History Main / JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope

* ''Manga/GreenBox'': Sena picks remote Oceania islands in exchange for basic necessaries and wonders if it's better if he dies here. However, rationalizing that his escape is more valuable, he livestreams himself killing the entire population of [[spoiler:Italy]] to get attention and promises to keep going.

* ''Literature/WearingTheCape'': The villain of the first book originality went back in time to SetRightWhatOnceWasWrong by killing one terrorist. When that didn't change history, he killed that man's lieutenants, and then government officials who didn't stop him, and then became frustrated and desperate enough to engage in terrorist bombings himself and kill thousands.

A form of DebateAndSwitch, because they never ''really'' address the question of whether the original ambiguous action was acceptable or not. As such, this trope is sometimes a sign that the creator is biased in favor of the less morally ambiguous answer to a conflict, but realized part-way through that the alternative they are trying to argue against [[StrawmanHasAPoint makes more sense than they intended to present it as]]. Also helps to [[StatusQuoIsGod maintain the status quo]] by ensuring the main characters never question their own morality too closely, thus keeping the simpler BlackAndWhiteMorality from [[GrayingMorality degrading]] into GreyAndGrayMorality. Compare SlowlySlippingIntoEvil for a longer, more developed process of going from "ambiguous" to "evil". Compare FaceHeelTurn for when it is a morally good character who turns evil. For a character who pretends to be unambiguously nice for the sake of [[ManipulativeBastard manipulating]] others, that's a BitchInSheepsClothing, which can overlap with EvilAllAlong.

* In ''Film/TheStarChamber'', the turning point comes, if not before, when Hardin and the rest go vigilante in order to pursue justice as they see it.

A form of DebateAndSwitch, because they never ''really'' address the question of whether the original ambiguous action was acceptable or not. As such, this trope is sometimes a sign that the creator is biased in favor of the less morally ambiguous answer to a conflict, but realized part-way through that the alternative they are trying to argue against [[StrawmanHasAPoint makes more sense than they intended to present it as]]. Also helps to [[StatusQuoIsGod maintain the status quo]] by ensuring the main characters never question their own morality too closely, thus keeping the more simple BlackAndWhiteMorality from [[GrayingMorality degrading]] into GreyAndGrayMorality. Compare SlowlySlippingIntoEvil for a longer, more developed process of going from "ambiguous" to "evil". Compare FaceHeelTurn for when it is a morally good character who turns evil. For a character who pretends to be unambiguously nice for the sake of [[ManipulativeBastard manipulating]] others, that's a BitchInSheepsClothing, which can overlap with EvilAllAlong.

A form of DebateAndSwitch, because they never ''really'' address the question of whether the original ambiguous action was acceptable or not. As such, this trope is sometimes a sign that the creator is biased in favor of the less morally ambiguous answer to a conflict, but realized part-way through that the alternative they are trying to argue against [[StrawmanHasAPoint makes more sense than they intended to present it as]]. Also helps to [[StatusQuoIsGod maintain the status quo]] by ensuring the main characters never question their own morality too closely, thus keeping the more simpler BlackAndWhiteMorality from [[GrayingMorality degrading]] into GreyAndGrayMorality. Compare SlowlySlippingIntoEvil for a longer, more developed process of going from "ambiguous" to "evil". Compare FaceHeelTurn for when it is a morally good character who turns evil. For a character who pretends to be unambiguously nice for the sake of [[ManipulativeBastard manipulating]] others, that's a BitchInSheepsClothing, which can overlap with EvilAllAlong.

* Avoided in ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry''. [[spoiler: Shion goes insane and embarks on an attempt at revenge after the boy she loves, Satoshi, disappears. A lot of people are captured, killed or both, including her twin sister, her sadistic grandmother, and the village headman, who are all part of the village mafia. Then Shion goes after Satoshi's little sister, Satoko, because she's mad that Satoko's dependence on Satoshi wore him out. Shion captures Satoko and tortures her to death. ''Then she remembers that Satoshi's last request was that she care for Satoko for him.'' Shion was already crazy, but now she loses any pretense of acting for anything besides her own dark pleasure.]]
** To add to the issue [[spoiler:it's revealed their deaths were in vain. None of them had to do with Satoshi's disappearance, and if anything they all liked him]].

