Evil Counterpart/Comic Books

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Examples of Evil Counterparts in Comic Books include:

DC Comics

  • Bizarro is an imperfect clone (of varying origin, depending on the medium) of Superman, with all of the Man of Steel's powers and none of his intelligence or morality.
    • Taking into account various media, between Ultraman (which name alone refers to several similar characters), Justice Lord Superman, Cal and Kal-El in Smallville, Superboy Prime, mind controlled Captain Marvel, Cyborg Superman, etc., Superman has more evil counterparts than he knows what to do with.
  • DC's White Martians are evil counterparts of the Green Martians.
  • Black Adam was the Evil Counterpart of Captain Marvel, his predecessor as a bearer of the power of Shazam who became corrupted by its power.
  • Similarly, not only was the Green Lantern foe Sinestro once a Green Lantern himself, in Post-Crisis continuity he actually trained Hal Jordan in the use of his powers before becoming his nemesis.
    • Recently, there are even more popping up, but not all evil (so sort of non-evil counterparts to the evil counterparts): while the green represents will, and yellow represents fear, there's now violet (love), blue (hope), red (rage), orange (greed), and indigo (compassion). And eventually black (death), which is the really evil counterpart.
    • Kyle Rayner got 2 energy-wielding/manipulating Evil Counterparts, himself. On the 'ring-wielder' side of things, Alex Nero - who was Ax Crazy, and possibly killed his parents as a teenager. On the 'might've become' side of things, Effigy, who was what Kyle might've been if he hadn't matured and gained a sense of responsibility about the ring and super-heroics in general.
    • Some individual members of the Sinestro Corps are evil counterparts of specific GLs; for instance Arkillo (Evil Kiliwog) and Ranxx the Sentient City (Evil Mogo the Living Planet).
  • The 2nd Supernova is an Evil Counterpart of Booster Gold, who invented the Supernova identity. While Booster works with Rip Hunter, Time Master, to Set Right What Once Went Wrong, Supernova is working with time-travel based villains like Per Degaton to set things wrong in the first place. Supernova also has an Evil Counterpart of Booster's Robot Buddy, Skeets, and at the end of his first appearance is revealed to be Booster's father.
  • Aquaman has had several evil counterparts. The most obvious is the Ocean Master, his own brother. Others include Black Manta, Charybdis, Evil Twin Thanatos, and the Thirst.
  • Starman's Jack Knight and Nash were on their respective sides of the law mainly because their fathers pushed them there.
  • All four Flashes have fought a "reverse flash" of some sort or another. Jay Garrick had the Rival, an old college professor who discovered his power source and committed crimes dressed like the Flash. Barry Allen fought Professor Zoom, a stalker who wanted to destroy everything Flash loved. Wally West's counterpart is Zoom, a former profiler who is convinced that super heroes are only effective if they lose people they care about. Bart Allen had Inertia, an evil clone of himself.
    • Barry Allen also fought his prior to unknown twin Malcolm Thawne aka Colbalt Blue who established his own legacy of evil that mirrored the Flash Family. Including Professor Zoom.
  • The entire Justice League of America has an Evil Counterpart in the Mirror Universe Crime Syndicate of America. Ultraman opposes Superman. Superwoman is sometimes an evil Amazon, sometimes her world's Lois Lane, and recently, Mary Marvel but always stands in opposition to Wonder Woman. The magic-fuelled Power Ring is Evil Counterpart to Green Lantern. Psychotic speedster Johnny Quick is the opposite of The Flash. And Owlman, who began as a Smug Snake Evil Genius Chessmaster with More Than Mind Control powers, and is now usually portrayed as a homicidal maniac with Badass Abnormal Power Armour is the Evil Counterpart to however Batman is being portrayed this week.
  • Death Mayhew, commander of the Nazi flying group the White Lions, was this to Blackhawk.

