History Main / EvilMeScaresMe

Maybe Bob saw an AlternateUniverse in which he was evil. Or maybe he sees an evil [[BeardOfEvil goateed]] twin indulging in his dark fantasies. Or maybe he simply sees a sordid side to his character gaining ground. Or maybe he meets an [[FutureMeScaresMe evil future time traveling version of himself]]. Or maybe he delivers ExtremeMeleeRevenge to a villain, but has to be dragged away and only realizes afterward that he [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown kicked him while he was down]]. Whatever the case, he is horrified. He may attempt to nip a FaceHeelTurn in the bud (this [[YouCantFightFate may]] or [[ScrewDestiny may not]] [[SelfFulfillingProphecy backfire]]).

* ''Anime/FateStayNightHeavensFeel'': When Shirou eventually realizes the risks Sakura poses [[spoiler:as her role as the Shadow is revealed]], he begins dreaming on how he will have to be the one to kill her. This is further compounded by his dream voice mocking him for hesitating. Finally, he sees a future white-haired, golden-eyed version of himself looking like [[VideoGame/FateGrandOrder his evil darkened EMIYA]] executing Sakura.

* ''Manga/TokyoRevengers'': Mikey's video tape addressed to Takemichi [[spoiler:for the present-day]] shows that Mikey was well-aware that he would descend into evil eventually, and for this reason he [[spoiler:disbands Toman and asks the present-day Takemichi not to find him for his own safety. It turns out Mikey was right — he became the leader of Bonten, Japan's worst criminal group.]]

* ''ComicBook/{{Alone}}'': After finally returning to [[spoiler: her]] normal self, [[spoiler: [[TheHeart Camille]]]] compares the time [[spoiler: she]] spent as [[TheAntiChrist the Midnight-Child]] as a waking nightmare, though what made the experience the most terrifying was that [[spoiler: she]] could feel that it was still [[spoiler: her]] personnality in control, just a more extreme version of it.

** There's also the Devil and Guilt Hulks, the worst parts of Banner's extremely fractured psyche, locked up in the very depths of his mind. Devil Hulk especially wants to smash the entire world, just for Bruce. ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' then turns some of this on its head: [[spoiler:The Devil Hulk isn't actually a full blown OmnicidalManiac, but Bruce's view of him was twisted by his dad issues. Devil Hulk's pretty annoyed about that one. And after the events of ''Secret Empire'', he takes control over the other Hulk personalities, and in conversation with Doc Samson reveals that in doing so, he sealed away an even more dangerous personality let loose by Bruce's most recent string of traumas.]]

* ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'': During ''ComicBook/WarOfTheRealms'', In ''ComicBook/Thor2018'' #12, Loki is disgusted by his past self's sadism as well as his own evil deeds — starting Malekith on the path to become a warmonger and stealing the life of his child self. To top it all off, he sees a vision of his future self as the All-Butcher Necrogod in the distant future of All-Father Thor and is horrified at the prospect of being so evil. It's enough to make him plead he stay dead once and for all.

** Pre-Crisis ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} was frightened of Satan Girl, a duplicate of hers who was more powerful, evil, ruthless and extremely conniving.
** In "[[ComicBook/Supergirl2005 Girl Power]]", Supergirl was split into her normal self and an evil alternate personality when exposed to black Kryptonite. Supergirl was frightened of her dark, violent and murderous self because "Dark Supergirl" claimed she was the real Kara, and Supergirl's kind and well-meaning persona was only an act.

* The ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' fanfic, ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/25474393/chapters/61793125 Divergent Points: ML Salt]]'', where Marinette, Adrien, and Alya each find themselves acting out as [[RonTheDeathEater twisted]] versions of themselves, and all three horrified. A particular case is [[spoiler:Marinette's encounter with "Saltinette, the {{Tulpa}} of the salt dimension who acts that her friends had betrayed her during the events of "Chameleon". Marinette views her copy as a spiteful, self-centered maniac, and outrights tells her [[ShutUpHannibal no matter what happens, she'll never give up on her friends and become like her]]]].
* Another ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' fic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/22550647 Funhouse Mirror]]'' has an Akuma causes Alya to run into a MirrorUniverse version of herself that is based on every RonTheDeathEater cliche applied to her. Alya is horrified at how much of a ruthless servant her counterpart is to Lila, especially when she starts bragging about a plan to trigger one of Chloe's allergies despite the fact it could possibly be fatal. It's later implied that several of the other main characters had a similair experience.
* Inverted in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/31313600 Fade to Orange]]'', where as a response to Lila Rossie's protests that there must be a future where she succeeds instead of [[HisOwnWorstEnemy fall apart due to her lies and selfish attitude]], Bunnyx [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor shows her exactly that]] through an AlternateTimeline. There, not only is Lila good, but also has a genuine friendship with Marinette and her others classmates, finds her own success through soccer, and even gets picked by Ladybug for her own Miraculous. Lila desperately tries to find some sort of self-serving or potential betrayal in her good self as it goes on, [[EvilCannotComprehendGood as she can't accept that a version was able to succeed by becoming a genuine good person through hard work]].

