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Two sides of the same coin...
Our methods have not differed as much as you pretend. I am but a shadowy reflection of you. It would take only a nudge to make you like me. To push you out of the light.
A character who chose to do evil, having had abilities and obstacles similar to the protagonist's. Sometimes, but not always, a Big Bad.
Frequently, the Evil Counterpart is the character equivalent of For Want Of A Nail: he represents what our hero could have become as a result of a very small change in his backstory. They also save creators the trouble of thinking up new abilities to give their villains, especially for comic book heroes and video games (where new abilities have to be implemented).
Often leads to a Not So Different moment.
Often a Dark Magical Girl; contrast with the Worthy Opponent. Applied to an entire team, they are the Doppleganger Squad. Because The Hero and the Evil Counterpart are such great foils for each other, the counterpart has an excellent chance of being the hero's Arch Enemy, although this is not always the case. If created, is usually an Evil Knockoff. An Evil Twin is an Evil Counterpart that is also an identical twin.
See Jekyll And Hyde for when the hero and his/her counterpart are the same person.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
Comic Books
- The 1950s incarnation of Captain America ("Commie Smasher") was (through the magic of Ret Con) revealed to be an obsessed fan of the original who insisted on replacing him during the time when he was presumed dead; while the US government decided to humor him, the faulty version of the Super Soldier enhancement process eventually drove him insane. While he was eventually captured and placed in suspended animation, he broke out years later and attacked who he thought was another Captain America imposter — the real Captain America who defrosted from his own accidental suspended animation.
- Bizarro is an imperfect clone (of varying origin, depending on the medium) of Superman, with all of the Man of Steel's powers and none of his intelligence or morality.
- Taking into account various media, between Ultraman, Justice Lord Superman, Cal and Kal-El in Smallville, Superboy Prime, mind controlled Shazam, Cyborg Superman, and probably more that I am forgetting, Superman has more evil counterparts than he knows what to do with.
- KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!
- Zod may have actually been the Evil Counterpart to Jor-El, Superman's father.
- The Krypton Man/Eradicator was yet another one in his early appearances, before becoming an Anti Hero Substitute after The Death of Superman.
- Black Adam was the Evil Counterpart of Captain Marvel, his predecessor as a bearer of the power of Shazam who became corrupted by its power.
- Similarly, not only was the Green Lantern foe Sinestro once a Green Lantern himself, in Post Crisis continuity he actually trained Hal Jordan in the use of his powers before becoming his nemesis.
- Recently, there are even more popping up, but not all evil (so sort of non-evil counterparts to the evil counterparts): while the green represents will, and yellow represents fear, there's now violet (love), blue (hope), red (rage), orange (greed), and indigo (compassion). And eventually black (death), which is the really evil counterpart.
- Kyle Rayner got two energy-wielding/manipulating Evil Counterparts, himself. On the 'ring-wielder' side of things, Alex Nero - who was Axe Crazy, and possibly killed his parents as a teenager. On the 'might've become' side of things, Effigy, who was what Kyle might've been if he hadn't matured and gained a sense of responsibility about the ring and super-heroics in general.
- Some individual members of the Sinestro Corps are evil counterparts of specific G Ls; for instance Arkillo (Evil Kiliwog) and Ranxx the Sentient City (Evil Mogo the Living Planet).
- The criminal Killer Moth originally patterned himself as an Evil Counterpart to Batman... but quickly sank to a third-string position in the Rogues Gallery. As we said, the Counterpart is sometimes a Big Bad, but not always. It was probably a bad idea to name himself after something bats eat.
- Continuing in that vein, the Wrath was a Pre Crisis villain who was even more of a Batman counterpart, down to duplicating much of his origin (his parents being killed in a shootout by Commissioner Gordon in his days as a rookie beat cop). Not only did he not become a Big Bad, he was essentially a one-shot opponent.
- Yet another Batman counterpart came in the pages of JLA, with Prometheus; he was the child of gangsters who had been gunned down by the cops when he was a boy, and his great physical fighting abilities were the result, not of training, but of "recording" other people's abilities electronically and loading them into his brain with a cybernetic helmet. Oddly, though, he isn't a particularly Batman-focused villain, usually meeting up with the hero only as part of an attempt to take down the whole JLA.
- And note that now both Prometheus and the Wrath are at large once again. Yes, they're practically the same person except for Prometheus' focus on technological gadgetry.
- When he was first introduced, Bane was made out to be something of an Evil Counterpart to Batman, having trained his mind and body while in prison (serving part of his late father's term). The big difference, of course, is Bane's use of the chemical Venom to give himself Super Strength.
- The Joker is also somewhat of an Evil Counterpart as while Batman uses planning and logic to fight for law and order, The Joker spreads anarchy through random acts of violence.
- The Joker Lampshades this in The Killing Joke when he posits that, like himself Batman was made what he is by "One bad day".
- Two-Face also mirrors Batman in his dual nature - Batman's identities are secret and united in their goals while Two-Face's are obvious and opposed.
- While Bruce Wayne had caring, loving parents, Tommy Elliot's were both cut from the Rich Bitch cloth (and his father was an abusive alcoholic). To keep himself from harm and create a better life for himself, he arranged a car accident that killed his father and left his mother an overbearing cripple. Tommy hated that Bruce's dad saved his mom and that Bruce eventually got the life Tommy wanted for himself. Upon being told by the Riddler that Bruce was Batman, Tommy became Hush, an archetype of Batman who is a criminal mastermind.
- Of course, there's Owlman and Talon, Batman and Robin's counterparts from Earth-3, the Evil Counterpart Universe.
- Another example is the Ax Crazy Black Mask. Like Bruce, he was the son of wealthy parents who died due to unnatural causes. The difference is that Black Mask happened to kill his own parents and run his company into the ground with his own incompetence. He even met Bruce as a child. Arguably, he's more of a Anti-Bruce Wayne then a Anti-Batman.
- Catman was going to be one of these for about five minutes. Add in the Red Hood (formerly Jason Todd, the second Robin, a vigilante who kills villains left in right when he isn't in Countdown) and Batzarro, which, yes, is a thing that really exists, and he has about a dozen of these.
- Batman's gallery is basically built on the Evil Counterpart concept, mainly because writers ackowledge that what Bruce does isn't exactly sane and love to point out how easily it could have gone another way.
- Venom is Spider-Man's Evil Counterpart, created when he symbolically cast off the darkness within him. Later, when Venom became an Anti Hero, Carnage was created to be his Evil Counterpart...
- Toxin is Venom's Good Counterpart.
- Well, now we have Anti-Venom for that.
- Spider-Man has had several villains meant to be his thematic opposite, from the Fly (who gained his powers in an accident much like Peter's own, but never stopped "looking out for number one" and blamed everyone else for his shortcomings) to the Scorpion (ditto; Bonus points for being an arachnid, too. And now the original Scorpion is Venom) Dr. Octopus shares many personality traits with Spider-Man and is even based on another eight-legged creature. Less obviously, there's the Spider-Wasp, and the Other, who is literally a physical manifestation of everything Spider-Man is not.
