History WouldHurtAChild / ComicBooks

** The original Clayface, Basil Karlo, is just as awful as the Joker in this department. During ''No Man's Land'' he enslaves and abuses the children under Poison Ivy's care to force them to make produce he can sell. A later story has him forming a cult out of mentally unstable teenage fans of his movies, whom offer themselves to be devoured by him. All in all, he's definitely the most unambiguously vile to take the Clayface name and ''is not'' the reluctant monster from the animated series.

* So in ''ComicBook/MegaRoboBros'', Alex and Freddy are two robot brothers who are children. Which means no villain will go after them right? ''WRONG.'' Them being superpowered robots who shoot laser beams out of their hands and having great amounts of strength which includes being immune to large amounts of damage inflicted onto their robot bodies means [[RealityEnsues that there are a greater chance of villains such as Robo 23 in book 1, Team Robotix in book 2, and Wolfram in book 2 and book 3 will threaten them with severe attacks that will guarantee a severe amount of physical harm to a human being]].

* Part of what makes the MarvelUniverse such a CrapsackWorld, at least if you're part of the [[ComicBook/XMen extended X-family]] stories? This is a world where FantasticRacism is so strong that this trope is in place. Yes, there are humans in this world willing to physically abuse, torture, and even ''kill'' kids, just for being born mutants. The 80s story ''ComicBook/GodLovesManKills'' actually ''opens'' with two grade school kids being hunted through the streets at night and then ''lynched'' in a ''playground'' by anti-mutant [[TheFundamentalist religious bigots]]. Meanwhile, the fortunately minor villain organization the U-men ''specializes'' in hunting down young mutants and [[HumanResources vivisecting them for the raw materials for super-power-granting organ transplants]]. [[DarknessInducedAudienceApathy There's a reason]] readers often complain that ComicBook/{{Magneto}}'s KillAllHumans aren't unjustified.

* ''ComicBook/{{X23}}'':

* ''ComicBook/X23'':

* ComicBook/{{Mystique}} a RareFemaleExample is just as vile as Sabretooth when it comes to this trope, as she has no issue killing little children and babies whenever she sees fit, she infamously tossed her own infant son ComicBook/{{Nightcrawler}} [[OffingTheOffspring off a cliff]]. In ''New X-Men #46'' she uses the infant ComicBook/HopeSummers on ComicBook/{{Rogue}} (who has TouchOfDeath powers) to bring the latter out of coma. Hope is unharmed, but Rogue flips her shit when she learns what her adoptive mother did. If that wasn't bad enough, in ''X-Men: Worst X-Man Ever'' Mystique sexually molests the protagonist Bailey, who's a minor.
* ''ComicBook/{{X 23}}'':

* So in ''ComicBook/MegaRoboBros'', Alex and Freddy are two robot brothers who are children. Which means no villain will go after them right? ''WRONG.'' Them being superpowered robots who shoot laser beams out of their hands and having great amounts of strength which includes being immune to large amounts of damage inflicted onto their robot bodies means [[RealityEnsues that there are a greater chance of villains such as Robo 23 in book 1, Team Robotix in book 2, and Wolfram in book 3 will threaten them with severe attacks that will guarantee a severe amount of physical harm to a human being]].

* So in ''ComicBook/MegaRoboBros'', Alex and Freddy are two robot brothers who are children. Which means no villain will go after them right? ''WRONG.'' Them being superpowered robots who shoot laser beams out of their hands and having great amounts of strength which includes being immune to large amounts of damage inflicted onto their robot bodies means that there are a greater chance of villains such as Robo 23 in book 1, Team Robotix in book 2, and Wolfram in book 3 will threaten them with severe attacks that will guarantee a severe amount of physical harm to a human being.

* So in ''[[ComicBook/MegaRoboBros]]'', Alex and Freddy are two robot brothers who are children. Which means no villain will go after them right? ''WRONG.'' Them being superpowered robots who shoot laser beams out of their hands and having great amounts of strength which includes being immune to large amounts of damage inflicted onto their robot bodies means that there are a greater chance of villains such as Robo 23 in book 1, Team Robotix in book 2, and Wolfram in book 3 will threaten them with severe attacks that will guarantee a severe amount of physical harm to a human being.

