I Don't Want This Kind of Hero - TV Tropes (2024)

Naga, your everyday normal high school student, is recruited by the government agency SPOON to be a superhero. Of course, he refuses right away. Who in their right mind would ever want to be a superhero anyways?

You have to keep a Secret Identity to prevent villains from targeting your loved ones, you can't hold a decent job because too much of your time and energy is spent on trying to save the world, and no one appreciates the things you do because they don't know that you're out there risking your life to protect everyone else. It's much better to cram for college entrance exams so that you can have a career in something ordinary, right?

Well, actually... every single concern is addressed, and our protagonist will walk the path of a somewhat apathetic superhero after all.

A Slice of Life Sci-Fi action comedy Korean Webtoon by author samchon, it is a humorous deconstruction of the superhero vs. villain tale. It is serialized in Korean here.I Don't Want This Kind of Hero - TV Tropes (2) You can read it in english here.I Don't Want This Kind of Hero - TV Tropes (3)

This comic provides examples of:

  • Action Girl: Just about any female agent counts as one, though Dana, as chief, is one of the more prominent ones.
  • Affably Evil/Faux Affably Evil: Various members of Knife, who are friendly and treat Spoon like long-lost family. Doesn't mean that they have any qualms about fighting them, though.
  • Affectionate Parody: Of the superhero genre.
  • All Genes Are Codominant: Played straight and subverted. Half-Human Hybrids take after both the animal and the human, but if two different hybrids produce a child, the child will only receive the animal characteristics of one parent. It's why Hyena is initially surprised to see Vicki, who has both wings and cat ears—before Vicki reveals that her mother was an action figure come to life.
  • All Love Is Unrequited: Barring minor characters/characters who eventually die, the examples of happy, requited couples is limited solely to Haze and Raptor and Gregor and Eunbidan and vastly outnumbered.
    • Dana is in love with Osu, who appears to be Oblivious to Love.
    • Yuda is in love with Eunbidan, who ends up with Gregor.
    • Songha is in love with Young Jeong, who not only considers him far too young but sees him as a disposable pawn.
    • Lady is in love with Naga, who would prefer that she stay far, far away from him.
    • Orca is in love with Medusa, who sees him more as a surrogate son than anything.
    • The entire plot happens because Baek Morae is in love with Raptor while she would very much rather see him dead.
  • Ambiguous Time Period: For the most part, the setting resembles modern-day Earth (specifically, it takes place in Korea). However, it mentions racism of the non-fantastic kind being a thing of the past, which would indicate it taking place in the future were it not for the lack of any other futuristic signs.
  • And the Adventure Continues: Spoon—or whichever name they're going by now—is still standing, even after the fall of Knife, and Naga continues to work for them. As the final lines go:

    Naga: Thank you for saying thank you. I'll do better tomorrow.

