'''Basic Trope''': Evil character crosses a line that another evil character considers to be too evil, even for them.
* '''Straight''':
** Somebody suggests killing a relative of the witness to a murder. Bob, [[TheDon a mob boss]] is horrified, and refuses to allow it.
** Bob has one of his underlings iced for [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raping someone]].
** Bob orders a hit on a [[PaedoHunt pedophile]].
** Bob [[WouldntHurtAChild refuses to harm children, even avoiding mass murder in order to avoid killing a child]].
* '''Exaggerated''':
** Bob has a very long list of things he will not do, to the point that he is pretty much [[HarmlessVillain ineffectual]] as a bad guy.
** Bob is a NobleDemon.
** Bob, a mass murderer, is horrified with the idea of wiping out entire city blocks at a time with the help of [[StuffBlowingUp military grade explosives]].
** SerialKiller Bob was suggested by CorruptPolitician Charlie to murder a relative of a witness. [[YouMonster He calls him a monster.]]
** {{Satan}} himself, who is definitely not a good guy, is [[HorrifyingTheHorror horrified by Emperor Evulz's acts]].
* '''Downplayed''':
** EveryoneHasStandards
** The Mob Boss is willing to work with some more hardened criminals, but still disapproves of some of their most serious crimes.
** Bob is a {{Troll}} and as such has no problems with insulting people; however, he draws the line against physically harming them.
** It's not so much the evil deeds that the villain draws the line at so much as it's merely being disgusted with [[DoWrongRight how the crimes are committed]].
** The {{Jerk Jock}}s and various bullies see nothing wrong with making fun of a mentally disabled kid or playing tricks on them for amusement but even they consider attacking one or even doing anything that would make them cry disgusting.
** Bob is willing to cross the line, but ''only'' as a last resort in the most dire of circumstances; killing a witness's relative was, for whatever reason, the only way to avoid a gang war that could have caused ''massive'' collateral damage.
* '''Justified''':
** The line in question is rather serious for obvious logical reasons, such as [[RevengeByProxy specifically targeting]] [[ChildrenAreInnocent the innocent children]] of opponents for death (and thus bringing up PragmaticVillainy concerns). RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil among even most (''most'') monstrous villains as well because it's the kind of crime that would cause society to declare [[ThisMeansWar full-blown war on them,]] seriously hindering their plans. And only the completely deranged would think that there's anything good about cannibalism.
** Bob is a WellIntentionedExtremist[=/=]KnightTemplar and really does have standards and adheres to them religiously, even though he does other horrifyingly evil things in the name of his cause.
** This also foreshadows the HarmlessVillain making a HeelFaceTurn.
** The Villain may be evil, but he's not [[CompleteMonster devoid of humanity]].
** Whenever the villain has an EvenEvilHasStandards moment, it's because [[MoralEventHorizon the irredeemable action]] is a reminder [[FreudianExcuse of pain he's suffered]], or [[StartOfDarkness the reason he]] [[FaceHeelTurn turned evil]].
** The villain commits his misdeeds to get rich, so he gets angry when another villain threatens to destroy the world. After all, there's no point in having illicit money if you don't have anywhere to spend it.
** The character in question is a VillainWithGoodPublicity, who cannot indulge into [[KickTheDog pointlessly evil antics]], because that would [[SlaveToPR inflict terrible damage to his public image]]. So, his standards are bound to {{pragmati|cVillainy}}sm, not morality, but in practice the overall effect is almost the same, as he cannot tolerate [[StupidEvil those lacking good judgment]].
** Morality is subjective. What some find noble, others consider terrible.
** Bob is [[AntiVillain too]] [[AffablyEvil nice]] for that.
** The act in question serves no point except to cause suffering in somebody who clearly isn't that big of a deal in the long run, which is both pointless and highly detrimental, or possibly just mental.
** Bob would be affected as well as collateral damage of the vile deed (ex. Evulz wants to kill all members of a race out of FantasticRacism and Bob [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes has a wife that is one of them]].)
