History KnightTemplar / ComicBooks

%%* Captain Rochnan, the commander of the Vatican's Warrior Monks, in ''ComicBook/TheScorpion''.

%%* Captain Rochnan, the commander of the Vatican's Warrior Monks, in ''ComicBook/TheScorpion''.

%% * Pictured in the main page, Imperius from ''ComicBook/TheInfinite''.

* Captain Rochnan, the commander of the Vatican's Warrior Monks, in ''ComicBook/LeScorpion''.

* This is a common AlternateUniverse for {{Super Hero}}es.

** At one point, the Autobots in the ''Franchise/TransformersGeneration1'' [[ComicBook/TheTransformers comic]] became like this when Grimlock became leader after one of Optimus Prime's numerous {{Heroic Sacrifice}}s.

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[[quoteright:271:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TVTROPESDREDD_519.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:271:'''[[IAmTheNoun I AM THE LAW!!!]]''']]

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* ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' had the Pale Horseman, a vengeful spirit who was manifested by extradimensional energy that was attracted to the populace's DarkerAndEdgier mood. He targeted all evildoers in his quest, incinerating hardened killers and jaywalkers equally.
* ''ComicBook/TheAuthority'' is a group of KnightTemplar superheroes.
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':
** During the ''ComicBook/{{Knightfall}}'' story arc, Franchise/{{Batman}}'s [[AntiHeroSubstitute fill-in]], ComicBook/{{Azrael}}, a.k.a. Jean-Paul Valley, was a member of the [[ChurchMilitant Order of St. Dumas]], a Templar-esque organization of assassins. The second part of ''Knightfall'', ''Knightquest'', tells the story of how Jean-Paul turned from Batman's LegacyCharacter into a Knight Templar.
** ComicBook/RasAlGhul was also this, along with his whole League of Assassins. He truly believes that he is purging evil from Gotham, and he's steadily going crazier due to the Lazarus Pit. That's a bad combination!
** Another Knight Templar, and a CanonImmigrant, was Lyle Bolton, a.k.a. Lock-Up, who, in [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries the animated series]], was once the new Head of Security at Arkham Asylum, but whose methods were so harsh and extreme that everyone at the asylum was afraid of him, particularly Scarecrow. After being relieved of his post, he would go on to [[TheJailer "arrest" and imprison]] those who he deemed to be at the root of Gotham's problems, including the mayor, Commissioner Gordon, reporter Summer Gleeson, and the chief doctor of Arkham -- the very same people who exposed his abuse of power and got him fired -- before being stopped by Batman and Robin.
** Batman himself becomes this in various alternate universes, with one prominent example being ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'' which is set some years in the future and features an older, more cynical Batman who has finally brought peace to Gotham City -- by transforming it into a totalitarian police state patrolled by his private army of GiantMook robots. Some story arcs such as ''ComicBook/BatmanHush'', also toy with the idea of the Caped Crusader becoming one of these in the present day, pushing him to some hitherto-unreached breaking point where he considers the idea only to walk him back from the brink via the intervention of one of his trusted confidants (usually Commissioner Gordon).

* ''ComicBook/TheFlash'': Reverse-Flash II/Zoom/Hunter Zolomon, the EvilCounterpart to Wally West, believes he is improving the abilities of various heroes, especially Wally, by making them experience tragedy. By which we mean he kills [[AndYourLittleDogToo everybody who has had so much as a casual conversation with the hero]], gloats about said murders, curbstomps the grieving people, and goes all "you'll be a better hero now!"
* ''Franchise/GreenLantern'':
** In the lore of the mythos, the Lanterns were preceded by a robot force known as the Manhunters. A perfect example of the trope, they are the "logical guardian machines removing free will".
** Sinestro got kicked out of the Green Lantern Corps for doing this. He had the most peaceful and orderly planet in the universe -- because he was ruling it with an iron fist.
** After ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'', the Green Lantern Corps create a sort of internal security force called the Alpha Lanterns -- ''using Manhunter technology''. This ends up biting them in the ass, eventually.
** After the events of ''ComicBook/BrightestDay'', the Guardians themselves fell under this trope, creating the Third Army, who wiped out the free will of those they converted. [[TooDumbToLive And they used the power of The First Lantern to do this]].

* ''ComicBook/IronMan'' became one of these during and after ''ComicBook/CivilWar''. This need not have happened; both sides were intended to have valid points, but the Editors failed to realise that some of the writers agreed with the Anti-Registration side, so they just [[StrawCharacter kept penning atrocity after atrocity]]. The main book had him (illegally) clone a god and set him on his former friends, resulting in the death of Bill Foster, aka Goliath. Moreover, the atrocities that didn't involve Iron Man, such as arresting ComicBook/CaptainAmerica for refusing to enforce something that isn't a law under the orders of someone who has no authority over him, also took place in the main book. It was a Knight Templar orgy from the beginning.

