Anti-Anti-Christ
And I do not know what thy Father will say...—Beelzebub, Good Omens
He's The Antichrist, the spawn of Satan, an Eldritch Abomination destined to bring about the doom of all men and the end of all things.
But he just doesn't feel like it. Maybe the relationship between him and Dad is strained. Maybe he was raised by humans and shown the ways of love and justice. Perhaps there are just more interesting things to do? Of course, the sheer Irony of the ultimate rebel's offspring rebelling against him is delicious.
Whatever the reason, this Dark Messiah doesn't feel like it and says, "Screw Destiny! I'm not causing The End of the World as We Know It!" He might even sacrifice himself just to thwart the End of Days, thus dying for our sins.
Of course, the Forces of Evil™ often make it really difficult for themselves; by demanding that their champion kill their lover, their friends, and anyone who is nice to them. Seriously, the Anti-Anti-Christ didn't want to join their club in the first place; how is this supposed to convince them? What did they think the response was going to be? Of course, they don't consider it at all. It's part of the rules, dagnabit. If they actually promised and delivered Better Living Through Evil, they might have had more success.
Beware the Nice Ones and the Villain with Good Publicity, though. Remember, even though they've turned against their destiny, it's In the Blood. And it's especially bad if the morons around them know about their "destiny" and decide to Bully A Dragon. That rarely ends well.
Compare with Apocalypse Maiden, which many Anti Antichrists are by nature. Not to be confused with Satan Is Good, which is distinguished by having the apparent bringer of evil be a covert force for good, whereas Anti Antichrists generally represent actual forces of evil, albeit not very well. See also The Unchosen One.
While an Anti-Anti-Christ may side against Team Evil, they are not required to actually be good or nice. And even if they are nice, members of Team Good (often a Knight Templar) may see their turn as inevitable and seek to end them before they can turn. They may also be accused of playing on Team Good's sympathies and are often the first people to be looked at when something goes wrong... which may in and of itself cause them to turn evil.
Anime and Manga
- What Tatsumi Oga is trying to teach the eponymous baby Beelzebub to eventually become - often with hilarious results.
- Rin from Blue Exorcist: He only learns his true parentage after Satan himself comes to claim him, killing the exorcist who was his foster-father – a priest and member of the local Church Militant – in the process. Determined to avenge his father, Rin vows to become an exorcist himself. Naturally he can't tell anyone at the exorcist academy about this, least of all his classmates (at least one of whom has devoted himself to killing Satan). His "headmaster", Mephisto, may also qualify as he prefers to side with the exorcists rather than join his father and brothers in Gehenna.
- Ah! My Goddess's Goddess First Class Urd, Celestial SysAdmin and self-styled Goddess of Love, is understandably estranged from her mother Hild (the "CEO of Niflheim, Inc.", aka the ruler of Hell) at least in part out of fear that love for her would tip the balance in her soul.
- The nature of the market-share war, as well as Urd's own priorities, might mean that she's thinking more of her love of her sisters than being a harbinger of doom. Even her childhood friend Mara (a full-blooded demon) laments that they're no longer able to actually be friends.
- Kyouran Kazoku Nikki centers around invoking this trope by raising the various possible "Anti-Christs" in a loving family environment. Well, a wacky loving family environment.
- Loki, bringer of Ragnarok in Norse Mythology, doesn't want to in Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok. Interesting in that it isn't the "Devil" character who wants/expects him to do it, but the God, Odin. The massive psychological contortions of the other gods of Asgard as they argue simultaneously that the only way to stop Ragnarok is to kill Loki...but that You Can't Fight Fate in that he can't choose not to start it. He chooses not to regardless, which drives them nuts.
- It's funnier if you know some Norse mythology, which relies on the idea that Ragnarok's not only completely predestined, but that all the gods (and all but two humans) are plainly going to die, often in very specific ways and with no way at all to avoid it.
- To a degree, Greed in Fullmetal Alchemist manga. His father (actually called Father) is an Eldritch Abomination / sort of evil god, and Greed has fallen out with the old man. Because he is "greedy", Greed isn't interested in his father's plans, and because of his massive ego, wants to accumulate a large number of followers, unlike Father, who views humans as insects and wants to wipe them out. For Bonus points, Greed even gets a Crucified Hero Shot.
