[[TheSmurfs http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/smurfs_hardcore.jpg]]

A process that seeks to make a work of fiction "more adult". All too often, this really means it'll be ''less'' mature about its production.

Beware any press release that promises a new character or show which will be DarkerAndEdgier than the competition. In theory, it means that a show will shift towards cynicism on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism. But in practice, it far overshoots the mark, ending up spiced up with gratuitous gore, cursing, and sex, none of which makes the story any better and which wouldn't impress anybody but {{Beavis and Butthead}}. The show will also demonstrate that it's a harder universe now by having [[DeusAngstMachina lots of unpleasant things happen to the characters]] or [[{{Wangst}} giving the characters a particular issue they can spend all their time angsting about]]; as with the sex and violence, this will usually be done in a ham-handed and immature manner and will come off as being annoying, if not actually [[{{Narm}} laughable]].

Things are even worse if there is a {{Retool}} to make a pre-existing show DarkerAndEdgier. This is usually a sign of JumpingTheShark.

The most obvious example is in comic books, as a rebellion against the SilverAge led to more than a decade of clumsy attempts to show that comics are DarkerAndEdgier, and thus "[[MaturityIsSeriousBusiness not kid stuff anymore]]." What this actually showed was that comics were often kid stuff with gore, cursing, and sex. See BronzeAge, DarkAge, and NinetiesAntiHero.

Occasionally, it actually works. The trick is, naturally, to add good, adult writing to go with your adult themes.

DarkerAndEdgier is rapidly joining HilarityEnsues as one of the most [[DeadHorseTrope beaten-to-death]] marketing slogans.

Also mocked as GrimDark, derived from the tagline of ''{{Warhammer 40000}}''. (In the grim darkness of the far future, there is ''only war.'') Sometimes paired with WorldHalfEmpty.

Note that this is not the same as a {{Deconstruction}}. A Deconstruction plays out the genre's conventions to their logical conclusions in order to criticize the initial genre conventions. This does not have to be dark (see for instance DeconstructiveParody) and it doesn't prevent things from turning out well. DarkerAndEdgier just adds 'dark' elements to try and get the same effect. Sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. Usually shows up in DarkFic.

Compare {{Grimmification}}, HotterAndSexier, AmericanKirbyIsHardcore, BloodierAndGorier, ObligatorySwearing, CerebusSyndrome. Contrast LighterAndSofter.

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[[foldercontrol]]

!!Examples:

[[folder:Advertising]]
* Captain Birdseye (Captain Iglo in some parts of europe), a nice and old man on a sailing boat with a crew composed of children got a DarkerAndEdgier makeover during the nineties. He became a rugged 30-something submariner who fought against pirates. Backlash came hard and fast, and this version was never seen again.
** Sounds like the "It Might As Well Be String" episode of The Goodies:
--->'''Narrator:''' Captain Fishface has your children. If you want them back send 2,000 wrappers from Fish Face Cod Pieces. But make it quick.\\
'''Capt. Fishface:''' 'Cause you don't know what goes into my rissoles.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* Often blamed for the critical failure of ''DigimonTamers'', although not only did the tone actually ''work'' for this season, it wasn't even played up in the ads at all.
* On the flip side, ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds}}'' went the way of ''{{Akira}}'' in order to achieve DarkerAndEdgier. In fact, popular consensus among the show's fans is that the sheer spike in DarkerAndEdgier material in it was a deliberate act to keep FourKidsEntertainment from {{Macekre}}ing it... not like it hasn't stopped them from trying.
* Little known fact: ''{{Akira}}'' was conceived as a Darker And Edgier retelling of ''{{Gigantor}}''.
* Every adaptation of ''ReadOrDie'' seems to do this. The manga is fairly light-hearted (and the ''Read or Dream'' manga entirely so). The OVA has a bit of camp to it, but gets fairly dark, with a BittersweetEnding. The TV series, ''R.O.D the TV'', manages to [[ItGotWorse get more depressing]] nearly every episode, but eventually rewards its long-suffering cast [[EarnYourHappyEnding with a happy ending]]. Strangely, they keep improving.
* The first few seasons of ''DragonBall'' were fairly light in tone, without the characters being in real danger. It became darker and more violent once the assassin Tao Pai Pai hit the picture. This continued with the Piccolo Daimao saga, in which many main and past characters are killed by Piccolo and his "sons". This tradition continued into the sequel series ''Dragon Ball Z'' and ''Dragon Ball GT'', eventually escalating to the point where ''entire planets'' were [[EarthShatteringKaboom being destroyed]].
** But don't worry, they all got better.
* ''TekkamanBlade'' is a Darker and Edgier version of an earlier series called ''Tekkaman the Space Knight'' Nothing like having to kill your family (except your sister's heroic sacrifice and going comatose to nail that in the head. Thankfully [[IGotBetter D-boy gets better in the sequel]]
* ''[=~Pokémon~=] Special'', a manga spinoff of ''[=~Pokémon~=]'''s game version has fights to the death for everyone, humans included.
* ''{{Gatekeepers}}'', while dark in places, ended upbeatly, with the notion that people can stand against TheHeartless with ThePowerOfLove and [[HotBlooded Burning Spirit]]. Cue ''Gatekeepers 21'', where 20 years later most of the cast is dead and TheHeartless are winning.
* ''NeoHumanCasshern'' while not a very kid friendly had a darker and edgier upgrade with CasshernSINS
* Urasawa's {{Pluto}} does this to Tezuka's ''AstroBoy'', showing the grittier side of life in the twenty-first century. This being Urasawa, it works tremendously well as the writing and themes are thoughtful and touching as well as dark and edgy.
* ''[[GaoGaiGar GaoGaiGar FINAL]]'' was much darker than the television show for two main reasons: first, it was an {{OAV}} so they could get away with things that wouldn't fly on broadcast television, like explictedly sexual {{Fanservice}}. And secondly, it was aimed at a {{seinen}} audience rather than at children.
** Note however that FINAL is an example of why {{Darker and Edgier}} does not necessarily equate with Dark and Edgy. The original show was far down the Idealism side of the [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism sliding scale]]; the {{OAV}}s were just somewhat less so in comparison, and are still pretty darn optimistic, especially in comparison to [[NeonGenesisEvangelion certain other super robot shows]] [[{{Bokurano}} which shall remain nameless.]]
* Arguably happened to the anime installments of ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha''. The series starts out as an archetypal, formulaic MagicalGirl series, but then the first season turns it into more of a serious action series with magical girls. The second season, meanwhile, goes from having [[AntiVillain no real villains]] to uncovering a [[SealedEvilInACan Sealed]] CosmicHorror. The third season then becomes a straight military series with a little bit of magical girls.
** The ''fandom'' tends to do this. It seems everyone ''wants'' it to be DarkerAndEdgier. Then, there's the popular "BetrayerS" doujinshi, which literally cranks the darkness and edgy-ness up to 11. Hayate and Nanoha being LawfulEvil. However, it ''works''. The thing is an awesome must-read, if only for the amazing art. [[http://arararara.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/nanoha-betrayers-high-quality-release/ You can get it here.]]
*** ''Everyone?'' [[YourMilageMayVary Speak for yourself!]] [[{{Comartemis}} This troper]] ''despises'' [=BetrayerS=], nice artwork or otherwise, exactly because of this trope.
* The {{OVA}} of ''MagicalPlay'' is a much darker affair than the slapstick comedy of most of the original series--up to and including characters dying horrible deaths in big puddles of blood.
* MahouSenseiNegima did this intentionally as part of a GenreShift from an UnwantedHarem to {{Shounen}}. The two most obvious indicators of it are the characters' [[DarkAndTroubledPast pasts being revealed]], and BloodlessCarnage getting thrown out the window. The series still maintains it's FanService and humor, but breaks them up with stretches of action and drama.
* The first anime as compared to the manga of FullMetalAlchemist.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comics]]
* In comics, this move is most famous for {{Comicbook/Batman}}. After the end of the ''Series/{{Batman}}'' TV series, it became apparent the campy tone had burnt out, and DC realized a change was needed quickly. With Denny O'Neil's writing and predominantly Neal Adams' gothic and realistic art, Batman was made a darkly fearsome night stalker much like he was in the original stories before he was softened for kids. Later, in the mid-80s, FrankMiller's ''TheDarkKnightReturns'' overclocked this to dangerous levels. Also note that the pattern repeated itself with the movies. After the increasingly silly ''Batman Forever'' and ''BatmanAndRobin'' movies failed, DC [[ContinuityReboot started again from the beginning]] with the more serious ''BatmanBegins''.
** The shift also carried over to Batman's RoguesGallery, most notably the Joker, who had been written as a comical "Clown Prince of Crime", but now returned to his [[MonsterClown psychotic murderous]] roots.
** In the '90s the Batgirl mantle was passed from Barbara Gordon to Cassandra Cain, a character who came complete with a much darker origin (she's a mute [[{{Tykebomb}} trained from birth to be an assassin]]) and a costume that wouldn't look out of place at a BDSM club. Fortunately, she was written well enough in her own series to not come off as completely ridiculous.
** Bat-Azrael was a darker, edgier, more brutish version of Batman, created to show what makes the true Batman ''not'' a vigilante. However, DC was totally ready to keep Azrael as Batman, if it sold well enough.
*** Jason Todd as Batman is similar to Azreal: a thuggish, heavily armored Batman who guns criminals down with his [[GunsAkimbo pair of pistols]]. Fans have taken to calling him "[[FanNickname Gunbats]]".
** Even the [[Film/{{Batman}} first two Batman movies]] with Michael Keaton were intended to be darker-and-edgier versions of the Dark Knight than the campy Adam West ''Series/{{Batman}}'' most people had grown up with, partly in an attempt to cash in on the popularity of ''The Dark Knight Returns'' comic.
* Indeed, the DarkAge was an instance of this for the entire American ComicBook medium.
** AlanMoore, who helped begin the trend with ''{{Watchmen}}'', has shown some regrets over this. [[http://www.avclub.com/content/node/24222 "The apocalyptic bleakness of comics over the past 15 years sometimes seems odd to me, because it's like that was a bad mood that I was in 15 years ago."]]
*** [[HypocriticalHumor Then he wrote Lost Girls, where fairy tale figures were sexually exploited.]]
**** Whatever else may be wrong about that book, he's made it clear that it's not meant to be "darker and edgier". He describes the whole project as an effort to make good comic-book porn. (Not erotica. He's very clear on the semantics.)
**** Plus he wrote it befor the DarkAges really became this trope
* The ''{{Transformers}} Generation 2'' comic books, loosed from even the moderate ContractualImmortality restrictions they had been operating under before, promptly started massacring the cast. Issue #1 cover copy: "This is Not Your Father's Autobot." #2: "Fort Max Gets the Ax." #3: "Killing Frenzy." The characters would also kill without hesitation and use guns that weren't their signature weapons.
* Here's one way to kill the party: Turn [[FunPersonified cheerful, bouncy]] Robbie Baldwin from the [[PersonalityPowers playfully heroic]] Speedball into an apparent murderer with a [[{{Wangst}} guilt complex]] worthy of {{Angel}}. Now he calls himself Penance, and wears a suit with 612 built-in points of pain, one for each person killed that day. His new powers can only manifest when he is in pain.[[Comicbook/CivilWar Way to go, Marvel]].
** However, Marvel mitigates this by having the newly christened Penance make an appearance with Squirrel Girl, in which Penance shouts at her about how she "DOESN'T UNDERSTAND" and that "his pain is.. too DEEP for [her]," all the while [[WallBanger banging his helmeted head angstily against a wall]].
** Recently in ''Thunderbolts'', however, Penance has come to terms with the Stamford incident not being his fault. In his CrowningMomentOfAwesome, he reveals to Nitro the real reason for the suit. [[spoiler:The suit wasn't for Robbie, although his survivor's guilt led him to wear it [[{{Wangst}} as a form of cutting]], it was for Nitro. Robbie captured Nitro in Latveria to punish him for the Stamford incident, put him in the suit and proceeded to beat the CRAP out of him, after which he removes the last spike from his own chest to symbolize that he's freed himself of guilt.]]
*** More recently Marvel had Baldwin mindwiped and he has now forgotten everything except that he killed people in Stamford and should be guilty over it. Damn you Marvel.
