History Main / JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope

* In the ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'' roleplay, [[Characters/DreamSMPDream Dream]] could, at least initially, be argued to be a WellIntentionedExtremist who believes he's doing the right thing. However, over the course of the SMP, his methods become more and more extreme, with Season 2 being the jumping-off point as he [[spoiler:[[WouldHurtAChild abuses Tommy]] to the point of attempted suicide, destroys L'Manberg permanently by having it [[NukeEm nuked to bedrock]], commissions the construction of a [[TheAlcatraz nigh-inescapable]] HellholePrison to hold dissenters from [[ControlFreak his rule]], and plans to kill Tubbo and imprison Tommy in the aforementioned prison]].

** 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: seems unnecessary.

->''"There is a difference between you and me. We both looked into the abyss. But when it looked back at us... ''you blinked''."''
-->-- '''Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}}''' to '''[[EvilCounterpart Owlman]]''', ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueCrisisOnTwoEarths''

* After Volume 3 of ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', General Ironwood has begun taking more and more authoritarian measures in order to circumvent the villains' plans- All of which fail. In Volume 7, the heroes spend just as much time worrying about Ironwood going too far as they are about the villains, and try to keep him grounded. [[spoiler: Once Ironwood learns that not only has Cinder, the one who routed his forces during the Fall of Beacon, infiltrated Atlas, but that Salem herself is on her way to attack the kingdom, he snaps, decides to abandon Mantle to the Grimm, declare martial law, and begins lashing out at anyone who disagrees with his decisions.]]

* {{Characters/Mystique}} falls off the slippery slope after the death of her partner, Destiny. She hesitates for a while about crossing the line of killing the autistic minor, Legion, for revenge but quickly chooses to ignore her moral qualms and attempts to finish him off anyway. After this, she continues to spiral downwards into the more sociopathic nature she is known for today.

*** 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 simple {{Hypocrisy}} is open for debate.

* {{Characters/Mystique}} falls off the slippery slope after the death of her partner, Destiny. She hesitates for a while about crossing the line of killing the autistic minor, [[Characters/MarvelComicsLegion Legion]], for revenge but quickly chooses to ignore her moral qualms and attempts to finish him off anyway. After this, she continues to spiral downwards into the more sociopathic nature she is known for today.

* Narrowly {{averted|Trope}} in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' when [[spoiler:Roy goes [[RoaringRampageofRevenge batshit]] [[ColdBloodedTorture insane]] against Envy, but is talked down from dealing the killing blow by his friends]]. Also narrowly averted in the [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist 2003 anime version]] when Ed almost uses the prisoners trapped in Lab 5 to create a PhilosophersStone he's been searching for.

* ''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]].

* ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' has [[spoiler:El Hombre,]] a former superhero who fell from grace after he became a HeroismAddict and tried to use EngineeredHeroics to refresh his glory. [[spoiler:He eventually masterminds a plan to slaughter ''hundreds'' of super-villains all so he could take the credit and make a name for himself once more.]]

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'': In the ''Recollection'' and ''Project Freelancer'' arcs, Malcolm Hargrove, the Chairman of the [=UNSC's=] Oversight Sub-Committee, is presented as a morally ambiguous figure and the closest thing to a BigGood that the series has. [[spoiler:He shuts down Project Freelancer and attempts to arrest its Director for engaging in illegal, unethical, and highly dangerous experiments involving A.I., but it's implied that his motives are insincere and that he's only in it to increase his own power. Hargrove arrests Agent Washington for assisting in the theft of the Epsilon A.I. unit but promises the agent's freedom when Wash says that he can recover it, but Hargrove also turns a blind eye to Wash's unsavory methods. Hargrove attempts to arrest the Reds and Blues when they steal the Epsilon unit again, but he gives everyone -- including Agent Washington -- a full pardon when they bring down the Director for good. In the ''Chorus Trilogy'', Hargrove is revealed to be a CorruptCorporateExecutive who ignited the civil war on Chorus, orchestrated countless deaths -- including some of his own personnel -- kept trophies of the Director's downfall -- including the gun that killed him, and Epsilon-Tex's ''head'' -- and was willing and fully prepared to commit genocide on a planetary scale.]]

