History Main / IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten

No relation to EatTheDog, although both can overlap if a ''literal'' kitten is targeted as a food.

** Downplayed in ''Film/BatmanBegins'', when Henri Ducard and Ra's Al Ghul instructs Bruce Wayne to [[KnightTemplar execute a criminal]] in order to complete his initiation into the League of Shadows ([[ThouShaltNotKill naturally]], Bruce refuses). However, the League is not challenging him to prove that he's evil[[note]]after all, ''they'' certainly don't consider themselves or their acts evil, so why would they order Bruce to act evilly?[[/note]]--they are asking him to prove his commitment to a cause they think is right.
** Played straighter in ''Film/TheDarkKnight''; after the Joker kills a mobster and takes over his operation, he forces the mobster's former mooks to duel each other to the death to see which of them he'll recruit into his own gang of thugs. Also a case of DeadlyGraduation.

** Made even more hilarious by the fact that at the time, John Yarmuth ''himself'' was showing commercials (parodying some very negative advertising by the Other Team) that had such statements as "John Yarmuth goes golfing with Saddam Hussein! John Yarmuth ''kicks puppies!'' This is what happens when you get the main editor-slash-humour-columnist for the major "alternative" newspaper in Louisville running for public office.

** Marlo Stanfield needs Michael to kill someone to become a full fledged trusted underling, but also won't send him after Bodie, because they know eachother, rather demanding he shoot another dealer he doesn't know, with the instructions to walk up and look him in the eye first.

* ''Anime/CodeGeass'' had "If you're so evil, shoot this Britannian!" and "If you're so evil, murder the innocents!" as tests for Suzaku. Not to mention "If you're so evil, execute your childhood mentor!" [[spoiler: He disobeyed orders on the first (and was promptly shot as a response), then lucked out the rest of the time when someone interrupted.]]

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong'', when [[FantasticRacism The Huntsman]] was [[ProperlyParanoid (correctly)]] suspicious that his protégé Huntsgirl had [[HeelFaceTurn switched sides]] and was [[DoubleAgent acting as a spy for the dragons]], he orders her to bring him the pelt of the dragon she had previously claimed to have slain. [[spoiler: [[ContrivedCoincidence Luckily]], Jake was about to shed his skin...]]

* In ''Series/TheFlash2014'' episode [[Recap/TheFlash2014S3E7KillerFrost "Killer Frost"]], there's a rare heroic inversion. [[Comicbook/TheFlash Barry]] lets Killer Frost, [[spoiler: his friend Caitlin under the influence of her SuperPoweredEvilSide]] out of her cell and says she's free to go... all she has to do is murder him first, to prove she's really Killer Frost at heart, [[spoiler: not Caitlin Snow]]. She [[spoiler: can't kill him in cold blood and Caitlin takes back control]].

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'':
** In "Vertigo", TheMafiya boss will only introduce Oliver Queen to the Count if he kills an underling who has displeased him. Oliver appears to strangle him, but actually just renders him unconscious and temporarily stops his heart. Oliver carries the 'corpse' outside, then tells Diggle to get him out of town and set him up in a new identity.
** In "Promises Kept", Slade Wilson and Oliver Queen track down Slade's missing son Joe, only to find he's become an amoral mercenary killer in emulation of his father when he was ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}}. Joe tells his father to kill Oliver as proof that he's sincere about joining him. Slade draws his sword and [[StabTheScorpion cuts Oliver bonds instead so they can escape]], but admits afterwards that he was tempted to kill Oliver if that was what it took to reconcile with Joe.
** In ''Series/CrisisOnEarthX'', Oliver Queen infiltrates the Earth-X Nazis by impersonating his Nazi counterpart. Eventually, he is handed a gun and urged to execute the counterpart of his love interest Felicity Smoak. Enraged, he turns around and tries to shoot them, [[ItWorksBetterWithBullets but it clicks empty]] as they gloat that they now know who he really is. Oliver then proves he doesn't need it to kill them all and rescue her.
** In "Lost Canary", Felicity dares Black Siren to kill her if she really is irredeemable. Dinah and Sara also follow suit. This is a variation because, rather than genuinely wanting to see if she is evil, Felicity wants to prove that there is still some good in her that can be saved. It works and Siren undergoes a full HeelFaceTurn.

