A hero's job is to save the day. Superpowers ensure they do so in spectacular fashion. However, that's not always the case. Several superheroes stumble on their heroism by accident.
Many of these come from the Marvel pantheon. The resulting rescues may not be as epic as traditional saves, but they're still immensely entertaining, albeit for comedic value. At the end of the day, escapist entertainment is what Marvel thrives on.
7 Hardball
One man's robbery is another man's rescue. That's what Marvel readers learn from Hardball's deed. He crashes into an armored car, intending to plunder the riches inside. It's a standard super-crook scheme.
What distinguishes it from others is who was in the car's path. The vehicle almost hits a little girl. By stopping it, Hardball saves the kid's life. This earns him the adulation of both audiences and the Avengers. As an added bonus, they try to recruit him. Granted, his initiation doesn't last, but at least he gives it a try. That's more than one can say for other supervillains.
6 The Incredible Hulk
Bruce Banner may have the best intentions at heart, but he's rarely in control when he transforms into the Hulk. The mild-mannered scientist becomes an enormous rage monster who smashes anything in his way. Oftentimes, that just happens to be the bad guys.
By extension, any victims of those bad guys are just lucky. The Hulk doesn't know he's saving them or care about his good deed. It's the equivalent of a wild animal attacking a mugger, thus saving a person from being mugged. Yes, it's a fortunate outcome, but the animal remains blissfully ignorant. The same goes for the Hulk.
5 The Brotherhood Of Mutants
The X-Menadversaries sometimes choose a heroic path, but their reasoning mainly comes down to self-preservation. One of those times occurs during X-Men: Evolution. As the gang takes the subway, Scarlet Witch's emotional outburst inadvertently causes a wreck. The others then use their powers to escape the tunnel.
In the process, they clear the way for the other passengers. Some of them even carry the wounded, albeit unwillingly. Toad, for instance, is just trying to hop away, but a woman is hanging onto him for dear life. Whatever their intentions, these delinquents soon become the biggest heroes in town.
4 Deadpool
This mischievous mercenary rarely does anything for noble reasons. Such is the case in his game. He spends the whole journey pursuing Mr. Sinister, but he only does so to bask in the glory. Sadly, a cruel trick constantly takes the wind out of his sails.
A running joke is that the villain has multiple clones of himself. Deadpool seems to always kill the wrong one. As a result, his heroism soon comes down to a chaotic guessing game. He's not even sure he succeeds until checking with Cable. In fact, the fate of the world comes down to a lucky strike from a trigger-happy moron. Would fans expect anything else from the Merc with the Mouth?
3 Domino
Speaking of luck, that's Domino's whole shtick. Her mutant power is luck. She subconsciously affects her surrounding environment so that danger conveniently misses her at every turn. This lets her come out on top of every battle.
For that reason, other heroes are content to drop her into the most volatile scenarios. The bad guys either take themselves out or leave themselves open to the right attack at the right time. These happy accidents combine into an epic comedy of errors as Domino emerges victorious through sheer chance.
2 Spider-Man
Supervillains are usually their own undoing, and the Green Goblin provides a gruesome example of that. As Spider-Man battles his cackling foe, the maniac calls his glider to strike the webhead from behind. Thankfully, the hero's Spider-Sense serves him well, as he dodges in the nick of time. The glider then impales the Goblin, putting an end to his reign of terror.
Needless to say, this is not how Spider-Man wanted to stop him. He simply makes a split-second decision to leap out of harm's way, and the villain can't stop his weapon in time. Whatever the method, though, one of the webhead's most dangerous enemies is off the street. New Yorkers now breathe a collective sigh of relief.
1 Man-Thing
This character operates on the same idea as the Hulk, except he's even less cognizant of his actions. A mix of science and magic turns Ted Sallis into a hideous swamp creature, destroying his mind in the process. His memories of his past humanity are fleeting, so he typically attacks anything in his vicinity.
Man-Thing is only considered a hero because of happy coincidence, writer contrivance, or both. He encounters crimes in progress and happens to fight the perpetrators. In addition, it's usually villains who start trouble with the swampy scrapper. This obviously forces him to defend himself. What these scenarios have in common is that they make Man-Thing a savior purely by circumstance.