* ''ComicBook/KingdomCome''. The premise being "what if Franchise/TheDCU experienced a metahuman population explosion, and they became Knight Templars [[NinetiesAntiHero Nineties Anti-Heroes]] with no regard for collateral damage or civilian casualties, thus forcing the [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] and [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] heroes out of retirement to set them straight?" Most notable of them is Magog. He ends up repenting though.

* ComicBook/{{Foolkiller}} from Creator/SteveGerber's ''ComicBook/ManThing'' believes that he's on Earth to punish fools for being insufficiently godly. At least the first one did. The problem is, a ''lot'' of people have held this identity since then, and while all of them targeted "fools" the definition of that term tended to be different for each of them.

* Starr from ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'', a fusion of Templar attitude and Templar position and mission.
* ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'', Frank Castle, is one of the deadliest {{Vigilante M|an}}en in the entire Franchise/MarvelUniverse, with a body count that rivals most of Marvel's villains. His watchword is PayEvilUntoEvil, and when he's on one of his many vengeance sprees, the question is not "how far will he go?", but "how fast will he get there?" Notably, Frank doesn't believe he's on the side of the angels, and in several stories reflects on how his methods PayEvilUntoEvil.
* Crux from ''ComicBook/RedHoodAndTheOutlaws''. Obsessed with killing aliens? Check. Willing to go to extreme lengths to do it? Check. Honestly thinks he's the good guy, and people should praise and more over side with what he does? Check. He's so much so that he's literally perplexed when Arsenal attacks him to defend Starfire.

* ''ComicBook/TheSpectre'' sometimes goes this route, especially [[DependingOnTheWriter when he's portrayed]] as a completely inhuman creature that happens to use a human body as its host. He once considered annihilating New York to avenge the death of a single innocent man. DisproportionateRetribution doesn't even begin to describe The Spectre.
* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' has often fought a high-tech vigilante called Cardiac who targets people who commit evil and immoral acts, but find legal loopholes to ecape justice. And let's face it; a lot of people would take Cardiac's side here. His victims are [[AssholeVictim horrible men]] who rob people blind and cause innocents to suffer, but find ways to legally do it, always with selfish goals in mind. Even Spider-Man, who tries to stop him when he can, can't help but admire him a little sometimes.
** Another notable admirer of Cardiac is none other than Otto Octavius, who met the vigilante while going through something of a Templar phase himself as the ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan. Originally outraged when Cardiac stole one of his old inventions, Otto had a quick change of heart when he learned what Cardiac [[HealthcareMotivation planned to use it]] [[LittlestCancerPatient for]], and the team-up produced what was arguably Otto's most redeeming PetTheDog moment in the entire run.
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** The {{Elseworld}} story ''ComicBook/SupermanRedSon'' features a Kal-El who lands in Soviet Russia, is brought up as the son of Stalin, and encompasses the world in a prosperous but tightly controlled dictatorship, which deals with dissidents using robotic mind-control on the basis that, [[TechnicalPacifist hey, it's better than]] ''[[ThouShaltNotKill killing]]'' them! In the end, [[spoiler:ComicBook/LexLuthor defeats him by writing him a letter: "I'm distilling everything Superman hates and fears about himself into a '''''[[BoldInflation single sentence]]'''''." The contents of the letter: "Why don't you just put the whole WORLD in a BOTTLE, Superman?" Unusual for most Knight Templar characters, this works, and Superman breaks down and cries, realizing that he's no different from Brainiac, who shrunk down cities and put them in bottles -- the only thing Superman wasn't able to undo]].
** In the regular Franchise/DCUniverse, the 90s incarnation of Superman's enemy Toyman is this way.
-->'''Prankster:''' Why do you do it, "Toyman"? Why do you hurt people?\\
'''Toyman:''' Because they deserve it.
** Interestingly, this Toyman was later revealed/retconned into being an android body double of the real deal, one of many (to explain away his constantly-changing appearance) whose misanthropy was the result of malfunctioning hardware. The real deal is repulsed by his double's WouldHurtAChild tendencies, though tellingly isn't repulsed enough to actually bother ''destroying'' it.
** Superboy-Prime gradually turns into a Knight Templar throughout ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'', as Earth-Prime and its heroes were too amoral for him, albeit one of the decidedly hypocritical variety -- in his NoHoldsBarredBeatdown of the ComicBook/TeenTitans, he memorably rants about how amoral and corrupt they are while ''literally ripping them limb from limb''.
** The Eradicator, during his early days, was this. When he first gained a humanoid form, he sought to turn Earth into Krypton by force. When he came back following ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'', he sought to stop criminals his way, by flash frying them.
** An alternate Superman becomes this in ''ComicBook/InjusticeGodsAmongUs''. He becomes a tyrant and establishes a new world order after ComicBook/TheJoker tricks him into killing Lois Lane and nuking Metropolis. Most of the Justice League supports him, except for Batman, who felt that Superman was becoming too extreme. The comics show Superman's slow descent into villainy between the prologue of [[VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs the video game]] and 5 years later, when Batman, who has now become the leader of an insurgent group determined to take down the fallen Man of Steel, summons counterparts of the League's members from the main universe to join his insurgency and depose Superman. By the end of the game, Superman and his Regime allies have become NotSoDifferent from [[HeWhoFightsMonsters the criminals they fought earlier]].
* ''ComicBook/TalesFromTheDarkMultiverse'' revisits many of DC's past storylines with dark, twisted versions of its characters... including the aforementioned Azrael and Eradicator.
** Its version of ''ComicBook/{{Knightfall}}'' takes place in a universe where Bruce failed to stop Azrael after he became one of these and thus Gotham spends thirty years as a theocratic PoliceState ruled by Valley. [[spoiler:In the end, a nanite-infused Bruce comes to agree with Azrael and takes over.]]
** The issue dealing with ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'' sees ComicBook/LoisLane devolve into one of these after she does a FusionDance with the Eradicator in her ExcessiveMourning, leading her to directly or indirectly kill several villains and even heroes she blamed for the state of the world.
* Baron Zemo became one after his so-called reform in ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}''. Zemo crafts elaborate plans to take over the world which he claims are actually to save it. Problem of course being they all still look and sound like an EvilPlan. This runs the mile of stealing power from nations he feels too stupid to wield them, making a machine to easily destroy all nuclear weapons, and lastly to instill himself with [[AGodAmI godlike powers]] to change the world for the better. This last one blows up in his face when his teammate betrays him in revenge and just plain not trusting him to actually mean the "for the better" part.

