Corrupted Character Copies in Western Animation.
The following have their own pages:
- American Dad!: In "A.T. the Abusive Terrestrial", Roger runs away and becomes friends with a boy named Henry, who is an Expy of Elliot from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. But while Elliot is a kind boy who wants to protect E.T. and help him get back home, Henry is a violent brat who abuses Roger and is willing to rat him out to the CIA if he leaves him.
- Amphibia:
- The Curator is basically Grunkle Stan in all but namenote . He runs a tourist trap, displays numerous shady behaviors, and shares the same voice actor. However, while Stan would simply grab some random odds and ends and call it a day when it comes to his "mysterious oddities", The Curator is not above encasing living (or even sapient) beings in wax as a means of drawing more guests to his museum.note
- King Andrias Leviathan is a morally-inverted version of King Asgore. Both have very similar designs, being Large and in Charge monster kings wearing All-Encompassing Mantles and ruling over kingdoms of monsters in parallel dimensions. While Asgore is initially set up to be the Big Bad (he wants to kill the protagonist and take their soul so that he can wage war on mankind), he is ultimately revealed to be driven out of grief over the death of his children, is regretful of his actions, and can eventually be spared and redeemed should the protagonist choose to do so (and that is if he is not upstaged and killed by some of the bigger villains in the game). Andrias is the opposite: he is set up to be a potential ally to the protagonist Anne as he seems to be a Reasonable Authority Figure and seems willing to help her return home, but at the end of the second season is exposed as a megalomaniacal conqueror bent on conquering other dimensions. The third season even shows him experimenting on Marcy as part of his goals much like how Asgore harvested human souls in his bid to conquer the human world.
- However, much like Asgore, Andrias is revealed to be regretful of his actions throughout that season, and he serves as the public figurehead to the real ruler of Amphibia, the Core, a Mind Hive of scholars and monarchs, Amphibia's greatest minds, who wanted nothing but to expand their empire and gain as much knowledge as possible and refused to let even death stop them. One of the minds that had become part of the Core upon death, Andrias' own father and previous ruler of Newtopia Aldrich Leviathan, in particular was a power-hungry megalomaniac who was when alive, and still is as part of the Core, perfectly willing to go to truly heinous extremes that even his own son is hesitant to cross. This helps spark Andrias' eventual redemption in the final two episodes, when he allows Anne to strike him down, begs her to save Marcy, and sends his remaining Frobots to help the Calamity Girls push back the Core-controlled moon, defying his master after centuries of emotional abuse.
- Aqua Teen Hunger Force: The Bible Fruit are an obvious parody of the characters in VeggieTales. However, not only are they very pushy about their religion, they're also recovering drug addicts who relapse and resort to violence to satisfy their addictions.
- Archer is less an expy of James Bond and more a counter to the Gentleman Spy archetype in general. Sterling Archer has zero gentlemanly traits, is a Psychopathic Manchild who habitually bullies his coworkers, routinely endangers missions (and coworkers) due to his self-centeredness or lack of any useful skills (beyond ass-kicking), and has gotten the clap so many times it's more like applause.
- Ben 10: Ultimate Alien: Carl Nesmith AKA Captain Nemesis takes a lot of inspiration from Iron Man. Both characters are wealthy businessmen and crimefighters who use suits of Powered Armor in their careers, are both widely-known and highly respected by the general public, have a bit of an ego to them, and also sport mustaches. The difference between them is that Carl seemingly has none of Tony's prowess as a Gadgeteer Genius (requiring a team of technicians to help him put his armor on), nor any of Tony's nobler qualities to balance out his massive ego, and is revealed to be little more than a narcissistic Glory Hound who secretly staged the crimes he stopped to be as rich and famous as he is when he's introduced, and quickly turned to villainy after being humiliated one too many times by Ben.
- The Boondocks:
- Ed Wuncler Sr. is named after The Once-ler from Dr. Seuss's The Lorax and they're both greedy capitalists' who make the standard of living worse for everyone around them for the sake of personal profit, but that's where the similarities end. The Once-ler grew up a regretful shut-in who encourages the younger generation to not make the same mistakes he did. Wuncler never had any kind of Heel Realization and even as an insanely wealthy old man will still do any immoral thing, going as far as murder, terrorism, child abuse and willingly endangering his own family just to make more money to add to his already vast fortune.
