Beware the Silly Ones



"Mr. Croup: You find us funny, Messier Marquis, do you not? A source of amusement. Is that not so? With our pretty clothes, and our convoluted circumlocutions- Mr. Vandemar: (murmuring) I haven't got a circumlo... Mr. Croup: -and our little silliness of manner and behaviour. And perhaps we are funny. [...] But you must never imagine, that just because something is funny, Messier Marquis, it is not dangerous."

- Neverwhere

So you've got a person who might fulfill the role of comedic relief. For the most part, both the fans and the characters in-story see them as just a great big doofus. Possibly, they spend more time acting ridiculous or laughing in the face of Serious Business than getting dangerous. Sure, they might rant up and down about how they're going to conquer the world in the name of Evil with a capital E or drive the villains to suicide through bad jokes, but in the end they seem to pose little threat to all present.

There's just one thing most people forget: acting silly does not mean you aren't a One-Man Army. It could be a façade. It could be that they just do it for the lulz. A rarely-pressed Berserk Button can be pressed. Either way, beware the silly ones.

Compare Harmless Villain and Not-So-Harmless Villain. Contrast Miles Gloriosus. May overlap with Cloudcuckoolander, at least by appearances. May make you liable to Threat Backfire. See also Beware the Nice Ones.

Anime and Manga

 * Pictured above is Gluttony from Fullmetal Alchemist. Of all of the homunculi, he's pretty much the only one who's played for laughs, since he's fat, dumb, and overall acts like a lovable dope. There's also the fact that he's very innocent, and only does what he does because his higher-ups tell him to, and he genuinely doesn't see any wrong in what he's doing. However, as his name suggests, he has a bit of a hunger streak. In the manga and Brotherhood, it's not helped when he's reminded of, which drives him into the monstrous state also shown above.
 * Etemon in Digimon Adventure. Yes, he's a wannabe rock star comedy monkey, but that never stopped him from curbstomping the protagonists every time they saw him. The fact that he's a level higher than them and can negate their ability to powerup helps tremendously. He also managed to throw their leader, Taichi, back to the real world, resulting in the break up of the team left behind in the Digital World. He did it by dying, mind you, but that was a lot better than his predecessor Devimon did. And even then, he comes back and kicks off the series's Running Gag of killing Leomon at least once a series.
 * Pinocchimon and Piemon are silly, fun-loving sociopaths. The latter gets bonus points for also being a Monster Clown.
 * Many a Monster of the Week from Inuyasha.
 * Prince Clovis from Code Geass is depicted as a buffoon and is loved by his siblings, but he ordered his men to indiscriminately slaughter everyone they came across in order to cover up his mistakes. One wonders what other atrocities he might have gone on to casually commit.
 * In Black Butler, we have Lau. You know, the goofy guy who constantly barges into the Phantomhive mansion and irritates the crud out of Ciel?
 * Also Madame Red. The red-dressed, haired and eyed aunt of Ciel who sees him as her surrogate son?
 * Don't forget about the three bungling servants at the Phantomhive mansion. While they seemingly behave incompetently, the truth of the matter is
 * In Trinity Blood, we get a rare hero example. Abel Nightroad is portrayed as a complete and utter moron throughout the entirety of the series. But beware! Threatening just about ANYone he cares about is a really bad idea. BEWARE!
 * And just before the manga ended abruptly, female lead Esther meets a goofy, scatterbrained, lost-without-his-butler English gentleman.
 * One Piece lives and breathes this trope. Many a villain is introduced as an apparently harmless weirdo who keeps accidentally hypnotizing himself or humorously disagrees with the protagonist about the taste of a pie or just plain looks and/or talks funny. A few chapters later they turn out to be truly dangerous, usually without losing any of their silliness.
 * Some of the Straw Hats allies fit too. For example, Emperor Ivankov is a gonkish drag queen with a disproportionately large head, but in a crisis, he is capable of leading whole armies.
 * For that matter, some of the Straw Hats can qualify as this. The Captain Luffy may appear like a clueless idiot who only likes to eat meat but should you cross him, it won't be pleasant. Likewise with Cowardly Lion Usopp.
 * Right, so, in Naruto, there's this group of bad guys. After one bites it, this minion of the Man-Eating Plant guy gets promoted to full miniboss-status. He seems kinda lame, but as it turns out,.
 * His partner Deidara was a candidate as well. Sure, his banter about art and his violent temper are funny, but he was able to take out Gaara and didn't do so bad against Sasuke either.
 * Speaking of Gaara, his demon Shukaku certainly qualifies. While he is amusing to watch and acts like a violent drunk, he is still very dangerous and was more than a match for the boss toad Gamabunta.
 * Gai as well. While the guy comes off as a goof ball in his first appearance, it should be noted that Itachi viewed him as a legitimate threat. Also he is perhaps the only character not to have lost a fight. Of the fights he's been in, two of them were against Kisame.
 * Dragon Ball:
 * Dragonball Z has the Ginyu Force, five goofy manchildren whose poses are Serious Business as they play rock-paper-scissors to decides who fights who and bet on candies on who wins. Their power levels and/or their physical and special abilities are no laughing matter. Guldo alone would have killed Krillin and Gohan had Vegeta not stepped in. And even then, the three together were absolutely no match for any one of the other four.
 * Also the last villain of the series, Majin Buu - a fat, childish, bubblegum-pink creature, which nevertheless was rightfully seen as the most dangerous entity in the universe.
 * Beerus from Dragon Ball Super; an odd, cat-like being, he takes napes that often last decades, obsesses over food... And is, in fact, a God of Destruction who can obliterate entire planets with a thought. He's one of the few foes Goku could literally not defeat, Beerus only sparing the Earth because he started to like the place.
 * He has a brother named Champa (his equivalent in Universe 6) who is just as goofy (though more boorish) and just as dangerous, especially if the two of them are together - suffice to say they don't like each other, and should the two ever come to blows, both universes would be eradicated. This was the whole point of the Universe 6 Tournament Arc, which allowed the brothers to compete using the rest of the cast as proxies.
 * Dragon Ball Super also has Zeno, a funny little guy with an oval-shaped head and blue skin, purple on the sides of his head; he is, in fact, the Top God in the Dragonball universe, and the one being Beerus is afraid of. And with good reason, as Zeno has been known to Ret-Gone entire realities when he gets angry - word of advice, do not make him angry.
 * Pokémon's Team Rocket would actually succeed in many of their schemes if the twerps didn't get involved. In Best Wishes, the silliness is completely dropped for Jessie and James, and at a minimum for Meowth.
 * Rurouni Kenshin has Kenshin, who is usually a polite, obvious moron ... and, if you push him too far, the legendary assassin Hitokiri Battousai.
 * Hibino Hareluya of Hareluya II Boy, right down to ranting about World Domination.
 * Apachai and Kensei of Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple, the former an Adult Child while the latter is a Dirty Old Man, but both are masters.
 * My Hero Academia:
 * Chief Kenji Tsuragamae, or in Trope terms, Da Chief. This guy's quirk gave him a dog's head and a verbal tic that causes him to bark every few words, but when he's talking, you'd damn well better listen.
 * Yawara Chatora, aka Tiger, from the Forest Training Camp Arc. He is one tough Drill Sergeant Nasty, so you'd best not get on his bad side, even if he does wear a pink dress.
 * Episode 115 of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's is arguably the funniest episode of that series, made funnier by the card battle video game where the opponent was Cup Ramen Man, a D-Wheel riding anthropomorphic cup of Ramen noodles wearing sunglasses, with a Deadpan Snarker attitude. His monsters were pretty silly too - Cup Ramen Lard (a pig with a cape, scepter with a tip shaped like a teapot, and a bowl of Ramen for a head), Cup Udon Uno (female monster in a pink kimono, a similar scepter, and also with a bowl of Ramen for a head), and Cup Meatball Cayenne (blue decorative kimono on this one, and the bowl head is more like a helmet with a fierce face on the front). And all of them attack by spewing Ramen at the player. However, their effects are nothing to sneeze at. Cup Udon Udo’s effect destroys all opposing Spells and Traps when it is destroyed by battle, Cup Ramen Lard destroys all opposing monsters (making it a “Raigeki with legs”, so to speak), and Cup Meatball Cayenne destroys the opponent’s entire hand when it is itself destroyed, a deadly effect that no other legal card in the OCG can do by itself or without cost. Justified in the anime, as this was a Duel Puzzle, but these monsters would be so unbelievably broken in a regular match, they’d never be permitted in the OCG/TCG.

