| 1 | ->'''Lee:''' Don't be silly. Why would we want the lich to win?\ |
| 2 | '''Qarr:''' ... Because we're Evil?\ |
| 3 | '''Cedrik:''' And that makes us all one big happy family? Screw that. |
| 4 | -->-- ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', "[[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0668.html Moving the Pieces]]" |
| 5 | |
| 6 | The world is divided into two camps: good and evil. Of course, all the good guys work together ([[GoodVersusGood usually]]), but what do the evil guys do? Well, [[VillainTeamUp they also work together, of course!]] Because if you're not good, you must be evil, and [[TitleDrop Evil Is One Big, Happy Family]]. [[EvilCannotComprehendGood Evil beings understand each other]], and they all have the same goal in mind: to destroy Team Good! So it's only natural for them to sing together in perfect harmony. Otherwise you'd have an EnemyCivilWar, and that's no fun at all (for the bad guys, anyway). |
| 7 | |
| 8 | This trope could include instances where either evil or good beings mistakenly think evil is one big happy family. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | Common in VideoGames in general, where it tends to be all the enemies in the room versus you (see also GangUpOnTheHuman). Often it's just that you're dealing with a single enemy faction, but it's also common for random monsters in the field to seemingly target the player exclusively. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | Compare with BlackAndWhiteMorality, VillainousFriendship, VillainTeamUp, EnemyMine. Compare and contrast CriminalFoundFamily and EqualOpportunityEvil. |
| 13 | When Evil is one big not-so-happy family, it creates TeethClenchedTeamwork or RightHandVersusLeftHand. The total opposite is EvilVersusEvil. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | Since most works other than video games aren't usually this naïve, there's no need to list straightforward {{aver|tedTrope}}sions. If evil characters are just working together because they specifically belong to the same faction or have a common goal (beyond being evil), that's not this. [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Also doesn't mean]] [[TheFamilyThatSlaysTogether actual families that are evil]], or [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes some specific evil characters being like a family to each other]], or [[TheFamilyForTheWholeFamily this particular family]]. |
| 16 | [[noreallife]] |
| 17 | |
| 18 | ---- |
| 19 | !!Examples |
| 20 | |
| 21 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 22 | |
| 23 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 24 | * ''[[Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato Star Blazers/Space Battleship Yamato]]'' has an interesting subversion in the second season: Zordar and Desslok understand each other, so Comet Empire generals and Invidia are just irritable when both Zordar and Desslok are around. When they're behind Zordar's back, they start acting like playground bullies and finally throw Desslok in prison. |
| 25 | [[/folder]] |
| 26 | |
| 27 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 28 | * The ComicBook/SecretSix (or at least Catman) believe this in Franchise/TheDCU... and it's a family they don't want any part of. They see themselves (or at least Catman does) as occupying a middle ground, rejecting both the Secret Society of Super-Villains ''and'' the ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica. Of course, they're hardly the only villains to be on the outs with the Society....\ |
| 29 | The Society itself began to fall apart shortly after ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis and was effectively dead by the end of ComicBook/FinalCrisis. Having your entire organization get possessed by [[Characters/NewGodsDarkseid Darkseid]] tends to put a crimp in your membership renewals. |
| 30 | * ComicBook/TheFlash has a wide enough range of villains that there are cross purposes in battling, but his most persistent supervillain team The Rogues has this, as despite them having a range of mental illnesses and problems, they end up functioning quite well together, held together by the good leadership of Captain Cold. |
| 31 | * Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}}'s rogues will occasionally act cross purpose to each other, such as say [[Characters/BatmanThePenguin The Penguin]] and [[Characters/BatmanTwoFace Two-Face]] getting into a gang war. However, their mutual hatred of Batman has them generally acting civil with each other, [[VillainsOutShopping often stopping by Penguin's place for drinks]] and plotting new plans to take over Gotham and destroy their arch enemy. |
| 32 | * ComicBook/{{Supreme}} has Daxia, a realm composed of hundreds of versions of his nemesis, Darius Dax. They have the occasional bout of bloodshed among one another, but mostly get along pretty well. |
| 33 | * Played with in the Creator/MarvelComics event ''ComicBook/ActsOfVengeance''. [[Characters/MarvelComicsLoki Loki]] gathers together some of the great supervillains of the world ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and the Wizard]]) as part of his plot to destroy ComicBook/TheAvengers. This involves putting the [[Characters/MarvelComicsRedSkull Red Skull]] (epic Nazi) in the same room as the Mandarin (Chinese), [[Characters/MarvelComicsDoctorDoom Doctor Doom]] (Romani), and Characters/{{Ma|rvelComicsMagneto}}gneto (Jewish ''Holocaust survivor''). They start out insulting each other, and eventually Magneto [[SealedRoomInTheMiddleOfNowhere seals the Skull in a windowless room (see page image)]] with no particular plans to let him out. Turns out that Loki both expected and intended this. |
| 34 | * The Franchise/MarvelUniverse in general averts this trope, as most of the major villains have mutually exclusive goals or simply don't play well with others, which is why villain teams like the Sinister Six and the Masters of Evil have such high turnover rates. This was best demonstrated during the ''ComicBook/{{Secret Wars|1984}}'' crossover event, when the Beyonder placed several of the villains together in one team and apparently expected them all to get along. What actually happened? [[Characters/MarvelComicsUltron Ultron]] immediately tried to kill everyone, [[Characters/MarvelComicsGalactus Galactus]] left to do his own thing, and Dr. Doom, despite being elected leader of the group (yes, really), keeps running his own plans to get power only for himself. |
| 35 | * Averted in ''ComicBook/ForeverEvil2013''. While the villains of Creator/DCComics want to take over, not everyone has the same goals. This causes confrontations; especially when [[spoiler:the Crime Syndicate appears]]. |
