# So which fictional vigilante hero would be plausible? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-books-manga\ **Created:** [July 1, 2021, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-fictional-vigilante-hero-would-be-plausible/945462 "2021-07-01T22:27:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-fictional-vigilante-hero-would-be-plausible/945462/61 "2021-07-04T00:05:27Z")
Similar from Omar from The Wire mentioned above Mike(played by Jonathan Banks) from _Breaking Bad_ and _Better Call Saul_ had elements of being a vigilante. He would often use wit and street smarts to trick the people he was after to either get arrested or kill each other. This is slightly more realistic than a vigilante going around blowing people away ala The Punisher—someone manipulating and tricking people into incriminating situations and/or fatal situations. Michael Weston from the show _Burn Notice_ had a similar MO. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-fictional-vigilante-hero-would-be-plausible/945462/62 "2021-07-04T00:14:45Z")
Marvel’s Moon Knight, apart from the Plot Armor. He has a fair amount of mental issues and does gather intelligence as a cabbie. The white costume is pretty bold (and foolish). > [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > The Spirit really took the silly notion that a domino mask could conceal your identity to the extreme. He did have a semi-semi-plausible explanation. If you looked at his face, you’d really just remember the mask. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-fictional-vigilante-hero-would-be-plausible/945462/63 "2021-07-04T01:35:42Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Marvel’s Moon Knight, apart from the Plot Armor. He has a fair amount of mental issues and does gather intelligence as a cabbie. The white costume is pretty bold (and foolish). Depending on the creative team, he often has Batman-style gadgets and vehicles. He also sometimes has magical weapons and/or straight up supernatural powers (at one point his strength was tied to the phase of the moon - near peak human potential at the new moon to Spider-Man level strength at the full moon). He’s also had, at times, a highly cinematic version of Multiple Personality Disorder. I don’t think Moon Knight is more plausible than Batman or the Punisher, who were ruled out by the OP. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-fictional-vigilante-hero-would-be-plausible/945462/64 "2021-07-04T04:09:38Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Will Eisner’s version of the Spirit. He was basically just a guy in a mask. He did have an ability to get beat up and survive, but not to implausible levels… And when he did get hit, it was very believable. He bled, and had a limp for the rest of the story (along with a puffy lip that would get kissed by that week’s femme fatale). And he wasn’t masked as a secret identity; he’d been dead long enough that he was just The Spirit. So no day job to worry about like the Green Hornet or Bats. . > [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Few vigilantes are implausibler that Batman. Just wanted to mention that I’m now on the lookout for places to use my new favorite word: _implausibler._ ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-fictional-vigilante-hero-would-be-plausible/945462/65 "2021-07-04T04:39:40Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Just wanted to mention that I’m now on the lookout for places to use my new favorite word: _implausibler_ It then follows that there must be an “implausiblest”. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-fictional-vigilante-hero-would-be-plausible/945462/66 "2021-07-04T04:43:17Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > It then follows that there must be an “implausiblest”. For which I once again nominate Batman. 😜 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2021, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-fictional-vigilante-hero-would-be-plausible/945462/67 "2021-07-04T05:04:39Z")
_If_ Rorschach had a super power, it would be his superhuman ego. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2021, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-fictional-vigilante-hero-would-be-plausible/945462/68 "2021-07-05T10:05:48Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > We should consider Assan Diop, from Netflix’s recent _LUPIN_ series. I thought it was a little convenient that he got two confessions out of his enemies due to torture, recorded them, and they stuck. Maybe that’s how Arsene Lupin did it in the novels, I don’t know, but it just doesn’t add up to the conventions of vigilante fiction as I understand them. Since the cops knew where his family lived and where his base of operations was a month before is big move, one wonders why they didn’t nab him a lot earlier. I’m not sure they “stuck”, except in the sense that they alerted the (non-corrupt) police to what had happened. We haven’t seen what happens afterwards, and Pellegrini certainly can’t be convicted for what’s on the tape, nor for the embezzlement that a) didn’t happen (since the Foundation got the money in the end), and b) was actually committed by someone working under a fake name who disappeared. Pellegrini will be out and about in no time, although Dumont is probably dumb enough to have left an incriminating paper trail. Of course Pellegrini’s daughter, like his ex-wife, will now be working against him. Diop’s anonymity was definitely a stretch; even if we accept that he’s got plenty of cash and resources (either stolen or from his friend) and mad hacking skillz and unlikely allies, he’s not exactly someone who blends into the scenery easily, so this is the big “suspension of disbelief” point in the series. I sometimes wonder if there’s a deliberate racial point being made here - nobody really looks at black people, especially in working class uniforms, so Diop plays that to his advantage. Once they know who he is, however, he shouldn’t be able to use that. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2021, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-fictional-vigilante-hero-would-be-plausible/945462/69 "2021-07-05T14:38:03Z")
