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Evil Costume Switch: Difference between revisions
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The most dramatic way to show that the protagonist has gone to [[The Dark Side]] is to give him or her [[Paint It Black|a new costume]]. This outfit's coolness is sometimes inversely proportional to the coolness of the original, but is usually [[Evil Is Cool|much cooler]], more flattering, and (for females) [[Evil Is Sexy|bares more skin and curves]], with a [[Good Hair, Evil Hair|new hairdo]] to complete their [[Evil Makeover]] and look. A character who returns to the side of good usually ditches the entire costume.
Sometimes, a character will split into a Good Twin and an [[Evil Twin]], with the latter wearing one of these costumes. If so, the Good Twin will often wear a more "good" version of the costume, with lots of white and, usually, gold. And, of course, if the character already wears dark colors, the switch is often ''to'' a creepy, funeral/ghost style of white.
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If the newly evil look is entirely spontaneous, requiring no shopping of new clothes for the character, then it is the sub-trope [[Paint It Black]].
Contrast [[Good Costume Switch]]. Sometimes overlaps with [[Sensible Heroes, Skimpy Villains]]. See also [[Adaptive Armor]].
{{examples
== Anime & Manga ==
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* During the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' anime's Doma Arc, Mai Valentine's previously white halter top was replaced with a black one to reflect her [[Face Heel Turn|new evil status]]. She also got a pair of [[Zettai Ryouiki|thigh-high, black leather boots.]]
** During the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' Battle City story arc, immediately after Malik's subconscious dark side takes over and he becomes [[Eviler Than Thou|even more villainous than before]], in the very next scene, only minutes later, he has traded his lilac shirt for a dark purple one and a [[Black Cloak|matching cape]].
* In the second season of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh GX]],'' the bad guy's team's color is white because of the religious overtones of his cause of destroying the world and rebuilding paradise, and all the brainwashed members of his cult wear white. In the episode when his first convert returns to normal, he swaps the white trenchcoat for his traditional black one -- and his normal outfit underneath inexplicably reappears along with it. In addition, Kaiser Ryo dons a black trenchcoat after his [[Freak Out]] and Judai wears full-body armor after being taken over by his {{spoiler|[[Super
* A popular trend in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh 5 Ds|Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's]]'', as performed by both Carly, {{spoiler|after coming back after being killed by being thrown off a building}}, and Misty, {{spoiler|wanting revenge against Aki/Akiza for killing her brother}}, each gaining new black outfits, [[Black Eyes of Crazy|black colored eyes]], and facial markings.
** {{spoiler|Sherry}} gets a new black and white outfit after she becomes allies with {{spoiler|Zone}}, but since it shares many similarities with her old outfit, this troper didn't even notice until someone pointed it out to her...
* This trope sort of shows up in the ''[[Ah! My Goddess (Manga)|Ah! My Goddess!]]'' movie, when Keiichi is possessed by Belldandy's old mentor, Celestine. However, although the resultant flowing robes and markings ''are'' cooler, he also looks...significantly more righteous and 'good', with the evil only actually being visually hinted at by possessed-Keichi's facial expressions at times.
** Shows up better in the Lord of Terror arc; whenever the LoT [[Body Surf|Body Surfs]] to someone else, they get an Evil Costume Switch. [[Egregious]] in Keichi's case, because the evil costume literally materializes out of thin air.
*** Not only that, he even grows his hair out and dyes it blond in a matter of seconds! The latter of which (dying it blond) only appears in the manga, though. In the anime, his hair is still black when it grows, but unlike the manga, mysteriously goes back to being short after the Lord of Terror is defeated and removed from Keiichi, although the costume still remains on Keiichi (cue his shocked remark at it in the manga).