- The Hateocracy, a gang of murderous Evil Old Folks who hate everyone and everything (even each other) and make peoples lives miserable For the Evulz, are all based on Black Sit Com characters. "Lord" Rufus Crabmiser is Fred Sanford, "Lady" Esmeralda Gripenasty is Aunt Esther and "Mr." George Pistofferson is based on (and voiced by!) JJ Evans. Their old leader Colonel H. Stinkmeaner, a recurring antagonist on the show, was himself based on Benson.
- Cairo from "Wingmen" is one to Michael Caesar from the comic strip, Huey claims both to be his best friend. However while Caesar is cool-headed, values Huey's friendship, reins in him in when he becomes too extremist or fatalistic, and generally makes him feel like less of a Fish out of Water. Cairo is petty and vindictive and treats Huey (involuntarily) moving to a mostly white suburb as an unforgivable slight.
- Robin Food from Codename: Kids Next Door is a parody of Robin Hood, obviously. But while Robin Hood genuinely desired to help the poor, Robin Food doesn't really care about whether or not his thievery actually benefits the people he gives to because he's a lazy cafeteria worker who doesn't want to actually do his job.
- King Xavier of Craig of the Creek is this for King Bob from Recess. Just like King Bob, he rules over the much younger children of his "kingdom" while they play. But whereas King Bob was a noble and fair, if often egotistical, ruler who wanted what was ultimately best for his subjects, Xavier is a mad tyrant who only thinks about himself, and will gladly bully and threaten anyone who stands in his way of getting what he wants.
- Danny Phantom: The Guys in White are an obvious parody of The Men in Black, with Operatives K and O clearly based on Agents J and K from the film series. However, J and K were close friends who maintained peaceful relations with aliens when not apprehending criminals, while K and O were willing to affix blame on the other over mistakes and display Fantastic Racism against all ghosts.
- The crew of Drawn Together are parodies of cartoon characters, each with a darker and more adult edge that usually makes them nastier than what they're parodying. Captain Hero is a Superman Substitute who's a macho jerk and a superhero in name only, Ling Ling is a Heroic Comedic Sociopath parodying Pikachu, Princess Clara is a bigoted expy of a Disney Princess, Toot is a bitter and washed up parody of Betty Boop, and Wooldoor is a parody of wacky cartoon characters (mainly SpongeBob SquarePants) with their Cloud Cuckoolander traits exaggerated to borderline psychotic proportions. The only exception is Spanky Ham, as he was already designed as a parody of the raunchy Web Animated shows from the '00s rather than being an bastardized copy of a pre-existing character.
- DuckTales (1987): In "Where No Duck Has Gone Before", Major Courage is a copy of William Shatner's Kirk, in all the wrong ways. The "major" continually talks in the same odd rhythm that Kirk uses when he gets excited, and is equally hammy, but in reality, he's got none of the courage of the original. Kirk, while he doesn't interact with children much thanks to his job, protects them fiercely from any peril. "Courage" (or rather, his actor) readily abandons the boys to save himself. Part of this is the merge between character and actor during the episode. We see almost nothing about how Courage is portrayed in the show, but the actor, while he's happy to adopt the role of heroic space commander to show off, doesn't live up to the hype.
- DuckTales (2017) features two cases of this:
- Dr. Akita is a darker take on Dr. Tenma from Astro Boy. Dr. Tenma was a sympathetic Anti-Villain driven mad by the death of his son Tobio, who initially was antagonistic to Astro upon realizing that the un-aging robot could never truly replace his son, but eventually became supportive of him. Dr. Akita, however, tried to convert BOYD from a friendly Ridiculously Human, or rather Ridiculously Avian, Robot into a Killer Robot for malicious purposes, and only sees him as a weapon. Dr. Tenma's more sympathetic traits are given to Gyro Gearloose.
- The Ghost of Christmas Past is based on the version of the Ghost played by Jiminy Cricket in Mickey's Christmas Carol, but distinct from him at the same time: as Frank Angones pointed out, the significantly darker take on the Ghost would be out of character for Jiminy and inappropriate for a Disney character of Incorruptible Pure Pureness. To sum up: the Ghost, instead of trying to teach Scrooge McDuck The True Meaning Of Christmas, is a non-romantic Crazy Jealous Guy who wants Scrooge to stay in the past with him, visiting the greatest Christmas parties in history, just because he doesn't want Scrooge to leave him like all the other people who learned lessons from him before. When Scrooge realizes the Ghost wants to separate him from his family, he furiously takes the Ghost's time-travelling umbrella and leaves him stranded in the past, where the Ghost proceeds to Go Mad from the Isolation... and turn into a Wendigo.
