History Main / UnscrupulousHero

* Rorschach from ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' is basically a psychotic nihilist who's lost all faith in humanity and yet, he'll still [[VigilanteMan fight for his vision of justice]]. This is particularly evident in the story of Dr. Malcolm Long, who becomes "infected" with Rorschach's disorder after a CriticalPsychoanalysisFailure: while he begins viewing the world as cold and cruel, he also feels compelled to stop injustice and abuse whenever he encounters it.

* ''Literature/{{Worm}}'':
** Many heroes in ''Worm'' are unscrupulous, but special mention should go to Taylor Hebert/Skitter, who in only her second week ''carved a man's eyes out'' (they grew back). Some other highlights of her career include shooting an unarmed man kneeling in the middle of a street, kidnapping a PRT Director, murdering one of the greatest superheroes in the world, taking over a city, and murdering an infant. The sad thing is, all of these happened in a situation where they were arguably the only or best option, or at the very worst [[ItMakesSenseInContext understandable]].
** [[spoiler:Armsmaster]] arranges the death of multiple "villains", including a fifteen-year-old girl he ''knew'' to be TheMole, in order to give himself a chance to defeat [[spoiler:Leviathan]] in a one-on-one fight.

* ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'': Paperinik the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Devilish Avenger]] has leanings toward this type of AntiHero. He is Donald's superhero (sort of) alter ego, but Donald initially created it to avenge himself against torts (real or imagined) he suffered, his main reason to fight criminals is that crime in general piss him off (assuming [[ItsPersonal they didn't somehow target Donald or Paperinik in the first place]]), and the most light-hearted stories still have him doing things like ''[[TorchesAndPitchforks sic a lynch mob on the Beagle Boys]]'' (they had organized a marathon with Paperinik's SecretIdentity as the prize to empty Duckburg and sack it. Once he found out they didn't actually know his real identity, Paperinik lured the citizens back in town and had them catch the BB in the act).

* [[Characters/TheOwlHouseEdaClawthorne Eda Clawthorne]] of ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' is greedy, prideful, lazy, rude, a trickster, and has no respect for the law (or any authority figure, for that matter). She also has few compunctions about killing or stealing to get what she wants, and has a grumpy, misanthropic outlook on the world in general, while keeping her issues close to her chest. That said, she's rebelling against a genuinely oppressive authority, is protective and self-sacrificing when dealing with those she cares about, and tends to act heroically whenever a threat would harm the innocent. She also slowly warms up over the course of the show, after assuming a surrogate mother role to Luz.

** [[BadassPreacher Father Alexander Anderson]], though he does have shades of a NominalHero. He mainly targets vampires and heathens, believing them to be an affront against God and danger to the innocents of the world, and he sometimes takes it a little too far with his AxCrazy attacks and BloodKnight beliefs, but he also adores children, acts like a surrogate father to his Iscariot followers, respects Integra's principles and NervesOfSteel attitude, and takes a stand against Maxwell when he starts killing the innocent survivors of Protestant England.

* In ''Manga/DeathNote'' we have [[GreatDetective L]], the HeroAntagonist to [[KnightTemplar Light/Kira's]] VillainProtagonist. While L does try to capture Kira because he's a murderer, his main motivation is because he sees Kira as a challenge, and it's revealed that in general he only cares about cases he finds interesting, making him something of a NominalHero in this regard. Describing himself as "childish and hates losing," he is willing to resort to, among other things, kidnapping, torture, lying and invasion of privacy to get the job done. The series lampshades how similar he and Light are to each other fairly often. Still, L only reserves his justice for people he sees as evil, and to be fair his accusations seem to always be correct. Moreover, while L does order the deaths of a few criminals to help further the investigation, [[PragmaticHero these criminals were on death row anyway.]]
** [[spoiler:His successor Near]] is a mix of this and NominalHero.