- Sabretooth is portrayed as Wolverine's evil opposite, with near identical powers and completely feral. And he's implied to be Wolverine's half-brother; if he is, then they've hated each other their entire lives. Interestingly however, both characters were introduced separately from each other, Wolverine first appeared (with slightly different powers than his X-Men debut) in the Hulk comic, while Sabretooth was introduced (with no powers at all and claws that were only part of his gloves) in the pages of Iron Fist.
- This may not be quite so coincidental, as Chris Claremont and John Byrne were working on the Iron Fist title around the same time as their classic run on X-Men.
- The current Supernova is an Evil Counterpart of Booster Gold, who invented the Supernova identity. While Booster works with Rip Hunter, Time Master to Set Right What Once Went Wrong, Supernova is working with time-travel based villains like Per Degaton to set things wrong in the first place. Supernova also has an Evil Counterpart of Booster's Robot Buddy, Skeets, and at the end of his first appearance is revealed to be Booster's father.
- Flintheart Glomgold, of the Uncle Scrooge comics (and later Duck Tales) is an evil counterpart to Scrooge McDuck - every bit as ambitious as Scrooge, almost as wealthy, but with none of Scrooge's redeeming factors, such as his honesty and sense of fair play.
- Duck Tales even increased the similarities by making Flintheart Scottish, the same nationality as Scrooge — though this was because he was originally South American in the comics, and they wanted to avoid unfortunate connections.
- Not South American, South African - after all, he made a large bulk of his fortune stealing diamond mines, his money bins symbol is the Rand, and their
prick string measuring contest takes place on the African Savannah.
- The Marvel Comics series Sleepwalker has an Evil Counterpart in Psyko, who possesses warping abilities similar to Sleepwalker's, but differs from the alien hero in his Nightmare Fuel appearance and additional ability to drive those around him insane. Sleepwalker, an alien devoted to protecting the minds of innocent people from insanity, became fused with the human Rick Sheridan when he found himself trapped in Rick's mind, whereas Psyko was created when a human serial killer became fused with a demonic creature from the Mindscape, giving him the ability to spread his madness like a disease, Mind Raping everyone around him.
- Doctor Strange has an Evil Counterpart in Baron Mordo, who was studying with (and planning to off) the Ancient One before Stephen Strange showed up.
- Red Sonja meets her Evil Counterpart, Crimson Katherine, in Giant-Size Red Sonja #2.
- The Catwoman series tried giving Selina an Evil Counterpart a couple of times. One was She-Cat (another cat-based thief, but a less skilled and less ethical one, who eventually turned out to know Selina from when they were in the same orphanage) and another was Hellhound (a male chauvinist who'd been trained by the same Old Master, and been The Unfavorite). Neither of them caught on.
- Aquaman has had several evil counterparts. The most obvious is the Ocean Master, his own brother. Others include Black Manta, Charybdis, Evil Twin Thanatos, and the Thirst.
- In Circle of Blood, the first Punisher miniseries, Castle fights against a brainwashed army of criminals, all patterned after him.
- Judge Dredd has the Dark Judges, who have taken the policing style of the Judges to an extreme where Mega-City One is practically Utopian.
- Iron Man has Iron Monger, another businessman who wears Powered Armour. You could possibly also put Titanium Man in this role.
- Not to mention the (literally) dozen or so Crimson Dynamos.
- The Hulk now has the Red Hulk. The Leader and the Abomanation probably fit this role too.
- She-Hulk now has Red She-Hulk.
- "Except for an accident of circumstance, I could have been your Luke Skywalker, and he could have been me. After all, we were both farmboys who loved to fly." Baron Soontir Fel, the best non-Vader pilot in the Empire, says this
 to Wedge Antilles after he's captured by Rogue Squadron. Farm Boy origins aside, he's actually closer to being the counterpart to Wedge, who also happens to be his brother-in-law. Fel is distinctly not evil; he's Imperial, which does put him on the "wrong" side, but he's not an evil man. He actually joins Rogue Squadron for a time, before disappearing and ending up as part of the Empire of the Hand.
- Moon Knight had Evil Counterpart villains for his Marc Spector identity (Bushman), his Steven Grant identity (Midnight Man), and his Moon Knight persona (Black Spectre).
- Starman's Jack Knight and Nash were on their respective sides of the law mainly because their fathers pushed them there.
- All four Flashes have fought a "reverse flash" of some sort or another. Jay Garrick had the Rival, an old college professor who discovered his power source and committed crimes dressed like the Flash. Barry Allen fought Professor Zoom, a stalker who wanted to destroy everything Flash loved. Wally West's counterpart is Zoom, a former profiler who is convinced that super heroes are only effective if they lose people they care about. Bart Allen had Inertia, an evil clone of himself.
- It could be argued that fellow speedster Johnny Quick had an evil counterpart in Savitar. Whereas Johnny attributed his powers to a scientific formula Savitar believed himself to be a god of speed and started a cult around himself.
- It could also be argued that Savitar was a counterpart for Max Mercury in that both of them viewed the Speed Force philosophically and meditated on its nature and purpose but used it for very different ends.
- Barry Allen also fought his prior to unknown twin Malcolm Thawne aka Colbalt Blue who established his own legacy of evil that mirrored the Flash Family.
- From the Knights of the Old Republic comics, both Big Bad Haazen and hero Zayne Carrick are relatively weak Force-sensitives who were considered failed Jedi apprentices. The difference is that Haazen allowed his bitterness and jealousy of his more talented peers to utterly consume his life, while Zayne still maintains his fundamental human decency no matter what. The series' other main protagonist, Jarael, now has one of her own in the form of Chantique, who represents what Jarael would be if she allowed herself to be dominated by her Dark And Troubled Past.
Film
- In Kill Bill, Elle Driver, aka California Mountain Snake, is the counterpart to Black Mamba.
- Trevelyan (former Agent 006) in GoldenEye. He even gives the For Want Of A Nail reasoning and a Not So Different speech.
- Rene Belloq from Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark is a classic example. Both he and Indy are successful Adventurer Archaeologists with the main difference being that Belloq is willing to work with anyone, (including the Nazis) on a job, and that he's perfectly content to let someone else find the treasure, then steal it from them at gunpoint. Belloq also delivers an excellent example of a Not So Different speech at one point.
- Iron Monger (Obadiah Stane) to Iron Man (Tony Stark) in the 2008 film.
- Agent Smith to Neo in The Matrix trilogy.
- The Man with the Golden Gun: Scaramanga and Bond. Scaramanga gives a Not So Different speech:
Bond: You live well, Scaramanga.
Scaramanga: At a million dollars a contract I can afford to, Mr Bond. You work for peanuts, a hearty well done from her Majesty the Queen and a pittance of a pension. Apart from that we are the same. To us, Mr Bond, we are the best.