* In ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' story ''Fanfic/HellsisterTrilogy'', Satan Girl is the Girl of Steel's evil duplicate, her dark side's embodiment. Kara is ''terrified'' from her.
* Downplayed in ''Fanfic/IfWishesWerePonies''. Harry, towards the end of Book II, finally learns that he had a Horcrux in his scar that was destroyed during Tirek's attack on Equestria. He's horrified when he realizes that he has no idea how much of him is him and how much is a result of Tom Riddle's influence. He resolves to ''never'' be like Tom Riddle, and to let the CMC, Hermione, and Ginny help him be a better pony.

* The ''VideoGame/Persona5'' AU ''Fanfic/ItsJustALightRainButTheStormsStillComin'' has the Phantom Thieves exploring Akira's Palace and meeting cognitive versions of themselves, with Ann in particular being horrified to realise how Akira sees her, as the cruelty and sadism on display is not that much of an exaggeration of how she's acted around him in the real world.

* ''Fanfic/LifeOreDeath'' may be one of the few stories to ever ''invert'' this trope. When the Team goes to [[TheStationsOfTheCanon the Tower of Fate]] they end up fighting various evil versions of themselves as part of a test of worthiness. Aqualad defies this trope because he's made peace with his recent emotional upsets, and even [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome beats his copy off-screen.]] However, [[OriginalCharacter Ferris]] is sufficiently at home with her inner darkness to outwit her clone and cow the copy with a BreakingSpeech after a brutal sucker-punch.
--> Ferris: "You have none of my willingness to endure pain, but I have all of your willingness to inflict and enjoy it. Consider what you would do in my place to a helpless foe, and think very carefully before you try and last second, last ditch efforts."

* ''Fanfic/TheWeavingForce'': Taylor remembers becoming Khepri during Gold Morning, and the trauma shapes her for years afterwards. An interesting variant, in that this is also a case of IHatePastMe, rather than confronting an alternate version of herself.

* From the ''Literature/NewJediOrder'' series, Tahiri, though she only heard her DarkMessiah BadFuture self described by her best friend/love interest Anakin Solo after he had a vision of her rather than encountering her herself. Considering that [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Yuuzhan Vong]] [[MadScientist Shapers]] had tried to turn her into one of their species (and partially succeeded), Tahiri is ''right'' to be afraid of what she might become. Her relationship with her Yuuzhan Vong EnemyWithin Riina ultimately subverts this one- Riina's a bloodthirsty ProudWarriorRaceGirl, true, but she's also a scared, emotionally-damaged girl who's spent ''years'' trapped alone in Tahiri's subconscious. Tahiri eventually learns to empathize with Riina, and ends up pulling a SplitPersonalityMerge that may have averted the above BadFuture - or might be the first step in its fulfillment. [[AbortedArc We'll probably never know]].

*** It doesn't help that the next season features a "fear dimension" arc which involves characters' greatest fears being made real. [[spoiler: "The Doctor" appears to manifest in one episode and Fitz is terrified of what he might do, but the reveal at the end is even worse than he expected: the Doctor never manifested, Fitz was suffering a psychotic break and hallucinating him while actually being the one carrying doing it all, including outsmarting himself to force him to complete the tasks at gunpoint and, eventually, convincing the "good" version of himself that the "evil" counterpart was right about the necessity of it all even if it required violating and assaulting some of his best friends to carry out their agenda]]

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E16TheWatersOfMars "The Waters of Mars"]], the Doctor finally has enough with the universe screwing him over, and declares that the laws of time are ''his'', and they will obey him as he tries to save a doomed crew of astronauts from a terrible fate. The power trip makes him sound like his archnemesis the Master, and he's finally snapped out of it and realizes the horror of what he was becoming when [[spoiler: his companion from the episode commits suicide to keep time on the right track]]. He grapples with the temptation again in the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime following episode]], but overcomes his demons by sacrificing his current life and triggering a regeneration to save the life of a friend instead of saving himself.