* ''Manga/DeathNote'': Light Yagami begins using the supernatural notebook to rid society of objectively unforgivable criminals, but soon his blacklist expands to include anyone who stands in his way for any reason, starting with Lind L. Taylor, [[spoiler:a patsy used by L to denounce and threaten Kira]] and the FBI. Along the way, he coolly manipulates the feelings of both people and shinigami. Repeatedly stating that he plans to become the god of the new world he is trying to create doesn't help matters, either. When he gets LaserGuidedAmnesia and temporarily reverts to his pre- Death Note self, it's shown he used to be less ruthless in general, which is basically new information for the reader because he changed so fast at the beginning that we never got to see a different side. On the other hand, Near expresses the opinion that Light's behaviour after gaining the Death Note wasn't normal, implying he must have always been a potential psycho.

* ''Manga/DeathNote'':
** Light Yagami begins using the supernatural notebook to rid society of objectively unforgivable criminals, but soon his blacklist expands to include anyone who stands in his way for any reason, starting with Lind L. Taylor, [[spoiler:a patsy used by L to denounce and threaten Kira]] and the FBI. Along the way, he coolly manipulates the feelings of both people and shinigami. Repeatedly stating that he plans to become the god of the new world he is trying to create doesn't help matters, either. When he gets LaserGuidedAmnesia and temporarily reverts to his pre- Death Note self, it's shown he used to be less ruthless in general, which is basically new information for the reader because he changed so fast at the beginning that we never got to see a different side.
** For that matter, Teru Mikami uses the notebook to eliminate minor and reformed criminals. Eventually, he declares he will start executing people who are just lazy or do not contribute to society. Light has to work to stop him, not because he'd never want the book to be used like that, but because he believes it's too early to be going that far. Meaning that Light could very well be planning on going down that path, once he's rid the world of its more undesirable people.

** Light Yagami begins using the supernatural notebook to rid society of objectively unforgivable criminals, but soon his blacklist expands to include anyone who stands in his way for any reason, starting with Lind L. Taylor, [[spoiler:a patsy used by L to denounce and threaten Kira]] and the FBI. Along the way, he coolly manipulates the feelings of both people and shinigami. Repeatedly stating that he plans to become the god of the new world he is trying to create doesn't help matters, either.

** It must be noted that Celestial Being actively tried to avoid civilian casualties, such as Lockon shooting to disable enemy suits when possible, or Setsuna taking off their limbs but not gutting them or cutting them in half. Celestial Being attacked only areas of active combat and repeatedly tried to prevent situations that would increase civilian casualties, such as stopping a terrorist attack on a nuclear waste dump. Trinity, by contrast, repeatedly attacked civilians targets (including simple factories) and expressed neither remorse, guilt, or sadness for it, and then in a childish fit attacked a WEDDING. That's why the Trinities are portrayed as much farther down the slope.

* In ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', no one ever really addresses Griffith's actions, since they're so amazed at how far he's willing to go in order to achieve his dream of having his own kingdom. Even if those actions may have included [[spoiler: whoring himself out to an old pedophile to raise funds for his army]], or [[spoiler: planning assassinations to eliminate opponents]] or [[spoiler: kidnapping kids and using them as leverage against other opponents]]. However, the audience is shown this from a more sympathetic light, and its relatively easy to see it as self-defense considering [[spoiler:that they attempted to kill him first]] especially so after his [[spoiler: one year imprisonment and torture which destroyed any chance of him achieving his dream]] since he speaks of his dream so noble and pure. And then the Eclipse happened. The audience [[MoralEventHorizon lost all sympathy]] at that point.

* Both ''ComicBook/{{Iron Man 2020|Event}}'' and its lead-up details this for Arno Stark, who TookALevelInJerkass by having Tony declared illegitimate and taking away his very identity, taking rather draconian actions to prevent an event, and even replacing other humans with robots. [[spoiler:It's all for naught as his disease has come back and he's suffering from SanitySlippage, the "Extinction Entity" merely being a delusion.]]

* {{Characters/Mystique}} falls off the slippery slope after the death of her partner, Destiny. She hesitates for a while about crossing the line of killing the autistic minor, [[Characters/MarvelComicsLegion Legion]], for revenge but quickly chooses to ignore her moral qualms and attempts to finish him off anyway. After this, she continues to spiral downwards into the more sociopath nature she is known for today.

