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{{quote|'''[[Batman]]:''' [[I'll Kill You!|I'm going to kill you]].
'''[[The Joker]]:''' You [[Big Word Shout|IDIOT]]! You ''made'' me. Remember? You dropped me into that vat of chemicals. That wasn't easy to get over, and don't think that I didn't try.
'''[[Batman]]:''' {{spoiler|[[Subverted Trope|I know you didn't.]]
|''[[Batman (film)|Batman]]''}}
[[Superhero
Maybe [[The Hero]] accidentally wronged some [[Innocent Bystander]]
In a parody or deconstruction of this trope, it might go on to reveal that the actions of the hero were actually irrelevant in terms of the individual's true nature. They were ultimately a disturbed individual who was looking for the first excuse they could find to justify their evil behavior.
Naturally, this is common in comic books. In many cases, however, the villain's [[Start of Darkness|origin story]] isn't even hinted at in their first
One of the causes of the [[Superhero Paradox]]. See also [[Disproportionate Retribution]]
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
*
** As was {{spoiler|Kimiko Kujo}} in the [[Alternate Continuity]] Film ''[[L: Change the World]]''.
*
* ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]'s'' [[Hero Antagonist]] {{spoiler|Shinn Asuka}} was molded to the man he is when his family was killed by a stray shot in the [[Gundam Seed|previous series]] {{spoiler|during the fight between Kira Yamato and Orga of the Druggie Trio.}}
* [[Super-Powered Evil Side|Yami Bakura]] from ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' became Yami Yugi{{spoiler|/Pharaon Atem}}'s archnemesis after Yami Yugi in his past life in Ancient Egypt raided Yami Bakura's home village.
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** Then he had Itachi murder the entire Uchiha clan, who however left his brother, Sasuke alive. Guess who had killed Danzo, after the [[Big Bad]] revealed this bit of information to him?
** Apparently Yakushi Kabuto joined Orochimaru {{spoiler|because Danzo had set up him and his adoptive mother -both faithful and competent spies working for him- to murder eachother, but Kabuto survived.}}
* [[The Rival|Ryoga]] ''tries'' to call this on [[Ranma ½]]. According to his version of events, Ranma ran out on the fight between them (after Ryoga [[No Sense of Direction|made him wait three days]]), [[Revenge Before Reason|"forcing" Ryoga to follow him...]] all the way to Jusenkyo, where he was kicked into a [[Curse|Cursed Spring]] by a [[Gender Bender|certain red-headed girl]].
==
* [[Batman]]'s foe, [[The Joker]]. Many details of Joker's origin vary, but it's widely accepted that the Bat was somehow responsible for the Joker's fall into the vat of chemicals that turned him into the psychopathic clown.
** Man-Bat originally doped himself with [[Lego Genetics|bat serum extract]] in hopes of giving himself a bat's
** It's often suggested that while Batman isn't directly involved their origin, the tendency of his [[Rogues Gallery]] to have garish costumes and gimmicks are a reaction to Batman's own. Batman's greatest triumph was to break the mob's hold on Gotham, and his greatest failure was attracting a bunch of psychopathic weirdos to take their place.
* ''[[Superman]]'': Pre-[[Crisis on Infinite Earths|Crisis]], [[Lex Luthor]] was a fan of Superman, then went on to hate his guts after an accident made Luthor lose his precious... hair as well a protoplasmic lifeform he had created and not to mention his laboratory. Luthor believed that it was done out of jealousy for Luthor's genius and vowed to prove he was better than Supes. Later, in the [[Silver Age]], Luthor gained a more legitimate reason: He blamed Supes for the death of his wife. Nowadays he's often still technically self-created, but it's not exactly Superman's fault: he turned to villainy over jealousy of Superman's achievements.
** The jealousy factors into his Silver Age origin as well. The experiment Superboy interrupted was one of a series of increasingly over the top acts of science Luthor was engaging to win respect and admiration that kept getting overshadowed by the Boy of Steel.
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** He also brought the Eradicator to earth (it was a supercomputer from Krypton, he just didn't realize it's purpose would be malevolent.) He threw the Eradicator into the sun, causing the Eradicator to come back as an energy being, then the energy being created a new body for itself based on Superman.