| 36 | * In most appearances the members of DC's Crime Syndicate -- alternate universe evil versions of Superman (Ultraman), Batman (Owl-Man), Wonder Woman (Superwoman), Green Lantern (Power Ring), and the Flash (Johnny Quick ... no, not ''that'' Johnny Quick) ... get along at least tolerably well; each of them seems to realize that the others have strengths that they personally don't, and that a fifth of the pie (especially if it's a ''larger'' pie) is [[PragmaticVillainy better than no pie at all]]. The extent of this tends to vary between stories, with some versions having the members share a VillainousFriendship and genuinely care about each other, others with the group all openly loathing one another and barely managing to work together. |
| 37 | * Averted in ''ComicBook/{{Chew}}''; a villain holds a shindig and invites bad guys from various backgrounds, but they get on each others nerves. |
| 38 | -->'''Thug''': The Marilyns and the Kings don't seem to like each other too much. Toss up between who's creepier, the Satanists or the Nazis. And those damn Civil War re-enactors waving their muskets around at everybody... |
| 39 | * While he does not play it straight in all ''ComicBook/ChickTracts'', Jack Chick often presents his villains this way, with {{Hollywood Satanis|m}}ts and godless DirtyCommunists cheerfully allying with the [[CorruptChurch Roman Catholic Church]] to persecute [[NoTrueScotsman true]] ([[ReligionIsRight i.e., Protestant]]) UsefulNotes/{{Christian|ity}}s. Within the context of the stories, it makes a certain amount of sense (or more than in real life, anyway), since all of these factions are really controlled by {{Satan}}, [[UnwittingPawn whether they know it or not.]] |
| 40 | * In the Polish Cyberpunk comic "Status 7: Overload" the BigBadDuumvirate is made up of a MegaCorp CorruptCorporateExecutive and a Anarcho - Communist Terrorist who are working on a mutually beneficial EvilPlan, the executive is trying to embezzle a fortune from his corp and using part of the money to fund a massive cyberattack for the terrorist that will destroy the evidence, at one point they discuss their plan in the terrorists hangout, a communism themed strip club BadGuyBar and jokingly trading insults like "Anarchist Whackjob" and "Capitalist Pig" at each other. |
| 41 | [[/folder]] |
| 42 | |
| 43 | [[folder:Fan Fiction]] |
| 44 | * ''Fanfic/{{Boldores and Boomsticks}}'': Because they do not know about Salem, Team RWBY is astonished to see the Grimm, which normally kill everything on sight, enable Tyrian to escape from his disasterous attempt on Ruby's life in Pallet Town. |
| 45 | * ''Fanfic/CListers'': Batman's rogues gallery is on pretty good terms with each other, and are essentially a fun-loving, dysfunctional family that occasionally tries to murder each other. |
| 46 | * All the super villains in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/10572177 Tony Stark is Not a Supervillain]]'' get along just fine, if only on poker night. They're quite incensed by Steve Roger's group both for being incompetent and for injuring one of their members (Tony Stark). |
| 47 | * The entire premise of ''Fanfic/{{Quite A Glittering Assemblage}}'': Maleficent pulls together a team of villains from many different worlds, and they all come to see each other as something of a found family whilst terrorizing and attempting to conquer the known universe. |
| 48 | * ''Fanfic/YuGiOh5DsALive'': The Dark Signers in the fanfic have a healthy family dynamic with Roman considered the patriarch of the family and Misty as the TeamMom. It helps that three members already have a brotherly bond with one another, and Misty has experience being a big sister. |
| 49 | [[/folder]] |
| 50 | |
| 51 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 52 | * In ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'', it turns out that [[spoiler: elements from both the Klingon government and Starfleet are working together to destroy the peace process between their nations]]. They are, in essence, working together so they can get back to kicking the crap out of each other. |
| 53 | * In ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'' once unleashed [[spoiler: monsters of all sorts attack only the humans, even though several of them want to do different, often mutually exclusive things to them and there's a limited supply available. Indeed at one point a demon possessing a mortal body throws a man off a balcony into the jaws of the giant snake beneath instead of biting him itself]]. {{Justified|Trope}} in that [[spoiler:they're presumably all monsters created and designed by the evil ancient gods, exclusively for the purpose of hunting, terrifying, torturing and butchering humans, so this is them all following their shared natural behavior]]. |
| 54 | * All of the storybook villains (known as the “Baddies”) that appear in the ''Film/ChildrensPartyAtThePalace'' seem to get along with each other fine, though on occasion they may argue. No wonder they’re all in a group called the Baddies’ Club. |
| 55 | * SPECTRE, the NebulousEvilOrganisation that Film/JamesBond fought in [[Literature/JamesBond the books]], the earlier movies and in the rebooted timeline, has henchmen of different types, nationalities, and ideologies. Usually, they'll be at each other's necks, but how does SPECTRE's chief, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, manage to keep the lid between the various underlings? He's an EqualOpportunityEvil villain who only cares about how much SPECTRE is profiting from their EvilPlan, and has killed mooks regardless of status. |
| 56 | * ''Film/TheLostBoys'' takes it to a rather literal extreme, with the vampires [[ILoveYouVampireSon acting like a they're an actual family]], complete with [[spoiler:the one who sired them all, Max, acting as a stern but loving father figure.]] |
| 57 | * ''Film/MarsAttacks'': The sole redeeming quality of the Martians is that they have a great sense of camaraderie. One Martian woman is shown giving her husband lunch, the Martians become furious when the Martian Girl, one of their best troops, is killed and dissected, with the leader launching a full scale attack afterward, and they share a group photo while blowing up a building. The leader and ambassador even appear to have a VillainousFriendship. |
| 58 | * The Benzene aliens from the ''Film/UltramanZearth'' duology, consisting of Alien Benzene and his wife, Lady Benzene. They're ruthless alien conquerors who wants to destroy or enslave humanity, but also SickeninglySweethearts who repeatedly goes "I wuv you... I wuv you too..." via intercom. |
| 59 | [[/folder]] |