** 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 as jumping off the slippery slope as taking to it in a rocket sled. And then keep on going.
*** Laura herself at times teeters at the brink of it. Her willingness to kill and otherwise get her hands dirty puts her at odds with her teammates (when she teamed up with Hellion to rescue Cessily from the Facility he was greatly disturbed by how far she was willing to go as part of the mission, including outright torture and murder of the people they interrogated), and she's constantly struggling with her training; ''ComicBook/AvengersArena'' reveals she automatically formulates multiple plans to kill ''everyone in a room with her'' the moment she steps inside. [[FridgeHorror Even her friends and loved ones]], and she ''can't shut it off''. [[IronWoobie It's astonishing that for all the pain, suffering and heartbreak she's endured she manages to keep holding on to her humanity.]]

* ''Fanfic/BeAllMySins'' has Natalie, a sweet innocent girl thrust into the grim darkness of the [[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 41st Millennium.]] She immediately offers her devotion to Slaanesh in order to live, then has to undertake a human sacrifice to prove her commitment, and from there it's pretty much a head-first dive into drugs, cannibalism, dark rituals and murder.
* The Human Liberation Front, usually the go-to anti-pony LaResistance in TCB stories, went through this in ''Fanfic/TheConversionBureauTheOtherSideOfTheSpectrum''. They first started off as a [[FromNobodyToNightmare simple support group for people whose friends and family members had become newfoals]], but it quickly attracted many unsavory characters when the war began and went further off the deep end, going from killing new foals to eventually killing all ponies on suspicion of them being Equestrian spies. Moreover, they also show a distinct lack of regard for civilian casualties, and at some point it became ordinary for them to post videos of themselves torturing ponies online while [[EntitledBastard expecting gratitude for their horrible actions]]. Then they went after PHL ponies, who, by the way, are the ultimate [[DefectorFromDecadence defectors from decadence]] in the story, and only want to help humanity overthrow Celestia. The [[MoralEventHorizon last straw]] came either when they tried to murder Ambassador Lyra Heartstrings (who had tried to reach out to them for aid), or the [[NoodleIncident horrific crimes]] that they perpetrated on a PHL pony nurse. They're also a group of {{Right Wing Militia Fanatic}}s of the highest order, who are considered to be downright dangerous, ineffectual and even suicidal, and their rabid anti-pony stance does way more harm than good.

* In the ''Fanfic/TheDresdenFillies'' story ''False Masks'', the plot is that the Order Triune, an ancient society have mistaken Harry Dresden to be their ancient foe, resurrected after 1200 years, and try to kill him. They attempt to poison him, and then kidnap the ponies close to him, like Twilight. When their coverts efforts fail, they take a direct approach. [[spoiler:Summon '''HE WHO WALKS BEHIND''' (''TWICE'') to kill him, ignoring all the ponies around him that could have also died. And when that fails, they were ready go through the Mane 6 and the princesses to kill him and would have done so, [[KarmicDeath had they not been sacrificed themselves to summon a demon.]] And it turns out that Obsidian ''never'' was resurrected, so they had committed all these crimes for nothing.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsFriendshipGames'': Human Twilight, after transforming into [[spoiler:Midnight Sparkle]] goes from well-meaning but somewhat reckless investigator of magic to [[spoiler: raging she-demon that tries ripping apart her own world to get to Equestria so she can study magic]].

* When ''Film/TheBatman2022'' gets on the trail of a mysterious serial killer of the city's officials who calls himself ''Riddler'', [[spoiler: and the revelations of the supposed victims crimes are enough to make Batman second-guess himself, it appears that this will be the case with the Riddler and that he slowly loses contact with reality over who is to blame for the state of the city when he puts civilian lives in danger with an out-of-control-car and attempts to murder Bruce with a bomb for his father's crimes. It then turns out zig-zagged as the final part of his plan doesn't so much come to light but proves to have been there all along: flooding Gotham City and gunning down the survivors, leaving no doubt that he sees every single person in the city as just as guilty as the sell-outs and the mafia and ''will not'' tell them apart. Thus he was over the slippery line to begin with, but the way that his deeds are gradually presented still brings into question the righteousness of his starting point]].

