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== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Nena Trinity from ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]''. She was introduced as cute, quirky (she kissed the protagonist upon first meeting him) and seemed like a [[Genki Girl]] [[War Is Hell|caught in a bad situation]] but [[Stepford Smiler|trying to smile]] [[Power Trio|to her two older brothers and herself]] (and further supported that [[Pigeonholed Voice Actor|she has the voice of]] [[Rie Kugimiya]], a popular voice actress known for heroic [[Tsundere]] loli roles, which also makes people think she's going to be great). Then, in the very next episode when flying over a civilian wedding, says, "How dare you have fun while I'm working! You should just die." and then promptly [[Death From Above|and sends a missile their way]]. ''Twice''. All the attendants but a young girl are killed, and even that poor kid loses one of her hands and her mind. And then, when asked by her teammates (and brothers) why she did it, laughs and says, "Oops! I guess I pushed the wrong button!". She's a [[Cute and Psycho]] [[Tyke Bomb]], if you don't get what this scene totally says. Of course, there's that [[Hoist
** Second season counts too. She became more subdued while serving Wang Liu Mei and even helped out the Celestial Being against Wang Liu Mei's orders to destroy a [[Kill Sat]] threatening many innocents. Cue a smaller-scale [[Time Skip]], she's suddenly back being a raving lunatic [[Cute and Psycho]] who successfully killed Liu Mei and Hong Long, having learnt no lessons at all from the above karmic retribution. And shortly after, karma came back to her like a bitch and she got killed by the above surviving young girl.
* Johan Liebert of ''[[Monster (
* Occurs at least twice in the ''[[Elfen Lied]]'' manga. The first one involves a man who is first introduced as a [[Chivalrous Pervert]] with an odd sense of humor, then turns out to be a rapist assassin with a gun that fires spiked balls dosed in extremely painful toxins. A chapter ending introduces a few techs at the Diclonius research facility, along with their boss, a quirky, joking [[Bishonen]] with a fondness for candy sticks. All is well and good... until a [[Reveal Shot]] reveals that they're working, joking and laughing in {{spoiler|an office with a window showing an endless train of [[Nightmare Fuel|mutilated and uncensored Diclonii torsos for that radar system rattling past]].}}
* In the first episode of ''[[Code Geass]]'', Prince Clovis is introduced giving a powerful speech condemning an act of terrorism by the Japanese [[La Résistance|resistance]] which seems pretty conciliatory, as he underscores how loyal Japanese are equal citizens of Britannia. Then a moment later, he is shown going back to socialize at a party, demonstrating that all of that pathos was a put-on. By the end of the episode, he shows his [[True Colors]] as a neurotic nutjob, by despairing due to C.C's escape to the point of ordering a murderous pogrom on the Japanese ghetto to cover it up. Unlike many of these examples though, Karma catches up with him quickly so [[Sacrificial Lamb|he doesn't make it very long in the series]].
** Clovis's older brother, Prince Schneizel, was kind of the same. He was introduced as a seemingly nice guy who many fans speculated was a heroic [[Anti-Villain]] in contrast to Lelouch, a ruthless [[Anti-Hero]]. Then, he starts [[spoiler: [[Evil Mentor|manipulating]] the mentally unbalanced [[TV Genius]] Nina into building a nuclear weapon, uses [[Achilles in His Tent|a critical momentary absence of Lelouch to turn the Black Knights against said leader,]] and eventually reveals his plan to {{spoiler|nuke millions of people and declare himself God. And using his half-sister Nunnally, also very unstable at the moment, to such an end}}. Of course, there was at least one sign prior to this: his [[Dissonant Serenity|smile]] as the Avalon prepared to nuke both Suzaku and a pinned-down Zero in the first season.
* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]''; While we see fairly early on that the Amestrian military is a fairly ruthless and potentially dodgy organization, its leader, Fuhrer President Bradley, presents himself (despite his [[Putting
** In the manga and the ''Brotherhood'' animation, Bradley is shown to be shaking during {{spoiler|Hughes' funeral}}, one of the major [[Tear Jerker|Tear Jerkers]] of the series. When Mustang brings this event up, it is revealed that he was in fact {{spoiler|shaking with anger at the noise that Hughes' daughter Elicia was causing, as she cried over her father being buried.}}
** Amazingly, the manga manages to one-up this. Selim Bradley is a cute little kid who looks up to his father, studies hard so he help the country when he grows up and fanboys other characters with big sparkly eyes. Which makes it all the more horrifying when the reader learns that {{spoiler|not only is he a homunculus, but the ''oldest'' of the homunculi and arguably the most powerful and evil. His power is a living shadow that tore a group of Briggs soldiers to pieces and left the survivors so traumatized that they were almost ''insane''.}} Worst of all, his poor mother has no idea that {{spoiler|her family are evil homonculi ([[Morality Pet|although they both seem to care about her in their own ways]]).}}
* In ''[[
** See also, Eustace Kid, at first presented as being disgusted with the [[Moral Event Horizon|World Government Slave Auctions]] and setting himself up as a worthy opponent to [[The Hero|Luffy]] and [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Trafalgar Law]]. Roughly a hundred chapters later he's seen crucifying pirates attempting to flee the ludicrously dangerous sea of the New World.
*** [[Word of God]] is that the only reason Kid's bounty was higher than Luffy's is that Kid leaves a trail of corpses wherever he goes. When he said that he kills anybody who laughs at his dreams, he's not joking.
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== [[Comic Books]] ==
* [[The Joker]] does this a lot. As one comic writer said, "The Joker's job is to make the audience laugh, then feel ashamed about it afterwards."
** Of course, this is [[Depending
* In a ''[[Captain America]]'' 2006 ''[[What If]]'' story, Steve Rogers is a soldier during the Civil War era, part of a group ordered to attack Native Americans. When he expresses doubt about this, his superior officer Colonel "Bucky" Barnes appears to understand. Later, it's shown that {{spoiler|the Colonel not only allows the attack to happen, but in fact has his men surrender the loot to him as well.}}
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== Film ==
* [[Quentin Tarantino]] admits to doing this with Mr Blond in ''[[Reservoir Dogs]]'', whose [[Moral Event Horizon]] moment involved {{spoiler|cutting off a cop's ear and slicing his face while he was gagged and duct-taped to a chair, then dousing him with gasoline and preparing to set him on fire before he was stopped.}} All of this is done after we get introduced via a little [[How We Got Here]] flashback and get to see him do the twist to some funky 70's music on the radio. This also applies to a lesser extent to characters like Mr. White and Mr. Pink, who seem quite sympathetic and ineffectual, until in flashbacks we see them shooting up cops. However, they remain sympathetic characters, so they don't really fit this trope.
* And again in ''[[Jackie Brown]]'', we assume we're on [[Samuel L. Jackson]]'s side, because he seems pretty much like his character in ''[[Pulp Fiction]]'', with some funny lines about AK-47's and a stoner girlfriend, etc. He goes on to {{spoiler|shoot or threaten to shoot most of the characters in the movie}}. [[Robert De Niro]]'s character is pretty much the same, except we don't find out until much later on {{spoiler|when he shoots his/Ardell's girlfriend dead because she wouldn't stop talking.}}
* Maman in ''[[Slumdog Millionaire]]''. A viewer might be slightly suspicious when this man is offering homeless children soda and giving them a home in an orphanage. You may think he's a little shady, but not too terrible when he has the children panhandle in exchange for food and board. Then when he really likes you, you get to sing for him. However, [[Eye Scream|he has a way]] to make every singing orphan worth double.
* ''[[Barton Fink]]''. {{spoiler|Charlie seems like a lovable oaf and becomes Barton's only real friend. Then it turns out he's a homicidal maniac who probably killed his girlfriend and gave her head to him in box}}.
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* [[The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus]] brings us {{spoiler|Tony. He's introduced as a likeable chap who has a gift for bringing people in to be enlightened in the titular imaginarium. It's shown that he was involved in some sort of scandal about a children's charity, but he still comes off as a [[Loveable Rogue]]. Then it's revealed that he was selling the children's organs on the black market. The man triggers an [[Even Evil Has Standards]] reaction in the Devil himself.}}
* Done deliberately with the film version of [[Secret Window]] - according to the director, by the time {{spoiler|our protagonist finally snaps completely and kills his ex-wife and her boyfriend}}, we were meant to be too involved with him to stop cheering him on.
