History BrainwashedAndCrazy / ComicBooks

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' story "Micro Managing" has the Micro-Puffs (mischievous tiny sprite-like avatars of the girls) brainwashing Bubbles and Buttercup in their sleep into thinking they're each leader of the team, which causes crimefighting missions to go a little haywire. It doesn't work on Blossom since she's already the leader. After Bubbles is the first to be brainwashed:

* The brainwave scanner in the ''Franchise/GIJoe'' comic was a feared--and painful--method of brainwashing. It could eventually be broken by a strong-willed individual, and if one was a master of the "Arashikage mind-set" one could free others as well.

* ''ComicBook/StarWarsKanan'': Commander Grey goes from happily chatting with Depa and Caleb Dume to trying to murder them within minutes of Order 66 being issued. He eventually manages to snap out of the programming several months later after speaking with Caleb, who points out everything wrong with the "Jedi are traitors" scenario.

* In ''ComicBook/YTheLastMan'' Yorick's sister Hero falls under the influence of Victoria, the man-hating cult leader of the Daughters of the Amazon, so much that she's prepared to kill her own brother, as well as shooting a young girl in the head on Victoria's order. [[spoiler:Even after Victoria is killed Hero still has her voice inside her head.]]

!! ''Franchise/TheDCU'':
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':
** An old ''ComicBook/WorldsFinest'' comic in which Batman is brainwashed into being a sadistic warder at a prison for Franchise/{{Superman}} has him reflect that hypnotism cannot make anyone do something against their nature, before the narration explains "But this is ''super''-hypnotism, of a kind never before experienced by anyone on Earth!" (It's almost a shame that this was written in the days of simpler storytelling, as a modern telling of the story would have it revealed that Batman would certainly be a warder on Superman's prison if he thought Superman went rogue...)
** In ''ComicBook/DeathOfTheFamily'', Damian "Robin" Wayne finds himself facing...[[spoiler:his father Batman?! Ultimately subverted: it's a martial-arts master in costume who fell behind on a debt to Joker.]] However, Joker ''does'' come dangerously close to pulling this on [[spoiler:the entire Batfamily.]]
** ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} Cassandra Cain turning a villain in the mid-00's was explained away like mind-control induced by Deathstroke.
** In ''ComicBook/{{Gothtopia}}'', The Scarecrow has all of Gotham in a gas-induced hallucination, making them think everything is wonderful while attacking anyone who thinks otherwise. This includes the heroes, they eventually break free of the hallucinations and try to figure out what's going on.
** Jean-Paul Valley has what is known as The System, a deep brainwashing program used by the Order of St. Dumas for those chosen to be their Avenging Angel, ComicBook/{{Azrael}}. The trance is ''usually'' activated when the person dons the Azrael costume, turning them into an efficient, though very brutal, assassin. However, when Jean-Paul [[ComicBook/{{Knightfall}} took over for Bruce Wayne]], his first supervillain encounter happened to be the Scarecrow. When he got nailed by Crane's Fear Gas-coated barbs, the System kicked in to get him through it... and never shut off. This sent Jean-Paul over the edge as time passed, leading to him getting more and more brutal with his enemies, nearly killing ComicBook/{{Robin|Series}} when he tried to stop him and culminating in the death of Abattoir and Bruce Wayne needing to come back in order to fix things.
** In ''ComicBook/Batgirl2011'', Gretel's lobotomized victims kill while chanting "338" and variations thereof (Including "$3.38").
* ''ComicBook/{{Justice}}'': Most of the Second Generation of heroes -ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}, ComicBook/{{Batgirl}}, ComicBook/{{Robin}}, ComicBook/WonderGirl, Aqualad, Captain Marvel Jr., ComicBook/MaryMarvel...- were mind-controlled by the ComicBook/{{Brainiac}}'s worms and forced to fight the Justice League.
* In ''ComicBook/SecretSix'' Vol 2, the Riddler did ''something'' to [[spoiler:Sue Dibny]] to convince her that she's in love with him and to attempt to blow up the Six.
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** In ''ComicBook/TheSupergirlFromKrypton'', ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} brainwashes ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} into becoming one of his Furies and attacking her cousin.
