History EvenEvilHasStandards / ComicBooks

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' #57 (Feb. 2005): In "Presents Of Mine," Him persuades Buttercup to use her share of the girls' allowance (with which they planned on buying something for the Professor) into buying something for herself. But when the Gangreen Gang starts stealing toys from a charity bin, it cheeses Him off ("Even I wouldn't stoop to something ''that'' rotten!") and he helps the girls lay an unholy smackdown on the Gang. (And this is a villain that is supposed to be either the Devil himself or something very close. Go figure.)

* This is what drives the plot of ''ComicBook/TheRedTen''. Oxymoron is a twisted and murderous sociopath who would kill a child just for the hell of it...yet even he's appalled when he realized the supposedly heroic Alliance is packed with monsters with crimes that make him look like a minor crook. As he says, at least he acknowledges what kind of person he is rather than hiding it under the veneer of a hero.

* ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'': Jason Blossom is a full-blown jerkass, but even ''he'' has boundaries. When Jason's best friend Cedric sabotages Dilton (with [[ATapOnTheHead with an planned]] "[[ATapOnTheHead accident]]") to have Pembrooke Academy (his and Jason's school then) win a quiz show, but Big Moose manages to win on the sports questions. When Cedric complains loudly about a wasted effort it was to put Dilton out of commission to Jason backstage, Moose overhears about what really happened, and then proceeds to clobber Cedric for what he did to his "little buddy." Jason, understandably, congratulates the Riverdale team and leaves Cedric hurting.

* The ''G.I.Joe'' villain, Destro. He runs a weapon production empire that makes profit off war. He *starts* wars just to sell bombs to both sides. The Joes know they can work well with Destro, as the man keeps his word. In one instance, Destro rescued General Hawk because other generals were going to have Hawk killed to cover up a public relations debacle. Later, Detro let a Joe unit go free because they had eliminated a kill squad shooting at his beloved Baroness.

---> "You flaw. At least I'm under the delusion of doing something productive."

* In the original ''ComicBook/AliensVsPredator'' comic miniseries that kicked [[Franchise/AlienVsPredator the crossover off]], the clan leader kills one of the younger hunters when he sees a child's skull in the other's trophy bag. That is part of the Predators' code -- only those who can defend themselves, otherwise it's not sporting.

* ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'': Jason Blossom is a full-blown jerkass, but even he has boundaries. When Jason's best friend Cedric sabotages Dilton to have Pembrooke Academy (his and Jason's school then) win a quiz show, Moose manages to win on a sports question, and then clobbers Cedric when he found out what Cedric did to his "little buddy." Jason, understandably, congratulates the Riverdale team and leaves Cedric hurting.

* Darth Vader in ''ComicBook/DarkTimes'', due to his past as a slave on Tatooine, is uncomfortable with how the Empire is selling former sepparatists into slavery, even confronting emperor Palpatine about it. Palpatine gives a half-hearted apology and excuse about the greater good of the empire, which Vader accepts, but is clearly still unsettled.

** This behavior is justified for the "average" villains. There are what are called the "unwritten rules" about how a villain should treat captured superheroes (most notably, no killing or raping.) These rules are followed because any villain who breaks them is going to get the normally divided and unreliable super-hero community to band together and crush anyone who does. It's not standards on the part of the villains (Well, except for [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad Wet Blanket]]), but rather simple pragmatism. Villains who do break these rules [[SuperpowerLottery have the power to successfully fight off massive teams of superheroes singlehandedly.]] This leads to the bizarre dichotomy of villains either being [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBOoks Silver Age]] style, or something that is ComicBook/TheJoker at his worst. [[IncendiaryExponent Only made of fire.]]

* The Misfits in ''ComicBook/JemAndTheHolograms'' are {{Jerk Ass}}es but murderers they are not. They refuse to talk about or even acknowledge [[spoiler:Clash's]] attempted murder of their [[TheRival rival]] Jem.

* ''G.I.Joe'' villain, Destro. He runs a weapon production empire that makes profit off war. He *starts* wars just to sell bombs to both sides. The Joes know they can work well with Destro, as the man keeps his word. In one instance, Destro rescued General Hawk because other generals were going to have Hawk killed to cover up a public relations debacle. Later, Detro let a Joe unit go free because they had eliminated a kill squad shooting at his beloved Baroness.

* '''G.I.Joe'' villain, Destro. He runs a weapon production empire that makes profit off war. He *starts* wars just to sell bombs to both sides. The Joes know they can work well with Destro, as the man keeps his word. In one instance, Destro rescued General Hawk because other generals were going to have Hawk killed to cover up a public relations debacle. Later, Detro let a Joe unit go free because they had eliminated a kill squad shooting at his beloved Baroness.

* The Hutts in ''ComicBook/{{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/potential customers is apparently the line they cannot tolerate. Given that the nephew of a high ranking Hutt died for sheltering them, revenge is partially responsible.
* Subverted by ''ComicBook/JohnnyTheHomicidalManiac''. Johnny is a mass murderer who repeatedly kills scores of people for 'offenses' such as chewing in an annoying manner or using the word "wacky", and has a several floors deep TortureCellar. Upon learning that his own antics has inspired an AscendedFanboy serial killer who also turns out to be a rapist he becomes ''extremely'' disgusted, as it is [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil the one line Johnny himself will]] ''[[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil not]]'' [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil cross.]] However, Johnny states outright that this limitation gives him no absolution: He regularly does things to his victims just as bad as rape, and his aversion to rape isn't so much a standard [[ParalyzingFearOfSexuality as it is a natural result of his hatred of physical contact and giving in to bodily desires]].
** Johnny does have a standard that isn't used in that scene, however: [[WouldntHurtAChild He never harms children]] (intentionally). He also seems to be protective of his neighbor Squee, in his own warped way, especially when [[spoiler:he rips apart the pedophile who's taken Squee out behind the mall]].
---> "You flaw. At least I'm under the delusion of doing something productive."

* While not quite evil, [[AlphaBitch Sistah Spooky]] pushed aside her severe dislike of Comicbook/{{Empowered}} to warn her of an upcoming HumiliationConga. Even she didn't like seeing what had happened before happen again, even to Empowered.
** In what may or may not be an example of this or WhatYouAreInTheDark, Mindfuck claims that she is only a good person because she used her powers to completely rewrite her personality, and that she used to be a terrible person. She did this after being mutilated by her brother and deciding she wanted to be nothing like him. [[UnreliableNarrator It's uncertain whether she actually was as bad as she thought, or if it's just her self-doubt in the face of her fellow heroes for whom being good just comes naturally.]]
** This behavior is justified for the "average" villains. There are what are called the "unwritten rules" about how a villain should treat captured superheroes (most notably, no killing or raping.) These rules are followed because any villain who breaks them is going to get the normally divided and unreliable super-hero community to band together and crush anyone who does. It's not standards on the part of the villains (Well, except for [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad Wet Blanket]]), but rather simple pragmatism. Villains who do break these rules [[SuperpowerLottery have the power to successfully fight off massive teams of superheroes singlehandedly.]] This leads to the bizarre dichotomy of villains either being [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBOoks Silver Age]] style, or something that is ComicBook/TheJoker at his worst. [[IncendiaryExponent Only made of fire.]]
* In a ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'' ''ComicStrip/{{Nodwick}}'' strip parodying ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'''s "Slave Pits of the Undercity" module, evil slave lords Blackthorn and Markessa are shocked, appalled, and disgusted when Artax pretends to be a merchant seeking slaves to staff his chain of convenience stores.
-->'''Piffany:''' I told you: even '''they''' have standards!
* ComicBook/{{Saga}}: The Will, an unrepentant ProfessionalKiller, reacts to being offered the services of a child sex slave by rescuing her and killing her owner. One of the late sex trafficker's associates {{Lampshades}} it by wondering why a man whose business might involve ''killing'' children is showing such moral outrage.
* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' example: Phil, the Prince of Insufficient Light and former ruler of Heck, looks for a job.
-->'''Phil''': I would probably be good at any job involving sin.\\
'''Dogbert''': Marketing?\\
'''Phil''': I ''have'' a soul... it's just a small one.

