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{{trope}}
[[File:evil-versus-
{{quote|''"And so the [[Evil Overlord]] defeated the other [[Evil Overlord]], [[And There Was Much Rejoicing|and the land rejoiced]]."''|'''Gnarl''', ''[[Overlord (
Sometimes, you just need a break from heroes. It can get a bit repetitive to have every protagonist be a [[Light Is Good|white-as-snow]] [[Incorruptible Pure Pureness|goody-goody]] [[The Hero|hero]]. A refreshing dose of moral ambiguity can do just the trick. When you're tired of watching heroes be heroic, watching a [[Villain Protagonist]] be villainous can be a nice change of pace.
But there's a problem with this. See, heroes are so popular because people ''like'' heroism. People are, to some small extent, [[Rousseau Was Right|basically good]]; they like watching other people be happy, succeed against all odds, and so on. [[Humans Are
The solution? Pit the [[Villain Protagonist]] against the [[Villain Antagonist]]. [[Complete Monster|Someone so rotten]] that no matter how low you go on the [[Karma Meter]], you'll ''still'' want to kick his ass. That way, the character(s) can ''be'' evil while ''doing'' good. It's the best of both worlds. You don't have to do really rotten things like [[Kick the Dog|kicking puppies]], you can kick
Note that if a work's ''primary conflict'' is about Evil Versus Evil, then there is a serious risk of [[Darkness
See also [[Even Evil Has Standards]] and [[Black and Gray Morality]]. Contrast [[Enemy Civil War]], [[Eviler Than Thou]], and [[The Good, the Bad,
{{examples
== Anime & Manga ==
* ''[[
* In one of the manga from ''[[
* As an odd example where the worse bad guy is actually the one you might cheer for, Kotomine vs. Zouken Matou in ''[[Fate/stay
* ''[[Excel Saga (
* ''[[
* In ''[[
{{quote|
* ''[[
** Kenpachi (who is also technically a good guy) versus Nnoitra Gilga.
* ''[[
* ''[[Baccano
** And don't forget about the Rail Tracer, who basically makes this a three-way bad guy fight.
* ''[[
* ''[[Gundam]]'' also used it a few times. ''[[Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
** ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
** ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED
** After delving deep enough into the plot of ''[[Gundam AGE]]'', one can argue that the war between Earth Federation and the Unknown Enemy is this.
* In ''[[
** And whether Dragon's Revolutionaries are actually good remains to be seen. Bartholomew Kuma used to be a member before becoming a Warlord, after all, and he's said to have been a vicious mass murderer (although his actions {{spoiler|prior to [[Cybernetics Eat Your Soul|losing his free will to his cyborg conversion]]}} make him look like one of the more decent of the Warlords, so it's not clear-cut in any case).
* The trope is invoked in ''[[
* In ''[[
* Happens to some extent at the end of the first season of the ''[[
** The second season initially appeared to be leading towards this type of conflict, but very quickly {{spoiler|abandoned this approach by having Claude, previously morally ambiguous a la Sebastian, off Alois, briskly setting him up as the main antagonist and effectively eliminating the [[Black and Gray Morality|moral ambiguity]] aspect.}}
** The whole principle of Ciel's role as the Queen's watchdog is like this. Ciel achieves the Queen's desires and keeps stability through many times evil means. It is not too surprising that a police officer calls the Earl a demon.
* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' pits Greed against the other homunculi and Dante/Father. He betrayed his creator and "siblings", and remains against them right up to his death.
{{quote|
'''Greed:''' I wouldn't say 'friend'; more like 'sworn enemies' if you wanna get down to the grit. }}
* ''[[
* Ryo Mashiba vs. Ryuuhei Sawamura in ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (
** Yami Yugi versus all the villains in season 0.
* In the various ''[[
* In ''[[
** {{spoiler|[[Anti
** Also [[Offscreen Moment of Awesome]]: {{spoiler|[[Well
** Also, [[Rival Turned Evil|Sasuke]] vs. {{spoiler|Kabuto}}. At this point, Sasuke has [[Moral Event Horizon|little redeeming qualities left]] to the point that {{spoiler|he claims that his quest to destroy his former home village is [[Motive Decay|"for himself"]]}}, but both him and {{spoiler|Kabuto}} happen to have a personal vendetta with each other and Sasuke [[Even Evil Has Loved Ones|still feels enough loyalty]] to his less villainous brother to help him fight, which might just lead to Sasuke [[Big Damn Villains|helping to defeat the guy who's currently attacking the good guys with a sheer endless army of immortal zombie warriors.]]
* The Namek saga of ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Code Geass]]'':
* An episode of ''Bakugan Mechtanium Surge'' was actually called Evil VS Evil.
* ''[[
* ''[[
== Comic Books ==
* The quintessential comic book example: ''[[Wanted (Comic Book)|Wanted]]'', the story of the son of one of the world's most skilled supervillains in a world where a much, much more grotesque, inhuman villain is waging war
▲* The quintessential comic book example: ''[[Wanted (Comic Book)|Wanted]]'', the story of the son of one of the world's most skilled supervillains in a world where a much, much more grotesque, inhuman villain is waging war with -- yes -- other supervillains, for control of the world, which has fallen under the control of -- hey, you guessed it! -- supervillainy.
* [[The DCU]] has the [[Suicide Squad]], a US government black ops unit made up primarily with [[Boxed Crook|jailed supervillains]] who agree to undertake dangerous missions against other supervillains with promised clemency if they survive.
** [[Marvel Comics]]' [[Alternate Company Equivalent
* The [[Larry Hama]]-written ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' comics by Marvel had the Cobra Civil War storyline, where Serpentor and {{spoiler|the Crimson Guardsman masquerading as}} Cobra Commander fought over control of Cobra. Destro and his Iron Grenadiers represented a third villain faction in the conflict. The Joes didn't have much to do but bear witness to events {{spoiler|though Serpentor's faction had bought their support from corrupt elements within the Pentagon}}.
** The recent revival comic also had a storyline or three about Cobra factions gunning for each other, including one named... Cobra Civil War.
* Even though it was called Super-Villain Team Up, Marvel's comic series featured [[Sub-Mariner|Namor]] and [[Doctor Doom]] (Namor being an [[Anti
* The DC crossover event ''Reign in Hell'' pitted the half-demon children of Shazam, Blaze and Satanus, against Neron (who was [[
* [[Geoff Johns]]' ''Rogue War'', which pitted two teams of [[The Flash]]'s rogues (one led by Captain Cold, the other by the original Trickster) going up against each other, (over the body of Captain Boomerang, among other things) soon joined by a third group (brought together by the Top). This leads up to a [[The DCU/Awesome|CMOA]] where Captain Cold, almost the epitome of [[Even Evil Has Standards]], freezes then kills the Top, the whole time berating him why this shouldn't have happened.
{{quote|
* In the [[Marvel]] UK ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'' story "Target: 2006", Galvatron travels back in time and kicks everybody's arses, trapping Megatron and Soundwave under a pile of rocks. With the Autobots badly beaten, Ironhide decides to free Megatron in a desperate bid to defeat Galvatron. Oh, and while that's going on, [[The Starscream|Starscream]] is acting against them ''both''.