- In the most recent[when?] chapter, we find out (after much pestering from Ling) that accumulating a large number of followers/ becoming the king of the world / taking Father's place and consuming God wasn't what Greed really wanted at all. If fact, Greed admitted that all he ever wanted was "to have friends like them".
- The Dark King Ixpellia from StrikerS Sound Stage X of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Prophesized to lead an undead army to raze the lands and consume all who are in their way. Shame that said Dark King had grown weary of all the needless bloodshed, eh?
- Kaworu Nagisa of Neon Genesis Evangelion essentially embodies this trope, coming within about a foot of causing Third Impact before realizing what was going on and asking Shinji to kill him to prevent it. Possibly even more so in the manga where the sequence of events is slightly different. There's a reason why "he died for your sins".
- For different reasons, Gendo Ikari might count too. Depending on your interpretation of A) his character and B) What the fuck is actually going on in the series.
- Rei actually double subverts this. She's raised to end the world but decides not to after Gendo betrays her. Then she does it anyway because Shinji - who recently crossed the Despair Event Horizon - asks her to.
- Piccolo Junior from Dragon Ball was meant to carry on his father's legacy as Great Demon King, and take over the world. He's more interested in beating Goku in a fight, especially after their first encounter, going from major villain to Jerkass Anti-Hero, and after spending one year raising Gohan, a rather likable nice guy. Interestingly, the French dub (and by extension all other dubs based on it) calls him The Younger Satan (his father was Satan the Heartless).
- Note that Piccolo isn't just the son of the original, given the circumstances of his birth, he's also his father's reincarnation.
- Goku fills the title well, too - he was sent as an infant to grow up and kill Earth's entire population so Frieza could sell the planet. But he hit his head, got amnesia and was raised with love and caring instead. Vegeta was understandably disappointed.
- Demon lord Exoda C. Claw from Shina Dark is supposed to wage war on the entire world when he wakes up... Turns out fishing and goofing about are a lot higher on his list of priorities.
- Hamel in Violinist of Hameln is Great Demon King's Chestra's son, heir and successor, and is constantly harassed by the demon captains who hope to trigger a permanent berserker state in him (during which his body mutates horribly and he's virtually unstoppable, tending to attack anything that moves in a blind rage). Hamel has a couple words to say about that, and they usually require heavy censoring; thus they keep attacking him and trying to turns humans against him. None of this would have been necessary had they kidnapped Pandora away from his sight, and offered him asylum from the bad bad humans afterwards, since he was just a freaking kid at the point. It turns out to be a Xanatos Gambit to make him more powerful from the constant conflict between his human and inhuman sides... so he'd make a tastier, more nutritious snack to his cannibal father after the latter's eventual release from Pandora's box.
- Carrot in Sorcerer Hunters is the reincarnated soul of the God of Destruction. The Big Bad destroys his world, kills his friends and family and tells him to get to destroying. Cue his friends using their god powers to backwards reincarnate to return to him, the God of Destruction changing color and him saying... no.
- The character Akuto Sai from Ichiban Ushiro no Dai Maou is an incredibly misunderstood character who wants nothing more than to do good despite being the future Demon King. Because of this status, nearly all of the school despises him.
- Naruto, as host of the most powerful and evil of demons, is basically expected to be the Anti Christ (or the local equivalent). Instead, he's a Warrior Therapist and The Messiah.
- Turns out that the demon sealed in him isn't nearly as evil as advertised either.
Comic Books
- The title character of Hellboy. Whenever told by someone that he's destined to bring about the destruction of Earth and summon the Ogdru Jahad, he usually responds by punching them in the face.
- Raven from Teen Titans.
- Danny Wormwood from Garth Ennis' The Chronicles of Wormwood is the Anti-Christ but has no interest in starting Armageddon, much to his father's chagrin, as it can't be started without him.
- He's even pals with Retarded Black Hobo Jesus.
- Semi-used in Chosen, in which the Antichrist believes himself to be Jesus and wants to help people. Then his dad and a bunch of demons rape him for years and it turns him evil.
- Tazio from Ronald Russel Roach's Armageddonquest. Then again, it's not over yet.
