Mirror Universe: Difference between revisions

[[File:Mirror.jpg|link=El Goonish Shive|frame|[[Captain Obvious|The guy in the mirror is evil.]] [[Dude Looks Like a Lady|The guy not in the mirror is a guy]].]]

 

 

{{quote|''"Picture every [[Golden Age|gold]], [[Silver Age|silver]], [[Bronze Age|bronze]] and [[Dark Age|rust age]] comic. Imagine a comic shop full of every [[DC Comics|DC comic]] ever. Now imagine that each one is about the Syndicate, and is about some lone hero rising up, and getting killed. Every issue is a forensic report of a new hero, alone and outclassed, standing up and getting murdered, brutally, publicly, colorfully, at the rate of one or two a month. It's not that the Syndicate are killers, but killers in equal measure to the heroes. It's evocative."''|[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v{{=}}5HF6SFaVs3M qbe9584]}}

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' performs this in Parallel Works 4, where the Beastmen are being oppressed by Kamina, and Viral is [[The Hero]], it actually makes Kamina look ''legitimately evil''.

* Happened in one episode in ''[[Doraemon]]'' when Doraemon and Nobita enter and explore a mirror universe and interact with their counterparts. IIRC, this universe is literally mirrored of having mirrored writing and east is west. Other differences include reversed gender roles showing Nobita's mom as the breadwinner, all males dressed as females, and different teachings in school. Nobita and his counterpart decide to [[Prince and Pauper|swap roles]] for a day.

 

* [[Comic Book Tropes|Comics]] do this all the time. [[The DCU]] has its "anti-matter" Earth, wherein Ultraman, Superwoman, Johnny Quick, Power Ring, and Owlman (the Crime Syndicate of Amerika) are the evil duplicates of Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, and Batman (the [[Justice League of America]]), and Lex Luthor was the only superhero left in the world. (A later story introduced the Justice Underground, a team of heroes led by Riddler's counterpart, the Quizmaster. And following Riddler's [[Heel Face Turn]], Quizmaster had a temporary [[Face Heel Turn]].)

** The trope originated in the [[Silver Age]] with Earth-3, which was destroyed in ''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]'' but was restored later. The antimatter universe was based on this concept.

* Archie Comics' ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' comic has a Mirror Universe, called variously "The Reverse Universe", "Anti-Mobius", and "Moebius". In it Dr. Robotnik/Kintobor is a [[Kindly Vet]], while the Freedom Fighters fight against freedom, having overthrown the previous monarch. The <s> Anti-Freedom Fighters</s> Suppression Squad all dress in black leather, and acted like a bunch of juvenile delinquents until Anti-Sonic became "Scourge" and conquered Moebius.

** The interference from the heroes' world has caused the parallels to break down a bit; Scourge has been turned green, and hooked up with [[Face Heel Turn|Fiona FOX]] for a while, Anti-Bunnie has pulled a [[Heel Face Turn]] and wears [[Powered Armour|Omega Armor]] instead of being a [[Cyborg]] (anti-Rotor is the cyborg) and anti-Antoine briefly posed as his good counterpart. Basically the [[Status Quo Is God|status quo]] for the mirror world gets altered more often than the main one. Oh, and [[The Starscream|Miles Prower]] even has [[Beard of Evil|the goatee]].

** Similarly, in ''[[JLA-Avengers]]'', the League, seeing the many imperfections of the [[Marvel Universe]], conclude that it's the Evil Universe. [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]], seeing statues and museums to the heroes everywhere in the [[DC Universe]], conclude the exact same thing (they think the DC heroes have set themselves as gods).

* ''[[Transformers: Shattered Glass]]'', where the Heroic Decepticons are fighting to protect Earth and Cybertron from the powermongering of the Evil Autobots. "Till All are Gone..."

** [[Transformers: Shattered Glass|Shattered Glass]] was meant to be played straight, but a three-page April Fools Day comic, "Shattered Expectations", was so spot-on that the series quickly became more humorous. (The SE team also works on SG now.)

