[Matt Langdon]

I've just blogged about this, but am interested in some conversation about it too. Don't read it if you haven't seen the movie and don't want it spoiled.

I think the movie speaks strongly about the need for altruism is heroism. That's pretty obvious in the Peter Parker/Spiderman story and most discerning people will have noticed that. His focus turns from helping people to admiring how popular he is and things go downhill pretty quickly.

However, the other characters seem to have similar dealings with the issue.

Mary Jane seems selfish from the start. I don't know if I was having problems separating actress from character because Kirsten Dunst's recent claims that the franchise couldn't possibly go on without her made me wince. Mary Jane wanted to know if she was great, blah, blah, blah. When Peter wasn't giving her the attention she craved, she went elsewhere. That didn't turn out well for her.

Harry focused on his rage throughout and suffered for it. When he finally sees past it and thinks of others he is the hero of the whole story.

So, what other hero stories have the hero tempted by self-centred thoughts only to realize their errors? Or I guess any stories where they don't realize and fall from grace.