- Marvel Comics:
- Due to the nature of the Marvel Universe, a certain fallen angel named Lucifer who may or may not be the real thing, was weakened and split into many fragments after landing that compete with each other and several arch demons like Mephisto for the title Satan. Each has their own hell dimension to boot. The many hell lords made a temporary truce, and spent a great amount of time devising a way to get all their genetic material into one human baby: Daimon Hellstrom, Son of Satan! Upon his birth, the Satanic cults moved to make sure the baby was made evil, but despite the combination of genetics, upbringing, and a name that's just barely not "Demon Hellstorm", he became a hero. This didn't stop "Satan" giving it a second go, which produced a daughter! Of course, Satana (eventually) turned on her fathers and became a hero as well, joining the Thunderbolts. Can't win for losing, huh?
- Genesis from the X-Men is a clone of Apocalypse who not only isn't aware of his parentage (yet), but lives in a virtual reality where he had a very Superman-style upbringing.
- The mini-series "Magneto" was about Joseph pretending to be Magneto so he could make Magneto's Acolytes renounce their project, which would kill one million humans. At the time, Joseph himself believed he was an amnesiac Magneto.
- Marvel 2099 had Sam Fisk, disgusted by his grandfather Wilson (The Kingpin) and his life of crime, discover he has inherited the legacy. Sam politely tells the legacy to get lost and becomes the new Daredevil.
- Inverted or perhaps subverted by Loki in Earth X. After the reveal that Gods Need Prayer Badly because they're really shapeshifting aliens, and Odin is a human who's enslaved them, Loki decides to bring about Ragnarok—because it's the right thing to do.
- In the Chick Tract First Bite, Satan's Chosen One gets converted to Christianity on his first mission. Epic Fail, Igor!
- Spawn was recruited by the armies of Hell to lead an invading army, but ends up becoming a superhero instead.
- Arguably, the Silver Surfer.[context?]
- Fire Breather Duncan Rosenblatt doesn't want to follow in his father's enormous footsteps as king of the Kaiju.
Film
- The cruddy TV movie sequel to Rosemary's Baby has Andy be pretty apathetic about being the Antichrist.
- The title character's brothers in the Adam Sandler film Little Nicky (with the twist that in the Little Nicky-verse, Satan Is Good).
- He wasn't always like that, and his father (yes, in Little Nicky Satan is a Legacy Character) was supposedly even worse. By the time the movie takes place he's mellowed out into a Necessary Evil.
- In The Devil's Advocate Keanu Reeves turns out to be an Anti-Anti-Christ. I mean - the character played by Keanu Reeves. But then - who knows?
- From the second Austin Powers movie, Dr Evil's son exemplifies this trope.
- ...which makes him an Anti Anti-Anti-Christ in the third. I wonder if they'll make any more sequels...
- Christine York in End of Days was raised from birth by Satanists to be Satan's bride. Unfortunately for them, they didn't drill this into her head from day one, instead raising her as a normal upper middle-class American girl. When the wedding day approaches, she understandably rejects the proposition.
- Inverted in Star Wars: Anakin Skywalker is supposed to destroy the Sith, but he ultimately chooses not to (out of love, of course) and instead destroys the Jedi, then (again because of love) chooses to destroy the Sith.
- However, thanks to Revenge of the Sith, it is also heavily implied that his conception from the force may have actually been orchestrated by Darth Plagueis, so its likely he may have been intended to be this from the start.
- Although not outright stated, it is heavily implied in the film that The Iron Giant was created for the purpose of destroying planets with the amount of weapons built into him. A deleted scene confirmed it with flashbacks. He fits in because he ultimately rejects this path.
- Boxer from Southland Tales, who for most of the film is suggested to be the Messiah, and tries twice to save the bystanders when he realizes the real one is about to kill him.
Literature
- In Canon Press's Supergeddon, a parody of the Left Behind series, The Antichrist suffers amnesia after his mortal head wound and becomes an evangelist, with the Captain Ersatz version of the Tribulation Force trying to convert him back to Team Evil so the end of the world can proceed as planned. Yeah, it's that kind of book.
- Adam of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's Good Omens. He's less Anti-Anti-Christ and more just good old-fashioned ignorance of his destiny for most of the story, but when he awakens, rather than bringing about the Apocalypse, he decides he really prefers the world the way it is.
- Instead of becoming evil incarnate, he became humanity incarnate—which throughout the whole book is pointed out as being far nobler than any angel can be, and far eviller than any demon.
