Line #20 Monster/TheCrow


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2	%% NOTE: Due to the controversial nature of this trope, any changes (additions, removals, edits) should be discussed [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16706336400A42573900 here]] or [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16738556630A78599000 here]].
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4	%% NOTE 2: A Complete Monster is an individual character, not a collective. Therefore a faction cannot be listed as one.
5	%% A faction can attract Complete Monsters and can have them among its members, but cannot be one in and of itself.
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8	%% Please avoid natter on the article. If an entry doesn't fit, take it to the forum to discuss why, not here.
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11	[[quoteright:286:[[ComicBook/TheCrowSkinningTheWolves https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/commandant.jpg]]]]
12	[[caption-width-right:286:He's also [[https://imgur.com/3zkYa9b killed a man]] just for not knowing how to play chess.]]
13
14	->''"I need nothing from you but your barely-beating heart to lure that snivelling (sic) wretch right where I want him. When you die, you will die knowing that I have tortured your little friend with horrors beyond horrors. If you could only see the morbid vividness of mutilation and degradation that this half-human parasite will soon endure...only then would you truly understand how easy you have it."''
15	-->-- '''Damien Finch''' to '''Fats''', ''[[Script/TheCrow2037 The Crow: 2037]]''
16
17	Real love may be forever, but unfortunately so is evil. Franchise/TheCrow and its various subjects have fought countless villains throughout the decades, such as gangsters, rapists, and thieves. But even among them, there are those who qualify as being [[CompleteMonster utterly reprehensible.]]
18
19	![[Administrivia/SpoilersOff All spoilers are unmarked]]. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!
20	----
21	[[foldercontrol]]
22
23	!![[ComicBook/TheCrow Comic Books]]
24
25	[[AC:Creator/IDWPublishing]]
26	[[folder:Examples]]
27	* ''[[ComicBook/TheCrowDeathAndRebirth Death and Rebirth]]'', written by John Shirley: [[EvilSorcerer Soro]] is a [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Biotrope executive]] who desires demonic power. Having created a machine that transplants one's soul into another, Soro has random innocents kidnapped and used to transplant his aging colleagues' souls into them, which causes that person's soul to be [[BarredFromTheAfterlife kicked out and forced to wander the Earth for eternity]]. [[DealWithTheDevil Making a deal]] with Shukon Muzan, the demon of cruelty, Soro offers him a soul to feast on in return for the power of a thousand demons, choosing Haruko's soul for Shukon to eat. When the witch Majo refused to serve him, Soro placed her in a magic container that [[AndIMustScream forces her to live in constant agony]].
28	* ''[[ComicBook/TheCrowSkinningTheWolves Skinning the Wolves]]'', written by James O'Barr and Jim Terry: [[ThoseWackyNazis The Commandant]] is the head of a Nazi [[PoWCamp concentration camp]]. Already responsible for the deaths of thousands, the Commandant also serves as an avid chess player willing to kill people who either don't know how to play or lose his games. Forcing the Man to play against him, the Commandant holds the Man's family hostage when the latter wins, and kills his wife when he wins again, before killing the Man and his daughter afterwards. With the Man resurrecting thanks to the Crow's powers, the Commandant orders the death of every prisoner in his camp when the Man starts slaughtering his Nazis.
29	* ''[[ComicBook/TheCrowCurare Curare]]'', written by James O'Barr: [[WouldHurtAChild Richard Harold Davis]] is a pedophile SerialKiller who captures and rapes little girls before murdering them and taking their panties and shoes as [[CreepySouvenir trophies]], something he has done for decades. One of his victims was Carrie, who returns to the world of the living to enact revenge. As Joe Salk investigates his hideout and discovers his vast collection of shoes, Richard arrives and tries to murder him.