- The Fairly OddParents!: The titular characters of the episode "The Fair Bears" serve as a cynical deconstruction of the Care Bears. While the Fair Bears on the surface appear to be friendly and cheerful beings who want to help out those who are miserable and depressed, they are shown to have a pathological drive to force unhappy people into being cheerful and end up brainwashing Timmy and Wanda the moment it becomes clear they're unwilling to conform to the Fair Bears' worldview.
- Family Guy: Mostly due to Flanderization, Peter Griffin has essentially become a corrupt version of Homer Simpson. They’re both dumb, reckless, fat, lazy, alcoholic Abusive Parents who are known to cause trouble wherever they go. The difference between them is that while Homer definitely makes things worse most of the time, he usually means well and tries his best to be a good person and father. Peter, on the other hand, takes great joy in the suffering he inflicts upon others, intentionally creates chaos for the sake of chaos, and actively abuses his family deliberately, especially Meg.
- Frisky Dingo: Xander Crews is a clear parody of billionaire superheroes, namely Iron Man. They're both rich, wear high-tech armor, are both known as shameless flirts. However, whereas Tony Stark wanted to turn away from being the drunken and irresponsible playboy, Xander Crews fully embraces these aspects and his being Awesome X is less about "avenging his dead parents" and more about just living out a childish fantasy. In addition, Tony did genuinely care for his own redheaded love interest, Pepper Potts; Xander deliberately ignores, insults and outright cheats on Grace Ryan despite her devotion to him.
- Futurama:
- Zapp Brannigan is a clear parody of Captain Kirk from Star Trek, poking fun at his more inept and egotistical moments (he was specifically meant to be if Kirk was more like the actor who played him). As a result, Zapp has Kirk's lustiness and ego cranked up to "parody," but lacks a good chunk of his competence or A Father to His Men traits, instead being a General Failure of a General Ripper constantly relying on We Have Reserves. Leela once had Pity Sex with him, and he never let her forget it.
- Kif Kroker, Zapp's Beleaguered Assistant, was originally written as Spock if he hated Kirk. After a few appearances, the writers threw this characterization out the window and re-invented him as Amy's boyfriend and an Extreme Doormat.
- One-shot character Fnog is a green-skinned alien and martial arts instructor based on the likes of Miyagi from The Karate Kid (1984) and Yoda from Star Wars, but instead of being a wise and noble mentor, he's a sexist douchebag who refuses to acknowledge Leela's skill just because she's female and doesn't even deny that he was a horrible teacher to Leela.
- DOOP (the Diplomatic Order of Planet) was originally a stand-in for Star Trek's United Fedaration of Planets, but the episode "Zapp Gets Cancelled" reveals a darker side to the former. Unlike the Fedaration, DOOP is a shady organization whose dedication to peace and democracy is a total sham, and it only uses diplomancy as a way to trick less developed civilizations into signing exploitative agreements with them.
- The Ghost and Molly McGee: Sonia Davis is this to Queen Elsa. Both are graceful and powerful supernatural beings with ice powers, but whereas Elsa is a kind but anxious woman who cares for others, Sonia is a bitter and obsessed perfectionist with an It's All About Me attitude and anger issues. Unlike most other examples of this trope, she gets better and becomes more like her prototype.
- Gravity Falls: Celestabellebethabelle is this for Princess Celestia. Both characters are magical white equines who appear to be majestic and force the main characters on quests. While Princess Celestia is a kind and caring mentor, Celestabellebethabelle is just a manipulative Jerkass who strings people along for a cruel joke.
- Green Eggs and Ham (2019): Philip Trouser is a clear James Bond parody, but while James Bond is usually a competent agent on the side of good (some issues and flaws aside), Philip is a dumb Narcissist who antagonizes the heroes.
- In The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Nigel Planter is this to Harry Potter. While Harry is a humble, heroic character and a skilled wizard, Nigel is little more than an egotistical jerkass loser with absolutely no talent at magic. And while Harry is at the center of a magical prophecy, Nigel is eventually revealed to have no great destiny and in fact was never meant to have become a wizard in the first place.
- Trina Riffin of Grojband is this to Candace Flynn. Like Candance, she's a big sister archetype who sets out to stop her younger brother's fun while also being obsessed with a boy. But whereas Candace still loves her brothers and only tries to bust them because she thinks what they're doing is dangerous, Trina has nothing but hatred and contempt for Corey and will go so far as to try and kill him if he annoys her.
- Hamster & Gretel: Itsy Bitsy is this to Spider-Man - Similar to him, her powers came from an encounter with a spider and can shot webs to go from place to place. However while Spiderman is a hero who attempts to do the right thing, Itsy Bitsy is a supervillain who robs and steals.
