History NiceJobFixingItVillain / TheDCU

* In ''ComicBook/Aquaman1991'', Aquaman was already wrestling with self-doubt and hatred when Thanatos came in to try and finish the job--but making Aquaman confront his fears directly helped him accept and move past them.
* In the first story arc of Creator/NeilGaiman's ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', failed supervillain Doctor Destiny gets hold of the amulet containing the title character's power, and during the climactic battle (which he was winning anyway) he decides to destroy it, figuring that will leave Morpheus powerless and easy to defeat. Instead, destroying the amulet merely ''releases'' the power, which flows back into Morpheus, making him more powerful than he was before...
** In one of the spinoffs, it's revealed that the first Despair convinced a sun-god to create life on an unstable planet, knowing that the planet would be destroyed eventually and leave a single survivor who would have to live his life in despair. The sun was Rao, the planet was Krypton, and the survivor was Kal-El, a man not known for giving into despair.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Swordquest}}'', the protagonists were destined to grow up as submissive servants in fear of the BigBad... only to become emboldened to rebel against him only after one of his captains killed their foster parents in a [[OffingTheAnnoyance moment of pettiness.]]
* The Elseworlds storyline ''ComicBook/JLACreatedEqual'' has an interesting case of this; after most of Earth's male population is wiped out by a strange disease, the only two men to survive the virus are Superman and Lex Luthor (Superman because it couldn't get through his super-immune system and Luthor because he sealed himself away before he could be infected). While sperm samples from Superman are used to begin repopulating Earth, Luthor determines that Superman is still a carrier of the virus, forcing the Man of Steel to leave Earth so he doesn't kill his children. Years later, Luthor has manipulated several of the male children to see him as a 'saviour' against the 'oppression' of the women who are 'holding them back', even after Superman returns to Earth, having discovered a cure for the virus in his travels even if it can't remove the virus from Superman due to the same immune system that stopped the virus killing him in the first place. However, when Luthor attempts to kill Superman with kryptonite, the kryptonite poisoning actually weakens Superman's immune system just enough for the antivirus to 'infect' him, purging Superman of the virus and allowing him to work on safely raising both his own children and the children Luthor had created in a lab and kept contained until he had eliminated Superman's offspring.
* In ''ComicBook/HexWives'', Aaron goes to great lengths to make sure the witches don't accidentally cut themselves and thereby activate their BloodMagic. Then he tells Isadora to make sure she washes the black-handled knives by hand as putting them in the dishwasher blunts them. Isadora, who was already in a strange headspace, decides to cut herself to see what happens.
* When ComicBook/GreenArrow and ComicBook/BlackCanary got married, various parties attempted to use the wedding to their advantage by having Oliver Queen switched with the shape-shifter Everyman during the ceremony, the intention being that Everyman would pose as Green Arrow for a month to infiltrate the heroes and then fake his own death to drive Black Canary to the Amazons (now currently controlled by Granny Goodness). Unfortunately, Everyman was psychologically incapable of performing sexually on the wedding night which drove him to try and kill Black Canary instead, ruining the long-term plan as she killed him in self-defence and eventually tracked down her missing lover.
* ''ComicBook/BillyBatsonAndTheMagicOfShazam'': Axe's command to a hypnotized Billy accidentally helped him discover that the Magic Lightning could break the spell, which he then used to free his sister Mary.

** "ComicBook/TheSuperDuelInSpace": A shrunken Superman manages to infiltrate Brainiac's ship, but he is mistaken for an annoying fly for Brainiac, who tells his pet Koko to swat it. While fleeing from Koko, Superman flies into a Bottle-City which Brainiac was examining and finds Kandor, the last Kryptonian city which survived its planet's explosion thanks to Brainiac stealing it for his collection and was rescued by Superman thanks to Koko chasing after him.

* In ''ComicBook/GreenLanternEarthOne'', [[Franchise/GreenLantern Hal Jordan]], after his ring loses its power, is captured by the Manhunters and forced to work as a slave miner alongside many other aliens. Nonetheless, the Manhunters fail to take the ring from him and once it recharges, Hal stomps all over them.

* The Elseworlds storyline ''JLA: Created Equal'' has an interesting case of this; after most of Earth's male population is wiped out by a strange disease, the only two men to survive the virus are Superman and Lex Luthor (Superman because it couldn't get through his super-immune system and Luthor because he sealed himself away before he could be infected). While sperm samples from Superman are used to begin repopulating Earth, Luthor determines that Superman is still a carrier of the virus, forcing the Man of Steel to leave Earth so he doesn't kill his children. Years later, Luthor has manipulated several of the male children to see him as a 'saviour' against the 'oppression' of the women who are 'holding them back', even after Superman returns to Earth, having discovered a cure for the virus in his travels even if it can't remove the virus from Superman due to the same immune system that stopped the virus killing him in the first place. However, when Luthor attempts to kill Superman with kryptonite, the kryptonite poisoning actually weakens Superman's immune system just enough for the antivirus to 'infect' him, purging Superman of the virus and allowing him to work on safely raising both his own children and the children Luthor had created in a lab and kept contained until he had eliminated Superman's offspring.

** "ComicBook/TheSuperDuelInSpace": A shrunken Superman manages to infiltrate Brainiac's ship, but he is mistaken for an annoying fly for Brainiac, who tells his pet Koko to swat it. While fleeing from Koko, Superman flies into a Bottle-City which Brainiac was examining and finds Kandor, the last Kryptonian city which survived its planet's explosion thanks to Brainiac stealing it for his collection and was rescuded by Superman thanks to Koko chasing after him.

* In ''ComicBook/GreenLanternEarthOne'', [[Franchise/GreenLantern Hal Jordan]], after his ring loses its power, is captured by the Manhunters and forced to work as a slave miner alongside many other aliens. Nonetheless, the Manhunters fail to take the ring from him and once it recharges, Hal stomps all over them.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':

** In one of the spinoffs, it's revealed that the first Despair convinced a sun-god to create life on an unstable planet, knowing that the planet would be destroyed eventually and leave a single survivor who would have to live his life in despair. The sun was Rao, the planet was Krypton, and the survivor was Cal-El, a man not known for giving into despair.

* In the first story arc of Creator/NeilGaiman's ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', the villain gets hold of the amulet containing the hero's power, and during the climactic battle (which he was winning anyway) he decides to destroy it, figuring that will leave the hero powerless and easy to defeat. Instead, destroying the amulet merely ''releases'' the power, which flows back into the hero, making him more powerful than he was before...

* ''ComicBook/ForeverEvil'': By moving the moon out of orbit, Ultraman creates havoc with Earth's oceans. The resulting flooding destroys the burial site of Black Manta's father. He's understandably a little pissed.