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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"This is obviously an example of vigilantism at its worst."''
''"I'd call it vigilantism at its '''best'''!"''
|'''[[The Tick (animation)|The Tick]]''' has trouble in court}}
Superheroes can get away with everything... unless they live in a [[Deconstruction]] of superhero stories. A lawyer can sooner or later bring the [[Big Damn Heroes]] to court for blowing up the [[Supervillain Lair|villain's fortress]] (destruction of property), killing his [[Mooks|henchmen]] (numerous cases of murder) and stealing the [[MacGuffin|Ancient Long-Lost Powerful]] [[Buffy-Speak|Mysterious Thingie]] of the [[Precursors|Ancients]] (thievery. What? It was stolen by the villain in the first place? Well, prove it.) The heroes will try to explain the heroic nature of those crimes, but such arguments will quickly and inevitably get ignored by the lawyer. No [[Hero Insurance]] for them.
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[[Frivolous Lawsuit]] is a subset of this.
{{noreallife|at least, not until we have evidence of superheroes in Real Life.}}
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
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* The new ''[[She Hulk]]'' series likes to play with this one too, with Jennifer Walters (AKA the She-Hulk) being a lawyer for a firm that specializes in superhero cases.
* Played with earlier in the ''[[Damage Control]]'' series.
* The entire Marvel Universe has taken on this attitude recently, what with their apparent anger at all the superheroes for not letting
== [[Film]] ==
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* On a less humorous note, at the start of ''[[The Incredibles]]'', Mr Incredible is sued by a man who was trying to commit suicide and who got whiplash when Mr Incredible saved him. This catalyzes a chain reaction which results in ''all'' superheroes being seen as a liability and forced into retirement.
** Of course, since suicide is illegal, [[Fridge Logic|this scenario doesn't really make sense.]]
* On a ''more'' humorous note, ''[[Ghostbusters]] 2''.
* In ''[[The Return of Captain Invincible]]'', the titular hero retired and crawled inside a bottle as a result of such a lawsuit. Among the crimes listed were his [[Underwear of Power]].
== [[Literature]] ==
* [[Discworld]]:
** In the
*** In fairness, any lawsuit against the Feegle would be ''totally justified.'' Don't bother nailing things down; all that means is that they'll rob you of some nails too.
** Lampshaded in the
* ''[[Kitty Norville|Kitty Takes a Holiday]]'' has a dramatic example after a guy in a [[Badass Longcoat]] blows half of an evil [[Our Werewolves Are Different|skinwalker]]'s face off to [[Shoot the Dog|put it out of its misery]], after it was already mortally wounded. This saves the pretty heroine, her lover, a police officer, and a couple civilians. Traditional end to a werewolf story, right? [[Your Princess Is in Another Castle|We're only two-thirds through the book]]; the [[Badass]] has just been arrested for murder because the final bullet constituted excessive force. (Not so much [[Hollywood Law]] as a combination of [[Dirty Cop]], [[Amoral Attorney]], and [[Fantastic Racism]].)
** Played for laughs in the previous book, where a tape of Kitty {{spoiler|being forced to transform in a prison cell after being kidnapped}} gets her fined by the FCC because {{spoiler|her breasts were briefly visible mid-transformation.}} Talk about your [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|screwed-up priorities...]]
* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]'', Harry is repeatedly being sued by talk show host Larry Fowler for allegedly damaging his studio during an interview. Fortunately, the suit never really gets anywhere, as not only does Harry have a good lawyer (thanks to the fact that he found the lawyer's daughter's lost pet), but the argument that "the wizard fried my studio's electronics via magic by being near them" likely earned a few stern glares from the judge. Sometimes, the [[Extra-Strength Masquerade]] is ''useful.''
** ''Un''fortunately, Fowler just keeps trying, book after book. Even when Harry doesn't lose the case, all the court fees pile up.
* Deconstructed in ''[[Hench]]'': When the protagonist isn't able to take the superhero who crippled her to court, she pleads her case online, in the court of public opinion. This brings the matter to the public's attention - and paints a target on her back.
== [[
* In ''[[Get Fuzzy]]'', Bucky sues Fungo for knocking out two of his teeth. However, he was trying to catch Fungo in a snare trap at the time, so Judge Judy ruled in the favor of the defendant.▼
* In the same vein, the boys from ''[[Supernatural]]'' have quite the rap sheet. Murder, grave desecration, theft, evading the law, breaking out of custody, assault, breaking and entering, etc. etc... All in the course of fighting the supernatural; demons don't mind dirty tricks, after all.
** To be fair, the murder, kidnapping and armed robbery are [[Not What It Looks Like]]. The credit card fraud, grave desecration and impersonating federal agents... OK, those they're actually guilty of. Although the grave desecration is often self defense or defense of another. Hard to argue that in court, though.
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* At one point in ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', Peter Petrelli is sued by a man who claims that Peter injured him while saving him from a bus crash. However, the man drops the lawsuit as soon as he's accomplished his real objective: meeting Peter.
* Probably the best episode of the live action adaptation of ''[[The Tick (animation)]]'' involved the titular character having a nuclear weapon removed as evidence against Destroyo because he took it without a warrant.
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
▲* In ''[[Get Fuzzy]]'', Bucky sues Fungo for knocking out two of his teeth. However, he was trying to catch Fungo in a snare trap at the time, so Judge Judy ruled in
== [[Video Games]] ==
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== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[The
** Additionally, two villains (a mind flayer, and Drizz't Do'Urden knock-off Zz'dtri) are pulled away from the comic by lawyers for violating copyrights.
** And Belkar used it to great effect against the [[Jerkass]] Paladin Miko in [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0228.html this strip]
** Subverted by Windstriker's restraining order, however
* In [http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=970908 this
* ''[[
** Their [https://web.archive.org/web/20080928075320/http://home1.gte.net/~cpq2ts42/iw_crime.html collective criminal record] is also pretty impressive.
* The entire premise of ''[[Jailhouse Blues]]'' is that Dr. Wily hired a lawyer and had criminal charges filed against Megaman for the destruction of his fortress oh so many times, which ends up landing Megaman in jail.
* ''[[
* ''[[Van Von Hunter]]'' is arrested and put on trial early on for murdering a local vampire. The maiden Von Hunter tried to rescue is also arrested, as an accomplice. It is, of course, a [[Kangaroo Court]].
* Finn from ''[[Deverish Also]]'' accidentally activated a [[Cool Gate]] which sucked him and everything else nearby into another world. Meaning he vanished, along with a company van and a whole bunch of warehouse inventory, and the warehouse itself was leveled. The Earth police and company staff aren't exactly pleased with him.
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** [[Fridge Logic|Note: Lake Erie has no international waters.]] It's all either U.S. or Canadian. (Ditto for Lake St. Clair.) Of course, the show is set in the early 22nd century, so things may have changed.
* In the ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' episode "Krabs vs. Plankton", Plankton sues Mr. Krabs after Plankton slips on a wet floor without any signs to warn him. The reparation Plankton seeks? Everything Krabs owns, including the secret Krabby Patty formula. In Plankton's defense, instead of Krabs helping him up or offering to call 911, all he does is basically sit there and verbally abuse Plankton for getting injured. In Krabs' defense, the floor is wet ''because it is on the bottom of the ocean''. In Plankton's defense, this is ''[[SpongeBob]]'', which doesn't follow the normal rules of what water is, and there's water underwater and water is air and... well, it's confusing. In Krabs' defense, Plankton wasn't all that seriously injured anyway, he was just faking it to try to win the lawsuit.
* In an episode of ''[[Yin Yang Yo!
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[[Category:Artistic License Law]]
[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]
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