History Main / HeWhoFightsMonsters

* Chirin of ''Anime/RingingBell'' is motivated by the senseless killing of his mother by the Wolf King. He goes on to become just as ruthless and bloodthirsty as the wolf.

** The White Fang was once a peaceful protest group, trying to advocate peace between humans and [[LittleBitBeastly Faunus]], but five years prior to the start of the series, a faction within the group, feeling that said peaceful protests were getting them nowhere, staged a coup and took control of the entire organization. Adam Taurus invents the "Grimm mask", which his faction wears in the belief that, if humans are going to call them monsters, they may as well don the faces of the Grimm and behave as monsters. Not only does humanity revile them, but other Faunus do, too. [[Adam Taurus ends up murdering High Leader Sienna Khan in Volume 5 for being too moderate for his liking, taking control of the organisation so he can repeat his contribution to the destruction of Beacon Academy by attacking Haven Academy; this time, he is stopped and his abandonment of the White Fang to save his own skin ends up destroying the very organisation he transformed.]]

** The White Fang was once a peaceful protest group, trying to advocate peace between humans and [[LittleBitBeastly Faunus]], but five years prior to the start of the series, a faction within the group, feeling that said peaceful protests were getting them nowhere, staged a coup and took control of the entire organization, twisting it into a violent terrorist group who, by the time of the show's beginning, has become no better than the humans who persecuted and shunned them; even other Faunus find the White Fang's violent actions sickening. The leader of said faction, Adam Taurus, turns out to [[spoiler:be a subversion of this trope, having consistently been depicted as not only murderously violent but offing responsibility for his actions on others for 'hurting' him--most consistently Blake Belladonna, whom he abused, but often enough other Faunus. While he does have a Schnee Dust Company brand over his eye, he only reveals it in an attempt to convince others he's an actual example of this trope.]]
** [[spoiler:Salem also started out as a nice person until her husband succumbed to illness. Then she tried begging and lying to the gods to resurrect him, but they tortured her for her arrogance and made her immortal for her deceit. She committed suicide repeatedly for years, but nothing worked and she grew bitter at the gods. Then one day, she realized that if they could be tricked, then they could be fought, and ultimately beaten. Drunk on hatred and ambition, she rallied the nations to overthrow and replace the gods. After the gods laughed at their attempt, they showed their true colors by committing ''omnicide'' and justifying the murder of their creations as ending a mere experiment. Salem went insane from further attempts to end her life in a barren wasteland, culminating with the acquisition of divine power. Centuries later, she tried her hand at becoming a goddess herself, sadistic genocide included, only for her husband to divorce her and take the kids. She accidentally killed the latter in a fit of rage, and she has been the sociopathic Grimm-ruling overlord of Remnant ever since.]]
** General Ironwood has always tread the ethical grey area in his contributions to the fight against evil, but after Volume 3 begins taking more and more authoritarian actions to circumvent the plans of the villains. Throughout Volume 7, all of his strategies fail, and the pressure and fear from the situation shred the positive aspects of Ironwood's character further and further. At one point Ironwood himself wonders if Salem's strength lies from her lack of humanity, the ease with which she commits her cruel acts. [[spoiler: By the end of the Volume, Ironwood has devolved into a paranoid dictator, willing to abandon the rest of the kingdom and all of Remnant just to hide Atlas from Salem's forces, and issues arrests on the heroes just for disagreeing with his heartless plans. When Oscar points out that Ironwood's current mentality makes him just as bad as Salem, Ironwood just shoots him.]]
*** And more horrifically, those that serve under Ironwood directly seem to be following him under the belief that personal feelings should be suppressed in loyal service to their duty, implying that this sort of thing is ''rampant'' in the Atlas military...