* The Disney Comics also dabbled in this; [http://coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=I+TL+2355-5 in this comic], Paperinik ends up going into an alternate universe where Uncle Scrooge is poor, Gladstone Gander is unlucky, policemen are criminals, criminals are good, and Paperinik himself is evil.

 

 

* In [[Andre Norton]]'s ''Star Gate'' (1958), the human colonists of Gorth, seeking an [[Alternate Universe]] version of their beloved adopted planet that has no native intelligent life, accidentally stumble into a version in which their own counterparts have used their advanced technology to enslave the inhabitants.

* The [[Dark Reflections Trilogy]] features a literal mirror universe.

* Characters from Mirror Universe settings occasionally turn up in the [[Nightside]] novels, such as Dark Artur (an alternate King Arthur whose mentor Merlin had sided with the Devil), or Joan Taylor and Steven Shooter ([[Gender Flip]] villainous versions of the series leads).

* [[Star Trek: Mirror Universe]], naturally.

* ''Serpent's Silver'' by Piers Anthony and Robert Margroff, second book in a series, has some characters from the first book flung into a more-or-less mirror universe—not only personalities, but also to some extent names and appearances may change, and a few people seem not to '''have''' counterparts. It's quite jarring to the young heroes to find themselves working with decent and noble mirror images of their home world's vicious villains. Or when a psychic sees her husband's life saved by (the heroic counterpart of) the now-dead brutal [[Mook]] who '''raped''' her.

 

* Subverted in ''[[Stargate SG-1]].'' A whole shipload of alternate SG-1 teams from various universes arrives. One team ends up hijacking the ''Prometheus''. Mitchell says to his double, "You don't have beards, so I know you're not from the Evil Twin Universe". It turns out that this particular team {{spoiler|comes from a universe in which Earth does not have a working Zero Point Energy module and needs one to power their defenses. So out of desperation they've contrived the conditions that caused the dimensional travel so they can steal someone else's. You'd think they'd just get all the Samanthas to work on the problem.}}

** That's actually pretty much how they solve the problem of sending everyone back.

* Parodied in [[Community]]. When the tossing of a die to choose who picks up some pizza creates [[For Want of a Nail|seven alternate universes]], one horrible one is created where {{spoiler|Pierce dies, Jeff looses an arm, Shirley becomes an alcoholic, Annie suffers a mental breakdown and Troy's larynx is destroyed}}. [[Genre Savvy]] Abed deduces that they're in the "evil" universe, makes them all [[Star Trek|fake beards]] and makes it their job to break into the true universe and wreak havoc.

 

* Some would say [[Norse Mythology|the myth of Thor]] in Outgard (Thor:OutgardLoki, Loki:Logi, Thjalfi:Hugi).

 

* In the HERO game ''[[Champions]]'', a supplement describing various one-off [[Alternate Universe]] concepts included a mirror universe, complete with [[The Psycho Rangers]] versions of the Champion superhero team.

* As a direct homage to DC's Crime Syndicate, the [[Freedom City]] setting for ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]'' has a Mirror Universe (Anti-Earth) in which the city is called Empire City and the Freedom League is replaced by the Tyranny Syndicate.

* The fan-made ''Brighthammer 40k'' campaign setting for the ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' roleplaying games, is largely a Mirror Universe, with some [[Bizarro Universe]] mixed in—given [[Crapsack World|the state of the normal universe]], it's a [[Lighter and Softer|pretty nice place to live]]. There are exceptions, however. The Tau are ''exactly the same''—their new status as villains is simply because the rest of the universe now looks better, rather than worse, by comparison, and the Tyranids are also the same—they're mirrored in that they're now the threat another extragalatic faction is fleeing from, rather than being implied to be fleeing from an even worse extragalatic faction. While the Eldar are reversed in alignment as well, the makers took it to a logical conclusion: The Bright (Dark) Eldar were born in dire straits, and are fighting a losing war against their cruel brethren. The Slaan are a borderline exception, as well: They're much the same, but they're now villains as the setting replaces the mysterious-but-benevolent [[Precursors|Old Ones]] of ''40k'' and ''[[Warhammer Fantasy]]'' with the twisted and horrifying Great Old Ones; being devoted servants to the Old Ones is now an unequivocally bad thing. Oh, and the Deceiver (the worst of the extremely nasty C'Tan in [[Canon]]) is still completely evil, it's just that how he goes about it reversed—he's known as the Soothsayer, and rather than causing trouble with deception, he instead specializes in sharing dangerous and unpleasant truths and dispelling even harmless or necessary lies. The other C'Tan play this straight, though—the Daybringer is flat-out benevolent, the Void Dragon is well-meaning but utterly alien and unaware of just how dangerous his knowledge can be in the wrong hands, and the Outsider is in a self-imposed exile due to emotional and mental scars from battling the Great Old Ones... but the Tyranids are heading toward his "prison" and ''no-one'' knows how that will turn out.