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*** [[Big No|Don't]]...[[Brain Bleach|Even]]...[[Sick and Wrong|SUGGEST]]...[[Go Mad From the Revelation|that]]
* When Cellaria in ''Soul Link'' reveals her true intentions as [[The Mole]], she spends the rest of the series wearing a black, very [[Stripperific]] costume that stands in sharp contrast to the green military uniform she was wearing before. She also lets her hair down and [[The Glasses Come Off|crushes her glasses]], apparently taking a page from the book of [[Bleach]]'s {{spoiler|Aizen}}.
* During the Kodoku arc of ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]'', Tamahome wears a sophisticated black suit to match his nun-chucks, complete with a blue bandanna and belt to [[Colour
* When Roll is infected with a virus in [[Megaman Battle Network]] to turn her evil, she gains fangs, a whip, and six inch heels, in addition to becoming more...shapely. Um...she's, like, twelve...
* ''[[Code Geass]]'' gives new costumes to {{spoiler|Lelouch and Suzaku}} once they undergo their {{spoiler|(pretend)}} [[Face Heel Turn]] late in the series. Of course, [[Light Is Not Good|these new outfits are predominantly white]].
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* After his [[Face Heel Turn]], {{spoiler|Tousen}} in [[Bleach]] changes his outfit by throwing out all ''black'' elements.
** Aizen and Gin get new outfits as well, as does Orihime after [[Big Bad|Aizen]] forces her to make a truly [[Sadistic Choice]].
** Also inverted in Bleach, where good guy Ichigo wears black, and his inner [[Super
* Juvia of ''[[Fairy Tail]]'', while under [[Brainwashed and Crazy|control]], gets a much more revealing outfit.
* The manga of ''[[X 1999]]'' has this when {{spoiler|Subaru}} makes his [[Face Heel Turn]] and switches his white coat for black.
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** In ''[[Justice Society of America]]'', she gives Billy the same powers, and he becomes Captain-Marvel-As-[[All Bikers Are Hells Angels|Biker-Punk]]. See it [http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3474/3399613930_7dbd525e68_m.jpg here.]
* At one point, Susan Storm of the ''[[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]]'' was [[Brainwashed and Crazy]], courtesy of Psycho-man and Hate-Monger, which prompted her to start calling herself [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Malice, Mistress of Hate]], use her force-field powers in new and unpleasant ways, and walk around in a black leather dominatrix outfit covered in spikes.
** This was also an episode of the [[Recycled:
* A notorious example is Phoenix's switch to Dark Phoenix in ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'', which was marked by her green costume turning red. (Otherwise, it looked exactly the same; Dark Phoenix is so evil that she does not ''need'' to be Stripperiffic!) When a later host of the Phoenix showed up in the red costume, her teammates were immediately alarmed; she explained that she just didn't like green.
** There are subtler changes in the Phoenix's costume that have been ignored in later Phoenix stories: when she first gets her powers, the phoenix symbol on the costume's black neckpiece is small, about the size of the phoenix symbol that nowadays appears over Rachel's eye when she uses her powers. By the time she starts acting [[Anti
* The current [[Supergirl]], Kara Zor-El, was hit with black kryptonite in ''Supergirl'' #3, causing an evil duplicate to suddenly emerge from her body. Said evil clone materialized from her body already wearing a black costume. Apparently, evil kryptonite clones have black clothing as part of their very nature. This trope was also lampshaded an issue later, when evil Supergirl switched her costume with the original's at superspeed, in an attempt to fool Batman and Superman as to who was the evil clone.
** This was based on an old [[Silver Age]] story in which ''red'' kryptonite created Satan Girl, who likewise wore a black outfit. Her version had a cowl and no S-symbol, because her identity was originally a mystery.
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* Looker, from DC's Outsiders, was known, among other things, for having [http://www.comicbookreligion.com/char?ID=67&Looker_Lia_Briggs a spectacularly ugly costume] . When she [[Face Heel Turn|became a villain]], that pink, black, white, and powder blue eyesore was mercifully dropped.