* Here's another way to kill the party: Take Slapstick, a [[http://blackmarketpies.blogspot.com/2008/03/secret-origin-of-slapstick.html living cartoon]] DeadpanSnarker powered by the RuleOfFunny, then turn him into a docile AxCrazy [[http://blackmarketpies.blogspot.com/2008/03/slapstick-week-where-are-they-now.html drone who beats guards into comas]]. Way to go, ''[[{{Comicbook/CivilWar}} Civil War]]''.
* Much of Marvel's UltimateUniverse runs in this vein. A stunning amount of the process of its "updating" traditional Marvel characters for the modern era has involved inflating the sex and violence content, as well as gratuitous {{Squick}} (e.g. [[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk the Hulk]] isn't merely violent or even murderous but cannibalistic; Quicksilver isn't just [[{{BigBrotherComplex}} very protective]] of his sister the Scarlett Witch but in a [[{{BrotherSisterIncest}} sexual relationship]] with her; [[IronMan Tony Stark]] is a genius as expected — due to a painful cancer-like affliction which has spread brain matter throughout his body and will soon kill him). Not to mention that "updating" personalities means turning pretty much everyone into a complete and utter {{Jerkass}}. Comicbook/{{Spider-Man}} largely escaped, but Comicbook/{{the Avengers}} and Comicbook/{{X-Men}} were all turned into such vile bastards that... well... they wouldn't exactly look out of place on the new ''BattlestarGalactica''. Oddly enough, IronMan is actually ''less'' of a dick in the Ultimate universe.
** Stark started an extradimensional concentration camp in the mainline universe. He had nowhere to ''go'' but up.
** The very worst CharacterDerailment in the UltimateUniverse is CaptainAmerica, who in the mainline universe is the embodiment of [[{{Eagleland}} American ideals and values]], including but not limited to equality, openness to political discourse, and dedication to international harmony. Ultimate Cap is a racist, sexist, hardliner who calls the French cowards, ''despite the fact that he fought alongside the Resistance in WWII''. His characterization is more of a {{Deconstruction}} of the original idea: a man who's been frozen in ice since the 1940s and yet ''has'' to be the quintessential American hero for today, despite ''being'' the hero of (and thus holding ideals from) yesterday.
*** What's really sad here is that Mark Millar's original portrayal of Ultimate Cap was neither racist nor sexist. That was CharacterDerailment from later writers. Yes, they took something Mark Millar wrote and ''made it worse''.
*** For example, the scene where he believed Nick Fury was a Skrull because he was an African-American General. Its not that cap has anything against black people (he seems to have no problems working under Fury until much later on when their philosophies diverged.) He was simply acknowledging a reality from his era that black people didn't make it into the upper ranks which made him suspicious given that he had been fighting shapeshifters.
** And, apparently, even the Ultimates weren't edgy enough for (Millar's) Fury's taste, as he's jettisoned all of the surviving ones except Hawkeye and started picking himself a new black ops team made of even bigger bastards, including a Wasp who has a chip implanted in her head to keep her from going back to being a terrorist, Tony Stark's completely amoral big brother, a Spider-Man who induces suicide in people, and a Hulk created by cloning and Frankenstein methods.
* Said Ultimate Universe spread to the 616-universe, as far as evil IronMan and Reed Richards and Cyclops expelling Xavier from the {{X-Men}} (even though Cyclops utterly bombed as Top Guy at the school as far as Xavier saving the X-Men's asses during the Messiah Complex X-Over) and starting his own murder squad, a move even WOLVERINE found distasteful and only agreed to lead to try and keep Scott from turning Wolfsbane, X-23, and Warpath into soulless murderers). Not to mention the whole "Spider-Man selling his soul" crap.
** Not to mention the whole "Professor X is no better than Magneto" creep from the Ultimate to the main universe that was exemplified by ''Deadly Genesis'' where it was [[RetCon revealed]] that Professor X lead a team of X-Men to their deaths rescuing his original team from Krakoa and just mind-wiped everyone into forgetting that it happened and trying again with another new team. And that Professor X later realized that the Danger Room was becomming sentient but ignoring it leading to Danger being created years later.
* A 2004 ''{{Thundercats}}'' mini, ''Thundercats: The Return'' should count. Lion-O gets trapped in the Book of Omens for five years, and when he gets out he finds the Thundercats beaten and enslaved by Mumm-Ra. Of particular note are Wilykit and Wilykat. Let's just say that puberty has been good to them, and that Mumm-Ra has the same tailor for his slaves as Jabba the Hutt.
** Not to mention the implied rape of Cheetara by the Mutants.
** The sequel ''Thundercats: Dogs of War'' retains the same grittiness and furry fanservice, although naming the bad guys Doberlord and Diablodor detracts bit from the supposed drama.
* Marvel as much as said at the time that the thinking behind [=USAgent=], War Machine and Thunderstrike was to have DarkerAndEdgier versions of CaptainAmerica, IronMan and TheMightyThor, without losing the originals. There's even a famous ''[[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers]]'' cover of the two versions facing off. Though created prior to the decade, they would see their heyday as NinetiesAntiHeroes.
* Brazilian comic ''Monica's Gang'', which in 2008 received, aside from [[http://joanasalvador.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/turma_da_monica.jpg the regular, comedic title]] starring [[NotAllowedToGrowUp children]], [[http://www.ocaldeirao.com/arquivos/imagens/monica_jovem3.jpg a manga version]], changing [[{{Animesque}} art style]], characters' [[PlotRelevantAgeUp age]] and [[CharacterDerailment personality]], and more serious storylines with some elements directly taken from Japan such as sorcerers and Mecha.
*TheDCU's post-[[CrisisOnInfiniteEarths Crisis]] universe was so grim it supposedly drove the SilverAge-inspired Superboy-Prime crazy-- causing him to become a mass-murdering fanatic and perhaps the darkest and edgiest DC character of all time.
* The new Wolverine led X-force team, now reborn as the X-men "black ops" team. [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7d/X-Force-1-cover.jpg Where everyone wears black leather and has red eyes, and there is much growling and slashing had by all]]. [[http://www.comicrelated.com/graphics/XForceCable_MessiahWar_Prologue_SecondPrinting.jpg I mean, look at them. LOOK AT THEM.]]
** If you feel the need for a palette cleanser, look at them [[http://johnnygigawatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/xforce_puppies.jpg here]].
** Surprisingly enough, the book is quite good.
* ''Dare'', a 1991 take on Frank Hampson's iconic British 1950s space explorer Dan Dare. The 1991 version was written for Toxic magazine by Grant Morrison, and illustrated by Rian Hughes. Dare awakes in the 1990s to find that Britain has become a capitalist society, and that a thinly-disguised parody of Margaret Thatcher has sold Britain to the evil Mekon. During the course of the story all of the main characters are killed - Digby even has his arm blown off - and the final edition ends with Dare blowing up London with a nuclear bomb.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]
* Arguably any FanFic with a higher [[MediaClassifications content rating]] than the source material is this by definition, but especially anything labelled as DarkFic.
* Let's not forget ''{{My Immortal}}'', in which most of the characters have converted to [[strike:Satanism]] "STANISM", [[HarryPotter Harry's]] scar is now a ''pentegram'', and all the characters seem to do is {{Wangst}} around, cut their wrists, go to ''My Chemical Romance'' conterts, have [[IkeaErotica sex]], and proclaim how [[strike:gothic]] "goffik" they are.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films]]
* ''{{Babe}} 2: Pig in the City'' is very much this trope compared to the original. The original was about a little pig on a farm who was taken in by the female sheepdog and was mostly lighthearted. TearJerker here and there, but the darkest element was when Babe's parents are hearded to the slaughterhouse. In Babe 2, there's a hotel with illegal pets, animal control, a viscious bulldog that nearly hangs him trying to kill Babe, and one of those little wheelchair dogs who [[spoiler:almost dies]]. NightmareFuel for some kids.
* [[TheFilmOfTheSeries The film of]] ''MiamiVice'' divided audiences by going this direction. The original was fairly dark itself, though: it just had more trappings of the '80s.
* The [[ContinuityReboot rebooted]] JamesBond series, starting with ''CasinoRoyale'', is an example of this trope done right. The excessive special effects, cheesy one-liners, and flashy gadgets that characterized previous Bond movies were thrown away in favor of a more mature and realistic plot, a flawed main character, and short, brutal fight scenes. In short, the writers focused more on substance than style while applying this trope, which is more than you can say for many other examples mentioned here. Oh, and swapping baccarat for poker. It's more sofistercated.
** Interestingly, this also involved bringing it a lot closer to the source material. Fleming liked SeanConnery as Bond, but since he died the films had been getting progressively LighterAndSofter.
** ''LicenceToKill'' was also a grittier approach to the Bond series, due to Timothy Dalton's portrayal of 007 and some influences from those days' television such as ''MiamiVice''.
*** And consequently it ended up looking positively sadistic alongside the comic-book violence of ''IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade''.
* The 2007 ''[[TransformersFilmSeries Transformers]]'' movies and its sequel. While we expect nastiness from the Decepticons, Optimus Prime is quite the cold-fueled killer when it comes to his foes, and the property destruction and robot body count (killed in graphic detail, we might add) is immense. There's also far, far more sex jokes, swearing, dirty humor and Megan Fox in skimpy outfits than you'd really expect from a movie based on a child's toy line.
* While many versions of ''ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' go in [[LighterAndSofter the opposite direction]], the 1989 film turned the story into a bloody slasher flick, with Robert "Freddy Krueger" Englund in the title role. Really.
* ''IndianaJones and the Temple of Doom'' took this direction what with its plot about an evil cult using dark magic to pull people's hearts out and enslave cute children. This was apparently {{George Lucas}}' brilliant idea, based either on how well going darker had worked with the second installment of the original ''StarWars'' trilogy (this ignores the fact that ''Doom'' is actually a prequel) or just [[CreatorBreakdown because Lucas was going through a divorce at the time]]. Either way, ''Doom'' was later counterbalanced by the LighterAndSofter ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade''.
** Of course, the original had [[YourHeadAsplode head asploding galore]] and the Nazis. This editor honestly admits he had no idea ''Doom'' was supposed to be darker until he came to this wiki...
** Was it supposed to be darker or just more [[{{Squick}} disgusting]]? Eyeball soup, monkey brains for dessert, the scene with all the insects...
*** Hey, that part was meant to be ''funny''
* Warner Bros' recent announcement on the future of their comic book movies implies that they are all getting the DarkerAndEdgier treatment (even the planned [[ContinuityReboot reboot]] of ''Film/{{Superman}}''), to [[FollowTheLeader capitalize]] on the success of ''{{The Dark Knight}}''. It remains to be seen how effective this new direction is going to be, with the planned ''{{Shazam}}'' film having already [[http://johnaugust.com/archives/2009/shazam-done suffered the consequences]] for not being "grim and gritty" enough.
* Rob Zombie's ''{{Halloween}}''. More blood, more cursing, the Myers are pretty much rednecks, etc. etc. Even Laurie Strode's character falls into this category and isn't as likeable as Jamie Lee Curtis.
** Rob Zombie's take on Halloween was ''so'' much {{DarkerAndEdgier}} that at times it felt like soft core porn with murders occasionally inserted. It's probably the only mainstream slasher flick where you see [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean more than boobs and pubes]] at one point. Most of the cast seemed to exist for the sheer purpose of having sex, cursing, or verbally mocking even the slightest most trivial hint of good character. They weren't the ''easiest'' bunch to sympathize with, [[UnderStatement to put it mildly]].
* Richard Kelly wrote a [[http://richard-kelly.net/multimedia/scripts/Holes-Script72.pdf screenplay]] for Louis Sachar's lighthearted BlackComedy, ''{{Holes}}'', that went in this direction. Instead of searching for buried treasure at a juvenile delinquent summer camp, the movie would have had the boys searching for nuclear weapons in a post-apocalyptic Texas. One scene has [[TroublingUnchildhoodBehavior Stanley visiting a prostitute.]] Mercifully, the studio used the screenplay written by Sachar himself.
* ''Excalibur'', John Boorman's 1981 take on the legend of King Arthur. The film combined magical realism with gritty, bloody violence, reaching a peak of dark edginess in an early scene in which a knight in blood-stained armour rapes a duchess played by the director's daughter. The film often came across as a bigger-budget variation of ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail''. Stripped of its humour, the Python film was itself a darker and edgier take on the legend, inspired in part by Robert Bresson's similarly downbeat 1974 film ''Lancelot du Lac''. It almost seems as if dark, edgy versions of the King Arthur legend outnumber all others.
