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Even Evil Has Standards/Comic Books: Difference between revisions
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* The Hutts in [[Star Wars Legacy]] undergo this after Vul Isen callously slaughters refugees fleeing the genocide of Dac (which incidentally, he carried out). The Hutts might be corrupt, but killing innocent refugees is apparently the line they cannot tolerate. (If nothing else, that means less prospective slaves or customers for illicit or smuggled goods.) Of course, given that the nephew of a high ranking Hutt died for sheltering them, revenge is partially responsible.
* This trope explains it all, and made life difficult for the [[Marvel Universe]] ''Nazi'' villain [[Red Skull]], as the other villains he has teamed with, notably [[Magneto]], have ultimately attempted to kill him. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Magneto even left him]] [[Buried Alive]]. Given that Magneto is Jewish (or possibly Roma, depending on which sources you believe) and a Holocaust survivor (in all sources), though, this isn't entirely unexpected...
** Pictured in the main page: In a [[Batman]] / [[Captain America (comics)]] crossover book, [[The Joker]] abruptly ends a partnership with Red Skull when his affiliation comes out. Red Skull simply wonders why he is so surprised when he thinks that the Joker would make a great Nazi. The Joker is not too happy at this, proclaiming "I may be a criminal lunatic, but I'm an ''American'' criminal lunatic!" Yes, folks, even an equal-opportunity murderer like ''the Joker'' despises the Nazis! It makes even more sense when you realize that [[Fridge Brilliance|the Nazis systematically killed anyone with any mental illness]], and the Joker is a self-proclaimed "agent of chaos". He's very random in his killing, does anything he can to get a laugh, and is just generally insane. The Nazis are complete opposites. They're a dead serious organization which sticks their noses down on those with mental illnesses and who have a very systematic and bureaucratic method of killing, not to mention no sense of humor. They represent everything the Joker is against, so this becomes [[Hilarious in Hindsight|twice]] as funny after you've read a short story in one of the Batman prose collections, where the Joker falls in love/lust/''something'' with a female Nazi, and to get on her good side, eagerly helps the Reich with its war plans. {{spoiler|Though it turns out to be all [[All Just a Dream]], brought on during one of his shock therapy treatments at Arkham Asylum.}}
*** Still, [[The Joker]] is the incarnation of [[Depending on the Writer]], and that was one of the tamer versions. [[Batman: The Animated Series|Some]] [[Batman: Arkham Asylum|other]] [[All Star Batman and Robin|versions]] probably wouldn't have given a damn, if they'd even partner with anyone else at all.
*** Also, [[The Joker]] does go ''mano a mano'' with the Red Skull, though "it ends in a draw": {{spoiler|In their fight inside a bomber, the releases on the nuke they are fighting on are released. This causes the bomber's doors to open and dump Skull, Joker and the nuke over the ocean...where the next two pages show a mushroom cloud.}} Keep in mind, though, they're using the "Golden Age" Joker, where he ''would'' have these scruples in World War II.
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**** Even Red Skull has his limits. Most notably, when he discovered what Viper did, he booted her off.
***** [[Fridge Horror|Wait a minute]]...there's something that Red Skull, aka the [[Dystopia Justifies the Means|tyranny-dreaming]] Super-Nazi who [[Beyond the Impossible|makes Hitler look good]] [[Divide by Zero|is morally repugnant to him?]] [[Nightmare Fuel|WHAT DID VIPER DO?!]]
** Red Skull is such a [[Complete Monster]] that fellow Nazi Baron Heinric Zemo hated him. Oddly, his son Helmut Zemo had no problem working with Skull.
** The Original Baron Zemo didn't hate the Skull because he was evil. He hated the Skull because he was a rival for power.
* This became a subplot in [[Final Crisis]] with [[Lex Luthor]] and [[Shazam|Dr. Sivana]]. Originally in league with Libra, both quickly started covertly planning against Libra when they realized the true extent of Darkseid and Libra's plans. Lex decided he rather liked life (as opposed to anti-life) and Sivana said watching his own daughter submit to the Anti-Life Equation was the last straw. Libra's statement that leading the rearguard would grant Lex first line in what was implied to be a rape train on Supergirl probably helped to push Lex to find his moral fortitude as well.
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** And God help you if you harm his beloved space dolphins.
* In the last chapter of the [[The Monster Society of Evil|TheMonsterSocietyOfEvil]] as Mister Mind is being tried, his lawyer, who he knows to be a slick [[Amoral Attorney]], hears of Mister Mind's crimes and tells Mister Mind he hopes he gets the electric chair.
* ''[[Arkham Asylum: Living Hell]]'' has the Joker talking down to a scam-artist corporate executive who got himself judged "Not guilty [[Insanity Defense|by reason of insanity]]." Granted, he's usually crazily giggling and "playing" with cultural values, and bashing executives sounds right up his alley... except he and the plot are ''completely serious about this.'' As far as can be told, the issue here is that Warren White is just an ''asshole''. More specifically he says "I've killed people, but I didn't steal their kid's college funds."
** Hilariously, the Joker isn't the only one who does this in the story. ''Everyone'' the scam artist meets in Arkham calls him the "worst man I've ever met". The asylum director, Humpty Dumpty, the Joker, and even {{spoiler|''demons from hell''}}. And Humpty is Warren's ''friend''.
