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A Lighter Shade of Black
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While Evil Versus Evil may be fun, it carries the risk of making people say "Too Bleak, Stopped Caring": people just do like having someone to cheer for, but if both sides are equally reprehensible, then there's really no point to it. So that's where this trope kicks in. It basically means that the author is clearly trying to portray one side of the conflict as the better or more sympathetic one, so the audience can root for them. Since both sides are supposed to be villains, this isn't that hard. You just need to give your Lighter Black a little edge on the sympathy meter. The idea is to have the audience say "Yeah, Alice may be evil, but at least she's not half as bad as Bob!" This can be done in many ways. Give your villain the Sympathetic P.O.V.. Have them Pet the Dog, be a Noble Demon or invoke Even Evil Has Standards. Perhaps they're simply a smaller threat to the world. Maybe their goals are, or used to be, somewhat sympathetic. Maybe they have many Evil Virtues. Or, when compared to the opposition, their cause still seems a little more "right" or their character "pure" than that of the enemy. Sometimes, Bob just needs to be stopped at any cost, and Alice happens to have that goal in mind, if only for selfish reasons. Since we want them to win, this may lead to a villainous version of Right Makes Might and Pure Is Not Good. Or maybe the villain is such a dangerously efficient operator that it's easier to side with them. Especially if their opposition is a threat to everyone. If they shoot way over the line, the character in question may end up doing a Heel–Face Turn. This is generally a trait of most Enlightenment fiction that believes Rousseau Was Right. See also A Lighter Shade of Grey, Nominal Hero, and Shades of Conflict. An exaggerated form of this trope is Evil Versus Oblivion. The polar opposite of Viler New Villain, when a villain is shown to be worse than the nobler villain. For a downplayed form, see Black-and-Gray Morality. Do not confuse this trope with Lesser of Two Evils, in which case, there still isn't a side to root for. Those stories usually involve a hero's P.O.V. and he's observing the two villains fighting each other. Also not to be confused with Sympathetic Villain, Despicable Villain, where the sympathetic party is unlikely to still be unambiguously evil. |
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"Magneto VS Tetsuo": Magneto is the lighter shade. Magneto, while a supervillain for most of his life, is a Tragic Villain whose goal at its core is the survival of Mutantkind, and eventually came to see how his actions do more harm than good and performed a Heel–Face Turn in order to make amends. Tetsuo, on the other hand, while a fairly tragic Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds, is still an Ax-Crazy villain who never saw the error of his ways. In the end, Magneto wins the battle, with him performing a Mercy Kill on Tetsuo after the latter undergoes his Superpower Meltdown. | |
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DEATH BATTLE! has a few episodes with two villains pitted against each other, but one of them is more morally-gray or has a good side as compared to the other who is flat-out villainous. Examples are: "Carnage VS Lucy": Lucy is the lighter shade. Whereas Cletus is The Sociopath and a Card-Carrying Villain who kills simply for the fun of it, Lucy is a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds with an extremely Dark and Troubled Past whose character arc is based around developing from a Villain Protagonist to an Anti-Hero. Also, Cletus killed a dog as a kid while Lucy's Start of Darkness was triggered by kids killing a dog. The fight ends with Lucy's victory. "Beerus VS Sailor Galaxia": Beerus is the lighter shade. Even prior to his Heel–Face Turn, Beerus is Affably Evil and willingly spares Earth of destruction despite his prior plans after getting what he came for. While Galaxia also underwent a Heel–Face Turn, prior to that, she was a murderous tyrant who willingly sided with an Eldritch God of Evil out of a lust for power. Ultimately, Beerus wins the battle in the end. "Winter Soldier VS Red Hood": The Winter Soldier is the lighter shade. While both have dark histories and have killed numerous people throughout their life, Bucky proves to be the more virtuous due to the majority of his killings occurring while he was Brainwashed and Crazy, and becomes The Atoner in order to redeem himself for his acts. Jason, meanwhile, is completely willing to kill and continues to do so even after veering into a more heroic light. Bucky ends up as the victor. "Lex Luthor VS Doctor Doom": Doctor Doom is the lighter shade. Whereas Lex is The Sociopath who desires to conquer Earth out of personal pride and greed, and is shown in one future to have turned the universe into an apocalyptic hellscape, Victor is a Well-Intentioned Extremist who wants to conquer Earth out of a genuine belief that it can be improved under his rule, and is shown in one future to actually be correct. Ultimately, Doom ends up the winner of the fight. "Heihachi Mishima VS Geese Howard": Heihachi is the lighter shade. Heihachi, for as monstrous as his actions can be, is still a fairly sympathetic character who did once genuinely care about his family, and is heavily implied to have a Heel Realization in his final moments. Geese, meanwhile, has no real redeeming qualities