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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"Rule one: good supervillains [[Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?|never leave the heroes alive
|'''[[The Joker]]''', who has learned from his mistakes, in ''[[Batman: The Brave and the Bold]]''}}
{{quote|''"For all you aspiring villains, remember: When victory is just a push of a button away, you are required to complicate the matter in the most ridiculous way possible."''|'''Cracked.com''', ''The 5 Most Needlessly Evil Super Villain Strategies''.}}▼
▲{{quote|''"For all you aspiring villains, remember: When victory is just a push of a button away, you are required to complicate the matter in the most ridiculous way possible."''
|'''Cracked.com''', ''The 5 Most Needlessly Evil Super Villain Strategies''.}}
Evil sows the seeds of its own destruction. At least that's what every [[Aesop]] and fortune cookie says, anyway. There seems to be some truth to it, though, at least in fiction, because regardless of [[Genre Savvy]], villains tend to inherently draw the kind of heroic attention to themselves that leads to their demise, or at least the demise of their [[Evil Plan]]. Basically, they're saddled with carrying their own version of the [[Idiot Ball]]: the Villain Ball.
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Maybe their attempt at averting attention [[Revealing Coverup|has the opposite effect,]] or (often due to [[Pride]]) they insist on taking a loved one of the heroes [[Hostage for Macguffin|hostage in exchange for the MacGuffin]] and [[You Said You Would Let Them Go|busting the deal]], and [[It's Personal|make it personal for the hero]], perhaps they feel insecure without Bauer involved in their most sensitive operations or maybe they just can't help [[And Your Little Dog, Too|threatening the innocent puppy]] to show that they really are [[Designated Villain|the Villains]], no ''really!''
Inevitably, it's their own inherent [[Fatal Flaw
Villains who are likely to carry the
* [[Asshole Victim]]
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* [[The Starscream]]
* [[Villainous Harlequin]]
* [[Villain Ball Magnet]], receiving the
Related Plots:
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[[Sub-Trope]] of [[Evil Will Fail]]. See also [[Contractual Genre Blindness]], often a choice when [[Evil Is Stylish]]. For villains who pass the
Also see and contrast [[The Villain Makes the Plot]].
{{examples|page=the Villain Ball in action}}
== Anime
* Light in ''[[Death Note]]'' does this a disproportionately high amount of times for someone who is also [[Genre Savvy]].
** He kills "L" out of spite for calling him a criminal, leading to L knowing exactly where he is
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* In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's]]', all Jean has to do to defeat Yusei after a long and extensive duel is end his turn since Yusei has no cards left in his deck and would automatically lose once his turn began, however he gets caught up in the thrill of the duel and attacks Yusei who defends with a card in his hand and depletes Jean's life points.
* ''[[Ojamajo Doremi]]'': Incumbent [[Alpha Bitch|Tamaki]] and Masaharu are contesting the class election. This divides the class into two. Masaharu can't stand it, and decides to concede the election to Tamaki. In response she says, "How can a candidate back out? We need to have a righteous contest, right? I'd rather you do that." Her (main) reasoning comes across as even more idiotic: "My pride won't allow a win without a fight", rather than "No one will vote for someone who wants us to clean the room 3 times a day <ref>not when my policy is to clean once every 3 days</ref>". It's supposedly awesome that Tamaki's attempt to whitewash Masaharu in the election ends up backfiring, but then he announces his intention to have a neighborhood cleanup, and that has everyone freaking.
* ''[[
** Garlic Jr. holds one of these in the movie ''Dead Zone''. He obtains the Dragonballs and succesfully uses them to wish for immortality, allowing him to utterly dominate the heroes in combat since they can't kill him. Instead of just killing them like this, Garlic Jr. opens a portal to the [[Phantom Zone|Dead Zone]], hoping to suck the heroes in. Of course, the heroes instead knock ''him'' into the portal, trapping him forever. At least untill an anime [[Filler]] arc where he escapes... and makes ''the exact same mistake'' again.
* The antagonists of ''[[Ookamikakushi]]'' have a tendency to incapacitate their victims in a manner that would guarantee death within minutes, then leave them alive long enough to warn someone else of their plans. {{spoiler|Ironically, it's what one, Sakaki, does to the other, Kasai.}} Aferwards, it is now {{spoiler|Sakaki's}} turn to carry the Villain Ball around like a child carries a lollipop. From the aforementioned leaving his victim alive long enough to warn someone of his plan, to leaving the control station unguarded right after doing what he came to do, to his sudden inability to shoot anyone while also gaining the ability to rant and rave and ''just stand there''...
* Byaku at the end of the ''[[Kekkaishi]]'' anime. {{spoiler|Yoshimori had willingly come to the Kokoboro and was demanding they bring him Kaguro. Byaku had never shown any particular loyalty to his lieutenants thus far, and had particular reason not to be attached to Kaguro. But instead of trying to make a deal with Yoshimori, he orders Shion to try to break Yoshimori's spirit and weaken his powers.}}
== Film -- Animation ==
* [[Disney]] examples:
** In ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'', everything would have worked out fine for Jafar if he'd simply tossed Aladdin a few coins and sent him on his way rather than double-crossing him after Aladdin retrieved the lamp.
