History Main / ChildishVillainMatureHero

* In ''Film/KnivesOut'' and ''Film/GlassOnion'', Benoit Blanc is an eccentric, but otherwise intelligent, [[NiceToTheWaiter amiable]], and composed GentlemanDetective, which serves to contrast him with the culprits of both movies.

* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'': This becomes the dynamic between Ash Ketchum and the [[TerribleTrio Team Rocket Trio]]. While Ash was immature and arrogant at the start of the series, he (and to lesser extents his traveling companions) display or [[CharacterDevelopment develop]] the maturity to [[KnowWhenToFoldEm stop when things aren't working]], [[GracefulLoser accept defeats with dignity]], and grow and learn from their experiences. Meanwhile the Trio [[SmugSnake remain arrogant]], [[NeverMyFault refused to admit their mistakes]] while [[IgnoredEpiphany any realizations don't stick]], and [[DetrimentalDetermination continue even when they'd be more successful with anything else]]. The final episode highlights the contrast: [[spoiler:Ash has grown to the point he's achieved his goal of becoming the worlds best Pokémon trainer, and then accept that it didn't give him the satisfaction he'd expect and adopt a new goal. Meanwhile the Trio's failures in their goal to capture Pikachu reach the breaking point of destroying their friendship, only to get back together because they refuse to stop and change.]]

* ''Manga/DeathNote'': VillainProtagonist Light Yagami is a PsychopathicManchild with a [[AGodAmI god complex]], who uses the [[ArtifactOfDoom titular notebook]] to kill criminals in an attempt to remove all the bad people in the world, with his definition of "bad people" quickly slipping to include anyone who tries to stop or criticize him. His fellow Death Note users aren't much better in the maturity department, with Misa being a CuteButPsycho {{Yandere}} who is willing to kill anyone who criticizes Kira and Mikami being a KnightTemplar with an ''extreme'' case of BlackAndWhiteInsanity to the point that he kills people for being ''lazy.'' The Kira Task Force, led by HeroAntagonist L and including Light's father Soichiro Yagami, all understand how wrong it is to administer "justice" by killing wrongdoers without a second thought, and ''especially'' how wrong it is to kill people just for disagreeing with you. [[spoiler:Near, in his KirkSummation, explains that the only reason anyone would use a Death Note is to see if it worked as advertised or for their own self-interests.]]

* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'': This becomes the dynamic between Ash Ketchum and the [[TerribleTrio Team Rocket Trio]]. While Ash was immature and arrogant at the start of the series he (and to lesser extents his traveling companions) display or [[CharacterDevelopment develop]] the maturity to [[KnowWhenToFoldEm stop when things aren't working]], [[GracefulLoser accept defeats with dignity]], and grow and learn from their experiences. Meanwhile the Trio [[SmugSnake remain arrogant]], [[NeverMyFault refused to admit their mistakes]] while [[IgnoredEpiphany any realizations don't stick]], and [[DetrimentalDetermination continue even when they'd be more successful with anything else]]. The final episode highlights the contrast: [[spoiler:Ash has grown to the point he's achieved his goal of becoming the worlds best Pokémon trainer, and then accept it didn't give him the satisfaction he expect and adopt a new goal. Meanwhile the Trio's failures in their goal to capture Pikachu reach the breaking point of destroying their friendship, only to get back together because they refuse to stop and change.]]

** [[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E87APianoIntheHouse "A Piano in the House"]] features {{Jerkass}} Fitzgerald Fortune, a CausticCritic who treats everyone from shopkeepers to his butler to his wife Esther with contempt and cruel jokes. When he purchases the titular player piano for Esther as a birthday present, he discovers that it has [[MagicMusic magical powers]]: when a roll of music is placed inside it, someone in the vicinity will [[CannotTellALie share their deepest feelings and secrets]] without prompting. Fortune spends the whole day agonizing people with the piano, but ends up getting a [[LaserGuidedKarma taste of his own medicine]] when Esther secretly switches one roll with another that makes ''him'' start revealing his true nature as a spoiled, scared, frightened little boy who lashes out at the world because he can't understand things like love and kindness. Rather than get well-deserved revenge, everyone he's tormented instead handles the situation with tact and maturity, choosing to walk away from Fortune and his misery rather than stoop to his level.

** The episode [[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E82OneMorePallbearer "One More Pallbearer"]] features Paul Radin, a PsychopathicManchild who, despite being extremely rich and powerful, harbors grudges against three people who he claims ruined his life: Mrs. Langsford, a high school teacher who caught him cheating, flunked him, and called him out in front of his classmates; Colonel Hawthorne, his military commanding officer who had Radin court-martialed for cowardice after he abandoned his men to save himself; and Reverend Hughes, a kindly preacher who learned that Radin drove a young woman to suicide and started a public scandal over the deed. Radin creates an elaborate underground bunker, rigs up a fake nuclear war (complete with official-sounding announcements and footage), and summons Langsford, Hawthorne, and Hughes to him, hoping that they'll [[KneelBeforeZod kneel before him]] and apologize profusely in exchange for getting to survive the supposed explosions. To his shock, the trio refuse to break and, with maturity and grace, take him to task for his pettiness and mutually agree to FaceDeathWithDignity rather than sacrifice their honor and dignity. Radin is so shocked at his failures that he [[VillainousBSOD breaks down completely]] and thinks that there really ''was'' a nuclear war, because he can't fathom the idea that anyone could be stronger or wiser than him.

* WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove: Before his HeelFaceTurn, Kuzco was the Childish Villain to Pacha's Mature Hero. Effectively, Pacha is a wise and caring but serious man who loves his family, cares about his village and he takes responsibility about being a village leader; on the other hand, Kuzco has been a tyrannical emperor whose mentality is that of a spoiled brat's, and he was a self-centered and arrogant person who only cared about himself and having fun.

* "WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove": Before his HeelFaceTurn, Kuzco was the Childish Villain to Pacha's Mature Hero. Effectively, Pacha is a wise and caring but serious man who loves his family and cares about his village; on the other hand, Kuzco has been a tyrannical emperor whose mentality is that of a spoiled brat's, and he was a self-centered and arrogant person who only cared about himself and having fun.

* "WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove": Before his HeelFaceTurn, Kuzco was the Childish Villain to Pacha's Mature Hero. Effectively, Pacha is a wise and caring but serious man who loves his family and cares about his people; on the other hand, Kuzco has been a tyrannical emperor whose mentality is that of a spoiled brat's, and he was a self-centered and arrogant person who only cared about himself and having fun.

* "WesternAnimation/TheEmperorNewGroove": Before his HeelFaceTurn, Kuzco was the Childish Villain to Pacha's Mature Hero. Effectively, Pacha is a wise and caring but serious man who loves his family and cares about his people; on the other hand, Kuzco has been a tyrannical emperor whose mentality is that of a spoiled brat's, and he was a self-centered and arrogant person who only cared about himself and having fun.