* ''Return to Oz'', a 1985 continuation of ''The Wizard of Oz''. Since the events of the first film, Dorothy has been sent to a mental institution for tests; she is eventually catapulted back to Oz, which has become a surreal Bosch-esque nightmare hell in the interim. The film was one of several Disney productions from the last half of the studio's wilderness years, and was a box-office flop.
** Probably because everybody was expecting it to be light and fluffy. It's actually a lot closer to the books than the 1939 version, OrSoIHeard, and what I've seen of it is quite good given its '80s FX.
* ''HomeAlone'' 3.
* The ''HarryPotter'' films since Prisoner of Azkaban.
** Altough, truth be told, the third book in the series is where things ''actually'' start to get increasingly darker and edgier.
* The ''PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' sequels.
* Incredibly, the film adaptation of ''{{Watchmen}}'' is best described as this trope applied to ''{{Watchmen}} itself.'' The sex, violence and language (especially the violence, which has the ''[[BlackAndGreyMorality slightly]]'' more heroic Nite Owl and Silk Spectre [[strike:maiming]] ''killing'' foes when previously that was the sole province of [[HeroicSociopath the Comedian and Rorschach]]) have all been dialed up to 11, typically losing quite a bit of the original novel's characterization in the process...YourMileageMayVary, though.
** Circular saw + forearms. The epitome of this trope done badly.
*** Amen to that. This troper has never seen a more gratuitous, unearned, and completely unnecessary scene of violence in a film. It would have been a lot better if it had been left at the bloody spray we got in theaters, but the Director's Cut DVD felt the need to actually show the arms being cut off. Sad, as most of the extra footage in that version actually adds quite a bit to the story and characterization (minus the needlessly redundant scene where the scientists proclaimed that Dr. Manhattan was on Mars), though YourMileageMayVary.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt has, in recent iterations especially, sailed headlong into this territory. All of this jives strangely with the original portrayal of the character (who it should probably be noted wasn't actually intended to ''be'' the hero), who was more cheerful -- a mix of a [[LoveableRogue devil-may-care style swordsman/rogue]], and [[{{Mentors}} a mentor for Wulfgar]] when he wasn't. Admittedly, he was still quite [[TheStoic un-talkative]] when around strangers.
** Which ''may'' be caused by author's own attitude, considering there was even little self-deconstruction (''Dark Mirror''). Indeed, Salvatore's writings seem to indicate that the cheerful face he wore in the first novel was something of a mask.
* Diana Gabaldon's ''Lord John Grey'' series, historical mysteries concerning a secondary character from her main set of historicals, come across as an attempt to be both DarkerAndEdgier and HotterAndSexier, using the seedy aspects of the protaganist's forbidden love affairs, him being gay and the setting being the 18th century, for all the shock they're worth. They may or may not have managed it. (Her main books are themselves essentially Darker and Edgier versions of the 'roguish Scots in kilts' type of historical romance, though significantly better written- there's still smouldering glances, kilts, time travels and duels, but the male love interest's the one who suffers all the traumatic [[RapeAsDrama villain-initiated rape scenes]] and Gabaldon doesn't hold back on the gore or inequality much.)
** Really? With all the horrible stuff that happens to Jamie and Claire's family, ''Lord John and the Private Matter'' felt like a breather.
* Nodded to with the "Adult Edition" of the ''HarryPotter'' novels, which swap out the cartoonish dust jackets with John Grisham-style artwork.
* This is what the author has promised for the fourth ''WarriorCats'' arc, and if the latter half of ''Sunrise'' is any indication of what the fourth series will be like, it certainly will be.
* ''{{Wicked}}'' and ''{{The Wizard of Oz}}''. ''The Wizard of Oz'' is a fluffy, heartwarming story of a few friends in a magical country. ''Wicked'', the novel, doesn't go more than a few pages without some swear word or mention of sex, or just sex. Gregory Maguire had a pretty dirty mind... there is a lot of weird romance in it, like Elphaba's father and mother were both in love with the same man, Elphaba's roommate was in love with her (but married a older rich guy, who all Gelphie shippers insist is an abusive ass), Elphaba's guy friend and his friend may have had a hint of romance... it never ends.
** And yet this isn't the actual thrust of the plot. [[spoiler: The Wizard is a tyrant, using a secret police and assassination to suppress dissension and many ethnic groups. Conscious, sapient Animals are sent to farms and stripped of their rights, resulting in many Animals going into hiding. Elphaba herself is willing to commit murder to help her cause, and works for what can only be called a terrorist group at one point. Her mentor, Doctor Dillamond, is brutally murdered for coming close to proving the minor point that Animals (the sapient kind) and animals (the normal kind) and humans are made from the same stuff. Religious tensions between Tick-tokism (straw-man science), Lurline (straw man paganism), and the Unionists worshiping the Unnamed God tears apart society. The Wizard's projects come at severe cost in life, such as the destruction of the Quadlings' country for ruby mines. Racism between humans - especially towards Winkies and Quadlings, is common (though Munchkinlanders of means always "marry into height)." The land is caught in a terrible drought. The Yellow Brick Road and Emerald City are both wasteful boondoggles. Witch sex is hardly the 'darker and edgier' in Wicked.]]
** Which, oddly enough, was LighterAndFluffier-ered back to about the same level as TheWizardOfOz by the megahit Broadway musical.
** Another Gregory Maguire novel, ''Mirror Mirror'', starts off as an interesting take on Snow White... and quickly devolves into lots of kink and {{squick}}. (Menstruation ''{{does not work that way}}!'')
* The ''HarryPotter'' books tended to get DarkerAndEdgier as they went along.
** Which was no accident. Rowling set out to write a series that would grow up with its audience, and it was published over a decade- so the same 10-year-olds expected to read [[strike: Sorcerer's]] Philosopher's Stone were expected to be about 20 when they read Deathly Hallows, and ready for more mature fare.
*** Naturally, this was entirely lost on most Concerned Parents, leading to oodles of FanDumb and WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids.
* The SwordOfTruth series tends to feel like a DarkerAndEdgier knockoff of TheWheelOfTime a lot of the time.
** When it's not being a Darker and Edgier [[strike:fantasy]] [[strike: deep novel of philisophical reach]] FANTASY knockoff of ''The Fountainhead''.
*The recent ''Discworld'' novels are a perfect example of DarkerAndEdgier done right, especially Night Watch. They lose the obvious-parody humor of the early novels for more subtle (but just as funny) stuff, and gain darker plots.
** Fairly, it could be considered that the Later discworld novels are Terry Pratchett becoming more mature. But, being a [[OneOfUs Gamer]], it took him until his Sixties.
* Many of the poems in ''[[SongsOfInnocenceAndOfExperience Songs of Experience]]'' are darker counterparts to poems in ''Songs of Innocence'', for example "THE Chimney Sweeper" to "The Chimney Sweeper", "Infant Sorrow" to "Infant Joy", and both "The Human Abstract" and the cut poem "A DIVINE IMAGE" to "The Divine Image".
*During the sixties and seventies there was a period in ScienceFiction called the New Wave. There was an influx of new authors into the science fiction field who wanted to make it more "literary" and "experimental." This was usually accomplished by including a great deal of sex, setting the stories in dystopian futures that were far along the cynical scale of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism, replacing ScienceHero protagonists with angsty, passive, unlikable and unheroic characters, and embracing the TrueArtIsIncomprehensible mantra. Many of the New Wave authors were openly contemptuous of all previously existing science fiction and tried to surgically remove its optimism, sense of wonder, and all the other things that made it good. Science fiction was stuck in the New Wave rut until the early eighties, when authors like DavidBrin, GregBear, and VernorVinge made optimism and old school hard sf and SpaceOpera popular again. The New Wave did have some positive effects, it helped break some of the field's sexual taboos for one thing. Plus a lot of great authors, like MichaelMoorcock, UrsulaKLeGuin, HarlanEllison, PhilipJoseFarmer, and PhilipKDick, either got their start or reached their height during the New Wave. But generally, the New Wave was to ScienceFiction as the DarkAge was to Comics.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* The ''DoctorWho'' spinoff ''{{Torchwood}}'' was billed as "Darker and Edgier" than its family-aimed parent, and was shown late at night. Unfortunately, with the show keeping the visual feel of ''DoctorWho'', the swearing, sex and "adult themes" grated even further. It was mentioned in ''SFX'' magazine that the episodes which worked best were either the ones which didn't go DarkerAndEdgier, or the ones that didn't tie into the Whoniverse.
** This really only applies to Season 1. Season 2 was still relentlessly grim but it developed its own style and lost that feel of being "dark and edgy" for the heck of it. It also became a lot more willing to poke (albeit dark) fun at itself.
***And then there was Chilrden of Earth.
** Conversely, the [[TheBBC Children's BBC]] series ''TheSarahJaneAdventures'' is "{{Lighter and Softer}}" than the original series.
*** Depends on your definition. ''TheSarahJaneAdventures'' can be extremely vicious and nasty.
* ''Doctor Who'' itself, starting with the new series and the 9th Doctor, is DarkerAndEdgier than the original series, introducing a large new angst source and the sudden possibility of romance.
** Debatable, to the point that the new series could in some lights be described as LighterAndSofter (cat nuns, anyone?). Unintentional silliness caused by the low budget aside, the original series was consistently strange and had some very dark episodes (as an example, ''Genesis of the Daleks'' involves radiation sickness, mutation, slave labourers who'll be killed after they stop being useful, summary execution and of course nuclear war - ignoring all the body-horror elements of Davros and the Daleks themselves).
** The 1990s series of ''New Adventures'' novels, billed as "Stories too deep and too wide for the small screen", often fell into DarkerAndEdgier territory, as did the later BBC Books series. This may have been an influence on the series revival, particularly the concept of Gallifrey and the Time Lords being destroyed.
** ''DoctorWho'' has varied in tone and theme over it's forty years so frequently that there's been numerous DarkerAndEdgier periods ''and'' LighterAndSofter periods, so it's difficult to say that the new series is any grimmer / lighter than the old series. The new series itself tends to [[MoodWhiplash zigzag from one to the other wildly]]; for every cat-nurse, there's an insane cannibalized future human reduced to a head in a metal tank travelling back in time from the end of the universe to exterminate it's human ancestors largely for shits and giggles.
**One particular example of a classic ''DoctorWho'' DarkerAndEdgier period is Eric Saward's tenure as script-editor. Saward was a big believer in showing the consequences of the violence surrounding the Doctor, and tended to adopt a darker writing and editing style which eventually culminated in Season Twenty Three, which was widely criticised for it's increase on visceral shocks and gore, the unlikeable characterization of the Sixth Doctor and a lot of plots in which grimdark mercenaries and various other {{Jerkass}}es seemed to play heavy roles (in some cases, they got better lines and more to do than the Doctor himself). It got so bad that this was reportedly one of the motivating features behind the eighteen month hiatus that the show was put under soon after, and when it returned the producers made notable efforts to make the
* The [[ContinuityReboot revival]] of ''BattlestarGalactica''. This is one of the more successful -- [[InferredHolocaust and for that matter, logical]] -- cases of darkening. The original ''Battlestar Galactica'' wasn't exactly {{WAFF}}y, but it did devolve into 1970s camp a lot.
** Parodied on ''{{CSI}}'' (of all places), where the Darker and Edgier and Bloodier and Gorier version of a StarTrek expy was so bad that even [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor Boomer]] and [[WordOfGod (word of) God]] were appalled. [[spoiler: fortunately for the CSI 'verse the creator of the D&E&B&G version is also the episode's AssholeVictim]]
* Speaking of CSI:, ''CSINewYork'' was ''supposed'' to be the Darker and Edgier counterpart to the Brighter and Shinier ''CSI Miami'': Mac Taylor lost his wife in 9/11; the lab was in a dingy 100-year old stone building; the area where the deceased were identified by their loved ones was a cramped, dark room where the corpses were lifted into the light by a hydraulic "elevator"; and, of course, liberal abuse of BadBlueLighting (lampshaded in the pilot when Mac and H are lit by their respective filters: H is bathed in a warm orange glow while Mac is in cold blue shadow). Thankfully, this nonsense only lasted one season.