*** In fairness to Jafar, given the sequence of events, he may've been unaware that Aladdin had found Carpet in the Cave of Wonders. Carpet was pinned under a rock before having a [[Big Damn Heroes]], so sending Aladdin falling to his death in a collapsing mystical cave isn't so crazy. (Plus, Jafar thought he had the lamp at the time.) Still, the
*** In the end Jafar was already the most powerful sorcerer on Earth, he was more than strong enough to defeat Aladdin. Instead he had to be the most powerful creature and wished to be a genie, [[Be Careful What You Wish For|with all that entails]].
** At the end of ''[[The Lion King]]'', when Simba, still blaming himself for his father's death, is dangling from the edge of a cliff, Scar can't resist doing some [[Evil Gloating]] and says "'''[[Just Between You and Me|I]]''' [[Just Between You and Me|killed Mufasa.]]" [[Unstoppable Rage|Big mistake.]]
*** [[Never My Fault|"It was all the hyenas' fault!"]] Of course, simply trusting the hyenas - whom he claimed more than once [[Surrounded by Idiots| were a bunch of idiots]] - shows poor judgment on Scarr's part.
** From ''[[The Emperor's New Groove]]''; when you're a master alchemist like Yzma is and have a large stash of deadly poisons, it ''might'' be a good idea to label them clearly. Even Kronk (who is something of a dimwitt) points this out the first time it causes a problem (where he accidentally taints Kuzco's drink with llama extract) and the same problem comes back later in the film when she knocks over a ''whole shelf'' of unlabeled potions. One can only hope being turned into a kitten causes her to learn her lesson.
** If you're a fan of Disney movies, you likely know that [[Disney Death| falling from great heights]] is the #1 cause of death among villains - one would think they'd avoid ledges, but Frollo's death at the end of ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'' was especially careless - that gargoyle wouldn't have been a safe place to stand (let alone fight) even if it ''hadn't'' been alive.
** Speaking of the [[Disney Death]] thing, in ''[[Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)|Beauty and the Beast]]'' Gaston gets two examples of this Trope in the span of about ten minutes. Firstly, he has a reputation of an expert marksman. In his [[Villain Song]], he demonstrates his skill by twirling his blunderbuss and shooting it three times in rapid succession, and in an earlier scene, proves he can use it with pinpoint accuracy while hunting birds. Oddly, for some reason he doesn't bring it for the [[Final Battle]], opting to use a bow and arrow while confronting Beast. Second, after Beast decides to show mercy, Gaston tries to stab him ''while dangling over the edge of the castle's roof and holding onto Beast's cloak with one hand''. How stupid can you get?
** Whether Clayton's death at the end of ''[[Tarzan (Disney film)|Tarzan]]'' qualifies as a Disney Death or not is debatable, given how brutal it is, but it is, again, his fault. At the climax of the story, he is tangled in a bunch of vines that are preventing him from plunging to his death, and in his rage, he whips out his machette and starts to hack at them, not even noticing that one of the vines is wrapped around his neck. Tarzan, on the other hand, notices this and screams at him to stop - sadly for Clayton, he doesn't listen.
** Sikes' death at the finale of ''[[Oliver & Company]]'' seriously Averts that old Trope. Sure, driving onto the subway tracks was a pretty dumb move on Fagin's part, but at least his motorcycle is more manuverable than Sikes' limosine; once he stupidly followed them onto the tracks, it was clear he wouldn't be able to get off them easily, and how far did he think he'd get before he ran into a train? The truly sad part is, he doomed himself (and his guard dogs, who he callously sacrificed) all over a small amount of ransom money.
** In ''[[Hercules (1997 film)|Hercules]]'', Hades' [[Evil Plan]] is to feed the hero a potion that will make him mortal, doing so while Hercules is still an infant, so he can be killed, and thus enabling him to conquer Olympus. But he makes an all-too common Villain Ball mistake, trusting this important task to his moronic henchmen Pain and Panic - who, it seems, are not ''completely'' moronic, as when they louse it up, they're smart enough not to tell him, resulting the villain not knowing of the danger to his plan until Hercules has grown up.
** The Horned King from ''[[The Black Cauldron]]'' was one of the scariest villains in Disney history, but he sure wasn't one the smartest. If he had simply told a small fraction of the undead horde he had created to guard the eponymous cauldron, things might well have turned out differently. Instead, he leaves it completely unguarded, letting poor Gurgi get close enough to [[Heroic Sacrifice| throw himself into it]] and destroy its evil power.
** In ''[[Frozen (Disney film)|Frozen]]'', Hans is delighted when Anna shows up at the castle, having nearly frozen to death, blaming her condition on Elsa - once Anna perishes, he can (legitimately) blame Anna's death on Elsa, dispose of her, and becoming King with ease. But [[Bond Villain Stupidity| he makes a rookie mistake]] - not making sure Anna dies before leaving to tell everyone she is dead. He doesn't even post a guard at the door, and Olaf of all people is able to break in and free her.
** In ''[[Pocahontas]]'', gold obsessed Governor Ratcliffe thinks the natives are hiding some giant horde. While most of his troops aren't too keen on the whole “wealth is worth genocide” idea, Ratcliffe does convince them to attack the tribe after the chief sentences John Smith to die. However, when the attack is halted after the heroine persuades her father not to kill Smith, Ratcliffe decides to... shoot Smith. He probably wasn't ''aiming'' at Smith (more likely, he was aiming at the chief, only for Smith to dive in front and [[Taking the Bullet|take the bullet]]) but shooting the man you had claimed you were intending to save, in front of his fellow soldiers... suffice to say he may as well have shot himself in the foot.
