History Main / EvilMeScaresMe

* A major reveal in ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'' [[spoiler: is that Booker [=DeWitt=] is, in fact, an alternate version of the game's BigBad, Zachary Comstock. This affects him enough that he chooses to go back in time and kill himself to prevent the horrors of the game from occurring.]]

Maybe Bob saw an alternate timeline 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]]).

* In ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'', timid and {{Adorkable}} Cadet Tilly is horrified to find out her mirror universe counterpart is a brutal, vicious murderer who made it to captain by KlingonPromotion.

** Willow Rosenberg once 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".

* In ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'', Inuyasha is afraid of his full demon state, mainly because it could threaten the life of his LoveInterest and puts humans in danger as well.
* Similarily to the above example, Ichigo Kurosaki from ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' is afraid of his [[SuperPoweredEvilSide Inner Hollow]] taking over, as he transforms into an [[TheBerserker out-of-control]] but extremely powerful monster.

* Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}:
** Pre-Crisis Kara was frightened of Satan Girl, a duplicate of hers who was more powerful, evil, ruthless and extremely conniving.
** [[ComicBook/Supergirl2005 Post-Crisis 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.
* ''Comicbook/CaptainAmerica'': Steve Rogers faces his worst nightmare in ''Comicbook/SecretEmpire'': [[spoiler:himself as a fascist.]]

* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'' 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]]]]

* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' fanfic ''FanFic/{{Insontis}}'', Spock goes into a brief HeroicBSOD when he realizes that it was his [[MirrorUniverse alternate-universe]] [[Recap/StarTrekS2E4MirrorMirror self]] who {{mind rape}}d [=McCoy=], horrified by the thought that he could be capable of such things in any reality.

--> 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/InnerDemons'': Twilight Sparkle is horrified when she uncovers a prophecy that seems to foretell her becoming an UltimateEvil and taking over Equestria. After discovering the prophecy, she's plagued by BadDreams about being consumed by her inner darkness, one of which opens with seeing herself proclaim her rule to the terrified citizens of Ponyville. [[spoiler: Eventually, however, the darkness consumes her, and she becomes the thing she feared.]]

* Franchise/StarWars

* [[Franchise/StarWars]]

* We see a touch of this at the climax of ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', as Luke stops himself from finishing his CurbStompBattle against Darth Vader.
* In ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', [[spoiler:as soon as Rey grabs the Sith Wayfinder, she's ambushed by a vision of herself as a Sith, who tells her to not be afraid of [[InTheBlood who she is]] before attacking and driving her out of the vault.]]

* In ''Literature/HowToLiveSafelyInAScienceFictionalUniverse'', [[AuthorProtagonist Charles Yu]] says that peering into parallel universes, 35 of the other versions of himself (out of 39) were assholes. He mentions that if that many alternate versions of you are [[{{Jerkass}} jerks]], you're probably not hot stuff yourself.

* ''Webcomic/TwoKinds'': Trace Legacy is horrified at who he was before his amnesia (mass-murdered 400,000 [[PettingZooPeople 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.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** In the story "The Ultimate Foe", it turns out that [[spoiler:the Valeyard]] is an embodiment of the Doctor's darkest aspects, from somewhere after his twelfth incarnation, without any of the Doctor's virtue or morals, pure unbridled darkness. The Doctor is not happy.
** In "Amy's Choice" the Dream Lord, the creepy villain of the episode is [[spoiler: the collection of the Doctor's darker side.]] Chillingly, the Doctor figures this out because, in his own words, "only one person in the universe hates me as much as you do".
** In "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 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.

* While under the influence of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibogaine ibogaine]] in the ''Series/{{Nikita}}'' episode "Echoes", Alex [[spoiler:hallucinates a version of herself that had defeated Division and regained control of her family's company Zetrov]]. She had become a Machiavellian CorruptCorporateExecutive. She later remarked to Nikita that the possible future scared the hell out of her.
* A variation happened in ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy''. Karone had thought at that point that [[SuperPoweredEvilSide Astronema]] was gone forever, but it wasn't ''quite'' true. After Leo lost his powers to Magnetox, she remembered a powerful warrior who had a weapon that might restore them... A warrior that Astronema had [[TakenForGranite turned to stone]] after killing his tribe. Nonetheless, she and Leo went to the site of the battle, where the spirits of the dead forced her to battle a spiritual replica of Astronema to prove the evil within her was truly gone. The spirit of her evil self didn't truly ''scare'' her, but it would be wrong to say this was easy; she defeated it, but Leo was almost killed in the process.
* ''Series/TheFlash2014'':
** Season 2 introduces the concept of alternate Earths. When visiting Earth 2, both Caitlin and Cisco discover their counterparts from that Earth are evil meta's: Killer Frost and Reverb respectively. Cisco in particular becomes terrified of turning into a villain himself for some episodes afterwards, but this ultimately never happens. Caitlin on the other hand becomes Killer Frost as well in season 3.
** 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.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

Sister trope to FutureMeScaresMe (where the future version doesn't necessarily have to be evil. An inversion of DoppelgangerGetsSameSentiment, with the hero worrying that his evil doppelganger ''is'' him on some level. Often a theme of uses of EvilTwin. One way a character may try to suppress a SuperpoweredEvilSide. See also OtherMeAnnoysMe.

