The whole society need some or someone to keep it moral and just. So heroes are a necessity to the whole society.
Heroes somehow in people’s opinion present a good quality of helping others in trouble and lead the whole nation to fight for dependence when the country is invaded by foreigners. They are always active and never lose heart. They have the basic social moral principles to maintain the society to be normal, for example, seeking equal right for all races. No matter whether they are well educated in school, they are accepted by the whole society, so many of them have been sincerely worshiped as God in different stages of the human history.
But thing is always like it that God is coming with Evil. Criminals are often the terror of the ordinary people. The societies worry about it that they cause much trouble and violence to them. So they make laws to keep the society peaceful by setting up courts to sentence the criminals to some kinds of punishments. For this reason, people are willing to have heroes rather than criminals.
But as a matter of fact, people nowadays can’t tell one is hero or criminal. Many cases in which a civilized hero turned criminal for bribery or gambling have betrayed people’s common sense. Some with good degree have been rewarded by doing crimes continuously, this is what people fear!