* ''{{Smallville}}'''s Season 3. And Season 8, arguably.
* The 2007 [[ContinuityReboot revival]] of ''BionicWoman''.
* During the US broadcast of Seasons Four and Five of ''DegrassiTheNextGeneration'' on The-N, all commercials for the show emphasized that each episode would be more "intense" than the last, because "Degrassi -- It Goes There." The show had always been melodramatic, but the commercials now went out of their way to show that [[DysfunctionJunction every character was to suffer]] (venereal disease, teen pregnancy, getting cyber-stalked, etc.). Some fans loved this, but others sneered that The-N was hardly "intense" when it refused to show an episode about abortion. Eventually it got so over-the-top that The-N stopped the DarkerAndEdgier commercials, and switched to self-parodying commercials instead.
* ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''
* Season 3 of ''StarTrekEnterprise''.
* Season 2 of ''DesperateHousewives''.
* Seasons 3-5 of ''MiamiVice'' are a marked departure from the first two seasons. This was largely caused by ''[[LawAndOrder Law & Order]]'' writer Dick Wolf taking up head writer duties on the show. The Daytona was destroyed and replaced with the Testarossa, the pastel colours disappeared, the plots got much more serious (see [[spoiler:Zito's]] death), and the whole enterprise spiraled downwards into mediocrity.
* ''{{Kaamelott}}'' is a very popular short-format French TV show, a parody of the Arthurian Legends. Straight comedy in its first seasons, it became more story-oriented later, and also much more darker in its latest season (culminating with [[spoiler:Arthur’s attempted suicide]]). This is not the result of executive melding, though, but the very intent of the original creator of the show.
* ''StargateAtlantis'' was announced to be DarkerAndEdgier than ''{{Stargate SG-1}}''. It dealt with an all around darker atmosphere, MoralDissonance and AnyoneCanDie, along with an arc enemy intended to be even more frightening than the BodyHorror of the Goa'uld and ScaryDogmaticAliens of the Ori. Unfortunately, they forgot to [[NotQuiteDead keep them dead]], and the enemy's only advantages were soon nullified, until all they had was numbers.
** ''Stargate Universe'' so far appears to be a {{Darker and Edgier}} version of ''{{Stargate Atlantis}}'', already the {{Darker and Edgier}} version of ''{{Stargate SG-1}}''
*** More like HotterAndSexier. Imagine the "younger and edgier" spoof version of the SG-1 team in the 200th episode of ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'', done seriously.
* The ''KamenRider'' franchise started out by being a darker take on the tokusatsu genre (well, more serious than ''SuperSentai'' at least), though it still had a somewhat campy tone throughout its various series. Then came ''KamenRiderBlack'', which had a more serious and dramatic spin on the usual formula. Its [[LighterAndFluffier lighter and fluffier]] sequel, ''KamenRiderBlackRX'', was such a humongous [[MoodWhiplash mood whiplash]] that it effectively managed to kill off the franchise for the rest of the Showa era ([[BatmanAndRobin sound familiar]]?). Not even a series of one-shot movies could revive it. It took the heroic efforts of the [[DarkerAndEdgier darker and edgier]] ''KamenRiderKuuga'' series, to bring the franchise back to life during the Heisei (current) era. While that new revival reinvigorated the formula, it couldn't keep the future series from having progressively poorer ratings and toy sales. This led to ''{{Kamen Rider Den-O}}'', a [[LighterAndFluffier sillier]], MerchandiseDriven. The following series, ''KamenRiderKiva'', is darker, but not by much, judging from the reception. It's only a matter of time before the [[CyclicTrope cycle]] starts again.
** And yet Den-O has proved to be amazingly successful, with three separate movies. Despite KR's ratings dropping at a continuous rate since ''KamenRiderAgito'', the Den-O toyline had astronomical sales.
** Then Heisei had ''KamenRiderFaiz'' for its Darker and Edgier title, the novel took it new heights with RapeAsDrama. Given the fact that Toshiki Inoue made ''ChoujinSentaiJetman'', one would have expect it to be darker than usual.
**Before the RX incident, X was much darker than V3 or the original, lasting 35 eps, the third shortest Rider series.
* ''SuperSentai'' has had various installments like this. The first was JAKQ Dengekitai in 1977 which was much darker than ''Himitsu Sentai Goranger'' until {{ExecutiveMeddling}} forced the writers to put comic relief in such as the somewhat clownish prettyboy Big One. [[ScrewedByTheNetwork The series only lasted 39 episodes because of this.]]
* ''Tin Man'' has DG (Dorothy Gale) going to the Outer Zone (yup, the O.Z.) where she befriends a man who has lost part of his brain to evil experimenters, and a tortured empathic beast who seems to be a human/lion crossbreed, and the "Tin Man" of the title, a cop who wears a tin star.
** He was also locked in a metal life support box that kept him alive but awake and unable to move or talk, furthering the DarkerAndEdgier parallels. The whole thing is pretty much a combination of the movies, the book, and a bunch of DarkerAndEdgier twists and story details.
** Ironically, that's nowhere near as dark as the Tin Man's origin story in the book.
* Completely inverted in ''{{Angel}}''. The 3rd and 4th seasons were one big soap opera, with long lost sons, comatose lovers, abandonment, questionable ethics all around including the cold blooded murder of Fred's old teacher by Fred and Gunn (Fred wanted more [[ColdBloodedTorture torture]], but Gunn snapped his neck before she could). The first episode of the 5th season brings back Harmony, [[TheDitz the vampire ditz]] as Angel's new assistant, and the 2nd one brings back Spike as a ghost who can't do anything but stand around cracking jokes. The mailman is a former Mexican wrestler super hero who fought a robot built by the devil, which Wesley later identifies as "El Diablo Robotico". The fact that Spike killed his mother for trying to have incestuous sex with him is played for laughs.
** Of course, this season itself gets darker and darker as it goes along, eventually culminating in [[spoiler:Gunn making a DealWithTheDevil, Fred dying and being replaced by a [[EldritchAbomination demon god thing]], and a genuine BolivianArmyEnding]]. The comic series ''After The Fall'' promptly sends all the characters to ''Hell''.
* ''PowerRangersRPM'' has subverted this. While its tone is quite dark compared to recent seasons, what with humanity on the brink of extinction and now all survivors are living in a single city out in a barren wasteland, most fans agree that this is a welcome change. Part of that may be that the show still has a sense of humour, yet it takes itself seriously at the same (leading to an interesting, yet amusing discussion on how the ranger suits are ''not'' made of spandex).
** Well ''Go-Onger'' was kind of camp, ''RPM'' just pushed the plot further.
** ''PowerRangersTimeForce'' was much the same, dealing with stuff like ScrewDestiny and the CycleOfRevenge.
* ''[[TheVampyrASoapOpera The Vampyr: A Soap Opera]]''. Even though the original was pretty dark and edgy to begin with, apparently it didn't have enough nudity or blood.
* ''Mirrorman REFLEX'' was a darker and scarier take on the 1971 {{Toku}} Mirrorman, which was itself a darker take on the giant heroes of the time.
* {{Ultraman}} has had various installments like this. First there was Leo in 1974, which dealt with slavery and had a KillEmAll style ending before Tomino even had his own series.
** And let's not forget ''Ultraman Nexus'', which was supposed to be a DarkerAndEdgier reboot of the franchise aimed at a shonen/seinen audience, but got ScrewedByTheNetwork and placed in a Saturday Morning Kids Slot.
* ''Robin of Sherwood'', a 1984 British television adaptation of the Robin Hood legend. The show retold the Robin Hood story with a combination of pagan magick and the gritty look and tone of John Boorman's 1981 film ''Excalibur''. The characters eschewed bright green tights for primitive camoflague gear, and the show had a semblance of historical realism. The show's legacy was tarnished by the double-blow of Jason Connery in the final series, and the 1991 Kevin Costner film ''Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves'', which firmly returned the Robin Hood legend to the realm of camp.
*''{{Firefly}}'' underwent a very subtle shift when ''{{Serenity}}'' came out, as the original series was already fairly dark to begin with. The subtlety came as much from the lighting, clothing, and camerawork as it came from the actual events of the movie.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
*Done famously and successfully by Pantera in the late 80's. After spending most of the TheEighties as an unknown glam metal band, Pantera became recognized for the the darker and edgier Cowboys from Hell after hiring Phil Anselmo to replace Terry Glaze and trashing their glammy image in favor of a more "street wise" one. They would attempt to make each subsequent album even more darker and edgier throughout the TheNineties. YourMileageMayVary on these albums and their TestosteronePoisoning.
* Judas Priest went here by releasing '' Painkiller'', an album full of hard-hitting power and speed metal, with none of the happy-go-lucky synthesizers and lyrics of their previous album ''Turbo'' (they did keep the synths, but only to evoke dark atmospheres). Subsequent albums (the Ripper Owens period especially) continued the trend, although most fans dismiss these albums (which seems to happen with more Ripper-sung albums; see Iced Earth's album ''The glorious burden'')
* Sonata Arctica's music has been progressing from the standard cheesy excesses endemic to power metal to more grim lyrics and darker sounds. It seems to be working, though one wonders how far they can stretch it...
** Their music has always been a bit dark thematically, though, even if they did used to sound like an explosion in a Skittles factory.
* The cover of ''Imagine'' by A Perfect Circle is darker, edgier, and downright depressing. With a simple shift to a minor chord, the song [[TheCoverChangesTheMeaning switches from hopeful and uplifting to cynical and depressing]]. "Imagine all the people sharing all the world! ...yeah, like that'll ever happen..." The change has been likened to going from a friendly, smiling hippie offering you peace and love and flowers, to a grim suicide bomber outlining his manifesto to a huddled, frightened crowd.
* TypeONegative make a RunningGag of doing this to hippie anthems: Seals & Croft's "Summer Breeze", NeilYoung's "Cinnamon Girl", several [[TheBeatles Beatles]] songs...
* Any cover by Marilyn Manson. Impressive when he picks already-dark or creepy songs.
* Dope's cover of Dead Or Alive's "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)".
** As well as Ten Masked Men's cover of the same song, and others.
* Progressive metal band Dream Theater has done a little in this direction lyrically and vocally, the only curse words in the band's 16+ year history were in its past three albums (still very few overall), but this change has been mostly for the better, as their softer songs don't really portray the technical brilliance of the instrumentalists, and vocals such as "The smile of dawn/Arrived early May/She carried a gift from her home/The night shed a tear/To tell her of fear and of sorrow and pain, she'll never outgrow" in a track from their 1992 album Images And Words stand in stark contrast to the guitar riffs and drumming, which wouldn't be out of place in a Metallica song. YourMileageMayVary.
* Neil Young's ''Rust Never Sleeps'' album arguably falls into this, compared to ''Tonight's the Night'' which was more of a CreatorBreakdown.
* Much, though not all, of John Lennon's songwriting took this direction in the late sixties due to a combination of drug use (especially heroin), the influence of Yoko Ono, and a growing disillusionment with his role as a [[TheBeatles Beatle]]. This culminated in his 1970 solo album ''Plastic Ono Band'' in which, under the influence of [[AndIMustScream primal scream therapy]], he expressed his childhood traumas and adult pain starkly and directly in a way that he couldn't do with the Beatles. While Lennon continued to write hard-edged songs afterward, most of his subsequent work was more pleasant and hopeful in tone.
* Anyone remember the old Pink Floyd CDs with Syd Barret? Remember Bike? Remember the jolly good times? No? Probably because it was Obscured by Clouds or on the Dark Side of the Moon or maybe on the other side of the Wall.
** The musical history of Pink Floyd seems to have been one long slide from the spacey, exploratory psychadelia of Syd Barret, down into Roger Waters' descent into dark, cynical Wangst. Waters' post-PF solo work continues the trend.
*** Not so much anymore. A few years ago, he wrote "Hello (I Love You)," the title track from the movie ''The Last Mimzy''.
* The entire musical genre of Doom Metal is one big exercise in how grim and depressing music can get.
* Porcupine Tree have been doing this since 2003 or so. While they never made the most upbeat or happy music out there, there's a definite change between psychedelic, Pink Floyd-influenced rock like The Sky Moves Sideways, and the metal Fear of a Blank Planet, which has ends with "Sleep Together", about the album's 'narrator' trying to convince another teenager to commit suicide with him.
