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Examples of Evil Counterparts in Live-Action TV.


The following have their own pages:


Individual examples:

  • 24
    • Several antagonists are dark mirrors of Jack Bauer himself.
      • Cheng Zhi is a top agent for China just as Jack is a top agent for the USA. Cheng subjects Jack to Cold-Blooded Torture in order to get information from him when he is captured by the Chinese between Seasons 5 and 6, just as Jack has frequently used torture to get information from terrorists. Both are abandoned by their governments when imprisoned in each other's country. While Jack continues to fight terrorism in spite of this, Cheng turns on China and attempts to start World War III between China and the US in revenge.
      • Season 3: Stephen Saunders is a former MI6 agent who served with Jack in Operation Nightfall, the mission to assassinate Victor Drazen, which occurred before Season 1. After the mission, Saunders was assumed dead when he had actually been captured and tortured by the Bosnian secret police, before returning to America looking for revenge on the US and Jack for leaving him behind. Like Jack, Saunders is a ruthless agent and brilliant tactician, his motive is almost exactly what David Palmer incorrectly assumed Jack's motive was when he believed Jack was trying to assassinate him in Season 1, and, like Jack, Saunders has a daughter, Jane, for whom he would do anything, and who Jack ultimately threatens to force Saunders to give up his terrorist plot much like terrorists have often threatened Kim to force Jack to help them.
      • Season 5: Christopher Henderson is Jack's former mentor and serves as Charles Logan's right-hand man in the same way that Jack acted as such to President Palmer.
      • Season 7: Though he only lasts two episodes, John Quinn has all the makings of an Evil Counterpart to Jack, as a highly skilled assassin who Jonas Hodges considers one of his top men just as Jack is considered one of CTU's best agents and most skilled killers. Also, the final arc of the season sees Tony Almeida become this after making a Face–Heel Turn, as a former CTU Agent just as highly regarded as Jack, and Jack's best friend, who is driven to bitter cynicism by the death of his wife. But while Jack never loses sight of saving innocent lives, Tony decides to prioritize personal revenge over innocents and becomes a terrorist in the process.
      • Season 8: Jack himself becomes one to Cole Ortiz, after he completely flies off the handle and makes a Face–Heel Turn in response to Renee Walker's death.
    • Charles Logan to David Palmer. Logan is a corrupt president who seeks to claim power for himself and cover up his involvement in terrorist conspiracies, while Palmer is a good president and Reasonable Authority Figure who does everything in his power to prevent terrorist threats.
    • In Season 2, Carrie Turner to Michelle Dessler. She's not quite evil as she is a CTU Agent but her ruthless effort to climb the ladder at CTU borders on treason. Meanwhile Michelle remains an outstanding and professional agent and gets the last laugh on Carrie in their rivalry.
    • In Season 5, Miles Papazian to Karen Hayes. Both are introduced at the same time as Homeland Security agents sent to assist CTU and both seem like Obstructive Bureaucrats, but Karen proves invaluable to helping bring down Charles Logan, while Miles sells the team out to Logan in exchange for a promotion.
  • Andor:
    • Cyril, overall is this for the titular rogue Cassian. They're both troubled and conflicted young men who Stumbled Into the Plot and ultimately are The Everyman, have a close but strained relationship with their respective single mothers (adoptive in Andor's case), both spend the finale invoking Always Save the Girl and end up in the two central warring factions the Empire and Rebellion. Except whereas Cassian spends the most of the series being an unambitious person who just wants to keep his head down and survive, Cyril desperately wants to climb up to a position of power and put himself out in the open. Also, where Cassian for all his flaws as a Unscrupulous Hero is capable and badass, Cyril is a pathetic Paper Tiger whose ambition outweighs his ability. Where Cassian and his adoptive mom Maarva geuinely love each other, Cyril and his mom Eedy bicker and snipe at each other over his failures. Cyril is what someone like Cassian would be if he was part of the Imperial machine rather fighting against it.
    • On a series level, Luthen surprisingly serves as a Good Counterpart for Unseen Evil Emperor Palpatine as where the latter is the Greater-Scope Villain architect of The Empire, Luthen is the Greater-Scope Paragon architect of the Rebellion. On Coruscant they both put up the guise of being rich and eccentric charismatic Cool Old Guys, while being really ruthless and scheming men underneath. They both have multiple loyal apprentices, whom they are also willingly to leave to die for their respective causes. The dynamic between Luthen and Saw Gerrera in particular resembles the Emperor's uneasy relationship with Darth Vader. Except where Palpatine is a monster to the core, Luthen is really a Knight in Sour Armor who knows full well he'll never live to see a free galaxy but is willingly to do anything to make that day of peace happen. In episode 12, Luthen even wears a dark hood that makes him highly reminiscent of the Emperor.
  • Arrow. Oliver/The Arrow has several evil counterparts:
    • Malcolm Merlyn/The Dark Archer shares his goals in saving the city. Oliver tries to save the city by targeting the rich, while Merlyn targets the poor.
    • Slade Wilson/Deathstroke is a dark reflection of what Oliver was in the island.
    • Ra's Al Ghul is motivated by justice, even though he imposes his own ideal of what true justice should be like. Much like Oliver is the leader of Team Arrow, Ra's is the leader of The League of Assassins.
  • Babylon 5:
    • Byron is the "good" counterpart of Bester. Both characters are powerful telepaths, both are leaders of their respective factions and both in their own way want the best for their kind. But whilst Byron is a freedom fighter rebel and telepath rights activist Bester is an authoritarian unethical commander of a brutal Gestapo-like organization plotting to take over the world.
    • Antono Refa is the evil counterpart of Londo. Not that Londo is entirely good however he is sympathethic and honestly feels guilt for his actions against the Narn, whilst Refa pretty much enjoy it. Also Londo knows how to plot and intrigue his way in the Court but Refa is malevolent and harms people (like Londo) were it hurts.
    • Mr. Mordem is Lyta's evil counterpart. Lyta is pretty much the spokesperson of the Vorlons specially Kosh, whilst Mordem is the spokesperson of the Shadows and they both were altered by their respective bosses. And yes, Vorlons are not really that different from the Shadows but Lyta is from Mordem.
    • Ulkesh is a Vorlon who replaces Kosh as ambassador to Babylon 5 (although publically referred as Kosh); while Kosh is warm, paternal and gentle with the other characters to the point they mourn his death, Ulkesh is cold, cruel and abusive specially to Lyta. The scary part is that we don't know which (if any) is the most representative of its people.
  • Being Human (UK): Milo to Tom, who has a particular rivalry with him throughout their screen-time. They're both tough, lone werewolves who have an unlikely friendship with a vampire (one of the most feared members of the Old Ones for either of them, in fact), but whereas Tom was forced to tolerate Hal at first before forming a genuine friendship with him, Milo is solely on Mr. Snow's side out of self-preservation and perceived pragmatism. Furthermore, Tom was prejudiced against Hal for being a vampire at first, whereas Milo, as a werewolf (whom the Old Ones and vampires generally put on the receiving end of such prejudice), had to make horrific sacrifices before Mr. Snow fully accepted him.
  • Bones:
    • Fans have come to consider the Gravedigger the evil version of Brennan, as both are brilliant people who have difficulty connecting to others, save for the fact that the Gravedigger didn't care.
    • Broadsky is this to Booth. Broadsky is a sniper who is possibly the only one anywhere near as good as Booth and he wants to kill whereas Booth helps people (Broadsky claimed he just wanted to punish the guilty, but in the course of his appearances he killed more innocents than criminals).
    • Pelant can be considered this to Angela in that she’s a computer whiz who helps catch killers and he’s a super smart hacker who uses technology to harm others and help himself.
    • Glen Durant is this to Caroline Julian; where Caroline abides by the letter of the law and is owed favours from various government officials, Durant used blackmail to manipulate government officials to maintain his "Shadow Government".
    • Philip Aubrey, father to FBI agent James Aubrey, can be considered this to Max Brennan; they both abandoned their families due to their criminal pasts, but Max did it to protect his children while Philip just wanted to be rich.
  • The Boys (2019):
    • Homelander is the Evil Counterpart to Starlight, both are blonde superpowered individuals who are super-strong, super-tough and can fire some kind of energy/heat-based attack. They are both beloved by the public and their actions are constantly supervised by a Stage Mom (Donna biologically for Starlight, Stillwell as Parental Substitute for Homelander) before rebelling against them. The moral difference between Homelander and Starlight is immense, however, as she's a genuinely compassionate All-Loving Hero while he's utterly vile and diabolical Ax-Crazy Smug Super under the guise of The Cape, which is largely due to Starlight growing up in a loving household while Homelander was raised in a lab. They both also have a sexual relationship with a normal person, but whilst Starlight's relationship with Hughie is loving and consensual, Homelander's "relationship" with Becca isn't.
    • Stormfront performs double duty being Evil Counterpart to both Starlight and Queen Maeve. Like the latter two, Stormfront is a mighty superpowered woman who cares about feminism and equality. Until it turns out Stormfront is a fanatical racist who’s just as evil as Homelander and really has none of the good qualities Starlight and to a lesser extent Maeve possess.