- The book also hangs a lampshade on this trope, by pointing out that any child of Satan would be equally justified in being extremely good, as genetically they'd be half angel. Evil tendencies would only be expected if Lamarck Was Right.
- Laura of the Betsy the Vampire Queen books (who's also the title character's half-sister) consciously chooses to "rebel" against her mother, Satan, by being the biggest do-gooder Pollyanna she can be. She also hates using her powers, even in a good cause, considering it "giving in".
- Merlin Satanspawn of Simon Green's Nightside series was born of the devil to be The Antichrist, but he "refused the honor".
- Sam Linnfer from Catherine Webb's Waywalkers is literally Satan, shunned by gods, angels and humans alike for millennia. His divine power is immensely powerful and destructive but in the end he uses it to save the universe, almost at the cost of his own existence. And people still hate him.
- Magiere of The Saga of the Noble Dead is a dhampir, born of human and vampire (with a little help from an Evil Sorcerer) to be the general of an army of undead that would sweep the world of life in accordance with the designs of an Eldritch Abomination. Mercifully, she just wants to be left alone and has no intention of pursuing her destiny, though various forces try to either rope her into it or destroy her to stop that from happening.
- In Son of Rosemary—a direct sequel to the Rosemary's Baby novel, hence unrelated to the film sequel above—Satan-sired baby Andy has grown up to run a global charitable foundation, and claims to be struggling to cancel out his evil side by doing good. Descendents of the cult from the first book seek to undermine his attempts to Screw Destiny and be a good man. In the end, his mother wakes up in 1965, to find that her child's conception and entire life were All Just a Dream. It's implied that Andy pushed the Reset Button on the world, re-writing history, once his full powers as the Antichrist manifested, so he wouldn't have to bring on the apocalypse.
- The Star Wars Expanded Universe gives us a double subversion in the form of Jacen Solo, son of Han and Leia Solo. Jacen trained as a Jedi under his uncle, and he grew into a pacifist at the end of the Vong war. But he started walking a dark path after a five-year journey to learn more about the Force, and he eventually became a Sith. Jacen initially didn't like the idea of becoming a Sith, but he embraced his identity as the one to remake the galaxy more as time went on, even after all his family started leaving him. He ultimately went back into Anti-Anti-Christ territory to rescue his girlfriend and their daughter from the Empire, but before he could, his sister, Jaina, killed him. His family's safe.
- Harry Potter is a subversion. In Harry Potter, it was initially suspected that Harry was the Heir of Slytherin due to an incident where he revealed that he could speak in Parseltongue when trying to stop a snake from attempting to attack a fellow student. This caused even himself to wonder if he is indeed related to Salazar Slytherin, and thus the Heir of Slytherin, but ultimately rejects the path. It's subverted when Dumbledore reveals that Harry Potter was not actually a direct relative of Slytherin (the real reason he could speak in Parseltongue was because the same event where Voldemort's attempt to murder Harry Potter backfired also resulted in a part of himself being transferred to Harry Potter, which included Parseltongue) The actual Heir of Slytherin was Tom Riddle, who was a student of Hogwarts fifty years prior and, more importantly, the person who became Lord Voldemort.
Live Action TV
- Sam from Supernatural. He certainly didn't want to lead a demon army against humankind, but he was intended to, and defied that fate despite what most characters expected. Too bad he was part of an overarching plot where he had been infected with demon blood due to a deal before he was born, chosen aeons before to set the Devil free and to act as his physical vessel during the End of Days, and set up so that his efforts to prevent the Apocalypse using demon-blood-born powers actually caused the prelude to Apocalypseand released Lucifer from his Cage. Acquiescing to being possessed by Lucifer just so he could gain control of his body long enough to throw both of them into the Cage, Sam managed to avert the Apocalypse and the final battle to defeat Lucifer that would raze the world. Job well done.
- Another example is the child Jesse, who actually is the Anti Christ. He's really an overall nice kid, if just slightly Creepy Child. Sure, he made urban myths come true, but he wasn't actually trying to do that, and he certainly didn't mean to kill anyone. He also turned Castiel into a little toy figurine, but that was only in self defense. He almost goes over to the demons, but does hear out the Winchester's side of the story before doing so. He also voluntarily goes into hiding in order to protect his adopted parents.
