History Main / PayEviluntoEvil

This sort of character often gains an InspectorJavert opponent, whose rightness depends from case to case.

Welcome to a special kind of morality where otherwise evil actions are considered okay because [[AssholeVictim the victims deserved it]]. Like all tropes, this can be played with any number of ways. It can be [[ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption played straight]], [[WhatTheHellHero defied]], [[JustifiedCriminal deconstructed]], or [[{{Applicability}} left disquietingly gray]] depending on the author. This one's very common with {{Revenge}} stories in general, since revenge at its core is a viciously [[ItsPersonal personal]] case of Paying Evil Unto Evil, and when one is [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds broken to the core]] by the suffering brought by the evil, even a desperate RevengeByProxy becomes justifiable (or at least it will seem that way to the one taking revenge). Alternatively, the hero may use such tactics as part of a deliberate and calculated strategy to [[TerrorHero break the villains' morale]].

* The original "Literature/SnowWhite" tale ends with the prince ordering the Evil Queen to wear red-hot iron shoes and dance until she drops dead as punishment for her attempts at regicide against Snow.

See also BullyHunter, GoodIsNotSoft, HeWhoFightsMonsters, JustLikeRobinHood, KarmicThief, ScrewTheRulesTheyBrokeThemFirst, SerialKillerKiller, UnscrupulousHero, VigilanteMan, and WifeBasherBasher.

* In ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf: Joys of Seasons'' episode 4, Wolffy tricks Master Pao Pao into believing he's going to be blown up by a time bomb stuck to him unless he gives the wolf one of the goats. When it turns out the bomb is just an alarm clock, Weslie gets back at Wolffy by doing the same thing to his wife Wolnie [[spoiler:with the trade-off that this time, it actually ''is'' a bomb and blows them out of Wolf Castle]].

* The original ''Literature/SnowWhite'' tale ends with the prince ordering the Evil Queen to wear red-hot iron shoes and dance until she drops dead as punishment for her attempts at regicide against Snow.

->'''Wardaddy:''' ''[in OK-ish German]'' Mayor, was he ''[pointing at an SS officer]'' the one hanging the kids?\\

Is this the new BigBad? No! It's TheHero! ... oh wait, did you know that it was a settlement of demon worshipping cultists that supports their activities with banditry? A more WretchedHive of [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking arsonists, murderers, and jaywalkers]] never blemished a countryside.

Expect an extra heavy VillainBall complete with {{kick|TheDog}}ing dogs by the AssholeVictim if the author especially wants you to know it's okay. The plot often uses this with a "people whom the law let get away" KarmaHoudini combination. The villain may call out a NotSoDifferent speech to the [[AntiHero "hero"]] as a final insult.

Contrast with IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim, TheFarmerAndTheViper, and KickTheSonOfABitch (when the victim in question isn't recognized by the person victimizing them for the bad things they've done; the lines may be blurred in cases where the person inflicting harm was, at the core, just looking for someone to hurt and [[DogKickingExcuse decided to use the victim's scumminess as an excuse to harm them]]). Depending on the depiction, {{Hell}} may also serve as an extreme example, where those who do evil are punished forever with various torments you certainly wouldn't call ''good''. May overlap with DisproportionateRetribution.

Is this the new BigBad? No! It's TheHero! ... oh wait, did you know that it was a settlement of demon worshipping cultists that supports there activities with banditry ? A more WretchedHive of [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking arsonists, murderers, and jaywalkers]] never blemished a countryside.

And should a person has trouble doing this on their own, they can always [[DoWithHimAsYouWill ask for a helping hand]].

* In ''Theatre/{{Electra}}'', despite the fact that murdering your mother is admittedly bad, if the gods are on your side it's acceptable. Orestes and Electra feel particularly justified by the fact that Clytemnestra killed their father.

* ''WesternAnimation/ParaNorman'': [[spoiler:After being killed by the Puritans, Agatha Prenderghast (the supposed "witch") sentences them to walk around town as zombies in order to be attacked by the modern townspeople. This becomes {{deconstructed|trope}} when Norman goes on to tell her that her actions are [[HeWhoFightsMonsters only making her come off as no better than them]], especially since they have been truly remorseful for what they did and they've already been punished enough.]]