* In the ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]'' comics taking place after the movies, Luke Skywalker undergoes Sith apprenticeship in order to explore the Dark Side ({{spoiler|as well as convert other dark-siders over to his side, and sabotage the newly-cloned Emperor's plans}}). Naturally, {{spoiler|the Emperor}} takes it upon himself to make a "better", more Darth Vader-like artificial hand for Luke, and he gets an ominous-looking cape and glowing eyes. His costume is ''very'' Vaderesque; see it on [[In the Blood]].
** A reversal: an issue of [[Star Wars Expanded Universe|Star Wars Infinities]], that verse's [[For Want of a Nail]] series, has Darth Vader, after going through the same [[Redemption Equals Death|betray-the-Emperor-to-save-his-child]] thing as in the movie, survives, possibly because Leia was there too. At the very end of the comic, we see him again, as one of the good guys...in a costume basically identical to the old one, just white and with a little more cloth, a little less armor. Considering how little space was left, this might just have been [[Color Coded for Your Convenience|shorthand]] for "Hey, Vader's part of the Rebellion now!" since [[Viewers
*** The costume is memetic now and has its own action figure.
* When Gambit of the X-Men was made into Death by Apocalypse, not only his hair turns white and his skin blue-black (say it with me: Uhhh!), but he finally gets the memo that [[Rule of Cool|black cloaks are cooler]] and wears a black bondage cloak instead of his usual, shabby trenchcoat.
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** Happens instantaneously to Fea in ''Yamara'', when Dark Natasha sneaks up behind the heroes and slip a ''Helm of Opposite Alignment'' over her head. Next panel, Fea's gone from ditzy faerie to black-clad biker chick, complete with viper tattoo.
** Fea's toad familiar tries to do a costume switch of his own, with sharp false teeth and a spiked leather collar, but is told by Fea not to be ridiculous.
* In the third issue of ''[[Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash]]: The Nightmare Warriors'', it's revealed Maggie (Freddy's daughter from ''[[A Nightmare On Elm Street|Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare]]'') is either [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] or simply [[The Mole]] (her [[Face Heel Turn]] has yet to be adequately explained). After revealing her [[True Colors]], she [[Good Hair, Evil Hair|lets her hair down]], [[The Glasses Come Off|loses the glasses]], and trades in her power suit for [[Stripperific|a tight, black, biker-esque leather outfit]] that's pretty much the definition of [[Absolute Cleavage]]. [http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/3441/katiz.jpg Seen here.] Also, she gets [[Dual Wield|twin gloves]] like her father's, though they have fingers tipped with razorblades instead of knives.
* It was more [[Anti
* Every dead character who returns as a Black Lantern in ''[[Blackest Night]]'' gets an evil version of their old costume.
* A ''[[Young Justice (Comic Book)|Young Justice]]'' storyline involved time changing so the YJ team [[For Want of a Nail|lacked the three founders]] and was much more [[Chaotic Neutral]]. Arrowette wore exactly the costume from the page quote.
* Another ''[[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]]'' example: when Raven had a [[Face Heel Turn]] due to Trigon's influence, she started wearing a bikini under her cloak. She then implanted demonic souls into several Titans, including Changeling (Beast Boy), who wore a version of his red-and-white costume in red-and-black, Matrix-Supergirl, who reverted to the sleeveless spiky outfit mentioned above, and Deathwing, also above, who started wearing a red shirt and a leather vest with ''even more spikes''.
* The Plutonian from ''[[Irredeemable]]'' changes his costume after his [[Face Heel Turn]] from a white suit with a red cape to a red suit with no cape.
* When Daredevil finally snaps in Shadowland, he begins wearing an all-new black costume with longer horns, red lining, and wrist blades. When Spider-Man shows up to [[What the Hell, Hero?|call him out on the whole psychosis thing]], he [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this whole trope.
* In the ''[[Archies Sonic the Hedgehog|Sonic The Hedgehog]]'' comic, Fiona Fox originally wore a one-piece jumpsuit. After her [[Face Heel Turn]], she traded it in for a black pants/tank top ensemble. She also either tied up or cut her hair - either way, it's considerably shorter as a villain than as a Freedom Fighter.