Batman

  • The criminal Killer Moth originally patterned himself as an Evil Counterpart to Batman... but quickly sank to a third-string position in the Rogues Gallery. As we said, the Counterpart is sometimes a Big Bad, but not always. It was probably a bad idea to name himself after something bats eat.
  • Continuing in that vein, the Wrath was a Pre Crisis villain who was even more of a Batman counterpart, down to duplicating much of his origin (his parents being killed in a shootout by Commissioner Gordon in his days as a rookie beat cop). Not only did he not become a Big Bad, he was essentially a one-shot opponent.
    • He reappeared in The Batman animated series, which also gave him a younger brother to act as Evil Counterpart to Robin.
    • And similarly, Batman Confidential introduces a new Wrath, the original's protégé, as Nightwing's Evil Counterpart.
  • Yet another Batman counterpart came in the pages of JLA, with Prometheus; he was the child of gangsters who had been gunned down by the cops when he was a boy, and his great physical fighting abilities were the result, not of training, but of "recording" other people's abilities electronically and loading them into his brain with a cybernetic helmet. Oddly, though, he isn't a particularly Batman-focused villain, usually meeting up with the hero only as part of an attempt to take down the whole JLA.
    • And both Prometheus and the Wrath are at large once again. Yes, they're practically the same person except for Prometheus' focus on technological gadgetry.
  • Bane was created as something of an Evil Counterpart to Batman, having trained his mind and body while in prison (serving part of his late father's term). The big difference is Bane's use of the chemical Venom to give himself Super Strength. Bane could also be considered an evil counterpart to Doc Savage, particularly with regard to his original aides.
  • Two-Face also mirrors Batman in his dual nature - Batman's identities are secret and united in their goals while Two-Face's are obvious and opposed. Harvey Dent started out with the exact same goal as Bruce, making him an example of what Batman could become if he loses his self-control, and was a close friend and confidant of either Bruce or Batman in most continuities.
  • While Bruce Wayne had caring, loving parents, Tommy Elliot's were both cut from the Rich Bitch cloth (and his father was an abusive alcoholic). To keep himself from harm and create a better life for himself, he arranged a car accident that killed his father and left his mother an overbearing cripple. Tommy hated that Bruce's dad saved his mom and that Bruce eventually got the life Tommy wanted for himself. Upon being told by the Riddler that Bruce was Batman, Tommy became Hush, an archetype of Batman who is a criminal mastermind.
  • Owlman and Talon, Batman and Robin's counterparts from Earth-3, the Evil Counterpart Universe.
  • The Ax Crazy Black Mask. Like Bruce, he was the son of wealthy parents who died due to unnatural causes. The difference is that Black Mask happened to kill his own parents and run his company into the ground with his own incompetence, before becoming a masked and increasingly violent crime lord. He even met Bruce as a child. He's as much of an Anti-Bruce Wayne as an Anti-Batman.
  • Catman was going to be one of these for about 5 minutes. Add in the Red Hood (formerly Jason Todd, the 2nd Robin, a vigilante who kills villains left and right when he isn't in Countdown) and Batzarro, which, yes, is a thing that really exists, and he has about a dozen of these.
  • Batman's gallery is built on the Evil Counterpart concept, mainly because writers acknowledge that what Bruce does isn't exactly sane and love to point out how easily it could have gone another way.
  • To the point where its hard to find a villain who isn't an evil counterpart of some facet of Batman. The Joker himself has pointed out they are both the results of something traumatic and life shattering, but to add, the Scarecrow uses fear just as much as Batman does, the Riddler uses his intellect more effectively than physical strength, Ra's Al Ghul is a man with a lifelong war on crime, and Mr. Freeze is motivated into his actions by the person he loves most in the world.
  • The Catwoman series tried giving Selina an Evil Counterpart a couple of times. One was She-Cat (another cat-based thief, but a less skilled and less ethical one, who eventually turned out to know Selina from when they were in the same orphanage) and another was Hellhound (a male chauvinist who'd been trained by the same Elderly Sensei, and been The Unfavorite). Neither of them caught on.
  • Punchline - a villain introduced in 2020 in a one-shot supersized Joker #1 (released to celebrate the 80 year anniversary of The Joker's first appearance) has been promoted as an "anti-Harley Quinn". From what little is known, she seems to fit the bill of this Trope for Harley, a far more violent and insane partner of the Joker, not to mention being a dark, brooding, and subtle assassin, in comparison to Harley's exuberant, frivolous personality. Indeed, the first meeting between Harley and Punchline was hatred at first sight followed by a brutal battle that seemed to cement the two as Arch Enemies.