whatsoever, and shows no desire to improve himself. The fight ends in Heihachi's favor. "Goku Black VS Reverse-Flash": Reverse-Flash is the lighter shade. While both of these characters are horrifying monsters through and through, Zamasu is an outright Omnicidal Maniac on a mission to wipe out all mortal life in existence, while Thawne is focused on the far smaller scale goal of making Barry Allen's life a living hell, and rarely commits any grand scale acts of villainy unless said acts benefit that initial goal. Ultimately, Thawne wins the battle, though he does end up destroying Earth in the process. "Akuma VS Shao Kahn": Akuma is the lighter shade. Akuma, for as ruthless as he can be, is still a Noble Demon with code of honor, which includes not fighting opponents who can't/won't fight back and always keeping his promises, and he has the relatively small scale goal of wanting to find a Worthy Opponent. Shao Kahn, meanwhile, is an Evil Overlord out to conquer the multiverse, and is not above cheating to get an advantage in battle. In the end, Shao Kahn ends up as the victor of the fight. "Madara VS Aizen": Madara is the lighter shade. While both characters commit some rather monstrous actions, Madara just barely manages to scrape out the title of the lesser evil by virtue of being a Tragic Villain consumed by his clan's hatred and a Well-Intentioned Extremist willing to use force to achieve peace. Aizen, on the other hand, has the personal goal of wanting to achieve ultimate power to stand above all others, and his motives behind his more heroic actions are left ambiguous. Ultimately, Madara ends up winning the battle. "Omni-Man VS Homelander": Omni-Man is the lighter shade. In spite of his initial goal of conquering Earth, Nolan has plenty of redeeming qualities, such as his love for his family, performs his villainous actions out of the genuine belief that they will lead to the best possible outcome, and eventually does end up seeing the error of his ways and performs a Heel–Face Turn. Homelander, by comparison, is an unrepentant Hate Sink whose very few sympathetic qualities fail to make up for just how much of a horrifying monster he is. The fight ends with Nolan on top after subjecting Homelander to an absolutely brutal and very well-deserved Curb-Stomp Battle. "Magneto VS Tetsuo": Magneto is the lighter shade. Magneto, while a supervillain for most of his life, is a Tragic Villain whose goal at its core is the survival of Mutantkind, and eventually came to see how his actions do more harm than good and performed a Heel–Face Turn in order to make amends. Tetsuo, on the other hand, while a fairly tragic Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds, is still an Ax-Crazy villain who never saw the error of his ways. In the end, Magneto wins the battle, with him performing a Mercy Kill on Tetsuo after the latter undergoes his Superpower Meltdown. "Black Adam VS Apocalypse": Black Adam is the lighter shade. Adam, while no stranger to performing morally villainous actions, is at his core an Anti-Villain who prioritizes the protection of his home country of Kahndaq above all else. Apocalypse, meanwhile is a sadistic Social Darwinist out to conquer the world and wipe out all who he deems weak. The fight ends with Apocalypse's victory, in what is one of the series' biggest Downer Endings. "Jason Voorhees VS Michael Myers": Jason is the lighter shade. While he's undoubtedly a monstrous killer, Jason is also a fairly tragic character, given his backstory, and has a number of humanizing qualities, such as his love for his mother, his hatred of those who hurt animals, and the fact that he only targets those who invade on his territory. Michael, by comparison, has no tragic backstory, no redeeming qualities, and commits his murders For the Evulz. Jason ends up as the victor in the end. "Bill Cipher VS Discord": Discord is the lighter shade. Both are beings that thrive on chaos, but whereas Bill is a sadistic jerkass who gets enjoyment out of suffering and is completely fine with destroying all of reality, Discord is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who never means for any real evil in his actions, and eventually pulls a Heel–Face Turn thanks to his friendship with Fluttershy. Ultimately, Bill comes out on top in the fight, but Discord is still successful in screwing him over in the end. "Frieza VS Megatron": Megatron is the lighter shade. Both are utterly ruthless galactic conquerors who set out to bring the cosmos to its knees, but whereas Frieza is a sadistic and pampered tyrant through-and-through, with no sympathetic backstory to speak of, Megatron, at first, advocated for peace and only fought for the freedom of his people from an unfair caste system before descending into full-blown tyranny and waging war for war's sake. In the end, Frieza destroys his opponent, but not before Megatron destroys his mothership, his army, most of his body, and denies him his conquest of Cybertron itself with its destruction. Frieza decides to wipe out all Cybertronians in retaliation. "Galactus VS Unicron": Galactus is the lighter shade. Both are Planet Eaters, but Galactus consumes planets because they are simply what he must eat to sustain himself, no different to how humans eat plants and other animals to live. On the other hand, Unicron consumes planets out of a malevolent desire to wipe out all life in the multiverse. Ultimately, Galactus ends the fight as the victor. |