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'':
** ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'':
*** If you're a Grandmaster of the [[BlackCloak Dark Legion]], expect to face off against this trope eventually; former OmnicidalManiac Dimitri has a ''lot'' of these, ever since his depowerment, most notably his balking at reviving his previous SuperpoweredEvilSide Enerjak, even though it would've restored him to health (even going so far as to warn his enemy Knuckles of Enerjak's return); and his usurper and current Grandmaster Lien-Da, who has no problems with performing {{Klingon Promotion}}s and {{Mind Control}}ling the Legion as a way of gaining status, or torturing a former ally to ''death'' with a smile on her face, turns on her ally Shadow in the ''Mobius: X Years Later'' storyline, after it's revealed he's going to destroy the world with an EldritchAbomination.
*** Upon his FaceHeelTurn, Geoffrey St. John admits in issue 235 that while he isn't always trustworthy, he does respect his adversaries. He even admits that what happened to Sally and Antoine isn't what he wanted and sympathizes with Sonic over what happened with Sally. He's horrified to learn in Universe 43 that Naugus plans MassHypnosis over the Acorn Council, an equivalent of roboticization. He believes that some lines need to be crossed to make things change, but Naugus' plan just goes too far.
*** In ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogMegaManWorldsCollide'', Dr. Wily is shown to be bothered when he finds out that the Roboticized Masters, which Dr. Eggman helped to create using an altered [[UnwillingRoboticisation roboticization]] process on Sonic's friends, have no real personality (which Eggman, having a history with [[AIIsACrapshoot betrayal by his more intelligent creations]], considers a feature rather than a bug). Wily's willing to let this slide for the sake of their partnership, though the final straw for him is [[spoiler:Eggman's attempt to kill Dr. Light; Wily had only ever wanted to best and humiliate Light, not kill him. The revelation that the [[CosmicRetcon Super Genesis Wave]] could potentially destroy both their worlds doesn't sit well with Wily either, while Eggman assures him that they could rebuild their worlds however they wanted, making any damage irrelevant]].
** In ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'', Robotnik's right hand man Grimer thinks Robotnik is going too far by trying to destroy Mobius. The second time Robotnik tries to destroy Mobius Grimer quits working for him.
* In ''ComicBook/GarfieldHis9Lives'' 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.
* In the original ''ComicBook/AliensVsPredator'' comic miniseries that kicked [[Franchise/AlienVsPredator the crossover off]], the clan leader kills one of the younger hunters when he sees a child's skull in the other's trophy bag. That is part of the Predators' code -- only those who can defend themselves, otherwise it's not sporting.
* In one issue of ''[[ComicBook/TheSimpsons Simpsons Comics]]'', Mr. Burns tricks Homer into starring in a deadly gameshow. While Homer struggles to get through a maze full of traps, Burns sits in a control room pondering what to throw at him. We're shown some very dangerous and downright cruel things... but he draws the line at making Homer listen to [[TakeThat James Cameron's infamous Oscar acceptance speech on a continuous loop]], as he's "still a human being".
* In ''ComicBook/DarkwingDuck'', Steelbeak isn't pulling a HeelFaceTurn, but unleashing Duckthulu? Even he has his limits. [[spoiler:Only not really]].
* In the Italian Disney stories about Paperinik the Devilish Avenger (WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck's vigilante secret identity), Paperinik has committed his fair share of crimes (his first story sees him ''stealing Scrooge's mattress while he's sleeping on it'', and he's beaten up and humiliated other characters and the police many times, even throwing Gladstone down the wall of a castle before the whole population of Duckburg), but he always drew the line at gratuitous crimes and actually profiting from them (at worst he forces people who stole from him as Donald to pay him back more money than they stole from him), resulting in him capturing and handing to the police about half of Duckburg's criminal population.
* ''ComicStrip/KnightsOfTheDinnerTable Illustrated'' : Knuckles captured a member of the cult that tortured Thorina. Knowing that Knuckles intended to kill him, and knowing also the Untouchable Trio's notorious reputation for greed and selfishness, the cultist tried to persuade Knuckles to join his cult instead, offering lavish rewards. Knuckles mentally pictured himself torturing Thorina, and then promptly killed the cultist, saying, ''"Sorry, bud, but even I've got standards."''
* In ''ComicBook/AmericanFlagg'', Titania Weis, a devoted fascist and member of an explicitly Nazi-inspired political party, objects to plans by the even worse American Survivalist Labor Committee to kill the entire population of Chicago with poison gas.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' #57 (Feb. 2005): In "Presents Of Mine," Him persuades Buttercup to use her share of the girls' allowance (with which they planned on buying something for the Professor) into buying something for herself. But when the Gangreen Gang starts stealing toys from a charity bin, it cheeses Him off ("Even I wouldn't stoop to something ''that'' rotten!") and he helps the girls lay an unholy smackdown on the Gang. (And this is a villain that is supposed to be either the Devil himself or something very close. Go figure.)
* The BigBad of ''Comicbook/TrollsDeTroy'', when he learns what Waha's biological mother has in mind for her daughter (she's a prostitute turned madam and wants Waha to follow in her footsteps), decides to throw her off his dragon's back to her death far, far below.
* ''ComicBook/TwoThousandAD'':
** In one of the later stories of ''ComicBook/NemesisTheWarlock'', BigBad Torquemada is sent time-travelling, where he eventually encounters his namesake (and past incarnation), often considered the face of the Spanish Inquisition. The historical Torquemada takes his namesake prisoner and starts torturing him, but the future Torquemada [[TooKinkyToTorture is impervious]] and instead happily regales his past self with stories of the things he has done in the future, using lessons building upon those of many of his past incarnations, but especially his namesake's and UsefulNotes/{{Adolf Hitler}}'s. The historical Torquemada is horrified by the things he hears, and the fact of how he will be remembered in the future as a vehemently racist bigoted psychopathic monster, rather than the humble follower of God's creed that he has always seen himself as, leads him to a prominent HeelRealisation.
** ''ComicBook/ButtonMan'': Harry is a brutal and efficient killer in the [[BloodSport Killing Game]], but when he was called in to take out [[spoiler:Adele's father]] along with three other guys to punish the man for [[ResignationsNotAccepted trying to get out of the Game]], he refused on the basis that he's not some cheap thug for hire.
* ''ComicBook/{{Uber}}'': Sieglinde and Siegmund are disgusted by the level of sadisic glee that their fellow Über, Siegfried, takes in his atrocities. After Siegfried single-handedly massacres hundreds of thousands of Soviet POWS on Hitler's orders, Sieglinde notes that if it had been her, she'd have refused.
* In the ZombieApocalypse comic ''Feast,'' a group of escaped convicts (all particulary dangerous and violent ones) are trapped in the upper floor of a shop surrounded by the hungry dead. When they realize that there's one guy there who they don't know what he's in for, they press him for it until another inmate pipes up that he recognizes him, and he's in for raping and murdering children. Upon this revelation, the lead convict ''immediately'' grabs the guy and throws him out the window to the zombies. One of the cons is also a serial rapist, and when they need some bait to distract the zombies and a con asks who, the [[TokenGoodTeammate one good con]] says "Who do you ''think?''" Cut to the rapist in handcuffs running from the zombies while screaming "FUCK YOU GUYS!"
* One story in the horror comic ''Flinch'' had a necrophiliac dig up a new wife from the graveyard, a victim of a local serial killer. Dragging her across the road, he's struck by a car, which turns out to be driven by said serial killer, who recognizes his victim...and reacts to the dead necrophiliac with disgust; "Torture and murder is one thing...But messing with a corpse? You got to be '''sick''' for that kind of thing."
* In ''[[ComicBook/AthenaVoltaire Athena Voltaire and the Brotherhood of Shambalha]]'', Desmond Forsyth says that Ethan Storm studied under Creator/AleisterCrowley (who, in real life, got dubbed "the wickedest man in the world"), but that Crowley "found Storm to be too intent on exploring the ''dark'' side... which is saying ''a lot''".
* The Misfits in ''ComicBook/JemAndTheHolograms'' are {{Jerk Ass}}es but murderers they are not. They refuse to talk about or even acknowledge [[spoiler:Clash's]] attempted murder of their [[TheRival rival]] Jem.
* ''ComicBook/{{Iznogoud}}'': Iznogoud might be a cruel, petty, greedy and ambitious EvilChancellor, but he is disgusted when he catches his executioner trying to get himself paid for mercy, and delivers a speech saying mercy should never be bought.
* Despite being an AxCrazy PsychopathicManchild operating on BlueAndOrangeMorality, Negan from ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead'' has a surprising number of standards. First, he wholeheartedly believes in RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil, to the point that he has been willing to execute his own men out of disgust at seeing them commit rape, and been willing to fight to save strangers who were about to be raped. Second, he despises cowards and betrayers, and on several occasions he [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves killed]] or otherwise refused to work with people who wanted to sell out their own side to him. (By contrast, [[YouGotSpunk he shows much more respect to opponents who stand up to him]].) Lastly, he loathes the SocialDarwinist outlook, particularly their attitude towards weaker people, and at one point he gives another character a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech over it that would be a KirkSummation if it was coming from someone more heroic.
-->'''Negan:''' Maybe you fucking nutcases need me. Because if that's how you do things, you're so fucked in the head you might as well be dead bodies pretending you're still fucking alive. That shit is vile, [[spoiler:Alpha]]. You should be ashamed of yourself. (...) Protecting the weak is the whole fucking basis for civilization. If you're not protecting the weak, you're not civilized. You're fucking animals.
* In ''ComicBook/{{WITCH}}'' Nerissa, an insane villain whose endgame included an act that could have destroyed the entire universe, identifies the Tower of Mists as Kandrakar's prison and admits that even ''she'' is terrified of the inmates. Considering that her crime against Kandrakar [[FallenHero back when she was one of the Guardians]] was murdering her best friend and fellow Guardian and threatening Kandrakar with absolute destruction and was ''not'' imprisoned in the Tower, that speaks a lot of the inmates besides Phobos.
* Baron Konig in ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}'' miniseries ''B.P.R.D.: 1947'' is a cruel VampireMonarch that regards humans as cattle, yet he completely loathes ThoseWackyNazis for betraying another vampire lord that tried to form an alliance with Hitler, who was so creeped out by him that he ordered his execution. Granted, Konig didn't like his kinsman very much and agreed he got what was coming for even considering making a deal with his "inferiors", but what truly appalled him was the Nazis performing experiments on said vampire's brides to create a weapon for themselves.
* John D. Rockerduck from the ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse''. His standards are DependingOnTheWriter, but unlike Flintheart Glomgold, he is usually AffablyEvil and is ''never'' portrayed as willing to stoop to murder.
* ''ComicBook/{{Djinn}}'': Sultan Murati is an manipulative and ruthless monarch who has no problem ordering the death of any woman in his [[RoyalHarem seraglio]] once he grows bored with them. Having said that, he is disturbed when he discovers that his previous favorite's little daughter was murdered alongside her mother. When a British lady becomes one of his harem girls, he assures the outraged diplomats that he is not an brute that forced her into it, that she went along of her own free will and she is free to leave whenever she wants to. When he steps down from power (partly because he doesn't have much to live), he frees the women in his harem.
* ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'': Jason Blossom is a full-blown jerkass, but even he has boundaries. When Jason's best friend Cedric sabotages Dilton to have Pembrooke Academy (his and Jason's school then) win a quiz show, Moose manages to win on a sports question, and then clobbers Cedric when he found out what Cedric did to his "little buddy." Jason, understandably, congratulates the Riverdale team and leaves Cedric hurting.
* ''ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck'': Soapy Slick and his men take great enjoyment in mocking Scrooge by reading his letters and calling him a MommasBoy... but said men [[DudeNotFunny all stop laughing immediately]] when Soapy informs Scrooge his mother has died and ''[[KickTheDog laughs in his face over it]]''.
* ''ComicBook/KickAss'':
** [[spoiler:Averted in Volume 2, Issue 4, when Red Mist guns down a group of children. Then proceeds to kill the main character's love interest's mother and father and gang rape her with 2 of his henchmen. Though one could argue that the way the first volume ended she wasn't an entirely sympathetic character at that point. On the other hand, the book doesn't make any effort to justify her rape]]. [[spoiler:Well, one of his Mooks asked whether if it was really necessary. The others were outright disgusted with Motherfucker and with themselves, but they did as told. They outright declare that the rape was going too far, but again they don't do anything about it]].
** In the following issue, [[spoiler:[[CorruptCop Vic Gigante]] tells Red Mist that his gang aren't getting any special treatment anymore, and that the police force & the various mafia families are gunning for them now]].

* Subverted by ''ComicBook/JohnnyTheHomicidalManiac''. Johnny is a mass murderer who repeatedly kills scores of people for 'offenses' such as chewing in an annoying manner or using the word "wacky", and has a several floors deep TortureCellar. Upon learning that his own antics has inspired an AscendedFanboy serial killer who also turns out to be a rapist he becomes becomes ''extremely'' disgusted, as it is [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil the one line Johnny himself will]] ''[[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil not]]'' [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil cross.]] However, Johnny states outright that this limitation gives him no absolution: He regularly does things to his victims just as bad as rape, and his aversion to rape isn't so much a standard [[ParalyzingFearOfSexuality as it is a natural result of his hatred of physical contact and giving in to bodily desires]].

* ''Comicbook/StreetFighter'':

* In a ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'' ''{{ComicStrip/Nodwick}}'' strip parodying ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'''s "Slave Pits of the Undercity" module, evil slave lords Blackthorn and Markessa are shocked, appalled, and disgusted when Artax pretends to be a merchant seeking slaves to staff his chain of convenience stores.

** ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'':

* In ''Comicbook/AmericanFlagg'', Titania Weis, a devoted fascist and member of an explicitly Nazi-inspired political party, objects to plans by the even worse American Survivalist Labor Committee to kill the entire population of Chicago with poison gas.

* ''Comicbook/TwoThousandAD'':

* ''ComicBook/ArchieComics''. Jason Blossom is a full-blown jerkass, but even he has boundaries. When Jason's best friend Cedric sabotages Dilton to have Pembrooke Academy (his and Jason's school then) win a quiz show, Moose manages to win on a sports question, and then clobbers Cedric when he found out what Cedric did to his "little buddy." Jason, understandably, congratulates the Riverdale team and leaves Cedric hurting.

* ''EvenEvilHasStandards/DCUniverse''

* In many cases, there are Decepticons in ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' who are despicable even by Decepticon standards and roundly viewed with abhorrence by their comrades.
** Like the cannibal Skullcruncher, who devours downed enemies solely for symbolism (as he can't get nutrients from eating other Cybertronians and doesn't care for the taste, though he's occasionally been said to be able to regenerate faster doing it).
** Or the especially cruel and bullying Motormaster.
** There's at least one Autobot who goes above and beyond Decepticon standards. Repugnus is... special like that... [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Repugnant]].
** Sunstreaker, who was actually diagnosed as a sociopath in one profile. Or Blaze Master who laughs as he burns Decepticons alive. Or Arcee who in the IDW books is a mass murdering torturer who likes to slowly kill her enemies. As the series has evolved GreyAndGreyMorality has definitely emerged.
** In the final issue of IDW's ''ComicBook/TheTransformersAllHailMegatron'' limited series, [[spoiler:Thundercracker spoils Megatron's plan to nuke New York City because he felt that the CurbStompBattle of the Decepticons against the humans was beneath the Decepticons' standards.]]
** IDW's ''[[Comicbook/TheTransformersIDW Transformers]]'' series, at least initially. The Autobots and Decepticons are out to destroy each other. But they both adhere to the [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Code_of_Interplanetary_Conflict Code of Interplanetary Conflict]], which lists rules that the war must follow.
** At another point, North Korea attempts to bribe the Decepticons into destroying South Korea and manage to acquire the services of the Combaticons. The Autobots intervene to save South Korea, and the whole thing nearly ends with Russia nuking the entire Korean peninsula. Thundercracker, while not exactly the most pleasant individual and a fairly dangerous (former) Decepticon himself, proves that he has had just enough of North Korea's hijinks and the Decepticons in general, and responds by blowing up the North Korean energon facility so they wouldn't pull that kind of stunt again, presumably because they would blame the Decepticons for what they perceived as treachery.
** Megatron could arguably be at his most evil ([[FallenHero and most good, for that matter]]) in the IDW comics, but when Thunderwing showed him his method of creating Pretender shells, which consisted of using living Transformer tissue, it was so horrific that even he rejected it and called Thunderwing mad. (He also fought alongside Optimus Prime against Thunderwing, when the scientist's self-experimentation resulted in him becoming a completely insane engine of destruction.) In addition, Razorclaw was ordered by Megatron to destroy Cybertron to stop Thunderwing; Razorclaw disliked the idea enough to put in a killswitch on the device that would disarm it if they could stop Thunderwing within a certain amount of time.
** Aside from Swoop and Sludge, the Dinobots are also often portrayed as being {{Jerkass}}es (Snarl), bullies (Grimlock), or out-and-out sadists (Slag), and the shy Swoop and amiably dim Sludge cross into these areas at times... but while some treatments have them considering it, they haven't ever actually joined the Decepticons, and Slag even changes his name to Slug because Arcee found it offensive (which it is; slag--leftovers from smelting--is the Transformers' S-word).
** In ''ComicBook/TheTransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers'', Snare eventually rebels against Overlord's insane reign over Garrus-9 after being forced to recycle a dead Autobot and watch the execution of [[spoiler:Rotorstorm]]. Snare was part of Stalker's torture team only a short while before.
** ''ComicBook/TheTransformersWindblade'': Nobody likes Starscream, even the Decepticons who served with him. Octane, who once almost nuked New York, feels he's a disloyal DirtyCoward, and Swindle, famous for double-dealing, manipulating, and generally swindling, thinks that Starscream's treachery is too much.
** There's also Sixshot, [[OneManArmy a one-robot army]] and a Phase Sixer--Decepticon shorthand for "''world killer''". He's TheDreaded to Autobots and Decepticons alike, and is both [[BloodKnight heavily inclined to violence]] and [[GeniusBruiser extremely intelligent]]. However, as it turns out, Sixshot doesn't like the idea of turning against his allies, which is rather amusing considering Decepticons tend to experience considerable treachery within the ranks. Notably, he is the only Phase Sixer to never desert the cause or oppose Megatron. (His ''Anime/TransformersHeadmasters'' incarnation was known for a different major moral standard -- he WouldntHurtAChild.)
** Subverted with Tarn of the Decepticon Justice Division. While he closes his eyes behind his mask when his comrades get sadistic and refuses to trade the lives of his handful of teammates for 500 or so former Decepticon soldiers serving under Deathsaurus, his ostensible standards don't actually lead him to ''modify'' his behaviour in any way - they just make him come up with justifications, most of which involve the words "Decepticon Cause" in some context, for whatever brutality is next on the agenda. His response to the torture doesn't lead to him actually trying to stop it, [[spoiler:nor did it stop him from smelting down still-living Autobots in Grindcore Prison while gloating about it to Skids]], and his loyalty to his underlings [[spoiler:doesn't prevent him from ripping off Kaon's head for caring too much for the TeamPet]] - ultimately, whatever standards Tarn tells himself he has, they end up not meaning anything.