* Piccolo in ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' shows definite shades of this, including blowing up the moon to stop Vegeta and Nappa from being able to transform into Great Apes and distracting Super Buu by telling him to kill everyone on Earth so that he could buy time for Trunks and Goten to train. (Granted, he did the latter knowing that [[DeathIsCheap they could be revived later on]], and is horrified when Super Buu, instead of taking his time doing it, just blasts humanity all at once just to spite Piccolo.)
* Senku from ''Manga/DrStone'' has no problem playing dirty and manipulating people if it gets him what he wants. His allies frequently remark he comes off as more of a villainous MadScientist than any kind of hero. However, his goal - to restore humanity to its former technological glory AfterTheEnd - is incredibly noble.
* ''Literature/FateZero'' has Kiritsugu Emiya, an assassin who wants to achieve world peace but is willing to do horrible things to other people in order to reach that goal and can act excessively cruel like when he used Kayneth's wife Sola-Ui as a bargaining chip against him and ended up coldly killing them both after Lancer was forced to commit suicide. He's also cheating on his wife with his assistant Maiya and sees it as a rehearsal for when he has to betray his wife for real by allowing her to sacrifice herself and complete the Grail.
* ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' has [[BadassPreacher Father]] [[HolyHitman Alexander Anderson]], though he does have shades of a NominalHero. He mainly targets vampires and heathens, believing them to be an affront against God and danger to the innocents of the world. And he sometimes takes it a little too far with his AxCrazy attacks and BloodKnight beliefs, but he also adores children, acts like a surrogate father to his Iscariot followers, respects Integra's principles and NervesOfSteel attitude, and takes a stand against Maxwell when he starts killing the innocent survivors of Protestant England.

* [[WellIntentionedExtremist Reiji]] becomes this later on in ''Manga/LinebarrelsOfIron''.
** In some ways, the protagonist himself also kinda fits.

* Mikazuki Augus from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'' is a ChildSoldier who has no qualms about killing, he does not have the concept of mercy when it comes to [[DoubleTap disposing of enemies]] [[KilledMidSentence when they're still speaking]], often [[TheNicknamer gives vulgar nicknames to enemies]] who managed to survive his encounters. And he remains [[TheStoic in an unnervingly calm mood]] all the time. Orga is the only one making sure Mikazuki is a hero, but whenever he enters the battlefield, it's clear the situation can no longer be solved peacefully.

* ''Literature/RebuildWorld'': Akira is the first type, albeit a DefrostingIceKing. In an already CrapsackWorld, Akira grew up in the WrongSideOfTheTracks getting used and then thrown out by everyone he met, turning him into TheParanoiac. Akira's past trauma leaves him with two buttons that can get you KilledMidSentence: Being stolen from, and [[AndYourLittleDogToo threatening his friends]], each of which evokes a TranquilFury RoaringRampageOfRevenge if not immediately settled (although VengeanceFeelsEmpty). Akira has strong views on fairness, insisting on equal shares for jobs, and takes IGaveMyWord and IOweYouMyLife extremely seriously. Akira has a belief system based on LaserGuidedKarma, [[HiddenHeartOfGold making excuses]] that he's doing good deeds to earn back his luck and thus increase his chances of survival, often with Sheryl and her gang serving as his MoralityPet.

* [[OracularUrchin Ran]] from ''{{Anime/Texhnolyze}}''. Ran is almost completely apathetic towards the lives of individual citizens of Lux and has no problems with being [[BrutalHonesty cruelly honest]] about the horrible things about to happen. However, she does regret all of this, wants to change it but can't, and is really overwhelmed by being an 11-year-old girl.