30	* ''[[ComicBook/TheCrowPestilence Pestilence]]'', written by Frank Bill: [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil War Hound Lou]] is the leader of the Saint Death Cult (SDC), a sinister gang that deals with drugs and prostitution. Smuggling Mexican women and their children across the U.S. border for a fee, Lou makes his money by making the women work as prostitutes, while forcing women who don't have enough money to work as drug mules. When the boxer Salvador refuses to take a fall under Lou's request, Lou has Salvador injected with drugs and ForcedToWatch Lou rape, mutilate, and sacrifice a random mother and [[WouldHurtAChild child]] under the guise of Salvador's beloved wife Abella and son Vincente. Keeping the latter two alive, Lou keeps Abella around as an abused SexSlave, despite having promised to spare Salvador if Abella gave herself up for his protection. Using the goddess Santa Muerte to kill anybody who's wronged the SDC, Lou, at the end of the day, shows no loyalty toward his own men, or even the goddess he worships.
31	* ''[[ComicBook/TheCrowMementoMori Memento Mori]]'', written by Roberto Recchioni: [[SinisterMinister Father Raphael]] is a seemingly kind priest who's later revealed to be the head of a terrorist organization who [[KnightTemplar kills anybody against God]]. Raphael uses his church as a way to recruit homeless teenagers and have them brainwashed to become fighters. Having a deep obsession with David Amadio, he whips Sarah for "tempting" David, and has her and 27 other people killed in an attack meant to send a message to the populace, an attack that also kills David. When confronted by the revived David, Raphael successfully seduces David into becoming his new soldier.
32	* ''[[ComicBook/TheCrowLethe Lethe]]'', written by Creator/TimSeeley:
33	** [[ImAHumanitarian Calvin Anthony Morgrau]] was an infamous SerialKiller in life before getting murdered by the [[{{Cult}} Bounty of Aristaeus]]. Revived thanks to the Crow's powers to seek revenge on the cult, Calvin instead chose to use his newfound powers to indulge in his own {{sadist}}ic desires, seeking to kill the members of Null Narcos's Freak Chic Performers in place of the cult and continue his killing spree in the land of the living. Having a craving for eyeballs, Calvin kills a security guard named Bob before moving on to the circus's ringleader Ms. O'Reily. Doing the same to Geek the next day, while sadistically craving the eyeballs of the twin children, Calvin later [[CopKiller kills a few cops]] and decides to go after Benga Lee next for her closeness to Null.
34	** [[DirtyCop Detective Hoffler]], a supposedly friendly cop, is actually the HighPriest of the Bounty of Aristaeus. Kidnapping dozens of young virgins to [[SerialRapist make them give birth to his offspring]], Hoffler has Vincent and Christine Tsemer [[ManOnFire burned alive]] for attempting to stop his cult's actions, [[HumanResources using the fat from their bodies to make candles]]. Plenty more people are killed over the decades in the name of Aristaeus, the priest Hoffler completely uncaring when his members are later killed by Null in his quest for revenge.
35	[[/folder]]
36
37	[[AC:Others]]
38	[[folder:Examples]]
39	* ''[[ComicBook/TheCrowWakingNightmares Waking Nightmares]]'', written by Christopher Golden: [[WouldHurtAChild Arthur "Artie" Merserve]] is an [[CorruptCorporateExecutive unpleasant businessman]] who secretly produces child pornography. Using his connections with {{the Triads\|AndTheTongs}}, Arthur has some gangsters kidnap children to be raped on film. When cop Mark Leung comes close to finding out, Arthur orders his henchman Xin to kill him, leading to Mark's death, the rape and murder of his wife Anita, and the abduction of his two daughters. With Detective Caitlin Murphy blaming him for Mark's death, Arthur orders his men to kill her and any cop close to her. Once his operation starts crumbling, Arthur holds Mark's daughters hostage with the intent to murder them, blaming the whole operation on Xin when he's cornered by Mark.
