History Main / GainingTheWillToKill

* ''Film/BatmanBegins''. After he has trained with the [[WellIntentionedExtremist League of Shadows]], Bruce's mentor asks him to do this as a show of his commitment after his last test. Namely, executing a prisoner who killed a fellow farmer for his land. This, the mentor says, is justice and balance and will prove that Bruce will do what is necessary in the field. Needless to say, the future Batman refuses, causing said mentor to later remark on his lack of 'courage to do all that is necessary' in comparison to himself and his plan to [[spoiler:destroy Gotham to scare the rest of the cities in the nation into reforming]]. Towards the end,[[spoiler: Batman does get Ra's at his mercy, and is asked again whether he now had that courage. He doesn't kill Ra's, but instead leaves him to die in the derailing monorail [[KarmicDeath that he himself had set in motion.]]]] However Bruce seems perfectly fine with killing people indirectly since in the very scene where he refused to execute an individual he blew up the building everyone was in to get away, [[FridgeLogic likely resulting in more than a few casualties including the person who was tied up to be executed as well.]]

** ComicBook/{{Raven}} in ''Fanfic/CoincidenceAndMisunderstandings'', who accepts her [[spoiler:demonic heritage]] as a part of herself and subsequently becomes darker in mind and body - this is marked by her decision to mentally kill [[spoiler:Dr. Light]] via GoMadFromTheRevelation at the story's end to prevent him from harming anyone else, though she regrets this when she realises that the Titans wanted to interrogate him.

[[folder: Fan Works]]
* In ''FanFic/MastermindStrategistForHire'', Izuku stabs [[spoiler: one of Uwabami's Sidekicks, known as Glimmer,]] to death to prove to himself that he has the will to carry out his villainous plans himself, rather than rely on other villains to carry them out.
[[/folder]]

* In the ''Burial at Sea'' DLC of ''Videogame/BioshockInfinite'', [[spoiler:Daisy Fitzroy's apparent attempt to murder a child is revealed to have been act set up by both her and the Lutece twins in order to force Elizabeth to mature through spilling blood, and thus the will to oppose Comstock. See the trope quote.]]

* In the ''Burial at Sea'' DLC of ''Videogame/BioshockInfinite'', [[spoiler:Daisy Fitzroy's apparent attempt to murder a child is revealed to have been act set up by both her and the Lutece twins in order to force Elizabeth to mature through spilling blood, and thus the will to oppose Comstock.]]

* In the ''Burial at Sea'' DLC of ''Videogame/BioshockInfinite'', [[spoiler:Daisy Fitzroy's attempt to murder a child is retconned into an act set up by both her and the Lutece twins in order to give Elizabeth the will to kill and thus the will to oppose Comstock.]]

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* ''Manga/DeathNote'': Light's first two kills serve as this. The first guy Light kills is a serious headcase who had taken a school full of kids hostage. Light writes the guy's name into the title notebook as a means of figuring out whether or not it was real or just a sick prank. When the criminal in question dies of a heart attack 40 seconds after Light wrote the name in, Light still isn't completely convinced that the Death Note is real, so after school, he decides to test out the notebook a second time, taking out the leader of a motorcycle gang and stopping his AttemptedRape of a young woman by sending him and his bike into the path of an oncoming semi. After wrestling with the implications of passing judgement upon people like this, Light makes the decision to become Kira and "change the world" by killing off its criminals and evil people, which sets him on the path to [[AGodAmI developing his infamous god-complex]] and becoming the VillainProtagonist of the series.
%%%* Franchise/FullmetalAlchemist: Happens to Edward Elric over the course of the 2003 anime. (As opposed to the manga and Brotherhood verses, in which he remains a TechnicalPacifist throughout).

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* In ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', this was a major sign of Rorschach having transformed into his current persona - up until that point, he had only beaten criminals up and tied them up for the police. However, after [[spoiler: finding that a kidnapped child had been chopped up and fed to the kidnapper's two Alsatians]], [[RageBreakingPoint he begins to kill]] [[TranquilFury villains as necessary.]]