** Cyborg Superman. Superman believed that energy being Hank Henshaw could not master Kryptonian technology, so he trapped Henshaw in his birthing matrix. Result: Henshaw used the technology and traces of Superman's DNA to return as a kryptonian cyborg with a grudge.
* ''[[Spider-Man]]'': Eddie Brock's hatred of both Peter Parker and Spider-Man (some people just like to blame someone else), and Spider-Man did accidently pass the symbiote to Brock, creating Venom. Brock's recent [[Heel Face Turn]] came from finally admitting it was his own fault and not Peter's.
** The Venom-symbiant itself is often portrayed as having been consumed with resentment (and abandonment issues) after Peter rejected it, going on to influence several hosts into lives of villainy and Spiderman harassment.
** The original Hobgoblin is an indirect example: he got his start when he was tipped to the location of the Green Goblin's old gear when a minor criminal that Spider-Man allowed to get away stumbled across the stuff.
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** Oddly, a [[Silver Age]] [[Justice League]] story had musician Anton Allegro become a villain because he'd been accidentally deafened by ''Green Arrow''.
* In the United Kingdom's ''[[Sonic the Comic]]'', (which was based on the old Mobius/Kintobor backstory that's since been brushed away to line up with the Japanese plot), the story arc loosely based on ''Sonic CD'' had Sonic going back in time and deliberately causing the accident that turned kindly Dr. Kintobor into Dr. Robotnik. In the altered timeline where the accident never occurred, the Brotherhood of Metallix conquered Mobius and couldn't be stopped- in the 'real' timeline, Robotnik worked on the Metallixes, too, and thought to give them a mass-self-destruct function.
* The insane [[Captain America (comics)]] from the 1950s started out as a fanatical admirer of then-missing Steve Rogers, driven insane by [[Psycho Serum|a faulty attempt]] to replicate Steve's [[Super Serum]].
* The ''[[Transmetropolitan]]'' arc "Freeze Me with Your Kiss" features a revenge scheme involving several people wronged in the past by [[Anti-Hero]] Spider Jerusalem. Also, part of why [[Big Bad|the Smiler]] is elected [[President Evil|president]] is that Spider initially supported him over his similarly corrupt opponent as seemingly the lesser of two evils.
* ''[[Iron Man]]'' villains the Crimson Dynamo, Titanium Man, and Firepower all got their start because the [[Dirty Commies]] and, later, a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] decided they needed their own counterparts to Tony Stark's "bodyguard."
* [[The Ultimates]] in the ''[[Ultimate Marvel]]'' universe were at least partly to blame for the creation of the supervillain group the Liberators, and definitely to blame for the first Hulk rampage through New York.
** It ultimately turns out that the advent of the mutant was a direct result of the superhuman arms race.
* In ''[[Star Wars Legacy]]'', Obi-Wan Kenobi is inadvertently responsible for {{spoiler|A'Sharad Hett's}} transformation into Darth Krayt. Nice going, Ben.
* Any number of [[All Your Powers Combined]] supervillains. Amazo, Paragon, the Composite Superman, the Super-Adaptoid, etc.
* Hank Pym, the [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|Avenger]] alternately known as Ant-Man, Giant Man, Goliath, Yellowjacket, Dr. Pym, and the Wasp, built the robot Ultron, which went on to become one of the Avengers' most powerful, persistent, and deadly foes.
** Inverted by Ultron himself, who created the Vision and Jocasta, who both became heroes. Ultron kind of sucks at making villains, because he also created Victor Mancha who ended up joining the Runaways
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* Inverted in [[Alan Moore]]'s ''[[Supreme]]''. {{spoiler|Due to a [[Stable Time Loop]], the villain literally becomes the source of the hero's powers.}}
* Played with then inverted in [[Les Legendaires|Les Légendaires]], where the protagonist Razzia, who was initially an innocent pacifist kid, became a vengeful barbarian villain as well as [[The Dragon]] to [[Evil Sorcerer|Darkhell]] after his village was seemingly destroyed by the heroic 1000 Wolves Army for no reason. Later however, {{spoiler|his dying sister Sheyla reveals him it was Darkhell who destroyed the village and blame the 1000 Wolves for it. Inraged by the betrayal, Razzia turned against Darkhell and joined the Legendaries, becoming part of the sorcerer's worst enemies.}}
* ''[[PS238]]'' had a moment when [[Order Versus Chaos|cherub and imp]] were cheering when {{spoiler|Tyler's clone}} "created and fought his first supervillain". He was rather unpleasantly surprised by the "created" part.
