Basic Trope: A universe in which the heroes are the villains and the villains are heroes.
- Straight:
- The members of Hero Inc. accidentally get stuck in the universe of Villain Inc.
- The Boss of Darkness Guild finds himself in the universe of Lightness Tribe.
- Exaggerated:
- Downplayed: The members of Hero Inc. accidentally get stuck in the universe of Jerkass Inc..
- Justified:
- Someone messed with time travel and accidentally created a universe where earlier villains won before the heroes or villains were born.
- The mirror universe's Patron God is The Anti-God, who created their universe deliberately to be the evil opposite of the main universe's Patron God.
- Inverted:
- Villain Inc. invades Hero Inc.'s universe.
- The Boss of Darkness Guild is shocked to see the Cheif of Lightness Tribe is actually as bad as him...meaning that the entire Tribe are just as evil as his original Guild...and he's all but happy to join in the fun against squishing Villain Inc.
- Subverted:
- At first it seems like they stumbled onto an alternate universe, but it turns out to be a cosplay convention.
- Their other selves aren't evil, but instead have swapped personalities
- Double Subverted:
- Then they walk outside and discover it really is an alternate universe.
- The other selves turn out to be Evil All Along.
- Parodied:
- Every single citizen on Villain Inc's universe is evil and has a beard— even the females.
- Everything is reversed - even what reversing means - so there's no difference!
- The members of Hero Inc. found themselves in the universe of Villain Inc. by walking through a mirror.
- Since the Heroes of Hero Inc. are largely competent, Villain Inc.'s members, inversely, are barely a threat.
- The main characters are morally neutral, meaning their Mirror Universe counterparts are little to no different.
- Zig Zagged: Heroes Inc. are not in a mirror universe; it's a mind game being played by another villain. But the mind game creates a tear in the space-time continuum, which creates the mirror universe, where the heroes made a Face–Heel Turn and became Villains Inc. Heroes Inc. never finds out about the mirror universe that now actually exists.
- Averted: There is no Mirror Universe.
- Enforced: "We need to show what might happen to the heroes if they weren't goody two-shoes, so create a Mirror Universe."
- Lampshaded: "Oh, no. A Mirror Universe. This is worse than one where the Nazis win World War II."
- Invoked: "If my calculations are correct, we should arrive in the Mirror Universe."
- Exploited: The heroes purposefully travel to a Mirror Universe to get resources that less moral versions of themselves have access to, or to recruit good counterparts of their own universe's Villains Inc.
- Defied: "Damn it, we're in the Mirror Universe! Let's get out of here before something plot-related happens!"
- Discussed: "This world looks like something the people of a Mirror Universe would love to inhabit."
- Conversed: (putting away a comic book), "Why does every single comic book company have a Mirror Universe? I gotta check Wikipedia to see if Paramount owns every single comic book company."
- Deconstructed: Heroes Inc. find that their "evil" counterparts are their Mirror Characters, leading them to question their own motives and actions.
- Reconstructed: . . .but, unlike their counterparts, they realize their wrongdoings and ultimately become better people for it.
- Played For Laughs: Upon reaching the Mirror Universe, Hero Inc. realizes that this must also be the universe where the Corrupt Corporate Executives that cancelled their favorite show were much kinder to it. They then seek out as many DVDs of this universe's later seasons as they can.
- Played For Drama: Narrative devices have also been mirrored. If Nobody Can Die in Hero Inc., then all bets are off here.
The evil twin of TV Tropes, ustr:\\LitCliches.soc, wants you to visit the Mirror Universe.