    • Soldier Boy is an effective Evil Counterpart and Shadow Archetype to Billy Butcher himself. Both are chain smoking, thuggish crude leaders with a military background (though Soldier Boy is Phony Veteran) and they were both abused by their fathers during childhood directly instigating a Testosterone Poisoning Virtue Is Weakness mentality in both of them. Butcher and Soldier Boy’s similarities become even more overt when they both have their respective teams turn against them precisely because of their awfulness and the scene of Butcher of making homosexual insinuations to Soldier Boy’s sidekick Gunpowder is directly mirrored by Soldier Boy insinuating the same thing with Hughie in regard to Butcher. The key difference, is that Butcher at least had some positive influence in his life thanks to his late brother Lenny, with Hughie stepping into Lenny’s role later in life and preventing Butcher from having a Moral Event Horizon. Soldier Boy on the other hand had no Morality Pet and by the time he’s discovered he has a son and grandson — it’s too late and he’s too twisted of a person to mend his ways; while Butcher is willingly to change and soften as seen by his love for Ryan, despite the circumstances of his birth. Not to mention they both essentially “cheated” their way into getting superpowers, but whilst Butcher had justified reasons to use Compound V (killing Homelander), Soldier Boy did it purely for his own benefit.
  • In a dual example, Breaking Bad's final season gradually develops Todd Alquist and his uncle Jack Welker as the Evil Counterparts to Jesse Pinkman and Walter White, respectively. In addition to their individual similarities, Todd and Jack's relationship — with Todd clearly devoted to Jack as a surrogate father figure, and willing to do anything to please him — is very much a dark mirror of Jesse and Walt's relationship.
  • In Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Jake has one in Doug Judy, aka the Pontiac Bandit: both are Bunny Ears Lawyers, both are often childish and frivolous, and they're shown to have near-identical interests and a shared love of role playing.
    • Captain Holt has two evil counterparts Deputy Chief Wuntch and FBI Agent Bob Anderson who both share his stoicism and hidden intensity.
  • Buffyverse:
    • Franchise-wide:
      • Faith to Buffy, as a dark Slayer who becomes Drunk with Power and teams up with demons to oppose the forces of good.
      • Darla is also one to Buffy, as a bubblegum-blonde hiding a dangerous level of competence in killing beneath a seemingly ditzy girly-girl exterior and having a romantic relationship with Angel. However, Darla is a vampire in love with Angel's evil side who tries to tempt him into darkness, while Buffy is a Vampire Slayer who loves the souled Angel and seeks to aid his redemption.
      • Pre-Heel–Face Turn Spike to Angel as an evil vampire opponent to the Scoobies while Angel is a token good vampire and part of the team. Angel was Spike's Evil Mentor before he regained his soul, and Spike is very personally offended by Angel's turn to good. Angel's paying for a century of being evil, while Spike is a Blood Knight Bruiser with a Soft Center who despite his viciousness is considered not as bad, in comparison to other vampires. Both even end up falling in love with Buffy.
      • Harmony has been described by the creators as "Cordelia without the life lessons". Though she starts out by remaining an Alpha Bitch bully after Cordelia has grown out of this attitude, after her death and becoming a vampire, Harmony is basically frozen as an intensely stupid bimbo for the rest of her time in the franchise. Season 5 of Angel sees Harmony replace Cordelia as Angel's Girl Friday, but while Cordelia is loyal and acts as Angel's moral centre, Harmony is Team Angel's Token Evil Teammate and ultimately betrays him.
    • Buffy the Vampire Slayer
      • Amy Madison to Willow & Tara as a mistress of the dark arts who enables Willow's magic addiction, while Tara encouraged Willow to slow down on the magic.
      • Ethan Rayne to Giles as his Evil Former Friend and fellow expert in magic. Both dabbled in the dark arts when they were younger, but Ethan grew up to become a chaos worshipper while Giles regrets his dark past.
      • Gwendolyne Post to Giles as a corrupt ex-Watcher who seeks a powerful magical artifact for her own gain, while Giles is a good Watcher who uses magic to protect the world.
      • The Mayor to Giles as the father-figure/mentor to a Slayer. While Giles is a good mentor to Buffy, the Mayor is The Corrupter to Faith.
      • Maggie Walsh to Giles as the leader of the Initiative and a rival mentor to Buffy in the first half of Season 4. While Giles trains the Scoobies in the use of magic, Walsh's team use advanced technology. While Giles loves Buffy as a daughter and remains her true mentor, Walsh attempts to have Buffy killed when she becomes an inconvenience.
      • Veruca to Oz as an unfettered werewolf who believes that werewolves are better than oridnary humans and deliberately puts herself in a position to kill people when she turns, while Oz locks himself up to present himself from hurting anyone and seeks treatment to suppress his werewolf side.
      • Forrest to Riley as Forrest remains utterly loyal to the Initiative while Riley defects after seeing Walsh's attempt to kill Buffy. Forrest eventually gets turned into a Frankenstein's Monster by Adam, showing what will become of Riley if he fails to overcome Adam's mind control chip.
      • Halfrek to Anya, with the two having been best friends during Anya's time as a Vengeance Demon. While Anya losing her powers causes her to make a Heel–Face Turn and join the Scoobies, Halfrek never loses her powers and thus never changes her ways.
      • Although Cordelia and Glory never interact due to Cordelia having left the series by the time Glory was introduced, Buffy still likens Glory to Cordelia when she is first introduced. Both are ditzy, narcissistic, bitchy fashionistas, but while Cordelia is a Lovable Alpha Bitch who develops into a much nicer person, Glory is an evil Hell Goddess with no regard for anyone but herself.
      • Glory to Dawn. Both are beings of extraordinary power capable of destroying the world, but while Glory is happy to do this out of a selfish desire to get home no matter the cost, Dawn is simply an interdimensional key given human form who has no intention of hurting anyone and is forced to help Glory's plan against her will.
    • Angel:
      • Lindsey to Angel. Angel is The Chosen One according to the Shanshu Prophecy, while Lindsey seeks to prove himself as The Dragon to Wolfram & Hart, who intend to corrupt Angel into evil. In Season 2 both are attracted to Darla and become violent and obsessive over her. Both go through the Heel–Face Revolving Door a lot, but while Angel only does this because of losing and regaining his soul, Lindsey can't help but backslide into evil every time he tries to do good. This dynamic comes back in Season 5 where Lindsey comes back having Taken A Level In Badass and become a Worthy Opponent (or at least he believes has) to Angel, thus Lindsey while dying is gobsmacked when in an unexpected twist it's Non-Action Guy Lorne who kills him, as Angel couldn't even bothered to kill Lindsey himself.
      • Lilah to Cordelia. Both are the Alpha Bitch for Wolfram and Hart and Angel Investigations respectively. Cordelia is The Heart of Team Angel, while Lilah attempts to act as The Corruptor to Angel and Wesley.
      • Collins, Smith and Weatherby (the Watcher's Council Special Operations Team) to Wesley. While not outright evil, the Operations Team serve as antagonists due to their insistence on killing Faith, while Wesley serves as their more reasonable counterpart who is willing to give her a chance to redeem herself.
      • Gunn's friend and vampire hunting partner Gio becomes his evil counterpart as Gunn starts to see that not all demons are bad, while Gio becomes overzealous and engages in Fantastic Racism, even leading an assault on pacifist demon Lorne's bar to kill a group of peaceful demons while they mind their own business.
  • Burn Notice. Michael has Psycho for Hire Larry, and Simon who will stop at nothing to take out everyone who (rightfully) burned him.
    • Some one-episode villains can be this.
      • The Zamars from Season 1 have the same dynamic as the Westens.
      • The medical scammers Todd, Philip and Rachel from Season 2 are the bad versions of Sam, Michael and Fiona.
  • The Charmed Ones had the Rowe Coven back in Season 1, a trio of Warlock brothers explicitly described as the evil equivalent of the Halliwell sisters. Interestingly, the youngest Rowe brother was raised separately from the other two because he had a different mother, which is never considered a barrier to accessing the Power of Three, providing some accidental foreshadowing for Season 4.
  • Each Chouseishin Series installment has one.
    • Chouseishin Gransazer: The Impactors transform into armored forms that resemble evil versions of the Gransazers and fight similarly to how they do. Logia in particular serves as the personal rival to Tenma.
    • Genseishin Justiriser: Demon Knight is a warrior who transforms using Riser Power like the Justirisers do, but who fights on the side of the villains instead.
    • Chousei Kantai Sazer X has two. Blaird shares a lot of commonalities with Takuto, from them both being hot-heads to both having a father-like figure they want to impress, something the two of them eventually form a bond over. Jackall wields the same powers Sazer-X does, but works for Neo Descal. He's more specifically a counterpart to Shark, who was friends with him until he decided to defect from Neo Descal, leading Jackall to feel personally betrayed and vow revenge.
  • Chuck had his old flame Jill Roberts who was also a reluctant spy.
    • Sarah had Daniel Shaw because they both hide their passions behind a veneer of professionalism. As well as her former high school bully turned criminal Heather Chandler.
    • Stephen Bartowski and Alexei Volkoff both tested Intersect prototypes on themselves but the latter turned evil.