- Hazbin Hotel: Per Word of God, Mimzy is this to Betty Boop. Like Betty Boop, Mimzy is a short, adorable, spunky flapper with a cutesy voice and excellent dancing skills. However, whereas Betty Boop is a genuinely altruistic Nice Girl, Mimzy is a self-centered, materialistic Jerk with a Heart of Jerk who uses her friend Alastor's status as The Dreaded as a shield to get herself out of trouble.
- Inside Job (2021):
- Rand Ridley is a corruption of Rick Sanchez, which is no easy feat to achieve considering that Rick himself is a Corrupted Character Copy of Doc Brown. Like Rick, Rand is a deadbeat alcoholic father that manipulates his family, and the world for the lulz or For the Evulz. The difference, however, is that there were some lines that Rick wouldn't cross, he has an intense self-loathing of the person he has become and how he's corrupting his family but won't stop, and karma occasionally hits him in the face and the balls. He also truly loves Beth, his daughter, and wants her to be happy. Any love that Rand has for Reagan went into him being an Education Mama to become a Mad Scientist that would run Cognito, Inc. and restore his legacy. It was actually to use her as a pawn to eventually become head of the company again. Further straying from Rick’s characterization, Rand is shown to be rather clingy to his daughter and wants to spend time with her despite seeing Reagan as a tool first and loving her second. On the other hand, Rick largely avoids spending time with Beth despite being lonely and loving her dearly. Rand is also more grounded and goal oriented while Rick tries to distract himself from a purposeless existence. Both Reagan and Beth eventually learn to establish stronger boundaries against Rand and Rick after having enough of such toxicity while also, at points, vowing to take down their fathers. Of the two men, it’s Rand who ends up embracing newfound enemyhood with his child.
- As Brett notes several times, Cognito Inc comes off like a version of the Men in Black who uphold the Masquerade for profit instead of peacekeeping.
- Rafe Masters is a dark version of James Bond, specifically in relation to Bond's love life. Bond hooks up with women on the regular, and such relationships tend not to last beyond the film. This is true of Rafe, but in Rafe's case it's because he's a clingy, misogynistic, narcissistic Jerkass to whom an actual conversation with a woman is literal torture. Reagan even tells him right to his face that he's an outdated stereotype who doesn't know how to deal with women.Reagan: You are a corny, regressive stereotype, and the only people who think you're cool are dads, or people that didn't have dads!
Brett: Damn, that is accurate.
- Invincible (2021): Omni-Man is a corrupt version of Superman. Like Superman, he's a Human Alien who is sent to Earth and becomes its greatest hero. But unlike Superman, it's all a front for Nolan's more sinister motives.
- Johnny Test has the recurring villain Blast Ketchup, (based on the former protagonist of Pokémon: The Series Ash Ketchum), supposedly the protagonist of the Tinymon video games.
- Kid Cosmic:
- Krosh is a badass alien with a red mohawk voiced by April Winchell, who is very good at fighting and loves a good fight. All traits shared with Sylvia from Wander over Yonder, with Word of God directly acknowledging the similarities. However, unlike Sylvia, Krosh is a lot less restrained, devoid of any sympathy for anyone else, cares only for fighting in her arena and her title, and is a selfish, petty backstabber.
- Fantos the Amassor is basically what Thanos would be like if he was a major Momma's Boy instead of a murderous warlord. Both of them are obsessed with a portent of the end, both of them want to gather various MacGuffins in the name of that portent, and both of them are unrelenting in their pursuit of the MacGuffins. The only difference between the two is that Thanos takes a (comparably) more level-headed approach when things don't go his way whereas Fantos will basically throw a tantrum the moment things go south for him.
- Looney Tunes: In "Deduce, You Say!", Daffy's character Dorlock Holmes is clearly a Sherlock Homage — he's a British detective; his name matches Holmes' almost exactly, and he has a politer sidekick called Watkins (whose name is a few letters from Watson). He's as clueless as Holmes is super-competent, as well as being flighty and quick-tempered where Holmes is controlled. Finally, though Holmes is a jerk, he legitimately wants to stop evil and protect the innocent. Dorlock threatens a little old lady with arrest for "hawking dandelions without a license."