* In most settings with superheroes, the cape is a common fashion accessory; however, in the setting of ''[[The Incredibles]]'', this accessory is often a lethal hazard for the occupation. Costume designer Edna Mode refuses to add this feature to any of her designs, sternly warning Mr. Incredible by describing the ugly deaths of supers who ignored this warning. Despite this, Syndrome - an [[Evil Genius]] who builds technology bordering on [[Applied Phlebotinum]] - puts one on his villain-costume, and in the climax of the movie, fares no better.
== Film -- Live Action ==
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* In ''[[Dream House (film)|Dream House]]'', {{spoiler|Jack Patterson}} clutches the villain ball during the climax. First, he {{spoiler|shoots his accomplice Boyce}} without making sure that {{spoiler|[[Not Quite Dead]] he was dead}}. Second, he ties up {{spoiler|Ann}} instead of killing {{spoiler|her}}. Not only does {{spoiler|Peter Ward rescue Ann, Boyce pours a flammable liquid onto Jack's escape path, resulting in Jack getting burned}}.
* Willy Bank and Terry Benedict in ''Ocean's Thirteen''. The former's outright betrayal of Reuben leading to Ocean and co. seeking justice is the impetus for the plot; knowing full well their reputation as capable of beating the odds. The latter in his insistence to betray them and get several diamonds.
* It does not always happen to the [[Big Bad]]: In the [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] film ''[[Thunderball]]'' (1965), Count Lippe alias "sub-operator G", was handed the ball and attacked an unsuspecting off-duty Bond, tipping him off about what was happening in the fitness center. As a result, he was [[You Have Failed Me...|properly dealt with]] by his boss.
** The novel version, at least, has Count Lippe trying to kill Bond because he (mistakenly) believed that Bond had penetrated his cover and was there to take ''him'' out. However, like the movie version, he fails and is "properly dealt with" for his failure. Ironically, Bond never figures out that Lippe was working for SPECTRE at all, although Felix Leiter eventually puts the pieces together.
*** Lippe attacks Bond because Bond recognised his tattoo as linking him to the Tongs, a Chinese criminal syndicate. Bond was indeed investigating him (calling Moneypenny to relay his suspicions) so his cover really was blown, just to a lesser extent. Also remember that SPECTRE is about "Revenge" and Bond is marked for death by them for foiling their earlier schemes (in fact, the entire second movie was about their plan to murder him). So really, killing Bond was'nt all that unreasonable.
*** Lippe didn't know he was dealing with James Bond; he was simply protecting himself.
** In another Bond film, ''[[Octopussy]]'', Bond finds himself trapped in a [[Knife Outline]] by Grishka, the remaining half of a pair of knife-throwing twins, whose brother Mishka had been killed by Bond earlier. Grishka has one knife remaining, so what does he do? He tells Bond "[[And This Is For|And this is for my brother!]]", and charges towards Bond! Bond manages to take one of the knives out of the outline and throws it at Grishka, adding "And ''that's'' for 009!"
* The only reason Han Solo ''could'' [[The Dog Shot First|shoot first]] in ''[[Star Wars]]'' was because Greedo took the time to gloat instead of shooting when he had the chance.
** And as [[Irregular Webcomic]] points out, Luke might very well have turned to the [[Dark Side]] in ''Return of the Jedi'' if the Emperor hadn't kept snapping him out of it.
*** Let's not forget how Palpatine [[It Was His Sled|died]] in the first place. He decides to kill Luke slowly while Vader is standing right behind him, knowing full well that Anakin never took too kindly to people hurting his family and was unwilling to kill his own son to begin with. Why would he let Palpatine do the deed? It also doesn't help that he had spent the past twenty minutes telling Luke to kill Vader since he was past his prime, making sure Vader knew he wasn't needed anymore. He might as well have asked Vader to kill him on the spot instead.
**** Perhaps it's not entirely [[Justified Trope|justified]] but it's worth nothing that the Sith aren't supposed to care about their family or friends as anything but tools once they've given themselves over completely to the Dark Side. Given Vader hadn't seen his son until twenty years after he was born and had been trying to turn him to the Dark Side, it's not completely unreasonable for the Emperor to have expected him to stand by and do nothing, given the circumstances. Similarly, the Emperor didn't expect Vader to become offended about the Emperor's instructions to Luke - if anything the Emperor in Vader's place would, by his own admission, have been offended if Vader ''hadn't'' instructed Luke to kill him (again, way of the Sith and all that). So really what it comes down to is that the Emperor thought Vader was more of a true believer Sith than he turned out to be.
***** To be fair, Vader did openly ask Palpatine if they
** In the third movie, [[Big Bad|Palpatine]] almost got hit by one of the senate platforms during his battle with Yoda because he was busy ''[[Evil Laugh|laughing maniacally]]''.