[[folder: Fan Works ]]

** {{ComicBook/Raven}} in ''Fanfic/CoincidenceAndMisunderstandings'', who accepts her [[spoiler:demonic heritage]] as a part of herself and subsequently becomes darker in mind and body - this is marked by her decision to mentally kill [[spoiler:Dr. Light]] via GoMadFromTheRevelation at the story's end to prevent him from harming anyone else, though she regrets this when she realises that the Titans wanted to interrogate him.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11729865/9/Desperation-Attracts-Vultures Desperation Attracts Vultures]]'' a big part of the Chuunin Exam arc is Naruto's unwillingness to kill someone, especially if he's already beaten them. This comes back to bite him when [[spoiler:Ino]] dies against an enemy Naruto thought he'd beat. Later, when facing Gaara, Naruto still hesitates until Gaara tries to kill Hanabi; at which point Naruto kills him.

[[folder: Films ]]

* In ''Film/AliceInWonderland2010'' Alice's biggest reason for not wanting to fight the Jabberwok is part doubting she can, and doubting she could, telling Absolem she doesn't know if she could if her life depended on it. (He assures her it ''will'' depend on it, but also says she can, as all she really needs to do is hold [[LivingWeapon the Vorpal Blade]] so ''it'' can kill the villain.

[[folder: Literature ]]

* In ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'', Jerin gains the will to kill when [[spoiler: after he was kidnapped, his rescuer is almost killed by the kidnappers. He doesn't like it, but makes no resolution to not do it again, either.]]
* The ''Literature/AlexRider'' series plays with this. While the villains usually end up dead, and mostly because of Alex, he rationalises them away as accidents (in that he didn't intend any of them to die or directly have a hand in their deaths). Alex's willingness to kill is treated by the story as a MoralEventHorizon that he has no intention of crossing - when [[spoiler: SCORPIA manipulates him into trying to kill Ms. Jones by showing her ordering his father's death]], Alex still has trouble shooting. Eventually, [[spoiler:he does shoot, but later is told that his shot would have missed despite being at point-blank range, meaning he really can't kill]]. In [[spoiler: the last two books, ''Crocodile Tears'', Alex begins to lose this innocence, doing things that would definitely kill the recipients - he cuts open a [[{{mook}} mook's]] protective suit while in a toxic biodome, and attaches an explosive to a barrel before rolling it over to the main villain. Finally, in ''Scorpia Rising'', the last book he shoots Hugo Grief point-blank in the head while the former was at his mercy.]]Unusually, this is treated as a good thing, kind of. [[spoiler:Ms. Jones states later that due to Julius' personality and appearance, Alex also symbolically killed off the part of his mind that [=MI5=] created - in other words, the part that killed Julius in the first place.]]
* ''Literature/AFeastForCrows'': Brienne goes through this before killing her first man (in self-defence), questioning whether she has the strength to take a life. Ultimately, it gets easier for her but she still doesn't enjoy it. It helped that her OldMaster was worried this would be a FatalFlaw, so had her slaughter animals at a butcher to desensitize her to killing.

* Literature/RogueAngel: A number of times, Annja Creed ruminates about the killing she may need to do, preparing herself for the act.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder: Theatre ]]

* ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'': The eponymous ''Sweeney Todd'' was originally a wronged man looking to get his daughter back from an evil judge and, who abducted the girl after raping Sweeney's wife and sending Sweeney himself to [[SentencedToDownUnder Australia]] on a trumped-up charge. That and kill the Judge and his right hand man for taking everything from him. That changes when a charlatan named Pirelli recognizes Sweeney as an escaped convict and threatens to turn him in, driving Sweeney to kill him. Sweeney has never killed before, but he shows no remorse for this act, deciding it was necessary to protect his cover. Sweeney finds he has no qualms about continuing to kill, and launches himself into a frenzied campaign of revenge against the world that wronged him by becoming a SerialKiller and handing the bodies over to his friend Mrs. Lovett for, er, [[TheSecretOfLongPorkPies disposal]].

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* In the ''Burial at Sea'' DLC of ''Videogame/BioshockInfinite'', [[spoiler:Daisy Fitzroy's attempt to murder a child]] is retconned into [[spoiler:an act set up by both her and the Lutece twins]] in order to give [[spoiler:Elizabeth]] the will to kill and thus the will to oppose Comstock.