[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
* Myth/RobinHood: Steals from the rich and gives to the poor. Goes up and down the scales with each retelling; sometimes it's anyone rich, sometimes it's clearly someone who has unfairly taxed said poor. If it was anyone rich, that may be because [[ValuesDissonance the folks that this lore was for]] probably thought [[AristocratsAreEvil all nobles were evil]] back then. It's fair to note that that way of thinking was largely [[TruthInTelevision well-founded]]. Early Robin Hood stories had him nearly exclusively target clergy. Considering the way both The Catholic Church and later, The Church of England [[CorruptChurch behaved]] back then, it's not surprising at all. He was later {{bowdlerise}}d into a folk hero who robbed from the rich. There are also elements of a race/culture conflict (not just a class one) here: the common people were mostly Anglo-Saxon; the upper class and nobility were mainly Normans. It's understandable that someone who is taking revenge on people you regard as invading foreign conquerors is seen as a hero regardless of exactly how he does it.
* Literature/ReynardTheFox when he's not an out and out SociopathicHero; often times he pays for slights against him with brutal retaliation, abject humiliation, and preferably both at once. In one story, King Leo had three creatures try to catch him for crimes; Tybalt the Cat ends up getting half-strangled to death and one eye popped out by a priest and he's put down as a whiner for the rest of the story.
[[/folder]]

Is this the new BigBad? No! It's TheHero! ... oh wait, did you know that it was a settlement of demon worshipping cultists that supports there activities witj banditry ? A more WretchedHive of [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking arsonists, murderers, and jaywalkers]] never blemished a countryside.

Is this the new BigBad? No! It's TheHero! ... oh wait, did you know that it was a settlement of bandits? A more WretchedHive of [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking arsonists, murderers, and jaywalkers]] never blemished a countryside.

Welcome to a special kind of morality where otherwise evil actions are considered okay because [[AssholeVictim the victims deserved it]]. Like all tropes, this can played with any number of ways. It can be [[ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption played straight]], [[WhatTheHellHero defied]], [[JustifiedCriminal deconstructed]], or [[{{Applicability}} left disquietingly gray]] depending on the author. This one's very common with {{Revenge}} stories in general, since revenge at its core is a viciously [[ItsPersonal personal]] case of Paying Evil Unto Evil, and when one is [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds broken to the core]] by the suffering brought by the evil, even a desperate RevengeByProxy becomes justifiable (or at least it will seem that way to the one taking revenge). Alternatively, the hero may use such tactics as part of a deliberate and calculated strategy to [[TerrorHero break the villains' morale]].

->'''Wardaddy''' (in OK-ish German): Mayor, was he ''(pointing at an SS officer)'' the one hanging the kids?
->'''Mayor''' (in German): Yes.
->'''Wardaddy''': Hey, Abe. ''(casually points)'' Shoot that guy.
-->-- ''Film/Fury2014''

* [[PayEvilUntoEvil/LiveActionFilms Film — Live-Action]]

* PayEvilUntoEvil/{{Webcomics}}

[[folder:Film — Animation]]

