Line #8 ThouShaltNotKill/WesternAnimation


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3	%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!
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6	!!The following have their own pages:
7	[[index]]
8	* ThouShaltNotKill/TheDCU
9	* ThouShaltNotKill/MarvelUniverse
10	[[/index]]
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12	* [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderAvatarAang Aang]] in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' is more than willing to use violence if necessary, but draws the line at killing. While he doesn't complain when his friends use potentially lethal force against soldiers, he does take issue when they suggest deliberately killing someone (Katara avenging her mother). This weighs heavily on him in the finale, where he is faced with the possibility that killing Fire Lord Ozai may be the only way to end the Hundred Year War, and pretty much everyone is telling him that he's going to have to do so despite his reservations. He then tries communing with the spirits of previous Avatars, hoping one of them will provide a non-lethal solution, but they too say he'll have to kill Ozai. Even the previous Air Nomad Avatar, who shared Aang's religious objection to killing, says that as Avatar, his duty to protect the world is more important than his personal beliefs, implicitly accusing him of selfishness for being so reluctant to kill. [[spoiler:[[DebateAndSwitch The dilemma is ultimately rendered moot once Aang comes across someone who has the perfect solution to his problem, allowing him to defeat Ozai without killing him.]]]]
13	** This is averted by Aang's successor [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraAvatarKorra Korra]] in the SequelSeries ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', who is not only more violent than Aang, but has shown that she is willing to kill, even when it isn't strictly necessary. When Tarrlok pressed her BerserkButton one too many times and started a fight, she implicitly intended to kill him for it even after he was rendered defenseless (he used bloodbending to stop her). In the following season, she blatantly threatens to murder a judge when he sentences her father to death for supposedly trying to kidnap her uncle, then chases him down and threatens him further when the sentence is reduced to life imprisonment. When she thought her father was killed by Zaheer in Book 3, she likewise threatened to kill him (that didn't pan out, though not for lack of trying). She also actually kills [[spoiler:[[ShootTheDog Unalaq after his fusion with Vaatu]]]], though she regrets having to do so. Korra's allies haven't shown any aversion to lethal force, either; in the Book 3 finale, [[spoiler:P'Li is killed by Suyin and Mako kills Ming-Hua]].
14	** This is part of the Air Nomad philosophy, and Air Nomads in general are opposed to killing. Avatar Yangchen personally rejected this, because she believed that the Avatar's own spiritual needs were to be set aside for the good of the world. Meanwhile, while normally embodying Air Nomad pacifism, Gyatso abandoned this position when the Air Temple was under deadly attack...and proved to be one of the deadliest combatants ever seen, [[OneManArmy killing over a hundred Fire Nation soldiers by himself]].
15	* [[Characters/Ben10BenTennyson The titular]] ''Franchise/Ben10'' follows this principle, and often refuses to kill his enemies. Even when his enemies are [[ANaziByAnyOtherName the Highbreed]], [[spoiler:he decides to save them by fixing their DNA once he finds out that they're dying]]. Any instance where he goes out to kill someone is a telltale sign that [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness things are that bad for him]], such as when he attempts to kill Kevin during ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien Ultimate Alien]]''.
16	* In ''WesternAnimation/CaptainSimianAndTheSpaceMonkeys'', the titular heroes' SufficientlyAdvancedAlien benefactors supply them with non-lethal weaponry, presumably because of this trope.
17	* In ''WesternAnimation/DanVs'', the [[VillainProtagonist title character]] is a violent {{Jerkass}} with a HairTriggerTemper who will go to a RoaringRampageOfRevenge for the [[RevengeBeforeReason most]] [[EvilIsPetty minor of]] [[DisproportionateRetribution inconveniences.]] But he draws the line of killing his offender and takes offense when someone suggests it.
18	** More PlayedForLaughs, but Dan was pretty surprised when his best friend [[BigEater Chris]] admits that he would kill for bacon.
19	** Worth noting, however, that in the pilot, Dan was [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness all too willing to kill a library patron]] because it furthered his goals at the time. Chris talked him down, but a passing vehicle took the whole thing out of their hands anyway.
20	** In essence, Dan's willingness to kill depends on two factors: exactly how irrational he is at the moment (and he's almost always on some level of insanity) and RuleOfFunny.
21	** Dan also only seems to be averse only to killing his offenders directly. He's perfectly fine with encouraging others to do so.
22	** There are also a number of times where Dan's revenge ''should'', by all logic, kill his offender, but they survive because of RuleOfFunny.
23	* All fairy godparents in ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' have to follow ''[[MagicallyBindingContract Da Rules]]'' when they grant wishes. The most sacred, most important rule of all? A kid cannot wish someone dead. Which wasn't a rule until one little girl wished for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, thus starting [=WWI=]. They've even closed the most obvious loopholes by making rules against maiming or severely injuring people -- you can only wish for "non-lethal" bad things to happen to your enemies.