** In ''Superman/Batman'' issue #77, Scarecrow's fear toxin makes Kara believe that Robin is her parents' killer Reactron so she fights him.
** In ''ComicBook/SupermanVsTheAmazingSpiderMan'', ComicBook/LexLuthor kidnapped a Masai warrior and brainwashed him into guarding his secret lair's hidden door.
** In ''ComicBook/AMindSwitchInTime'', Euphor transforms ComicBook/LoisLane into a witch and mind-controls her into attacking Superman.
** Downplayed in ''ComicBook/SupermanVsShazam''. Black Adam and the Sand Superman expose Superman and Captain Marvel to the "Judgment Ray", a device which distorts their judgment and causes them to attack each other irrationally.
* ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'':
** ComicBook/{{Superboy}} gets a heavy case of this in ''Teen Titans'', courtesy of his genetic progenitor Lex Luthor. Highlights include shaving his head, cutting an 'L' into his T-shirt, and kicking the shit out of the entire team.
** Originally Terra from ''[[ComicBook/TeenTitans The New Teen Titans]]'' arc "The Judas Contract" was a pure example of an unapologetically evil and antagonistic [[TheMole mole]]. A flashback from a 2000s comic decided to give her some more backstory and {{retcon}}ned it so that ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}} had injected Terra with drugs to make her psychopathic, much like he later did with his daughter Ravager.
* In ''[[ComicBook/JonahHex Hex]]'', Jonah's girlfriend Stiletta was kidnapped and brainwashed into become a bloodthirsty competitor in the GladiatorGames. Jonah is later forced into the arena and Stiletta attempts to kill him.
* ComicBook/LadyBlackhawk was brainwashed by Killer Shark into becoming the villainous Queen Killer Shark in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} and it was even hinted that [[spoiler: she had a sexual relationship with Killer Shark when she was brainwashed.]]
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'':
** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Kobra decided to craft his own personal ComicBook/{{Cheetah}}. To this end he placed Debbi inside of a monitor station, suspended from the ceiling by electric cables. Using a brainwashing technique involving holographic projections, Kobra exposed her to a barrage of violent images of ecological disasters. With every flickering image she was forced to witness, an electric charge was sent coursing through her body. Within a short period of time, the process drove Debbi Domaine irrevocably insane.
** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'':
*** While ComicBook/{{Cheetah}} is far from a hero and fully capable of acting as a bloodthirsty monster all on her own she was developing a sort of friendship with Diana and ''hated'' Thomas Randolph when he zapped her with magic to make her into a mindless monsterous version of herself that would attack whomever he directed her to, which included Diana and ComicBook/{{Artemis}}.
*** During "The Witch and the Warrior" Circe transforms pretty much all the top male heroes and villains into animal mash-ups to be hunted down for sport, save Superman whom she brainwashes into trying to kill Wonder Woman.
* ''ComicBook/YoungJustice'':
** The team including ComicBook/{{Robin|Series}}, ComicBook/{{Superboy|1994}}, ComicBook/WonderGirl and Arrowette fall victim mind control that makes them fight ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} at one point, and she helps snap them out of it.
** ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} himself takes an interest in Secret's vast powers and manipulates her mind to make her fight alongside him against her friends and allies.
** At one point a cult worshiping the evil goddess Kali does this to ''a million children'' via a television show, and compels them to try and ''kill'' their parents.
* ''Franchise/GreenLantern'':
** In ''ComicBook/GreenLanternRebirth'' the events of Hal Jordan's crimes depicted in ''ComicBook/EmeraldTwilight'' were explained away as Jordan falling under the mind control of the evil entity, Parallax, who used Jordan's grief at the destruction of Coast City as his opportunity to do so.
** ''ComicBook/BrightestDay'': During the "Dark Things" JLA/JSA crossover arc, ANYONE on Earth possessing magical/elemental powers - hero, villain, or neutral, and no matter how minutely latent their powers may be - is in danger of being possessed by the Starheart's chaos. This naturally generates massive paranoia among the two teams working together to stop the madness.
* In ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' story arc ''ComicBook/TheGreatDarknessSaga'', Darkseid brainwashes three billions of Daxamites into becoming his conquering army.
* ''ComicBook/BlueBeetle'':
** Blood Beetle is really Paco. The Scarab fragment inside him took control of his body to carry out its Scarab Replacement Protocol on Blue Beetle.
** Scarab units in general take complete control over their hosts and their minds. The only exceptions are Blue Beetle, Sky Witness, and (later) Khaji-Kai.

!! ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'':
* ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'':
** [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] has been turned against his [[ComicBook/MightyAvengers allies]] many times over the years, usually delivering a CurbStompBattle until he comes to his senses.
** During the "ComicBook/EndsOfTheEarth" story arc, Doctor Octopus does this to all the Avengers at once, [[spoiler:but is tricked into increasing this to VillainOverride over Thor, which renders him [[OnlyTheChosenMayWield unworthy]] to wield his hammer.]]
** The infamous ''ComicBook/TheCrossing'' saw ComicBook/IronMan undergo this was it tried to retcon that Kang made Tony into a ManchurianAgent back when the Avengers first fought him and that ComicBook/AntMan's mental instability was from an early attempt by Kang to do this to him. ''ComicBook/AvengersForever'' retconned that "Kang" was really his future self, Immortus, that his control on Tony only went as far back as ''ComicBook/OperationGalacticStorm'', and he never did anything to Hank Pym except only ''lie'' about being the cause of his issues.
* ComicBook/BettyRoss. By ComicBook/{{MODOK}} when she was Harpy and The Leader early in her time as Red She-Hulk.
* The ''ComicBook/BlackPanther'' storyline "Return of the Dragon" has the title hero fighting [[ComicBook/ImmortalIronFist Iron Fist]] after the latter is brainwashed by the brother of the Dragon King.
* In ''ComicBook/CableAndDeadpool'', ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} is brainwashed by the Black Box to kill the biggest threat to the public safety. After managing to convince Deadpool that this is not a) clowns; b) Simon Cowell; c) Galactus; or d) Karl Rove, Deadpool goes off to kill [[spoiler: Cable]], who he sees as the next biggest threat. After fighting Prester John and then going through several alternate universes in order to find (and save) that person, he then gets back and tells everyone that he was only looking for him to kill him. He is restrained until the others can remove the effects of the brainwashing. If you understand DP at all, a), b), c) and d) shouldn't have been too much of a surprise.
* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'':
** The reporter Ned Leeds once is captured by Hobgoblin (the original, Robert Kingsley) that brainwashes him making believe him to be Hobglobin, deciding it would be better to have a scapegoat in case he is unmasked. Ned's regular brainwashings by Kingsley cause his marriage and professional relationships to fall apart. Only years after Ned's death, his name is cleared.
** Mr. Negative, a new Spidey's villain on the block since ''Brand New Day'', has this of a superpower to do to other people. [[MeaningfulName Inverting their colour scheme]], and having them proclaim glory for Mr. Negative while beating the tar out of others they're sent after.
* The title character of ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'', Frank Castle, premiered as a [[VigilanteMan vigilante who kills criminals]]. Writers who disagreed with the concept sometimes took it, and Castle, [[ExaggeratedTrope over the top]], having him kill or attempt to kill petty criminals such as jaywalkers. When Marvel made the decision to give The Punisher his [[ComicBook/ThePunisherCircleOfBlood own series]], they had to {{retcon}} this to make him acceptable even as a dark hero. So they declared that during his crazy periods he had been under the influence of mind-altering drugs.
** A crossover event in the 90's called ''Over the Edge'' dealt with this trope and the Punisher. Doc Samson attempted to use a revolutionary new means of psychology involving drugs and hypnotism, but a combination of a villain sneaking in an a botched Mafia hit lead to Frank believing that Nick Fury killed Frank's family and going crazy in his attempt to murder him.
* ''ComicBook/XMen'':
** One storyline in ''ComicBook/XFactor'' concerned a villain using brainwashed and crazy assassins to kill targets -- including a woman's own mother, [[spoiler: Monet]], and [[spoiler: Shatterstar]].
** Pick pretty much ''anyone'' hijacked by ComicBook/{{Apocalypse}} to serve as one of his Horsemen. Even after they're rescued and deprogrammed, the former Horsemen suffer lingering emotional and physical effects, particularly [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone over the things they were made to do while under Apocalypse's control]].
* One of the scariest and most effective instances of this trope occurred when Hydra and the Hand teamed up under the Gorgon to target and kill low-powered but highly-skilled heroes, then resurrect them as Hand assassins. Their first target was ''ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'', who tore through most of Marvel's New York heroes before he was brought down. One of his victims, [[spoiler: Northstar]] took years to get their brain unscrambled, and SHIELD had to resort to ''decapitating corpses'' to keep the Hand from getting at them.
** The Gorgon himself was recruited to the Hand through the same method. He was already bad though, the Hand just made him ''[[GoneHorriblyRight worse]]''.
* Laura Kinney aka ComicBook/{{X 23}} falls victim to this whenever she is exposed to the Trigger Scent. Thanks to the Facility's conditioning, Laura suffers a Pavlovian response to the scent that makes her into a true LivingWeapon who will not stop until the people marked with the scent are dead. She blacks out all conscious thought during these times and only comes back after the scent is gone. Just to illustrate how powerful her response to the scent is, in her origin story ''ComicBook/InnocenceLost'' she killed the only two people she ever really cared for and who cared for her under the influence of the scent. She also nearly killed her aunt and cousin who only survived because they were able to wash off the scent in time. Emma Frost once claimed that the Trigger Scent response is so deeply ingrained into Laura's brain that Emma can't remove it with her PsychicPowers.
* ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'': Multiple Man is not really an evil person, he was brainwashed into villainy by Lorelei.