** Happens a lot in the comics, actually. Shockwave frequently faced off against Megatron; Starscream manipulates Scorponok and Ratbat into sending their respective armies into combat in the Underbase Saga; Jhaixus kicks Megatron's arse in [[Transformers Generation 2]] to solidify his position as the real [[Big Bad]] of the storyline; etc.
* [[Deadpool]] is recurrently made of this trope. Heck [[Marvel Comics]] in general frequently invokes this trope.
* In UDON's ''[[Street Fighter (
* The ''[[Secret Six]]''. Balancing them fighting bad guys with occasional suggestions of just how brutal they really are is a large part of the series.
* One issue of the ''[[Spider-Man]]'' comics featured [[Psycho Electro|Electro]] getting the security blueprints of the banks he planned to rob from a crooked sales representative. Unfortunately, the representative was selling Electro out to [[Make Me Wanna Shout|the Shocker]], who would get to the banks before Electro did and empty the vault. When Electro realizes that he's being double-crossed, he goes back to the crooked sales rep with the intention of frying him, only for the Shocker to interrupt and [[Big Damn Villains|save the sales rep]]. Electro and the Shocker then fight for all the loot they both intended to steal. {{spoiler|Electro wins}}.
* ''[[Countdown to Final Crisis]]'' is made of this trope, with [[Evil Overlord|Darkseid]], [[Multiversal Conqueror|Monarch]], [[Ax Crazy|Superboy-]][[The Scrappy|Prime]], and [[Stupid Evil|Bob]] [[The Mole|The Monitor]] all gunning for each other for various convoluted reasons, mostly having to do with their [[Unwitting Pawn|superhero enemies]] and said heroes' [[Shaggy Dog Story|bizarre, fragmented, mixed-up]] [[Four Lines, All Waiting|parallel plotlines running throughout the]] series.
* The presidential election in ''[[Transmetropolitan]]''. The incumbent, [[Only Known
* Boom Studio's [[Franco Belgian Comics|french import]] ''7 Psychopaths'' chronicled a group of army-sanctioned crazies who are trained and parachuted into Germany to kill [[Adolf Hitler]]. The group included a sociopathic mimic, a bloodthirsty maniac who shrugged off pain, a man who believed Hitler to be an actual demon, and a mother with impeccable sniper skills.
* Happens ''all the time'' in the ''[[
* ''[[Batman: The War of Jokes and Riddles]]'' was an eight-part story taking place during [[Batman]]'s second year (told via [[Flashback]], Batman relating it to [[Catwoman]], where a gang war had erupted between the Joker and the Riddler.
== Fan Works ==
* Zan-Shocker vs. the Voidspace Army in [http://alaxr274.deviantart.com/gallery/36864534 Kamen Rider x Super Sentai x Super Milestone Wars: Crossover Taisen]
* ''[[The Open Door]]'' features this as its driving conflict. In one corner, you have the C'Tan, a race of [[Eldritch Abomination]] [[Energy Beings]] obsessed with [[Omnicidal Maniac|wiping out all life in the universe]] and their mortal servants, the Necrons. In the other corner you have New Chaos, the collective forces of mankind led by their own set of [[Eldritch Abomination
* ''[[Ultimate Sleepwalker
* The Council Era, a fanfic created through the cooperation of several writers on the [[Mass Effect]] Fanon Wikia (not Fan Fiction wikia) has an Evil Versus Evil plotline within the [[Grey and Gray Morality]] of the [[Mass Effect]] universe. On one side is the [[Lawful Evil]], morally-corrupt equivalent of a galactic United Nations, The Council, and [[The Starscream|their advisor Tyrin Lieph]]. On the other is a ruthless [[Neutral Evil]] species [[The Starscream|led by another Starscream, Halak Marr]], whose primary goal is becoming a [[Master Race]].
* In ''[[Harry Potter and
* During the last third of the ''[[
* ''[[The Shape of the Nightmare
* This has popped up a couple of times so far in ''[[
** In a situation not involving the Oni, Jade gets captures by the [[Evil Sorcerer]] Lung, who wishes to break her to his will, thus granting him control over her and her tribe. Jade's minions, Left and Right, track him down and launch an [[Storming the Castle|assault on his fortress]], completely [[Curb Stomp Battle|curb stomping]] his forces before fighting {{spoiler|and killing}} him and freeing Jade.
** And then there's Drago, who comes back in time to eliminate all rivals to his power in the future, including Jade. Because of this, Future Jade sends her servant Karasu back in time after him to stop him. Meanwhile, Drago also ends up fighting present-day Jade's foreman Blankman.
* ''Narrowly'' subverted in the ''[[
* In [[
== Films -- Animation ==
* ''[[Despicable Me]]''. But given that both Gru and Vector are kid-friendly [[Harmless Villain
== Films -- Live-Action ==
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Riddick|The Chronicles of Riddick]]''. Played straight, except the title character is actually more of a [[Noble Demon]]. Still, the trope is referred to almost by name in the narration.
{{quote|
** An unaired trailer for ''Pitch Black'', the previous Riddick movie, actually had "Fight evil with evil" as its promotional slogan.
* [[The Musical]] and later film ''[[Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (
* ''[[Quentin Tarantino|Jackie Brown]]'': A crooked Air Hostess who has no qualms about holding people at gunpoint, working for gun smugglers and betraying people left, right and centre is the good guy, next to the gun smuggler himself.
* Pretty much the premise behind the movie ''[[Payback]]''.
* ''[[Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS]]'': Most of the movie is typically good versus evil until
* ''The Evil That Men Do'' (1984). [[Charles Bronson]] is a hitman hired to murder Dr Clement [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Molloch]], a [[Mad Doctor|doctor]] who advises South American dictatorships on [[Torture Technician|how to torture people]]. We see Bronson carry out several cold-blooded murders, to the shock of the woman accompanying him as his pretend wife.
* ''[[
* ''[[In the Loop]]'' pits a [[Complete Monster]] (Linton Barwick) against a [[Magnificent Bastard]] (Malcolm Tucker). Linton is so utterly loathsome and charmless that viewers find themselves rooting for the evil-but-charming Malcolm, even when this means willing him to help start an illegal war. [[You Bastard|The bastards.]]
* ''[[The
* ''[[Hard Candy]]''. A sadistic psychopath vs. a child molester. You decide who's the good guy.
* The Sith Order in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' films operated under the Rule of Two: There were to be only two Sith in the Galaxy, a master and an apprentice. If the apprentice wanted to become the master, [[Klingon Promotion|all he had to do was kill his master and take the title for himself.]] The Rule of Two was specifically designed to prevent this trope on a massive scale, as in-fighting was as big a threat to the Sith as the Jedi were.
* ''[[Paths of Glory]]'' (1957) by [[Stanley Kubrick]]. Admittedly, the bulk of the film is more of a [[Law Procedural|courtroom drama]] with [[Kirk Douglas]] as an idealist officer/lawyer being the obvious good guy, but its [[World War
* The ''[[Alien vs. Predator]]'' crossover franchise is an example of this without question. Whoever wins, we lose.
** [[Alien vs. Predator (
** Although the {{spoiler|other predators died}} in the second film, but it picks up right where the first one left off.
* ''[[King Kong]] [[King Kong vs. Godzilla|vs.]] [[Godzilla]]'' was debatably an example of this as well as the obvious [[Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny]] since both were antagonists in their original films.
