History Main / FaceRealization

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': While more of a TokenEvilTeammate than full villain, Varrick is entirely upfront about being a greedy profiteer/mad scientist, but he eventually find a line that even he won't cross when [[spoiler: he discovers that the spirit vines are can be used to create weapons of unimaginable power, power the likes that he feels that [[NoManShouldHaveThisPower no man should have]]]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': While more of a TokenEvilTeammate than full villain Varrick is entirely upfront about being a greedy profiteer/mad scientist, but he eventually find a line that even he won't cross when [[spoiler: he discovers that the spirit vines are can be used to create weapons of unimaginable power, power the likes that he feels that [[NoManShouldHaveThisPower no man should have]]]].

* ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'' is all about a supposed EvilGenius gradually realizing that he's actually a good guy.

* In ''Literature/Sparkling Cyanide'' by Creator/AgathaChristie, Stephen Farraday's courtship and marriage with Lady Alexandra Hayle are a coldly calculated BatmanGambit on his side, and he is aware he has married her solely because of her family's immense political influence. That is, until his gorgeous but ditzy lover begs him to elope with her. It suddenly dawns on him he can't do it, and it's not the thought of a ruined career that scares him most but the thought of losing his wife, whom, he realizes, he has really loved from the moment he saw her.

* In ''The Sparkling Cyanide'' by Creator/AgathaChristie, Stephen Farraday's courtship and marriage with Lady Alexandra Hayle are a coldly calculated BatmanGambit on his side, and he is aware he has married her solely because of her family's immense political influence. That is, until his gorgeous but ditzy lover begs him to elope with her. It suddenly dawns on him he can't do it, and it's not the thought of a ruined career that scares him most but the thought of losing his wife, whom, he realizes, he has really loved from the moment he saw her.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}'', a series about a group of supervillains posing as a superhero team as part of a scheme by their leader Baron Zemo, most of the team have this realization sooner or later. When Zemo reveals their secret, most of them turn against him. Atlas at first thinks himself still loyal, but when Zemo goes to kill Jolt, he revolts.

So Commander KillEmAll is a bad guy. A really bad guy. Why are they so bad? Because they said so, and they would know, right? [[KickTheDog They kick puppies]], [[WouldHurtAChild drop kicks babies]], and isn't afraid of any KnightInShiningArmor. They're no HarmlessVillain. They're a potential BigBad...

* Rin Tohsaka in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' is constantly trying to be a typical magus (many of whom aren't that nice) while belittling Shirou for trying to be a hero. But in every route, she realizes that that's just not the person she is. Most tellingly, in Heavens Feel, where she can't bring herself to kill [[spoiler: her sister Sakura, who has become an EldritchAbomination who's been (at first unknowingly) killing everyone around her.]] [[HypocrisyNod She acknowledges that she no longer has any right to berate Shirou afterwards.]]

* During his brief stint as an ArcVillain in ''Manga/FairyTail'', Laxus tries to finish the [[CurbStompBattle fight]] against Natsu and Gajeel by invoking Fairy Law, a spell that annihilates anyone the caster sees as an enemy. Laxus is shaken when the spell fails to hit not only them, but the rest of the guild or even anyone inside the town of Magnolia, originally thinking that something went wrong with casting, but the realization that he couldn't kill anyone simply because deep down he didn't ''want'' to sends him into UnstoppableRage and trying to kill Natsu the [[ShockAndAwe old-fashioned way]]. He only accepts this as fact after he's defeated and calms down.

# The villain realizes that they have been doing good all along, but instead of embracing it, they are ashamed or repulsed by the fact. They may consider themselves a "disrespect" to evil, and will either step down or try to live on as a villain despite this. Occasionally overlaps with WhatYouAreInTheDark. Particularly popular with {{Pragmatic Villain|y}}s.

# The villain realizes that they have been doing good all along, but instead of embracing it, they are ashamed or repulsed by the fact. They may consider themselves a "disrespect" to evil, and will either step down or try to live on as a villain despite this. Particularly popular with {{Pragmatic Villain|y}}s.

** PlayedForLaughs with Ikyno, who realizes that rather than 'accidentally' beating up thugs, she is to her surprise, "a lot nicer of a person than [she] thought".
** This also happened with Yuji toward the end of the story. One of his old delinquent friends notes that his delinquent activities with Kitano involve things like studying and community service [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything and no actual delinquent activities at all.]] Yuji finally realizes that Kitano isn't really a delinquent and that he no longer is one either, and it doesn't bother him.

* Wrestling/KevinSteen tried to reform but when that didn't work, he drove Wrestling/JimmyJacobs and Steve Corino off the right path and started Suffering Ugliness Chaos Mayhem(SCUM) to destroy Wrestling/RingOfHonor to show the triumph of evil, spite Wrestling/JimCornette and act as a stepping stone to the toppling of the whole industry (Wrestling/{{Chikara}} would be next). But after declaring Steen a failure and kicking him out of the group in favor of Wrestling/MattHardy, Steen watched them go on to try and destroy ROH without him and realized he still liked the promotion.
* His match with Caleb Konley on EVOLVE 32 was when Lenny Leonard came to realization Wrestling/JohnnyGargano had become a baby face. Gargano wouldn't realize it himself until EVOLVE 33, when realized he couldn't sit back and watch the Premier Athlete Brand torment and attack Rich Swann any longer, even though he didn't like Swann.

* Played with by Evangeline in ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima''. She insists that she is a BigBad no matter how much evidence is presented that would disprove it. It may be that she just doesn't want to admit it out loud. That and she's powerful enough that few characters can call her on it, with the exception of Albireo, who relentlessly [[{{Troll}} trolls]] her.