* Dealt with in a two-issue arc of ''ComicBook/NewXMenAcademyX'' involving Prodigy, a student at the Xavier Institute with the ability to absorb the knowledge of anyone in the immediate vicinity, but ''only'' as long as they're in the immediate vicinity. When Characters/{{Emma Frost|WhiteQueen}} discovers that he's subconsciously put a block in his mind that prevents him from retaining the knowledge permanently, David asks Emma to remove the block, figuring he'll be able to do so much good for the world that way. The story then fast-forwards a few months, and David is already head of his own MegaCorp that has developed cures for cancer and AIDS. How did he achieve this breakthrough? [[spoiler:He killed his friend, the healer Elixir, and harvested his organs.]] Okay, that's certainly bad, but we're still at the point where it can be argued to be worth it. The next issue fast-forwards again, to twenty years later, and David is now the President and has united most of the world's countries into a utopian OneWorldGovernment. And he's also [[spoiler:planning the genocide of the Chinese because they refused to join]]. Okay, ''now'' he has to die. Fortunately [[spoiler:the whole thing turns out to be an illusion, courtesy of Dani Moonstar, in an effort to convince him to leave the block in]].
** Another X-Men example in one of [[Characters/X23LauraKinney X-23]]'s creators, Dr. Xander Rice: He forces Dr. Kinney to carry Laura's fetus to term by refusing to allow her to search for another host (so it's do it, or let the embryo die), shoves the girl into a radiation chamber at the age of ''seven'' to forcibly jump-start her healing factor by nearly killing her with radiation poisoning (when it's implied he could have gotten the same results with a "safer" dosage. Or just allowed her to manifest naturally), ''denies'' her anasthesia when he surgically removes her claws several days later to coat them in adamantium, uses ColdBloodedTorture to condition her to the trigger scent, puts her in the "care" of an AxCrazy psychopath, treats her as an animal and subjects her to years of physical and emotional abuse, tries to kill her at one point by abandoning her on a mission, and oh yeah, sends her [[spoiler: to kill the man who practically raised him from a toddler, and the man's wife and son (who is actually ''his'' son from an affair with the woman)]]. Rice doesn't so much jump off the slippery slope as take to it in a rocket sled. And then keep on going.

* The majority of heroes who meet Comicbook/ThePunisher in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse are usually {{technical pacifist}}s, so most of them think that this AntiHero has jumped off and is now gaily frolicking at the bottom. In fact, any AntiHero who lives in a [[TheVerse verse]] that's on the idealistic side of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism could be said to have jumped, at least from an in-universe perspective.

** It's arguable how far down the slope he already was, but the arc ''Superman: Ending Battle'' is this for NinetiesAntiHero [[Characters/SupermanRoguesGalleryMToZ Manchester Black]]. Initially, Black managed to just hover on the line between UnscrupulousHero and NominalHero, but, after he learns Superman's secret identity, he leaps across the MoralEventHorizon; telepathically takes control of the supervillains (literally, all the supervillains) to attack anyone who's ever had any contact with Clark Kent, mind rapes the rest of the Elite (the only people who give a damn about him), and finally tortures and [[spoiler:pretends to]] kill Lois Lane, all as part of a massive ThanatosGambit to destroy Superman by goading him into breaking the [[ThouShaltNotKill One Rule]] [[spoiler:pointlessly]]. When Superman refuses, Black suffers a major HeelRealization and [[DrivenToSuicide telekinetically blows his own brains out]].