* The plot of each of ''[[The Transporter]]'' films basically doesn't kick-off until someone higher in the criminal food-chain than the [[Villain Protagonist|Protagonist]] grabs the
* In ''[[The Untouchables]]'', Mafia hitman Frank Nitti murders {{spoiler|Jimmy Malone}} by writing his apartment address [[Going by the Matchbook|on a matchbook]]. Unfortunately for him, he forgets to dispose of it after his hit. When he bumps into Eliot Ness, he offers the matchbook to light his cigarette with. Ness sees the address, and putting two and two together, chases Nitti and {{spoiler|pushes him off a roof [[Car Cushion|into a car]].}}
** Nitti also can't leave well enough alone! {{spoiler|Ness pulls him up to the roof after considering shooting him when he's hanging by a rope but then Nitti starts gloating about killing Malone, saying that he "died screaming like a stuck up pig" which is what finally makes Ness throw him off the roof.}}
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** The French boy, Michel (who continually bullies Ray's son), has already seen Hancock demonstrate his powers on several occasions when he lands in front of Ray's home. When Michel keeps calling Hancock an asshole, he gets thrown miles up into the sky for his trouble.
** The bank robber who attempts to threaten Hancock with a dead man's switch detonator connected to C4 placed on all the hostages. He plainly sees Hancock taking off the metal shade off a lamp and turning it into a makeshift sawblade ''while he's calling the guy sent to stop him an asshole''. Is it any wonder that he got his hand lopped off after ignoring repeated warnings?
* Hannibal Lector is an [[Evil Genius]] who usually avoids this, but in ''[[Hannibal]]'' he decides to cut off his own arm in order to escape; dramatic and thrilling, yes (seeing as it is implied at first he's going to cut of Starling's hand) but pointless, as he could have simply used the cleaver to cut the chain. This is even mentioned in ''[[MAD]]'' magazine's parody of the film.
== Literature ==
* In ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'', Tyrion Lannister tells {{spoiler|Tywin that if he uses a certain word, he will shoot him. Of course the word is uttered. Given Tywin's utter contempt for his son it is quite likely he used the word on purpose, never thinking Tyrion would actually shoot him especially while on the privy and is quite in character.}} In ''A Dance with Dragons'', {{spoiler|Janos Slynt insults Jon Snow, Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, in front of the entire Night's Watch, and flat-out refuses to obey his orders. So Snow chops off his head. It's even more satisfying to the readers because Snow doesn't know how Slynt's betrayal contributed to his father's death. It's probably one of the most satisfying [[Karmic Death
* Alt-history novelist Robbie Taylor came up with a wonderful subversion of this idea: at the moment of defeat, the Antichrist ''accepts Jesus as his personal savior'' and therefore qualifies for admission to Heaven.
* Lampshaded in ''[[Heirs of Alexandria|Much Fall of Blood]]''. The [[Evil Sorcerer]] plans to trap and sacrifice the heroes in a location where magic doesn't work. Of course, this means the [[Evil Sorcerer]] has no access to magic either, and the heroes are better in a physical melee.
* The leader of the [[Rubber Forehead Aliens|Psychlos]] from the ''[[Battlefield Earth]]'' novel and film does a lot of things that make the viewer/reader shout, "[[What an Idiot!]]!" In an especially stupid move, the leader teaches the hero, Jonny "Goodboy" Tyler, [[Instant Expert|everything about Psychlos in a matter of seconds]], in an attempt to get him to assist their enslavement of Earth. Naturally, it comes back to bite him in the ass at the end in a ''big'' way.
* [[Harry Potter|Lord Voldemort]], amusingly enough, suffered from being more evil than needed and less evil than he could've been at the same time. If he'd just killed Lily Potter without offering her a chance to step aside or if he'd deigned to toss her aside when she refused, instead of killing her, he would've won. But in doing things that exact way he provided the conditions for her [[Heroic Sacrifice]], which eventually led to his doom.
* In the ''[[Everworld]]'' series, Senna Wales was a [[Magnificent Bastard]] up until the series was to be cancelled. At this point in the story, she had become allies with a whole pantheon, killed or weakened several ''gods'', arranged the downfall of an entire nation, removed the one species that was a serious threat to her from Everworld, built a small army for her personal use, was ''still'' successfully blackmailing and manipulating the other main characters despite them wising up to what she was doing, outmaneuvered Merlin twice and laid a trap for him, become so powerful that [[No Man of Woman Born|no man could bring himself to lay a hand on her]], had plans laid down to build her position that went entire years in advance, and needed only one more object in order to complete her master plan and become the absolute, [[A God Am I|godlike]] [[Dimension Lord]] of Everworld. How can this [[Sliding Scale of Villain Effectiveness|high-threat]], [[Sliding Scale of Villain Threat|universe-threatening]] witch be defeated in a quick, cheap manner? Give her the
* [[K. A. Applegate]] likes saddling her truly formidable villains with this: Senna is an [[Expy]] of ''[[Animorphs]]''{{'}}s [[Sixth Ranger Traitor|David]], who is also manhandled into carrying the
* Lestat passes off the
* In ''[[Jonathan Strange
* Graham Coates in ''[[Anansi Boys]]'' gleefully picks up the
* In the ''[[Dune]]'' [[Prequel]] trilogy ''[[Legends Of Dune]]'', [[The Dragon|Erasmus]] spreads dissent among the human slave population to win a bet with [[
** Omnius isn't much better. His attempts to finish off the ''[[Unusual Euphomism|hrethgir]]'' (free human) once and for all leaves him open to attack by determined humans, leaving him with one world out of hundreds in a matter of weeks.