* Any horror film where they don't show who the killer is before the big reveal. Especially in the ''[[Scream (
* A subtle example in ''[[Watchmen (
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Dragonheart]]'' we first see Einon as though he is like any other fantasy hero, who was given Draco's heart and the audience assumes it would be about a [[A Boy and His X]]. But in a few minutes, he is in fact a spoiled prince who is becoming more [[Complete Monster|oppressive and cruel]] when he force the rebels into building his new castle, had their leader blinded.
== [[Literature]] ==
* Mr. Teatime in ''[[Discworld
** Of course, we only get a couple paragraphs of "what a badass" before "Oh my Om, what a psycho" sets in, because we first see him playing with some dogs; the character speaking to him expresses surprise, because on his last job he nailed one to the ceiling.
*** "He lost both parents at an early age. I think, on reflection, that we should have [[Self-Made Orphan|wondered a bit more about that]]."
* {{spoiler|Zakalwe}} from [[Use of
* [[Wilkie Collins]] did this in his novel ''[[
* In the ''[[Warhammer]]'' novel ''Inheritance'', the character of Vlad von Carstein is introduced like a non-annoying version of an Anne Rice vampire, who practically sweats pure liquid awesome. He's philosophically inclined, a good fighter, looks cool, enters like a true badass, and ohmigod did he just slaughter hundreds of people in extremely sadistic manners and resurrect them as zombies?
* In George P. Pelecanos' novel ''King Suckerman'', ex-con Wilton Cooper appears to be a cool [[Badass]] but is gradually revealed to be a rather frightening sociopath.
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* In R.L. Stein's ''Fear Games'' trilogy (Part of ''The Nightmare Room''), the sorceress who is the trilogy's [[Big Bad]] lures a seagull to her hand, pets it while she tells it her evil plot, then snaps the seagull's neck and throws it to the ground.
* In the [[Dale Brown]] book ''Air Battle Force'', General Gryzlov first appears as [[A Father to His Men]], chatting with the aircrew of the bomber he's on. Then it turns out that {{spoiler|he's there to oversee firebombing the shit out of Chechens.}}
* [[Vampire: The Masquerade
** Not that it excuses it at all, but Jan was so badly damaged, he needed to feed right off or he wouldn't have lasted the night.
* Ah, [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Littlefinger]]. We all know you're evil, but heping Sansa build a snow castle? That's just cute. Cute and paternal. Wait a . . . [[Parental Incest|Holy shit]], [[Creepy Uncle|what do you]] [[Forceful Kiss|think you're]] ''[[Squick|doing?!]]''
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Captain John from ''[[
* Actually invoked in [[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]] when the writers thought that the recurring villain {{spoiler|Dukat}} who, despite his charming demeanor and the fact that he somewhat cared for his illegitimate daugther was a hypocritical, crazed, sexually voracious dictator who [[A Million Is a Statistic|sent millions of people to die in labor camps]] and didn't hesitate to sell his own people to [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|the Dominion]] which directly lead to {{spoiler|his home planet winding up thoroughly demolished by the end of the show}}, was getting too popular with the audience - the episode "Waltz" pretty much exists for the sake of showing the audience that, charm or no charm, this man is a [[Complete Monster|monster.]]
* ''[[Firefly]]'' had a good example with [[Bounty Hunter]] Jubal Early. It's clear that Whedon assumed that viewers would react to him with similar good will as was shown towards Boba Fett in [[Star Wars]], and when he first appears, he is an erudite and funny [[Badass]]. [[Complete Monster|Then he starts threatening to rape Kaylee and admitting to his love of torturing animals as a child.]]
