Evil Counterpart

"Our methods have not differed as much as you pretend. I am but a shadowy reflection of you. It would take only a nudge to make you like me. To push you out of the light."

—Rene Belloq, Raiders of the Lost Ark

A character who looks like the protagonists and has/had abilities and obstacles similar to the them, but is evil. Sometimes, but not always, a Big Bad.

Frequently, the Evil Counterpart is the character equivalent of For Want of a Nail: he represents what our hero could have become as a result of a very small change in his Backstory. They also save creators the trouble of thinking up new abilities to give their villains, especially for comic book heroes and video games (where new abilities have to be implemented).

Often leads to a Not So Different moment.

Often a Dark Magical Girl; contrast with the Worthy Opponent. Applied to an entire team, they are The Psycho Rangers. Because The Hero and the Evil Counterpart are such great foils for each other, the counterpart has an excellent chance of being the hero's Arch Enemy, although this is not always the case.

Sister Trope to Evil Twin (evil biological twin), Evil Knockoff (intentionally created evil duplicate), Criminal Doppelganger (evil Identical Stranger) and Jekyll and Hyde (when the hero and his/her counterpart are the same person).

If the first character to be introduced is the evil one, the good one would be his Good Counterpart.

Examples of Evil Counterpart include:

Anime and Manga

  • Naruto
    • Gaara of the Desert started out as an Evil Counterpart to Naruto, since he's also a young ninja with a demon sealed inside him, an interpretation of what would've happened to Naruto if not for the presence of his True Companions.
    • Sasuke. Naruto, himself even lampshaded it. Face it Naruto has plenty of these.
    • Kabuto too, in an inversion. Realizing that Naruto is practically a good counterpart to himself, decides to take on Orochimaru's cells to mimic being a jinchuriki like Naruto. He also undergoes training under the White Snake Sage to become a Sage just like Naruto.
    • A lot of the antagonists have aspects of this to the point you could call this a theme. Every arc showing how Naruto or another of the good guys could have gone horribly wrong.
  • Tsubasa in Kannazuki no Miko is Souma's evil counterpart as well as his older brother.
  • Vicious is Spike's Evil Counterpart in Cowboy Bebop. They share identical histories as crime syndicate assassins, and once worked together. Spike gave up his killing life after a near-death experience, but Vicious never did, and holds Spike in contempt for betraying his "true nature".
  • The anime Gate Keepers features a Dark Gate Keeper known as "Shadow", who it turns out became embittered with humanity by a family tragedy that he tried (and failed) to avert.
  • Tullece from the third Dragonball Z movie, Tree of Might. His entire character was based on the idea of what kind of person Goku would have grown up to become if he had never cracked his skull and gotten amnesia.
    • Yajirobe meanwhile was never a villain, but was a short, dim-witted and spiky-haired man who lived alone in the middle of nowhere, phenomonally strong and obsessed with food, mirroring Goku at the start of Dragonball. The contrast here was that Yajirobe was lazy, cowardly and generally much less pure compared to Goku's much more earnest demeanor. A kind of Chaotic Neutral Counterpart.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: Whenever someone turns evil, 9 times out of 10 they'll acquire an evil version of whatever cards they usually play:
    • Yuuki Juudai: Elemental Heroes/Evil Heroes (after becoming Haou)
    • Marufuji Ryou: Cyber Dragons/Cyberdark Dragons (when he becomes Hell Kaiser Ryou)
    • Johan Andersen: Gem Beasts/Advanced Gem Beasts after he becomes possessed by Yubel)
    • There's also the Sangenma (Sacred Beasts) and Wicked Gods, direct counterparts to the Egyptian God Cards in the anime and Yu-Gi-Oh R manga.
  • Rave Master:
  • Gundam SEED introduces Mu La Flaga and Rau Le Creuset. Rau isn't just an Evil Counterpart, he's a faulty clone of Mu's father. Le Creuset actually manages to be the Evil Counterpart to 3 characters. As a cold-blooded subversion of The Obi-Wan, he's a counterpart to Big Brother Mentor La Flaga. He also however, is the counterpart to Born Winner Kira Yamato, demonstrating how badly the kid could have turned out if he hadn't had decent parents. Finally, he's the philisophical opposite of Lacus Clyne, preaching a gospel of nihilism, misanthropy and Omnicidal Mania in contrast to her Technical Pacifism and humanism.
    • The Evil Counterpart trope doesn't just apply to characters; the Archangel, the cool battleship of the main characters, gets an Evil Counterpart in the Dominion which is identical to Archangel in every way except for one: it's black instead of white.
  • Gundam Wing is none too subtle in setting up the Epyon to be Wing Zero's evil counterpart. Wing Zero's back mounted thrusters make it resemble an angel (made ridiculously blatant by the Wing Zero Custom), while the Epyon resembles a devil. The 2 suits are similar in their construction: they both can transform into a jet mode, and they both contain a Zero System. However, they are also opposites: Wing Zero has a super-powerful gun, Epyon has a super-powerful sword. Also, the two Zero Systems are hinted to work in different ways, with Wing's "showing you the future", and Epyon's "showing you your death".
    • Interestingly though, the "On the Next..." narration for Epyon's introduction episode says it's evil "just like Zero"; presumably this refers to the ZERO System rather than Wing Zero itself.
  • Code Geass has Schneizel vi Britannia, who sometimes seems like a good Counterpart when compared to his Magnificent Bastard of a little brother, Lelouch, a fact mirrored by their color preference in chess.
    • It's possibly a closer match with Charles, Lelouch's father. Once he takes the spotlight, we see that his past and personality are surprisingly similar to Lelouch's, except that Lelouch never reaches the point where he'd marry his buxom subordinate.
      • Speaking of buxom subordinates, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that Marianne is Kallen's Evil Counterpart. Both are highly capable insanely hot Action Girl Knightmare Frame pilots that are completely devoted to their Non-Action Guy men. The crucial difference is that Marianne is a Lady Macbeth with no moral compass while Kallen's moral framework is so strong that she chooses her belief in what's right over the man she loves.
      • According to Word of God, Kallen might have actually done the same thing as Marianne if Lelouch had actually came out and said that he loved her. That's why he doesn't say it—he doesn't want to drag her down with him as he enacts his Thanatos Gambit.
    • The Geass video game introduces twin princes Castor and Pollux, who are more directly Evil Counterparts; like Lelouch, they're amoral Chessmasters with Evil Eye powers, but unlike him, they have absolutely no problem using their Geass to make people their slaves.
    • Mao is another Evil Counterpart to Lelouch. He's not only the same age as Lelouch (even though he looks older than 17), but he also represents what would happen if Lelouch lets his geass drive him mad.
  • This trope appears in Season 2 of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. (Warning: major spoilers.)
    • Kuze is really similar to the Major, the series protagonist. They both were the 2 only survivors of a plane crash as children of about the same age who became friends in the hospital until they both got their first cybernetic bodies and lost contact. While the Major became a police officer working for the government, Kuze became a terrorist opposing the state. Both share the same goals of helping and protecting the people from corruption and crime, their only differences being which side of the law they chose to stand on.
  • A Certain Magical Index: ACCELERATOR AND FLIPPING TOUMA KAMIYAN!!!
    • In some ways they're polar opposites!
    • Following Accelerator's Heel Face Turn, Teitoku Kakine becomes his evil counterpart. Both have won the Superpower Lottery and their powers are somewhat related, both are extremely sadistic, and both were on an A God Am I journey. But even when Accelerator was evil, he adhered to Even Evil Has Standards, while Kakine gleefully tortures anyone in his path. Also, Accelerator wanted to become a god to get people to leave him alone, while Kakine wanted to be one because of his incredible ego.
    • Umidori Kuroyoru is an evil counterpart to both Saiai Kinuhata and Accelerator. She has the same power as Saiai, but uses it more aggressively and is a jerk compared to the more cheerful Saiai. Accelerator notes that Umidori's personality and fighting style is identical to his prior to his Heel Face Turn.
    • Fiamma of the Right is another counterpart to Touma, who even compares their powers and draws attention to their similarities. Both use their Right Hands to shatter something that someone worked desperately to obtain, except Touma uses his to solve the problems around him and Fiamma his own personal problems — selflessness versus selfishness. In their final battle, Touma points out the biggest difference between them: Fiamma observed the world and was disgusted by what he saw, so he wanted to "save the world" by wiping out the human race. Touma observed the world and saw evil people to fight and good people to protect.
    • The author's notes explain that Aureolus Izzard is what Touma would have become if he had failed to save Index.
  • This happens to Optimus Prime from Transformers quite a bit, most especially in the Japanese series. In Robots in Disguise, this takes the form of Scourge, who mirrors Optimus's appearance and strength. The fact that he's not outright identical to Optimus keeps him from being an Evil Twin.
    • However, Nemesis Prime from Transformers Armada IS an Evil Twin, with his coloration being the only difference, as is the one that crops up in the backstory for Alternators/Binaltech.
    • Motormaster from the Generation 1 cartoon could be considered the original Evil Counterpart for Optimus Prime. He had the same alternate mode and was built to be just below Megatron in power.
  • Haruhi Suzumiya In the later novels, the whole SOS-Brigade is revealed to have an Evil Counterpart group—alien interface, esper, time traveler, and "god" (whose powers had for some reason transferred to Haruhi). They aren't really evil; they just have opposing goals. The only one not represented in this dysfunctional group is Kyon, who they try to win over in the latest novel.
    • Well, not all of them are evil. Kyouko seems to have bitten off more than she can chew, Kuyou is much more ambiguous but seems to run on Blue and Orange Morality, and Sasaki is actually not evil at all, and is secretly on Kyon's side, but Fujiwara goes completely insane and tries to kill Haruhi in order to remake the timeline in his own image. He also claims to be related to his counterpart, but we don't know if that's true or not.
    • Also, Ryoko Asakura for Yuki Nagato.
  • Aion in Chrono Crusade is clearly Chrono's evil counterpart; even their time manipulation skills are opposed or complementary in the anime. In the manga their powers don't seem to be quite as related, but instead it takes the For Want of a Nail path if you think about it—as revealed near the end of the manga, Aion became bent on his path for remaking the world and Pandaemonium when he received visions of Pandaemonium's memories on his coming-of-age day. If Chrono is his twin brother, that means that he probably was lined up to have the ceremony, as well. He never had a chance because of the hubbub Aion caused, but if Chrono had gone first instead of Aion, Chrono probably would've been the one to go crazy, and Aion would've been the "good" twin. The fact that Aion refuses to tell Chrono the truth and says it's "better this way" probably shows that he, himself, is aware of how close Chrono came to being like him.
  • Vash in Trigun has his Evil Twin Knives, who gives a good idea of what Vash would've become if he hadn't been a mama's boy.
  • In the Fullmetal Alchemist manga, Father is Hohenheim's Evil Counterpart. He's also even weirder than him. This means that in both the anime and manga version, the Elric brothers eventually have to fight the Doppelganger of one of their parents. Toward the end of the manga, Father becomes more like an evil counterpart to Ed, as his bishonen "God" form looks like young Hohenheim/Ed except with Father's cruel eyes, and Father's arrogance and obsession with gaining knowledge at all costs is a dark reflection of Ed's tendency toward Pride.
    • Wrath is an Evil Counterpart of Ling. Both cover Charles Atlas Superpowers and impressive swordsmanship with a front of Obfuscating Stupidity, and Ling's actual Papa Wolf attitude toward his friends and subjects is mirrored in Wrath's pretensions to being a Father to His Men- in reality, he really couldn't give a damn about his subjects. Also, just as Wrath is a human-turned hommunculus, Ling gets turned into the second Greed. However, while Wrath lost his human identity in his transformation, Ling manages to maintain his consciousness and serves as The Conscience to Greed. Wrath started life as the 12th candidate for Fuhrer and Ling is the 12th son of the Emperor.
    • Kimblee in the manga comes across as something of an evil counterpart to Scar. Both have destruction-based powers and invoke Light Is Not Good (although Scar is at worst an Anti-Villain). Also, Kimblee "created" Scar, delivering the injury that gave him his nickname, and the role of Kimblee and other State Alchemists in carrying out genocide against Scar and his people is the motivation for Scar's revenge.
      • To support this argument, look at the scene where Scar is standing on the roof with Kimblee on the ground, with Scar himself pointing how their situations were reversed from in Ishval. Also, Scar moved on past his focus on revenge while Kimblee's obsession towards completing his job never waned.
      • A recent chapter seems to give Scar another evil counterpart in Bradley, who describes both of them as nameless warriors, and again, you have the perpetrator of genocide versus the victim of genocide.
  • In Chiko: Heiress Of The Phantom Thief, the titular Chiko has something of an evil counterpart in Angie, who started off as a sweet happy-go-lucky girl befriended Chiko. She just happened to be the daughter of the head of security of the museum Chiko and her fellow thieves were casing. Chiko willingly betrays her and conducts the theft, leaving her behind. One Wham! Episode later, she's stuck on the top of a moving train with an Ax Crazy Angie trying to drive an axe into her skull. Smooth, Chiko, smooth.
  • Like Vampire Hunter D, Rei-Ginsei is a weirdly beautiful Hunter with supernatural powers. Unlike D, he's egotistical, completely amoral, only helps beautiful women and doesn't hesitate to try to torture a child to death to get what he wants.
  • Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann has Lordgenome, the Spiral King, a Spiral Knight who might be considered what Simon would have become if he hadn't had Nia to find the Anti-Spiral homeworld and therefore end the war in his favor.