* In the [[Dale Brown]] book ''Plan of Attack'', Russian president Gryzlov would have avoided death if he had not {{spoiler|used nukes against the ABF-taken Russian airbase}} and prompted an [[Even Evil Has Standards]] [[Redemption Equals Death]] moment. In ''Edge of Battle'' Comandante Veracruz would not have been stopped either if he did not {{spoiler|double-cross Zakharov and cause him to carry out [[Enemy Mine]]}}.
* In ''[[The Hundred and One Dalmatians]]'', Cruella de Vil owned more than 80 dalmatian puppies. ''Owned'', as in had legally bought and paid for. There were no police, human owners, or frantic canine parents looking for these puppies. One would think that would have been plenty to start her dalmatian fur farm. If not, she could have waited until there was another litter for sale and just bought more puppies. Instead, she kidnapped the Dearly puppies (paying far more to the dog thieves than she had for any litter), thereby bringing the police, human reward-seekers, and [[Papa Wolf|Pongo]] and [[Mama Bear|Missus]] down on her head, permanently putting a stop to her plans.
* Everything the Capitol does in [[The Hunger Games]] seems to be based on how evil it is than whether or not it would be beneficial. {{spoiler|Shooting an old man in a crowd just for singing a song, reducing District 12 into utter poverty to the point the protagonist wanted to rebel, rounding up a chunk of the victors of the games (people the public cherish and revere as heroes) into another game with the intent to kill,
** Aside from the central extravagance of the hunger games (and even that is in some ways an inspired form of repression in that it forces people to become complicit in it through starvation, quite
* In [[Harry Turtledove]]'s ''[[Worldwar]]'' series, {{spoiler|US President Earl Warren}} grabs it hard when he orders a nuclear
* [[The Dragon|Drake]] from ''[[Gone (novel)]]'' seems to be aware that hurting [[Dark Chick|Diana]] would be pushing a [[Berserk Button]] of the [[Big Bad]], [[Stalker with a Crush|Caine]], and, while he openly hates her, he saves most of his taunting of her for when Caine isn't around, even though she often provokes him. But then in ''Hunger'', he {{spoiler|picks her up with his whip-hand and bashes her head open against a rock ''[[Disproportionate Retribution|because she yelled at him]]'', all in front of Caine.}} This does not go over well. Of course, he's not exactly mentally stable, so...
== Live
* Ba'al, from ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' should get a mention here. He can't seem to make up his mind if he wants to have the Villain Ball or not. Half the time he's charging around like an idiot coming up with ridiculously complex and stupid plans to
** I assume you mean "the Villain ''Baal''"?
** Scary thing is, compared to the other System Lords, Ba'al is ''the smart one''.
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* ''[[iCarly]]'': Missy in ''iReunite With Missy''. Missy tries to her old "best friend" position off Sam, by treating her nicely around people, but indirectly attacking her in ways that force Sam away from Carly. Sam herself is unsure if Missy is trying to hurt her, or if she's jealous of Missy. The evil plot is ruined when Missy gives Sam a [[Motive Rant]] for no reason. This pushes Sam to ask Freddie for help. Carly has no clue until she [[Right Behind Me|overhears]] [[Evil Gloating|Missy gloating]] about the cruise Freddie gave up to get rid of her.
* The ''[[Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future]]'' episode "The Mirror in Darkness" has Dread using a fake Power to trick survivors into unwitting digitization. The first time we see him, it's convincing to ''us''. But the second time, we know the plot, and the real Power is waiting for him. The fake then suddenly yells his head off, and generally acts like a dick, before the real Power shows up.
* [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Peter Fleming]] (AKA Chess) hires a duo of assassins to kill [[The Cape (2010 TV series)|The Cape]]. They fail but find out his [[Secret Identity]]. When one of them meets with Fleming, he is about to give him a flash-drive with their research, when Fleming loses his temper and fires them. Being a professional, the assassin is no longer obligated to help Fleming, so he gives the flash-drive to the Cape. All Fleming had to do was wait
* Brennen of ''[[Burn Notice]]'' is generally quite [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]], except that he can never quite figure out that leaving Michael unattended for any length of time is a bad idea.
** Larry however seemed to have learned from this, even lampshading in the new episode that he wasn't letting Michael out of his sight because he knew he would do something to sabotage his plan.
* In ''[[Beverly Hills,
* Kim Jang-hyun from the Korean TV series ''[[Strong Girl Bong-soon]]'' not only carries the villain ball everywhere he goes, he's got it mounted on a stick and is waving it about so everyone can see. He's addicted to [[Bond Villain Stupidity]], is so convinced he's smarter than the cops (and anyone else) that he actively taunts them ''in person'', and when he engineers a situation that causes Bong-soon to lose her divinely-granted [[Super Strength]], he can't be satisfied with just [[De-Power]]ing her -- he has to kidnap her and put her in a [[Death Trap]] to rub his victory in that much more, ''while on the run from a nationwide dragnet searching for him''. [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain|And all that accomplishes is restoring her strength and making her ''that'' much more determined to bring him down]].
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* ''[[Dick Tracy]]'' villain Oodles was a gangster who ran a murder-for-hire gang, and while known for [[Fat Bastard| being morbidly obese]], he seemed rather clever. After accepting a woman's contract on her wealthy husband, he made sure to record his conversation with the client, and kept it for a full 19 years. When the victim's body was discovered, he was able to use it to blackmail the woman, and then killed her to prevent Tracy from finding him. However, Oodles made the dire mistake of leaving behind a calorie counter he had used at Yansen's Health Club (which was, in fact, a restaurant owned by another gangster). Knowing now that the culprit weighed 469 lbs and frequented a well-known [[Bad Guy Bar]], it wasn't difficult for Tracy to identify Oodles, and was quickly hot on his trail.
