This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself: Difference between revisions

* This is an incredibly common trope in comic books. The comic's titular star will be facing an incredible threat, and it is only logical that other heroes would show up to help. However, that would remove the limelight from the star and make every comic into a "team" book. Therefore, writers are constantly having to invent reasons why a heroes' buddies are not available or cannot participate in the fight. The really lazy ones use this excuse. Notable incidents follow:

* Carried to a ludicrous extreme in ''Green Lantern: Rebirth.'' Five Green Lanterns have to battle Parallax, the incredibly powerful, world-destroying embodiment of Fear. The entire Justice League shows up, and is involved in the story, but they let the Green Lanterns fight because ''they must do this alone.''

* Done in the climax of ''[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]]'' [[Story Arc]] ''Kang Dynasty'': Cap agrees to a one-on-one fight with Kang to conclude the war, with Thor preventing their teammates from interfering, citing this trope. The heroes protest vehemently, claiming that a monster like Kang deserves a group beatdown and not an honorable fight. Thor replies that its one-on-one not out of respect, but because Cap alone would be sufficient.

* [http://comicbookdb.com/graphics/comic_graphics/1/79/3093_20060529105915_large.jpg This X-Men cover].