Line #13 BlueAndOrangeMorality/ComicBooks


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7	->''"The morality of my activities escapes me."''
8	-->-- '''Doctor Manhattan''', ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}''
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10	BlueAndOrangeMorality in ComicBooks.
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12	* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'':
13	** While ComicBook/TheJoker prides himself on being a ChaoticEvil CardCarryingVillain, he ''does'' have a loose moral code entirely based around whether he thinks something is funny or not as the entire reason for him being evil is that he thinks [[MaddenIntoMisanthropy mankind as a whole is even worse than he is]]. Mass murder? A good punchline to a twisted joke. ''[[EatsBabies Mass infanticide?]]'' [[ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand A bit overkill]]. Pranking Commissioner Gordon by [[ComicBook/TheKillingJoke making it seem like he raped his daughter after crippling her?]] Hilarious. ''Actually'' raping Batgirl? [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil Out of the question]]. In a crossover with ComicBook/TheMask, Joker puts on the titular mask and becomes much more destructive due to LossOfInhibitions, but Batman manages to stop him by simply pointing out that his crimes weren't what he considers "funny".
14	** ComicBook/HarleyQuinn in the ''ComicBook/New52'' is a downplayed example. While most of the things she considers immoral aren't that weird, her reactions are often [[DisproportionateRetribution so violent and over the top]] that it's hard not to find them a bit disturbing. Case in point: in the first issue, she sees a guy [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals neglecting his puppy]] and gets upset enough to take the puppy under her wing and [[WhatADrag drag the guy behind her motorcycle]] until she eventually crashes (due to the cops chasing her) and he dies.
15	* ''ComicBook/{{Bizarrogirl}}'' is not evil. She is... backwards. She rampages through a city and kidnaps a bunch of people because she looks to throw a party, and she shuts her "guests" up when they try to talk. As she fights alongside Supergirl, she learns human morality and the difference between killing and saving people, remembers she killed a man because he was too loud and has a breakdown.
16	* [[TheGrimReaper Nekron]] from ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'' was intended to have this according to Creator/GeoffJohns, simply doing what he was created to do, which was bringing death to the universe and raising the undead and being beyond understanding. However, his actions during the event such as controlling heroes' bodies as Black Lanterns with their consciousnesses being unable to do anything about it suggests otherwise.
17	* In ''ComicBook/{{Enigma}}'', the titular entity plainly doesn't understand why certain things are arbitrarily "right" or "wrong".
18	* Frank of Jim Woodring's eponymous ''ComicBook/{{Frank}}'' comics, and pretty much all the characters in the Unifactor. Their morality ranges from simple selfishness to extreme sadism, but without any reference to whether it's good or bad. There is some internal consistency for each character's morality, but not between the characters. The lack of words adds to their separation from moral norms.
19	* In ''ComicBook/{{Anarky}}'', the titular character meets Darkseid, DC's resident GodOfEvil, and questions him to try to understand evil. He comes to the conclusion that Darkseid is fundamentally incapable of doing good, and is therefore not technically evil because evil requires making a choice which Darkseid literally can't.
20	* ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'':
21	** Most of the time, ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} wants to do the right thing... the problem is, he's nuts. He doesn't always have the best judgment on what's right and wrong.
22	** One early appearance of ComicBook/DoctorStrange's extradimensional enemy [[EldritchAbomination Dormammu]] portrayed him this way, with Doc realizing Dormammu did have a bizarre and alien sense of honor which Doc could use to his advantage once he understood it.
23	** Cyttorak, another extradimensional magical god, empowers both the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, one of Strange's {{Signature Move}}s, and the ComicBook/{{Juggernaut\|MarvelComics}}, one of the ComicBook/XMen's most powerful enemies. Therefore, he provides power to one of the greatest forces for good, and one of the greatest forces for evil, on Earth. Why? Why not?
