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Power Grid

17 Kids Who Turned Out Alright

by The Mary Sue Staff | 12:36 pm, March 28th, 2012


Allow Us To Explain

Allow Us To Explain

The idea that evil is in the blood is an old one. Not quite as old as blood, but probably about as old as the knife. There are many religious philosophers that have put the concept of Original Sin under this heading, as representing “hereditary” evil tendencies in humankind.

And even when we look at the nurture side of the nature vs. nurture debate, we fully expect the children of evil parents to adopt their evil ways, which is odd, considering we don’t think it that weird when “good” parents wind up raising bad kids in fiction.

So here’s to the fictional characters who didn’t just have abusive childhoods but out right megalomaniacal parents, who in many cases were grooming them so they could later inherit a dominated world.

Runners up include Hellboy, Raven, Damien Wayne, Superboy, and Stephanie Brown. Thanks to to Esther for the suggestion!


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  • http://robot23.blogspot.com/ Jinxy Blastwave

    Cassandra Cain is a sentimental favorite of mine.  Early issues of her solo series were a pretty unique experience, as they had almost no dialogue.  Of course, that Oracle was a big part of her supporting cast was a huge plus for me.  We’ve all seen the “child raised to be an assassin” trope before, but her ability to read body language, and to interpret its meaning was a nice twist.  Cain, Shiva, Spoiler, Oracle, she really had a nice cast of characters going for her.  I’m really hoping they bring her back.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kaarel-Jakobson/100000313100671 Kaarel Jakobson

     It’s really quite maddening how DC jerked around fans of the character before the reboot.

    Several times, Cassie seemed to be shifting into a position where she could be relevant again. We even got some encouraging statements. “2010 is going to be a big year for Cassandra Cain, really!” Then it became “2011 is going to be a big year for Cassandra Cain, we mean it this time!” And just as Fabian Nicieza was starting to use her again… bam, gone forever (?).

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1208921 Nikki Lincoln

    I’m glad that Scott Evil wasn’t actually in this.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ryan-Quavey-Havers/1593505278 Ryan ‘Quavey’ Havers

    *Cries about Boromir*

  • http://nmlop.tumblr.com/ nmlop

    I AM SO GLAD ZUKO IS ON THIS LIST. As soon as I saw the topic I was like, “ZUUUUUUUUUUUKO.” He is the best.

  • http://www.facebook.com/1shewolf JoAnna Luffman

    ” leaving an even bigger whole in Denethor’s heart” 

    hole, not whole.

  • http://twitter.com/acidragdoll Bel

    Zuko’s whole arc was really touching.

  • Anonymous

    Haven’t seen all of the original Star Wars movies? Or haven’t seen the prequels? If it’s the latter, I applaud your discretion. If it’s the former, get your move on, Jamie! “The only people who haven’t seen Star Wars, the characters in Star Wars! Because they lived it. They LIVED the Star Wars!”

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Hannah-Paige-Woodard/100003224964929 Hannah Paige Woodard

    Faramir *swoons*

  • Anonymous

    Haven’t seen all of the original Star Wars movies? Or haven’t seen the prequels? If it’s the latter, I applaud your discretion. If it’s the former, get your move on, Jamie! “The only people who haven’t seen Star Wars, are the characters in Star Wars! Because they lived it. They LIVED the Star Wars!”

  • http://www.thegeekandinkwell.com/ Michelle

    I love the shout out to Faramir! And I love your dubbing of him and Boromir as “The Brothers Mir” – lol. :)

  • http://twitter.com/ThunderBeetle Abby Hernandez

    My mind jumped to 
    Cadel Piggot from the Evil Genius book series…and then I realized not enough people have read those books…

  • http://twitter.com/StillInvincible Em

    What, no Soranik Natu? Daughter of Sinestro, current Green Lantern of Korugar, as well as an accomplished doctor? Awww ):

  • http://twitter.com/zenoferic Erica Throne

    That’s not true. I learned at a show of Charlie Ross’ One Man Star Wars that there’s ALWAYS at least one person in a room who hasn’t seen a single SW movie. Which is tragic. And embarrassing, for them, at a One Man Star Wars show.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=68501456 April Sutter

    Oh my God…thank you, thank you, thank you for including that HIMYM reference!!  I say that all the time but no one ever gets it!!!

  • http://roseeclipse.livejournal.com/ Rose Jones

    Thank you for the Power Grid, Mary Sue, and thank you for including little Jack Frost! He’s the reason I thought such a grid should exist. Who else decides to go into a career in “heroism”? Sure, the parents of people like Luke Skywalker and Prince Zuko are messed up, but the kids still have every chance of saving the day…if not the world!

  • http://roseeclipse.livejournal.com/ Rose Jones

    Same here. Even in the flashbacks we see he was a good-hearted kid who was close to his mother. Then his happy life got ripped to shreds. Though adversity made him bitter and resentful, Zuko didn’t lose all of his humanity (unlike crazy Azula). He made a lot of mistakes along the way but finally chose the right path. And as Uncle Iroh pointed out, Zuko’s humility is what restored his own honor.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1261664808 Kat Curry

    In my opinion the “new 52″ is a slap in the face to most of the female comic book fans. Harleen Quinzel was a doctor, not a street walking tramp. Barbara Gordon was, WAS, a very qualified and astounding Batgirl, but she became even better as Oracle. So much continuity has been challenged and shamed because they want more fans, while their loyal fans are hung out to dry. I appreciate the effort to create new stories for the fans, but don’t slaughter the characters you don’t think people care about.

  • http://www.facebook.com/lalitha.cruz Lalitha Cruz

    I’m curious is there an incest relationship between Scarlett Witch and Quick Silver?

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/4N5TZZZFNNRS55TSMNDTGUWVOY Lisa

    Lalitha Cruz: In the Ultimates series, yes.

    Also, Magneto is good now.

  • TKS

    Avatar is actually the reason I got Netflix.  My wife and I enjoy marathoning television shows and until we watched Avatar a couple of years ago we just bought the seasons on DVD.  We killed it in about two months and $16 is a lot less expensive than $90 ($30 a season).

    It’s pretty quick and worth the watch.  (the first season is really episodic and somewhat slow, but Avatar is a good example of a show where each episode is better than the one before it.)

  • Nevaeh Jones

    but don’t slaughter the characters you don’t think people care about.

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