24	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' has an interesting relationship to this trope. In the modern day, the Clan is generally averse to killing. In the flashbacks to Scotland, though, they don't seem to have any problem with it. At one point, Goliath spells it out that killing someone in the heat of battle was alright. Just attacking someone with the intent to kill, however, was murder.
25	** Averted near the end of the series where a family hunting Demona nearly kill Goliath's daughter. He declares that he will "hunt them down. And I will ''kill'' them." He doesn't (initially) change his mind either; the next time he sees them, he tries to kill them by hurling them into a wall of electrical equipment. They only survived because they had special armor on that absorbed the damage. Apparently, the writers had to fight tooth and nail to let [[NeverSayDie that line]] stay in as it was.
26	*** It's even more complicated. From a cultural standpoint, revenge is an acceptable response within Gargoyle society, to the point of it being honorable (at least for the Scottish Clan). Probably for the sake of family-friendliness, one of the first lessons the Gargoyles seem to absorb is that the modern-day justice system is now the proper outlet for punishing transgressors, since it isn't nearly as corrupt as ancient courts were. But as mentioned above, that isn't always good enough for the heroes.
27	* ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'': He-Man seemed to live and die by a code of not killing anyone. This causes a crisis of conscience in one episode where he believes he has allowed someone to be killed [[spoiler: but it was actually [[ThePlan a trick by Skeletor]] to make him give up his powers]].
28	* {{Invoked}} by the Sword of Power in ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse2021''. While it can cut down robots, undead, and inanimate objects with ease, it ''cannot'' take a life. This limitation is why [[spoiler:King Grayskull created [[TheDarkSide the power of Havoc]], since the power of Grayskull was proving insufficient in winning the war against the Snake Men]].
29	* In the WesternAnimation/MGMOneShotCartoon "Peace on Earth," mankind has eliminated itself through warfare. Animals come out to assess things as an owl discovers a Bible which he turns to "Thou Shalt Not Kill." The owl perceives the book as a set of rules that man couldn't be bothered to pay attention to.
30	* ''WesternAnimation/MyGoldfishIsEvil'': Although easily capable of killing Admiral Bubbles by any number of simple methods, and though the former has tried to kill him a few times, Beanie chooses not to do so for moral reasons, in imitation of his favorite superhero and because Bubbles is the last thing he and his mom have of his father. Admiral Bubbles taunts him for this a few times.
31	* Although killing is rarely touched upon in the show, ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' seems to somewhat demonstrate the KND, and some villains going by this trope. They instead try to subdue each other as a means to win fights; respectively, the KND would subdue and apprehend villains to imprison them in Arctic base, while the non-killing villains merely do whatever they have in mind with KND Operatives once they overpower them.
32	* A ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' skit had Franchise/{{Batman}} managing to get past his code by giving the court a testimony that ends with ComicBook/TheJoker getting the death penalty.
33	-->'''Batman:''' [[SarcasmMode "It's erm]], [[LoopholeAbuse out of my hands."]]
34	* In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'':
35	** [[Characters/StevenUniverseStevenQuartzUniverse Steven Quartz Universe]] and his mother [[Characters/StevenUniverseRoseQuartz Rose Quartz]] both view shattering a Gem (which would permanently kill them) as a horrible thing and refuse to do so. Rose took this to the point of having her personal sword forged specifically to be able to destroy a Gem's unimportant body (thus rendering them helpless, but able to regenerate eventually) but ''never'' their Gem. [[spoiler:Both end up refusing [[KnightTemplar Bismuth's]] offer of a OneHitKill weapon designed specifically for shattering Gems for this reason.]] However, Rose did seem to only apply this condition to herself, merely desiring her army treat shattering as a last resort rather than their go to battle strategy [[spoiler:given her interactions with Bismuth]] and [[spoiler:we learn [[BatmanGrabsAGun Rose had to make an exception to save Earth by killing Pink Diamond]], its reigning EvilOverlord.]] [[spoiler:Except she didn't, as Rose Quartz ''[[TwoAliasesOneCharacter is]]'' [[Characters/StevenUniversePinkDiamond Pink Diamond]].]]
36	** [[Characters/StevenUniverseCrystalGems The Crystal Gems]] as a whole seem to have this mentality towards ''humans''. Which makes sense, given the entire reason they've done everything they have was for their protection. They're still willing to beat one up though if [[MamaBear they threaten Steven.]]
37	* The Creator/{{Filmation}} compilation series ''The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure'', averts this. Superman doesn't hesitate to kill the alien villain Mastermind by blowing him up.

Context ThouShaltNotKill / WesternAnimation