* ''Disney Italy's'' Paperinik the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Devilish Avenger]] has leanings toward this type of AntiHero. He is Donald's superhero (sort of) alter ego, but Donald initially created it to avenge himself against torts (real or imagined) he suffered, his main reason to fight criminals is that crime in general piss him off (assuming [[ItsPersonal they didn't somehow target Donald or Paperinik in the first place]]), and the most light-hearted stories still have him doing things like ''[[TorchesAndPitchforks sick a lynch mob on the Beagle Boys]]'' (they had organized a marathon with Paperinik's SecretIdentity as the prize to empty Duckburg and sack it. Once he found out they didn't actually know his real identity, Paperinik lured the citizens back in town and had them catch the BB in the act).
* Helena Bertinelli, the ''ComicBook/{{Huntress}}'', is a multiple murderer who shows no real regret for any of the people she's killed, and once even cracked a joke after killing a teenager who had been possessed by an EvilWeapon and wasn't really responsible for his actions. Her teammates or other heroes regularly have to restrain her from killing people and do not always succeed. Nevertheless, she is on the side of the good guys.
* [[ComicBook/{{Batman}} Jason Todd]], AKA Red Hood, formerly the second Robin. He's right on that line between a very unscrupulous hero and a fairly scrupulous villain. Like Huntress, he's happy to kill criminals as a first resort, but ([[WesternAnimation/BatmanUnderTheRedHood depending on the adaptation]]) he also believes that the best possible outcome, since ending crime for good is impossible, is for him or someone like him to take over the underworld and regulate it.
* Spider Jerusalem from ''ComicBook/{{Transmetropolitan}}''. Cynical or not, and crazy though he might be, he's a journalist because he cares about the truth, and a savage beating from people who don't appreciate it won't make him see otherwise. Unscrupulous in that there is ''[[TheUnfettered absolutely nothing]]'' he won't do to get to it, no matter what.
** Really, nine out of ten of the characters Creator/WarrenEllis has ever created, if not [[NominalHero Nominal Heroes]], fall here. Most of his main characters follow the basic template of 'violent, cynical, and snarky chain-smokers who still possess moral codes'.
* DependingOnTheWriter, John Constantine from ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}'' could count. He's generally violent and anti-social, but when it's time, he'll stand up for most of the little people against the forces of heaven and hell.
-->'''Dr Occult:''' He dances on the edge of the known like a crazy man, pitting himself [[RageAgainstTheHeavens against Heaven]] and [[ToHellAndBack the Pit]], because he is John Constantine, and because he is alive.
** Even on the best of days, though, he still could qualify for Unscrupulous status as he has [[CombatPragmatist zero scruples when fighting]].
* If he's not being written as a NominalHero, ''[[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]]'' tends to be this.
* Stephanie in ''{{ComicBook/Uber}}'' is an Allied scientist that worked as a double agent with the Nazis to develop the titular super-soldier project. She had to commit sickening atrocities and horrifying human experiments to preserve her cover and provide the Allies a fighting chance. Even though she is devoted to defeating the Nazis by any means, she feels great shame and guilt over her actions.
* ''ComicBook/TheShadow'' is usually this. He'll not only kill criminals regardless of the immediate threat but laugh madly while gunning them down. Then he'll do things like intimidating civilians into serving his cause (his wealthy alter ego? He's actually impersonating someone else he sent on an indefinite vacation [[note]] To be fair, some adaptations suggest that the guy was cool with it [[/note]]).
* ''Possibly'' Literature/DocSavage as well. Earlier works would have him take criminals away to a secret lab where he'd, ah... turn them into productive members of society. Surgically. This is probably a matter of ScienceMarchesOn, (readers of the time likely didn't fully understand lobotomies or their effects) but forcibly altering someone's behavior is still pretty out there by modern standards.
* ComicBook/ThePunisher tries not to hurt innocents, but there's a long, ''long'' list of non-innocent people he's killed in various messy ways, usually involving whatever guns he can get his hands on. His way of telling the world to put his dead family back in the ground after a mobster dug them up and urinated on them was to grab every gun he owned and see how much of a dent in the local criminal population he could make.
* Whirl in ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'' is a borderline RoboticPsychopath with a fine line in ComedicSociopathy, but he also has a surprisingly noble streak buried under the fury, which occasionally comes out to help other members of Team Rodimus. [[spoiler:Of note, he's able to open one of the Matrices of Leadership that Rung/Primus creates, despite the morality lock.]]
* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW'': Prowl is very much an ends-justify-the-means kind of character who very occasionally does more heroic things, but tends not to exempt himself from the list of "acceptable casualties" and ''does'' want good results in the end. In ''Sins of the Wreckers'' his old partner Tarantulas implies that Prowl has been in a cycle of doing morally questionable things for the greater good, realising he's crossed a line, working to better himself, [[IgnoredEpiphany hitting a setback and falling back into old ways]] for ''four million years''.
* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers'': The Wreckers go out of their way to recruit these. They'll use war crime bullets by the magazine, engage in any amount of brutality, recruit thugs and murderers, take advantage of people with mental illnesses like poor Pyro...but ultimately, a lot of the missions they take on (not all, but a lot) ''do'' need to be done to prevent the Decepticons from killing lots and lots of people, and the Wreckers are willing to take [[AnyoneCanDie considerable casualties]] in order to carry them out.

* Post-Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes in ''Fanfic/AintNoGrave''. Seventy years as one of the world's deadliest assassins made him both very good at violence and extremely desensitized to it, and seventy years of torture and dehumanization by Hydra left him with a lot of pent-up rage once he got back enough of a sense of self to realize what had been done to him, so his crimefighting efforts tend to be pretty brutal. However, he's a pretty nice guy - when his brain's cooperating - to his friends and innocent bystanders.