* ''Hunting Humans'' had one [[Serial Killer]] hunting another.
* In ''[[
* The main plot point of ''[[Yojimbo]]'', and the works directly inspired by it, ''[[A
* Augustus Gibbons discusses this in ''[[XXX
{{quote|
* ''[[Outrage]]'' is about several groups of [[Yakuza]] killing each other.
* ''[[Bully (
* ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' revolves around this (though they [[Black and Gray Morality|gray]] [[Protagonist
== Literature ==
* The theme of "evil against evil" is prevalent in the book ''[[
** [[Shown Their Work]] : the demon's Pazuzu, Mesopotamian King of Wind Spirits, [[God Is Evil|monster]] {{spoiler|and main antagonist of the story.}} As [[Summon Bigger Fish]] noted, he was summoned (mainly by pregnant mothers) to combat his arch-enemy and wife, Lamashtu, who was known for killing or kidnapping young children.
* In ''[[
* ''[[Hells Children]]'' by Andrew Boland. Though most of the characters occasionally [[Pet the Dog]], it’s mostly Evil Versus Evil.
* [[
* [[Harry Turtledove]] has an interesting example in his ''[[
** [[It Got Worse]] in the sequels (''Colonization''). When the Colonization fleet arrives and starts unloading civilians, someone uses a nuke against them, killing millions. {{spoiler|It was the United States that did it, and to prevent another war from breaking out the President allows the Race to nuke Indianapolis.}}
* ''Everyone'' in ''[[
* ''[[
* The videogame / comic / novel ''[[Shadows of the Empire]]'' had the Emperor keep Darth Vader and Prince Xizor, head of the criminal enterprise Black Sun, at his right and left hands. Naturally they hated each other; for Xizor it was [[
** And because it distracts his minions from plotting against ''him''; a man who rose to ultimate power by treachery naturally takes many precautions to avoid falling victim to more of the same.
** Unfortunately, this policy led to a complete fragmenting of the Empire upon his death with warlords running rampant.
** Also in the ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]'' it is heavily implied that one of the reasons the Empire was created was to defend the galaxy against extragalactic threats like the Yuuzhan Vong. This is unambiguously one of Grand Admiral Thrawn's key motivations.
*** This was just an excuse, made by Imperials trying to justify it's actions many years later.
* Hannibal by Thomas Harris. On one hand you've got Dr. Hannibal Lecter himself, serial killer and cannibal, versus {{spoiler|Mason Verger}} who abused his own sister as a child, moved on to molest more children and planned on {{spoiler|feeding Dr. Lecter to some pigs he's had trained to eat human flesh}}.
* [[A Song of Ice and Fire]] generally features [[Grey and Gray Morality]], but occasionally two [[Complete Monster
* In the ''[[
** The [[Truth in Television]] was not just limited to the nobility's power grabs. Groups of Catholics and Protestants (who were themselves divided mostly among equally hostile Calvinists and Lutherans) frequently tore each other apart when the opportunity presented itself. Rape, looting, and mass murder were employed with equal frequency by any one of the factions against the others.
* Harry [[Flashman]] is a loathsome, profiteering, traitorous cowardly braggart who'll [[Kick the Dog]] for fun, betray his country at the drop of a hat, and lie shamelessly about it all to look like a hero afterwards. But he's generally up against some of the nastiest pieces of work the 19th century has to offer, so you'll (almost) forgive him for it as long as they lose in the end.
* Carrion Comfort, by Dan Simmons. While there are good guys and they are the point of view about a third to half the time, the plot is ultimately driven by the two big bad chessmasters. Most of the cast happen to be their pieces (literally, in some cases), and a good chunk of the cast are sociopathic mind vampires.
* Michael Marano's ''Dawn Song'', in which there is a battle for dominion over humanity between the demon lord Belial and his [[Horny Devils|succubus]] minion who represent the [[Evil Is Sexy|aesthetic side]] of evil and the demon Leviathan who represents mindless, chaotic ugly evil.
* The ending of the ''Dragonlance Chronicles'' trilogy has Raistlin, by this point an evil black-robe, helping Tanis kill [[Big Bad|Ariakas]] for his own purposes. In the sequel ''Legends'' trilogy, it is revealed that Raistlin's ultimate agenda is to kill and replace Takhisis, the head evil goddess of the setting. In the ''Lost Chronicles'' trilogy, particularly ''Dragons of the Highlord Skies'', it is revealed that there was in general a tremendous amount of infighting and back-stabbing among the Dragonarmies.
** The [[
* This is how the [[Muggles]] of ''[[
** A better example from ''The Wheel of Time'' would probably be the dead city of Shadar Logoth and Mashadar, the amorphous cloud of evil that lives there. Mashadar hates the [[Big Bad|Dark One]] and all its minions. However, it's unquestionably a thing of evil that will eat the good guys as quickly as the bad.
** Several books also detail the conflicts between the [[Big Bad|Dark One's]] various minions. The Forsaken are all plotting against each other and at least a few times have succeeded in stabbing each other in the back. The first book also details a trip through the Blight where the characters are running from worms. They are assured that if they can make it to the mountains, the worms will stop: "The worms are afraid of what lives in the mountains."
* [[Thomas Ligotti]]'s [[Genre Busting|odd little novel]] ''My Work Is Not Yet Done'' has for its "hero" one Frank Dominio, an [[The Unfettered|Unfettered]] [[Reality Warper]] who sits on the edge of [[Sliding Scale of Anti
* ''[[Grunts
* In the [[Book of Amber|Chronicles of Amber]], Corwin actually describes himself as "a part of that evil which exists to oppose other evil."
* A good portion of the ''[[War of the Spider Queen]]''.
* In ''[[
* Much of Glen Cook's ''Annals of the Black Company'' is devoted to the internal conflicts between powerful evil sorcerers. Much of the original trilogy involves the Lady's struggle to keep her [[Eviler Than Thou]] husband, the Dominator, from freeing himself, so she can keep ruling her own empire as she pleases.
* Happens in-universe in ''[[Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (
* The final battle of the ''[[Books of Swords]]'' trilogy is fought between Yambu, the Silver Queen, [[Big Bad]] of the first two novels, and [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Vilkata, the Dark King]], the even [[Bigger Bad]] of the third book. Interestingly, Yambu only does her [[Heel Face Turn]] ''after'' she wins the battle but loses her throne. Of course, the third book does give Yambu a [[Broken Bird|sympathetic backstory]], including something of a [[Freudian Excuse]]. But it's not an accident that she wins the battle using Soulcutter, also known as the Tyrant's Blade, a name she acknowledges.
* [[Private Detective]] and [[Vigilante Man]] Mike Hammer, as quoted in ''One Lonely Night'' just before he blew away a bunch of [[Dirty Communists]] who were torturing Velda.
{{quote|
== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[
** [[Homeland]] fans that are also yoai fans that liked the Carrie/Nick Brodie romance would be quick to see that as pretty hot. "They'll turn on each other in a heartbeat" and so forth. [[Double Entendre|To the mattresses]]!
* ''[[
** The Wraith are no more friendly amongst themselves than the Goa'uld, that alliance contains ''nine'' factions, not the three you'd assume at first glance.
* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' gives us the conflict between insane serial killer Sylar and ruthless [[Knight Templar]] organisation the Company.
* When they're not fighting the Federation, the [[Star Trek
** In fact, during ''[[Star Trek
** Playing the trope more straight, Species 8472 versus the Borg in ''[[Star Trek
*** A later episode [[Retcon
* Season 8 of ''[[
** And now, it appears {{spoiler|that the war between the Time-Lords and Daleks became this.}}
* ''[[
** By the end of the series,
* The ''[[Smallville]]'' episode "Injustice". A group of [[Boxed Crook|supervillains]] are sent to take down [[The Juggernaut|Doomsday]].
* ''[[Power Rangers
** This trope is a major part of the ''[[Power Rangers Operation Overdrive]]'' series. The {{spoiler|Corona Aurora}}, an object of god-like power, is so sought after that there are a total of four distinct villain factions fighting the Rangers and one another for it; they occasionally get along, but most of the time, they're fighting one another as often as they fight the Rangers. Even after being shown they're a much greater threat working together, they go right back to trying to kill each other afterwards.
** ''[[Power Rangers Dino Thunder]]'' had Mesogog, the current [[Big Bad]], [[Villain Team
{{quote|
* ''[[Dexter]]'' is made of this, what with the title character being a serial killer that targets criminals, mostly other serial killers.
* The demon Crowley in ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' is an amusing example of this. He manipulates and double-crosses just about everybody in sight, from the protagonists to his own demonic peers, in order to save his own neck, his comfortable job as a soul merchant and (incidental to those goals) the world. Though a useful ally and unusually honest for a demon, he never makes any attempt to pretend he isn't evil. This makes it all the more impressive that he convinces the good guys to keep working with him even after they've been tricked, thrown under the bus, beaten half-senseless and otherwise abused as a result of listening to him.
** Crowley becomes the instigator of this again in Season 6; it's eventually revealed that [[Eldritch Abomination|The Mother of All]] came to Earth and started building armies of monsters in response to Crowley's plans to steal all the souls from Purgatory - the Mother's domain. And when the Mother's killed, the last few episodes of the season are still spent dealing with this trope, as the Winchesters find themselves stuck in the middle of the power struggle between the remaining [[Big Bad Ensemble|contenders for the position of]] [[Big Bad]]: Crowley, Raphael, and Castiel, who has [[Jumped Off the Slippery Slope]] to prevent Raphael from turning the planet into a graveyard by restarting the Apocalypse. In the end Castiel decides to cut Crowley out of the deal, in response to which Crowley teams up with Raphael, but Castiel [[Out
** Crowley instigating this ''again'' in season 7. He attempts a [[Villain Team
* The ''[[Masters of Horror]]'' episode "Pick Me Up" has Wheeler, a serial killer truck driver, V.S. Walker, a serial killer hitchhiker. The eventual winner? {{spoiler|The serial killing ambulance driver duo who pick them up at episode end.}}
* Invoked at least once a season on ''[[Deadliest Warrior]]'': [[The Mafia]] vs. the [[Yakuza]] {{spoiler|the Mafia won}}; the [[The Troubles|Irish Republican Army]] vs. the [[The War
* In [[Covert Affairs]] Annie Walker trys to provoke this when, instead of assassinating the terrorist she is hunting, she tells him that his father(the head of the organization) had ordered his girlfriend killed.
== Print Media ==
* ''[[
==
* Though less common than Face vs. Face, and FAR less common than Face vs. Heel, sometimes happens in pro wrestling,
** Though in the end those two groups would merge together to form the Corporate Ministry, and it was revealed [[Vince McMahon]] was the mastermind behind both stables all along. It still works as not every member was in on the plan, though those members left prior to the merger and [[Heel Face Turn|turned face]]. Though even in the Corporate Ministry there was fighting within the group, especially between [[The Undertaker]] and [[Triple H]].
* On [[WWE Raw|Raw]] 1/24/11 [[The Nexus]] was confronted by The Corre and later the leaders, [[Wade Barrett]] and [[CM Punk]] faced each other with the loser and his group out of the [[Royal Rumble]].
** Which led to a [[WWE
* Any [[Triple H]] vs. [[Kurt Angle]] match from 2000-2002 was this essentially. Triple H was the sledgehammer-wielding [[Villain Sue]] against the pompous [[Smug Snake]] Kurt Angle who wanted to take the guy's wife. Though they were both heels, they were tenuous allies at best and vicious enemies at worst. They would feud on and off from year to year, with neither really turning face at all (the closest being their ''No Way Out'' match where Triple H was running off of [[Determinator]] face heat).
** During this period Triple H even paused during his catchphrase to allow the audience to finish
* [[Stone Cold Steve Austin]] vs. The Hart Foundation could be viewed as this, had it not been for the overwhelming crowd reaction in Austin's favor.
* Undertaker vs Big Bossman in a Hell In A Cell match was this. This one wasn't so successful, mostly because they had no real chemistry or feud, so the crowd had nobody to root for.
== Tabletop Games ==
* Pretty much the fundamental premise of ''[[Warhammer
** The Biggest 2 examples being the Eldar and the Tau. The Eldar are psychic space elves that [[Manipulative Bastard|can see the future.]] They fight against [[Eldritch Abomination|Chaos]], which is what [[Eldritch Abomination
*** The Tau are anime-influenced space-communists that fight for The Greater Good, and are the closest thing the setting has to a neutral or even good faction. That is, if you ignore the fact that their entire race is being mind controlled by their leaders. Not wanting such an obvious good race in the series, Games-Workshop pointed out that the Tau's plans for humanity include forced sterility, slave camps, and genocide. The kicker? [[Crapsack World|They're still the only thing close to a good race the game has.]]
*** [[Unreliable Narrator|From one of the Imperium's scholars]]. This is the same Imperium where aliens are regarded on the same level we regard poisonous snakes.
**** Which still doesn't mean they're wrong given the
** The Imperium gets this too. For every hardworking adept who agonizes over every difficult decision, honorable space marine, or working class guardsmen with balls of steel they show you; they are contractually obligated to show ten [[Knight Templar]] inquisitors screaming "EXTERMINATUS!"
**** [[Flanderization|Which really just becomes stupid before long]], as rarely do you see a competent Inquisitor
**** Which could be considered [[Fridge Brilliance]]. An Inquisitor actually good at his job most likely works covertly, swiftly and quietly removing any threats to the Imperium, or even preventing them from becoming a threat at all, without anyone noticing. The only way to know if a competent one ever did anything at all, is when he fails and things [[It Got Worse|go from bad]] [[Serial Escalation|to worse]].
**** And the Inquisition itself has a lot of [[Right Hand Versus Left Hand]] struggles between the factions too, though it rarely breaks into open war, and more individual backstabbing/assassination/purging. Puritans are more eager to purge everything with fire, while Radicals are [[The End Justifies the Means|less constrained in methods]] and often more competent - or at least experienced.
* Likewise, the fundamental premise in ''[[
* This is sort of built into the [[Character Alignment|alignment system]] in ''[[Dungeons
** The Third Edition ''Dungeon Master's Guide'' says "...evil rarely gets along with evil, for the desires of one selfish and destructive being, by definition, conflict with the desires of other selfish and destructive beings.
