Superhero tales are often, at their heart, tales of relatable people overcoming adversity. While their protagonists are usually incredibly capable — often to a supernatural extent — the heart of the film relies on the audience being able to sympathize with them and wanting to see how they overcome their problems.
A very relatable struggle that crops up from time to time in superhero films is that of other people not having faith in somebody. Plenty of superheroes are well-supported by friends, sidekicks, teams, and family. However, a great many have moments or even entire films where, at best, they are the only ones who believe in themselves.
10 Tony Stark Alienates Everybody In Iron Man 2
Even before he became Iron Man, when he was just a playboy billionaire with a loose sense of decency, Tony Stark had a few people who always had his back. Rhodey was one of the few people who would try to talk sense to him, Happy was his loyal driver and friend, and Pepper was his infallible assistant who supported him in everything.
In Iron Man 2, however, Tony's reckless behavior when his arc reactor begins slowly killing him leads him to isolate himself. After several high-profile incidents, most notably at his birthday party, Tony manages to alienate himself from Pepper, Happy, and Rhodey. Even Natasha Romanoff sides against him. It is Tony's lowest point, and when people truly think he is a lost cause.
9 Nobody Thought Magneto Could Improve
The strained and complex friendship between Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr is one of the most enduring emotional threads in the X-Men film series. The two have known each other for decades, and despite the fundamental gulfs in their belief systems, they have a great deal of common and a lot of affection for one another.
There are times when even Xavier gives up on Lehnsherr, however. By the time of Days of Future Past's 1973, there is nobody who thinks Magneto can be anything but a mutant supremacist terrorist. Xavier does nothing to help his former friend escape his prison beneath the Pentagon, and he distrusts him once they escape. As the same movie proves in the future, Lehnsherr has the potential to reform.
8 Hancock Is Hated By The City At Large
One of many movies that deconstructed the superhero genre, Hancock follows the titular superhero who, despite his immense powers, is an unreliable alcoholic. Often attempting to help while severely intoxicated, Hancock's superhero antics usually result in injuries, deaths, and millions of dollars of damage.
The result of this is that very few people in the city appreciate Hancock, with most seeing him as a liability. One of the film's main plot points is the attempts of Ray Embrey to help Hancock's public reputation and avert this lack of belief.
7 The X-Men Give Up On Deadpool
Throughout the first Deadpool movie, the X-Man Colossus spends his appearances hoping to set Wade Wilson on a better path, the path of a more conventional hero. Despite his kind nature, Wilson tends not to listen to him, most notably when he murders Ajax.
After Wade loses Vanessa in Deadpool 2, he finally accepts the offer to join the X-Men, but on his very first outing, he kills an abusive orphanage staff member, seeing him arrested. After this, Colossus, leading the other X-Men who appear in the movie, largely disowns Deadpool. Even Wade's allies Cable and Domino are skeptical of him for much of the movie, leaving him largely without support.
6 The Avengers Didn't Believe In Spider-Man
Reputation and public perception are a major theme in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's version of Spider-Man, particularly in the later movies in the trilogy. Nonetheless, after the character's first appearance in Captain America: Civil War, he is refused membership into the Avengers and largely ignored by Tony Stark.
When the two have a confrontation in Homecoming, Stark tells Peter outright that Rhodey and Vision — the only other two Avengers at the time — thought it would be insane to bring a teenager into the team, even after Peter's showing in the airport battle. With Spider-Man being viewed as more of an oddity than a hero by much of New York at the time, and Stark seemingly done with him, Peter is left with few who believe in him as a hero.
5 Other Superheroes Mocked Kick-Ass
The first Kick-Ass film is more kind to the concept of real-life superheroes than the comic book that inspired it, which routinely depicts superheroes as incompetent and pathetic. Nonetheless, in the film's early stages, Dave Lewinski fails to acquit himself well as a superhero, losing most of his fights.
While there is public interest in him, the only other superheroes Lewinski meets, Hit-Girl and Big Daddy, pay him little respect. Big Daddy openly attempts to mock his lack of skill and his lack of subtlety, and Hit-Girl largely disregards him. It isn't until Lewinski resolves to fight back against the mob that this begins to change.
4 Kamar-Taj Didn't Want Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange tells the story of Stephen Strange learning to be a Master of the Mystic Arts in Kamar-Taj. It isn't just physically that Strange needs to improve, but mentally, with his notoriously arrogant, abrasive, and self-centered personality.
When Strange first arrives, he almost immediately picks a fight with the Ancient One about the reality of her abilities. In response, she sends him on a trip to the Astral Plane, and then proceeds to kick him out. With Kamar-Taj turning their back on him and having burned his bridges back home, Strange is alone until the door opens once more.
3 Miles Morales Is The Odd Spider Out For A Time
By the time of Into the Spider-Verse, all of the other Spider-Men assembled in Miles Morales's home dimension have had more than their fair share of time as superheroes and are very experienced. Miles Morales is a newly-bitten Spider-Man and is incredibly inexperienced.
After he fails a test from the group, they admit that Miles can't help with their plan — even if it will mean one of their deaths. As such, all of the other Spiders, even Peter B. Parker — Miles's mentor — conspire to leave him behind, webbed up. Miles only breaks out of his funk and achieves his potential when he is reminded one person always believes in him - his father.
2 Bruce Wayne Weaponizes A Lack Of Belief
Of all superheroes, Batman is one of those most protective of his secret identity, and this is no different in The Dark Knight trilogy. In various continuities — including that one — the public reputation of Bruce Wayne is one of the many layers used to hide the true identity of the Bat.
Most people in Gotham and beyond know Bruce Wayne as a rich playboy living off of his parents' money and company, with nothing more to him. Although he doesn't play up seeming physical ineptitude as in other continuities, he relies on this reputation to ensure that people laugh at the idea he could be a vigilante.
1 Harley Quinn Is Always Underestimated
Similar to how she is perceived in the real world, much of Harley Quinn's arc in the DCEU involves her pulling herself out of the Joker's shadow. After spending much of Suicide Squad revolving around him, Birds of Prey takes place months later, after the Joker has broken up with Harley and left her on her own.
Once word gets around, Harley overhears people talking about how there's no way she won't get back together with the Joker and how she's nothing without him. Harley immediately sets about proving Gotham wrong, starting by blowing up the Ace Chemicals Plant where she first became Harley Quinn.