Good Shapeshifting, Evil Shapeshifting

Shapeshifters can be a complicated bunch. Given that some metamorphs can disguise themselves as virtually anything, determining which of them is heroic and which is villainous is not only a challenge for the characters, but also for the audience. Even if the shapeshifting is a one-off incident or even a Forced Transformation, even if the shapeshifter is restricted to a single alternate form, recognizing the good from the bad can still be tricky for viewers.

As such, one of the most useful visual shorthands for determining the morality of a shapeshifter is in the forms they assume, with heroic shapeshifters taking only forms of one particular kind and villains taking forms that deliberately contrast them.

Appropriately enough, this can take on many different forms:

1) Good Colors, Evil Colors. For reasons unknown, the shapeshifters just can't resist tinting their forms certain colours to distinguish themselves. Though what constitutes a good or bad colour varies from work to work, it's popular for good shapeshifters to use bright or inviting shades, while villains will use darker and more ominous tones — scarlet for a hero, crimson for a villain, for example.

2) Good Animals, Evil Animals. Heroic shapeshifters prefer either "noble" shapes like lions and eagles, or "benign" shapes like horses and mice. Villainous shapeshifters like predatory shapes with little "nobility" attached to them, with snakes and other reptiles being popular options. Also, if villains bother with smaller shapes, they'll usually be something undignified or even disgusting, like rats, worms, spiders, or insects.

3) Health and Appearance. Heroic shapeshifters of this kind will have forms that look natural and healthy, with fur, feathers, or scales all being in perfect condition. Evil shapeshifters will look sickly, deformed, or even monstrous, either because the source of their power is toxic in some way, because their inner corruption makes itself noticeable regardless of their disguise, or simply because they like making themselves as horrific as possible.

4) Transformation Aesthetics. While shapeshifting, heroic shapeshifters will transition in a way that appears beautiful, or at the very least, smooth. Villainous shapeshifters will exhibit a great deal of Transformation Horror, even if the process isn't actually a Painful Transformation. However, in the case of tragedies and the like, the rules are flipped: here, it's the Tragic Hero who'll have the slow, painful, ugly-looking transformation, while the unrepentant villain gets the swift and enjoyable transition.

5) Usage And Techniques. Heroes will be practical and utilitarian, while villains will be grandiose and showy, hence why most characters who enact the Shapeshifter Showoff Session are villainous in some way. In the case of Shapeshifting Tricksters, heroes will use their abilities for innocent pranks and rarely steal the identities of others, while villains will gleefully embrace identity theft.

6) Power Contrast. In the event that shapeshifting isn't an Imagination-Based Superpower, expect the villainous shapeshifters to possess shapes that their heroic counterparts simply don't have access to. As such, the most impressive and perhaps magical shapes will go to the villain, often in the form of a One-Winged Angel, while the hero will be forced to content themselves with ordinary animal forms. In works replete with classic Sour Grapes Tropes, the heroic shapeshifter will be burdened with some kind of Drama-Preserving Handicap, while the villainous shapeshifter will simply have powers that work functionally.

All these differences and more can be illustrated via a Shapeshifter Showdown between the good and evil shapeshifters.

Compare Scary Symbolic Shapeshifting.

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Examples:

Comic Books

• Batman: During the Mud Pack arc, Lady Clay is prominently featured assuming the forms of birds and even angels, an early hint that she has the capacity to be redeemed by her love for fellow Clayface Preston Payne. By contrast, when Basil Karlo double-crosses the rest of the Mud Pack to obtain his own shapeshifting powers, he not only becomes a grotesque clay giant, but also shapes himself into a snake man.
• Exiles: Morph, the resident shapeshifter and Plucky Comic Relief, usually makes himself seem as cartoonish as possible regardless of what form he takes. Also, while he regularly becomes animals, becomes objects, distorts his own physique, and even switches his costume on the fly, he rarely ever disguises himself as another sapient being — a sign that he's a fundamentally principled shapeshifter despite his immaturity. When Proteus takes over Morph's body, he instantly distinguishes himself by his willingness to use the identities of others — even gloating over everything he can get away with thanks to his powers of disguise — and often shapeshifts in a showy, vainglorious fashion in conjunction with his own Reality Warper powers, the better to emphasize his god complex.