40	* ''[[ComicBook/TheCrowRazorKillThePain The Crow/Razor: Kill the Pain]]'', written by Everette Hartsoe: [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Mr. Pain]] is a {{sadist}}ic demon and self-declared "connoisseur of pain" who enjoys [[SoulEating devouring tormented souls]]. Posing as a human cult leader of punks he gleefully kills at whim, Pain sets out to unleash mass bloodshed on the streets of Queen City, inciting a violent riot at a political rally just so he can kill the mayor and [[WouldHurtAChild even a scared child]]. Having a helping hand in ruining Razor's life when she was a little girl, Pain [[MindRape entraps Razor and Eric Draven in nightmares detailing the worst event in their lives]] just so he can devour their tortured souls.
41	* ''Creator/ToddMcFarlane Presents: [[ComicBook/ToddMcFarlanePresentsTheCrow The Crow]]'' issues #4-6, written by Jon J. Muth: [[TortureTechnician Sin]] is a {{sadist}}ic crime boss who takes over Top Dollar's gang following his death at the hands of the resurrected Eric Draven. Behind the scenes, Sin harbors a fetish for gruesomely torturing men she considers sinful to death, then [[ILoveTheDead having her way with the corpses]]. With her latest victim being her therapist, Sin seeks out Eric to be her new victim, viewing him as the crown jewel for her ultimate sexual fairy tale. [[ManipulativeBitch Manipulating]] Eric's friend Jack Coller into loving her, Sin murders Jack once he proves to be too disappointing for her, hoping to use his death to lure Eric to her hideout.
42	* ''ComicBook/TheFrenchCrow'':
43	** "La Mort Sur Le Trottoir" ("Death on the Sidewalk"): Mister Whip is a pimp who physically and sexually abuses his girls with his three partners. Having already murdered at least two of his prostitutes, he tortures both Hara and her twin sister Erin to death because Hara wanted to quit. Confronted by a resurrected Erin, Mister Whip coldly dismisses his victims as "[[DisposableSexWorker only whores]]".
44	** "La légende du corbeau" ("The Legend of the Crow"): Captain Auschweizer is a [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazi]] officer who runs a [[PoWCamp concentration camp]] where prisoners are kept starving. At one point, Auschweizer [[EyeScream gouged an old man's eyes out]]. When the young Samuel seeks to reunite with his father, Auschweizer shoots the father [[ForcedToWatch in front of his son]] to [[MakeAnExampleOfThem deter any further rebellion]], before making the boy join other orphans and ordering the preparation of the crematorium.
45	[[/folder]]
46
47	!!Films
48
49	[[folder:Examples]]
50	* ''[[Film/TheCrow The Crow (1994)]]'':
51	** [[ChaosIsEvil Top Dollar]], a Detroit crime boss who established himself as [[TheDon the supreme ruler of all criminal activity in the city]], is a chaotic [[PyroManiac arsonist]] who enjoys destruction and murder [[ForTheEvulz purely for its own sake]]. He organizes Devil's Night, in which buildings are burned down all throughout the city. He orders people terrorized out of their homes, and one such couple includes Eric Draven and his fiancée Shelley, who are both violently murdered by his goons, with Shelley also being raped. After Eric attacks Top Dollar's associate Gideon, Top Dollar shows Gideon the eyes of one of his previous victims before killing him. He eventually becomes tired of the profit reaped from the arson and other activities, and announces his plans at a criminal convention to burn down everything. After Eric attacks the convention, Top Dollar captures his [[WouldHurtAChild young friend Sarah]] in order to lead him into a confrontation where he tries to throw Sarah off a roof before taunting Eric about his and Shelly's deaths.
52	** [[DragonLady Myca]], half-sister and [[VillainousIncest lover]] of Top Dollar, is her brother's equal in twisted depravity. Serving as Top Dollar's [[SageLoveInterest spiritual adviser]] to push him to further acts of anarchy and destruction, Myca likewise participates in the regular murder of innocents, including women the two take to their bed. [[EyeScream With a penchant for eyes]], Myca proceeds to carve the victims' eyes out to use in occult rituals and when kidnapping Eric Draven's friend Sarah, Myca expresses a wish to remove Sarah's eyes as well.