[[folder:DC Comics]]
* ComicBook/TheJoker himself has run into problems thanks to this trope. Whenever a new Society of Super Villains comes together, The Joker is often excluded. Whilst any decent team-up of bad guys can tolerate a certain amount of back-stabbing and greed (it comes with the territory, after all), the Joker is so absolutely wildly unpredictable that even though he has no powers, most other villains are just ''[[TheDreaded flat fucking terrified of him]]''. Summed up best by this quote from ''ComicBook/UnderworldUnleashed'':
--> '''The Trickster:''' Good going, Neron. Pick a guy ''no one'' wants to be in the room with. When villains want to scare each other, they tell Joker stories.
** On the other hand, Lex Luthor generally makes it a point to invite the Joker to his super-villain team-ups. Granted, he does this for the pragmatic reason that as uncontrollable as the Joker is, it's still better to have him going hog-wild on the heroes than on your super-villain team-up because he thinks you snubbed him. The wrap-up of ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'' makes this a plot point.
** The Joker himself demonstrated this during the ComicBook/EmperorJoker storyline in the {{Franchise/Superman}} series. Given ultimate power, Joker kills Franchise/{{Batman}} in horrific ways after resurrecting him every night, kills everyone associated closely with Batman (Robin, Nightwing, Huntress), ''eats'' [[ImAHumanitarian all the billion-plus people in China]], plans on destroying the entire universe... but when a twisted ComicBook/JimmyOlsen offers to help the boss by killing Superman (at the time turned into a regular dog), Joker is not pleased.
--->'''Joker''': Sorry, kid. Try as I might, I just can't find anything funny in killing a dumb animal... *[[CrossesTheLineTwice Jimmy gets beaten to death by brightly-colored robots wielding giant rubber chickens]]*
** In the [[ComicBook/JokersLastLaugh Last Laugh]] storyline, ComicBook/TheJoker is in prison and he is invited to join the Aryan gang. He declines, stating "''I may be evil, but you guys are just plain mean.''"
** There was a story line in which the Joker was '''kicked out of Hell''' for this reason.
** In ''ComicBook/DeathOfTheFamily'', this is invoked by ComicBook/TheJoker of all people about Captain Boomerang, although mostly as a means of taunting Harley.
** The Joker's [[spoiler:murder of Sarah Essen-Gordon, Commissioner Gordon's wife,]] in ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand'' is this by the Joker's own standards. After he [[spoiler:shoots her]], he walks away from the scene frowning, without a single word. He even admits that [[spoiler: Commissioner Gordon shooting him in the leg for it (in which he realizes it might be an IronicEcho to what he did to his daughter Barbara in ''The Killing Joke'')]] [[ActuallyPrettyFunny was a lot funnier]]. If the Joker himself doesn't think something is funny, it's seriously wrong. This is why seeing the Joker ''stop'' laughing in his cell at Arkham was one of the creepiest harbingers of [[spoiler:the ascendancy of Anton Arcane and his fellow escapees from Hell in ''ComicBook/SwampThing'']].
** As of Dark Nights Metal, even The Joker found someone so horrifying, he had to team up with Batman to stop him - The Batman Who Laughs. The Joker even directly states that as horrible and painful as the things he planned on doing were in his treachery toward the Legion of Doom...none of it is even half as bad as the utter hell The Batman Who Laughs wants to do. To use Joker's own words; He is...''[[HumanoidAbomination wrong]]''.
** Interestingly, in ''ComicBook/TheDarkKnightReturns'', the Joker had no qualms having a Neo-Nazi woman who wore swastika pasties on her boobs and butt work for him. Then again, said story ''was'' written before most of the examples where he was shown to hate Nazis were (and her appearance in ''ComicBook/AllStarBatmanAndRobinTheBoyWonder'', which was written after most examples, was likely a case of GrandfatherClause).
** The Joker of the ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'' universe also doesn't like Nazis, as shown in the ''Year Zero'' [[https://i.imgur.com/NOz5yEy.jpg tie-in comic.]]
* As far as treason is concerned, in a ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'' story, Two-Face found out he was potentially involved with the Qwardians for what would have been a plan to take over Earth. When his famous coin "came up clean" (whole/pure side up) he went to the Justice League: since Batman was out of Gotham, he talked to ComicBook/GreenLantern first. It was a shocker to ComicBook/TheFlash when he found Two-Face on the Satellite, and it took one of Hal's energy bubbles around Barry to get the Speedster to listen.
* SelfDemonstrating/{{Lobo}}. For all of the OmnicidalManiac that he may be (just remember what he did to his homeworld), he will ALWAYS stick to his word. ALWAYS. However, Lobo often only keeps the letter of his word, not the spirit, doing ''exactly'' what he promised and nothing more... and God help you if you harm his beloved space dolphins. He was kicked out of Hell and granted immortality so he wouldn't come back. For obvious reasons, Heaven didn't want him either. In fact, he's been rejected by every afterlife there is, including the Nordic afterlife, in which the einherjar fight all day, every day, then feast and party all night, every night, because he's too violent for them to tolerate.
* In the last chapter of ''ComicBook/TheMonsterSocietyOfEvil'', as Mister Mind is being tried, his lawyer, who he knows to be a slick AmoralAttorney, hears of Mister Mind's crimes and tells Mister Mind he hopes he gets the electric chair.
* ''ComicBook/ArkhamAsylumLivingHell'' has the Joker talking down to a scam-artist corporate executive who got himself judged "Not guilty [[InsanityDefense 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 that big of 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 (understandable in his case, as Warren robbed him of his pension), Humpty Dumpty, the Joker, and [[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 getting locked in Mr. Freeze's cell.]] The other villains love him and are happy to take advantage of the services he offers [[spoiler:unaware that he made a DealWithTheDevil that will let him torture them in Hell after they all eventually die.]]
* Franchise/{{Batman}} villain [[PyroManiac Firefly]], a professional arsonist, was working side-by-side with [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Killer Moth]] for a short while before Moth realized that his partner was dangerously insane (believing that he could see visions in flames, among other things) and promptly cut all ties with him. Mind, Moth's been on both sides of this trope: when partnered with some other lesser Batman villains in a plan to kidnap Mayor Krol, Commissioner Gordon and Bruce Wayne, he fully intended to let all three die. This caused a rapid breakdown with his "colleagues", who saw it as a first-class ticket to the chair.
* In an issue of ''ComicBook/GothamCitySirens'', Poison Ivy tied up and gagged a nosy coworker who had threatened to reveal her secret identity to the police. Ivy initially planned to kill the woman in order to silence her permanently, but instead released her upon learning that she had a young daughter.
* Joker's sidekick ComicBook/HarleyQuinn is generally far less violent than Mistah J when left on her own, and never killed "innocent" people in her solo series or the ''Harley & Ivy'' stories. She stopped Ivy from executing the C-list heroine Thorn after she attacked them, instead convincing Ivy to leave her hanging BoundAndGagged from a statue. Then again, this had an added CruelMercy aspect since Thorn was left thoroughly humiliated after being discovered by the local citizens.
** There's also a story from ''Batman: Black and White'' where Harley and Ivy rescued a little girl who was being pursued by a sexual predator. They promptly kicked the guy's ass before Batman even had a chance to show up, and the girl was left completely unaware that the women who rescued her were homicidal supervillains.
** In the first issue of her ComicBook/{{New 52}} title, Harley [[WhatADrag drags a man behind her motorcycle]] after she catches him abusing a dog.
* In Creator/GeoffJohns's mid-2000's run of ''ComicBook/TheFlash'', Captain Cold violently beats his fellow [[RoguesGallery Rogue]] Mirror Master for using cocaine. Justified in that he wants to run an efficient ship, and drugged-up partners aren't very conducive to that.
** Captain Cold has a record of this: during ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'', he was noted to have sent flowers to the funeral of the murdered wife of superhero ComicBook/ElongatedMan. He's generally been portrayed as viciously mercenary, but strictly professional. It's never--well, rarely--personal. He and the Rogues also [[IncrediblyLamePun stop cold]] during the middle of a robbery when they find out about it. This is partly because they knew that superheroes would be on the rampage after Sue's death, but it was also out of respect for one of their foes.
** Cold also mentions breaking Axel (Trickster II's) ribs and docking his take after he caught the kid tying bombs to dogs and homeless people to make snuff films. Axel's a bit of a psychopath, Len tries to keep him... straight... ish.
** Mirror Master himself, despite being a merc/assassin (and apparently an on-again off-again cokehead), [[WouldntHurtAChild will not kill children]].
** Most of the Rogues have some line they won't cross; Gorilla Grodd, Kadabra and the [[EvilCounterpart Reverse-Flashes]] are the exceptions. It's mentioned several times that the other rogues do not consider these homicidal maniacs part of the team.
--->'''Trickster''': The Rogues never let Kadabra play our little reindeer games. We told each other he was so pompous and throwing his education in our faces. Truth was, he scared the hell out of us. We were a little crazy but jeez, Kadabra was just insane.
** When he discovered a female cop he had a one-night stand with had produced a child, Weather Wizard tried to kidnap the infant, intending to sacrifice him and absorb his power. At the last minute, gazing into the baby's eyes, Wizard realized he couldn't bring himself to kill a baby, let alone his own son.
** 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 PragmaticVillainy.)
** In ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'', when the Rogues discover that [[spoiler:Captain Boomerang Jr. has been [[MoralEventHorizon "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 ([[KarmicDeath 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 [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks 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 HypocriticalHumor, when he comments that, [[RunningGag 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 [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks 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 [[DisproportionateRetribution trick him into killing]] [[SecretIdentity Barry Allen]], because Heat Wave will be demoralized and easy to capture once he [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone realizes he murdered an innocent]].
** In ''Comicbook/ForeverEvil'', Cold and the other Rogues raise up a rebellion against the Crime Syndicate after they order the destruction of Central City. The Rogues may have no qualms with conquering the world, but they sure as hell aren't about to kill a bunch of innocent women and children to make it happen.
*** In the same event, Captain Cold ends up in an EnemyMine situation where he has to team up with Lex Luthor, SelfDemonstrating/{{Bizarro}}, Black Adam, and Black Manta. He is visibly disturbed when Black Manta implies that he wants to make sure the members of the Crime Syndicate suffer as much as possible before they die.
-->'''Black Manta''': Your gun will make them ''numb''. I don't want them to ''be'' numb.\\
'''Captain Cold''': You have issues.
** Some iterations of The Rogues outright ''ban'' members from killing any of the speedsters. Captain Cold '''loses it''' when [[spoiler: Axel Walker kills Wally West.]]
--->'''Captain Cold''': Rule one of The Rogues: ''Never kill a speedster.''
*** This rule is specifically true during the ''ComicBook/CountdownToFinalCrisis'' era when [[spoiler:Inertia tricks them into killing Bart Allen, causing them to run off in total fear.]]
** ComicBook/BlackAdam gets this treatment as well. He may be a murderous AntiVillain, but he does not take kindly to tyrants and dictators.
-->'''Black Adam''': You and your foolish allies have come here to rule our world. [[BadassBoast But I've spent my life ripping apart those that would]].
* The ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' foe Cheshire, in her earliest appearances, did have standards. One issue had her hired by a white racist to murder a black civil rights leader who was pushing to end Apartheid in South Africa, with the added insult of then framing her victim as a Soviet sympathizer. This would effectively tarnish his reputation and lead to other black activists being discredited and killed, thus bringing the civil rights movement to a halt. However, upon killing the activist, Cheshire instead planted the evidence on her own employer, leading to his arrest and execution for treason, as well as the murdered activist becoming a martyr. It was earlier implied that Cheshire's own racial heritage (being half-Vietnamese) led to her obvious discomfort over being hired by white supremacists.
** Time went on, however, and Cheshire apparently decided that to get what she wants, maybe she ''shouldn't'' have standards. Amongst her later career, she literally detonated a nuke in a Middle Eastern country, manipulated [[ComicBook/SecretSix Catman]] into getting her pregnant, and announced she didn't care that her daughter could be killed for her employer due to said pregnancy as she would still ''have'' a child afterwards.
*** The latter incident however seems to have been {{Retconned}} to an extent, since she was absolutely devastated and vengeful when her daughter ''did'' [[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueCryForJustice actually die]]. Either that or she was bluffing when she said she didn't care about her in the first place. In all honesty, Cheshire's characterization [[DependingOnTheWriter has not been consistent]] since the Qurac incident. She's either portrayed as having at least some shred of decency left inside her or she's portrayed as incapable of any genuine emotional capability.
** An ''ComicBook/ActionComics'' story had her assuring a BoundAndGagged hostage that she had zero intention of harming him since he had nothing to do with the actual assassination she was hired to commit. So at least at first, she tried to steer clear of harming innocents during her murders.
** She wound up on the wrong end of this with ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}} after she sold out her own team to him and was shot in the gut for her troubles, with Wilson making a point of noting just how much traitors disgusted him.
* Set up to be {{Lampshaded}}, when Luthor decides on members for his new Injustice Gang. ComicBook/{{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:
-->'''Cheetah''': Did you think I would work with a ''rapist'' without there being consequences?!?\\
'''Dr. Light''': But... you're... you're a murderer...\\
'''Cheetah''' [raising her claws to eviscerate him]: Do as I say, not as I do.
* In the late [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks Bronze Age]] story ''Franchise/{{Superman}} vol. 1 #416: "The Einstein Connection"'' by Creator/ElliotSMaggin (a writer who had a definite soft spot for the original MadScientist ComicBook/LexLuthor), we learn that one of the few people the brilliant Luthor unabashedly considers a personal hero is UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein. While fleeing Franchise/{{Superman}} at one point, he passes a body of water and sees somebody drowning. Though grumbling about it, he dives in and rescues the person, even though it costs him his escape, because he just ''can't'' bring himself to act like an S.O.B. on Einstein's birthday.
** This became a subplot in ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'' with Luthor and [[ComicBook/{{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 place in line in what was implied to be a rape train on ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} probably helped to push Lex to find his moral fortitude as well.
** In ''ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsJLA'', Luthor physically struck the Joker after the villain openly mocked a group of innocent children who had accidentally been killed during the Injustice Gang's attack on the Justice League. At the end of the story, Lex used the Rock of Ages to resurrect the dead children, with the justification that he could no longer be charged for any crimes if his victims were restored to life. Superman didn't buy this for a second, and told Lex that he knew he did it because he felt bad over the children's deaths, proving that deep down, there is ''some'' good in him.
** In ''Comicbook/ForeverEvil'', Luthor is genuinely distraught after Bizarro is killed, crossing into {{Tearjerker}} territory.
-->'''Captain Cold''': Forget that thing. It was just a monster anyway.
-->'''Lex Luthor''': But he was MY monster!
* In the final ''ComicBook/MsTree'' stories, when the title character is heavily pregnant, there are multiple attempts to kill her. The current head of the Muerta crime family, who now considers the detective family because of her stepson's strong relationship with his niece, confronts the man who commissioned the attempts and tells him that had he known that Tree was the target he would never have agreed to it. However, what really sets him off is Tree's current state; he roars, "You tried to kill a pregnant woman, have you no shame?!" and immediately orders his goons to kill him.
** The attempts were because the baby was not the son of Ms. Tree's deceased husband, but of a rebound lover, and therefore eligible for a chunk of inheritance that the would-be murderer wanted all for himself.
* ''ComicBook/SecretSix'', a comic about a team of supervillain mercenaries, gets quite a lot of play out of the fact that, while they're all evil, the main characters all have ''different'' standards. In one issue Deadshot shoots an escaping slave in the back.
-->'''Deadshot:''' She ran, I shot. I don't know what you want from me.
-->'''Bane:''' Murdering slaves? Have you no scruples at all, mercenary?
** But Deadshot then gets ''really'' pissed off when he finds out the "slave" he shot had actually been set free by her jailer, and the guy who told her she was escaping knew this.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', The Comedian, known for beating and attempting to rape the first Silk Spectre and shooting a pregnant woman who was carrying his child (in the stomach), is horrified when he discovers [[spoiler:Ozymandias']] plans. Since Comedian was at best a sociopath who, by his own words, saw life as one big Nihilistic joke, [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation another interpretation]] is that what terrified and upset Comedian was less the lives lost, but more the possibility that [[spoiler:Ozymandias']] plan would succeed and create a world that he would have no place in.
** He is also appalled [[spoiler:when Sally insinuates that he would want to commit incest with his daughter.]]
--->'''Sally:''' Are there no depths you won't sink to?\\
'''Comedian:''' Christ, we were just ''talking''! Can't a man talk to his, y'know, his old friend's daughter? I mean, what do you think I ''am''?
* In ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}'': [[ComicBook/FinalCrisis Legion of Three Worlds]], when Superboy Prime frees all of the villains held captive on the prison planet, a temporary truce is called and all internal politics are abolished until the Legion is dealt with. However, the vast majority of the inmates make it very clear that once this is all over, they're coming for fellow prisoner Earth-Man and his Justice League of Earth, a gang of Terran supremacists who are essentially the 31st century version of the Aryan Nation.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman2006'': Foe Dr. T.O. Morrow eventually turns against his own creation Genocide and works to help Franchise/WonderWoman defeat it, [[spoiler:[[ItsPersonal because he's of Polish ancestry]]]] and doesn't want anything to do with a creature who is the personification of genocide.
* T.O. Morrow also gets a twisted version of this during ''ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsJLA'', as he informed the League about where a deactivated Amazo was just to shut Professor Ivo up--with the twisted part being he didn't want to help the League too much, so he'd lied and told them they had more time than they did so they'd fight Amazo.
* In ''[[ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsBatman 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 connection to the similar French group Les Stereotypes, who run a child-slavery ring.
* ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} seems to fall under this. Despite being one of the most evil beings in existence, he does keep his word, such as letting Franchise/{{Batman}} and ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} go during ''ComicBook/TheSupergirlFromKrypton'' arc when Bats threatened to destroy his planet. That said, [[spoiler:it didn't stop him from coming down to Earth to royally fuck up Superman, who was not part of the deal]]. There's also the whole deal with trading sons as a peace treaty. He'll find a loophole, but he usually doesn't betray his deals or promises. Then there was the fact that he threw the villain Sleez, who would later go on to try and make a porn movie with an unwilling Big Barda and Superman, out of Apokolips for being such a creep. (Note that he kicked Sleez out of Apokolips while he was still called Prince Uxas, before he truly ruled the place. If he ''had'', it's doubtful he would have let the creep live.)
** In an old ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational'' issue, he allowed the League to leave Apokolips unharmed after he gave his word that they wouldn't be killed. He may be a monster, but at least he honors his promises!
* Another Franchise/{{Batman}} example: The Broker narrates an issue to himself in Streets of Gotham. He's a businessman who buys abandoned properties and sells them to super villains for evil lairs (He also has the woman who provides the image for IneffectualSympatheticVillain fix the lairs up), he treats his employees well, and works on the standards of privacy and discretion, he also says you need to give to get in Gotham. He also says, that he just sells the things, he doesn't need to know what goes on in them. He mentions how Catwoman, Joker, and Mad Hatter are easy to deal with, but then there's Mr. Zsasz. He's the only man who makes the Broker want to reconsider his job. When he sells Zsasz a meat cutting facility, he sees children in cages begging for him to help them. He takes his money and leaves to go home and try to forget the experience. When Batman demands to know Zsasz's whereabouts, The Broker displays a different set of standards, and how he would never willingly divulge a customers business, no matter how he feels about them. After he's beaten up and Batman takes his records, it's implied that he wanted that to happen, as you have to give in order to get in Gotham; he thought the beating was payment for the information, and he would lose business if people found out he gave out the information without a fight.
* In ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'', ComicBook/VandalSavage quits [[LegionOfDoom the Society]] when they attempt to have his daughter Scandal killed for refusing to join up with them, though given that Savage was perfectly okay with arranging for her to be raped to impregnate her with an heir for him, this was probably less about morals and more about pragmatism.
* ''ComicBook/RedHoodAndTheOutlaws'': Arsenal's most cherished memory? [[spoiler:Hitting RockBottom and trying to fight Killer Croc in order to "suicide by Croc", only to have Croc realize this and tell him to get his act together. A scaled-up beast told Arsenal he was embarrassing, meaning there was nowhere to go but up.]]
** Later [[spoiler:Waylon Jones, a.k.a. ''Killer Croc'', becomes his sponsor in his Alcoholics Anonymous Program.]]
** Another Killer Croc moment in the New 52 is in his Villains Month comic, where he savagely hunts down and kills a few crooked cops for the murder of a cop who was nice to him when he was a child. Croc may not hold much love for police, but he knows who his friends are.
* One Annual of ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures had a story where Scarecrow, under a new identity, has started teaching at a local college and looked to be redeeming himself. Then he found out [[spoiler:one of his prized students was and still is a victim of abuse, possibly rape, by her JerkJock boyfriend.]] That was enough to bring back Scarecrow and to show [[spoiler:the boyfriend that even someone who's obsessed with other people's fear has limits.]]
* In one Franchise/{{Batman}} story[[note]]Detective Comics #569-570[[/note]], ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} is mind-wiped by ComicBook/TheJoker and "convinced" to attack a rich family whose members included a bitty IllGirl. When Joker tried to attack the girl and harm her in front of her father and older brother, Catwoman broke free of the mind control and attacked him, yelling that she was a thief, not a murderer.
* PlayedForLaughs in ''[[ComicBook/TheMultiversity Thunderworld #1]]'', which is set in a LighterAndSofter version of the DC universe where the main heroes are the [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Marvel family]]. The plot involves Dr. Sivana bringing together an infinite amount of AlternateUniverse versions of himself to create a day in which he can defeat Captain Marvel once and for all. One of these versions, it turns out, is a DarkerAndEdgier [[Franchise/{{Saw}} Jigsaw-like]] character who went back in time to horrifically butcher Billy Batson before he became Captain Marvel, and wants other versions to kill. The other Sivanas, who are basically {{Card Carrying Villain}}s, are clearly pretty weirded out.
-->''' Jigsaw - Dr. Sivana:''' ''Bring them to me! The pretty little '''heroine''', the '''bright boy'''! I can't wait to '''mess them up bad'''.''\\
''' Regular - Dr. Sivana:''' Er... quite.
* ''ComicBook/{{Convergence}}'':
** In ''Convergence: Batman and Robin'', Poison Ivy of the pre-ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}} Gotham has been making sure the city doesn't starve by growing crops for the population. And she's disgusted that the Penguin would try to make a profit off the food she's been making given the situation Gotham's in.
** [[spoiler:''Telos'' of all people pulls one on the pre-Flashpoint Joker. After snapping the neck of the clown, Telos proceeds to call him a "vile creature", and a "plague in every timeline"]].
** The Pre-Crisis Crime Syndicate see themselves as this. It's clarified that, while they're lawbreakers, they've never intended to actually hurt anyone and were not killers. This actually plays upon their deaths in ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' where they tried to save Earth-Three, and in ''ComicBook/AnimalMan'' when Ultraman finds himself utterly disgusted by his alternate world counterpart Overman and tries to stop his rampage.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Transmetropolitan}}'', "[[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname the Beast]]" is a hopelessly corrupt PresidentEvil, but even he hates "[[StepfordSmiler the Smiler]]" is worried about him becoming president. The Beast, for example, believes he'll be a good president if over 50% of the population is happy. The Smiler only believes he should be president.
* ''ComicBook/AmethystPrincessOfGemworld'': Lady Mordiel is undiscutably power-hungry and evil, but she ''does'' have some moral standards. When killing a girl with a small fraction of her family blood to absorb her power, she has the family compensated for the loss, and when she later arrives on a battlefield, she has the bodies of her sister's followers be properly buried. She also [[spoiler:[[EvenEvilHasStandards rejects Eclipso's offer to join him]].]]
* A single story issue in ''Action Comics'' #756 was built on this trope. An old school villain called Diode the Invincible decides to make a comeback by robbing a bank in a town called Bloomfield. Unfortunately, the town's currently being attacked by a group of vicious terrorists called Doc Omega and the Doomslayers. Unlike Diode, the Doomslayers are a bunch of bloodthirsty psychopaths destroying entire towns [[ForTheEvulz for the sake of it]] and have already killed Bloomfield's resident hero Emerald Don. Diode's understandably disgusted by them, remembering how back in the day people became supervillains for material wealth or to outwit people, and actually helps ComicBook/{{Superman}} take the Doomslayers down. [[KarmicJackpot This act of standards gets Diode the fame he always wanted]] and he goes back into retirement content.

