History Main / EvilerThanThou

* The Beast and the Smiler from ''Transmetropolitan''. The Beast is definitely not a good person, and too lazy, venal and cynical to bother with trying. The Smiler, on the other hand, is a [[KickTheDog puppy-punter]] of the first water, who goes out of his way to abuse any power he gets.

* In the ChaoticEvil versus LawfulEvil showdown, may we present PsychoForHire John Dread and CorruptCorporateExecutive Felix Jongleur from TadWilliams' ''{{Otherland}}''? Fight, boys!

* In ''Literature/ThePrefect'' by AlastairReynolds, Panoply's only hope is to defeat an [[AIIsACrapshoot evil super intelligent AI]] is to enlist another super intelligent AI who is merely bad, insane and bent on vengeance ..maybe.

** There's also a strange, ongoing EvilerThanThou competition going on between [[spoiler:Fermet]] and [[spoiler:Elmer]]. [[spoiler:Fermet]] considers [[spoiler:Elmer]] his nemesis, and has tried long and hard to break him through tormenting his loved ones and tearing down any faith in the world he might have - something that's entirely ineffective, because [[spoiler:Elmer]]'s a [[LackOfEmpathy genuine]] [[TheSociopath sociopath]], only sees his "loved ones" as tools, doesn't give a damn about the world beyond [[ItsAllAboutMe what he can get out of it]], and [[UnknownRival couldn't care less about how vile his self-proclaimed "nemesis" may be.]] While [[spoiler:Fermet]] may be an awful human being, as far as he's concerned, [[spoiler:Elmer]] is far worse.

* ''FridayThe13thHellLake'' contrasts two serial killers, one based on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Ramirez Richard Ramirez]] and the other based on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Bundy Ted Bundy]].

* Many have tried to manipulate [[Anime/{{Monster}} Johan Liebert]] for their own means. Johan shows these people that EvilIsNotAToy. He follows along with them to achieve his own plans but as soon as they have served their purpose, [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness he disposes of them without a second thought.]]

* ''HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'' contrasts the 1940s-era Dark Wizard Gellert Grindelwald (a KnightTemplar who believed Wizards should oppress {{Muggles}} for the Muggles' "own good") with the series's perennial antagonist Lord Voldemort (a deranged terrorist who thinks Muggles should just be killed). At the end, its a guy who thought he was doing the right thing (Who felt remorse later in life and spent his entire prison sentence wondering if he was right or not), versus someone who's just in it for power and the Evluz. Three guesses who wins.

->''This is'' our ''galaxy. Ours to corrupt. Ours to enslave. The [[GodOfEvil Gods]] will not be denied their prize.''
-->-- '''Xereth, Sorcerer of the Black Legion''' on the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Tyranids]], ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''

->''"[[BiggerStick It's not just about power,]] it's also about how far you're willing to debase yourself before feeling bad. [[TheUnfettered I ripped off my own living flesh so that I wouldn't have to admit weakness.]] You're strictly little league compared to that. [[MoralEventHorizon That right there]]? That's the difference between [[CardCarryingVillain bonafide true Evil with a capital "E"]] and your whiny [[WellIntentionedExtremist "evil, but for a good cause,"]] crap. [[ThereAreTwoKindsOfPeopleInTheWorld One gets to be the butch, and one gets to be the bitch]] -- '''[[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch Bitch]]'''."''
--> -- '''Xykon''', ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick: StartOfDarkness''

* In ''MarioSuperSluggers'', [[SuperMarioBros Bowser]] and [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry King K. Rool]] have absolutely ''terrible'' play chemistry when on the same team.

* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' loves this trope. Firstly, there's [[spoiler:Caster getting shown up by Gilgamesh (who serves Kotomine) in Fate]], followed later by [[spoiler:the plot of Unlimited Blade Works, with Caster trying (and failing) to out-evil Kotomine, who is himself out-competed by Gilgamesh (though mostly because of a self-caused VillainBall moment)]]. Finally, [[spoiler:in Heaven's Feel, Kotomine, Zouken and Dark Sakura end up in a three-way villain free-for-all after Gilgamesh and Caster are defeated by Dark Sakura, with Zouken partially controlling Sakura before he is all but killed by Kotomine and later finished off by Dark Sakura. Dark Sakura also all but kills Kotomine in the process, but as the True Ending reveals, he is still left as the last standing and his plan is again the one that Shirou has to thwart.]]
** No matter what, however, [[{{Jerkass}} Shinji]] is ''always'' on the losing side of villain showdowns. ''Always''.