53	* ''[[Film/TheCrowCityOfAngels City of Angels]]'': [[TheAggressiveDrugDealer Judah Earl]] is an occultist drug lord ruling over Los Angeles. A self-declared sadist who claims he visited Hell and liked what he saw, he turns his "kingdom" into a [[DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans nightmarish dystopia]] where [[CrapsackWorld people live in squalor, surrounded by depravity, and constantly in fear of being murdered by his gang]]. He floods the city with drugs so dangerous that they kill the users half the time, even executing one of his more {{pragmatic\|Villainy}} goons who protests that there aren't enough return customers to make a profit; Judah would prefer to kill people. He orders the death of Ashe Corven and his [[WouldHurtAChild son]] because the boy happened to witness his operation, as well as any other innocents who do. When Ashe is resurrected and comes for him, Judah captures his crow and ritualistically impales it to steal its power. He proceeds to hang the now-mortal Ashe from a lamppost in the middle of the street and tries to lash him to death in front of everyone, and kills Sarah when she intervenes. The enormous numbers of crows connected to his victims' souls who come for him indicate he's killed many dozens of people during his reign.
54	* ''[[Film/TheCrowWickedPrayer Wicked Prayer]]'': [[HollywoodSatanism El Niño]] is a Satanist mob boss who is the benefactor to Luc Crash's gang. Aiding them in committing all the murders they want over the southwest, El Niño is sought to complete the ritual to manifest Satan in Luc. Not even caring about the ritual, El Niño fully intends Luc to die for it, only to be delighted when it actually works. El Niño is then revealed as a serial {{sex slave}}r and pimp who once forcibly prostituted out Luc's girlfriend Lola, a fact he enjoys rubbing in Lola's face at every opportunity.
55	[[/folder]]
56
57	!!''[[Series/TheCrowStairwayToHeaven Stairway to Heaven]]''
58
59	[[folder:Examples]]
60	* [[BigBad Top Dollar]], real name Jason Danko, is a gang leader who kills [[PsychoForHire for fun and profit]], with his signature being to take a [[CreepySouvenir souvenir]] from every victim to add to the extensive "museum" that he has dedicated to his crimes. Hired to kill Eric Draven, Top delegates the job to his minions, who throw Eric out a window before raping and shooting his fiancée Shelly. While Top chastises his lackeys over how they killed the couple, it is only because of how much police attention that it has attracted; he is otherwise fine with the double homicide, a tape of which he keeps as a memento, watching it over and over again. When Eric returns seeking vengeance as a Crow, Top resorts to trying to destroy him by [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill blowing his own crowded nightclub up with C4]]. Placed in an asylum after this, Top escapes and goes on a rampage, assaulting and killing Eric's friends and total strangers alike [[StrikeMeDownWithAllOfYourHatred in order to goad Eric into killing him]] so that he can resurrect as a [[EvilCounterpart Snake]]. Top and his servant Soleil then use a [[MindControlMusic mystical melody]] to enthrall both Eric and Top's rehabilitated former henchman Funboy, intending to force Eric to murder Funboy; Funboy will resurrect as a Snake like Top did, but since his repentance qualifies him as an innocent, his death will also corrupt Eric into becoming a Snake. When the plan falls apart, [[YouHaveFailedMe Top kills Soleil]].
61	* "Get a Life": [[CorruptCorporateExecutive John T. Franklin]] is a crooked hotel magnate who killed dozens when he burned his own office building down, getting away with it by [[FrameUp framing]] his own four-year old daughter, Elise. When Elise's RepressedMemories of what really happened resurface decades later, she attempts to blackmail her father into donating most of his fortune to charity as a form of penance. Franklin responds by having Elise and her psychiatrist [[OffingTheOffspring killed]], pinning Elise's murder on her boyfriend, Gil. When Eric breaks Gil out of custody, Franklin captures them both and decides to personally kill the pair while making it look like self-defense. Even after Eric psychically forces him to feel all of the pain and suffering that he has caused, Franklin [[LackOfEmpathy displays no remorse]], instead merely whining that he had to get rid of Elise because she was going to separate him from his money.
