History DarkAndTroubledPast / Film

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIIArielsBeginning'' reveals how King Triton's beloved wife Queen Athena was accidentally struck to her death by the ship's hull, which led to him banning music from Atlantica and the merpeople from going up to the surface in grief. After the incident, King Triton became over-protective of his daughters -- especially Ariel -- and displays his racism towards humans for his wife's death.

* ''Film/TheVillage'': All of the older adults had lost close loved ones (spouses, siblings) to murder, and shun "the towns" as a result where this happened. [[spoiler: It's revealed this was the reason for them moving back to a 19th-century style lifestyle. All of them had met in a support group for crime victims, with one who'd been a 19th-century history professor proposing this, which they went along with.]]

** Pretty much ALL of the Guardians of the Galaxy have had it rough, though special mention must go to Rocket [[spoiler: who was an experiment on an alien planet who was constantly torn apart and rebuilt over and over again and kept in miserable conditions for most of his existence. He spent most of his life alone until he broke out and met Groot. "[[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol3 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3]]" expands on this, showing he was experimented on by the [[BigBad High Evolutionary]] and his goons, [[KickTheDog even killing his best friends and the love of his life in front of him to break him even further.]]]]

** Pretty much ALL of the Guardians of the Galaxy have had it rough, though special mention must go to Rocket [[spoiler: who was an experiment on an alien planet who was constantly torn apart and rebuilt over and over again and kept in miserable conditions for most of his existence. He spent most of his life alone until he broke out and met Groot.]]

* In ''Film/FatalAttraction'' the {{Yandere}} antagonist Alex Forrest clearly has had a severely troubled past, which while not justifying her actions does shed light on her horribly obsessive behaviour towards Dan. Firstly she reveals after Dan pulls a “pretending to be dead” prank that her father died of a heart attack when she was a 7 years old, while she immediately laughs it off as a joke and claims he’s still alive — Dan searches her apartment later he finds a newspaper article that does confirm her father did die of a heart attack. This explains her abandonment issues and why she latches onto Dan so strongly as well as her PetTheDog scenes with Dan’s daughter Ellen. She also reveals her previous relationship was troubled and ended with a miscarriage, which are more reasons for her SanitySlippage and desire to have a baby, on top of her childhood trauma. It was also proposed by the psychiatrists Creator/GlennClose consulted for the script, that Alex shows signs of having been possibly sexually abused in her youth, given her unhinged actions are intrinsically linked to her having sex with Dan.

* Given that the main characters in ''Film/TheWayBack'' are seven [[TheGulag gulag]] escapees and an orphan, this is something of a given. None of the men will tell each other their stories, but they all tell the girl, who, in turn, passes them on to the others. When she asks why they don't talk to one another, she's told that, in the gulag, the less you say, the better off you are.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'', Doc Hudson used to be a race car until 1954 when he crashed violently during a race. After getting repaired, he was replaced with the next rookie in line and never raced again.

* ''WesternAnimation/BarbieInAChristmasCarol'': Eden used to love Christmas, until her Aunt Marie's toxic advice took root.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanUnderTheRedHood'': As with its source material, Jason Todd was a street orphan who Batman caught stealing tires of the Batmobile, leading the Dark Knight to adopt him as his ward and make him the next Robin. However, his cheerful and eager personality gave way to a more cynical outlook on crime, believing criminals didn't deserve a second chance. He was then pushed over the edge thanks to his murder at the Joker's hands and his resurrection by [[spoiler:Ra's Al Ghul]], at which point he begins targeting the criminal underworld upon his return to Gotham, lacking any sort of restraint that his mentor had taught him.

* ''WesternAnimation/EightCrazyNights'': The reason why Davey is such a jerk to everyone is caused by [[spoiler: his parents killed in a car accident.]]

** Anna is a naturally extroverted person who is forced to be isolated from others for the majority of her childhood. To make matters worse, she doesn't know why it happened, and from her perspective, her older sister suddenly cut off their friendship and then ignored her for no apparent reason. Her parents are implied to focus on her sister, and then they die when she is fifteen, and again she has no emotional support. Her sister still shows no interest in talking to her or even attending their parents' funeral.[[note]]Unbeknownst to Anna, this is because of Elsa's PowerIncontinence, but Elsa keeps this a secret, so Anna doesn't know why her sister seems so uninterested in her.[[/note]] It's obviously left some scars on her, and is a big reason why she agrees to a quick engagement, because she's starved for affection and isn't familiar with what a healthy loving relationship looks like.