Comic Books

 * Lex Luthor varies from Magnificent Bastard to Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain, but one shudders to think what might have happened had Superman not stopped him all those times....
 * Batman's foe list has numerous villains who may be this way. For example, the Riddler mostly got into crime just to play mind games with Batman for fun. But from Commissioner Gordon's perspective, he's not only a Magnificent Bastard, but a Complete Monster as well.
 * The Joker is portrayed this way in some cases, too.
 * In the old Valiant Comics series for The Legend of Zelda, Zelda points out that regardless of how often the forces of good win, they're still on the losing side. Ganon has effectively endless hordes of minions, the good guys have... Link and Zelda. If Ganon ever gets his hands on the rest of the Triforce, they're screwed.
 * Granny Goodness is laughed at for being an old lady super-villain, until you remember that 1. She's the only minion of Darkseid who doesn't get her ass kicked on a regular basis by super-heroes/Orion and 2. She's the Goddess of Horrific Child Abuse on Apokolips, which means that whenever we see her not scheming against Darkseid's enemies, she's routinely crossing the Moral Event Horizon with young girls and boys.
 * Not to mention that being a super-villain is certainly a hard job and despite her age, she is still around, so you know she's good.
 * Also, being around Darkseid for any amount of time and not getting the Omega Beams or Omega Sanction speaks volumes as to how dangerous she truly is.
 * And just imagine how bad her abuse has to be for it to qualify as "horrific" on Apokolips.
 * Ragdoll from Secret Six, no doubt. He's a master of the non sequitur, he's also perfectly capable of wrapping around you like a python and willing to snap your neck at the drop of a hat.
 * In a recent issue, while attacking the rest of the team (and winning) he even gets a rant about people assuming he's just the comedy relief.
 * Alfie O'Meagan from Nth Man the Ultimate Ninja likes cookies and milk, plays video games, collects comic books, and has sandbox battles stomping on toy soldiers. Problem is, he's also a Psychopathic Manchild Reality Warper...
 * Minor Batman villain the White Rabbit. Sure, she's a flirt and a tease who dresses like a Playboy Bunny... Who managed to outfox and elude Batman himself. Plus, she seems to be friends with some rather deadly villains, including Clayface and Bane, so she's clearly someone to be wary of.
 * X-Men villain Mojo. He has the reputation of an obese, rude, hedonistic monster with no manners and the personality of a Spoiled Brat, a reputation that is well-deserved. Many of his Evil Plans are downright weird, like the one where he created the X-Babies, child-like duplicates of the heroes. (They turned against him, and clearly not learning, he tried the same plan again later; the second group of X-Babies double-crossed him too.) him While he's often regarded as a joke, however, Mojo can be very dangerous. His mere presence on Earth is debilitating,  causing plants to die, and humans to age rapidly; Doctor Strange has theorized that a prolonged stay on Earth by Mojo would cause storms and natural disasters with the potential to destroy all life. Some of his plans are actually quite clever, like when he captured Psylock and, without her even knowing, replaced her eyes with bionic ones   that transmitted everything she saw to his realm, making her an  unwitting spy. Long story short, he is not one to underestimate.
 * Mad Jim Jaspers from Marvel's Captain Britain comics - ran around an alternate universe England with a gang of ludicrous criminals, committing ludicrous crimes... and happened to be a Reality Warper of such magnitude that his entire universe had to be destroyed to prevent the Jaspers Warp from contaminating the multiverse at large. And his main universe equivalent is even more powerful... and a member of Parliment.
 * Zodon from PS238 is a Jerkass and the comic's bigtime Chew Toy, with most of his plans ending him up in greater trouble than he started. Problem is, this is usually because one of the teachers or the students got in his way—if they hadn't, the trouble—and much bigger amounts of it—would be someone else's.
 * Ambush Bug is a normal human in a ridiculous green suit among the gods of the DC Universe. In his heyday, he defeated an entire group of enemies with little to no effort while utterly humiliating them and could take on Superman or Supergirl before essentially defeating himself. Nowadays he's more relaxed.
 * The Violator from Spawn. Taking the form of a pudgy clown, he's primarily around for comic relief. But at any time, the seemingly harmless clown, can morph into a demonic killing machine, easily capable of kicking Spawn's ass.
 * Mr. Mxyzptlk is an imp from the 5th Dimension who loves making a fool out of Superman with his interdimensional magic. While often regarded as a pest, Superman should be glad he's only a pest most of the time. The story Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? shows what would happen if he truly turned malevolent, while Emperor Joker places his powers in the hands of one of the most insane criminals in comic history.
 * Plastic Man is a zany, rubbery man who spouts silly jokes while having cartoonish adventures. He's also one of the most powerful members of the Justice League. On at least one occasion, he single-handedly took down a villain who had easily beaten Superman.
 * Deadpool. Guy's a snarky wisecracking Motor Mouth and Cloudcuckoolander with the attitude of a fun-loving hero, and he can break the fourth wall with ease. But he's also a Professional Killer with a thing for sharp objects, and a Healing Factor that rivals Wolverine's, so you do not want to be on his bad side.

