Even Evil Has Standards / Animated Films

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• Antz has Colonel Cutter, the right-hand man of the evil General Mandible. He assists the General throughout the film but is noticeably bothered by his brutal actions. This eventually leads to his Heel–Face Turn when Mandible tries to drown almost the entire colony in order to secure power for himself.
• The Bad Guys (2022): The titular Villain Protagonist gang regularly causes hell for the Los Angeles police, but they have lines they won't cross. They only have eyes for high-value targets (such as banks and rare artifacts), and while they're fine with subduing those who get in the way of their heists, they never kill anyone. Not only does this lay the groundwork for their redemption, but also contrasts them with the film's Eviler than Thou Big Bad.
• Batman: Under the Red Hood:
  • Assassin/terrorist Ra's al Ghul admits that he felt terribly guilty after hiring the Joker, who went on to brutally kill Jason Todd. Batman points out that Ra's has killed plenty of people before, but Ra's notes that he always did it for a greater cause, while the Joker acted on his own twisted sense of humor.
  • When Red Hood takes control of the drug trade, he has one new rule: no dealing to children.
• BoBoiBoy: The Movie: The Card Carrying Villains Adu Du and Probe are not fond of their friendship being mocked. The Tengkotak gang were their idols until they laugh at the idea of befriending a robot, so much so that Adu Du calls Bora Ra, their leader, cruel.
• Despicable Me:
  • Used as a sight gag in the opening, where Gru decides he doesn't want to wait in line at the local Starbucks analog, so he busts out his freeze ray, freezes everyone in line solid and takes the first customer's order for himself. The camera focuses on the astonished barista as he does so, but then his hand reaches back into frame to put money in the tip jar.
  • Gru is appalled when a carnie denies Agnes a stuffed unicorn (that she legitimately won) on a technicality. This, and his following smile, are signs that he's Becoming the Mask.
  • Despicable Me 2: Dr. Nefario is perfectly willing to mutate the minions by turning them into monstrosities, but going after either sides' family is a no go. Enough so that it triggers a Heel–Face Turn after El Macho sends one of the minions after the girls.
• An Extremely Goofy Movie:
  • Subverted. Bradley Uppercrust III honors a bet he made with Max despite the fact that he had repeatedly cheated during the X-Games to try and win the bet. However, that act of kindness pales in comparison to his most despicable act — leaving Tank to die in a flaming wreck because Tank tried to win the Games for the team, despite the fact it costs him the victory. For that, no-one interferes when Tank beats the crap out of him and send him flying into a blimp.
  • A better example would have to be Tank himself. How evil he is is debatable however, and while he may be complicit in the cheating of the Gammas, severely injuring their opponents, getting left behind to die is where he draws the line and as noted above, because Bradley caused him to be trapped under the burning wreckage and almost killed, when Tank was rescued by Max Goof who was his opponent, he is quick to punish Bradley. Tank also probably told the rest of the Gammas what "Brad" did to him, so they will likely no longer be Bradley's friends. After all, if you leave your right-hand man to die when he was completely loyal to you and you never did such a thing in the earlier years, then who is to say that you wouldn't do the same thing to your other allies when they outlive their usefulness?
• Frozen (2013):
  • The Duke of Weselton is visibly saddened when he is told that Queen Elsa killed her own sister (which is a lie).
  • Surprisingly, A Frozen Heart reveals that Prince Hans does have some standards. His father, the king of the Southern Isles, is a brutal authoritarian and iron-fisted dictator who routinely uses violence and torture to control his subjects and has turned the kingdom into a highly repressive Police State. This is what forced Hans to find a way to escape the tyranny of his homeland, permanently run away from his sorry excuse of a family, and start a new life some place else from scratch, with nobody ridiculing him for being ineffectual. Plus, despite his objections, he is often forced by his father to strong-arm villagers into paying their taxes or kill those who criticize the king. Instead, he prefers to iron out issues and manipulate people, only choosing to use force as a last resort if things go south. He also hates oppressing the common people and prefers to treat them with kindness, even though it is mostly to further his own goals.
• Hey Arnold!:
  • Hey Arnold! The Movie: When Scheck orders Nick to blow up the overpass, Nick hesitates due to the severity of such a crime. He does it anyway after being yelled at by Scheck.
  • Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie: When Lasombra captures Arnold and his classmates in his camp, Curly offers to be his spy and snitch on them. Lasombra is a bit disturbed and refuses.
    Lasombra: Sorry, kid. You are too loco even for villains like us.