24	** [[Characters/MarvelComicsGalactus Galactus]] was originally intended to be one of these. More recent interpretations have put him more into AboveGoodAndEvil territory, with varying reasons for his planet devouring ways.
25	** ''ComicBook/Eternals2006'' invokes this. It is set after the SuperRegistrationAct is passed, and ComicBook/IronMan is trying to get the Eternals to register, eventually saying that "you must choose a side." Zuras replies "Imagine that you find two kids fighting over who gets a plastic ball. Would '''you''' choose a side?"
26	* ComicBook/{{Miracleman}} in the Creator/AlanMoore rendition of the character counts as more AboveGoodAndEvil. The Creator/NeilGaiman version of the character, in the first Gaiman story, lives this trope.
27	* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': [[Characters/BatmanPoisonIvy Poison Ivy]] apparently considers ''killing plants'' to be just as bad as murder but thinks actually murdering humans is okay. Good luck figuring that one out.
28	* ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'':
29	** The Endless show this at times, and at others are utterly human. Plus, each character's personality lends them different ways of dealing with the world. Dream shows this multiple times, such as not punishing a creature which dominates others' dreams to create a 'nest' because it is simply acting in its own nature. Death never (well, almost never) interferes with the natural demises of anything, no matter how much she likes the individual and Destiny knows when catastrophic events will occur, and will only summon the others for a meeting about said catastrophes if his book says he does.
30	** In general one of the themes of the book is that one is ultimately a slave to their own nature. The Cuckoo who creates a nest and is harming others is not evil, that is how her species lives. Cain actually loves his brother Abel deep down, but cannot simply ''stop'' killing him because if he did not kill his brother he would not be Cain. Morpheus creates and employs nightmares, which by definition are dreams that frighten people, and rewards them for doing so (when one nightmare walks out on his job to become a serial killer, Dream is more annoyed he abandoned his post than anything else). Beings of all kinds ''can'' change and grow, but in the end you can only change so much before you become an entirely different person.
31	* The ''ComicBook/New52'' version of ''ComicBook/{{Superboy\|New52}}'' sometimes has trouble understanding moral issues, as he hasn't really had much time to learn about it. He honestly doesn't understand why [[spoiler:robbing a bank]] gets him complaints.
32	* ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'': Atrocitus' moral code is very simple -- killing and destroying whoever or whatever has made you mad. In ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' storyline ''ComicBook/RedDaughterOfKrypton'', Sheko reads his mind and notes that he's a monster by her people's standards, but he's utterly convinced that his actions are righteous and necessary.
33	* ''ComicBook/{{Supergod}}'' imagines a world where super powered beings essentially live by this trope, because they're so far removed from human values and experience that their resulting morality simply cannot be expressed in human terms. [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt This ends about as well as you'd expect]].
34	* [[EldritchAbomination The Aunties]] from ''ComicBook/ThirstyMermaids'' cause a sudden tsunami that would have destroyed the human town in order to bring back Eez, seeing the rest of her pod (and the rest of the collateral damage) as inconsequential. [[spoiler:Though it's implied that they knew it would all work out in the end.]]
35	* ''ComicBook/UsagiYojimbo'': Jei is a self-described "servant of the Gods" who considers it his task to cleanse the world of "evil". However, how he determines who is "evil" or "innocent" seems completely arbitrary to anyone with anything resembling conventional morality.
36	** Later in the series, it seems that Jei considers anyone who knows what "evil" is to ''be'' evil, meaning that the only ones who are safe are either childlike innocents or complete psychopaths.
37	* Dr. Manhattan of ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' is above it all. When Ozymandias is asked about Dr Manhattan's political allegiances, he replies, "Which do you prefer, red ants or black ants?" When the reporter admits he has no preference on such a trivial matter, Ozymandias says that [[HumansAreInsects Jon has the same opinion about the factions of the]] UsefulNotes/ColdWar.
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Context BlueAndOrangeMorality / ComicBooks