    • Morgan had Emmett Milbarge. They are both aware that they are in a dead end jobs at the Buy More but while Morgan (for a while) quit to follow his dream of being a chef, Emmett ruthlessly climbs the corporate ladder.
  • Many times in Cold Case the victim is killed by their evil counterpart.
  • Community
    • Jeff's ex-coworker Allen
    • City College and Dean Spreck to Greendale and Dean Pelton.
    • Annie Kim to Annie Edison in "Geography of Global Conflict". While both are ruthlessly competitive and Annie Kim might be better behaved than the prone-to-meltdowns Annie Edison, the former also lacks the humanising qualities that make the latter likable and sympathetic despite her flaws.
  • Crisis on Earth-X deals with Earth-1 being invaded by the Nazi versions of the heroes from Earth-X, like Dark Arrow (Oliver) and Overgirl (Kara). Barry has to deal with Thawne being alive (again). Also, Oliver discovers that Earth-X's Prometheus is Tommy Merlyn's evil doppelganger. Later on, Barry has to deal with Siren-X, the Nazi version of Laurel Lance (who's even more evil and powerful than Black Siren, who herself is slowly migrating from this trope into The Friend Nobody Likes).
  • Doctor Who:
    • Evil counterparts of the Doctor:
      • The Monk, the first evil counterpart encountered. A similar rogue time traveller and renegade from the Doctor's planet, and owner of a much better TARDIS than the Doctor's — and a similar tourist in Earth's history. The difference is that the Monk is interested in using time travel to fiddle with Temporal Paradoxes, pit historical villains against each other and try to accelerate human technological development, and lacks the Doctor's respect for history. The New Eighth Doctor Adventures from Big Finish Doctor Who develop this further — it is shown that the Eighth Doctor and the Meddling Monk consider each other the evil counterpart. The Doctor interferes with history to help people, but mostly will leave history intact and tries to find peaceful solutions, without killing innocents. The Monk tries to "improve" history and has a The Needs of the Many mentality, such as helping Ice Warriors take over Mars by killing thousands of human colonists to prevent the Ice Warriors killing billions when they attack another planet. This could be more emphasised in Big Finish by the fact that in his earliest Big Finish stories, the Doctor saving someone supposed to die nearly destroyed history.
      • The Master, the Doctor's Friendly Enemy and his equal in intelligence and madness. The main difference is that the Doctor is benevolent and the Master is not. Some incarnations are more and less direct counterparts than others — the Delgado, Ainley and Jacobi Masters are equals but with very different personalities to the Doctor, and the Pratt/Beevers and Roberts Masters go in Body Horror and Came Back Wrong directions first with their mirror nature secondary, but the incarnation of the Master played by John Simm is a very direct evil version of the Tenth Doctor specifically, inheriting a lot of Ten's personality quirks and tics.
      • Davros — one aligned with the Daleks and one with the Time Lords, both Mad Scientists, one works as a military "scientific advisor" while the other had worked as that and quit, both able to have complicated moral discussions with each other, and both — in "Genesis of the Daleks", at least — have a bit of Messianic Archetype or Dark Messiah about them, with Davros willing to create the Daleks and kill billions in order to become above the gods, contrasted to the Doctor's unwillingness to kill the Daleks and save billions because it isn't his right to do so.
      • The Valeyard in "The Trial of a Time Lord", who turns out to be an actual Enemy Without of the Doctor embodying all of the actual and potential evil in his nature. Note that while the Doctor usually represents anarchic freedom, the Valeyard is obsessed with law.
      • In "Dragonfire", Kane is an ancient exile from his home culture who recruits alienated young women as his leading minions, and the main console in Iceworld's control room is similar in shape to the TARDIS's. However, he's utterly evil and abusively exploits his followers (by implication sexually as well). For a time in the story, he and the Doctor actually compete to win the loyalties of Ace, who becomes the Doctor's companion at the end.
      • In "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy", Captain Cook is presented as this for the Seventh Doctor — both are intergalactic travellers with a young, rather troubled companion and a bit of a manipulative, egotistical side, but where the Doctor is ultimately compassionate, brave and cares for both Ace and the people around him, Cook is callous, cowardly, selfish and abusive.
      • In "Amy's Choice", the Dream Lord is a psychic manifestation of the darker parts of the Doctor's character, given life by psychic pollen that was stuck in the time rotor of the TARDIS.
    • In "The Time Warrior", Irongron and Linx seem to be a dark version of the Brigadier and the Doctor — a highly advanced and intelligent alien crash-lands his broken time ship on Earth, is discovered by a comparatively primitive and stupid military leader, and agrees to work for him and offer technology in exchange for board and the resources to fix his ship. The main difference is that the Brigadier is, while difficult at times, trying to selflessly defend his country from alien threats, while Irongron is a sociopathic warlord seeking personal power; and the Doctor is pacifistic and understanding while Linx is a Proud Warrior Race Guy and highly xenophobic.
    • "Rise of the Cybermen"/"The Age of Steel":
    • "Utopia": Professor Yana, the scientist working to send a rocket with the last of humanity off to Utopia, is eventually revealed to be a Chameleon Arch-created personality of the Master, and serves as a good counterpart to him. He's only slightly annoyed that his genius will never be truly recognized, unlike his insane, megalomaniacal and power-hungry true self.
    • The Master's wife Lucy is in many ways a mirror image of Rose. Both are blonde women who fell in love with a Time Lord and became his loyal companion, but whereas Rose's travels with the Doctor seeing the wonders of the universe made her stronger and more idealistic, Lucy is a Straw Nihilist (thanks to being confronted with the horrible final remnants of the human race close to the heat-death of the universe) who can watch ten percent of the world die with a smile on her face and is utterly subordinate to her husband's will until she shoots him after seeing the end of the universe. Also, while the love between the Doctor and Rose was largely chaste and unrequited, the Master and Lucy's relationship is explicitly sexual and abusive. Lucy's characterisation changes slightly when she outsmarts her resurrected husband and sacrifices her life to foil his plans.
    • Cassandra is Rose's evil counterpart when it comes to their "roles" as The Doctor's companion in New Earth. Otherwise they are more like Foils to each other. She is the sultry, glamorous Femme Fatale to Rose's loyal partner detective.
    • Dr. Simeon from "The Snowmen" could be seen as a dark counterpart to Amy Pond: both encountered an extraterrestrial as children who made a huge impression on them. Whereas Amy grew as a person from her travels with the Doctor, Simeon was corrupted by the Great Intelligence, becoming callous and power-mad as an adult. Or rather, as it turns out, the Great Intelligence — very early in its timeline and learning by mimicry, becoming mostly a reflection of whoever it was connected to at that stage — was corrupted by him! Humans Are the Real Monsters indeed.
    • The Curator is the Good Counterpart to the Valeyard. The Valeyard is the evil that the Doctor could become, a possible future self. The Curator is all but stated to be a future, retired version of the Doctor, but he's friendly and content rather than malicious and scheming.
    • Even equipment has it, with the Simms Master adopting a laser screwdriver as a sinister counterpart to the Doctor's iconic sonic screwdriver. Both are highly advanced tech that can do nearly anything, but the sonic screwdriver is more of a tool, and the laser screwdriver is more of a weapon.
  • Ditto in Elementary but with a twist: Moriarty is Irene Adler, who was Sherlock's girlfriend for a long time before faking her death in the most gruesome way possible.
  • Father Ted has the priests of Rugged Island. Father Dick Byrne, Father Cyril MacDuff and Father Jim Johnson, who are counterparts to Ted, Dougal and Jack respectively. While the show goes out of its way to show how alike they are, they are also portrayed as being much more scheming and conniving. Dick in particular is generally portrayed as much more of a Jerkass than Ted. This also counts as a Casting Gag because the Rugged Island priests are actually played by the actors who were runners up for Ted, Dougal and Jack, subtly implying they are not as good as the main characters.
  • Similar to the comic books, The Flash (2014) has Barry face off against villainous speedsters each season. In Season 1, it's the Reverse-Flash (Eobard Thawne impersonating Harrison Wells); in Season 2, it's Zoom (Earth-2 Hunter Zolomon), as well as one-shot encounters with the Reverse-Flash and a female speedster named Trajectory. In Season 3, during the Flashpoint timeline, Kid Flash (Wally) has an evil counterpart in the face of the Rival (Edward Clariss), who may be building up to being Barry's counterpart in the main timeline, only to be killed by the real Evil Counterpart Savitar (Future Flash), the self-described "God of Speed", who wears a Powered Armor, has mystical powers, and is much faster than Barry. He is a surviving time remnant, created, when Barry tries to save Iris from Savitar in the near future. The remnant survives the fight, but is treated like crap by everyone, so he eventually loses it, becomes evil, and gives himself the name Savitar. One of the reasons he's so dangerous is that he remembers all the events from Barry's point of view, so anything that Barry tries, Future Flash can counter. After Killer Frost makes a Heel–Face Turn, Icicle becomes this to her. They have the same powerset, same origin, and are also alter egos of other people (Caitlin Snow and Thomas Snow, respectively).
  • Forever's Adam, who has lived two thousand years to Henry's "mere" two hundred, is what Henry could become if he lives long enough and doesn't stay open to caring about others: a sociopathic killer who has lost his connection with humanity. Adam claims he was "a good and decent man" once, before immortality drove him to become who he is.