* Discussed in [[https://hard-drive.net/superhero-movies-love-to-have-villains-who-are-totally-right-until-theyre-randomly-super-wrong/ this]] article for Hard Drive, ''Superhero Movies Love to Have Villains Who Are Totally Right… Until They’re Randomly Super Wrong'', which uses the presence of the trope in superhero films (especially Film/TheBatman2022) in terms of both how the trope works and why it's so popular.

This is a condensed form of the SlipperySlopeFallacy — instead of SlowlySlippingIntoEvil by gradually becoming more evil, they go straight from "may or may not be moral" at the top of the slope to "unquestionably evil" at the bottom, skipping all of the intermediate shades of gray — thus [[TitleDrop jumping off the slippery slope]].

* In ''WebComic/SpringTrapped'' this is revealed to have been the case with [[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys Springtrap]]. He started off as a normal night guard at Fazbear Entertainment... until Golden Freddy started to attack him at night. Short on sleep and terrified for both his own and the customers' safety, he looked into the occult for solutions, eventually turning to blood sacrifices. The chickens he used worked... but slowly became less effective, so he used a child sacrifice, [[GoneHorriblyWrong which gave him the Puppet to deal with]]. His job from then on became a downward spiral of more human sacrifices to keep the animatronics at bay and accumulating more and more haunted robots out for his blood, until he finally gave up, framed another employee for his crimes, and left his mess for [[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys2 Jeremy]] to deal with. Add in 30 years of being trapped in a saferoom after being messily killed by the Spring Bonnie suit, and you get the Springtrap of the third game- outright murderous with no ulteriour motive.

[[folder:Films — Animated]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'': [[spoiler:In ''Literature/AFrozenHeart'', a TieInNovel to the movie, once Hans gets his first taste of real power from controlling Arendelle in Elsa's absence, it goes right to his head and clouds his judgment, driving him to start dehumanizing everyone else, manipulate others and be desperate to cling onto power at all costs in order to escape his father's wrath and become king of Arendelle]].

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]

* In Film/TheStarChamber, the turning point comes, if not before, when Hardin and the rest go vigilante in order to pursue justice as they see it.
* In ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}'', EPA agent Walter Peck had a point that the Ghostbusters' operations needed some inspection, especially considering Egon was getting worried about the abnormal amount of spectral energy they are containing in their protection grid. However, he had the wrong attitude as he acted all important and showed his control-freak nature. When Peck later vindictively barges into the business with a court order and imperiously orders the grid shutdown despite the warnings of the Busters and the reservations of the accompanying utility worker, he is shown to be totally unreasonable and completely in the wrong. And he goes beyond his inspecting duties showing how petty his motivations are and how the most important thing for him is throwing his weight around. If anything it was he who pointed out it could be dangerous and therefore had no business toying with it. The fact that Peck then orders the Busters arrested for an explosion he himself clearly was responsible for makes him truly despicable.

* Played with in ''[[Literature/ThePrecipice The Precipice]]''. Grace's actions start off morally ambiguous and include stealing property from her school. Eventually escalating to [[spoiler:premeditated murder of one of her professors]]. However, an element of this descent comes from circumstances outside her control. Such as when [[spoiler:Felix plagerizes her midterm]] without which she never would have gone down that path. Or with Hartford. Who is, in fact, so aloof and stern that Grace mistakes it for antagonism.

** Considering that Sauron’s own backstory (that Tolkien wrote for his own notes [[AllThereInTheManual and never planned to publish]]) makes him a major case of this too, Gandalf and Galadriel [[ProperlyParanoid have a point]]. Namely, Sauron was originally one of the faithful Maiar who entered the world in order to make it beautiful and prepare it for habitation by Elves and Men, so when Morgoth ruined it, Sauron was among those who strove to fix it. But since he disagreed with others on how to do so, he eventually came to believe he knew better than [[CouncilOfAngels the Valar]] — the Lords of the West and direct viceroys of God Himself — and this disobedience eventually led Sauron to believe that [[TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget Morgoth wasn’t so bad]] (presumably because of their common antagonist) and [[MotiveDecay actually join him]], after which all the goodness in him evaporated.