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The Death of Russia: While the Chechens are allied with Islamists in their fight for freedom, the Russian Army's actions in Chechnya are simply nightmarish, most infamously in the village of Vedeno, with the entire male population down to roughly twelve years old in the village executed before most of the remaining females were raped. Alexander Lebed has a low opinion of democracy, but he's merely a charismatic military strongman, which makes him a much better contender in the Second Russian Civil War compared to the Communists and Fascists, nor is he a Politically Incorrect Hero. Combined with intending to restore access to resource deposits in Siberia, this serves as incentive for him to get under-the-table support from corporate sponsors. |
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"Jason Voorhees VS Michael Myers": Jason is the lighter shade. While he's undoubtedly a monstrous killer, Jason is also a fairly tragic character, given his backstory, and has a number of humanizing qualities, such as his love for his mother, his hatred of those who hurt animals, and the fact that he only targets those who invade on his territory. Michael, by comparison, has no tragic backstory, no redeeming qualities, and commits his murders For the Evulz. Jason ends up as the victor in the end. | |
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"Madara VS Aizen": Madara is the lighter shade. While both characters commit some rather monstrous actions, Madara just barely manages to scrape out the title of the lesser evil by virtue of being a Tragic Villain consumed by his clan's hatred and a Well-Intentioned Extremist willing to use force to achieve peace. Aizen, on the other hand, has the personal goal of wanting to achieve ultimate power to stand above all others, and his motives behind his more heroic actions are left ambiguous. Ultimately, Madara ends up winning the battle. | |
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8-Bit Theater gets a fair bit of mileage out of this. Red Mage in particular tends to fill this role in the Light Warriors, compared to Fighter (the Token Good Teammate) and Black Mage and Thief (incredibly evil). Red Mage is amoral, borderline insane, and has a total disregard for life, but he tends to be less evil than the latter two because his actual motivation is simply to finish the adventure and win fame and power for himself. This causes him to frequently balk at their methods for being senselessly cruel — even though he's done some pretty horrible things himself, he did them because he thought they were the best way to accomplish his current objective (they rarely were, but Red Mage is not good at planning). | |
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RWBY: Raven Branwen is the leader of a Bandit Clan, a ruthless believer in the idea that the strong survive and the weak die, and is someone who doesn't care about the lives of the people she hurts; she will even kidnap people for ransom purposes if the price is right. Volume 5 pits her against Cinder Fall, a sadist whose hunger for power cannot be sated and who enjoys pain and killing; she thrills at the destruction and suffering she causes to the city of Vale, picks off people to die just to torment their friends, and is willing to work for someone who wants to destroy humanity if she can obtain great power out of it. Cinder's lust for power is so great, she's even willing to attach Grimm body parts to herself to aid her search for power, an act that disgusts Raven. | |
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Captain Planet and the Planeteers: Sly Sludge is this compared to the other villains, as he is more negligent than malicious. He works in waste disposal, which could actually be very beneficial to the environment. The problem is that he's a Lazy Bum who goes about it in the most careless ways, just dumping his polution wherever he can and burning it to make acid rain. He isn't truly evil, and he eventually turns himself around and starts properly recycling. | |
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"Frieza VS Megatron": Megatron is the lighter shade. Both are utterly ruthless galactic conquerors who set out to bring the cosmos to its knees, but whereas Frieza is a sadistic and pampered tyrant through-and-through, with no sympathetic backstory to speak of, Megatron, at first, advocated for peace and only fought for the freedom of his people from an unfair caste system before descending into full-blown tyranny and waging war for war's sake. In the end, Frieza destroys his opponent, but not before Megatron destroys his mothership, his army, most of his body, and denies him his conquest of Cybertron itself with its destruction. Frieza decides to wipe out all Cybertronians in retaliation. | |
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Rick and Morty: Evil Morty is this compared to Rick Prime. Evil Morty may have committed his fair share of atrocities, but they were all done to find a way to get away from Rick’s influence for good and decide to no longer be a threat to our Rick and Morty once he accomplishes his goal. Rick Prime, on the other hand, committed all of his atrocities out of sheer pettiness, having wiped out every single version of Rick’s wife from existence and was about to do the same with the rest of Rick’s loved ones, all because Rick rejected his offer to explore the multiverse with him. | |
