Self-Restraint: Difference between revisions

* 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.

 

== [[Film]] ==