Lordgenome: There once was a man who fought like you, not realizing his actions would bring about the destruction of humanity.

    • Guame the Steady is Boota's Evil Counterpart. Guame is shown as a small critter accompanying a young Lordgenome exactly the way Boota does Simon.
    • Another candidate for Simon's Evil Counterpart is Rossiu, although not so much evil as a Well-Intentioned Extremist who is very Wrong Genre Savvy.
  • Sensui from Yu Yu Hakusho is the protagonist's Evil Counterpart. Sensui was the spirit detective for Earth before Yusuke was and both had a strong binary belief of good/evil and human/demon. The main difference is that after Sensui accidentally witnesses the "Feast of Human Vices" those beliefs were shattered. Another 'more fragile and idealistic equals turning to the Dark Side.'
    • A better and lampshaped example would be Younger Toguro, who Yusuke would be if he gave into his Blood Knight tendencies, and stopped caring for his Nakama.
  • Mahou Sensei Negima has Setsuna and Tsukiyomi, the mad Shinmeiryuu swordswoman to match Setsuna in every major battle. Unlike Setsuna, Tsukiyomi is bloodthirsty, direct and wins by any means necessary. Setsuna is quiet, humble and rarely fights for anything other than her charge, Konoka. Plus they're both lesbians, but Setsuna's innocent and taciturn while Tsukiyomi likes to speak in Double Entendre and Subtext and is willing to do anything at all, at anytime she can (ironically, to Setsuna herself).
    • Kotaro seemed to be an Evil Counterpart to Negi during the Kyoto arc, although he has since done a Heel Face Turn and become The Rival. Currently, Big Bad Fate Averruncus appears to be an Evil Counterpart to Negi, as each is a cute boy with a group of female partners backing them up.
    • Fate's entire team is made up of Evil Counterparts, some obvious and some not. Anya's mirror is an Emotionless Girl who looks quite similar to Anya and likes the same element. Yue and Nodoka's opposites are the panty-less Emotionless Girl and the panther girl, respectively, although the only similarity between Nodoka and panther seems to be hair color and they hang out with their version of Yue. Haruna is vaguely connected to the girl with the lute, in that they are both artists (music vs drawing). Finally, as stated above, Fate is Negi's opposite. They both have female followers.
  • Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez would be the Evil Counterpart to Ichigo Kurosaki on Bleach. An Arrancar (Hollow with Shinigami powers), he serves as a foil to the Visored, Ichigo (A Shinigami with Hollow powers). He also has the same love of fighting shared by Kenpachi, Ichigo, and Nnoitra. Unlike Ichigo, he doesn't have a cause apart from pride and strength; Ichigo addresses this somewhat.
    • There's also Sosuke Aizen and Kisuke Urahara. Sometimes, it's hard to tell which one's the real villain, but "Turn Back the Pendulum" kind of closed the book on that one. Both are super genius Chessmasters who constantly Troll everyone, even their allies. But while Urahara cares about his allies in the end, Aizen doesn't care about anybody and will terminate his allies as soon as he's finished with them.
      • Aizen is also an evil counterpart to Toshiro Hitsugaya and eviler counterpart to fellow villain Coyote Starrk. All three grew up mostly alone due to their incredible power (Aizen and Hitsugaya scared everyone away, Starrk accidentally killed anything that approached him due to Power Incontinence). Hitsugaya was able to work through his misfortune and form attachments to his friends and adopted family. Starrk formed attachments to Aizen and their fellow villains (the only reason he's a villain is to stay with his newfound friends). Aizen, despite being respected by the exact same people as Hitsugaya and Starrk, and even winning the heart of Momo Hinamori (Hitsugaya's Unlucky Childhood Friend), did not form any attachments to them and again, does not care about anybody.
    • Subverted with Mayuri Kurotsuchi and Szayelaporro Granz. To paraphrase Stimpy: "It's the Evil Counterpart... and the really Evil Counterpart!"
    • Nnoitra is what Kenpachi would turn into if he just gave up on life. Kenpachi loves to fight, puts handicaps on himself to make the fight last longer and give his opponents a chance, and typically leaves his enemies alive so that they can come after him again; he's crazy, but in a fun kind of way. Nnoitra on the other hand, is completely Axe Crazy, hates everybody, has a misogynistic streak that's definitely absent from Kenpachi, uses dirty tricks, leaves a mile-wide trail of dead bodies behind him, and is looking to die. Their battle (and twin eyepatches) nicely emphasise their similarities and differences.
    • In fact, 2/3 of the Arrancar seem to be evil counterparts of one member of the Gotei 13 or another: Ggio Vega and Shaolin "Soifon" Fon are both agile, fast and athletic melee fighters, who are generally calm, loyal and firm, and seem to have a fairly low view on their comrades. They even look similar, but where Soifon is a mostly cold and professional Tsundere that seriously fangirls over her female idol, Ggio is a cocky and sarcastic taunter with a short fuse and 'bit of a boastful air to him, and the respect he harbors for his male commander appears to be more platonic. Furthermore, Soifon's antagonism towards her subordinates is mainly a pseudo-facade, her way of toughening them up, while Ggio appeared genuinely indifferent to his fellow Fraccion, barely reacting - if at all to their deaths.
      • Yumichika Ayasegawa and Charlotte Cuuhlhourne initially appear to share similar vain, narcissistic tendencies with Yumichika as fightloving as any other Blood Knight and Charlotte an even more flamboyant drag queen. However, the superficial similarity falls away as the fight progresses to reveal Charlotte believes that beauty is derived from physical strength which is a philosophy echoed by the 11th division. Yumichika, however, ends up revealing that his adherence to 11th division philosophy (and the "beauty" of it) is only skin-deep, indicating he's proud of his zanpakutou and its power even though his division's philosophy means he's not supposed to be, and also revealing that his strength doesn't lie with the physical as it does for both Charlotte and the 11th division, but with the spiritual (kido) instead. The depth of what he's sacrificing for the sake of his division, friend and captain also reveals Yumichika's narcissism doesn't run as deeply as he seems to want people to think and that he certainly doesn't want anyone to realise how self-sacrificing he really is. In the end, the fight reveals only superficial similarities between the two by highlighting that Charlotte is everything the 11th division philosophy stands for and everything that Yumichika personally - when allowed to admit it - does not.
      • Nirgge Parduoc and Marechiyo Omaeda are both large and fat, boastful and demeaning, though Omaeda is more vain and cowardly, while Nirgge is at least patient and relatively calmer.
    • Coyote Starrk is kind of a subversion. He's clearly the lazy and apathetic counterpart to the easy-going and carefree Shunsui Kyoraku, but the only "bad" thing he's done so far is lazily fight against Kyoraku, and then, he offered to back out of. Come to think of it, between offering to pretend-fight him and taking one of the weakest arrancar in Aizen's army as his underling (or so we think, she's actually his zanpakuto), the only reason he's evil at all is because he's on the villains' side. He's Neutral Lazy to Kyoraku's Neutral Good, until he releases. The annoyance of having to go all-out turned lazy into pissed, though apparently not pissed enough to use his stronger attacks yet.
      • That Starrk decided to join Aizen simply because he wanted comrades, seemingly irrespective of what said companions got up to, could be seen as bad enough. The 'evil' aspect specifically is harder to argue for when he's driven not by malice but by loneliness; it does not justify his actions/association, but his motivation is an odd one for a supposed villain. His reason for fighting is one any number of Heroes adhere to—to protect his friends. Kyoraku has similar motivations and is unscrupulous about what he needs to do to achieve them. Starrk's internal monologue makes it painfully obvious that his reluctance was genuine and he'd sooner be friends with the captain, but no such insight is given into Kyoraku's thoughts on the matter, leaving the extent of their similarities ambiguous.
    • Ichigo gains another evil counterpart in Kugo Ginjo, a warrior with very similar powers and origin. They even have similar personalities, through Ginjo is revealed to have been faking and has no qualms over using and betraying allies, while Ichigo's main motivation is to protect his True Companions.
  • In Death Note Light is the Evil Counterpart of L.
    • And Mello the Evil Counterpart to Near.
    • And Beyond Birthday is L's other Evil Counterpart.
  • Buggy the Clown from One Piece seemed to be introduced as an Evil Counterpart to Luffy; Indeed, their devil fruits are practically opposite in several ways, but similar in others (allow for long range attacking, provide invulnerability to certain kinds of attacks). While Luffy is irrepressibly cheerful, Buggy is constantly aggravated, etc.
    • It looks like Blackbeard is shaping up to be Luffy's Evil Counterpart in addition to the Big Bad. He's initially introduced as someone who has similar dreams to Luffy and similar ambitions, as well as the same Big Eater nature (though with completely different tastes in food). Then it turns out he takes things a bit further and will actually betray his True Companions and kill them to fulfill his ambitions. He even subtly points this out when he and Luffy reunite in Impel Down and hints that they're Not So Different. It helps that his crew mimics Luffy's as well, with Van Augur as counterpart to Usopp, Shiliew to Zoro, etc.
      • The Blackbeard pirates except perhaps the original members don't think of each other as nakama and some members has expressed an interest in dethroning Blackbeard as leader. Some of them stated that if Blackbeard wasn't able to steal Whitebeard's powers, they would have just abandoned him to the Marines. Also, many of the members are Gonk in contrast with the Straw Hats who are good-looking, cool or cute.
    • Frankly you could say that most every Big Bad Luffy's encountered along the way was something of an Evil Counterpart with Crocodile being an embittered ruthless Chessmaster that gave up on dreams and Moria revealing that he lost his beloved True Companions in the New World. They seem to act as chilling reminders of what Luffy may become if he didn't hold onto his dreams or his friends.