* Van Halen's fourth album, Fair Warning. Most of the band's, silly hard-partying atmosphere (which made them famous) from the previous albums disappears and a heavier, more serious sound is heard. This is mostly attributed to the tensions between lead guitarist Eddie Van Halen and lead singer David Lee Roth at the time. The album features "Mean Street" and a foggy synthesized instrumental "Sunday Afternoon in the Park" that is full of NightmareFuel.
* The Counting Crows' first album, ''August and Everything After'', was a sweetly melodic, very subdued folk album. Their second, ''Recovering the Satellites'', added distortion guitar, angry lyrics, and several swear words. Eventually they found a middle ground which worked quite well.
* The formerly cartoonish {{Gorillaz}} went DarkerAndEdgier with their second album, ''Demon Days''.
* {{Eminem}}'s entire discography has basically been a sine-wave of LighterAndSofter and DarkerAndEdgier. His 1996 debut ''Infinite'' was basically the former, though [[CreatorBreakdown a series of life events]] caused him to take the [[DarkerAndEdgier darker content]] [[UpToEleven to the nth degree]] with both ''The Slim Shady LP'' and ''The Marshall Mathers LP'', both of which were critical and commercial successes. His subsequent two albums were somewhat LighterAndSofter, though the cycle has begun again with the recently-released ''Relapse'', which serves in and out of this trope. It should, of curse, be noted that each album always has a parodying track somewhere in it.
* Massive Attack. While 'Blue Lines' and 'Protection' weren't entirely sunny, 'Mezzanine' had a sonic background so dark, it absorbed light.
** Trip-Hop as a whole has moved in this direction. It originated as a soothing, acid jazz-inspired blend of hip-hop and dub; in mid 90's, the post-punk influences turned into angry [[PostGrunge post-grunge]] riffs, the trippiness became heavy psychedelia, and the {{Retraux}} atmosphere traded nostalgia for old horror movie creepiness.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:New Media]]
* The blog Chocolate Hammer mocked this trend with the game Darker and Edgier, in which familiar franchises were warped beyond recognition and readers had to guess what they originally were. The posts in question can be found [[http://www.chocolatehammer.org/?p=91 here]] and [[http://www.chocolatehammer.org/?p=400 here]].
** I want to make a DarkFic about the SesameStreet one.
** They made number 4. It's called ''{{Dollhouse}}''. Well close to.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:ProfessionalWrestling]]
* The [[{{WWE}} WWF]]'s Attitude era gained so much attention because it was so much DarkerAndEdgier than the days of SuperHero-like wrestlers like Hulk Hogan, the fact that much of the new flavor was imported directly from {{ECW}} aside.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' takes this trope to ''insane'' levels. (One of the game's marketing slogans is, "In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.") Some groups of fans of the game have taken the phrase "grim dark" (taken from the catch phrase of the game) to describe when this trope is used to an extreme, usually implying that it is done in a way that's SoBadItsGood. Something might be Dark and Edgy, but its nothing compared to the ''{{GrimDark}}ness of the Grimdark future of Grimdark''.
** Despite this fact, the background of the 5th edition of the game looks like a Darker and Edgier version of 40K. The fact that the Imperium is crumbling is shoved down a reader's throat even more than in previous editions, and there are hints that the Emperor's life-support device is failing (which would completely destroy all human civilisation, since FTL travel is only possible using the Warp -- and only the Emperor can create the necessary navigation beacon).
*** So... nothing else is new?
**** Well, the prices are getting darker and edgier too. The current price for an army box is really Grimdark.
* ''DungeonsAndDragons'' 4th Edition has gone both this route and the opposite (LighterAndSofter) simultaneously.
** The wacky gnomes and lust-for-life half-orcs are replaced as player races with dragon-men and demon-children. For the most part, dragonborn and half-orcs fill the same niches; they aren't any more given to brooding than half-orcs, the race most likely to be spawned by rape, already would be. The gnome and tiefling switch is better apples and oranges. Replace the angst-free fun loving inhently magical race with... demon children, who all but gain dark powers by slashing their wrists. Not to mention that they did include a new kind of elves that are [[OurElvesAreBetter shinier, happier, more mystical and just all-around ''better'']], like an entire race made of Galadriel. ([[PerverseSexualLust ...some tropers will be in their bunk...]])
*** Some welcome the lack of gnomes as a basic PC race. Goddamned gnomes.
**** Then along came Players Handbook 2 and put Half-Orcs and Gnomes back in again.
** On the other hand, while the default setting has changed from "knights and kingdoms" to "cities are points of light in a sea of darkness", it's more of a "golden age of exploration". Settlements are relatively isolated in the wilderness, and most of the world is unmapped. Cue adventurers. However ''squared''...
*** ''Forgotten Realms'' definitely went darker, with glorious cathedrals crumbling and different gods and [[GodModeSue longtime power characters]] being slain or depowered left and right. Though one must remember that ''Forgotten Realms'' wasn't the only campaign setting, just the most popular; other settings, particularly ''Ravenloft'' and ''DarkSun'', were noticably darker than FR was anyway -- this more brought FR "down" to ''Greyhawk'''s level. Players still have ''Eberron'', with its pulp-adventure-y feel, for less depressing fare.
**On the third hand, the system is much LighterAndSofter, in that every adverse condition that happens to the players can be removed almost instantly. Several of the nastier conditions from earlier editions (e.g. attribute drain) simply don't exist any more, and all of the others either automatically wear off in five minutes, or can be removed by a low-level spell. Hungry? Oh, here are some infinite rations. Room is dark? Plenty of infinite light sources around. The world may be dark and edgy, but hardship for the player characters is non-existent.
* The ''Pathfinder'' Adventure Paths and campaign setting have also gotten noticeably DarkerAndEdgier. The half-orcs' origins as the product are made more explicit, ogres are reimagined as inbred monsters right out of ''Deliverance'', and most monsters explicitly like to eat people. Even the gnomes get in on the act. In ''Pathfinder'', they are fey creatures who have been separated from their original world. If they do not constantly seek out new and ever more sensational experiences, their features begin to 'bleach', the banality of existence aging them to death.
* ''BlissStage'' is essentially "{{Bokurano}}: The Roleplaying Game".
* ''The WorldOfDarkness'' initially marketed itself along these lines, as an "adult role-playing game" for "mature gamers". Apparently feeling that their attempts had failed, White Wolf demolished that line and rebooted it as ''[[FanNickname WoD 2.0]]'', a Darker and Edgier version of the first.
** The setting itself is described as being Modern Day Earth... only, you guessed it, darker and edgier.
* And within the WorldOfDarkness itself... ''Changeling''. The original game, ''ChangelingTheDreaming'' had [[CrapsaccharineWorld its darker]] [[{{Gotterdammerung}} moments]], but was widely considered "kiddy" as it was a game about the power of imagination and [[GrowingUpSucks resisting crushing banality]]. Then came ''ChangelingTheLost'', which hewed ''much'' closer to the original myths of TheFairFolk by having the main characters being humans who fought their way back to Earth after being abducted and changed by mad alien gods.
* MagicTheGathering has "Shadowmoor," a plane which is the DarkerAndEdgier version of the LighterAndSofter "Lorwyn."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theatre]]
* ''Dog Sees God'' is a play featuring thinly disguised versions of the ''{{Peanuts}}'' cast in High School. [[spoiler:Snoopy was put down after getting rabies and killing Woodstock. Lucy is in an asylum for lighting the little redheaded girl's hair on fire]] and that's the tip of the iceberg.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Not exactly a laugh-riot to begin with, the ''Mortal Kombat'' saga tried to be darker for game 6, ''Deception.'' We found out that the Earthrealm heroes all died in the previous game, became slaves of the new enemy, and to top it off the game featured an impressively grotesque zombie in the form of former champion Liu Kang...
* The idealistic ''Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar'' was followed up with Ultima V, which involved resisting an oppressive tyrant using twisted versions of the very virtues the previous game was founded on to keep power. THAT was followed up by Ultima VI: The False Prophet, which STARTS OUT with the hero narrowly avoiding being sacrificed as part of a terrible and brutal interspicies war.
** And that trilogy was the Age of Enlightenment. Let's not get started on the Age of Armageddon...
* The shift in style between the game ''JakAndDaxter'' and its successor, ''Jak II'' took place during the opening cinematic. In the original, the tone was light, the hero was a HeroicMime, his rodential sidekick joked all the time, and the combat was minimal and hand-to-hand. At the beginning of ''Jak II'' the heroes [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture traveled forward in time]], released an extra-dimensional evil onto the world in the process, then skipped over two years of Jak being tortured under lab settings. After that, [[SuddenlyVoiced Jak got a voice]], a sardonic attitude, a [[{{BFG}} gun]] and became a card-carrying PhlebotinumRebel; Daxter got some dirtier jokes, and was dropped from the title. This TimeTravel based change was a plausible way to change the world of the game drastically in one scene, and it arguably worked.
* ''SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters'' is rather dark for a NipponIchi game, being set in a dying world rampant with death, betrayal and far worse, much of which your group experiences first-hand. Kind of ironic, considering the main character isn't a demon this time.
** [[spoiler:And then there's the Demon Path, where the main character becomes something that even the other Nippon Ichi demons would revile.]]
* The original ''DoubleDragon'' was already a gritty game as it was, but the arcade version of ''Double Dragon II: The Revenge'' attempted to up the ante by undoing the happy ending from the first game and [[SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome killing off Marian]], changing the objective of the Lee brothers from [[SaveThePrincess rescuing her]] to [[StuffedInTheFridge avenging her death.]] All the returning enemy characters were redesigned to look meaner and uglier (Linda the dominatrix for example, was given a Native-style mohawk and face paint, along with a ball and chain in place of her original whip) and the new bosses includes a masked wrestler who leaves behind his mask when he dies and an Andre-like giant with Terminator-esque sunglasses whose stature dwarfs Abobo from the original game. Despite this, the game comes off sillier rather than gritter.
* A [[SoBadItsHorrible much less successful]] video game example was ''{{Bomberman}}: Act Zero'' for the [=Xbox=] 360. That's right, Hudson tried to make '''''[[http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/3/3d/225px-Bomberman-art-work-style.jpg Bomberman]]''''' DarkerAndEdgier. To be fair, the original concept of Bomberman was rather dark (robot-like beings trapped in an underground arena and forced to kill each other with bombs) and the lighter feel of the original game was actually a compromise. However, none of the other games in the series [[CanonDiscontinuity make any references to Act Zero]] in any way, choosing to stick with the HelloKitty-esque Bombermen everyone knows and loves (or at least has learned to tolerate).
* ''ShadowTheHedgehog'', where [[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic's]] EvilTwin [[TheWesley Shadow]] (introduced in ''Sonic Adventure 2'') was given the chance to drive cars, shoot guns, and [[ContemplateOurNavels brood over his purpose in life]]. Occasional cursing (and that [[MemeticMutation DAMN fourth chaos emerald]]) was added to the US version for kicks.
* In ''[[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic]] Unleashed'', Sonic gets a SuperpoweredEvilSide that is the Werehog. However, the Werehog can also be considered a partial subversion of this trope, seeing as he has many comical-looking moves, not to mention his stretchy arms.
** Actually, before Unleashed, Sonic already got his literal darkside: Darkspine Sonic, a form made up of Sonic's negative emotions. And unlike the Werehog's goofy voice, Darkspine just sounds pissed off and badass. Seriously, look them up if you doubt me, but if you took a look at the two without knowing who they are, people would consider Darkspine to be Darker and Edgier than Werehog. He even pulls off a badass quote after kicking a giant energy ball back at its sender.
-->"HA! How's that for an introduction then?!"
** That, and let's just say that ''Unleashed'' is LighterAndSofter compared to ''Shadow'' and ''Sonic [[SoBadItsHorrible 2006]]'', which is a good thing.
*** Arguably done well in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood which featured a more mature storyline in the sense that it was deeper than previous games, gave the characters more rounded personalities and even succeeded in making Amy Rose less of "The Scrappy" that she had been since Sonic Adventure.
*** Not done as well in fangame ''[[EnsembleDarkhorse Ashura:]]'' ''Dark Reign'', which is basically a generic Sonic game, except (for example) Sonic bleeds red blood when he gets hit and casually uses "fuck" if you stand around for too long.