| 60 | |
| 61 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 62 | * In ''Literature/HarryPotter'': |
| 63 | ** The vicious werewolf Fenrir Greyback works for Voldemort and his Death Eaters, despite the majority of Death Eaters being pureblood supremicists, who despise werewolves. |
| 64 | ** Zigzagged with Dolores Umbridge. When Harry first sees just how nasty a person she is, he brings up the possibility she could be a spy for Voldemort. Lupin responds "The world is not divided into good people and Death Eaters, Harry", and points out that as horrible as Umbridge is, there's nothing that connects her to the Death Eaters. But then in Book 7 she's happily joined up with the Death Eaters and is eagerly pursuing their pure blood supremacy angle. |
| 65 | * Slacktivist has argued that this is part of the worldview of the ''Literature/LeftBehind'' series, although perhaps "evil" should be substituted with "everyone who is not part of the Rapture-able Christians". For example, the world's Hindus, Muslims and Catholics show little opposition to an enforced worldwide pantheistic/polytheistic religion, since that's the sort of thing the authors believe liberals would like, and if you're not a member of the correct Christian sect, you're some kind of liberal. The reasoning behind this would be that all false religions were originally created and are maintained by the Devil to serve his purposes, so if the Devil decides to merge them all together into a global religion, all their adherents shouldn't have any problem with it. To be fair, there are plenty of examples in the book of factions against the Global Community who aren't Christians, such as the Militia, some Muslims, Israelis. Still, most of the citizens of the new OneWorldOrder knuckle under [[ApatheticCitizens with little if any protest]]. |
| 66 | * ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'': This trope is heavily implied by a discussion Lucy had with Mr. Tumnus: she was intimidated by a giant named Rumblebuffin who'd been TakenForGranite and who Aslan had de-petrified. Lucy quickly found out Rumblebuffin was a NiceGuy, and Mr. Tumnus mentioned that if Rumblebuffin ''hadn't'' been a nice giant, the [[BigBad White Witch]] wouldn't have turned him to stone with her magic, implying that EvilVersusEvil conflicts simply didn't happen in Narnia. |
| 67 | * In ''Literature/ParadiseLost'', Milton suggests that this is actually something the devils do ''better'' than humans, even though humans have the potential for good: |
| 68 | -->''O shame to men! Devil with devil damned\ |
| 69 | Firm concord holds, men only disagree\ |
| 70 | Of creatures rational, though under hope\ |
| 71 | Of heavenly grace: and God proclaiming peace,\ |
| 72 | Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife\ |
| 73 | Among themselves, and levy cruel wars,\ |
| 74 | Wasting the earth, each other to destroy...'' |
| 75 | ** In a literal example, Satan and his children, Sin and Death, wind up getting along quite nicely by the end, never mind the ParentalIncest and attempted murder of their earlier interactions. |
| 76 | * The monsters of ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' hunt down and terrorize young [[HalfHumanHybrid half]]-[[SemiDivine bloods]]. But when some half-bloods decide to rebel against the gods under the infuence of the titan [[SealedEvilInACan Kronos]], monsters joined up with them under the united banner of the Titan Army. Funnily enough the monsters will sometimes talk about how much they like [[ChildEater eating half-bloods]] ''in the presence of Kronos-aligned half-bloods'' who don't seem upset. |
| 77 | * In Creator/CSLewis's ''Literature/TheScrewtapeLetters'', Lewis cites the Milton quote above, and then discusses the means by which his diabolic evil bureaucracy manages to keep infighting down to about the office politics level. |
| 78 | [[/folder]] |
| 79 | |
| 80 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 81 | * In ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'' Episode 9 season 4 "A Muse to My Ears", two warlocks harass a shape-shifting demon. |
| 82 | -->'''Demon:''' Back off; we are on the same side. |
| 83 | :: Of course, they kill him anyway to take his power, but that is beside the point. |
| 84 | * Lampshaded in ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' by Chief Cragen: "That's why the criminals get away, they work together, [[JurisdictionFriction and we don't]]." |
| 85 | * This trope is what the Master is constantly going for in the first season of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. |
| 86 | * ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': Weyoun quotes it almost word for word in "The Changing Face of Evil". Subverted since [[spoiler:Damar starts to organize his betrayal in this very episode]]. |
| 87 | * In ''Series/{{Merlin 2008}}'', during and after Season three almost every villain that appears either works with or for Morgana. She also works with the bad guys several times before Season three. |
| 88 | * This is the role of K.A.O.S. in ''Series/GetSmart'', the 'organisation dedicated to the forces of evil [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and rottenness]]'. The group included examples of almost all stock movie villains of '60s cinema (even those that should have logically been enemies, like Russian spies and Nazis). Subverted in a couple of episodes where third parties [[EnemyMine forced Control and K.A.O.S. to work together]]. |
| 89 | * ''Franchise/KamenRider'' crossover events (beginning with ''Series/KamenRiderDecade'') tend to have massive team-ups of all previous Rider antagonists, with seemingly no friction despite their wildly contrasting motives. Just for starters, the Lords from ''Series/KamenRiderAgito'' claim that their overall goal is to protect humanity[[note]]which they do by killing off anyone who develops supernatural abilities, but that's beside the point[[/note]]; this alone should be enough to bring them into conflict with all the groups who want to KillAllHumans, but then you factor in the Grongi from ''Series/KamenRiderKuuga'', who are [[AllThereInTheManual expressly stated in the backstory]] to be the Lords' mortal enemies and fought a GreatOffscreenWar between the two shows. |
| 90 | [[/folder]] |
| 91 | |
| 92 | [[folder:Podcasts]] |
| 93 | * Episode 205 of the ''[[WebVideo/TwoBestFriendsPlay Super Best Friendcast]]'' has [[https://youtu.be/X3I_Hlt7hGU?t=1825 a segment]] where Woolie, Matt, and special guest Plague of Gripes suggest the reason why the plot of ''VideoGame/{{Fahrenheit}}'' becomes so bizarre and incoherent as you get further in is because [[Creator/QuanticDream David Cage]] keeps introducing new, wholly different evil forces to all play a part in the same AncientConspiracy, with no regard given to how they'd all fit together. |