- Mech Cadets: General Aiden Park is one to Marshal Stacker Pentecost. Both are generals in charge of an about-to-be-decommissioned mecha division dedicated to fighting alien Kaiju, and have a daughter on the force whose safety they care deeply about. However, unlike Marshal Pentecost who is both A Father to His Men and a Reasonable Authority Figure, General Park is a Well-Intentioned Extremist whose concern for the greater good and reducing casualties drives him to do some rather unpleasant if not outright immoral actions on a more personal level. While Marshal Pentecost tries to support his division for as long as possible in spite of them being decommissioned in favor of an ultimately ineffective wall program, General Park is the one planning to decommission his division behind their backs, intending to replace them with a new one called Hero Force. Making matters worse, it is revealed that the mechs Hero Force uses are derived from a fallen Robo called Veritas, which Aiden had terminated and scrapped for its components before covering it all up. Naturally, the truth causes a falling out between him and his division, including his daughter, her fellow cadets, and his close friend Skip Tanaka who even resigns out of disgust for what he has done.
- Gabriel Agreste and his alter ego Hawk Moth from Miraculous Ladybug bears major similarities with Batman as both of them are world-renowned billionaires with a hidden lifestyle as a masked superbeing and are motivated because of the death of a beloved family member. But while Bruce is motivated to use his resources to protect Gotham as a superhero, Gabriel uses his powers and resources to terrorize Paris as its Number One Villain so he can steal the Miraculous and bring back his dead wife Emilie. Not to mention that Batman is a father figure to his sidekicks and always looks out for them while Gabriel has zero qualms about manipulating teenagers to fulfill his schemes or even resorting to genuine abuse when it comes to dealing with his actual son.
- Clay Puppington from Moral Orel is a clear parody of Ward Cleaver, the archetypal Standard '50s Father. But while Ward was portrayed as wise and loving, Clay is neurotic, selfish, and a terrible husband and father.
- The Owl House:
- We learn that Emperor Belos/Philip Wittebane has a number of similarities to Ford Pines from Gravity Falls, with Philip being a scientist who made a deal with a mysterious entity like Ford. Also like Ford, Philip would travel dimensions and journal about it, and he could be careless when experimenting with supernatural phenomena. The difference is that one of them was willing to sacrifice actual people and witches to achieve their goal while lying about their deals, while the other grew horrified seeing the people he cared about getting hurt because of him. Ford knew when to stop and try to make things right, while Philip just kept pursuing his goals with no consideration for others' well-being. What's more, when Ford was offered the chance to become an all-powerful being, he turned it down. Philip made himself an Emperor to cement his power.
- Belos is actually a twofer in this comparison to the Pines Family, and with his full backstory revealed it’s become clear that he’s also very similar to Mabel. Both of them have a more mature close sibling who looked out for and protected them, but felt threatened and jealous when said sibling developed an interest in a world of magic that threatened to take them away and threw a fit with serious repercussions in response, then created a a hollow imitation out of magic as a replacement sibling. Both of them also have significant issues with gaining and retaining Character Development as a result of their adventures in magic. The major difference between them is that for all of her flaws Mabel never intended to cause any harm before being manipulated by Bill, was more unconscious and impulsive than purposely evil and managed to fix the relationship with his brother at the time while Belos is an Evil Overlord that is completely unapologetic about his actions and has never let his anger at this brother go and actively searched for a way to live forever in order to continue punishing him and the magic world he fell in love with.
- Flora D'splora is based on Dora the Explorer being a Latina explorer who adores adventures, her friends and all animals. But unlike Dora, Flora prioritizes adventures and living a thrilling life while losing her affection for the people around her, especially animals.
- Lucy, a villain from Good Witch Azura 2: The Betrayening appears to be one for the show's protagonist, Luz Noceda herself. She's an Identical Stranger to Luz, except older and with different complexion and hair color, but is a villainous Well-Intentioned Extremist who betrayed Azura (Luz' favorite character) so badly for Azura to declare she will never forgive her and threatens Hecate (apparently favorite of Amity, Luz' girlfriend). Luz, who is at the time consumed by guilt over unwittingly helping Philip and Collector meet, while time-travelling, setting Philip on a path to become Emperor Belos and almost killing all witches on the Boiling Isles and fearing how will her friends react if they ever find out, sees the movie in mental state where she can clearly notice the similiarities between herself and the fictional villainess, but not the "corrupted" part, only making her spiral deeper into self-blame.
- The Powerpuff Girls (1998): Being a young red-haired girl with tremendous wealth and a surname rhyming with "Warbucks", Princess Morbucks is clearly based on Annie, but while Annie was a destitute yet kindhearted orphan who became Happily Adopted by a tycoon named Oliver Warbucks, Princess is a Spoiled Brat who lashes out when she doesn't get her way and only values her father as a means to get whatever she wants.