  • Game of Thrones:
    • Ramsay Snow to Jon Snow. Both are the highborn illegitimate son of a northern lord and resentful of their illegitimate status, but where Jon is one of the most heroic and moral characters in the show, Ramsay is one its most sadistic and monstrous characters. While Jon took Tyrion's advice from the first season to heart and embraces his illegitimacy, Ramsay tries everything to hide it and being reminded of it is his Berserk Button. Ramsay's relationship with his father, Roose Bolton, is also a dark counterpoint to Jon's relationship with his father, Ned Stark. Where Ned loves and acknowledges Jon as one of his sons, raising him alongside his trueborn siblings in his castle and protects Jon by claiming him as his illegitimate son to save him from Robert Baratheon, Roose treats Ramsay very poorly and only acknowledges him when he has no other choice. Jon loves and is protective of his half-siblings, who love him, while Ramsay kills his father, half-brother, and his father's new wife to ensure he himself is the only heir. In The Battle of the Bastards, Jon is mostly mindful of his own troops, suggesting before the battle that he and Ramsay duel each other so as to reduce the loss of life. Ramsay, however, is more than willing to sacrifice his own men, refusing Jon's challenge and openly telling his archers to fire into battle when it means that his own soldiers will inevitably be caught in the onslaught. As far their conduct during the battle is concerned, Jon is heavily involved with fighting on the front lines, whereas Ramsay remains far away from the carnage and retreats as soon as things start falling apart. Actor Iwan Rheon, who portrays Ramsay, states: "Jon and Ramsay are literally the opposite to each other, you know, Jon's very noble and honorable and Ramsay's none of those things."
    • Joffrey Baratheon to Robb Stark. Both are young men who rise to power around the same time after their father's death, but Joffrey is The Caligula and a Dirty Coward who would sooner let his guards do his dirty work for him and Robb is the Young Conqueror and a beloved leader. They both share the same flaws of making political enemies due to their rash behaviors (Robb's honor and Joffrey's greed). This ultimately costs both of them their lives, dying in a similar manner by treachery at a wedding within weeks of the same time frame. It's even evident in the way they dress: Robb is Modest Royalty and rarely seen out of his utilitarian plate armor or cold-weather furs; Joff is pretty much The Dandy.
    • Roose Bolton to Ned Stark. He is the head of a powerful house in the North, (at least tried) to mentor Robb, and usurped Ned's title as Warden of the North and Lord of Winterfell after murdering his son Robb.
    • Locke to Rodrick Cassel. Both are masters-at-arms, both are their respective lords' chief subordinate (excluding other vassals), both enjoy good relationships with their lords' children, and both exhibit Undying Loyalty towards their lords. But Rodrik is one of the series' straighter examples of Knight in Shining Armor, and Locke is hardly better than Ramsay.
    • The Smalljon to his departed father. Picture the Greatjon except morally ambiguous and you've got the Smalljon.
    • The Smalljon is also this to Tormund Giantsbane, as they are both large, thickly bearded, ferocious warriors with a hot temper and foul mouth, but Smalljon serves as The Brute to Ramsay while Tormund is The Big Guy to Jon. Its rather fitting that they face each other in the Battle of the Bastards.
    • Cersei to Catelyn. Both are Mama Bear types who can be utterly ruthless, hold grudges hard, have difficulty controlling their newly-crowned sons and deal with the loss of children. However, Catelyn is Happily Married, is comfortable in her station in life, and is good to most people, while Cersei is trapped in an Arranged Marriage, yearns for even more power, and is mean and petty.
    • Bronn becomes one to Syrio Forel when he starts training Jaime Lannister, what with their similar training methods of whacking their students when their guards are down.
    • Very subtle, but Joffrey serves as one to Daenerys as well. Aside from having their own reasons for being claimants to the throne, both are from houses hailed for their good looks, are products of inbreeding, and have very visible blood lust. Seasons 6 and Season 7 makes Cersei out to be Dany's. The former is every bit the Distaff Counterpart of the Mad King that Dany is accused or feared of being.
  • Glee has Santana, the Token Evil Teammate in the Glee club, who is a lesbian, a total bitch (and completely aware and proud of it), eager to sleep around, and freely enjoys screwing over her fellow club members' relationships For the Evulz... Come Season 3, this is somehow taken up a notch with Sebastian Smythe, who is gay, a dick, and instantly sets his sights on Blaine... He's also very much described as "a male Santana". In other words... he's the Evil Counterpart to the Glee Club's Token Evil Teammate. Yikes.
  • Gotham has Silver St. Cloud to Selina Kyle for Season 2. Both are young girls and different types of Manic Pixie Dream Girl that Bruce Wayne is attracted to, and different veins of Dating Catwoman (Selina works for the Mob while Silver is part of an Ancient Conspiracy). However, Selina is a Lovable Rogue who genuinely cares about Bruce while Silver is a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who manipulates him for her uncle’s gain... until her uncle regards her as disposable.
  • H₂O: Just Add Water: Charlotte is this to Rikki, Cleo, and Emma all at once, even before becoming a mermaid. She's blunt and headstrong like Rikki, naïve and love hungry like Cleo, and intelligent and resourceful like Emma. All of those traits combine into a selfish girl who can't comprehend that the universe does not revolve around her. Unlike Rikki, her bullheadedness causes her to do petty things to people with no provocation; unlike Cleo, Charlotte's idea of love is manipulative and controlling; and unlike Emma, she has little emotional intelligence. She quickly goes power mad after becoming a mermaid, especially once she finds out she has all of Rikki, Cleo, and Emma's powers at once.
  • Happy!: That creepy sock puppet Very Bad Santa carries around and speaks through? When he was still a child, Very Bad Santa used to have a sweet, lovable, living sock puppet as his Not-So-Imaginary Friend, much like how Hailey has Happy as her quasi-imaginary friend. Bad Santa's current sock puppet is a dark mockery of the childhood friend he once had.
  • In Season 4 of Haven, Duke Crocker gains one in his brother Wade. Both have the same Trouble, the ability to absorb blood to gain temporary Super-Strength and the ability to completely erase a Trouble by killing one person who has it. When Duke discovers his Trouble, he resolves to only use it to help others, like when he absorbs blood from a woman's wound to become strong enough to free her from her crashed car, and only kills to defend himself or others. When Wade discovers his Trouble, he quickly becomes a Serial Killer, killing for no higher purpose than absorbing blood and getting high off the rush of strength. Their late father Simon was much like Wade, making him a posthumous evil counterpart to Duke.
  • Heroes gives us Peter Petrelli and his evil counterpart Sylar. Both want to be special, both are initially believed to be powerless at first, both have absorbing powers, and both want to do great things with their powers. Peter comes from a wealthy amoral family who view him as the underachiever, while Sylar comes from a poor religious power family who think he's destined for greatness. Peter goes against his family's wishes to pursue a career in nursing to help people, while Sylar becomes a watchmaker to appease his mother. Peter desires to be special but he wants to use it to help people while Sylar's desire to be special consumes him and leads him to murder, manipulations, sadism, etc. Sylar initially kills people to steal their powers, while Peter inadvertently absorbs other's powers by empathizing with them. Peter and Sylar's stories parallel each other's throughout the series. Part of the third season's storyline explored similarities and differences between them and how easily Peter could have become like Sylar or Sylar become like Peter.
  • iCarly has Nevel Papperman, who is more or less this to Freddie. Both are computer nerds with a crush on Carly. Unlike Freddie, Never is rude, obnoxious, creepy, and perverted, outright harassing and even kissing Carly against her will.
  • In The Incredible Hulk (1977), Del Frye from the two-part episode "The First" served as this to David Banner. 30 years before the events of the series, Frye was transformed into a Hulk-like creature after taking part in a dangerous experiment involving gamma radiation. However, unlike Banner, Frye was selfish, paranoid, and violent even before his transformation, traits that were only exacerbated after he transformed. While Banner tried his best to avoid hurting anyone during his rampages and only attacked when provoked, Frye deliberately used his powers to kill those who he believed had wrong him.
  • Jeremiah:
    • General Ripper Sims and Jeremiah The Hero have a few parallels in their characters. Both have had violent pasts filled with lots of trouble, like wearing Badass Longcoats, enjoy some of the finer things in life (with Jeremiah, this is embodied by him being The Pornomancer, while Sims is more of a Wicked Cultured type), and serve as the main subordinate of a powerful and far-reaching faction leader. Most significantly, in the finale, Sims is shown writing a letter and then disposing of it by letting it drift down a river, similar to how Jeremiah writes letters to his missing father (and later, the late Libby Kaufman) and then burns them as a form of therapy, and in the hope they will read those letters, somewhere.
    • Sims is also an Evil Counterpart to Mr. Smith. He has no first name while Smith's (apparently self-given) first name is Mister, so they are mainly referred to by their similarly sounding surnames. And each believes he is on a Mission from God, although Smith is a Martial Pacifist who serves the diplomacy-seeking Thunder Mountain, while Sims feels that his mission gives him cart blanche to slaughter all of his enemies in the name of Daniel.
  • The entire town of New Bern is this to Jericho (2006). Jericho is a peaceful salt mining town. New Bern is under martial law and run by the sheriff. Their main export is gunpowder. White vs. black, get it?
