Follow Us on Tumblr

troperville

tools

toys

SubpagesAbusiveParents
ActorAllusion
AffablyEvil
AlternativeCharacterInterpretation
AndIMustScream
AntiVillain
ArsonMurderAndJaywalking
Awesome
AwesomeButImpractical
Badass
BadassBoast
BadassCreed
BadassNormal
BalloonBelly
BetterThanItSounds
BewareTheNiceOnes
BeyondTheImpossible
BigBad
BigDamnHeroes
BigEater
BlessedWithSuck
BlindIdiotTranslation
BodyHorror
Bowdlerise
BreakTheCutie
BreakingTheFourthWall
BrickJoke
BrokenBase
ButtMonkey
CatchPhrase
CharacterDerailment
CharacterGush
ChekhovsGun
CowboyBebopAtHisComputer
CrapsackWorld
CrazyAwesome
CreatorBreakdown
CreatorsPet
CurbStompBattle
DarkIsNotEvil
DarkerAndEdgier
DeadpanSnarker
Determinator
DethroningMoment
DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu
DieForOurShip
DisContinuity
DisproportionateRetribution
DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything
DracoInLeatherPants
EarlyInstallmentWeirdness
EasternEuropeanAnimation
EldritchAbomination
EnsembleDarkhorse
EstablishingCharacterMoment
EvenEvilHasStandards
Expy
FamilyUnfriendlyDeath
FamousLastWords
FanDisservice
FanFic
FanNickname
FantasticRacism
FirstNameBasis
FiveBadBand
FiveManBand
Flanderization
FoeYay
FollowTheLeader
FreudianExcuse
FreudianTrio
Fridge
FridgeHorror
FromBadToWorse
FunWithAcronyms
Funny
FunnyAneurysmMoment
GenreSavvy
GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff
GetAHoldOfYourselfMan
GroinAttack
GrowingTheBeard
HarsherInHindsight
Headscratchers
Heartwarming
HeroicBSOD
HeterosexualLifePartners
HighOctaneNightmareFuel
HilariousInHindsight
HoYay
HoistByHisOwnPetard
HonorBeforeReason
IAmNotShazam
IdiotBall
InterspeciesRomance
JerkWithAHeartOfGold
Jerkass
JerkassWoobie
KarmaHoudini
KickTheDog
LampshadeHanging
LargeHam
LastNameBasis
Leitmotif
LightIsNotGood
MagnificentBastard
Main
MeaningfulName
MindRape
MindScrew
MisaimedFandom
MissingEpisode
Monster
MoodWhiplash
MoralEventHorizon
MrFanservice
MundaneMadeAwesome
NamesTheSame
Narm
NeverLiveItDown
NiceJobBreakingItHero
NighInvulnerability
NightmareFuel
NoExportForYou
NoodleIncident
OffscreenMomentOfAwesome
OldShame
OlderThanTheyThink
OneWingedAngel
OnlySaneMan
OurDragonsAreDifferent
OurVampiresAreDifferent
PapaWolf
ParanoiaFuel
PopularityPower
PowerTrio
PrecisionFStrike
Radar
RecycledInSpace
RedOniBlueOni
RuinedFOREVER
SeinfeldIsUnfunny
SerialEscalation
ShipTease
ShootTheShaggyDog
ShownTheirWork
SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism
SmugSnake
SoBadItsGood
SomethingCompletelyDifferent
SortingAlgorithmOfDeadness
TakeThat
TearJerker
TemptingFate
TheDragon
TheReasonYouSuckSpeech
TheScrappy
ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill
TheyChangedItNowItSucks
TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot
ThrowItIn
TimeLord
TitleDrop
TooDumbToLive
TookALevelInBadass
TropeNamers
TropersDoIt
TrueCompanions
Tsundere
TurnOfTheMillenium
TurnOfTheMillennium
UnfortunateImplications
ValuesDissonance
VillainSong
VillainousBreakdown
WallBangers
WarpThatAesop
WellIntentionedExtremist
WhamEpisode
WhamLine
WhatAnIdiot
WhatCouldHaveBeen
WhatMeasureIsANonHuman
WhatTheHellHero
Woobie
Yandere
YouKnowThatShow
YouShallNotPass
ZergRush

