History GoneHorriblyRight / ComicBooks

* PlayedForLaughs in ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'' when Archie notices that while School Coach Floyd Clayton goes easy on most of the boys in his gym class, he overworks his own son Chuck. When Archie calls Coach out on this unfair treatment, Coach Clayton agrees, resulting in him going hard on the entire gym class like he did with Chuck. Naturally, all the boys went chasing after Archie in rage.

* According to ComicBook/JimmyOlsen, ComicBook/LexLuthor once invented an invisibility belt, which worked so well that even Superman couldn't see him with it on. The problem was, he had rendered his own retinas invisible, making him blind and causing him to make noise bumping into things, which ComicBook/{{Superman}} ''could'' detect.

* ''ComicBook/{{Superlopez}}'': ''El Supergrupo'''s BigBad creates perfect robot copies of the entire group, the only differences being that they are completely loyal to him and that they never get tired. In the middle of a fight between the real team and the copies, Superlopez [[EurekaMoment realizes]] this makes them perfect suckers for getting them to fight each other: claim that the copies will surely surrender if their leader -- the Superlopez copy -- is defeated, and watch the fireworks.

** Sinister does it again in the ''Comicbook/SinsOfSinister'' crossover -- he corrupts the Krakoan resurrection project so that every mutant who gets resurrected has an overlay of his personality. This means the Quiet Council is broadly on board with his plans ... but no more loyal to him personally than he's ever been to anyone.

** ''ComicBook/FearState'' is this trope ''writ large''. To wit, Simon Saint has learned of Dr. Jonathan Crane's Fear State theory, that a tremendous traumatic event could be utilized to help evolve society for the better, he recruits Scarecrow to set up a FalseFlagOperation to drive Gothamites into accepting a Magistrate-led rule. In ''ComicBook/DCFutureState'', this worked, but here, [[ForWantOfANail Scarecrow hijacked the plan]], turning this theory into a frighteningly serious threat to Gotham City.

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':

* In ''ComicBook/JudgmentDayMarvelComics'', the Franchise/XMen and ComicBook/TheEternals are caught up in a war between the two groups over the latter being designated "Deviants". To fix this, [[spoiler:two of the Eternals, along with Mr. Sinister and ComicBook/IronMan decide to reanimate the Progenitor Eternal, which had been serving as the base of the current incarnation of ComicBook/TheAvengers, as a brand new Celestial to stop the fight. At first, it works, as it immediately calls for a cessation of combat, calling back the Eternals in the process... then it goes belly up as it reveals its utter fury at how the inhabitants of Earth treat each other and decides to put HumanityOnTrial to see if they should live another day or the Earth goes kablooey]].
* An issue of ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'' has the two {{Mad Scientist}}s Dr. Ivo and Dr. T.O. Morrow team up to both destroy the JLA and prove which of them is the better scientist. Ivo creates a robot body so sophisticated that it can pass as a living thing even to the enhanced senses of Franchise/{{Superman}}. Morrow creates a mind so advanced that it is truly sentient and can fool the telepathy of ComicBook/MartianManhunter. The resulting "Tomorrow Woman" contains a bomb, and at the moment when the League is at its most vulnerable she will detonate and destroy them all. But she pulls a HeelFaceTurn and sacrifices herself to save them instead. Morrow takes this as proof that he is the superior scientist. His robot brain was so advanced that it developed the concept of morality on its own, even though this was deliberately left out of her programming. He even claims that what they witnessed was "a soul being born". Morrow actually suspected this would happen, he's [[ComicBook/RedTornado had problems with that before]].

* According to ComicBook/JimmyOlsen, ComicBook/LexLuthor once invented an invisibility belt, which worked so well that even Superman couldn't see him with it on. The problem was, he had rendered his own retinas invisible, making him blind and causing him to make noise bumping into things, which Franchise/{{Superman}} ''could'' detect.