  • Kamen Rider also frequently makes use of this trope. Most of the time the Evil Counterpart is another Rider who is essentially a Palette Swap of the original. If not, he still functions largely the same as the original. Several of these are Evil Knockoffs deliberately created by the villains to stop the hero.
    • The earliest known example of this trope in Kamen Rider are the Shocker Riders in the first series. These also appear in the movie remake Kamen Rider: The Next
    • Several Grongi in Kamen Rider Kuuga display many similarities to the titular character. Go·Gadoru·Ba uses his own version of Kuuga's Multiform Balance, while Big Bad N·Daguva·Zeba looks like a white version of Kuuga's final Super Mode.
    • The titular character in Kamen Rider Ryuki has two of these in the form of Kamen Rider Ouja and Kamen Rider Ryuga.
      • Kamen Rider Ouja, like Ryuki, uses a serpentine Contract Monster and primarily fights with a sword. Unlike Ryuki, who spends the entire series trying to stop the other Riders from fighting each other, Ouja revels in fighting and never passes up an opportunity for a good fight.
      • Kamen Rider Ryuga is an Evil Doppelgänger from the Mirror Universe who looks like a black Palette Swap of the original, but has none of the kindness and goofiness.
    • The original Joker Undead in Kamen Rider Blade is a Reluctant Monster who does not want to hurt or kill other people. The Albino Joker introduced in The Movie has no redeeming qualities and serves as the Big Bad.
    • Kamen Rider Den-O: Two of the villainous Riders introduced fight similarly to the titular Rider. Kamen Rider Gaoh resembles the Sword Form in terms of fighting style, while Nega Den O is able to copy Den O's entire arsenal.
    • Kamen Rider Revice has a variant of this combined with the Enemy Within trope with Kamen Rider Evil/Live. Daiji Igarashi shares his body with the demon Kagero, who represents his negative emotions. When Daiji is in control, he transforms into Kamen Rider Live. When Kagero is in control, he transforms into Kamen Rider Evil. Both forms are based on a bat, but Evil is an agressive melee fighter, while Live is a composed ranged attacker.
  • Kingdom Adventure: There's a brave, loyal, helpful eagle who works for the Prince named Reagle, who also acts as a foil to the cowardly shapeshifting vulture Dagger, who works for the Big Bad, Zordock.
  • Leverage has a number of counterparts to the main characters, although not all of them can be strictly called evil. A less ambiguous example is Chaos, a hacker of almost equal skill to Hardisson but completely lacking in ethics (in his first appearance, he tries to kill his entire crew to make off with the money). There's also Sterling who is just as smart as Nate (they used to be friends). The kick is, Sterling is actually working within the law (he even becomes an Interpol agent), while Nate constantly breaks them.
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power:
    • Sauron to Galadriel. She calls him the Dark Lord, while Sauron wants Galadriel to be his light.
    • Adar to Arondir. Both of them are from Beleriand, but Adar had the misfortune to fall victim to Morgoth and be turned into an Orc. Now, Adar seeks to destroy other people's homes to make a place for his kin, while Arondir protects those people against him.
  • The Mandalorian:
    • Although Jango Fett is long dead, Din Djarin aka Mando serves as his Good Counterpart throughout the series. They’re both foundlings who were raised by Mandalorians and grew up to be badass Bounty Hunters who pilot a Cool Starship, are crack shots with blasters, have a Jet Pack and are skilled enough fighters to give even Jedi some trouble. Mando and Jango are also accompanied by skilled gunslinging female partner (Cara Dune and Zam Wesell, respectively) and both Mando and Jango adopt a child (Grogu and Boba) whom they genuinely love as sons. Where they differ is that Mando after meeting The Child grew a conscious and fought the Empire becoming a real hero in the process, whereas Jango had no such moral hang ups, killing his partner in cold blood and offered his services for Count Dooku and the Confederacy, which got him killed by the Jedi. Ironically Mando on the other hand becomes a friend and ally to the Jedi Order.
    • To a lesser extent Boba Fett is the bad (or at least unheroic) counterpart to Mando as well. Both are exceptionally badass Bounty Hunters who enjoy disintegrating their enemies, have worked for the Empire, pilot a cool spacecraft, been Swallowed Whole by Tatoonie sand monsters (before escaping) and have a tendency to be be tripped and sent flying by their foes. They also make a point of keeping their helmets on even when among their friends and both have a female sidekick (Cara for Din and Fennec Shand for Boba) who’s incredibly deadly. Except while Din is at heart a compassionate person who will non-lethally bring down his foes given the chance, Boba is ruthless and shows no mercy to his enemies whatsoever. Subverted in Chapter 14: “The Tragedy” though as Boba out of gratitude aids Mando in rescuing his adoptive son and they prove be an effective duo.
    • In Chapter 5: “The Gunslinger” Toro Calican is a effective Evil Counterpart to Han Solo although they never meet each other. Both are handsome, charismatic quick-draw gunslingers who wear vests and who work for a shady organisation and offer The Hero a deal in Mos Eisley Cantina (Calican even sits precisely at Han’s seat and table for Christ’s sake!). However while Han is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who ultimately defects from his criminal organisation to join a better cause, Calican is instead a Jerkass Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who betrays the protagonist once he learns he can get rich by killing him and taking The Child. Toro Calican is someone whom Luke and Obi-Wan could’ve met in Mos Eisley if they weren’t fortunate to find Han.
    • Q9-0 aka Zero from Chapter 6: “The Prisoner” is a Evil Counterpart to C-3PO. Both are Protocol Droids with British accents who work for a ragtag group, are fussy and snarky and translate alien speak at certain points. Similarities end there though, while Threepio beneath his rudeness is a genuinely good droid who treasures his friends, Q9-0 is programmed to be a ruthless killing machine who almost kills The Child before being stopped by Papa Wolf Mando.
    • Chapter 13: “The Jedi” has Magistrate Morgan Elsbeth who is the Evil Counterpart to Magistrate Greef Karga. Both are noble and cultured political figures who run a town with the help of a snarky gunfighter and are surprisingly competent combatants in their own right. They also both have connections to the Imperials, except Greef turned over a new leaf after The Child saved him with his Healing Hands while Morgan display no morality and is utterly tyrannical. Also while Greef runs Nevarro very well, making it a blooming city, Morgan is a terrible dictator of Calodan instilling fear into her subjects and keeping them helpless, before being overthrown by Ashoka Tano.
    • Thematic example in Chapter 16: “The Rescue”. Luke Skywalker’s Big Damn Heroes moment wrecking the Dark Troopers in a hallway is the good version of his father Darth Vader’s Unstoppable Rage against the rebels at the end of Rogue One to the point where they’re a direct parallel to each other. While Vader faces the camera slashing his lighter coloured foes in a white corridor with his crimson lightsaber in Rogue One, in The Mandalorian the camera is behind Luke as he cuts down his black coloured foes in a dark corridor with his green lightsaber. While Vader’s slaughter is treated as terrifying Nightmare Fuel complete with scary music as he rips through innocent humans trying to retrieve the Death Star plans the last hope of stopping the Empire, Luke’s destruction of the inhuman Dark Troopers to save the heroes and retrieve Grogu the hope for a new era is treated as an epic moment of righteous goodness complete with uplifting music. To quote George Lucas “It's like poetry, it rhymes”.
  • Merlin has Merlin and Morgana, each fighting for the rights of magic-users, each on different sides.
  • Once Upon a Time has several of these most prominently for the Anti-Hero/AntiVillains of the show.
    • First, there was Cora, who as Regina's mother also practices magic and does horrible things to the people around her. However, while Regina's love for Henry is a speck of light in her darkness for which she began to redeem herself, Cora only got worse as time went on, corrupting and killing like no other.
    • Next, there was Peter Pan, a contrast to Rumpelstiltskin.
    • Zelena, Wicked Witch of the West, is contrasted with her half-sister Regina, who has been redeemed and made a Heel–Face Turn at this point in the series.
    • Rumplestiltskin could also count as this to The Blue Fairy in the past. Both give deals for the people they talk with, and are the Big Bad vs Big Good for the enchanted forest. The lines blur the more we learn about the two though.
    • Ruby's Granny and her mother Anita, teaches her opposing ways of handling being a werewolf, except Anita hates humans.
    • Jacqueline the giant killer, the Dark Action Girl counterpart of Snow White.
    • Lilith is introduced as this for Emma though the through extent of her evil and Emma's good has yet to be seen.
    • The Snow Queen was this to Elsa.
    • Inverted with Merlin, who received his powers the same way as the Dark One, and can be controlled by Excalibur, but uses his powers for good, not evil.
  • In Person of Interest, counterparts (evil or not) are a recurring theme, and most of the main characters have more than one. Listing just the evil examples, though:
    • Harold Finch has several evil counterparts, reflecting different aspects of him: Root before her Heel–Faith Turn (a super-hacker who erased her own identity and has cultivated a unique relationship with the Machine); Carl Elias, the mob boss (a mild-mannered, bespectacled man who hides in the shadows and is secretly a master manipulator and criminal genius whose will is enacted by his mysterious companion); and Greer (leader of a rival group to Team Machine, following the edicts of Samaritan).