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Angry Birds: Summer Madness: Neideflyer's sister, Robin. While she is just as stuck-up and antagonistic as her brother, she has lows she won't stoop to, and doesn't hesitate to help Stella save her friends in "Space Oddities". | |
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Homestuck has The Midnight Crew, who are only considered heroes during "Operation Regisurp" in the Troll's Session, due to their alliance with the protagonists. Later in story, they're only considered heroic at all because their rivals, Lord English and the Felt, are worse. They still casually murder people and given half the chance would become just as dangerous as Jack Noir and the agents under him in the Kid's session. | |
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In Star Wars: The Clone Wars and its Sequel Series Star Wars Rebels, Darth Maul is certainly not a good person, what with his desire for revenge on Obi-Wan and his general lack of morals. However, he is also given some tragic elements to his character and a somewhat humanizing relationship with Savage Opress and Ezra Bridger. This places sympathy on his side when he gets into conflict with his former master Darth Sidious, a total sociopath motivated only by selfish lust for power. | |
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"Carnage VS Lucy": Lucy is the lighter shade. Whereas Cletus is The Sociopath and a Card-Carrying Villain who kills simply for the fun of it, Lucy is a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds with an extremely Dark and Troubled Past whose character arc is based around developing from a Villain Protagonist to an Anti-Hero. Also, Cletus killed a dog as a kid while Lucy's Start of Darkness was triggered by kids killing a dog. The fight ends with Lucy's victory. | |
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In Pathfinder, The Lawful Evil God Asmodeus, firmly sits in this trope, even among other Lawful Evil Gods. He's the God of Slavery, Tyranny, Pride, and most importantly, Contracts. He will uphold his part of any contract and agreement he enters into. You just have to make sure what you think is his part and what actually is his part are one and the same. Even the Chaotic Good Gods go to him for advice on occasion, and he would give them honest advice. Because giving them honest advice means they would rely on him more, and would fall into his circle of power and influence. His worshippers are one of the only Evil Worshippers allowed to openly worship as they tend to cause less trouble then anyone else. Then there is the fact that he fought alongside all the other gods against Rovagug, and personally forge the lock to his cage. Free of charge. | |
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Dungeons & Dragons: Vhaeraun is an absolutely and utterly evil god, and intent on leading the drow to conquer the multiverse and enslave all non-drow. However, unlike his mother Lolth, he sees drow society for the self-destructive mess it is, and is a staunch advocate for gender equality and co-operation. He is also pragmatic enough to work with both people and gods he hates, if it gets him closer to taking his mother down. | |
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Madison Eagles and Jessicka Havok became this when Nicole Matthews won the SHIMMER Championship belt. Eagles still had an unhealthy obsession with the title, Havok was still Havok, but Matthews was something of a coward, something no SHIMMER Champion had ever been before and Jessicka was after Nicole's Tag Team partner Portia Perez, a Hate Sink who once tried to kill a baby. Furthermore, most baby faces, while threatened and intimidated, were mostly spared during the two's Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Matthews and Perez, who happily hid among other heels like The Kimber Bombs. | |
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Among the forces of Chaos, the Thousand Sons (especially Magnus) are sort of this. The Emperor kept secrets from Magnus, and his attempt to warn the Emperor of the Horus Heresy damaged the Emperor's secret work, and resulted in the Thousand Sons being forced to join the traitors. Afterwards, Ahriman managed to turn most of the legion to dust, leaving the Thousand Sons as a broken legion, just as engineered by Tzeentch. | |
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Norsca as depicted in Total War: Warhammer is lighter than the Beastmen and the Warriors of Chaos. Bloodthirsty warriors of the Dark Gods who nevertheless abide by a certain code of honour and possess a dark humour that prevents them from becoming utterly terrifying. In addition, the Norscans have the option of turning on Archaeon the Everchosen and potentially averting the End Times. | |
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"Galactus VS Unicron": Galactus is the lighter shade. Both are Planet Eaters, but Galactus consumes planets because they are simply what he must eat to sustain himself, no different to how humans eat plants and other animals to live. On the other hand, Unicron consumes planets out of a malevolent desire to wipe out all life in the multiverse. Ultimately, Galactus ends the fight as the victor. | |
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"Omni-Man VS Homelander": Omni-Man is the lighter shade. In spite of his initial goal of conquering Earth, Nolan has plenty of redeeming qualities, such as his love for his family, performs his villainous actions out of the genuine belief that they will lead to the best possible outcome, and eventually does end up seeing the error of his ways and performs a Heel–Face Turn. Homelander, by comparison, is an unrepentant Hate Sink whose very few sympathetic qualities fail to make up for just how much of a horrifying monster he is. The fight ends with Nolan on top after subjecting Homelander to an absolutely brutal and very well-deserved Curb-Stomp Battle. | |
