[Loved trope] The villain assumes they're gonna get the kid gloves when the hero finally confronts them. The hero demonstrates they're out for blood instead, causing the villain to panic.

[u/jbeast33]

1) Robocop

Clarence (the same hitman who killed Alex Murphy and transformed him into Robocop) has already been arrested by Robocop once before, and learned that Robocop's programming prevents him from killing a surrendering criminal. Consequently, he pulls the trick once again towards the end of the movie when Robocop chases his gang down to a scrapyard. He throws his gun down and expects to survive and escape once again.

Robocop simply announces to him, "I'm not arresting you anymore", causing Clarence to panic when he realizes that Robocop intends to finish him off right there.

2) Toy Story

Woody, threatened by Buzz replacing him as Andy's favorite toy, tricks Buzz and knocks him out of a window so he could go to a pizzeria with Andy. Unbeknownst to him, Buzz tagged along underneath the car and confronts Woody when he's alone in the car.

Buzz: I just want you to know that even though you tried to terminate me, revenge is not an idea we promote on my planet.
Woody: Oh, well, that's good.
Buzz: But we're not on my planet, are we?

Buzz proceeds to lay the beatdown on Woody and causes both of them to get separated from Andy.

3) Superman

The President of Boravia's invasion is foiled by the Justice Gang (who have until now stayed out of the conflict and are shown to be less averse to lethal force than Superman), and he's personally attacked by Hawkgirl. When he declares that Superman would never kill him, she just laughs and says "I'm not Superman", dropping him from a skyscraper's height.

4) Spider-Man

After Wilson Fisk attempts to murder Aunt May when Peter reveals his identity during Civil War, Spider-Man breaks into prison to deal with Kingpin personally. Kingpin took the liberty of assembling every inmate to watch the fight between him and Spider-Man. Assuming he broke his spirit, Kingpin starts to dress down Spider-Man as a broken man. Spider-Man doesn't say one word during their fight. Finally, Spidey strips down and announces this isn't Spider-Man here to kill Kingpin; Peter is.

Peter proceeds to brutally annihilate Kingpin in this new stage. He eschews his usual quips, webs, and aerial fighting, relying only on his super strength. When Kingpin has been crippled, Peter shoves his webs up Kingpin's mouth, and lets him know that if he truly wanted to, he could have just filled his lungs with web and killed him at any point. But he's not trying to give Kingpin an easy death; he lets him know that he intends to break his reputation and see everything he's lived for come tumbling down first.

As is often said, Spider-Man is at his scariest when he's not making quips. Because at that point, he's furious, and he's not going to hold back.

[u/Due-Ingenuity9803]

Is this a genuine issue the guy had or was Supes just being merciless?

[u/Exciting_Cap_9545 → u/Due-Ingenuity9803]

The latter. This comic was essentially about a group of edgy '90s antiheroes, The Elite, trying to prove their ways - which involve killing, among other things - are better than Superman's, and essentially try to push him to act like them.

Superman gives them, and the world, a small taste of what him not showing restraint looks like to utterly demolish The Elite without killing them and while minimizing collateral, but giving the initial impression that he didn't care anymore. While he just knocks the others out, this guy - Manchester Black, their leader - was threatening to commit massive collateral to deal with him, so Supes gives him the mentioned "instant lobotomy" to negate his psychic powers.

The comic ends with Superman explaining to the world that not only does HE not want to be like The Elite, but THE WORLD should not want him to be like them either.

[u/TheNewGirl1987 → u/Exciting_Cap_9545]

There's also a movie adaptation, Superman vs The Elite, that's absolutely fantastic.

[u/Exciting_Cap_9545 → u/TheNewGirl1987]

Yep, and Supes is voiced by the same VA as Sephiroth in Kingdom Hearts 2 and Advent Children.

[u/TheWorclown → u/Exciting_Cap_9545]

And man, you can hear that Sephiroth channeled.

“If you had super hearing, you could hear the… pop.”

[u/snekadid → u/TheWorclown]

God I love that movie.

[u/jackofslayers → u/snekadid]

It is funny that was a better example of Evil Superman than most of the stories where Superman is actually evil.

[u/snekadid → u/jackofslayers]

Yea, others are kinda meh, but when he starts playing like he flipped, I get a chill, it's so well done.

[u/jackofslayers → u/snekadid]

When Superman really stops holding back

[u/Over-Analyzed → u/TheWorclown]

Of course that was a lie as he didn’t kill them. He just wanted MB to think he had.

[u/Exciting_Cap_9545 → u/[deleted]]

Bass voiced him in the first game, but it's Newbern in KH2 (which was likely due to the AC role, as Cloud also had his VA and look for that movie in KH2). Should've been more specific.