    • Interestingly, Admiral Akainu could serve as one for Ace. Along with the heat powers, they're both devoted to their own sense of justice; Akainu adheres to absolute justice, hunting down any criminal, while Ace was determined to take down Blackbeard for his murder of a crewmate. These codes even go beyond those of their superiors/captain, as Sengoku and Whitebeard both have their limits. What separates them is that Ace genuine cares for others, while Akainu murders them if they oppose him.
    • Lately, Hyouzou, the New Fishman Pirates' assassin, is this to Zoro. Both of them are powerful swordsmen, enjoy drinking and have a calm demeanor. However, Zoro was never shown drunk while Hyouzou became drunk and blindly attacked anyone around him. Hyouzou only works with people who offer him the most money while Zoro has no interest for money and fights for his True Companions.
  • GaoGaiGar: Each of the 11 Planetary Masters of Sol is an Evil Counterpart for a member of the main GGG crew, even though it's not immediately apparent which is which.
  • Back when Kinnikuman was a superhero, Kinkotsuman was introduced as his villainous counterpart; He was just as bad at what he did as Kinnikuman was. Unlike Kinnikuman, he was unable to eventually find a more fitting profession and slowly became less prominent as more serious villains started showing up.
  • In Full Metal Panic!, there's the Creepy Twins Yu Fan and Yu Lan, who are shown to have been through extremely similar wars and circumstances as Sousuke. Just like Sousuke, they're rather emotionless, extremely loyal to the person that took care of them, and their occupations are very alike. Main difference? Sousuke was adopted by Kalinin and the twins were adopted by Gauron. Funnily enough, Gauron (as elaborated on in the novels) is revealed to have actually tried to take Sousuke when Sousuke was young, but Sousuke refused. 5 years later, and Gauron is still fantasizing and obsessing over "beautiful" Sousuke. If there's anything Sousuke did right when he was young, it was knowing who to accept as his father figure.
  • In Katekyo Hitman Reborn, the whole Varia is meant to be tailored as being Evil Counterparts to the Vongola family. Xanxus is Tsuna's counterpart, both having Dying Will flame powers and both competing for the same position as the boss. The only one that is unclear exactly which is the Evil Counterpart is Mukuro to Marmon - especially since Marmon is mainly motivated by money and isn't nearly as cynical or scary.
  • Every major robot villain in Astro Boy is an evil, or at least morally ambiguous counterpart to some extent. What makes them interesting is how each one completely inverts a major aspect of Astro's personality or show what he'd be like if things had happened differently, or to underscore the fact that who he is rather than what he is makes him a hero, for example:
    • Atlas, who has become Astro's biggest rival over the years. Though he was little more than a violent thug in his first appearance, he was later updated in the 80s anime as a Composite Character of Atlas, Astro's "brother" Cobalt & the Blue Knight. In the 2003 series, with the Blue Knight retained as a separate character, though, their conflict was more personal than political. Both had terrible relationships with the men they called "father", but had very different ways of dealing with it; Atlas' involving kidnapping, industrial sabotage & attempted murder. What makes it more poignant is the fact that they were both based on the same technology, adding a layer of "there but for the grace of god go I" for Astro, that an advanced AI can choose between good & evil.
    • Astro II, a "more human" version of Astro, including human vices such as lust & sloth.
  • Nearly every season of Sailor Moon has a set of villain counterparts to the Inner Senshi. R has the Akayashi Sisters (Koan-Mars, Bertier-Mercury, Petz-Jupiter, Calaveras-Venus), S has the Witches 5 (Eudial-Mars, Mimete-Venus, Tellu-Jupiter, Villuy-Mercury), SuperS has the Amazoness Quartet (Cere Cere-Venus, Palla Palla-Mercury, Jun Jun-Jupiter, Ves Ves-Mars).
    • This carried over to at least one video game adaptation, Sailor Moon: Another Story. In that game, while it brought back all their old foes to that point as bosses, the main villains (other than the Big Bad) were the Oppositio Senshi, 5 teenage girls with powers mirroring the Inner Sehshi, and names based on Babylonian gods and goddesses: Sin (god of the moon), Nabu (god of Wisdom), Nergal (god of war), Marduk (god of thunder and leader of the gods), and Ishtar (goddess of love).
    • In the manga, Queen Nehellenia of the Dead Moon Circus was seen as a shadowy, mirror reflection of Queen Serenity. Likewise, Nehellenia's kingdom of the Dead Moon was hidden inside the shadow of the moon's center.
  • In Inuyasha, this is the Big Bad's motivation. Naraku seems to hate InuYasha specifically due to their similarities: they have the same half-demon nature, causing loneliness to both, but InuYasha forms bonds to soothe his loneliness, while Naraku destroys the bonds of other people to make himself feel better. Naraku's frustration over this is the reason why he never really does anything but try to power himself up or ruin InuYasha's life (symbolically destroying his own half-breed nature).
  • Jagi from Fist of the North Star was initially built up as an evil counterpart to Kenshiro, having the same 7 scars and everything. Whereas Kenshiro uses his skills to protect the weak and punish villains, Jagi uses Hokuto Shinken to terrorize villagers. Subverted as it is revealed that Jagi never truly mastered Hokuto Shinken and that he's not the only other student to learn Hokuto Shinken from Master Ryuken.
  • Arcade Gamer Fubuki has a rival, who has her OWN version of the Passion Panties except hers are black. Also, she wears rollerblades so she can twirl around and activate her passion panties herself rather than waiting for a friend with a fan.
  • Both Commander Sazabi and Professor Gerbera are this to Captain Gundam from SD Gundam Force, Gerbera more explicitly so.
  • Anemone is the Evil Counterpart to the titular character of Eureka Seven. Though it turns out she's not so evil after all, at least not by the end of the series.
  • Hei in Darker than Black has a couple of characters who qualify as evil counterparts: There is Wei, a fellow Chinese Badass whose psychopathy contrasts with Hei's relative restraint. Like Hei, Wei is also one of the few contractors shown to be capable of emotion, but his are all negative to Hei's positive ones. Another character Nick has the same power as Hei, the same nice guy persona, and has the same goal of finding his Dead Little Sister, but he wants to achieve it through murdering people; Harvest, the Big Bad of the interquel manga has the opposite power to Hei- while Hei's power involves creating material on an atomic level, Harvest's involves destroying it; Mina in season 2 wears a similar costume/shares similar weaponry to Hei and is also The Stoic, but is also a dark reflection of Kirihara, sharing a similar background of being The Ojou.
  • Much of season 2 of Cardcaptor Sakura (at least the first third to half) was spent seemingly building up Eriol, Ruby Moon, and Spinel Sun as Evil Counterparts to Sakura, Yue, and Kero, respectively. However, this was all or mostly a sham. Not only is Ruby Moon hardly as dangerous and ruthless as Yue is (usually) described as, at best coming off as merely annoying and hate-worthy, but Spinel Sun is often adorable and harmless, acting more as a bored Greek Chorus to the events. As for Eriol himself...opinions are divided on if he or his actions were "evil", but he's certainly not as different from Sakura as might have been supposed.
  • In X 1999 Fuuma is evil counterpart to Kamui and Seishiro is Evil Counterpart to Subaru.
  • In Girls Bravo, the main character Yukinari and the Big Bad Yukina, as if the similar names weren't a big enough clue. While in some ways they are complete opposites—he's a powerless Non-Action Guy who is allergic to women but generally doesn't hold a grudge against them ,and she's an Extraordinarily Empowered Girl who is allergic to men and wants to kill all of them—both of them have dealt with a great deal of pain in their lives that led to them both being Allergic to Love with the opposite gender. In the end Yukinari is able to stop her from committing gendercide simply by gently talking her down and helping her deal with the insecurities that created the situation in the first place. Unfortunately for Yukinari, his former Evil Counterpart falls in love with him and becomes a Yandere Stalker with a Crush with a bad habit of sneaking into his bed (naked) while he's sleeping. Also, while she isn't allergic to him, he is still allergic to her.
  • The main characters of Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt have ones in the demons Scanty and Kneesocks. Unlike the hedonistic Chaotic Neutral protagonists concerned either with sex and sweets, the demons are strictly Lawful Evil, obsessed with Rrrrrrrrrules and evil schemes. Their Team Pet Chuck even gets one with Fastener, who's much less of a Butt Monkey.
  • Truly explored in the PSP games Nanoha: Battle of the Aces and Nanoha: Gears of Destiny, where Nanoha, Fate and Hayate have 3 counterparts for themselves. Stern a.k.a. Material-S (Seikou the Starlight Destroyer), Revi the Slasher a.k.a. Material-L (Rai-chan), "Load" a.k.a. Material-D (Yami or 'Your Majesty').
  • Fairy Tail throws this trope at us a few times. Reitei Lyon (an ice mage trained by the same master) is this to Gray, in addition to Rival Turned Evil. Gajeel, the Iron Dragon Slayer, is introduced as this to Natsu, the Fire Dragon Slayer, but after a Heel Face Turn he becomes Natsu's rival. Currently, Zancrow of Grimmore Heart is Natsu's, being a psychotic fire mage who can also eat flames like Natsu.
    • Angel of the Oracion Seis seems to be a pretty blatant one of the protagonist Lucy; they're both celestial spirit mages that possess Golden keys. While Angel is overwhelmingly powerful, Lucy is still relatively naive and relies more on skill. The biggest difference seems to be in the treatment of their spirits. Lucy treasures all of them and treats them well, while Angel is willing to deliberately injure them to achieve victory.
    • Master Jose of Phantom Lord was one for Makarov, before it became painfully apparent that Jose couldn't stand up to him in a fight. Most of his magic was darkness based, while Makarov's spells (other than his size increase) are light based. The next one is Master Hades of Grimore Heart. In addition to being the previous guildmaster of Fairy Tail, and Makarov's former mentor, he's the only one in the entire series to have beaten Makarov in a fair fight.
    • It seems like they're building Bluenote Stinger, Master Hades' dragon, into one for Gildarts Clive.
    • Erza Scarlett has one with Erza Knightwalker
  • Rurouni Kenshin has a few of these:
    • Whereas Kenshin wants a peaceful Japan in which war will no longer be necessary, Shishio, the man who replaced him as hitokiri is The Social Darwinist and wants to create a Japan that is a proud warrior race. Also, while Kenshin has neat X Marks the Hero scars, Shishio was badly burned and wraps himself in bandages.