* In ''[[All Fall Down (Comic Book)|All Fall Down]]'', {{spoiler|Pronto}} gets one of these in his new identity as the Modern Prometheus.
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== Live-Action TV ==
* In the fourth series ''[[
* And how can we forget Vampire Willow from ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', with her spiffy threads? (Not to mention, her black ink job in the climax of Season 6.)
{{quote| '''Willow:''' [The black leather corset] is a little binding. I guess vampires really don't have to breathe. ''(Notices own cleavage)'' Gosh, look at those.}}
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== Tabletop Games ==
* In ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'', [[Space Marine|Space Marines]] who turn to [[The Corruption|Chaos]] get [[Spikes of Villainy]] on their [[Powered Armor]], and also have different-looking backpacks for some reason.
** A GW redshirt once told me it had to do with [[Techno Babble|maintaining the delicate cooling system]] [[Fan Wank|when you hide in an area of space]] [[Hand Wave|where the laws of physics themselves are the playthings of insane gods]]. [[What an Idiot!|I believed him]].
** Most Chaos Marines are, due to the time-warping effects of the [[Negative Space Wedgie|Eye of Terror]], about ten thousand years old, so their armor is fairly antiquated compared to the loyalist Space Marines.
*** That doesn't explain why ''all'' the traitorous warbands in the latest Chaos book have the same backpack as the original Traitor Legions, even though no loyal Space Marine is issued one.
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* In the ''Heaven's Feel'' scenario of the ''[[Fate Stay Night]]'' game, Sakura drops her rather plain pastel outfit and goes with a form-fitting black dress with red trimmings instead. Since the dress is made of pure magic, she's technically naked.
** In the same scenario, {{spoiler|Saber}} also gets one of these upon [[The Dark Side|going bad]].
* {{spoiler|Ghaleon}} from ''[[Lunar Silver Star Story Complete|Lunar: The Silver Star]]'' starts out as a simple [[White
** Let's not forget {{spoiler|Luna}}, going from wholesome girl to evil slut upon {{spoiler|returning to [[A God Am I|godhood]] and being brainwashed by said Magic Emperor}}.
* In ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'', the heroic paladin Aribeth turns into an evil blackguard about halfway through the game. Since her [[Breast Plate|original costume was pretty revealing anyway]], all she has to do is [[Paint It Black]] and get a [[Good Hair, Evil Hair|wilder hairdo]].
** To be fair, the [[Power Glows|blood-red light emanating from her sword]] helps.
* Anders in [[Dragon Age II (Video Game)|Dragon Age II]] changes from his old, light blue-grey and light brown robes into a black and grey costume once he loses any hope of improving the mages' lot peacefully.
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* ''[[Lufia Curse of the Sinistrals]]'': when {{spoiler|Iris,}} a modest dressing priestress in white, transforms into the Sinistrals of Death, Erim, she suddenly wears a black dress sporting [[Absolute Cleavage]].
* [[Nie R]]: {{spoiler|Devola and Popola have ditched the apron portion of their costumes when you meet them in the Shadow Lord's Castle. Cue cleavage.}}
* During the transition from ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'' to ''[[Final Fantasy IV the After Years]]'', Kain switches from his blue armor to a dark, red one. Kain is already an [[Anti
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* A small example occurs in ''Megatokyo'', where Miho's Endgames character is not seen wearing Miho's synonymous hair ribbons until just after betraying Pirogoeth (he/she is even seen putting them in shortly after this happens).
* In ''[[Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|Order of the Stick]]''...well...really now, what else would you call [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0635.html this?] (spoiler warning)
** Let's see, [[Power Glows]], [[Glowing Eyes of Doom]], [[Paint It Black|a new Black Robe]], [[Good Hair, Evil Hair|Evil Hair]], an [[Evil Laugh]], a [[Evil Sounds Deep|different text]] [[Voice of the Legion|bubble design]], [[Fangs Are Evil|sharp, pointy teeth]], '''and''' [[Ominous Latin Chanting]] to boot. Damn, Rich Burlew went to ''town'' on this one.