== Print Media ==
* Very much summed up in ''[[Cracked.com]]''{{'}}s [http://www.cracked.com/article_16630_6-baffling-mistakes-every-movie-criminal-makes.html 6 Baffling Mistakes Every Movie Criminal Makes].
== Theater ==
* The Wicked Witch of the West passes off the
== Toys ==
* It is ''[[Bionicle]]''{{'}}s [[Grand Finale]], and the [[Big Bad]] Makuta Teridax is standing right above Mata Nui, in the [[Humongous Mecha]] body that he stole from him. Mata Nui's weaker robot body is falling apart, malfunctioning, and barely has any power left. Makuta's body is, on the other hand, fully powered and quite capable of finishing off the only being who could ever hope to stand in his way. Even if he just stood there, Mata Nui would have fallen apart eventually. Instead, he of course has to make a show, so he uses his gravity power to fold the planet into itself, just to make sure Mata Nui would witness the end of his allies. {{spoiler|Seemingly having forgotten about those two moons orbiting at head-level, and that using this power requires him to lift up his arms, giving Mata Nui the opening he needed.}}
== Video Games ==
* In ''[[Eternal Sonata]]'', your party is forced to surrender party member (and [[MacGuffin Girl]]) Polka to [[Card-Carrying Villain]] Count Waltz. Waltz successfully convinces Polka that if she surrenders peacefully then no harm will come to the party or her, and he will call off his army. Polka (in turn) successfully convinces the rest of the party to allow her to go with Waltz and sacrifice her freedom for the greater good. Waltz's plan would have worked perfectly... if he ''hadn't'' decided to punctuate his victory by ''slapping Polka in clear view of everyone'', proving he was a lying prick and prompting Polka (and the rest of the party) to attack.
* Arthas in ''[[World of Warcraft|Wrath of the Lich King]]''. So hard. Any dumb thing that the evil guy can do just to prove his credentials, he does. Like telling the most important part of his army (who, by a strange coincidence, are one of about three parts of his army who have free will) that they were
** There's also his tendency of finding his few surviving commanders in mortal danger and deciding that if they can't survive the battle then too bad. You'd think after losing every single known lieutenant he has he'd stop throwing their lives away.
*** Well, he is the Lich King. It's not like when they die he can't just bring them back anyway. But really, why waste the time? Kill the snots that are screwing with you and just be done with it already.
** Face it, with the kind of power Arthas can throw around, if he hadn't swallowed the Villain Ball there's no way in hell anyone would ever be able to even slow him down.
*** {{spoiler|And then subverted magnificently when it turns out this was a massive [[Xanatos Gambit]] on his part -- he actually wanted to find a group of heroes capable of standing up to him, at which point he could kill them and reanimate them as his [[Co-Dragons]] of a new, more powerful army (because, hey, they're undead. Just kill a few dozen people and you're on your way). He nearly won too, were it not for [[Heroic Willpower|unforeseeable circumstance]].}}
*** That was a
** Deathwing was even worse in ''Cataclysm''. In the Dragon Soul raid, after Thrall shoots him with the titular object, Deathwing flies back to the Maelstrom and tries to cause another Cataclysm. He apparently could have done this at any time, yet inexplicably waited until his enemies had killed all of his lieutenants, united the other Dragon Aspects, retrieved one of the few weapons powerful enough to kill him, and attacked him with it a couple times to try. At least Arthas had the somewhat flimsy excuse of wanting to make the player characters his champions, with Deathwing the writers didn't even try to justify it.
** I'm sorry, but nearly
* The artifact Illidan stole in ''Frozen Throne'' although named "The Eye of Sargeras" was in fact a
** Not really. While Illidan can be blamed for not explaining what he was doing, the reason Malfurion was trying to stop him is because the Eye was tearing the world apart. Not much point in stopping the bad guy if you break the world in the process, huh?
** On the other hand Illidan was doing it for Kil'Jaeden had he succeded, we can quite imagine what he might have rewarded Illidan had he finished the deed.
* In the game ''[[Nightmare Before Christmas
* In ''[[Castlevania (Nintendo 64)|Castlevania 64]]'', Dracula spends most of the game disguised as a kid named Malus. This is not none to the player or the game's characters, though there is this bizarre moment where you come across Malus and suddenly appears evil, but you character ignores that the next time they see him, depending on the ending. In the bad ending, Dracula will actually [[Smart Ball|have a clever plan for a change]] and not reveal himself, though both endings give some that Malus is really him, his eyes [[
** In the good ending he does have a moment of cleverness after being defeated the first time. He reverts to his child form and tries to pretend to be an ordinary kid who was possessed. [[Idiot Ball|Right when your character reaches out to him]], Vincent the vampire hunter (who only survives in the good ending) [[Big Damn Heroes|saves you]] by exposing the ruse with holy water. Cue [[Final Boss]] fight.