He Who Fights Monsters is [[AntiVillain not quite a villain]], but they act antagonistically enough that [[AntiHero they're little better than a villain]]. Something has happened to our FallenHero: his [[DoomedHometown village was destroyed]], [[EverybodysDeadDave his friends were killed]], [[AndYourLittleDogToo his puppy was roasted on an open spit]], [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking his bike was stolen]], whatever. All that matters is that ItsPersonal, and he feels that the law just isn't suitable enough (or has become [[BadCopIncompetentCop too corrupt and ignorant]]) to be of any use to him in settling the matter. He may justify his actions by claiming that it's [[KnightTemplar justice he's after, not vengeance]], but anyone with half a brain can easily see that he's out for {{revenge}}. Unfortunately, we can also see that the more he hunts the cause of his woes, [[FaceHeelTurn the more he takes on]] [[MirrorCharacter the villain's personality and mannerisms]] -- something that our "[[{{Hypocrite}} hero]]" is too blinded by his single-minded goal to realize.

->''"[[TropeNamers He who fights monsters]] should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."''

He Who Fights Monsters is [[AntiVillain not quite a villain]], but they act antagonistically enough that [[AntiHero they're little better than a villain]]. Something has happened to our FallenHero: his [[DoomedHometown village was destroyed]], [[EverybodysDeadDave his friends were killed]], [[AndYourLittleDogToo his puppy was roasted on an open spit]], [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking his bike was stolen]], whatever. All that matters is that ItsPersonal, and he feels that the law just isn't suitable enough (or has become [[BadCopIncompetentCop too corrupt and ignorant]]) to be of any use to him in settling the matter. He may justify his actions by claiming that it's [[KnightTemplar justice he's after, not vengeance]], but anyone with half a brain can easily see that he's out for {{Revenge}}. Unfortunately, we can also see that the more he hunts the cause of his woes, [[FaceHeelTurn the more he takes on]] [[MirrorCharacter the villain's personality and mannerisms]] -- something that our "[[{{Hypocrite}} hero]]" is too blinded by his single-minded goal to realize.

** At the end of the third case of ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney: Adventures'', mere minutes after [[spoiler: Magnus [=McGilded=]]] is erroneously declared not guilty, [[spoiler: he is led back into the courtoom by a bailiff for further inspection of the omnibus where the murder took place -- he is then locked inside the omnibus as it's doused with paraffin and lit on fire, leaving him to burn to death. At the end of the final case, culprit Ashley Graydon confesses that that bailiff was an assassin he hired to kill [=McGilded=], a smooth-talking VillainWithGoodPublicity who used his many public works projects to draw attention away from the fact that he made his vast fortune off of vicious loansharking -- not only did he fabricate evidence and threatened Gina into providing false testimony, which together brought about his not guilty verdict, but it turns out that prior to his death, he had been working with Graydon, a communications officer, to secretly record and sell state secrets as acts of high treason. Graydon had returned to his childhood home in the slums and asked his father, whom he hadn't seen in years as part of his attempt to distance himself from his past, and asked him to make the music disks used in the scheme under the guise of giving them to a musician friend, but Mason eventually realized that his son was being dishonest and insisted on being the middle-man for the next hand-off; during the course of an argument inside the aforementioned omnibus over the disk, [=McGilded=] stabbed him Mason to death. Graydon says that he didn't realize how truly evil [=McGilded=] was until he killed Mason, and that he then vowed on his father's name to exact revenge and rid the world of, in his words, a "monster." He also (unintentionally) shot and killed Pop Windibank while attempting to retrieve the disk that Mason died over, and tried to pin the crime on Gina. Barok van Zieks points out that by attempting to use his wealth and influence to get away with murder, he became the very kind of person he hated in McGilded. Graydon solemnly agrees.]]

