Not all heroes are made alike. These days, there aren't many classic heroes in fiction—they're all various shades of gray, with interesting ways of reaching their goals that might not be how heroes from the past did it. However, that doesn't mean the classic type of heroes has gone completely out of style.
There are still plenty of heroes who believe in protecting the innocent not because it benefits them, but because that's what the strong should do. And there are plenty of heroes who won't fight people that are weaker than them... both because that's not how their strength should be used, and often because most of the enemies in their universe are just as strong as they are.
10 Deku Uses His Powers To Protect The Innocent As A Hero (My Hero Academia)
As a hero, Deku would never think to fight someone that was weaker than him. He wants nothing more than to protect the weak and the innocent, and that more often than not brings him in conflict with villains who are trying to use their strength to pick on others.
Of course, it doesn't help that Deku's strength can only be used in limited areas—considering his various abilities, one day Deku will be much stronger than any other hero or villain, but for now, just trying to use his abilities without hurting himself is a challenge.
9 Ichigo Kurosaki Is Often Facing Enemies With Way More Power & Experience (Bleach)
Until Bleach's second half, Ichigo is almost always the one struggling to hang on against a superior enemy. He's asked to take on Rukia's powers to fight against Hollows, and figures out the job despite having no prior experience.
It doesn't take long before he's facing Captains and Vice Captains who have centuries of experience on him. The rest of the series is always him facing some new hybrid enemy with greater and more incredible powers than his prior opponents.
8 Medaka Kurokami Convinces Her Enemies To Work With Her (Medaka Box)
Despite boasting incredible powers, Medaka doesn't want to use them on those who aren't capable of defending themselves. Instead, she would much rather invite those same people, no matter how misguided, to come join her.
Medaka has the ability to see the good in everyone around her, and can often forcibly bring that good out of them to make them want to do the right thing. Plus, most of the people she faces tend to boast abilities that are just as absurd as her own.
7 Naruto Fights To Get Closer To His Goal Of Becoming Hokage (Naruto)
For Naruto, picking on his opponents is pointless. His goal is to become the Hokage, and he doesn't believe that goal is achievable by taking the easy route. This brings him into battle against enemies who are often far stronger than he is. On his first mission, he's up against a jonin in Zabuza, and things don't get much easier from there.
All of Naruto's missions are more dangerous than anything the average genin would go up against, because of his nature as a Jinchuuriki. He fights against Orochimaru in the Chuunin Exam, then later opponents like Neji and Gaara. While he's technically "more powerful" than all of them, he doesn't have control over his power or the ability to consciously use it, and generally, no one believes in him until he's won.
6 Vash the Stampede Believes In Trying Peace Before Fighting (Trigun)
Vash prefers to spread the ideas of love and peace to everyone. But he’s constantly being hunted down by people who want the bounty on his head. Over the years, he’s grown so experienced he can tell people who are actually capable of being a threat to him or the people around him.
Vash's goal is using non-lethal solutions to solve the problem, and it probably would be good enough most of the time, if not for some of the Gung-Ho Guns positing an actual threat.
5 Gon Freecss Only Fights To Get Closer To Finding His Dad (Hunter x Hunter)
Gon isn’t in love with the idea of fighting, to begin with. His goal is simply finding his dad—whoever he has to fight along the way to get the information is more incidental than anything. He isn’t the sort to pick on people, and Gon is often in way over his head.
The Phantom Troupe and the Chimera Ant arc alike both forced Gon to face enemies that experienced hunters would struggle to beat. Even during the Greed Island arc, he's mostly fighting people who've had years of experience playing the game while he's still figuring out the rules.
4 Jonathan Joestar Mastered The Ripple To Defend People Against Dio (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)
A peace-loving person, Jonathan Joestar didn’t even hold any ill will against Dio despite all he had done. The only reason he ever bothered to try and fight Dio was because his power had gotten far out of control. He spent time training to master the Ripple technique, and then traveled to Dio’s home field and fought his way through enemies before battling Dio.
While they were powerful vampires and ghouls, Jonathan was still a normal human who had simply trained hard to become as strong as he was.
3 Alphonse Elric Doesn't Like Fighting To Begin With (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)
Alphonse Elric doesn’t really enjoy fighting. He was trained by the same teacher Ed has, but he also doesn’t carry the same rage Edward does. Generally, he only wants to fight people when he has to, or when someone else needs protection.
His fights in the world of Fullmetal Alchemist generally bring him into conflict with rivals and those who are just better than he is, with the experience playing a large part of what holds a kid in a giant suit of armor back.
2 Goku Wants To Fight Enemies Who Are Stronger To Become Stronger Himself (Dragon Ball Z)
Goku made it his goal in life to become stronger. He doesn't want to be the strongest there is, rather he just wants to be stronger than he was the day before. Because of that, he's had to face everyone from people from his home planet to genetically modified androids.
In all that time, his goal has never been to fight someone that was specifically weaker than he was. His years of training under the greatest martial arts masters and his Saiyan blood won't allow him to think of picking on his enemies. Instead, he seeks stronger competition that can make him into a better warrior.
1 Saber Wants To Uphold Her Code Of Chivalry (Fate/Stay Knight)
Saber isn't just an honorable knight—as King Arturia, she's the knight upon which the code of chivalry was founded. She refuses to fight people who can't defend themselves because it's dishonorable, but more importantly, it's not a scenario she comes across anyway.
Saber is in the midst of the battle for the Holy Grail, which brings her into contact with multiple other Servants who are all reincarnations of legendary heroes and demi-gods from the past. They're all just as strong or even more powerful than she is, and so there's rarely ever a chance of her running into someone who isn't on her level, to begin with.