Fan Works

 * In The Owl House, Luz's Adorkable friend Willow already fits this Trope well in canon stories, but it is expanded upon in this comic/animatic. After learning about the venomous gympie-gympie plant, she has a brief Power Fantasy where Boscha is pleading for mercy after Willow uses such a plant as means of revenge.

Film

 * In Kung Fu Panda, Tai Lung is has just about killed Master Shifu only to be interrupted by Po. The snow leopard scoffs at the idea that this comical panda could possibly be the Dragon Warrior, only to find out the hard way that he most definitely is!
 * Disney's Willy the Giant. In the first scenes of Mickey and the Beanstalk, Willy is introduced as a terrifying kleptomaniac who seems more storm cloud than giant. In his second entrance, he appears as a goofy shapeshifter with a fondness for pink bunnies, and an inability to pronounce the word "pistachio." Oh, and he's also a Big Eater who almost accidentally eats the Disney power trio. But don't confuse his playfulness for dimwittedness like Mickey, Donald and Goofy tried to. Count yourself lucky if he keeps you as a literal souvenir in a box, rather than squishing you like an insect. And when Willy gets really riled up, he also wields an iron morning star the size of a two-story house.
 * Spider-Ham from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a talking pig Spider-Man from a Looney Tunes-style universe of Funny Animals. As silly as this sounds, he has an Alternate Realm Boon that lets him apply Cartoon Physics outside of it, making him arguably the most powerful member of the team in a world more like the mainstream Marvel Universe.

Literature

 * Mr. Croup in Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere even lampshades that just because something is silly doesn't mean it can't be dangerous. Then he and his associate Mr. Vandemar crucify the person who found them funny. While arguing whether circumlocution is a grammatical technique or a body part. (The former, if you were wondering.)
 * Warlord Zsinj is like this in The Courtship of Princess Leia, but in the X-Wing Series we see it's only as a cover. He goes to extraordinary lengths to convince people that he is a foolish, fat, mustachioed criminal, while underneath he is a talented, experienced strategic genius.
 * His second-in-command, General Melvar, almost goes to the opposite extreme. The persona he shows everyone but Zsinj is almost extraordinarily cruel, sadistic, and an Ax Crazy idiot. When they're gone, his features are curiously bland, he enjoys startling his Warlord, and he's a Deadpan Snarker. They'll both kick puppies like there's no tomorrow, but they're more businesslike about it.
 * Count Fosco in Wilkie Collins' classic sensation novel The Woman in White is the Victorian-era poster boy for this trope.
 * Nanny Ogg in Discworld is a prime example, looking like an amiably-wrinkled, sexual-innuendo-prone old woman, with a mind like a razor. Bear in mind she's been Granny Weatherwax's friend since they were girls.
 * Harry Dresden is perpetually sarcastic, spouting pop culture references at the drop of a hat and is generally quite friendly. He is also powerful enough to give the Senior Council pause.
 * Albert Campion, protagonist of most of Margery Allingham's books. He might act like a silly ass, natter on about his mouse's birthday, and compulsively make jokes, but you should never underestimate his mental or physical capabilities. Ever.
 * Similarly, Lord Peter Wimsey plays the idiot man about town to the hilt, including carrying the requisite cane and monocle, and babbling on at the drop of a hat. The cane and monocle are secretly tools. Lord Peter is unstoppable as a detective. And it is seldom mentioned, but he is a war hero.
 * While Bast's light-hearted and, well, silly demeanor often provides some much-needed comic relief in The Name of the Wind, you really do not want to get on his bad side. As a Fae, he often cares only for his own whims and desires... and he will happily string a fiddle with your guts and make you play it while he dances, should you get in his way.
 * In Supernaturally, Jack seems to act like an immature teenager. He uses his Portal Door ability to appear in a girls' locker room and to appear in Evie's room to jump on her bed.
 * In Foundation and Empire, Magnifico Giganticus appears first as a rather pathetic clown before being revealed as

