History Main / InvisibleJerkass

* In the Al Brodax ''WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}}'' short "Going… [[TyopOnTheCover Boing‥]] Gone", Wimpy becomes this after covering himself with drugstore vanishing cream to escape an irate Brutus. While invisible, Wimpy attacks Brutus on the street and later, to Popeye's amusement, eats two of Brutus' hamburgers at the diner.

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%%* Claude Rains' portrayal of Griffin in the film version of ''The Invisible Man''.

** The episode "Gone" involves a Jerkass moment from Buffy herself. The point was that she had so much stress and depression going on at the time that she felt trapped and powerless. The invisibility let her get away with doing the things she ''wanted'' to do anyway, without having to take any responsibility for her actions--as Spike points out, she's pretending that she isn't really "there" as she does it.
** There was the girl in "Out of Mind, Out of Sight," who became a psychopath after turning invisible. For her it was a case of GoMadFromTheIsolation; everyone treated her like she was invisible so the Hellmouth made her invisible and thereby empowered her to get revenge on others.
* Claude Rains (named for the actor who starred in ''The Invisible Man'' movie) on ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' is an invisible JerkAss [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold with a heart of gold]], being rude and misanthropic, yet at the same time willing to mentor Peter Petrelli and unwilling to let Manhattan get nuked.

* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'': Downplayed with Charlie Brown in ''It's Magic, Charlie Brown''. After being turned invisible, he doesn't like it all, feeling like a "lost soul" and constantly falling over because he can't see his feet. ''However'', while he never truly becomes a "jerk", he ''does'' manage to sneak up on Lucy and kick the football once.

** And of course in both instances the ring eventually turns its master into an utterly vile cave troll, or threatens to. Admittedly, this has more to do with the ring itself being MadeOfEvil than the invisibility power it grants, but symbolically it still fits the mold.

* [[AxCrazy Griffin]] from ''ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' is introduced raping a bunch of boarding-school girls, and he later murders several people for arbitrary reasons.

* If you believe that "Not Me" of ''ComicStrip/TheFamilyCircus'' is a real being and not an imaginary scapegoat for the children's misbehavior, he might qualify as an invisible being who takes advantage of their invisibility to do mean things.
* Milo Manara's ''Butterscotch'' is a porn comic, so you can probably guess what the invisible man in it uses his power for. [[spoiler: That's right, to watch a beautiful woman he's been in love with since they were children but was too shy to ever contact; and he gets quite indignant at the suggestion that he may abuse his power to peek at her in the shower or something like that; he just wants to be ''near'' her. His SecretKeeper, a woman named Honey (who keeps appearing in other Manara comics) calls him a "poor wimp" because "any real man who found out how to be invisible would have gone out and robbed a bank, layed all the most gorgeous chicks..." and eventually he ends up going nuts, stripping innocent women for no reason, and relaying his voyeuristic experiences. And then ''another'' invisible man shows up to rape Honey. Yeah, [[CrapsackWorld everyone is a complete jerk in that comic]].]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/HotelTransylvania'', the Invisible Man does use his invisibility to play practical jokes, but like all the "monsters" ([[MonsterMash and there are plenty]]) he's a good guy.

* The film adaptation of ''Film/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'', where the new Invisible Man (Rodney Skinner) is a thief who stole the invisibility formula solely to become a better thief. He's the most obvious suspect as TheMole, and is shown spying on the other members of the League. However, it turns out that he was spying to learn who the real mole is. He also has his moments of heroism toward the end of the film.[[note]]The novelization gives Skinner the same backstory as Griffin from the comic, which would make him a rapist on top of being a thief and a spy. However, this is absent from the theatrical cut of the film.[[/note]]
* Michele in ''IlRagazzoInvisibile'' wastes no time getting revenge on the bullies who picked on him.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'', Harry usually uses his Invisibility Cloak for good, for example, to sneak around Hogwarts and solve the current mystery. In the third book, however, he uses it to sneak into Hogsmeade village without permission, and at one point he decides to take revenge on Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle for their constant taunting, and throws mud and sticks and trips them while invisible. He's later chastised by Lupin for such behavior, claiming Harry's parents wouldn't want him "gambling their sacrifice for a bag of magic tricks". Which, since Harry was supposedly being pursued by a murderer at the time, makes his actions not only jerkish, but pretty stupid. Since his father used the cloak for stealing food from the kitchens, he wouldn't have room to talk.

* Creator/RichardLaymon's "Beware" contains an especially evil example. Invisible man is a sociopathic, sadistic serial killer and rapist. Although it's pretty clear that he became such a heinous person long before his invisibilty transformation, which only allowed him to commit more crimes with impunity.

** Episode "Gone" involves a JerkAss moments from Buffy herself. The point was that she had so much stress and depression going on at the time that she felt trapped and powerless. The invisibility let her get away with doing the things she ''wanted'' to do anyway, without having to take any responsibility for her actions--as Spike points out, she's pretending that she isn't really "there" as she does it.

* Reading some interoffice e-mail in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' reveals that this happened at the REPCONN test site, which accidentally received a shipment of [[InvisibilityCloak Stealth Boys]]: "In light of [[NoodleIncident yesterday's upsetting events]] all employees are hereby directed to give a thorough reading to [=REPCONN's=] sexual harassment and workplace behavior policies. Also, while it is not explicitly stated in the Employee Handbook, unauthorized use of military hardware against fellow employees is ground for immediate termination."

* While she obviously can't do this herself, Marina in ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon 2}}'' mentions some perks of invisibility during the "Flight vs. Invisibility" Splatfest as "spy[ing] on others while they're...[[ADateWithRosiePalms inking their Splat Zone]]" and "walk[ing] into a bank and...make sure the money's still there".

