History Main / DarkIsEvil

** ''Franchise/TheEmperorsNewGroove'': Yzma's wardrobe consists of dark-shaded coloring, which includes her advisor uniform (which is mostly seen at the beginning of the movie).

** {{Subverted|trope}} in the case of Dr. Calico from ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}'', since he's only an ''InUniverse'' villain, specifically for the show that shares the same name as the movie itself.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfVoxMachina'': Umbrasyl is a black dragon who enjoys raining down or breathing acid on his unfortunate victims.
* The main villain of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', [[Characters/SamuraiJackAku Aku]], is essentially a giant shadow demon, and things under his control are often artistically depicted as being wrangled by black veins. There's another element to his darkness as well, with robot enemies having [[BloodlessCarnage black thick oil instead of blood]], and his effect on the corrupting effect on the world is a pollution of it in some cases. Aku takes it to the logical extreme in that he is essentially dark and evil ''itself'' [[MadeOfEvil incarnate]]. This actually serves as a weakness for him: He's completely incapable of doing anything remotely good, to the point that it makes him predictable and [[HoistByHisOwnPetard bites him in the behind]] when doing good would have benefited him more yet he couldn't help but be evil.
* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'': [[PlayingWithATrope Played With]]. The Horde has the Black Garnet, which controls shadows, and which they use for their magic and world domination plans. On the other hand, it's not that the Runestone ''itself'' is evil, just that overuse of one Runestone throws the others out of balance, and the Horde has been abusing its powers heavily. When Adora activates the Runestones in the climax of the first season, it throws off the Horde tech siphoning from it.
** Also, the Horde's fashion sense (in those that [[NonUniformUniform seem to express one]]) trends towards dark colors. The princesses prefer pastels or bright colors [[spoiler:and the two that don't (Entrapta and Scorpia) went Horde]].
** {{Averted|Trope}} with [[spoiler: [[Characters/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPowerHordePrime Horde Prime]], whose chief colors are white and bright green, and who is the most evil person in the series. When Adora exorcises him from Hordak, however, he appears as a black mass with various eyes.]]
* Zigzagged with Raven from ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003''. ''She's'' not evil, but she ''is'' part demon, and that's the side of the family her powers come from. This means she has to maintain incredibly strict self-control, especially while ''using'' said powers, lest she lose control of them or, worse, unleash her SuperPoweredEvilSide.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong'': The Dark Dragon, is listed as the only dragon to have gone bad, and is listed as the #1 threat to the magical world. For comparison, the Huntsman, the BigBad of most of the show, is listed as #3.
* Nightmare Moon from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' played this very straight, being a jet black MadGod who usurped Princess Celestia and plunged the world into eternal night. While her true self, [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicPrincessLuna Princess Luna]], [[DarkIsNotEvil isn't evil]], WordOfGod confirms that the rest of Equestria is still afraid of her partly because of her actions as Nightmare Moon and partly because they still believe in this trope. King Sombra takes this trope even further. He is described as having a "heart as black as night" and was able to subjugate an entire empire on his own with dark magic. [[spoiler:Even then, the comics show that he actually UsedToBeASweetChild, but his constant [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer treatment]] by the other Crystal Ponies and [[TomatoInTheMirror his discovery of being an]] EldritchAbomination eventually made him snap and invoke ThenLetMeBeEvil]].
** The Pony of Shadows, a creature of legend and the main antagonist of "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E25ShadowPlayPart1 Shadow]] [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E26ShadowPlayPart2 Play]]", can be marked down as the literal interpretation of the trope. The Pony of Shadows is actually [[spoiler:a small unicorn by the name of Stygian but bonded with a mysterious destructive force that is MadeOfEvil, formed of shadow energy and made powerful by Stygian's anger over being rejected by the ponies he thought were his friends. Stygian himself has no want of being a monster but the dark force that has consumed him forces him to be such and by the end he is saved by Twilight and the other ponies while the shadow is banished to the Limbo realm without him]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperHeroSquadShow'' episode featuring Chthon (a grey, wrinkled, vaguely demonic man with claws, pointy teeth, and glowing eyes)...
-->'''Iron Man:''' So, what's your prognosis, Doctor?\\
[''Doctor Strange sizes up Chthon, who is cackling and rubbing his hands'']\\
'''Doctor Strange:''' [[ObviouslyEvil He's evil]]...?
* In ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats2011'', BigBad SorcerousOverlord Mumm-Ra is usually a grey, red-eyed, withered little HumanoidAbomination in ShapeshifterDefaultForm, but his personal [[TankGoodness tank]] and the weaponry and armor he possesses in OneWingedAngel form are deep black and chased with TronLines.