** The main example, however, maybe Doctor Strange, the series' chief MagnificentBastard and ManipulativeBastard, who plays everyone - hero and villain alike - like a violin to get the tune he wants. This is all with the decidedly admirable motivation of not just stopping Thanos, but doing so with as few casualties as possible. However, he is totally ruthless, shaping everyone around him like tools into the people he needs them to be, and casually committing murder (and worse) to advance his schemes. He also allows some pretty horrible things to happen, because he deems them necessary. However, he always discards his usually absolute irreverence in response to someone else's sacrifice (which he genuinely respects), or when the subject of the death of a child comes up (being a FriendToAllChildren, he tries to protect them whenever he can, and wreaks some of his most horrifying revenge when he can't).

* The Justice League in the world of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueGodsAndMonsters'' skirt between this and PragmaticHero. They have no qualms about killing but will stray into even more questionable stuff like invading a foreign embassy to get at terrorists or contemplate taking over the world as benevolent tyrants. And they ''still'' come off looking pretty heroic.

* Film/JamesBond in ''Film/LicenceToKill'', although he borders on SociopathicHero. As part of his RoaringRampageOfRevenge to take down drug lord Franz Sanchez and avenge Felix Leiter, he kills off quite a few bad guys in particularly terrible ways, like feeding someone to sharks and shoving another down a stone grinder.
** He's more clearly this in ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'', where unlike most NominalHero incarnations of him, has heroic tendencies (objecting to abandoning another wounded agent, for example) while of course, still womanizing and having a merciless demeanor.
* Sheriff Matt Morgan from ''Film/LastTrainFromGunHill'' is simply trying to execute his duty to the law; however, he has no qualms about threatening his former friend's son, whom he's captured and holding for rape and murder, among other dirty tricks.
* Hit Girl from ''Film/KickAss'' starts off a bit too ruthless to be this trope but [[CharacterDevelopment in the end]], fits, as almost all her victims are taken for granted to have at least been unsavory, if not evil.
** Big Daddy to some extent as well, since he's basically a tragic, overly vengeful Batman {{Expy}}.

* Frank Bannister in ''Film/TheFrighteners''. He cons people by sending ghosts to haunt houses so he can come and "exorcise" them, disrupts funerals in order to promote his business, and is shown to be quite rude to the ghosts he works with; however, at least he isn't like [[BigBad Johnny Bartlett]] who murders people for game. By the end of the film, Frank has become a better person.
* ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'', especially Jake. They mean well enough as they just want to save the orphanage they grew up in, but they're not above scamming patrons, acting like jackasses, and endangering bystanders more than they really need to.

* ''Film/DeathWish'': Paul Kersey is an everyday man who became a VigilanteMan after his wife was murdered and his daughter was assaulted by criminals, and [[PoliceAreUseless the law proved ineffective in giving him justice]]. He is brutal and merciless towards criminals, but he always helps out people who are in danger and fights for what he believes is right.