| 94 | -->'''Woolie:''' And at the end, you're like "Wait, so every evil force is working together?" and he's like "Yes!"\ |
| 95 | '''Plague:''' "They're evil, so obviously if we put them in the story and oppose them against the main character, then it will work. Because they're ''evil!"'' |
| 96 | [[/folder]] |
| 97 | |
| 98 | [[folder:Professional Wrestling]] |
| 99 | * [[{{Kayfabe}} Old-time]] (pre 1990ish) ProfessionalWrestling was like this. All the {{face}}s liked each other and worked for the common good, and all the {{heel}}s at least tolerated each other and worked for the common... bad(?). Until someone inevitably did a FaceHeelTurn or HeelFaceTurn, of course; then all the heels liked the former face or the faces liked the former heel, as the case may be. Justified in the territory days, when rabid fans would try to legitimately injure or kill Heels. Although promoters would typically ensure police were around to provide security, if things got out of hand the Heel locker room had to look out for their own. Many old-time Heels have at least one story of being surrounded by angry fans only to have their fellow bad guys fight their way into the crowd and pull them out. The ultimate example would be when ''every single'' Heel in the building had to come to rescue Wrestling/FreddieBlassie from a full-on riot after his victory via cheating over Wrestling/BrunoSammartino. |
| 100 | ** This is what made [[Wrestling/AllenCoage Bad News Brown]] unique in the [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} then-WWF]]. He was a loner who would often abandon if not outright betray the other heels (and did so without ever turning face), in an era when this trope was otherwise in full effect. |
| 101 | ** This was one of the first tropes to be phased out as part of WWF's more realistic, DarkerAndEdgier reinvention in the late 90s, mainly because it really didn't make sense for, say, a WildSamoan to be allied with an evil tax accountant against cowboys teamed with bikers. |
| 102 | * Ever since the TropeCodifier Wrestling/TheFourHorsemen, a group of heels is infinitely more likely than a group of faces to form a PowerStable like Wrestling/TheCorporation, the Wrestling/NewWorldOrder, Wrestling/{{Evolution}}, the Main Event Mafia, or Wrestling/TheNexus. Usually, a heel stable (at their start) is a well-oiled machine while the faces they fight just barely get along. Members of the stable will often go to extreme lengths to help their mates (such as run-ins) in comparison to their rivals. While a heel stable never lasts, a powerful one usually takes several months or even a couple years before they truly crack apart -- though, again, the Horsemen have reincarnated again and again in the last four decades. The [[JustifiedTrope main reason]] probably being that, in (ostensibly) a sport based primarily around one-on-one competitions, assistance from allies is often ''cheating''; naturally, this bothers heels less than (traditional) faces. |
| 103 | [[/folder]] |
| 104 | |
| 105 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 106 | * It's one of common bad styles in TabletopRPG that use CharacterAlignment. Gave birth to "Evil Champion" [[PlayerArchetypes player archetype]]. |
| 107 | ** The ''Dungeon Master's Guide'' for Third Edition ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' cautions against this kind of thing in its advice about villains in chapter 5, under "Handling {{N|onPlayerCharacter}}PCs". "Monolithic evil is unrealistic," because "the goals of one selfish, destructive creature by definition conflict with the goals of other selfish, destructive creatures." |
| 108 | ** The 2nd edition ''Player's Handbook'' also calls out this type of thinking, stating that "a group of players playing a harmonious evil party are simply not playing their alignments correctly". |
| 109 | ** And it's one of few things that can make good [=GM=]s ''boast'' their exploration of [[KillerGameMaster GM Cruelty Potential]]. |
| 110 | * In ''TabletopGame/InNomine'', if you analyze the networks of friendships and enmities among the powers of Heaven and Hell, you find that Hell has larger, more stable blocs, than Heaven does. (On the other hand, rival demons try to kill each other, while rival angels are usually just rude and obstructive.) Which effectively implies that "evil is a happy family" because [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer who doesn't play along doesn't survive]]. |
| 111 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' and ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'': |
| 112 | ** The board games ''TableTopGame/HeroQuest'' and ''Space Crusade''. In both cases, the semi-[[GameMaster GM]]-like evil-side-player plays "Chaos", but commands a combination of orcs and goblins, undead and Chaos forces in the first; and Orks, Necrons, Tyranids[[note]]Admittedly, this means genestealers that appear semi-randomly rather than being placed along with the other "Chaos" troops at will, so even though they are controlled by the same player, there's some implication they're working on their own.[[/note]] and Chaos Space Marines in the second. In the original wargames, these are all mutually hostile factions with at most the occasional VillainTeamUp. |
| 113 | ** In the main verse, this view is occasionally held by those who've had very few dealings with Chaos. Those who have are happy to let Chaos' inherently divisive nature (yes, even for those aligned with Chaos Undivided rather than one of its four gods) make their job easier, such as letting heavily-armored berserkers take out a fortified barricade aletting them suffer DeathOfAThousandCuts at cultists' hands before moving in their own squads. Unfortunately, there are some who take it a step further by directly using Chaos against Chaos (possessed weapons, daemonhosts, artifacts, etc.). This never ends well. |
| 114 | ** In ''TableTopGame/BloodBowl'', the Chaos Pact team is mostly human Chaos Warriors, but also includes a Dark Elf, a goblin, a Skaven, an Ogre, an Orc, a Troll, and a Minotaur. Somewhat downplayed in that all of the non-stupid (everyone but the Ogre, Troll, and Minotaur) have Animosity, a skill that implies they hate working with each other. Played straighter in the video game adaptation Blood Bowl 2 with the Chaotic Player Pact, where not only can you have multiple non-human players, but all but a specific group of Skaven lack the Animosity skill. |