- Push has two. Nick's counterpart is Victor, and Cassie's counterpart is the Triad Watcher. Victor is a better Mover than Nick, and the Triad Watcher is a better Watcher than Cassie.
- It seems to be implied that Nick and Cassie are every bit (if not more) powerful, but are novices at actually exercising their powers compared to their more experienced counterparts.
- As the poster makes clear◊, Grand Moff Tarkin is intended to be the evil counterpart foil to Obi-Wan.
- Darth Vader is naturally the evil counterpart to Luke Skywalker (a living incarnation of the evil that Luke is perfectly capable of), and Emperor Palpatine is an evil Force mentor version of Yoda.
- This also gives a perfectly reasonable excuse for why Tarkin gets killed. (And Yoda too, in the third film.) Luke loses a mentor, and Vader loses the only person keeping him in check.
- Subverted in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor when Michelle Yeoh resurrects all the people the Emperor killed leading to a Battle Royale With Cheese.
- Star Trek: Nemesis had Shinzon, the evil clone of Jean-Luc Picard whose main purpose in the story is to show what Picard himself could have become had he grown up under more oppressive circumstances. Picard himself uses this in an attempt to demonstrate that Shinzon had the choice to become a better person, while Shinzon wanted to prove that Being Tortured Makes You Evil.
Literature
- Inversion: In the Harry Potter books, Harry is clearly the "good counterpart" to series Big Bad Voldemort, having been raised in similar conditions and circumstances, and accidentally given some of Voldemort's own power, but taking a different moral/ethical path. There has been a fair amount of fan speculation that this was, in fact, deliberately imposed on Harry, possibly as symbolic magic, or possibly as Dumbledore's way of proving to himself that he was not directly responsible for the creation of Voldemort out of Tom Riddle.
- On a more contemporary level, the main trio have "shadow" counterparts in Slytherin (the first two are confirmed by Word Of God):
- Harry (orphaned, unloved by his only living relatives, brave) and Draco Malfoy (has parents, spoiled, cowardly)
- Hermione Granger (smart, unselfconscious, loves all her friends) and Pansy Parkinson (shallow, vain, only has eyes for Draco)
- Ron Weasley (poor, outgoing, large family) and Blaize Zabini (wealthy, very aloof, only child with a great deal of missing father figures either because his mother is a "black widow" or Himawari-chan)
- Additionally, Gellert Grindelwald is the dark twin of Albus Dumbledore.
- R.A. Salvatore feels the need to state that Artemis Entreri is Drizzt's "dark mirror" every time the two meet.
- Granny Weatherwax's sister Lily, in the Discworld novel Witches Abroad. A somewhat ironic example, as Lily considers herself to be the good one, and Granny thinks of herself as an Anti Villain, being a prime example of Good Is Not Nice.
- It's also played with a bit *
I know, what a shock. since the Theory Of Narrative Causality means that any magically inclined siblings on the disc will eventually form a Good/Evil pair, and the reason Granny is mad at her sister is because she didn't want to be the Good one and was forced into the role when Lily ran away.
- Shiwan Khan, one of The Shadow's antagonists, had the same ability to "Cloud Men's Minds", and was one of the few villains to appear in more than one novel. In the 1994 film, the Evil Counterpart aspect of the characters was made much more explicit: both were trained by a mystic known as The Tulpu, but whereas Lamont Cranston turned away from evil, Shiwan Khan did not.
- Lord Hong to Lord Vetinari in the Discworld novel Interesting Times. Though the two never meet (and Vetinari may not even be aware of Hong's existence) the uncanny similarities of hyper competence, forward thinking, manipulation and the ability to wield power are made clear. Hong is a younger Vetinari with all the sense of duty channeled into personal ambition.
- Recent Star Wars novels have taken the unfortunate fact that Shira Brie/Lumiya and Mara Jade are basically the same recycled character concept and chosen to emphasize the fact that Lumiya is Mara Jade's Evil Counterpart. The Legacy of the Force series, for instance, has for the first time confirmed that Shira Brie was part of the same Emperor's Hand program as Mara Jade and equal to her in rank, and, ironically, that if she had been nearby when the second Death Star blew up and been given the task of horribly murdering Luke Skywalker, she could very likely have been the one redeemed by love who ended up marrying Luke instead of being horribly disfigured and eventually killed by him.
- In the Ea Cycle Morjin is what Valashu would become if he went to The Dark Side.
- When August Derleth took H.P. Lovecraft's ideas and ran with them, he posited a group of "good" counterparts of the Great Old Ones called the "Elder Gods." Brian Lumley took this concept even further in his Cthulhu Mythos novels, with appearances by the Elder Gods Kthanid (a good Cthulhu) and Yad-Thaddag (a good Yog-Sothoth).
- John Sunlight, the only villain to face Doc Savage more than once in the novels, had many qualities in common with Doc.
- An even more obvious Evil Counterpart appears in the Doc Savage Annual published by DC Comics. It featured Siegfried, a young man raised by one of Doc's former teachers under the training regime developed by Doc's father. Siegfried and his mentor were in service of the Nazis.
- Un from Shinigami no Ballad, who is counterpart to the main character. Weirdly enough, even though she wields power of destruction, she is consider to be the being of creation, and that even though Momo's appearance are all white, she's actually Un's shadow.
- Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty.
- Taken to its logical extreme in Neil Gaiman's Alternate Universe short story A Study In Emerald, where the reader gradually realizes that in this world the nameless detective who lives at Baker Street and helps the police with cases is Moriarty, and the culprits for the latest case he is investigating are Holmes and Watson. Although the nature of this society is such that Holmes and Watson are still the good guys.
- Taken to another logical extreme in Kim Newman's "A Shambles in Belgravia", which not only has Moran documenting Moriaty's "cases" as Evil Dr Watson, but also supplies him with an Evil Mrs Hudson (the madame Mrs Halifax), and Evil Baker Street Irregulars (the Conduit Street Comanche - a "tribe of junior beggars, whores, pickpockets and garotters"). And in his spare time, Moriarty breeds wasps, apparently out of sheer malevolence and balancing Holmes's retirement as a beekeeper.
- Auguste Dupin and Minister D.
- Subverted in Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Series, specifically beginning in "Brothers in Arms" where the hero Miles Vorkosigan meets his evil clone in a battle of wits and subterfuge. The clone, when defeated, neither goes away nor dies, but over a couple books is truly redeemed and considered legally Mile's brother, whereupon he's absorbed into the family.
Live Action TV
- In Doctor Who, the Master is a renegade Time Lord like the Doctor, who has chosen to use time travel for personal gain.
- During the third Doctor's era they were even going to be revealed to be different aspects of the same person (the Master=Id and the Doctor=Ego) but this was canceled due to Delgado's death.
- In the Third Doctor-era Inferno, there is the parallel universe with Brigade Leader Lethbridge-Stewart and Section Leader Elizabeth Shaw.