** Tigress. She was left by her parents in an orphanage, called a monster by [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer the people around her]] and was not shown any signs of parental love by her foster father, Shifu.
** Shifu himself; [[ParentalAbandonment abandoned by his lying and scheming father]] and left on the doorstep of the Jade Palace, he eventually became one of Oogway's greatest and most dedicated students. Forming the original Five with his fellow pupils, he was forced to leave it all behind when Fenghuang turned to the dark side and Oogway's hand was forced to bring her down. His adopted son, Tai Lung, also soon turned [[UsedToBeASweetKid from a sweet and affectionate cub]] into a proud, arrogant and violent individual [[ItsAllMyFault (in part due to Shifu's parenting - which he knows)]] and his son broke his leg trying to get the Dragon Scroll, forcing him to leave his son in Chorh-Gom Prison, stripping him of his joy for a long time.
** [[TragicVillain Lord Shen]] definitely had one of these. Neglected by his parents due to his weak, sickly physique and albinism, he began displaying signs of mental illness and sadism when he discovered the destructive side of fireworks. When he heard of the prophecy of a "warrior of black and white" destined to bring his end, he became desperate to avoid this fate, leading to his [[MoralEventHorizon genocide against the Pandas.]] He was then banished by his parents for his actions, which he saw as a final sign they never loved him and became obsessed with conquering China to make something of himself.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Trolls}}'', the reason why Branch lost his colors, refuses to sing, is a bit of a grump, and is massively (but rightfully) paranoid of the Bergens attacking is because [[spoiler:when he was a kid, his singing attracted a Bergen, and Branch's grandmother got eaten when she tried to save him]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', Ming was raised to be ThePerfectionist and due to a focus on maintaining FamilyHonor over all else she had a FriendlessBackground. Ming's stressful childhood and her suppression of the resulting emotions is the reason why she is so much of a ControlFreak.

* In ''Film/DeathGrip'', Kenny and Mark lost their mother in a house fire. They both have unresolved guilt over it. The fire was started when Kenny was playing flammable material outside and the mother died because Mark locked the door behind him due to a compulsion, trapping his mother in the burning house.

* ''Film/Devotion2022'': It's 1950, so the fact that Jesse is black presents him significant problems. He repeats all the insults he's ever received to himself in front of the mirror as a SurvivalMantra, and once recalls being made to take his swimming test at the Academy ten times, with the instructors deliberately sabotaging him on later attempts to keep him from passing.
* ''Film/FastColor'': Ruth ran away from home due to her uncontrolled abilities, was hooked on drugs and then got pregnant (without knowing who the father is). Then she came home with her daughter Lila, but left when her powers endangered the baby, becoming a wanderer for years before finally returning.
* In ''Film/FatalAttraction'' the {{Yandere}} antagonist Alex Forrest clearly has had a severely troubled past, which while not justifying her actions does shed light on her horribly obsessive behaviour towards Dan. Firstly she reveals after Dan pulls a “pretending to be dead” prank that her father died of a heart attack when she was a 7 years old, while she immediately laughs it off as a joke and claims he’s still alive — Dan searches her apartment later he finds a newspaper article that does confirm her father did die of a heart attack. This explains her abandonment issues and why she latches onto Dan so strongly as well as her PetTheDog scenes with Dan’s daughter Ellen. She also reveals her previous relationship was troubled and ended with a miscarriage, which are more reasons for her SanitySlippage and desire to have a baby, on top of her childhood trauma. It was also preposed by the psychiatrists Creator/GlennClose consulted for the script, that Alex shows signs of having been possibly sexually abused in her youth, given her unhinged actions are intrinsically linked to her having sex with Dan.
* The main character of ''Film/{{Hoosiers}}'', Norman Dale, moves to the small town of Hickory, Indiana to take one last shot at redemption as a basketball coach after [[spoiler:ruining his coaching career many years earlier when he lost his temper and punched one of his own players]].
* In ''Film/HorseGirl'', Sarah seems quiet and content at first, but she has a number of dark details in her past life, many of which are only alluded to. It's implied that her mother suffered from a mysterious ailment, and that there was some accident involving her horse Willow that led to Sarah no longer owning Willow. [[spoiler: Eventually it's revealed that Sarah's mother committed suicide only a year ago.]]
* In ''Film/TheHungerGames'' Katniss' father died when she was 11 in an accident that she suspects the [[PresidentEvil government]] to have orchestrated. Without the father's income, the family starved and Katniss nearly died, which is why she is so survival-focused.