* The teaser trailer in ''KingdomHearts'' suggested that ''KingdomHearts 2'' would be DarkerAndEdgier and involve people in [[BlackCloak black raincoats]] fighting in a dark city. They did appear, but the overall game ended up being ''less'' grim than the original, if anything.
** That could be said for some parts. Others... not so much. YourMileageMayVary on many parts.
** And then there's ''KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'', featuring a much more depressing story, culminating with a DownerEnding.
** Meanwhile, [[WordOfGod Tetsuya Nomura]] has said the upcoming ''Birth By Sleep'' will take itself seriously. One of the lines in the E3 2008 trailer went along the lines of:
--->'''Ven:''' We're 'friends', therefore I wanted to ask something. [[spoiler:Erase me.]]
*** Of course, ''Birth by Sleep'' is still gonna be a Disney game, and Disney knows when to have it's stuff stop taking itself seriously. As dark as it may be, expect comic relief
* While on the subject of {{Disney}} related games, we have the recently announced ''{{Epic Mickey}}'' for the Wii, which features creepy steampunk cyborg versions of both Mickey Mouse and Goofy. [[http://www.totalvideogames.com/img/uploaded/www.totalvideogames.com_69109_beetleworx_6.jpg The artwork really speaks for itself]]. For a Disney game, that is pretty damn dark.
** And again, ''EpicMickey'' is still gonna be a Disney game, and while Disney knows NightmareFuel, it turns out the plot isn't ''quite'' as dark as we though.
** ''EpicMickey'' has a different kind of dark to it. Rather than dealing with BodyHorror robotic chimeras of our favorite Disney characters like we first expected, it's about the consequences of Mickey's irrationality and how he must make up for it. So far, it looks like this game is going to do DarkerAndEdgier ''right''.
* ''AdvanceWars: Days of Ruin'' is clearly DarkerAndEdgier than the other three ''AdvanceWars'' games, which sometimes bordered on silly. It pulls it off just fine, thanks in part that it's a brand new continuity, plus the fact that it recognizes that adult themes don't nessecarily mean throwing out all humor.
** It works because the setting is AfterTheEnd but the survivors are trying to make the best of things. The doctor exemplifies this, saying that it's times like this you need to laugh. The last mission is called [[EarnYourHappyEnding Sunrise]].
* The original ''{{Rayman}}'' was packed to the brim with cheery, bright colours, silly characters and all sorts of silly things that make its sequel, ''Rayman 2: The Great Escape'', look extremely grim in comparison. Fortunately, the latter also added an additional sense of mystery and wonder, not to mention consistency, to Rayman's world, so it all works out.
** Afterwards, the slide is balanced in ''Rayman 3'' and pushed beyond the cheeriness in the ''Rabbids'' series.
* ''{{Painkiller}}'' could be said to be the dark cousin to ''SeriousSam''. Both are {{FPS}}es recreating the old-skool style of gunning down massed Mooks in [[TheWarSequence War Sequences]], but where ''SeriousSam'''s levels are bright and colourful with fantastic and cartoonish monsters, those of ''{{Painkiller}}'' are grim and subdued with hellish dark fantasy-style beasts. It is worth noting, though, that the two titles are done by different companies of different nationality (Croatian Croteam for ''SeriousSam'' and Polish People Can Fly for ''{{Painkiller}}''), though, so this comparison may be the fault of [[EpilepticTrees a mind that thinks too much]].
** Moreover, when ''SeriousSam'' was released, some reviewers thought that the game was a bit too bright, light-hearted and silly, which didn't exactly keep up with the game's old-school ''{{Doom}}'' and ''{{Quake}}'' influence, or in one reviewer's words, "too ''Braindead'' and not ''Aliens'' enough". With its signifigantly meaner attitude, it looks like ''{{Painkiller}}'' was the game these reviewers wanted ''SeriousSam'' to be.
*** Considering ''SeriousSam'' not only recreated but also parodied the "gunning down masses of Mook" gameplay (and gleefully lampshades its parodies), it seems said reviewers [[CompletelyMissingThePoint completely missed the point]].
* ''[[PokemonMysteryDungeon Pokémon Mystery Dungeon 2]] [[ElectricBoogaloo Explorers of Time/Darkness]]''. While the first game's offered a character that simply tried to ruin your protagonists' lives and was a cosmic JerkAss, the sequel goes further by [[spoiler:sending your protagonist duo to the literal End of Days, having to face down a legendary Pokemon that has become an evilly subverted primal force of nature, and a BigBad who not only traps children in unending nightmares, but also poses as an "ally" who suggests that it's ''all your fault and the best way to fix things is to [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar kill yourself]].]]''
** The main game series is sometimes mistaken as having this, but it's really an ascending the SlidingScaleOfVillainThreat. The naturally bigger threats provide some increased urgency, but not the concentrated and throrough effort that defines DarkerAndEdgier.
*** Tell that to Platinum. In Diamond/Pearl, we get Dialga and Palkia, and the Team Galactic storyline ends at the Spear Pillar. In Platinum, we get [[NightmareFuel Giratina's shadow interrupting the proceedings from another dimension]], and have to carry the chase onwards into [[DarkWorld the Distortion World]]. ''Nothing'' lives in the Distortion World except for Giratina, making it a literal [[GhostCity Ghost World]]. It's just...eerily calm. [[GravityScrew It also has some issues with proper gravity.]]
** Also,if you compare Ruby,Sapphire, Emerald to Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum...Terrorist cults that almost flooded a region vs an extremely dangerous terrorist group wanting to destroy the ''world''?
** The GameCube SpinOff series set in Orre is like this. The first game stars a Pokemon-stealing AntiHero from the Team Rocket-like organization running off with a prototype Pokemon-theft device in a desolate desert land, with more than few shades of UsedFuture. He eventually discovers a plot to "seal the hearts of Pokemon" -- while it sounds [[{{Narm}} really cheesy]] when you put it that way, it actually involves [[HatePlague removing all sense of compassion from a Pokemon so that their primal bloodlust can be unlocked]]. The second game was LighterAndSofter in comparison, but was still set in the desolate and grim Orre.
*** Orre, by the way, is officially based off the American Midwest, Arizona in particular. Thinking of Arizona as a MadMax wasteland is amusing.
*** In ''{{Pokemon}} XD'' the BigBad and the [[FiveBadBand Brute]] [[spoiler:threatened to blow up both their bases when defeated with you and their [[{{Mook}} goonies]] on it]]. Not even Cyrus considered throwing that kind of tantrum when he was bested.
**** It shoudl be noted that Mars, in the anime, tried to do this.
* Done well for the nightmarish ''TwistedMetal: Black''.
** To put this in perspective, Twisted Metal began as a series about a burn victim inheriting genie like powers, and putting on a no holds barred kill or be killed destruction derby in densely populated areas between maniacs with heavily armed vehicles. They went darker from there.
*** Yeah, but let's not forget the SeriesDerailment that was the combined badness of Twisted Metal 3 and 4. Since these really played the whole concept for laughs, Black was quite a departure.
* Rather than an adorable ''AstroBoy''-esque android, the [[FanNickname blue bomber]] of ''MegaManX'' is a morally conflicted hero. Similarly, the comical Dr. Wily was succeeded by Sigma, a ruthless (and seemingly indestructible) robot bent on the total annihilation of the human race. It was still done rather well, CapcomSequelStagnation aside. Still, apparently Capcom knew when enough was enough, as a later series in the franchise, ''MegaManLegends'', significantly dials down the angst with less hard-edged artwork, a more reasonable difficulty level, and a comical cast of characters.
** The interquel to the aforementionned two, ''MegaManZero'' goes even darker, with Zero as the reploids' [[spoiler:and later the humans']] only hope of survival in a fascist world, with [[spoiler:Copy-]]X as its supreme ruler. The games got less dark with each installment, as Zero and the resistance slowly succeed in bringing about better conditions.
*** Well, until the fourth game, where Zero [[spoiler: dies trying to prevent a KillSat being {{Colony Drop}}ped after the second firing of its WaveMotionGun is cancelled. The first destroying the only city in the world, leaving only the escapees and the ones that LaResistance could save in time alive.]]
*** The manga turns the whole thing into a comedy at times. In fact, it loses all seriousness by the time the second series comes around. Especially the cowardly helmet-less Zero, and the Guardians bickering amongst themselves. And it did the impossible task of turning ''Omega'' into a HarmlessVillain.
***''Zero 3'' introduced the [[CompleteMonster most inhuman villain]] to enter the entire franchise, [[MadScientist Dr. Weil]]. Let's just say he's crossed the MoralEventHorizon so many times, ''[[AllThereInTheManual before]]'' AND during the series. After all, {{Capcom}} had to think of the BigBad of the [[DarkerAndEdgier darkest]] chapter in the series.
***It could have been worse. ExecutiveMeddling was the only thing that kept us from having an insane murderous X as the BigBad. You know, the character who's supposed to be the great hope of humanity and all that.
** ''[[MegaManZX ZX]]'' was lighter... Except for the backstories of the four protaganists, the general atrocities caused by the antagonists, and Giro falling victim to Zero's death curse. It was still done well.
** ''[[MegaMan Mega Man 7]]'' is a classic example. It turned Mega Man into a {{Perpetual Frowner}}, removed the happy expression on the {{one ups}}, and Mega Man tried to kill Wily in all versions, including the {{American Kirby is Hardcore}}less version.
** ''MegaManStarForce'' was definitely darker than its predecessor, ''[[MegaManBattleNetwork Battle Network]]''... Somewhat. Appearances can be deceiving. Geo Stelar starts out being understandably depressed about his dad to the point where he won't go to school... But his depression quickly lifts the longer the PowerOfFriendship thing hangs around (Then it hits a roadblock when [[spoiler:Pat betrays him and Geo goes into a short-lived fit of {{Wangst}}]]). Star Force actually lightens up quite a bit after this point. The anime and manga were more comedic in nature (The latter a lot more so, like the Zero manga).
** However, the sequel contains one of the darkest plotlines in the entire series. The Apollo Flames "second quest" involves an alternate universe AfterTheEnd scenario where every human has been [[KillEmAll killed off]] thanks to the Precusor To Ruin.
** The third game has some decidedly un-cheery plot elements, such as [[spoiler:two war orphans trying to use an EldritchAbomination to destroy the world's technology, a corrupting, quasi-HatePlague, and one character being killed before Geo's eyes (Luckily they turn out to be OnlyMostlyDead).]]
**Another character [[spoiler: blows himself up to destroy Dread Joker. This time, he doesn't come back.]]
* In ''PrinceOfPersia: Warrior Within'', the likeable prince of the previous game had apparently given up both shaving and civility after years of [[ImplacableMan being chased by the Dahaka]]. The game also became more combat-heavy, and threw out the atmospheric Middle-Eastern soundtrack of the previous game for generic, mediocre heavy metal. (Oh, and for [[http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/princeofpersia/princeofpersia3.htm "Even More Mature Gaming!"]], the lesser antagonists are women in {{Stripperiffic}} outfits, one of whom is introduced with an extreme close-up aimed [[MaleGaze directly at her thong-clad ass]].)
** Not to mention the female S&M ninjas. ([[{{Narm}} "So much pleasure in pain..."]]) Thankfully, the third game scaled back on the GRIMDARK while keeping the improved combat system.
* Not even an obscure series like ''SnowboardKids'' can escape this trope, with the DS installment gutting nearly everything that gave the earlier games their quirky charm for the sake of appealing to teenagers. Neither the critics nor the small but dedicated fanbase were amused, which possibly spells doom for the franchise.
* Though ''{{Halo}}'' started off fairly grim in the first place, as the series progressed it went ever deeper down the tunnel. By ''Halo 3'' there's some ''serious'' nastiness going on, especially regarding the Flood and the NightmareFuel inherent to some of Cortana's messages.
** The story goes that the original script for {{Halo}} 3's ending had a much lighter tone, with all the main characters returning to Earth to a hero's welcome. Marty O'Donnel, Bungie's musical director, thought that this ending was too [[LighterAndSofter light and soft]] and didn't portray the grim consequences of being a "hero" in a 30-year war. Sunsequently the script was re-written to have a much DarkerAndEdgier ending in which several main characters die and Master Chief [[spoiler:is stranded in deep space with Cortana, presumed dead by the rest of humanity]].