- From Reaper, the presumed spawn of Satan is fairly depressed to learn that it's his apparent destiny to end the world. He takes comfort from the fact that he's not really all that good at anything, so he'll probably suck at that, too. Subverted in that Sam is not the only son of the Devil. Satan's been around a long time, and has a lot of kids. And he's disappointed in each and every one of them.
- But oddly enough the Devil does seem to be proud of Sam most of the time, even when Sam stands up to him.
- Word of God says he's not the son of Satan. His father is a demon who made a deal with the Devil to become (mostly) human (which is why he doesn't die: the Devil can't transform him completely), and Satan keeps him close because while Sam could be the Antichrist, he's also afraid of him. As a half-human, half-demon child, Sam can bring him down. So the closeness is because Lucifer wants to keep an eye on him and make sure he becomes the Antichrist instead of the Devil's downfall. Of course, this ignores the fact that Sam has a little brother, but then he did get Cousin Chucked after 2 episodes.
- This is the premise of Point Pleasant. Christina is protected from daddy's evil by her mother, her foster family and a hot Catholic priest.
- Her mother? Are you sure?
- The main character in Todd and the Book of Pure Evil has been named as the Pure Evil One by agents of the titular Artifact of Doom and is seemingly destined to destroy the world with the book's power. As of the first season finale, however, he is refusing to fulfill his destiny, but it remains to be seen whether he can fight fate.
- Aikawa Hajime from Kamen Rider Blade
- In another, older series, two youths were unfortunately were subjected to "surgery", because they were chosen to become the leader of an evil cult. With the help of his father, one of them manages to escape, and decides to fight them as well as his so-called destiny. This is the story of Kotaro Minami, or, better yet, Kamen Rider Black.
- Vlad from Young Dracula is heralded as the Chosen One of vampires, and wants nothing more than to be human, or at least have humans and vampires living side by side.
Mythology
- In some stories Merlin (yes, that Merlin) was The Antichrist (rumor has it he's half demon, anyway). Instead of destroying the world, he became good and decided to help some guy become the King of Britain instead.
- Merlin's mother was raped/seduced by either the Devil or some random demon, however she had Merlin baptized as soon as he was born, relieving him of his Antichrist status but still giving him nifty magical powers. Since Medieval Christianity generally thought any sort of power must come from either God or Satan, this story explained how Merlin performed his magical acts without being a saint.
Tabletop Games
- The Lucifuge faction from Hunter: The Vigil are a group made up of exactly 666 descendants of Satan, who use their innate abilities to fight supernatural monsters. Including relatives who decided to work for Dad.
- In Exalted, it's always possible for an Abyssal or Infernal Exalted to defy the will of their respective masters and do the right thing. Unfortunately, this tends to bite them in the ass—Abyssals gain Resonance for adopting mortal trappings, and must bleed it off by adopting the trappings of death (e.g. sleeping in crypts, performing funerary rites) lest it explode and kill everyone close to them, and Infernals build Torment that can only be bled off by doing villainous things such as monologuing, sticking people in death traps, etc.
- Actually, the Infernal curse isn't that bad, due to...creative...applications of Acts of Villainy.
- Don't go as far as Poke the Poodle, though. The Yozis can get wise to that.
- And a little extra note on the Infernals—their Charms are not an inherent function of their Exaltation, but rather derive directly from their Yozi masters. This means that the Infernals have direct influence from their masters... but the relationship goes both ways, and if an Infernal developed their own Charm set that generally fell within their master's purview, there's a possibility they could change their master as well.
- And now the Heresy Charm set has shown up. One can only imagine the look on the Ebon Dragon's face when he realizes the pawns of his master plan have discovered a way to sever all ties to the fetters of Hell.
- Actually, the Infernal curse isn't that bad, due to...creative...applications of Acts of Villainy.
Video Games
- Eddie Riggs is either this or The Messiah, depending on which translation of the prophecies you believe. Makes sense, as he is the spawn of that world's previous hero and villainess.
- Millenia takes up this role in Grandia II. As one of the pieces of the fallen dark god Valmar (the game's thinly-veiled Satan Expy), she's supposed to be as evil as her master and trying to bring about The End of the World as We Know It. Then she falls in love with the hero. Oops.
- Arguably Soma Cruz from the Castlevania series.