Films — Animated

• Bartok the Magnificent: Over the course of the film, Bartok is given a potion that can essentially reveal the drinker's true self, and it's indicated that it will make Bartok into the hero he should be. Unfortunately, Ludmilla drinks it, convinced that it will make her the gloriously beautiful queen she believes she should be... and instead, it transforms her into a comically obese dragon with purple scales, a reflection of her greedy, destructive, power-hungry true nature.
• NIMONA (2023): Nimona's nature as a semi-heroic shapeshifter is emphasized by the fact that almost all her forms are coloured pastel scarlet, to the point that she can't resist adding pink hair or pink irises while impersonating humans. Plus, most of them tend to look cute and cuddly — even the whale. By contrast, in the Institute's propaganda of "Gloreth's Monster", Nimona is portrayed as a huge, menacing dragon rendered all in black. As such, in the finale, when Nimona suffers a Heroic BSoD and becomes a pitch-black Eldritch Abomination, it's a sure sign that she's all but crossed the Despair Event Horizon.
• Paprika (adaptation): In dreams, many characters have the ability to shapeshift in some way. Paprika often transforms into cartoon mascots, toys, fairies, sphinxes, mermaids, and other fantastical things, reflecting her heroism and whimsy; Tokita takes the form of a toy robot, befitting his innocence; Dr Shima, as the friendly Mission Control, becomes faces in the clouds or talking billboards. However, the villain of the story Chairman Inui chooses to manifest himself as animated trees, undersea leviathans, even a shadowy giant — all reflections of his god complex.
• Sleeping Beauty: The fairies Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather have the ability to shrink down to insect size, and that's the limit of their ability to transform. By contrast, Maleficent can transform into various forms, from a ball of fire while luring Aurora to the spinning wheel to an enormous dragon while trying to block Prince Phillip's escape; for good measure, these forms feature either a Sickly Green Glow or pitch black colouration.
• The Sword in the Stone: During their Shapeshifter Showdown, Merlin and Madam Mim's choice of forms highlight their morality. The Wicked Witch Mim generally takes large and/or predatory forms: a crocodile, a fox, a chicken, an elephant, a tiger, a rattlesnake, and a rhinoceros — all coloured pink. By contrast, the benevolent wizard Merlin prefers to take smaller, less threatening forms in blue and grey: a tortoise, a rabbit, a caterpillar, a walrus, a mouse, a crab, and a goat... and yet, he still manages to use these apparently lesser forms to outwit and overcome her. In the finale, Mim loses her temper and becomes a dragon... only for Merlin to defeat her by becoming an infectious disease.