* In ''Film/{{Super}}'', Creator/RainnWilson's character decides to fight crime. This begins with trying to stop drug dealers, but turns into him brutally beating people with a pipe wrench (for cutting in line at the movie theatre).
* A German Film ''Stahlnetz: PSI'' begins with two brothers kidnapping a rich girl [[spoiler: actually she is not...]] for ransom. They reason a girl is a SpoiledBrat anyway and a few days in captivity won't hurt - and for her family, a million is only a pocket money, so it's not really bad. But then the younger brother decides that it is better to leave the girl to die, and [[spoiler: when the other brother objects, beats him up and locks him together with the girl to die]].

* Adam starts ''Film/ThisIsYourDeath'' with noble--if morally dubious--aims: as a means of providing meaning to the deaths of those who wish to commit suicide, and to make the audience re-evaluate what their life actually means, with added goal of shocking television out of its complacency. However, he quickly capitulates to thechanges the network forces on him in order to keep the show on air; changes that makes he programme more of a game show, thereby diluting his original message. As the show becomes more popular, he is seduced by the fame and wealth it brings him. However, he jumps off the slope when [[spoiler:he murders a woman who changes her mind part way through her suicide--despite the fact contestants are supposed to be able to pull out at any time--because her living would damage the ratings and go against the 'point' he believes he is making]].

* The Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse had already estabilished Scarlet Witch as [[HeroWithAnFInGood not quite good in the heroing business]] following her Heel FaceTurn. But ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness'' takes the ending of ''Series/WandaVision'', where Wanda lost her family created out of magic and left with a TomeOfEldritchLore, and makes her corrupted by the book's dark magic and obsessed with recovering her sons, which she would do by draining the powers and life of DimensionalTraveler America Chavez. And she makes it pretty clear that no one will keep her from America by attacking the whole of Kamar-Taj's sorcerers.

* Oh dear lord Jacen in ''Literature/LegacyOfTheForce''. In the first book, he has a vision that the galaxy will fall into chaos and he will end up killing his mentor Luke Skywalker unless he listens to the Villain of the books, and is forced to kill one of his allies who refuses to listen to Jacen's reasoning. Cut to book two when he tortures a prisoner because she knows about a plot to kill his parents and accidentally kills her. Cut then to book three where it is ''he'' who is trying to kill his parents because "My parents are terrorist scum, and that is why I have to show no mercy towards them." This might be a clever showcasing exactly how "Falling to the Dark Side" works - turning the most justifiable cause into ForTheEvulz-ObviouslyEvil.

* King Erius in [[Literature/{{Nightrunner}} Lynn Flewelling's]] ''Tamir'' trilogy starts by taking the throne from his insane mother, who was executing people left and right, in defiance of the divine edict that for no apparent reason essentially promises Bad Things if a man ever rules the country. Bad Things happen. You could debate whether or not he is really to blame for all that, but then he proceeds to institute sexist practices and start killing off his all female relatives.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': Theon was a jerk, but a pretty tame one by the standards of the series. [[spoiler:However, after taking over Winterfell and losing his hostages he allows Reek to kill innocent people in a cover-up, including two children.]]

* The inspector in ''Chisuji''. First, he decided to take justice in his own hands against the criminal who killed his wife and put his daughter in a coma; then he saw the killer's girlfriend holding said daughter's plush toy, and... [[DiscretionShot snapped]].

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'': In the ''Recollection'' and ''Project Freelancer'' arcs, Malcolm Hargrove, the Chairman of the [=UNSC's=] Oversight Sub-Committee, is presented as a morally ambiguous figure and the closest thing to a BigGood that the series has. [[spoiler:He shuts down Project Freelancer and attempts to arrest its Director for engaging in illegal, unethical and highly dangerous experiments involving A.I., but it's implied that his motives are insincere and that he's only in it to increase his own power. Hargrove arrests Agent Washington for assisting in the theft of the Epsilon A.I. unit but promises the agent's freedom when Wash says that he can recover it, but Hargrove also turns a blind eye to Wash's unsavory methods. Hargrove attempts to arrest the Reds and Blues when they steal the Epsilon unit again, but he gives everyone -- including Agent Washington -- a full pardon when they bring down the Director for good. In the ''Chorus Trilogy'', Hargrove is revealed to be a CorruptCorporateExecutive who ignited the civil war on Chorus, orchestrated countless deaths -- including some of his own personnel -- kept trophies of the Director's downfall -- including the gun that killed him, and Epsilon-Tex's ''head'' -- and was willing and fully prepared to commit genocide on a planetary scale.]]