- Primal (2019): Perhaps unintentionally, but the Chieftain is very similar to the Norse warrior featured in the Samurai Jack episode "Jack and the Lava Monster". Both men lost their allies and family in a battle that wiped them out. In addition, both men were transformed into huge Magma Man monsters after being cursed by powerful demons. The Viking Jack met became said creature through will and was determined to find a worthy opponent who could defeat him so he could ascend to Valhalla to escape the curse placed by Aku. The Chieftain, however, accepted a deal with the demon, willingly turning into a monster for the sake of revenge; his actions cost him a chance to ascend to Valhalla, and he suffers damnation as a result.
- The Real Ghostbusters: The creators of the cartoon took frequent potshots against Filmation, who had sought to exploit the fame of Ghostbusters (1984) and put out a cartoon continuation of their unrelated 1975 Filmation's Ghostbusters. One episode even features expies of the main characters from the Filmation series as incompetent competitors to the real Ghostbusters (the Jake Kong stand-in is portrayed in a particularly bad light as a Phony Psychic).
- Rick and Morty:
- Rick Sanchez is a clear parody of Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown from Back to the Future, given that they're both crazy older scientists who end up involving a teenager in time travel and all the risks that it involves. While his inventions can cause chaos, Doc is a friendly, very not-alcoholic Absent-Minded Professor who wants to use his inventions for the benefit of humanity and has a warm and encouraging relationship with his younger "partner in time", Marty McFly. Most of the worse fallout that he "causes" happens by accident or due to him making enemies of very nasty people. Rick is an alcoholic Mad Scientist and a sociopathic Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist who regularly insults Morty and often makes him go through all sorts of abuse, (but he's not entirely without compassionate moments, and compared to his own aforementioned expy, Rick's almost a saint).
- The Vindicators are a group of superheroes who are patterned after The Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy. While they claim to be superheroes, and most people treat them as such, in reality, they’re all a bunch of self-centered jerks with little to no genuine heroism. Even though the Guardians have their unpleasant traits, they are ultimately good people and will do the right thing when push comes to shove and always have each other's backs despite how dysfunctional they are. While the Vindicators only bother saving people to stroke their own egos and are willing to turn on each other at the first sign of serious trouble.
- Planetina and the Tina-teers are blatant corruptions of Captain Planet and the Planeteers. Despite their mistakes and occasional hiatuses, the Planeteers (including Wheeler) are heroic youngsters who adore Gaia and Captain Planet and are fiercely protective of them. While the timeline in the show is malleable, multiple episodes indicate they never lose this attitude; one even implies the future Planeteers who briefly work alongside the current team are their children. The Tina-teers are corrupt, middle-aged versions of the Planeteers, implied to have long since lost whatever idealism they once held in their youth, and are now more concerned with filling their pockets than saving the planet and planning on selling Planetina to a shady man. Noticeably, the Tina-teers don't have a Heart counterpart. Planetina, meanwhile, starts out as a straight copy of Captain Planet, but eventually takes her desire to save Earth to such an extreme that she becomes an Eco-Terrorist; first popping the wheels on numerous cars to encourage people to walk, then setting a congressman's home on fire with a Molotov Cocktail, and eventually going as far as to kill dozens of innocent coal miners to achieve her goals. Due to the aforementioned lack of Heart or a Tina-teer wielding it, it implies this is what happens when you lack one when saving the planet.
- The Rugrats episode "Angelica Breaks a Leg" takes a sledgehammer to Doogie Howser, M.D. with Dr. Doozer. He is about as competent as you'd expect someone that age to be, and he takes any criticism as a slight against his age, leading him to misdiagnose Angelica with a broken leg and to send away a truly injured football player without treatment. To be fair, he does own up to his mistake at the end of the episode.
- Lamprey from Shadow Raiders follows in Rainmaker Entertainment's tradition of Dark Action Girls like Hexadecimal and Blackarachnia, but unlike them, she doesn't have a High-Heel–Face Turn or any Character Development.
- The Simpsons, as a long-running American satire, gives a few examples:
- Bart Simpson is this to Dennis Mitchell. Despite being called a "Menace," Dennis is usually a well-meaning kid whose mayhem is caused by ignorance. This was a source of frustration for Matt Groening, so he created Bart to be like Dennis, except his mischief is done out of malice.
- Sideshow Bob, played by Kelsey Grammer, is a dark take on Grammer biggest role, Frasier Crane. Bob and Fraiser are both elitist Ivy Leaguers note who often fail and suffer for our amusement. Plus, their brothers are both played by David Hyde Pierce. But for all of Frasier's faults, he's a caring doctor whose overdramatic threats are bluffs. Bob is a homicidal psycho who's tried to bomb the entire town.