62	* "Through a Dark Circle": [[PsychoElectro Richard Lee Wil(l)banks]] was a prolific SerialKiller who kidnapped and torture-murdered anyone who he believed had somehow "disrespected" him, becoming known as "The Circle Killer" due to his [[CallingCard habit]] of marking the scene of every abduction with a bloody circle as his way of saying, "What goes around, comes around!" After being caught and sentenced to death, an unrepentant Wilbanks spat at and taunted all of the witnesses to his execution, calling them "nothing" and sneering, "[[SeeYouInHell I'll see you all in Hell!]]" Lingering in the [[DarkWorld Land of the Damned]] after dying, Wilbanks is accidentally brought back to the mortal plane as an electrokinetic entity by Eric, who he beats and electrocutes before running amok through the streets of Port Columbia. Gathering up everyone who was present for his death while viciously attacking anyone who gets in his way, Wilbanks straps all of his captives into homemade electric chairs that will slowly fry all of them as he sardonically quips, "Don't worry, it only hurts for...an eternity."
63	* "Lazarus Rising" & "A Gathering Storm": [[ImmortalityImmorality Frederick Balsam]] is the current chairman of the [[SecretCircleOfSecrets Lazarus Group]], an ancient secret society dedicating to unlocking the secret of immortality. To that end, Balsam uses criminals and other "trash" as guinea pigs for his soul transference experiments, forcibly ejecting the victims' minds from their bodies and [[AndIMustScream trapping them in another plane of existence]] in order to create {{empty shell}}s that someone else can have their consciousness placed in. All of the test subjects have so far died, but Balsam is convinced that a Crow's body could survive the trauma of an upload, so he manipulates Eric's friend Doctor Dorsett into bringing Eric to him, and removes Eric's mind from his body so that he can take it over, making it clear to Dorsett and everyone else involved in the procedure that he will have them killed if they refuse to cooperate. After Eric and Dorsett escape, Balsam manages to successfully [[GrandTheftMe bodyjack]] a man named James Horton, and begins systematically eliminating every other member of the Lazarus Group so that he alone will know their life-prolonging secret. To stop Eric from interfering, Balsam performs a ritual that [[EnemyWithout separates Eric from his Crow half]], which Balsam forces to help with his killing spree before leaving it to murder the now powerless and vulnerable Eric.
64	[[/folder]]
65
66	!!Literature
67
68	[[folder:Examples]]
69	* ''[[Literature/TheCrowClashByNight Clash by Night]]'', by Chet Williamson: [[RightWingMilitiaFanatic Virgil "Rip" Withers]] is the leader of a Minnesota-based far-right militia called the Sons of a Free America. A paranoid [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain bigot]], misogynist, and [[TheFundamentalist Christian fundamentalist]], Rip, whenever he deems a subordinate too untrustworthy, has them either killed immediately or subjected to a mock trial with himself as the HangingJudge. Rip attempts to assassinate a liberal senator by bombing a daycare, but, while failing to kill the senator, succeeds in killing six children, four babies, and two women, one of whom, Amy Carlisle, returns as a Crow. As Amy begins picking apart his organization, an increasingly fanatical Rip has his own "weak" supporters eliminated as he draws up plans to bomb a government building whose employees number around 450. While Rip professes to love his son, Karl, and his "mildly retarded" brother, Ray, he indoctrinated the former by subjecting him to horrible abuse that warped his mind, and when Ray is revealed to be Karl's actual father, Rip stabs him and later tries to attack the "[[IHaveNoSon traitor bastard]]" Karl.