** After massive reader backlash, this explanation was used as a hasty AuthorsSavingThrow to explain the massive FaceHeelTurn of [[ComicBook/{{Batgirl|2000}} Cassandra Cain]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'':
** In ''ComicBook/TheSupergirlFromKrypton'' ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} brainwashes Kara into becoming one of his Furies and attacking her cousin.
** In ''Superman/Batman'' issue #77, Scarecrow's fear toxin makes Kara believe that Robin is her parents' killer Reactron so she fights him.
* ''ComicBook/{{Justice}}'': Most of the Second Generation of heroes -ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}, ComicBook/{{Batgirl}}, ComicBook/{{Robin}}, ComicBook/WonderGirl, Aqualad, Captain Marvel Jr., ComicBook/MaryMarvel...- were mind-controlled by the ComicBook/{{Brainiac}}'s worms and forced to fight the Justice League.

* ''Comicbook/{{Justice}}'': Most of the Second Generation of heroes -Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}, Comicbook/{{Batgirl}}, Comicbook/{{Robin}}, Comicbook/WonderGirl, Aqualad, Captain Marvel Jr., ComicBook/MaryMarvel...- were mind-controlled by the Comicbook/{{Brainiac}}'s worms and forced to fight the Justice League.

** Comicbook/{{Superboy}} gets a heavy case of this in ''Teen Titans'', courtesy of his genetic progenitor Lex Luthor. Highlights include shaving his head, cutting an 'L' into his T-shirt, and kicking the shit out of the entire team.

* Comicbook/LadyBlackhawk was brainwashed by Killer Shark into becoming the villainous Queen Killer Shark in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} and it was even hinted that [[spoiler: she had a sexual relationship with Killer Shark when she was brainwashed.]]
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman''

* The title character of ''Comicbook/ThePunisher'', Frank Castle, premiered as a [[VigilanteMan vigilante who kills criminals]]. Writers who disagreed with the concept sometimes took it, and Castle [[ExaggeratedTrope over the top]], having him kill or attempt to kill petty criminals such as jaywalkers. When Marvel made the decision to give The Punisher his [[Comicbook/ThePunisherCircleOfBlood own series]], they had to [[{{Retcon}} retcon]] this to make him acceptable even as a dark hero. So they declared that during his crazy periods he had been under the influence of mind-altering drugs.

* Laura Kinney aka ComicBook/{{X23}} falls victim to this whenever she is exposed to the Trigger Scent. Thanks to the Facility's conditioning, Laura suffers a Pavlovian response to the scent that makes her into a true LivingWeapon who will not stop until the people marked with the scent are dead. She blacks out all conscious thought during these times and only comes back after the scent is gone. Just to illustrate how powerful her response to the scent is, in her origin story ''ComicBook/InnocenceLost'' she killed the only two people she ever really cared for and who cared for her under the influence of the scent. She also nearly killed her aunt and cousin who only survived because they were able to wash off the scent in time. Emma Frost once claimed that the Trigger Scent response is so deeply ingrained into Laura's brain that Emma can't remove it with her PsychicPowers.

* ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog''
** During the "Enerjak Reborn" arc, Knuckles was brainwashed by [[MadScientist Dr. Finitevus]] into absorbing the Master Emerald's power and becoming the new [[PhysicalGod Enerjak]]. It took his father's HeroicSacrifice to snap him out of it.
** This happens twice during the Iron Dominion arc: First, the Iron Queen uses her {{Magitek}} powers to take control of [[{{Cyborg}} Monkey Khan]] and use him to destroy the Dragon Kingdom Freedom Fighters. Then, she uses those powers to reprogram NICOLE and use her to effortlessly take over New Mobotropolis. Khan was released by the Queen when [[CruelMercy she didn't need him anymore]], and NICOLE was soon returned to normal by Sally (though she continued to [[TheMole pretend]] to be brainwashed for a while).