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Lackadaisy is about a gang war between two booze joints in the 20's USA. The eponymous Lackadaisy gang is mostly presented as a group of good friends and underdogs who got into organized crime due to circumstances or for some of them out of desperation, while the rival Marigold gang is a group of experienced and hardened criminals who seem to enjoy their job way too much and have very few (if any) redeeming qualities. | |
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"Lex Luthor VS Doctor Doom": Doctor Doom is the lighter shade. Whereas Lex is The Sociopath who desires to conquer Earth out of personal pride and greed, and is shown in one future to have turned the universe into an apocalyptic hellscape, Victor is a Well-Intentioned Extremist who wants to conquer Earth out of a genuine belief that it can be improved under his rule, and is shown in one future to actually be correct. Ultimately, Doom ends up the winner of the fight. | |
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Danganronpa: Monokuma, controlled by Junko in the main saga and Team Danganronpa & Tsumugi in the retool, are plainly evil and sadistic with nothing to really redeem them of it, but there are other villainous characters who have a sense of morality or a reason for their actions. Every murder culprit serves as an antagonist within each chapter, but they either have a Duress defense or are lesser of an evil by comparison in some way that makes them seem more humane than the Big Bad, this including Korekiyo, who despite everything is at least not a killing game mastermind, and someone like Kokichi, who is marginally driven by the fact that he's in a killing game in the first place and would otherwise not go to those extremes in different circumstances. While Mukuro Ikusaba is Junko's assistant, she is driven by a familial love (that isn't returned) than the actual drive for despair, and unlike Junko, is capable of caring about others without using that to sate her own evil desires. However, she also cares little about the amorality of Junko's desires in the process, and willingly gives into Junko's every desire. In the second game, Nagito is a Well-Intentioned Extremist who desires to spread hope, and Izuru Kamukura is a Tragic Villain who is bored of the world around him and had his inhibitions forcibly removed by Hope's Peak Academy, and Junko taking advantage of him led to a burning desire for revenge, which comes up in the form of the second game's events. Dowplayed, as it's not much lighter by comparison, but even Monaca, despite being a Hate Sink, has a Freudian Excuse for her behavior, which is no thanks to Haiji, and Haiji himself is mostly driven by his trauma, though it doesn't excuse his awful misdeeds throughout his feature game. In Side:Future, Kazuo Tengan is a Knight Templar who genuinely believes brainwashing the world will save it from despair, and Chisa Yukizome is a Nice Girl who was brainwashed by Junko to be a Sycophantic Servant of despair. |
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Sweeney Todd is a murderous barber who slashes his customers' throats and has them baked into pies. But in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, we root for him because he wants revenge against the corrupt Hanging Judge who falsely transported him for life in order to get at his beautiful wife, as well as having some rather skeevy designs on his daughter when she comes of age. | |
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"Black Adam VS Apocalypse": Black Adam is the lighter shade. Adam, while no stranger to performing morally villainous actions, is at his core an Anti-Villain who prioritizes the protection of his home country of Kahndaq above all else. Apocalypse, meanwhile is a sadistic Social Darwinist out to conquer the world and wipe out all who he deems weak. The fight ends with Apocalypse's victory, in what is one of the series' biggest Downer Endings. | |
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"Heihachi Mishima VS Geese Howard": Heihachi is the lighter shade. Heihachi, for as monstrous as his actions can be, is still a fairly sympathetic character who did once genuinely care about his family, and is heavily implied to have a Heel Realization in his final moments. Geese, meanwhile, has no real redeeming qualities whatsoever, and shows no desire to improve himself. The fight ends in Heihachi's favor. | |
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Dreaming Freedom: Ultimately, Jeongmin and Siyun in comparison to Juhyeon. While Juhyeon is a relentless, cruel bully who manipulates others with ease, neither of the two leads are entirely good either, with Jeongmin blackmailing Sora and Siyun having violent tendencies, including stabbing Juhyeon via a dream and beating Jaehyeok to a pulp. | |
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CHAOS was the top "evil" stable of New Japan Pro-Wrestling before the establishment of the gaijin group Bullet Club (never mind CHAOS's own "outsiders") but they both get cheered when facing what was once Kojimagun. Minoru simply became that unlikable since taking over and making it Suzukigun. | |