** At the end of the third case of ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney: Adventures'', mere minutes after [[spoiler: Magnus [=McGilded=]]] is erroneously declared not guilty, [[spoiler: he is led back into the courtoom by a bailiff for further inspection of the omnibus where the murder took place -- he is then locked inside the omnibus as it's doused with paraffin and lit on fire, leaving him to burn to death. At the end of the final case, culprit Ashley Graydon confesses that that bailiff was an assassin he hired to kill [=McGilded=], a smooth-talking VillainWithGoodPublicity who used his many public works projects to draw attention away from the fact that he made his vast fortune off of vicious loansharking -- not only did he fabricate evidence and threatened Gina into providing false testimony, which together brought about his not guilty verdict, but it turns out that prior to his death, he had been working with Graydon, a communications officer, to secretly record and sell state secrets as acts of high treason. Graydon's father Mason, who Graydon had asked to make the music disks used in the scheme under the guise of giving them to a musician friend of his, eventually realized that his son was being dishonest and insisted on being the middle-man for the next hand-off; during the course of an argument inside the aforementioned omnibus over the disk, [=McGilded=] stabbed him to death. Graydon says that he didn't realize how truly evil [=McGilded=] was until he killed Mason, and that he then vowed on his father's name to exact revenge and rid the world of, in his words, a "monster." He also (unintentionally) shot and killed Pop Windibank while attempting to retrieve the disk that Mason died over, and tried to pin the crime on Gina. Barok van Zieks points out that by attempting to use his wealth and influence to get away with murder, he became the very kind of person he hated in McGilded. Graydon solemnly agrees.]]

** At the end of the third case of ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney: Adventures'', mere minutes after [[spoiler: Magnus [=McGilded=]]] is erroneously declared not guilty, [[spoiler: he is led back into the courtoom by a bailiff for further inspection of the omnibus where the murder took place -- he is then locked inside the omnibus as it's doused with paraffin and lit on fire, leaving him to burn to death. At the end of the final case, culprit Ashley Graydon confesses that that bailiff was an assassin he hired to kill [=McGilded=], a smooth-talking VillainWithGoodPublicity who used his many public works projects to draw attention away from the fact that he made his vast fortune off of vicious loansharking -- not only did he fabricate evidence and threatened Gina into providing false testimony, which together brought about his not guilty verdict, but it turns out that prior to his death, he had been working with Graydon, a communications officer, to secretly record and sell state secrets as acts of high treason. Graydon's father Mason, who Graydon had asked to make the music disks used in the scheme under the guise of giving them to a musician friend of his, eventually realized that his son was being dishonest and insisted on being the middle-man for the next hand-off; during the course of an argument inside the aforementioned omnibus over the disk, [=McGilded=] stabbed him to death. Graydon says that he didn't realize how truly evil [=McGilded=] was until he killed Mason, and that he then vowed in his father's name to exact revenge and rid the world of, in his words, a "monster." He also (unintentionally) shot and killed Pop Windibank while attempting to retrieve the disk that Mason died over, and tried to pin the crime on Gina. Barok van Zieks points out that by attempting to use his wealth and influence to get away with murder, he became the very kind of person he hated in McGilded. Graydon solemnly agrees.]]

** At the end of the third case of ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney: Adventures'', mere minutes after [[spoiler: Magnus [=McGilded=]]] is erroneously declared not guilty, [[spoiler: he is led back into the courtoom by a bailiff for further inspection of the omnibus where the murder took place -- he is then locked inside the omnibus as it's doused with paraffin and lit on fire, leaving him to burn to death. At the end of the final case, culprit Ashley Graydon confesses that that bailiff was an assassin he hired to kill [=McGilded=], a smooth-talking VillainWithGoodPublicity who used his many public works projects to draw attention away from the fact that he made his vast fortune off of vicious loansharking -- not only did he fabricate evidence and threatened Gina into providing false testimony, which together brought about his not guilty verdict, but it turns out that prior to his death, he had been working with Graydon, a communications officer, to secretly record and sell state secrets as acts of high treason. Graydon's father Mason, who Graydon had asked to make the music disks used in the scheme under the guise of giving them to a musician friend of his, eventually realized that his son was being dishonest and insisted on being the middle-man for the next hand-off; during the course of an argument over the disk, [=McGilded=] stabbed him to death. Graydon says that he didn't realize how truly evil [=McGilded=] was until he killed Mason, and that he then vowed in his father's name to exact revenge and rid the world of, in his words, a "monster." He also (unintentionally) shot and killed Pop Windibank while attempting to retrieve the disk that Mason died over, and tried to pin the crime on Gina. Barok van Zieks points out that by attempting to use his wealth and influence to get away with murder, he became the very kind of person he hated in McGilded. Graydon solemnly agrees.]]