*** Jet's goal is to protect children like himself orphaned by the warmongering Fire Nation and to fight back. However, it's made pretty clear that Jet has jumped off this slope when he attempts to [[spoiler:drown an entire town uninvolved with the war effort, murder innocent elderly people, and put his own life at risk for the purpose of revenge]]. He notably later attempts to jump back ''on'' the slope, but it [[RedemptionEqualsDeath doesn't turn out too well]]. It's implied he had already fallen that far long before they met him- the plan was already in place and he had apparently been attacking travelers indiscriminate to their threat-level for a while now. Not to mention his "enforcers" thought nothing of Jet ordering them to kill Sokka. It's not entirely clear whether he truly regretted his actions for being ''morally wrong''.

*** 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 on 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 simple {{Hypocrisy}} is open for debate.

* 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, its 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]].

* When ''Film/TheBatman2022'' gets on the trail of a mysterious serial killer of the city's officials who calls himself ''Riddler'', [[spoiler: and the revelations of the supposed victims crimes are enough to make Batman second-guess himself, it appears that this will be the case with the Riddler and that he slowly loses contact with reality over who is to blame for the state of the city when he puts civilian lives in danger with an out-of-control-car and attempts to murder Bruce with a bomb for his father's crimes. It then turns out zig-zagged as the final part of his plan doesn't so much come to light but proves to have been there all along: flooding Gotham City and gunning down the survivors, leaving no doubt that he sees every single person in the city as just as guilty as the sell-outs and the mafia and will not tell them apart]].

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[[caption-width-right:350:''[[Film/ThePhantomMenace "Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate... leads to suffering."]]'']]
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* 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.

-->-- '''Franchise/{{Batman}}''' to '''[[EvilCounterpart Owlman]]''', ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueCrisisOnTwoEarths''

* Narrowly {{Averted|Trope}} in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' when [[spoiler:Roy goes [[RoaringRampageofRevenge batshit]] [[ColdBloodedTorture insane]] against Envy, but is talked down from dealing the killing blow by his friends]]. Also narrowly averted in the [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist 2003 anime version]] when Ed almost uses the prisoners trapped in Lab 5 to create a PhilosophersStone he's been searching for.