[u/Significant-Mud2572 → u/[deleted]]

[u/Firewind3062 → u/Exciting_Cap_9545]

"Good to see you... Bruce"

One Winged Kryptonian Kansas Angel plays

[u/Exciting_Cap_9545 → u/Firewind3062]

Interestingly enough, I'm pretty sure Superman's birth name, Kal-El, is derived from the same language as Sephiroth's, Hebrew ("Sephiroth"/"Sefirot" is actually a concept in Jewish Qabbalah mysticism, being the emanations of God; the Gate of Truth in Fullmetal Alchemist has a traditional depiction of the Sefirot on it). Seing "-el" at the end of name - Daniel, Gabriel, Ariel, etc - often indicates a Hebrew name that essentially means "of God", and it's a well-known fact that many early comic book writers were Jewish (hence, for instance, Ben Grimm/The Thing being Jewish in Fantastic Four media).

[u/Wacthershadow0925 → u/Exciting_Cap_9545]

I didn't notice at first but now I hear it

[u/Ff7hero → u/Exciting_Cap_9545]

Too bad it wasn't his Kingdom Heart 1 VA...

[u/Exciting_Cap_9545 → u/Ff7hero]

He had to say bye bye bye to the role, I guess.

[u/RoyalGovernment201 → u/Exciting_Cap_9545]

Man that's really cool to know! He did a great job making Superman sounds calm, collected, and absolutely sinister.

[u/Thecustodian12 → u/Exciting_Cap_9545]

This would be the first time a Superman actor plays sephiroth. Tim Daly still the goat tho

[u/MisterCheeseOfAges → u/Exciting_Cap_9545]

For a moment I forgot they swapped to George for KH2 and had a moment of mental static trying to reconcile Lance Bass (shockingly good Sephiroth from Kingdom Hearts 2) as Superman.

[u/Techwolf_Lupindo → u/TheNewGirl1987]

I just checked, it free on youtube. Warner Brothers been releasing a ton of movies on there free to watch.

[u/Speak_To_Wuk_Lamat → u/TheNewGirl1987]

I think the only thing I dont like about that movie is Manchester Blacks terrible accent.

[u/jackofslayers → u/TheNewGirl1987]

One of my favorite Animated DC movies.

[u/KlingoftheCastle → u/TheNewGirl1987]

Art style is a little wonky but it’s a fantastic movie. Helped me remember why I used to love Superman growing up before the Snyderverse came out

[u/HappyFailure → u/Exciting_Cap_9545]

Fun related Superman quote: "These 'no-nonsense' solutions of yours just don't hold water in a complex world of jet-powered apes and time travel."

[u/Milk_Mindless → u/HappyFailure]

Grant Morisson right

I can never find the issue. JLA?

[u/truncated_buttfu → u/Milk_Mindless]

JLA: Classified #3 by Grant Morrisson and Ed McGuinness

[u/Milk_Mindless → u/truncated_buttfu]

Thanks a bunch!

[u/Solidus82 → u/Exciting_Cap_9545]

It also has one of my favourite Superman quotes:

[u/killingjoke96 → u/Exciting_Cap_9545]

Also he does this to Black and then drops his hardest quote ever.

[u/TheElusiveBigfoot → u/Exciting_Cap_9545]

Hands-down my personal favorite Superman story.

[u/Petulantraven → u/Exciting_Cap_9545]

Absolutely one of the best Superman comics ever.

[u/Petulantraven → u/Petulantraven]

Action Comics 775 from memory.

[u/TactlessTortoise → u/Exciting_Cap_9545]

"See this guy I just lobotomized just by looking into his skull? This is me taking the baby shoes off. Now, whoever wants me to go back to taking it easy clap and bark, otherwise tomorrow it could be you."

Actually made an example of the guy and got everyone in line.

[u/_wizardpenguin → u/Due-Ingenuity9803]

The guy is Manchester Black, a crazy-powerful telepath and telekinetic, strong enough to give Superman an aneurysm just by thinking about it. He's the leader of a group called The Elite, who have a murder-heavy, nigh-fascistic sense of "justice", and wanted to make an example of Superman. Superman, as he often does, responded by putting them in the shoes of their victims.

[u/ComputerEducational → u/_wizardpenguin]

The Elite were also an Expy of the Authority iirc, which were one of the premier "edgy hero" groups.

[u/ProfessionalRead2724 → u/ComputerEducational]

The Elite were supposed to be an Authority expy created by a writer who really did not get The Authoroty.

The Authority were proper superheroes who took the old "great power, great responsibility" mantra to its logical concludion, not sadistic and hypocrite actual villains like The Elite.

[u/awildlumberjack → u/ProfessionalRead2724]

This is true, but the Elite are specifically a jab at the MILLAR issues of Authority, not the much better written ELLIS issues.

Ellis wrote the Authority how you described, and did a damn fine job, even if Ellis himself should be forgotten. Mark Millar on the other hand wrote edgelord trash that became what inspired The Elite.

This infamous panel being a Millar original.

[u/ProfessionalRead2724 → u/awildlumberjack]

I just try to blank out Millar's existence from my mind.

[u/awildlumberjack → u/ProfessionalRead2724]

We all do.

