A Destroyer of Innocence is a type of villain who is responsible for a "loss of innocence". A "loss of innocence" occurs when a sympathetic and (usually) somewhat defenseless character is broken or harmed in some way or similar; this often invokes great feelings of anger by audiences and marks a common Moral Event Horizon for a Pure Evil villain. It can also refer to an event that causes unprecedented outrage in society, such as child murder and terrorist attacks, which challenges our concepts of what people can do to each other. Often, victims whose innocence are lost would never be the same person they used to be. It can also apply to villains who appear friendly and even loving at first to other characters, only to later reveal their truly evil nature-as well as villains who betray a friend or a loved one in the worst way possible.

Note: Not all Pure Evils destroy innocence, as some of them can cross the Moral Event Horizon by having lots of personal villainy to non-innocent people (e.g. Bogs Diamond, who constantly raped multiple prisoners in the jail; Kenzou, who persuaded his cult followers into suicide; Stem, who killed Grey's wife before paralyzing Grey himself).