Films — Live-Action

• Society: The elite of Society use their shapeshifting powers in the most repulsively visible fashion possible, twisting their flesh like plasticine and merging their bodies with each other as they feed upon the poor. They're also extremely casual about stripping down while transforming. By contrast, the two heroic members of Society are much more discreet; in particular, Clarissa prefers to use her powers while at least wearing a Modesty Bedsheet, and generally comes across as sexy and playful rather than inhumanly disturbing.
• Underworld: Evolution:
  • Michael Corvin appears mostly human and even handsome when transformed into his hybrid form, his most inhuman features being grey-blue skin, jet-black eyes, fangs, and claws. Marcus Corvinus, the Big Bad and Monster Progenitor of vampires, exhibits claw-tipped wings and a more monstrous face reminiscent of a bat when he transforms into his newly acquired hybrid form.
  • The modern breed of Lycan is contrasted by William Corvinus, their Monster Progenitor. He lacks most of the beneficial mutations developed by later strains, being much bigger, hairier, and more animalistic than modern Lycans; for good measure, he lacks the ability to return to his human form. And the same goes for anyone he infects, hence why the vampires had him imprisoned in the first place.
• The Witches (1990): Forced Transformation variant. When they're transformed into mice by Formula 86, Luke and Bruno look like relatively ordinary mice, as brought to life by Jim Henson. By contrast, when the Grand High Witch is dosed with the Formula, her intermediary form looks like a monstrous cross between a rat and a lizard, presumably the result of her own rotten appearance affecting the change. Even once she's fully transformed, she's immediately distinguished from all the other transformed witches by the fact that she's completely bald.
• The Witches (2020): Luke, Bruno, and Mary all appear distinctly cute as mice. By contrast, witches who are given the Grand High Witch's formula become ferocious rats instead. In the finale, the Grand High Witch gets her own dose of the formula catapulted into her mouth: not only does she become a rat instead of a mouse, she's also bald-headed, covered in patchy black fur, and looks nothing short of monstrous.
• The Wolfman (2010): In a departure from the original film, Lawrence Talbot's tragic werewolf hero is contrasted by a werewolf Big Bad, namely his father Sir John Talbot. When the two clash in the finale, the moral differences between the two are made abundantly clear in their transformation: Lawrence's transition is slow, awkward, and painful, while Sir John's is smooth, elegant and complete in a matter of seconds; Lawrence keeps his clothes on while transformed, while his opponent eagerly tears his shirt off; finally, Sir John is much stronger and even more brutal in combat than Lawrence — all reflections of the Big Bad's nature as a Fully-Embraced Fiend.

