Scapegoat

Scapegoats are heroes who are being subjected to upsetting situations. These heroes are often wrongfully mistreated and accused of being evil or somehow in the wrong even though they are trying to act in a benevolent manner. Often times heroes are turned into scapegoats by a villain or antagonist so as to get them out of the way of their goals. However, these characters are submitted to other circumstances that can be harsh, unfair, or even downright cruel, and because of this it could cause them to become a villain. They can be:

• The Butt Monkey: Characters who are awfully abused/humiliated in an unusual or slapstick manner, such as Daffy Duck, Tom the Cat or Scrat from the Ice Age film franchise.
• The Cosmic Plaything: Characters that have a terrible life that rarely improves or gets even worse such as Al Bundy and Squidward Tentacles. Juvia Lockser was also like this for a while, before finally finding happiness in the Fairy Tail guild.
• The Hurt Immortal: Characters who are revived and killed all over again. Kenny McCormick from South Park and many of Happy Tree Friends heroes.
• The Condemned: Heroes who intend to perform goodwill or stay out of trouble, but meet with unexpected circumstances that could exceedingly damage their good reputations. Spider-Man from both comics and films and Andy Barclay from Child's Play film series.
• The Disaster Inventor: Scientists who create and use inventions to benefit themselves or others, but their creations usually backfire, causing unintended consequences: Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory and Jimmy Neutron are good examples of this.
• The Disposable Pawn: Pawns that are unjustly mistreated or killed by their cruel leader/master or other villains for their disobedience or once they have outlived their usefulness: Quasimodo by Judge Claude Frollo (in the Disney version), Zuko by Fire Lord Ozai or Vegeta by Frieza.
• The Woobie: Tragic heroes that suffered from traumatic experiences that could cause them to fall in Despair Event Horizon as it caused the audience to feel pity for them: Asura had a horrible premonition about the death of his wife, Durga, and the kidnapping of his daughter, which led to his dark path for vengeance.
• The Tykebomb: Heroes who were raised for combat from a very early age and so had no chance to live a normal life. Often, these heroes worked for villains before defecting to the good side. It usually takes another hero to bring out the good in them. Good examples include River Song, Shana and Sousuke Sagara.
• The Black Sheep: Heroes who, for some completely unfair and often ridiculous reason, are regarded as a disgrace by their family. Tatsuya Shiba and Peter Petrelli fit this perfectly.