- In the Expanded Universe Spin Off Faction Paradox, the titular organization is the Evil Counterpart / Splinter group of the Doctor's people, the Time Lords. So instead of an austere race sworn to protect the Timey Wimey Ball, you have a brigade of Smug Snakes and Magnificent Bastards cheerfully wreaking havoc on history and tying causality into knots for kicks.
- Torchwood has Captain John Hart, Jack's evil counterpart and ex-lover. Whereas both are pansexual renegade Time Agents, Jack is a compassionate, paternal type who seeks to protect the human race, and John is an amoral, passionless killer.
- However, things are a little more complicated by the end of Season 2, not to mention Season 3.
- In the finale of The Sarah Jane Adventures season one, "Nathan Goss" (actually a young Slitheen) is presented as an Evil Counterpart to Luke Smith; a super-genius child who doesn't fit in and isn't exactly human. But while Luke's Raised By Wolves nature led to an endearing desire to understand and an obsessive politeness, Nathan is an arrogant Jerkass.
- Quantum Leap had a recurring "Evil Leaper"
- Sliders had a Story Arc about a race of evil Sliders.
- Before being canceled, Tru Calling introduced the character of Jack Harper (played by Jason Priestly), who had the same power to relive days as the title character, but whose intention was to ensure that the victims remained dead. In the season finale, it was revealed that Tru's father had taken up the same role when her mother had the Calling.
- The X-Files, Jeffrey Spender and Diana Fowley were evil counterparts to Mulder and Scully.
- Joan of Arcadia's second season finale introduced an Evil Counterpart to Joan, another person who received frequent divine visitations but had chosen to oppose God.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Because she was revived with CPR after her death at the hands of the Master, Buffy was able to encounter her successors as the "one and only" Slayer. Faith, the second such successor, eventually became the "bad Slayer", before seeking redemption.
- In fact, this was one of the few tropes Buffy chronically over-used... just about every cast member either has an evil version of themselves or counterpart: Buffy/Faith, Angel/Angelus (and the Buffy/Angel relation plays a foil to the Spike/Drusilla relationship throughout season 2), Willow/Dark Willow, Giles/Ethan Rayne (and, to a certain extent the Giles/Buffy relation mirrored in The Mayor/Faith), Anya/Anyanka, Riley/Adam, Warren/Jonathon and, for that matter, the general tension that exists between the pre- and post- vampire self (especially Spike). The only major subversion is Xander, who gets a double that is pointedly not evil (though, to be fair, his fears of turning into his father after his marriage are well in line with the trope.)
- Are we forgetting Vampire Xander? Granted, he never crossed over, but he existed.
- Willow also had Vampire Willow. And currently has Amy Madison.
- Both Darla and Glory serve as Buffy's evil counterparts at different times, preying on the "beautiful blonde victim - not so much" thing Buffy has. Buffy, of course, kills the monsters. Glory and Darla are the monsters. It's especially noticeable in Darla's first scene, as a timid girl sneaking into the school with a far more aggressive boy - until she turns on him and kills him.
- Graem Bauer, the brother of the heroic Jack Bauer on 24, who apparently is the mastermind behind several of the terrorist plots Jack has foiled during the series' run. Would be an Evil Twin if not for the fact that the actors look nothing alike.
- Heroes: Sylar and Peter Petrelli can both absorb the powers of those they encounter - Peter just by being near them and Sylar by killing them, so it's not hard to see which one's the Evil Counterpart.
- Character-wise, Elle, like Claire, is the superpowered daughter of a Company agent; her maltreatment at the Company's hands left her a twisted sociopath, and Noah was determined to keep Claire a secret in order to spare her the same fate.
- Not only that, but apparently, before storylines were re-written due to the impending writer's strike, Elle was going to turn out to be, I believe, Claire's biological half-sister on the mother's (Meredith's) side.
- Then there's Danko who shows what Bennet could have become if he never had adopted Claire.
- In a double episode of Star Trek Voyager, the crew encountered the "Equinox", a ship - caught in a similar situation to their own - using sentient lifeforms to power its modified warpcore in what must be one of the most unsubtle instances of Evil in science fiction.
- Also done in Star Trek Deep Space Nine in which Captain Sisko sometimes faces his rival Eddington, who parallels him in life events (such as the death of their wives) but is a Maquis terrorist.
- Arguably, the Dominion (the only major enemy seen in Star Trek composed of more than one race) is an evil counterpart of the Federation.
- And the Female Shapeshifter (credited and referred to in the finale as such) is obviously an evil counterpart of Odo.
- Dexter: Dexter is a serial killer, but he only kills other killers... But this does not apply to his brother, Brian, who appears as the Ice Truck Killer in Season 1. Their lives are very similar- both watched their mother get sawed to death, and both developed the same personality disorder that causes them to kill. Only Dexter follows his code, and Brian does not... Which eventually leads to Brian, who was trying to reunite and be a killer side by side with his brother, dying.
- Not exactly evil, but certainly the Sitcom Arch Nemesis counterparts of the Craggy Island priests in Father Ted are the Rugged Island priests: Father Dick Byrne (Ted's counterpart), Father Cyril MacDuff (Dougal's counterpart) and Father Jim Johnson (Jack's counterpart).
- The Professionals. In "Mixed Doubles" Bodie and Doyle undergo special training with a brutal instructor in order to protect a foreign diplomat. At the same time we follow two men undergoing a similar program, who are planning his assassination. The two teams don't share a Not So Different moment (though they do help each other out during a pub brawl) but it's certainly implied.
- In Battlestar Galactica, the crew of the Pegusus serves as a collective counterpart to the crew of Galactica. While Galactica had a civilian fleet to look after, putting them constantly on the defensive, Pegusus took the offensive, trying to attack and kill the Cylons. Of course, it is eventually revealed that the Pegusus originally had civilians to protect, but cannibalized their ships and left them to die in order to pursue their war, because their commander was batshit insane.
- Nate from Leverage has a counterpart in Sterling: both were intelligent, successful insurance agents working for IYS. Parker even refers to Sterling as "Evil Nate." It was the death of Nate's son that pushed him away from his company and led to him working with his team of thieves. This never happened to Sterling, who instead continues his misguided quest to capture the criminals rather than the ones who are actually doing something wrong.
- It seems as if Eliot might also have an evil counterpart in Quinn, the badass that Sterling sent after him. As Quinn only got one episode, though, it's not clear whether they have anything in common besides their skills.
- I Dream of Jeannie, Jeannie's sister, also named Jeannie, who had dark hair and green clothes. And while the blonde one wants to be Tony's slave, the Brunette wants to keep Tony as a pet. Her own master is said, by her, to be cruel because he only lets her out of her bottle occasionally, and THEN only for a moment so she can do something. However, all available evidence would suggest that she's the one who's too much trouble to be let out of her bottle for more than a minute. (Actually, Jeanie causes quite a bit of trouble too, but usually by accident like Dennis The Menace Us whereas the Brunette is more like Bart Simpson.)
- Done surprisingly well with Clark Kent and Davis Bloome in Smallville, considerably better and more subtle than the Bizarro nonsense. Well, at least until the finale.