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In Ben 10: Ultimate Alien: Sir George vs Diagon. George might be a anti-alien Knight Templar leading a whole faction of Cape Busters, but he is still better than the Mind-Raping, Multiversal Conqueror Eldritch Abomination that is Diagon. However, later episodes show that he, unlike Driscoll and the rest of the knights, was not so bad after all. Once the Diagon arc kicks in he's pretty much a good guy who also protects the world, but he and Ben were at odds with their views on non-earthly beings until a bigger threat forced Sir George to get over it and work with the team. Charmcaster vs. Adwaitya. Charmcaster is hardly is a saint, but Adwaitya is way, way worse: she may have done more damage than he did temporarily (though one could argue that regardless of what Spellbinder claimed, wiping out all life in her realm in one go is still more benevolent than Adwaitya's systematic killing over the ages) but is called out on it and becomes a Friendly Enemy afterward for the most part; by contrast, Adwaitya was power-mad and unrepentant to the end. |
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Harley Quinn (2019) does this with Harley and her friends. They're ever so slightly nicer than their enemies, which makes it possible to root for them. Harley herself is still a Card-Carrying Villain who wants nothing more than to be invited to join the Legion of Doom, but she at least gets the benefit of a sympathetic backstory and isn't as extreme in her evil acts as the Joker. | |
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The Magnus Archives: Sure, the Magnus Institute works to stop the potentially world-ending rituals of eldritch fear gods and their followers... but only because the Institute follows its own eldritch fear god and wants to get its own world-ending ritual completed before anyone else's. | |
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Critical Role: Downplayed and Discussed. Though their methods differ, Beau and Molly are both thieves and scam artists, and are at least in part doing it for the love of the game. However, while Beau is hostile and will steal from literally anyone, Molly is more of a Karmic Thief who tries to limit himself to people who deserve it, and who tries to leave every town better than he found it. After Molly dies, this philosophy leads into a Heel Realization for Beau. | |
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Epic Rap Battles of History uses this in its most famous, recurring matchup: Darth Vader Vs. Adolf Hitler. | |
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This is what Warhammer 40,000 has instead of Good versus Evil, and is presumably what fans of the Lighter Black factions (Tau, Craftworld Eldar, the nicer Imperium sub-factions such as the Salamanders, Necrons) see in playing on the side of such horrible people; they're fighting against the very incarnations of cruelty (Dark Eldar), savagery (Orks), consumption (Tyranids) and, well, Chaos. The Tau were basically created to be this trope, despite Fan Dumb forcing them to get darker since their introduction. It says a lot about the state of the universe where the race with a collectivist manifest destiny motif who openly seek to conquer the universe and make all other races part of their empire, who resort to violence if their efforts to subsume other races diplomatically fail, and who are implied (in a comment of dubious canonicity) to set up concentration camps and forced sterilization programs for races who resist, are still relatively good guys. The Imperium of Man: a massive Vestigial Empire choked with a Tautological Templar bureaucracy that preaches zealotry, ignorance, and militarism while completely disregarding the individual — yet it's made up of humans just trying to survive in a universe where Everything Is Trying to Kill You. Or at least, some of it is; a lot of its other sub-factions aren't really distinguishable from Chaos or Tyranids in their behavior to other factions or even other elements of their own faction. Plus, at this point in the setting, the galaxy is so screwed up that fixing it might actually cause the apocalypse. Among the Astartes, the Lamenters chapter is the best fit for this trope. They are the only chapter that will go out of their way to defend the innocent and defenseless of the Imperium. They also get regularly and thoroughly thrashed by whoever they tussle with. The Grey Knights and their holdings are another good example. They're brutal, but devoted totally to fighting The Legions of Hell. They'll even help and trade with xeno races like Craftworld Eldar and Necrons as long as they don't get in the way of that all-important goal. Another example among the Imperium is the Rogue Trade empires, de facto independent realms that get to defy standard Imperial policy in a lot of places, most notably via coexistence and cooperation with aliens and non-Imperium human polities. Keep in mind they'll also ruthlessly exploit those same neighbors if they're weaker and it's profitable to do so, they just (usually) won't exterminate them and will also play nice if it's profitable to do so; the British Empire to the wider Imperium's Nazi Germany, if you will. Most (non-Dark) Eldar default to this. Like the Imperium, they consider all other races to be worthless compared to their own citizens; unlike most of the Imperium,note Rogue Trader empires, radical Inquisitors, and fringe sectors being the exceptions. they usually don't actively try to exterminate outsiders that don't get in their way, and mostly just want to be left alone. They're also the most likely race to cooperate with aliens (including humans) and generally aim their military efforts at the Always Chaotic Evil factions (they, are notably, the only race that hasn't had a real conflict with the Tau). The Necrons who aren't utter Omnicidal Maniacs are similar in that regard. Among the forces of Chaos, the Thousand Sons (especially Magnus) are sort of this. The Emperor kept secrets from Magnus, and his attempt to warn the Emperor of the Horus Heresy damaged the Emperor's secret work, and resulted in the Thousand Sons being forced to join the traitors. Afterwards, Ahriman managed to turn most of the legion to dust, leaving the Thousand Sons as a broken legion, just as engineered by Tzeentch. |