** The two Fiendish Codexes explain that there is an infinite number of demons, and there's more of them spawning at all times. Angels, Archons, Devils & company are in a finite number. The Devils exist in fact so they can use their superior tactics and team work (due to their Lawfulness) along with similar weapons as those used by the demons, to keep the demons in check. The books make it explicit that if the Devils weren't around, the demons would swarm and destroy all of creation. The books also hint that if the demons vanished, the Devils could probably conquer the Multiverse, being a race composed entirely of [[Magnificent Bastard
*** And in the 2nd Edition of the game, the various forces of good took time to fan the flames, hoping to break their enemies against each other.
*** Some demon sub-races are also enemies of other demon sub-races (retrievers eat all other demons, for example). Some members of the higher ranking devil sub-races get promoted to the next higher-ranking sub-race by getting their direct superior killed or demoted, while some pit fiends (the highest-ranking sub-race) do the same to replace the devil dukes and duchesses who themselves are [[The Starscream]] to the archdevils. There's also much enmity between [[Demon Lords and Archdevils|the archdevils (Dispater and Mephistipholes vs. Baalzebul, Prince Levistus vs. Princess Glasya, all the other archdevils trying to take Asmodeous' throne) and the demon lords]] (Juiblex vs. Zugtmoy, Baphomet vs. Yenoghu, the three-way battle between Graz'zt, Orcus and Demogorgan).
** Graz'zt also has an enimity with Malcanthet the Queen of Succubi, for a ''very'' different reason. Having a reputation as a notorious rake, Malcanthet is the only female who has ''ever'' rejected him. Of course, that's not the way ''she'' tells it. Being just as much the lustful seducer as he is, she claims the exact opposite. Oh, and being Demogorgon's lover doesn't help - it would certainly be a blow to Graz'zt's pride to know that not only does she prefer his enemy to him, but that she prefers a hideous two-headed reptilian abomination to him.
*** In the ''Complete Scoundrel'' supplement, a prestage class called the Malconvoker is introduced which follows the teachings of a book called Vital Pact to impersonate evil for the sole purpose of summoning fiends to fight other evils and other with perpetuate all of the fighting between evil above, since the Celestial beings are too few to win their war against evil otherwise.
** 4th Edition has several instances, the most notable being the [[Evil Overlord|god of war Bane]] and his eternal war versus [[Complete Monster|god of destruction Gruumsh]]. While Bane revels in conquest and power, one of his prime commandments is to [[Even Evil Has Standards|ALWAYS obey the rules of war]]. He also likes his followers to be rigidly disciplined and wants to preserve the world so that it will be worth conquering. Gruumsh on the other hand revels in utter destruction and encourages savagery in his followers. Both want to be the uncontested god of war, and thus they've been fighting for eons over their differences.
** Another example is between the god of fear, Bane (no, [[
** More generally, this applies to many of the [[
*** An orc tribe's worst enemy tends to not be a human kingdom, a clan of dwarves or even a [[Hidden Elf Village]], but a rival orc tribe, and the same applies to hobgoblins and ''their'' tribes. Only a sufficiently powerful [[Big Bad]] can terrify rival tribes into working together, and the result tends to be a [[Keystone Army]]. If the [[Big Bad]] dies, rival orc and hobgoblin tribes who were previously intimidated into cooperating will turn on each other with a vengeance.
*** The Chromatic Dragons (black, blue, green, red, and white), are all evil (blue and green are Lawful Evil, black red and white are Chaotic Evil), and all obsessed with gathering hoards, gaining territory, building power, and destroying anything good (especially the good Metallic Dragons). However, they have no love for each other either, and they will fight to kill or chase each other away (even if two dragons, a black and a green for instance, manage to form a truce, eventually and inevitably one or the other will break the truce and resume hostilities). The worst are red dragons, the archetypal evil dragons, who will slaughter ''anyone and anything'' in their pursuit of their desires.
*** Frost giants (Often [[Chaotic Evil]] according to the Third Edition ''Monster Manual'') often kill white dragons for food and armour or capture them to use as guards. There are both many evil and many non-evil githzerai, but both attack the githyanki and mind flayers on sight. Meanwhile, githyanki and mind flayers are both evil and attack each other on sight as well.
*** Salamanders hate efreet. Most beholders want to wipe out all other beholders.
** In the epic module ''Die, Vecna, Die!'' the lich god Vecna tricked the Oeridian tyrant Iuz the Old into freeing him from imprisonment in [[Ravenloft]]; while Vecna's overall plan failed, he and Iuz have been enemies ever since.
* Any two ''[[
* The post-war ''[[Dragonlance]]'' setting is like this. With [[Big Bad|Takhisis]] banished to the Abyss, her five Dragonarmies turn on each other. Now, the five factions are just as apt to fight each other as they are to attack the good guys.
* This is the very principle behind the [[Tabletop RPG]] ''Necessary Evil''. An alien invasion has wiped out all the superheroes, so the only ones left to defend the world is the supervillains. After all, you can hardly conquer the world if it's already been destroyed by aliens, right?
* The [[Character Alignment]] system for Palladium games (such as ''[[Rifts]]'') establishes that Aberrant characters (think [[Lawful Evil]]) refuse to have anything to do with the other Evil alignments and finds them disgusting. It's quite possible to have an all-Aberrant party run a lot like an all-[[Lawful Good|Principled]] party with only a few slight differences.
* ''[[
** Likewise in the ''[[
** In the [[Old World of Darkness]], Agents of the Wyrm don't take kindly to someone mixing in traces of the Weaver with their plans. This is likely to cause some mayhem when [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Pentex]] figures out the true backing of the head of their Avalon toy company subsidiary.
* [[Savage Worlds]]: Necessary Evil envisions a world where supervillains are the only powerful humans left after a massive alien invasion. They form a resistance to fight back the occupiers, but aren't necessarily reformed. If they drive back the aliens, they'll be in a position to take over the planet.
* An option for ''[[
== Video Games ==
* ''[[Shadow the Hedgehog]]'' has a path pitting the [[Affably Evil]] [[Mad Scientist|Doctor Eggman]] against [[Complete Monster]] [[I'm a Humanitarian|Black Doom]].
* ''[[
* ''[[
** The sequel, ''Demon's Crest'', sees Firebrand escape from gladiatorial combat to hunt down Phalanx, a demon who has stolen several powerful crests from him and is using their power to rule the world. The catch? Firebrand wants the crests so ''he'' can rule the world.
* The most obvious modern example would be ''[[Overlord (
** And in the sequel you play as the previous Overlord's son fighting against an oppressive Empire that seeks to eradicate all magical beings (that would include the new Overlord and his minions too). Also, the [[Big Bad]] is {{spoiler|the power mad Emperor [[A God Am I|seeking godhood]] willing to summon a man-eating [[Eldritch Abomination]] to accomplish his goal}}. Compared to ''that'', the Overlord looks almost ''heroic''! Key word: almost.
*** It would be good to mention that this trope is [[Played for Laughs]].
* Before he got into mini-games, Wario of ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' came up with the idea of stealing money from other bad guys. This has worked out rather well for him.