    • Shishio's follower Soujirou is also one to Kenshin. Kenshin endured a sad childhood and was orphaned before being adopted by a master who trained him in swordsmanship. In personality, Kenshin didn't start out all that happy but eventually took on a cheerful Obfuscating Stupidity. As a dark mirror to Kenshin, Soujirou grew up in an abusive family and found an Evil Mentor in Shishio, who gave him the encouragement to become a Self-Made Orphan. In terms of personality, Soujirou has a more extreme version of Kenshin's forced cheerfuless, being a Stepford Smiler who is incapable of showing (and to an extent feeling) any emotion.
    • To complement this, Shishio serves as one for Kenshin's master Hiko Sejuro. Both are powerful and influential mentors who inspire ideologies in their pupils. While they're both hardened in some way, Hiko holds some optimism towards Kenshin's path. Shishio, while he does care about him, brainwashes Sojiro into his ideology. Hiko comically abuses Kenshin but respects his pupil's decisions.
    • Sanosuke has evil counterparts in Cho, one of Shishio's men, and later, Banjin, a follower of Enishi. Both of these characters have dress and hair styles clearly similar to Sanosuke's, and while Sanosuke is a Boisterous Bruiser with a code, Cho and Banjin take a love of fighting to Blood Knight levels and have no real morals.
      • Monk Anji is also one of Sanosuke. They're both fist-fighters who suffered a the loss of loved ones; Sanosuke with Captain Sagara and Anji with all of his adoptive children. To deal with this pain, they turned to violence. When they meet Kenshin and Shishio respectively, the dynamic is also reflected. Sanosuke, while vitriolic to Kenshin, trusts him completely. Anji is merely siding with Shishio for his own reasons.
      • Earlier then that, there's Shikijou. Like Sano, he enjoys fighting and has immense loyalty to the one who defeated him (Aoshi), but the depths to which he's willing to go for strength disgusts Sano (this is played up more in the manga).
    • Enishi Yukishiro, mentioned two points above, is an Evil Counterpart to Kenshin on an even more personal level than Shishio. Both he and Kenshin received lasting physical marks from the same incident (the accidental death of Tomoe, Kenshin's wife and Enishi's sister, at Kenshin's hand)—Kenshin got the second part of his famous cross-scar, while Enishi got Locked Into Strangeness via his hair turning white from the shock. However, while that same incident motivated Kenshin's future Thou Shalt Not Kill and The Atoner mentality, Enishi turned Ax Crazy and hell-bent on revenge. To further the counterpart theme further, their animal motifs are traditional opposites (Kenshin's fighting style is reminiscent of the dragon, while Enishi's is akin to the tiger) and Enishi's Watou-jutsu sword techniques are coincidentally perfectly able to counter Kenshin's Hiten Mitsurugi techniques.
  • Devimon and Ladydevimon to Angemon and Angewomon in Digimon Adventure.
  • In Eyeshield 21 Clifford D. Louis of The Pentagram is a pretty obvious Evil Counterpart to Hiruma of the Deimon Devil-Bats. They're both talented poker players and Evil Genius quarterbacks, who invoke Blond Guys Are Evil and love a good challenge. They even both where #1 jerseys. The only real differences are Hiruma's preference for trick plays, and Clifford's greater speed. Before Clifford arrived, Marco of the Hakushuu Dinosaurs was a slightly less obvious one: he's a Manipulative Bastard to Hiruma's Trickster Archetype, and unlike Hiruma, prefers to avoid facing strong teams. At the same time, though, they both favour using any tactics necessary to win, use intelligent plays to compensate for a lack of natural talent, Determinator their way through crippling injuries, and get the very best out of their team. You could arguably throw in the Ojou White Knights' Takami as a Good Counterpart to the both of them, as he shares almost all of those same qualities, but without the penchant for brutality.
  • Suitengu's motives in Speed Grapher reveal him to be an Anti-Villain counterpart to Saiga. They have more shared history than they know.
  • Medaka Box: Besides obvious parallels between the protagonist, Kumagawa is also a dark mirror of Zenkichi, sharing similar traits while sitll appearing to be complete opposites. While Zenkichi is a tsundere, Kumagawa is a compulsive liar. Similarly, they're both attached to some of the most powerful figures in the story; Zenkichi to Medaka, Kumagawa to Ajimu. While Zenkichi doesn't think much his abilities, Kumagawa claims to be epitome of weakness, yet both are some of the most determined people in the series.
  • Puella Magi Oriko Magica: Oriko and Kirika are either Evil or Extreme Counterpart to Madoka and Homura, respectively. Both Madoka and Oriko have angelic magical appearance, both aim to save the world. Homura can stop time, Kirika can slow down time. Homura will do anything to save Madoka, Kirika will do anything including mass murder for Oriko's vision. Homura's and Kirika's obsession has to do with Madoka and Oriko respectively being nice to them.
  • The tragedy of the Count in Gankutsuou centers around Fernand's betrayal of Edmond out of love for Mercedes. Skip forward one generation, and Albert has many of the traits Edmond did (most obviously an amazing ability to attract friends and followers), with Franz as his Fernand and Eugenie as his Mercedes. The difference is that Franz is too loyal to Albert to do anything to harm him and it is due to this that Albert retains his kind heart and life even after all the crap the Count puts Albert through and becomes The Messiah who saves Edmond Dantes' soul at the end.
  • In Pokémon, Paul is this to Ash more than any other Rival character. Ash is kind, helps others, respects his opponents, sees the true potential in all Pokemon, and travels with True Companions, also treating his Pokemon as such. Paul is mean, out for himself, mocks those he beats as "weak" (including Maylene), tosses away Pokemon who don't immediately measure up, travels alone, and puts his Pokemon through Training from Hell.
    • New Rival Trip is kind of a provincial dick, but has never been shown to mistreat his Pokemon.
  • Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple has several examples, both among the teen fighters and the master-class warriors.
    • One of the earliest examples is an Evil Counterpart for Kenichi—Odin, the First Fist of Ragnarok otherwise known as Ryuto Asamiya. They were inspired by the same childhood incident (seeing a then-5-year-old Miu beating up adult thugs all by herself), but while Kenichi was motivated to fight for justice (something he wouldn't remember until years later in the present day), Odin was motivated to gain power. Shortly after the aforementioned incident, the two had a fight for a yin-yang pin Miu had given Kenichi in exchange for a cat pin she wanted; Kenichi won the fight, but then offered the pin to Ryuto anyway and suggested to pretend that Ryuto had won--which only wound up offending Ryuto's pride and sparked his Start of Darkness.
    • Natsu Tanimoto, a.k.a. Loki the Fifth Fist of Ragnarok, had a brief Evil Counterpart in Berserker, the Second Fist, after Tanimoto defected from Ragnarok; while Tanimoto advocated hard work and training, Berserker was a naturally-gifted fighter with no formal training who could nevertheless give Tanimoto a sound thrashing during their clash. (It's played with, however, in that Tanimoto is currently going through the Heel Face Revolving Door.)
    • Kisara Nanjo was originally touted as an Evil Counterpart to Miu back when she was Ragnarok's Eighth Fist, Valkyrie. Following her Heel Face Turn, she got her own Evil Counterpart in Freya, the Third Fist, due to the fact that she used to be one of Freya's underlings and also concerning their differing views on the use of weapons (Kisara, while not begrudging Freya for using weapons, simply didn't feel she herself should resort to weapons in order to stand alongside men as a fighter); eventually though, Freya had her own Heel Face Turn and the two remain friends (maybe).
    • Since Yami is the organizational Evil Counterpart to Ryozanpaku, by default the members of YOMI (all disciples of the One Shadow Nine Fist members of Yami) become Evil Counterparts to Kenichi. One of the more notable counterparts in this regard would be Sho Kanou; both he and Kenichi were motivated by affection for Miu and Kanou even pulled a Redemption Equals Death because of her. As well, Kajima Satomi (the disciple of the One Shadow) may eventually turn out to be this for Kenichi as well.
    • The earliest master-class example would be Kensei Ma's older brother Sougetsu Ma—both men are well-known fighters from China, but Sougetsu is considered a disgrace on the family name due to his embracing of the killing-fist philosophy and his turning to crime. And now Sougetsu is a member of the Nine Fists, making him an even greater counterpart to Kensei.
    • Two members of the One Shadow Nine Fists group are Evil Counterparts for two members of Ryozanpaku--"God Fist" Akira Hongo for Sakaki Shio and Agaard Jum Sai for Apachai Hopachai. In both cases they're childhood friends of their respective good counterparts and fighting partners who turned to the dark side. However, in Agaard's case, he turned to the killing-fist philosophy out of pure instinct, a fact Apachai understands and respects; while Sakaki's and Hongo's differing philosophies came out of the same incident that tore apart their comradeship--the death of their mutual friend at Hongo's hand during a fight to apply for a position with Yami, which prompted Sakaki to utterly reject the killing-fist philosophy. Both Nine Fists members are an interesting case, however, in that Agaard is an Affably Evil Friendly Enemy and Hongo is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who will Pet the Dog occasionally and has high moral footing.
    • Yet another master-class example: Alexander Gaidar, the One Shadow Nine Fists' resident Command Sambo master, is an Evil Counterpart to Ryozanpaku's judo master Akisame Koetsuji where appreciation of artwork is concerned. Both men are extremely talented sculptors, and are capable of making impressive pieces of artwork out of the steel and stone of their surroundings even while they're fighting each other.
    • The One Shadow himself is an Evil Counterpart to three different people on different levels: to his father Hayato Furinji, since they're respectively the leaders of Yami and Ryouzanpaku; to his former best friend Koetsuji, since both are skilled in combat and medicinal applications; and quite possibly to Kenichi, who wears Saiga's former arm-guards and represents the kind of character Saiga used to have before his Face Heel Turn, whereas Saiga represents what Kenichi could potentially become if he had a Face Heel Turn for the sake of a loved one.


