History Main / GoodColorsEvilColors

* "WesternAnimation/{{The Magic Roundabout}}" has red hero Zebedee and blue villains Zeebad and Buxton.

** When [[spoiler:Vaarsuvius makes a DealWithTheDevil]], their robes turn [[PaintItBlack black]] and their [[PaintingTheFourthWall speech bubbles]] switch to a black background.

[[caption-width-right:337:Guess who's the bad guy.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' the villain Tai Lung, whose color was cold compared to the gold and green associated with the heroes.

'''Nautica''': So the gun would-\\

In an age where every other hero is an AntiHero, how do you tell who to root for? Why, you look at what ''color'' the character wears, of course! In visual entertainment, [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience who's good and who's evil is usually distinguished by the colors]], and woe be to those who are colorblind.

Subtrope of ColorCodedCharacters. See also ColorCharacter, ColorCodedMultiplayer, ChromaticArrangement, DressCodedForYourConvenience, EvilCostumeSwitch, GoodHairEvilHair, LawOfChromaticSuperiority, LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine, RainbowMotif. Contrast MysteriousPurple which plays with this idea by using the color purple to intentionally muddy up the distinction between "good" and "bad" to the audience.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Dinosaur}}'': The hero is a blue Iguanodon, while the villain is a red ''Carnotaurus''.

* There's a ''Franchise/StarWars'' [[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]] comic series called ''Infinities'', which is basically WhatIf[=/=]ForWantOfANail, speculating about just what would happen to the saga if, respectively, Luke's proton torpedo used on the Death Star was defective, if Han's tauntaun died a little earlier, if Threepio was incapacitated and couldn't translate between Jabba and Leia-as-Boush. The last case leads, eventually, to Luke and Leia confronting Vader and the Emperor together, Vader turning on his master to save his children and ''surviving'', and then being taken by them off the Death Star before it blew. It wraps up very quickly with the characters saying that the Emperor ''also'' survived, but the Rebellion will be ready -- and incidentally, Vader switched sides and wore a white version of his former costume.

** Inverted in the UsefulNotes/{{Intellivision}} version of ''VideoGame/TronDeadlyDiscs'' -- Since the people making the game were given an earlier draft of the script, Tron in that game is red while the MCP's warriors are (mostly) blue. [[note]] Simple color goof in 1982, but HarsherInHindsight come the sequel. [[/note]]

* Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}} dresses in gray with blue and yellow. Characters/{{Robin}} dresses like an explosion in a paint factory. Lampshaded when Batman explains that one of the reasons Robin wears bright colors is because he [[GoodCopBadCop plays good cop to Batman's bad]]. With some DeusAngstMachina in [[Characters/RobinTimDrake Tim Drake]]'s life, he changed his costume to be less colorful than before -- and his first costume was less bright than that of his predecessors, fitting his more [[AscendedFanboy subdued]] [[BadassBookworm personality]]. Tim was also associated with green as TheSmartGuy in comparison to his more impulsive ComicBook/YoungJustice teammates. Batman's rogues like [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker the Joker]], [[Characters/BatmanTheRiddler the Riddler]], the Mad Hatter, [[Characters/BatmanPoisonIvy Poison Ivy]], [[Characters/BatmanRasAlGhul Ra's al Ghul]], and [[Characters/BatmanTwoFace Two-Face]] (sometimes) favor green and/or purple.

* Or take [[Characters/SpiderManPeterParker Spider-Man]] (blue, red, and black) and his villains [[Characters/MarvelComicsOttoOctavius Doctor Octopus]] (green, sometimes combined with orange/ochre), Electro (green), [[Characters/MarvelComicsNormanOsborn Green Goblin]] (green, purple), the Lizard (green), Mysterio (purple, two shades of green), the Sandman (green shirt), the Scorpion (green, purple, gray), the Vulture (two shades of green), the Rhino (gray), Venom (black and white), Carnage (blood red and black), and the Jackal (green).