Live-Action TV

 * Power Rangers: examples:
 * In the original show, Squatt and Baboo didn't do much except go on errands and mess up while doing so. But in one episode they took initiative on their own and built their own monster, the result of which, a turtle-like creature named Shellshock, was a terror. He had a stoplight mounted atop his body that could cast a freeze ray from the red light and a speed ray with the green one and had a veritable Swiss army knife of weapons stored in his shell. The first battle was a disaster for the heroes; he froze most of them with his red beam and made Trini unable to stop running with his green one. Even worse, this made her the only one able to look for the cure, which she managed, despite Rita making it even harder with a squad of Mooks getting in the way.
 * In the second season, some cases of Near Villain Victory came at the hands of some pretty ridiculous Monsters of the Week.
 * Beamcaster was a radio-themed monster who spoke like some weird DJ, but used Mind Control to entrance the whole city, and even hypnotized the entire team. To fight him, Zordon had to call up Rocky, Aisha, and Adam (who had not yet taken up the mantle) and get them to help, a prelude to the episode where Jason, Zach, and Trini, would Pass the Torch to them.
 * Scatterbrain was even sillier-looking. Created by Lord Zedd from a kaleidoscope, he was a... guy with a really big kaleidoscope for a head. Still, his memory wiping power got the entire team, and this time, Bulk and Skull were the ones who got the heroes out of the mess, albeit by accident. Sadly, they were affected slightly too, so although they were the heroes, they didn’t remember it.
 * When Rita teamed up with Zedd, they didn't do much better as a team then they did alone; with a few exceptions:
 * In one episode, Rita tried to use a spell to turn Kat into her slave again, but missed. She hit a wall instead, creating a monster called the Brick Bully. He looked utterly ridiculous, but it seemed this monster by misfire was pretty potent. His first battle with the heroes resulted in him turning all of them except Kat and Billy into bricks (or rather, reducing them in size and sealing them inside bricks) and while Billy tried to find a way to reverse the effect, he didn't just sit around. He started consuming bricks and cement,  turning into a stronger monster. Billy had to confront him alone to prevent him from getting stronger, ultimately taking him down in his own Crowning Moment of Awesome. Still, it was a brutal fight.
 * And that wasn't the last "monster by misfire" that resulted in a problem. During Power Rangers Zeo, Rita tried the same thing, but missed Kat again (clearly her aim hadn't improved) hitting her purse. (Ironically, a homemade one she didn't like.) The Impursonator was the result, and she was clearly the strongest monster Rita had ever created, despite looking relatively harmless. The Rangers couldn't scratch her, not with their handheld weapons nor their Zords, her rubbery skin making her impossible to hurt, and even worse, when King Mondo's monster appeared, she was able to hijack the Super Zeo Megazord and take it for a joyride! Fortunately for the city as a whole, Mondo's monster had stolen the other one - as it had been designed to do - and they decided to fight each other for a while. Ultimately (after a two-parter) she combined with Mondo's monster, and was dispatched via the combined efforts of three Megazords working together.
 * Lothor of Power Rangers Ninja Storm. He spends most of the series sitting on his throne and cracking meta-jokes while his henchmen fight the Rangers for him, but is still a dangerous opponent whenever he can be bothered.
 * Divatox of Power Rangers Turbo probably takes the cake. Screechy enough to make Rita sound like Beyonce, completely incompetent, and managed to Mind Wipe herself on one occasion. Then the season finale happened...
 * Heroic example, Anubis "Doggie" Cruger from Power Rangers SPD. Guy looks like McGruff the Crime Dog on steroids, but as far as mentor figures go for this franchise, he is one of the most badass, subverting the Non-Action Guy tendencies of previous mentors and becoming an actual part of the team as the Shadow Ranger. In fact, he, rather than his proteges, is the one who finally defeated  Emperor Gruumm.
 * The Doctor of Doctor Who just wants to have a bit of fun. "There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes" he says, he's been accurately described as a "madman with a box", and no-one with his dress sense (no matter how much it changes) could ever be taken seriously. He's also stopped more villainous plots and saved more lives than could possibly be counted, and is outright feared by some of the most evil beings in existence.
 * As befitting an Evil Counterpart, the Master sometimes shows shades of this. The Anthony Ainley and John Simm incarnations especially loved to bust out the Evil Laugh and add some flair to their villainy, but there is a very good reason the Doctor continually regards him as his worst enemy.
 * Harmony from Buffy the Vampire Slayer; a joke as Buffy's Alpha Bitch rival, and a bigger joke as a vampire, Harmony actually became somewhat of a threat when she started hosting her own reality show as something of a vampire PR lady, using Malicious Slander against the Scoobies and becoming one factor towards Buffy and her team becoming Heroes with Bad Publicity. Never underestimate the power of the media.

Tabletop Games

 * Dungeons and Dragons:
 * The disenchanter is a silly-looking creature, resembling a large, blue camel with an aardvark's head. It has no claws nor teeth and can't even digest flesh; most commoners and low-level adventurers would find it a friendly, gentle beast. However, mid- and high-level adventurers would be wise to fear them, as they eat magic, and can turn a powerful magical sword into a useless piece of junk within seconds.
 * Rust monsters are similar; no claws, no teeth, and actually make great pets for some primitive tribes who don't use metal. But seeing as they eat metal and their touch causes it to rust and fall apart (easier for them to eat and digest) a rust monster can quickly destroy an adventuring party's equipment and make them easy prey for the next monsters they encounter. Plus, Planescape reveals that a rust monster is the larval form of a far more dangerous planar beast called a rust dragon. Yeah, survive an encounter with one of these things and you'll never look at a rust monster the same again...
 * Speaking of which, in the Planescape setting, a hollyphant is a teeny-tiny elephant with wings, native to the Upper Planes. Many planar biologists have remarked that magic was probably involved in their creation, doubting evolution could ever produce such a silly-looking creature. But woe to the fiend who disregards it as harmless, as hollyphants bravely battle evil creatures with a powerful trumpeting attack that can flatten even a small regiment of demons  with holy power. Plus if an enemy is too powerful for a hollyphant to handle on its own, it always knows where to find a troupe of angelic warriors who can.