** The thing Bob is against [[{{Squick}} is just disgusting on a biological level]], so he refuses to cross that line despite not caring about the moral repercussions. He might not care about one of his minions [[PaedoHunt hurting a child while indulging their whims]], but it's still revolting to look at or think about.
* '''Inverted''':
** Even Good Has Standards; [[MindScrew A hero has a line of things too]] ''[[MindScrew good]]'' [[MindScrew for him to consider doing]].
** [[EvilerThanThou Some things are just not evil]] ''[[EvilerThanThou enough]]'' [[EvilerThanThou for Bob]].
** UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans or WellIntentionedExtremist (May be considered as 'Good' Without Standards in some way).
** The Mob Boss goes on a killing spree, unleashes a thousand killer lions, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and eats every last Pringles box in the pantry]].
** The [[ValuesDissonance moral line]] makes a character look ''worse'' instead of better. [[HeteronormativeCrusader Bob the Paladin]] was previously a paragon, but refuses to work with [[CampGay Charlie]] because he considers him to be an abomination because he is gay.
** EveryoneHasStandards[[note]]Applied to non-villainous characters, especially those with [[MrViceGuy glaring flaws]], may be considered as the GoodCounterpart of EvenEvilHasStandards.[[/note]]
** [[GoodIsNotNice Bob will gladly do something seen as bad if it means getting justice]]
* '''Subverted''':
** The "villain" who expresses standards turns out to be TheMole who was GoodAllAlong.
** Somebody suggests killing a relative of the witness to a murder. The Mob Boss says "No", and, much later, when asked, proceeds to explain the PragmaticVillainy reasons for not doing so.
** The Mob Boss, after an awkward pause, [[DidYouActuallyBelieve laughs at his underlings for believing he would have any scruples about going after people's families]]. "I'm just fucking with you. Kill them all."
** Bob ''[[BlatantLies claims]]'' that he would {{never hurt an innocent}}, or acts offended when someone else tries it, [[{{Hypocrite}} but he does it anyway]].
** The RuthlessForeignGangsters come to town claiming to have standards, but CultureClash rears its ugly head and [[ValuesDissonance their standards]] turn out to be ones that are {{politically incorrect| villain}} to the locals; like "I don't mind prostitution... but no homosexuality", or "No drugs... not to our people anyway".
** The Mob Boss claims to have standards, at least as far as he himself is concerned, but the sham is revealed when it becomes clear he has no problems employing or allying with people who don't.
** The villain applies his moral standards [[{{Hypocrite}} very inconsistently]], being alternately merciful or ruthless to other people, all depending on his current mood and how much he likes/hates them, rather than out of principle.
** The villain expresses outrage at a particular atrocity... but only because his enemies were responsible for doing it. [[MoralMyopia He proves that he has no qualms about committing the same crimes himself]].
** The villain's standards were about [[EveryoneHasStandards more mundane things than actually really evil actions.]] For instance, puking onto your enemy MAY be disgusting and degrading, but he's actually hygienic and doesn't want to go through the troubles of cleaning things up. There's a difference between 'evil' and 'disgusting'. So the villain punishes any of his underlings that dared to puke (or weaponize puking) to the heroes, but still does heinously evil actions while staying physically clean.
** The villain is secretly a {{Hypocrite}} and doesn't practice what he preaches.
* '''Double Subverted''':
** Somebody suggests killing a relative of the witness to a murder. The Mob Boss says "No.", and, much later, when asked, proceeds to explain the PragmaticVillainy reasons for not doing so. And then mentions that "Even if all that weren't true, it just isn't the proper thing to do."
** When his underlings still don't do the dirty deed, he then applauds them, saying, "That was a test, and you passed. For future sake, [[WouldntHitAGirl women]] and [[WouldntHurtAChild children]] are a big '''no'''."
** However, said innocent experienced a FateWorseThanDeath, and as such, [[MercyKill he put him down for his own good.]]
** When one digs down far enough, though, the RuthlessForeignGangsters ultimately turn out to share some standards that are universal across cultures.