Comic Books

  • The 1950s incarnation of Captain America (comics) ("Commie Smasher") was (through the magic of Retcon) explained away as an obsessed fan of the original who insisted on replacing him during the time when he was presumed dead; while the US government decided to humor him, the faulty version of the Super Soldier enhancement process eventually drove him insane. While he was eventually captured and placed in suspended animation, he broke out years later and attacked who he thought was another Captain America imposter - the real Captain America, who had defrosted from his own accidental suspended animation.
  • Bizarro is an imperfect clone (of varying origin, depending on the medium) of Superman, with all of the Man of Steel's powers and none of his intelligence or morality.
    • Taking into account various media, between Ultraman (which name alone refers to several similar characters), Justice Lord Superman, Cal and Kal-El in Smallville, Superboy Prime, mind controlled Captain Marvel, Cyborg Superman, etc., Superman has more evil counterparts than he knows what to do with.
  • DC's White Martians are evil counterparts of the Green Martians.
  • Black Adam was the Evil Counterpart of Captain Marvel, his predecessor as a bearer of the power of Shazam who became corrupted by its power.
  • Similarly, not only was the Green Lantern foe Sinestro once a Green Lantern himself, in Post-Crisis continuity he actually trained Hal Jordan in the use of his powers before becoming his nemesis.
    • Recently, there are even more popping up, but not all evil (so sort of non-evil counterparts to the evil counterparts): while the green represents will, and yellow represents fear, there's now violet (love), blue (hope), red (rage), orange (greed), and indigo (compassion). And eventually black (death), which is the really evil counterpart.
    • Kyle Rayner got 2 energy-wielding/manipulating Evil Counterparts, himself. On the 'ring-wielder' side of things, Alex Nero - who was Ax Crazy, and possibly killed his parents as a teenager. On the 'might've become' side of things, Effigy, who was what Kyle might've been if he hadn't matured and gained a sense of responsibility about the ring and super-heroics in general.
    • Some individual members of the Sinestro Corps are evil counterparts of specific GLs; for instance Arkillo (Evil Kiliwog) and Ranxx the Sentient City (Evil Mogo the Living Planet).
  • The criminal Killer Moth originally patterned himself as an Evil Counterpart to Batman... but quickly sank to a third-string position in the Rogues Gallery. As we said, the Counterpart is sometimes a Big Bad, but not always. It was probably a bad idea to name himself after something bats eat.
    • Continuing in that vein, the Wrath was a Pre Crisis villain who was even more of a Batman counterpart, down to duplicating much of his origin (his parents being killed in a shootout by Commissioner Gordon in his days as a rookie beat cop). Not only did he not become a Big Bad, he was essentially a one-shot opponent.
      • He reappeared in The Batman animated series, which also gave him a younger brother to act as Evil Counterpart to Robin.
      • And similarly, Batman Confidential introduces a new Wrath, the original's protégé, as Nightwing's Evil Counterpart.
    • Yet another Batman counterpart came in the pages of JLA, with Prometheus; he was the child of gangsters who had been gunned down by the cops when he was a boy, and his great physical fighting abilities were the result, not of training, but of "recording" other people's abilities electronically and loading them into his brain with a cybernetic helmet. Oddly, though, he isn't a particularly Batman-focused villain, usually meeting up with the hero only as part of an attempt to take down the whole JLA.
      • And both Prometheus and the Wrath are at large once again. Yes, they're practically the same person except for Prometheus' focus on technological gadgetry.
    • Bane was created as something of an Evil Counterpart to Batman, having trained his mind and body while in prison (serving part of his late father's term). The big difference is Bane's use of the chemical Venom to give himself Super Strength. Bane could also be considered an evil counterpart to Doc Savage, particularly with regard to his original aides.
    • Two-Face also mirrors Batman in his dual nature - Batman's identities are secret and united in their goals while Two-Face's are obvious and opposed. Harvey Dent started out with the exact same goal as Bruce, making him an example of what Batman could become if he loses his self-control, and was a close friend and confidant of either Bruce or Batman in most continuities.
    • While Bruce Wayne had caring, loving parents, Tommy Elliot's were both cut from the Rich Bitch cloth (and his father was an abusive alcoholic). To keep himself from harm and create a better life for himself, he arranged a car accident that killed his father and left his mother an overbearing cripple. Tommy hated that Bruce's dad saved his mom and that Bruce eventually got the life Tommy wanted for himself. Upon being told by the Riddler that Bruce was Batman, Tommy became Hush, an archetype of Batman who is a criminal mastermind.
    • Owlman and Talon, Batman and Robin's counterparts from Earth-3, the Evil Counterpart Universe.
    • The Ax Crazy Black Mask. Like Bruce, he was the son of wealthy parents who died due to unnatural causes. The difference is that Black Mask happened to kill his own parents and run his company into the ground with his own incompetence, before becoming a masked and increasingly violent crime lord. He even met Bruce as a child. He's as much of an Anti-Bruce Wayne as an Anti-Batman.
    • Catman was going to be one of these for about 5 minutes. Add in the Red Hood (formerly Jason Todd, the 2nd Robin, a vigilante who kills villains left and right when he isn't in Countdown) and Batzarro, which, yes, is a thing that really exists, and he has about a dozen of these.
    • Batman's gallery is built on the Evil Counterpart concept, mainly because writers acknowledge that what Bruce does isn't exactly sane and love to point out how easily it could have gone another way.
    • To the point where its hard to find a villain who isn't an evil counterpart of some facet of Batman. The Joker himself has pointed out they are both the results of something traumatic and life shattering, but to add, the Scarecrow uses fear just as much as Batman does, the Riddler uses his intellect more effectively than physical strength, Ra's Al Ghul is a man with a lifelong war on crime, and Mr. Freeze is motivated into his actions by the person he loves most in the world.
  • Venom is Spider-Man's Evil Counterpart, created when he symbolically cast off the darkness within him. Later, when Venom became an Anti-Hero, Carnage was created to be his Evil Counterpart...
    • Toxin is Venom's Good Counterpart.
      • Well, now we have Anti-Venom for that.
    • Spider-Man has had several villains meant to be his thematic opposite, from the Fly (who gained his powers in an accident much like Peter's own, but never stopped "looking out for number one" and blamed everyone else for his shortcomings) to the Scorpion (ditto; Bonus points for being an arachnid, too. And then the original Scorpion became Venom for a while). Dr. Octopus shares many personality traits with Spider-Man and is even based on another 8-legged creature. Less obviously, there's the Spider-Wasp.
  • Sabretooth is portrayed as Wolverine's evil similar, with near identical powers and completely feral. And he's implied to be Wolverine's half-brother; if he is, then they've hated each other their entire lives. Interestingly however, both characters were introduced separately from each other, Wolverine first appeared (with slightly different powers than his X-Men debut) in the Hulk comic, while Sabretooth was introduced (with no powers at all and claws that were only part of his gloves) in the pages of Iron Fist.
    • This may not be quite so coincidental, as Chris Claremont and John Byrne were working on the Iron Fist title around the same time as their classic run on X-Men.
  • Following in their dad's footsteps, X-23 and Daken seem to be heading towards this type of relationship with X-23 being the "good" counterpart and Daken being the "evil" counterpart.
  • The 2nd Supernova is an Evil Counterpart of Booster Gold, who invented the Supernova identity. While Booster works with Rip Hunter, Time Master, to Set Right What Once Went Wrong, Supernova is working with time-travel based villains like Per Degaton to set things wrong in the first place. Supernova also has an Evil Counterpart of Booster's Robot Buddy, Skeets, and at the end of his first appearance is revealed to be Booster's father.
  • Flintheart Glomgold, of the Disney Ducks Comic Universe (and later DuckTales (1987)) is an evil counterpart to Scrooge McDuck - every bit as ambitious as Scrooge, almost as wealthy, but with none of Scrooge's redeeming factors, such as his honesty and sense of fair play.
    • DuckTales (1987) even increased the similarities by making Flintheart Scottish, the same nationality as Scrooge - though this was because he was originally South African in the comics, and they wanted to avoid unfortunate connections.
  • The Marvel Comics series Sleepwalker has an Evil Counterpart in Psyko, who possesses warping abilities similar to Sleepwalker's. Sleepwalker, an alien devoted to protecting the minds of innocent people from insanity, became fused with the human Rick Sheridan when he found himself trapped in Rick's mind, whereas Psyko was created when a human Serial Killer became fused with a demonic creature from the Mindscape, giving him the ability to spread his madness like a disease, Mind Raping everyone around him.
  • Doctor Strange has an Evil Counterpart in Baron Mordo, who was studying with (and planning to off) the Ancient One before Stephen Strange showed up.
    • Other than their common teacher, however, the two men actually do not have very much in common, their life histories and backgrounds are very different. Doctor Strange did not even realize the supernatural was real until his middle years, and only began to pursue it because an accident crippled his surgical abilities, his background is actually scientific. Mordo was raised supernatural, from a supernatural family, and steeped in evil from early youth, his background is more traditionally magical/occultist, and he always sought power.
  • Red Sonja meets her Evil Counterpart, Crimson Katherine, in Giant-Size Red Sonja #2.
  • The Catwoman series tried giving Selina an Evil Counterpart a couple of times. One was She-Cat (another cat-based thief, but a less skilled and less ethical one, who eventually turned out to know Selina from when they were in the same orphanage) and another was Hellhound (a male chauvinist who'd been trained by the same Old Master, and been The Unfavorite). Neither of them caught on.
  • Aquaman has had several evil counterparts. The most obvious is the Ocean Master, his own brother. Others include Black Manta, Charybdis, Evil Twin Thanatos, and the Thirst.
  • In Circle of Blood, the first Punisher miniseries, Castle fights against a brainwashed army of criminals, all patterned after him.
  • Judge Dredd has the Dark Judges, who have taken the policing style of the Judges to an extreme where Mega-City One is practically Utopian. Also, his Arch Enemy Judge Dead, an undead Judge who initially became a Judge as an excuse to kill.
  • Iron Man has Iron Monger, another businessman who wears Powered Armour.
    • The Mandarin is more the anti-Stark than the anti-Iron Man. Stark is a playboy. Mandarin is a pimp with a harem who uses rape as a motivational tool. Stark is a thrill-seeker. Mandarin participates in gladiatorial games so he can thrill to putting his fist through someone's head. Stark sacrificed his health so he could help the world. The Mandarin sacrifices everything and everyone around him to become stronger.
    • The dozen or so Crimson Dynamos.
    • Justin Hammer is the anti-Stark-as-businessman. While Tony uses his money to fight crime, Hammer uses his to sponsor it.
  • The Hulk now has the Red Hulk. The Leader and the Abomination probably fit this role too.
  • Oddly enough, Hulk's Rogues Gallery also includes someone else's Evil Counterparts. The U-Foes are a group of four villains whose origin, powers, and personalities are all extremely similar to those of the Fantastic Four. Strangely, they have never faced the FF despite all of the characters being Marvel Comics characters.
  • She Hulk now has Red She-Hulk.
    • Titania too. Like Jennifer, she was also a shy wallflower in high school that gained superpowers later in life. There are a few key differences though. She-Hulk never asked for her powers (she adjusted well enough though) while Titania was so desperate to be powerful and special that she let Doctor Doom experiment on her. She-Hulk's transformation helped her gain real confidence both as She-Hulk and as Jennifer Walters. Titania's powers act as a crutch and deep down she is still the insecure Mary MacPherran. Titania resents She-Hulk specifically because She-Hulk is stronger than her in every way.
  • "Except for an accident of circumstance, I could have been your Luke Skywalker, and he could have been me. After all, we were both farmboys who loved to fly." Baron Soontir Fel, the best non-Vader pilot in the Empire, says this to Wedge Antilles after he's captured by Rogue Squadron. Farm Boy origins aside, he's actually closer to being the counterpart to Wedge, who also happens to be his brother-in-law. Fel is distinctly not evil; he's Imperial, which does put him on the "wrong" side, but he's not an evil man. He actually joins Rogue Squadron for a time, before disappearing and ending up as part of the Empire of the Hand.
  • Moon Knight had Evil Counterpart villains for his Marc Spector identity (Bushman), his Steven Grant identity (Midnight Man), and his Moon Knight persona (Black Spectre).
  • [Lord Drakkon|https://powerrangers.fandom.com/wiki/Lord_Drakkon], the Big Bad of Boom! Studios Power Rangers comic series, is this to Tommy Oliver. An alternate dimension's version of Tommy who was never freed of Rita's curse, he became one of the most irredeemably evil villains in the franchise. He managed to murder at least one other alternate version of himself and many alternate versions of other Rangers before being brought down by the "mainstream" version of Tommy.
    • On the same note, the Kimberly of that reality was brainwashed by Drakkon, becoming a villain named Ranger Slayer and becoming this towards the "mainstream" Kimberly. She also had a zord called Gravezord, which served as this to the Mega Zord. Unlike Drakkon himself, she was freed of the curse and became an ally of the mainstream Rangers, eventually altering Gravezord so it could combine with the Megazord into the stronger Mega-Gravezord, a potent weapon the heroes used against Drakkon.
  • Starman's Jack Knight and Nash were on their respective sides of the law mainly because their fathers pushed them there.
  • All four Flashes have fought a "reverse flash" of some sort or another. Jay Garrick had the Rival, an old college professor who discovered his power source and committed crimes dressed like the Flash. Barry Allen fought Professor Zoom, a stalker who wanted to destroy everything Flash loved. Wally West's counterpart is Zoom, a former profiler who is convinced that super heroes are only effective if they lose people they care about. Bart Allen had Inertia, an evil clone of himself.
    • Barry Allen also fought his prior to unknown twin Malcolm Thawne aka Colbalt Blue who established his own legacy of evil that mirrored the Flash Family. Including Professor Zoom.
  • From the Knights of the Old Republic comics, both Big Bad Haazen and hero Zayne Carrick are relatively weak Force-sensitives who were considered failed Jedi apprentices. The difference is that Haazen allowed his bitterness and jealousy of his more talented peers to utterly consume his life, while Zayne still maintains his fundamental human decency no matter what. The series' other main protagonist, Jarael, now has one of her own in the form of Chantique, who represents what Jarael would be if she allowed herself to be dominated by her Dark and Troubled Past.
  • Raven Red in the Jet Dream feature. Like Jet, she's also a top-notch aviatrix with an all-girl team.
  • The entire Justice League of America has an Evil Counterpart in the Mirror Universe Crime Syndicate of America. Ultraman opposes Superman. Superwoman is sometimes an evil Amazon, sometimes her world's Lois Lane, and recently, Mary Marvel but always stands in opposition to Wonder Woman. The magic-fuelled Power Ring is Evil Counterpart to Green Lantern. Psychotic speedster Johnny Quick is the opposite of The Flash. And Owlman, who began as a Smug Snake Evil Genius Chessmaster with More Than Mind Control powers, and is now usually portrayed as a homicidal maniac with Badass Abnormal Power Armour is the Evil Counterpart to however Batman is being portrayed this week.
  • Reed Richards and Doctor Doom: archenemies, both intellectually-inclined supergeniuses, both master inventors, both with major strengths in technology, both hammy and prone to Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness, both pretty similar in personality once you factor out Doom's This Is Your Brain on Evil. A lot of their battles consist of them passive-aggressively complimenting each other's moves in ways that often sound a lot like two computer geeks playing together. The key difference between them usually centres on how they handle responsibility; Doom's entire motivation stems from the fact that he can't accept that it was his own error, not Reed's interference, that caused the accident which scarred him, and maintains his vendetta to avoid having to acknowledge that he was at fault all along and Reed is just a little bit smarter than him, while Reed is a lot more willing to accept fault when he's in the wrong and will attempt to make amends or correct his mistakes.
  • Steelgrip Starkey And The All-Purpose Power Tool pits Steelgrip Starkey against Ironarm Gantry. In contrast to the heroically pure Steelgrip, Ironarm is brutish, selfish, and prone to bursts of anger and pettiness.
    • The All-Purpose Power Tool itself has an Evil Counterpart in Ironarm's Worldbeater, a massive, polluting contraption with bolted-on components that tears up the landscape as it works.
  • Death Mayhew, commander of the Nazi flying group the White Lions, was this to Blackhawk.
  • While they never met, Kevin and Miho from Sin City were meant to be counterparts of one another. Kevin is obviously the evil one while Miho is at least the Anti-Hero version.
    • Marv and Manute from the same series also fit as they are both big, scary determinators. Dwight all but lampshaded this when he brought Marv in to deal with Manute. Bonus points are given to the fact that while Manute is evil, well dressed, and highly educated, Marv is good (in comparison), a bit of a bum, and not very book smart.
  • Darkhawk has quite a few due to wearing armor that was originally meant for an army of Space Pirates.
  • Gideon Graves to Scott Pilgrim. They are both assholes who gloss over their misdeeds with Self-Serving Memory, and are horrible to their girlfriends. Gideon takes his Yandere tendencies Up to Eleven, while Scott eventually realizes his faults and genuinely wants to change and be a better person.

