Balance Between Good and Evil: Difference between revisions

It may also be motivated by the belief, right or not, that the universe always spawns a [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil|new, bigger evil]] every time the good guys win. Occasionally, this is used as justification as to why the [[Big Bad]] needs to be [[Sealed Evil in a Can|sealed away instead of killed]], because killing him would create an inbalance resulting in a [[Bigger Bad]] stepping up to fill the void. By sealing away the [[Big Bad]], they neutralize his threat (he can't cause death and destruction anymore) but he's still technically in the world (just imprisoned), so balance is maintained.

Sometimes, this refers directly to the heroes and villains in the story, instead of Good and Evil as a whole. In this case, the villain doesn't need to actually [[Villains Out Shopping|be DOING evil at the time]], they're just evil, so good must balance them out. Likewise, the hero doesn't have to [[Chronic Hero Syndrome|perform acts of heroism all the time]], merely just being good provides balance for the villains evil.

Often relies on [[Good Is Boring]]. See also [[Good Is Dumb]], [[Good Is Impotent]] and [[Evil Is Cool]]. The [[Hero Ball|heroic]] and [[Villain Ball|villainous]] versions of the [[Idiot Ball]] also usually play a part in allowing this trope to function. [[Lawful Stupid]] might also rear its head, as might [[Stupid Neutral]] if an outside force enforces the balance.

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== Anime and Manga ==

== Comic Books ==

* In most superhero universes, a kind of balance applies, in that while superheroes rarely lose, villains keep coming back (or are replaced by new ones.) One would think that villains would just [[Legion of Doom|ally to bring down the heroes with sheer numbers]], but this rarely works because villains can't trust each other for long, [[The Power of Trust|while heroes can]].

* In the [[Marvel Universe]], Adam Warlock got a hold of the Infinity Gauntlet, a [[MacGuffin]] that literally granted the user [[A God Am I|control over all of existence]]. His desire to become the "perfect" God caused him to subconsciously expunge both good and evil from himself completely. This backfired, as both became anthropomorphized and tried to take over the universe (after, of course, he had been stripped of the Gauntlet).

** Speaking about the Spectre, he once tried taking out [[Evil Overlord|Darkseid]]. Well, it was succesful, he [[Shaped Like Itself|he killed Darkseid dead]]. Only for the latter to rise in a skeletal form and begin reforming, stating that he couldn't be killed by the Spectre in this manner because he was a neccesary evil in this universe.

* This is [[Spider-Man|Mr. Negative's]] philosophy and the basic premise of his [[Split Personality]].

== Film ==