The Hero

"The Hero" is the twenty-second episode of Season 2 of The Amazing World of Gumball. It is the fifty-eighth episode overall.

Synopsis
Richard overhears Gumball and Darwin making fun of him, hurting his feelings, and then has to take drastic measures to show he is their hero.

Plot
This episode starts out showing Gumball and Darwin on the bench of the Schoolyard, with Masami, Teri, Banana Joe and Hector, who are talking about how great their dads are. Once the kids ask Gumball and Darwin what their father does interesting, Richard pulls up in his car, and overhears the conversation. The only somewhat talents they can think of, sweating without moving and gaining weight, make the kids laugh. They then decide he's only good at embarrassing them all the time and that he can't even cook, as he puts cement instead of flour in his cupcakes. Richard listens and grows more depressed on how they feel about him, and the cement cupcakes he made fall out of the bag and onto the sidewalk, thus proving their point. Richard cries and goes home, dejected.

At The Wattersons' house, Gumball asks Nicole what's for dinner, she says chicken and fries, which in front of both Darwin and him are just an uncooked chicken breast and a dirty potato. Gumball asks Nicole if they can skip for dessert, Anais throws the cupcakes Richard made at them, and Gumball and Darwin don't know what they've done. Anais and Nicole tell them Richard overheard what they said at the playground, and he's been hiding in the shed ever since. Gumball says he will apologize to Richard, if what they said wasn't the truth. Nicole decides since they don't appreciate their parents, until they apologize to their father, they won't do anything else for them. Gumball accepts this challenge as he eats the potato, and Anais and Nicole look at him in curiosity. Nicole then says she paid for that potato, so Gumball spits it into her hand, saying he wasn't hungry anyway.

Meanwhile, Gumball and Darwin are waiting for Anais to get out of the shower, but since Nicole pays for the water bill and they aren't providing anything for them, they have to shower elsewhere. Gumball then annoys her by mocking everything she said, so she throws the bar of soap at his nose, making it swell. Gumball keeps the soap. Even though Darwin is regretting the challenge, they cover themselves in soap and wait by a puddle on a curb for a car to drive over it and splash them. They do get splashed by the puddle, but it only covers them in mud. They regret doing that but another car drives over and splashes them again. Gumball and Darwin return home with many bags, which they all got from the clearance aisle for a dollar. Darwin tells him they have to eat the food before the expiration date, which is what Larry said. Gumball says food doesn't have a sell-by date, that's what Larry want them to think, and Gumball demonstrates by eating a banana, only for it to go bad as he's eating it. He spits it out, and the two scramble to eat the food, but the eggs hatch, the sunflower seeds grow then wilt, and the meat goes rotten as soon as opened, gets covered in maggots and flies swarm the whole screen, and are they only left with a can with no label. They hope it's something edible, but when they open it, it's a seemingly dead rat in green goo. They feel sorry for it, only for it to wake up and hiss at them. The rat flees before Darwin smashes the plate with a frying pan, then cries.

The next day on the bus, Gumball and Darwin are malnourished, filthy, clothes in rags, and have flies all around them. Darwin is ready to apologize, but Gumball isn't. Rocky tells them they have to get off the bus, because their smell is disgusting everyone on the bus. In fact, all the students are huddled in the far right corner of the bus so they don't have to smell them. They get off, and Gumball decides angrily he's ready to apologize. They peek through the shed window, and see Richard hammering nails into wood on his lap, which actually were nailing into his lap. Gumball starts laughing, and says he can't do it anymore as he walks away. Darwin looks through the window again, and sees Richard looking at old photos of him, Darwin and Gumball. As he sings My Little Ones, Darwin understands everything now and realizes he has to make Richard feel like a hero again. Gumball and Darwin are then at the dump, inside an old car where Darwin tells him his plan.

Darwin's plan is for them to be put in a dangerous situation so that Richard can rescue them and regain a sense of self worth. The "dangerous situation" turns out to be the two of them sitting in a car that is to be destroyed in a car crusher. Gumball immediately rejects this plan, refusing to rely solely on their idiot father to rescue them from certain death, but changes his mind when Darwin tells him he can stop the stunt with the push of a button. The boys start the scenario, but Darwin's panic button is rendered useless by the magnet that lifts the car up. Gumball scolds Darwin for his lack of foresight. Just then, Richard drives in to rescue them, but smashes the control box that Darwin had planned for him to use. Next, he tries using a ladder for the boys to climb down; unfortunately, the ladder gets pulled up sideways instead of vertically, rendering it useless as well. Gumball mocks him, prompting Darwin to scold him.