- In an episode of Burn Notice, Sam tells Michael that Victor is "You, only with rabies." In practice, Victor is Chaotic Evil to Mike's Chaotic Good, being held back by the leash of the people who burned Mike. Brennan, by contrast, is basically an amoral version of Michael. Chalk up another one for BN's list of tropes played with.
New Media
- Basement Cat (tacgnol) to Ceiling cat.
Newspaper Comics
- Bianca, who appeared in the "Green Cobra" arc of Modesty Blaise, was very much Modesty's evil counterpart and even saw herself as such.
Professional Wrestling
- Inverted by Shawn Michaels in the angle for his Wrestlemania XXV match with The Undertaker. The Heartbreak Kid casted himself as a sort of Good Counterpart to Big Evil, even going so far as to do a "holy" rendition of the Man from the Darkside's entire gimmick: white hat and longcoat, druids in white robes, Cherubic Choir instead of Ominous Latin Chanting, a massive Cheshire Cat Grin instead of a Death Glare after taking the hat off, quoting scripture from the Bible as opposed to something that sounds like out of a Tome Of Eldritch Lore, and for the piece de resistance at Wrestlemania XXV itself, descending from the rafters of the Reliant Astrodome on a white chariot, as if God Himself sent the Showstopper from the heavens to smite the undefeated streak of the Deadman. That said, considering he initiated the feud and was playing the cocky heel, it might be a case of Light Is Not Good.
- His "cockiness" was a stated defiance of a man claiming to be the devil who will steal his opponent's souls, after intimidating them to psychological submission through endless mindgames. And it was Taker who initiated the feud when he confronted Shawn during his feud with JBK.
- Undertaker and Kane, when they feuded, were sort of counterparts to each other. Which one was evil often switched, but usually Kane fit this role. During their Wrestlemania XIV match, Undertaker found himself on the receiving end of many of his own moves.
- In the Global Wrestling Federation, a wrestler called the "Dark Patriot" was introduced to challenge their main hero, the red-white-and-blue-garbed Patriot. D.P. (actually Eddie Gilbert's brother Doug) wore all black with red stars.
Tabletop Games
- Warhammer 40000: Chaos Marines to Space Marines, Dark Eldar to Eldar, Lost And The Damned to Imperial Guard. It should be noted however that the aforementioned groups are more Evil Counterpart and Really Evil Counterpart respectively.
- In Nomine has 7 major types of angels, and 7 major types of demons, of these types, 6 types of demons are Evil Counterparts to one of the 6 types of angels. (Malakim don't Fall, and Lilim are specially created demons with no angelic counterparts), for example the Seraphim are Living Lie Detectors, if they themselves lie, they will eventually Fall, and become Balseraphs, which are Consummate Liar demons.
- The Villains supplement for the James Bond 007 roleplaying game included an urbane and sophisticated rogue CIA agent and serial killer designed as an evil counterpart to James Bond.
Video Games
- In World of Warcraft you actually get to beat up your own evil counterpart. Or technically, your "inner turmoil" (or for casters, it has often been identified by players as your inner idiot - it only uses melee attacks).
- Knights of the Old Republic possibly has a Evil Counterpart to the Jedi Exile in the form of Darth Nihilus.
- In Super Robot Wars: Original Generation, Tenzan Nakajima is the Evil Counterpart to Ryusei Date. Like Ryusei, he was a video game champion turned actual robot pilot, but unlike Ryusei, never learned the difference between a game and a life-and-death battle.
- A more direct example is Lemon Browning, who is the Alternate Universe version of heroine Excellen Browning. The split came in a shuttle crash. The original Excellen survived without a scratch, while the other died and was rebuilt by her parents into a cyborg.
- Similarly, there's the Shadow-Mirror equivalents of Kyosuke Nanbu and Sanger Zonvolt, especially the latter.
- And Z adds Asakim Dowin to the family of evil counterparts (in this case, of Masaki Andoh), and unfortunately there won't be a white Paladin Shu to stop him.
- In the Mega Man games, Bass (AKA Forte in the original Japanese versions). The TV show had Protoman in this role, despite him being a good guy in the games. This may be because in his first appearance in Mega Man 3, if you didn't know the plot (which, as was common for the time, wasn't actually in the game), it was very easy to mistake him for a villain unless you beat the game; then again, maybe They Just Didn't Care.
- Most likely, though, they just wanted to have a clear cut Evil Counterpart to Mega Man, and Bass hadn't been invented yet.
- Zero's own evil counterpart is Ax Crazy Omega Zero, considering that Omega possesses Zero's original body and uses the same attacks Zero himself uses in Mega Man X. Plus, Omega is what Zero himself would have become if Zero would have been following Wily's plans for him.
- In Breath of Fire 4, Fou-Lu is an Evil Counterpart to Ryu. Not to mention he's freakin' superpowerful. (It's implied by various reactions to them that they are actually also Evil Twins, but the sprites don't actually look that similar, especially since Ryu has short blue hair and Fou-Lu has long silvery hair.)
- Ryu usually has an Evil Counterpart in every game. II introduced us to Ray, one of the dark Dragons (although he's more of a literal Knight Templar). III has Teepo, and V has Bosch.
- In the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, Shadow the Hedgehog was introduced as Sonic's Evil Counterpart. Since then, though, he's become more of an Anti Hero Counterpart.
- Then Shadow got his own evil counterpart in the form of Mephiles the Dark, the main villain from Sonic 06 whose form is a copy of Shadow's own shadow.
- In a somewhat rare example, the villainous Dr. Eggman has an evil counterpart as well, in the form of Eggman Nega. Where Eggman is an affably evil Anti Villain with a sense of morals and heroism, Nega's unabashed love for fear, chaos, and suffering puts him in Complete Monster territory - Essentially, he's what Eggman would be without his human qualities.
- From Advance Wars 2 onward, the Black Hole Army COs have been almost entirely composed of Evil Counterparts to the Alliance COs; a complete listing of the counterparts is beyond the scope of this editor, and possibly of this article.
- Iori Yagami is Kyo Kusanagi's Evil Counterpart in The King of Fighters. Kyo rejected the blood feud between the Kusanagi and the Yagami, Iori embraced it, Kyo has many friends, Iori has none, Kyo has a girlfriend, Iori doesn't (on second thought, one wonders if that may be the reason Iori hates Kyo so much...).
- Iori does have a girlfriend. He's Kyo's evil counterpart, and the heir to an incredibly dangerous legacy, but he's a pretty normal guy, otherwise.
- Because of the Jungian craziness, Persona has this in spades. Most characters actually meet their Shadows, played stirringly by Nyarlathotep in a variety of masks. Also of note: Mary with Idealized Mary, Pandora, and the two brats; Nate and Guido as businessmen who took different paths; Ellen outfoxing a very determined stalker only to be told they're not so different by the not-so-silent ex-classmate she has been trying to locate (Funny, he hasn't seemed to have aged...).