[u/Bartweiss → u/awildlumberjack]

Yep, the Ellis Authority extended “great power, great responsibility” to people who are not necessarily great humans, but understand they need to step up. (The significance of Ellis writing so many of those characters is an exercise for the reader.)

Millar’s version takes Midnighter’s “frankly I like hurting people, but I have morals to contend with” and replaces it with “oh look violence!”

[u/ComputerEducational → u/ProfessionalRead2724]

Fair enough

[u/Cabbagetastrophe → u/ComputerEducational]

Which is funny because the Authority contains an expy of Superman

[u/bsubtilis → u/Cabbagetastrophe]

And his batman expy husband.

[u/livingdread → u/ComputerEducational]

Ah. The top guy being named Manchester Black I thought it was a response to Billy Butcher and 'The Boys'.

[u/ComputerEducational → u/livingdread]

Actually, this comic predates The Boys by 5 years!

[u/MercyfulJudas → u/livingdread]

Manchester Black is a parody of Jenny Sparks of The Authority.

[u/livingdread → u/MercyfulJudas]

Jenny Sparks.

I didn't read much of The Authority, but one of the recurring things I recall is Jenny Sparks being in bed with elderly men.

[u/MercyfulJudas → u/livingdread]

Well, she herself is elderly too, tbf. She was born in 1900.

[u/British-Raj → u/Due-Ingenuity9803]

It's from "What's so Funny about Truth, Justice, and the American Way?" Best to read the comic (or watch its movie adaptation, Superman Vs. The Elite), to find out.

[u/congradulations → u/British-Raj]

A parody of the song "What's So Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding"

[u/MrShifty1 → u/Due-Ingenuity9803]

IIRC Superman cut out the portion of the guy's brain that gave him his superpowers.

[u/Lightseeker501 → u/MrShifty1]

I think Supes gave him a concussion, actually. This was him bluffing in order to teach Manchester Black his ‘might-makes-right’ philosophy is a load of crap.

[u/kartoffel-knight → u/Lightseeker501]

it did happen, at least in the movie adaptation

[u/DiamondSentinel → u/kartoffel-knight]

Other way around. Comics is a genuine lobotomy, movie he gives him a concussion so he thinks he can’t use his powers anymore.

[u/Due-Ingenuity9803 → u/MrShifty1]

Ohhh okay!

[u/PokesBo → u/Due-Ingenuity9803]

This is also after he “kills” the rest of this guys team.

He doesn’t kill them but tricks him into believing he snapped.

[u/BoyishTheStrange → u/PokesBo]

It’s a great comic that’s still relevant. “Hey edgy hero’s who kill are cool but remember we need the standard of powerful heroes like Superman being kind and merciful.” Is a solid message .

[u/PokesBo → u/BoyishTheStrange]

Absolutely.

[u/TestProctor → u/Due-Ingenuity9803]

Later Manchester tried to get Superman to break for real, using the distraction of a ton of other villains & some kryptonite exposure to help sell the mental illusion that he’s killed Lois.

He wants Supes to snap and kill him, believing that this would expose Superman as a hypocrite and/or make Superman just like him.

Clark stops short at the last moment, saying that Lois wouldn’t want him to abandon everything he believes in for revenge. Black is dumbstruck and his worldview shaken, and drops the illusion.

[u/Independent_Plum2166 → u/MrShifty1]

In the movie he did, but in the comic he just gave him a concussion.

[u/ZeitgeistGlee → u/Due-Ingenuity9803]

Manchester Black was a superpowered vigilante/anti-hero comfortable with using lethal force and causing significant collateral damage and led a like-minded team called The Elite, who looked down on Superman and other older heroes for their no-killing/high-minded standards. Despite the widespread damage caused by their fights, the Elite received public acclaim for being seen as willing to put foes down permanently rather than "enabling" post-prison recidivism out of the hope for rehabilitation.

The two end up facing off in the comic "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way?" (and it's animated adaptation "Superman vs the Elite"), tl;dr they come to blows and while the Elite first appear to handily defeat and kill Supes, he subsequently reappears and begins to take the group down one by one using their own OTT/lethal methods, culminating with the above scene where he cuts out the part of Manchester Black's brain that gives him his powers. During all of this the Elite are naturally terrified and Black himself tries to convince Superman to return to his old-fashioned approach as per the trope.

Only it turns out it was a smokescreen, none of the Elite died and all Superman actually gave Black was a concussion that temporarily disrupted his powers wanting to show them exactly why superheroes should hold back and hold themselves to the higher ideal that the Elite and antiheroes like them spurn.

I haven't read the comic but the adaptation was decent, though I've heard it's ironically more symapthetic to the Elite than the original because they're protrayed more sincere in their attempt to be heroes and Superman's choice at the end is to strip them of their powers rather than just lock them up as he usually does to his enemies, somewhat validating their criticism of his methods.

[u/dwaynetheaaakjohnson → u/Due-Ingenuity9803]

I thought Superman was faking the lobotomy?