** The Mob Boss genuinely didn't know his subordinates and allies did not share his views and quickly cuts ties (and a few throats) when he finds out.
** The villain does have principles and tries to be consistent about applying them, but when faced with his AbusiveParents, he gives in to his hatred and just can't resist the opportunity to take revenge. After realising how cathartic it felt, he JumpsOffTheSlipperySlope, but he still retains some of his principles.
** The villain does really have a problem with that particular atrocity. Normally, he would never commit the same crimes, but he decides to PayEvilUntoEvil and give the [[AssholeVictim scumbags]] that did it a taste of their own medicine.
** Upon recognizing his hypocrisy, however, he becomes disgusted with himself for not following his own code.
* '''Parodied''':
** The bad guy has an "Evil Etiquette" book, and the worst villain is scolded by other villains.
** Bob is a mass killer but he scolds someone for jaywalking.
* '''Zig Zagged''':
** Somebody suggests killing a relative of the witness to a murder. The Mob Boss says "No.", and, much later, when asked, proceeds to explain the PragmaticVillainy reasons for not doing so. And then mentions that "Even if all that weren't true, it just isn't the proper thing to do." And then the guy dies anyway, and everyone thinks it was him, but then he finds and turns in the ''real'' killer, who was the guy he talked to. Mob Boss gave the order to kill as a XanatosGambit: Whether the witness dies or not, the Mob Boss has an excuse to punish the guy for an unrelated offense, but the witness' death is not the preferred outcome because they had kids to support.
** Alternatively (continuing from Subverted), when his underlings still don't do the dirty deed, he then applauds them, saying, "That was a test, and you passed. For future sake, [[WouldntHitAGirl women]] and [[WouldntHurtAChild children]] are a big '''no'''." One of his underlings steps up to ask a question, "Why do you only target men? It sounds like a DoubleStandard." The Mob Boss replies, "Exactly." and [[EvilLaugh cackles loudly.]] He elaborates, "My plan is to DivideAndConquer. I will use arguing and manipulation to separate the men and women from eachother. Without their friends and partners, their morale is sure to slowly deteriorate. And then I can swoop in and control everything!" "But, sir, er... what about homosexuals?" "... ... ...Separate them too!"
* '''Averted''':
** [[TheUnfettered Bob]] [[TheSociopath doesn't give any]] [[StrawNihilist any damns about]] [[AboveGoodAndEvil right and wrong at all]].
** [[CompleteMonster The villain has no standards, priorities and restrictions whatsoever]].
** The Mob Boss doesn't even consider turning on the worst villain.
** Alternatively, nothing too heinous ever comes up.
* '''Enforced''':
** "We want him to be more of an AntiVillain, so we need to give him a code of honor and a moral line he will not cross."
** "We plan for him to do a HeelFaceTurn later on, so we need to {{Foreshadow}} it."
* '''Lampshaded''': "Don't fear, Bad Guy will not kill you. It would be too evil".
* '''Invoked''': "As main witness of Bad Guy crime, I suggest you to get pregnant, ''fast''."
* '''Exploited''': The bad guy [[WouldntHurtAChild won't hurt a kid]], so [[EvilVersusEvil his rival]] sends {{child soldiers}} after him.
* '''Defied''': When somebody suggests the Mob Boss should turn a CompleteMonster in to the police, the Mob Boss refuses, pointing out the monster is still good at what he does.
* '''Discussed''': "[[ThisIsReality We're not dealing with some kind of comic book supervillain here.]] People, even if they're criminals, aren't going to immediately throw all moral standards out of the window."
* '''Conversed''': "I heard this movie has some interesting antagonists. Some of the villains are actually shocked when the main bad guy commits particularly heinous acts, and refuse to help the main bad guy any further afterwards. You should go see it!"
* '''Implied''':
** The Mob Boss goes through all the plans put forward by his men. When he reaches a suggestion that they plant bombs around a bank to be set off during a robbery, he runs it through a paper shredder. No further details regarding this action are given any attention.