* [[ComicBook/{{Azrael}} Jean-Paul Valley's]] tenure as Franchise/{{Batman}} was exactly this. When given the mantle of the bat by the injured Bruce Wayne, he started out simple and was willing to follow rules. However, after the Scarecrow doused him with Fear Gas and [[BrainwashedAndCrazy the System]] kicked in, Jean-Paul's morality started to waver. He came close to viciously murdering villains such as ComicBook/TheJoker, Tally Man, and Mr. Freeze, and nearly killed Tim when he tried to get Az!Bats to tone down the violence. After letting Abbatoir die by falling into a vat of molten steel, which ensured his captive's death, he decided to embrace his more vicious and brutal side once and for all, leading Bruce to come back and take the mantle from him by force. It's implied [[DependingOnTheWriter by some stories]] that Bruce's fear of going down that same path is why he adheres so rigidly to [[ThouShaltNotKill never killing villains]], no matter how evil they are and no matter how likely they are to escape and kill again.
* Notably averted by Alan Grant's [[Franchise/TheDCU DC Universe]] character of ComicBook/{{Anarky}}: where originally the character was scripted to be willing to murder in pursuance of his anarchic philosophy, as written he upholds the same moral standards as Franchise/{{Batman}}, which makes for some nice NotSoDifferentRemark interactions.
* In the ComicBook/{{Chick Tract|s}} [[http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1033/1033_01.asp "Fairy Tales,"]] a young boy named Harry has a shocking revelation that ''immediately'' causes him to go on a violent rampage and become a [[AxCrazy mass murderer]], ultimately winding up next to Osama Bin Laden on the FBI's most wanted list. What was this world-shattering revelation, you ask? He realized that there's no reason for morality when he was told that... [[spoiler:Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy aren't real]]!
* ''Franchise/GreenLantern'': Hal Jordan, who got so pissed off that the Guardians forbid him to use his ring to temporarily recreate Coast City that he flew to Oa, maiming numerous other Green Lanterns in the way and stealing their rings, leaving them for dead in space, killed Kilowog, killed Sinestro, absorbed the whole power of the main battery (destroying it in the process), became the villain Parallax and then [[strike:tried to destroy the universe in order to recreate it "the right way"]] actually, successfully destroyed the universe, but then the heroes hijacked his attempt to recreate it to make an acceptably similar replacement. In ''ComicBook/GreenLanternRebirth'' it was retconned as he being [[DemonicPossession possessed by the fear entity Parallax]].
* Both ''ComicBook/IronMan2020Event'' and its lead-up details this for Arno Stark, who has [[TakeALeverInJerkass taken a level in jerkass]] by having Tony declared illegitimate and taking away his very identity, taking rather draconian actions to prevent an event, and eve replacing other humans with robots. [[spoiler:It's all for naught as his disease has come back and he's suffering from SanitySlippage, the "Extinction Entity" merely being a delusion.]]
* ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke'' is all about ComicBook/TheJoker trying to break Commissioner Gordon. He fails. Ironically in virtually every adaptation of Joker's origin story, this trope is the main reason he... um, well... is the way he is.
* {{ComicBook/Mystique}} falls of the slippery slope after the death of her partner, Destiny. She hesitates for a while about crossing the line of killing the autistic minor, {{ComicBook/Legion}}, for revenge but quickly chooses to ignore her moral qualms and attempts to finish him off anyway. After this, she continues to spiral downwards into the more sociopath nature she is known for today.
* 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 ComicBook/EmmaFrost 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 ComicBook/{{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 as jumping off the slippery slope as taking to it in a rocket sled. And then keep on going.

* Discussed in ''[[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]]'' when Robin and Spoiler foiled a convenience store robbery and Stephanie took a soda. Tim assumes she's going to pay for it, while she explains that she's earned it as they saved the whole store. She grudgingly puts down some money when Tim asks what prevents her from bending all the rules if she's willing to steal. Scans Daily commented on the scene with:

** It's arguable how far down the slope he already was, but the arc ''Franchise/{{Superman}}: Ending Battle'' is this for NinetiesAntiHero 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]].
** In Franchise/{{Superman}} Annual 3 in the ''ComicBook/{{Armageddon 2001}}'' crossover, Superman declared war on all nuclear weapons. At first, he just took away all nuclear weapons. Then, he started to steal from rich countries to give to the poor countries. Over the course of ten years, he became more intense and actually started sinking submarines that has nuclear weapons on them. When people started to die (accidentally), everyone started to get worried that Superman has gone too far. So, Batman decided that he had to kill Superman with the kryptonite ring.

* ''Fanfic/ArrowRebirth'': Felicity Smoak did a lot of morally ambiguous and outright selfish things in the previous timeline, but the former were almost always for good causes so her loved ones were more willing to ignore the latter. [[spoiler:Then she plots to murder Laurel ([[UnknownRival who doesn't even know her in this timeline]]) just to get Oliver back, chucking out any idea of moral ambiguity out the window and cementing her as a villain. When Oliver finds out what she was up to after she died, he's genuinely shocked, and it makes him wonder if he ever really knew her in the first place]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/SupermanVsTheElite'', NinetiesAntiHero group The Elite start out as {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s [[VillainHasAPoint providing valid counterpoints]] to ComicBook/{{Superman}}'s ThouShaltNotKill philosophy. However, they quickly escalate from killing supervillains and terrorists to murdering the leadership of entire countries, trying to do the same to Superman for getting in their way, and threatening to extend their wrath to the rest of the Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica. And in the comics, TheLeader Manchester Black just gets worse from there.

