History LightIsNotGood / ComicBooks

** In ''ComicBook/AvengersTheChildrensCrusade'', Characters/DoctorDoom becomes a white-robed man with holy magic after absorbing the Earth's life energy from the Characters/ScarletWitch.

* ''ComicBook/{{Nemesis}}'' is a villain in a pure white costume.

* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW'': Nova Prime, [[HerosEvilPredecessor one of Optimus Prime's predecessors]], was white and gold with wings that fell on the good side of GoodWingsEvilWings. However, underneath his heroic-looking exterior, he was not a good guy at all, planning to conquer and enslave the universe. After his resurrection as Nemesis Prime, his colors got swapped, becoming a classic example of DarkIsEvil.

** Dr. Light, a supervillain with [[LightEmUp light control]], warrants his own entry, given that on top of his villainy, the ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'' miniseries also [[{{Retcon}} retroactively]] made him a SerialRapist. This is the ''male'' Dr. Light -- DC actually has two. The female Dr. Light (who appears in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'') is at worst a case of GoodIsNotNice. As with [[Manga/DeathNote Light Yagami]], this is also literally as the male Doctor Light's real name is [[StevenUlyssesPerhero Arthur Light]]. His ''ComicBook/New52'' version {{avert|edTrope}}s this, however, [[AdaptationalHeroism being a nice family guy who joins the]] ComicBook/{{Justice League|2011}}.

** In an issue of ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'', the Man of Steel confronts seeming angels, standing guard before the gates of Hell. After he works out the truth and throws off their illusions, he asks the {{Space Police}}man who takes them away why they have't changed. The cop calmly tels him that they really do look like that.

*** Characters/{{Emma Frost|WhiteQueen}}, the White Queen of the Hellfire Club, was more than someone who gravitated towards immoral acts -- in her early days she was a straight up supervillain and quite sadistic. ''ComicBook/TheDarkPhoenixSaga'' only happened because Frost ''along with'' Mastermind was messing with Jean's head; they just didn't realize that they were out of their league. When she resurfaced, she spent a good while as a recurring foe of the X-Men, the ArchEnemy of the ''ComicBook/NewMutants'' and Xavier's EvilCounterpart -- she recruited newly discovered mutants to train in the use of their powers to become the Hellfire Club's army. During that era -- before we'd met Apocalypse and when Magneto was on the 'face' side of the HeelFaceRevolvingDoor -- Frost was the X-Men franchise's ''foremost'' villain.

** Dr. Light, a supervillain with [[LightEmUp light control]], warrants his own entry, given that on top of his villainy, the ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'' miniseries also [[{{Retcon}} retroactively]] made him a SerialRapist. This is the ''male'' Dr. Light -- DC [[NamesTheSame actually has two]]. The female Dr. Light (who appears in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'') is at worst a case of GoodIsNotNice. As with [[Manga/DeathNote Light Yagami]], this is also literally as the male Doctor Light's real name is [[StevenUlyssesPerhero Arthur Light]]. His ''ComicBook/New52'' version {{avert|edTrope}}s this, however, [[AdaptationalHeroism being a nice family guy who joins the]] ComicBook/{{Justice League|2011}}.

** In ''ComicBook/TheChildrensCrusade'', Characters/DoctorDoom becomes a white-robed man with holy magic after absorbing the Earth's life energy from the Characters/ScarletWitch.

* In ''Comicbook/{{WITCH}}'' (the original comics from which the animated series were based on), Arkaam the White Queen turns out to be a despotic bitch. Her magical artifacts are also definitely light or fire based. An earlier villain, Tridart, a servant of Nerissa, was angel themed and white, but his powers were [[AnIcePerson ice based.]]