    • The Machine has Samaritan, a rival AI which, instead of being taught restraint, empathy, and respect for free will, instead directs its followers to kill targets, believes itself to be a god, and generally acts like a spoiled child with limitless power.
    • John Reese has his former partner Kara Stanton, and Elias' right hand man Scarface, as well as the various ex-special forces/intelligence assassins he runs into.
    • Fusco's counterpart is Simmons.
    • Martine is simultaneously the Evil Counterpart to Sameen Shaw (emotionless, lacks empathy, states that all her interests revolve around guns) and Root (constantly in God Mode — i.e. following the instructions that her AI overlord whispers in her ear).
  • Pretty Little Liars
    • Ali and Mona are evil versions of each other. Each thinks they are the good guy and the other evil.
    • blonde Manipulative Bitch Ali is the evil (at least more edgier) version of the blonde Class Princess Hanna .
    • Mona evil Spencer both being a Brainy Brunette who use their cleverness in opposites ways.
    • Shana evil Emily both they can do anything for the person they love.
    • Jenna evil Aria being short brunettes involved in a forbidden relationship (Jenna with her step-brother Toby though it's only one-sided while Aria has a teacher Ezra as main love interest) . The former is vengeful and music-oriented while the latter is kind and art-oriented.
  • In Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, The Shitennou are portrayed as the senshi's equals and opposites (they'd normally serve the same role for Endymion as the Senshi do for Serenity, while the evil part comes from Beryl's influence). Their individual characterizations take things further:
  • Proven Innocent: Isabel Sanchez, Bellows' new second-in-command, is set up to be the evil counterpart (for a given value of "evil") to Madeline Scott. Whereas Madeline suffered a wrongful conviction because of Bellows' glory-hounding, Sanchez lost the chance to see the man who killed her parents get punished because of a slick defense attorney.
  • Dr. Sam Beckett of Quantum Leap discovered in one episode that he had an evil counterpart leaper, complete with companion hologram who leaped from life to life to Make Wrong What Once Went Right until he convinced her to make a Heel–Face Turn. Then her hologram companion was leaped in to take her out, making her a second Evil Counterpart.
  • Red Dwarf:
    • In Season 5 episode "Demons and Angels" the boys unwittingly create their Evil Counterparts and their Good Counterparts. The "High" versions of Lister, Rimmer, Cat, Kryten and Holly are saccharine hippies while the "Low" version are unspeakbly vile. Low Lister being a digusting cowboy who spits on people, low Rimmer is a BDSM whip wielding sex fiend, low Cat is a sabretoothed feral beast who eats raw meat, low Kryten is a dirty deranged mechanoid and low Holly is a black haired evil computer bitch.
    • Similarly in Season 6 episode "Out of Time" the crew thanks to Time Travel encounter the future versions of themselves, who are a bunch of entilted, greedy old gits who have been become corrupted indulging in evil things such as dining with the Hitlers. The boys reject their future selves and fight them risking their own existence "Better dead than smeg" indeed.
    • In the same season the four boys from the Dwarf Lister, Rimmer, Cat, and Kryten square off against the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse Brother Death, Brother War, Brother Famine and Brother Pestilence during the western episode "Gunmen Of The Apocalypse".
    • Back in Season 2 the titular "Queeg" served as the Evil Counterpart computer to Holly being a merciless and cruel A.I who torments Lister, Rimmer and Cat. Subverted however as Queeg turns out is just Holly in disguise of a Scary Black Man persona whom he created so the trio would appreciate him warts and all.
    • Hudzen-10 from Season 3 episode “The Last Day” is a Evil Counterpart to Kryten as while the latter is a sweet doting generally non-violent mechanoid while Hudzen-10 is a six-foot psychotic Killer Robot. However Hudzen despite being a superior model lacks Kryten's development which he gained through his time on Red Dwarf, meaning Kryten was guile enough to trick Hudzen into thinking there was no Silicon Heaven causing him to have Villainous BSoD and shut down. Kryten himself was unaffected because he knew he was lying, “No Silicon Heaven? Where would all the calculators go?”
    • Season 8 reveals Captain Frank Hollister is the bad counterpart to Lister and Rimmer, as he is in actual fact Dennis the Doughnut Boy who cheated his way into becoming The Captain of Red Dwarf. Lister and Rimmer are similarity vending machine repairmen but unlike their captain they never duped their way into power, staying honest and incompetent but way more heroic and good than Hollister.
    • Red Dwarf: The Promised Land has Big Bad Cat Person Rodon who turns out is the Evil Counterpart to his brother Cat. Both are cool, stylish and “fabulous” Large Ham Cats who in spite of their silliness are quite deadly when given the chance, but Rodon much like Cat in the early seasons (before his Character Development) is completely selfish and arrogant as well as more feral similar to the low Cat seen in "Demons and Angels". Rodon evens offers his brother the chance come home and rule with him but Cat in a rare moment of selflessness decides to stay with his friends saying “I’m already home”.
  • The Brit Brats are these to Sam & Cat.
  • Scandal: Huck discovers that his girlfriend Becky is this for him. They are both super-spies, they have the same skill sets, and they have both done their share of dirty business. However, Huck has a conscience and friends, while Becky is heartless and a loner.
  • Seinfeld: Newman is the evil counterpart of Kramer, as while both are Jerry's neighbors, Kramer is one of his best friends (despite being annoyng sometimes) while Newman is his archnemesis. Jerry even describe Newman as "pure evil".
  • The Sentinel:
    • A two-part episode introduces Alex Barnes, who has the same hyperactive senses as Jim but turns out to be a Classy Cat-Burglar. She's also willing to kill anyone who stands in her way, even someone who helped her get a handle on her abilities. She ends up finding an ancient Peruvian temple and performs a ritual that temporarily boosts her abilities, but this ends up frying her brain.
    • Another episode has a Russian sniper named Yuri whom Blair even calls Jim's technological counterpart. Both have military training. While Jim uses his natural hypersenses, Yuri uses technology (e.g. binoculars, sniper scopes, heat sensors) to achieve the same level of awareness. They also previously tangled during Jim's military days, where Yuri outmaneuvered Jim's squad and killed the man they were supposed to protect.
  • Sherlock has a particularly fascinating version of one of the oldest of these pairs: Sherlock Holmes and Jim Moriarty.
    • John deduced Moran to be his.
  • Sliders:
    • The Kromag are evil counterparts of the Sliders themselves, as while the Sliders travel peacefully between dimensions only sometimes fighting evil if they have to, the Kromag conquer and slave other worlds.
    • Dr. Oberon Geiger is Quinn Mallory's evil counterpart, as both are scientists working in the experimental interdimensional travel but Geiger is outright evil and have no qualms in using human experimentation.
  • Smallville:
    • Clark's powers were temporarily transferred to a klutzy high schooler (Shawn Ashmore, brother of Aaron Ashmore, who would later play Jimmy Olsen), who doesn't handle it as well.
    • Bizarro, General Zod, and his Kryptonian stooges also make requisite appearances.
    • Lionel Luthor is patterned as a dark mirror to Jonathan Kent. Both died, but one expired by natural causes while the other got shoved out a window by his kin. Whoops.
  • Stargate SG-1, Stargate Command itself has an evil counterpart in the rogue NID agents. Like the SGC, they try to acquire and put to use alien technology; unlike the SGC, they don't care about the repercussions of their actions for either innocent bystanders or the U.S.'s broader interests (such as diplomatic ties with the aliens they steal from). It's eventually revealed that they're acting on behalf of a cabal of business interests who are more interested in the commercial applications of the alien tech than in defending the Earth.
  • Stargate Atlantis. Kolya is in may ways a counterpart to John Sheppard. Both are extraordinary soldiers, both command incredible loyalty from their men, and both have made difficult choices for the good of their people. Kolya just happens to also be an amoral bastard. It's fitting that their rivalry ends with a good old-fashioned Quick Draw, which Sheppard wins.
  • Star Trek
    • In the TNG two-parter "Chain of Command", Picard is grilled by an interrogator who shares his interest in books and archeology. Most of it is a mind game, of course, but at one point the Gul expresses hope that the two of them can debate philosophy sometime. (Not likely.)
    • Ben Sisko's archrival on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Gul Dukat. Dukat once ran Deep Space Nine as a shogun-style warlord, but was deposed by the people he tried to subjugate. On his arrival, Sisko is hailed as the messiah to that planet's inhabitants. D'oh. Later, Dukat is made the Emissary to the Pah-Wraiths, evil aliens standing in opposition to Sisko's benefactors, the Prophets.
    • The U.S.S. Voyager came across a rogue Starfleet vessel, the Equinox, which had been using sentient beings as fuel to get home faster. Amusingly, their EMH has had his ethical subroutines removed, making him a full-on Evil Twin of The Doctor.