For certain definitions of hero, Dexter Morgan might qualify. Or how about Repairman Jack? ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2021, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-fictional-vigilante-hero-would-be-plausible/945462/70 "2021-07-05T18:07:47Z")
I would submit Jonah Hex (at least until the time travel silliness) as a plausible (sort of)hero. No super powers, no gadgets, just a lot of will to live. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2021, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-fictional-vigilante-hero-would-be-plausible/945462/71 "2021-07-05T19:05:58Z")
> [@omenran](#): > > How about Paladin from Have gun - Will travel? It doesn’t seem like he would have or need any superpowers at all. Oh I like that one. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2021, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-fictional-vigilante-hero-would-be-plausible/945462/72 "2021-07-05T19:16:53Z")
I don’t- In what way can he be described as a “vigilante”? ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-fictional-vigilante-hero-would-be-plausible/945462/73 "2021-07-06T12:32:13Z")
Paladin? He was a justice for hire! That seems to be the very definition of vigilantism - at least by proxy. Although the show tried to portray him as law-abiding, my memory tells me he would bend that to goad bad guys into a battle they couldn’t win. And probably more than any other ‘hero’ mentioned here, he was completely mortal. Relying only on his steely nerves and a fast draw. ETA: thinking about it, most all of these hero’s are fighting for someone or something else and not to avenge some personal affront. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-fictional-vigilante-hero-would-be-plausible/945462/74 "2021-07-06T12:58:02Z")
Nick Hume from the 2007 film _Death Sentence_. He’s just a regular guy with an incredible need for revenge. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-fictional-vigilante-hero-would-be-plausible/945462/75 "2021-07-06T13:51:01Z")
There’s the “Scourge of the Underworld” from a bunch of Marvel storylines in the late 80’s-early 90’s. The “character” is actually numerous operatives of a vigilante organization, armed only with exhaustive research, expert disguise (but nothing that can’t be done by contemporary Hollywood costuming) and infiltration skills, and a gun with armor-piercing bullets. Their M.O. is either sniping from a distance or sneaking up in disguise and shooting by surprise, and seldom do any confrontational fighting, and have been killed on occasion. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-fictional-vigilante-hero-would-be-plausible/945462/76 "2021-07-06T15:37:31Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Paladin? He was a justice for hire! That seems to be the very definition of vigilantism - at least by proxy. Although the show tried to portray him as law-abiding, my memory tells me he would bend that to goad bad guys into a battle they couldn’t win. Fun fact: Richard Boone, the actor who played Paladin, was the Great-Grandnephew of Daniel Boone. I thought it was an interesting bit of meta-reality. that an actor playing a Western folk hero is related to an actual Western folk hero. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2021, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-fictional-vigilante-hero-would-be-plausible/945462/77 "2021-07-07T13:23:16Z")
Cool. I love Boone as an actor. Check out Hombre to see what I mean. Great show, great acting. ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Sponge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dark_sponge/32/121_2.png) [@Dark\_Sponge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Sponge)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2021, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-fictional-vigilante-hero-would-be-plausible/945462/78 "2021-07-07T16:33:11Z")
I find Iron Man the most plausible. If he could actually create the tech he could fight crime and yet stay alive. Everyone else is a bullet away from having a very short career in crime fighting. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-fictional-vigilante-hero-would-be-plausible/945462/79 "2021-07-09T20:40:21Z")
How about Bill Hodges from Stephen King’s Mr. Mercedes trilogy (and the TV series)? He’s a retired cop trying to solve an old case on his own. The first couple of books have no supernatural elements. I was also going to mention Dexter Morgan but someone beat me to it. James Bond has been mentioned but he’s not a vigilante, he is employed by the British government to do what he does. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-which-fictional-vigilante-hero-would-be-plausible/945462.md?page=3)