main index

Narrative

Genre

Media

Topical Tropes

Other Categories

TV Tropes Org
random
Dark Is Not Evil: Comic Books
  • Sandman's Death of the Endless, or, for that matter, Dream of the Endless.
  • Batman. The Dark Knight is often one of the best barometers of what the writer wants you to think is morally acceptable in all of comicdom, despite his black clothing, bat-motif, and fear-based methods.
  • DC Comics continuity has a realm called the Great Darkness, which is sometimes referred to as the Darklands or Shadowlands. To make a long story short, when God said "Let there be light," this inadvertently created something called the Great Evil Beast, a creature composed of darkness and shadow on par with God itself. While this creature did go on something of a small rampage on account of not knowing its own nature, when it got to the gates of the Silver City, it merged with God to create a sort of yin-yang creature. However, the part of reality where it had formed was left over, and is called the Great Darkness. Many heroes and villains in the DCU make use of this realm and its power to manipulate shadow and create shadow constructs.
  • The DC superheroine Nightshade has darkness-based powers, including the ability to create and manipulate darkness, and to create shadow-creatures.
  • Likewise the DC superhero Obsidian, son of Golden Age Green Lantern Alan Scott. He had a Face Heel Turn for a while, but he's back now.
  • The Punisher is an Anti-Hero example who only kills bad guys and he has black clothes with a skull .
    • Depending on the Writer. Oftentimes it's pretty clear that he's a psychopath who is only conveniently aimed at people that are (usually) worse than he is.
  • The Shade, one-time villain of the Golden Age Flash. He ended up as a mentor to Jack Knight, aka the hero Starman, so the Shade probably counts for this trope. He gained his power during a magic-related incident in Victorian England that killed 104 people. Shade is probably far and away the most powerful of any of the DC characters that draw power from the Great Darkness, as not only is he ageless and immortal, but he has far more control over his shadow abilities and can directly travel between normal reality and the Great Darkness at will. Notably, he's been said to be capable of standing up to the Spectre (also known as the physical personification of the Wrath of God) and at one point, a future incarnation was able to transport Jack Knight centuries and lightyears across time and space.
  • The DC superheroine Shadow Lass from the Legion of Super-Heroes.
  • And Raven of Teen Titans - unless she's in one of her "daddy's girl" phases. Which unfortunately happens a lot.
  • The very, VERY obscure comic Hybrid has Nocturns.
  • Nightcrawler is covered in indigo fur from head to toe, has pointed ears, fangs and a prehensile tail with a spade at the end, as well as the ability to teleport in a cloud of black smoke that smelled of brimstone, leading to more than a few demonic comparisons (even before that whole Azrael mess). He is also a devout Christian, a fan of Errol Flynn movies and one of the nicest guys in the Marvel Universe.
  • In the Adventures in Olympus arc of Flare, Aphrodite tells Pan that "Nyx is not evil. But she does hate Eos."
  • Trauma from Avengers: the Initiative is a half-demon who can shapeshift into a person's worst fear, invoking responses that range from a freakout session (Armory and Cloud 9) to reliving one's worst personal shame (Yellowjacket) to ending up in a mental institute (Trauma's mother). That being said, Trauma himself is a pretty nice guy who seems to have found a calling in helping people overcome their fears.
  • The Ghost Rider is a burning skeleton riding a motorcyle made of hellfire. He's also the hero of his story. And in one storyline is actually revealed to be an angel.
  • Hellboy. And I know this quote is from the end of the movie, not the comic book, but it applies:
    "What makes a man a man? A friend of mine once asked. It's the choices he makes. Not how he starts things, but how he finishes them."
    • Not that it's especially easy to find any actual light-aligned entities in his setting, and he tends to slaughter the dark ones he meets with extreme prejudice, although since he finds them by following the bodies there's a certain sampling bias and if it's not a whole army of skeletons or similar he treats folks like folks... mostly. But, as an Anti Anti Christ, he's trope-worthy for sure.
  • Blue Devil, especially after a Deal with the Devil turned him into an actual devil and he obtained a powerful Evil Weapon. He's still a superhero and a devoted churchgoer even though being in a church literally burns his flesh. Somewhat deconstructed when he learned that he had received a place in Hell's hierarchy as a Rhyming Devil because his heroic deeds have given Hell good publicity — he's made Hell "cool".
  • One of the only examples of this in the BIONICLE series is Takanuva after he survives a shadow leech attack. As for everything else, Greg Farshtey seems hell-bent on averting this trope.
    • In a literally sense, Onu-Matoran generally wear dark colored armor, live in neigh-unreachable caves and enjoy darkness, and some Earth Toa actually look pretty frightening (Onua with his humongous claws, likewise Nuparu, who also had a punk-themed mask decorated by spikes). Yet they're among the nicest of characters.
  • Subverted in Brian Bendis' Powers with Queen Noire. Although a good guy, the source of her powers certainly isn't. Which then proceeded to kill the entire team and them some.
  • The Creeper is a yellow skinned, green haired giggling madman who looks eerily similar to the Joker and possesses a laugh terrifying enough to physically paralyze anyone who hears it. He's also one of Gotham City's vigilantes and was present alongside the other heroes who came to oppose Hush following Batman's death, described by Dick Grayson as "trusted allies sworn to preserving my father's legacy".
  • The "Nega-Scott" in Scott Pilgrim does look like an evil doppelganger of the title character, but he's got a much more bigger and significant purpose than that. He's a manifestation of all the mistakes that Scott has made and is meant to make Scott learn from said mistakes to become a better person. As such, Nega-Scott is absorbed into Scott so that he could make a better influence on his girlfriend and his other friends.
Anime And MangaDark Is Not EvilFan Fics

random
12278
26