*** Somewhat inapplicable in that the change is not deliberately done by the character, though, making it pure [[Paint It Black]] rather than an [[Evil Costume Switch]].
**** The trope is lamp-shaded by Haley when she first sees the new outfit and immediately (and fairly accurately) assumes some sort of alignment shift is in effect. Belkar dismisses the trope and makes her feel guilty for her assumptions (but then secretly reveals he ''also'' believes the trope is in effect, but is pleased to see it happen).
* ''[[
** Also, [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2001/09/14/episode-078-meanwhile-on-the-other-side-of-the-plot/ Evil Princess Sara].
* Technically, ''[[Erfworld]]'''s Wanda Firebaugh was already evil before, but in a sympathetic, [[Villain Protagonist]] way, and she rocked the [[Evil Is Sexy]] look. In Book Two, however, she started dressing as a hideous [[Rocky Horror]] reject with pale makeup and big, puffy hair with a [[Skunk Stripe]], which has significantly reduced her [[Draco in Leather Pants]] status among fans.
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*** Shego began dressing in a Teacher uniform after being hit by the Moodulator. [[Good Costume Switch]]?
** Averted with the [[Face Heel Turn]] in Shego's backstory; her current costume is the same one she wore when she was part of Team Go.
** When Drakken manages to put Kim under [[Mind Control]], she [[Go
* In ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'', {{spoiler|Professor Impossible}} makes the switch following his [[Heel Face Turn]] with Phantom Limb.
* In ''[[South Park]]'', Butters adopts the name Professor Chaos and a costume when he wishes to do evil.
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* In ''[[Gargoyles]]'', when Elisa went undercover to infiltrate Dracon's protection racket, she changed into a low-cut belly top and leather jacket and trousers to seem more criminal-like.
* An episode of ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents]]'' had Timmy wishing to do the opposite of whatever his parents tell him to do in order to escape their overbearing nature. Unfortunately, [[Be Careful What You Wish For|they tell him to "be good"]], which immediately transforms him into a sinister villain with a long black cloak, classic top hat, and an evil glint in his eye.
* [[Aladdin (Disney)|Princess Jasmine]] gets one of these in [[The Animated Series]], thanks to Abys Mal and a flower that causes [[Laser
* When [[Spongebob SquarePants|Barnacle Boy]] turns to [[The Dark Side]], he gains a villainous cape and his overall appearance grows darker.
* When Shockwave from ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' is still disguised as {{spoiler|Longarm Prime}}, he is mostly colored blue and gray, but when all of the Autobots find out that {{spoiler|Longarm}} is actually Shockwave, he actually changes to purple and white (the same colors as [[Transformers Generation 1|G1 Shockwave]]) to show that he is indeed a Decepticon.
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* In ''[[Transformers Prime]]'', when {{spoiler|Optimus Prime}} is turned into a Decepticon after [[Big Bad|Megatron]] erases his memories, his normally red-and-blue color scheme is replaced by that of a magenta-and-purple one.
* When Grune from ''[[Thundercats 2011 (Western Animation)|ThunderCats (2011)]]'' reveals himself to be a traitor, he discards his Thunderian armor and dons gold raiments emblazoned with the symbol of Mumm-Ra.
* When Princess Luna becomes the evil Nightmare Moon prior to the first season of ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'', she actually transforms into a demonic black-and-purple winged unicorn. When she is redeemed in the second episode, she becomes a less sinister dark purple winged unicorn.
* Jane Porter has actually dressed as Queen La at least twice in ''[[The Legend of Tarzan]]'', when La turned her evil.
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[[Category:Costume Tropes]]
[[Category:Evil Costume Switch]]
[[Category:Trope]][[Category:Pages with comment tags]]
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