!! Good Colors

!! Evil Colors

* In ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'' each color of the rainbow is associated with a different emotion (some good, some bad) They are: red (anger), orange (greed), yellow (fear), green (willpower, courage), blue (hope) indigo (compassion), and violet (love).
* ''ComicBook/TinyTitans'': One issue sees Talon summon a group of Tiny Titans from an alternate universe. The only visual difference between them and the main universe Titans is the colors of their clothes, which favor stereotypical "evil" colors; according to them, in their universe, the SecondaryColorNemesis and PrimaryColorChampion tropes have been switched around, meaning that green and purple are seen as stereotypically "good" colors while red and yellow are "evil".

* IcyBlueEyes
* OccultBlueEyes

* If there is something consistent in ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'', it's that characters in red are violent and Purple characters have certain aura of nobility.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In the newer ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' games, player characters always summon their Personae with a blue aura. Shadows and enemy Persona users have a red aura. This is used as something of a minor storytelling element in ''VideoGame/Persona5''. The Traitor, [[spoiler:Goro Akechi]], is a double subversion; they have the heroic blue aura as a GuestStarPartyMember, but after showing [[JustForPun their true colors]] at the start of the second phase of their boss battle, they switch to the usual villainous red. In ''Royal'', after pulling a HeelFaceTurn and rejoining your party, they go back to blue.

* ''Anime/KillLaKill'' inverts the black/white relationship. The REVOCS corporation and Nazi-esque Honnouji Academy is strongly associated with the color white, whereas [[{{Stripperiffic}} what little clothing]] the heroes wear is predominantly black and red. To further drive the point home, [[spoiler:the Elite Four]] swap out their white [[ClothesMakeTheSuperman Goku uniforms]] for gunmetal [[LaResistance Nudist Beach]] gear upon revealing their [[JustForPun true colors]] as [[{{Antihero}} Anti-Heroes]] [[GoodAllAlong All Along]].

* Inverted in ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' with the hero Guts being known as the Black Swordsman while the BigBad Griffith is sometimes called the White Hawk, has white hair and usually wears all white armor. [[spoiler:When Griffith takes on his Femto form, it is jet-black in the manga and movies, and blood-red in the anime]].

* ''Anime/KillLaKill'' inverts the black/white relationship. The REVOCS corporation and Nazi-esque Honnouji Academy is strongly associated with the color white, whereas [[{{Stripperiffic}} what little clothing]] the heroes wear is predominantly black and red. To further drive the point home, [[spoiler:the Elite Four]] swap out their white [[ClothesMakeTheSuperman Goku uniforms]] for gunmetal [[LaResistance Nudist Beach]] gear upon revealing their [[JustForPun true colors]] as {{Antihero}}es [[GoodAllAlong All Along]].

** Madoka is pink, and generally acts as TheHeart, sometimes combined with TheHero [[spoiler:in previous timelines, all of which she died in due to her idealism]]. Sayaka is blue, and tries to be a [[TheHero heroic]] [[TheLancer lancer]]. Mami is yellow/gold, and acts as the kind and helpful [[TheMentor mentor]], with a bit of TheAce. Kyouko is dark red, and appears to be [[AxCrazy madly violent]]. She nearly kills [[spoiler:Sayaka]] when they first meet. [[spoiler:She used to be TheHero, but she [[FallenHero quit caring about others when her father killed himself and the rest of her family]] because of the magic she used to help him. She dies in a final attempt at heroism]]. Homura is black and purple, and appears to be evil, or at least an uncaring AntiHero. [[spoiler:She isn't nearly as evil and aloof as she seems, and she started out naive and idealistic]]. She once wore cutesy bright red glasses, which she [[EvilCostumeSwitch ditched upon becoming anti-heroic]]. [[spoiler:[[GoodCostumeSwitch Reversed]] in the last episode; she becomes more like her old self, and starts wearing Madoka's red ribbon.]] Kyubey is white, yellow, and pink, and is a cute and loveable TalkingAnimal who dispenses magical wishes and superpowers. [[spoiler:[[DealWithTheDevil But not really]]]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' dresses in gray with blue and yellow. Comicbook/{{Robin}} dresses like an explosion in a paint factory. Lampshaded when Batman explains that one of the reasons Robin wears bright colors is because he [[GoodCopBadCop plays good cop to Batman's bad]]. With some DeusAngstMachina in [[ComicBook/Robin1993 Tim Drake]]'s life, he changed his costume to be less colorful than before -- and his first costume was less bright than that of his predecessors, fitting his more [[AscendedFanboy subdued]] [[BadassBookworm personality]]. Tim was also associated with green as TheSmartGuy in comparison to his more impulsive ComicBook/YoungJustice teammates. Batman's rogues like the Joker, the Riddler, the Mad Hatter, Poison Ivy, Ra's al Ghul, and Two-Face (sometimes) favor green and/or purple.