* ''Comicbook/{{Nemesis}}'' who is a villain in a pure white costume.
* In ''ComicBook/TheChildrensCrusade'', Doctor Doom becomes a white-robed man with holy magic after absorbing the Earth's life energy from the ComicBook/ScarletWitch.
** While currently heroic, Northstar has had a history of [[FaceHeelTurn face heel turns]], most notably during his time under HYDRA.
* [[ComicBook/MartianManhunter The White Martians]] are an AlwaysChaoticEvil race with pure white skin
* The Angelus from the ''ComicBook/TheDarkness''[=/=]''Comicbook/{{Witchblade}}'' universe. Unquestionably a force of light and law. It just so happens that the Angelus is a completely sociopathic entity that believes the world should be run by her light and her laws.
* In an old issue of ''{{Superman}}'', the Man of Steel confronted seeming angels, standing guard before the gates of Hell. After he worked out the truth and threw off their illusions, he asked the {{Space Police}}man who took them away why they hadn't changed. The cop calmly told him that they really did look like that.
* While Karolina Dean of ''Comicbook/{{Runaways}}'' is heroic; her parents, who shared her light powers, were supervillains.
* The comic book version of Dr. Light, a Supervillain with [[LightEmUp light control]], warrants his own entry, given that on top of his villainy, the ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'' miniseries also [[RetCon retroactively]] made him a serial rapist. This is the ''male'' Dr. Light (who appears in ''ComicBook/TeenTitans''). DC [[NamesTheSame actually has two]]. The female Dr. Light (who appears in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'') is at worst a case of GoodIsNotNice. As with [[Manga/DeathNote Light Yagami]], this is also literally as the male Doctor Light's real name is [[StevenUlyssesPerhero Arthur Light]]. His ComicBook/{{New 52}} version averts this, however, being a nice family guy who joins the Justice League.
* Franchise/TheDCU also has Solaris, the [[AIIsACrapshoot evil AI]] sun from the future.
* From the ComicBook/XMen books:
** Vulcan aka Gabriel Summers, an Omega-level energy manipulator whose powers frequently manifest as light and flames. It's played to the hilt in his confrontation with [[TheVoiceless Black Bolt]] at the climax of ''ComicBook/WarOfKings''.
** [[ReligionOfEvil The Dawn of the White Hand]], a brief lived foe organisation based on Japan, where the colour white is still associated with death.
** The first mutant is called En Sabah Nur, bad Arabic for "The First Light". The fact he's best known as Comicbook/{{Apocalypse}} should be an indicator on how evil he is.
** Nate Grey a.k.a. ComicBook/XMan, previously an AntiHero with an odd [[AllLovingHero idealistic streak]] ended up crossing the line into a WellIntentionedExtremist in the run up to ''ComicBook/AgeOfXMan''. Before this, he'd spent most of his time in black trousers and coat. After, he switched to full [[MessianicArchetype Jesus-style white and
gold robes]], intending to save the world whether it liked it or not. This was intentional - he wanted to invoke the symbolism as [[spoiler: he was dying, trying to use his last efforts to save the world and]] he's Apocalypse's {{Archenemy}} by philosophy and design (which combined with his raw power makes him one of the very few people Apocalypse actually [[WorthyOpponent respects]]). Likewise, so was the design of the 'Age of X-Man' - a conflict-free utopia that was directly opposite to the ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse he'd grown up in. Unfortunately, a combination of being a very intelligent [[RealityWarper reality-warping]] ControlFreak with a hit-and-miss understanding of people meant that it was arguably even more horrifying. Unlike most examples, he had a HeelRealisation and [[GracefulLoser let the X-Men go]].
* The Franchise/MarvelUniverse has Lightmaster, a recurring foe of Franchise/SpiderMan. The Living Laser is another light-themed villain.
* And several comic companies, including the Big Two, have used stories of Angels turned [[KnightTemplar overzealous]].

* Air Walker, the angel themed herald[=/=]former herald of ComicBook/{{Galactus}}. He wasn't that good in a lot of his showings.
** Overlaps with CyberneticsEatYourSoul: most of the times Air Walker appears, he's a robotic rebuild of the original, who was a member of the Nova Corps and a decent person before he signed on as Galactus's herald.
** Stardust, a being of pure (and bright blue/white) energy and Galactus's latest herald, is also quite AxCrazy, insisting on slaughtering the entire population of any world Galactus consumes, even though Galactus himself has no interest in killing the people (though he has no particular interest in ''not'' killing them either).
* Inverted and then played straight in ''[[ComicBook/CerebusTheAardvark Cerebus]]''. Prior to his religious conversion, Sim depicted a creation myth in which the female Light was essentially raped by the male Void in which it resided, causing the Light to completely shatter and form the physical universe. After his conversion, the male void became God and the female Light became YHWH, God's Adversary. [[spoiler: Cerebus is physically dragged into the Light after his death in the last issue, screaming for God to save him.]]
* ''Franchise/GreenLantern'' plays with this a little. Certain "colors" in the "Emotional Spectrum" are more evil than others. Red (rage), orange (greed), and yellow (fear) are mostly evil, but green (willpower), blue (hope), indigo (compassion), and violet (love) are mostly good. However, [[EvilerThanThou black is so evil]] it makes all lights look good by comparison, even the evil ones.
** In technicality, all colours are neutral, and "good corps" had their own morally inconvenient moments. The Star Sapphires, for example, have a history of LoveMakesYouCrazy and the Guardians have caused many problems. Blue Lanterns are all good, but their light is very limited in terms of power, so they are often incapable of doing much, while the Indigo Tribe has mercy killed many people, and it is composed of sociopaths brainwashed by the Indigo light anyway.
** We can safely add the White Light entity to the list now, thanks to the amount of morally ambiguous acts it has made, [[spoiler: such as killing a couple because they love each other and would not obey to its command and separate]].
** Blue Lanterns will show you visions of hope, but its really just anything that will make you feel hope whether it has any truth to it or not (though presumably plausible visions are more effective than implausible ones).
** Even the Black Lanterns of all people play this up. Their outfits have a lot of white in them, and their powers are basically white/silver light.