** At the end of the third case of ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney: Adventures'', mere minutes after [[spoiler: Magnus McGilded]] is erroneously declared not guilty, [[spoiler: he]] is led back into the courtoom by a bailiff for further inspection of the omnibus where the murder took place -- [[spoiler: he]] is then locked inside the omnibus as it's doused with paraffin and lit on fire, leaving him to burn to death. At the end of the final case, [[spoiler:Ashley Graydon]] confesses that [[spoiler:that bailiff was an assassin he hired to kill [[=McGilded=]], a smooth-talking VillainWithGoodPublicity who used his many public works projects to draw attention away from the fact that he made his vast fortune off of vicious loansharking -- not only did he fabricate evidence and threatened Gina into providing false testimony, which together brought about his not guilty verdict, but it turns out that prior to his death, he had been working with Graydon, a communications officer, to secretly record and sell state secrets as acts of high treason. Graydon's father Mason, who Graydon had asked to make the music disks used in the scheme under the guise of giving them to a musician friend of his, eventually realized that his son was being dishonest and insisted on being the middle-man for the next hand-off; during the course of an argument over the disk, McGilded stabbed him to death. Graydon says that he didn't realize how truly evil McGilded was until he killed Mason, and that he then vowed in Mason's name to exact revenge and rid the world of, in his words, a "monster." He also (unintentionally) shot Pop Windibank dead while attempting to retrieve the disk that Mason had been sent to sell to McGilded and then died over, and tried to pin the murder on Gina. Barok van Zieks points out that by attempting to use his wealth and influence to get away with murder, he became the very kind of person he hated in McGilded. Graydon solemnly agrees.]]

** At the end of the third case of ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney: Adventures'', mere minutes after [[spoiler: Magnus McGilded]] is erroneously declared not guilty, [[spoiler: he]] is led back into the courtoom by a bailiff for further inspection of the omnibus where the murder took place -- [[spoiler: he]] is then locked inside the omnibus as it's doused with paraffin and lit on fire, leaving him to burn to death. At the end of the final case, [[spoiler:Ashley Graydon]] confesses that that bailiff was an assassin [[spoiler: he]] hired to kill [[spoiler: [[=McGilded]], a smooth-talking VillainWithGoodPublicity who used his many public works projects to draw attention away from the fact that he made his vast fortune off of vicious loansharking -- not only did [[spoiler: he]] fabricate evidence and threaten [[spoiler: Gina]] into providing false testimony, which together brought about his not guilty verdict, but it turns out that [[spoiler: prior to his death, he had been working with Graydon, a communications officer, to secretly record and sell state secrets as acts of high treason. [[spoiler: Graydon's father Mason, who Graydon had asked to make the music disks used in the scheme under the guise of giving them to a musician friend of his, eventually realized that his son was being dishonest and insisted on being the middle-man for the next hand-off; during the course of a vague argument, McGilded stabbed him to death. Graydon]] says that he didn't realize how truly evil [[spoiler: McGilded]] was until he killed [[spoiler: Mason,]] and vowed to exact revenge and rid the world of, in [[spoiler: his]] words, a "monster." He also (unintentionally) shot Pop Windibank dead while attempting to retrieve the disk that [[spoiler: had been sent to sell to McGilded and then died over]] and [[spoiler: tried to pin the murder on Gina, who he's aware only testified on McGilded's behalf because she was coerced by McGilded into doing so]]. Barok van Zieks points out that by attempting to use his wealth and influence to get away with murder, he became the very kind of person he hated in [[spoiler: McGilded. Graydon solemnly agrees.]]