* The ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' villain The Lizard (aka Dr. Curt Connors) is a BalefulPolymorph who became a villain completely by accident. Dr. Connors lost his arm while serving in the military, and spent many years working to try and restore it. He eventually developed a formula based on lizard DNA, as lizards can regenerate lost limbs. Out of desperation he used it on himself. This trope was the result, as he got back his arm...and also turned into a giant, deadly lizard-man. Of all of his rogues, Spider-Man is the most sympathetic to Connors ([[AllLovingHero which is saying something]]) and often works with him to try and either cure his lizard side or keep it at bay.

** "Close Before Striking", the story that details the start of Bruce's DeadPersonImpersonation of Matches Malone reveals that Matches and his brother Carver ended up accidentally killing a homeless man with a fire they set for one of their insurance scams. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone While they were racked with guilt]], [[DrivenToSuicide Carver's drove him to take his own life]]. To preserve Carver's reputation, Matches tried to make it look like Carver was murdered as part of a break-in -- which only ended framing Matches ''himself'' for the deed, forcing him to [[FakingTheDead fake his own suicide by incineration]]. Bruce also made too much of a good job impersonating Malone -- because when Malone returns to Gotham trying to find who is doing that, it gets him killed by Scarface (who was suspecting "Malone" was connected to Batman somehow) and Bruce develops a brief case of SplitPersonality from the shock.

** "Close Before Striking"m the story that details the start of Bruce's DeadPersonImpersonation of Matches Malone reveals that Matches and his brother Carver ended up accidentally killing a homeless man with a fire they set for one of their insurance scams. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone While they were racked with guilt]], [[DrivenToSuicide Carver's drove him to take his own life]]. To preserve Carver's reputation, Matches tried to make it look like Carver was murdered as part of a break-in -- which only ended framing Matches ''himself'' for the deed.

*** "Close Before Striking"m the story that details the start of Bruce's DeadPersonImpersonation of Matches Malone reveals that Matches and his brother Carver ended up accidentally killing a homeless man with a fire they set for one of their insurance scams. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone While they were racked with guilt]], [[DrivenToSuicide Carver's drove him to take his own life]]. To preserve Carver's reputation, Matches tried to make it look like Carver was murdered as part of a break-in -- which only ended framing Matches ''himself'' for the deed.

* In year two of ''ComicBook/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'', the remnant of the Justice League and the Green Lantern Corps face against [[FallenHero Superman's regime]] and the Yellow Lantern Corps. Black Canary takes down Superman using a kryptonite bullet, but he uses a Yellow Power Ring given by Sinestro to extract the bullet, and hits her with a beam of heat vision, seriously wounding her. As she [[spoiler: lies dying]] she tells Superman that she's broadcasting his actions to the whole world so they can see what he's become. Batman then tells Black Canary to cut the feed because the video images only serve to make the world [[BewareTheSuperman affraid of Superman,]] and since [[EmotionEater the Yellow Power Ring he's got on becomes more powerful with fear...]]

* In ''ComicBook/JudgmentDayMarvelComics'', the Franchise/{{X-Men}} and ComicBook/TheEternals are caught up in a war between the two groups over the latter being designated "Deviants". To fix this, [[spoiler:two of the Eternals, along with Mr. Sinister and ComicBook/IronMan decide to reanimate the Progenitor Eternal, which had been serving as the base of the current incarnation of ComicBook/TheAvengers, as a brand new Celestial to stop the fight. At first, it works, as it immediately calls for a cessation of combat, calling back the Eternals in the process... then it goes belly up as it reveals its utter fury at how the inhabitants of Earth treat each other and decides to put HumanityOnTrial to see if they should live another day or the Earth goes kablooey]].