* A classic example of the association of heroes with primary colors and villains with secondary ones would be the 1980s ComicBook/LexLuthor in his super-armor (purple, green) battling ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' (red, yellow, blue). Other villainous colors worn include Brainiac (purple), Parasite (purple), Metallo (silver, green Kryptonite), Mr. Mxyzptlk (purple), and Darkseid (navy blue).
* Or take ComicBook/SpiderMan (blue, red, and black) and his villains Doctor Octopus (green, sometimes combined with orange/ochre), Electro (green), [[ComicBook/NormanOsborn Green Goblin]] (green, purple), the Lizard (green), Mysterio (purple, two shades of green), the Sandman (green shirt), the Scorpion (green, purple, gray), the Vulture (two shades of green), the Rhino (gray), Venom (black and white), Carnage (blood red and black), and the Jackal (green).
* ComicBook/WonderWoman has always been a PrimaryColorChampion and in her original run (spread across ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'', ''ComicBook/SensationComics'' and ''ComicBook/ComicCavalcade'') most of her [[SecondaryColorNemesis foes favor secondary colors]]; ComicBook/{{Cheetah}}, Giganta, and Hypnota wear orange while Paula von Gunther, Dr. Poison, Mask, Flamina, Zara and Angle Man wear green, Gundra and Mars wear orange armor with green accents, Queen Atomia wears green and purple and the Purple Priestess wears orange, green and purple.
* One of the more JustForFun/{{egregious}} examples was when black kryptonite created an evil version of Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} -- who popped into existence wearing a [[PaintItBlack black version of the Supergirl costume]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'': In the Land of the Dead, most of the skeleton citizens wear multicolored clothes; Ernesto de la Cruz wears silver, making him appear almost black-and-white, [[spoiler: hinting he's the BigBad.]]

** Godzilla's Atomic Breath produces [[BlueIsHeroic blue light]], whereas a couple of his enemies -- the [=MUTOs=] in ''Film/Godzilla2014'' and Mechagodzilla in ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'' -- instead produce [[RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver red]] [[RedIsViolent light]] with their powers. Even Rodan [[AdaptationalVillainy functions as an antagonist]] in ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019''. ZigZagged, as Godzilla himself briefly turns red via his Burning mode. Taking this association further, [[Characters/MonsterVerseMonarch Monarch's]] bases tend to be lit with blue and green light.

* The film ''Film/{{Targets}}'' has its sets colored to match the two main characters: beloved aging horror actor [[Creator/BorisKarloff Byron Orlock]] is mostly surrounded by mellow autumnal shades, while AxCrazy murderer-to-be Bobby Thompson's home is marinated in cold ugly blue-gray.

* In Creator/HarryHarrison's ''Series/TheStainlessSteelRat'', the Rat is sent to infiltrate a closed society where every trade and occupation has its designated colours. As an alien offworlder, Jim di Griz is dressed in clothing coloured in yellow and black bands - he explicitly likens this to the colours of a wasp, a highly visible and highly unwelcome insect everyone is on the alert for. He also notes the planet's loathsome military dress in uniforms the colour of venuous blood. But the really dangerous caste, mind-controlling sociopaths in charge, dress in plain drab grey.