*** This is what leads to [[spoiler:Zuko's eventual HeelFaceTurn. He'd been hesitating for a while, thinking that his family really were good people, despite all the massive evidence otherwise: it's when his father and sister plan to burn an entire country to the ground that he realizes they've jumped off]].

*** Amon and the Equalists start off with a relatively valid complaint: Benders really do have all of the power in Republic City. Up until Episode 10, they had only committed a really extreme crime. Then, they jump fully off the slope by [[spoiler:launching a full-scale invasion of Republic City, complete with ''bombings and gas attacks!'']]. Arguably, their point is also undermined by [[spoiler:the fact that Amon is actually a stupid-powerful waterbender himself and uses his own bloodbending ability to destroy others' ability to bend]], but whether that's this trope or simply being a {{hypocrite}} is open for debate.
*** Kuvira starts off Book 4 a WellIntentionedExtremist with valid reasons for reuniting the Earth Kingdom under her own rule. She uses some questionable means to persuade cities to side with her, but given the incompetence of the heir to the Earth Kingdom's throne, people didn't fault her for [[spoiler:refusing to relinquish her power to him]] as had been previously agreed, because she seemed much more capable of actually leading. [[spoiler:Attacking the United Republic]] might have been going a little far, but a lot of fans could still sympathize with her point of view, given that it used to be Earth Kingdom territory. Then, when her fiance is [[spoiler:captured and she is offered a deal that will basically allow her to take Bataar Jr. and go home as the uncontested ruler of the Earth Empire if she only agrees to leave the United Republic alone, she decides it would be a better idea to launch an attack with the spirit cannon that will kill her fiance because she believes it will kill Korra as well]]. The show makes a point out of the fact that Bataar Jr. is not okay with sacrificing his life for the cause.

** The episode "Lock-Up" introduced Lyle Bolton, the ruthless head of security at Arkham Asylum, who eventually goes crazy and becomes the supervillain Lock-Up. He starts off making some good points about his regime bringing Arkham's role as a CardboardPrison to a halt. Fortunately - so to speak - he also turns out to be a sadistic monster who steps way past his boundaries, abuses his inmates, and eventually starts locking up politicians and media members, blaming them for allowing crime to run rampant in the first place, allowing Batman to take him down without any worries.
** When new-vigilante-in-town The Judge shows up later on, attacking the villains and not caring whether or not he kills them, this is never even brought up. It is taken for granted that his actions are wrong, which (given the long, horrible careers of Batman's rogues gallery) seems like it would be open to debate here. The big jump probably comes moments before Batman intervenes, when he is about to kill a small-time corrupt politician who had helped him, but still. The Judge showed how extreme he can really get when he tried to kill Two-Face in his own escape room. As it turns out, [[spoiler: The Judge ''is'' Two-Face, as he is a third persona made by Harvey Dent to fight crime]].
** Commissioner Gordon in "Over The Edge". After his daughter is killed in a fight with the Scarecrow, he blames Batman and launches a manhunt for him, going as far as to make a deal with Bane. [[spoiler: Fortunately, it was AllJustADream.]]

