History Characters / DanVsMainCharacters

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Even though Dan typically treats Chris poorly, he has been shown to care about him, even if he won't readily admit it. This was best shown in "The Boss". There, Dan finds a successful career as a temp, calling the company's debtors and late-fee holders and persuading them to pay their debts. Dan is forced to fire Chris, and when he learns his boss was really a demon, he had no problem with this; he's even happy to be going into big time evil. However, when his boss wants him to kill Chris, he turns on her to protect him without any second thoughts, showing that Dan truly does care for Chris in the end.

** Dan often insults and belittles Elise, but there are signs that he cares about her more than he lets on. They can and do work together when the situation calls for it, such as in "The DMV"; Dan even apologizes for having been rude earlier and thanks Elise for helping him and Chris escape the labyrinth, to which she congratulates him on good teamwork and they high-five. The two of them occasionally get along very well, seen best in "George Washington," when Dan crawls into Chris and Elise's tent because he can't sleep; when he expresses anxiety that his last plan didn't work and how it's keeping him awake, she's downright motherly with how she invites him inside, assures him that he'll get revenge, and when he curls up beside her and asks her to tell him a story, she happily obliges. At the end of that same episode on the drive home, they park the car and stargaze together while Chris is in the grips of prairie madness. More than once, he even refers to her as his friend.

** Dan often insults and belittles Elise, but there are signs that he cares about her more than he lets on. They can and do work together when the situation calls for it, and the two of them occasionally get along very well, seen best in the "George Washington" episode when Dan crawls into Chris and Elise's tent because he can't sleep; when he expresses anxiety that his last plan didn't work and how it's keeping him awake, she's downright motherly with how she invites him inside, assures him that he'll get revenge, and when he curls up beside her and asks her to tell him a story, she happily obliges. At the end of that same episode on the drive home, they park the car and stargaze together while Chris is in the grips of prairie madness. More than once, he even refers to her as his friend.

* PoisonousFriend: To Chris.

* [[WellDoneSonGuy "Well Done, Daughter" Gal]]: She tells Dan that growing up, she could never please her parents no matter how hard she tried, even when she received straight A's, full college scholarships, and became captain of every possible sports team. She implies that this pathological and unmet desire to be the best is what drove her to become a top secret agent before quickly backtracking when Dan questions it. Judging by her need to make everything in the house absolutely perfect whenever her parents visit is any indication, she hasn't grown out of it.

* [[WellDoneSonGuy "Well Done, Daughter" Gal]]: Claims that she was like this as a teenager, but has since grown out of it. If her obsession with making everything perfect whenever her parents visit is any indication, she really hasn't.

** Dan often insults and belittles Elise, but there are signs that he cares about her more than he lets on. They can and do work together when the situation calls for it, and the two of them occasionally get along very well, seen best in the "George Washington" episode when Dan crawls into Chris and Elise's tent because he can't sleep; when he expresses anxiety that his last plan didn't work and how it's keeping him awake, she's downright motherly with how she invites him inside, assures him that he'll get revenge, and when he curls up beside her and asks her to tell him a story, she happily obliges. At the end of that same episode on the drive home, they park the car and stargaze together while Chris is in the grips of prairie madness. More than once, he even refers to her as his friend.

-->'''Dan, dragging an unconscious Chris into an ambulance:''' Ugh, if this doesn't work, I'm leaving you.

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Even though Dan typically treats Chris poorly, he has been shown to care about him and has helped him out a few times, if seemingly grudgingly. This was best shown in "The Boss". There, Dan finds a successful career as a temp, calling the company's debtors and late-fee holders and persuading them to pay their debts. Dan is forced to fire Chris, and when he learns his boss was really a demon, he had no problem with this; he's even happy to be going into big time evil. However, when his boss wants him to kill Chris, he turns on her to protect him without any second thoughts, showing that Dan truly does care for Chris in the end.

* AmbiguousDisorder[[invoked]]: Dan isn't specified to have a certain condition, but it's abundantly clear he's not in the best shape psychologically. His HairTriggerTemper can provoke ''months'' of carefully calculated revenge, [[ToxicFriendInfluence his relationship with Chris is severely toxic and codependent,]] and Dan's case of BlueAndOrangeMorality implies he's operating on a moral level that other people have difficulty following (and even Dan himself can contradict). He's intensely paranoid and distrustful of others (though this is sometimes justified) and [[NeverMyFault rarely can admit to his faults without his arm being twisted.]] Then there's his propensity for violence, [[{{Pyromaniac}} love of fire,]] and [[PsychopathicManchild general incompetence in caring for himself]][[note]]he's unemployed, barely pays the bills, depends on Chris and Elise to bail him out, his hygiene is poor, and his apartment is a mess[[/note]]. It doesn't help it's all but outright stated that [[HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood his parents were abusive and his explanation of his childhood made his psychologist scream in horror.]] Therefore, you wouldn't be crazy for assuming Dan had some kind of unchecked personality disorder.

