Equal Opportunity Evil: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{quote|"I will be an equal-opportunity despot and make sure that terror and oppression is distributed fairly, not just against one particular group that will form the core of a rebellion."|''[[Evil Overlord List Cellblock A]]''}}
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{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
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== Comic Books ==
* In the [[The Eighties|1980s]] and [[The Nineties|1990s]], Marvel's Serpent Society fit this trope to a T. From the group's inception, about half of them were women—and supervillain teams have tended to be boys' clubs. There were several black members, at least one Hispanic member, and at least one Middle Eastern member. The Society also welcomed disabled people: Death Adder was mute, Rattler was deaf, and Bushmaster was an amputee. (The last was a case of [[Disability Superpower]], as he'd replaced his missing limbs with super-strong cybernetic parts.)
** Funny thing is that the Serpent Society started out as a spin-off from HYDRA... Who were [[Those Wacky Nazis|NAZIS]]. (Although they kind of [[Motive Decay|grew into "generic evil organization" over time]].) Although, Hydra itself has some notorious female members, Lady Viper being their leader as of the New York branch as of a 2020 storyline.
** Both played straight and subverted with many of the [[X-Men]]'s enemies. While both the human bigots and mutant supremacists actively hate and discriminate against the "other side", their own memberships are often depicted as otherwise ethnically diverse. The subversion comes with the fact that they're hatemongers against either humans or mutants, and yet have no problem accepting members from many different ethnic backgrounds.
*** [[Discworld|Apparently black and white lived in perfect harmony and ganged up on green.]]
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* Lampshaded in Marvel's [[Runaways]] number 7, our heroes are doing some survival shoplifting. Upon arrival, Nico rather effectively sums it up with the page quote.
* The [[Marvel Star Wars]] series of the late [[The Seventies|1970s]] and 1980s probably has more female antagonists than the rest of the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] combined. Lumiya is by far the most famous but there are many others ranging from serious villainesses like Kharys to one issue annoyances like Captain Traal. There are even a couple of nameless female Mooks! The contrast with later writers is really quite startling.
* [[Darkseid]] has an entire team of female enforcers led by [[Evil Old Folks| Granny Goodness]], who is often regarded as [[The Dragon| his second-in-command.]]
== Film ==
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'''Lamarr:''' I want [[The Long List|rustlers, cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperadoes, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass-kickers, shit-kickers]] and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|Methodists]]. }}
* The thousand armies of the Persian Empire in ''[[300]]'' seem to encompass every non-Greek race living in the Old World at the time—from actual Persians, to black Africans, to...[[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|orc ninja samurai]]?
** And historically speaking, the Achaemenid Persian empire was ''gigantic'',([https://web.archive.org/web/20131226014826/http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/World_500_BCE.png that's them in brown there]) and frequently levied large numbers of troops from its conquered territories, many of whom signed up willingly, as the Persian empire, was at the time, one of the most advanced and diverse places to be, where one could rise to fame and fortune thanks to his own skills and sagacity (the emperor employed secret agents to spy on distant satraps lest they become too greedy and corrupt! Satraps! Secret Agents!!) while on the other hand "democratic" Greece was a much lamer and stiff society where basically you were doomed to toil in the line of work of your father if you had not the luck to be born in a family of cultured, city dwelling landlords.
* The League of Shadows from ''[[Batman Begins]]'' had Europeans, Asians, and at least one African among its ranks in the few scenes we see them [[Faceless Goons|with their masks off]] (a review of the video game based on the film pointed out how jarring it seemed that the enemies the player faces in the game are very racially mixed). ''[[The Dark Knight]]'' [[Justified Trope|shows that the various ethnic gangs in Gotham (Blacks, Italians, Chechens, Chinese, etc) are so scared of the Batman that they started working together against him]].
** Well, they are supposed to be committed toward their view on serving justice. It doesn't seem like they would discriminate based on race when looking for applicants.
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* Goblins in ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'' frequently kidnap children of other races, and raise them as productive goblin citizens who advance [[Klingon Promotion|normally in goblin society]] and abide by goblin societal norms.
* In ''[[Deus Ex: Human Revolution|Deus Ex Human Revolution]]'', despite being based in a Chinese city {{spoiler|and explicitly being under the control of a Triad leader}}, the Harvester street gang has a large amount of American accented [[Scary Black Man|Scary Black Men]] (who ironically call ''Jensen'' "gwailo" or "laowai", Chinese racist terms for "foreigner").
* Pirate crews and the Aetherblades (essentially [[Sky Pirates]]) in ''[[Guild Wars 2]]'' have members of all five playable races and both genders, in contrast to antagonistic organizations encountered at the beginning of the game that are specific to a race (the Sons of Svanir and the Flame Legion are also misogynistic).
== Web Comics ==
* In [https://web.archive.org/web/20090126013335/http://www.drunkduck.com/Cwens_Quest/index.php?p=494901 this]
* The Slavers in ''[[Lightbringer (web comic)|Lightbringer]]'' seem to be predominantly Caucasian, but Lightbringer notes that its members come from all sorts of different races. This probably has to do with how they began as a group of unrelated gangs.