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', Bob the Skull's personality is heavily dependant on who has ownership of him at that time. With Harry, he's a sex obsessed, heavily snarky [[MrExposition exposition centre]]. He is therefore ''terrified'' of what he was like when he was owned by the (now deceased) {{Necromancer}} Heinrich Kemmler, and has no interest in returning to that state of mind. Which is seriously saying something, because Bob barely understands the concept of morality, so when he says someone is bad, ''they're bad.''
--> ''“Bob, would you be willing to take on Evil Bob?"''
--> ''"I'd... prefer not to. I'd really, really prefer not to. You have no idea. That me was crazy. And buff. He worked out.”''
** Harry himself has met his subconscious a few times, and their conversations fit the trope as well. Subconscious!Harry even has a BeardOfEvil, though he's less evil than impulsive: he tends to show up when Harry is actively or subconsciously refusing to take advantage of knowledge or skills due to a moral high ground, even when it's actively getting Harry killed. Real!Harry ''always'' ends up admitting that Subconscious!Harry has a point, though he rarely does ''exactly'' what Subconscious!Harry wants. Both of them tend to reject [[spoiler: Lasciel's]] attempts to subvert them, [[spoiler: though Subconscious!Harry is much more confident in their ability to subvert her]]. Subconscious!Harry notably does not show up when Real!Harry is emotionally compromised, such as [[spoiler: during the entire arc of Changes]].

* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' has a situation like this be PlayedForDrama. [[spoiler: After Leopold Fitz returns from the Framework, an alternate reality simulation in which he was a cruel sociopath known as The Doctor, he suffers severe PTSD and crosses the DespairEventHorizon because his actions within caused the deaths of two real people - innocent civilian Agnes Kitsworth and SHIELD's own Director Mace. Fitz is forced to grapple with the fact that he himself did those things, and "not some other man or a decoy" (because the Framework's altered circumstances created a role of an evil Fitz whom he was forced to be, with no memory of the real world while inside). His fellow teammates are very forgiving, but it's pretty clear that Fitz is going to need some time to recover from the experience.]]
** 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.]]
--> [[spoiler: Good!Ward]]: I would hate you to think that I'm anything like the [[spoiler:Grant Ward]] you knew over there.

[[folder:Role-Playing Games]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2010-09-19 Fuchsia]] has this reaction to her reflection after losing her temper with Seymour. In all likelihood, this was a side of herself she never wanted Criminy to see.

* Hannelore from ''WebComic/QuestionableContent'' is definitely freaked out by the evil version of her seen in an ImagineSpot in [[http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2443 this comic.]]

* ''Series/TheFlash2014'': Season 2 introduces the concept of alternate Earths. When visiting Earth 2, both Caitlin and Cisco discover their counterparts from that Earth are evil meta's: Killer Frost and Reverb respectively. Cisco in particular becomes terrified of turning into a villain himself for some episodes afterwards, but this ultimately never happens. Caitlin on the other hand becomes Killer Frost as well in season 3.

* 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. It's not necessarily that the insane side is self-destructive, it's that the Dark Place is unknowable, and trying to concentrate on it makes you crazy.]]

** Harry himself has met his subconscious a few times, and their conversations fit the trope as well. Subconcious!Harry even has a BeardOfEvil, though he's less evil than impulsive. Both of them tend to reject [[spoiler: Lasciel's]] attempts to subvert them.

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]
* ''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]].

[[folder:Film - Live Action]]

[[folder:Film - Animated]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsLegendOfEverfree'', Twilight Sparkle's human counterpart fears that her newly awakened magic will lead to her becoming Midnight Sparkle once more.
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[[folder: Live Action TV]]

[[folder: Role-Playing Games]]

[[folder: Video Games]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' Aang actually says, "I was scary" when reflecting on the Avatar State. A little different since the Avatar State isn't evil but rather an implacable force of nature.

* WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy: When Brian accuses Stewie of getting soft, Stewie decides to maximize his evil side. It backfires, kind of: he ends up creating a separate, wholly evil Stewie. He isn't happy once he sees what the clone is capable of.

* In the Harry Potter/Torchwood crossover, ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7151727/1/The_Magic_Of_Torchwood The Magic of Torchwood,]]'' de-aged Jack is frightened by his - admittedly distinctly unnerving- worst possible [[FutureMeScaresMe future self]], portrayed by a boggart (it is explained in-universe that boggarts are very intelligent, it's just rare that a fear is strong enough for them to show it and take a sentient form) though Jack being Jack, he considers it to be good company.

* In the ''Film/StarTrek'' fanfic ''Fanfic/WrittenInTheStars'', both the Fem!Kirk of the Alt Reality and the Fem!Kirk of the original timeline take a look at their counterpart from the Alternate Reality of the Mirror Universe. Younger Jane's reaction is this trope.

Sister trope to FutureMeScaresMe (where the future version doesn't necessarily have to be evil). Often a theme of uses of EvilTwin. One way a character may try to suppress a SuperpoweredEvilSide. See also OtherMeAnnoysMe.

** Willow Rosenberg. Although the thing that actually horrifies her is more the fact that she seems [[ScrewYourself into her,]] and "skanky".