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'': Notably, in the [[CrapsackWorld opening to Megamorphs #3]], when every other Animorph has become a fascinatingly horrible person, Marco is more-or-less the same as he's always been. Only happier, because his mother's alive and he just got ''Pong''. Later on, when evacuating his father from the Yeerks, he leaves his stepmother to get infested and lies to his dad that she was always a Controller.
* Mentioned verbatim in ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'', a classical historical text concerning the ''UsefulNotes/ThreeKingdomsShuWeiWu''. When Cao Cao was young, he visited Xu Shao, a man famous for giving accurate evaluations of people. Xu Shao initially declined to reveal his interpretation, but when pressed told Cao Cao, ''"You would be a capable minister in peaceful times and an unscrupulous hero in chaotic times."'' [[Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms And indeed he was.]]
* Despite being a straight-up bad guy in the films, in the novel, Denethor of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' starts off as a wise ruler dedicated to protecting his kingdom, though he treats his allies with suspicion and verbally abuses his son. Eventually, however, the combined stress of Faramir's coma and his despair from battling Sauron in the palantir send him JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope.
* Mr. Slippery from Creator/VernorVinge's novella, ''Literature/TrueNames'', is an out-and-out criminal hacker, in it for the fun, but when the chips are down, and the world needs saving, he's willing to save it. And not ''just'' because Federal agents have made him a deal he can't refuse--though that certainly removes any lingering doubts he might have had.
* The LightNovel ''Literature/FateZero'' gives us the adoptive father of ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' protagonist Shirou Emiya, Kiritsugu Emiya. Unlike most examples on this page, he still has his moral character however it is [[TheUnfettered how he channels it]] that makes him this.
* Felix Harrowgate of ''Literature/DoctrineOfLabyrinths'' is a wizard who uses his powers to put the dead to rest, save a country from invasion, and take out {{Magitek}} machines before they can annihilate ''another'' country, all at considerable risk to himself. Unfortunately, he also says horribly cruel things for the sheer joy of it, repeatedly [[MindRape mind-rapes]] people [[spoiler:including his own brother]], and has a rage blackout in which he seriously [[BondageIsBad crosses]] the [[SafeSaneAndConsensual line]] with an anonymous sex partner.
* Pocket in Creator/ChristopherMoore's ''Pocket the Fool'' novels, beginning with ''Literature/{{Fool}}''. He is deeply cynical, sarcastic, and bitter due to his childhood as an orphan and generally being treated like a slave by his master King Lear. However, he is protective of [[MoralityChain Cordelia]] [[LoveRedeems whom he genuinely loves]] and has a sense of justice when it comes to other oppressed groups. That the latter also tends to go along with his acute sense of vengeance he finds very convenient.
* In ''Literature/TheFireRose'', Jason Cameron is pretty amoral. To the extent that he's a good person, it's because he takes CutLexLuthorACheck and PragmaticVillainy so far that they take him out of the "villain" sphere entirely; he's a philanthropist because that (used to) earn him street cred in his social circle, and because a well-fed proletariat work well and don't start riots. Likewise, he's known for fair business dealings because [[DickDastardlyStopsToCheat he doesn't need to do anything shady]], but he doesn't especially care that his apprentice and agent gets his rocks off on rape and uses his magic to rig cockfights, except that they show him to be [[EvilIsPetty a complete tool]] and unfit to be a Master. [[spoiler:At least he develops genuine feelings of love for Rose at the end.]]
* Commander Sam Vimes from the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' series would be a textbook IdealHero except that, in his words, "in certain specific areas" (mostly [[CombatPragmatist fighting]]) he has no rules whatsoever. This is in stark contrast to his immediate superior, [[MagnificentBastard Lord Vetinari]] (an {{Antihero}} who takes whatever steps are necessary to protect the city), and his immediate subordinate, [[KnightInShiningArmor Captain Carrot]] (who is TheCape).

* Thomas Cromwell, as portrayed in ''Literature/WolfHall''. He's a fair-minded businessman and lawyer, a good husband, is thoroughly determined to give his nieces, nephews, foster- and biological children a ''much'' better upbringing than [[AbusiveParents the one he got]], and is intensely loyal to Cardinal Wolsey, his patron and adopted father in all but name. However, he is rumored to have killed a man as a teenager, spent time as a mercenary on the Continent, and willingly engineers the execution of Anne Boleyn and her supposed "lovers" because of the role they played in Wolsey's downfall. So he is shown as a good man in most aspects but tarnishes himself by his unwillingness to forget insults and willingness to serve the ruthless and capricious Henry VIII.
* [[Literature/TheDresdenFiles Harry Dresden]] doesn't make a habit of being this trope, despite his long history of [[DestructiveSaviour causing property damage for the greater good]]. But when he's ''really'' desperate he can give fellow TrenchcoatBrigade member John Constantine a run for his money when it comes to sheer disregard for collateral casualties, as demonstrated (spectacularly) by the climax of ''Literature/{{Changes}}''.

* Matthew Sobol of ''Literature/{{Daemon}}'' is this at best. He programs an utterly remorseless distributed Daemon that he admits will cause the death of tens of millions, and winds up destroying many lives and causing untold suffering. The reason he did this was to stop humanity from inevitably regressing due to its efficient-but-fragile global supply chains and from being ruled by sociopathic corporate interests. [[spoiler: He's right, succeeds, and the new order is better than the old one because it removes the power of those that would abuse it rather than empowering them like the old order did.]]
* ''Literature/TheAsteriskWar'': [[StudentCouncilPresident Claudia Enfield]] is technically one of the good guys but she does have quite a few skeletons in her closet. She makes no effort to hide that she engages in shady schemes and is willing to take advantage of situations. That said, she has a healthy respect for [[TheHero Ayato Amagiri]]'s stronger sense of morality and her actions in the greater scheme of things seem to protect him and Seidoukan as a whole.

* The [[TheEmpire Imperium of Man]], the [[SpaceElves Eldar]] and the [[TheGreys Tau]] of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' are traditionally the "good guy" factions of the setting and better than the "bad guy" factions [[note]]that would be the [[ReligionOfEvil Forces of Chaos]], the [[OmnicidalManiac Necrons]], the [[BugWar Tyranids]] and the [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Dark Eldar]][[/note]], [[AbsoluteXenophobe but]] [[MagnificentBastard not]] [[ScaryDogmaticAliens by]] [[BloodKnight much]]. Pretty much the only thing they all have in common is that everyone is out to get them, they have ''some'' noble motives (if not exactly pleasant ways to achieving them) and no matter what horrid things they do, [[ShootTheDog they usually do it for a justifiable reason]], and the bad guys do far worse things than they could ever do anyway.