** Of course, it hasn't stopped other bad guys from stealing money from ''him''.
* ''[[
** There's also [[Sociopathic Hero|Zaeed]] [[Psycho for Hire|Massani]]'s loyalty mission, which sees him pitted against fellow Blue Suns mercenary group founder [[Smug Snake|Vido]] [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder|Santiago]]. Zaeed wants to kill Vido for [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|betraying him and taking control of the Blue Suns]], and is [[Kick the Dog|more than happy to allow innocent bystanders to die]] if they get in his way.
* ''[[Star Wars]]'' ''swims'' in this
** In ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (
*** Additionally, a Dark Sider in ''KOTOR 2'' will face [[Omnicidal Maniac|Darth Nihilus]], who draws his power from the same source as the player character. [[Evil Counterpart]] to a good character, he becomes [[Not So Different]] for an evil one.
** Ditto for ''Jedi Knight'', ''Jedi Academy'', and any other game that gives you a Dark Side path...
** Also ditto for the films and the Expanded Universe, which has been a very [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|colorful]] place since [[Big Bad|Palpatine]] was overthrown in favor of the [[Good Is Dumb|New Republic]]. The New Republic has completely collapsed in favor of some kind of uneasy coalition of monarchical Imperial factions, independent core planets, and alien invaders by this point, and most of the Skywalker family is back on the Dark
* ''[[City of Heroes|City of Villains]]'' is a good example of why this trope exists. The few truly evil contacts ([[Complete Monster|Westin Phipps]] in particular) produce a good deal of controversy about whether they're "too evil." Thus, more than half the game's missions could very easily be rewritten for heroes. Many contacts have forced unethical traits and selfish motives written in for why you're stopping a villainous organization from realizing their plans. Hell, you spend more time fighting your "patron" organization of Arachnos than you spend fighting Wyvern or Legacy Chain (Longbow are like cockroaches, though...).
* Newly unveiled footage from ''[[Twisted Metal]]'' shows factions gameplay. So very, very much this. Dollface and <s> [[
* Probably the only way Kratos in ''[[God of War (
** Most of the Greek Pantheon has few, if any, redeeming qualities aside from the fact that they replaced something that could be considered ''worse'' from the Ancient Greek point of view.
** The gods of Olympus actually ''[[Invoked Trope]]'' this trope in ''[[God of War (
** The creators of the game have stated that the reason they didn't go with a more traditional Greek hero is because they felt that such a character wouldn't last five seconds in the world they were trying to create. There are actually several minor characters in both games who embody various versions of those iconic heroes, and they are usually killed horribly within seconds of their appearance. Perseus lasts the longest, but even he is not immune. Still, if the creators had read the original myths [[Did Not Do the Research|a little more closely]], they would have realized that the only thing separating Kratos from those so-called "heroes" is that Kratos doesn't even try to justify his actions by calling them noble. He just kills things. A ''lot'' of things.
** Kratos is actually a traditional Greek hero [[Fridge Brilliance|in every sense of the word]]. {{spoiler|In Greek folklore and mythology, a 'hero' was originally a demigod. Cue the [[Luke, I Am Your Father|big reveal]] of ''God Of War 2''}}.
* Some parts of ''[[Dungeon Keeper]]'' pit you against rival keepers, but these events are mostly incidental; the main focus of the plot is still about fighting heroes.
** Far more focus on this in the unofficial expansion pack ''Ancient Keeper'', in which the focus is on proving that you're tough enough, vicious enough, and (above all else) ''clever'' enough to take your place among the ancients of your kind. You still fight heroic forces constantly, but crushing other candidates for the title (often on their home turf) and surviving the current ancients' tests is the goal.
** ''Dungeon Keeper 2'' gives you an ongoing rival keeper named Nemesis, who commands all of the other rival keepers you face. Again, the primary goal is killing the heroes, though this time it's to take the Portal Gems they guard, some of which have already been looted by the other keepers.
* During the early part of The Arbiter's campaign in ''[[Halo 2]]'', since you're playing as Covenant you get to fight humans to show how they aren't actually [[Redshirt Army|worthless in combat]], right? Wrong. Instead, you start off fighting Covenant heretics in the ruins of what you ''blew to smithereens'' in the first game.
** It's worse than that. A mid-to-late-game [[Tomato Surprise]] makes {{spoiler|the Arbiter a sort of [[Villain Protagonist]]}} in hindsight.
** In the later parts of the first ''Halo'' game, one can simply sit back and watch the three-way battles between Flood, Covenant, and Sentinels until one faction kills the others and start actively hunting ''you''.
*** Sentinels are hardly "evil", though. They're just following their programming: defend the Ring from anyone they perceive as a threat. Now Guilty Spark, on the other hand, is a [[Heel Face Revolving Door|decidedly more complicated matter]].
** Lampshaded in one of the last levels of ''[[Halo 2]]''. You can either fight your way up the catwalk to the Tomb of the Arbiter, or rush in headlong. The enemies on said catwalk will follow you inside... and start fighting the other enemies already there.
{{quote|
** In ''[[Halo 3]]'', at one point the Prophet of Truth is about to activate the Halo Array and unleash destruction upon the galaxy. ''Nobody'' wants that, not even [[The Virus|the parasitic Flood]], so for one brief moment you must fight alongside Flood combatants and decimate Truth's bodyguards. Like in the example above, you can even hang back and let the unstoppable hulks do the heavy lifting for you.
* Excluding the Protoss campaign, you play as a commander in an evil force throughout ''[[
{{quote|
'''Kerrigan:''' Of course, Duran. They're simply siding with the evil they know over the evil they don't. They just don't realize exactly what it will cost them. }}
* Several scenes in the ''[[Half-Life (
* The game ''[[
* In ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[
** They're also both [[You All Look Familiar|endlessly respawning armies of the same nine people,]] which [[MST3K Mantra|is never going to be explained.]] (Yes, even in the videos, which are the only real plotline the game has, each team somehow has the same members).
* ''[[Fable (
* Turn-based strategy game ''[[Disciples]] 2: Dark Prophecy'' features this near the end of the [[Legions of Hell|Legion of the Damned's]] saga. {{spoiler|It turns out that Uther isn't really the reincarnation of the Legion's god, but just some evil brat siphoning his power and slowly killing him. Since you're one of the god's loyal servants, you have to fight him in the end}}. This has the odd effect of giving ''demons from hell'' the surprisingly sympathetic motivation of {{spoiler|trying to save their god}}.
** One of the BEST campaign twists in known history. Added bonus? The fight against {{spoiler|Demon Uther}} is quite possibly the toughest boss in the game.
** Really, any fight between the Legions of the Damned and the Undead Hordes.
* In ''[[Prototype (
* ''[[
** In addition, ''The Frozen Throne'' featured the Plaguelands Civil War, a four-way war within the Scourge between the loyalists of Arthas, the loyalists of the Legion, the Forsaken (a group of free-willed undead) and the remaining Alliance forces (who are generally good guys but are led by a racist [[Jerkass]] Lord Garithos).
*** This one got even worse in ''[[
** The Dark Iron dwarves initially fought in the service of Ragnaros against the Blackrock Orcs, who served the Black Dragonflight. In Cataclysm, however, Ragnaros has joined forces with Deathwing.