| 115 | * ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' Strategy Battle Game groups all "factions" into "Good" and "Evil" sides, and everyone in a side always work together. Most players, however, are expected to come up with some justification for why the different factions in their armies are working with each other, and "Good" and "Evil" are simply short hand for the perfectly logical super-factions of "the Free Peoples and allies" and "Sauron's forces and indirect allies (like Shelob and the Balrog)" within the context of Middle-Earth. |
| 116 | [[/folder]] |
| 117 | |
| 118 | [[folder:Theme Parks]] |
| 119 | * All of the "Icons" for [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal's]] Theatre/HalloweenHorrorNights get along with each other just fine (despite some of them having differing motivations for being evil) and typically come together to form a BigBadDuumvirate whenever the event is celebrating an anniversary. Humorously, there actually are some family relations between the Icons, with Jack and Eddie being brothers and The Caretaker being Cindy's father. |
| 120 | * Often the case whenever the Disney Villains get together for attractions and live shows at the Ride/DisneyThemeParks. It’s particularly evident in the Walt Disney World version of Theatre/{{Fantasmic}}, where not only [[VainSorceress The Wicked]] [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Queen,]] [[FairyDevilmother Maleficent,]] [[EverybodyHatesHades Hades,]] [[EvilSorcerer Jafar,]] and other classics get in on the act, but even normally diametrically opposed villains like [[KnightTemplar Frollo]] and [[SatanicArchetype Chernabog]] join them all to rain on Mickey’s imagination parade. |
| 121 | [[/folder]] |
| 122 | |
| 123 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 124 | * ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'': Averted and then played straight during many "Crime In Progress" events when, as Batman, you encounter warring gang factions who instantly resolve their differences so they can all attack ''you''. This can result in, for example, both mobsters and corrupt SWAT teams shooting at you simultaneously. Justified in that if Batman wins, they ''all'' lose, so it's just common sense to aim at the most dangerous target. |
| 125 | * ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'': The monsters almost universally play this straight, with many monsters having team-up attacks much like your party's own dual-techs. The one notable aversion are when facing teams of Fangtooth[[note]]Gnawers in the original translation[[/note]] and Edible Frogs[[note]]T'Poles in the original translation[[/note]]: when injured, the Fangtooth will [[DevourTheDragon bite and kill the Edible Frogs to restore their own health]], which is much easier for the player than attacking the Edible Frogs directly that have lots of health and a nasty CounterAttack. |
| 126 | * ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'': Zig-zagged. There's quite a few places where you can see villain [=NPCs=] of different factions fighting each other, sometimes to the "death"... But if you try to jump in, all of them will gang up on you. |
| 127 | * ''VideoGame/CityOfVillains'': About half the missions you get will have you beating up other villains, with the remainder divided between beating up heroes and/or working for other villains. |
| 128 | * ''VideoGame/DukeNukem'': Duke has to deal with aliens that seem to be from completely different species and factions, and fight side to side to conquer Earth. |
| 129 | * ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'': |
| 130 | ** The Dark Brotherhood is an illegal [[MurderInc organization of assassins]] whose membership mostly takes a [[PsychoForHire sadistic glee]] in killing and who practice a ReligionOfEvil, are extremely loyal to one another. They may be assassins, but they do consider themselves ''family''. |
| 131 | ** ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'': {{Discussed|Trope}} with the (somewhat) FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire Count Hassildor. In the main quest, he explains that even the more evil vampires wouldn't help the [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Daedric Prince]] Mehrunes Dagon TakeOverTheWorld, since he would want to subjugate them and they wouldn't care to be anyone's servants. |
| 132 | * ''VideoGame/FallFromHeaven'': Endemic in the backstory, where the reason the evil gods are evil is precisely that they all agree the world is a failure and that they should work together to prove that by corrupting it. The good gods have no reason to cooperate and generally don't get along that well. In gameplay, evil factions get a nice diplomatic bonus with each other (though that's mostly so that they'll be fighting the good factions rather than each other -- good factions get the same bonus with each other), and that's just the visible one -- there's also an extra hidden modifier that make them respect each other for being warmongers. |
| 133 | * ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'': |
| 134 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'': While [[NonmaliciousMonster not always evil, per se]], the monsters in the countryside are, despite being feral beasts, very very capable of teamwork. When they're of the same species, like Wolves, that's fair enough. When it's a Wolf, a Crocodile, and a ''T. rex'' simultaneously, it sticks out. (Although the ''T. rex'' '''is''' likely to eat the wolves and crocodiles.) |
| 135 | ** ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'': All of the heroes and all of the villains are aligned into two factions. However, while they officially all belong to [[OrderVersusChaos Chaos]], there are plenty of sub-factions and [[DragonWithAnAgenda personal plots]] involved. In its simplest form, the Emperor has a [[EvilVersusOblivion naked disdain]] for the "destroy the world" villains (like Exdeath and the Cloud of Darkness), [[TokenGoodTeammate Golbez]] is playing all sides, and ''nobody'' works well with [[AxCrazy Kefka]]. |
| 136 | * ''Videogame/GrimDawn:'' Zig-zagged. It's heavily averted between factions, as Beasts, Undead and Eldritch Horrors will attack any other, Kymon's Chosen or the Order of Death's Vigil are still fighting for humanity no matter how much they hate each other (and you, depending on which one you sided with), and Cthonians and Aetherials hate each other even more than they hate you. Played straighter within factions themselves, mostly in the case of Beasts, as creatures you'd expect to prey on each other or compete will just gang up on you eagerly. |