* One recurring villain in ComicBook/RichieRich's comic books was Dr. NRG, a criminal scientist with a light bulb in place of his head whose crimes revolved around the creation and manipulation of light. And he was not only evil, he was more so than most villains in the comic, in one story, plotting to set ''every'' Christmas tree in America on fire (along with the houses they were in) by controlling their Christmas lights.
* Snowflame, a one-shot villain from ''ComicBook/TheNewGuardians'', is perhaps the strangest example of this trope. By smoking cocaine (really) he uses what appears to be light manipulation/white flames, and has a white motif, notably [[WhiteHairBlackHeart his hair]]. He is also an EnsembleDarkHorse, by the way, thanks to the sheer strangeness of using a drug as fuel for his powers.
* ''{{ComicBook/Wolverine}}'' & ''{{ComicBook/Sabretooth}}'' are good contrasts. The former is a brunette anti-hero, who tries to be a better person. The latter is considered one of the more evil characters in the Marvel Universe, but is the blonde. Contrasting most cases where Blondes are portrayed as pure / good and the brunettes are more sinister. To contraste further, Wolverine tends to have dark eyes, and Sabretooth is cometimes depicted with blue eyes.
* The sun like creatures known as "thristies" in Marvel's Kool Aid comic.
* In one of Creator/AlanMoore's issues of ''Comicbook/SwampThing'', [[ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}} John Constantine]] wonders why everyone thinks of angels as comforting, confessing to the reader that they scare the shit out of him. They do indeed seem to be not so much unalloyed good as merely preferable to the demons.
** Actually, in the more [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism cynical]] DC books, the metaphysical battle has nothing to do with Good versus Evil -- it involves [[OrderVersusChaos Order (angels, Lords of Order) versus Chaos (demons, Lords of Chaos)]], with neither side paying any attention to good or evil as humans understand those terms. This has been a major motivation for ComicBook/ThePhantomStranger and Deadman in their choice to side with humans instead of TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness of the week.
*** This has been standard DC metaphysics throughout the entire line ever since the Kali Yuga plot a decade ago.
* Rainbow Raider from Franchise/TheFlash's RoguesGallery. He's kind of dead now, though.
* In contrast to [[DarkIsNotEvil Batman]], ComicBook/TheJoker. He dresses in bright colours, his skin is bleach white and has a sunny disposition. He's also the TropeCodifier for MonsterClown, and the most iconic supervillain there is.
** Batman also dealt with a villain who dressed as an angel- complete with feather wings and a glowing costume -so he could murder the innocent relatives of Batman's RoguesGallery.
* ''ComicBook/BatmanBlackAndWhite'': "Legend" is set in the far future, in "a stainless steel city of light" that's deliberately contrasted with the rain-shrouded darkness Batman stories are usually set in. Then, on the final page, there's a wider view of the city which reveals it to be a dictatorship with tanks and soldiers on every street, and no dark corners to hide in. (But wait -- there is ''one'' shadow... a familiar pointy-eared silhouette...)
* Taken to its literal extreme in the comic book "ComicBook/TheLight," where looking at any light connected to an external power source (lamps, [=TVs=], your computer...) causes you to, quite painfully, incinerate from the inside out.
* Some of the women filling the role of "White Queen" in both Marvel (Emma Frost) and DC (Amanda Waller) while having been with the good guys at times, have also been people who have at times gravitated towards committing immoral acts for their own goals.
** ComicBook/EmmaFrost was more than someone who gravitated towards immoral acts - in her early days she was a straight up SuperVillain and quite sadistic. ''ComicBook/TheDarkPhoenixSaga'' only happened because Frost ''along with'' Wyngarde were messing with Jean's head; they just didn't realize they were out of their league. When she resurfaced she spent a good while as a recurring foe of the X-Men and the BigBad of the ''ComicBook/NewMutants'' and Xavier's EvilCounterpart - she recruited newly discovered mutants to train in the use of their powers to become the Hellfire Club's army. During that era - before we'd met Apocalypse and when Magneto was on the 'face' side of the HeelFaceRevolvingDoor - Frost was the X-Men franchise's ''foremost'' villain.
** In the case of DC, the "Black" and "White" designations in the Checkmate organization are not intentionally related to good or evil; the entire organization is (supposed to be) good. Instead, the divisions relate to whether they're more concerned with "intel" (White) or "operations" (Black).
* DarkIsNotEvil Marvel hero The Shroud, who traded his sight for scary shadowy superpowers, once faced an evil preacher with light powers.