• The Incredibles: Mirage might be willing to lure supers to their deaths, but she's not willing to shoot down a plane with children on board. Helen and the kids survive, and Mirage later helps all of them escape the island.
• Injustice (2021), the movie prequel to the video game Injustice: Gods Among Us, shows that Batman was so Crazy-Prepared that he planted a powerful electric feedback virus on Cyborg... the very first moment they met and shook hands. Nearby, self-admitted serial killer and cannibal Killer Croc observes Cyborg's horrified reaction to the discovery of a counterattack that had been set up for years, and judges Batman's utter lack of trust or faith in his allies with a disapproving shake of his head.
  Killer Croc: Boy... that's low.
• The Jungle Book (1967): Kaa might be after Mowgli to feed his hunger, but he despises how Shere Khan is after the boy merely because he exists. Not that he'd ever tell him that to his face.
  Kaa: Ooooh, [Shere Khan] gives me the ssssshhhhhhivers!
• Kronk's New Groove: After seeing Rudy's Gollum-like behavior, even Kronk's shoulder devil is forced to admit that the scam Yzma pulled is hurting the old people.
• Kung Fu Panda 2: Lord Shen's Wolf General refuses to fire on his own men and gets killed for it.
• Legend Of The Guardians The Owls Of Ga Hoole: Allomere the great gray owl has no qualms about leading his fellow guardians into a trap set by the Pure Ones, intending to become king of the Great Ga'Hoole Tree. But when he sees the bats surrounding the owls and preparing to kill them, he's looking uneasy as he asks Nyra, "Must it be bats that bleed them?"
• Lilo & Stitch: Jumba is about to snipe Stitch with his Plasma Cannon at the local kennel when Pleakley points out that Lilo, who just bought Stitch as a pet, is part of the mosquito food chain. He might not care about the mosquito part, but Jumba is not pleased at the implications. Jumba, remember, is the Mad Scientist who specifically created Stitch as an agent of destruction and chaos.
  Jumba: Using that little girl for a shield! This is low even for you!
• The Lion King:
  • The Lion King (1994): Following Mufasa's death and Simba's exile, the hyenas are allowed free rein to hunt in the Pridelands by Scar, but this leads to the Pridelands becoming a barren land, and Scar takes no concern of it, much to the hyenas' frustration. Even Banzai himself quietly mutters to both Shenzi and Ed that Mufasa's reign was far more better than that of Scar's in general. The hyenas don't even take kindly when Scar blames them for Mufasa's death in a cowardly attempt to avoid Simba's wrath, making them realize that he was only using them as pawns. This, in turn, drove them to maul Scar to death after he was defeated by Simba.
  • The Lion King II: Simba's Pride: Zira's own followers defected to Simba after Zira threatened to kill her own daughter for refusing to participate in Zira's second attack thanks to Kiara and Kovu's speech.
• Meet the Robinsons: The Bowler Hat Guy only wanted to ruin Lewis' future, and is utterly horrified by Doris enslaving humanity. He also has no intention of killing Lewis since they were friends.
• Megamind: The main plot of features the titular villain becoming good to stop a "hero" he created from destroying the world. Played for laughs when said "hero" is convinced that by disguising himself as his "Space Dad", Megamind not only tricked him, but also his "Space Step-mom".
• My Little Pony: Equestria Girls: Sunset Shimmer could have killed Twilight early in the movie, but declined to. At the climax, she has her minions take Spike hostage to lure Twilight and her friends to her, but then she lets him go instead of trying a Hostage for MacGuffin; she explicitly says that she isn't a monster. She tries to kill Twilight after the Element of Magic transforms her into a demon, but she isn't entirely in control at that time; when she is turned back, she has an instant Heel Realization.
• Peter Pan: Mr. Smee gently scolds his boss for shooting a singing pirate who was interrupting their conversation.
  Smee: Oh, dear, dear, dear, Captain Hook! Shooting a man in the middle of his cadenza? That ain't good form, you know.
• Pinocchio features a justified subversion: "Honest" John, an anthropomorphic fox, isn't above robbery and murder. However, he is horrified at the Coachman's proposition of sending kids off to Pleasure Island where they will be robbed of their humanity and forced into slavery doomed to hard labor for the rest of their lives. And when the Coachman finishes explaining it all to them (even grinning menacingly for emphasis), Honest John and Gideon, the fox's anthropomorphic feline stooge, are both cowering in absolute terror. Regardless of their morals, they trick the title character into going there anyway, mainly because they're too scared to refuse the Coachman's proposition after that.