** Another story called "The Strange Awakening of Lazy Smurf", which is actually an adaptation of the cartoon show episode "Smurf Van Winkle", where Lazy is led by his fellow smurfs to believe he has been asleep for a few hundred years and that his friends have aged while Lazy somehow stays the same physical age (He didn't think to check himself in a mirror to see if he had aged as well). It's actually a huge FakedRipVanWinkle masquerade by the other smurfs. It's basically done to teach him a lesson about not being lazy all the time. However, what the other smurfs didn't know, is that the prank would lead to...unforeseen consequences. In the cartoon, the "gone horribly right" part comes in after Lazy, who actually IS convinced that hundreds of years have passed while he took a nap, tries to make things go "back to normal" by giving the other smurfs a rejuvenating potion, wich turns them all into children smurfs. In the comic, however, Lazy figures out that he's being pranked much sooner. He gets revenge on the other smurfs by making them believe that they drank a rejuvenation potion and that they will all de-age pretty soon. The "gone horribly right" part comes in when the others smurfs actually do believe that Lazy is telling the truth, wich leads them to go to Gargamel's house to search for a potion that will make them age a few centuries to negate the effects of the supposed rejuvenation potion. They nearly succeed.

* It's been suggested that Lobo was the universe's attempt to balance out the peaceful world of Czarnia, which had no real evil in millennia. He balanced things out, alright -- by [[KillEmAll killing every last person except himself]].

* A Marvel example: the scientists of the Enclave seek to create an artificial, perfect human. From the cocoon emerges Him... who immediately senses that the scientists motives are impure, destroys their space station, and goes on to become known as [[ComicBook/{{Warlock}} Adam Warlock]].

* A Marvel example: the scientists of the Enclave seek to create an artificial, perfect human. From the cocoon emerges Him... who immediately senses that the scientists motives are impure, destroys their space station, and goes on to become known as ComicBook/AdamWarlock.

* Another Marvel example: the scientists of the Enclave seek to create an artificial, perfect human. From the cocoon emerges Him... who immediately senses that the scientists motives are impure, destroys their space station, and goes on to become known as ComicBook/AdamWarlock.

* ''ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSearch'' reveals that Ozai and Ursa's marriage was an eugenics experiment by Azulon to combine the bloodlines of Sozin and Roku. The genetic part worked out quite well; Azula is a firebending prodigy unequalled, and while Zuko isn't as good (at first), he's still a competent firebender (and, unusually, also very skilled at [[FightsLikeANormal normal fighting]]) whose issues come mostly from comparing himself to Azula. Unfortunately, everything else about it failed miserably -- mostly because [[JerkAss Ozai]] was involved and screwed everything up by being an AbusiveParent and [[DomesticAbuse spouse]]. His abuse gave Azula severe perfection issues that would eventually lead to a [[VillainousBreakdown mental breakdown]], Zuko got anger and self-worth problems (luckily, he also had [[CoolUncle Iroh]]), and Ozai eventually goaded Ursa to [[spoiler: murder Azulon to protect Zuko]]. The experiment was a success, but Ozai undermined the results so severely that it would probably have been better for the Fire Nation and Azulon himself if he hadn't bothered.

** Another story called "The Strange Awakening of Lazy Smurf", which is actually an adaptation of the cartoon show episode "Smurf Van Winkle", where Lazy is led by his fellow smurfs to believe he has been asleep for a few hundred years and that his friends have aged while Lazy somehow stays the same physical age ([[WhatAnIdiot He didn't think to check himself in a mirror to see if he had aged as well]]). It's actually a huge FakedRipVanWinkle masquerade by the other smurfs. It's basically done to teach him a lesson about not being lazy all the time. However, what the other smurfs didn't know, is that the prank would lead to...unforeseen consequences. In the cartoon, the "gone horribly right" part comes in after Lazy, who actually IS convinced that hundreds of years have passed while he took a nap, tries to make things go "back to normal" by giving the other smurfs a rejuvenating potion, wich turns them all into children smurfs. In the comic, however, Lazy figures out that he's being pranked much sooner. He gets revenge on the other smurfs by making them believe that they drank a rejuvenation potion and that they will all de-age pretty soon. The "gone horribly right" part comes in when the others smurfs actually do believe that Lazy is telling the truth, wich leads them to go to Gargamel's house to search for a potion that will make them age a few centuries to negate the effects of the supposed rejuvenation potion. They nearly succeed.

** Cluemaster was a villain who, like the Riddler, had a compulsion to leave clues behind when he committed crimes. He was quickly caught and sent to Arkham Asylum, where he was cured... of the compulsion to leave clues. He still committed crimes, just without leaving any hints behind.