History Main / MirrorUniverse

** The IDW comic story "Mirrored" gives us the Mirror Universe of the [[Film/StarTrek2009 Kelvin Timeline]] Universe. As Captain Spock vanquishes the Klingons in the name of the Terran Empire, Commander Kirk vists Rura Penthe to get revenge on Nero (who in this universe never escaped, and has been there since the attack on the ''Kelvin''). Then Kirk ends up with control of the ''Narada'', and things get worse.

** ''Literature/StarTrekShatnerverse'' novels explain that the Klingon-Cardassian alliance was the brainchild of formal Emperor Kirk as a means of taking revenge on Spock for deposing him from the throne and to regain the Terran Empire's throne for himself. This was mainly due to Mirror Spock deciding not to kill Kirk after his return.[[spoiler: Spock did manage to save the Halkans by claiming they were a client state of the Klingons and that attacking them could lead to a war with the Klingons that the Empire didn't want at the time. This resulted in Kirk getting a commendation for seeing through the Halkan trap.]]

** The ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' [[Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse novel]] "Dark Mirror" explores a Mirror Universe where the Terran Empire, or the United Empire of Planets as its called here, survives well into the 24th century after Spock's efforts to reform the Empire fail. By the 2360s the Empire is running out of space to conquer and [[spoiler:makes an unsuccessful attempt to conquer the prime universe.]] [[note]]Obviously, the novel was written several years before ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' explains what [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E23Crossover really happened]] to the Empire after Kirk left. However since the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E10Parallels Parallels]]" established that an infinite number of mirror universes existed this could provide an explanation of why the "Dark Mirror" Mirror Universe was different.[[/note]]

** In the ''Literature/StarTrekNovelVerse'' novels set in the Mirror Universe established that after Spock was unable to convince Kirk to spare the Halkans and got in a fight with the man. Spock killed Kirk and then disposed of Kirk's body. After Spock's opponents accquired the same habit of disappearing that Kirk's opponents used to have, dissent died down on the ISS ''Enterprise''. Gathering power and influence, Spock rose to command the Empire, which he soon disestablished in favor of the Terran Republic, but the Klingons and Cardassians still wanted revenge for the Empire's acts.

* The DarkWorld in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'', the future Hyrule in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', Termina in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'', the Twilight Realm in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', and Lorule in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds''. Usually Link can go back and forth between worlds once you find the appropriate PlotCoupon (which in [=ALttP=] and TP is indeed a mirror).
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames'' basically take place within two different universes that are mirror universes of each other. Subverted when you play one game with the code you get from another, where [[spoiler:some people from Labrynna are in Holodrum and vice versa]], depending on which game you play second.

* Also the ''Manga/DeathNote'' [[AlternateUniverseFic AU]] ''Fanfic/TheFaceless''- in canon Light [[spoiler: kills L]] [[VillainWithGoodPublicity but is seen as admirable by the men he's deceived.]] In this universe Light [[spoiler: rescues L]] and is met with derision by his soldiers as they realize the AwfulTruth about what they were fighting for.

Contrast with DarkWorld. Not to be confused with MirrorWorld or MirrorCharacter.

Often a subset of BizarroUniverse, it is an AlternateUniverse where Good and Evil characterisations are reversed, but is otherwise the same as the "real" universe - except where logically derived from this change in morality. As an example, in BizarroWorld, the Earth is a cube. In the mirror universe, the earth is a sphere, but the MirrorSelf of TheBrigadier has a cool eyepatch.

** Lastly there’s [[Characters/DarkNightsMetal The Batman who Laughs]], the LaughingMad EvilTwin of Batman from an AlternateUniverse where he was poisoned with Joker Gas, went insane and massacred the Bat-Family, turning into a terrifying supervillain. Worse still, The Batman who Laughs has all of good Batman’s CrazyPrepared skill making him all the more dangerous. Ironically it takes an EnemyMine situation between both Batman and The Joker to bring The Batman who Laughs down.

** Our Harrison Wells was shady where the viewer could see but the cast couldn’t, eventually revealed as [[spoiler: Eobard “Reverse-Flash” Thawne.]] You worry when theirs turns out to be a bit shady too, but it turns out that he’s [[spoiler: trying to protect his daughter, held by Zoom, at any cost]], and eventually levels with the team. Of course, this isn’t a perfect example since [[spoiler: Reverse-Flash had taken the identity of the true Wells of our world, who seems to have been a decent guy]].
** Our Linda Park is an innocent reporter. Theirs is the enemy known as Dr. Light. She’s more sympathetic than most of Zoom’s crew, though.

* ''Fanfic/HalloweenUnspectacular'': The fifth edition story "The Other Side of the Mirror" shows a world where an alternate version of [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastEmpire Aang]] leads the oppressive Empire of the Sky alongside a council of counterparts to other Nicktoons characters, all of whom see no problem with sentencing a freedom fighter version of Azula to forced labor with her civil rights stripped away.