* Doctor Doom showed no hesitation in trying to murder the Hulk's young son, Skaar, and at the end of Avengers: The Children's Crusade, he [[spoiler: kills the young Cassie Lang.]] On the other hand, God help anyone who tries to hurt one of ''Latveria's'' children when he's around (or the Richards kids. ''Especially'' Valeria).

* ComicBook/NormanOsborn visited Baxter Building to speak with Reed in one of the ComicBook/DarkReign stories (Dark Reign: Fantastic Four Vol 1 4). Unfortunately, the ComicBook/FantasticFour team was away at the time and the only people left in the building were Richards' children, Franklin and Valeria. Visit is tense, but more or less civilized, until Franklin showed up with Spider-Man's mask. It does not take long for Norman, known psychopath, to start shooting at kids.

* In Franchise/{{Superman}}, [[spoiler: Catherine Jane "Cat" Grant's son Adam Morgan is first kidnapped by Toyman (alongside other children), then is stabbed to death when he attempted to escape from him.]]

* ComicBook/TheUltimates

** In the FinalBattle of ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}'' [[spoiler: Diana herself (or more accurately the evil BadFuture version) attacks Billy Batson aka ComicBook/CaptainMarvel from behind with her sword running him through and killing him (in the animated adaptation she slits his throat). Barry whose witnesses it is absolutely horrified, as the Diana he knows [[FriendToAllChildren would never]] [[MamaBear lay a finger]] on a innocent child]].

* ComicBook/{{Mystique}} is just as vile as Sabretooth when it comes to this trope, as she has no issue killing little children and babies whenever she sees fit, she infamously tossed her own infant son ComicBook/{{Nightcrawler}} off a cliff. In ''New X-Men #46'' she uses the infant ComicBook/HopeSummers on ComicBook/{{Rogue}} (who has TouchOfDeath powers) to bring the latter out of coma. Hope is unharmed, but Rogue flips her shit when she learns what her adoptive mother did. If that wasn't bad enough, in ''X-Men: Worst X-Man Ever'' Mystique sexually molests the protagonist Bailey, who's a minor.

* In ''ComicBook/ADistantSoil'', there is actually a ''holiday'' for this on the planet Ovanan. In order to weed out children whose psychic potential is too great ("variants"), all children are ceremonially tested by the [[GodEmperor Avatar]], who kills any with potential that could allow them to threaten the ruling [[DeadlyDecadentCourt Hierarchy]]. [[NightmareFuel The kids have to stand in line and literally wait for their turn to find out whether they will live or die!]]