* In ''Comicbook/{{Fables}}'' the manifestation of Hope is depicted as a beautiful woman with a shiny aura. She does admit though that both good and evil have hope. Indeed, one of Hope's paladins speculate that darker impulses like revenge are more likely to get motivation from that emotion.
* Dynamite's 2012 ComicBook/TheShadow series has both this and DarkIsNotEvil with The Shadow fighting a KnightTemplar woman wearing white nicknamed The Light who glowed bright white.
* Just like DC's White Martians, the Therns in ''ComicBook/WarlordOfMars'' are a evil Martian race, but [[HumanAliens human-like]] with [[ANaziByAnyOtherName fair-skin, blonde hair and blue eyes]] that fancied themselves [[AGodAmI as divine beings]] behind a PathOfInspiration to lure other races into their domain to serve as slaves and nourishment and looked down on them as inferior beings. More often than not, White Martians antagonized the titular warlord, John Carter. The white apes also qualified, being gigantic and multi-armed gorilla monsters that are extremely pale and one of the greatest predators on Mars, with their viciousness highlighted in a miniseries where the female protagonist and her friends are trapped inside an ancient ruin filled with these monsters.
* [[Comicbook/IronMan Superior Iron Man]] wears pure white armour, in contrast with his usual red and yellow colour scheme (or occasionally, including immediately before [[Comicbook/{{Axis}} the inversion]], ''black'' and yellow), and is Tony Stark utterly bereft of conscience. The white armour seems to symbolise his [[AGodAmI god complex]].
* Princess Anjulie in ''ComicBook/{{Excalibur}}'' at first glance, was [[http://static4.comicvine.com/uploads/original/3/38906/924701-1.4_anjulie___reward_a.jpg a beautiful and voluptuous]] woman wearing white whose introduction had her being threatened by a group of blue-skinned pirates, but in reality, she was a vicious tyrant in this world who had seduced and dethroned the previous king and the pirates were lead by the rightful princess Kymri. Nightcrawler was swayed by her superficial grace and charm, and assumed she was a DistressedDamsel, not a cornered tyrant and ended up saving her from her enemies. He realized how evil she was when [[DisproportionateRetribution she brutally disfigured a servant for spilling a bit of wine in her hand]] and was secretly worshiping an EldritchAbomination that nearly devoured his companions.
* ComicBook/UltimateMarvel
** ''ComicBook/UltimateWolverine'': A politician salutes a girl he finds, who was actually a Mothervine subject. She starts attacking with solid light.
** ''ComicBook/UltimateGalactusTrilogy'': The "Silver wings" (based on Silver Surfer) look like angels and their bodies shine on their own. They are here to help Gah Lak Tus to destroy the planet.
** ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'': Gregory Stark, a blonde teetotaler man wearing white, the man is Tony's physical opposite. [[spoiler:Taken Up to Eleven with the reveal that he has powers of his own that turn his white suit into a pure blinding light.]]
** ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'': Nick Fury found something at the temple that gave a huge bright light. The satellite lost visual, Fury asked for reinforcements, and then was captured.
* ''ComicBook/{{Robin|Series}}'': Tim was nearly killed by the villainous Monsoon, a beautiful pale green woman wearing a long white dress whose powers make her slightly glow when in use.
* One ComicBook/MickeyMouseComicUniverse story has him come back from vacation only to find his friends acting [[OOCisSeriousBusiness weird]] and the whole town illuminated by bright lights. Turns out a group of spirits that were BarredFromTheAfterlife are controlling them and they can take over their bodies permanently if they stay close to a bright light for a long enough period of time.
* The light is the main religion in the Franco-Belgian 'The forests of Opal' comic book series. It is also The Empire, controlling most or all of the world. The local priests make sure everything is according to The Light. While some of it members are truely good, most have been corrupted by the power they wield. Evil things are done in the name of The Light, under the excuse that it is the will of the Light and for the greater good and all that. For example their healers heal by transferring the sickness to someone else. They can use animals as the receiver, but prefer humans. And this exchange: 'Have the intruders been caught yet?' 'No my lord, we have to check all the religious pilgrims, it takes time.' 'Dont bother with that, just kill everyone that isnt a disciple of the light.' This is the in universe equivalent of the pope ordering all pilgrims visiting the Vatican executed.
* ComicBook/{{Magneto}} usually averts the trope, but briefly wore a rather heroic-looking white and blue costume at one point back when he was still a regular villain.