[[folder:Folklore]]
* Myth/RobinHood: Steals from the rich and gives to the poor. Goes up and down the scales with each retelling; sometimes it's anyone rich, sometimes it's clearly someone who has unfairly taxed said poor. If it was anyone rich, that may be because [[ValuesDissonance the folks that this lore was for]] probably thought [[AristocratsAreEvil all nobles were evil]] back then.
** It's fair to note that that way of thinking was largely [[TruthInTelevision well-founded]]. Early Robin Hood stories had him nearly exclusively target clergy. Considering the way both The Catholic Church and later, The Church of England [[CorruptChurch behaved]] back then, it's not surprising at all. He was later {{bowdlerise}}d into a folk hero who robbed from the rich.
** There are also elements of a race/culture conflict (not just a class one) here: the common people were mostly Anglo-Saxon; the upper class and nobility were mainly Normans. It's understandable that someone who is taking revenge on people you regard as invading foreign conquerors is seen as a hero regardless of exactly how he does it.
* Literature/ReynardTheFox when he's not an out and out SociopathicHero; often times he pays for slights against him with brutal retaliation, abject humiliation, and preferably both at once. In one story, King Leo had three creatures try to catch him for crimes; Tybalt the Cat ends up getting half-strangled to death and one eye popped out by a priest and he's put down as a whiner for the rest of the story.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pinball]]
* According to ''Pinball/AttackFromMars,'' the proper response to a [[AlienInvasion Martian invasion]] is to steal their ships and bomb Mars to hell. And then [[WizardMode Rule the Universe,]] if you so desire.

-->"Which isn't stealing! They attacked me first, making it mine by International Law of 'Go F*ck Yourselves".

See also BullyHunter, GoodIsNotSoft, HeWhoFightsMonsters, JustLikeRobinHood, KarmicThief, SerialKillerKiller, UnscrupulousHero, VigilanteMan, and WifeBasherBasher.

See also VigilanteMan, JustLikeRobinHood, BullyHunter, SerialKillerKiller, UnscrupulousHero, WifeBasherBasher, KarmicThief, and HeWhoFightsMonsters.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'': Mr. Incredible kills the villain by causing him to get sucked into his plane's engine. Granted, the villain had previously murdered a great portion of his fellow superheroes, nearly killed his family and tried to kidnap his baby son to raise as a supervillain sidekick, but it's pretty jarring that earlier, he had mocked Incredible for his inability to resort to murder. What makes it worse is that Mr. Incredible did it right in front of [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath his whole family.]] It should be noted, however, that Mr. Incredible did not directly throw the villain into the engine. He threw a car at the plane, and the collision is what threw the villain to his death. The scene remains ambiguous on whether Mr. Incredible did it on purpose or not. Though he still tried to throw a car at Syndrome's face, so arguably it's still this trope. In the [[LicensedGame videogame adaptation]] it's even worse: even prior to Syndrome's StartOfDarkness, Mr. Incredible had little to no problem with '''throwing minor thugs from the roofs of skyscrapers to their doom'''.

[[quoteright:300:[[ComicBook/ThePunisher https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_punisherbags_9.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"[[Series/Daredevil2015 I think there's no good in the filth that I put down, that's what I think.]]"'']]

->'''Wardaddy''': Burgermeister, is he ''(gestures to an SS officer)'' the one hanging kids?
->'''German Man''': Ja.

->''"'''Men''' get arrested... '''dogs''' get put down!"''
-->-- '''Rorschach''', ''Film/{{Watchmen}}''

* PayEvilUntoEvil/{{Fanfiction}}

* ''WesternAnimation/ParaNorman'': [[spoiler:After being killed by the Puritans, Agatha Prenderghast (the supposed "witch") sentences them to walk around town as zombies in order to be attacked by the modern townspeople. This becomes {{deconstructed|trope}} when Norman goes on to tell her that her actions are [[HeWhoFightsMonsters only making her come off as no better than them]], especially since they have been truly remorseful for what they've done and they've already been punished enough.]]

Compare with StrikeMeDownWithAllOfYourHatred, in which the villain DELIBERATELY goads the hero into doing the same terrible things he did to him. Usually as a plot to get them to sink to their level.

* {{Deconstructed|Trope}} in ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6''. Hiro had no qualms against ordering Baymax to ''murder'' Yokai/[[spoiler:Professor Callaghan]] after the latter is revealed to have started the fire that killed Tadashi and [[KickTheDog insults Hiro for his grief]]. However, Hiro's friends stop his rampage and [[WhatTheHellHero call him out]] for breaking their ThouShallNotKill code. Baymax then [[ArmorPiercingQuestion asks Hiro if Yokai's death is what Tadashi would have wanted]] to make Hiro reconsider his actions, [[HeelRealization which succeeds]].