[[folder: Web Original ]]

-->'''[[spoiler:Coil]]''': You're not a killer.
-->'''Skitter''': No... [[spoiler:but I suppose, in a roundabout way, you made me into one.]]
* ''WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog'': this occurs to Dr. Horrible after Captain Hammer[[spoiler: tells him that he is dating Penny, Horrible's crush, purely to spite him]]. This causes Horrible's hatred for Hammer to overcome his previous reluctance to kill, and in [[LetsGetDangerous Brand New Day]] openly plans to kill him. In the end, [[spoiler:Horrible can't bring himself to kill Hammer before the latter gets free, but his plan ends up accidentally killing Penny. His final state depends on your interpretation of whether he has crossed the MoralEventHorizon or not by the end.]]
* ''Literature/{{Rasa}}'': In order to protect the secret of her attempted escape, Jova [[spoiler:overpowers Ya Gol Gi, takes his tabula, and commands him to stop breathing]]. The murder is a defining moment of CharacterDevelopment for her as she matures to match the brutality of the CrapsackWorld she lives in.
-->She felt no pity, no regret, and no remorse. Only triumph.

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' involves an Alternate Universe version of the League called the Justice Lords. At the beginning, we see a flashback showing that Earth's Superman make this decision and kill Lex Luthor at Luthor's goading because he killed ComicBook/TheFlash and caused another World War. After that the Lords has no problem killing (or lobotomising) criminals, justifying it as the greater good. They proceed to form a ruthless dictatorship across Earth, punishing even small crimes harshly. Interestingly, Lord-Superman lobotomizing every SuperVillain winds up biting League-Superman in the ass when he does it to Doomsday, the monster that becomes stronger every time you kill him. Doomsday later comes back with a grudge against Superman (albeit the wrong one), and he tries Lord-Superman's tactic only for him to find that his skull has become far more durable in the meantime.

* ''Franchise/DragonBall'': Gohan, while being in several life or death fights throughout the series where he usually acted on instinct (and was never powerful enough to kill enemies on his own outside of filler arcs), was faced with the decision to consciously kill Cell during the Cell games. Despite being brutalized by Cell and watching him torment all the other Z fighters and threaten the planet, Gohan doesn't gain the will to kill until Android 16 encourages him that in this instance it's okay before being crushed to death just a few feet away from him. This turning point pushes him into a sustained Super Saiyan 2 form for the first time.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' involves an Alternate Universe version of the League called the Justice Lords. At the beginning, we see a flashback showing Superman make this decision and killing Lex Luthor at Luthor's goading when ComicBook/TheFlash [[spoiler:seemingly]] dies. After that the League has no problem killing (or lobotomising) criminals, justifying it as the greater good. They proceed to form a peaceful but ruthless dictatorship across Earth, punishing even small crimes harshly. Superman lobotomizing every SuperVillain winds up biting him in the ass when he does it to Doomsday, the monster that becomes stronger every time you kill him. Doomsday comes back to terrorize the Lords only for them to find that his skull has become far more durable in the meantime.

"[[FinishingEachOthersSentences ... And a woman?]]"\\
"[[MenstrualMenace Blood]]."''

"... And a woman?"\\

* ComicBook/CaptainBritain (aka Brian Braddock) was a fairly straightforward example of TheCape... until the day his nemesis, Slaymaster, fought Brian's sister [[ComicBook/{{Psylocke}} Betsy]] and beat her to within an inch of her life before ripping out her eyes. Slaymaster's [[FamousLastWords last words]] -- spoken as Brian Braddock stood over him, holding a large rock -- were: "Fool! You have not the strength to kill..."

-->-- The Luteces and Daisy Fitzroy, ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite: Burial at Sea, Episode 2''

** Jesse Pinkman does not want to kill Gale at all, and when he's got the chance, he spends over a minute pointing the gun at him in tears before finally pulling the trigger. As opposed to Walter, Jesse never quite gets over it.

** [[TeenTitans Raven]] in ''Fanfic/CoincidenceAndMisunderstandings'', who accepts her [[spoiler:demonic heritage]] as a part of herself and subsequently becomes darker in mind and body - this is marked by her decision to mentally kill [[spoiler:Dr. Light]] via GoMadFromTheRevelation at the story's end to prevent him from harming anyone else, though she regrets this when she realises that the Titans wanted to interrogate him.

* ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'': The eponymous ''Sweeney Todd'' was originally a wronged man looking to get his daughter back from an evil judge and, who abducted the girl after raping Sweeney's wife and sending Sweeney himself to [[SentencedToDownUnder Australia]] on a trumped-up charge. That and kill the Judge and his right hand man for taking everything from him. That changes when a charlatan named Pirelli recognizes Sweeney as an escaped convict and threatens to turn him in, driving Sweeney to kill him. Sweeney has never killed before, but he shows no remorse for this act, deciding it was necessary to protect his cover. Sweeney finds he has no qualms about continuing to kill, and launches himself into a frenzied campaign of revenge against the world that wronged him by becoming a SerialKiller and handing the bodies over to hEhis friend Mrs. Lovett for, er, [[TheSecretOfLongPorkPies disposal]].

* ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'': The eponymous ''Sweeney Todd'' was originally a wronged man looking to get his daughter back from an evil judge, who abducted the girl after raping Sweeney's wife and sending Sweeney himself to [[SentencedToDownUnder Australia]] on a trumped-up charge. That all changes when a charlatan named Pirelli recognizes Sweeney as an escaped convict and threatens to turn him in, driving Sweeney to kill him. Sweeney has never killed before, but he shows no remorse for this act, having decided it was necessary to protect his cover. When his friend Mrs. Lovett proposes disposing of the body by baking it into meat pies, Sweeney finds he has no qualms about continuing to kill, and launches himself into a frenzied campaign of revenge against the world that wronged him by becoming a SerialKiller and handing the bodies over to Mrs. Lovett for, er, [[TheSecretOfLongPorkPies disposal]].

* In ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', "The Most Toys," Kivas Fajo kidnaps Data, keeping him in a cell that Data cannot hack or break his way out of, and wears a belt that emits a force field preventing Data from physically touching him. Eventually, Data escapes with the help of a henchwomen, who finally understands despite years of loyal service, she is very much expendable. Before they fully get away, Fajo catches them and uses a brutal disruptor to kill the woman. Fajo then turns to Data who is armed with a similar disruptor. Data demands that Fajo surrenders, but Fajo refuses and explains that he will kill as many people as necessary to make Data do what he wants, certain that Data's programming prevents him from killing him instead. Data, however, calmly considers his options for a moment. As Fajo has showed a willingness to kill and has threatened to do it again, he presents a clear and active threat to others, so for Data there is absolutely no question that he has a moral obligation to stop Fajo. But Fajo has showed a complete unwillingness to be reasoned with and has actively refused to surrender, and Data cannot physically subdue him due to the force field. With all this in mind, Data concludes that there is only one logical way to resolve this dilemma:

* In the ''Burial at Sea'' DLC of ''Videogame/BioshockInfinite'', [[spoiler:Daisy Fitzroy's attempt to murder a child]] is retconned into :an act set up by [[spoilerboth her and the Lutece twins]] in order to give [[spoiler:Elizabeth]] the will to kill and thus the will to oppose Comstock.

* In ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', "The Most Toys," Kivas Fajo kidnaps Data, keeping him in a cell that Data cannot hack or break his way out of, and wears a belt that emits a force field preventing Data from physically touching him. Eventually, Data escapes with the help of a henchwomen, who finally understands despite years of loyal service, she is very much expendable. Before they fully get away, Fajo catches them and uses a brutal disruptor to kill the woman. Fajo then turns to Data who is armed with a similar disruptor. Data demands that Fajo surrenders, but Fajo refuses and explains that he will kill as many people as necessary to make Data do what he wants, certain that Data's programming prevents him from killing him instead. Data, however, calmly considers his options for a moment. As Fajo has showed a willingness to kill and has threatened to do it again, he presents a clear and active threat to others, so for Data there is absolutely no question that he must be stopped. But Fajo has showed a completely unwillingness to be reasoned with, and Data cannot physically subdue him due to the force field. Data then concludes that there is only one logical way to resolve the dilemma:

* In ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', "The Most Toys," Kivas Fajo kidnaps Data, keeping him in a cell that Data cannot hack or break his way out of, and wears a belt preventing Data from physically touching him. Eventually, Data escapes with the help of a henchwomen, who finally understands despite years of loyal service, she is very much expendable. Before they fully get away, Fajo catches them and uses a brutal disruptor to kill the woman. Fajo then turns to Data who is armed with a similar disruptor. Data demands that Fajo surrenders, but Fajo refuses and explains that he will kill as many people as necessary to make Data do what he wants, certain that Data's programming prevents him from killing him instead. Data, however, calmly considers his options for a moment, and reaches a conclusion:

* Literature/RogueAngelA number of times, Annja Creed ruminates about the killing she may need to do, preparing herself for the act.