* AmbiguouslyBi[[invoked]]: ...or maybe just plain confused; one episode had him actually bring up [[GirlsHaveCooties "cooties"]] unironically, and this was ''after'' an entire episode where he had a girlfriend.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Dan isn't specified to have a certain condition, but it's abundantly clear he's not in the best shape psychologically. His HairTriggerTemper can provoke ''months'' of carefully calculated revenge, [[ToxicFriendInfluence his relationship with Chris is severely toxic and codependent,]] and Dan's case of BlueAndOrangeMorality implies he's operating on a moral level that other people have difficulty following (and even Dan himself can contradict). He's intensely paranoid and distrustful of others (though this is sometimes justified) and [[NeverMyFault rarely can admit to his faults without his arm being twisted.]] Then there's his propensity for violence, [[{{Pyromaniac}} love of fire,]] and [[PsychopathicManchild general incompetence in caring for himself]][[note]]he's unemployed, barely pays the bills, depends on Chris and Elise to bail him out, his hygiene is poor, and his apartment is a mess[[/note]]. It doesn't help it's all but outright stated that [[HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood his parents were abusive and his explanation of his childhood made his psychologist scream in horror.]] Therefore, you wouldn't be crazy for assuming Dan had some kind of unchecked personality disorder.

* HeroicComedicSociopath: It's quite amusing to see an angry jerk like him to get revenge at even the slightest thing that bothers him.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: The "Jerk" part is written on his shirt, but sometimes Dan will even help victims of villains, and he has genuine PetTheDog moments with his kitten. He has a soft spot for animals too.

* AmbiguouslyBi: ...or maybe just plain confused; one episode had him actually bring up [[GirlsHaveCooties "cooties"]] unironically, and this was ''after'' an entire episode where he had a girlfriend.

* DependingOnTheWriter: How sympathetic he's portrayed depends on the episode and what he usually does. There are moments where the audience do want to see him prevail against whoever he felt wronged him. On the other hand, there are also moments in which it's nice to see him get a little comeuppance once in a while when he ''really'' crosses it (such as in "The Monster Under the Bed"). He also seems to shift between being the JerkassWoobie and VillainProtagonist depending on the episode.

* HeroicComedicSociopath: As far as [[AntiHero hero]] goes.

* VillainProtagonist: [[DependingOnTheWriter Depends on how sympathetically he is portrayed]].

* ActionGirlfriend: Which is ''why'' Dan doesn't add her to his revenge list. He's too scared of her.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Dan is not specified to have a certain condition, but it is abundantly clear that he is not in the best shape psychologically. He has a HairTriggerTemper that can provoke ''months'' of carefully calculated revenge, [[ToxicFriendInfluence his relationship with Chris is severely toxic and codependent,]] and Dan's case of BlueAndOrangeMorality implies that he's operating on a moral level that other people have difficulty following (and even Dan himself can contradict). He is intensely paranoid and distrustful of others(though this is sometimes justified) and [[NeverMyFault is rarely able to admit to his faults without his arm being twisted.]] That's not even mentioning his propensity for violence, [[{{Pyromaniac}} love of fire,]] and [[PsychopathicManchild his general incompetence in caring for himself]] (his hygiene is poor, he barely pays the bills, is unemployed, his apartment is a mess, and he depends on Chris and Elise to bail him out). It doesn't help that its all but outright stated that [[HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood his parents were abusive and and his explanation of his childhood made his psychologist scream in horror.]] All of this combined, you wouldn't be crazy for assuming Dan had some kind of unchecked personality disorder.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Dan is not specified to have a certain condition, but it is abundantly clear that he is not doing the best psychologically. He has a HairTriggerTemper that can provoke ''months'' of carefully calculated revenge, [[ToxicFriendInfluence his relationship with Chris is severely toxic and codependent,]] and Dan's case of BlueAndOrangeMorality implies that he's operating on a moral level that other people have difficulty following (and even Dan himself can contradict). He is intensely paranoid and distrustful of others(though this is sometimes justified) and [[NeverMyFault is rarely able to admit to his faults without his arm being twisted.]] That's not even mentioning his propensity for violence, [[{{Pyromaniac}} love of fire,]] and [[PsychopathicManchild his general incompetence in caring for himself]] (his hygiene is poor, he barely pays the bills, is unemployed, his apartment is a mess, and he depends on Chris and Elise to bail him out). It doesn't help that its all but outright stated that [[HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood his parents were abusive and and his explanation of his childhood made his psychologist scream in horror.]] All of this combined, you wouldn't be crazy for assuming Dan had some kind of unchecked personality disorder.