* This sort of thing seems to happen to Franchise/{{Superman}} on a semi-regular basis. Probably the fact that Superman is glaringly not immune to magic and mental powers, coupled with the possibilities inherent in showing just how badass a character is by having him/her hold off frickin' ''Superman'' while at the same time giving the character in question a good reason for why they're fighting a good guy, makes this kind of story just too big a temptation for comic writers to resist.

* In ''Comicbook/SupermanVsTheAmazingSpiderMan'', Comicbook/LexLuthor kidnapped a Masai warrior and brainwashed him into guarding his secret lair's hidden door.

** The infamous ''ComicBook/TheCrossing'' saw Franchise/IronMan undergo this was it tried to retcon that Kang made Tony into a ManchurianAgent back when the Avengers first fought him and that ComicBook/AntMan's mental instability was from an early attempt by Kang to do this to him. ''ComicBook/AvengersForever'' retconned that "Kang" was really his future self, Immortus, that his control on Tony only went as far back as ''ComicBook/OperationGalacticStorm'', and he never did anything to Hank Pym except only ''lie'' about being the cause of his issues.

** This happens twice during the Iron Dominion arc: First, the Iron Queen uses her {{Magitek}} powers to take control of [[{{Cyborg}} Monkey Khan]] and use him to destroy the Dragon Kingdom Freedom Fighters. Then, she uses those powers to reprogram NICOLE and use her to effortlessly take over New Mobotropolis. Khan was released by the Queen when [[CruelMercy she didn't need him anymore]], and NICOLE was soon returned to normal by Sally (though she continued to [[ReverseMole pretend]] to be brainwashed for a while).

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' story "Micro Managing" has the Micro-Puffs (mischievous tiny sprite-like avatars of the girls) brainwashing Bubbles and Buttercup in their sleep into thinking they're each leader of the team, which causes crimefighting missions to go a little haywire. It doesn't work on Blossom since she's already the leader. After Bubbles is the ifrst to be brainwashed:
-->'''Buttercup:''' What's with Señorita Crazy-Pants?\\

** The infamous ''ComicBook/TheCrossing'' saw Franchise/IronMan'' undergo this was it tried to retcon that Kang made Tony into a ManchurianAgent back when the Avengers first fought him and that ComicBook/AntMan's mental instability was from an early attempt by Kang to do this to him. ''ComicBook/AvengersForever'' retconned that "Kang" was really his future self, Immortus, that his control on Tony only went as far back as ''ComicBook/OperationGalacticStorm'', and he never did anything to Hank Pym except only ''lie'' about being the cause of his issues.

** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': During "The Witch and the Warrior" Circe transforms pretty much all the top male heroes and villains into animal mash-ups to be hunted down for sport, save Superman whom she brainwashes into trying to kill Wonder Woman.

** An old ''World's Finest'' comic in which Batman is brainwashed into being a sadistic warder at a prison for Franchise/{{Superman}} has him reflect that hypnotism cannot make anyone do something against their nature, before the narration explains "But this is ''super''-hypnotism, of a kind never before experienced by anyone on Earth!" (It's almost a shame that this was written in the days of simpler storytelling, as a modern telling of the story would have it revealed that Batman would certainly be a warder on Superman's prison if he thought Superman went rogue...)

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman''

** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': While ComicBook/{{Cheetah}} is far from a hero and fully capable of acting as a bloodthirsty monster all on her own she was developing a sort of friendship with Diana and ''hated'' Thomas Randolph when he zapped her with magic to make her into a mindless monsterous version of herself that would attack whomever he directed her to, which included Diana and ComicBook/{{Artemis}}.

* In Creator/GeoffJohns' AuthorsSavingThrow for ComicBook/GreenLantern, the events of Hal Jordan's crimes depicted in ''ComicBook/EmeraldTwilight'' were explained away as Jordan falling under the mind control of the evil entity, Parallax, who used Jordan's grief at the destruction of Coast City as his opportunity to do so. With that established, Jordan is thus exonerated from all the horrific deeds he was seen doing.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': While ComicBook/{{Cheetah}} is far from a hero and fully capable of acting as a bloodthirsty monster all on her own she was developing a sort of friendship with Diana and ''hated'' Thomas Randolph when he zapped her with magic to make her into a mindless monsterous version of herself that would attack whomever he directed her to, which included Diana and ComicBook/{{Artemis}}.

* Comicbook/LadyBlackhawk was brainwashed by Killer Shark into becoming the villainous Queen Killer Shark in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} and it was even hinted that [[spoiler: she had a sexual relationship with Killer Shark when she was brainwashed.]]