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

* In ''Film/KamenRiderTheFirst'', the movie remake of the original series, [[TheRival Hayato Ichimonji]] is constantly telling [[TheHero TakeshiHongou]] that [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou he and only he will beat Hongou]]. Then he will take the girl and return to Dai-Shocker. That is until the climax of the Film when [[StormingTheCastle they raid the Dai-Shocker]] together to [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl rescue the reporter girl]]. During the fight, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere Hayato tries to run]], but when he sees Hongou continuing to fight, [[ChangedMyMindKid he comes back]], leading to this conversation:

* In the book series ''Literature/TheSistersGrimm'', Puck is often seen shouting that he is " a villain of the worst kind", and playing pranks... but when it comes right down to it, he's one of the most heroic characters, to the point of nearly getting killed to save Sabrina's life- more than once! When other characters point out how heroic he is, he flips out and sulks for a while, then tries to prove how evil he is with a prank or two. and then the cycle repeats.

* In ''Literature/GoingPostal'', Moist imagines, at the end, running off and returning to his con-man life. Instead, he lets Adorabelle hold his hand, and he tells himself that it's enough to be able to tell himself that he can leave at any time.

* In the book series ''Literature/SistersGrimm'', Puck is often seen shouting that he is " a villain of the worst kind", and playing pranks... but when it comes right down to it, he's one of the most heroic characters, to the point of nearly getting killed to save Sabrina's life- more than once! When other characters point out how heroic he is, he flips out and sulks for a while, then tries to prove how evil he is with a prank or two. and then the cycle repeats.

* Played with in ''Literature/NightWatch''. [[spoiler: Arina]] at some point realizes that she is doing mainly good deeds instead of ChaoticNeutral, so she [[spoiler: changes alignments.]]

-->'''Hayato:''' I didn't know. So I'm really a good guy.
-->'''Hongou:''' Yeah. That's what I said.

* Rin Tohsaka in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' is constantly trying to be a typical magus (many of whom aren't that nice) while belittling Shirou for trying to be a hero. But in every route, she realizes that that just not the person she is. Most tellingly, in Heavens Feel, where she can't bring herself to kill [[spoiler: her sister Sakura, who has become an EldritchAbomination who's been (at first unknowingly) killing everyone around her.]] [[HypocrisyNod She acknowledges that she no longer has any right to berate Shirou afterwards.]]

* In ''Discworld/GoingPostal'', Moist imagines, at the end, running off and returning to his con-man life. Instead, he lets Adorabelle hold his hand, and he tells himself that it's enough to be able to tell himself that he can leave at any time.

# The villain realizes that doing evil is now a no-no for their, and they [[HeelFaceTurn turns to the side of good]]. Obviously more common in works more on the ideal side of the spectrum, but has become increasingly popular in mature works.
# The villain realizes that they have been doing good all along, but instead of embracing this, they are ashamed / repulsed by it and/or considers this as ''disrespect'' to evil and either steps down or tries to live on as a villain despite this. Particularly popular with {{Pragmatic Villain|y}}s.

So Commander KillEmAll is a bad guy. A really bad guy. Why is he so bad? Because he says so, and he would know, right? [[KickTheDog He kicks puppies]], [[WouldHurtAChild drop kicks babies]], and isn't afraid of any KnightInShiningArmor. He's no HarmlessVillain. He's a potential BigBad...

Except he's not. And when a situation comes up where he proves it, nobody is more surprised than he is. That's right. You're actually a good guy.

Whereas HeelRealization is where a character finally realizes he is, in fact, the villain of the story, Face Realization is the opposite. It's distinct from YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre, in that the character realizes it on his own, without anyone needing to tell him, because he proves it with an indisputable act of goodness and heroism.

Why was it so hard for him to see this? Maybe he spent so much time pretending to be a not-so-nice guy [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold and hiding that golden heart of his]] that he started to [[BelievingTheirOwnLies believe it himself]], or perhaps after [[ReformedButRejected after being turned down by the heroes]] [[ThenLetMeBeEvil he decides to embrace villainy]] but finds that [[IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten kitten eating doesn't really suit him]] no matter how pissed he is at the hero. In other cases, GoodFeelsGood can creep up on you -- but sometimes it takes a while to sink in past the pretence that it's all a front.

Generally, there are 2 ways this can end up:

Type A\\
The villain realizes that doing evil is now a no-no for him or her, and he [[HeelFaceTurn turns to the side of good.]] Obviously more common in works more on the ideal side of the spectrum, but has become increasingly popular in mature works.

Type B\\
The villain realizes that he has been doing good all along, but instead of embracing this, he or she is ashamed / repulsed by it and/or considers this as ''disrespect'' to evil and either steps down or tries to live on as a villain despite this. Particularly popular with {{Pragmatic Villain|y}}s.

* In ''The Sparkling Cyanide'' by Creator/AgathaChristie, Stephen Farraday's courtship and marriage with Lady Alexandra Hayle are a coldly calculated BatmanGambit on his side, and he is aware he has married her solely because of her family's immense political influence. That is, until his gorgeous but ditzy lover begs him to elope with her. It suddenly dawns on him he can't do it, and it's not the thought of a ruined career that scares him but the thought of losing his wife, whom, he realizes, he has really loved from the moment he saw her.

* In ''The Sparkling Cyanide'' by Creator/AqathaChristie, Stephen Farraday's courtship and marriage with Lady Alexandra Hayle are a coldly calculated BatmanGambit on his side, and he is aware he has married her solely because of her family's immense political influence. That is, until his gorgeous but ditzy lover begs him to elope with her. It suddenly dawns on him he can't do it, and it's not the thought of a ruined career that scares him but the thought of losing his wife, whom, he realizes, he has really loved from the moment he saw her.