** At the end of the third case of ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney: Adventures'', mere minutes after [[spoiler: Magnus McGilded]] is erroneously declared not guilty, [[spoiler: he]] is led back into the courtoom by a bailiff for further inspection of the omnibus where the murder took place -- [[spoiler: he]] is then locked inside the omnibus as it's doused with paraffin and lit on fire, leaving him to burn to death. At the end of the final case, [[spoiler:Ashley Graydon]] confesses that that bailiff was an assassin [[spoiler: he]] hired to kill [[spoiler: [[=McGilded]]]], a smooth-talking VillainWithGoodPublicity who used his many public works projects to draw attention away from the fact that he made his vast fortune off of vicious loansharking -- not only did [[spoiler: he]] fabricate evidence and threaten [[spoiler: Gina]] into providing false testimony, which together brought about his not guilty verdict, but it turns out that [[spoiler: prior to his death, he had been working with Graydon, a communications officer, to secretly record and sell state secrets as acts of high treason. [[spoiler: Graydon's father Mason, who Graydon had asked to make the music disks used in the scheme under the guise of giving them to a musician friend of his, eventually realized that his son was being dishonest and insisted on being the middle-man for the next hand-off; during the course of a vague argument, McGilded stabbed him to death. Graydon]] says that he didn't realize how truly evil [[spoiler: McGilded]] was until he killed [[spoiler: Mason,]] and vowed to exact revenge and rid the world of, in [[spoiler: his]] words, a "monster." He also (unintentionally) shot Pop Windibank dead while attempting to retrieve the disk that [[spoiler: had been sent to sell to McGilded and then died over]] and [[spoiler: tried to pin the murder on Gina, who he's aware only testified on McGilded's behalf because she was coerced by McGilded into doing so]]. Barok van Zieks points out that by attempting to use his wealth and influence to get away with murder, he became the very kind of person he hated in [[spoiler: McGilded. Graydon solemnly agrees.]]

** At the end of the third case of ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney: Adventures'', mere minutes after [[spoiler: Magnus McGilded]] is erroneously declared not guilty, [[spoiler: he]] is led back into the courtoom by a bailiff for further inspection of the omnibus where the murder took place -- [[spoiler: he]] is then locked inside the omnibus as it's doused with paraffin and lit on fire, leaving him to burn to death. At the end of the final case, [[spoiler:Ashley Graydon]] confesses that that bailiff was an assassin [[spoiler: he]] hired to kill [[spoiler: McGilded]], a smooth-talking VillainWithGoodPublicity who used his many public works projects to draw attention away from the fact that he made his vast fortune off of vicious loansharking -- not only did [[spoiler: he]] fabricate evidence and threaten [[spoiler: Gina]] into providing false testimony, which together brought about his not guilty verdict, but it turns out that [[spoiler: prior to his death, he had been working with Graydon, a communications officer, to secretly record and sell state secrets as acts of high treason. [[spoiler: Graydon's father Mason, who Graydon had asked to make the music disks used in the scheme under the guise of giving them to a musician friend of his, eventually realized that his son was being dishonest and insisted on being the middle-man for the next hand-off; during the course of a vague argument, McGilded stabbed him to death. Graydon]] says that he didn't realize how truly evil [[spoiler: McGilded]] was until he killed [[spoiler: Mason,]] and vowed to exact revenge and rid the world of, in [[spoiler: his]] words, a "monster." He also (unintentionally) shot Pop Windibank dead while attempting to retrieve the disk that [[spoiler: had been sent to sell to McGilded and then died over]] and [[spoiler: tried to pin the murder on Gina, who he's aware only testified on McGilded's behalf because she was coerced by McGilded into doing so]]. Barok van Zieks points out that by attempting to use his wealth and influence to get away with murder, he became the very kind of person he hated in [[spoiler: McGilded. Graydon solemnly agrees.]]

