What Is One Man's Life in Comparison?: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

'''Fry:''' But it was ''my'' life!|''[[Futurama]]'', "The Why Of Fry"}}

 

== Film ==

* In the ''[[Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen]]'', Megatron asks this of Optimus Prime when they are fighting over the knowledge implanted in Sam Witwicky's brain by a shard of the Allspark. Optimus knows better, though.

'''Optimus:''' You'll never stop at one. }}

* In ''[[Stranger Than Fiction]]'', the protagonist is told that he should allow the writer to kill him off, as the contribution to the world's literature as a whole is more important than his own life. It's implied that he {{spoiler|ultimately decides to sacrifice himself, not to for literature's sake, but to save a little boy. This ends up prompting the writer to rethink her whole approach.}}

== Live Action Television ==

* In the ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' episode ''In The Pale Moonlight'' [[Retired Monster|Garak]] kills a bunch of people for [[Utopia Justifies the Means|the greater good]], and then, when [[The Captain|The Sisko]] objects, gives this little speech:

* In ''[[Doctor Who]]'', the Doctor leaves a lot of people as necessary victims of history, time or (in)convenience, sometimes directly against their will. He gets the other part of the rope in ''[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S4 E17 E18 The End of Time|The End Of Time]]'', where he [[Screw Destiny|revolts against destiny]] as being more important and having the power to do much more before {{spoiler|entering into the ready-to-kill chamber}}.

** And occasionally, and memorably, he'll absolutely ''refuse'' to make the sacrifice: one example is Pete Tyler, Rose's father, whose rescue from his would-be death upsets the timestream to the point that the entire planet is apparently on the brink of destruction, and the Doctor ''refuses'' to kill Pete again--even at the cost of his own life.

== Web Comics ==

* In ''[[Marilith]]'', one corrupt cop says this about letting [[Psycho for Hire|Valentino]] <ref>who's busy killing other gangs</ref> roam free:

 

 

* In the ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'' episode "The Last Patrol!" The Doom Patrol are forced to let a single hostage die at the hands of General Zahl to save the millions of people in Paris. The trauma of this caused the Patrol to split up. They are brought back again, this time with the General threatening to destroy an island fishing village if the Patrol don't take the places of its people. This time, they DO make the sacrifice--and Zahl kills them. However, since their deaths are broadcast over the world's airwaves, this final sacrifice causes them to be admired all the world over. Zahl is forced to admit to himself that because of this, even in Death, the Doom Patrol had beaten him once again. The island's people rename it "Four Heroes."

* In ''[[Justice League]]'', J'onn Jonzz, the [[Martian Manhunter]] really seemed to have taken to using this trope. When Doctor Fate attempted to reason with AMAZO, who had been walking all over the entire League, J'onn pulled this trope. And Fate's response?

** The next time was when [[New Gods|Mister Miracle]]'s friend Oberon was kidnapped by Granny Goodness and Miracle asked help from the League. J'onn refused because it would only help to put order into Apokolips, thus risking them turning their attention to Earth. Apparently he thought Flash wasn't looking at the big picture when he wanted to help. Flash thought the league was all about helping.