== Fan Works ==
* Inverted in ''[[Drunkard's Walk|Drunkard's Walk II]]'', set in the world of ''[[Bubblegum Crisis]]''. [[Big Bad]] Quincy reveals at the climax of the story that he was a fan of superheroes who deliberately turned himself into someone like [[Lex Luthor]] in order to ''force the universe'' to spawn real superheroes to oppose him. He maintains that the existence of the Knight Sabers and ''DW'' protagonist Doug Sangnoir's presence in that universe [[Crazy Enough to Work|prove that it ''worked'']].
== Films -- Animation ==
* Syndrome from ''[[The Incredibles]]''. As a boy, his hero-worship led him to try to become Mr. Incredible's [[Sidekick]], but Mr Incredible brushed him off. Syndrome then decided to get his recognition by designing a robot to kill Mr. I.
* Double subverted in ''[[Megamind]]''. Megamind tries to create a new ''Hero'' to fight, but said person ends up becoming an even worse villain.
** Also, Metro Man is
== Films -- Live Action ==
* The
{{quote|'''Batman:''' I made you, but you made me first.}}
* In ''[[Batman Forever]]'', Edward Nigma was an employee at Wayne Corp who [[Ho Yay|really looked up to]] Bruce Wayne. Bruce shutting down Nigma's twisted pet project is what drives him off the deep end, turning him into the Riddler.
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{{quote|'''Joker:''' Look at me. '''LOOK AT ME!''' ''(speaks to video camera)'' You see, ''this'' is how ''crazy'' Batman's made Gotham!}}
** Batman and Gordon created Two-Face in the same movie. {{spoiler|Dent warned both of them about the corruption in the Gotham police department but they were more willing to ignore them in lieu of the Joker and finishing off the mob. Gordon's own men ended up working for the mob and kidnapped him and Rachel Dawes, resulting in her death and his disfigurement.}} In a more cynical example, {{spoiler|if Batman had been a few moments late, Dent would've died in an explosion and Two-Face would not have been created. If he had been a few moments early, Dent wouldn't have been disfigured, would not have gone to the hospital, and would not have been driven farther over the edge by Joker.}} Additionally, if Batman had realized from the start that {{spoiler|Joker was lying, he would have [[Always Save the Girl|saved Rachel]], leaving Dent to die.}}
* In the Independent Film ''Sidekick'', Norman (a nerdy comic book fan) discovers that Victor (a sleezy Wall Street Guy he knows) has latent telekinetic abilities. Norman tries to train Victor to develop his powers so he can become a real-life superhero, but (being a Wall Street Guy) Victor eventually decides to use his powers for evil instead, becoming Norman's arch-enemy. A comic book store owner friend of Norman's even remarks (under the false impression that Norman and Victor's story is a pitch for a comic book plot) that, although Norman has failed to make a good hero, it seems he did succeed in creating a killer villain.
* In ''[[Iron Man (film)|Iron Man]]'', Obediah Stane is an evil genius in his own right, but it takes technology stolen from Tony Stark to complete his Iron Monger armor.
** In the sequel, Ivan Vanko is inspired to become Whiplash by the revelation that Tony is Iron Man. {{spoiler|His real grudge is against Tony's dead father - if Tony had never been born - or had died before the end of the first movie - Vanko may not have engaged in any criminal activity whatsoever. If Vanko didn't know Stark was Iron Man, his revenge probably wouldn't have involved building a suit of armor. Then Vanko improves his energy whips using suggestions from Tony himself.}} And, Justin Hammer would presumably be a conniving weasel with or without Tony's influence, but if weren't for Stark/Iron Man, {{spoiler|he wouldn't have been trying to build suits of armor, or broken Vanko out of jail, or had access to the War Machine armor.}}
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* In ''[[Kick-Ass (film)|Kick Ass]]'', Kick-Ass {{spoiler|kills Frank d'Amico, causing his son Chris (Red Mist) to become a supervillain}}
* Used rather literally in ''[[Tron]]'' and ''[[Tron: Legacy]]''. In the first, hundreds of man-hours worth of programming, spearheaded by [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Ed Dillinger]] turned a chess program into something that was going to take over the [[Cold War|Pentagon and Kremlin]] in about a week out of boredom. The second flick was a literal case; Flynn created Clu 2.0 and gave him near-User level of power and a "create the perfect system" directive so he could run things while Flynn was in his own world. Unfortunately, Flynn forgot to install a failsafe or ethics...