Richard's next plan is to turn the magnet off using the control panel, but the car is so high up that falling would be just as bad as getting crushed, so Richard turns the magnet back on before the car hits the ground. He pushes the lever too far up, though, increasing the power of the magnet and causing several metal objects in the junkyard to get attracted. This turns out to be advantageous, as Richard uses the objects to climb to where Gumball and Darwin are. Unfortunately, the magnet wasn't designed to carry this much weight; the tension in the cable is too great, and it nearly snaps. The sudden drop is enough to shake Richard off and, to his kids' horror, he falls.

As Gumball and Darwin mourn his death, he climbs up from behind, apparently having been able to grab something before hitting the ground. But, in typical Richard fashion, he has no idea what to do now that he is up there, prompting Gumball to mock him again. Just then, the cable finally gives in, and the three of them are dropped. Richard and Darwin land well off to the side of the crusher, but Gumball lands on top of the car, which itself is on top of the ladder, which itself was on top of the crusher. The car is teetering back and forth - it won't be long before it falls. The ladder provides a shaky bridge leading outside the crusher, but Gumball istoo scared to walk it. With encouragement from Richard and memories of a similar situation from his childhood, he walks the ladder and jumps right into Richard's outstretched arms as the car falls into the crusher. Gumball hugs his dad tight, crying loudly. His dad is also crying, but only because Gumball's claws are squeezing his nipples. Darwin cries, too, and joins the hug.

The boys, having reconciled with their father, draw him a picture. Richard nails it to the wall of the shed as Nicole looks on, beaming. She tells him to come to dinner, then heads there herself. Unfortunately, Richard has nailed himself to the wall. He sighs, and the episode ends.

Main Characters

 * Gumball
 * Darwin
 * Richard

Supporting Characters

 * Nicole
 * Anais

Minor Characters

 * Masami
 * Banana Joe
 * Hector
 * Bobert
 * Juke
 * Gary
 * Hexagon Lady
 * Siciliana
 * Mr. Pepperoni
 * Pantsbully
 * Neck Beard
 * Felicity
 * Billy
 * Principal Brown
 * Rocky
 * Penny
 * Razor
 * Teri
 * Larry (mentioned)
 * Mr. Yoshida (mentioned)
 * Banana Bob (mentioned)
 * Mr. Jötunheim (mentioned)
 * Teri's father (mentioned)

Trivia

 * This episode reveals that Darwin was given to Gumball as a Christmas present when he was younger.
 * The episode was used as a Father's Day special in Cartoon Network US.
 * This episode shared its title and have the same name of the reality show, The Hero.

Continuity

 * Razor from "The Skull" makes a reappearance in this episode.
 * Gumball's past self reappears from "The Treasure".
 * This is the seventh time Richard seen in his underwear.

Cultural References

 * Teri's mentioning of her dad being able to beat rock is a reference to the game Rock, Paper, Scissors - in the game, paper does indeed beat rock (by covering it).
 * Richard's singing and dancing during the flashbacks is similar to that of hip-hop artist MC Hammer in his music video to U Can't Touch This.
 * The clothes that Richard wears in some of Gumball's baby photos (red and black checkerboard flannel, black shirt, and jeans) resemble an outfit from the 90's grunge rock era. In fact, the yellow logo on the black shirt he is seen wearing is a reference to the famed "smiley face" used by Nirvana.

Goofs/Errors

 * Banana Joe takes a bite out of his sandwich, but on closer inspection, no evidence of a bite can be found.
 * In "The Treasure," it is stated and shown that Gumball was an ugly baby, but the pictures in this episode show a normal baby. These pictures may have been taken later in his life, though.
 * After the cupcake has fallen in the paper bag, Richard's right pair of whiskers are missing.
 * When the remote to start/stop the magnet got magnetized to the roof of the car, it landed on the button, so the magnet should've stopped.