Fan Works

  • Dungeon Keeper Ami has Mercury and Mukrezar - both are physically weak, but possess devastating magical skill, both conquered the Avatar islands, both are resourceful and cunning and use that to win rather than brute strength.
  • The X-Men fic The Wraith Saga gives us The Wraith, an Eldritch Abomination that is essentially the Yang to the Phoenix Force's Yin, representing Death, darkness and oblivion. Subverted, in that the Phoenix can also be extremely destructive in its own way, but it's made clear that the Wraith potentially poses a much graver threat if it gets out of control.
  • Fallout Equestria has Lilpip and Red Eye. Both are Stable Dwellers that wish to make Equestria like, or better than what it was before the Great War. They also both represent one of the Elements of Harmony when corrupted.
    • Red Eye, who gave up every comfort he had to bring some sense of order to the Wasteland, represents corrupted generosity.
    • Lilpip, who's overwhelming concern for others often leads to self-destructive and irresponsible decisions, represents corrupted kindness.
    • Lilpip herself lampshades this as she realizes that, though she despises Red Eye's system being built on slavery, it's the first real working infrastructure Equestria has had in hundreds of years. Red Eye, for his part, feels enough mutuality with Lilpip that he offers to abdicate his position to her. It doesn't help that Lilpip is your typical Fallout protagonist (albeit one with exceptionally good karma) and Red Eye is very much an anti-villain compared to other antagonists in the story.
  • To Kill a Thief has Light Yagami to Miyako Toudaiji.
  • The Statue of Tyranny, a macabre and threateningly evil version of the Statue of Liberty, with a dark parody of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven". (See it here], but be warned, the picture and script are NSFW.)

Film - Animated

  • In Toy Story 3, it turns out Lotso-Huggin' Bear was once very much like Woody. He was the favorite toy of a little kid who enjoyed her toys very much, Daisy being very much like Andy, and he had a small but loyal posse of other toys who would always lend a hand. On top of that, he has all the intelligence, resourcefulness, and planning skills of Woody. Where he and Woody diverged is their response to being separated from their respective owners, and arguably, what happened with their owners when separated. In the original Toy Story, when Woody and Buzz go missing and Andy finds out, Andy frantically searches for them until they return, and they never give up hope. When Lotso goes missing and Daisy finds out, they buy another Lotso and call it a day. This causes Lotso to snap and completely lose his faith in people. He then goes to Sunnyside Daycare, gathers allies, and becomes a dictator. If Woody had turned evil and bitter, he would've taken the same strategy: Gather allies, then gather power in anticipation of any upcoming threats.
  • Chick Hicks, the main villain of Cars (also by Pixar) is actually the evil counterpart to Lightning McQueen. Both are actually portrayed as mean and arrogant racecars who cared about nothing but themselves and made fun of other cars. What makes them different is that at the end of the film, McQueen ends up losing the final race but is now respected by the other cars since he actually now learned to accept defeat by helping another racecar, Strip "The King" Weathers, cross the finish line after he was crashed by Chick, while Chick ended up winning the same race but is ultimately betrayed by everyone else since they found out about what he did to The King, and that doing such is actually against the racing code.
  • In Kung Fu Panda, Tai Lung to Po. Both were raised to carry on the work of their much tinier fathers and have destinies tied to the Dragon Scroll .
    • Also, Tigress and Tai Lung. Both don't know their real parents (one was raised in an Orphanage of Love, the other was a Door Step Baby). Both only wanted their father/teacher's love. Like Tai Lung, Tigress believed she would be chosen as the Dragon Warrior by Oogway, and resented Po for 'stealing her thunder.' They also both suffer from Pride and a bad temper. Only the fact Tigress remained honorable and chose to become an even better and more worthy warrior (and, most likely, her defeat at the Thread of Hope) kept her from following the same path.
  • The Disney Animated Canon have lots of examples:
    • Sleeping Beauty has the evil fairy Maleficent to the 3 good fairies
    • The Princess and the Frog has Facilier (evil, male, tall, slim, young, attractive, slick) and Mama Odie (benevolent, female, short, pudgy, very old, hard of hearing and a goofball). Originally Facilier was supposed to be Odie's son.
    • Leroy and Stitch.
    • Disney villains in general are the evil counterparts to Disney Princesses. Guess which one has more characters!
  • Mozenrath to Aladdin. Both of them are very clever and quick-witted, yet they are occasionally prone to letting their youthful impatience and boredom get in their way of completely reaching their full potential, and they're both hinted to have rather unpleasant pasts. Oh, and neither of them is ever seen without their faithful animal companions.
  • Who Framed Roger Rabbit?: Judge Doom to Eddie Valiant; both are law enforcement who hold a certain hatred towards toons. However, deep down, Eddie holds a certain fondness for toons, suppressing it mainly becuase of his brother's death and is still a good person underneath. Doom's hatred is perhaps more intense, which is ironic as he turns out to be a toon himself.

Film - Live-Action

Bond: You live well, Scaramanga.
Scaramanga: At a million dollars a contract I can afford to, Mr Bond. You work for peanuts, a hearty well done from her Majesty the Queen and a pittance of a pension. Apart from that we are the same. To us, Mr Bond, we are the best.
Bond: There's a useful four letter word, and you're full of it.

  • Push has two. Nick's counterpart is Victor, and Cassie's counterpart is the Triad Watcher. Victor is a better Mover than Nick, and the Triad Watcher is a better Watcher than Cassie.
    • It seems to be implied that Nick and Cassie are every bit (if not more) powerful, but are novices at actually exercising their powers compared to their more experienced counterparts.
      • That, and the fact they are son and daughter of the best mover and watcher anyone has ever seen (Cassie's mum set up events for ten years in the future) so they may have genetically inherited a bit of it. The agent pusher is also a counterpart of the experiment survivor, although she could arguably already be better.
  • In Star Wars, Darth Vader is naturally the evil counterpart to Luke Skywalker (a living incarnation of the evil that Luke is perfectly capable of), and Emperor Palpatine is an evil Force mentor version of Yoda.
  • Star Trek: Nemesis had Shinzon, the evil clone of Jean-Luc Picard whose main purpose in the story is to show what Picard himself could have become had he grown up under more oppressive circumstances. Picard himself uses this in an attempt to demonstrate that Shinzon had the choice to become a better person, while Shinzon wanted to prove that Being Tortured Makes You Evil.
  • In the Heisei series, Godzilla gained an Evil Counterpart in Space Godzilla, a being created from a fusion of Biollante (who was a fusion of Godzilla's DNA and rose DNA) and a crystalline entity. While Godzilla was in neutral "force of nature" mode, Space Godzilla was definitely malicious and evil, coming to Earth to torment Godzilla and conquer the planet.
  • The writers' and director's audio commentary for Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl at one point refers to Captain Barbossa as "the dark side of Jack Sparrow".
  • In Black Swan, Lily might be this to Nina. Nina frequently hallucinates a phantom doppelganger that seems to mean her harm.
    • This mirrors Swan Lake, the ballet the film is centered around; Odile the Black Swan, is this to the White Swan, Odette.
  • According to Jordy, the Bread-Squeezer is this to Jason in Mystery Team.
  • Glory has the Negro irregulars to the 54th Massachusetts.
  • Transformers: Dark of the Moon plays with this. Sam and Bumblebee are given dark counterparts in the form of Soundwave and Dylan. Bumblebee came to Sam for help, Sam's family having a history with Cybertronians. Likewise Dylan's dad received Soundwave as a "client", as the Decepticon had him crunch numbers to make further trips by NASA to the moon improbable, ensuring no one would ever find the Ark. This becomes a case of Fridge Brilliance in the final battle, where both human and Autobot kill their respective counterparts.

Dylan Gould: (to Sam) Do you really think you were the first one recruited to join the "noble" alien cause?