** The first mutant is called En Sabah Nur, Arabic for "The First Light". The fact he's best known as Comicbook/{{Apocalypse}} should be an indicator on how evil he is.

* Dynamite's 2012 Radio/TheShadow series has both this and DarkIsNotEvil with The Shadow fighting a KnightTemplar woman wearing white nicknamed The Light who glowed bright white.

* [[ReligionOfEvil The Dawn of the White Hand]] were a brief lived foe organisation to the Comicbook/XMen. It was based on Japan, where the colour white is still associated with death.

* From the ComicBook/XMen books there's Vulcan aka Gabriel Summers, an Omega-level energy manipulator whose powers frequently manifest as light and flames. It's played to the hilt in his confrontation with [[TheVoiceless Black Bolt]] at the climax of ''ComicBook/WarOfKings''.

* One [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ComicBook/MickeyMouseComicUniverse ''Mickey Mouse'']] story has him come back from vacation only to find his friends act [[OOCisSeriousBusiness wierd]] and the whole town being illuminated by bright lights. Turns out a group of spirits that were BarredFromTheAfterlife are controlling them and they can take over their bodies permanently if they can stay close to a bright light for a long enough period of time.

* Dynamite's 2012 Radio/TheShadow series has both this and DarkIsNotEvil with The Shadow fighting a KnightTemplar WomanInWhite nicknamed The Light who glowed bright white.

* Princess Anjulie in ''ComicBook/{{Excalibur}}'' at first glance, was [[http://static4.comicvine.com/uploads/original/3/38906/924701-1.4_anjulie___reward_a.jpg a beautiful and voluptuous]] WomanInWhite whose introduction had her being threatened by a group of blue-skinned pirates, but in reality, she was a vicious tyrant in this world who had seduced and dethroned the previous king and the pirates were lead by the rightful princess Kymri. Nightcrawler was swayed by her superficial grace and charm, and assumed she was a DistressedDamsel, not a cornered tyrant and ended up saving her from her enemies. He realized how evil she was when [[DisproportionateRetribution she brutally disfigured a servant for spilling a bit of wine in her hand]] and was secretly worshiping an EldritchAbomination that nearly devoured his companions.

** ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'': Gregory Stark, a blonde teetotaler ManInWhite, the man is Tony's physical opposite. [[spoiler:Taken Up to Eleven with the reveal that he has powers of his own that turn his white suit into a pure blinding light.]]

* [[ComicBook/MartianManhunter The White Martians]] are an AlwaysChaoticEvil race with [[EvilAlbino pure white skin]]

* The comic book version of Dr. Light, a Supervillain with [[LightEmUp light control]], warrants his own entry, given that on top of his villainy, the ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'' miniseries also [[RetCon retroactively]] made him a serial rapist. This is the ''male'' Dr. Light (who appears in ''ComicBook/TeenTitans''). DC [[NamesTheSame actually has two]]. The female Dr. Light (who appears in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'') is at worst a case of GoodIsNotNice. At with [[Manga/DeathNote Light Yagami]], this is also literally as the male Doctor Light's real name is [[StevenUlyssesPerhero Arthur Light]]. His ComicBook/{{New 52}} version averts this, however, being a nice family guy who joins the Justice League.

* ''ComicBook/{{Robin|Series}}'': Tim was nearly killed by the villainous Monsoon, a pale green woman wearing a long white dress whose powers make her slightly glow when in use.

* ''{{ComicBook/Wolverine}}'' & ''{{ComicBook/Sabretooth}}'' are good contrasts. The former is a brunette anti-hero, who tries to be a better person -though a JerkWithAHeartOfGold. The latter is considerable one of the more evil characters in the Marvel Universe, but is the blonde. Contrasting most cases where Blones are portrayed as pure / good and the brunettes are more sinister.