* In ''[[The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford]]'', Robert idolizes Jesse and believes that he can earn a position of glory at Jesse's side. When Jesse fails to live up to Bob's expectations (and outright mocks him at a few points), Bob decides to instead earn his glory by killing Jesse James. (The entire thing is [[Black and Grey Morality]], but most of the contemporary public views Jesse as a folk hero and Robert as a villain for killing him.)
* Inverted in the film [[Black Scorpion]] as the the villain of the first film creates the ''hero'' by killing her father. Played straight with the mayor in the second film as he ends up turning Dr. Undershaft into Aftershock when his men sabotage her invention. This repeats several times in the series with the mayor's crooked schemes creating several villains. Little one most of them want to kill him.
** Flashpoint is a tabloid photographer obsessed with discovering Black Scorpion's secret identity who is blinded by her energy ring, but his eyesight was restored by advanced laser surgery, making him one of the heroine's most persistent archenemies.
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== Literature ==
* In the ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]'', the Jedi Order inevitably ends up creating the Sith Order. Each time the Sith are wiped out, some Dark Jedi, recently separated from the Order, finds Holocrons left by a previous Sith Lord and the Order is born anew. The worst part is that this cycle has occurred over ''half a dozen times''.
** Ajunta Pall creates what is presumably the original Sith order after being kicked out of the Jedi Order.
** Freedon Nadd, having left the Jedi order due to massive ego and rampant paranoia, finds the holocron of one of the old Sith Lords, and resurrects the order.
** Ditto for Exar Kun, who finds other Sith Holocrons and resurrects the Sith order.
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** At the battle of Ruusan, the Jedi were literally [[Child Soldiers|shoving lightsabers into the hands of small children]] and sending them to slaughter. They also deemed the native "Bouncers" as too dangerous to keep alive because of the thought bomb. Well, one of those Force Sentitive kids sees her Bouncer friend killed by Jedi right before her horrified eyes. Congratulations! They just created Darth Zannah!
** And finally, with Luke Skywalker having destroyed both master and apprentice of the Sith, you'd think it's over no? Well... No. We have a Jedi Purge Survivor that starts a Sith order that would rise to power 100 years later. And Jedi from Skywalker's new Jedi Order jumping ship (one in particular who is even related to him!)
* And then there's this little stroke of brilliance from ''[[Jedi Apprentice]]'', Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon's backstory series. So, the Jedi council has this problem kid, Xanatos. Too much anger and whatnot. And they decide that hey, we're not sure we can trust him, we need to put him to the test. So they send him and his master to intervene in a conflict where his ''dad'' is the [[Man Behind the Man]], and everyone knows it, in the hopes that he'll screw up and they can boot him out. Well as it turns out, the plan works a little too well. Xanatos [[Face Heel Turn
** Now there's a [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Failed Gambit]]
* In ''[[Wuthering Heights (novel)|Wuthering Heights]]'' the other characters, especially Hindley Earnshaw, insult and abuse the young Heathcliff. It's no surprise when [[Byronic Hero|an embittered Heathcliff]] returns seeking revenge.
* Inverted in ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'': Dumbledore underlines the fact that Voldemort created his own foe. Villain creating his own hero.
* In ''[[Seven Sorcerers]]'' by Caro King, the titular sorcerers are responsible for [[From Nobody to Nightmare|transforming]] Arafin Struud from an ordinary human into the [[Complete Monster]] [[Big Bad]] that he is by {{spoiler|first letting him drink from a potion that makes him fully immortal, and then torturing and mutilating him horribly to see [[Gone Horribly Right|just how good]] the potion works. And then trying to make amends with a simple "Sorry".}}
* This is basically the plot of ''[[Hench]]'': When the hero refuses to allow any negative publicity about a rescue operation that left the protagonist crippled, the protagonist find out who else has been screwed over by the hero, and then makes it her life's work to take him down.