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In Shadowrun, the triple-A MegaCorp Horizon (which appeared in 4th edition onwards) is a world-dominating mega corp that has a completely flat and transparent corporate structure, an extremely cheerful and public CEO, and focus on 'benign' industries like Public Relations and pharmaceuticals. Rather than make them the 'good guys' of the setting, this has made them Paranoia Fuel; Shadowrunners are usually extremely smart (they don't live long if they aren't), and the concept of a Mega with no skeletons in the closet that actually cares is scarier than eight of the other open Pragmatic Villains on the Corporate Court combined, because this only means they must be hiding something utterly depraved in there somewhere... but nobody knows what it is. (They're still not as scary as Aztechnology, though.) Turns out it's metahuman experimentation on Technomancers. Ares Macrotechnology is generally considered this trope in the shadows. It's not that Ares aren't doing shadowy, dirty business (they are) or that they give a hoot about making the world a better place (they don't), but Ares (perhaps due to their Lovable Rogue CEO or the fact that shadowrunners continuing to exist raises demand for their products) tend to understand 'the game' between shadowrunners and corporations better than most. A run against Ares is a run where if you play by the rules, so will they. If you get hired to do work on their behalf, odds are better than average that the Johnson actually intends to pay you at the end instead of backstabbing you. Also they were on the ground in Chicago when the Insect Spirits attacked In an interesting example Saeder-Krupp is this trope to the rest of the world, while managing to be the darker shade of black to the Player Characters. Saeder-Krupp sheer pragmatism means that it doesn't have a hidden agenda beyond standard corporate profits and expansion. In fact the companies policy of safe guarding their computer systems meant that Europe was able to ride out Crash 2.0 mostly unharmed. However to any Player Characters, they are the worst company to do runs for. After all, you never cut a deal with a dragon. |
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Zala'ess Vel'Sharen in Drowtales is by no means a particularly nice person, since in the process of vying for the title of Empress among her sisters participates in Matricide, pulls a Uriah Gambit on an (adopted) child, politically manipulates several clans into helping her and deliberately and secretly sabotages a duel that causes one of her sisters to die. And yet compared to her eldest sister Snadhya'rune, who's an outright sociopath who views people (even her children) as things, and Sarv'swati, her brutal and tyrannical second eldest sister, she seems downright reasonable and displays some humanizing qualities, like honest concern for her children. | |
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Likewise, in Warhammer: The Empire is a fanatical religious theocracy where the minor nobles are corrupt (and a good number of them are secretly Chaos worshippers), the Church employs Witch Hunters who burn people, dark Gothic iconography is everywhere, and life generally sucks for anyone outside the major trade cities. But it is undeniably a bulwark that protects the civilized human nations of Bretonnia, Estalia and Tilea against myriad madmen and monsters who would tear it all down; they are brutal and have to be, because their enemies are all horrible. Norsca as depicted in Total War: Warhammer is lighter than the Beastmen and the Warriors of Chaos. Bloodthirsty warriors of the Dark Gods who nevertheless abide by a certain code of honour and possess a dark humour that prevents them from becoming utterly terrifying. In addition, the Norscans have the option of turning on Archaeon the Everchosen and potentially averting the End Times. The Wood Elves of Athel Loren ruthlessly kill most trespassers into their forest home and are known to occasionally raid and skirmish Bretonnian border communities, but they also can be trusted to repay debts, can respect particularly principled non-Asrai like Emperor Karl Franz, and recognize distinction between "crude ignorance" and willful malice. As such, the Asrai have been known to aid humans against Beastmen, Northmen and Greenskins once in a blue moon. The Dryads and Treefolk with whom they share Athel Loren are cruel Absolute Xenophobes who see everything including the Wood Elves themselves, as mere vermin to be exterminated. The Asrai see it as their duty to defend the outside world from the ever-expanding magical forest as much as defend the forest from the outside world, and encircle it with magical waystones to prevent its expansion, lest the forest either be destroyed by contact with humans, or become so evil and determined in its extermination of the mortal races as to be indistinguishable from the forces of Chaos itself. |