* Ammon Jerro of ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'' is literally [[DealWithTheDevil Hell-bent]] on saving the Sword Coast from the [[OmnicidalManiac King of]] [[LivingShadow Shadows]] at all costs. He goes so far as to steal the most sacred relic of an extraplanar race of [[BlueAndOrangeMorality Holy warriors]], making several infernal pacts with various demons and devils of the lower hells, killing any who oppose him (knowingly or not), abandoning any allies if they do not pull their weight, and even razing entire villages if it means he has a better shot at defeating the King of Shadows. He's even the DiskOneFinalBoss. [[spoiler:That is until he joins you anyways.]]
* [[ProfessionalKiller Zevran]] from ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' qualifies, if the player can gain his loyalty. He can be recruited after he tries to kill you; he swears to help you end the Blight if you spare him. He advocates the use of poison, rather enjoys his profession, and is one of your more ''[[TokenEvilTeammate morally ambiguous]]'' [[TokenEvilTeammate companions]]. With that in mind, he is also [[UndyingLoyalty fiercely loyal]] to your PC if you can get his affection high enough and is nowhere near as bad as his former employers, [[ColdBloodedTorture the]] [[ChildSoldiers Antivan]] [[MurderInc Crows]].

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'''s ruthless mercs (and long-suffering P.A. Miss Pauling) may not have consciences, but they are capable of human affection, which is more than their ironically named business rival, [[spoiler: Gray Mann,]] can say...

* Midna in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' may be this, especially at the beginning. Even when she had no sympathy for those who lived in the light, she still fought for a righteous cause. She loves the people under her rule and wanted to save them. Plus, her dispassion for the people of Hyrule is no different from a government's lack of interest in another nation's politics. She may not have cared about saving the world of light ([[CharacterDevelopment at the time]]) but she sure as hell didn't want to worsen the situation either.
* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow2'' is mainly about Dracula's [[spoiler: development from a NominalHero, who is only 'good' because he's fighting SATAN, into one of these (kinda). Admittedly not much of a jump, as although he does get some PetTheDog moments regarding his family, he never stops being utterly ruthless, and the mountain of tragedy he's gone through over the centuries never leaves him entirely. The main development is that while his desire for vengeance on Satan and Zobek certainly remains at the forefront of his motivations, it becomes clear as the game goes on he really just wants to be at peace with his family, and in the end, Marie and Alucard forgive him and help him find his peace.]]
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'': [[spoiler:[[TheChessmaster Delita]]]] is an embodiment of this trope, also [[spoiler:[[WellIntentionedExtremist Izlude]]]] may be taken into account after the events in Orbonne Monastery.
* ''VideoGame/{{Uncharted}}'': Samuel Drake of ''A Thief's End'' is a harsher, colder version of his younger brother Nathan. [[spoiler:When he puts a gun on Nadine Ross' head, he threatens to shoot her and Nate pulls him at the last moment setting the shot in the air, proving that he was indeed going to murder her. Then Rafe reveals that he's a manipulative liar, whose only redeeming virtue is that he genuinely does love Nate.]]