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* ComicBook/TheUltimates
** ComicBook/RedSkull holding a gun to a baby's head. Horrifically, he [[DestinationDefenestration killed the baby anyway]], even [[ILied after his demands are met]]!
** Black Widow killed all of Hawkeye's family, including his children.
** Captain America uses an entire kindergarten class as a human shield against War Machine. He knows that black ops ''would'' hurt children, but not in broad daylight, when it can become a huge PR problem.
* ComicBook/TheJoker has been known to do this, [[ComicBook/ADeathInTheFamily just ask Jason Todd]]...
** On one occasion, he and Catwoman took a whole rich family hostage, including a tiny IllGirl who was in a coma. Joker was completely ready to kill the little girl in front of her father and older brother, but [[EvenEvilHasStandards a VERY pissed-off Catwoman stopped him]] and screamed that [[NotWhatISignedOnFor that wasn't what they came for]].
** Perhaps Joker's most notorious moment of this came during the "No Man's Land" mega-arc, where he plotted to kill all the newborns in Gotham City on New Year's Day, just so that he could destroy the already fragile spirit of Gotham's citizens. Although his dialogue to the babies indicated he thought he was ''doing them a favor'', sparing them from life's cruelties. And he ''did'' promise it wouldn't hurt. After [[spoiler: killing Sarah Essen-Gordon, who tried to save the babies from him]], he leaves the newborns unharmed despite still having plenty of time to kill them before Batman arrived. Notably, it's one of the few times the Joker has ''[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness stopped smiling]]''.
** So has ComicBook/TwoFace. Ask ''all'' the Robins.
** There was also what he did in ''ComicBook/TheNail'': torturing and killing [[spoiler: Dick and Barbara]] '''on live television'''. [[spoiler: No wonder this is one of the VERY counted times [[ActionDad Batman]] [[PapaWolf breaks]] his not-killing vow, albeit while in a grief-induced traumatic rage]].
** ''ComicBook/DeathOfTheFamily'': Joker has a track record for this. He certainly has no problem fighting [[spoiler: Damian]], the 10-year-old kid who beat him up with a crowbar.
** Harley herself is not withheld from this. In the New 52, she massacred hundreds of children by using bombs disguised as handheld gaming consoles.
** Outside of the Joker, ''[[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]]'' villain Scarab was hired to kill Robin and set out dispassionately killing a bunch of teenagers and their families who fit the profile to possibly be him before ComicBook/{{Batman}} realized what was going on. She only stopped because Stephanie's appearance as Robin convinced her that one of her previous victims was her target. Tim managed to build an entire RoguesGallery of individuals willing and eager to try and kill him only one of whom was a fellow kid.
** The original Clayface, Basil Karlo, is just as awful as the Joker in this department. During ''No Man's Land'' he enslaves and abuses the children under Poison Ivy's care to force them to make produce he can sell. A later story has him forming a cult out of mentally unstable teenage fans of his movies, whom offer themselves to be devoured by him. All in all, he's definitely the most unambiguously vile to take the Clayface name and ''is not'' the reluctant monster from the animated series.
** Early in the Dark Knight's career (as depicted in ''Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight''), Doctor Randolph Porter sacrificed his own daughter to be kidnapped and drowned, just to manipulate Batman into becoming an unwitting test subject for the drug that would come to be known as venom (the girl's death prompted Batman to seek out a means of enhancing himself physically, which led to him becoming briefly addicted to Porter's drugs).

* The child abductor in ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}.''
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'':
** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Paula von Gunther seems to be made furious just by seeing children playing, and at one point turns her car towards a child and runs over his sled. The fact that she didn't actually run him over, just brushed him, clues Diana into there being something more behind this and her subsequent questioning of the villain with her lasso reveals that Paula's own daughter is held captive by the Nazis. She hates seeing happy kids because it reminds her of what her love for her own has twisted her into and that she has given up hope of seeing her again.
** In ''The Legend of Wonder Woman'' the amoral MadScientist Queen Atomia was fine with kidnapping children, including young Suzy.
** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman2006'': Alkyone tried to kill Diana when she was a defenseless baby, out of jealously and a misplaced twisted sense of duty.
** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': Medusa specifically targets the young Garibaldi brothers during her attack on the embassy, though she'd prefer to kill ''everyone'' there. She actually succeeds in murdering [[spoiler:Martin Garibaldi]] despite ComicBook/WonderWoman's attempts to stop her, all it takes is the tiniest lull in their fight while Diana was getting back to her feet.
** In the FinalBattle of ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}'' [[spoiler: Diana herself (or more accurately the evil BadFuture version) attacks Billy Batson aka ComicBook/CaptainMarvel from behind with her sword running him through and killing him (in the animated adaptation she slits his throat). Barry whose witnesses it is absolutely horrified, as the Diana he knows [[FriendToAllChildren would never]] [[MamaBear lay a finger]] on a innocent child]].
* ComicBook/FantasticFour villain the Wizard had absolutely no qualms about performing an experiment on Franklin Richards that had a high probabilty of causing Franklin's death. Fortunately for Franklin, the Wizard's current partner the Mad Thinker [[EvenEvilHasStandards would not hear of it]], dissolved their partnership and contacted the Thing, who helped him defeat the Wizard.

* One of the first things the Plutonian does in ''ComicBook/{{Irredeemable}}'' is vaporize a child.
* RareFemaleExample: [[MeaningfulName Frau Totenkinder]] of ''{{ComicBook/Fables}}'' [[spoiler:kills her own son and countless other infants for power - even in the mundy world, she funds abortion clinics.]]