• The Princess and the Frog: Subverted. Lawrence may protest Facilier's plan to disguise himself as Naveen and swindle Charlotte out of her fortune, but it's not because he finds it wrong. It's because he worries that he won't get away with it. And he doesn't — but he still gets off much, much easier than Facilier.
• Puss in Boots: The Last Wish: The Wolf has a pretty legitimate reason for going after Puss. As the personification of Death, he had to watch Puss throw eight of his nine lives away after dying one stupid death after another and rightfully gets pissed that Puss would waste such an unfair opportunity. Thus, Death makes it his mission to take Puss' last life himself. While Death is sadistic and ruthless towards Puss while hunting him, he only targets Puss specifically, even pushing the cat's innocent dog friend Perrito out of the ring of fire Death uses to trap Puss for their final duel. Even then, once he sees that Puss learned his lesson and won't waste his final life, Death leaves peacefully and sincerely wishes him a good life.
• Rango: The mayor is so corrupt that even Rattlesnake Jake, who claims to be "from hell itself" and is arguably a form of The Grim Reaper, does off with him. Rattlesnake Jake also mentions he hates liars. The mayor despite being willing to leave Rango and Beans in a tank to drown tries to tell off Rattlesnake Jake for threatening to strangle Beans to death in his office. Also, the mayor's secretary Angelique looked visibly horrified when Rango and Beans were put into the tank to drown despite clearly not liking Beans.
• Robin Hood (1973): Prince John's lackey Sir Hiss helped him to take over the throne by hypnotizing King Richard, enjoys overtaxing the citizens as much as he does, and is delighted at the thought of killing Robin Hood. But he makes no attempt to disguise how appalled he is when Prince John announces a new intention of luring Robin Hood into his clutches: executing his recently jailed ally, Friar Tuck.
  Hiss: B-b-b-but, Sire! Hang Friar Tuck?! A man of the church?!
• Ratatouille: Chef Skinner has no issue with whoring out his late partner's name and image to sell a line of frozen TV dinners, but he admonishes the packaging artist for drawing poor Gusteau as a dog in a giant corn costume for a new corn dog box, suggesting even he found it shameful.
• The Secret Life of Pets: Snowball may be a psychopathic rabbit who hates humans and their pets, but at the Viper's funeral, even he admits that while he misses the giant snake, he had done some bad things, worse things than he (Snowball) would ever do, while he was alive.
• South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut: The Mothers Against Canada are more than willing to start war with their northern neighbors, but quickly stop when their kids get in the middle of it all. Except their leader, Sheila.
• Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron: Downplayed. Even though the Colonel isn't evil, he's still a jerk, such as making Spirit go without food or water to be easily broke in riding. At the end of the movie, however, when Spirit and Little Creek make their leap for freedom, the Colonel is impressed and stops one of his men when he prepares to shoot them. They part ways with the Colonel giving Spirit a nod before riding off.
• Strange Magic: The Bog King is a menacing Evil Overlord who despises love, but he's also set against the creation and use of love potions on others. At first this is due entirely to his own bad experience with one, but later becomes a genuine understanding that the potion isn't real love and to force someone to love another is wrong.
• Tangled: One of the thugs at the Snuggly Duckling sings a song describing some of the terrible things he's done (although he's repentant about it, as are most of the people in the Bad Guy Bar) but dislikes Flynn for his dream of being rich and entirely alone.
  Hook-Hand: Go, live your dream.
  Flynn: I will.
  Hook-Hand: You dream stinks. I was talking to her.
• TMNT: Near the end, when the five guardians tell the Foot Clan to work alongside them for power, Karai says that always keep their word, and that as such they work for Winters, not them.
• Toy Story 3: Twitch and Sparks might be two of Lotso's evil henchmen who force toys to be destroyed by children too young to understand they're destroying them, but when Lotso hits Big Baby with his cane during his Villainous Breakdown, they are both aghast, and make a Heel–Face Turn.
• Wakko's Wish: Mr. Plotz plays the ruthless tax collector of Acme Falls in this film, has no problem stripping the townsfolk of their money, and even swipes away Wakko's ha'penny after he had just earned it. However, he's rather uncomfortable with King Salazar's command to kill the Warners, and is confused as to why he would even want them dead in the first place, since they're just kids.
• The Wind in the Willows (1985): Parodied. During the weasels' Villain Song where they take over Toad Hall and start running roughshod over his house, breaking his things and eating his food, their leader objects to doing certain acts — which, compared to the other things he allows, are incredibly petty. For instance, he's perfectly fine with the weasels guzzling away at Toad's wine, gin, and ale — but drinking another man's port without asking is over the line!

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