** Weirdly {{inverted}} in ''Literature/IJedi'', where a group of dark Jedi use blue lightsabers and the Light side Jedi seem to use any color ''but'' blue. Part of that might be an example of [[CanonMarchesOn canon marching on]]: until ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', the idea that all Dark Jedi and Sith used exclusively red lightsabers was WordOfDante, and many fans (apparently including Stackpole) found the idea silly and arbitrary given the rainbow of colors used by light-side Jedi (and ironic considering that the Sith are treacherous and individualist, while the Jedi are so effective because of their ability to work together harmoniously).
** {{Lampshaded}} in ''Literature/YoungJediKnights: Lightsabers''. Jaina Solo, who is a hard sciences geek, decides to crank up the process of handmaking her first lightsaber by creating her own focusing crystal in a high-pressure chemical reactor. She's taken aback by the resulting red blade: [[AchievementsInIgnorance unbeknownst to her]], [[CanonMarchesOn lore at the time]] stated that the Sith preferred this process (because synthetic crystals have a slight chance of shorting out an opposing lightsaber blade). Also played straight in that Jaina is typically depicted using a blue or purple lightsaber [[ViewersAreMorons to avoid confusing readers]], [[CoversAlwaysLie even on the cover of that same novel]].

* Inverted in ''{{Literature/Dune}}'', House Atreides are the good guys and have red, green and black as their colors, and the evil House Harkonnen have blue and white.

* ''Series/CobraKai'': Following ''Film/TheKarateKid'' movies (see above), despite Johnny's most genuine attempts to keep Cobra Kai from becoming a ThugDojo like before it inevitably becomes evil once more when John Kreese gets involved. Like before, they wear black gis while the Miyagi-Do students wear white. [[spoiler:When Johnny starts his own dojo, Eagle Fang, and allies with Miyagi-Do, they now wear somewhat villainous red gis as they now embrace a GoodIsNotSoft and bad-ass mentality to contrast both the defensive TechnicalPacifist beliefs of Miyagi-Do and the BloodKnight tendencies of the now wholly-villainous Cobra Kai]].

*** ''The End of Time'' plays it straight with the Doctor in a brown suit and blue shirt, and the Master in a black hoodie and jeans and a red shirt. And the {{Big Bad}}s? [[spoiler:The Time Lords wear red robes with black and gold accents. Clearly they're evil]].

* In ''Series/StargateSG1'', the Tau'ri usually wear blue on-base and green offworld ({{justified|Trope}}: those are standard US Air Force and Marine Corps uniforms). [[BigGood Asgard]] ships come in dark gray and [[ShinyLookingSpaceships shiny white]]. The Goa'uld use gold and purple (for decadence) and armor their Jaffa in silvery gray, and [[BigBad Anubis']] [[BossInMookClothing Kull warriors]] are armored in jet black. That gets {{subverted}} after the Jaffa pull a HeelRaceTurn, then played straight when the Lucian Alliance appropriates Goa'uld technology for their own use.

* Creator/DennisWheatley, student of Western occult and ritual magick traditions, and author of atmospheric horror stories such as Literature/TheDevilRidesOut, asserted that purple or magenta light heralded the manifestation of spirits of evil. As he was an associate of Creator/AleisterCrowley, it can be assumed he learnt this from the Master.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''

* ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}}'': Mostly this was [[AvertedTrope Averted]], with both heroes and villains appearing in the same six-colors (Red, Blue, Green, Brown, Black, and White) with each years heroes and villains mirroring each other. The only time it was somewhat played straight was 2008, the "Final Battle" arc [[note]]it wasn't, the series continued for two more years and more was planned before being CutShort[[/note]]. For some reason, in that one year, the villains all had red eyes, while the heroes all had yellow-green... even though all of those characters had been depicted with different eye color is in previous sets (Tahu had always had red eyes as the Toa of Fire, Kopaka ice-blue, etc.). This was then dropped the following year.