- Also Alucard. Since Soma is Dracula reborn, does that make Alucard Soma's son? Better not let the fangirls know about this.
- This claim depends on your definition of Christ. The dark lord is the being opposed to God. Alucard is the dark lord's son. Soma is the dark lord reborn as a human. Hmm...
- Ryoji from Persona 3. Turns out he has no choice in the matter, but that doesn't mean he wants to do it.
- Raspberyl from Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice is a demon delinquent. In other words, she's flaunting the rules of what a demon should be by being good to people, attending classes, etc. because she wants to rebel against the status quo for its own sake. It's all about getting a horrified reaction from her Card-Carrying Villain Wannabe peers.
- Zero from the Mega Man X and Zero series was originally intended by Dr. Wily to be the scourge of humanity that would destroy civilization. He instead becomes one of mankind's greatest defenders, and, ultimately and ironically, the one who brought true peace to the world. Omega later represents what Dr. Wily fully envisioned Zero to be.
- You are given this choice in Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne. To his credit, The Old Man in the Wheelchair gives you plenty of time (and a few reasons) to refuse. If you choose to follow his request all the way through, however, you become the aversion of this trope.
- Eon from the early Playstation RPG The Granstream Saga is the reincarnation of his world's Satan, the "Mah Oh", from the previous version of the world. However, being adopted by the Old Hermit, he grows up good and just and defeats the current "Mah Oh".
- While not quite Satan, you are kind of given this role in Baldur's Gate.
- Zidane from Final Fantasy IX is revealed as The Antichrist late in the game, born for the sole purpose of spreading destruction on Gaia. He just taunts his creator at first, but said creator temporarily reverts him into what he "should" have been by removing Zidane's soul. He gets better; encouragement from his friends somehow snaps him out of it, by pointing out all the not-antichristy things he's done to help them.
- To a certain degree, Kuja qualifies as well, if what Mitoko states in the ending is anything to go by.
- Final Fantasy X has Sin, who was actually the last Final Aeon, and a guardian before that - in this case, Tidus' father Jecht. Although Sin can't be controlled, Jecht fights his role as best as he can, and encourages Tidus to kill him in order to save the world.
- You can choose to be this in Dark Messiah. If you want to.
- In the tragically-underexposed PAL-only PSX Konami-Atlus survival horror game Hell Night (Dark Messiah in Japan), the hero, a nebbishy underdog salaryman, discovers that he is in fact the reincarnation of the long-lost soul of the royal prince of the invading aliens, who was killed when their mother ship crashed on earth millenia ago, and that the monster which has been chasing him for the entirety of the game is actually his reanimated original body which has been seeking to reunite with its spirit. He turns his back on his former existence as the eponymous Dark Messiah of the title, and chooses to continue living as a human, even if it does mean remaining a "weak, pathetic, chaotic, and meaningless being".
- Emerl from Sonic Battle is a robot designed to mimic any combat technique he sees, and is able to do so with terrifying efficiency (he quickly outclasses the rest of the cast). Upon obtaining all seven Chaos Emeralds he's supposed to pretty much annihilate civilization. He was also raised by the good guys and slowly mimics bits of each of their personalities as well—the result is a lovable Nice Guy who calls Amy "Mom", helps out around Tails's lab, ribs Knuckles for being dense, and is fiercely protective of his friends, most notably Cream.
- And then Eggman blows it all to hell by triggering Emerl's apocalyptic Freak-Out, and Sonic has to kill Emerl. Expect to cry.
- Legend of Dragoon has the Black Monster, but she's only killing infants to stop the real Antichrist. To explain, you must realize that every one of the 108 races in Legend of Dragoon is born from a fruit in the Tree of Life. The 108th fruit, the Virage Embryo, destroys all life and starts the cycle over. Naturally, your party also includes the Virage Embryo.
- The Law/Amane ending in Devil Survivor has the main character obtain the title of King of Bel in the same way as you do in the Chaos ending, except his first act upon obtaining it is to bow down to God and command all his demons to stop the War on Heaven. The ending claims that you go on to unite humanity as The Messiah, and playing the Updated Rerelease adds an additional day that shows the main character trying to make humans willingly atone and become better people.