** Another version of this is the ''Dornian Heresy'' which remains [[Grimdark]] but switches the places of the loyalists and traitors and in almost every major event the alternate choice was made. {{spoiler|The Emperor sided with Magnus during the Council of Nikea, meaning that the Thousand Sons gained the power to banish and in some cases even outright destroy daemons. Angeron had Horus and the Emperor side with him during the slave uprising on his world, resulting in him removing the combat implants in his warriors. After the Heresy the Legions were never broken up to make sure they could stay strong and root out traitors within their ranks. Ultramar was tricked into fighting the Alpha Legion and Word Bearers resulting in them becoming a third power, meaning that they were no longer held by the rules of the Imperium and began to tinker with their technology. Lorgar chose to declare a holy war upon Chaos rather than siding with them. And, most shocking of all, [[General Failure|Abbadon]] became a tactical genius!}}

 

 

** They have a Greek name, and Tyrant wears Greek-style armor, because of a legendary [[Real Life]] incident: when told of the existence of [[Alternate Universe|alternate universes]], Alexander the Great wept: "So many worlds, and we have not yet conquered one."

*** Also as a foil to the heroic Freedom Phalanx.

** Other confirmed "opposites" include:

*** Counterpart to Nemesis, ''the'' [[Magnificent Bastard]], is an apparent nobody

*** Counterpart to Odysseus, leader of the Warriors, is a trainer in the Underground.

** And the [[Fanon|fans love to embrace this]], creating Praetorian counterparts of their own characters, and of currently unseen canon characters.

** The same game featured the "Amerika Korps", who were from an [[Alternate History]] where, you guessed it, Hitler conquered and occupied the US.

*** The "Amerika Korps" could be seen as a slight subversion to the idea that they were identical mirror counterparts. While the game's background clearly stated that [[The Cape (trope)|the Statesman]] and [[Evil Counterpart|the Reichsman]] could spend all day slamming each other into the concrete, the Reichsman did not like competitors approaching his power level and deliberately made sure his "teammates'" training were less than adequate. That came back to bite him in the ass.

* ''[[Kirby|Kirby and the Amazing Mirror]]''. However, it's similar to most of its predecessors, aside from the sidekick Kirbies that wander around.

* Many team vs. team combat games and multiplayer RTS/turn-based strategy games implicitly use this for the sake of fairness; both teams will have access to identical characters who fight in levels that are the same on each team's side. [[Color Coded for Your Convenience|Color-coding]] or something else that doesn't affect gameplay distinguishes the two "worlds."

 

* In the ''[[League of Intergalactic Cosmic Champions]]'', the LICC Universe is mirrored by the KILL universe.

* ''[[Protectors of the Plot Continuum]]'', has a Mirror Universe that is an obvious Shout Out to Star Trek, including Beards of Evil.

* The RPG Net message boards once [http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=413172 featured] a wonderful idea for a ''[[Discworld]]'' mirror universe. The Disc is torn by war between the scarily charismatic Last King, ruler of Ankh-Morpork and the Plains, and the all-powerful Crone, who controls the Ramtops. Between them are the Crone's former apprentice Magrat, Havelock the assassin and Samuel King-killer. And their leader, the last survivor of the Silver Horde, Rincewind Spellholder.