- Itchy, the star of Show Within a Show The Itchy & Scratchy Show, is this for Jerry from Tom and Jerry, but even more for Herman from Herman and Katnip. Jerry is (usually) depicted as a heroic character who is simply trying to keep Tom from menacing him or engaging in a Friendly War with his rival. Even at his worst, Jerry is no more than just a Prankster. Ditto for Herman with the differences being that Herman is not often seen starting the conflict, but he is seen ending it in decidedly macabre ways. Itchy, on the other hand, is a complete and utter psychopath who tortures and kills the very friendly Scratchy, often along with other Innocent Bystanders, even children, purely for his own amusement, and lacks any sort of justification whatsoever, unlike his mouse ancestors.
- Lyle Lanley from "Marge vs. the Monorail" is an obvious parody of Harold Hill from The Music Man. Both are charismatic con artists with alliterative names masquerading as traveling salesmen, they have similar motives, dress very similarly and Lyle even sings a song based on one of Harold's. However, while Harold had a number of redeeming qualities and ultimately changed his ways, Lyle is utterly self-centered and never shows any remorse for the harm he does.
- Sonic Boom does it with the eponymous character, hilariously enough. Swifty the Shrew is the embodiment of Sonic as THE Mascot with Attitude without any of the Blue Blur's redeeming qualities. As such, he's an incredibly arrogant and patronizing tool with absolutely no tolerance for "losers" (anyone who disagrees with anything he says), and who isn't above sabotaging and cheating his way to victory. He, or rather they, are eventually revealed to be robots created by Doctor Eggman tasked with the objective of overshadowing Sonic and getting him expelled from the village.
- SpongeBob SquarePants: At first, Mr. Krabs was very much a straight forward copy of Scrooge McDuck. Both are business owners who keep their original dimes, both have last names that reflect their species, and both are known very well for how avaricious they are, namely in how cheap they can be and how much money they want to make. However, while Scrooge might be known for his cheap ways, he makes a point to make money fair and square: he never steals, he prioritizes the lives of others (including his family), and is willing to put his greed aside if the situation calls for it. By contrast, Krabs, Mostly due to Flanderization, has little to no problem stealing from even his own mother (even though that particular case was a complete accident.), nor is he above doing immoral things like selling bad products like expired meat in the Krabby Patties or assembling a playground out of garbage if he can profit from it, and has to be forced to spend any money on his daughter. The fact that Scrooge manages to be the richest in his world, while Krabs runs a fairly popular restaurant that doesn't make as much as he wants, helps illustrate how different the two are.
- Mina Loveberry from Star vs. the Forces of Evil is a Sailor Senshi Send-Up, being obviously based on Sailor Moon in terms of appearance and transformation, and a parody of Magical Girl Warriors in general. From the start, Mina fought monsters not because they were dangerous, but simply because they were monsters. Her frilly magical girl trappings jarringly contrast with her militarism and the hulking, vaguely demonic form she usually fights in, which were only made worse when centuries of fighting turned Mina into a vagabond with poor hygiene and fragile mental health. She eventually becomes much more of a threat as her Fantastic Racism against monsters drives her to wage war against all of them.
- The Warden from Superjail! is a sadistic Willy Wonka who runs a jail. He's a Manchild who hates kids, had a terrible father who made him kill a puppy amongst other things, and has only ever felt guilty once (for breaking up a gay couple)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012): Timothy/The Pulverizer is an expy of Zack from the 1987 series. Both are turtle costume-wearing fans of the turtles who wants to join them on their adventures. However, Timothy is portrayed in a far more negative light than Zack, being presented as an incompetent idiot that none of the turtles can stand and is of no help to them. His stupidity results in him deliberately exposing himself to mutagen—despite the turtles warning him not to—and becoming mutated into that series' version of the Mutagen Man.
- In the Tex Avery MGM cartoon "Rock-A-Bye Bear", Droopy is replaced as Spike/Butch's nemesis by a meaner and more selfish bassett hound.
- The Tick:
- Tick and all of his superhero friends are parodies of classic superheroes. They are for the most part odd but relatively effectual; However, Batman Parody Die Fledermaus is a useless, egomaniacal Dirty Coward, Bulletman spoof the Human Bullet actually needs to be fired out of a cannon to do anything and his wife doesn't approve of his and his son's superhero work (in sharp contrast of Bulletman's wife who actually helps him out as Bulletgirl), Aquaman parody Sewer Urchin may be the "apotheosis of cool" in the sewers but almost no hero other than the Tick is willing to look past his horrible aroma, and The Punisher parody Big Shot is a neurotic violence addict with Mommy Issues who wastes almost all of his bullets shooting his sigil into everything in its way and is later talked into seeking professional help by the Tick.