* ''DevilMayCry 2'' was clearly made under the assumption that the [[SoBadItsGood overblown camp of the first game]] was a ''bad'' thing, and [[SoBadItsHorrible decided to play the B-movie setting straight]], as evidenced by inexplicably changing the stylish wise-cracking, cowboy-esque, demon hunter Dante to [[CharacterDerailment a generic, stoic badass who barely gets any lines]]. It might also have to do with the fact it was rushed into production ''without'' informing or involving the original creators. To say the least, [[{{Discontinuity}} it didn't turn out well]]. Capcom made up for it with a return to [[{{camp}} the appeal of the original]] with ''DevilMayCry 3''.
* Done in ''GrandTheftAutoIV'', replacing the cheesy crime dramas with a immigrant story wrapped in a crime drama, while retaining the humor.
** If anything, people complain because Niko wasn't dark ''enough''.
** The current generation of ''GrandTheftAutoIV'' plays to a cynical darker tune. In LostAndDamned, Johnny partake in a series of events which leads to the destruction of the Lost Motorcycle club in a somewhat futile bid to stick to his ideals.
* ''PaperMario: The Thousand Year Door'' is darker and edgier than the first ''Paper Mario''. The first example of many that this game will be darker than the last is probably the ''gallows'' in Rogueport's town square. This is also a game in which Mario does jobs for [[TheFamilyForTheWholeFamily the Mafia]]. Nonetheless, the whole thing is fairly cheery and innocuous.
** ''SuperPaperMario'' is even ''darker'', what with Mario and company saving the multiverse from an OmnicidalManiac and his dysfunctional flunkies.
** ''MarioAndLuigi'' went the same kind of way with the second game (Partners in Time), with the second game being based around an alien invasion of the past Mushroom Kingdom and having places like Toad Town and Princess Peach's Castle turned to ruins by the Shroobs, and some rather creepy things as background detail and music.
* ''Mario Strikers Charged'' did this in a tongue-in-cheek, over-the-top way.
* ''ConkersBadFurDay'' was originally going to be a kid-friendly platformer starring a cute little squirrel in a blue hoodie. Early screenshots of the game met a chilly reception from the gaming community, saying it looked suspiciously like a weak ''BanjoKazooie'' knockoff (a fair criticism--the collection platformer was a genre which had plagued Rare around the turn of the century, resulting in the decent but largely unpopular ''Donkey Kong 64'' and ''StarFox Adventures''). In response, Rare kept the cute squirrel and the platforming, but changed just about everything else, adding enough sex, gore, and profanity to make it perhaps the most perverse title ever released for the N64.
*** It was, in all fairness, deliberately over the top and came across as a pastiche of this trope than a direct example. After all, there's no way you can make a SQUIRREL that dark or edgy.
** Ironically enough, the port for the Xbox was ''less'' offensive due to enforced censorship on swear words.
* Not to pile on DC Comics again... but they did agree to make a crossover game called ''MortalKombat vs. DCUniverse''. ''Mortal Kombat'' itself is the Darker and Edgier version of every other fighting game (Ironically, the crossover was LighterAndSofter for the ''Kombat'' side. Or at least, its trademark violence ).
** And speaking of ''Mortal Kombat'', the unreleased game ''Thrill Kill'' is the Darker and Edgier form of ''Mortal Kombat''. Yes, that is possible.
*** MK itself has become darker & edgier since it went full 3D. No more babalities, animalities & friendships. And no more "silly" fatalities.
* As the ''CommandAndConquer Tiberium'' series has progressed, it gradually went from being a fairly dark modern world-war with GreenRocks mixed in to a brutal struggle to simply survive a planet that's dying under alien terraforming.
** On the other hand, the ''Red Alert'' series has headed in the ''[[LighterAndSofter opposite]]'' direction as that series progressed.
* Apparently, so many games have gone DarkerAndEdgier that at E3 2008, [[XPlay Adam Sessler]] expressed surprise upon finding a game that wasn't dark, literally and figuratively. Of course, it's [[MirrorsEdge a game about free-running from building to building]].
* ''SuperRobotWars'' recently had a slightly DarkerAndEdgier tone with Z being that a famous hero of an original franchise is given an evil spinoff. You can't save both psycho girls from Gundam and the bad ending route is possible again. Mind you this is as far as they go.
** It only gets really DarkerAndEdgier if you pick Setsuko's route. Rand's route has several {{Camp}} elements and mostly considered light hearted. But Setsuko's route is just throwing you lots and lots of BreakTheCutie moments to the poor heroine, and in the end... she doesn't get completely better...
** It is darker compared to past games. There are personality issues and infighting with nearly all the members or your team for most of the game, you are duped and betrayed several times throughout the game. All the original villains are more or less CompleteMonsters, with the guy who does the worst things arguably the kindest since he isn't a psychotic bastard in it for the evil. Also your team at one point literally splits into factions and tries to kill each other with no Brainwashing involved. And the ending is bittersweet as some people are lost. It's pretty dark.
*** Also, you can rescue both Four and Stella(r). It's hard but definitely doable, since ThisTroper managed to.
**** Before Z there was [[SuperRobotWarsDestiny Super Robot Wars D]], when asked about what happened to most Gundam Zeta's Cast, Kamille's response [[EverybodysDeadDave they were dead before the game started]]. And we are just getting started.
* ''FinalFight: Streetwise'' is a good example why you don't make it so damn GrimDark. And they forgot our favorite {{transgender}} Poison? For shame, for shame.
* The ''{{Tekken}}'' games have both been an example and subversion of this trope. While the games have become more story based and darker (What with Jin's Wangst and all) they've at the same time introduced increasingly ridiculous elements like kickboxing kangaroos, endings where people are launched into space or blown up with bow ties and training dummies that communicate through nonsensical clicking noises.
* The ''{{Call of Duty}}'' series has the weird example of becoming darker and edgier three separate times throughout the series. Call of Duty 1, 2, and 3 were all T rated World War 2 shooters which while showing the intensity and violence of war, weren't really that brutal or dark, all of them had happy endings for their protagonists. Call of Duty 2 and 3 were slightly darker and edgier versions of Call of Duty 1, but not by much only with minor cursing and intense hand-to-hand combat respectively. Modern Warfare amps it up with an M rated, major cursing, more violence, and a significantly darker story in which [[spoiler:pretty much every major character dies, including one of the main characters by nuclear explosion]] and a lot more pessimistic view of things. And then World At War comes out which amplifies Modern Warfare by two, with a curse word being in every second sentence, dismemberments and charred corpses being standard fare, the opening mission which has one of your squadmates brutally tortured and his throat slit by a Japanese officer, and enough war crimes to fill an encyclopedia, especially by the more sadistic Soviets who are also suppose to be the good guys.
* ''ElevatorAction'' featured an agent named Otto and was more spy themed, shooting down agents. Elevator Action Returns, however...[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiU0_RX9IA0 did that]].
* ''[[RatchetAndClank Ratchet: Deadlocked]]'' (and, arguably, ''Up Your Arsenal'') was obviously targeted towards a more mature audience:
** Ratchet's new outfit hides his tail (and head throughout most gameplay) and makes him look suspiciously like Samus or Master Chief. (Likely intended to be the latter, considering the era it was released in.)
** Clank, although still having a major role, had his name removed from the western titles, likely to make the game seem less friendship-themed.
** The humour is less reliant on slapstick situations compared to the first two entries.
** The weapons are often considered more "realistic" than those in the rest of the series, although that does not say much (even by sci-fi standards).
** The subtitle is not an obvious innuendo like the previous two games, although the innuendo subtitles tend to get replaced outside of America.
* ''{{Star Wars}} RepublicCommando'' is dark to the point where some people complained it wasn't very Star Wars-like. For starters, no Opening Crawl is present, and there is blood and gore in heavy levels for a T-rated game. It's a first-person shooter in which you play as a clone trooper, and the scale, far from epic, is outright tiny. Not actually a bad game, but definitely darker. The StarWarsExpandedUniverse is veering towards this fast these days.
* Massive, massive change in mood between ''R:1'' and ''R:2'' in ''[[DotHack .hack//]]''. The good [=AI=] are dead or apathetic, and players have gone from dealing well with depression to psychosis. It's possible that the third "season" ''R:X'' is trying to regain the innocence.
* ''TeamFortress2'' parodies this somewhat; in contrast with the increasing violence and realism seen in many current online [=FPSes=], all the characters look like they're from a Pixar movie. It's gory, yes, but a game where the standard infantry character was rejected from the army during WWII and got on a plane to Poland, going on a Nazi killing spree and awarding himself medals ''that he made for himself'' can't be anything but outlandish and silly.
* ''AmericanMcGeesAlice'' is almost a literal definition of this.
*There is some of this between ''Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind'' and ''Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion'' where major plot points are concerned. Not only does the player character in Oblivion spend the main quest [[spoiler: helping the Empire's last heir sacrifice himself in order to provide a stopgap against demon invasion while simultaneously eliminating any possibility of such protection in the future]], Oblivion also has the Dark Brotherhood series of quests wherein the player character can actually become an assassin with all that this entails. Further, many of Oblivion's NPC dialogues discuss events in Morrowind and involve events that overturn previous cheerful endings, such as [[spoiler: Vivec disappearing and Ald'Ruhn being burned down]]. At the same time though it also censors a few in game books, and makes the gameplay much softer (the only way to fail most quests is your death or bugs).
** Rather, Morrowind is lighter on the surface. Daggerfall featured nudity, graphic texts in books, [[{{understatement}} insane]] dungeons, disease is instant death if not cured in time, ect..
** if you include the spinoffs, ''The Elder Scrolls'' constantly went through two phases of going DarkerAndEdgier. ''Arena'' was pretty light, ''Daggerfall'' was darker, ''Battlespire'' pushed the darkness as far as it could go. Then ''Redguard'' went back to square one, followed by ''Morrowind'' and ''Oblivion'' being progressively darker.
* ''DonkeyKongCountry 2'' was subtly darker than the previous, and a bit better.
* Blood Storm for all its BlackAndGreyMorality (only 2 were actual good guys, everyone else was either an AxCrazy sociopath or a bastard) and BloodierAndGorier worth compared to Time Killers failed miserably to compare to MortalKombat since even in MortalKombat morality wasn't that grey. This caused the company to go bankrupt as a result
** They now exclusively make Golden Tee games, learning their lessons from [[FollowTheLeader following the leader]] too closely.
* While the first ''{{Killzone}}'' wasn't sunshine and roses, it didn't have the feel or antmosphere of a dark game. ''Killzone 2'' plunged right through that and made everything dark and gritty, with dark and oppressive vistas of muted colors, increased character death rate, blood ''everywhere'' and a general feel of hopelessness in the fight. Quite like with JakAndDaxter, going dark and edgy was a good choice here.
* ''MassEffect'' was a space opera in the classic style, fairly light in tone but with the shadow of an ancient evil threatening to return. From the developer interviews, in ''MassEffect 2'', ItGotWorse, and the galaxy is entering a time of darkness, chaos, and bitter war.
* ''[[{{Contra}} Contra: Shattered Soldier]]'' went a long way to undo the optimistic ending of ''Contra III: The Alien Wars''. Bill Rizer, the hero of the original games, is now a wrongly accused war criminal convicted for causing [[AfterTheEnd the destruction of 80% of the world's population]], while his former partner Lance Bean is now a [[WellIntentionedExtremist a terrorist leader]] seeking to overthrow the [[GovernmentConspiracy Triumvirate]], who were responsible for provoking the alien invasions in the previous games.
**''Neo Contra'' subverts this by essentially being a self parody of the series.
* ''Koumajou Densetsu'', fulfills this trope by putting the characters from ''[[{{Touhou}} Touhou Project: Embodiment of the Scarlet Devil]]'' into a ''{{Castlevania}}'' inspired universe.
*''Spyro the Dragon'', When you remember that the original games have a cute dragon fighting hilarious freaks who mostly ran away from him, and you regained health by collecting BUTTERFLIES, it's difficult to see how it progressed to the level of grimdark it is today. And damn, Spyro got ugly.
* Inverted with ''BackyardSports''. The executives wanted to make the series darker and edgier by making the kids older and giving them new designs, but it became LighterAndSofter, and its audience's age went down.