** His revenge schemes aren't just about getting even butare often about legitimately doing something about a problem that is bothering him.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Dan's moral code functions in bizarre manner that is about as random as his overall intellect. This shows up in how and why he seeks revenge against others.

** His pursuit of revenge can go to utterly insane lengths but the actual revenge will not exceed what Dan feels is equal to the inciting incident.
** Some cases have it that it's not the action in itself sets him off [[ItsThePrincipleOfTheThing but the sentiment behind the action]]. His feud with the Burgerphile manager is a good example of this one.
** His revenge schemes aren't just about getting even but about legitimately doing something about a problem that is bothering him.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Hinted at.

%%* VitriolicBestBuds: With Chris.

%%* OmniDisciplinaryScientist

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Her hair is a very distinctive maroon.

%%Do not add {{Jerkass}} if at least one of its Sub-Tropes (namely JerkWithAHeartOfJerk and/or JerkWithAHeartOfGold) are already mentioned.

%%Do not add {{Jerkass}} if at least one of its Sub-Tropes (namely JerkWithAHeartOfJerk and JerkWithAHeartOfGold) are already mentioned.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: While "Jerk" part is written on his shirt, sometimes Dan will even help victims of villains, and he has genuine PetTheDog moments with his kitten. He has a soft spot for animals too.

'''Beware of spoilers!'''

The main [[VillainProtagonist protagonist]] of the series. Maltempered, Dan usually swears revenge against anything that bothers him one too many times. He lives in a small and dirty apartment and takes mediocre care of himself. Having few likes and even fewer people he likes, Dan is getting revenge one annoyance at a time.

* AntiRoleModel: A diminutive, angry, antisocial shut-in whose OnlyFriend barely tolerates him. He even wears a FunTShirt that reminds the viewers about [[{{Jerkass}} what kind of person he is]], like if it were a label. He was also designed after the worst qualities of one of the show's creators, being a strange example of an anti-AuthorAvatar.

* BigBad: He is the main conflict maker of his show. Downplayed, though since most of those who oppose him [[AssholeVictim aren't much]] [[BlackAndGrayMorality better]]. Unusual, considering that Dan's the main character.

** It's hinted that he became the revenge-obsessed {{Jerkass}} he is because his parents [[AbusiveParents didn't treat him very well]]. In "Anger Management", it's heavily implied; he goes through anger management class and gets the task to click on a button when he sees something on the slideshow screen that ticks him off. Pretty much everything does, but [[BerserkButton he goes absolutely berserk when a flowery screen with the word "Mother" on it comes up]].

* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: Dan is implied to have had one ''hell'' of a childhood. No surprise there, [[HairTriggerTemper given]] [[ComedicSociopathy what]] [[PoisonousFriend he's]] [[RevengeBeforeReason like]], and it's all PlayedForLaughs. Whatever happened was bad enough to send a psychiatrist running and screaming.

* {{Jerkass}}: It's written on his shirt.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Sometimes he'll even help victims of villains, and he has genuine PetTheDog moments with his kitten. Dan has a soft spot for animals too.

* PsychopathicManchild: He often wavers between this trope and the above ManChild trope due to [[{{Jerkass}} his behavior]].

** Well, that and we've all been wronged and indulged a revenged fantasy that we wished we could live out. Dan is that urge personified.

* VitriolicBestBuds: With Chris.

* {{Catchphrase}}:

* GoodIsNotNice: Downplayed. He can come across as being a vindictive jerk, but he truly is a good person when he's not actively trying to cross the MoralEventHorizon.

* DependingOnTheWriter: How she feels about Dan can differ from episode to episode. Sometimes [[NotSoDifferent she gets along with him]], sometimes [[FriendVersusLover she hates him]].

* NotSoDifferent: She can be just as vengeful and underhanded as Dan in the SociopathicHero department, but due to possessing more resources and skills she can be even more radical and effective with her vengeance attempts.
** In "Jury Duty", they both take part in the opening scream after both get served a jury summons.
*** As with ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'', Chris' beloved wife shares many qualities with his best friend.

* BrainyBrunette: While she's certainly smart, Elise also has some traits of FieryRedhead mixed in.

* DatingWhatDaddyHates: Elise's dad despises Chris.

Dan's pet cat, who he received in the episode ''Dan Vs. The Animal Shelter''and becomes a fourth main character. She seems to understand Dan quite well.