Literature

• Animorphs:
  • The titular Animorphs, as defenders of Earth, acquire morphs almost exclusively from earthly animals; even Ax the Token Nonhuman only uses morphs from his adopted home. The Big Bad of the series, Visser 3 (AKA Esplin 9466), actively seeks out choice morphs on alien worlds and has by now acquired a whole menagerie of exotic and terrifying morphs, appropriate for an alien conqueror... and given that he's both a showoff and a sadist, he looks for any excuse to use his impressive library of morphs against the "Andalite bandits."
  • David, the "last" Animorph, has quite a few of his negative personality traits revealed or accentuated by his choice in morphs:
    • When the group decide to allow David into the group, he opts to acquire a Golden Eagle as his first morph for its sheer size, ignoring the group's recommendation to try something smaller and more manageable. None of the Animorphs entirely comfortable with the outcome of the ensuing argument, especially Tobias, who notes that Golden Eagles are in the habit of attacking other raptors. This is actually an early hint that David is going to turn traitor.
    • Generally, the Animorphs try to avoid using human morphs unless they have the consent of the donor, as it's essentially an act of theft, and any situation in which they break the rule is considered desperately serious. As such, it's another red flag when David gets casual about morphing Controllers and even fellow Animorphs with zero consent. Later, David takes this further when he replaces Jake's cousin Saddler while he's in hospital, and though it's never specified if he went so far as to enact a Sickbed Slaying ^note K.A. Applegate has since stated that David didn't kill Saddler or just stole his identity after he flatlined, the fact that he was willing to exploit the grief of Saddler's parents to essentially get himself adopted is a sign that David is now beyond redemption.
    • In the finale of this particular trilogy, David makes use of a rat morph in order to track down the hidden Escafil device... only to end up caught in a trap by the Animorphs and left there until his two hours are up, leaving him as a rat for the rest of his life. For good measure, when he finally re-emerges later in the series, the rat morph blends perfectly with his sneaky, vicious nature.
  • In #48: The Return, Rachel is "rescued" by Crayak and gifted with upgrades to her powers that break all the established rules of morphing. As a result, she easily proves herself in a Shapeshifter Showdown against Esplin, outfighting the Visser for the first time in the entire series... only to realize that the new powers are designed to corrupt her into another one of Crayak's pawns, encouraging her Blood Knight tendencies and getting her Drunk on the Dark Side.
• Galaxy of Fear: Uncle Hoole and Borborygmus Gog are both Shi'ido shapeshifters, but though their secretive natures both inspire mistrust in the Arranda siblings, their morality is ultimately revealed by how they use their powers. Hoole shapeshifts for utility and combat, almost never assumes the identity of another sentient being, and often wraps up each novel by using his powers to rescue the Arrandas; for good measure, he prefers using relatively benign forms like Wookies. By contrast, Gog firmly establishes himself as a Shapeshifting Trickster by constantly assuming pre-existing identities, playing his enemies against each other rather than getting directly involved in the conflict.
• Hagwood:
  • All Werlings have the ability to shapeshift, but most tend to use smaller forms like mice and squirrels, the better to avoid predators. As such, Terser Gibble's capacity and willingness to use the form of a crow to terrorize his students immediately outs him as a horrible person long before he starts threatening to throw Gamiel to his death.
  • One of the most important rules of Wergling is to never assume insect forms. One Werling made the mistake of breaking this rule and lost control of her powers as a result, becoming a monstrous spider-wasp hybrid known as Frighty Aggie, from then on being widely feared as a bogeyman for all Werlings.
• Harry Potter:
  • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: It's eventually revealed that the Marauders were a Students' Secret Society consisting of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs — a werewolf and three unlicensed animagi. Prongs took the form of a stag, Padfoot a dog, and Wormtail a rat; not so surprisingly, Wormtail turns out to be a coward and traitor to the three heroic shapeshifters. His real name is Peter Pettigrew, the man who sold out Harry's parents to Voldemort and left Sirius Black AKA Padfoot as the fall guy.
  • Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Rita Skeeter is a sneaky, underhanded tabloid journalist who just happens to be another unlicensed animagus, this one with the form of a beetle — allowing her a gift for spying on people... up until Hermione figures out the truth and traps her in a jar.
• The Magicians: In the finale, Alice ends up clashing with the Beast in a Shapeshifter Showdown. As the best and brightest of the Physical Kids, Alice has a huge variety of forms to choose from, including a lion, an anaconda, a bear, a giant scorpion, and even a dragon — befitting her imagination and wisdom. However, the Beast only uses his powers to make himself progressively bigger to the point that he can even coldcock a dragon, a sure sign of his own all-consuming narcissism and his nature as a Psychopathic Manchild.
• Red Dwarf: The Polymorph in Better Than Life is first encountered transforming by splitting open and turning inside out, accompanied by sickening crunching sounds, firmly identifying it as a villain long before it attacks. By contrast, Reketrebn the Symbi-morph of Last Human shapeshifts by simply turning blue and folding in on themself. Plus, despite having a range of forms almost as impressive as the Polymorph's, Reketrebn never uses their powers for offense: even when cornered and directly threatened, they prefer to hunker down as a sofa until their attackers get bored — indicating that they're more trustworthy than both the Polymorph and the Symbi-morph mutineers aboard the Mayflower.

Live-Action TV

• Doom Patrol (2019): The mostly-good Rita Farr lacks the self-confidence to control her Rubber Man transformations and thus often melts into a freakish blob of flesh. By contrast, Laura de Mille is a much more versatile shapeshifter and has nearly-perfect control over her transformations, but consistently acts in her own interests, even if it screws everyone else over.
• Legion (2017): In the second-season finale, David and Amahl Farouk engage in a psychic duel that allows their mental projections to clash in the form of a Shapeshifter Showdown. David takes more natural forms like rhinos, sharks, and dinosaurs, while Farouk's shapes are often mechanical or mythical, though both are distinguished by colour: David's projection is green, while Farouk's is a fiery orange. Most tellingly, Farouk cheats by becoming Syd, then taking advantage of David's surprise to become a giant spider-person and wrap him up in its web. In the final clash, David becomes a soldier armed with a flamethrower, while Farouk becomes a flame-breathing giant, resulting in a Beam-O-War.
• Northern Exposure: After trying and failing to grab a hold of a gunakadeit in "Fish Story", Joel gets ready to retreat...before Goony clasps his hook, making his first real-life appearance in fifteen years. Turns out O'Connell had previously been spotted by Goony multiple times in the past due to his insistence on using salami as bait, the smell of which causes Goony to spontaneously split into a school of fish with the one and only collective prerogative to keep humans safe. This is a contrast to Goony himself, whose pure form is similar to the Loch Ness Monster, with the instincts to match.