** While serving dinner to the Mob Boss's prisoners, one of the guards "forgets" to serve one of the inmates to get back at him for making him spill his coffee. He returns a moment later and begrudgingly serves the meal, clearly not doing so on his own will.
** Jim TheDragon is established early on to be a serial rapist but he is still an incredibly efficient chief goon despite [[BunnyEarsLawyer his oddities]]. Still, after two scenes establishing that he works for Bob, he enters Bob's office and gets his head blown off by Bob, who never says ''why'' he did it, but he spends the whole scene with an utterly disgusted look on his face.
** When a beaten-up victim asks "what are you going to do? Torture me?", the Mob Boss becomes silent and no torture happen afterwards.
* '''Deconstructed''':
** Implication and consequences of extremely amoral acts are shown, to the point that a pragmatic evil code is provided.
** Bob [[RulesLawyer only refrains from what is in his code]]. Everything else is fair game.
** For all his standards, Bob still comes off as being somewhat of a {{hypocrite}} for all the other nasty things he does.
** Bob pats himself on the back for not involving children in his crimes, but as [[TheHero Officer Alice]] [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech points out]], he's still [[TheAggressiveDrugDealer a drug-dealing gangster]].
** Bob's crimes still break his code, in a roundabout way (ex. He scams some guy out of his money and he kills himself out of grief), he is just too high up in his Ivory tower to see it (it wasn't ''him'' that killed the guy, that's... collateral damage! Yeah! ...right?)
** Bob clings to his standards to convince himself he's a hero, and his delusions prevent him from a HeelRealization.
* '''Reconstructed''':
** However, the code has several rules that are there simply for moral decency's sake, and are [[WhatYouAreInTheDark always followed.]]
** The rule book is there to keep things in line so things don't devolve into StupidEvil.
** Villains with standards last longer because they are thrown into {{Cardboard Prison}}s, while {{Complete Monster}}s are killed outright.
** Similar to the above, there is a very notable difference between Bob, who has standards, and Jim, who is a {{Complete Monster}}. Jim is just plain horrible, InUniverse and out, while Bob can boast of having ''some'' [[VillainWithGoodPublicity good publicity]], even if it literally is "[[LesserOfTwoEvils at least he is not Jim]]".
* '''Played For Laughs''':
** The murdering arsonist absolutely refuses to [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking jaywalk]].
** The bad guy has no problem with mass murder, but [[SkewedPriorities draws the line]] at [[FelonyMisdemeanor email pranks]] and {{troll}}ing.
** The bad guy is willing to do anything illegal, and anything that may cause harm or inconvenience to others, purely ForTheEvulz. But he is [[BlueAndOrangeMorality absolutely disgusted by]] people who [[SeriousBusiness have their toilet paper facing the wrong way]].
-->"Just because [[CardCarryingVillain I'm evil incarnate]], doesn't mean I'm an ''animal''!"
** The person who suggested the thing Mob Boss would not cross the line to do was TheMole working for the good guys, who were WrongGenreSavvy and did not know what to do next.
* '''Played For Drama''':
** When the Mob Boss refuses to murder the witnesses' relatives, his associates are so frightened that they overthrow him and he is forced to go on the run from his own crime empire.
** Alice gives Bob shelter after he comes to her telling her he is on the run from the mob. Alice assumes he is a witness, only to find out he did something so horrible even they were digusted.
* '''Played For Horror''': Bob massacres Alice's entire adult family, including her distant relatives and pets, because [[EvilIsPetty she didn't allow him to go through the express checkout with eleven articles]], and rips off her arms, legs, eyes and jaw, but leaves her alive because she was a single mother (and it's a good thing the kid was not home, otherwise he would have been ForcedToWatch). [[CruelMercy It would have seriously been more merciful to kill her, all things considered. ]]
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Look, I may be a murderer, but I'm not gonna leave a troper in the lurch: here's a link back to EvenEvilHasStandards.
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