Marvel Comics

  • The 1950s incarnation of Captain America ("Commie Smasher") was (through the magic of Retcon) explained away as an obsessed fan of the original who insisted on replacing him during the time when he was presumed dead; while the US government decided to humor him, the faulty version of the Super Soldier enhancement process eventually drove him insane. While he was eventually captured and placed in suspended animation, he broke out years later and attacked who he thought was another Captain America imposter - the real Captain America, who had defrosted from his own accidental suspended animation.
  • Venom is Spider-Man's Evil Counterpart, created when he symbolically cast off the darkness within him. Later, when Venom became an Anti-Hero, Carnage was created to be his Evil Counterpart...
    • Toxin is Venom's Good Counterpart.
      • Well, now we have Anti-Venom for that.
    • Spider-Man has had several villains meant to be his thematic opposite, from the Fly (who gained his powers in an accident much like Peter's own, but never stopped "looking out for number one" and blamed everyone else for his shortcomings) to the Scorpion (ditto; Bonus points for being an arachnid, too. And then the original Scorpion became Venom for a while). Dr. Octopus shares many personality traits with Spider-Man and is even based on another 8-legged creature. Less obviously, there's the Spider-Wasp.
  • Sabretooth is portrayed as Wolverine's evil similar, with near identical powers and completely feral. And he's implied to be Wolverine's half-brother; if he is, then they've hated each other their entire lives. Interestingly however, both characters were introduced separately from each other, Wolverine first appeared (with slightly different powers than his X-Men debut) in the Hulk comic, while Sabretooth was introduced (with no powers at all and claws that were only part of his gloves) in the pages of Iron Fist.
    • This may not be quite so coincidental, as Chris Claremont and John Byrne were working on the Iron Fist title around the same time as their classic run on X-Men.
  • Following in their dad's footsteps, X-23 and Daken seem to be heading towards this type of relationship with X-23 being the "good" counterpart and Daken being the "evil" counterpart.
  • The Marvel Comics series Sleepwalker has an Evil Counterpart in Psyko, who possesses warping abilities similar to Sleepwalker's. Sleepwalker, an alien devoted to protecting the minds of innocent people from insanity, became fused with the human Rick Sheridan when he found himself trapped in Rick's mind, whereas Psyko was created when a human Serial Killer became fused with a demonic creature from the Mindscape, giving him the ability to spread his madness like a disease, Mind Raping everyone around him.
  • Doctor Strange has an Evil Counterpart in Baron Mordo, who was studying with (and planning to off) the Ancient One before Stephen Strange showed up.
    • Other than their common teacher, however, the two men actually do not have very much in common, their life histories and backgrounds are very different. Doctor Strange did not even realize the supernatural was real until his middle years, and only began to pursue it because an accident crippled his surgical abilities, his background is actually scientific. Mordo was raised supernatural, from a supernatural family, and steeped in evil from early youth, his background is more traditionally magical/occultist, and he always sought power.
  • Red Sonja meets her Evil Counterpart, Crimson Katherine, in Giant-Size Red Sonja #2.
  • In Circle of Blood, the first Punisher miniseries, Castle fights against a brainwashed army of criminals, all patterned after him.
  • Iron Man has Iron Monger, another businessman who wears Powered Armour.
    • The Mandarin is more the anti-Stark than the anti-Iron Man. Stark is a playboy. Mandarin is a pimp with a harem who uses rape as a motivational tool. Stark is a thrill-seeker. Mandarin participates in gladiatorial games so he can thrill to putting his fist through someone's head. Stark sacrificed his health so he could help the world. The Mandarin sacrifices everything and everyone around him to become stronger.
    • The dozen or so Crimson Dynamos.
    • Justin Hammer is the anti-Stark-as-businessman. While Tony uses his money to fight crime, Hammer uses his to sponsor it.
  • The Hulk now has the Red Hulk. The Leader and the Abomination probably fit this role too.
  • Oddly enough, Hulk's Rogues Gallery also includes someone else's Evil Counterparts. The U-Foes are a group of four villains whose origin, powers, and personalities are all extremely similar to those of the Fantastic Four. Strangely, they have never faced the FF despite all of the characters being Marvel Comics characters.
  • She Hulk now has Red She-Hulk.
    • Titania too. Like Jennifer, she was also a shy wallflower in high school that gained superpowers later in life. There are a few key differences though. She-Hulk never asked for her powers (she adjusted well enough though) while Titania was so desperate to be powerful and special that she let Doctor Doom experiment on her. She-Hulk's transformation helped her gain real confidence both as She-Hulk and as Jennifer Walters. Titania's powers act as a crutch and deep down she is still the insecure Mary MacPherran. Titania resents She-Hulk specifically because She-Hulk is stronger than her in every way.
  • Moon Knight had Evil Counterpart villains for his Marc Spector identity (Bushman), his Steven Grant identity (Midnight Man), and his Moon Knight persona (Black Spectre).
  • Reed Richards and Doctor Doom: archenemies, both intellectually-inclined supergeniuses, both master inventors, both with major strengths in technology, both hammy and prone to Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness, both pretty similar in personality once you factor out Doom's This Is Your Brain on Evil. A lot of their battles consist of them passive-aggressively complimenting each other's moves in ways that often sound a lot like two computer geeks playing together. The key difference between them usually centres on how they handle responsibility; Doom's entire motivation stems from the fact that he can't accept that it was his own error, not Reed's interference, that caused the accident which scarred him, and maintains his vendetta to avoid having to acknowledge that he was at fault all along and Reed is just a little bit smarter than him, while Reed is a lot more willing to accept fault when he's in the wrong and will attempt to make amends or correct his mistakes.
    • The Frightful Four was supposed to be this, but they aren't the most competent of the Fantastic Four's enemies. A running gag for a long time was that Wizard, Trapster, and Sandman could never find a permanent fourth member, the lineup changing with each story.
    • The U-Foes are this too, four criminals who gained super-powers via an experiment similar to the one that gave the heroes their powers. Strangely, they are not enemies of the Fantastic Four, most stories involving them having them up against the Hulk.
    • The Red Ghost and his three Super Apes, again villains who gained powers trying to duplicate the experiment that gave the FF their powers. Seeing as the Red Ghost was a Dirty Communist villain, they also frequently fought Captain America.
  • Steelgrip Starkey And The All-Purpose Power Tool pits Steelgrip Starkey against Ironarm Gantry. In contrast to the heroically pure Steelgrip, Ironarm is brutish, selfish, and prone to bursts of anger and pettiness.
    • The All-Purpose Power Tool itself has an Evil Counterpart in Ironarm's Worldbeater, a massive, polluting contraption with bolted-on components that tears up the landscape as it works.
  • Darkhawk has quite a few due to wearing armor that was originally meant for an army of Space Pirates.