- Solid Snake, although technically not created to destroy the world, was created for a nonetheless similarly sinister purpose: Initially to replace Big Boss should he leave the organization, and finally to kill Big Boss and thus cement The Patriot's control over the world. Eventually, he turns against The Patriots and ultimately saves the world, more or less.
- Marcus from Fallout 2 and Fallout: New Vegas is a lighter version of this. He was created as a super-soldier for the Master's army during Fallout. After the Master was defeated, the army crumbled. Now he's arguably the highest-profile person in the Fallout world advocating for a peaceful coexistence between mutants and humans, instead of serving as an officer in a genocidal army.
- To a lesser extent, Fawkes fills the same role in Fallout 3.
Web Comics
- The title character from the Spanish web comic CROWLEY is one of these.
- In Bruno the Bandit, the saintly hermit Carlin is one of the only truly 'good' people in this Crapsack World. He's also the Son of Xu'buxx, the local version of Satan. Playing out the most literal version of the trope, he basically started rebelling against his satanic upbringing as a teenager, and wound up as a saint. His 'dad' tries a lot of tricks to make him come back to the side of evil, but so far without luck...
- In Emergency Exit Kyran gets to be one of these during the Parallel Dementia crossover—which is weird, since he still thinks of himself as a villain. Just not a monster.
- Lazarus from Underling.
Web Original
- In The Gamers Alliance, the ambitious black mage Jemuel is brought back to life as a revenant on behalf of the Underworld in order to allow the dead to invade the Land of the Living. However, Jemuel breaks free from the lich Drishnek's control and does some soul-searching, and he chooses to openly defy Drishnek and the Underworld and renounces some of his villainous ways because he has found kinship among the citizens of the Magicracy of Alent and doesn't want to plunge the world into darkness.
- Mystic detective and monster-hunter Jonathan Brimstone from the Global Guardians PBEM Universe. His father is Lucifer Morningstar. His mother a drug-addicted cultist. According to prophecy, he is destined to overthrow all goodness and light in his father's name. Instead, he decided to give his father the bird and fight evil.
- Carmilla (Sara Waite), in the Whateley Universe. She's supposed to be The Kellith, grand-daughter of Shub-Niggurath, who will wipe the Earth of humans and repopulate it with her spawn. She doesn't want to. She's already fought The Kellith to the death.
- Her dad would logically be Anti-Satan. Or just regular Satan since he's rebelling against his own father and Co., this time for humanity.
Western Animation
- Damien from South Park starts off embracing his Son-of-Satan persona, but eventually it's revealed that he just wants friends, acceptance, and stability.
- On a side note, you have to wonder what the series would have been like if Damien had been back, considering Satan is gay in South Park.
- Word of God says Damien was born while Satan was still in the closet.
- On Ugly Americans, Callie is the half-human daughter of the current Devil, but sort of ping-pongs back between this trope and a more traditional Anti Christ, apparently sort of confused about which she should be following. It's implied that she's purposefully trying to bring the Apocalypse on slower than necessary (which her father actually is okay with) and describes the End of Days as "more of a gray area" as far as demons are concerned.
- Lucy, the Daughter of the Devil. Her boyfriend DJ Jesús is the second coming of Jesus.
- Teen Titans' Raven, or at least the closest you can get away with in a family-rated show. Notable in that she doesn't succeed in averting her apocalyptic destiny, but instead helps the world get better afterward.
- Beezy on Jimmy Two-Shoes is an Inadequate Inheritor to his father Lucius' legacy.
- Vanessa, daughter of the evil Mad Scientist Dr. Doofenschmirtz, from Phineas and Ferb dresses in a black catsuit but insists she is not evil (with the one occasion of slippage being the Mary MacGuffin doll).
- The Drac Pack consist of the nephew of Dracula, a close relative of the Wolf Man and a relative of Frankenstein (and/or his monster, it's complicated). They Fight Crime.
- Marceline the Vampire Queen inverts this: She couldn't care less that her father is the Lord Of Evil, she just wants him to apologize for eating her fries.
- This said, she has no intention of ever inheriting her father's powers or position. This might have to do with the fact that doing so would turn her into an out-of-control Eldritch Abomination who dishes out pain and torture For the Evulz (as we discover when her father tricks her into accepting them - and when Finn takes the power himself in a desperate bid to secure Jake and Marceline's escape, it corrupts him, too!).