In some movies, the protagonist is less of a ‘hero’ and more of ‘someone who’s saving others from something he or she caused in the first place’. Everything becomes far less heroic when the so-called good guy is merely cleaning up after themselves. Below are such movies.

Thor: Thor 2 – The Dark World

Thor drops the hero ball pretty hard in this movie. Malekith, the main villain can only win if he gets a specific item (the Aether) before a specific time (before the Convergence ends). All Thor has to do is wait for the Convergence to be over and the day is saved. He can then enact his plan of revenge with Loki, using Jane as bait, and live happily ever after. Instead Thor chooses to do the plan immediately and puts the entire universe in danger because of it.

It gets really silly when you realize that Malekith isn’t going anywhere. Once the convergence is over, he’s likely still going to be waiting in the same spot, in the same realm, looking for another way to take over. If Thor times it so that he shows up (with Loki in tow) even a minute or so after the Convergence, that’d solve everything. Instead he shows some of that bull-headedness and arrogance that got him kicked out of Asgard in the first place, got all of his friends to commit various levels of treason, and takes about a thousand more risks than he needs to.

So when he’s saving the universe from Malekith and the total darkness that he wants to bring, that’s actually all Thor’s fault anyways. A little bit of patience and he could’ve had his cake and eaten it too (avenged his mother’s death WITHOUT putting the rest of the universe in danger). It’s almost troubling that someone as ‘smart’ as Loki went along with it.

Jake Sully: Avatar

Jake Sully is the main character of Avatar who ends up betraying the human race to save the Na’vi from the evils of environmental destruction and mining. Jake fights a grueling battle alongside the native people of Pandora, to finally drive back the humans and send them packing. The humans go back to Earth without their unobtainium and the Na’vi are free to rebuild and live happily ever after.

But somehow everyone ignores that it’s Jake who leads the humans to the Na’vi and to their great Tree of Souls, and allows the humans to attack in the first place. Having a change of heart shouldn’t erase the fact that this was his ENTIRE mission and motivation for even entering a fake Na’vi avatar and conversing with them in the first place. But somehow he’s treated as a hero for fighting off something HE caused. It’d be different if he was somehow…tricked into doing this, but nope. Jake enters the deal with full knowledge on everything, and only changes because of selfish reasons (he now knows the Na’vi, loves one of their people, and can walk while in Na’vi form).

In reality, Jake’s less of a hero and more a turncoat considering the fact that he was fine with everything when it was explained to him. Turning only after experiencing the Na’vi only points to a flaw of short-sightedness in Jake’s character and lack of empathy. While the Na’vi should definitely accept his help, they should also certainly take everything Jake’s doing with a grain of salt and keep him on a ‘probation’ of sorts until he further proves himself. You don’t get to stab me in the back, lead me into a trap, and then have a change of heart and everything be good. The trust we had is forever broken and it may be irreparable. It SHOULD be the same with the Na’vi.

Iron Man: Avengers – Age of Ultron

Iron Man in Age of Ultron is such an obvious choice that I couldn’t leave him out of this. Yes, the Avengers stop Ultron from wiping the planet of life, yes they save tons of people and get them off the floating city of doom, yes it’s very heroic, but not for Iron Man. Iron Man is the person who thought it was smart to tinker with a foreign energy source that he knew nothing about and give it ULTIMATE POWER.

That’s right, he made an AI with unfettered access to the web, that is supposed to protect the world, and he entrusted it to not only something unknown, but something that literally came from his enemy (Loki’s staff). Most savvy tech users (not to mention tech geniuses) don’t even trust random programs or downloads (for good reason, they’re likely viruses), but Stark trusts the fate of the entire world to what amounts to said random program, and everyone pays for it. That’s the equivalent of The President allowing random software to take control over the White House, and America’s entire Nuclear Arsenal! And Stark does it without blinking or thinking twice. So when he’s quipping his way to a victory over Ultron, he’s not being a hero, he’s being a cleaner. And he’s only cleaning up the mess he made in the first place.

Superman: Man of Steel

Superman in Man of Steel has various times in his life where he saves lives and generally does the right thing. He also has a few…iffy moments where he either abuses his powers or doesn’t use them at all (like when he could’ve saved his father from a random tornado). Ultimately, Supes ends up saving humanity from a Kryptonian invasion, but…it’s a Kryptonian invasion HE brought.

Earlier in the film, Clark finds an abandoned Kryptonian ship and ends up (via fumbling around and exploring the ship) somehow sending a ‘distress beacon’ that catches Zod and his army’s attention. Without this, Zod never finds Earth, the invasion never happens, the epic Kryptonian battle never happens, and an entire city avoids destruction with many lives saved. Now Clark can’t be particularly blamed for this as he, nor anyone would have any idea what tinkering around a random ship would do, but he’s still ultimately just fixing the disaster the made.

So while more heroic than most others (if not all others) on this list, via fighting his OWN people and potentially sacrificing his own life, the entire conflict is still Clark’s fault in the end.

Evie: The Mummy

In the Mummy, an ancient Egyptian priest is locked away in a dark ritual that leaves him undead and with super powers, ready to plague the Earth once awakened. Evelyn Carnahan (Evie) and Rick O’Connell try to find a way to stop this ancient evil, and eventually do by using Evie’s knowledge of the Ancient Egyptian language and rituals, and Rick’s action movie hero attitude and fighting spirit.

This whole thing, however, was caused entirely by Evie. In the beginning of the film, they all get ready to go on, and actually do go on an expedition to find treasure and ancient artifacts to put on display at a museum. Evie is the EXPERT, the Egyptologist who is familiar with the language and the culture, and SHE is the one who makes the mistake and reads from the book that lets the Mummy out. Everything from then on is her scrambling to glue back the vase that she broke while Mom was away at work. The very expensive and priceless vase that can subsequently destroy everything. Clean up your act Evie.

Dom Cobb: Inception

Inception, outside of the perception altering “dream within a dream”, “are you awake” themes, is about the main character, Dom Cobb, wanting to get back to his home to see his children. Everything he does is to raise money to do so, and the main plot of the film (invading the dreams of the heir to a rich company and planting an idea) happens so he can clear his name. Every single action of his is moving towards seeing his kids again.

The kicker is that he causes the events that keep him from his children in the first place. Later in the film, we learn that the reason Cobb can’t see his kids is because he’s wanted for the murder of his wife. We also learn that the reason he knows that inception (planting the idea in someone’s head via the dream world) can work is because he’s done it before. On his wife. Telling her, that her world isn’t real (so they can leave their dreams and get back to the real world).

The murder can’t be entirely blamed on him (based on the events he gives us), but the whole thing is entirely his fault. All Cobb had to do was choose his words with more care, and his wife doesn’t go off the deep end and kill herself, trying to wake up from the fake dream world that she thought she was in. The way he worded the idea basically forced her hand, as constantly her mind would tell her that her world wasn’t real. Remember that in this movie, killing yourself in a dream merely wakes you up.

So if Cobb says something less damaging like…”Let’s go home”, or “Let’s get back to our kids”, he likely just has a wife who wants to see her kids a lot or who doesn’t like traveling, rather than one who kills herself. He does this and his actions afterwards can be avoided and the plot of the movie doesn’t need to happen.