Literature

  • In the Harry Potter books, Big Bad Voldemort is Harrys counterpart, having been raised in similar conditions and circumstances, and accidentally given some of his power to him, but taking a different moral/ethical path.
    • Additionally, Gellert Grindelwald is the dark twin of Albus Dumbledore.
    • Bellatrix Lestrange is the Evil Counterpart of Sirius Black. They grew up in the same environment and have similar temperaments. They're both skilled magically, and they resemble each other physically. They're both very devoted to their respective sides, and would do anything to protect those they care about. Their deaths even parallel each other, which Harry points out.
      • Bellatrix is also an evil counterpart to Hermione Granger. Hermione is as devoted to Harry as Bellatrix is to Voldemort. Both intelligent and powerful witches, willing to go to extremes for their purposes.
    • Many fans look to Dolores Umbridge as an evil counterpart to Minerva McGonagall. Both are senior members of Hogwarts and known as strict disciplinarians, but McGonagall is stoic but ultimately good, while Umbridge is a very thorough Bitch in Sheep's Clothing. They butt heads often after Dumbledore departs.
    • Some interpret Peter Pettigrew as Ron's Evil Counterpart. They're both overshadowed by their more popular/gifted friends, but while Pettigrew only latches onto strong people, Ron truly cares about Harry and Hermione. Immediately regretting abandoning them in the last book counts.
    • Remus Lupin and Fenrir Grayback. While they're both werewolves (and Remus was bitten by Grayback as a child), Fenrir goes after and attacks people, particularly children, while Remus tries his hardest to avoid hurting someone.
  • R.A. Salvatore feels the need to state that Artemis Entreri is Drizzt's "dark mirror" every time the two meet.
    • This is partially because Artemis himself became obsessed with the concept of them as opposites, to the extent that Jarlaxle faked Drizzt's death and hoped that Artemis would drop it now.
    • Interestingly, Salvatore would later write a far better example of an evil counterpart for Drizzt in the form of King Obould Many-Arrows (not an original character for Salvatore, but he gave him all his real characterization). Like Drizzt, Obould is an exceptional member of an Exclusively Evil race that sees the obvious flaws in his native society and rejects them. Unlike Drizzt who chose to run away from drow society and strike out on his own, Obould grabs orc society by the neck and forces a fundamental change in it, waging a brutal war not for the sake of plunder as most orcs do, but to carve out a kingdom where orcs can form a true civilization. What makes this interesting is that Salvatore never points out the parallels between them.
  • In the Inheritance Cycle, Murtagh was already a slightly darker version of Eragon before Galbatorix recaptured him and forced him to become a Blood Knight.
    • Nasuada has to keep a close reign on her modus operandi, so that she doesn't turn into Galbatorix.
  • Discworld examples:
    • Granny Weatherwax's sister Lily, in the novel Witches Abroad. A somewhat ironic example, as Lily considers herself to be the good one, and Granny thinks of herself as an Anti-Villain, being a prime example of Good Is Not Nice. It's played with a bit[1] since the Theory of Narrative Causality means that any magically inclined siblings on the Disc will eventually form a Good/Evil pair, and the reason Granny is mad at her sister is because she didn't want to be the Good one and was forced into the role when Lily ran away.
    • Lord Hong to Lord Vetinari in the novel Interesting Times. Though the two never meet (and Vetinari may not even be aware of Hong's existence) the uncanny similarities of hyper competence, forward thinking, manipulation and the ability to wield power are made clear. Hong is a younger Vetinari with all the sense of duty channeled into personal ambition. Hong's mistake is that he thinks everyone is like the Agatean people; he doesn't know people and how to push their levers whilst Vetinari is a master of getting people to do what he wants them to do, even though they think they aren't.
    • In general, members of the Assassins' Guild seem to be the evil counterparts of Vimes—he is a gritty Technical Pacifist who fights dirty whereas they are unsurprisingly well-bred hired killers.
    • Going Postal has the contrast between Moist von Lipwig, a Deconstruction of the Gentleman Thief, (who proves he has a heart) and Manipulative Bastard Con Man Reacher Gilt. Part of Moist's motivation is to prove that he is different than Gilt, in defiance of Not So Different.
    • Reaper Man has the New Death in contrast with Death/Bill Door. The New Death takes pleasure in taking lives, while Death feels compassion for humanity.
  • Shiwan Khan, one of The Shadow's antagonists, had the same ability to "Cloud Men's Minds", and was one of the few villains to appear in more than one novel. In the 1994 film, the Evil Counterpart aspect of the characters was made much more explicit: both were trained by a mystic known as The Tulpu, but whereas Lamont Cranston turned away from evil, Shiwan Khan did not.
  • Blade of the Flame has Makala for Diran on and off.
  • Marth for Tristam in Heirs of Ash.
  • The Wheel of Time has several.
    • Ishamael for Rand. Both are the leaders of their respective side and are extremely strong in the one power. But while Rand believes in doing his duty and saving world, Ishamael became a Nihilist who wants to destroy the pattern because he believes that everything is meaningless, that the dark will inevitably win and that it his purpose to fight for the dark one. He also seems to view his role in the ever repeating pattern to convince the Dragon to submit to this view; during the darkest depths of his psychotic breakdown Rand considers whether his counterpart was in fact right and almost destroys the pattern himself after a bit of Nietzsche Wannabe speechifying of his own
    • Lanfear for Moiraine: Both women assisted Rand and would have killed him if necessary. But while Moiraine just wants him to save the world and oppose the dark one, Lanfear is a Yandere darlfriend who wants him to serve the dark one.
    • Slayer for Perrin: Both have connections with wolves and dream powers. Both of them enjoy killing and they both tried to lead the two rivers villagers against trollocs
    • Taim for Loghain: Both are false dragons who serve Rand reluctantly and both want glory. But unlike Logain, Taim is a darkfriend who wants to help the dark one triumph
    • Elaida for Siuan: Both are Amyrlins who were extremely powerful channlers, plot and manipulate others, want to control the dragon reborn and are motivated by foretellings about the dragon reborn. However Elaid is far more arrogant and organizes a coup, wants to kidnap and control rand to satisfy her ego and while Siuan tries to train Egwene into being her successor, Elaida wants to make Egwene her servant.
  • Recent Star Wars novels have taken the unfortunate fact that Shira Brie/Lumiya and Mara Jade are the same recycled character concept and chosen to emphasize the fact that Lumiya is Mara Jade's Evil Counterpart. The Legacy of the Force series, for instance, has for the first time confirmed that Shira Brie was part of the same Emperor's Hand program as Mara Jade and equal to her in rank, and, ironically, that if she had been nearby when the 2nd Death Star blew up and been given the task of horribly murdering Luke Skywalker, she could very likely have been the one redeemed by love who ended up marrying Luke instead of being horribly disfigured and eventually killed by him.
  • In the Ea Cycle Morjin is what Valashu would become if he went to The Dark Side.
  • When August Derleth took H.P. Lovecraft's ideas and ran with them, he posited a group of "good" counterparts of the Great Old Ones called the "Elder Gods." Brian Lumley took this concept even further in his Cthulhu Mythos novels, with appearances by the Elder Gods Kthanid (a good Cthulhu) and Yad-Thaddag (a good Yog-Sothoth).
  • John Sunlight, the only villain to face Doc Savage more than once in the novels, had many qualities in common with Doc.
    • An even more obvious Evil Counterpart appears in the Doc Savage Annual published by DC Comics. It featured Siegfried, a young man raised by one of Doc's former teachers under the training regime developed by Doc's father. Siegfried and his mentor were in service of the Nazis.
  • Un from Shinigami no Ballad, who is counterpart to the main character. Weirdly enough, even though she wields power of destruction, she is consider to be the being of creation, and that even though Momo's appearance are all white, she's actually Un's shadow.
  • Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty.
    • Dr. John H. Watson and Col. Sebastian Moran.
    • Taken to its logical extreme in Neil Gaiman's Alternate Universe short story A Study in Emerald, where the reader gradually realizes that in this world the nameless detective who lives at Baker Street and helps the police with cases is Moriarty, and the culprits for the latest case he is investigating are Holmes and Watson. Although the nature of this society is such that Holmes and Watson are still the good guys.
    • Taken to another logical extreme in Kim Newman's "A Shambles in Belgravia", which not only has Moran documenting Moriaty's "cases" as Evil Dr Watson, but also supplies him with an Evil Mrs Hudson (the madame Mrs Halifax), and Evil Baker Street Irregulars (the Conduit Street Comanche - a "tribe of junior beggars, whores, pickpockets and garotters"). And in his spare time, Moriarty breeds wasps, apparently out of sheer malevolence and balancing Holmes's retirement as a beekeeper.
      • Extreme, yes. Logical, no.
    • In the Raffles series, Raffles and Bunny are essentially evil (or at least anti-heroic) counterparts of Holmes and Watson.
  • Auguste Dupin and Minister D.
  • In Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Series, specifically beginning in Brothers in Arms where the hero Miles Vorkosigan meets his evil clone in a battle of wits and subterfuge. An earlier novel, The Vor Game has the female mercenary Cavilo, who is as short as Miles is (but more obviously physically attractive) and has a very similar talent for disguise and subterfuge. On the other hand, while Miles is ultimately a very good and loyal person, Cavilo is a psychopath.
  • In the Skulduggery Pleasant series; Caelan has shades of being this to Fletcher. Both are infatuated with Valkyrie, both are vain and good-looking, they're pretty ineffectual despite having access to incredible power, and are very much the outsiders in the group of protagonists, and would both happily live their own lives away from the danger and chaos of saving the world if Valkyrie weren't involved. The main difference between them is that Fletcher is a Technical Pacifist who hates violence, and Caelan, on the other hand has killed dozens of helpless mortal women over imagined slights.
    • A good indicator of this is that, although he's seriously hurt when Valkyrie breaks up with him, Fletcher is able to move past it and get on with his own life, whereas Caelan simply cannot let her go and decides to kill her for "infidelity".
    • This is because, after Character Development takes away Fletcher's cowardice and most of his arrogance, he's pretty well adjusted and normal, whereas Caelan, on the other hand is so batshit insane, he killed his mentor for trying to warn him off his obsession (later B Brain In A Jar Clockwork King, behaves much like his Primal Earth counterpart, including his obsession with Penelope Yin
    • Penelope Yin, counterpart to herself, is a Resistance spy in Mother Mayham's mental hospital
    • Belladonna Vetrano, counterpart to Ghost Widow, is still alive, and a member of the Resistance


Video Games

  • Pokémon Mystery Dungeon have Gengar to the main character.
  • Malefor from The Legend of Spyro trilogy seems to be this to Spyro. Both are Purple Dragons, both were, according to Chief Prowlus and the statues of him all over the place, heroic in their youth, and both were trained freely by their elders in the Dragon Elements. The difference is Malefor let his power go to his head and went mad with power while Spyro remained good hearted (though Spyro was raised by dragonflies which may have had something to do with it). Malefor is aware of this and worked it into his Not So Different Hannibal Lecture.
  • Soul Nomad and The World Eaters has Revya as this to Levin in one path of the New Game+.
    • In the main game, various characters have evil counterparts of their own. Shauna for Endorph, Cuthbert for Vitali, Lobo for Christophe and Dio for Odie among others.
  • Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana has Mull served as an Evil Counterpart of Arlin the swordsman. They even share the same sprite, only with Palette Swap into a red outfit.
  • In Hitman: Blood Money, Mark Parchezzi III is this to Agent 47. Even though 47 can be viewed as a villain, he is shown to have a set of values and morality, while what little is seen of Parchezzi shows him to be completely without scruples. Plus, while 47 performs rather indiscriminate hits, Parchezzi works for the Franchise, a clandestine government group with the goal of keeping human cloning illegal so that nobody else may benefit from it.
  • Dark Link. Full. Freaking. Stop.
  • Meta Knight from the Kirby series has Galacta Knight. Both have very similar appearance, attacks, and movesets. The primary differences between the two are that Galacta Knight lacks Meta Knight's sense of chivalry, and Galacta has a more angelic appearance compared to Meta Knight (White feathered wings and brighter colors compared to Meta's bat wings and dark colors).
  • Crash Bandicoot has the obviously titled Evil/Nega Crash, his alternate universe equivelant from the Tenth Dimention. Fake Crash (a goofy lookalike created from "an experiment gone horribly wrong") interchanges between being an antagonist or occasional friend of Crash, similar to Wario.
  • Mutons of the new X-COM: Enemy Unknown have been described like this, an alien SEAL Team Six to fight your own troops.
  • In Alpha Protocol, Conrad Marburg is something of an evil counterpart to Mike; a rogue agent from a previous incarnation of Alpha Protocol called Deus Vult, who like Mike was cut loose and falsely declared rogue because it was politically convenient. Unlike Mike, who's still trying to get to the bottom of the conspiracy, Marburg lost faith in the government and now works for Leland.
  • The Simon the Sorcerer games play with this. At the end of the 3rd game, a second Simon appears who is different in two aspects: a) he's corporeal (long story) and b) he has a goatee. Wait, Simon's not a nice guy either, right? Well it turns out that the counterpart is actually the lawful counterpart to Simon. He even shaves his beard to get rid of the stigma.