* General Melchett in the fourth series of ''[[
* ''[[
* Happens a few times on the new ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined|Battlestar Galactica]]. First there's Cavil/#1, who's introduced as a [[Deadpan Snarker]] type and even seems to be one of the more sympathetic Cylons. As the story develops, we get to know Cavil for [[Complete Monster|what he]] [[Big Bad|really is.]] Then there's Tory, who {{spoiler|learns she's a Cylon, but manages to keep it together at first. When Cally has a breakdown upon realizing her husband Tyrol is a Cylon, she takes her infant son and prepares to toss herself and him out of an airlock. Tory shows up, talks Cally down-and then takes Cally's son before [[Moral Event Horizon|ejecting her into space anyway.]]}}
* In ''[[Samurai Sentai Shinkenger]]'', there's Fuwa Juzou, who is a half-Gedoushuu and sets himself up as [[The Hero|Takeru]]'s [[Worthy Opponent]], constantly seeking to fight him. With him not really getting along with the [[Big Bad|head honcho]] of Gedoushuu, Chimatsuri Doukokuu, plus building up some 'friendship' with [[Dark Chick|Usukawa Dayuu]] and the fact that he's half-human makes people think that since this is [[Super Sentai]], he'd at least be shown as either a [[Noble Demon]], or pull a [[Heel Face Turn]] later. Then, he foils Akumaro's plan... by revealing that he ''revels'' on his Gedoushuu lineage, preferring to be a full-blooded Gedoushuu (which he did), and his sword Uramasa turned out to be his parents begging him to stop killing, but he ''doesn't care one bit'', liking his profession as a [[Blood Knight]] to the max and wants nothing more than kill and more killing. At that point, any hopes of him as mentioned above are dashed forever and he places himself as one of [[Super Sentai]]'s [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]].
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== [[Theater]] ==
* [[Shakespeare]] likes these:
** Chiron and Demetrius in ''[[Titus Andronicus (
** Edmund in ''[[King Lear]]''. He starts off as somewhere between a [[Loveable Rogue]] and a [[Magnificent Bastard]] (literally), then, just as the audience is rooting for him and his [[Xanatos Gambit]] and wondering if he's shaping up to be an [[Anti-Hero]], they're hit with a real [[Kick the Dog]] moment, and confronted with their [[Misaimed Fandom]], when his scheming leads to the Duke of Cornwall gouging out the eyes of Edmund's own aged father, on-stage.
* Though this was far from M. Hugo's original intent, the musical of ''[[Les Misérables (
** Not even the rest of the cast is able to sit still!
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** To be fair, mana wyrms ''are'' considered pests, but she does look rather sinister.
* (Aside from his flashback appearance) Kefka from ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' is introduced in the story as a quirky and colorful [[Villainous Harlequin]] like character, humorously demanding that his shoes be emptied of sand ''in the middle of a desert'' and generally acting like a goofy manchild. He later reveals himself as a [[Psycho for Hire|sociopathic]] [[Complete Monster]] whose idea of fun generally revolves around [[Omnicidal Maniac|mass genocide]].
* Subverted with Slayer in ''[[
* Carl Clover in ''[[Blaz Blue]]'' is a [[Cheerful Child|cheerful]], polite and idealistic child as long as one nods politely when he mentions [[Berserk Button|his sister]]. Running is advised if [[More Than Mind Control|she starts to make suggestions]] to [[Ax Crazy|him]].