▲== Live Action TV ==
* In ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', The Trio was created because of Buffy. Admittedly, Johnathan (who would have killed himself if it weren't for her, the ungrateful bastard) and Andrew were just in it for the taking over Sunnydale part, but Warren completely was in it for the killing Buffy due to her tracking down the origins of his sexbot April which caused his girlfriend to leave him (admittedly, a bitchy move). Over time he becomes worse in worse, going from jerkass to evil Jerkass to homicidal evil Jerkass to murdering evil Jerkass to his S8 appearance as a genocidal skinless Jerkass.
** Warren is both on the creating and created side, really. He attempts to murder Buffy, accidently killing Tara, sending Willow, one of the most powerful witches in exsistance, into a [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] that including Warren being skinned alive. However, Warren survived the skinning due to another witch, Amy, who had turned evil out of jealousy for Willow having so much power without having to work at it (so Amy's another example). Warren then changed his hatred for Buffy into hatred from Willow.
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* In a bit of Role Reversal, [[The Empire|The Alliance]] does this in [[Firefly]], cutting up River Tam's brain, turning her into the insane, psychic, badass 16 year old [[Phlebotinum Rebel]] that she became. In other news, [[Joss Whedon]] REALLY loves this trope. It's in all of his works.
* In Season 3 of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', it's revealed that Batman-like [[Anti-Hero]] Mr. Bennet had a hand in turning nerdy watchmaker Gabriel Grey into the series' [[Arch Enemy|archvillain]], Sylar. Specifically, Bennet (under orders from The Company) manipulated Gabe into killing again, thus removing the last of his moral inhibitions and completing his transformation into Sylar, who would go on to cause no end of trouble for Bennet and his family.
** Also, in Season 2, Hiro's attempts to turn Adam Monroe/Takezo Kensei into a legendary hero (and get busy with Kensei's girlfriend) ends up pushing him from a goofy, drunken mercenary into the season's immortal, [[Misanthrope Supreme]] [[Big Bad]].
** Not only was Sylar manipulated, he was actually about to hang himself, unable to cope with killing another person for his power.
* In ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'', half-human / half-wraith hybrid Michael, the series' most frequently recurring villain, was originally created by the Atlantis Expedition in their attempts to create a virus to turn Wraiths into harmless, amnesiac Humans. Michael was quite pissed upon learning he had been manipulated by the team, and ''very'' pissed when the team's response to learning that their pet Human-Wraiths were turning back into full-blown Wraiths was to nuke em' all.
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** Of course, Callisto believes that until she becomes a goddess and goes back in time to the day her parents were killed. It turns out that the future Callisto was the one who murdered her own parents, but her dazed past self assumed Xena was to blame.
** And Callisto did it ''deliberately.'' Given the chance to undo her past, she instead made sure it happened, making it clear that one more [[Never My Fault]] villain actually is the way she is by choice.
*** Actually, she tried to prevent it. She took her mother and her younger self into a barn to protect them. When he father (thinking that the strange woman is one of Xena's [[Mook
* In ''[[
* The 1960's ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' TV show. In the [[Backstory]] to episode "Instant Freeze", Batman turned Dr. Schiml into Mr. Freeze by accidentally knocking a beaker of Instant Freeze on him, which warped his mind and turned him to a life of crime.
* While John Corben was actually turned into Metallo by Zod in [[Smallville]], he already had a hatred for the [[Superman|Red-Blue Blur]] after one of the criminals saved from a prison bus crash by the Blur murdered his sister.
== [[Video Games]] ==
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* ''[[Champions Online]]'' takes this trope literally: At level 25 you make your character's arch-nemesis.
* ''[[Dragon Fable]]'' combines this trope with [["Failure to Save" Murder]] with the story of Drakonnan.
* Some endings of ''[[Star Fox (series)|Star
* This is how Sukhov became [[Dirty Communists|Nuclear Winter]] in ''[[Freedom Force]]''. Minuteman was trying to hit him with one of his Minute Missiles, but hit a bunch of liquid nitrogen canisters beside him, covering him with the stuff. This, combined with the latent Energy X in his body, turned him into a [[An Ice Person]] with a penchant for stealing atomic bombs.
** Inverted in Minuteman's origin story, where he is shot by an American traitor during his meeting with Sukhov. The mortally wounded man crawls to the statue of a minuteman nearby, which has been hit with [[Super Serum|Energy X]] and absorbs the energy.