- The tradition continues in Persona4, where a Shadow is a physical manifestation of all the things the person is suppressing. If it so happens that their actual physical self is there with the Shadow, expect cries of "You're not me!" followed by the Shadow trying to kill any human in the way.
- Adachi also serves this role for the protagonist. In fact, he even has the same US voice actor as the main character and a modified version of his first persona.
- Wario was once an evil rival of Mario, complete with evil versions of Mario's powerups. Then he shifted to a greedy Anti Hero who stole from other villains, soon replacing his dark powerups with the gimmick of Nigh Invulnerability and bizarre transformations based on how he is injured. Opinions differ as to whether this helped his character by making him more than just an evil Mario clone, or hindered his character by removing his defining character traits.
- Later on, Nintendo gave Luigi his own Evil Counterpart in the form of Waluigi.
- Wario got one himself in Wario Land: The Shake Dimension. The Shake King was essentially a bigger, greedier Wario, with most of his abilities mirroring those of Wario. This is assuming he can be called an evil counterpart; Wario isn't exactly a good guy to begin with.
- Every single character in Battle Arena Toshinden 3 had an Evil Counterpart that had to be fought as a Sub Boss. Most of them were merely carbon copies of the originals with a new coat of paint (except for Badass Longcoat Vermilion), so if you mastered one, you could easily play with their opposite.
- In the MMO Guild Wars, to progress beyond a certain point in the plot you have to defeat your own character's evil twin in single combat. The doppelganger has the same skills as your character and higher stats, so you can't defeat it by simple brute force; you have to win by outsmarting the AI.
- Azel in God Hand has the left God Hand, while the main character, Gene, has the right. It is said that he who possesses a God Hand may be either god or devil; Azel chose the latter route, dubbing himself "the Devil Hand". He wiped out his entire clan (protectors of the God Hands) to test his power, and then sided with the demons plotting to raise Angra.
- Final Fantasy games frequently employ this trope. Final Fantasy IX had Zidane to Kuja - both created by Garland to lead Gaia to war.
- Lets not forget Final Fantasy VIII. Seifer was an evil counterpart to Squall, both using gunblades and been trained at the same garden. Although Seifer was more manipulated than evil.
- And, of course, Final Fantasy VII had Cloud and Sephiroth. Sort of. The link started as fairly concrete at the start of the game, became more tenuous towards the middle as it was found that Much of Cloud's backstory was a lie and was, in fact, the tale of his friend Zack and then has been pushed back into the limelight with some of their more recent appearances.
- Cloud and Sephiroth's appearances in Kingdom Hearts take it a step further, with Sephiroth sporting a black angel's wing on his right shoulder and Cloud having a black demon's wing on his left shoulder.
- In Dirge of Cerberus, all of the Tsviets share something in common with Vincent. Shelke is immortal, Nero wields Darkness, Rosso has similar attire (red clothes, metal gauntlets) and fighting methods, Azul has the same shapeshifting powers, and Weiss is [spoiler:trying to attain the power of Omega, the antithesis to Chaos. Furthermore, he's the vessel for Hojo, who turns into monsters like Vincent, but has no morals or physical prowess to call his own.] Oh, they also all use a combination of guns and martial arts, leaning towards guns. Except for Shelke. Rosso and Vincent lampshade this with their discussion on each other's "humanity."
- The Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2 duet has Tidus and Shuyin; one died while failing to protect his beloved, while the other gave his existence and succeeded. They even look alike, and fans speculate the fayth deliberately modeled Tidus after Shuyin in their dream-Zanarkand.
- Final Fantasy XII has the for most of the game evil Gabranth and the good Basch, who doubles as a pair with an Evil Twin.
- Kingdom Hearts has Sora and Riku, or Sora and Anti-Sora. Also the Heartless might be Evil Counterparts of either people or Nobodies.
- Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep also has Vanitas and Ven. And if you want to take it a step further, Vanitas and SORA
- Akuma is Ryu's evil counterpart in various Street Fighter games and their adaptions. The brother of Ryu's master, Akuma was a student of the same martial art and was also driven by the desire to be the most powerful martial artist, until he fell to The Dark Side in his bid for power, while Ryu ultimately rejects it. (The exception being in Street Fighter Alpha 2 and 3, where there's an Evil Ryu Secret Character. Complete the game with him and he turns out exactly like Akuma).
- Subverted in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, where the pre-release hype made a big thing out of the character, Python, being the Evil Counterpart of the protagonist. Python had a similar backstory to the protagonist, used to be the protagonist's best friend, and had an appropriate code name. There was even Foe Yay to the ridiculous extreme. However, he turns out to be the Warm Up Boss, is dealt with swiftly, there is a final burst of Ho Yay, and then he completely stops being in the plot. Even if you defeat him via non-lethal means so that he defects to your side, he never shows up in a cutscene again. Evil Counterpart focus then switches to Gene, who was another successor of the protagonist's mentor. Gene didn't even show up in most of the trailers.
- Meanwhile, Solid Snake has Liquid Snake and Solidus Snake, who were not only raised under (intentionally) similar circumstances but are all clones of the same person.
- Also, due to their rivalry and some Ho Yay some fans consider immortal stupid, sexy Vamp with his inhuman fighting powers to be the opposite of androgynous overpowered Raiden.
- Claudia of Silent Hill 3 was raised in the same nightmarish cult as Alessa /Heather by a similarly abusive parent and may also possess the ability to summon the series' iconic Dark World, however she embraced the cult's teachings and their plans of resurrecting "God" while Alessa/Heather rejected them.
- Vasteel Original in Thunder Force V is prototype of player's Vasteel fighter. Also Vasteel Nocht from Thunder Force VI which is large fighter that utilise weapon similar to player fighter from previous three games.
- The gnomes introduced in Overlord II are a good counterpart to your minions. Unfortunately for them, in the setting, "Good" basically means either "self-serving Jerk Ass using their supposed virtue as free license to do whatever they want" or "obnoxious, ineffectual idiot", and they got stuck with the latter version.
- Still, another example of a Good Counterpart for the Evil Overlord Villain Protagonist would be Queen Fay, leader of the Elves and the reigning being of Light Magic (you being Dark Magic). She still ends up coming to you for an Enemy Mine against the Anti Magic Empire in which she ends up sacrificing her energy to power the Overlord's Tower Heart, ending with her corruption and becoming a Fallen Hero.
- Vergil, Dante's Evil Twin from the Devil May Cry series, chose to side with the demons against humanity as opposed to Dante, who chose his father's path.
- Alex Mercer from Prototype has to contend with Blackwatch Super Soldiers who have controlled exposure to the same virus powering him It IS him, but that you won't find out for a while, as well as the Hunters who have similar powers - all the way up to the Supreme Hunter also being able to shapeshift - but are clearly inhuman. It's not so much Good Counterpart versus Evil Counterpart as it is Evil Versus Evil though.