** However, he isn't a [[Complete Monster]] as the trope would imply, and even {{spoiler|aspires to become like Litchi in his story mode ending in Continuum Shift.}}
** Which is, kind of subverted later, {{spoiler|when people are introduced to Litchi, she displayed herself as a kind hearted woman who cared about everyone and would even sacrifice herself to save someone unknown as Carl at that time. Time by time, we are also told that she was trying to save her lover. Come Continuum Shift, however, said emotion became a catalyst for her to do a [[Face Heel Turn]], joining in Carl's [[Complete Monster]] of a father for a chance to save her lover, maybe to establish that she is not meant to be the sensible [[Love You and Everybody]] [[Messianic Archetype]], but a desperate lover to the level of near-obsession. No, she's not a [[Complete Monster]] level yet and somehow she still retained her kind self, but it was probably a type of baiting provided by Arc System Works.}}
** And even in the first game, there's {{spoiler|that mild-mannered informant Hazama who merrily helped Noel... until suddenly in the True End, he reveals his true card, that being [[Complete Monster]] [[Troll]] extraordinary Terumi Yuuki, who's pretty much responsible for nearly every single depravity done to the world.}}
* GlaDOS in ''[[Portal (
* Dimitri Rascalov in ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV]]''. At first, he seems like a decent guy, especially when compared to his boss, [[The Caligula|Mikhail Faustin]]. When he orders Niko to {{spoiler|kill Mikhail}}, most players would think he's doing it for the right reasons. However, he then {{spoiler|betrays Niko to Ray Bulgarin, a human trafficker he ows money to, and becomes one half of the game's [[Big Bad Duumvirate]]. And he later tries to make Niko's life hell with a series of progressively escalating [[Kick the Dog]] moments.}}
* While he's first seen, [[
* {{spoiler|Eva Beatrice}} in ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* At the start of ''[[The Order of the Stick
** An even further baiting: ''[[The Order of the Stick
** When General Tarquin was introduced he got a lot of fans for affability, [[Genre Savvy|savvy]], and style. And of course {{spoiler|he's Elan's father.}} It's since become apparent that {{spoiler|he uses his position as de facto ruler of the Empire of Blood to force any woman he takes a fancy to to marry him, then kills them when he gets tired of them. Which makes him ''rather less'' likable. Not to mention burning 30 slaves (possibly alive) to spell Elan's name out in lights- even [[Cloudcuckoolander|Elan]] finally realizes it at that point.}}
* Skippy the Demon from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' was originally introduced as just [http://beta.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=000604 a kind of dopey guy] for the ''real'' [[Big Bad]], K'Z'K, to explain his plan to. But when he [http://beta.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=050814 shows up again later], he's scarily devoted to reviving K'Z'K, bringing about the end of the world, and seeing that Zoe burns.
* The Jagermonsters in ''[[
** Jagerkin are borderline example, as they're still likeable -- extremely dangerous, but honorable [[Blood Knight]] bunch. [[Boisterous Bruiser|Loud]], love fighting, but not malicious at all -- they [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060703 readily admire] foes who bested them and tend to ignore non-combatants altogether. And are loyal above all else.
* ''[[
** [[Playing With A Tropes|Hussie pulls an interesting case with Vriska]]. She's introduced as a evil bitch right off the bat - the first thing she ''does'' (crippling Tavros) is her [[Moral Event Horizon]]. But post-[[Time Skip]], she seems to be nicer, even ''helpful'' in some cases. Not to mention [[Crowning Moment of Funny|falling in love with]] [[Nicholas Cage]]. All of this makes her seem like [[The Atoner]] and that she was really a [[Jerk
** And again with Eridan. The entire comic builds him up as a worthless [[Butt Monkey]] whose attempts at world domination are overly ambitious and doomed to failure, leading everyone to believe that he's an [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain]] (even having a quote from his introductory exposition on that trope page). {{spoiler|Then he announces he plans to betray his friends and join Jack Noir, we learn that he committed genocide on the inhabitants of his planet after he murdered a few for no reason, and he proceeds to beat up Sollux for being in his way and slaughters his love interest.}}
** Doc Scratch is presented as a fairly polite villian who wants to help the protagonists ([[The Chessmaster|to further his own ambitions]]), and is even kind to Spades Slick, who spent his time at Scratch's pad trying to light it on fire and attack the host. Towards the end of his narrative, we discover an [[Awful Truth]]: {{spoiler|he's kidnapped and [[Abusive Parent|abused]] Aradia's ancestor to the point where she becomes a [[Brainwashed]] [[Death Seeker]]. This is best exemplified when he temporarily takes away her ability to breathe.}} Damn.
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In [[The Movie]] of ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]'' this is mildly applied. {{spoiler|Eddy's Brother is initially portrayed upon his introduction as cool older brother willing to help out Eddy and his friends. It almost seems heartwarming the way Eddy hugs his brother for promising to help them out. One minute later he's beating the hell out of his little brother, his brother's best friend, and has the rest of the cast watching in horror.}}.
{{reflist}}
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