| 137 | * ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' generally averts this -- the main enemy factions typically hate each other as much as they hate you, and the Covenant descends into an extensive EnemyCivilWar partway through the series -- but it's played straight in ''VideoGame/Halo4'' with [[spoiler:the Covenant remnant and the Prometheans, though the two sides only stop fighting each other when the Didact retakes control of the latter and allies with the former. After the Didact is defeated, control of the Prometheans is given to Covenant remnant leader Jul 'Mdama]]. However, this alliance of convenience has completely broken apart by the beginning of ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians'', due to [[spoiler:outside forces taking control of the Prometheans and turning them against Jul 'Mdama's Covenant forces]]. |
| 138 | * ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'': |
| 139 | ** In general, all enemies will attack you and not each other. This sticks out when you're fighting an Octorock, a bat-like Keese, and a blobby [=ChuChu=] at the same time, and all they're focused on is you. |
| 140 | ** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': Most major enemy types tend to explicitly cooperate with and often live alongside one another. Mixed Bokoblin/Moblin groups and camps are very common -- much more common than groups consisting of only one type, in fact -- and often include Lizalfos as well, all of whom can be found chattering and dancing around campfires together. It's also fairly common for Chuchus to hang around these groups and for Keese to roost on the ceilings of the larger monsters' strongholds. |
| 141 | * ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsOnline'': Subverted on a few occasions. |
| 142 | ** In the Moria expansion, while you won't see any enemies fighting each other, paying attention to the quest descriptions will show that there's no happy family here. The Moria orcs are ruled by Mazog, but they are by no means the only orcs in Moria. Sauron has sent a number of orcs from Mordor there, and Saruman has sent emissaries to Moria himself, both of them trying to bring the local orcs under their command. A number of questlines deals with this, where your character is tasked with doing things that will make the orcs of the different factions fight each other, instead of joining forces. |
| 143 | ** Another example occurs in Goblin-Town. Orc-emissaries from Angmar are there to suggest an alliance between Angmar and the goblins of the Misty Mountains. Their offer is turned down in a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lexeV42J4P8 homage]] to ''300''. |
| 144 | --->'''Bhoghad, Emissary to Goblin-town:''' Goblin, this talk is foolish. It is pointless. We are the army of Angmar. To defy our might and our strength is... madness!\ |
| 145 | '''Ashûrz the Great Goblin:''' Madness? Madness? You fool! [[ShoutOut This is Goblin-town!]] |
| 146 | * ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'': Subverted in the last dungeon of the first chapter. The Warlock and his demon army are battling against the Githyanki and against you as you wander through the caves. Both of them are opposed to the actual main villains, who themselves have a falling out at the end of the second act. |
| 147 | * ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'' is ''very'' guilty of this. Enemies even seem to form their own teams, following each other and attacking you just for being on the floor. Also, the backstory is that the earthquakes and other natural disasters have made wild Pokemon go mad, and attack the 'friendly' Pokemon that go into the naturally made caves, but only the Pokemon that enter, not the ones that were already there. There are even 'Monster Houses' where, upon entering the room, the games shouts at you "It's a monster house!" and about fifteen to twenty Pokemon drop from the ceiling and all attack you, even if it contains multiple Pokemon species. |
| 148 | * ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'': While King Bowser Koopa was originally portrayed as a BadBoss (especially in the cartoon adaptations), later entries in the series show more of Bowser getting along with his underlings. His son, Bowser Jr., is an evil little brat, but he still cares about his father and wants to impress him. The Koopalings, who were formerly Bowser's children, but {{retcon}}ned into being simple henchmen, have a strong sibling bond with each other and are also quite faithful to Bowser. Kamek, Bowser's aide, is something of a BeleagueredAssistant (especially in the ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland'' games, where Bowser, as a baby, is physically abusive towards him), but even Kamek is devoted to his job. |
| 149 | * ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'': Neutral hostile is one happy family. All different creep races may work together depending on the map. Some pairings made some sense, like Ogres and Trolls (as a CallBack to ''Warcraft 2''). Other pairings were not so logical, like usually placing trolls to support Magnataurs or golems. |
| 150 | * ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': While most expansions have you fight numerous enemy factions that are often as opposed to one another as they are to the Alliance and the Horde, two expansions play this trope almost entirely straight: |
| 151 | ** Almost every enemy faction faced in ''Cataclysm'', one way or another, answers to one figure: the black dragon Deathwing. They may follow him out of personal loyalty like his own black and twilight dragonflights, out of reverence for his Old God masters like his naga and Faceless servants or the Twilight's Hammer cult, or just because they want to sow general chaos and destruction like the fire and air elementals - but one way or another, they all work together. This is particularly egregious in the case of Ragnaros and Nefarian - despite the two having previously been sworn enemies in ''Classic'', they now fight on the same side due to Deathwing's overarching authority. |
| 152 | ** Similarily, most enemies you fight in ''Shadowlands'' are, in some shape or form, minions of the Jailer, residential [[TopGod Top]] GodOfTheDead. The Forsworn in Bastion are misled by his promises of greater freedom for the kyrian, the treacherous Houses in Maldraxxus are manipulated through his underling, Kel'thuzad, while the venthyr loyalists in Revendreth and the various malevolent spirits in Ardenweald answer to his two closest allies: Sire Denathrius and the loa Mueh'zala respectively. The only major factions unaligned with the Jailer are the drust in Tirna Scithe and Cartel So in Tazavesh. |
