History Main / DeviousDolphins

[[folder:Film -- Animation]]

* ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' features a seemingly aggressive orca that chases after Sonic in Emerald Coast, destroying a pier in the process. ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' also has a similarly behaving killer whale in Wave Ocean. However, it is revealed in [[https://youtu.be/V4Rkjyqq5XI?t=306 one interview ]] that the orcas chase Sonic because they love him (perhaps a little ''too much'').

* ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' features an extremely aggressive orca that chases after Sonic in Emerald Coast, destroying a pier in the process. ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' also has a hostile killer whale in Wave Ocean.

* ''WebOriginal/{{Ice Scream|DeepSeaPrisoner}}'' has Orca/Idate, who like in ''Wadanohara'' example above, enjoys fighting other people, [[VillainousFriendship even if he has friends]]. Considering being set in the same universe as that game, one shouldn't take it as a surprise.

Ironically, this trope is actually [[RealityIsUnrealistic closer to reality]] than the one it began as a subversion of, since research has shown that bottlenose dolphins often display behavior that would be considered sociopathic by human standards, including a tendency towards violence and recorded instances of [[WouldHurtAChild infanticide]] and aggression towards other cetaceans. Chances are, though, that most of the writers using this trope were [[AccidentallyCorrectWriting not aware of that fact]], although [[ShownTheirWork some probably are]].

** In the "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12E1TreehouseOfHorrorXI Treehouse of Horror XI]]" segment "Day of the Dolphin", an aquarium dolphin named Snorky leads the rest of dolphinkind to rebel against the humans, take back the land for themselves, and force humanity into the sea to die.

Ironically, this trope is actually [[RealityIsUnrealistic closer to reality]] than the one it began as a subversion of, since research has shown that bottlenose dolphins often display behavior that would be considered sociopathic by human standards, including a tendency towards violence and recorded instances of [[WouldHurtAChild infanticide]] and aggression towards other cetaceans. Of course, as they aren't human, this is more likely a case of BlueAndOrangeMorality. Chances are, though, that most of the writers using this trope were [[AccidentallyCorrectWriting not aware of that fact]], although [[ShownTheirWork some probably are]].

Ironically, this trope is actually [[RealityIsUnrealistic closer to reality]] than the one it began as a subversion of, since research has shown that bottlenose dolphins often display behavior that would be considered sociopathic by human standards, including a tendency towards violence and recorded instances of infanticide and aggression towards other cetaceans. Of course, as they aren't human, this is more likely a case of BlueAndOrangeMorality. Chances are, though, that most of the writers using this trope were [[AccidentallyCorrectWriting not aware of that fact]], although [[ShownTheirWork some probably are]].

* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2'' sees the Allies use specially trained attack dolphins equipped with [[MakeSomeNoise sonic blasters]] to counter Soviet mind-controlled GiantSquid. They're friendly towards the player controlling them, devious towards anyone else.

%% Trope was declared Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease via crowner by the Real Life Maintenance thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php?crowner_id=7rp5mrt1

%% The examples on this page have been alphabetized by work name. Please add new examples in order. Thank you!

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[[quoteright:320:[[WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mr_blowhole1.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:320:Villainy is his sole [[{{Pun}} porpoise]].]]

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[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/SharkTale'', one of the mob families that associates with Don Lino is made up of orcas. Later, after Oscar disguises Lenny as a dolphin and brings him to a sitdown with Lino and the other families as "muscle", one of the mobsters nervously mentions how his uncle "got whacked by one of those"(meaning by a dolphin).

* ''Film/OrcaTheKillerWhale'' centered around a violent, unnaturally aggressive bull killer whale seeking revenge for the death of its mate and its unborn calf during a failed live capture attempt. It's depicted as both intelligent and vengeful, playing into the stereotype of dolphins as the animal version of an EvilGenius.

* The ''Literature/RevelationSpaceSeries'' novel ''Chasm City'' uses this trope by means of {{subvert|edTrope}}ing FriendlyPlayfulDolphin. The first of the Sky Haussman flashback episode introduces you to children Sky and Constanza who evade their parents' oversight to go visit the dolphins who are kept in the spaceship they live in. That looks very cute and slightly cliché... until you meet the dolphins, who after being used as experimental subjects by a radical transhumanist group and then kept and bred in captivity for centuries, have turned sadistic and totally psychotic.

* There's a novelization of the aforementioned ''Film/OrcaTheKillerWhale'' by Arthur Herzog that provides even greater depth to the killer whale's [[ItCanThink motives]].
* ''Literature/{{Killer}}'', a novel by Peter Tonkin, is about an escaped orca that was being trained by the Navy to kill enemy divers which begins taking a [[TheSociopath disturbing]] pleasure in its skills.

* Website/{{Cracked}} had an article on how dolphins have been observed committing rape on each other.

* ''WebOriginal/{{Mortasheen}}'': The creator is fully aware of the fact that dolphins are aggressive, often vicious predators who exhibit behaviors that humans would consider cruel, depraved and sadistic, and finds their portrayal in fiction as [[FriendlyPlayfulDolphin friendly]] and {{heroic|Dolphin}} beings boring and overused; as a result, whenever you see a Mortasheen monster based on a dolphin, you can immediately expect something extremely cruel, depraved and horrific even by [[CrapsackWorld the standards of the setting]]:

Ironically, this trope is actually [[RealityIsUnrealistic closer to reality]] than the one it began as a subversion of, since recent research has shown that bottlenose dolphins often display behavior that would be considered sociopathic by human standards, including a tendency towards violence and recorded instances of infanticide and aggression towards other cetaceans. Of course, as they aren't human, this is more likely a case of BlueAndOrangeMorality. Chances are, though, that most of the writers using this trope were [[AccidentallyCorrectWriting not aware of that fact]], although [[ShownTheirWork some probably are]].

* ''Killer'', a novel by Peter Tonkin, is about an escaped orca that was being trained by the Navy to kill enemy divers which begins taking a [[TheSociopath disturbing]] pleasure in its skills.