** Season 3's BigBad Savitar is ultimately revealed to be an evil, future version of Barry Allen. Something present day Barry does not take well.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' has a decent history of {{Evil Twin}}s, what with [[PhlebotinumBreakdown transporter accidents]] and the MirrorUniverse. There's the example of Kirk being a LiteralSplitPersonality with an aggressive, hot headed side and a passive, weak-willed but logical side and the passive side is afraid of the aggressive one. Major Kira Nerys of ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' gets a similar deal to Willow in the ''Buffy'' example. However, since the MirrorUniverse normally involves plots of being swapped with the guy on the other side (presumably to avoid having to deal with one actor being in a single scene) mostly you get the counterparts never meeting and at most Evil You Scares [-(but sexually intrigues)-] Me. Or in ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'''s version, their opposite is usually dead on one side of the mirror or the other. However, Kira interacts a ''lot'' with her EvilCounterpart (though [[ScrewYourself not to the extent]] the evil counterpart would have liked).

** During the Hordika saga, the former Toa Metru team constantly battle with their Hordika infection slowly turning them bestial, until they learn how to control and take advantage of it. Their disillusioned leader Vakama though succumbs to his evil side after already having seen his fate in a horrific vision. Even a 1,000 years after they have been cured, he and the rest of his fellows dread thinking of the event.
** Played with in an unreleased segment of the Shadow Toa scene, only found in Toys/{{LEGO}}'s official internal documents. Pohatu's evil clone attempts to faze him by explaining he isn't special, unlike his brothers. His intimidation backfires though, as Pohatu humbly agrees that he doesn't need to be special and realizes he has nothing to fear of his evil self.

* In the DLC chapters of ''VideoGame/AlanWake'', "The Signal" and "The Writer", Alan is stuck in the Dark Place as a result of the events of the main game, and has been split in two personalities, a rational and self-determined part, whom the player controls, and an insane and self-destructive part, who has gained control over the world and can shape it to his will. The former is at first very disturbed by the latter, but it later turns into disdainful annoyance as the Dark Alan keeps making up more and more absurd and contrived hindrances to slow his progress towards sanity. [[spoiler: The story of the DLC is that the Dark Place drives you insane if you don't have something to focus on. At the end of The Signal, Alan manages to re-merge his insane and sane sides, only to almost immediately go insane again and split for The Writer.]] His "insane" side is more correctly defined as his self-destructive tendencies (shown throughout the flashbacks in the main game) driven to the extreme without his logical, rational side to hold it back.

** Dirk feels "haunted" by alternate versions of himself who seem to inevitably go bad -- such as his [[AIIsACrapshoot sinister, manipulative AI clone]] and his alternate universe adult self who became an AbusiveParent to Dave (this one is also arguably an example of FutureMeScaresMe, since Bro represents the person Dirk could grow up to be if he doesn't watch himself).
** Played with by Meenah, when she first hears about all the atrocities her alternate universe self the Condesce performed, her first reaction is happiness so profound that she sinks into a brief coma. Later she learns what the Condesce [[PoweredByAForsakenChild did to the Psiionic]], the alternate universe version of the mentally-handicapped Mituna, and she suddenly [[EveryoneHasStandards finds herself disturbed and horrified]].

* ''Blog/BadTwoSentenceHorror'': A particularly well-known story by fans is about a guy who doesn't like looking in the mirror, because whatever looked back at them was always the evil version of themself.

* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'': In "WesternAnimation/TheUltimateEnemy", Danny's future self, who crossed the DespairEventHorizon after his friends, family, [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and teacher]] were killed. After Danny absorbs Vlad Plasmius's ghost half and goes on a ten year long rampage, Danny's present-day self is brought to the future and is horrified at what he's become.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', this seems to be the case with Plasmus. Actually a symbiote, while his original form is human, he involuntarily transforms into a large purple ooze monster whenever he is awake. Thus, whenever he is in custody, technology is used by the authorities to keep him asleep. And given what he says the first time he appears, he's ''terrified'' of what he turns into, and is willing to stay asleep forever if that's what it takes to avoid it.

