History TookALevelInJerkass / TheDCU

** During TheNineties, Batman became something of an arrogant rude prick who'd constantly insult and sneer at every other hero just for not being as edgy as he was. This is best exemplified in ComicBook/{{Starman}}, where he insults the Golden Age Green Lantern (who's regarded with nothing but contempt from the rest of the superhero community) and physically threatens Jack himself when he stands up for Alan, all while constantly telling all of them how he's wasting his time. Mind you, he's supposed to look cool

** The original Eric Needham Black Spider was this after his UnexplainedRecovery as during ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'', he was shown willing to hang out with the very villains he originally swore to take down.

** During TheNineties, Batman became something of an arrogant rude prick who'd constantly insult and sneer every other hero just for not being as edgy as he was. This is best exemplified in ComicBook/{{Starman}}, where he insults the Golden Age Green Lantern (who's regarded with nothing but contempt from the rest of the superhero community) and physically threatens Jack himself when he stands up for Alan, all while constantly telling all of them how he's wasting his time. Mind you, he's supposed to look cool
** ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': Near the end of his career as Robin, Tim Drake's personality took a dark turn, even using Scarecrow's fear toxin against gangsters. The reason for this was largely due to losing his mom, dad, girlfriend, best friend, other best friend, stepmother, and adoptive father in separate instances and then having [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick]], [[ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} Stephanie]] and [[ComicBook/{{Wondergirl}} Cassie]] all betray his trust. Mostly Dick who refused to even listen to Tim's theory about what had really happened to Bruce and instead decided Tim was losing his mind, culminating in Dick giving Robin to Damian, who had made repeated attempts on Tim's life.

** As a result of the trauma his family suffered in ''ComicBook/TheJokerWar'', Lucius underwent this in ''ComicBook/TheNextBatmanSecondSon'', turning his back on Bruce and becoming more willing to take questionable steps to keep Gotham safe, including going down the path to help turn Gotham into the PoliceState seen in ''ComicBook/DCFutureState''.

** During TheNineties, Batman became something of an arrogant rude prick who'd constantly insult and sneer every other hero just for not being as edgy as he was. This is best exemplified in ComicBook/{{Starman]], where he insults the Golden Age Green Lantern (Who's regarded with nothing but contempt from the rest of the superhero community) and physically threatens Jack himself when he stands up for Alan, all while constantly telling all of them how he's wasting his time. Mind you, he's supposed to look cool

** During [[The'90s The '90s]], Batman became something of an arrogant rude prick who'd constantly insult and sneer every other hero just for not being as edgy as he was. This is best exemplified in ComicBook/{{Starman]], where he insults the Golden Age Green Lantern (Who's regarded with nothing but contempt from the rest of the superhero community) and physically threatens Jack himself when he stands up for Alan, all while constantly telling all of them how he's wasting his time. Mind you, he's supposed to look cool

* While Dr. Destiny was always a villain who crossed paths with the Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica, prior to the events of the first arc of ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', he never engaged in the behavior he did in that story, which infamously included torturing people in a diner for a day for his own amusement and driving a kid's show host to commit suicide on live TV -- and enocurage his audience to do likewise.

** In ''ComicBook/BatgirlAndTheBirdsOfPrey'', ComicBook/{{Huntress}} appears to be Darker and Edgier than she was in ''ComicBook/{{Grayson}}'', as she's shown to be killing every criminal that crosses her path, even threatening both ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} and ComicBook/BlackCanary. She does mellow down by the end of the first arc, however.

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

** ComicBook/PowerGirl during her diet soda processing problem in the 90's.

* ''ComicBook/GreenLAntern'': Guy Gardner was a fairly regular man. That is until he was hit by a bus, got trapped in the PhantomZone where he was tortured by General Zod, and [[TraumaCongaLine ended up in a coma upon his return to earth]], only to wake up years later with a massive chip on his shoulders.