** If Bushroot's descent was bad, the fall of Jim Starling for Darkwing's rebooted counterpart in ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' makes that one look tame by comparison. Starling used to be an actor who played a ShowWithinAShow version of Darkwing, which was cancelled in part because [[WordOfGod of his own egotism]], leaving him with menial work and an unsalvageable career for years. Then, when he learns the series is being rebooted as a gritty movie, he gets so incensed that he's not reprising his role that he tries to sabotage the production, culminating in a battle between him and his replacement on a burning movie set. It's thanks to an impassioned speech from Launchpad that makes him realize he's gone too far, but in saving the pilot from an exploding pylon does Starling seemingly perish...[[spoiler: only for that one act to drive him to think his replacement [[NeverMyFault sabotaged him]], driving him to become NEGADUCK]].
* ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'': After [[spoiler:Ash]] gives in to Invictus' corruption and betrays the rest of [[Characters/FinalSpaceTheTeamSquad the Team Squad]], any remaining uncertainty over their FaceHeelTurn is [[HateSink completely put to rest]] when they attempt to get back at Gary for all the pain they feel he supposedly caused them by [[spoiler:attacking Mooncake and possibly ''killing'' him whilst Gary is helpless to watch]], and they're enjoying every second of hurting [[spoiler:Mooncake]] even though he never did ''anything'' hurtful to her.
* Played for laughs in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "Anthology of Interest", where Leela asks for a WhatIf scenario with the premise of "what if I were more impulsive?" The first real sign of her newfound attitude (aside from buying new boots that are identical to her old ones but with a green stripe) is killing Farnsworth [[InheritanceMurder because he's left her a large inheritance.]] This then escalates to her killing Hermes after he learns she did it and then killing Bender when he learns and tries extorting her. After having killed three people, she realizes that [[MurderIsTheBestSolution she's been solving far too many problems with murder lately]], and tries to calm down... and then proceeds to murder Amy for insulting her looks.
* ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'': Though always an asshole, it's in the latter half of season 2, [[spoiler:Psycho realizes he's gone soft and loses almost all of his redeeming qualities, betrays the crew, and tries to kill Harley and lead a parademon army in massacring Gotham and conquering Earth]].

** And the Justice Lords from a parallel Earth. Superman abandoning ThouShaltNotKill to stop Luthor from starting a nuclear war: justifiable. The entire team doing away with the concept of JokerImmunity altogether and resorting to killing and lobotomizing on a semi-frequent basis: arguable. Setting up a totalitarian state in which elections do not happen until the Justice Lords say they do and people can be arrested for complaining too loudly: completely unnecessary.
** And for that matter, Doctor Destiny's origin story in "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueS2E5And6OnlyADream Only a Dream]]". At first, he seems to be a fairly decent guy whose big mistake was simply getting hired as a guard by [[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]], and the story starts raising questions about WhatMeasureIsAMook and the hypocrisy of the henchmen going to prison and having their lives ruined while the villains themselves keep getting away scot-free. But once he gains superpowers himself, his RoaringRampageOfRevenge throws him right off the slippery slope, and into territory that even Lex never touched, with lemming-like gusto.

* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'': a crossover sketch of ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Jabberjaw}}'' uses this in the last part of it. Jabberjaw panics after he accidentally kills Quint, certain that he'll get the death penalty, and then tries to kill Brody so that there wouldn't be any witnesses. [[ForegoneConclusion It ends badly for him]].

* ''Literature/BladeSkillOnline'' has the devs of the titular game. Sure, they target Yuri for Nerf every chance they get, and do obvious rule patches to try and minimize or negate his achievements, even keeping Yuri from participating in rounds 2 and 3 of the first battle royale tournament, because Yuri was just that overpowered that game balance was affected, but it quickly becomes apparent that the devs just spite Yuri for being a living, breathing example of their monumental incompetence, as they're excellent programmers but total morons at everything else and refuse to admit fault or take responsibility. When they've done everything in their power to try and hobble him with their game software and find it's not enough, they call in (in game) ''assassins'' from rival VRMMO, even purchasing time on the rival company servers and software, to ambush Yuri, '''and the rest of their own fanbase''' with game mechanics the players don't understand to try and trip Yuri up, and even then it takes a BossRush to do it. '''The assassins''' are disgusted by this ploy and turn on these cowardly devs first chance they get.

* In ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'', Mikado went from an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent to [[spoiler:leading a gang in a gang war]] to [[spoiler:trying to kill a middle-schooler with a pen]], all in the timeframe of about six months.