I'm Going With You!

The curtain on the third act rises. We now know all the players, the plot, and the stakes. It's time for the climatic battle to commence, so the hero dons their battle gear and begins a journey that will define their legacy. Then, the un-enhanced civilian, who has been either a messenger or victim to this point, announces that they are going also. The hero says it's too dangerous; you're too close to this; you're too injured; you're too emotional; this is not your fight; you can only speak to fish. Why bother? Everyone who has ever watched a movie or a television show, or read a comic book, or has seen a musical stage production of Spider-man already knows this contrived conflict has no legs. They will be coming.

The conversation usually has a conclusion off screen and the next scene shows that the person who shouldn't have come has won the argument. Despite what their senior character has told them, they defied their orders and diminished the authority of their leader. The hero has valid points about bringing the person along to the title bout, and those issues do not go away just because he or she was talked out of their original decision. This causes several serious possible problems.

The first issue is that the hero now has to devote some of his or her attention to the sidekick. It's difficult enough to maintain focus on taking down the enemy without having to worry about someone who is likely outmatched by a nameless hench person, in a peripheral death match. It's kind of like working from home and try to concentrate on your occupational duties while watching your toddler climbing the bookshelf and sticking forks in the power outlet. Most of the time it turns out okay. The protagonists rarely die in battle, but for every sidekick that makes it out alive, there is a Gwen Stacy who does not.

The second issue is having someone fight by your side who is too invested in the duel. If the enemy killed the new partner's father, daughter, lover, best friend, or puppy, they will be extra motivated to get even. That emotion often makes the fighting technique sloppy, makes the safety of innocent bystanders secondary, and might cause the angry individual to take things a little too far. If the big bad is beaten and resigned to arrest, a loose canon with an ax to grind, or a bone to pick, or another idiom to weave, they might take matters into their own hands and try to kill the captive for revenge. Depending on the philosophy of the hero, this could end the working relationship forever, as well as become a legal issue. It's still illegal to murder someone, even if they are vicious monsters.

The 3rd problem is that it diverts adoration away the main hero. Sure, superheroes save the world because it needs saving, but they also want a little credit for the save. They don't wear tights and bright capes for fun. Okay, not just for fun. After years of cultivating an alternate identity and building up a reputation in the crime fighting world, you don't want some newby rookie swooping in and landing the chance blow that takes down the archenemy you've battled for years. After that, you may lose endorsement deals, sponsors, or the commissioner might take down your signal in the sky and replace it with the signal of the new hero. This is obviously rather vain, but even super shallow people have to put a roof over their head.

Here is what you do instead: tell them that there is a list of things that they will need to accomplish before they come. The list is a stall tactic of course, so make it difficult. You might include items like making sandwiches to take with you; getting the kevlar underwear out of the dryer; removing the blood stains from your mask(s); precisely calibrating the decompression valves in the hero mobile; registering their name on the international register of super persons. If that still doesn't convince them to stay behind, then hand them a Detroit Lions jersey and tell them they must wear it the whole time or they can't come. If that doesn't work, forget it. Nothing is going to stop them from becoming your new battle buddy. Have fun.