* In ''Mario Super Sluggers'', [[SuperMarioBros Bowser]] and [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry King K. Rool]] have absolutely ''terrible'' play chemistry when on the same team.

* Near the end of Grant Morrison's run on the pre-reboot Franchise/{{Batman}}'s books, Oberson Sexton [[spoiler: AKA: The [[SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker Joker]] [[HeelFaceTurn playing hero]]]] shows Doctor Hurt why he's pathetic [[spoiler: with a line of dominoes and an IronicEcho of what hurt said to him.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'', Mojo Jojo and Him end up in this kind of contest, attempting to show the [[ThePsychoRangers Rowdyruff Boys]] who's the [[HasTwoMommies better father]]. In the end, the Boys decide they're both pathetic and go out to fight the Powerpuff Girls on their own.

* A bizarre example happens on an episode of ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls''. After Mojo Jojo learns that Him has brought the Rowdryruff Boys back (Mojo was the one who created them originally) he tries to prove to them that he is more worthy of being their father by proving he is more evil; which, in turn, leads to Him doing the same thing. Each villain tries to one-up the other by doing evil things. Eventually, the Boys themselves get sick of it, and say they really don't ''care'' who's more evil. (They're too fixated on fighting the Girls to focus on anything else.) The most ironic thing about this episode is, the Girls don't appear at all.

* A major plot element in ''TheNinthGate'' is that two very rich and rather nasty people—a Satanist and a guy who [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney just wants the power]]—are both after [[TomeOfEldritchLore a book believed capable of summoning the devil]]. Ultimately this leads to an epic scene in which the latter crashes the former's black mass, kills her in plain sight of the other cultists, and gives a rant saying "You Satanists are amateurs, only ''I'' understand the true power of this book" while they flee in terror.

* Near the end of Grant Morrison's run on the pre-reboot {{Batman}}'s books, Oberson Sexton [[spoiler: AKA: The [[SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker Joker]] [[HeelFaceTurn playing hero]]]] shows Doctor Hurt why he's pathetic [[spoiler: with a line of dominoes and an IronicEcho of what hurt said to him.]]

** And, of coarse, the ''BatmanBeyond'' episode "Meltdown", where [[BigBad Blight]] gives a CurbStompBattle to Mr. Freeze.

** There's also a strange, ongoing EvilerThanThou competition going on between [[spoiler:Fermet]] and [[spoiler:Elmer]]. [[spoiler:Fermet]] considers [[spoiler:Elmer]] his nemesis, and has tried long and hard to break him through tormenting his loved ones and tearing down any faith in the world he might have - something that's entirely ineffective, because [[spoiler:Elmer]]'s a [[LackOfEmpathy genuine]] [[TheSociopath sociopath]], only sees his "loved ones" as tools, doesn't give a damn about the world beyond [[ItsAllAboutMe what he can get out of it]], and [[UnknownRival couldn't care less about how vile his self-proclaimed "nemesis" may be.]] [[spoiler:Fermet]] may be an awful human being but, as far as he's concerned, [[spoiler:Elmer]] is far worse.

** Surprisingly averted for most of the Hightbreed story arc in Ben10AlienForce, despite the Hightbreeds being [[ScaryDogmaticAliens basically Nazi aliens]], and as such technically enemies to everybody. The only villain who ended up fighting them however was [[ManipulativeBastard Darkstar]];

** Another real life example, during WWII the US government asked the Mafia for help in order to uncover Nazi spies, or preventing them from sabotaging the production of ships which were necessary to keep up the support for Great Britain.

** And then there's Anubis. The guy who was supposedly way too evil ''even for the Goa'uld''. The Goa'uld System Lords enslaved the galaxy and were extreme egomaniacs. Anubis was DangerouslyGenreSavvy and his ultimate goal was to ''erase all life in the entire galaxy''. And he was smart enough to trick Oma into letting him ascend. Furthermore, he made a lot of Goa'uld (including System Lords) work for him. And crushed the rest of them, including most of Yu's fleet.

** It's a textbook abused-becomes-the-abuser [[AnAesop Aesop]] with Magneto, as he's a Holocaust survivor. The RedSkull once even said that they weren't that different.