| 153 | * ''VideoGame/WarhammerOnline'': Semi-forced. Granted, it's not ''unheard of'' for the forces of Chaos to use the Orcs as pawns, or the Dark Elves to play everyone else for fools, or the Orcs to join up with either side for the chance at a good fight; it's just extremely unusual for any of those factions to get along with ''itself'' long enough to form a grand scheme, let alone all three forming a coherent army big enough to get the humans, dwarfs and high elves to get together and form a massive alliance. Although [[HandWave explained away]] as basically a GambitPileup, it's pretty much understood that a "good versus evil" scheme is [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools easier to implement]] than a "humans, dwarfs and elves only kinda-fighting each other versus Chaos versus Dark Elves versus Orcs versus all the NPC things". |
| 154 | [[/folder]] |
| 155 | |
| 156 | [[folder:Web Comics]] |
| 157 | * ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': |
| 158 | ** The three fiends name the trope because they aren't at all inclined to work with Xykon -- even though, as embodiments and champions of evil, fiends actually have a reason to want evil ''itself'' to win, whereas most evil characters simply want to advance their own ends by evil ''means''. This both defies the trope and, in a way, plays it straight: the species of fiends are divided by [[EvilVersusEvil war]], but these three are working together (and almost seem to like each other) in spite of this, because they understand how much the war holds them back. At the same time, they are not going to help other evil guys further than what is useful for them. |
| 159 | ** Redcloak [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0548.html brought]] to Jirix's attention [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0704.html repeatedly]] the fact that Xykon, while a powerful ally, is more of a "rabid mammoth currently running in a right direction" sort than "good friend" sort. |
| 160 | ** Tarquin, for his part, seems to enthusiastically embrace the trope. Despite all being evil and having distinct ultimate goals and values, his adventuring band has remained together through thick and thin for decades and have set themselves up as shadow leaders for an unending series of puppet empires. They appear to be genuine friends in addition to being colleagues. |
| 161 | *** On the other hand, Tarquin offered help to take on Xykon, if nothing else having Xykon around means Tarquin can't live out his dream to be the BigBad of the series. |
| 162 | *** In contrast, the good counterpart, the Order of the Scribble, [[TeethClenchedTeamwork had a lot of trouble getting along]]. |
| 163 | ** The Linear Guild, meanwhile, are mostly indifferent to Xykon, reluctantly work with Tarquin's group, and are unknowingly minions of the three fiends, via Sabrine. Sabrine despite being a "demonic personification of illicit sex" seems to [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes genuinely love Nale]], meaning she [[spoiler: briefs V against Tarquin when he kills Nale]], and it remains to be seen how she'll move if the Guild ceases to be useful to the fiends. |
| 164 | * The PVCC of ''Webcomic/{{Sonichu}}'' infamy functions as this, in their never-ending quest to keep Chris from getting laid. |
| 165 | * Abyssals from ''Webcomic/{{Bibliography}}'' instinctively work together even if their pre-descend selves were enemies. |
| 166 | * In ''Webcomic/DraconisWicked'', [[https://www.lepusstudios.com/comic/dw-ch1-p20/?sid=10471 Draconis explains to Snakey that they are not a family.]] |
| 167 | [[/folder]] |
| 168 | |
| 169 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 170 | * An article in ''Website/TheOnion'' from the early months of the Iraq War takes this to an extreme: [[http://www.theonion.com/articles/relations-break-down-between-us-and-them,715/ "Relations Break Down Between U.S and Them".]]. |
| 171 | * In the ''Creator/CountJackula'' review of ''Twas The Night Before Christmas'', Jackula reveals to Linkara that he did not wage his war on Christmas just for senseless chaos and destruction. Instead, it was meant to be his own personal Christmas gift to the forces of darkness, as well as a reminder to all of those who have been abandoned and forsaken around the holidays that they are not truly alone. |
| 172 | --> '''Jackula''': Do you think that the children of the night do not have children of our own? |
| 173 | [[/folder]] |
| 174 | |
| 175 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 176 | * This is also a very common trope on shows with a number of recurring Villains-of-the-Week; the first season or two has some bad guys with crappy schemes that get beaten by five spunky multi-ethnic teenagers and their DeusExMachina, so the bad guys figure they can pool their resources, usually in a season finale. Usually they will be under the leadership of whichever baddie is the most conniving; occasionally a new extra-powerful villain will show up to unite them all. On ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'', Zarm the God of war, played by '' Sting'' (and later replaced by ''Creator/MalcolmMcDowell'') got pig-guy Greedly, radioactive bermuda shorts guy Duke Nukem, evil science chick Dr. Blight, rat-thing Skumm, and evil CEO ponytail guy Plunder together and everybody became One Big Happy Family. For a while. |
| 177 | * ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'' features some problems with the alliance between Chase Young and Wuya (namely, she has ChronicBackstabbingDisorder), but by the end of the third season, they've decided to stop arguing and stay together for the sake of Evil. Parents of the year, they're not. |
| 178 | * Happened once in ''WesternAnimation/SwatKats''. After realizing that their goals are pretty much the same, EvilOverlord Dark Kat and MadScientist Doctor Viper decide that they should work together, and even decide to recruit [[OutlawCouple the Mange couple]]. Dark Kat called off the division of spoils -splitting the city- after the good guys were caught but before they were dead. That ''never'' works. The Manges had also cut a deal with Viper for him to remove DK's control collars from them ''because'' they suspected Dark Kat might doublecross them. |