[[folder:Marvel Comics]]
* This trope explains it all, and made life difficult for the Franchise/MarvelUniverse ''Nazi'' villain ComicBook/RedSkull, as the other villains he has teamed with, notably ComicBook/{{Magneto}}, have ultimately attempted to kill him. At one point he even left him BuriedAlive. Of course, being a Holocaust survivor who lost family to the camps, Magneto has [[ItsPersonal a significant personal score to settle.]] This also goes for ComicBook/DoctorDoom, being of Roma descent, though they've managed some very occasional TeethClenchedTeamwork when Doom thinks there's something big in it for him. The Kingpin also refuses to do business with Red Skull, because like most old-school Mob bosses he's a patriot at heart, not to mention a devoted capitalist.
** The Red Skull is a monster even by Nazi standards, and that's the whole point of him (according to the backstory account of Hitler more or less taking him on as a protege on what amounts to a bet that he could make him into the ultimate Nazi.) How monstrous the Skull became is illustrated by what he ultimately did to his mentor: Imprisoned in an inescapable, formless, empty void. By pure trickery. (The fact Hitler wasn't ''nearly'' as good a strategist as he thought he was, in real life or comics, probably helped.)
** The relatively minor villain Flag Smasher (who attempted to destroy all governments on principle and was a particular foe of Captain America) went directly to Captain America for help when he learned he was being bankrolled by the Red Skull.
** Probably the only exception to this is ComicBook/{{Norman Osborn}}, who not only tried to help Skull with his plan to gain control of Captain America's body, but bankrolled this endeavor and hoped to team up with the Skull as his own personal Captain America for the ComicBook/DarkAvengers. It makes sense, in retrospect, given this was Norman during his ComicBook/DarkReign days, where he was very much an expy of Lex Luthor, along with the fact that Norman is a [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain psychotic bigot himself]].
* The Mad Thinker, an enemy of the ComicBook/FantasticFour, showed that there was a line he would not cross in a storyline where he formed a partnership with the Wizard (another enemy of the Fantastic Four) in a scheme that involved kidnapping Reed and Sue Storm's young son Franklin. When the Wizard revealed that the plan would more than likely result in Franklin's death, the Mad Thinker objected to it. Because the Wizard refused to abort the plan, the Thinker dissolved the partnership and contacted the Thing, Franklin's godfather, who aided him in defeating the Wizard.
* ComicBook/UltimateMarvel
** In ''[[ComicBook/TheUltimates All New Ultimates]]'', villainous gang leader Diamondback doses teen hero Bombshell with a drug to make her helpless and compliant, and then specifically tells her mooks not to try anything on her. [[TooDumbToLive One of them suggests having some 'fun' with her anyway]] and she beats him unconscious.
** ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'': The Enforcers betrayed their Boss, Mr. Big, and sided with Kingpin when Mr. Big defied him. Kingpin killed him while the Enforcers held him. Ox would eventually regret his choice, and started drowning his sorrows.
* In ''[[WestCoastTeam West Coast]] [[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers]]'', this leads to the defeat of the Lethal Legion. The villains are more than happy to engage in things like murder and kidnapping, but end up turning on their boss Grim Reaper after it's revealed that he's a racist.
* In the ''ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse'' timeline:
** ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'s nemesis Sabretooth pulls an epic HeelFaceTurn and becomes a well-respected superhero. He still started off as a pretty bad guy, but realized he'd had enough upon learning that Apocalypse planned to kill off the entire human race. (It should be noted that in this reality Sabertooth was less animalistic and frenzied than his standard counterpart.)
** While not going so far, Mister Sinister is also disgusted in this continuity by Apocalypse, who he considers unnecessarily barbaric, and by Dark Beast, who he disdainfully regards as a petty sadist.
* While not a villain, ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} generally has very little regard for human life and might as well be the TropeNamer for ComedicSociopathy. Despite this, he ''flips out'' after Fantomex kills a child who could've potentially become a villain, and makes sure to give him a WhatTheHellHero speech after the mission is over. He even goes on to form a close bond with a clone of the murdered child, leading to a few PetTheDog scenes.
** Even back when he was a completely amoral mercenary who would switch sides ''in the middle of a fight'' if he was offered more money, Deadpool had standards. Once, he was part of a team of mercenaries that had been hired to capture Wolverine, and they tailed Logan to a bar. The rest of the mercs were eager to get started so they could collect their paychecks, and got ready to leave the room from where they were watching Logan and enter the bar.
--->'''Mercenary:''' Well, we may as well get started-\\
'''Deadpool:''' Sit down.\\
'''Mercenary:''' What?\\
'''Deadpool:''' The man just bought a drink. We let him finish it. ''Now sit down.''
** He also kills a psychiatrist who took advantage of a troubled teenaged client, which resulted in her committing suicide. He did the job for free, and was completely serious throughout pretty much the entire story and grew quite pissed when he began talking about it. The moral? If Deadpool's inner voices ain't around and he's being completely calm and serious, someone has done something even he wouldn't do. And he's not gonna kill them, he's gonna murder them.
** In the ''Deadpool vs Carnage'' arc after he finds the bodies of a couple and their children whom Carnage had taken hostage and murdered, he mentions that while he and Carnage are both crazy he would never do something like that. Basically, hurting kids is one of the very few lines that Deadpool won't cross, and is one of the quickest ways to legitimately anger him.
** Deadpool also hates racism. When out with Spider-Man, he uses an image inducer to change his appearance for the club. Spider-Man notes that he's black now, which Deadpool says is awesome because being black is cool. Unless you're racist. Spider-Man says he's not racist but- Deadpool cuts him off, noting that's good because he can't stand racists. One of his dearest friends, Emily Preston, is black and his daughter is usually depicted as a ChocolateBaby - though it varies on occasion, DependingOnTheArtist.
** During the time when Deadpool was working for the Butler, he was sent to go and kill a married couple, and was accompanied by Sabertooth. Once all was said and done, Deadpool would have his memory erased of the event. Deadpool pretty much blew up the house. Turns out, [[spoiler: that couple were Wade's parents. Wade pretty much blew up his childhood home, and doesn't know because his memory was erased afterwards.]] It is very obvious ''Sabertooth'' thought this was awful, and clearly felt bad for Deadpool.
* Played for laughs in an issue of ''Spider-Man'' where Carnage (who had just committed yet another massacre, and left one person alive to sow panic) attacks a JerkAss businessman who had illegally parked in a handicapped spot.
--> '''Carnage:''' Hey, mister! In case you didn't notice, that spot's reserved for the handicapped.
--> '''Businessman:''' Mind your own business, shorty, I'm in a hurry.
--> '''Carnage:''' Shorty... moi? Aw, gee... and here I was, trying to save you from getting a ticket. Heyyy! I just got an even better idea. If you really want that space--I'll cripple you so that you're entitled to it! I never could stomach a pompous fool like you! You think you're better than other people just because you have a fancy job and a fat wallet!
* ''Comicbook/MightyAvengers'' introduces a group of German extremists called W.E.S.P.E., who apparently hate Comicbook/{{HYDRA}}. When someone mentions HYDRA, one of the W.E.S.P.E. members remarks that he and his teammates may be nihilists, but at least they're not Nazis.
* Speaking of which, in ''Comicbook/SecretEmpire'', Black Ant and Comicbook/{{Taskmaster}} are initially wary of working with HYDRA. Black Ant even says while he and Taskmaster may be amoral criminals and killers, they aren't ''racists'' or Nazis. They end up being persuaded to join after Madame Hydra claims that the rumors of HYDRA being Nazis are merely lies spread by their enemies.
* In ''ComicBook/IncredibleHercules'', Hera, currently running the Olympus Corp, has a plan. A big plan. As of the writing of this entry, we don't entirely know what it is. What we do know, though, is that Norman "Green Goblin" Osborn, one of the ultimate [[KickTheDog dog kickers]] in Marvel as a whole, is downright aghast when he finds out what it is! If the man who is turning the world into his own personal oyster, and taking numerous baddies along for the ride, sees something as going too far, then that should be ringing a multitude of alarms.
** Turns out it was [[spoiler:the destruction of this universe in favour of one of Hera's own creation.]] No wonder even Norman couldn't stomach that.
* Before Parker Robbins become ''ComicBook/TheHood'', he was a thief, liar and supervillain fan who seduced and knocked up a gorgeous girl, and was cheating on her with a Russian prostitute. His cousin, John King, is an alcoholic who never worked a single legal job in his life. But when an agent of terrorist organization HYDRA offered them a job, they told him about how much they hate terrorists, beat him and stole his shoes.
** Would have stolen the suit but John pissed on him.
* In ''ComicBook/WarOfKings'', Vulcan is a GalacticConqueror, but even he found [[spoiler:Black Bolt's AssimilationPlot]] a terrible thing.
* In ''ComicBook/XForce'' (the team that later became ComicBook/XStatix), while the team isn't ''evil'' they're certainly amoral. However, when they see the patently insane and violent (even by their standards) Corkscrew making his way through team tryouts like a pro, it's decided that the only option is to have Doop take him out back and murder him with a logging axe.
* In the twelfth ever issue of ''Comicbook/{{Daredevil}}'', Matt Murdock happens to be on the very cruise ship boarded by fearsome pirate the Plunderer. After changing into his Daredevil costume and pounding the Plunderer's goons, he makes a break for the man himself. But the Plunderer's taken hostages and threatens to toss them overboard into the shark-infested waters unless Daredevil surrenders. Not willing to risk their lives, DD relents, and one of the Plunderer's crewmen suggests tossing ''him'' overboard instead. The Plunderer is positively outraged at the very suggestion: "''Silence'', you scurvy toad! [[IGaveMyWord I have given my]] ''[[IGaveMyWord word]]!''" For his part, Daredevil is impressed.
** One ''Daredevil'' graphic novel has a mob boss refusing to let the Mafia make money from rackets such as drug-dealing and child prostitution; the mob may be criminals, but they aren't animals. Unfortunately for him, his ''consigliere'' is Wilson Fisk, better known as the Kingpin, who snaps his neck and takes over. It's implied that Fisk was actually privately encouraging the guy to take a stand on this issue, ''just'' so he could have an excuse for his murderous ''coup''.
** [[ComicBook/TheKingpin Kingpin]] has been the subject of [[DependingOnTheWriter flip-flops of epic proportions]]: either he thinks drug dealing is rock bottom, or he's single-handedly keeping about half the world's drug barons in business.
* In an early issue of Matt Fraction's ''Invincible ComicBook/IronMan'', Ezekiel Stane murders a bunch of tobacco executives after explaining to them that, even if he makes weapons for terrorists and psychos, he is disgusted by how they make their money.
-->'''Ezekiel:''' I might deal with murderers, but you guys -- you guys are addicting kids and '''murdering''' them '''yourselves'''.
* In the ComicBook/FantasticFour Unlimited from July 1995, the villian Maelstrom is willing to destroy the universe... but not his own son.
-->'''Maelstrom''': But-- I'll NOT slay my own offspring!
-->'''ComicBook/AntMan''': I can't believe this! Maelstrom-- going paternal on us!?
* Parodied in ''ComicBook/{{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 ComicBook/MarvelAdventures 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.
* ComicBook/DoctorDoom once hired Typhoid Mary to steal the ComicBook/PowerPack'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. [[FridgeLogic Which makes it odd that he's willing to do it to Franklin and Valeria.]] But then, ''that's'' [[BerserkButton RICHAAAARRRRRDSSSSS]]!
** Given that Doom has frequently shown outright paternal feeling for the Richards kids (particularly Valeria) himself, he probably figures he could raise them better himself - something tacitly confirmed in ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015''.
** Doom also has no tolerance for racism. In the graphic novel ''Emperor Doom,'' when he finally succeeds in taking over the world, one of the first things he does is end apartheid in South Africa. Which makes sense given that his mother was Romani, an ethnic group that is still routinely persecuted in many parts of Europe. Later, in the ''Vampire State'' arc of ''ComicBook/CaptainBritainAndMI13'', he mocks Dracula's Islamophobic racism, stating that normally he derides racism in humans because it's an assumption, in a 'magically created viral package' like a vampire, it's almost amusing.
** In the [[Creator/StanLee Lee]]-[[Creator/JackKirby Kirby]] "village of the damned" Fantastic Four story, Doctor Doom has the Fantastic Four trapped in his own private museum in Latveria, and is about to kill Reed, Ben and Johnny in the presence of Sue and Crystal (who don't know what he is doing - that for an extra point of cruelty). However, a minion takes it on himself to try and murder the male FF with a flamethrower, even though Reed yells at him that that would burn untold amounts of great art. As it turns out, Doom agrees, and he turns his sonic weapon on the minion, killing him instantly, and showing his hand to Reed. But, as Doom says as he is killing the minion, what are a few lives in front of immortal art? A feeling we might even agree with, were it not that he means, what does it matter if I don't get to murder people just this once?
** In Doom's short-lived feature in ''Astonishing Tales'', he once tortured a prisoner for details about Vibranium. As soon as the prisoner gave up the information, Doom released him unharmed. When one of Doom's henchmen suggested that they simply kill the prisoner instead, Doom backhanded him across the room and threatened to have him take the prisoner's place on the torture rack if he ever suggested something so dishonorable again.
* Jonathan Caesar was a {{Yandere}} obsessed with ComicBook/SpiderMan's wife Mary Jane, who was willing to commit murder to have her and ruin her life to break her spirit. However, he was disgusted by a mercenary he hired who killed animals for fun, calling him a "barbarian".
* Creator/MarvelMAX Bullseye is one of the few people you wouldn't expect to have standards, seeing as he's done many horrifying things over the course of his self-titled arc in ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX, even the deaths of [[spoiler:''four different families'' in just a week, consisting of a wife, a son and daughter, slaughtered to reenact the death of Frank Castle's family, so he could feel how Frank feels]]. But he, of all people, is not a [[GoodSmokingEvilSmoking fan of smoking.]]
* ''Comicbook/SuperiorSpiderMan'' establishes that ComicBook/DoctorOctopus, despite all his faults, has one particular BerserkButton: [[WouldntHurtAChild harming children]]. He savagely beats (and nearly kills) the Vulture after seeing him strike a child, and goes out of his way [[PetTheDog to save the life of a young girl]] he had earlier injured during one of his schemes.
* In an issue of ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'', 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.
* Black Tom Cassidy is a longtime Comicbook/XMen villain who has committed some truly despicable acts, but he cares for his niece and former partner in crime Theresa. When Tom saw that Theresa had been paralyzed by one of Comicbook/SpiderWoman's venom blasts and mistakenly thought she'd been hurt (or worse), he was genuinely distraught. After realizing that it was his life of crime that had endangered Theresa in the first place, Tom lied to the police and told them that she had nothing to do with his heists, and asked Comicbook/{{Storm}} to look after her.
* In the ComicBook/{{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. 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.
* ''ComicBook/XMenBlack'': In Mojo's issue, when he sees a little girl about to be run over by a man who is texting whilst driving, he instinctively leaps in and saves her by stopping the car with his SuperStrength. He also verbally chews the driver out for not paying attention whilst driving. Before that, he is offended by the one racist old man who insults Glob for being a mutant.
* Using ComicBook/TheWasp as a living bomb was apparently too much for even ComicBook/NormanOsborn and [[PsychoForHire Bullseye]]. When the whole force of Marvel's heroes charged the Skrulls in vengeful rage, they joined in, looking just as pissed for what just happened as the good guys.
* In a one shot issue of ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' illustrating the aftermath of the September 11th WTC terror attacks, Doctor Doom, Kingpin and Magneto turn up to help with the rescue effort at the World Trade Centre along with all the heroes, and superheroes. This drew criticism, because some of the villains featured have been shown to do worse or as bad as that. One of them was Juggernaut, who's actually attacked the WTC himself in the past.