* In ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'', practically every major villain is a dark magic practitioner.
** The Trix have darker color schemes and use dark magic frequently. It's even Darcy's specialty. They wish to take over the Magic Dimension by using the powerful Dragon Flame.
** Lord Darkar's body is pure black, and he's encased in dark red armor. He wants to take over the Magic Dimension with the power of the Realix, and is willing to hurt anyone is his way.
** The Wizards of the Black Circle, in addition to having black in their group name, all wear black or dark grey clothes. They wish to take over Earth and imprison all the Earth fairies.

* ''WesternAnimation/GeneratorRex'' has the aptly named Black Knight, who is basically [[MoreDeadlyThanTheMale the much more corrupt counterpart]] of her predecessor White Knight, to which she took over Providence for a while and ruled the organization with an iron fist (at least, before her exile).

** Dr. Facilier/The Shadow Man from ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' is associated with shadows.

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'': [[EverybodyHatesHades Hades]] is a stereotypical demonic figure, dressing in black, possessing a sallow grey complexion and living in a gloomy underworld.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheWild'' has Kazar, who is a rulhless wildebeest who tries to make his fellow species reach the top of the food chain from carnivores by becoming predators themselves, even though such animals are actually herbivores themselves.

** Yokai [[spoiler:(who is Professor Robert Callaghan in disguise)]] from ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'', who dresses up in black and uses dark-colored robotic swarms, that make him look as if he controls darkness itself.

** Mother Gothel of ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' is often shown blocking out the tower's natural light sources and snuffing out candles Rapunzel had lit during her VillainSong.

** Yokai from ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'', who dresses up in black and uses dark-colored robotic swarms, that make him look as if he controls darkness itself.

* In ''WesternAnimation/HotelTransylvania2'', Bela, the leader of the Bat Cronies and Vlad Dracula's former assistant, is a giant anthropormorpic bat who has [[MisanthropeSupreme a strong distaste for humanity]] in general, to which he tries to eliminate those who are part of the human lineage (whether it's full or just partial) rather brutally.

* ''Anime/HowlsMovingCastle'': Howl's night-black bird-monster form is said to be wrecking his soul, even when he does have a good reason to fight.

* While ''Anime/PrincessMononoke'' thrives on GreyAndGrayMorality, darkness is still representative of the gods' worst side. Gods who fall to fear or hatred become demonic creatures covered in purple or black worms (who can infect humans and manifest as dark energy on them), the apes are black with red eyes, and the Shishigami becomes a creature made of darkness [[spoiler:once his head is ripped off]]. There are no positive spiritual aspects of darkness seen on screen.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1'' introduces Syndrome (who used to be Buddy Pine, a.k.a. Incrediboy), who plans on [[EngineeredHeroics faking heroism]] in front of the public by continuously eliminating supers and then using the Omnidroid v.10 in Metroville to implement such heinous purpose of his.

* It comes with UnfortunateImplications that the dark-skinned Eartha Kitt in ''Series/Batman1966'' is by far the meanest puddytat of the three actresses.