Tabletop Games

• Vampire: The Masquerade: Though vampires rarely qualify as clear-cut heroes, two Clans possess shapeshifting powers: the Gangrel have the ability to become animals like wolves and bats, their powers gradually accelerating to becoming mist, soil, or even fire — their choice of strictly natural forms cementing their nature as semi-neutral anti-heroes. The Tzimisce, on the other hand, have the ability to warp their flesh by touch, allowing them to not only disguise themselves as human beings, but also transform into armor-plated killing machines, animated puddles of blood, and giant carnivorous bats — easily identifying the Tzimisce clan as a villain faction even if you aren't aware of their other unpleasant habits.
• Werewolf: The Apocalypse:
  • Black-and-Grey Morality aside, most of the more "heroic" Garou appear healthy in all their forms, since deformity is considered by some tribes to be a sign of Wyrm corruption. By contrast, the Wyrm-worshipping Black Spiral Dancers are frequently disfigured, either due to being metis-born or exposure to the Wyrm's corrupting radiation, and their Crinos forms reflect this: expect to see red or green Glowing Eyes of Doom, grotesque bald patches, and fur colors featuring jet-black, greenish grey, or even stark white tones.
  • Played with in the case of the more ominous Fera breeds: though the Ananasi, the Ratkin, and the Rokea all have forms based on frightening animals, they're also staunch defenders of Gaia and firmly opposed to the influence of the Wyrm... though the Ananasi's manipulative tendencies, the Ratkin's Social Darwinism, and the Rokea's Blue-and-Orange Morality frequently make them the Token Evil Teammates of the Fera.
  • Some Fomori have the power to shapeshift, with especially powerful and willful specimens being able to turn into just about anything. However, because their powers are due to being infested by Wyrm-spirits, whatever forms they take are always hideous in some fashion. Johnson, the Ferectoi exemplar in Freak Legion, is depicted undergoing a horrific transformation into a carapace-skinned H. R. Giger-eseque combat form... and more disturbingly, he appears to be getting off on it.

Toys

• The Autobot/Decepticon split in Transformers began life as this trope. When Hasbro first began importing the original Japanese transforming toys, they arbitrarily decided that the robots that turned into civilian vehicles were the good guys and the ones that turned into military vehicles or weapons were the bad guys.