* SquareEnix has announced that ''FinalFantasyVersusXIII'' will be the darkest entry to the ''FinalFantasy'' series yet. The trailers and plot information released so far paints it as fairly bloody and bleak, so this is probably true.
** The entire FF series went this direction after (or, one could say, starting with) [[FinalFantasyVI Six]], though [[FinalFantasyVII Seven]] and [[FinalFantasyTactics Tactics]] went the furthest - and arguably did it best.
* ''RadicalDreamers'' and subsequently ''ChronoCross'' shifted dramatically in tone from the relatively relatively lighthearted adventurous spirit of ''ChronoTrigger''. The fact that the idealistic heroes from the previous game are strongly implied to have been [[DroppedABridgeOnHim unceremoniously offed]] is a pretty good indicator of the general tone of the games.
* [[TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]] is pretty dark for a Zelda game, especially in comparison to [[TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime the previous title]]. Although not to the same extent, [[TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]] is also pretty dark, suggesting that the "realistic" games are permanently taking a turn for the dark and edgy.
* [[DynastyWarriors Dynasty Warriors 6]] while hadn't gotten bloodier, had a more tearjerker and dramatic moments than in previous versions this troper felt. Shu's Musou mode is especially dramatic.
* One could argue that ''WildArms3'' is the darkest entry in the ''WildArms'' series due to having the most sinister villains and Filgaia (normally AWorldHalfFull) being a flatout DeathWorld.
* While not to the extent as other examples in this page, ''TalesOfRebirth'' is probably the darkest entry of the ''TalesSeries''. Overall, the game has a more grim atmosphere and serious story than its predecessors and sucessors (doesn't mean that the game ''doesn't'' have humor, mind you, it's just in smaller amounts). The game isn't universally considered ''the best'' of the franchise, but it's pretty high up there; so, an example of the trope working.
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[[folder:Web Animation]]
* The ''ThereSheIs!'' series of videos at http://www.sambakza.net/ feature Doki and Nabi, a rabbit who falls in love with a cat. The first two videos are cute and funny, showing Doki chasing Nabi despite his arguing that they are different species, then him getting her a birthday cake. The third and fourth videos show how society is REALLY against this pairing, with the two of them getting injured, property destroyed, pet dying, etc. Not so fun any more, huh?
** [[IGotBetter It got better]].
* JibJab, originally, light in tone, went from gently mocking the two candidates to mocking [=McCain=] and Obama straight up, along with the broken promises made by presidents in election day that never come to light when they are actually in office. The "Year in Reviews" went from hoping it'll get better to, most recently, the 2008 Year in Review summing up everything that's bad, and even adding "wars and famine" to the end.
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[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Spoofed by the StickFigureComic ''StickmanAndCube'' in [[http://www.drunkduck.com/Stickman_and_Cube/index.php?p=271281 this strip.]] The cartoonist announces that he is making the comic "DarkerAndEdgier", gives the characters new {{Wangst}}-ridden backstories and sums it up by saying that "basically everyone's just going to shoot each other and swear a lot." At which point Stickman says "Oh, HELL no." [[http://www.drunkduck.com/Stickman_and_Cube/index.php?p=271661 The characters later get back at the cartoonist for this. With extreme prejudice.]]
* In a May 2008 ''DominicDeegan'' strip, the titular characters learns, to his horror, that his favorite comic is about to become DarkerAndEdgier...by [[RetCon retconning]] the hero into a [[CompleteMonster demon]]. It's like making Superman DarkerAndEdgier by giving him a German heritage, a small mustache, and a great personal hatred of Jews.
* Butterfly, an AffectionateParody of {{Batman}}, spoofs the phenomenon [[http://www.tencentticker.com/butterflycomics/2008/09/17/the-retcon/ here]]. The specific point of reference is Christopher Nolan's [[TheDarkKnightSaga latest Batman films]].
* Occurred in ''AModestDestiny'', around the third story arc. Up to that point it was a lighthearted and humorous fantasy spoof. Then came "The War of Fate" arc, which was much more darker and serious, such as the female lead considering getting an abortion.
* The original material that ''ExterminatusNow'' is based on was 'The Grim Darkness', a project to make the [[SonicTheHedgehog Archie Sonic comic universe]] GRIMDARK by blending it with ''{{Warhammer 40000}}''. According to WordOfGod: "...[[OldShame in reflection, one of the worst ideas I have ever had]]." The actual webcomic makes fun of it.
* ''Ctrl Alt Del''. Let's not forget the shift from "two game nerds on a couch" to "personal responsibility and miscarriage tragedy".
* {{WapsiSquare}} has certainly gotten much darker and edgier since it shifted from a slice-of-life comedy, to a supernatural drama; dragging in themes of suicide, human sacrifice, manifestating personal demons, and a [[ResetButton looming quasi-apocalypse]].
*[[http://www.webcomicsnation.com/poyorick/botg/series.php?view=archive&chapter=10960 "Breakfast Of The Gods"]] is an intermittently-updated DarkerAndEdgier and BloodierAndGorier use of breakfast cereal mascots, of all things. Tightly-written and exquisitely drawn, it's [=D&E&B&G=] at its finest. Frankenberry is a sadistic thug, Sonny the Cuckoo is batshit insane, The Trix Rabbit is a private investigator, Toucan Sam runs a bar and acts a lot like [[{{Casablanca}} Rick]].
* ''[[ItsWalky Shortpacked]]'' mocks this tendency [[http://www.shortpacked.com/d/20080218.html here]] and [[http://www.shortpacked.com/d/20090420.html again]] in reference to GIJoe: Resolute.
* Obligatory ''{{xkcd}}'' parody [[http://xkcd.com/633/ here]]. ''Harriet The Spy??''
* The concept is mocked in [[http://kitsune.rydia.net/comic/fwhalloween09.html this]] FeyWinds page.

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[[folder:Web Originals]]

*ThereWillBeBrawl takes SuperSmashBrothers and retools it into a SinCity-esque drama that works very well. Almost all the SuperSmashBrothers characters are darker versions: Luigi is a drug dealer, Kirby a psychotic cannibal, Link a CorruptCop, etc. The plot entails a MobWar, a kidnapping plot, ''and'' a serial killer all at once. Not something you'd expect from Nintendo characters.
* Parodied in ''[[http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1747610 Where the Fuck is Carmen Sandiego?]]''
* This [[SomethingAwful Photoshop Phriday]] depicts Children's Books as "serious" [[http://www.somethingawful.com/d/photoshop-phriday/childrens-book-movies.php?page=1 Hollywood movies]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Even WallaceAndGromit isn't immune to this. Their first outing ''a grand day out'' has them going to the moon for a picnic. While the recent ''a matter of loaf and death'' has the duo targeted by a serial killer (it was PlayedForLaughs but still).
* Spoofed in [[http://inspector.ytmnd.com/ this]]. Where's Brain?
** Actually not too far from the truth, there ''seemed'' to be a new Inspector Gadget series, where the humor was announced to be darker, the characters more anime esque, among other things, the only thing stupid sounding about the show is that Gadget was going to fight ''ghosts'', for Petes sake.
* Warner Brothers attempted to make the classic ''LooneyTunes'' characters DarkerAndEdgier in the 2005 series ''LoonaticsUnleashed'', only to result in massive outcry against the idea, and an overhaul resulting in a [[{{Animesque}} strangely drawn cartoon]] that wasn't very much in the way of new or interesting. A ReTool for the second season attempted to add more references to the original LooneyTunes, with mixed results.
* ''Series/TheLegionOfSuperHeroes''' AnimatedAdaptation started out fairly light in tone, but the second season features [[spoiler:a future laid waste by an evil warlord, the replacement of the young Clark Kent version of {{Superman}} with a rather disagreeable clone called Superman X, an utterly destroyed New Metropolis, and the death of one of Triplicate Girl's selves. Dark and edgy enough? No? How about, Superman X says Brainiac 5's going to do something original-Brainiac-level nasty at some point in the future.]] Ultimately, [[spoiler:it ends up a lot better than you'd think: Brainiac takes over Brainiac 5, kills Imperiex, but 5 takes back over, and Superman X can go home right and the restoration of the time-stream brings the third Triplicate Girl back]].
** V4 [[LegionOfSuperHeroes LSH]] in the comic book version, as well as being an example of RunningTheAsylum, was notorious for this. It was even parodied in the Amalgam Comics Marvel/DC crossover.
* ''[[BenTen Ben 10: Alien Force]]'', the newer, more dramatic sequel to its predecessor appears to being going in this direction, as allotted by Ben, Gwen, and Kevin being [[TimeSkip aged up into their adolescence]]. Aside from the age difference, one drastic change is that Ben now retains wounds inflicted while in alien form even after he's reverted back human.
** Don't forget the strangely Aryan-like aliens.
* ''{{ReBoot}}'' pulled this off rather well in season 3 by [[spoiler:showing two young characters suddenly grown up,]] adapting to the change in writing style, introducing new locations, and expanding the scope of the series.
* ''TransformersAnimated'' did similar, starting with the season three opener "Transwarped". Instead of the usual light-hearted action/humor, it explored the ethical implications of building a sentient but simple-minded superweapon, dealt with Ratchet's troubled past, involved far more visceral violance (albeit to robots) and brought several main character close to death. Not to mention that as of "Where Is Thy Sting" [[spoiler: one Autobot character's been killed off grotesquely and ''the leader of the Autobots'' is beaten into a coma with his own hammer. We never do see him wake up, by the way.]]
** ''Beast Wars'', although frequently serious in tone, was also often humourous and silly. ''BeastMachines'', the sequel, begins with planetary genocide and things just degenerate from there.
*** ''Beast Wars'' itself saw this after the end of season 1, which featured [[spoiler: the death of Optimus Primal]]. The first, episodic, often very campy season stands in contrast to the more mature, more serious later seasons.
** Speaking of ''BeastWars'', ''Transformers Animated'' has a habit of borrowing characters, ideas, or scenery from the earlier Transformers shows and modifying them for its own purposes. In Beast Wars Waspinator was the lovable hapless ButtMonkey who blew up many times but always pieced himself together without any obvious lasting effects. In Animated he's a gigantic, half-crazed technoorganic bent on bloody revenge upon Bumblebee for (accidentally) having him sent to the stockades under accusations of treachery. When ''he'' [[spoiler: blows up, he's also seen piecing himself back together, but the effect is intensely creepier.]]
* ''ThePowerpuffGirls'' underwent this slightly for the movie- It was edgier and more serious than the majority of the series- not that that's hard to accomplish.
* In 2003, John Kricfalusi made a revival of his cartoon ''{{Ren and Stimpy}}'', called Ren and Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon, to allow him more freedom on what he couldn't do previously on the show. It was darker, much more violent, the characters used stronger curse words, and it had a lot more blatant sex jokes, including a few episodes where the duo are portrayed as gay lovers.
** However, even though the show had less meddling involving the violence, the renewed show absolutely ''failed''. Reviewers noted that the humor was unappealing, had ''way'' too much violence ([[{{BeyondTheImpossible}} Moreso than the old show!]]), among other problems, and the show was pulled from Spike TV after ''three episodes''. One wonders if this could be considered karma for John K.'s [[{{SmallNameBigEgo}} planet sized ego]].
* To promote the movie, PG-13 version of ''GIJoe'' called ''GI JOE: Resolute'' has been launched for AdultSwim. The first episode has the Joe's battleship base attacked, Bazooka killed, and Cobra Commander wiping Moscow off the face of the map. Then again, what do you expect when WarrenEllis is doing the writing?
* The {{Scooby Doo}} films of the late 90's were much darker than the previous shows and movies. They were very violent, people actually died, the villains were threatening, most of the monsters were real, and a few adult jokes were put in. Unfortunately, by the time ''What's New, Scooby Doo?'' premiered, they became {{Lighter and Softer}}.
* Arguably, the only time this trope has been used properly with Sonic the Hedgehog (see the video game section for examples of where it wasn't) was with his early 90's TV series of the same name, dubbed "SatAM" by its fans.
* ''BatmanBeyond'' can be said to have been this to ''[[BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Batman: The Animated Series]]'', as it featured a lot more character deaths, often in very [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath Family Unfriendly way]], as well as the horrid fates of many of the of the original Batman's Rogues Gallery. Then, of course, there was the [[ItGotWorse Return of the Joker]].
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