In movies, when the hero gets stronger when their friends/family are threatened

[KillianHawkeye]

It's a common scenario, especially in action movies. The hero and the villain have their final showdown. They start fighting. The villain gains the upper hand and proceeds to taunt the hero about what they're going to do to the hero's friends or loved ones once they're done beating the hero. The hero summons his last reserves of strength, which is always just enough to let them finally beat the villain.

Now, I understand that this happens in order to create additional tension in the scene. That the movie needs to show that the villain is capable of beating the hero in order to give the threat he represents credibility. Most of the time, we don't want to see a movie where the hero effortlessly defeats every bad guy they come up against, because it's unfulfilling (except the '80s Schwarzenegger flick Commando; that movie kicks all kinds of ass).

Anyway, I understand why stories are written this way (and it may even be realistic), but a part of me still thinks that a true hero should already be trying their hardest without the villians making it personal. Most things are not Dragonball Z, where the heroes ACTUALLY become stronger, faster, and more ruthless when the villains piss them off. When the movie reaches its climax, everybody watching knows that the hero possesses the strength or skill (or knowledge, or whatever) needed to beat the villain, so why is it so often necessary to goad the hero into unleashing their full strength that they need in order to win? Perhaps it's Hollywood's obsession with flawed heroes, but shouldn't a true hero care as much about the common man as they do about their own?

Thoughts? Comments? Discuss.

[dps]

Lots of times it's not so much that the hero gets stronger in these situations, but rather that the villian pausing to taunt them does 2 things: 1) it gives the hero a chance to catch their second breath, and 2) the villian ends up distracting himself from what the hero is doing.

[Hopeless]

So like when Marvel killed off the original Ultimate Spiderman then?

Where the hero decides to give it their all knowing full well they aren't surviving this battle and take down their nemesis and then fall accomplishing this goal sort of thing?

[BWR]

It's a cliché for a reason: it works (look at Luke vs Vader in ROTJ).

The basic rationale, as far as I can guess, is that it's like losing your temper - you turn off the last of the inhibitions and work just that little bit harder than your normally could, than you normally though you could. It's just another way of saying that your limits are often a bit farther away than you thought.

[Killer Angel]

shouldn't a true hero care as much about the common man as they do about their own?

Thoughts? Comments? Discuss.

THe majority of heroes are human in their hearts. And a common man doesn't give up, if he's fighting to protect the lives of his family: it may be not too much "heroic", but it's very human.

[Hopeless]

Despite evidence to the contrary I'm hoping the latest James Bond movie goes along with this sentiment.
There's gossip his ex has an infant daughter who turns out to be his daughter and he's called back in as the plot suggests the villain is looking to take over the organisation his ex's father was head of.
However the addition if a replacement 007 and comments they think she's taking over the series as the new Jame Bond makes this theory unlikely.
My hope is that his replacement thinks he wants his old job back instead of understanding he's only involved because of his relationship with his ex-girlfriend.
He rescues the daughter and finds out he's her father and due to the idiocy of his replacement she's recaptured by the villain forcing him to go ballistic and upon confronting the villain and his ex he manages to persuade his daughter to leave with him leaving them to fight each other.
A final confrontation with the villain after he won leads to Bond dunking him in a lake using gadgets he was given to melt a lake they were confronting each other upon.
So an actual fulfilling movie that ends with Bond finally leaving MI-6 to raise his newfound daughter the villain now in command of SPECTRE and his replacement in charge of training recruits after resigning her 00 status due to her actions.

That way if they do go with her they can have her seeking help via a cameo from Daniel Craig over what he knows about SPECTRE as she tries to fight back against the villain who is actively hunting Bond only Bond is always a step ahead having figured out someone in MI-6 is leaking intel to him.

That way you can have a decently written movie instead of a woke crapfest and something for Bond fans to WANT to watch her movie for!

No I doubt that even occurred to them!