    • Star Trek: Picard:
      • The Zhat Vash to the Qowat Milat, although considering the former is introduced first, it might be more appropriate to call the latter an inversion of the trope. Both organizations have a focus on female leadership, with the Zhat Vash having more of a witches coven styling to the Qowat Milat's nuns design. Both have a male member who qualifies as a Pretty Boy, but the Zhat Vash's is a Honey Trap whereas the Qowat Milat's is a Master Swordsman. The Zhat Vash is an Ancient Conspiracy hidden within the Tal Shiar that is committed to infiltrating and deceiving its enemies, while the Qowat Milat practices Brutal Honesty as part of its publicly known creed. The Qowat Milat fights for lost causes that are generally altruistic, whereas the Zhat Vash is The Unfettered in pursuit of its goal.
      • Season three villain Vadic is an evil counterpart of Picard. Both were imprisoned and tortured by their enemies (Picard by the Borg, and Vadic -a Changeling- by the Federation) which clearly traumatized both, however while Picard has handle that well to an extend Vadic is still disturbed and looking for revenge.
  • Stranger Things
    • Billy acts as the Evil Counterpart to both Steve and Jonathan. Like Steve, Billy is a Jerk Jock who's very popular but acts like a complete bullying douchebag and demeans people due to his shallow standards and poor upbringing. Though Steve managed to become a better person due to seeing the weight of his actions and redeeming himself by being there for the kids in a crisis, Billy stayed a Jerkass right up until his last minute Heel–Face Turn and Heroic Sacrifce. Like Jonathan, Billy has a close relationship with his mother and is physically abused by his biological father, but while Jonathan (despite his dysfunctional family) loves his little brother Will, Billy abuses his little sister Maxine. In Season 3, Billy even takes control of his fellow lifeguard Heather, becoming a Battle Couple, who echo Jonathan and his girlfriend Nancy.
      • Billy also counts as an Evil Counterpart to Will: Both are Mommas Boys, are abused by their fathers and are both possessed by The Mind Flayer. Where they diverge is that Will is genuinely kind to others whereas Billy is The Bully. Also, thanks to the efforts of his mother Joyce and loved ones, Will was saved and freed from the Mind Flayer's control pretty early on whereas by the time El manages to free Billy, it's too late for him.
    • A downplayed example comes in season 4: Jason's more of an Anti-Villain than outright evil, but he does serve as this to Steve: Both of them were the Big Jerk on Campus in high school who were popular and good at basketball. Both of them dated a girl (Nancy/Chrissy) that they genuinely fell in love with. Both of them were antagonistic towards the "freaks" of the school (Jonathan/Eddie), and went after said freaks when they thought they'd done something wrong: Jason attempts to track Eddie down when he thinks Eddie killed Chrissy, and Steve breaks Jonathan's camera when he finds out that Jonathan secretly took pictures of him and Nancy at the pool party without their consent. Both of them lashed out when they got hurt on an emotional level: Jason organized a vigilante group with his basketball team to hunt Eddie down after Chrissy was killed whereas Steve participated with Tommy and Carol in spray painting slut-shaming grafitti after he witnessed Nancy with Jonathan and mistakenly believed Nancy was cheating on him. The difference is that Steve underwent massive Character Development after having a My God, What Have I Done? moment when he realized how despicable his actions were and made a genuine attempt to atone to Jonathan and Nancy for his behavior whereas Jason has continued to slip further into Knights Templar territory. Steve has his flaws, but he has never gone to the extreme of wanting to kill someone like Jason has. Unlike Jason, who has deluded himself into thinking he's the hero of the town even as his actions are about to hurt innocent people, Steve actually is heroic and has repeatedly put his life on the line for the people he cares about. And while Jason has continued to hold on to his prejudices against outcasts (to the point of organizing a Witch Hunt against the Hellfire Club), Steve has let go of his old prejudices after taking a level in kindness and becoming friends with "outcasts" like Robin and Dustin.
      • Jason also serves as an Evil Counterpart and Foil to Eddie himself. They’re both dramatic impassioned leaders of their respective teams (the Hawkins High basketball team and the Hellfire club respectively) both put a harsh amount of pressure on the newcomers to their groups, (Lucas for Jason, Mike and Dustin for Eddie) and both Jason and Eddie care deeply for the same girl Chrissy, to the extent of dedicating their actions to her after she dies. However while Eddie despite being despised by the people of Hawkins displays Hidden Depths and proves to be a real hero, Jason whom in contrast is beloved by the town, has a Sanity Slippage and becomes a villain. Even their deaths are similar, though whilst Eddie dies in a Heroic Sacrifice, Jason gets unceremoniously killed after attempting murder.
    • Season 4 also gives us the most powerful example of this with Eleven and Big Bad Henry aka One. Just like El he has Psychic Powers (with his natural ones being directly used to artificially create hers), was taken from his parent by Dr Brenner and like El is something of an outcast as well as a Doom Magnet. The difference is though unlike Eleven who had the chance for a normal life taken from her, Henry did have a good home and a loving family, unfortunately he was The Sociopath Creepy Child with severe nihilistic views on humanity and killed his own mother and sister with his powers. When revealing who he is to El he even notes the similarities between them and like a true Shadow Archetype gives El the We Can Rule Together as gods speech, which she refuses before fighting him and banishing Henry to the Upside Down where he becomes the Humanoid Abomination “Vecna”. Even through the kids’ D&D terminology, Henry’s touted role as the lich (an evil undead wizard) is the antithesis to the mage, which is what the boys dub Eleven as back in Season 1.
  • Suits. Travis Tanner to Harvey, to the point of having gone to Yale, which has long been established as the rival to Harvard, Harvey's alma mater.
  • Supergirl:
    • Reign is another Kryptonian survivor with a hidden crystalline fortress (not unlike Superman's Fortress of Solitude) and wears a costume that looks like a black version of Supergirl's uniform. She even reveals her outfit by ripping open her top, much like Superman and Supergirl are known to do.
    • In a way, Agent Liberty can be seen as this for Supergirl. While she preaches unity and acceptance, he riles the humans against aliens and fairly quickly amasses his own army of loyal followers. He also hides his own identity from the public.
  • In Superman & Lois, Tal-Rho (AKA Morgan Edge) is this for Clark. Both were sent by their fathers to Earth to escape Krypton's destruction. But their goals and experiences on Earth were very different, affecting their personalities. While Clark was adopted by a loving family and his father's AI taught him to be Earth's protector, Tal-Rho was hunted, captured, and tortured by humans. And his own father's AI constantly berates and tortures him, demanding that he conquer Earth and bring back Kryptonians in human bodies. Both have their own fortresses and they're half-brothers (Tal-Rho is Lara's son from her first marriage).
  • Supernatural:
    • Semi-invoked: Dean tries to make minor villain Gordon Walker into a substitute for John Winchester following the latter's death, not realizing that Gordon is evil.
    • Gordon also bears some resemblance to Bobby Singer: both got into hunting as a result of being forced to kill s loved one who had become a monster, both take on a surrogate father role to the Winchesters, both end up becoming some kind of undead, and both subsequently ultimately accept that they need to be killed. However, unlike Bobby or John, Gordon has no interest in saving or helping people; he just wants to see all monsters and supernatural beings dead.
    • Lucifer and Michael are evil counterparts to Sam and Dean. Gabriel notes that Sam and Dean being Michael and Lucifer's true vessels is quite fitting, as both Dean and Michael are eternally loyal to their absent fathers, and both Sam and Lucifer constantly rebelled against their father's plan.
    • Ruby is this to Dean. Both are snarky, Determinators, very sarcastic, Hot-Blooded, incredibly badass, have a passion for fighting, will never back down from a fight, are loyal to their missions, have played the roles of The Caretaker and The Mentor to Sam, whom both of them have Undying Loyalty to, are strongly devoted to their "fathers", and have sold their souls to demons in the past. It's a common fan theory that Ruby deliberately took on some of Dean's traits in order to get Sam to trust her and be willing to work with her.
  • Super Sentai and Power Rangers have had several evil counterpart teams to the Rangers, though the evil team most people remember are the ones in Denji Sentai Megaranger and Power Rangers in Space, the Nejirangers/Psycho Rangers respectively, who actually named a subtrope: The Psycho Rangers. However, there are also episodes in which only one of the Rangers gets an evil counterpart, thus playing this trope straight, rather than the subtrope. Most of these are Evil Knockoffs created by the villains to stop the rangers. Examples are:
  • Zeta Zeta Psi and Kappa Kappa Phi, the two sororities featured on Sweet/Vicious, are as diametrically opposed to one another as can be. While the Zetas are all about sisterhood and female empowerment, making their pledges feel welcome through mutual support, the Kappas are a bunch of vicious alpha bitches who abuse and haze their pledges to the point of sexual assault and hospitalization. When Kennedy, the leader of the Zetas, tells the new pledges "welcome to Hell Week", she's pretty obviously being sarcastic about it, while Chloe, the leader of the Kappas, is dead serious when she describes her sorority's Initiation Ceremony with those words.
  • Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Cromartie is this to Cameron.
  • From Tower Prep, the Rook leader in episode five is this to Ian, right down to the same power.
  • The Transporter in the Season 2 episode entitled T2 introduced an evil counterpart for Frank Martin named Olivier Dassin. Like Martin he is a professional transporter but is more ruthless, treacherous, and essentially on the whole lacks Frank's moral compass.
  • The Ultra Series has its share of counterparts to Ultramen:
    • Ultraman Ace has Ace Killer, who tried to murder the Ultra Brothers, harnessing their remaining powers to attack and kill Ace, who, unlike Killer, was saving lives. His character design suggests a disfigured Ultraman.