- Your main power in Afterburner Climax is the Climax Mode Limit Break that allows you to launch Macross Missile Massacres. In late-game you run into enemy planes who can launch Macross Missile Massacres too. And since Its Up To You... Well, thank goodness for Mercy Invincibility is all.
- Fanon has seemingly decided that Crazy Hand is this to Master Hand, even though both of them more or less only appear as bosses and are even fought together at times.
- Perhaps the depiction of Master Hand as not evil can be attributed to two things—that in the original game, it's made quite clear that the events of the game are, in fact, a child playing with his toys (hence, Crazy Hand was later introduced because children will control the villains of their games as well as the heroes), and that in Master Hand's only appearance in Brawl's Subspace Emissary, he was controlled by Tabuu's puppet strings the entire time. Also, Crazy Hand is the left hand. "Sinister" means left.
- JC Denton of Deus Ex has Walton Simons. Both are Badass Longcoat stoic nanocyborgs.
- Several examples in The Elder Scrolls.
- From Morrowind, there's the Thieves Guild, which is definitely shady, but has elements of Gentleman Thief and Just Like Robin Hood, and the Cammona Tong, a xenophopic Dunmer nationalist crime syndicate that despises the Empire and has absolutely no code of honor.
- Also from Morrowind, there's the Morag Tong, an underhanded, though noble assasin's guild, and the Dark Brotherhood, an organization of murderous scumbags who will kill anyone if the price is right.
- Necromancers in Tamriel have always been portrayed in a "dark grey" light. The Order of the Black Worm from Oblivion, however, show just how evil and depraved they can be if they want to. It doesn't help that the Order's leader is an Omnicidal Maniac.
- Neverwinter Nights 2: Oddly enough, the player has two evil counterparts, each of which joins their party. The first is arguably Bishop, whose Character Sheet outright reads Chaotic Evil and who, like the player, originates from a small village that was burnt down in a horrible massacre. Like the player's character, Bishop holds some responsibility for the destruction of the village, though in a far more active, if still unintentional, way and it shaped him into the man he is when the player meets him. The second is Ammon Jerro, who, like the player character is collecting the shards of the Silver Sword of Gith to reconstruct it, aims to vanquish the King of Shadows, and has collected a group of (involuntary) allies to aid him. Somewhat subverted in that the player can be just as evil as either character - or potentially more so.
- Am I the only one who sees Pixy as Cipher's Evil Counterpart in Ace Combat Zero? Aside from the simple fact the two duel at the end of the game and the camera shot with the two flying belly-to-belly at very close range, consider their plane colour schemes - Pixy has a single red wing while Cipher has two blue ones.
- There are a couple present in the Soul Series. The most direct example is Lizardman to Sophitia; both are Greek warriors chosen by Hephaestus, but while Sophitia succeeded (sort of) in her mission and returned home, Aeon Calcos failed and was transformed into a horrible lizard monster. Sophitia remained faithful to Hephaestus, even as her lot in life got worse and worse, but Lizardman swore revenge on the god that had abandoned him. As soon as he's done being a comic relief character, we swear.
- Astaroth and Rock share this dynamic, partially because Astaroth is an Evil Knockoff of Rock; however, while Rock is a heroic Gentle Giant when he's not being a good-natured Boisterous Bruiser, Astaroth is an Ax Crazy Omnicidal Maniac that loves killing and turning on his allies.
- Given the turn for the Darker And Edgier in Soul Calibur 4, Yun-Seong might become an Evil Counterpart to Seong Mi-Na; both are driven by the desire to prove themselves, but while Mi-Na has realized Soul Edge is too evil and dangerous to be worth seeking out, Yun-Seong is unconvinced and continues to seek it despite the danger as Mi-Na goes after Soul Calibur. One of the game's many endings indicates Yun-Seong can become a host of Soul Edge, although it's unlikely it will stick.
- The RPG, Sailor Moon Another Story has a set of evil counter parts for Moon and the Inner Senshi known as the Opposito Senshi. Each is named for a Babylonian god or goddess that is roughly equivalent to the powers and role of the Sailor Senshi. Moon has Sin,named for the Moon god. Mercury has Nabu, named for the god of wisdom. Venus has Ishtar, named for the fertility goddess. Jupiter has Marduk, named for king of the gods, and Mars has Nergal, named for the fire god. The Ayakashi sisters mentioned above also make a short appearance.
Webcomics
- Miho in Megatokyo seems to fashion herself as an Evil Counterpart to Yuki. She has the same powers, and when she awakens Yuki to her powers, says that Yuki's are based on love, while hers are lonely and dark. But then again, no one ever knows what's with Miho.
- Celesto Morgan to Dominic Deegan.
- In Fans!, Keith Feddyg to Rikk.
- User Friendly has the Crud Puppy, a scalpel-wielding Evil Counterpart to the Dust Puppy.
- The Order of the Stick has the Linear Guild, an entire team of Evil Counterparts to the titular band, led by Elan's Evil Twin Nale. It turns out that Nale purposely recruited its members based on their similarities to his brother's team due to his love of villainous tropes.
- Taken to its logical conclusion with Yokyok, who is actually a GOOD counterpart to the Chaotic Evil Belkar Bitterleaf.
- Parodied and/or deconstructed here with Crystal: "She's a personal rival. She's ALWAYS gonna be the same level as I am when we meet, if not higher."
- Penny and Aggie contains a team of Evil Counterparts to Penny's clique gathered by Penny's social rival who read way too many comic books before her makeover into a Libby thanks to Penny and Aggie.
- In Sluggy Freelance Kusari serves as the Evil Counterpart to Oasis. They're both superbly skilled, (seemingly) immortal assassins created/raised by Hereti Corp, and Kusari even claims they're sisters. Since Kusari has never been seen without her mask on, speculation rages as to whether or not she is actually an Evil Twin. Also, depending on your opinion of Oasis, Kusari might simply be an Eviler Counterpart.
- Since both may be mind-controlled, the moral axis may not be the best way to describe their differences.
- Lord Tedd in El Goonish Shive along with Shade Tail. Ellen tried to be this for a while but quickly gave up on it.
- Might be subverted in Eight Bit Theater with the main characters being the Evil Counterparts of the true Light Warriors which travel the world since then stumbling from one disaster into another. Also, there are the other warriors which are also (mostly) way less evil than the protagonists. And finally subverted in the castle of Ordeals arc, when Black Mage faces all his evil incorporated by an evil doppelganger of himself who in fact turns out the be the less evil one.
- Shortpacked! gives us McAwesome's Parasailing and Chocolate Bakery... or, more accurately, the titular store is the Evil Counterpart to McAwesome's. Gustavo, Evan, Rose and Zaph are well-adjusted expies of Galasso, Ethan, Amber and Faz. Ronnie's counterpart is Franklin D Roosevelt, Ninja Rick's is a pirate, and Robin's is Agatha from her original SEMME team. The others so far don't have counterparts, but Mike moonlights there, and gets drunk to do so, so he's his own counterpart.
Web Original
- Trey and Troy, the "bad" Dimensional Guardians from the web fiction serial Dimension Heroes often pick fights with the protagonists.