Video Games

• Dragon Age: Origins:
  • In the Mage Origin, it's revealed that demons and dreamers have the ability to shapeshift in the Fade, with self-image often determining a default form — hence why the lost mage known only as "Mouse" commonly manifests as a mouse. If you manage to persuade the Sloth Demon to teach Mouse how to become a bear, your companion will successfully gain a combat shape... but it's an ordinary grizzly bear, in contrast to the Sloth Demon's spikey, disfigured Bereskarn form, indicating that he's still a fundamentally decent person despite his bitterness. And then the whole thing is subverted when it turns out that Mouse is actually the Pride Demon you've been pitted against.
  • The nominally heroic Morrigan and any Mage characters that accept her tutelage have the power to become giant spiders, bears, swarms of insects, and more hideous variants of the three. Her more openly villainous mother Flemeth has even more impressive powers, which you discover if you decide to kill her before her plans for Morrigan come to fruition: Flemeth can become a dragon.
• Genshin Impact: Played with. Some of the Traveler's foes are able to use power from the Abyss to take on monstrous forms, such as Jakob, who can become an alien-looking Iniquitous Baptist and is a very sinister person. Another example is Childe, who can turn into a monster via Foul Legacy Transformation, but still retains many human traits, signifying that he is neither wholly good nor bad.
• King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder!: At the end of the game, the heroic King Graham and the evil wizard Mordack end up in a Shapeshifter Showdown in which the player has to counter each shape correctly. When Mordack turns into a large dragon-bug creature, Graham turns into a noble tiger; Mordack becomes a more traditional fire-breathing dragon, so Graham becomes a rabbit to evade the fire breath; Mordack transforms into a vicious cobra, and Graham turns into a speedy mongoose. Finally, Mordack becomes fire — and Graham calmly summons a raincloud with which to extinguish him. The contrast is further present in their color schemes. For the most part, Mordack's forms are dark blue and purple, while Graham's are warmer and brighter colors.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • In The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, everyone who steps into the Dark World (formerly the Golden Land) is transformed in a way said to reflect their true self: the villain Ganondorf turned into the demon boar Ganon, whereas Link turns into a fluffy pink bunny. Ordinary thieves become fox-men.
  • In The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Link can turn into a Noble Wolf, which provides some abilities unavailable to his Hylian self. Ganondorf, again, turns into the boar Ganon in the final battle.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: The two draconification transformations we see have very different circumstances and outcomes. Princess Zelda performs a Heroic Sacrifice, becoming the Light Dragon at the expense of her mind so that she can use that form over the following millennia to restore the Master Sword for Link to use in the game's present day. Ganondorf, in contrast, transforms into the Demon Dragon as part of a Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum in a last ditch effort to kill Link and destroy Hyrule. How they eat their secret stones to trigger their transformations also differs: Zelda calmly plops the stone into her mouth, while Ganondorf furiously rips the stone off his forehead and shoves it down his throat (along with most of his hand). They also have contrasting appearances as dragons: the Light Dragon has a Gold and White Are Divine color scheme and has a somewhat cute and benevolent look despite also looking rather alien, whereas the Demon Dragon is a dark and bestial Draconic Abomination covered in fleshy masses of gloom. Lastly, Ganondorf is killed as the Demon Dragon, Zelda is turned back to her original form thanks to Rauru and Sonia magical intervention.
• The Secret World: In Transylvania, the ancient shapeshifter and Solitary Sorceress Cucuvea can transform herself into an owl to keep an eye on the goings-on outside the forest. By contrast, the vampire generals she's attempting to undermine can shapeshift into bats, usually in order to escape foes they can't easily defeat.

Western Animation

• Ben 10: Omniverse:
  • Albedo's alien forms are distinguished by being more disheveled and desaturated compared to Ben's with an aggressive red color palette and bags under their eyes. Averted in his earlier appearances where the only difference was Red Eyes, Take Warning.
  • When he regains his Ultimate Forms, they are now drawn as misshapen evil creatures of significantly increased power.
  • The Nemitrix exclusively turns its user into violent predators, meant to counter the sapient omnitrix aliens.
• Generator Rex: In contrast to the disfigured Body Horror of most Evos in his world, Rex's transformations manifest as sleek machines attached to his arms or legs. At least when he's not undergoing Power Incontinence.
• Justice League: The climactic final battle of the "A Better World" two-parter has the Justice League taking on the Justice Lords, their tyrannical counterparts from an alternate universe. The two Martian Manhunters engage each other by immediately shapeshifting into nearly identical serpentine creatures, though the villainous one can be easily identified by its more vicious features, such as its prominent fangs, large mouth and additional pairs of arms and eyes.
• Teen Titans (2003):
  • A rare case of this being the same character. Beast Boy's animal transformations are normally painless, smooth, and entirely within his control. But in "The Beast Within", after getting doused with mysterious chemicals, he becomes an increasingly violent jerk and starts eating meat, until a fit of anger triggers a painful, slow, uncontrolled transformation into a werebeast. Downplayed, since Beast Boy never turned evil, just feral.
  • Also implied with Adonis, who became a werebeast in a similar way in the same episode and actually was evil, attacking Raven.
  • As a result of being an evil clone created by Trigon, Beast Boy's doppleganger always takes forms coloured pale white with red eyes. For good measure, all of the forms it takes over the course of their Shapeshifter Showdown are aggressive predators.
• Visionaries: the good-aligned Spectral Knights turn into blue colored versions of noble, majestic animals like big cats, canids, eagles, and even a dolphin. The evil-aligned Darkling Lords turn into creepy and more monstrous forms like lizards, mollusks, and a shark.