  • Anti-Hero: Spoon's got a few of these. Naga falls under the 'plain, unmotivated' category, while the likes of Dana and Haze fall under the 'pragmatic jerk' category.
  • Anti-Villain: Conversely, while some members of Knife are vicious or at least questionably sane, some members such as Orca and Kanna treat the entire thing as more of a job that they're occasionally tired of. Or, like Song Ha, are considerably honourable to the point where you have to wonder why the heck they're with Knife.
    • Guineung outright lampshades this trope, commenting that kind villains are all the rage since they subvert stereotypes.
  • Arbitrary Skepticism: The hero briefly finds the idea of summoning demons ridiculous — until his Winged Humanoid companion calls attention to himself. Also, the main character is telekinetic, and his other teammate is a witch.
  • Art Evolution: It's a 300+ chapters long series (200+ on the English site), so this is inevitable. As times goes on, the art style uses more subtle lineart and smoother and more complex shading.
  • Art-Style Dissonance: The colors are bright, the art is clean, and while it's generally humorous, the comic touches on things like slavery, human trafficking, obsession, and more.
  • Berserk Button: Baekmorae himself is this for a few people. Song Ha's betrayal is also apparently one for Sasa.
  • Better to Die than Be Killed: During his period of being Brought Down to Normal, Naga considers suicide as it would likely be less painful than waiting for Knife to find and kill him once they realize he's no longer useful to them.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Whoo boy.
    • Baekmorae Used to Be a Sweet Kid, before trauma was piled up on him and he snapped hard.
    • Naga's generally an easygoing and compliant guy, but suffice to say that Dune learned his lesson about never stripping him of his powers as a test, considering that Naga was this close to going on an Unstoppable Rage.
    • Raptor is typically the Cool Big Sis. If Baekmorae enters the equations, however...
    • No. 1 is usually a friendly guy who seems like he wouldn't harm a fly. His response when he finally meets the man who ruined his little brother's life? Try and shoot the guy.
    • Sasa is one of the nicest characters in the series. If It's Personal, though, all bets are off.
  • Bifauxnen: Dana. Conversely, her male counterpart, Judas, is a Bishounen.
  • Big Brother Instinct:
    • No. 1 towards No. 2, veering on Knight Templar Big Brother given that he absolutely flips upon meeting Baekmorae. While not regarding that particular incident, Dune lampshades this trope when discussing No. 1 with Dana.
    • Sasa, though not related to Naga and Hyena by blood, occasionally displays this, likely due to being the oldest member of the trio.
  • Big Brother Mentor: Sasa's expected to be one towards Naga. That said, Dune fits the role better, especially what with being Naga's actual mentor.
  • Bio-Augmentation: Baekmorae (along with others) was involved with this in the past, with it being what broke him. Some villains keep up with it in the present.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Literally. Dana gets sent to deal with a bullying situation, immediately beating up the wolf to defend the sheep, only to discover that it's the sheep who's the bully.
  • Bittersweet Ending: In the end, life goes on. Naga may have become much wearier of the hero business, but it didn't break him, and he states that he'd still help people regardless. Dune has accepted that he can't handle his job and has become a teacher instead, Sasa fulfilled his revenge even if it perhaps didn't cure everything, and very pointedly, right after Naga notes that he hasn't seen No. 2—who ended up the most broken out of everyone—come outside all this time, he sees No. 2 stepping out to help No. 1 and Gregor with the flowers.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Due to the series' nature as a gag comic, it's fond of doing this.
  • Brought Down to Normal: Dune's ability involves invoking this on people, using smoke.
  • The Call Knows Where You Live: A light-hearted version: after Naga rejects Dana and Guineung's offer to join Spoon, Guineung basically stalks the poor guy.
  • Cast from Hit Points: When Naga expresses surprise that healers need stamina, Dune explains that it's because healing powers work in this fashion.
  • Cerebus Rollercoaster: The series basically lives the Mood Whiplash life 24/7. One can expect humorous (or, at the very least, light-hearted) moments in between all the gruesome and depressing events that occur, or vice versa—casual moments of darkness in between the humour.
  • Chekhov's Gunman:
    • That girl who asks Guineung about Spoon at the start of the series? She turns out to be a member of Knife, as revealed much later on.
    • No. 1 can be seen very early on as one of Naga's acquaintances on his way to school. It's not revealed under later that he has ties to Spoon.
  • Chick Magnet: Sasa, occasionally to his dismay. The author stated that he is objectively the most handsome man that appears in this webcomic. Vivian appears to have him beat, though, as he received more Valentine's Day chocolates. The author stated that he is the one who objectively acts the most gentlemanlike toward women.
  • Complete Immortality: Research's being done in hopes of achieving it, though nothing entirely successful just yet.
  • Continuity Cameo: Sara (Sasa's younger brother, who featured in the original edition of the webtoon) can be seen when the main trio visits Fork.
  • Cool and Unusual Punishment: See Our Demons Are Different.
  • Dark Action Girl: Just as how Spoon has their share of Action Girls, Knife has their share of this, with prominent examples being Medusa and Lady.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Despite the series being a gag comic, it's fond of these. Degrees of coping range anywhere from the likes of Guineung, who functions well in spite of it, to No. 2 who's fine as long as certain elements don't come up, to Dune's who's a Shell-Shocked Veteran, to Baekmorae's who's... Baekmorae.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: The demons.