Video Games
""During the pursuit, Steven Heck (at Agent Thorton's request) arrived to offer emergency backup. Said backup came in the form of Heck crudely mounting a minigun to a subway car and firing wildly at Chinese secret police officers as his train passed the platform.""
 * Florian from Overlord II is a bumbling, useless buffoon whose entire purpose appears to be to embarrass the elven race, right up until
 * Demyx from Kingdom Hearts II is a great example. The first time you run into him, on Hades' lair, he is running away from him. Then, during the battle at Hollow Bastion, you have to fight him. Pushover, right? No.
 * To an extent, Axel, for those who hadn't played Chain of Memories. At first, he's just a Punch Clock Villain who wants to grab Roxas and go home. Then you fight him as Roxas. Somehow, you never really forget that moment whenever you deal with Axel afterwards.
 * Feasel the Muffin Thief from World of Warcraft. Come on, who'd ever be scared of a cute guy like this who is "best known" for pilfering muffins? Seriously, look at the fellah! Thing is, malignant or not, he's a slippery and annoying World Boss who's hard to fight unless you're in a group. His burrowing ability has a very low cooldown and can cause you to lose the target of your attack, forcing you to reestablish it.
 * Chromie can act a little scatterbrained at times, frequently asking the player if they've met before or whether the current project you're helping her with has been done before. It's easy to forget she's a a powerful bronze dragon assuming the shape of a gnome, with near-godlike temporal powers. This naturally explains her apparent absent-mindedness in regards to what she's done and what she will do; even the first time the player interacts with her may not be the first time to her point of view. See for yourself, as this cinematic shows that, for all her ditzy behavior, she is not one to be trifled with.
 * Sonic the Hedgehog has Dr. Eggman. The patron saint of Hoist by His Own Petard, he even ends Sonic Adventure 2 on surprisingly amicable terms with the heroic members of the cast. Considering how useless he seems to be, you almost start to feel sorry for him. And then you turn around and take a look at his track record. His original shtick of sealing animals inside his robot minions, either to provide power or AI or just plain For the Evulz (or some combination of these reasons) already catapults him far past the Moral Event Horizon, and has demonstrated enough Offscreen Villain Dark Matter to construct his very own Death Star knock-off, as well as two Airborne Aircraft Carriers in the same game. Consider also that Sonic Unleashed starts off with Sonic tearing his way through Eggman's space fleet. Let's read that again: Eggman's space fleet. It's not that Eggman sucks as a villain; it's that Sonic is just that good (that, and Eggman has an unfortunate habit of trying to harness the power of Eldritch Abominations that are far beyond his control).
 * Dr. Eggman in Sonic Adventure 2 starts off the plot by personally destroying a big chunk of a top secret military installation and hacking the computer security system surrounding the Sealed Evil in a Can. And the first thing he did after getting the ARK and the Chaos Emeralds was blow up half the moon (apparently it didn't stick) and give the entire world a 24 hour "surrender-or-die" demand. Eggman is over confident, but his track record kind of warrants it.
 * Eggman would've already succeeded in killing Sonic twice if not for Deus Ex Machina, twice.
 * The ending of Sonic Chronicles. Eggman doesn't go with the rest of the gang to stop Ix, claiming he needs to operate some groundside machine to let the others through.
 * And then there's Sonic Colors. Not only was he but had it not been for a, he would've succeeded in his ultimate plan to
 * Eggman had also managed to enslave three planets and an inhabited Asteroid Thicket, as well as build the largest space fleet seen yet, completely under Sonic's nose, and covered much of the land on all of the planets and asteroids with his own metal facilities. He would've completely snuffed Planet Wisp of life as well had Sonic not caught on in time, and he may have succeeded with Sweet Mountain.
 * The comic relief character in any BioWare game usually doesn't appear harmless per se, but he/she/it is usually one of the scariest people on your team.
 * Knights of the Old Republic: HK-47 isn't the most effective combatant on your team, but he's and has a very impressive kill count.
 * Jade Empire: The prime source of comic relief is Black Whirlwind. He's half again as tall as anyone else on your team, he's got more chest hair than every other person in the game combined, and he dual-wields axes that look like the main character might have trouble lifting one.
 * Dragon Age II: Merrill's social unawareness and clumsiness form a major portion of the humor in the game. She's also a blood mage with no spells other than those designed to inflict very painful deaths.
 * Mass Effect trilogy: Jeff "Joker" Moreau is the snarktastic guy who flies the ship, and would literally snap in half if you picked him up and shook him hard. By the third game, he's considered the best pilot in the Systems Alliance, and possibly all of Council space. By a significant margin, at that.
 * Mass Effect 2: Mordin Solus is an unintimidating salarian doctor who sings Gilbert and Sullivan. He also has purely offensive combat powers, used to be part of the salarian Special Tasks Group (his outfit is a lab coat worn over a commando uniform), and once killed a krogan by stabbing him in the face with a pitchfork.
 * In Dragon Age II, the protagonist can be played with this personality, with Snarky!Hawke frequently using Buffy-Speak and Obfuscating Stupidity to lure their opponents into a false sense of security that they can't possibly be that dangerous, right?
 * Mega Man has Dr. Wily who, like Robotnik, loses to a blue guy on a regular basis, but at the same time is a brilliant scientist capable of creating robots with great powers. His greatest creation, Zero, even outlasts Dr. Light's last creation, X, and saves all of humanity (though X was active for much longer).
 * Wily is dead and buried but his legacy has yet to fade from the series. The Virus he made with Zero was the origin of Sigma, and was adapted to make the Dark Elf.
 * His Battle Network counterpart never stops being a credible threat; every time he's stopped, he's literally minutes from causing The End of the World as We Know It.
 * Of course, Bowser of Super Mario Bros. is often portrayed comically and sometimes Mario will indeed be Go-Karting with Bowser or challenging him to other games, but it's clear that he would probably succeed in taking over the world if Mario and Luigi and allies didn't keep thwarting him.
 * For a very clear example, see Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, about half of which you spend playing as Bowser. Even though for most of the game he has Mario and Luigi helping to power up his body from the inside, he's shown to be a very powerful fighter. In fact, enemies that weren't too difficult for Bowser to pummel into submission become borderline Demonic Spiders when Mario and Luigi try taking them on!
 * All the villains of Super Paper Mario are pretty silly, especially the true Big Bad.
 * The original Silly Villain, though, was Garland "I will knock you all down!" from Final Fantasy I. Who knew
 * And in Dissidia Final Fantasy and its prequel, Garland becomes just that much scarier.
 * Kefka of Final Fantasy VI. Over the course of the game he goes from a cackling nutjob in clown makeup, with fairly unremarkable combat abilities, to a Physical God (but still a cackling nutjob in clown makeup, with the exception of the final boss fight).
 * This carried over to the Dissidia Final Fantasy games. Yes, he's the Chaos Warrior most likely to crack a joke about farting, and has a walk silly enough to get him into the Ministry, but, when the situation calls for it, he's incredibly conniving and dangerous.
 * In fact, it even turns out that he's the one who !
 * Moggie from Final Fantasy VII is a child who seems obsessed with moogles, dressing like one and collecting Moogle Medals in his goal of "making everyone happy". He clearly has an overactive imagination, like most children, but the items he sells (in exchange for the Medals) are very useful; items like the tomes to increase a character's skill, the Salvation Badge (which increases the effect of healing spells cast on the wearer), the Graveyard Key (allows entry into a place where you can gain an optional quest with a decent reward) and decent weapons and armor.
 * And let's not leave out Gilgamesh, of Final Fantasy V. Every times he opens his mouth it's for a badass boast, biting insult, or random pop culture reference. Sometimes all at once. And despite being a complete nutter, and the source of most of the games funniest moments, he's still able to level entire armies singlehandedly, survive onslaughts from ancient sealed monsters, and one-shot an endgame boss. And this is before he started hopping universes.
 * Purge, from Space Channel 5 (part 2). At first, he seems just as goofy and camp as everyone else in the game. He constantly giggles, pelvic thrusts, and dons a sparkly purple disco suit for your penultimate dance-off. Heck, with Michael Jackson and a giant laser at your side, all it should take is one attack to finish him off! ... "Tch, yeah right!"
 * Dr. Mundo from League of Legends. He's huge, he's purple, he talks in the third person, he has a silly voice, and he has silly dialogue. He is also a serial killer who regularly engages in human experimentation.
 * Kaos, the Big Bad of Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure, is pretty much an Expy of Invader Zim. His first battle with the heroes pretty much ended with the Core of Light, the only thing keeping Skylands safe from the forces of Darkness, destroyed along with most of their HQ and all the Skylanders plus their Big Good MIA.
 * Ghirahim, the Big Bad of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, could be considered an inversion, as the "beware" side was seen first when he mentions that he created the tornado to capture Zelda. He displays his silliness in his campy lines and hand gestures after Link gets to meet him.
 * The evil Yiga Clan from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Their obsession with bananas and their over-the-top buffoon leader may lead you into thinking that they are just comical foes like the Bokoblins.
 * The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has Cicero, the mad jester and Keeper of the Night Mother. At first his wheezing giggle, eccentric personality and high-pitched voice are merely obnoxious.
 * Jasper Batt Jr. from No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. Setting aside the fact that, most players will think, "He's just a scrawny, bucked-tooth nerd with a hilariously bad sense of fashion. How bad can he be?" Then they actually fight the guy and he turns out to be one of the most irritating bosses in video game history.
 * A heroic example: Tyrell from Golden Sun: Dark Dawn is blatantly set up as the bumbling sidekick. He starts the game by getting into trouble over his head and breaking valuable equipment, he makes fun of the bad guys' names, he identifies an extinct settlement as such by the lack of food, and he flips out and attempts a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on Arcanus. Wait, what?
 * Sho Minamimoto of The World Ends With You seems not such a big deal when he first appears. He's just some annoying reaper who screams in a megaphone and makes junk sculptures while talking in math. Even when you first fight him, he's not too bad. Oh, and he Also,
 * Steven Heck of Alpha Protocol is a very silly individual: he rambles on about conspiracy theories involving the Federal Reserve having William McKinley assassinated and the government tinkering with the price of strawberries to control people's minds, gives Word Salad Titles to every covert operation that occurs in Taipei, is willing to use the Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique on someone to get him to remember where he put his car keys, and takes Time Cube quotes seriously. He is also, however, one of the most dangerous men alive, capable of wiping out entire rooms full of soldiers and elite intelligence operatives single-handed. His method of dealing with the Chinese Secret Police agents who have Mike Thorton pinned down in the Taipei subway perfectly captures Heck's mix of silly and lethal:

Web Comics
"Xykon:"
 * Xykon in The Order of the Stick spends much of his time as borderline comic relief: much of his villainy appears to be of the card carrying variety, and many of his interactions with his supposed subordinate Redcloak imply that the latter is the far more intelligent of the two. Of course, this all obscures the fact that Xykon scares the pants off of Redcloak; even though he's the high priest of an evil god, Redcloak's goal is equality for goblins, orcs, and other races that are normally just cannon fodder, while Xykon's goal is more or less "Take Over the World and inflict as much pain and mayhem as undeadly possible".
 * Even with the heroes out to stop him, he's a credible threat to the entire world. They kind of beat him the first time kind of by accident, but since then they've been lucky to get away with their lives when tackling him (and not always so lucky), and that's with him conquering a city and beating its forces at the same time.
 * The time when he took on the entire roomful of Sapphire Guard makes this even more apparent. He starts out by tossing a super bouncy ball at them, which was inscribed with a Symbol of Insanity that made them kill each other. Xykon got a whole lot less funny all of a sudden. He even commented that he could've just kept to the air and blast all of them. The only reason he had the Sapphire Guard kill each other was because he thought it would be "going the extra mile".
 * Let's not forget Xykon's Batman Gambit in Start of Darkness: . The Hannibal Lecture that follows speaks for itself.