- Allot of the more well-known people on Youtube have imposters/trolls/stalkers who have similar usernames (often replacing a lower-case L with a capitol i, the letter O with the number Zero, etc). These trolls of course have totally opposite views on whatever the real user tends to talk about. Be that Religion, politics or whatever.
Western Animation
- Aladdin arguably had a Evil Counterpart in the form of Mozenrath. He dresses richly and is very pale, as opposed to the tanned and poorly outfitted Aladdin. Another opposite is in method, with the physically weak though highly intelligent Mozenrath employing magic and extensive arcane knowledge as opposed to Aladdin's physical prowess and ability to cleverly adapt.
- Had Mozenrath's voice actor not been Unavailable at the time, the Third Aladdin Movie would have revolved around Mozenrath being revealed as Aladdin's long lost brother
- On Kim Possible, Dr. Drakken's Dragon Shego is a sort of evil counterpart to Kim. She's a former teen hero herself. The similarities in their overall character design leads some new viewers to think Shego is Kim's Evil Twin.
- They also both get together with their partner in crime/justice. There is an entire episode dedicated to just how similar they are if Shego was good, they are so compatible it ramps up the Ho Yay to very impressive levels for a Disney Cartoon, due to it basically splitting up the Kim Possible + Ron Stoppable romance.
- Kevin, aka "Kevin 11" from Ben 10. Only a little in his first appearance, but more and more each time he shows up. He starts as a sociopathic kid a little older than Ben with the ability to absorb energy. He absorbs energy from the Omnitrix twice in his debut episode, each time transforming him halfway into one of Ben's alien forms. By the time he resurfaces in his second episode, he's all alien, and can change between them, but can't stay human very long. At the end of that episode, he winds up as a freaky hybrid, incorporating a little bit of human form and aspects of all 10 original aliens, and from then on he's stuck that way.
- In the original Birdman cartoon, Vulturo appeared to be an evil counterpart to Birdman. Like his adversary, he used a "bird" motif, but where Birdman was powered by the sun, he placed an emphasis on darkness. He also had technological (and superior) answers to all of Birdman's powers, even Avenger.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender, features what is arguably a counterpart to a secondary character, in the form of Jet, a Troubled But Cute Well Intentioned Extremist, presented as what Sokka might have become if he'd allowed his desire for revenge against the Fire Nation to consume him.
- Arguably, Jet is also an example of what Katara could become if she became too obsessed with revenge, with someone even comparing them when she's planning to avenge her mother.
- Oddly enough, there are also numerous parallels between Katara and Azula: roughly the same age, they are both are the daughters of rulers with leadership skills of their own, both freakishly powerful and talented prodigies with their elements, both at least occasionally overbearing control freaks and possessed of a dangerous temper when provoked. On opposite lines of the Red Oni Blue Oni divide they may be, but taking into account their fathers' personalities/influences they are far more alike than one may think.
- Azula also serves as an Evil Counterpart to both Zuko and Iroh. As Zuko's, she shows what he could have been if he really did have everything he thinks that he wants (and fifty extra I.Q. points, at least). As Iroh's, she trys to steer Zuko down the wrong path rather than the right one. This is Lamp Shaded in a dream sequence Zuko has, in which he is being consulted by a red dragon and a blue dragon on which path to take in life, good or evil. The red dragon, who advocates good, has Iroh's voice, while the blue, who advocates evil, has Azula's. This situation comes true in Season Two's finale, in which Zuko chooses Azula's way.
- Zuko has another one in Zhao who is older than him, experienced in war, willing to sacrifice others to further his own career, and seems to have favor with in the Fire Nation helping him go through the ranks. It is also shown with the fact that they're also unfriendly rivals in the show always fighting whether physically or over Aang. They also attempting to capture Aang for different reasons, Zuko so he can restore his honor and return home, and Zhao as a vanity project.
- Zuko himself originally served as the Evil Counterpart to Aang. The two were literally Red Oni Blue Oni, with Aang leading his life by his Nakama and hope while Zuko was pessimistic and hoped for honor. Various episodes from the first 2 seasons even played to this by having Zuko and Aang face similar predicaments.
- Buzz Lightyear of Star Command has two: XL, the psychotic prototype of XR, and Warp Darkmatter, Buzz's ex-partner turned amoral mercenary.
- Red X to Robin in the Teen Titans animated series, although Red was more of a "Morally Ambigious Counterpart". Also, Blackfire to Starfire.
- Word Of God says they designed Slade to be an evil version of Batman, though Batman himself never appears in the series (except possibly once, in silhouette).
- Vlad to Danny in Danny Phantom. True to the trope, the Not So Different speech is one of Vlad's favourite tactics, leading to the expected denial from Danny.
- In Batman The Animated Series, the Creeper was presented as the Joker's good counterpart, being doused by the Joker's Psycho Serum but turning out as a well-intentioned mad man. Amusingly, he is just as obsessively attracted to Harley Quinn as she is to the Joker.
- In Kung Fu Panda, Tai Lung is very much a flipped image of Po. Both were raised to carry on the work of their much tinier fathers and have destinies tied to the Dragon Scroll - however, while Po is a self-deprecating Ascended Fanboy who rejects his father's plans and, against all odds, becomes the Dragon Warrior, Tai Lung was trained as an elite kung fu warrior as soon as he could stand and loved every minute of it, but became so proud and arrogant that he was rejected to be the Dragon Warrior and consequently went insane.
- Also, Tigress and Tai Lung. Both don't know their real parents (one was raised in an Orphanage Of Love, the other was a Doorstop Baby). Both only wanted their father/teacher's love. Like Tai Lung, Tigress believed she would be chosen as the Dragon Warrior by Oogway, and resented Po for 'stealing her thunder.' They also both suffer from Pride and a bad temper. Only the fact Tigress remained honorable and chose to become an even better and more worthy warrior (and, most likely, her defeat at the Thread of Hope) kept her from following the same path.
- Fairly Odd Parents-Timmy might have two: Remy Buxaplenty and Mr. Crocker. Remy is a rich kid with a fairy godparent and Crocker had fairies (Cosmo and Wanda) until Timmy caused them to revealed when he went back in time. Timmy has had Not So Different moments with Remy and Crocker before.
- Maggie Simpson had her arch-nemesis Gerald the unibrow baby.
- Dexter & Dee Dee had Mandark & Lala-Vava
- Thailog of Gargoyles is an Evil Counterpart to both Goliath and Xanatos, ironically enough. He's Goliath's evil clone, but he also embodies the depths of evil of which Xanatos would become capable if he lost the last threads holding him to his humanity. Both characters see Thailog as one of their most dangerous enemies, if not the most.
- Lotor's Robeast in Voltron: The Fleet of Doom is an evil counterpart to Lion Voltron and Vehicle Voltron.
- Dracotron in Voltron: The Third Dimension, which is made up of five robot dragons, is an evil counterpart of Voltron.
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