** Of course, in Magneto's case, he only tends to do such things when his powers have driven him insane or with the motive of protecting mutants. This, to him, would be pointless. No explaining Doom's presence, though.
* In Creator/PeterDavid's "Countdown" story arc in ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'', the villainous Leader, who once gamma-bombed a town of 5,000 people just to see how many would survive and gain gamma powers (answer: five), states that he can't bring himself to kill his own brother.
* For a very long time, Spider-Man villain the Lizard was unable to harm Billy Connors, the son of his human alter ego. This is no longer the case, and the Lizard devoured Billy later.
* In ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'', even though Comicbook/{{Loki}} wants to take his father's crown and rule Asgard, he does ''not'' take kindly to anyone trying to destroy it. Asgard is still his home, after all. This is taken to its extreme during the ''Ragnarok'' arc, where Loki commits mass murder on a grand scale and even causes the death of his own mother. He's appalled when he learns that Asgard is going to be destroyed, as all his murderous actions prior to that had been so that he could rule it. In his mind, at least the horrible atrocities he committed ''had a point to them.''
** As of late he is also strictly against child murder... for his own surprise.
** Another issue has a group of armored men trying to rob the federal reserve, believing they're paying back the government for ignoring their needs after their service in the armed forces. Beta Ray Bill battles their leader who turns out to be the Titanium Man, who's using the men in a plot to bring down the American economy.
--->'''Armored figure''': Sarge, I didn't spend three years in 'Nam just to help some commie shaft my own country!
--->'''Sarge''': You're right. We may be crooks, thieves and criminals...but by God, we're AMERICAN crooks, thieves and criminals!
*** They help Bill stop the Titanium Man and in gratitude, Bill lets them go before shutting off their armor.
* Way back in ComicBook/RomSpaceknight, the Skrulls turn out to have limits, too. They save a town from the Dire Wraiths because they hate Dire Wraiths more than anything else in the universe (yes, even the Kree.)
* During a prison break in ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}'', TheJuggernaut is offered a chance to kill a guard who has been captured by two of the inmates. Juggy states that murdering a scared, unarmed man with no powers is beneath him, especially [[NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction since there'd be no sport in it]]. He convinces the inmates to spare the guard, and then leads them into a trap.
* In an issue of ''Comicbook/AvengersAcademy'', the kids end up in a fight with Comicbook/SpiderMan's enemies the [[VillainTeamUp Sinister Six]]. Mysterio orders Rhino to kill the students, to which the thug responds by saying even if they're superheroes, he's not about to murder ''children'' just to soothe his employer's damaged ego.
* Speaking of which, the X-Men villain Arcade would later use his Murder World park to orchestrate the deaths of several teen superheroes, including a few students from the aforementioned Avengers Academy, during ''Comicbook/AvengersArena''. In the follow-up, ''Comicbook/AvengersUndercover'', it was revealed that Arcade attempted to use this "feat" as leverage to get Baron Zemo to let him join the [[LegionOfDoom Masters of Evil]]. A disgusted Zemo proceeded to inform Arcade that there was nothing impressive about slaughtering a bunch of ''children'', and that the only thing of value Arcade could bring to the table would be the advanced technology behind Murder World. Rather than allow him to join the Masters of Evil, Zemo simply recruited Miss Coriander (the one who actually built Murder World) and had Arcade imprisoned. During the final battle, Zemo even stopped to thank his opponent after he saw her blast Arcade into a wall.
* In one ''[[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]]'' story from the Nineties, the Hulk has been brainwashed by the Red Skull to believe that the Juggernaut (who is working for the Skull as hired muscle) is his father, thus turning the Hulk into his servant. The Hulk causes some serious damage in the subsequent battle against the Avengers, until the Juggernaut blows his cover by ''being too nice''. All Juggernaut did was praise the Hulk for his fighting ability, but it was more kindness than Bruce Banner's father had ever shown.
* Titania, a villain of ComicBook/SheHulk and ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}, among others, might be murderous and violent, but she ''will'' tip workers properly. Not tipping would be rude.
** This makes some sense when you consider that prior to being turned into a supervillain, Titania was a scrawny blue-collar girl who was constantly picked on and slaved away in menial jobs. She knows how hard life in the service industry can be.
** She shows another side, along with other villains, at the end of ''Illuminati'', when the Hood suggests that they kill the Avengers' families. This, along with finding out that he also enforced a HeelFaceDoorSlam to get her to join him and his group, is enough to get everyone to quit and, for good measure, has Titania destroy the Hood's hood, [[BroughtDownToNormal rendering him powerless once more.]]
* In the ''Marvel Knights: Comicbook/XMen'' miniseries, the [[DirtyCop corrupt Sheriff Jasper]] happily covers [[BigBad The Cook]]'s drug trade and even helps him deal, but has a FreakOut upon The Cook telling him [[HumanResources exactly what the drugs are made of]] and [[BoomHeadshot gets his brains blown out]] for his trouble.
* {{ComicBook/Venom}} (Eddie Brock) is notable for the fairly large amount of standards he has. Like the Rogues mentioned above, he refuses to ever harm innocents and resists the symbiote's more violent urges, though he unwittingly tends to cause loads of collateral damage in his fights with Spider-Man. He's also disgusted by his psychotic "son" Carnage; when Carnage first appeared, Venom was willing to set aside his feud with Spider-Man to work together and stop Carnage from hurting anyone else. This is all because in Brock's delusional mind, he's the "lethal protector" of New York and ''Spider-Man'' is the monster threatening the city.
** Indeed, Venom's disgust with Carnage is nearly universal across every continuity and medium they both appear in, and although Venom has vacillated between AntiHero and villain of the worst sort, '''regardless''' of his position on the moral spectrum at the moment he's always willing to drop everything and team up with everyone from Spider-Man to Captain America to take Carnage down.
** During ''Beyond!'', the Mac Gargan version of Venom was one of the many characters saved by Gravity's HeroicSacrifice. At the boy's funeral, Venom showed up in disguise to pay his respects.
-->'''Alyosha Kravinoff''': You're a piece of crap, Gargan.
-->'''Venom''': I'm a ''grieving'' piece of crap.
* ''ComicBook/KickAss'':
** [[spoiler:Averted in Volume 2, Issue 4, when Red Mist guns down a group of children. Then proceeds to kill the main character's love interest's mother and father and gang rape her with 2 of his henchmen. Though one could argue that the way the first volume ended she wasn't an entirely sympathetic character at that point. On the other hand, the book doesn't make any effort to justify her rape]]. [[spoiler:Well, one of his Mooks asked whether if it was really necessary. The others were outright disgusted with Motherfucker and with themselves, but they did as told. They outright declare that the rape was going too far, but again they don't do anything about it]].
** In the following issue, [[spoiler:[[CorruptCop Vic Gigante]] tells Red Mist that his gang aren't getting any special treatment anymore, and that the police force & the various mafia families are gunning for them now]].
* While ComicBook/DoctorDoom attempted to use it to his advantage and ComicBook/{{Apocalypse}}'s solution to the crisis involved him attempting to [[WouldHurtAChild murder]] [[ComicBook/MisterFantastic Reed]] [[ComicBook/FantasticFour and]] [[ComicBook/InvisibleWoman Sue Richards]]' [[[[ComicBook/FantasticFour son, Franklin]] both were horrified by ComicBook/{{Onslaught}}'s actions and wanton destruction (and in fact, in addition to ridding himself of a potential rival, Apocalypse's attempt to kill Franklin was also done to try to end the conflict).
* Played for laughs in an early ComicBook/HowardTheDuck story. Howard and Bev are in a mansion in the Poconos, when an enraged group from a nearby town start attacking the mansion because they've got a beef with the owner. The owner releases the hounds, prompting this exchange:
-->'''Townsperson #1''': "Aw, ''fudge!'' It's them dratted, dad-blamed dogs again. Somebody tell Arnie to get his butt up here with that flamethrower."
-->'''Townsperson #2''': "He won't burn dogs. Only people. He ''likes'' dogs."
* ComicBook/{{Taskmaster}} may be willing to work for an awful lot of people as long as the money's good, but he has nothing but sympathy for the terrible wages of security guards and tries to spare them where possible.
* In the ''ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'' story arc "Get Mystique", at the end, after their climactic fight to the death, Wolverine confronts a dying Mystique:
-->"We're nothing alike, Raven, I want you to die knowing that. Lord knows I've made mistakes, and most of them involved someone dying who shouldn't have, but I'm paying for my mistakes by trying to put things right, but you just go on over and over making the same damn ones..." *Then he drops a gun holding a single bullet and says* "...and I think you know what that's for". *walks away, as Mystique screams and curses after him*
* In the ''ComicBook/DarkAvengers: ComicBook/{{Ares}}'' three-part mini-serial, after Ares' malevolent godly son Kyknos impales one of Ares' men and makes a [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor truly awful pun]] about becoming "a fisher of men", a disgusted Ares declares that whilst he is the god of war, slaughter and even murder, he's not the god of ''sadism'' as he attacks Kyknos.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Others]]
* The Hutts in ''ComicBook/{{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/potential customers is apparently the line they cannot tolerate. Given that the nephew of a high ranking Hutt died for sheltering them, revenge is partially responsible.
* Subverted by ''ComicBook/JohnnyTheHomicidalManiac''. Johnny is a mass murderer who repeatedly kills scores of people for 'offenses' such as chewing in an annoying manner or using the word "wacky", and has a several floors deep TortureCellar. Upon learning that his own antics has inspired an AscendedFanboy serial killer who also turns out to be a rapist he becomes becomes ''extremely'' disgusted, as it is [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil the one line Johnny himself will]] ''[[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil not]]'' [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil cross.]] However, Johnny states outright that this limitation gives him no absolution: He regularly does things to his victims just as bad as rape, and his aversion to rape isn't so much a standard [[ParalyzingFearOfSexuality as it is a natural result of his hatred of physical contact and giving in to bodily desires]].
** Johnny does have a standard that isn't used in that scene, however: [[WouldntHurtAChild He never harms children]] (intentionally). He also seems to be protective of his neighbor Squee, in his own warped way, especially when [[spoiler:he rips apart the pedophile who's taken Squee out behind the mall]].
---> "You flaw. At least I'm under the delusion of doing something productive."
* Hunter Rose, protagonist of the early ''ComicBook/{{Grendel}}'' stories by Matt Wagner, was a sadistic, sociopathic crime-lord/hired assassin, who made a point of suppressing all underage prostitution within New York. In his first ever appearance he cheerfully guts the head of the largest child prostitution ring in the city, commenting "I no like dat."
** Also, he will ''not'' kill in front of a child, even if it leaves witnesses to one of his crimes. [[spoiler: Not intentionally, anyway.]]
* ''ComicStrip/ModestyBlaise'', during her criminal career (the series starts when her retirement becomes too boring) was always very strict about rejecting drug-dealing and prostitution, and no violence against innocents was allowed. In fact she often did pro-bono attacks on procurers. And when she was set up to traffic drugs in return for the life of a friend, she chose NOT to traffic drugs. She was also against killing, unless it was absolutely necessary, preferring to knock out people who got in her way. Also, she gave her henchmen pension funds, when she retired her operations. It's hard to consider her a villain at all.
* In the retelling of ''Literature/SleepingBeauty'' featured in ''ComicBook/CastleWaiting'', {{Satan}} himself proves to have standards. Disgusted with the evil witch being willing to {{curse}} an [[ChildrenAreInnocent innocent baby]] then subvert the attempts to get around her curse, he disguises himself as the Opinicus (a griffin-like creature) and carries her off to Hell personally. The demon Leeds complains that he loses more friends that way.
* ''Comicbook/StreetFighter'':
** Despite being a merciless killer throughout much of his life, Gen [[WouldNotHurtAChild refuses to murder a young Chun-Li]] after she sees him kill Geki, even though the assassin's code he follows [[LeaveNoWitnesses forbids him from leaving witnesses]]. The moment serves as Gen's turning point, [[CharacterDevelopment and leads to him vowing to never kill again]].
** Crimson Viper breaks her cover to rescue Sakura after she realizes S.I.N. will torture and likely kill the teen.
* In many cases, there are Decepticons in ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' who are despicable even by Decepticon standards and roundly viewed with abhorrence by their comrades.
** Like the cannibal Skullcruncher, who devours downed enemies solely for symbolism (as he can't get nutrients from eating other Cybertronians and doesn't care for the taste, though he's occasionally been said to be able to regenerate faster doing it).
** Or the especially cruel and bullying Motormaster.
** There's at least one Autobot who goes above and beyond Decepticon standards. Repugnus is... special like that... [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Repugnant]].
** Sunstreaker, who was actually diagnosed as a sociopath in one profile. Or Blaze Master who laughs as he burns Decepticons alive. Or Arcee who in the IDW books is a mass murdering torturer who likes to slowly kill her enemies. As the series has evolved GreyAndGreyMorality has definitely emerged.
** In the final issue of IDW's ''ComicBook/TheTransformersAllHailMegatron'' limited series, [[spoiler:Thundercracker spoils Megatron's plan to nuke New York City because he felt that the CurbStompBattle of the Decepticons against the humans was beneath the Decepticons' standards.]]
** IDW's ''[[Comicbook/TheTransformersIDW Transformers]]'' series, at least initially. The Autobots and Decepticons are out to destroy each other. But they both adhere to the [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Code_of_Interplanetary_Conflict Code of Interplanetary Conflict]], which lists rules that the war must follow.
** At another point, North Korea attempts to bribe the Decepticons into destroying South Korea and manage to acquire the services of the Combaticons. The Autobots intervene to save South Korea, and the whole thing nearly ends with Russia nuking the entire Korean peninsula. Thundercracker, while not exactly the most pleasant individual and a fairly dangerous (former) Decepticon himself, proves that he has had just enough of North Korea's hijinks and the Decepticons in general, and responds by blowing up the North Korean energon facility so they wouldn't pull that kind of stunt again, presumably because they would blame the Decepticons for what they perceived as treachery.
** Megatron could arguably be at his most evil ([[FallenHero and most good, for that matter]]) in the IDW comics, but when Thunderwing showed him his method of creating Pretender shells, which consisted of using living Transformer tissue, it was so horrific that even he rejected it and called Thunderwing mad. (He also fought alongside Optimus Prime against Thunderwing, when the scientist's self-experimentation resulted in him becoming a completely insane engine of destruction.) In addition, Razorclaw was ordered by Megatron to destroy Cybertron to stop Thunderwing; Razorclaw disliked the idea enough to put in a killswitch on the device that would disarm it if they could stop Thunderwing within a certain amount of time.
** Aside from Swoop and Sludge, the Dinobots are also often portrayed as being {{Jerkass}}es (Snarl), bullies (Grimlock), or out-and-out sadists (Slag), and the shy Swoop and amiably dim Sludge cross into these areas at times... but while some treatments have them considering it, they haven't ever actually joined the Decepticons, and Slag even changes his name to Slug because Arcee found it offensive (which it is; slag--leftovers from smelting--is the Transformers' S-word).
** In ''ComicBook/TheTransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers'', Snare eventually rebels against Overlord's insane reign over Garrus-9 after being forced to recycle a dead Autobot and watch the execution of [[spoiler:Rotorstorm]]. Snare was part of Stalker's torture team only a short while before.
** ''ComicBook/TheTransformersWindblade'': Nobody likes Starscream, even the Decepticons who served with him. Octane, who once almost nuked New York, feels he's a disloyal DirtyCoward, and Swindle, famous for double-dealing, manipulating, and generally swindling, thinks that Starscream's treachery is too much.
** There's also Sixshot, [[OneManArmy a one-robot army]] and a Phase Sixer--Decepticon shorthand for "''world killer''". He's TheDreaded to Autobots and Decepticons alike, and is both [[BloodKnight heavily inclined to violence]] and [[GeniusBruiser extremely intelligent]]. However, as it turns out, Sixshot doesn't like the idea of turning against his allies, which is rather amusing considering Decepticons tend to experience considerable treachery within the ranks. Notably, he is the only Phase Sixer to never desert the cause or oppose Megatron. (His ''Anime/TransformersHeadmasters'' incarnation was known for a different major moral standard -- he WouldntHurtAChild.)
** Subverted with Tarn of the Decepticon Justice Division. While he closes his eyes behind his mask when his comrades get sadistic and refuses to trade the lives of his handful of teammates for 500 or so former Decepticon soldiers serving under Deathsaurus, his ostensible standards don't actually lead him to ''modify'' his behaviour in any way - they just make him come up with justifications, most of which involve the words "Decepticon Cause" in some context, for whatever brutality is next on the agenda. His response to the torture doesn't lead to him actually trying to stop it, [[spoiler:nor did it stop him from smelting down still-living Autobots in Grindcore Prison while gloating about it to Skids]], and his loyalty to his underlings [[spoiler:doesn't prevent him from ripping off Kaon's head for caring too much for the TeamPet]] - ultimately, whatever standards Tarn tells himself he has, they end up not meaning anything.
* While not quite evil, [[AlphaBitch Sistah Spooky]] pushed aside her severe dislike of Comicbook/{{Empowered}} to warn her of an upcoming HumiliationConga. Even she didn't like seeing what had happened before happen again, even to Empowered.