* When ''Film/TheBatman2022'' gets on the trail of a mysterious serial killer of the city's officials who calls himself ''Riddler'', [[spoiler: and the revelations of the supposed victims crimes are enough to make Batman second-guess himself, it appears that this will be the case with the Riddler and that he slowly loses contact with reality over who is to blame for the state of the city when he puts civilian lives in danger with an out-of-control-car and attempts to murder Bruce with a bomb for his father's crimes. It then turns out zig-zagged as the final part of his plan doesn't so much come to light but proves to have been there all along: flooding Gotham City and gunning down the survivors, leaving no doubt that he sees every single person in the city as just as guilty as the sell-outs and the mafia and will not tell them apart.]]

* ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', [[spoiler:Harvey Dent]] didn't so much "jump off" as much as [[spoiler:get [[strike:kicked]] [[BreakThemByTalking a little push]] from ComicBook/TheJoker]]. This one ends up declaring that chance is the only fair and unbiased judge in the world and decides to force this upon those that he blames for the death of his fiance and his disfigurement which includes the dirty cops who put them in that situation and crime boss Maroni who had them follow the Joker's orders. The thing is he decides to also include in his new twisted worldview Gordon and his family for failing them, despite the fact that Jim really did the best he could.

* ''Film/{{Dogma}}'': Bartleby and Loki are angels, exiled to Wisconsin. After the Tenth Plague, Bartleby convinced Loki to abandon his post as the angel of death. ''Dogma'' is about their ploy to get back into Heaven, through a loophole in Catholic rules. Throughout the movie, Bartleby seems to be the sane man to murder-happy Loki. But when they find out [[spoiler:that the Last Scion (distant grand-niece of Jesus) has been dispatched to kill the two of them, Bartleby snaps.]] He goes directly from ''complacent in the antics of his empathy-lacking partner'', to ''murdering clergymen and innocents indiscriminately because he's bothered about humanity being favored''.
* Adam starts ''Film/ThisIsYourDeath'' with noble--if morally dubious--aims: as a means of providing meaning to the deaths of those who wish to commit suicide, and to make the audience re-evaluate what their life actually means, with added goal of shocking television out of its complacency. However, he quickly capitulates to thechanges the network forces on him in order to keep the show on air; changes that makes he programme more of a game show, thereby diluting his original message. As the show becomes more popular, he is seduced by the fame and wealth it brings him. However, he jumps off the slope when [[spoiler:he murders a woman who changes her mind part way through her suicide--despite the fact contestants are supposed to be able to pull out at any time--because her living would damage the ratings and go against the 'point' he believes he is making.]]

* ''WebComic/VampireCheerleaders'': At the beginning of the comic, Heather is seemingly sweet and somewhat naive, until she's initiated into the Bakerstown High cheerleading team, where she chose to become a vampire. At that point, she reveals [[BitchInSheepsClothing her true colors]], as her first order of business was to use her newfound powers [[http://www.vampirecheerleaders.net/strips-vc/meet_the_parents_3 to turn on her parents]] and, under [[AlphaBitch Lori's]] instruction, [[http://www.vampirecheerleaders.net/strips-vc/meet_the_parents_8 made them her thralls.]] They spend the remainder of the story [[http://www.vampirecheerleaders.net/strips-vc/money_bags as her mindless slaves.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'': Though always an asshole, its 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 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 ComicBook/LexLuthor, 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.

Compare with BaitTheDog, MoralEventHorizon, MotiveDecay, {{Aesoptinum}}, and HeWhoFightsMonsters. Can be a result of a WellIntentionedExtremist realizing that there is NoPlaceForMeThere and becoming a full-time villain. Frequently accompanied by ThenLetMeBeEvil. In case the characters in question were friends prior to Slope-Slipping, it probably triggers WeUsedToBeFriends. If the slippery slope has been greased with AppliedPhlebotinum, that's TheDarkSide. One justification is to make this a particularly grim consequence of hitting someone's BerserkButton or RageBreakingPoint.

Compare with BaitTheDog, MoralEventHorizon, MotiveDecay, {{Aesoptinum}}, and HeWhoFightsMonsters. Can be a result of a WellIntentionedExtremist realizing that there is NoPlaceForMeThere and becoming a full-time villain. Frequently accompanied by ThenLetMeBeEvil. In case the characters in question were friends prior to Slope-Slipping, it probably triggers WeUsedToBeFriends. If the slippery slope has been greased with AppliedPhlebotinum, that's TheDarkSide. One justification is to make this a particularly grim consequence of hitting someone's BerserkButton.