** In ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney: Adventures'', [[spoiler:Ashley Graydon]] hired assassins to kill [[spoiler:Magnus [=McGilded=]]], a horrible blackmailer who ruined several people's lives and murdered [[spoiler:Graydon's father]]. [[spoiler:He also (unintentionally) shot Pop Windibank dead while attempting to retrieve a music box disk containing stolen government secrets and tried to pin the murder on a seventeen-year-old girl]]. Barok Van Zieks tells [[spoiler:Graydon]] that by using his wealth and influence to get away with murder, he became the very kind of person he hated in [[spoiler:[=McGilded=]]].

Our avenger may have [[WellIntentionedExtremist good intentions]]; he might have a point when he says that the fiend is too dangerous to be kept alive. Other characters within the work itself [[JerkassHasAPoint might even concede that point]]. But ultimately, his [[AmbitionIsEvil obsession]] with dealing out [[PayEvilUntoEvil due punishment]] ([[DisproportionateRetribution or worse]]) and his refusal to think about what he's doing twists him into a monster [[ThisIsYourBrainOnEvil just as bad as, or even worse than, the one he's hunting]]. And [[MoralEventHorizon even before he gets to that point]], it's nigh-impossible to turn him away; [[WhatTheHellHero calling him out on it]] will be ignored or [[ShutUpKirk retaliated against]]. ThePowerOfFriendship and ThePowerOfLove were lost to him the moment [[TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive the atrocity that sent him on his wild goose chase]] happened; he feels that TeamSpirit is just a hindrance, and that LoveIsAWeakness that he can't afford to have. {{Heel Realization}}s will be [[IgnoredEpiphany ignored or viewed as a moment of weakness to crush]], and he will never have an "IveComeTooFar" or "NoPlaceForMeThere" moment. Those require insight which he just doesn't have. In fact, his views are utterly incorrigible; he's either a TautologicalTemplar or is very far down the road to becoming one, and he is utterly convinced of his own moral infallibility and the righteousness of his own cause. The more his quest drags on or throws up hurdles, the more likely it is that [[MotiveDecay he'll forget just what his original mission even was]], In fact, the further along in his quest he is, the more likely it is that he'll get a ''lot'' more dangerous due to how fast his list of targets can mushroom when he isn't entirely sure who his enemies are any more. Don't expect him to make a HeroicSacrifice or HeelFaceTurn anytime soon; if he dies in the process of bringing his nemesis down, it's usually with him crossing into Villainstown in his moment of glory. If he [[StartOfDarkness doesn't die...]]

A significant reason why this happens is the avenger's motivation. He who seeks justice is out to stop the villain from hurting any more people, because he doesn't want them to suffer like he has; and while he may be [[AntiHero ruthless]] in pursuing the villain (and may even be willing to kill them if the villain is dangerous enough), he's ultimately looking to benefit society, so long as he doesn't [[MotiveDecay forget his cause]]. Meanwhile, he who seeks revenge is out to make the villain suffer for what they did to him, believing that he has the right to inflict pain. He's not looking to improve society; he's doing it [[ItsAllAboutMe for his own sake]].

* {{Discussed|Trope}} by Gordon Freeman in ''Machinima/FreemansMind'', although he can't remember whether Nietzsche said "monsters" or "drummers". He concludes that it must have been "drummers" [[ComicallyMissingThePoint because there was no way he could end up looking anything like the monsters he was fighting, especially not the fifty-foot tall Tentacle he was dealing with at the time.]]