** In what may or may not be an example of this or WhatYouAreInTheDark, Mindfuck claims that she is only a good person because she used her powers to completely rewrite her personality, and that she used to be a terrible person. She did this after being mutilated by her brother and deciding she wanted to be nothing like him. [[UnreliableNarrator It's uncertain whether she actually was as bad as she thought, or if it's just her self-doubt in the face of her fellow heroes for whom being good just comes naturally.]]
** This behavior is justified for the "average" villains. There are what are called the "unwritten rules" about how a villain should treat captured superheroes (most notably, no killing or raping.) These rules are followed because any villain who breaks them is going to get the normally divided and unreliable super-hero community to band together and crush anyone who does. It's not standards on the part of the villains (Well, except for [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad Wet Blanket]]), but rather simple pragmatism. Villains who do break these rules [[SuperpowerLottery have the power to successfully fight off massive teams of superheroes singlehandedly.]] This leads to the bizarre dichotomy of villains either being [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBOoks Silver Age]] style, or something that is ComicBook/TheJoker at his worst. [[IncendiaryExponent Only made of fire.]]
* In a ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'' ''{{ComicStrip/Nodwick}}'' strip parodying ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'''s "Slave Pits of the Undercity" module, evil slave lords Blackthorn and Markessa are shocked, appalled, and disgusted when Artax pretends to be a merchant seeking slaves to staff his chain of convenience stores.
-->'''Piffany:''' I told you: even '''they''' have standards!
* ComicBook/{{Saga}}: The Will, an unrepentant ProfessionalKiller, reacts to being offered the services of a child sex slave by rescuing her and killing her owner. One of the late sex trafficker's associates {{Lampshades}} it by wondering why a man whose business might involve ''killing'' children is showing such moral outrage.
* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' example: Phil, the Prince of Insufficient Light and former ruler of Heck, looks for a job.
-->'''Phil''': I would probably be good at any job involving sin.\\
'''Dogbert''': Marketing?\\
'''Phil''': I ''have'' a soul... it's just a small one.
* In ''ComicBook/WitchGirlsTales'', CardCarryingVillain Princess Lucinda tends to make statements along the lines of this trope when justifying her NobleDemon tendencies. Well, either that, or turn the person who dares to doubt her evil into a frog.
* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'':
** ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'':
*** If you're a Grandmaster of the [[BlackCloak Dark Legion]], expect to face off against this trope eventually; former OmnicidalManiac Dimitri has a ''lot'' of these, ever since his depowerment, most notably his balking at reviving his previous SuperpoweredEvilSide Enerjak, even though it would've restored him to health (even going so far as to warn his enemy Knuckles of Enerjak's return); and his usurper and current Grandmaster Lien-Da, who has no problems with performing {{Klingon Promotion}}s and {{Mind Control}}ling the Legion as a way of gaining status, or torturing a former ally to ''death'' with a smile on her face, turns on her ally Shadow in the ''Mobius: X Years Later'' storyline, after it's revealed he's going to destroy the world with an EldritchAbomination.
*** Upon his FaceHeelTurn, Geoffrey St. John admits in issue 235 that while he isn't always trustworthy, he does respect his adversaries. He even admits that what happened to Sally and Antoine isn't what he wanted and sympathizes with Sonic over what happened with Sally. He's horrified to learn in Universe 43 that Naugus plans MassHypnosis over the Acorn Council, an equivalent of roboticization. He believes that some lines need to be crossed to make things change, but Naugus' plan just goes too far.
*** In ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogMegaManWorldsCollide'', Dr. Wily is shown to be bothered when he finds out that the Roboticized Masters, which Dr. Eggman helped to create using an altered [[UnwillingRoboticisation roboticization]] process on Sonic's friends, have no real personality (which Eggman, having a history with [[AIIsACrapshoot betrayal by his more intelligent creations]], considers a feature rather than a bug). Wily's willing to let this slide for the sake of their partnership, though the final straw for him is [[spoiler:Eggman's attempt to kill Dr. Light; Wily had only ever wanted to best and humiliate Light, not kill him. The revelation that the [[CosmicRetcon Super Genesis Wave]] could potentially destroy both their worlds doesn't sit well with Wily either, while Eggman assures him that they could rebuild their worlds however they wanted, making any damage irrelevant]].
** In ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'', Robotnik's right hand man Grimer thinks Robotnik is going too far by trying to destroy Mobius. The second time Robotnik tries to destroy Mobius Grimer quits working for him.
* In ''ComicBook/GarfieldHis9Lives'' 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.
* In the original ''ComicBook/AliensVsPredator'' comic miniseries that kicked [[Franchise/AlienVsPredator the crossover off]], the clan leader kills one of the younger hunters when he sees a child's skull in the other's trophy bag. That is part of the Predators' code -- only those who can defend themselves, otherwise it's not sporting.
* In one issue of ''[[ComicBook/TheSimpsons Simpsons Comics]]'', Mr. Burns tricks Homer into starring in a deadly gameshow. While Homer struggles to get through a maze full of traps, Burns sits in a control room pondering what to throw at him. We're shown some very dangerous and downright cruel things... but he draws the line at making Homer listen to [[TakeThat James Cameron's infamous Oscar acceptance speech on a continuous loop]], as he's "still a human being".
* In ''ComicBook/DarkwingDuck'', Steelbeak isn't pulling a HeelFaceTurn, but unleashing Duckthulu? Even he has his limits. [[spoiler:Only not really]].
* In the Italian Disney stories about Paperinik the Devilish Avenger (WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck's vigilante secret identity), Paperinik has committed his fair share of crimes (his first story sees him ''stealing Scrooge's mattress while he's sleeping on it'', and he's beaten up and humiliated other characters and the police many times, even throwing Gladstone down the wall of a castle before the whole population of Duckburg), but he always drew the line at gratuitous crimes and actually profiting from them (at worst he forces people who stole from him as Donald to pay him back more money than they stole from him), resulting in him capturing and handing to the police about half of Duckburg's criminal population.
* ''ComicStrip/KnightsOfTheDinnerTable Illustrated'' : Knuckles captured a member of the cult that tortured Thorina. Knowing that Knuckles intended to kill him, and knowing also the Untouchable Trio's notorious reputation for greed and selfishness, the cultist tried to persuade Knuckles to join his cult instead, offering lavish rewards. Knuckles mentally pictured himself torturing Thorina, and then promptly killed the cultist, saying, ''"Sorry, bud, but even I've got standards."''
* In ''Comicbook/AmericanFlagg'', Titania Weis, a devoted fascist and member of an explicitly Nazi-inspired political party, objects to plans by the even worse American Survivalist Labor Committee to kill the entire population of Chicago with poison gas.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' #57 (Feb. 2005): In "Presents Of Mine," Him persuades Buttercup to use her share of the girls' allowance (with which they planned on buying something for the Professor) into buying something for herself. But when the Gangreen Gang starts stealing toys from a charity bin, it cheeses Him off ("Even I wouldn't stoop to something ''that'' rotten!") and he helps the girls lay an unholy smackdown on the Gang. (And this is a villain that is supposed to be either the Devil himself or something very close. Go figure.)
* The BigBad of ''Comicbook/TrollsDeTroy'', when he learns what Waha's biological mother has in mind for her daughter (she's a prostitute turned madam and wants Waha to follow in her footsteps), decides to throw her off his dragon's back to her death far, far below.
* ''Comicbook/TwoThousandAD'':
** In one of the later stories of ''ComicBook/NemesisTheWarlock'', BigBad Torquemada is sent time-travelling, where he eventually encounters his namesake (and past incarnation), often considered the face of the Spanish Inquisition. The historical Torquemada takes his namesake prisoner and starts torturing him, but the future Torquemada [[TooKinkyToTorture is impervious]] and instead happily regales his past self with stories of the things he has done in the future, using lessons building upon those of many of his past incarnations, but especially his namesake's and UsefulNotes/{{Adolf Hitler}}'s. The historical Torquemada is horrified by the things he hears, and the fact of how he will be remembered in the future as a vehemently racist bigoted psychopathic monster, rather than the humble follower of God's creed that he has always seen himself as, leads him to a prominent HeelRealisation.
** ''ComicBook/ButtonMan'': Harry is a brutal and efficient killer in the [[BloodSport Killing Game]], but when he was called in to take out [[spoiler:Adele's father]] along with three other guys to punish the man for [[ResignationsNotAccepted trying to get out of the Game]], he refused on the basis that he's not some cheap thug for hire.
* ''ComicBook/{{Uber}}'': Sieglinde and Siegmund are disgusted by the level of sadisic glee that their fellow Über, Siegfried, takes in his atrocities. After Siegfried single-handedly massacres hundreds of thousands of Soviet POWS on Hitler's orders, Sieglinde notes that if it had been her, she'd have refused.
* In the ZombieApocalypse comic ''Feast,'' a group of escaped convicts (all particulary dangerous and violent ones) are trapped in the upper floor of a shop surrounded by the hungry dead. When they realize that there's one guy there who they don't know what he's in for, they press him for it until another inmate pipes up that he recognizes him, and he's in for raping and murdering children. Upon this revelation, the lead convict ''immediately'' grabs the guy and throws him out the window to the zombies. One of the cons is also a serial rapist, and when they need some bait to distract the zombies and a con asks who, the [[TokenGoodTeammate one good con]] says "Who do you ''think?''" Cut to the rapist in handcuffs running from the zombies while screaming "FUCK YOU GUYS!"
* One story in the horror comic ''Flinch'' had a necrophiliac dig up a new wife from the graveyard, a victim of a local serial killer. Dragging her across the road, he's struck by a car, which turns out to be driven by said serial killer, who recognizes his victim...and reacts to the dead necrophiliac with disgust; "Torture and murder is one thing...But messing with a corpse? You got to be '''sick''' for that kind of thing."
* In ''[[ComicBook/AthenaVoltaire Athena Voltaire and the Brotherhood of Shambalha]]'', Desmond Forsyth says that Ethan Storm studied under Creator/AleisterCrowley (who, in real life, got dubbed "the wickedest man in the world"), but that Crowley "found Storm to be too intent on exploring the ''dark'' side... which is saying ''a lot''".
* The Misfits in ''ComicBook/JemAndTheHolograms'' are {{Jerk Ass}}es but murderers they are not. They refuse to talk about or even acknowledge [[spoiler:Clash's]] attempted murder of their [[TheRival rival]] Jem.
* ''ComicBook/{{Iznogoud}}'': Iznogoud might be a cruel, petty, greedy and ambitious EvilChancellor, but he is disgusted when he catches his executioner trying to get himself paid for mercy, and delivers a speech saying mercy should never be bought.
* Despite being an AxCrazy PsychopathicManchild operating on BlueAndOrangeMorality, Negan from ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead'' has a surprising number of standards. First, he wholeheartedly believes in RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil, to the point that he has been willing to execute his own men out of disgust at seeing them commit rape, and been willing to fight to save strangers who were about to be raped. Second, he despises cowards and betrayers, and on several occasions he [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves killed]] or otherwise refused to work with people who wanted to sell out their own side to him. (By contrast, [[YouGotSpunk he shows much more respect to opponents who stand up to him]].) Lastly, he loathes the SocialDarwinist outlook, particularly their attitude towards weaker people, and at one point he gives another character a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech over it that would be a KirkSummation if it was coming from someone more heroic.
-->'''Negan:''' Maybe you fucking nutcases need me. Because if that's how you do things, you're so fucked in the head you might as well be dead bodies pretending you're still fucking alive. That shit is vile, [[spoiler:Alpha]]. You should be ashamed of yourself. (...) Protecting the weak is the whole fucking basis for civilization. If you're not protecting the weak, you're not civilized. You're fucking animals.
* In ''ComicBook/{{WITCH}}'' Nerissa, an insane villain whose endgame included an act that could have destroyed the entire universe, identifies the Tower of Mists as Kandrakar's prison and admits that even ''she'' is terrified of the inmates. Considering that her crime against Kandrakar [[FallenHero back when she was one of the Guardians]] was murdering her best friend and fellow Guardian and threatening Kandrakar with absolute destruction and was ''not'' imprisoned in the Tower, that speaks a lot of the inmates besides Phobos.
* Baron Konig in ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}'' miniseries ''B.P.R.D.: 1947'' is a cruel VampireMonarch that regards humans as cattle, yet he completely loathes ThoseWackyNazis for betraying another vampire lord that tried to form an alliance with Hitler, who was so creeped out by him that he ordered his execution. Granted, Konig didn't like his kinsman very much and agreed he got what was coming for even considering making a deal with his "inferiors", but what truly appalled him was the Nazis performing experiments on said vampire's brides to create a weapon for themselves.
* John D. Rockerduck from the ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse''. His standards are DependingOnTheWriter, but unlike Flintheart Glomgold, he is usually AffablyEvil and is ''never'' portrayed as willing to stoop to murder.
* ''ComicBook/{{Djinn}}'': Sultan Murati is an manipulative and ruthless monarch who has no problem ordering the death of any woman in his [[RoyalHarem seraglio]] once he grows bored with them. Having said that, he is disturbed when he discovers that his previous favorite's little daughter was murdered alongside her mother. When a British lady becomes one of his harem girls, he assures the outraged diplomats that he is not an brute that forced her into it, that she went along of her own free will and she is free to leave whenever she wants to. When he steps down from power (partly because he doesn't have much to live), he frees the women in his harem.
* ''ComicBook/ArchieComics''. Jason Blossom is a full-blown jerkass, but even he has boundaries. When Jason's best friend Cedric sabotages Dilton to have Pembrooke Academy (his and Jason's school then) win a quiz show, Moose manages to win on a sports question, and then clobbers Cedric when he found out what Cedric did to his "little buddy." Jason, understandably, congratulates the Riverdale team and leaves Cedric hurting.
* ''ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck'': Soapy Slick and his men take great enjoyment in mocking Scrooge by reading his letters and calling him a MommasBoy... but said men [[DudeNotFunny all stop laughing immediately]] when Soapy informs Scrooge his mother has died and ''[[KickTheDog laughs in his face over it]]''.
[[/folder]]