** The main opposition to the gronn-ruled ogres of Outland, which prove a threat to the Alliance and Horde's Outland allies, happens to be the [[
** In "Wrath of the Lich King", the Scourge conquered the Nerubians and has almost conquered the Drakkari ice trolls, both of which are quite evil (the ice trolls especially so, even compared to the evil and barbaric majority of the non-playable trolls). In Drak'Tharon Keep, both the living trolls and their allies, and the undead trolls and other Scourge members attack the party as they make their way up the keep.
* ''[[
* If you take the evil path in the vast majority of [[RPG
* In ''[[The Godfather (
* Tommi Vercetti of ''[[
* Any enemy in ''[[Doom (
** The Cacodemons and Barons of Hell are also good examples of this. Dead Cacodemon corpses can be found in "Baron halls" and wall images of crucified Barons of Hell can be found in some areas where Cacodemons are the predominant enemies.
*** This feud between the Barons of Hell and Cacodemons is also noted in the expanded universe Doom books.
*** Cacodemons crucified Barons, despite lacking hands or anything resembling tool-manipulators. That's some serious hate.
* ''[[
** In ''[[Super Robot Wars Advance]]'' Shadow Mirrors are trying to take control over [[Mobile Fighter G Gundam
** In ''[[Super Robot Wars Judgment]]'' [[Voltes V|Boazanians]] are sworn enemies of [[Blue Comet SPT Layzner|Gradosians]] and [[Full Metal Panic
** In ''[[Super Robot Wars W]]'' [[
* In ''[[Shin Megami Tensei III
** The ongoing battle throughout the ''[[
* [[Our Demons Are Different|Uram]] and [[Undead|Hokan]] of ''[[Spellforce]]''.
* ''[[Modern Warfare 2]]''. {{spoiler|General Shepard's Infamous Shadow Company vs. Makarov's Ultranationalists.}} And you in the middle. How fun! Although it only lasts a mission but it's far easier just to make the fight as even as possible then sit back and watch the carnage (typically shadow is ahead).
* ''[[
* In the third ''[[Rampage (
* ''[[Hexen]] II'''s sparse story becomes this if you play as the assassin or necromancer. The assassin wants to kill [[Big Bad|Eidolon]] to prove she's the best assassin of all time, and the necromancer wants to kill Eidolon so people fear him again.
* ''[
* ''[[
* The war between Mishima Zaibatsu and G Corporation in ''[[
* If an enemy in any ''[[Marathon
* In ''[[Myth]]: The Fallen Lords'' the dark leaders, the fallen lords, hate each other more then they hate you. In one level you sit back for most of the level and let the two forces fight each other, then pick off the pitiful remnants.
* Ever destroyed another ship in ''[[
** Thats more of [[What Measure Is a Mook?]], considering that all sides have a [[Grey and Gray Morality|grey]] background.
* ''[[Legacy of Kain]]'': Protagonist Kain is a [[Magnificent Bastard]] [[Villain Protagonist]] [[Evil Overlord]]. He's the hero of the games mainly because his enemies are [[Knight Templar]] [[Omnicidal Maniac
* The ''[[
* In ''[[Fahrenheit (
* ''[[Command
* A good many of the members in the Organization of ''[[Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
* In ''[[
** Actually, it's having any member of your party be [[Lawful Good]] that causes both of them to attack you. Any other good-aligned character can still interact with them. If you don't team up with one or the other of the fiends, you'll miss out on a powerful magical item that they'll reward you with, but having a Lawful Good party member is required in order to get a different powerful magical item found in the same level of the dungeon. You can get both if you do not have any Lawful Good characters when you run into one or the other of the fiends and choose to assist them and get rewarded with the Rogue's Hood (a helmet that buffs thieves), then come back into the maze after that with a Lawful Good character to get the enchanted Paladin-only Bastard Sword.
* ''[[Shogo
* ''[[
* While ''[[
* Probably more 'grotesque monstrosity versus grotesque monstrosity,' but ''[[
* The scrolling shmup ''Terra Diver'' makes players mercenaries working for a greedy megacorp of resources around Earth against its rival corporations with the story of eco-terrorist threat as a cover-up of the disastrous war of greed.
* Can easily happen in ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[
* Though one could hardly think of the title character as evil, the page describes the plot of ''[[Sly Cooper]]'' almost perfectly: a [[Gentleman Thief]] who steals from other criminals.
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[
* In ''[[
* The main plot of ''[[Fallout
* The backstory if [[
* Lampshaded in the GTA IV Episodes when you play as Luis and see {{spoiler|Niko and Johnny (who are against you in this but played in the previous games) fight against some Mafia goons in the museum.}}
* Somewhat [[Deconstruction|deconstructed]] in ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'', where the Blood War between the devils and the demons inevitably gets mentioned. You might think it's okay for the very, very [[My Species Doth Protest Too Much|nearly]] literally [[
* A late-game quest becomes this in ''[[Might and Magic]] VII'' if one goes for the evil path. You work with/for guys who want to take over the planet through force of superior weapons technology, and who find nothing wrong with mad laughter (and your personal chronicler finds the discovery of left-over torture instruments from a previous occupant of your castle to be a happy surprise). You still get sent to kill the Kreegans' King Xenofex, though, because the Kreegans are [[Planet Looters]] and a big threat in general.
* Both sides of the civil war in ''[[Far Cry]] 2'' talk a good talk about how they're making their country a better place, but both are willing to commit war crimes for tactical advantages or petty vengeance. Some of the mercenaries profess idealistic motives, but all of them except the protagonist choose money over decency. The Underground is well-intentioned, but completely ineffectual, repeatedly requiring the protagonist's help to wipe out hostile mercenaries. The closest thing to a heroic figure is the arms dealer supplying both sides, and that's only because he wants them to wipe each other out.
* ''[[Metroid Prime]] 2: Echoes'' has three enemy factions that all want the Phazon on planet Aether to themselves: The Ing, the Space Pirates, and Dark Samus. The Pirates are pretty much the [[Butt Monkey|butt monkeys]], most of the ones that aren't killed by Samus are either possessed by Ing or killed defending their Phazon from Dark Samus. At first it's unclear if the Ing and Dark Samus are allies or enemies, but a scene just before the second fight against Dark Samus shows her killing a group of Dark Pirate Troopers (Ing-possessed Pirate Troopers) and taking their Phazon.
* In [[Odin Sphere]], most of the villains are fighting against each other and the heroes are either third parties or unwitting pawns. Odin {{spoiler|wants to bring the end of the world and lead the survivors into a new age}}, the trio of wizards want the same thing and also {{spoiler|get revenge on Odin for betraying them before he became a king}}, King Valentine is simply so broken that he wants to end everything while also wanting {{spoiler|revenge on Odin for seducing his daughter}}, the Fairy Queen (the least evil of the factions) wants a world ending weapon that she uses to keep her people alive, Odin's general makes it no secret he's trying for a coup, Melvin {{spoiler|plans to become the new leader of the faries and used Oswald as a test subject for a weapon he wanted to mass produce}}, the Queen of Death is only interested in running her place as she sees fit {{spoiler|and making Oswald her slave, per contract}}, {{spoiler|the last king of Titania}} wants out of the afterlife to cause some chaos, the Fire King desperately wants Gwendolyn as his wife and is willing to kill anyone in his way and {{spoiler|Ingway}} wants to {{spoiler|kill Odin more than anyone for making his life a living hell}}. Oh, and {{spoiler|Griselda, Gwendolyn's sister, manipulated her and Oswald into helping kickstart the end of the world in ghost form}}. If you couldn't guess, most of these people end up clawing at one another's necks before the game is over.