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Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay, more prominently in the tie-in sequel comics, have Amanda Waller as this. Amanda Waller is far from a heroic, pleasant, or likeable individual, but the comic points out quite clearly she had done good things. Meanwhile the two she's competing with for the Get Out of Hell Free Card, Vandal Savage and Reverse-Flash, are complete monsters with no redeeming features or good actions to their names. | |
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In the season five finale of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Twilight sees a number of alternate timelines where the villains won and it turns out that, while not good in any sense of the word, Nightmare Moon's reign is ironically this. King Sombra turns all his subjects into mindless slaves, Chrysalis treats Equestria's populace as prey, Tirek just destroys everything, and Discord creates a World of Chaos. Nightmare Moon, by contrast, rules over an Equestria that's swept in eternal night and while her kingdom is certainly tyrannical and authoritarian, it is a functioning kingdom where ponies are able to live their night-to-night lives in peace. | |
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Seiji from Only Villains Do That isn't particularly likeable, but compared to the goddess of evil Virya he's a saint. | |
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The Empire is a fanatical religious theocracy where the minor nobles are corrupt (and a good number of them are secretly Chaos worshippers), the Church employs Witch Hunters who burn people, dark Gothic iconography is everywhere, and life generally sucks for anyone outside the major trade cities. But it is undeniably a bulwark that protects the civilized human nations of Bretonnia, Estalia and Tilea against myriad madmen and monsters who would tear it all down; they are brutal and have to be, because their enemies are all horrible. | |
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"Akuma VS Shao Kahn": Akuma is the lighter shade. Akuma, for as ruthless as he can be, is still a Noble Demon with code of honor, which includes not fighting opponents who can't/won't fight back and always keeping his promises, and he has the relatively small scale goal of wanting to find a Worthy Opponent. Shao Kahn, meanwhile, is an Evil Overlord out to conquer the multiverse, and is not above cheating to get an advantage in battle. In the end, Shao Kahn ends up as the victor of the fight. | |
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The war between Batea and Alemi in Anecdote of Error is a textbook case. On the one hand, Alemi is led by a bunch of psychopaths who kill their prisoners in some of the most horrific ways possible, who invade boarding schools while children are present in order to gain the weapons inside, and whose soldiers brag about all the cities they will sack once the tide of the war turns in their favor, and claim that someone being torn limb from limb is an appropriate response to being held and questioned. On the other hand, Batea is a place where children are sorted into unequal castes once they reach a certain age, and can be drafted into wars, and housekeepers have very few rights, and the faculty of a boarding school decide to summarily execute an enemy soldier without thinking twice, and the teacher who explains this thinks that it will make the children she is telling it to feel better, and is hinted to have alienated the entire rest of the world such that they are willing to ally with Alemi in spite of all its crimes against humanity. A lot of readers want both sides to lose, but if forced to pick, would want Batea to be victorious, not just because the protagonists are from there, and are just normal kids caught up in a horrible situation, but because Batea is merely an oppressive tyranny, whereas Alemi is a fanatical horde that will destroy for the sake of destruction. There are a small handful of Alemi citizens who aren’t this bad, but not enough to classify the conflict as A Lighter Shade of Gray instead. | |
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"Bill Cipher VS Discord": Discord is the lighter shade. Both are beings that thrive on chaos, but whereas Bill is a sadistic jerkass who gets enjoyment out of suffering and is completely fine with destroying all of reality, Discord is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who never means for any real evil in his actions, and eventually pulls a Heel–Face Turn thanks to his friendship with Fluttershy. Ultimately, Bill comes out on top in the fight, but Discord is still successful in screwing him over in the end. | |
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"Winter Soldier VS Red Hood": The Winter Soldier is the lighter shade. While both have dark histories and have killed numerous people throughout their life, Bucky proves to be the more virtuous due to the majority of his killings occurring while he was Brainwashed and Crazy, and becomes The Atoner in order to redeem himself for his acts. Jason, meanwhile, is completely willing to kill and continues to do so even after veering into a more heroic light. Bucky ends up as the victor. | |
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