* ''Film/JohnnyGuitar'''s main characters Vienna and Johnny "Guitar" Logan have dark pasts dealing with their former lives as a prostitue and a ruthless gunslinger.
* O-Ren Ishii from ''Film/KillBill'' lost both of her parents to vicious {{Yakuza}} gangsters at the age of seven and then getting her revenge just four years later.

* In ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'', Eggsy's father died in action, and his mother remarried a {{jerkass}} {{domestic abuse}}r who liked to beat the crap out of Eggsy and his mom. At some point, Eggsy resorted to drugs and petty crimes. By extension his half-sister Daisy has this too, despite not even being old enough to speak yet: her own father is the domestic abuser and [[spoiler:her own mother nearly killed her during the Valentine's Day Massacre.]]

* In ''Film/TheLazarusEffect'' Zoe survived a fire that killed many people in her apartment complex. She's had recurring nightmares of it for years. [[spoiler:Turns out she set it.]]
* ''Film/ListenToYourHeart'': Ariana's father died from meningitis, which she caught and became deaf as a result. The loss quite clearly weighs on her still. Danny's mother died of cancer, and he was there at her death, which clearly caused a severe trauma [[spoiler:since he kills himself rather than have anyone else witness him dying later]].

** To be even more specific, in [[VideoGame/MaxPayne the game]] the movie is based upon, his family when her family got killed by V-head junkies [[spoiler:as part of an attempt to silence Max's wife for [[HeKnowsTooMuch knowing too much]] about Project Valhalla]]. Tragically, [[spoiler:Max's wife didn't have a clue what the memo meant and wanted to talk to Max about it, but he didn't listen to her because he had to go to work for the day]].

** Gamora was only a child when her home planet was attacked by Thanos the Mad Titan, who killed her parents and half of her people in front of her. She became the favorite adopted daughter of [[AbusiveParents Thanos,]] but she was forced to fight her adopted sister Nebula and was an assassin for him on a number of dangerous missions, witnessing countless deaths and travesties. [[HeelFaceTurn She soon came to regret her actions]] but was still labelled a monster by those who suffered at Thanos' hands.
** Nebula was often the loser in her fights with Gamora, so Thanos had her torn apart and made into a cyborg. She constantly strove to make him proud, but ultimately knew she would never be Gamora in his eyes.

** Erik Stevens [[spoiler: aka Killmonger, son of Prince N'Jobu, grew up in a rough neighborhood in Oakland when his father was killed by his uncle, King T'Chaka and left him to fend for himself. He eventually became a skilled Navy SEAL, but never forgot the oppression he suffered at the hands of racists and the people of Wakanda for abandoning him.]]

** Natasha Romanoff [[spoiler: was raised by "parents" who were secretly part of the KGB. One day after a close call with the U.S. Army, [[ArchEnemy General Dreykov]] had her father imprisoned and she and her sister Yelena were taken to the Red Room, where they were permanently steralized and [[TrainingFromHell brutally trained]] to be soulless killers. Worse still it is inferred Dreykov abused her both physically and sexually]]
** The Winter Soldier [[spoiler: aka Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers' best friend, was thrown off a train to his death in WWII during a mission with Steve. He survived, but was taken in by HYDRA, who subjected him to copious torture, experimentation and brainwashing in order to create the perfect assassin. He then spent decades BrainwashedAndCrazy, killing many people (some completely innocent) and forced to forget his life as a regular American.]]
** While not as terribly traumatic as the previous examples, Tony Stark aka Iron Man had a pretty damn miserable childhood which gives insight into why he’s often such a {{Jerkass}} as an adult. We see from old tapes that Howard was a cold and domineering father to his son who shipped Tony off to boarding school at earliest opportunity. Things got worse for Tony as teenager when his parents were killed in a car accident [[spoiler:aka killed by a brainwashed Bucky]] as while acting like he was unbothered by their deaths on the surface, Tony was utterly devastated at losing his mother and father and explicitly regrets the last conversation he had with them. Even using hologram technology to relive the moment and tell them he loves them.
** Similarly Dr. Stephen Strange had a traumatic childhood with it being revealed like in the comics, he watched his little sister drown. This great loss at an early age massively contributed to him becoming a DrJerk who keeps others at arms distance as an adult.
* ''Film/MissMeadows'': It's revealed that Miss Meadows became a vigilante because [[spoiler:her mother]] was killed in a drive-by shooting as they were attending a friend's wedding.
* ''Film/MissSloane'': Esme survived a [[AxesAtSchool mass shooting in high school]] hiding in the janitor's closet. As a result, she's become a gun control supporter who works at the Brady Campaign, but doesn't reveal this since people say her advocacy has been emotionally motivated. Sloane later reveals this publicly without asking, driving Esme to tears and outraging her, though she goes with it anyway afterward becoming the face of their support for a bill that would mandate guns have universal background checks.