* In ''ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour'', the Ultimate version of [[spoiler:the Psycho Man mind controls a world to feel happy and content, while the Ultimate Silver Surfer argues that they are merely happy slaves]]. Also, Dr. Doom is always working on creating his "utopia", even if it means destroying the world as we know it. Hey, it's for a good cause.
* ''ComicBook/TheUltimates2015:'' Master Order, anthropomorphic personification of order, starts turning into one [[spoiler:after Galactus attains his true purpose. Insisting this disrupts the status quo, Order tries forcing him to change back, and Galactus responds by punching his teeth out. The next time Order reappears, he's nursing a grudge, demanding Galactus change back, and when the Living Tribunal decides he doesn't have to, Order murders it, and merges with his brother Chaos to form a misshapen thing called Logos, which decides to start enforcing its idea of order on the universe by force]]. Galactus does try pointing out something is making Order act this way, but by the time he does it's a little too late.

* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'':
** Rorschach. His moral absolutism leads him to continue fighting crime even after superheroics have been outlawed, because evil must be punished, even if that means becoming a [[HeWhoFightsMonsters vigilante and effective serial killer]].
** [[spoiler:Adrian Veidt, a.k.a. Ozymandias]] as well.
* ''ComicBook/XMen'':
** The X-Men have faced the Purifiers; a sect of Christian fundamentalists led by Reverend William Stryker. The Purifiers believe that mutants are the children of {{Satan}}, and they are fighting a holy war against them.
** HeelFaceRevolvingDoor aside, ComicBook/{{Magneto}}. Full stop.
** Even more so Magneto's right-hand man [[Characters/XMenBrotherhoodOfMutants Exodus]], who gets bonus Templar points for being an ''actual'' knight templar during the [[UsefulNotes/TheCrusades Third Crusade]].
** A lot of the [[MugglePower mutant-hating]] human villains, who quite sincerely fear that the super-human mutants seek to replace humanity as the planet's dominant species. (It probably doesn't help that various mutant supervillains seem dead set on [[BewareTheSuperman proving them right]].) Some of them will go to [[FinalSolution extreme lengths]] to make the world safe for humanity. One good example is the semi-obscure villain Stephen Lang, who will calmly and seriously tell a young mutant girl to her face that he's sorry, but she has to die.
--->'''ComicBook/JeanGrey:''' [[JustFollowingOrders Following orders]], [[LampShaded huh]]?\\
'''Dr. Lang:''' If you like. You -- mutantkind -- are the enemy. [[NoSympathy I'm to find a way to destroy you]].

* Pictured in the main page, Imperius from ''ComicBook/TheInfinite''.