* ''[[Fate/stay night]]
** Not completely. He could still potentially be taken out by a particularly well-executed ambush. {{spoiler|Like the one Sakura pulls in Heaven's Feel.}} Though you could argue that not immediately going out and unleashing his full power at the very beginning of the war is already holding the
*** Hell, he probably could have even beaten that situation if he had gotten lucky with what weapons appeared from the [[Storm of Blades|Babyl-spam]]. If he managed to shoot out [[Anti-Magic|Rule Breaker]] or [[Fate/Zero|Zero Lancer's]] anti-regeneration spear, then {{spoiler|Sakura}} would have been dead. Or he could have just kept shooting until one of his weapons overwhelmed her regen. [[Too Dumb to Live|But no, he stops, poses and gets eaten.]]
** It's grown to such a point that fans are starting to joke that one of Gilgamesh's Noble Phantasms in [[Hyperspace Arsenal|the Gate Of Babylon]] is either a
* In the more recent ''Sonic'' games, [[Sonic the Hedgehog|Dr. Eggman]] has (on numerous occasions) either unleashed or sought to unleash a creature of extreme power ([[Sonic Adventure|th]][[Sonic Unleashed|re]][[Sonic the Hedgehog (2006
* Bowser, archfoe of [[Super Mario Bros.|Mario]], just can't stop kidnapping Princess Peach, even when doing so is actually a hindrance to his plan. This is most blatant in [[Super Mario Galaxy]], where Bowser's plan is to steal all the power stars in space, then use them to power a huge machine at the center of the universe that will give him control of every galaxy there is. When the game opens, he seems to be pretty far into his plans, and Mario has no idea they're even happening. The only reason Mario finds out is because Bowser decides to kidnap Peach right in front of Mario, setting the plumber on his trail with just enough time to stop his schemes.
** Bowser also does this in ''[[Super Mario Bros 3]]'' where his plan is actually pretty clever: have his kids turn the seven kings of the Mushroom Worlds into animals, forcing Mario and Luigi to travel far and wide to help them. While they're distracted, Bowser kidnaps Peach. This one worked like a
* ''[[Deus Ex:
* Lampshaded by a Team Plasma grunt in ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]'', in N's Castle. He states that the reason why other villain teams (Rocket and Galactic being mentioned in particular) failed was because they made themselves and their plans public. Plasma on the other hand had been secretly building and preparing for their ultimate plan while masquerading as PETA-esque Pokemon liberators.
* Osmund Saddler's evil plan in ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'' would have stood a much better chance of succeeding if he hadn't decided to [[Evil Gloating|monologue]] about it in front of Leon Kennedy and {{spoiler|inject him with the parasite}} while he was conscious. Then there's the fact that he keeps around a machine that can {{spoiler|kill the parasite without harming the host}}, without any previous experience at using it or the need of a password or other lock-out mechanism
* {{spoiler|Matt Engarde}} in the final case of ''[[Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney]]: Justice For All'' would have been able to get away scot-free if he didn't betray the assassin he hires simply because he doesn't trust other people and believes that not even assassins are above blackmails. Said action allows the titular character to trap him into a [[Morton's Fork]] situation.
* In ''[[
** Justified by the [[
== Web Comics ==
* In ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', Hereti Corp should have realized that, when they turned Aylee into a [[I'm a Humanitarian|man-eating]] monster bent on [[Take Over the World|world domination]], it was probably a bad idea to leave Riff, [[True Companions|one of her friends]] with a penchant for [[Save the World|Saving The World]], not only alive, but ''on their payroll''. That's got conflict of interests written all over it.
** Hereti Corps carries the
* In ''[[Bob and George]]'', Bob seemed like your perfectly reasonable villain, driven to extremes by the world he was forced into. Then he decided to go {{spoiler|kidnap the world's creator... who let himself be captured for the sake of a minor bet with the REAL [[Big Bad]].}} Bob never did get beat down, though... [["What Now?" Ending|or so it seems.]]
* ''[[Fans]]'': The Order of the Dragon first appear as a group of near omnipotent individuals with supernatural powers and represent the greatest threat AEGIS has encountered so far. Members include Robert, a cunning illusionist and conman, or Keith, Rikk's former nemesis. [http://www.faans.com/index.php?p=1957 Then there's this guy.]{{Dead link}} And you can rest assured that the others are no better. The fact that their plan involved literally KILLING the alphabet and eliminating all written forms of comunication doesn't help.
* In the comic ''[http://ilikefish.comicgenesis.com/ Pearls of Mer]''. The more senior agent of the [[Evil Organization]] tells the new comer to sit back and watch Arra the mermaid until they get word from [[High Ups]]. So what does the guy do? He runs out, tries to kidnap her and ends up shooting her human boyfriend. Things did end well from her wrath.