* The movie ''Anime/NarutoTheMovieRoadToNinja'' from ''[[Franchise/{{Naruto}} Naruto Shippuden]]'' is based on this concept. Naruto and Sakura are transported to a parallel world where Sakura's parents sacrificed themselves for Konoha instead of Naruto and most characters exhibit the reverse of their normal personalities. Ex. Ino becomes a prude, Shino hates bugs, etc.

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10071646/1/Forever-Evil Forever Evil]]'' gives Owlman to Batman -- his doppelganger from a morality-inverted universe who's very much a SocialDarwinist crime boss. Interestingly, Owlman is ''much more'' openly affectionate and doting towards his sidekick than Batman. He's still an horrendous ParentalSubstitute due to his deep {{Yandere}} tendences.

** Certain other aspects of characters are flipped in the mirror universe as well. In ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', Bashir is a [[DumbMuscle stupid and brutish thug]] (most likely due to never having been genetically altered), Odo is a [[TheBully sadistic slave overseer]], Jadzia is a psychotic KnifeNut who is mirror Sisko's lover, mirror Sisko (while a good guy) has very little in the way of restrained self-control, and mirror Ezri and Leeta (while also not villains, though also not squeaky-clean) are both lesbians. ''[[CorruptCorporateExecutive Brunt]]'' of all people becomes a NiceGuy. Things get ridiculous when an [[SerialEscalation entirely fictional holodeck character appears as a real person]], (perhaps his mirror creator makes androids instead of holodeck characters?) whereupon everyone gives up trying to make sense of things.

* Given that the ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' fandom is a breeding ground for [[AlternateUniverse Alternate Universes]], it's not surprising that one of these exists - Underfell, where the monsters were forced to [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold bury their kinder natures]] and "kill or be killed" is the law of the land. Typically, [[BigBad Flowey]] becomes the player's partner and guide, while [[AllLovingHero Papyrus]] becomes a vicious sadist ([[MinionWithAnFInEvil or at least tries to be]]), [[EndearinglyDorky Alphys]] becomes a MadScientist, Undyne and Mettaton both become significantly more vicious, Toriel becomes MyBelovedSmother or an EvilMatriarch, and Asgore is a dictator and unrepentant child-murderer. And everything generally looks DarkerAndEdgier. Some interpretations put a little more emphasis on the ''[[AntiVillain looks]]'' part, turning it more into a human intimidation tactic than anything truly genuine.

* An episode of ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesXY'' has Ash travel into one when his Mirror Counterpart grabbed his Pikachu. The mirror counterparts of the main cast all have opposite characteristics: Ash is timid, and Pikachu is always attacking Team Rocket, who are celebrated heroes, Clemont is athletic and relies on magic, Bonnie is mature and ladylike, and Serena is aggresive.

* An episode of ''Anime/{{Pokemon}} XY'' has Ash travel into one when his Mirror Counterpart grabbed his Pikachu. The mirror counterparts of the main cast all have opposite characteristics: Ash is timid, and Pikachu is always attacking Team Rocket, who are celebrated heroes, Clemont is athletic and relies on magic, Bonnie is mature and ladylike, and Serena is aggresive.

* ''Series/DarkMatter'': An alternate universe is introduced in the second season episode "Stuff to Steal, People to Kill". It's not a straight example of a Mirror Universe because not everyone's moralities are reversed, but the moralities of the ''Raza'' crew (our protagonists) are. In the primary universe they were mindwiped at the beginning of the series and became subject to AmnesiacsAreInnocent, and in the alternate universe this never happened, so they are still a bunch of mass-murdering [[PsychoForHire Psychos for Hire]]. The AU crew join forces with Ferrous Corp and Emperor Ishida as a BigBadEnsemble in Season 3. The ChronicBackstabbingDisorder that crewmembers Two and Three encounter while ImpersonatingTheEvilTwin on the alternate ''Raza'' is an intentional ShoutOut to the attempted coup Kirk, [=McCoy=] and Uhura face in the ''Star Trek'' Mirror Universe.

*** It should be noted that the show does occasionally show us parallel universes that are not the 'Mirror Universe.' In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Parallels", Worf is stuck traveling between different realities in which there are mostly only minor differences. The only semi-villainous alternate main character was a Riker from a timeline in which the Borg had assimilated much of the Galaxy, who fired on Worf's shuttle, desperate to avoid returning to his native universe. He does sport a much more wild and unkempt beard than our Riker, but it is clearly a BeardOfSorrow rather than a BeardOfEvil.

** The IDW comic story "Mirrored" gives us the Mirror Universe of the [[Film/StarTrek2009 Kelvin Timeline]] Universe. As Captain Spock vanquishes the Klingons in the name of the Terran Empire, Commander Kirk vists Rura Penthe to get revenge on Nero, (who in this universe never escaped, and has been there since the attack on the ''Kelvin''). Then Kirk ends up with control of the ''Narada'', and things get worse.
*** There were several non-canonical sources made between before [=DS9=] that explored the Mirror Universe. As the setting wasn't as well defined as it was later by [=DS9=] some continuity elements may shock some readers. For example the term "Terran" wasn't coint until [=DS9=] thus the works refer to the Empire (which was nameless in the original "Mirror, Mirror" episode) as the United Empire of Planets (for example in the TNG novels Dark Universe, in which the Empire is still pretty much fine in the 24th century) and in some countinuities as the Human-Vulcan Empire with Vulcans, Andorians and Tellarites having more equal footing in the Empire than as shown in Enterprise. However this might explained why Vulcans shared the punishment and were turn into slaves by the Klingo-Cardassian Alliance.