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':

** ComicBook/PowerGirl during her diet soda processing problem Dork Age.

** In ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' continuity, Superman's father Jor-El can be described as this. Instead of being the benevolent, humble figure we are used to, he is a WellIntentionedExtremist involved in much more shady, underhanded and outright dangerous activities. Jor-El was part of a cabal of six secret rulers from different planets who ruled their galaxy from the shadows and met in secret, and ''[[ComicBook/TheKillersOfKrypton he would later create the humanoid behemoth Rogol Zaar]]'' to act as a mercenary for the Circle and carry out their dirty work in the galaxy. He becomes worse when [[spoiler: Dr. Manhattan]], the catalyst behind the previous New 52 universe who also set in a chain of events leading to the Rebirth universe, kidnapped him at the second Krypton was about to explode and placed him in the most war-torn city on Earth. After he saw the evils of some human men, he remarked how it was unbelievable for someone to be so wicked as to deny another human food. Later, Dr. Manhattan locks him in a room with video monitors where he witnesses man's inhumanity to man across generations: the Crusades, the Holocaust, the Ku Klux Klan, and other atrocities. This broke him and made him feel like humanity did not deserve his son's protection. He adopted the moniker of "Mr. Oz." and manipulated humanity's deepest emotions of hatred so they would turn against each other: a man firing at immigrant coworkers, a tribal leader firing on his own people and refugees. At the end, as punishment for his many sins and repeatedly violating the laws of nature and science, the Intergalactic Council returns him to his original place in the timestream, of Krypton's destruction, so he would perish along with the rest of the Kryptonians.
* As surprising as it may seem, when he first appeared, [[Franchise/GreenLantern Guy Gardner]] was a fairly regular man. That is until he was hit by a bus, got trapped in the PhantomZone where he was tortured by General Zod, and [[TraumaCongaLine ended up in a coma upon his return to earth]], only to wake up years later with a massive chip on his shoulders.

** Near the end of his carer as [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]], Tim Drake's personality took a dark turn, even using Scarecrow's fear toxin against gangsters. The reason for this was largely due to losing his mom, dad, girlfriend, best friend, other best friend, stepmother, and adoptive father in separate instances and then having [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick]], [[ComicBook/Batgirl2009 Stephanie]] and [[ComicBook/{{Wondergirl}} Cassie]] all betray his trust. Mostly Dick who refused to even listen to Tim's theory about what had really happened to Bruce and instead decided Tim was losing his mind, culminating in Dick giving Robin to Damian, who had made repeated attempts on Tim's life.

** In the new ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' continuity, Superman's father Jor-El can be described as this. Instead of being the benevolent, humble figure we are used to, he is a [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well-Intentioned Extremist]] involved in much more shady, underhanded and outright dangerous activities. Jor-El was part of a cabal of six secret rulers from different planets who ruled their galaxy from the shadows and met in secret, and he would later create the humanoid behemoth Rogol Zaar to act as a mercenary for the Circle and carry out their dirty work in the galaxy. He becomes worse when [[spoiler: Dr. Manhattan]], the catalyst behind the previous New 52 universe who also set in a chain of events leading to the Rebirth universe, kidnapped him at the second Krypton was about to explode and placed him in the most war-torn city on Earth. After he saw the evils of some human men, he remarked how it was unbelievable for someone to be so wicked as to deny another human food. Later, Dr. Manhattan locks him in a room with video monitors where he witnesses man's inhumanity to man across generations: the Crusades, the Holocaust, the Ku Klux Klan, and other atrocities. This broke him and made him feel like humanity did not deserve his son's protection. He adopted the moniker of "Mr. Oz." and manipulated humanity's deepest emotions of hatred so they would turn against each other: a man firing at immigrant coworkers, a tribal leader firing on his own people and refugees. At the end, as punishment for his many sins and repeatedly violating the laws of nature and science, the Intergalactic Council returns him to his original place in the timestream, of Krypton's destruction, so he would perish along with the rest of the Kryptonians.

* While Dr. Destiny was always a villain who crossed paths with the Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica, prior to the events of the first arc of ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', he never engaged in the behavior he did in that story, which infamously included torturing people in a diner for a day for his own amusement.

** As a result of the trauma his family suffered in ''ComicBook/TheJokerWar'', Lucius underwent this in ''ComicBook/TheNextBatmanSecondSon'', turning his back on Bruce and becoming more willing to step questionable steps to keep Gotham safe, including going down the path to help turn Gotham into the PoliceState seen in ''ComicBook/DCFutureState''.