== Western Animation ==
* In ''[[Justice League: Crisis
* The [[Evil Chancellor]] Long Feng in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''. Had he simply directed them to the nearest general outside the city after explaining the whole "No talking about the war here" thing and sent them on their way, they would have been out of his hair right there and he'd still be [[The Man Behind the Man]]. But instead, {{spoiler|he tried to play Big Brother and threaten them about Appa, and thus made an enemy out of Aang, eventually leading to his arrest, then losing even the Dai Li to Azula in an attempt to break out and take over.}}
** In the episode "The Deserter", if Zhao hadn't gotten so angry at Aang's taunting, he wouldn't have burnt his entire fleet down to cinders. And then, he {{spoiler|kills the moon spirit}} in the season finale.]] If he
** Even normally [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]] Azula isn't immune to this. {{spoiler|Though she manages to avoide holding the
* In the [[Grand Finale]] of ''Transformers: [[Beast Wars]]'', Megatron {{spoiler|decides to use the [[Wave Motion Gun|Fusion Cannon]] on the entirely helpless proto-humans [[Lawful Stupid Chaotic Stupid|when he should have attacked the Maximals first, who could actually do something to stop him]].}}. To make it even worse {{spoiler|all of the proto-humans [[Unexplained Recovery|survived somehow]] and he only succeeded in killing Quickstrike and Inferno, ''his own minions''.}}
* By being the [[Genre Blind]] [[Harmless Villain]] he is, Dr. Drakken from ''[[Kim Possible]]'' is by no means immune to this trope. In one episode he created the awesome plan of disrupting the [[Mission Control|Kimmunicator]] so that he could pretend to be the [[Techno Wizard]] Wade in order [[MacGuffin Delivery Service|trick Kim into stealing]] the [[Phlebotinum]] from Professor Dementor. Twice. Which got Kim's suspicions up and let to his defeat. When he has [[The Dragon|Shego]], who is more than capable of stealing the [[Phlebotinum]] by herself...
** Then there is Señor Senior Senior, who literally read the book on how to carry the
* The supervillains (or "antagonists" as they prefer) in ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'' that work for the [[Weird Trade Union|Guild of Calamitous Intent]] carry the ball as part of the Guild's strict regulations for "Controlled Costumed Aggression", in effect ''literal'' [[Contractual Genre Blindness]]. Low level troublemakers use tranq guns, whereas hand guns and the like are reserved for more threatening opponents. Likewise, "protagonists" need to carry the [[Idiot Ball]] because, to borrow a quote:
{{quote|'''Brock Samson:''' Hey, no disrespect Jonas, but it isn't so easy. These guys like their system; it's what they do. You take that away, and you are dealing with a bunch of pissed off nutbags with rayguns and giant, I don't know, a giant octopus/tank with laser eyes.}}
* Slade in ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' would be a full-time [[Magnificent Bastard]] if he'd just learn not to give in to his sadistic impulses unnecessarily. As it is, this has gotten in the way of his plans by providing an out for one minion and turning another against him (which got him lava fried). Of course, this does mean that for a [[Smug Snake]], he's still very effective and [[Nightmare Fuel|creepy]], but he could be so much more...
** He also has the problems of almost never considering possibilities outside of his master plans, and [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good|underestimating the Titans' strengths]] when trying to manipulate them.
* The [[Evil Sorcerer|Archmage]] of ''[[Gargoyles]]'' grasps the
** In fact, [[Word of God]] explicitly notes this as his undoing- for all his power, at heart he's a walking (though effective) cliche and ''cannot'' escape genre conventions.
* ''[[Winx Club]]'': The 4K dub provides an example of a Dub-Induced Villain Ball in the S1 finale, which has Icy telling the other Trix, "Give me your share of the Dragonfire, I need it to take care of this uppity pixie (Bloom). Don't worry, you won't need more than your regular powers to take on those four poseurs (the other Winx)." She doesn't tell them this in the original, but the result is the same anyway. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IblifgQrN5Y Video.] Plus, [
** The Trix's other two seasons each have a major non-Dub-Induced Villain Ball: S2 sees them burying the Winx and the Specialists' plane under snow and an icy deathtrap... and then simply leaving, so they're not there to shoot them down again when they escape. S3 has Icy de-powering Bloom in a one-on-one (the other fairies are away in a crystal labyrinth, while the other Trix are taking on the Specialists) and not [[Never Say "Die"|making her history]] immediately, allowing the other Winx to return in time to take the Trix out.
* In ''[[Samurai Jack]]'', Aku grabs the
* Dr. Doofenschirmtz from ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' is one of the worst examples, as illustrated in the episode "Candace Gets Busted" where a building is blocking his view of the theater. He remarks that he could just move his chair, but decides to build a machine to zap the building out of the way.
** If the [[True Colors]] of Smile Away are a secret from parents, why would you show the victimized kids getting tortured beyond compare on a daytime TV show?
* In ''[[The Owl House]]'', Emperor Belos led Lilith to believe that if she got Eda to join the Emperor's Coven, that he would free Eda from her curse. Even after they eventually captured Eda, she continued to refuse to join the coven. Emperor Belos then told Lilith he never intended to do either and called Lilith stupid for believing him, which ensured Lilith's subsequent betrayal. He might have retained Lilith's loyalty had he played upon Eda's refusal instead of basically gloating.
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*** The Nazi economic model has been described as a "conquest" or "looter" economy because of that. Its cartelization of businesses along with making them attain the government bureaucrats' approval for every step of production, coupled with price controls that severely disrupted things, made it ''extremely'' inefficient.
* Josef Stalin, to a much lesser degree. He had a doctor who told him to take some time off arrested and tortured. So when he had a massive and undignified stroke, nobody wanted to diagnose him. Even his fellow Politburo members were terrified of calling help in case he recovered and had them shot. His guards were also afraid to go in to help him or call a doctor. It doesn't help that he also had recently killed many supposedly for being in a "Doctor's Plot" against him. So, rather than survive to retire or even continue to lead, he died on the floor of his bedroom, soaked in his own urine. There are certain theories which say he was poisoned too, which is not surprising if true.
* The Ottoman Turkish Empire in the lead up to and during [[World War
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[[Category:Contrived Stupidity Tropes]]
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