  • Deconstruction: Of the superhero genre.
  • Destructive Saviour: Played for Laughs in Ch. 0. Naga and co. apprehend the thief by destroying the motorbike he was using to get away... only to remember that the stolen object they were meant to retrieve was said motorbike.
  • Dwindling Party: Once the first Knife member dies, all bets are off. Only about an arc after Songha's death, Lady and Sewol follow suit. The Terrible Trio then play it safe and stay out of Spoon's sight for a while, but again, once Orca bites it, the rest sequentially kick the bucket in short order.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Calling the executives evil is pushing it, but The Reveal is that for all they hounded Naga on acting as a bodyguard for them, the ones they really wanted him to protect were their Half-Human Hybrid relatives, not themselves.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Redrum's minions are nonviolent villains who don't use brutish things like guns. This might have been more admirable if they hadn't said this to Naga and co., whom they had just captured and who were under the impression that they were armed.
  • Everyone Has Standards: The one standard that everyone seems to have, from demons to Knife, is that pedophilia is despicable.
  • Exact Words: While investigating an enemy hideout, Naga finds something that could sweep away a whole block! ... Aka a broom.
  • Famed in Story: Subverted. Most heroes aren't known individually by the public (as Dune points out, when heroes act in numbers and don't bother with secrecy, people lose interest), which generally works out for the better—it means they can live their ordinary lives easily. Exceptions come mostly in the form of those who are famous outside of being a hero, such as Young Jeong, or attract fans due to their looks, such as Sasa.
  • Fantastic Racism: Against mystical creatures and Half-Human Hybrids.
  • Flight: Naga and co. are the flight team—Naga can levitate with his powers, Hyena flies on her broom, and Sasa has wings.
  • Funny Background Event: While Hyena and Sasa are on the subway, on their way to assist Naga on a mission, an event can be seen with the passengers sitting across from them.
  • The Gadfly: Haze and Raptor, much to Sasa's misfortune.
  • Good Is Not Soft: Spoon as a whole tends to veer into this category, but special mentions goes to Sasa, one of the few who outright and very intentionally kills someone who was supposed to just be arrested.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: Common in this world.
  • Healing Factor: No. 1 and No. 2 possess quite a strong one.
  • Hero Insurance: Averted. This doesn't exist, hence why Dune is very fussy about the heroes not committing vandalism and destruction. When a (unspecified) character apparently destroys a bus and Dune is on Spoon's case for it, Dana decides to dock the pay of whoever wrecked it as compensation.
  • Heroes "R" Us: Spoon.
  • Heroism Won't Pay the Bills: Why Naga doesn't want to join Spoon at first.
  • Holding Out for a Hero: Dana comments on (and agrees with the possibility of) this phenomenon.
  • I Just Want to Be Normal
  • Ideal Hero: Dune wishes Spoon would be closer to this rather than an Anti-Hero. Unsurprising, considering that in Dune's 'stats', he ranks with a perfect score in integrity and zero in evilness, possibly making him the closest member to this. Ironically, though, he's the one with the Sympathetic Murder Backstory, though his personality is why it haunts him so much.
  • Interspecies Romance: Fairly commonplace, hence the abundance of Half-Human Hybrids.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
    • Dana is violent and ill-tempered, but ultimately cares for her subordinates and tries to do the right thing.
    • Haze cares about money. And his girlfriend, Raptor. But mostly money—but still about Raptor too!
    • Dune is constantly getting on people's cases for one reason or another, but he genuinely believes in the image of the Ideal Hero (hence why he's always nagging about people's behaviour).
  • Kid Hero: Hyena, Stell, and Naga, who are all minors.
  • Knight in Shining Armor: Venom attempts to save Tracy from Baekmorae only for their roles to be reversed—Tracy is the gallant hero while Venom is the Damsel in Distress, apparently, complete with hilarious mental imagery on Venom's part.
  • Laughably Evil: Redrum and co. They go straight to Naga's school to 'speak' with him, only to be told that he's on cleaning duty, so they'll have to wait for him. Hilariously enough, they patiently do.
  • Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Song Ha and Orca. Funnily enough, the reason Orca grew his hair out was because Medusa commented on Song Ha being this trope.
  • Love at First Sight: Venom has only ever seen Tracy and never spoken with her. Never mind the fact that he'll never be able to touch her, given their respective powers—he admits that he's never heard her voice and knows absolutely nothing about her personality-wise. Still, he can't help but like her.
  • Love Makes You Crazy/Love Makes You Evil: Suffice to say a good chunk of Knife are motivated by love.
  • Mood Whiplash: Don't be fooled by this series being a gag comic: it can just as easily go to being surprisingly dark, before switching back to humorous.
  • Morality Kitchen Sink: Some of the heroes are only heroic in name only; some of the villains are extremely pure-hearted and well-intentioned.
  • Mr. Vice Guy:
    • Haze really likes money, but is always on Spoon's side.
    • To a lesser degree, Dune is a heavy chain-smoker.
  • Mundane Utility: Aside from the occasional act of heroism, this was how Naga used his ability before joining Spoon.
  • Muscles Are Meaningless: Naga lampshades this as part of the "law of manga".
  • No Body Left Behind: Venom and Tracy.
  • No Periods, Period: Averted. One chapter has both Medusa and Dana on their period, with Orca having to go out and buy tampons for the former, while the latter has to explain to Naga why being on your period makes sitting uncomfortable.
  • Not Wearing Tights: One of Naga's first thoughts when meeting Dana and Guineung:

    Naga: 'And why are these "heroes" not wearing technicolor spandex suits?'

  • Obstructive Bureaucrat: The executives, occasionally dipping into Corrupt Bureaucrat territory. They're in charge of Spoon—which most would find unfortunate, given that they're also nowhere near as heroic. Unsurprisingly, Dana and the others can't stand most of them.
  • Obviously Evil: A sex offender whom Naga and co. are sent after. Funnily enough, according to the demon that Hyena summons, the man isn't this at all and instead looks to be a man of moral character.
  • One Person, One Power: While there are exceptions, this is the case for most people.
  • Only in It for the Money: Not an entirely uncommon motivation for joining Spoon. For what it's worth, Dana is happy to exploit it.
  • Only One Name: All the characters populating the world have only one name. I Don't Want This Kind of Hero - TV Tropes (4)Word of God says there are no last names or family names.
  • Opposite-Sex Clone: Tracy is one to Baekmorae.
  • Our Demons Are Different: Many of them look fearsome, but..
    • King Solomon dishes out a punishment for a serial rapist that is harsh yet practical and PG-rated: rather than killing the criminal outright or condemning him to hell, the culprit's body is magically split into two magnetic halves that repel one another and handed over to the police.
  • Passing the Torch: Young Jeong intends to do this with Naga, who is less than willing. She also demands that when he steps down, he pass the torch to his superpowered cousin.
  • Poke the Poodle: Regarding demons:

    They're evil enough to knock over a man in the bathroom and steal his toilet paper too.