70	* ''[[Literature/TheCrowHellbound Hellbound]]'', by A.A. Attanasio: [[EvilSorcerer Nadja Crimco]] is a junkie who supports her addiction by producing illegal pornography--much of it "starring" animals and [[WouldHurtAChild children]]--for crime boss Big Steel Fiarella. An avowed Satanist as well, Nadja sacrificed [[OffingTheOffspring three of her own unborn babies]] in order to acquire dark magical powers from Hell. After coming across a young orphan named Billy Max, Nadja filmed herself and a homeless man raping him, and afterward corrupted Billy into becoming a drug mule for Big Steel. Years later, when Billy falls in love with his childhood friend, Amy Darien, a jealous Nadja, aided by Big Steel's henchmen and an enthralled arch-demon named Thartoc the Cruel, vivisects Billy in front of a restrained Amy. Nadja proceeds to enslave two other demons, intent on using them and Thartoc to depose Big Steel and vanquish Billy--who has returned as a Crow--and his repentant demon ally, Dren. Nadja's ultimate goal is to use Big Steel's stolen money to live as [[TheHedonist decadent]] a life as possible before passing on and going to Hell, where she expects Satan to "reward" her by subjecting her to the "ultimate bliss" of CessationOfExistence.
71	[[/folder]]
72
73	!!''[[Script/TheCrow2037 The Crow: 2037]]'', by Music/RobZombie ([[http://www.maddogmovies.com/almost/scripts/crow2037_zombie7-97.pdf link]])
74
75	[[folder:Examples]]
76	* [[BigBad Father Damien Finch]] is a wicked [[SinisterMinister preacher]] who serves the demon [[GreaterScopeVillain Kasimordon]] in order to wipe out all the world's heretics. Seeking to [[TakeOverTheWorld become ruler of the world]], Damien kills the young Basil Gorgon and his mother after a prophecy foretold the child would defeat him, afterwards spreading evil and death all over the world by instilling plagues, murders, and witch hunts. Those who aren't executed by his witchfinders are brought to his castle prison cells, where he has them starved, broken, and handed over to Dr. Moorehead to be his playthings, while adding some of the women to his harem of brides. Once he finds that Basil's resurrected, Damien has his friend Fats kidnapped, tortured to near death, and crucified. Declaring his love of Hell and [[CardCarryingVillain all that is evil]], once he's finally confronted by Basil, Damien brings him to Kasimordon's world, using his deceased mother as a distraction to kill him.
77	* [[TheDragon Captain Scagg]] is the head [[TheWitchHunter witchfinder]] under Damien's command. Massacring numerous towns to cleanse out any possible witches and criminals, Scagg also uses these attacks to recruit more men for his army, allowing them to [[RapePillageAndBurn rob, murder, and rape]] as they please. Allowing his men to [[WouldHurtAChild kill babie]]s, once one of his men, Tarkis Thorn, rescues an infant and wounds Scagg, Scagg retaliates by murdering Thorn's family. Executing Governor Hoyt's wife Ingrid in front of him, Scagg brings him to Damien to be tortured to death. Under Damien's orders to kidnap Fats, Scagg invades the inn Fats is staying at and slaughters everybody inside, and once he encounters Thorn again, he promises to kill him and have his way with his daughter, [[SerialRapist admitting that young women like her make the best breeders]].
78	* [[MadScientist Dr. Thurl Moorehead]] is Damien's pet scientist. [[HighVoltageDeath Electrically torturing Governor Hoyt to death]] under Damien's orders, Moorehead is shown to have a special side project of his own: using Damien's starved prisoners--[[WouldHurtAChild which include children]]--Moorehead butchers them and feeds the remains to his pet monster Huronimos. Killing one of his scientists for getting his arm eaten by Huronimos, Moorehead later unleashes his mighty pet in an attempt to kill Basil and Thorn.
79	[[/folder]]

Context Monster / TheCrow