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'''s well-known AntiHero, Shadow the Hedgehog, is this. He fights for the greater good, but he'll go to extreme lengths to do what he feels is right, regardless of anyone else's opinions and those who get in his way are just as much of an enemy as the villains to him. He has also occasionally sided with the villains such as Eggman and Black Doom when he viewed it necessary.
* ''VisualNovel/{{Sunrider}}'' has Admiral Harold Grey of the Solar Alliance. Grey is the player’s biggest ally in liberating the Neutral Rim from PACT, but he’s not waging this war out of the kindness of his heart and he does shady things in the name of victory. Some examples include hiring mercenaries to do his dirty work, covering up civilian deaths caused by his soldiers’ heavy-handed actions, and threatening to nuke an unaligned planet into oblivion unless a PACT fleet withdraws from the system (an act which sees his PACT counterpart [[NobleTopEnforcer Veniczar Fontana]] call Grey out [[NotSoDifferentRemark on being no different]]). That said, he does have some standards: if you call him out on the aforementioned cover-up, he’ll admit that it goes against everything he stands for and will promise to open a public investigation (while simultaneously chewing ''you'' out for your idealism). He also realizes that the [[DoomsdayDevice Paradox Core]] is too dangerous for anyone to possess and has it destroyed, [[spoiler:but not before secretly reverse-engineering it so that he’ll have a planet-killer missile on hand as a weapon of last resort]].
* In ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare2019'', Captain Price is willing to go to some extreme lengths to protect the free world, such as throwing an innocent man forced to wear an explosive vest off of a bridge so he doesn't blow up the other civilians with him or [[spoiler:abducting and threatening a terrorist's innocent family to get him to tell them where Hadir is]]. However, he never [[ShootTheDog shoots the dog]] without cause and he's completely aware that his allies might not be able or willing to stomach his tactics.
-->'''Price:''' When you take the gloves off, you get blood on your hands, Kyle. That's how it works.\\
'''Kyle:''' Where do we draw the line on this, sir?\\
'''Price:''' You draw the line wherever you need it, Sergeant. End of the day someone has to make the enemy scared of the dark. We get dirty and the world stays clean. That's the mission.

* [[SmugSnake Vriska]] from ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' would embody this trope were opinions on her not split further than the San Andreas Fault. [[AbusiveParents Forced by her lusus to become a]] SerialKiller from a very young age, she soon grows to embrace the role and [[KillerGameMaster kills thousands of trolls through FLARPing]]. Her EstablishingCharacterMoment is throwing one of her players off a cliff with MindControl ''because she can''. She then goes on to try and establish a [[BelligerentSexualTension caliginous relationship]] with him - only he doesn't return her feelings, so her "courtships" come off as [[DomesticAbuse abusive, even for the twisted culture she exists in]]. Later she even goes as far as [[spoiler:turning [[BigBad Jack Noir]] into a PhysicalGod just so that she can have some impact on the story and murder said caliginous crush for having the guts to stand up for himself.]] And yet through all this, she has every intention of defeating [[BigBad Jack Noir]] and spends much of her time assisting [[TheHero John]] on his quest, [[spoiler:developing romantic feelings for him as time goes by.]] In her mind, she is following the footsteps of her powerful, infamous, and morally bankrupt ancestor, but at crucial points proves she is either too cruel or ''not cruel enough'' to play that part.
* Norah and Paige from ''Webcomic/AgentsOfTheRealm'' are underplayed versions, both being fine examples of JerkWithAHeartOfGold.

[[folder:Web Original]]

* ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' gives us [[spoiler:Armsmaster]], who arranges the death of multiple "villains", including a fifteen-year-old girl he ''knew'' to be TheMole, in order to give himself a chance to defeat [[spoiler:Leviathan]] in a one-on-one fight.
** Many heroes in Worm are unscrupulous, but special mention should go to Taylor Hebert/Skitter, who in only her second week ''carved a man's eyes out'' (they grew back). Some other highlights of her career include shooting an unarmed man kneeling in the middle of a street, kidnapping a PRT Director, murdering one of the greatest superheroes in the world, taking over a city, and murdering an infant. The sad thing is, all of these happened in a situation where they were arguably the only or best option, or at the very worst [[ItMakesSenseInContext understandable.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheDreamstone'' juxtaposes this with the SugarBowl Land Of Dreams (yes, odd). While usually sweet-natured and borderline messianic, the heroes seem completely apathetic to the fact most of Zordrak's mooks are harmless cowards TrappedInVillainy, and often take sadistic pleasure in punishing them or taking their retaliations outside self-defense [[PragmaticVillainy compared to vice versa]], mostly all on the principle of [[FelonyMisdemeanor trying to give them bad dreams]]. Later episodes made them more passive, like something in PragmaticHero territory.

* Jerry in ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' depending on the episode. Without getting into his [[DisproportionateRetribution sadistic nature towards Tom]], he is generally a FriendToAllLivingThings. But he's definitely not above using violence for reasons other than self-defense or protecting others (often as vengeance for a legitimate wrong, but occasionally, because he's bored). Often when his actions are unambiguously unheroic, especially when unprovoked, we get a rare LaserGuidedKarma victory for Tom.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ElTigre'', although Manuel Rivera is usually on the good guys' side, that doesn't stop him from doing mischievous things from time to time.
* WesternAnimation/BugsBunny is a very similar case to Jerry's. He acts against others mostly when provoked or attacked ('''mostly''') and damn if he doesn't enjoy giving those he goes up against [[DisproportionateRetribution their sweet dose of punishment]], but he's otherwise a friendly and nice individual.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', Brock Samson and Dr. Venture, despite being self-centered individuals, fall here on their best days when they show some regard for human life and collateral damage. Usually though, [[HeroicComedicSociopath not so much...]]