Why EvilIsNotWellLit, and why [[CueTheSun having the sun vanish is a bad sign]]. See also LightIsGood, LightDarknessJuxtaposition, BadPowersBadPeople, ObviouslyEvil, DarknessEqualsDeath, NiceDayDeadlyNight, and WhiteIsPure. That said, stories where Dark Is Evil and LightIsNotGood are commonplace to show that the light can be just as foul as dark, if not eviller. DarkIsNotEvil is the inversion and the good counterpart of this trope. Another one is TheSacredDarkness, where Dark may or may not be evil, but is just as important as Light.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' introduces Syndrome (who used to be Buddy Pine, a.k.a. Incrediboy), who plans on [[EngineeredHeroics faking heroism]] in front of the public by continuously eliminating supers and then using the Omnidroid v.10 in Metroville to implement such heinous purpose of his.

* ''Film/AngelsAndDemons'' has a rather ironic example. [[spoiler:The Camerlengo Patrick [=McKenna=] plans to make everyone in the world turn against science so that they could be more devoted to religion, where it involves eliminating certain members of the Catholic Church (including the now-former Pope Pius XVI), using an antimatter bomb as a form of global threat towards everyone, and having to be elected as the new Pope himself.]]

** ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'': Ursula is a Witch that uses BlackMagic..

* ''Film/AngelsAndDemons'' has a rather ironic example. [[spoiler:The Camerlengo Patrick [=McKenna=] plans to make everyone in the world turn against science so that they could be more devoted to religion, where it involves eliminating certain members of the Catholic Church (including the now-former Pope), using an antimatter bomb as a form of global threat towards everyone, and having to be elected as the new Pope himself.]]

* ''Film/AngelsAndDemons'' has a rather ironic example. [[spoiler:The Camerlengo Patrick [=McKenna=] plans to make everyone in the world turn against science so that they have a greater focus on religion, to which it involves eliminating certain members of the Church (including the current Pope), using an antimatter bomb as a form of global threat towards everyone, and having to be elected as the new Pope.]]

* Darkness is a rather large motif in ''WesternAnimation/OverTheGardenWall'', where its associated with despair, callousness, cruelty, and theshow's BigBad, a monster framed in shadow called The Beast.

*** The [[Platform/NintendoGameCube GameCube]] [[VideoGame/PokemonColosseum Pokémon]] [[VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness entries]], where the ongoing focus of the stories are the Shadow Pokémon [[DubNameChange (called Dark Pokémon in Japan)]] created and wielded primarily by the villain organization of Cipher. Regular Pokémon who've underwent a process involving [[MindRape "shutting the door to their hearts"]] that leaves them as emotionless fighting machines, Shadow Pokémon retain their ordinary typings, but they're shown to be surrounded by a dark purple aura and use all manner of deadly Shadow-type attacks that are super-effective on ''every'' type. This is especially true of ''Gale of Darkness''' mascot [=XD001=], aka [[OlympusMons Shadow Lugia]], whose corruption gives it a dark purple color scheme complete with [[RedEyesTakeWarning red eyes]].

** Fourth Espada [[StrawNihilist Ulquiorra Cifer]] is highly associated with darkness and the color black. His hair is black, and when he transforms into his Ressureccion, he gains a pair of black wings and his Reiatsu turns from dark green to jet black with a green outline. He can fire a jet black colored Cero called Cero Oscruras, though Ulquiorra implies that any Espada can use it when in Resurreccion. In his Ressurection: Segunda Etapa, his lower body is covered in dark fur, his arms are colored black, and a dark substance pours down from his Hollow hole.

** [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Sephiroth.]] He wears black and has a black wing.
*** Also, in ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'', he has dark-based moves, such as Shadow Flare and Octaslash.
*** In a strange subversion, his true form, Safer Sephiroth, is the [[LightIsNotGood inverse.]]

* In ''Film/MadameWeb2024'', Ezekiel Sims' spider-suit resembles a black Franchise/{{Spider-Man}} suit, and he's the villain.

* In ''Film/MadameWeb2024'', Ezekiel Sims' spider-suit resembles a black Franchise{{Spider-Man}} suit, and he's the villain.