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* In ''Literature/TheRepublic'' by Creator/{{Plato}}, Glaucon tells a tale about Gyges, a shepherd of Lydia who found a ring who made its wearer invisible, and who used this power to seduce the queen, murder the king, and make himself king. Glaucon follows with a philosophical point that it did not matter whether Gyges was a just or unjust person when he found the ring, because nobody would continue to act justly if he had the option to act unjustly without fear of retribution or social stigma. In fact (Glaucon claims), if someone had the power to become invisible and would ''not'' use it to do something forbidden, people, though they might not admit so, would think that person to be an idiot.

Not related to the trope WhatYouAreInTheDark, but related to the saying it comes from. See also TimeFreezeTrollingSpree, VillainTeleportation, InvisibleStreaker. See {{GIFT}} for the equivalent result when applied to anonymity on the internet.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' cartoon "The Invisible Mouse", Jerry dipped himself in invisible ink and would then continue to torment Tom. But then again, [[StatusQuoIsGod what else is new]]? This plot was used twice more, in "The Vanishing Duck" and "Of Feline Bondage".

* ''Film/HollowMan'' spells this trope out: "You know what, Matt? It's amazing what you can do... when you don't have to [[MirrorMonologue look at yourself in the mirror]] any more." It is heavily hinted in the film that [[PsychoSerum the procedure itself]] turns subjects [[JustifiedTrope psychotic]], as with the [[KillerGorilla gorilla]] in the beginning.

* ''Series/TheBoys2019'': Translucent nearly kills Hughie when he won't tell him why he placed a bug in The Seven's boardroom before Billy intervenes.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheReplacements'': One of the last episodes had Todd finding a hat that rendered him ([[InvisibleStreaker but not his clothes]]) invisible, and he used it to get Main/{{Revenge}} for an embarrassing [[strike:Website/YouTube]] [[BlandNameProduct FleemTube]] video of him. [[spoiler:It didn't work out.]]

* In ''Literature/TheRepublic'' by Creator/{{Plato}}, Glaucon tells a tale about Gyges, a shepherd of Lydia who found a ring who made its wearer invisible, and who used this power to seduce the queen, murder the king, and make himself king. Glaucon follows with a philosphical point that it did not matter whether Gyges was a just or unjust person when he found the ring, because nobody would continue to act justly if he had the option to act unjustly without fear of retribution or social stigma. In fact (Glaucon claims), if someone had the power to become invisible and would ''not'' use it to do something forbidden, people, though they might not admit so, would think that person to be an idiot.

** It' also slightly subverted: consigning he was willing to experiment on yowling cats and despised his landowner, Griffin was likely a prick from the start.

* ''VideoGame/WildArms4'': One member of the villainous organization attacking the protagonists supposedly had the power of invisibility, but was executed by his commanding officer prior to the start of the game for abusing it. Given how said commanding officer is a pyscho [[EvenEvilHasStandards it must have been a serious abuse.]]

* Grif of ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' is already a JerkAss, so his greatest ambition involving invisibility is to apply it to his [[TheSlacker slacking]] and take uninterruptable naps on a whim.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheReplacements'': One of the last episodes had Todd finding a hat that rendered him ([[InvisibleStreaker but not his clothes]]) invisible, and he used it to get [[Main/Revenge revenge]] for an embarrassing [[strike:Website/YouTube]] [[BlandNameProduct FleemTube]] video of him. [[spoiler:It didn't work out.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheReplacements'': One of the last episodes had Todd finding a hat that rendered him ([[InvisibleStreaker but not his clothes]]) invisible, and he used it to get revenge for an embarrassing [[strike:Website/YouTube]] [[BlandNameProduct FleemTube]] video of him. [[spoiler:It didn't work out.]]

* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': Invisibility spells make Eric more comfortable with expressing his inner trickster. Even if someone realized an invisible person was present, they would instead blame [[TricksterArchetype Tasio]].

* Grif of ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' is also already a JerkAss, so his greatest ambition involving invisibility is to take uninterruptable naps on a whim.

* If you believe that "Not Me" of ''ComicStrip/TheFamilyCircus'' is a real being, he might qualify as one.

* Lampshaded in ''Series/LazyTown'', the "evil dude" uses a watch to make himself invisible & often kidnap Stephanie or Bill without getting caught.

* In Creator/{{Plato}}'s story the ''Ring of Gyges'', Gyges seduces the queen and kills several people. Plato made up this story but wrote it in such a way that pretended it was hundreds of years old and a commonly-heard myth. People unfamiliar with Plato's habit of doing this took his later claims of a lost island of {{Atlantis}} at face value.

%% Zero context examples are not allowed on wiki pages. Please add context before uncommenting.

* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'': Downplayed with Charlie Brown in ''It's Magic, Charlie Brown''. After being turned invisible, he doesn't like it all, feeling like a "lost soul" and constantly falling over because he can't see his feet. ''However'', while he never truly becomes a "jerk", he ''does'' manage [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome to sneak up on Lucy and kick the football]] once.

* ''Literature/TheInvisibleMan'': Griffin commits numerous crimes under the cloak of invisibility. [[spoiler: Subverted when it turns out he was already a vile human being before his invisibility, robbing his own father to fund his experiments.]]

* ''Film/HollowMan'' spells this trope out: "You know what, Matt? It's amazing what you can do... when you don't have to [[MirrorMonologue look at yourself in the mirror]] any more." It is heavily hinted in the film that [[PsychoSerum the procedure itself]] turns subjects [[JustifiedTrope psychotic]], as with the gorilla in the beginning.