** With pink being the default colour for other people in your fleet, there is also the slightly less common Not Pink Shoot It rule of engagement which is the default MO on Ganknights[[note]]Fleets of (by default otherwise unrelated) people from a third-party community site just going on a rampage in a random direction while often including at least a few people which are blue to the residents of the area which is getting visited[[/note]] usually leading to [[HilarityEnsues hot blue-on-blue action and diplomatic fallout in the aftermath]].

* Averted in ''VideoGame/{{Ikaruga}}'', as due to the polarity mechanic (light is blue and white, while dark is red and black), both the heroes and the villains switch between light and dark, or in the latters' case, ''use both light and dark simultaneously'', making it a case of LightIsGood and DarkIsNotEvil versus LightIsNotGood and DarkIsEvil.

* In ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'', the hero, Phoenix, wears blue, while the primary antagonist for the first game, Edgeworth, wears red, well, he isn't evil, so, this plays as a subversion. [[spoiler:Then played straight with [[BigBad Manfred Von Karma]] which wears navy blue]].
** As of the "Apollo Arc", the hero Apollo wears all red, and [[spoiler:BigBad Kristoph Gavin wears blue]].

* In the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series heroic Chris favors green, Leon and Jill wear blue, while Claire and Ada wear red. And of course, BigBad Albert Wesker is always decked out in black.
** Leon is something of a combo-breaker in that he does seem to favor blue, but half the times he appears he wears no blue at all, instead wearing black, brown, army green and/or dark gray. Also, his original outfit ''was'' a police uniform, so he didn't get any say in picking the color.

* ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'' uses randomly-assigned but vibrantly contrasting color schemes for the two teams competing against one another in the main game. But the three AI-controlled factions in the single-player and PlayerVersusEnvironment modes have designated colors: the Octarian army uses a highly saturated purple, [[TheHorde Salmonid]] "ink"[[note]]implied to be a toxic waste with similar properties[[/note]] is always a sickly shade of dark green, and [[BrainwashedAndCrazy "Sanitized" Octarian]] "ink" is a uniquely uneven cyan that is acutually [[spoiler:a cross between [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke a bioweapon and a new primordial soup]], made from the test subjects before you.]]

* ''VideoGame/StreetsOfRage'' have the heroes in some combination of red, yellow, blue, and white. [[BigBad Mr. X]] weras a green suit and a red and black tie. [[TheDragon Shiva]] had gray and red clothing in the second game while changing it to blue or green in the third game, depending on where you fought him.

* In ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars II'', the Horde Zuul [[https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/178755_10151066044155926_1534679339_o.jpg use dark colours]] while their [[DefectorFromDecadence Prester counterparts]] [[https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/397011_10150660543435926_1508929500_n.jpg use white and gold]].

* ''WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog'' has this in spades. Both inverted and played straight in that Dr. Horrible (the villain/protagonist) wears white while Captain Hammer (the hero/antagonist) wears black. Dr. Horrible's white outfit also represents his innocence and kindness, which is sharply contrasted when he switches to a blood red lab coat to represent the blood on his hands, and as a standard villain color to demonstrate that he's taking his villainy more seriously.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'': ZigZagged with Xelors. Both Nox and his undead minions in Season 1 can be distinguished from other Xelors (from civilians to the villainous Count Harebourg) by their dark-gray and brown, decayed-looking colors compared to the standard Xelor bright-gray and blue.

* In ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare2'', the protagonist U.S. Army Rangers wear bright green-and-tan uniforms (the Army's real-world Universal Camouflage Pattern, soon to be discontinued), while the Russian Spetsnaz, the antagonists, wear red and black ones.

* In the newer ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' games, player characters always summon their Personae with a blue aura. Shadows and enemy Persona users have a red aura.
** In ''VideoGame/Persona5'', the Traitor, [[spoiler:Goro Akechi]], is a double subversion; they have the heroic blue aura as a GuestStarPartyMember, but after showing [[JustForPun their true colors]] at the start of the second phase of their boss battle, they switch to the usual villainous red. In ''Royal'', after pulling a HeelFaceTurn and rejoining your party, they go back to blue.