** Oddly enough, White doesn't suffer from this after {{spoiler|he truly goes insane and ends up looking like a sharkman after an encounter with Mr. Freeze.}} The other villains love him and are happy to take advantage of the services he offers {{spoiler|unaware, of course, that he made a [[Deal with the Devil]] that will let him torture them in Hell after they all eventually die.}}
* [[Batman]] villain [[Pyromaniac|Firefly]], a professional arsonist, was working side-by-side with [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain|Killer Moth]] for a short while before Moth realized just how [[Psycho for Hire|batshit crazy]] Firefly was (one of the things mentioned was his supposedly seeing visions in the flames, for starters) and cut things short because he genuinely feared for his life. He's probably one of a very few members of Batman's rogues gallery besides [[The Joker|Mister J]] who scares the living fuck out of his fellow villains.
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** It's one reason the Rogues keep to themselves. When Libra was recruiting other supervillains to join his team, the Rogues turned him down. They just steal stuff--mass murdering of superheroes and civilians isn't their game. (Though this may have to do with [[Pragmatic Villainy]].)
** In ''[[Blackest Night]]'', when the Rogues discover that {{spoiler|Captain Boomerang Jr. has been [[Moral Event Horizon|"feeding" people to his Black Lantern dad--including, apparently, women and children--in a desperate attempt to restore him to life]], the Rogues kill him ([[Karmic Death|by tossing him to the tender mercies of his own father]]) after Captain Cold directly declares "The Rogues don't kill women or children."}}
** In one [[Silver Age]] story the Trickster breaks into a hobby store and weaponizes three of the toys in stock to use in robberies, but goes to the trouble of going in the next day and buying them (instead of just walking off with them while he was there) because he's "not a mean man." Subverted in the same story, combined with [[Hypocritical Humor]], when he comments that, [[Running Gag|not being a mean man]], he wouldn't normally endanger civilians -- but it's worth it to distract the Flash, who will save them all anyway.
** In another [[Silver Age]] story, Captain Cold is offended that Heat Wave served his sentence and was released on parole instead of breaking out -- "If there's one thing I hate more than a straight man, it's a crook that pretends to go straight!" To take revenge, he plans to [[Disproportionate Retribution|trick him into killing]] [[Secret Identity|Barry Allen]], because Heat Wave will be demoralized and easy to capture once he [[My God, What Have I Done?|realizes he murdered an innocent]].
* Set up to be [[Lampshaded]], when Luthor decides on members for his new Injustice Gang. Cheetah objects to recruiting Doctor Light because he was a rapist, but Luthor dismisses this reasoning, stating that "if we want to limit our membership to people of good ''character''...". Later, Cheetah has Dr. Light at her mercy, and evokes this trope... sorta:
{{quote|'''Cheetah''': Did you think I would work with a ''rapist'' without there being consequences?!?
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'''Antman''': I can't believe this! Maelstrom-- going paternal on us!? }}
* Parodied in ''[[Runaways]]'' with Chase's mom, who reacts with horror at the suggestion that she get an abortion, saying it would make her a monster... while standing in front of the human sacrifice she is about to make in order to bring about the end of the world.
* In an issue of [[Marvel Adventures]] Spider-Man, the Grey Gargoyle is commissioned by a wealthy client to steal the Venus De Milo, once he returns with the stolen statue, the client has one more job for him; to petrify a kidnapped super model so he can chop off her arms and put them on the statue. The Gargoyle responds by apologizing to the young lady for what she's been put through then petrifying his former client before he leaves.
* In ''[[Garfield His 9 Lives]]'' the Incredibly Huge Galactic War Fleet claims to have no hearts. However, they do "appreciate a tidy ship," and so give Garfield two extra minutes to get his spaceship cleaned up before they atomize him.
* Dr. Doom once hired Typhoid Mary to steal the [[Power Pack|Power Pack's]] alien technology, but called it off when she decided the best way to do it was by assassinating their father. After the way he tragically lost his parents, he couldn't stand the thought of the Pack being orphaned the way he was. [[Fridge Logic|Which makes it odd that he's willing to do it to Franklin and Valeria.]] But then, ''that's'' [[Berserk Button|RICHAAAARRRRRDSSSSS]]!
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* In an issue of ''[[Spider-Man]]'', Jason Macendale (aka the Hobgoblin) tries to sell his soul to the demonic N'Astirh in exchange for increased power. N'Astith responds by laughing in Macendale's face, telling him that his soul is so warped and disgusting that not even a demon would want to buy it.
* In ''[[Darkwing Duck (comics)|Darkwing Duck]]'', Steelbeak isn't pulling a [[Heel Face Turn]], but unleashing Duckthulu? Even he has his limits. {{spoiler|Only not really}}.
* In the [[Wolverine]] story ''The Adamantium Men'', Wolverine and his rival combatant ( {{spoiler|part of a twelve-man mercenary team, employed by Blackguard and made to emulate Wolverine with laser claws and nanite healing factors}}) are busy fighting in the streets of San Francisco. The two have by this point fought all the way to street level and are about to deliver what might be the deathblow, when they see a schoolbus full of young children. To spare them from harm (and the trauma of their very violent combat) they retract their claws and let the bus pass, then choose to move in case another one passes. To clarify, the rival was dishonourably discharged for unknown reasons.
** It gets a bit confusing when you remember that at the very start of the issue {{spoiler|the team}} were shown killing three children. Admittedly the rival may not have actually been there.
* In ''[[Grant Morrisons Batman|Batman Incorporated]]'', one member of the blue-collar crime gang Joe Average and the Average Joes gets very annoyed when it's suggested they have a conection to the similar French group Les Stereotypes, who run a child-slavery ring.
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