Web Comics

  • Miho in Megatokyo seems to fashion herself as an Evil Counterpart to Yuki. She has the same powers, and when she awakens Yuki to her powers, says that Yuki's are based on love, while hers are lonely and dark. But then again, no one ever knows what's with Miho.
  • Celesto Morgan to Dominic Deegan.
    • Karnak (now the recently deposed King of Hell) and Dominic's father Donovan. Both were orphans raised in foreign lands by a different race/species (orcs raised Karnak and elves raised Donovan). When the two of them met they even became friends, though Karnak never did appreciate Donovan's sense of humor. Unfortunately, they both fell in love with the same woman, but Miranda only loved Karnak as a friend and had already given her heart to Donovan. This frustrated Karnak so much that he grew to despise Donvan and invoked a brutal tradition of orc culture and tried to kill Donovan and take Miranda for himself.
  • In Fans!, Keith Feddyg to Rikk.
  • User Friendly has the Crud Puppy, a scalpel-wielding Evil Counterpart to the Dust Puppy.
  • The Order of the Stick has the Linear Guild, a team of Evil Counterparts to the titular band, led by Elan's Evil Twin Nale. After their first defeat, Nale recruited replacements to purposefully continue the "evil opposites" theme.
    • Taken to its logical conclusion with Yokyok, who is actually a GOOD counterpart to the Chaotic Evil Belkar Bitterleaf.
    • Crystal to Haley.
    • Redcloak seems like he is Hinjo's evil counterpart.
    • Roy however insists that Thog is not his Evil Counterpart and is merely just different from him, stating that there has to be more to it than just Roy being a Genius Bruiser and Thog being Dumb Muscle.
  • Penny and Aggie contains a team of Evil Counterparts to Penny's clique gathered by Penny's social rival who read way too many comic books before her makeover into an Alpha Bitch thanks to Penny and Aggie.
  • In Sluggy Freelance Kusari serves as the Evil Counterpart to Oasis. They're both superbly skilled, (seemingly) immortal assassins created/raised by Hereti Corp, and Kusari even claims they're sisters. Until the 20th-anniversarry storyline when Kusari was seen without her mask on, speculation raged as to whether or not she was actually an Evil Twin. She isn't.
  • Lord Tedd in El Goonish Shive along with Shade Tail. Ellen tried to be this for a while but quickly gave up on it.
  • In 8-Bit Theater with the main characters being the Evil Counterparts of the true Light Warriors which travel the world since then stumbling from one disaster into another. Also, there are the other warriors which are also (mostly) way less evil than the protagonists.
  • Shortpacked gives us McAwesome's Parasailing and Chocolate Bakery... or, more accurately, the titular store is the Evil Counterpart to McAwesome's. Gustavo, Evan, Rose and Zaph are well-adjusted expies of Galasso, Ethan, Amber and Faz. Ronnie's counterpart is Franklin D. Roosevelt, Ninja Rick's is a pirate, and Robin's is Agatha from her original SEMME team. The others so far don't have counterparts, but Mike moonlights there, and gets drunk to do so, so he's his own counterpart.
  • Sonichu has a few for both its titular character and the Author Avatar. For the titular character, there's Metal Sonichu and Black Sonichu/Blachu/Blake, though Blake turns good. For the Author Avatar, there's Naitsirhc, whom takes Evil Counterpart to a major extreme.
  • The titular characters of Bob and George. While George is depicted as god of electricity, Bob is depicted as god of fire. George's "true" form is called Blitz (originally Spark) and Bob's true form is called Napalm. They both got their powers from their mother. In the story, Bob/Napalm calls himself "the destroyer of civilisations" and George/Spark/Blitz believes in justice. Also, in the end, they get help from their respective protectors; Bob from Helmeted Author and George from Shadowy Author. Also, it's revealed that both of them were protected by their mother.
  • Raven Red, as in her original comic book incarnation, serves as the evil aviatrix counterpart for the T-Girl heroine of Jet Dream, Harmony Thunder.

Web Original

Western Animation

  • In Futurama, Fry assumes that the character Flexo is this to Bender but his jealousy blinds him to the fact that it's actually the other way around.

Fry: How can I live my life if I can't even tell good from evil?
Bender: Eh, they're both fine choices. Whatever floats your boat.

  • On Kim Possible, Dr. Drakken's Dragon Shego is a sort of evil counterpart to Kim. She's a former teen hero herself. The similarities in their overall character design leads some new viewers to think Shego is Kim's Evil Twin.
    • They also both get together with their partner in crime/justice. There is an episode dedicated to just how similar they are if Shego was good; they are so compatible it ramps up the Ho Yay to very impressive levels for a Disney Cartoon, due to it splitting up the Kim Possible + Ron Stoppable romance.
    • Though he's considered Kim's archenemy, Dr. Drakken serves as a good counterpoint to Kim's sidekick Ron. Both are not particularly good fighters and leave fighting to their female companions. Drakken is outwardly intelligent, but manages to botch many of his schemes due to incompetence. Ron often acts buffoonish, but it's implied that he holds some innate intelligence. Their similarities are highlighted in the episode "Bad Boy".
  • Kevin, aka "Kevin 11" from Ben 10. Only a little in his 1st appearance, but more and more each time he shows up. He starts as a sociopathic kid a little older than Ben with the ability to absorb energy. He absorbs energy from the Omnitrix twice in his debut episode, each time transforming him halfway into one of Ben's alien forms. By the time he resurfaces in his 2nd episode, he's all alien, and can change between them, but can't stay human very long. At the end of that episode, he winds up as a freaky hybrid, incorporating a little bit of human form and aspects of all 10 original aliens, and from then on he's stuck that way.
    • In Alien Force, Kevin pulls a Heel Face Turn and gets his own Evil Counterpart as a result, Mike Morningstar/Darkstar, who also has energy absorption powers. Ben, in the meantime, gets a new Evil Counterpart in Albedo, who doubles as his Evil Twin.
  • Negaduck -both versions, the first arguably moreso, as he is the the dark half of Darkwing's personality, given form after he is zapped by Megavolt's Tron Splitter device. He resolves to kill his Posiduck counterpart, so as to conquer the underworld undeterred. The second, from an alternate universe, is no less evil, as he delights in the thought of murder, and at one point tries to destroy all of St. Canard in one fell swoop.
  • In Metajets, The Stunt-Hawks are a trio of criminals flying newer, more advanced transforming jets designed by the same man who designed the good Metajets.
  • In Avatar: The Last Airbender, there are numerous parallels between Katara and Azula: roughly the same age, they are both are the daughters of leaders with leadership skills of their own, both freakishly powerful and talented prodigies with their elements, both at least occasionally overbearing control freaks and possessed of a dangerous temper when provoked. On opposite lines of the Red Oni, Blue Oni divide they may be, but taking into account their fathers' personalities/influences they are far more alike than one may think.
    • Azula also serves as an Evil Counterpart to both Zuko and Iroh. As Zuko's, she shows what he could have been if he really did have everything he thinks that he wants (and 50 extra I.Q. points, at least). As Iroh's, she trys to steer Zuko down the wrong path rather than the right one. This is Lampshaded in a dream sequence Zuko has, in which he is being consulted by a red dragon and a blue dragon on which path to take in life, good or evil. The red dragon, who advocates good, has Iroh's voice, while the blue, who advocates evil, has Azula's. This situation comes true in Season Two's finale, in which Zuko chooses Azula's way only to regret it.
    • Zuko has another one in Zhao who is older than him, experienced in war, willing to sacrifice others to further his own career, and seems to have favor with in the Fire Nation helping him go through the ranks. It is also shown with the fact that they're also unfriendly rivals in the show always fighting whether physically or over Aang. They also attempt to capture Aang for different reasons, Zuko so he can restore his honor and return home, and Zhao as a vanity project.
    • Hama serves as another Evil Counterpart to Katara. Both of them went through horrible things during the war against the Fire Nation (Katara lost her mother; Hama was captured and left to rot in a prison cell); however, Hama became so obsessed with revenge that she became no better than those who hurt her, even going as far as imprisoning innocent civilians in a cave simply because they were Fire Nation.
  • Buzz Lightyear of Star Command has two: XL, the psychotic prototype of XR, and Warp Darkmatter, Buzz's ex-partner turned amoral mercenary.
    • Gravitina is often cited as being a evil counterpart of Mira and many fans pointing to Torgue the bounty hunter as a counterpart for Booster. also there was that that mirror mirror universe.
  • Red X to Robin in the Teen Titans animated series, although Red was more of a "Morally Ambigious Counterpart". Also, Blackfire to Starfire.
    • Word of God says they designed Slade to be an evil version of Batman, though Batman himself never appears in the series (except possibly once, in silhouette).
    • From a team standpoint, the HIVE are the evil counterparts to the Titans, at least before they became flanderized into joke villains. Brother Blood doesn't start out as an evil counterpart to his Arch Enemy Cyborg, but becomes such during the events of the third season finale.
  • Vlad to Danny in Danny Phantom. True to the trope, the Not So Different speech is one of Vlad's favourite tactics, leading to the expected denial from Danny.
    • Dark Danny-his evil future version- is the other evil counterpart to Danny.
  • Captain Planet has an evil counterpart in Captain Pollution, composed of the polluting powers of Super Radiation, Deforestation, Smog, Toxics and Hate.
  • In Batman the Animated Series, The Creeper was presented as the Joker's good counterpart, being doused by the Joker's Psycho Serum but turning out as a well-intentioned mad man. Amusingly, he is just as obsessively attracted to Harley Quinn as she is to the Joker.
  • The Fairly OddParents-Timmy might have two: Remy Buxaplenty and Mr. Crocker. Remy is a rich kid with a fairy godparent and Crocker had fairies (Cosmo and Wanda) until Timmy caused them to be revealed when he went back in time. Timmy has had Not So Different moments with Remy and Crocker before.
    • And what about Gary, Timmy's imaginary friend?
    • The Fairies have these in the form of the Anti-Fairies and Pixies, but the Anti-Fairies are the true Evil Counterparts, as they are the Fairies with blue skin, pointy ears, and fangs, and taken further with Foop, who is cube-shaped.
  • Maggie Simpson had her arch-nemesis Gerald the unibrow baby.
  • Dexter & Dee Dee had Mandark & Lala-Vava
  • Thailog of Gargoyles is an Evil Counterpart to both Goliath and Xanatos, ironically enough. He's Goliath's evil clone, but he also embodies the depths of evil of which Xanatos would become capable if he lost the last threads holding him to his humanity. Both characters see Thailog as one of their most dangerous enemies, if not the most.
  • Lotor's Robeast in Voltron: The Fleet of Doom is an evil counterpart to Lion Voltron and Vehicle Voltron.
    • Dracotron in Voltron: The Third Dimension, which is made up of 5 robot dragons, is an evil counterpart of Voltron.
  • In an episode of The Adventures of Sam and Max, the eponymous duo accidentally release Dangly Deever, a Howdy Doody-style children's show marionette, while futzing with one of the Geek's numerous research projects. This seems harmless enough, until the Geek returns in time for an evil version of Dangly, and several other puppets who didn't get good counterparts, to break free. At the climax, the two Danglies are struggling for dominance while the heroes try to pick out their target.
  • Codename: Kids Next Door: The Delightful Children are the Evil Counterparts of Sector V.
  • In an episode of Phineas and Ferb, the titular boys compete with a pair of similar kids named Thaddeus and Thor. They're not evil, per se, but Thaddeus is obviously a Jerkass compared to Phineas.
  • Men in Black: The Animated Series: The Fmek alien race is the evil counterpart to the Arquillian alien race.
  • The Powerpuff Girls: has two sets. The Rowdyruff Boys are a group of little boys with the same powers but the opposite morality, and were created by Mojo Jojo from snips, snails, and puppy dogs tails. The Powerpunk Girls are from an alternate universe where the evil Oppressor Plutonium (Professor Utonium's own evil counterpart) created them to conquer the world.
    • Dick Hardly is one for Professor Utonium, being little more than a sleazy money-grubbing scientist who made knockoffs of the Powerpuff Girls with no legitimate love for them.
  • The Dreamstone utilizes a non character example, instead one of the title MacGuffin. The Nightmare Stone, much like the Dream Stone is Exactly What It Says on the Tin, a magical gem able to send nightmares to sleeping residents while fending of good dreams. In another reversal, the heroes are made to steal the Nightmare Stone from the villains much like the latter try to steal the Dreamstone throughout the series.
    • For a character based example Zordrak may be this to the Dream Maker, an intelligent and highly powerful sorcerer who uses his power to send dreams to the world around him and watches over a population of somewhat loyal bumbling creatures. In contrast to the benevolent Dream Maker however, Zordrak is a Bad Boss vehement on conquest and spreading nightmares.
  • Princess Luna's from My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic is the good counterpart to her Face Heel Turn form Nightmare Moon. While this may seem too obvious to be worth mentioning at first once one really gets to SEE Luna one realizes just how little difference there is in their personalities.


Tropes That Are Evil Counterparts Of Other Tropes

  1. ↑ I know, what a shock.
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