** Hulk once traveled to a future ruled by a brutal being called the Maestro, who had killed all the other superheroes and [[spoiler:turned out to be a [[FutureMeScaresMe future version of the Hulk himself]]]]

* ''ComicBook/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'': The BigBad of the first arc is [[spoiler: an alternate universe version of [[SixthRanger Tommy]] who chose to stay on Rita's side after the mind control was broken, eventually conquering Earth with her]]. [[spoiler: Tommy]] is more than a little concerned that it might be a matter of time before [[spoiler: he]] becomes the same.
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':

* ''ComicBook/WarOfTheRealms'': In ''Thor Vol. 5'' #12, Loki is disgusted by his past self's sadism as well as his own evil deeds — starting Malekith on the path to become a warmonger and stealing the life of his child self. To top it all off, he sees a vision of his future self as the All-Butcher Necrogod in the distant future of All-Father Thor and is horrified at the prospect of being so evil. It's enough to make him plead he stay dead once and for all.

* ''Blog/BadTwoSentenceHorror'': A particularly well-known story by fans is about a guy who doesn't like looking in the mirror, because whatever looked back at them was always the evil version was was them of.

* In ''Fanfic/ALoudAmongDemons'', the constant chaos and stress of living in Hell combined with the evil magic flowing through him caused Lincoln Loud to slowly develop an alterative personality that's far more demonic in nature, one that frequently urges him to give into his baser instincts and act more aggressively to protect the people he cares about. After an encounter with the D.H.O.R.K.S. that allowed said personality to temporarily surface, Lincoln was beside himself with fear over the way he acted for days.

** The Framework arc also provides us with [[spoiler:a good Grant Ward]]. This version hates the actions his real-world self has taken and wants to prove that he's nothing like his counterpart. [[spoiler:He's like this because he was recruited by Victoria Hand, a genuinely nice person, instead of John Garrett, who is a ManipulativeBastard HYDRA sleeper agent with extreme narcissism and no regard for life other than his own. The tragedy here is that Grant Ward ''really could have'' been the good agent he pretended to be, had he actually had an inspiring mentor instead of a toxic one. Some of what he did wasn't just pretending or manipulation, as this Ward proves that the real Grant Ward had ''some'' good in him all along.]]

* ''WebOriginal/BadTwoSentenceHorror'': A particularly well-known story by fans is about a guy who doesn't like looking in the mirror, because whatever looked back at them was always the evil version was was them of.

* Creator/JunjiIto has written a series involving an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent named Oshikiri who finds out that his house is a portal to an AlternateUniverse, and the other Oshikiri has found a way to cross over. The problem is, the other him is a serial killer...

* ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'': [[AmnesiacHero Haise Sasaki]] is utterly terrified of [[EnemyWithin his old self]] [[spoiler:Ken Kaneki]], as he is afraid both of [[BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind losing the life he has built if he recovers his memories]] and of [[SuperpoweredEvilSide whatever kind of monster he may have been]], as [[spoiler: Hallucination!Kaneki's]] appearance, demeanour and creepy way of addressing Sasaki comes across as [[TheCorrupter an evil side attempting to take control]].

** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E16Doppelgangland Doppelgangland]]", Willow Rosenberg ran into a vampire version of herself from another dimension. Although the thing that actually horrifies her is more the fact that vampire Willow seems [[ScrewYourself into her,]] and "skanky".
** Later episodes seem to have Willow using call-backs to Evil!Willow's mannerisms, particularly when she goes on her RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
--->"[[PreMortemOneLiner Bored now.]]"

* ''Series/Loki2021:'' While He Who Remains openly admits he's not remotely a nice person himself, everything he's done is to try and prevent the existence of even ''less'' benevolent versions of himself who just see the multiverse as one great big sandcastle to kick over, having already seen what one version could do.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' has a decent history of {{Evil Twin}}s, what with [[PhlebotinumBreakdown transporter accidents]] and the MirrorUniverse. There's the example of Kirk being a LiteralSplitPersonality with an aggressive, hot headed side and a passive, weak-willed but logical side and the passive side is afraid of the aggressive one. Major Kira Nerys of ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' gets a similar deal to Willow in the Buffy example. However, since the MirrorUniverse normally involves plots of being swapped with the guy on the other side (presumably to avoid having to deal with one actor being in a single scene) mostly you get the counterparts never meeting and at most Evil You Scares [-(but sexually intrigues)-] Me. Or in ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'''s version, their opposite is usually dead on one side of the mirror or the other. However, Kira interacts a ''lot'' with her EvilCounterpart (though [[ScrewYourself not to the extent]] the evil counterpart [[AnythingThatMoves would have liked]]).

