunnel underneath the prison, allowing easy access to the outside and easily escape. But he also realizes he has nowhere to go if he does escape. With the ability to go to and from prison as he pleases, he decides to make his own Coat, Hat, Mask identity and fight crime using his prison ID as his nom de plume. This eventually pays off in his favor, as prison gossip often clues him in on criminal schemes, and a lot of crooks he brings down end up in the same prison.
* In ''[[Spider-Gwen]]'', Ghost Spider spends a full arc corrupted by the venom symbiote, committing many evil acts under its influence. When finally freed from it, she takes the [[With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility]] axiom to the logical conclusion, turning herself in, refusing a plea bargain, ''and'' rejecting [[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]]'s offer of [[Boxed Crook]] activities. She even goes so far as to keep quiet about assaults from the other inmates. Ironically, this all works for her benefit in the end, because upon release, the public and the press - even J. Jonah Jameson, whose attitude towards Ghost Spider was pretty much the same as his Earth-616 counterpart is to Spider-Man - has a much higher opinion of her from that point on.
* [[Silver Sable]] was in a situation similar to Gwen in issue #30 of her own series. Sable had never denied that her methods skirted the line of what is legal and ethical, using the justification of being a [[Nazi Hunter]] that her victims were deserving of such treatment, and she was usually correct. Such was then that her mark was Ivan Trefkov, a war criminal who had killed her mother, crippled her father, regarded by her uncle as someone who was “more evil than Hitler”, who “did not deserve to breathe life, did not deserve to die with mercy”... You get the idea, he was a monster. And Sable did not show him mercy; she murdered him in cold blood, and in the aftermath, [[What Have I Become?| felt she had gone farther over the line]] [[Those Who Fight Monsters| than she had ever dared to before]]. Thus when she was arrested and jailed on charges of murder (it seems Ivan had some powerful friends) she refused to try to escape from Riker’s Island or even fight the charges. Even when charges were dropped (by the “request” of her [[Manipulative Bastard]] of an ex-husband, The Foreigner) she spent several issues trying to come to terms with what she had done and whether she had become as much a criminal as those she had fought.
== [[Film]] ==
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** Hornblower ends up being exchanged early as a result though, and promoted to Lieutenant.
* A couple of [[Orson Scott Card]]'s ''Tales of Alvin Maker'' books have done this. Alvin can pretty much go wherever he wants, whenever he wants, but allowed himself to be kept imprisoned twice, though I seem to recall he eventually broke out the second time because there was an emergency.
* In J.R.R. Tolkien's ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', Merry and Pippin get captured by the Uruk-Hai, manage to free themselves and then keep wearing their bonds while they wait for the right moment to escape.
** Subverted when Frodo is captured - Tolkien makes no mention of any sort of restraint on him AND his guards have almost completely annihilated one another, but seeing as he's malnourished, in mental anguish from being separated from the Ring, and also sick from Shelob's poison, he is unable to escape.
* Subverted in ''[[Arsène Lupin]] in Prison'' as there's no question that Lupin is guilty or could easily escape. The only reason he stays in prison is so he is able to pull off a caper that could only be done if he were in prison. In the next story ''The Escape of [[Arsène Lupin]]'' his first escape from prison is part of a plan for particularly spectacular escape.
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* In ''[[Breath of Fire]]'', you encounter Karn for the first time when you get thrown in jail. He's sleeping there. Bug him enough and he'll open the doors so you can escape... then go back to sleep.
* In ''[[Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World]]'', Izoold has been damaged by several acts of arson. The man in jail for these crimes is {{spoiler|Regal Bryant, wearing his trademark shackles.}} After you clear his name, he is released from jail, whereupon he immediately breaks his shackles and suggests that Izoold use a stronger brand {{spoiler|(from the Lezareno company, natch).}}
** Regal did this in earlier in ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'', using a [[
* In ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'', Rinoa surrenders herself to be imprisoned and have her sorceress powers sealed in order to prevent the [[Big Bad]] from being able to possess her. [[Always Save the Girl|Then Squall breaks her back out anyway,]] but it was a nice thought.
* In ''[[Dragon Age: Origins]]'', assuming the Warden does not try to fight Ser Cauthrien, she arrests the Warden (and Alistair, if he's in the part) and detains them in a prison cell. Should the player then take the option to attempt escape on their own, it proves almost laughably easy. However, the player can instead enact this Trope and wait for the other party members to attempt a jailbreak, in which case the player's control shifts to them - given how ''fun'' both options are, it's almost regrettable that you can't choose both.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* [[Miss Dynamite]] from the
* ''[[Girl Genius]]'' had Tarvek strapped into a strange contraption with spikes and knives, begging for help. It turns out {{spoiler|he wanted to know the other party's loyalties, and be ignored as helpless if a fight erupts. When it's over, he just makes the "torture device" release him, stretches and proceeds to the next stage of his plan}}.
** In one arc Agatha is posing as a convicted murderer because [[Genius Loci|the prison]] ''itself'' is the latest [[Plot Coupon]].
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