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* [[Monster/

*** Given that Doom has frequently shown outright paternal feeling for the Richards kids (particularly Valeria) himself, he probably figures he could raise them better himself.
** Doom also has no tolerance for racism. In the graphic novel ''Emperor Doom,'' when he finally succeeds in taking over the world, one of the first things he does is end apartheid in South Africa. Which makes sense given that his mother was Romani, an ethnic group that is still routinely persecuted in many parts of Europe.

** Interestingly, in ''ComicBook/TheDarkKnightReturns'', the Joker had no qualms having a Neo-Nazi woman who wore swastika pasties on her boobs and butt work for him. Then again, said story ''was'' written before most of the examples where he was shown to hate nazis were (and her appearance in ''ComicBook/AllStarBatmanAndRobinTheBoyWonder'', which was written after most examples, was likely a case of GrandfatherClause).
** The Joker of the ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'' universe also doesn't like Nazis, as shown in the ''Year Zero'' [[https://imgur.com/gallery/NOz5yEy tie-in comic.]]

* T.O. Morrow also gets a twisted version of this during ''ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsJLA'', as he informed the League about where a deactivate Amazo was just to shut Professor Ivo up--with the twisted part being he didn't want to help the League too much, so he'd lied and told them they had more time than they did so they'd fight Amazo.