    • Alien Valky from Ultraman Taro, who battled Kohtaro Higashi so that Taro would show up and fight him (Higashi killed him instead). Whereas Taro is heroic and selfless, Valky seems to fight for sport. And yeah, he happens to look like an Ultra.
    • Ultraman Leo features Alien Babalue, devious shapeshifter who nearly destroyed planet M-78 when he sent it on a collision course with Earth, incriminated another Ultraman, and got two others to fight each other (not to mention angered and nearly got curb-stomped by four others).
    • Alien Empera from Ultraman Mebius was specifically designed to resemble an evil Ultra and in contrast to the Ultras, who draw their power from light, is empowered by darkness instead.
    • Ultraman Belial, an evil, vain being who got disfigurednote  due to his thirst for power. The Ultras imprisoned him. Then, once possessed by Reyblood, he turned on the Ultras.
    • Ultraman Tiga: Keigo Masaki is this to protagonist Daigo Madoka. They have very similar names, are both descended from the ancient Giants of Light (Ultras in this series), and discover an Ultraman in a statue form that they merge with. However, their interactions with the Ultras are what sets them apart. Daigo was chosen by Tiga to be his host due to their shared lineage and uses his new powers to protect others. Keigo, on the other hand, discovers the petrified form of an unnamed Ultra and uses Daigo's Spark Lens for a ritual that forcefully merges him with the sleeping Ultra in hopes of becoming a Physical God and bringing a new world order. However, whereas Daigo and Tiga exist harmoniously in the same body, Keigo's greed and pride causes his Ultra to become a mindless, rampaging, and uncontrollable brute. And to top it off, GUTS nicknames Keigo's Ultra "Evil Tiga"!
    • The Ultraman Gaia episode "Gamu vs Gamu" shows this between Gamu Takayama and Klaus Eckhart. Both former members of the Alchemy Stars, they were deeply insecure about how people treated them differently (and sometimes unkindly) for being highly gifted, but soon found comfort in more power. For Gamu, he merged with Ultraman Gaia, gaining the power to protect Earth from the Radical Destruction Bringer, thus conquering it. But Klaus instead swore allegiance to the RDB so that he could use his power to prove his superiority, becoming the monster Bizorm.
  • The Umbrella Academy:
    • The Handler is the Evil Counterpart to Five, both are formal, charismatic, ruthless and middle-aged (although Five got rejuvenated) assassins. They are both willingly to do anything and manipulate and kill anyone to succeed in their own goals, but while Five has a Hidden Heart of Gold and actually cares about his siblings, The Handler is a complete sociopath who only cares about power and feigns love for her adoptive daughter Lila. Their goals are directly the opposite too, with Five determined to prevent the apocalypse at all cost even if it means changing history whilst The Handler wants the apocalypse to happen without a hitch and history to stay the same. The Handler even says they’re alike and repeatedly tries to persuade Five over to her side, he blows her off each time.
    • Hazel and Cha-Cha are the Evil Counterparts to Luther and Allison *. Luther and Hazel are large man with Super-Strength who are also a Bruiser with a Soft Center who doubts themselves, Allison and Cha-Cha are attractive and confident dark skinned women who are quite ruthless. Both pairs work well together and for a long time depended on each other before one of each couple temporarily finds new love (Hazel with Agnes, Allison with Raymond) to the jealously of the other. Except while Luther was willingly to accept it, Cha-Cha was furious at her partner ditching her and tried to kill both Hazel and Agnes before being stopped.
    • Downplayed but Klaus can be seen as the Good Counterpart to Vanya (although she ultimately gets better). Both of them are outcasts among their siblings and looked down upon, both copped the worst Training from Hell at their adoptive father Hargreeves‘s hand, both have relationships with men and women and both are secretly the most powerful of their siblings. The difference is Klaus despite the Trauma Conga Line that happen to him, never took his rage out on his siblings and world causing the apocalypse in the process while Vanya did.
    • Speaking of Vanya she has her own Evil Counterpart in Leonard. Like Vanya, Leonard was rejected and abused by the Umbrella Academy for being normal (Vanya didn’t know she had powers of her and was made to forget). This humiliation and rejection caused a Sanity Slippage at which Vanya/Leonard killed a parental figure (Leonard murdered his abusive dad, Vanya murdered her Parental Substitute Pogo) and both helped caused the events that triggered the apocalypse. The contrast between them is that Vanya has good qualities and is The Woobie while Leonard is a Manipulative Bastard and the Hate Sink.
    • Lila is the bad counterpart to Diego, both are attractive, reclusive, street smart killers who conversely care deeply for the women (Grace for Diego, The Handler for Lila) they consider their mothers. Although while Diego is The Cowl who believes in justice and cares for innocent people, Lila is a Professional Killer who’s killed numerous people regardless of whether or not they are innocent. Subverted though as thanks to falling in love with Diego, Lila becomes more heroic and good natured.
  • The Vampire Diaries:
    • Even though she's the main character, Elena is the Good Counterpart to Katherine especially now that she's a Vampire
    • Stefan is the Good Counterpart to Silas. Stefan is the doppelganger of Silas.
  • Warehouse 13
    • MacPherson to Artie. They used to be partners and friends until both fell in love with the same woman. The break happened when the woman was trapped in a burning building, and Artie refused to use the Phoenix, an artifact that would allow one to survive being burned but would kill a random person instead. MacPherson used the Phoenix to save her and was kicked out of the Warehouse. He has since spent years tracking down artifacts, like Artie. However, he doesn't want to put them away for safekeeping but to use them to further his own ends. He even has a Tesla of his own.
    • Brother Adrian is the head of the Brotherhood of the Black Diamond, a Vatican-based organization dedicated to keeping dangerous artifacts safe. Sound familiar? After Artie steals Magellan's Astrolabe from Brother Adrian to prevent the destruction of the Warehouse, Brother Adrian shows up and demands that Artie use the Astrolabe to revert his changes and starts to dismantle Artie's life's work with his own artifacts. Subverted in the end, though, when it's revealed that Brother Adrian never came to the Warehouse, and it was Artie's split personality who was doing the stealing and the killing, resulting in Leena's death.
    • Paracelsus to Claudia in Season 4. Like Claudia, Paracelsus is a scientist (of the mad kind) and likes to experiment with artifacts to find out how to use them better. It was his research that enabled safe bronzing of dangerous individuals (in a twist of irony, he became one of the first to be bronzed). However, Claudia is not willing to risk people's lives for her research, and Paracelsus most definitely is (he simply calls them casualties of progress). Paracelsus is also revealed to have been the Caretaker of Warehouse 9, a position that Mrs. Frederic holds in Warehouse 13. Claudia is being groomed as the next Caretaker. The finale of Season 4 has Paracelsus taking control of the Warehouse and kicking everybody out, except for Claudia who stays behind to battle him.
  • White Collar: Matthew Keller to Neal Caffrey. Like Neal, he's a skilled con man (to the point of being referred to as Neal's "blue color version") and a very good chess player, but lacks both the charm and the standards and scruples that make Neal sympathetic and likable, instead being a cold-blooded sociopath who has no qualms about kidnapping, hostage-taking, and murdering people to get what he wants.
  • The Wire: Cheese Wagstaff to D'Angelo Barksdale. Both are the nephews of competing drug lords, Proposition Joe and Avon Barksdale respectively. However, D'Angelo is one of the more principled members of the game and eventually abandons it entirely, while Cheese is a backstabbing Dirty Coward. Dee stops trusting his own family but never snitches on them. Cheese openly brags about betraying his uncle to his death and gets killed for it.
  • In The Witcher (2019), Cahir and Fringilla are the Evil Counterparts to Geralt and Yennefer, a black armoured Master Swordsman and powerful Hot Witch respectively except the latter pair are heroic while former serve the Nilfgaardian army. Geralt and Cahir are both searching for Princess Ciri, but while Geralt genuinely cares for her since she’s his daughter as per law of surprise, Cahir wants to turn Ciri to his own corrupt beliefs and use her magical power as a weapon. Yennefer and Fringilla are even more connected since they were students at Aretuza together and were both taught by Tissaia, their paths diverged when Fringilla was sent to Nilfgaard and fell to the dark side becoming a Evil Sorceress. The irony is Yennefer was one who was supposed to go to Nilfgaard while Fringilla was to go to Aedirn, but Yennefer thanks to her magic makeover wooed the king of Aedirn and Fringilla was assigned to Nilfgaard instead. It’s possible Yennefer would’ve turned out just like Fringilla had she not magically made herself a Head-Turning Beauty.
  • In The X-Files: Alex Krycek starts as a young FBI agent but then it turns out he's an assassin at the service of the Syndicate and becomes one of the most recurring -and hated- villains of the show, even among other villains. Whilst Diana Fowley is not really evil but she does works for the Syndicate with her a Krycek becoming the Syndicate's counterpart of Mulder and Scully. On that sense the Smoker is also Skinner's evil counterpart as he's the boss of both and also an evil puppetmaster.
  • Xena: Warrior Princess had Draco, Callisto, Najara and Ilainus. Recurring Amazon ally Ephiny had Valeska.

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