- The above examples have nothing on Jim Rage, head of Project Shave, a parody of Nick Fury. The funding for Project Shave was cut after 15 years of failure and he never told his team (a parody of Charlie's Angels) that they were no longer a legitimate operation. He wears an eyepatch solely because he thinks it looks cool, he'll go to drastic measures to destroy a sentient mustache, and his team cuts all ties with him when they learn the truth. The Tick accurately sums him up as a jerk who hates his mustache.
- Total Drama:
- Chris is a more sadistic version of Jeff Probst. Both are the hosts of popular reality shows and have a few Jerkass tendencies here and there. However, whereas Jeff sometimes cared for the contestants and will put a stop to things if they go too far, Chris shows no remorse and instead shows utter disdain for the teenage contestants and does whatever he can to torture them simply because he can.
- Courtney is a more ruthless version of Jen Masterson from 6teen. Most of the first-generation "Total Drama" contestants share a character archetype with someone from "6teen", the show's predecessor. Courtney fills a similar niche to Jen as the uptight, rule-following, ambitious, and studious member of the cast. But, while Jen can be bossy and a control freak at times, her intentions are almost always good, and she cares about her friends and family more than she cares about winning or always being right. Courtney adopts a controlling attitude toward her team because she believes she knows what's best, no one else, and won't tolerate challenges to her self-imposed authority. And it's not much of a stretch to say she has no real friends in her personal life (according to her bio, Courtney stated that she had plenty of friends, but those so-called friends were never mentioned in the series). Courtney was one the most unpopular contestants with her casemates, even in season one when she was the most polite and helpful. Well, she tried to be civil to her cast mates and has made a few friends; she'll backstab anyone and everyone — allies, teammates, boyfriends — if there's even the slightest chance of it getting her what she wants. As a result, she destroyed every friendship and relationship she had in the series, and by the end of the series, she had no friends or a boyfriend left by the end of her run on the series. And since Courtney never won the series, she departed the series with nothing but hatred from her cast mates, former friends, and former boyfriends.
- Sentinel Prime from Transformers: Animated is voiced by Townsend Coleman and as such is visually inspired by The Tick, even spouting such Tick-isms as "Prime-er prime" and "Energon-y goodness." However, he's a Jerkass with a hatred of organics.
- An episode of Ugly Americans is basically a Whole-Plot Reference to The Twilight Saga, with Grimes filling the role of Charlie Swan. Unlike Charlie, who is a Good Parent and Reasonable Authority Figure with justifiable worries that Edward and Bella's relationship is toxic and Bella is rushing into marriage at a very young age with a boy she barely knows; Grimes is a hateful bigot who objects to his daughter marrying and becoming a vampire purely out of racism.
- Villainous (Cartoon Network):
- Smug Super Bulldozer was a Boisterous Bruiser construction worker with a wrecking ball for a hand, although he was an Obliviously Evil Broken Ace rather than malicious. His real name was Robert Debuilder.
- Airlock is one of Samus Aran from the Metroid franchise. While Samus is an Anti-Hero in her worst moments and usually The Hero and a Friend to All Living Things, Airlock is a Nominal Hero at best and usually Ax-Crazy. It is rather telling that Airlock's color scheme is almost identical to that of Dark Samus.
- VeggieTales: In their Lord of the Rings parody Lord of the Beans, the Ents are represented by the Razzberry Forest Elders, who turn out to be working with the Saruman expy.
- Wander over Yonder: Sylvia's old partner Ryder is an expy of Han Solo — right down to having a similar outfit — but ultimately has none of Han's redeeming traits and is an amoral, self-serving Jerkass Dirty Coward who tries to betray Sylvia to Lord Hater the instant they get cornered.
- What's New, Scooby-Doo?: Susan Dinwittie from "It's Mean, It's Green, It's the Mystery Machine!" is a villainous version of Shirley Partridge of The Partridge Family. Both are mothers of folk-style musicians who wear their blonde hair in a bob. However, the band was originally the kids' idea. Shirley had to be coaxed into joining, and she never let their life as celebrities get in the way of being a loving mother and keeping her kids on the right path. Susan Dinwittie is an obsessive Stage Mom who neglects her only non-musical child and was willing to cause all sorts of destruction with the Mystery Machine to help the others return to fame.
