History Main / VillainousEthicsDecay

* ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'': The Retired|Monster ProfessionalKiller Lu Fang gripes about how {{the T|riadsAndTheTongs}}ong these days are too disorganized and murder-happy, whereas in his era, they were [[DoWrongRight at least better-organized]]. It's eventually revealed that gang violence in Chinatown really is getting worse, thanks to [[spoiler:the recently arrived vampire Ming Xiao, who's indirectly sponsoring the Tong and exploiting the chaos to build her power base]].

* [[ComicBook/GreenLantern Kyle Rayner]] {{Lampshade|Hanging}}s this in ''ComicBook/JLA1997'' when fighting Armek and Zenturion of the Hyperclan:
-->"Reality check: I'm in the Gobi Desert, one super crazy's ''choking'' me to death and his huge armored pal just threatened to ''cripple'' me. What ''is'' it with super-villains nowadays? What happened to crazy jewel heists and dumb traps? Now they [[StuffedInTheFridge murder your girlfriend and stuff her in a fridge for kicks]]. The ''old'' Green Lantern had it ''easy.''
* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': In the world of Judge Dredd, violent criminals are such a constant presence that the megacities that survived [[AfterTheEnd the nuclear apocalypse]] now depend on the totalitarian rule of the "Judges", a police state where the cops are JudgeJuryAndExecutioner. In the time the story takes place, "democracy" is seen as a dirty word amongst the populace, as it was a [[PresidentEvil corrupt and megalomanical]] US President that caused the nuclear war leading the world to its current state.

* ''Film/TheDarkKnight'': The opening scene has the Joker and his mooks carry out a heist on a mob-owned bank, and secretly ordering each of the mooks to [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness kill each other so they get a bigger share of the loot]], then killing the last one and keeping it all for himself. After witnessing the heist, the disgusted bank manager comments that Gotham's criminals used to have some concept of respect and honor. The rest of the film then goes on to show that the criminals of Gotham [[TerroristsWithoutACause have nothing on him]].
* ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'': As in many superhero movies, we see ordinary crime being taken into increasingly fantastical direction, in this case thanks to Adrian Toomes' black market network selling increasingly advanced and destructive alien or SHIELD weapons on the streets. Not all of the local criminals are happy about this evolution, which actually helps Spiderman when he tries to shut down Toomes.
-->'''Aaron''': I just something to stick up somebody! I'm not trying to shoot them back in time!

* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'': In the earliest days of the Age of Pirates, a court of Pirate Lords formed a Code (inscribed in a book called the Codex) which stated the rules by which pirates would operate, which ensured that there was some form of civility and courtesy amongst them. By the time of the first three films, however, pirates have become far more thuggish (in part due to pressure from the East India Trading Company and other marine troops), and thus began overlooking the Code or treating its terms as "guidelines". However, this practice ''greatly'' irritates many of the older pirates--particularly Captain Teague (father of Jack Sparrow), who won't hesitate to murder anyone who even ''questions'' the Code.
-->'''Captain Teague:''' ''Code is the law.''

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'':
** ''Literature/XWingSeries'': Being a former cop from a family of cops, Corran Horn recalls his father complaining about how this has happened to organized crime. Black Sun (TheSyndicate of the galaxy far far away) was always ruthless, but it's become increasingly indiscriminate in modern times: in the past, informants and traitors were always legitimate targets, as were law enforcement and enemy gangsters, but in recent years it's become normal to also murder their entire families just to send a message, or an entire room full of innocent bystanders because it's easier than hitting an individual. Political assassinations of officials Black Sun isn't able to buy off has also become the norm, and the drugs being dealt have become more and more addictive and destructive.
** The way the underworld goes in the Bantam era (i.e. the couple of decades after ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'') is a rare inversion. With Black Sun and the Hutt clans having been either destroyed or severely weakened by the end of the movie era, the largest underworld organization to fill the vacuum is the Smugglers Alliance - a combination ThievesGuild and WeirdTradeUnion that brings together a number of smuggling crews like Han and Chewie. Under the leadership of Talon Karrde, the organization does adhere to a basic code of honor that would have been unthinkable for the underworld's previous big shots, treating all employees fairly and refusing to touch the nastier forms of crime such as slave trading. This encourages their somewhat rocky friendship with the New Republic.

** Terrorism, in general, is portrayed as a criminal problem that's gone from bad to worse throughout the course of the series. As early as ''Literature/PatriotGames'', British and American cops are found speaking fondly of the days when the most common public enemies they had to worry about were bank robbers, rather than people who commit murder to make a political statement. [[WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell Then the Cold War ends]], and the problem immediately becomes much worse: in the past, most terrorist groups were part of the East/West power struggle and had ties to national governments who could exercise some control over them. With the Cold War over, these groups have now been left to their own devices and no longer have any higher authority that could restrain them. Cue UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror ...

* In an early episode of ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}'', the title character consults an old jewel thief he knows for help with a recent string of home invasion jewel thefts. The thief waxes nostalgic about his day, wherein he was a "ghost," creeping into houses while the owner was away and relieving them of their jewelry without disturbing anything else. Meanwhile, the current thieves are "vampires," with a desire for blood and violence, who seem more concerned with making people suffer than actually making a profit off their goods. His skill with a StealthHiBye and the fact that his "revenge" against Castle for earlier revealing his identity is [[spoiler: teaming up with his mother to embarrass him at a charity gala]], while the current thieves beat a woman to death and [[StuffedInTheFridge shoved her into a wall safe]] does lend some credence to his description.
* ''Series/LeverageRedemption'': Befitting its JustLikeRobinHood premise, this show applies this trope to corporate abuse and political corruption rather than the street crime and organized crime it's more often applied to. Newcomer Harry Wilson argues that in the mere ten years since the original show, the elites' ability to commit crimes and get away with it has become worse than ever.
-->'''Harry Wilson''': These people you pursue, they don't just cheat anymore. They rewrote the rules. So now if they get caught, they never really get punished.

* ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'': The {{retired|Monster}} ProfessionalKiller Lu Fang gripes about how {{the T|riadsAndTheTongs}}ong these days are too disorganized and murder-happy, whereas in his era, they were [[DoWrongRight at least better-organized]]. It's eventually revealed that gang violence in Chinatown really is getting worse, thanks to [[spoiler:the recently arrived vampire Ming Xiao, who's indirectly sponsoring the Tong and exploiting the chaos to build her power base]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Played for laughs in "The Great Louse Detective". [[RecruitingTheCriminal When Homer hires Sideshow Bob for hunting down a potential murderer]], they stop at the Kwik-E-Mart, where Bob chats with Apu, who look back wistfully on the robbery that got Bob arrested with fondness and Apu praises Bob as one who understood the theatrics of stick-up thieves, unlike the modern generation that just shoot Apu and take whatever they can before running off.

** Notably, he seems to be uncaring of any actual ethical lapses on Blind Rage's part, instead [[DoWrongRight being angered]] by the lack of [[ContractualGenreBlindness showmanship in modern villains.]]

See also EvenEvilHasStandards, when a nostalgic criminal discusses this. If this trope ''isn't'' true, but the old-fashioned villain ''believes'' it was, you probably have an EvilReactionary. A possible explanation of how things got here is if [[DisproportionateRetribution The Chicago Way]] is taken to its logical conclusion.

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'': Most depictions of Gotham fit this description, with crime being so out-of-hand by the time Bruce Wayne's parents are murdered that the police have either given up or have been bought out by the mob. Some books also argue that Batman [[SuperheroParadox only makes things worse]], because his appearance only creates or inspires more powerful and psychotic criminals.

--> '''Riddler:''' "You look around here these days, it's all different. It's all changed. The Joker's killing people, for God's sake! Did I miss something? Was I away when they changed the rules?"

* In an early episode of ''Series/{{Castle}}'', the title character consults an old jewel thief he knows for help with a recent string of home invasion jewel thefts. The thief waxes nostalgic about his day, wherein he was a "ghost," creeping into houses while the owner was away and relieving them of their jewelry without disturbing anything else. Meanwhile, the current thieves are "vampires," with a desire for blood and violence, who seem more concerned with making people suffer than actually making a profit off their goods. His skill with a StealthHiBye and the fact that his "revenge" against Castle for earlier revealing his identity is [[spoiler: teaming up with his mother to embarrass him at a charity gala]], while the current thieves beat a woman to death and [[StuffedInTheFridge shoved her into a wall safe]] does lend some credence to his description.

This is a trope heavily on the cynical side of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism, and is a key sign that a work is DarkerAndEdgier than its predecessors or forebearers. It combines the NostalgiaFilter with the criminal underworld, creating a narrative thread where criminals at large have become much tougher, meaner and out-of-control... usually to a degree that current law and order are inequipped to deal with, and even older criminals find too distressing to get involved with.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': The Chaos gods who embody rage, desire, despair, and hope (yes, really) are the amalgamation of those emotions felt by sentient beings across the universe. While they were once at least somewhat honorable, millenia of said sentients making war, lusting, killing and backstabbing each other (and not just humans either) means that now they're flanderized into, well, things that are called the Ruinous Powers for good reason (e.g. followers of Khorne wouldn't attack non-combatants, now the closest they come to thatn is killing any fighters before going back to defenseless massacres).

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This is a trope heavily on the cynical side of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism, and is a key sign that a work is DarkerAndEdgier than its predecessors or forebearers. It combines the NostalgiaFilter with the criminal underworld, creating a narrative thread where criminals at large have become much tougher, meaner and out-of-control...usually to a degree that current law and order are inequipped to deal with, and even older criminals find too distressing to get involved with.

This trope is the polar opposite of OutdatedHeroVsImprovedSociety.

* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': In the world of Judge Dredd, violent criminals are such a constant presence that the megacities that survived [[AfterTheEnd the nuclear apocalypse]] now depend on the totalitarian rule of the "Judges", a police state which are JudgeJuryAndExecutioner. In the time the story takes place, "democracy" is seen as a dirty word amongst the populace, as it was a [[PresidentEvil corrupt and megalomanical]] US President that caused the nuclear war leading the world to its current state.

* ''Film/TheDarkKnight'': The opening scene has the Joker and his mooks carry out a heist on a mob-owned bank, and secretly ordering each of the mooks to [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness kill each other so they get a bigger share of the loot]], then killing the last one and keeping it all for himself. After witnessing the heist, the disgusted bank manager comments that Gotham's criminals used to have some concept of respect and honor.

The trope is a hallmark of the UrbanHellscape trope, where cities have become overrun with crime. This sort of story always makes the case that modern crime needs more extreme or unorthodox methods to deal with, including [[AllCrimesAreEqual heavy-handed justice]], CowboyCop police who don't bother with pesky things like search warrants, [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique torture]], or [[VigilanteMan vigilantes]][=/=]{{superhero}}es who are willing to work outside the law (and, occasionally, [[PayEvilUntoEvil get their hands dirty]]). Because being "soft" on crime is usually what got the characters ''into'' this mess in the first place. It also shows up in many HeroicBloodshed movies, where criminals who believe in family, loyalty and honor are threatened by more vicious criminals who believe in none of these things.