* Wiki/TVTropes: Some tropes come about as a deliberate attempt to defy a stereotype or cliché, only to become as over-exposed as the very thing they were defying. A good example is RealWomenDontWearDresses, which began life as an attempt to defy the stereotype of women as being weak and overly-sensitive, only to become a stereotype in and of itself that suggested that women who don't wear masculine clothing or act in a stereotypically masculine way are inferior to those that do.

** Similarly to Yokai, [[TheHero Hiro]] attempts to [[spoiler:use Baymax to kill Callaghan after the latter pushes Hiro's BerserkButton by [[LackOfEmpathy callously dismissing]] [[NeverMyFault Tadashi's death]]. However, Hiro's team and Baymax help him [[DefiedTrope defy]] this trope when they bring him back to his senses.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' become this in "Candy Is Dandy." They strike a deal with Mojo Jojo to get an endless supply of candy, but when the candy gives out, they beat Mojo to a pulp like they never had before. It's Blossom [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone who finally realizes this]], the girls becoming as bad as the villains they fight over a candy addiction.

* ''Series/CobraKai'': Johnny sees the results of his dojo at the All Valley Tournament. Miguel, Aisha, and Hawk just wanted to be able to defend themselves against the students bullying them. While Johnny's training helped them achieve those results, it also led to them becoming the similarly ruthless, aggressive brutes that his own gang had once been. And he's like, OhCrap
** Daniel is intensely upset with the restoration of Cobra Kai, only seeing that name associated with the bullies who tormented him. He pulls some business contacts to get the rent raised at the strip mall where Cobra Kai has set up, hoping to drive them out of business with the inflation. He proudly tells this to Amanda, who chastises him over such petty, immature and immoral behavior and not thinking of the people beyond Johnny he was hurting.

* ''Series/CobraKai'' gets hit ''hard'' with this trope, when Johnny sees the results of his dojo at the All Valley Tournament. Miguel, Aisha, and Hawk just wanted to be able to defend themselves against the students bullying them. While Johnny's training helped them achieve those results, it also led to them becoming the similarly ruthless, aggressive brutes that his own gang had once been. And he's like, OhCrap
** The second season takes it UpToEleven, when Daniel opens up Miyagi-do in response.

* The [[TheJailer eponymous villain]] of the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode '' Lockup'' was a [[Flanderization/WesternAnimation fairly obvious]] [[StrawmanPolitical GOP]] [[AcceptableTargets pundit]] parody. Lyle Bolton constantly says that the "liberal media," "coddling doctors," and "gutless police" are responsible for supercrime in Gotham. He believes that the criminals at Arkham don't deserve privileges or even the most basic humane treatment. The first part of the point is not necessarily wrong given that those criminals include the likes of the Joker, Harley Quinn, Scarecrow, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy and plenty of more public threats. Obviously, he's [[UpToEleven hyperbolized,]] but it's still pretty severe for a [[ParentalBonus kids' show.]]

*** [[spoiler:Mael Stronghart believed that the Reaper assassinations were a NecessaryEvil to punish criminal masterminds who use JuryAndWitnessTampering to get away with their crimes. In the process of creating his conspiracy, he had several people blackmailed and killed, including the Lord Chief Justice before him, who Stronghart had killed just so [[KlingonPromotion he could take his place]]. So in attempting to curtail London's crime rate, he himself became a criminal mastermind]].

** In ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney: Adventures'', [[spoiler:Ashley Graydon]] hired assassins to kill [[spoiler:Magnus [=McGilded=]]], a horrible blackmailer who ruined several people's lives and murdered [[spoiler:Graydon's father]]. [[spoiler:He also (unintentionally) shot Pop Windibank dead while attempting to retrieve a music box containing stolen government secrets and tried to pin the murder on a seventeen-year-old girl]]. Barok Van Zieks tells [[spoiler:Graydon]] that by using his wealth and influence to get away with murder, he became the very kind of person he hated in [[spoiler:[=McGilded=]]].