Other publishers

  • Flintheart Glomgold, of the Disney Ducks Comic Universe (and later DuckTales (1987)) is an evil counterpart to Scrooge McDuck - every bit as ambitious as Scrooge, almost as wealthy, but with none of Scrooge's redeeming factors, such as his honesty and sense of fair play.
    • DuckTales (1987) even increased the similarities by making Flintheart Scottish, the same nationality as Scrooge - though this was because he was originally South African in the comics, and they wanted to avoid unfortunate connections.
  • Judge Dredd has the Dark Judges, who have taken the policing style of the Judges to an extreme where Mega-City One is practically Utopian. Also, his Arch Enemy Judge Dead, an undead Judge who initially became a Judge as an excuse to kill.
  • "Except for an accident of circumstance, I could have been your Luke Skywalker, and he could have been me. After all, we were both farmboys who loved to fly." Baron Soontir Fel, the best non-Vader pilot in the Empire, says this to Wedge Antilles after he's captured by Rogue Squadron. Farm Boy origins aside, he's actually closer to being the counterpart to Wedge, who also happens to be his brother-in-law. Fel is distinctly not evil; he's Imperial, which does put him on the "wrong" side, but he's not an evil man. He actually joins Rogue Squadron for a time, before disappearing and ending up as part of the Empire of the Hand.
  • From the Power Rangers comic series:
    • Lord Drakkon the Big Bad of the Boom! Studios series is this to Tommy Oliver. An alternate dimension's version of Tommy who was never freed of Rita's curse, he became one of the most irredeemably evil villains in the franchise. He managed to murder at least one other alternate version of himself and many alternate versions of other Rangers before being brought down by the "mainstream" version of Tommy.
    • On the same note, the Kimberly of that reality was brainwashed by Drakkon, becoming a villain named Ranger Slayer and becoming this towards the "mainstream" Kimberly. She also had a zord called Gravezord, which served as this to the Mega Zord. Unlike Drakkon himself, she was freed of the curse and became an ally of the mainstream Rangers, eventually altering Gravezord so it could combine with the Megazord into the stronger Mega-Gravezord, a potent weapon the heroes used against Drakkon.
    • The Shredder becomes this to Tommy is this in a crossover between the franchise and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. (A joint project of BOOM! Studios and IDW) With the story retroactively taking place shortly after his introduction in "Green With Evil" five-parter, Tommy joins the Foot Clan (to act as a mole for the heroes) only for the Shredder to discover this ruse, steal the Dragon Power Coin, and become the Green Ranger. As always, he becomes Drunk with Power and is done in by the one constant of the multiverse, his overblown ego.
  • From the Knights of the Old Republic comics, both Big Bad Haazen and hero Zayne Carrick are relatively weak Force-sensitives who were considered failed Jedi apprentices. The difference is that Haazen allowed his bitterness and jealousy of his more talented peers to utterly consume his life, while Zayne still maintains his fundamental human decency no matter what. The series' other main protagonist, Jarael, now has one of her own in the form of Chantique, who represents what Jarael would be if she allowed herself to be dominated by her Dark and Troubled Past.
  • Raven Red in the Jet Dream feature. Like Jet, she's also a top-notch aviatrix with an all-girl team.
  • While they never met, Kevin and Miho from Sin City were meant to be counterparts of one another. Kevin is obviously the evil one while Miho is at least the Anti-Hero version.
    • Marv and Manute from the same series also fit as they are both big, scary determinators. Dwight all but lampshaded this when he brought Marv in to deal with Manute. Bonus points are given to the fact that while Manute is evil, well dressed, and highly educated, Marv is good (in comparison), a bit of a bum, and not very book smart.
  • Gideon Graves to Scott Pilgrim. They are both assholes who gloss over their misdeeds with Self-Serving Memory, and are horrible to their girlfriends. Gideon takes his Yandere tendencies Up to Eleven, while Scott eventually realizes his faults and genuinely wants to change and be a better person.
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