The Last Temptation of Christ is certainly relevant here, as is Dune. The prophet in that sci-fi story foresees the holy war that would follow in his wake, and I think at one point he decides to go in hiding. And that scene at the end of the LTC movie, with Paul explaining to Jesus why he was no longer needed, recalls Dostoevsky's Grand Inquisitor narrative, which we've discussed before.

In more mundane terms, this is the problem of fame for all artists. It's a problem that Generation X was sensitive to, that of selling out, of compromising on your ideals. There's idealism and there's realism. There's the reality of the compromise needed to fit into the mainstream culture, and there's the ideal that flourishes in the underground counterculture. When some theme of the latter bursts out and catches mainstream attention, the counterculture finds itself corrupted (no longer "cool"). Great artists who die before they sell out can become immortal legends.