* The plot of ''[[ComicBook/SinCity That Yellow Bastard]]'' revolves around a CowboyCop going after a villain that preys on children.
* ComicBook/SpiderMan villain ComicBook/{{Carnage}} has no qualms about who he kills, children included. During his rampages, child corpses are often among the dead, and in his youth he torched an orphanage.
* ComicBook/{{Sabretooth}} from ''ComicBook/XMen'' is known to attack, murder, and sometimes even eat children. In one issue, ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} is in a cabin with him and he opens a closet to find a little girl tied up. When he asks about this, Sabretooth replies that he's saving her for later.
* ComicBook/{{Mystique}} is just as vile as Sabretooth when it comes to this trope, as she has no issue killing little children and babies whenever she sees fit, she infamously tossed her own infant son ComicBook/{{Nightcrawler}} off a cliff. In ''New X-Men #46'' she uses the infant ComicBook/HopeSummers on ComicBook/{{Rogue}} (who has TouchOfDeath powers) to bring the latter out of coma. Hope is unharmed, but Rogue flips her shit when she learns what her adoptive mother did. If that wasn't bad enough, in ''X-Men: Worst X-Man Ever'' Mystique sexually molests the protagonist Bailey whose a minor.

* ''ComicBook/BigfootBill'': Shadow of the Mothman
** One example is played for laughs. When Bigfoot Bill sees a kid nearby, the Kraken attached to him says, "Can I eat it?"
** The next example is played more seriously. Mothman scours the city looking to absorb fear from one person, and he swoops in and kidnaps Georgia Lee, that same aforementioned kid that Bigfoot Bill befriended not too long ago.
* In ''ComicBook/CerebusTheAardvark'', this starts showing up once the CerebusSyndrome kicks in, with the most notorious example being Pope Cerebus blessing an infant after his mother begs Cerebus to do so and then hurling it away to illustrate the point that "you can get what you want and still not be very happy."
* Doctor Doom showed no hesitation in trying to murder the Hulk's young son, Skaar, and at the end of Avengers: The Children's Crusade, he [[spoiler: kills the young Cassie Lang.]] On the other hand, God help anyone who tries to hurt one of ''Latveria's'' children when he's around (or the Richards kids. ''Especially'' Valeria).
* In one issue of ''ComicBook/TheSpirit'', two bank robbers plan to kill all witnesses to their crime -- including a little girl just coming around the corner. With ''tommy guns''. [[note]][[spoiler:Frightened, she falls down -- and survives.]][[/note]]
* In Franchise/{{Superman}}, [[spoiler: Catherine Jane "Cat" Grant's son Adam Morgan is first kidnapped by Toyman (alongside other children), then is stabbed to death when he attempted to escape from him.]]
** In ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' Eradicator repeatedly attempts to murder Superman and Lois's young son [[ComicBook/JonathanSamuelKent Jonathan]] as him being a HalfHumanHybrid makes him a "impure Kyrptonian" in Eradicator's eyes.
* Billy Kincaid, an early ComicBook/{{Spawn}} villain, was a SerialKiller who targeted children through his BadHumorTruck.

* Marcus Brutus in ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}} and Son'' fits this trope. He burned down Asterix's village, and nearly kills the baby boy Asterix is trying to protect [[spoiler: because the boy is really Ptolemy XV Caesarion, the son of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, and that killing would solidify Brutus' power in Rome]]. A rare departure from the comedy of the usual comics.
* ''ComicBook/{{X 23}}'':
** A ''very'' rare heroic example: X-23 confirmed to Valeria Richards that she killed children during her time as a TykeBomb assassin-for-hire. This changed, however, after her escape from the Facility. She ''did'' later kill symbiote-infused clones of herself in Blackheart's service, who could technically be considered children.
** And the Facility members who tortured her in the first place certainly qualify. Zander Rice and Kimura both subjected Laura to ''horrific'' physical abuse from the time she was seven years old. Rice also sent her to kill his illegitimate toddler son Henry (she ultimately refused to carry it out), while Kimura tried to kill Laura's cousin, Megan, by ''slowly pushing her finger through her heart'' just to punish Laura over her escape.
* The ComicBook/{{Runaways}} frequently manage to run into villains who are willing to hurt kids. This often leads to humiliating defeats at the hands of Molly and Klara.
* The celebrity team ComicBook/XForce (later called ComicBook/XStatix) overthrew their former coach in part because he planned to hand over a little boy with healing powers to pharmaceutical companies to be dissected.

* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': ALL the Dark Judges are willing to murder children, given their whole "[[AllCrimesAreEqual life is a crime]]" philosophy. Notably, Judge Fire burning down a primary school with everyone inside (earning him the nickname) when he was still human, Judge Mortis pursuing a group of juvie Judges like some undead ImplacableMan during Necropolis, Judge Fear forcing a child on board the ''Mayflower'' to gaze into his face, and Judge Death going on a killing spree in an orphan shelter to draw out Judge Anderson.
* In DC Comics' ''ComicBook/LegendsDC'', Glorious Godfrey goes as far as slapping a child when she tries to speak reason to a crowd of adults that were surrounding the superheroes at the climax of the story, ready to let them have it - unfortunately for Godfrey, [[NiceJobFixingItVillain this is what frees the mob from his power]].
* In ''Comicbook/CableAndDeadpool'' Deadpool states that he would kill a child -- wouldn't like it, but would do so, as he's a merc and this is his job. He later attempts to kill a child [[spoiler:version of Cable, although he's been brainwashed and has just ''rescued'' Little Nate... this all actually MakesSenseInContext.]]
* In ''ComicBook/ADistantSoil'', there is actually a ''holiday'' for this on the planet Ovanan. In order to weed out children whose psychic potential is too great ("variants"), all children are ceremonially tested by the [[GodEmperor Avatar]], who kills any with potential that could allow them to threaten the ruling [[DeadlyDecadentCourt Hierarchy]]. [[NightmareFuel The kids have to stand in line and literally wait for their turn to find out whether they will live or die!]]
* In ''[[ComicBook/TheMultiversity The Multiversity Guidebook #1]]'', the alternate Sivanas have no problem luring a chibi Sivana into their number so that one of them can eat him. [[spoiler:Given everyone else on his world was a robot, that Sivana was found unpalatable]].
* In ''[[ComicBook/{{Convergence}} Convergence: Titans]]'', Dreamslayer is more than happy to resurrect and use Lian Harper to force her father into fighting his friends. He keeps his hands on her throat and caresses her cheek to demonstrate he's in control, so he quite literally has her life in his hands.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Violine}}'', the doctor, Muller, and Van Beursen all threaten Violine's life at one point or another, either by poison or with guns.
* In ''The Ultimate Doomsday Trilogy'', among the first people The Maker[=/=][[spoiler:Ultimate Reed Richards kills when he turns evil is his own little sister]].
* Part of what makes the MarvelUniverse such a CrapsackWorld, at least if you're part of the [[ComicBook/XMen extended X-family]] stories? This is a world where FantasticRacism is so strong that this trope is in place. Yes, there are humans in this world willing to physically abuse, torture and even ''kill'' kids, just for being born mutants. The 80s story ''ComicBook/GodLovesManKills'' actually ''opens'' with two grade school kids being hunted through the streets at night and then ''lynched'' in a ''playground'' by anti-mutant [[TheFundamentalist religious bigots]]. Meanwhile, the fortunately minor villain organization the U-men ''specializes'' in hunting down young mutants and [[HumanResources vivisecting them for the raw materials for super-power-granting organ transplants]]. [[DarknessInducedAudienceApathy There's a reason]] readers often complain that ComicBook/{{Magneto}}'s KillAllHumans aren't unjustified.

* ''ComicBook/BackToBrooklyn''
** Paul rapes and kills kids and has it videotaped.
** Churchill is the one who set a deal with Russian mobsters to always provide Paul with immigrant boys.
** [[spoiler: Penny]] was the one who taped Paul's crimes and was willing to let him have his way on [[spoiler: her own son]].
* In ''ComicBook/RobynHood'', Cal King, a.k.a. the Sheriff of Nottingham, murders the child son of Prince John to take power for himself.