  • Police Are Useless: Averted. Spoon works in conjunction with the police (and occasionally, for simplicity's sake, claim to be the police with citizens who won't know the difference) and are shown to have a decent relationship with them.
  • Police Brutality: When the chief beats up a criminal who posed no immediate threat, she gets arrested, because... randomly punching people is against the law.
  • Poisonous Person: Venom, due to being a sentient lump of toxic waste.
  • Power of Trust: In a negative fashion. It's noted that "trust" is a shackle that can keep victims in abusive situations: Baek Morae believed that the director trusted him and so put up with the horrendous circumstances of the laboratory to honour that faith (blissfully unaware that the director was invoking this). Similarly, it's implied that Orca follows Baek Morae's orders in part because he can't go against someone expressing trust in him, in however a twisted way.
  • Power Trio: Teams in Spoon tend to consist of three people. Groups given so far include:
    • Naga, Hyena, and Sasa.
    • Haze, Raptor, and Stell.
  • Precocious Crush: Not so precocious now that he's grown up, but Orca's been crushing on Medusa since he was a kid, despite her being something like a mother figure.
  • Punch-Clock Hero: Some of the Spoon heroes, due to it just being a job to them.
  • Pyrrhic Victory: The start of the comic involves Naga and co. successfully apprehending a thief... while completely wrecking the motorbike that he'd stolen.
  • Refusal of the Call: Naga initially, as Heroism Won't Pay the Bills. He quickly starts singing a different tune when Dana reveal that they're employed by the government and paid.
  • Race Fetish: It is a known fact that mystical creatures in human forms and most Half-Human Hybrids tend to be attractive. At one point a pure human states that it would've been nice to have been born as a Hybrid because of this. Some observing Hybrids refrain from commenting, but their expressions tell how much they disagree. Also, there are Hybrids like Gregor the giant cockroach so it may be a stereotype.
  • Sacrificial Lamb: Tracy and Venom.
  • Shout-Out: Many, as a lot of the subtle humor comes from parody.
    • Dragon Ball, Fullmetal Alchemist, Death Note, Gintama, The Simpsons, Pokémon...
    • Keep a look out for Mario at the neighborhood flower shop. Sasa also at one point compares Naga's actions to playing the game.
    • Gregor.
  • Sole Survivor:
    • Dune, of a previous mission. It's part of what contributes to his current status as a Shell-Shocked Veteran.
    • While Vivian and his current team are still alive, Sasa has a nasty tendency to outlive his allies: this is his third team, with over half of his previous teammates appearing to have died at some point. It gets to the point where he seriously considers suicide to join them.
  • Star-Crossed Lovers: Venom and Tracy, the former living up to his namesake and the latter possessing a purification ability, meaning that they'd die if they touched one another.
  • Superhero
  • Super-Strength: Dana, Orca, and Guineung possess this.
  • Super Villain
  • Sympathetic Murder Backstory: He didn't quite kill them with his own hands, specifically, but Dune once intentionally left an ally to die in order to save his best friend instead. Just to rub salt into the wound, his friend ended up dying anyway, leaving Dune with a heaping of pointless guilt that he's never forgiven himself for.
  • Sympathy for the Hero: Knife does occasionally feel bad for Spoon—being a hero is much harder than being a villain, what with being a Slave to PR and whatnot.
  • The Quiet One: Sasa and Stel, both due to speech problems—Sasa has a short tongue, affecting his pronunciation, and Stel because of his powers.
  • Taking the Bullet: Dune does a non-fatal version of this for Naga. Considering Dune's backstory and issues, it's especially poignant.
  • Technicolor Eyes: Tracy has blue eyes mixed with gold—a sign of her being a clone.
  • Telepathy: Redrum's ability, on top of being a witch.
  • Terrible Trio: Baekmorae, Medusa, and Orca.
  • Those Two Guys:
    • The two policeman who are occasionally involved with Spoon tasks.
    • Naga's two ordinary friends, whom he's often with when not on Spoon business.
  • Together in Death: Venom and Tracy.
  • True Companions: For all of their faults, everyone in Spoon is pretty much one giant family.
  • Tsundere:
    • Dana is harsh and abrasive, but extremely dere for Oz. To a lesser extent, she's also gentler with Stel than she is with most people.
    • A less extreme example, but Hyena can easily go between affectionate and temperamental. It appears to run in the family.
  • Villain Has a Point: Discussed. Orca tells Naga that the organization Spoon belongs to isn't exactly clean, and the fact that the existence of Knife hasn't been publicized throws further suspicion on them. When Naga then relates this to Dana, asking for answers, she admits that that's all true—but does it matter? Even if Spoon has its shady areas, that doesn't change the fact that Knife is full of mass murderers who need to be stopped.
  • Walking Wasteland: Venom. Without a gas mask, you probably shouldn't get near him.
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?: The traffickers in the "pet shop" arc do not consider Half-Human Hybrids to be human.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Everyone's reaction to Dune secretly deactivating Naga's powers as means of testing him, considering how badly Naga took it.
  • White Hair, Black Heart: Baekmorae and Haze, the former being one of the main antagonists and the latter being one of the more jerk-ish and pragmatic members of Spoon. No. 1 and No. 2 avert this, however, as they're generally affable people.
  • Whole Episode Flashback: Used when explaining Baek Morae's Dark and Troubled Past and thus how Knife was formed, Sasa's early days at Spoon (introducing Guineung's Dark and Troubled Past and Sasa's first team), and how Baek Morae and Raptor first met and why Raptor despises him now.
  • Yandere: Knife has a few of these.
    • Baekmorae, towards Raptor. The fact that she's now dating Haze is a... minor detail.
    • Lady, towards Naga.
I Don't Want This Kind of Hero - TV Tropes (2024)

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