Hacker are not heroes as a rule, no sterotype is. A hacker and were talking non-tabloid version of the term I presume are people who question the anwears as much as the initial question and have the tenacity to seek out those answears to the questions nobody else bothers to ask.

A hero is somebody who goes further than others even imagined, it is always a label bestowed upon somebody by others. Hacker is a mindset and when it is bestowed by others is generaly refering to some electronic vandalism.

Using a bic pen to perform a trachyotomy so somebody can breath, that would be a hero hacker if such a definition was needed.