* In an episode of ''Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm'', Tori is sent into a parallel universe where the other rangers are the bad guys and the villains are good guys (the shallow, fashioned obsessed villainesses are even hippies in this universe).

*** We are also introduced the one biological difference between a Mirror Universe Terran and Prime Universe human: [[spoiler:sensitive to light. This is how Michael recognizes the Lorca that she served is actually from Mirror Universe]].

* The ''Star Trek'' Mirror Universe started out (in the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' that introduced it) as identical to the main universe, except that for the moral inversion between the Federation characters and their evil Terran Empire counterparts. When the Mirror Universe was revisited in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', the correspondences were less straightforward -- the Empire had been overthrown, humans were downtrodden slaves, and the station was run by [[DepravedBisexual Kira's evil counterpart]].

** Season 2 of ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' introduces a ''different'' Mirror Universe, which is [[spoiler: actually the regular timeline, altered by Q changing the past]]. In this one, the dominant power is the Confederation of Earth rather than the Terran Empire, but it has much the same policies, only it seems to be more efficient because it's a more Lawful and less Chaotic evil. Picard is a ruthless general who collects the skulls of his enemies, Rios is a colonel fighting against the Vulcans, Seven is the President, with Agnes as her chief scientist and Raffi as her head of security, and Elnor is a Romulan freedom fighter. If anything, this is more chilling than the regular Mirror Universe, because while it's usually presented as [[NeverWasThisUniverse having always been like that]], this universe is specifically the result of something that happened as recently as [[NextSundayAD 2024]].

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueCrisisOnTwoEarths https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/JL_Crisis_Cover_art_by_Phillybee_8034.jpg]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/TheWotch https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mirror_4.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350: The guy in the mirror is evil. [[Webcomic/ElGoonishShive The guy not in the mirror]] is [[DudeLooksLikeALady a guy.]][[note]][[GenderBender Well, usually at least...]][[/note]]]]

** Our Ronnie Raymond: half of the heroic Firestorm, until his apparent death. Theirs: ''all'' of the evil Deathstorm after having wrested full control away from Martin Stein, who remains [[AndIMustScream trapped inside him, unable to even communicate by now.]] (Which may make Stein a rare person to be good in both worlds.)

** Our Hunter Zolomon is a normal guy as far as we can tell. Theirs is [[spoiler: the BigBad Zoom.]]

** Our Ronnie Raymond: Half of the heroic Firestorm, until his apparent death. Theirs: ''All'' of the evil Deathstorm after having wrested full control away from Martin Stein who remains [[AndIMustScream trapped inside him, unable to even communicate by now.]] (Which may make Stein a rare person to be good in both worlds.)

** Not ''all'' of the CCPD is the same: Our David Singh is the police captain. Theirs is a criminal who was being brought in, though it was a brief enough sequence that we don't know how villainous or redeemable he is.

** There's also Earth-X, where many heroes and other good characters are honest-to-God Nazis. This includes Oliver (Black Arrow and the ''Fuhrer''), Kara (Overgirl and Oliver's wife), Barry (Blitzkrieg), [[spoiler:Tommy Merlyn]] (Prometheus), Quentin (a Sturmbannfuhrer who had his own gay daughter executed), Laurel (Syren-X, who is even worse than Black Syren).

** Season 2 of ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' introduces a ''different'' Mirror Universe, which is [[spoiler: actually the regular timeline, altered by Q changing the past]]. In this one, the dominant power is the Confederation of Earth rather than the Terran Empire, but it has much the same policies. Picard is a ruthless general who collects the skulls of his enemies, Rios is a colonel fighting against the Vulcans, Seven is the President, with Agnes as her chief scientist and Raffi as her head of security, and Elnor is a Romulan freedom fighter. If anything, this is more chilling than the regular Mirror Universe, because while it's usually presented as [[NeverWasThisUniverse having always been like that]], this universe is specifically the result of something that happened as recently as [[NextSundayAD 2024]].

* ''Script/AHDotComTheSeries'' has the Mirror Crew, though we never see their home universe. They're stereotypical pure evil much like the Franchise/StarTrek original, but the dynamic is quite different because the ''primary'' AH.com crew are scarcely angels themselves, it's more a case of an "upgrade universe".

** There's also Earth-X, where many heroes and other good characters are honest-to-God Nazis. This includes Oliver (Black Arrow and the ''Fuhrer''), Kara (Overgirl and Oliver's wife), Barry (Blitzkrieg), [[spoiler:Tommy Merlyn]] (Prometheus), Quentin (a Sturmbannfuhrer who had his own gay daughter executed).