 * Also, Elan, as Kubota found out the hard way
 * Khrima from Adventurers! spends most of the story as comic relief, since he's laughably bad at conceiving with evil plans and his minions are(for the most part) about as threatening as a wet sock. It's hard to take him seriously as an Evil Overlord, especially when compared to Eternion later on. Despite all this, he still manages to be a very tough Final Boss with no less than four One-Winged Angel forms.
 * Lewie the Lich of Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic is initially kind of laughable. Then he decides to try playing Sauron, and after a couple of misfires (beholders can't wear rings...), he enslaves an entire mountain of monsters.
 * This trope could actually be considered the hat of many of the comic's protagonists, both monstrous and otherwise. Just for another example, here's what can happen if you underestimate one of the bigger cloud cuckoolanders on the mountain...
 * Unless this is the biggest Cloudcuckoolander, in which case this is what can happen. To a goddess.
 * Marmalade was introduced as a harmless mook in Dark Legacy Comics but when he became self-aware, he became a Complete Monster.
 * Lord Kyran from Emergency Exit is usualy depicted as both silly and harmless then you get moments like this and this.
 * Homestuck:
 * The Jaegermonsters known as da Boyz in Girl Genius are variously-hued, apparently dim (except for Dimo, who is often the Only Sane Man of the trio) Funetik Aksent speaking comic relief...until it's time to fight, and then readers are reminded that they are brightly-colored engineered super soldiers who do not just have pointy teeth and sharp nails for decoration.
 * Sluggy Freelance: Torg is ina wacky mood!
 * Don't forget the "beware" part.
 * Brian Souballo, from Our Little Adventure. He is hard to take seriously as the Big Bad as he's friendly and a bit of a Cloudcuckoolander. His cheerful demeanor was only ruined once by an old magic teacher he was trying to recruit for the empire. Read about it.
 * Head Alien of It's Walky! fame generally comes off as a cartoon villain, constantly dreaming up plans doomed to be easily foiled by the introduction of the heroes, who never passes up the opportunity to show his love for dramatic tension, even when doing so hinders or even cripples his plans. Of course, he is also a mastermind of the Xanatos Gambit, always managing to further some goal every time he is effortlessly crushed, and all it takes is a moment of talking before he's got you trapped with a Hannibal Lecture, eating out of his hand doing exactly what he wants.
 * The title character himself counts, considering he spends much of the series as an Adult Child. Even if it's partly an act.
 * Black Mage is the Chew Toy of 8-Bit Theater and spends most of his time stabbing Fighter and failing to get into White Mage's pants. A few times, however, he's acquired enough power that he decides he doesn't need his companions. On these occasions, he shows in no uncertain terms that he's not joking about being an Omnicidal Maniac, and he has come very close to wiping out reality. On one occasion, he finally succeeded in murdering the rest of the Light Warriors
 * Jareth from the Mega Crossover fancomic Roommates. Let's see he seems like a Keet, blond, prankster with questionable level of self-preservation instinct who only wants to have fun. Did we mention that he can warp time and space?

Web Original

 * At times, Dr. Insano of The Spoony Experiment and Atop the Fourth Wall seems like an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain, but there have been times where he's been a somewhat legit menace, such as the times he took control of the giant robot Neutro, discovered the Anti-Comic Equation (with Warrior #1, a comic so irredeemably awful it distorted the space-time continuum), and hired Squall to assassinate Spoony. Despite all this, Spoony still let him assist him with the review of the awful film, The Clones Of Bruce Lee.
 * One could argue that wasn't exactly a reward for good behavior.
 * Also, according to some interpretations of the Continuity Snarl, that one was a clone.
 * The Evil League of Evil in  Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog features such silly gimmicks as Dead Bowie and Fake Thomas Jefferson, but they're all unrepentant murderers at the very least.
 * The Evil Mastermind, an Evil Genius from the Global Guardians PBEM Universe, is this. He favors grandiose schemes and Xanatos Gambits and schemes within schemes within schemes. (Whaddaya want? He's a super-intelligent twelve year old boy.) Most of the heroes consider him a joke. But you know, he did almost poison New York City's whole water supply that one time. And other time he actually had control of the nation's air traffic control systems for nearly half an hour...
 * Generator (Jade Sinclair) of the Whateley Universe. She's cute, she's wacky, she invents crazy stuff, she looks like she's only ten... She stopped a supervillain with the powers of the werewolf by nailing him to a tree with railroad spikes. She destroyed an entire Syndicate hardsite by killing their minions and making it look like she had turned them into zombies. Her shoulder angels nearly caused warfare across the Whateley Academy campus.
 * Nora Valkyrie from RWBY, if only because she has a Grenade Launcher. That's also a warhammer.