| 179 | * Played with in ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', mostly centering around [[ArchEnemy Doctor Drakken]], the resident loser MadScientist. Super-villainy itself is treated as an entire sub-culture with its own clubs, magazines, and Hench Co. Industries, a private enterprise [[ArmsDealer supplying henchmen and gadgets for a price]]. Drakken, being an IneffectualSympatheticVillain whose schemes always fail, is usually too poor to afford that kind of stuff, so he ends up stealing from Hench Co. and other villains, notably his AlwaysSomeoneBetter rival Professor Dementor, though even then in their very last scene they are actually having coffee together. Then there are villains who actually ''are'' family: the Seniors are a father-and-son villainous duo, and Drakken himself is a cousin of evil mechanic Motor Ed. In the finale he finally ends up hooking up with [[TheDragon Shego]]. They aren't the only evil couple to show up either. |
| 180 | * ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'' is more "Evil Is One Big Loyal Conspiracy with a Common Goal." Nearly every villain in the entire series outside of [[AliensAreBastards the Reach]] is either a member or agent of The Light. Some might be out of the loop, but generally they are all in alliance with one another to some extent. Even some of the villains who don't like each other (Sportsmaster and Cheshire; Icicle, Sr. and the Riddler) often turn out to be allies through their connections to The Light. As this is a series where even [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]] and [[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]] are team players, it seems that The Light has managed to convince every supervillain on Earth to work together for their mutual benefit. Particularly notable that every single member is loyal enough that ''nobody'' has confessed any knowledge of The Light to an outside authority or otherwise betrayed The Light to any major degree. |
| 181 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', the situation is strangely similar to ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' in that Villainy is presented as a sort of very weird subculture. There are even gated communities specifically for super-villains. Super-villains at large are at least polite to each other and show basic courtesy, though backstabbing and rivalries aren't unheard of. The main reason for all of this is that the super-villain trade union, The Guild, has very strict guidelines for super-villain behavior and discourages in-fighting since that would make them more vulnerable. Villains who try to break the rules don't last long, as Phantom Limb discovered. |
| 182 | * ''Franchise/ThePowerpuffGirls'': |
| 183 | ** All the main villains are supportive of each other for being evil, regardless of motive. As long as they're in the crime business. Especially Mojo, HIM and Fuzzy, who have somewhat of a VillainousFriendship, but the rest of the main villains count too. |
| 184 | ** Harold Smith's family joins him shortly after he left prison, all for the pettiest of reasons; Mariane for revenge of her dinner ruined with Professor Utonium and the girls involved, Julie because they lost her favorite jacks, and Bud because he just plain hates everyone. |
| 185 | * ''Franchise/Ben10'' regularly subverts this by generally having villain team-ups self-destructing thanks to rivalries and conflicting motives. [[WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce Later entries]] [[WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien in the]] [[WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse original's continuity]] also took it further with the Forever Knights, showing them to be divided into several factions with different motives: one just wanting to TakeOverTheWorld, another that has FantasticRacism against aliens, and yet another led by a WellIntentionedExtremist who wants to stop an EldritchAbomination from destroying everything. |
| 186 | ** Played with hilariously in one episode where third string villains Billy Billions, Captain Nemesis, and Kangaroo Kommando form a team called the Vengers in an effort to outdo Ben in the superhero game (and thus score the victory they couldn't as separate villains). After trouncing all three as Brainstorm, Ben seemingly calls it quits, [[TenMinuteRetirement retiring as a hero]] and leaving the trio to their own devices. Turns out Ben had already figured out that, without him to focus their aggression on, the Vengers' collective egos would lead them to self destruct. |
| 187 | ---> '''Ben:''' But I thought it would take a few months, not a few hours. |
| 188 | * ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', for the most part, has the rogues gallery all get along quite well and even get together to play poker on occasion, and of course they are more than willing to team up to take down their common foe Batman. Often averted with Two-Face, who has enemies in The Penguin, Rupert Thorne, and of course [[Characters/BatmanPoisonIvy Poison Ivy]]: the one person both of his halves can agree they want to take her down for attempting to murder him first: |
| 189 | -->'''Two-Face:''' Half of me wants to strangle you.\ |
| 190 | '''Poison Ivy:''' Oh? And what does the other half want?\ |
| 191 | '''Two-Face:''' To hit you with a truck.\ |
| 192 | '''Poison Ivy:''' ''[to the others]'' [[ContinuityNod We used to date]].\ |
| 193 | '''Everyone else:''' ''[understandingly]'' Ah. |
| 194 | * PlayedForLaughs in ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' in one episode when The Joker is dressed up as Batman and foiling crimes ([[ItMakesSenseInContext It's The Joker; just roll with it]]). He shows up to foil The Penguin's robbery and The Penguin's outraged reply makes it clear that, at least as far as he's concerned, the villains aren't supposed to mess with each other's schemes: |
| 195 | --> '''The Penguin:''' Are you out of your gourd?! I'm in the middle of a heist! You don't see me barging in on your "gas all of Gotham" schemes! IT IS CALLED PROFESSIONAL COURTESY!!! |
| 196 | * Both subverted and zig-zagged on two different occasions in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. The season four finale had Tirek and Discord join forces, only for the former to waste no time backstabbing the latter as soon as the RealityWarper was no longer useful. Later, the season eight finale has [[spoiler:Tirek help Cozy Glow in her plot to take over Equestria, out of revenge for being sent to Tartarus. Only to turn around and assist the heroes when he realizes that if he doesn't, they'll remain stuck in Tartarus with him, and he [[FateWorseThanDeath just doesn't want to deal with that headache]]]]. |
| 197 | * ''WesternAnimation/AngelWars'': Inverted! Demons often compete against one another and try to grab power for themselves, with even some cases of sons rebelling against their parents. Angels, all being under [[{{God}} The Maker King]], do not have these factions, and are much stronger for their unity. |
| 198 | [[/folder]] |
| 199 |
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