Comic Books
"Sometimes... sometimes I think the Asylum is a head. We're inside a huge head that dreams us all into being. Perhaps it's your head, Batman. Arkham is a looking glass... and we are you."
— Mad Hatter, Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth
Fan Works
"It cloned me, and the clone was, well, my evil side. My dark side. And it was just as real as... as real as me."
They were both Fate's mom, but only one of them was good, which made the coming battle symbolic. Maybe it was symbolic of motherhood, and how a real mother is the one who cares for the child, not the one who gives birth to her (or in this case, grows her in a cloning vat).
— Infinity
Both his and Sabbac's powers stemmed from the same diabolical source. Both of them had done deals with a fearsome and evil entity, and had been enabled to change into a new, more powerful, and more evil sort of being with the speaking of a word.
In a sense, they were evil Captain Marvels.
In a sense, they were evil Captain Marvels.
Films — Animation
"There is a difference between you and me. We both looked into the abyss. But when it looked back at us... you blinked."
— Batman to Owlman, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths
Films — Live-Action
"He is you. Your opposite, your negative. The result of the equation trying to balance itself out."
— The Oracle, The Matrix
Live-Action TV
Cpn. Ransom: You know, Janeway's not the only Captain who can help you explore your humanity.
Seven of Nine: You would be an inferior role model.
Seven of Nine: You would be an inferior role model.
— Star Trek: Voyager, "Equinox Pt. II"
Dr. Wells: ...Your powers are almost exactly like those of the Flash!
Reverse-Flash: Oh, I'm not like the Flash at all. Some would say I'm the reverse.
Reverse-Flash: Oh, I'm not like the Flash at all. Some would say I'm the reverse.
"The Hitler Youth: It is just like ze scouts... only evil!"
Oliver: This is sick.
Oliver-X: Do you mean looking at your reflection and seeing only weakness? I agree.
Oliver-X: Do you mean looking at your reflection and seeing only weakness? I agree.
— Crisis on Earth-X: Part 2
Tabletop Game
If confronting a Beast brings a hunter a moment of doubt, meeting a Hero is like looking into a mirror and realizing you don't much care for the person gazing out at you.
Video Games
"Hell yeah! Kojack is just evil Jack — and evil makes everything BETTER!"
— Kreese, MadWorld
Walton Simmons: You take another step forward and here I am again, like your own reflection in a hall of mirrors.
JC Denton: That makes me one ugly son of a bitch.
JC Denton: That makes me one ugly son of a bitch.
— Deus Ex
"I'm glad I hit my head when I was a baby! That's why I didn't end up like you!"
— Goku to Turles, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3
"It is like us. A flowing message. Crawling letters. A living meme. It is not us. It is anti-us, anti-luminosity that crucifies sentience."
—The Buzzing, The Secret World
Web Animation
"I keep coming back to that tagline. 'Your Enemies Shall Define You'. 'Cause it's true, Batman has the best villains in the business beause they all reflect an aspect of Batman: Two-Face reflects his duality, Scarecrow his use of fear and psychological tactics, Poison Ivy his— er....shapely buttocks."
Web Original
This is the basic problem with any 'evil version of the hero' villain. Because the role of the villain is to be reliably defeated they cannot possibly be an equivalent to the hero, whose role is, after all, to reliably not be defeated. (This inferiority is even reflected in his name - the Master has a lesser academic degree than the Doctor)
— El Sandifer, "Tardis Eruditorum"
Why would Bruckman pursue a relationship with anybody? You would be blighted with the exact circumstances of the moment they would be taken away from you. Instead he lives a depressing existence selling insurance because at least he can do some good with his gift that way, ensuring that people who are about to lose somebody are sufficiently covered... Hauntingly the connection between Bruckman and the killer is made perfectly clear: one predicts the deaths and the other makes them happen. You cannot have one without the other.
— Joe Ford
on The X-Files, "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose "
on The X-Files, "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose "Elektra works well as a concept for the same reason that Sean Bean as Alec Travelyn worked well...she’s the very concept of a Bond girl twisted and distorted. Objectified and abused, treated as a pawn in a game played between Renard and her father, she wasn’t ever treated as a person in her own right. Although obviously not taken to the same extremes, Elektra endured the most cynical version of the treatment regularly afforded Bond girls — as if she was nothing more than leverage or a body to warm a bed. Bond was never brutal to his conquests, but he used them all the same. Elektra has had enough of being played, and seeks to be a player in her own right.
I believe Dust is thinking what I’m thinking,” Ahrah said suddenly. “Dust was born of the wind and earth, leaving the final two elements, fire and water. Steam is born of those two elements. He could very well be similar to Dust.
He's the perfect nemesis for the little brother. Mario is brave and valiant, so he gets Bowser to match strength with. Luigi is fearful and more of a thinker, so King Boo gives him something to overcome, but also a challenge that Mario would struggle with. The hero fights the dragon, the thinker fights his fears.
— The Green Scorpion, Top Ten Video Game Ghosts
gryffon: every time i see steven universe discourse i think "what if people were this intensely analytical about My Gym Partner's a Monkey"
darthgryffon: my url is better than yours
gryffon: youre my shadow self and i need to kill you
— Tumblr
Web Video
"You don't need me to tell you that Marx and Kirby look kinda similar at a base level, to the point that you could be forgiven for believing that they're the same species. Marx likes food, likes to have fun, and rolls around on a cute little ball. By all accounts, he should be a sweet baby just like Dream Land’s hero. And when he’s not, the fact that he's in a universe where Kirby also exists just feels… wrong, like a betrayal of not just Kirby’s aesthetic, but of the mood of the Kirby series as a whole. Kirby characters… don’t really backstab each other. Sure, King Dedede doesn’t tell Kirby about why he broke apart the Star Rod here, or neglects to mention the god of the underworld he had locked in his basement there, but no one really takes advantage of Kirby to do anything diabolical. Mostly, they just work around him and hope he doesn’t mess their plans up. Even future traitors like Magolor would at least try to do things on their own before turning to Kirby, and even ol’ Mags was overwhelmed by the power of the Master Crown, losing his sense of self in the process. Marx, though? He’s introduced as Kirby’s friend. He knows what Kirby can do. He uses Kirby to get the ultimate power he craves. And his endgame in all of this? Just to make all the mischief he wants."
— Phyrrickong of Designing For, Marx: Kirby's Calamitous Clown -- Designing for Corruption
, Marx: Kirby's Calamitous Clown -- Designing for CorruptionWestern Animation
Evil Jim: I am your exact opposites. What you love, I hate. What you hate, I love! You know when you brush your teeth, and then drink orange juice?
Jim: Oh, I hate that!
Evil Jim: I LOVE IT! See what I mean?
—Earthworm Jim, "Conqueror Worm"