* [[Characters/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPowerGlimmer Glimmer]] turns into this in ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'' season 4 as the weight of the war begins to bear down on her [[spoiler:in the wake of her mother's death, and ''especially'' after the fall of Salineas in the middle of the season]]. In previous seasons, when she seemed about to do something overly ruthless, Bow would talk her down; unfortunately, in season 4, the growing ruptures in the Best Friends Squad mean that Glimmer ''stops listening''. She starts threatening the Horde's FacelessGoons with torture, using her best friend as a decoy, [[spoiler:hiring Double Trouble to manipulate her enemies, using her kingdom as bait for the Horde's armies, and taking jaw-dropping risks with a [[{{Precursors}} First One]] superweapon that nearly lead to the destruction of a not inconsiderable chunk of the universe]]. Even at her worst, though, she remains a ''hero'' - she refuses to kill a defenceless [[spoiler:Catra]], is friendly and kind towards [[spoiler:Scorpia]], and her top priority remains saving Etheria. [[spoiler:When her actions nearly end the world, it's because her jealousy compounded with her desperation to win the war and led to her becoming overconfident, and she ''immediately'' has a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment and desperately tries to fix it - in stark contrast to Catra, with whom she isn't that different, whose own doomsday event was driven entirely by envy, and which she did nothing to fix.]]
* [[Characters/TheOwlHouseEdaClawthorne Eda Clawthorne]] of ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' is greedy, prideful, lazy, rude, a trickster, and has no respect for the law (or any authority figure, for that matter). She also has few compunctions about killing or stealing to get what she wants, and has a grumpy, misanthropic outlook on the world in general, while keeping her issues close to her chest. That said, she's rebelling against a genuinely oppressive authority, is protective and self-sacrificing when dealing with those she cares about, and tends to act heroically whenever a threat would harm the innocent. She also slowly warms up over the course of the show, after assuming a surrogate mother role to Luz.
* Zamfir from ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017''. As a fighter, she has a bad habit of only pitching in to help after the damage is already done. As an ally, she tends to dismiss any casualties as necessary sacrifices for the cause and treats Trevor and Sypha with a rather unnecessary amount of suspicion. As a leader, she does nothing for the remaining peasantry's non-existent living conditions and even confiscates what little food and supplies as "tribute" for their "betters."
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Centaurworld}}'' has the Mysterious Woman, who is determined to do good but has severe difficulties determining what "good" is. Like, that isn't [[WhatIsEvil a lame excuse]] she uses to do evil, we actually ''see'' her vacillating between actions that will kill the villain and actions that will spare him, actions that enable the slaughter of a small group to preserve entire worlds and actions that prevent it, etc. A big reason she isn't the main hero is that it takes her almost two seasons to get her priorities in order. [[spoiler:The ''Last Lullaby'' flashback implies that she [[LossOfIdentity had clearer ideals before]] her abusive relationship with the Elktaur.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': [[Characters/RickAndMortyMortySmith Morty Smith]] has turned into this by Season 3. His utterly horrific experiences have ground down his emotional state significantly to him being significantly faster to and less afraid of violence, being perfectly willing to kill people without hesitation if he deems it necessary, to the point he deforms Ethan into a deformed monster for upsetting his sister. Despite this, he's kept out of the VillainProtagonist territory that Rick resides in by virtue of caring significantly more about the consequences of his actions and attempting to prevent harm.

* Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian is not shy of any activity where there is an opportunity for violence, wenches, and loot. Theft, piracy, assassination, mercenary work, Conan will do it all and has done it all. But he never kills anybody who doesn't deserve it or isn't trying to kill him first, he keeps his word, and he will fight without pay for someone who engages his sympathies. Despite his string of casual romances with different women, he is quite respectful to all of them, and while he is happy to [[RapePillageAndBurn burn and pillage]], rape is ''absolutely'' out of the question. If someone is truly his friend, Conan will repay their kindness in turn and is loyal to a fault to his allies. When he becomes TheGoodKing of Aquilonia, Conan considers all of his people part of his "tribe". Thus, hurting his people is disrespecting him, and Conan will not stand for that.

* In ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'', Buford may [[CardCarryingVillain boast about being a schoolyard bully]], but when Phineas and Ferb need help, he can always be counted on.