* ''Film/NotOkay'': Rowan survived a school shooting in which her sister was murdered. She still has panic attacks where she's triggered by things which remind her of it. Her mom also survived the shooting, since at the time she worked in the front office there.

* In the 2014 film ''Reasonable Doubt'', main character District Attorney Mitch Brockden has concealed his ties to small-time criminal Jimmy Logan as the two are "unofficial" step-brothers; Logan's father and Brockden's mother were involved but never officially married. After Logan broke into a factory where Brockden was working to pay his way through law school, Brockden denied their relationship to avoid the impression that he was an accessory to the crime, which worked as there was no official legal ties between them.
* ''Film/RogueOne'': When the Empire tracked down her father Jyn had to flee as her mother was killed and her father taken and hide in a dark pit waiting for Saw. Saw then raised her as a ChildSoldier before abandoning her. By the time Cassian and the others break her out of Imperial custody she wants nothing to do with the rebellion and just wants to live unnoticed and unidentified by the Empire, preferring her imprisonment to her rescue.

* ''Film/TheTerminal'': Gupta explains to Victor why he is so obsessed with keeping his janitor job: he was a poor tobacco dealer in India who was shaken down by a [[DirtyCop corrupt police officer]]. Eventually, Gupta stabbed the bastard in the chest after several days of extortion, and fled India with his family to not be charged with assault. By working as a janitor, [[BeneathSuspicion he can remain off of anybody's radar]]. [[spoiler: Dixon threatens to have Gupta deported if Viktor doesn't leave]].
* ''Film/TheTrumanShow'': As revealed by his actor Creator/EdHarris, the BigBad Christof had an explicitly “unhappy childhood”. This ties into his weird father-son relationship with Truman, as Christof despite his amoral manipulative and exploitive entrapment, still does genuinely love Truman and explicitly wants him to have a happy idyllic life, which Christof himself didn’t get.

* ''Film/TheVillage'': All of the older adults had lost close loved ones (spouses, siblings) to murder, and shun "the towns" as a result where this happened. [[spoiler:It's revealed this was the reason for them moving back to a 19th century style lifestyle. All of them had met in a support group for crime victims, with one who'd been a 19th century history professor proposing this, which they went along with.]]
* ''Film/TheVoices'': Jerry unsurprisingly had one. He had a mentally ill mother who had hallucinations, which Jerry shared. To stop this, his stepfather tried abusing it out of him. This of course didn't work, and only made him want an escape with them even more. His mother tried to kill herself rather than be committed to an institution, and Jerry ended it at her request. Because the police found him with a bloody knife in his hand, Jerry was locked up (his psychiatrist mentions that he's on parole later).

* In ''Film/YouShouldHaveLeft'', Theo's first wife killed herself via drowning in the bathtub. People suspected he'd killed her, but he was acquitted. [[spoiler:He later admits he could have saved her, but (after how badly his marriage had deteriorated) he stood back and watched it happen.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', Ming was raised to be ThePerfectionist and due to a focus on maintaining FamilyHonor over all else she had a FriendlessBackground.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', Ming's stressful childhood and her suppression of the resulting emotions is the reason why she is so much of a ControlFreak.