* ''[[Last Res0rt]]'' has the [[Furry Fandom|furry variant]] of this trope: the [[Church of Happyology|Star Org]] isn't just made up of several different species, it also contains several alien species that aren't seen anywhere else.
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== Western Animation ==
* ''[[The Critic]]'' spoofs this with a film that Jay is reviewing; a [[Political Correctness Gone Mad|politically correct]] [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] film, ''[[On Her Majesty's Secret Service
* Cobra in ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' is made up of people from all corners of the world, with Cobra Commander himself being one of the only white American males.
** In the original Marvel/Sunbow cartoons, at least, Cobra is predominantly filled with Caucasian males. Females are notably absent from the rank-and-file Cobra Vipers, and the partially-exposed face masks they wear make the absence of dark skin obvious.
** There are a few noticeable (and generally uncommented on, curiously enough) exceptions with Cobra troopers—most prominently in the episode "Spell of the Siren," with Cobra ''and'' the Joes forming ad hoc [[Amazon Brigade]]s of their female [[Red Shirt|unnamed low-ranking troops]] after most of the men are zombified.
* In ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'', one of the mooks of Baron von Ünderbheit explains that in Ünderland, both men and women are required to serve in the Baron's army between ages 12 and 36 (at age 37, they are executed). All of the Baron's mooks to appear on-screen seem to be male, however... Except [[Crosses the Line Twice|Girl Hitler]], who leads the [[Terrible Trio]] / [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]] {{spoiler|and later [[La Résistance]]}}.
▲* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'',
** Among the series four [[Elemental Nation]]s, [[Evil Empire]] the [[Playing with Fire|Fire]] Nation has integrated women into their armed forces, and even their [[Fridge Horror|prisons]] are [[Prison Rape|unisex]]. Contrast this with the Northern Water Tribe, which didn't even allow women to learn combative [[Making a Splash|Waterbending]] until Southern Tribemember Katara forced the issue.
** Though the typical Fire Nation policy and attitude towards other nations is essentially racist, Princess Azula is quite willing to employ the Dai Li (the [[Dishing Out Dirt|Earthbender]] [[Secret Police]] of Ba Sing Se, whose ruthlessness she admires), and even returns to the homeland with a personal contingent of them.
** [[Sequel Series]] ''[[The Legend of Korra]]'' has the titular Avatar visit multicultural Republic City, where she encounters three members of the multiethnic organized crime gang the [[The Triads and the Tongs|Triple Threat Triads]], consisting of a waterbender, earthbender and firebender respectively.▼
** The concept of a vaguely Chinese army spawned [http://booter-freak.deviantart.com/art/Isaia-B-day-quot-Mulan-in-FN-quot-105457644 this] one-off crossover
▲* [[Sequel Series]] ''[[The Legend of Korra]]'' has the titular Avatar visit multicultural Republic City, where she encounters three members of the multiethnic organized crime gang the [[The Triads and the Tongs|Triple Threat Triads]], consisting of a waterbender, earthbender and firebender respectively.
* In ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'', Tombstone is a [[Scary Black Man]] ''and'' an [[Evil Albino]]
* In ''[[The Lion King]]'', Scar generally gets along with the hyenas (though being a snob, he looks down on ''everyone'') and is more than willing to employ them in his plans to take the throne, and integrates them into the Pride Lands after becoming king, whereas the other "good" lions are pretty big pricks to them. Additionally, going by the voice actors, the hyenas [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|Shenzi, Banzai and Ed]] are respectively black, Hispanic and white.
** There might be some [[Fridge Brilliance]] there. Note that the lions have golden or beige coats, while the hyenas are dusky gray and have spiky black fur (whereas in [[Real Life]], lions and hyenas are roughly the same color), and that Scar's skin and fur is similarly darker than the other lions, and his features are angular like those of a hyena. Not that Scar deserved the throne (he was the younger brother, after all), but it's plausible he was the victim of some pretty heavy [[Fantastic Racism]].
* Parodied in the ''[[Family Guy]]'' episode "Excellence In Broadcasting" with Brian being attacked by a racially diverse [[Theme Park Version]] of a criminal gang.
* ''[[All Dogs Go to Heaven]]'': While trying to lure Charlie to the bad side
{{quote|'''Belladonna''': Think of my organization as an equal opportunity employer. No matter who you are or what you want to be; when you join with me, it's always an easy ride.}}
* ''[[Rango]]'' has a gang of bad guys comprised of a British or possibly Australian gila monster, a Mexican lizard(?), and a Swedish(?) rabbit.
* In ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 series)|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'', Krang describes himself as an "equal opportunity tyrant" when he hires the female assassin Lotus Blossom.
* Played for laughs in ''[[Harley Quinn (TV series)|Harley Quinn]]'' in a scene where the protagonist busts into a [[Bad Guy Bar]] full of Mooks:
{{quote|'''Harley:''' Listen up, goons!
'''Patron:''' Excuse me, I identify as a hench.
'''Harley:''' Listen up, goons ''and'' henches!"}}
== Real Life ==
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