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': One of Data's earliest encounters with emotion was feeling hatred when fighting the Borg. The fact that this first emotion of his was a negative one and that he apparently enjoyed indulging in the furious killing of an enemy disturbed him. Then we get his EvilTwin Lore turning up who embraces his negative emotions and so personifies them to Data (and is in fact the cause of Data's sudden unleashing of emotion). Data would probably have been scared of him, if fear hadn't been saved for a later episode.

* ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'': {{Franchise/Superman}} has to defeat his EvilTwin from an alternate reality. [[spoiler:The alternate Superman [[FallenHero became evil]] when ComicBook/TheJoker tricked him into killing Lois Lane and his unborn child and destroying Metropolis. Later, Superman admits that he could have turned out the same as his alternate self had he experienced the same loss. In his arcade ending he even creates and swallows what is esentially a kryptonite nanobomb and gives the remote to the justice league to kill him if he ever does the same.]]

** Way earlier, in the 1972 arc that established that the Cap in the [=1950s=] ''Commie Smasher'' stories was in fact a right-wing LoonyFan later named William Burnside, facing an insane fascist doppelgänger in battle causes Steve to realize that he didn't go through psych evals, meaning the military was just lucky he happened to be mentally stable. This brings him to a thought that deeply unsettles him: ''he'' could have just as easily had the FatalFlaw that drove Burnside to fascistic PatrioticFervor.

* ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'': Steve Rogers faces his worst nightmare in ''ComicBook/SecretEmpire'': [[spoiler:himself as a fascist.]]

* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysSecurityBreach'': While Sun is admittedly overbearing and downright manic, it is ultimately harmless and seems to genuinely want to keep its wards in Superstar Daycare happy and safe. Which is likely why its only rule is keeping the lights on, and is intensely distressed when the lights go off, as it turns them into the far less benevolent Moon, who is obsessed with "punishing" bad children who stay up past their bedtime, and has traumatized children who have stayed in their Daycare. And when Gregory accidentally breaks this rule and Sun comes back, it is deeply upset with him, and bans him from the Daycare for it.

* ''ComicBook/{{Alone}}'': After finally returning to [[spoiler: her]] normal self, [[spoiler: [[TheChick Camille]]]] compares the time [[spoiler: she]] spent as [[TheAntiChrist the Midnight-Child]] as a waking nightmare, though what made the experience the most terrifying was that [[spoiler: she]] could feel that it was still [[spoiler: her]] personnality in control, just a more extreme version of it.

-->[[spoiler: '''Camille''']]: Don't try to find excuses for me [[spoiler: Leila]]. [[ReformedButrejected I can see how everyone's looking at me here]]... and they're probably right to be afraid of me. [[HeelRealization I'm just not a good person, that's all]].

* ''ComicBook/Alone'': After finally returning to [[spoiler: her]] normal self, [[spoiler: [[TheChick Camille]]]] compares the time [[spoiler: she]] spent as [[TheAntiChrist the Midnight-Child]] as a waking nightmare, though what made the experience the most terrifying was that [[spoiler: she]] could feel that it was still [[spoiler: her]] personnality in control, just a more extreme version of it.

-->[[spoiler: '''Camille''']]: Don't try to find excuses for me [[spoiler: Leila]]. I can see how everyone's looking at me here... and they're probably right to be afraid of me. I'm just not a good person, that's all.

-->-- '''Doc''', ''Machinima/RedVsBlue''

* ''Webcomic/TwoKinds'': Trace Legacy is horrified at who he was before his amnesia (mass-murdered 400,000 [[FunnyAnimal Keidran]] and sent 100,000 humans to the slaughterhouse), so he has resolved to stop trying to cure himself before his split personality kills his new girlfriend (and son). Sadly, there appears to be a THIRD split personality that is all magic-crack addict and no WellIntentionedExtremist that feeds off the naïve amnesic personality.