* ''[[The Witcher]]'', while doesn't always steer close to the novels, maintains the [[Grimdark]] part. To quote [[Nerf Now|Jo Pereira]] - "Witcher is full of hard decisions. Help the cannibal witches or side with the murderous tree?"
* In ''[[Mortal Kombat 11]]'', the Joker (who appears as a [[Guest Fighter]]) is ''really'' angry at Shang Tsung for stealing his act - a reference to ''[[Mortal Kombat 9]]'' where one of Shang Tsung's Fatalities is a reskinned version of the Joker's from ''[[Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (Video Game)|Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe]]''. [[Batman (film)|"Never rub another man's rhubarb!"]] snarls the Clown Prince of Crime.
* ''[[Helldivers]]'': Super Earth is an autocracy wearing a democratic [[Paper-Thin Disguise]]. Given that the cutscene for losing the campaign shows [[Earth-Shattering Kaboom|the destruction of Super Earth]] with all the civilian casualties that likely entails, though, the enemy aliens are at best down with a severe case of [[He Who Fights Monsters]], at worst exactly the kind of fiends the propaganda paints them as - hardly lily-white freedom fighter types.
== Web Comics ==
* ''[[
** Of course, Oceans Unmoving plays it even straighter with Bun-Bun against his treacherous former first mate Blacksoul, {{spoiler|aka the Bun-Bun we'd been following throughout the comic as it turns out that Captain Bun-Bun was from before the comic started.}}
* The "Midnight Crew" Intermission in ''[[
** And much later, averted when {{spoiler|[[Killer Game Master|Vriska]], [[Four Eyes, Zero Soul|Eridan]], and [[Monster Clown|Gamzee]] almost have a three-way showdown... Only for [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|all three]] to be taken by surprise by [[Cute Monster Girl|Kanaya.]]}}
* ''[[Ansem Retort]]''. Hell, there's only a couple people that are actually ''good'': everyone else is a murderer, psychopath, [[Jerkass]] or all of the above, no matter which side you look at.
* ''[[Vexxarr]]'' instigates a war which is essentially this.
{{quote|
* Mac and Shmeerm live up this gloriously in one of the longer more epic''[[Voodoo Walrus]]'' storyarcs titled [https://web.archive.org/web/20130723032207/http://voodoowalrus.com/?p=777 Meatnecks and Boomsticks]
* In ''[[
** For that matter, the story seems to be setting up the Linear Guild as competition for the Gates with both the good guys and [[Big Bad|Xykon]]'s gang.
** [[Played for Laughs]] [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0453.html here], when two [[Mook
* ''[[
** Jacqui is nice, if too airheaded most of the time, and occasionally tries to help people outside her little circle. So is Tiffany, though she is thoroughly skulljumbled even without all the mind control.
* This is how [[The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized|the Insurrection]] views the war between [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|the Covenant]] and [[United Nations Is a Super Power|the UNSC]] in ''[[
== Web Original ==
* In ''[[
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!:
== Western Animation ==
* The entire purpose for Zhao's existence on ''[[
** Similarly, {{spoiler|Ba Sing Se}} vs. the Fire Nation in season two. Touted as the Earth Kingdom's last great bastion against the Fire Nation's invasion, it is in fact a city with {{spoiler|a puppet king and evil shadow government that practices brainwashing}}. The shadow government's leader, {{spoiler|Long Feng}}, comes into face-to-face conflict with Azula near the end of the season.
*** Yeah, the Earth Kingdom on the whole is pretty messed up in its own ways. You may recall the soldiers terrorizing that town that Zuko eventually liberates. Not to mention General Fong trying to force Aang into destroying the Fire Nation by endangering his friends. And, then, of course, there's the Dai Li...
* For the [[Sequel Series]], ''[[
* As a [[Villain Protagonist]], ''[[
* This is basically the entirety of the [[Transformers|Megatron/Starscream relationship]]. Even more explicit in ''[[
** There's also ''[[
*** Which is then followed several episodes later by the arrival of {{spoiler|Unicron}}, who's such an epitome of evil that Megatron {{spoiler|allies with the Autobots to stop him}}.
* ''[[
* ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]],'' another [[Greg Weisman]] show, as well. The series begins with [[Evil Albino|Tombstone]] having firm control of New York's criminal underworld, but then he has to defend it from [[Manipulative Bastard|the Green Goblin]]. Then Gobby disappears, but in the next season the "Gangland" arc pits him against [[Multi
* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (
** Tiamat and Venger hate each other so much that they tend to fight, completely forgetting about the children. In the infamous "Dragon's Graveyard" episode, the children seek Tiamat's help in trying to kill Venger.
** Another example from the same series was where the kids were outclassed by an evil wizard. Presto tells Venger what the wizard is up to... queue Venger marching in to deliver a beatdown and the kids running like hell.
* [[
* Lucius Heinous VII ([[Villain Protagonist]]) against the Weavils ([[
* In ''[[Batman:
** Two-Face and Poison Ivy have an interesting rivalry, as they used to date before Harvey Dent became Two-Face. One episode shows that as district attorney, Dent had wanted to develop a park into housing, and Ivy pretended to take a romantic interest in him so she could kill him by poisoning him.
** This leads to a [[Batman:
* {{spoiler|Heather vs. Alejandro}} in the finale of ''[[
* A three-way version: Professor Pericles vs. Mr. E {{spoiler|(his former owner)}} vs. {{spoiler|Mayor Jones}} in ''[[Scooby
** Though Mr. E is more morally ambiguous than the other two, making this more an example of [[Black and Gray Morality]].
* [[Conversational Troping|Conversed]] in an episode of ''[[Hey Arnold
* A major point of the plot of the 2019 ''[[Harley Quinn]]'' series. [[Villain Protagonist]] Harley seems dead set on taking the Joker's place as Gotham's number one super-villain by proving herself [[Eviler Than Thou|Eviler Than Him.]] She's not exactly doing the best job at it...
* ''[[Rocky and Bullwinkle]]'': during the Kirwood Derby arc, [[The Starscream|Boris Badenov]] fought Fearless Leader for the Derby. When the narrator asked who would win the fight, they both [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|turned to the camera]] and shouted, "Who cares? We're both bad guys!"
* Two episodes of ''[[
* The second to last episode of ''[[Justice League (
* The [[Teen Titans (
* Stewie VS Penelope in ''[[Family Guy]]''. Stewie used to be very evil in the first few seasons, but has mellowed out a lot and is more of a jerk than an evil bastard. He meets Penelope, a baby girl his age who has done her acts of killing people and having a mass amount of weapons of her own. Stewie likes Penelope at first and wants to be with her, but even he starts to have his doubts, getting tired of killing people everyday and he fights her to the death when she goes to kill Brian because Stewie wouldn't do it.
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[[No Real Life Examples, Please]] means [[No Real Life Examples, Please]] Funny that.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Evil Tropes]]
[[Category:Older Than Dirt]]
[[Category:Truth in Television]]
[[Category:Arch Enemy]]
[[Category:Villains]]
[[Category:
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