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* Played extremely literally in Disgaea3. {{spoiler|Super Hero Aurum, having defeated Mao's Overlord father, found that he had run out of strong, evil opponents. So what does he do? He takes the guise of Mao's butler and heaps loads of mental issues and scewed opinions onto his already strained psyche to make his into an [[Omnicidal Maniac]] for him to beat and have a chance of being a hero again.}}
* The ''[[Ultima]]'' series is notorious for this. The only games in the main series in which the problems the Avatar has to solve are not the direct or indirect result of something he did in a previous game are the first and fourth.
== Web Comics ==
* Vengeance Joe from the (sorta-dead) webcomic ''[[Van Von Hunter]]'' seems to fit. He ended up becoming a minor villain to the title hero when Van didn't introduce himself properly while passing through a town and Joe became insulted, swearing vengeance on him.
* In ''[[Darths and Droids]]'', Jango Fett is a private detective with a vendetta against Obi-wan
* In ''[[Homestuck]]'', {{spoiler|Vriska}} manipulates events so that {{spoiler|Jack Noir get the powers of a First Guardian}}, turning a powerful but still beatable villain into a near invincible [[Physical God]]. {{spoiler|All this would have happened anyway, Vriska just retconned reality to [[Attention Whore|make herself the centerpiece]].}}
* A darkly hilarious example of this occurs in a ''[[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]]'s'' strip. However, on this case, the villain's creation's was NOT an accident.
{{quote|''[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db{{=}}comics&id{{=}}2244 That's why we created Skull-King. The robotic scourge of mankind].''}}
* In ''[[8-Bit Theater
* The LOL Bat from ''[[PvP (webcomic)|Pv P]]'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20120125041400/http://www.pvponline.com/2011/08/10/anger-management-part-three/ beats up a guy when he accidentally commits theft.] The courts mistake him for a budding supervillain due to his friends calling him the "Mad Hater" as a joke and place him in an insane asylum. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120124041307/http://www.pvponline.com/2011/08/11/anger-management-part-four/ The guy goes mad for real and takes his pre-existing grudge with LOL Bat to murderous levels.]
== Web Original ==
* ''[[The Onion]]'': [https://web.archive.org/web/20100219083147/http://www.theonion.com/content/node/34500 New Bomb Capable of Creating 1,500 terrorists in a single blast].
* [[Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog|Dr. Horrible]] was an [[Technical Pacifist]] and an [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain]]. So, [[The Good Captain|Captain]] Hammer, the way to deal with him is to [[Bullying a Dragon|Bully The Dragon]] by dating Penny and then {{spoiler|firing a broken [[Death Ray]], accidentally killing her in an attempt to kill him.}} [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|Nice job breaking it]] [[Sarcasm Mode|"hero"]].
** It is heavily implied (and outright stated in the prequel comics) that Captain Hammer's belief that anyone who is nerdy or uncool is a potential supervillain is why Dr. Horrible got to be the way he is. And because you read the above, you know what happens next. And then our hero (Not Captain Hammer, who would barely register as a Type V on the [[Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes]]!) loses his humanity and everything we loved about him.
* The villainous speedster Slipstream blames the [[Global Guardians PBEM Universe|Global Guardians]] for the death of his father, the superhero Dogfight (a former member of the Guardians himself) in the 9/11 attacks. Slipstream has sworn vengeance.
* In ''[[
== Western Animation ==
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'''Bruce:''' You may have... in part.
'''Terry:''' ...Good. (''Bruce gives him a stern look'') Hey, this guy had my father murdered and all he's done since is hide from the law. Well, no more hiding for Mr. Derek Powers. Now everyone can see what he is. [[Power Glows|Even in the dark]]. }}
** A lesser example is with Shriek, who was pressured into using his [[Make Me Wanna Shout|sonic weapons]] to kill Bruce Wayne by Derek Powers. While at first he "only" intended to murder Bruce, and that only to secure more funding for his research, once Batman causes him to go deaf during their battle he went insane and became a full-fledge supervillain with the sole goal of getting revenge on Batman.
** Both were already villains by any standards: Powers flat-out admitted he'd killed others besides Terry's father and Shriek ''was'' trying to commit murder for monetary gain. Fighting Batman just made them worse, unfortunately. Powers actually did the inverse and ''recreated'' Batman since his attempts to cover up his abuses brought Terry and Bruce together.