* In ''Series/TheFlash2014'' episode [[Recap/TheFlash2014S3E7KillerFrost "Killer Frost"]], there's a rare heroic inversion. [[Comicbook/TheFlash Barry]] lets Killer Frost, [[spoiler: his friend Caitlin under the influence of her SuperPoweredEvilSide]] out of her cell and says she's free to go... all she has to do is murder him first, to prove she's really Killer Frost at heart, [[spoiler: not Caitlin Snow]]. She [[spoiler: can't kill him in cold blood and Caitlin takes back control]].

* In an episode of ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'', the team go undercover as Nazis in a German nightclub in 1942. However, a general challenges Ray to give the Nazi salute. He can't do it, and punches the general instead, starting a BarBrawl.

* In Wen Spencer's ''Bitter Waters'' one of the characters is captured by a cult who think they are fighting a holy war against demons. They lock him in a room with a kitten. Their rationale is that if he eats the kitten he's evil, if he starves to death he's okay. [[spoiler:They named the kitten Schrodinger 4.]]
* In ''Captain Vorpatril's Alliance'' it turns out that the hired killers sent after Tej and Rish had been contracted by a Barrayaran deep cover agent to protect his op. The same agent recruited Ivan to invite Tej on a date to make sure that the assassin and Tej didn't cross paths.

* In ''Phoenix Rising: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel'' by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris, the heroes, undercover as would-be members of a secret society, are asked to join the society in HuntingTheMostDangerousGame.

* ''The Specialist'' by Gayle Rivers. Rivers is training Iraqi special forces during the first Gulf War, and notes that their commander had a technique for weeding out anyone he didn't think had what it took to be in the unit. He'd hand a gun to a candidate and invite them to fire it out the doorway, while at the same time inviting another dubious candidate to walk down the corridor and take the random chance of being shot. If either person refused to walk or fire, he was thrown out of the unit.

* In Jonathan Coe's ''What a Carve Up!'' a journalist infiltrates an arms-dealing organization looking to do an expose; he's with some of them in a bar in a Middle Eastern country where they force the waitresses to take part in a "William Tell" game. They expect him to do it too, his target being a waitress he's made friends with. [[spoiler:He does.]]
* In Scythe, the final test to be a scythe is to [[spoiler:basically kill a family member]], although they do it so the worst thing you will ever have to do is behind you.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': In "Full Disclosure", after Steven has left a series of panicky voice messages on Connie's home phone and text messages on her cell while trying to avoid talking with her, she gets fed up with Steven avoiding her and demands that if Steven is really that serious about breaking up with her, he should do it face-to-face. He ultimately relents and still wants to be friends with her.

ShootYourMate is a subtrope. Related to AllegianceAffirmation, which refers to declarations of allegiance in general, and DeadlyGraduation, where the victorious 'kitten' is the one who eats the rest of the litter. Compare ProveIAmNotBluffing. Contrast SecretTestOfCharacter, GodTest, and EvenEvilHasStandards. KillMeNowOrForeverStayYourHand is an inversion (Bob gives Alice a chance to kill him, hoping she'll realize that she's too good a person to do it). The InitiationCeremony can be a far milder version of this trope, although certain subtropes, such as the GangInitiationFight, may not be so mild.

* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'', [[spoiler: The Boss is suspected of being a traitor due to the Cobras' deaths (and covering for a spy, as well). She is told to stab out Naked Snake's eyes. She is about to do it when she is stopped by EVA/Tanya.]] This is especially tense since we know [[spoiler: That Big Boss lost an eye at some point in his life. He loses the eye soon after in a somewhat unrelated incident.]]

* A season 6 episode of ''Series/{{Castle}}'' has Beckett forced to pretend to be a woman who she discovers is a hired assassin. Her "boss" requires her to prove she's the woman she's claiming to be, in the obvious way, and she appears to do just that. (Several minutes into the episode later, it's revealed that she improvised some prop blood in the victim's kitchen, then told him to play dead. Beckett is awesome.)

* Early in the ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' manga, a maverick attempts to convince X to kill a human girl to prove he's a not a "traitor" to the reploid race. [[BewareTheNiceOnes X is not pleased.]]