** Later additions included the Wizard-Killer, a bestial creature that haunts the library of the abandoned UU; Susan the Vain, who plays both sides, seeking to replace her grandfather as Champion of the Auditors; the History Monks, who presumably have decided this is all ''meant'' to happen for reasons of their own; the Chalkland Hag, who seeks to challenge the Crone and has turned a society of harmless brownies into an unstoppable army; Lady Sybil, who breeds war-dragons for the Last King and seduces others to her own ends; and Reginald Shoe, who has fled Ankh and turned Pseudopolis into an undead police state. Amongst others.

* ''[[The Allen and Craig Show]]'', in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uxiF5NO1j8 Episode 12], features two gangsta counterparts to Allen and Craig that share many similar characteristics but have a more "urban" edge.

 

** Following the history reboot, there have been [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/2470.html two] [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/2477.html forays] to the evil mirror universe. Thus far, the only visible differences are the [[Beard of Evil|beards]], the arrangement of the panels, and Dr Jones Sr.'s dislike of sausages and avoidence of [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/2482.html puns].

* ''[[In Wily's Defense]]'' takes place in a universe where Dr. Wily would like a less exciting lifestyle, Cut Man's the hero, Dr. Light is an egotistical megalomaniac, and X is [[Ax Crazy]].

* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' features an infinity of alternative dimensions. One of them is hinted to be a world of [[Evil Counterpart|evil counterparts]], having spawned a malicious version of Kiki, and possibly a selfish jerk version of Torg. (It's not known whether those characters were actually from the same dimension, but they might have been.)

* The heroes of the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'' have encountered two of these. The first is the standard version where the various characters are morally aligned opposite to their normal nature. In this one, the heroic Global Guardians have their counterparts in the villainous Global Gladiators , a criminal syndicate that has taken over the world. The second was a world in which the Global Guardians had taken control of the world "for the betterment of mankind" after a much more severe [[Alien Invasion|Xorn invasion]] had left humanity on the brink of extinction.

** While Megaman and Bass swapped intelligence with Protoman (They're geniuses and Protoman's the dumbass), Bob and George swapped temperaments: George became a blind psychopathic murderer, Bob became a flaming homosexual. The regular Bob was...a bit freaked out.

* The Dimension of Hackneyed Stereotyped Opposites in ''[[Casey and Andy]]''. Since Casey and Andy are [[Chaotic Neutral]] at best, conventional moral flips don't apply to them (instead Andi is a girl who dates God instead of Satan), but Quantum Cop's counterpart is Quantum Crook.

* In ''[[Universal Compass]]'' there are 10 Alternate/parallel worlds that each reflect a certain emotion.

 

* One ''[[Rugrats]]'' has Chuckie and Tommy thinking that they landed in "Mirror World" when they flipped over a mirror. [[Hilarity Ensues]].

* ''[[South Park]]'' parodied the ''Star Trek'' episode with their own Mirror Universe, from which visited an alternate Cartman. Exactly like the alternate Spock in "Mirror, Mirror", the alternate Cartman was bearded—but being the moral opposite of the "real" Cartman, he was of course kind, soft-spoken, polite and gentle.

* ''[[Hey Arnold!]]'' had an episode where Arnold goes into the country to visit his weird cousin Arnie. All of the people he meets are counterparts of his friends, but they all appear in pairs, with each one displaying the attributes of the other's counterpart: Harold and Rhonda appear as Harry and Rhoda, with Harry being slim and fashion-conscious and Rhoda being a fat slob. Stinky and Phoebe are seen as Stumpy and Fifi, with Stumpy being intelligent and Fifi being simple-minded and Gerald and Sid appear as Gerard and Kid, with Gerard being the whiny one and Kid being cool. In the end, {{spoiler|it turns out that it was [[All Just a Dream]].}}

* ''[[Sonic Underground]]'' had the hedgehogs enter one where they were the tyrants and Robotnik was a Freedom Fighter. It ended with them [[Heel Face Turn|redeeming]] their evil counterparts. Strangely, there was no mirror version of Queen Aleena.

 

{{reflist}}