* ''ComicBook/{{Hide}}'' is set in a world where, after the day of TheHerosBirthday, all the adults in the world over the age of 18 go from loving their kids unconditionally to killing them on sight.

* In the ComicBook/XMen graphic novel ''ComicBook/GodLovesManKills'', the evil of [[SinisterMinister Stryker]] and his Purifiers is established on the very first page as the Purifiers kill two young mutant children, the older of whom might be 10, the younger of whom is ''six or less''. At the end of the book, Stryker himself aims a gun at the adolescent Kitty Pryde.

** There was also what he did in ''ComicBook/TheNail'': torturing and killing [[spoiler: Dick and Barbara]] '''on live television'''. [[spoiler: No wonder this is one of the VERY counted times [[ActionDad Batman]] [[PapaWolf breaks]] his not-killing vow.]]
** ''[[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]]'' villain Scarab was hired to kill Robin and set out dispassionately killing a bunch of teenagers and their families who fit the profile to possibly be him before ComicBook/{{Batman}} realized what was going on. She only stopped because Stephanie's appearance as Robin convinced her that one of her previous victims was her target. Tim managed to build an entire RoguesGallery of individuals willing and eager to try and kill him only one of whom was a fellow kid.

* ComicBook/{{Mystique}} is just as vile as Sabretooth when it comes to this trope, as she has no issue killing little children and babies whenever she sees fit. In ''New X-Men #46'' she uses the infant ComicBook/HopeSummers on ComicBook/{{Rogue}} (who has TouchOfDeath powers) to bring the latter out of coma. Hope is unharmed, but Rogue flips her shit when she learns what her adoptive mother did. If that wasn't bad enough, in ''X-Men: Worst X-Man Ever'' Mystique sexually molests the protagonist Bailey whose a minor.

* ComicBook/{{Mystique}} is just as vile as Sabretooth when it comes to this trope, as she has no issue killing little children and babies whenever she sees fit. In ''New X-Men #46'' she uses the infant ComicBook/HopeSummers on ComicBook/{{Rogue}} (who has TouchOfDeath powers) to bring the latter out of coma. Hope is unharmed, but Rogue flips her shit when she learns what adoptive mother did. If that wasn't bad enough, in ''X-Men: Worst X-Man Ever'' Mystique sexually molests the protagonist Bailey whose a minor.

** In ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfWonderWoman'' the amoral MadScientist Queen Atomia was fine with kidnapping children, including young Suzy.

* ComicBook/{{Sabretooth}} from ''ComicBook/XMen'' is known to attack, murder, and sometimes even eat children. In one issue, SelfDemonstrating/{{Deadpool}} is in a cabin with him and he opens a closet to find a little girl tied up. When he asks about this, Sabretooth replies that he's saving her for later.

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/UltimateMarvel https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_0xis1g7.png]]]]

** ComicBook/RedSkull holding a gun to a baby's head. Horrifically, he [[MoralEventHorizon killed the baby anyway]], even [[ILied after his demands are met]]!

* The ''[[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Uncle Scrooge]]'' story, "[=McDuck=] of Arabia" has the Scrooge and his nephews dealing with Hassan Den Jaild. He's a loathsome SmugSnake of a Arabian villain who is outright ''eager'' to threaten a child, Hewey whom he's kidnapped, to force Sheik Arrabi to lead him to a treasure trove. Furthermore, when the villain finds the mine, his first thought is to force his hostages to dig for the gold and then kill them, including Hewey. Fortunately, Hewey's family, the local Junior Woodchuck and an isolated desert settlement are able to thwart him.

* The ''[[ComicBook/DuckUniverse Uncle Scrooge]]'' story, "[=McDuck=] of Arabia" has the Scrooge and his nephews dealing with Hassan Den Jaild. He's a loathsome SmugSnake of a Arabian villain who is outright ''eager'' to threaten a child, Hewey whom he's kidnapped, to force Sheik Arrabi to lead him to a treasure trove. Furthermore, when the villain finds the mine, his first thought is to force his hostages to dig for the gold and then kill them, including Hewey. Fortunately, Hewey's family, the local Junior Woodchuck and an isolated desert settlement are able to thwart him.