* Inverted by ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'': Plastic Man was a henchman and thief until he was [[Cursed with Awesome]] as a result of Batman's actions. Batman personally sees to Plas' reform and rehabilitation; now, larceny-related issues aside, Plastic Man is a genuine superhero thanks to Batman's influence.
** Another inversion (a villain creates a hero) is from "Chill of the Night!" Batman confronts Joe Chill (the man who murdered his parents) during a weapons auction, where many of his Rogues Gallery are in attendance. In the fight, Batman reveals to Chill that he's Bruce Wayne. Chill realizes that by killing Thomas and Martha Wayne, he inspired Bruce to fight crime. He's the reason Batman exists. In a panic, Chill admits this to the Rogues. They, of course, aren't amused (except for Joker; he thinks it's hilarious).
* Parodied on ''[[The Fairly
** Crimson Chin is speaking from experience: His archenemy, the Bronze Kneecap ("and his big BRONZE KNEECAP!!!"), turns evil when, in a parody of supervillain origins, the Chin accidentally breaks his leg during a ''jai alai'' tournament, causing him to get <s>second</s> third place once again, and then doesn't apologize. And so Ron Hambone melted down all his third-place bronze trophies...
** The third crossover with ''[[Jimmy Neutron]]'' had Timmy and Jimmy purposly making a new villain after they discovered [[Victory Is Boring|how easily their combined skills trumpted all their regular enemies]].
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*** Sentinel also came to hate Optimus after the ''very same incident'', sparking an intensely antagonistic relationship between the two.
** Wasp was falsely implicated as being a Decepticon spy and during his time in the stockade went nuts and wants a lot of revenge on Bumblebee.
* In ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' (probably as a parody to the ''[[Fantastic Four]]'' example above), Vlad, Maddie and Jack are working on their first Ghost Portal. Jack pours diet soda into a crucial part, and it blows up in Vlad's face, giving him Ecto-Acne, and with it, his ghost powers. Then he goes all evil and [[Buffy-Speak|revengey]].
** Technus, though in a more [[Lampshading]] and humorous way. Danny unintentionally frees him from the Ghost Portal (or something) when he first meets him. Assuming him to be a villain, Danny tells him he will not take over the world. Technus, confused, then enlightened actually takes his advice, thus setting his path of villainy.
* Señor Senior Senior from ''[[Kim Possible]]''. Not a particularly serious example, inasmuch as he becomes a villain when it's observed how much he seems like one already.
* ''[[Gargoyles]]'' has an episode that toy with this, as a [[Recurring Extra|bystander]] who appeared in many prior episodes plots to get his revenge on the gargoyles and even relates every previous encounter he had with them. Played for comic relief, as his revenge was merely a pie-shooting bazooka.
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* In ''[[The Batman]]'' Mr Freeze considers Batman responsible for making him what he is now. However as Victor Fires he was already a criminal to begin with, had not been for that cryo accident he would have been just some common crook.
* The ''[[Veggie Tales]]'' episode "Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed" actually begins with the title superhero accidentally creating the title weed by knocking a plant off a building and onto some power lines.
* [[The Venture Brothers|Doc Venture]] has a singular talent for this. Baron Ünderbheit became his enemy after an unspecified lab experiment blew off his jaw, The
== Real Life ==
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** The battery of a Stinger lasts only about 5 years or so IIRC, so if they are using stingers they're not the US-made ones. Still doesn't change the training they received though.
* Obviously "villain" isn't the right way to put it, but the [[PlayStation]] was directly spawned from the remains of [[SNESCDROM|a deal]] which [[Nintendo]] backed out of when they realised it didn't work in their favour. [[Sony]] used their work on the deal to form the basis for their own console. [[Final Fantasy|A few years later]], the [[PlayStation]] resoundingly gave Nintendo its first loss in the [[Console Wars]].
** And, along the same lines, [[Pathfinder]] was only created because Wizards of the Coast didn't make an Open Gaming License when they made 4th edition [[Dungeons
** On a similar note, the ''[[Warcraft]]'' universe wouldn't exist if the deal between Blizzard and Gaming Workshop to create a ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]''-themed game didn't fall through. On the other hand, it's possible ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' would be ''World of Warhammer'' and still just as popular.
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[[Category:Superhero Tropes]]
[[Category:Villains]]
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