Western Animation

 * Kim Possible's Harmless Villain Drakken and Sidekick Dark Action Girl poster girl Shego would arguably be Not-So-Harmless Villains without someone to foil their plans. Once, they attempted to build an army of cute little toy robots.... 100,000,000 of them.
 * The first Movie reveals what happens if the heroes were out of the picture.
 * Ron could also fit: when he is in one episode, he's unstoppable.
 * Dr. Robotnik of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog is regarded as less competent than his deadly serious SatAM counterpart. But he and his robot minions Scratch and Grounder execute any number of formidably dangerous plans to take over Mobius that only fail because of Sonic, but they often succeed at capturing or otherwise incapacitating Sonic.
 * The supervillains in The Venture Brothers are indulged for precisely this reason. In particular, the Monarch seemed content for years to engage in a cat-and-mouse (or "cat-and-also-cat" as he described it) rivalry with Dr. Venture, preferring to live out a hero/villain fantasy with the disinterested scientist than actually kill him when he had the opportunity. The early episodes would even make him seem like a Harmless Villain if not for his habit of killing his own henchmen. Then he loses the right to arch Venture, and promptly murders his next five archenemies out of frustration.
 * Shredder from the '80s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon probably qualifies.
 * Turtles Forever explicitly spells out that he and Krang are sitting on technology powerful enough to completely take over the multiverse if used by someone with brains.
 * And then there's the All Just a Dream episode where the Turtles see what would happen if they weren't around-Shredder would actually succeed at taking over the world.
 * Skeletor from the early 80s Filmation He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon was portrayed in a ridiculous manner at times, but there's no doubt that if He-Man and his allies didn't exist, he would have been able to create much chaos and, possibly, take over Eternia completely.
 * Many independent villains counted too. For instance, Plundor from "The Quest for He-Man". Guy looked rather ridiculous, with purple skin and a rabbit's head, and he used rabbit-themed Mecha Mooks. Still, this guy conquered a planet and built a giant factory on it, destroying its ecosystem and causing the extinction of at least three species of wildlife. Even worse were his motives, as he distilled he planet's life energy into a "magical liquid" which he intended to sell on some dimensional black market; when called out on why he would do such a thing for wealth, he replied, "I would do anything for that." Worst of all, when it was clear he'd be beaten, he put the liquid on a missile and blasted it into space, determined to destroy it rather than let anyone else have it. Fortunately, when He-Man destroyed the rocket with the liquid inside, it became a World-Healing Wave that undid most of his work.
 * Self-proclaimed boy genius Jack Spicer from Xiaolin Showdown starts off as the main villain but slowly slips into a mockable state as more powerful villains show up, even to the point of being a fanboy of the Prince Of Darkness, Chase. By season three, the Xiaolin monks are defeating him for sport, fight scenes with him last on average three minutes, and he only lays claim to one Shen-Gong-Wu, the ridiculous Monkey Staff. Cue the season finale, Time After Time pt. 1, where Omi freezes himself to get to the future, and in his absence, Jack takes over the world, including imprisoning the remaining three Xiaolin warriors and the three main villains of the show.
 * Bill Cipher from Gravity Falls hardly looks dangerous. He's a little guy shaped like a triangle with one eye and a top hat; almost looks cute.
 * In spite of the silliness of the show, the villains from Freakazoid! managed to be more or less serious enough to appear dangerous. But if you look at him from the perspective of the bad guys, Freakazoid himself completely nails this Trope.
 * In The Secret Show, a villain simply known as 'The Clown' appears and babbles on about taking over the world, while seeming completely ridiculous. The main characters decide to ignore him in favor of more visible threats, and The Clown, unopposed, takes over the world in short order.
 * An episode of Phineas and Ferb had a Bad Future that occured after Candace manages to bust her brothers, which also results in Perry being taken out of commission for a few months. Without anyone to oppose him, Dr. Doofenshmirtz manages to Take Over the World (or at least the Tri-State Area, it's not really clear). Admittedly, the actions of Moral Guardians helped him, but not being opposed was still a factor.
 * Most of the time, the title character of Invader Zim either falls victim to his own Genius Ditz nature or completely fails to properly use his extremely advanced technology. The few times he's half-way competent however show that he is very good at causing large scale mayhem and destruction, even if sometimes he destroys the wrong thing.
 * In one episode, Zim locks GIR into "Duty Mode" (the red-eyed, serious version), and he promptly becomes much more evil and competent than Zim himself, including deciding that Zim is a threat to the mission and needs to be eliminated. Long story short, Zim just barely turns him back to normal in time to prevent a Klingon Promotion.
 * One Justice League Unlimited episode focused on the Flash and his Rogues Gallery. Flash's villains might be incredibly silly theme-based, pun-spouting Punch Clock Villain holdovers from the Silver Age, but when the fighting breaks out they're able to easily take out Physical God Orion and fight competently against the Goddamn Batman.
 * Flash himself is an excellent example. Wise-cracking hero with a friendly and cheerful disposition, constantly flirting and a hopeless romantic... who is also one of the most conscientious of the JLU in regards to collateral damage, regularly talks villains into giving up... and when that doesn't work, can single handedly defeat living gods like.
 * At the end of Billy & Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure,
 * Beast Boy of Teen Titans. He's a Kid Appeal Character and the resident Plucky Comic Relief and Butt Monkey, but don't make him angry.
 * Control Freak is always played for comic relief, but he's also essentially a Reality Warper with his special remote control.
 * Discord from My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic is a cheerful, fun-loving, reality warping trickster who enjoys chocolate rain, cotton candy clouds, and corrupting and breaking ponies and laughing at their misery as their entire world crumbles around them, literally and metaphorically. He's the worst evil in the series by an enormous margin, yet always maintains a thin veneer of amiable insanity.
 * Cobra Commander from G.I. Joe. One of his plots involved carving the image of his face into the moon. On the other hand, he has a knack for coming up with a lot of crazy plans, and some were Crazy Enough to Work if it wasn't for GI Joe and betrayal by his minions.
 * Transformers Animated: Prometheus Black/Meltdown, despite his Disco Dan style outfits and cartoony Mad Scientist nature is, by far, the most dangerous human villain on the show. That may not seem like much, considering the other villains, but he's almost on the same level of evil as the Decepticons. While other human villains at most got a single episode of being at all dangerous, Meltdown was consistently portrayed as a genuine threat nearing if not equaling the Decepticons—who in this continuity, are incredibly dangerous threats that are more than a match for the team on an equal playing field.
 * In SpongeBob SquarePants, Plankton is, at his best, a Laughably Evil villain, and at his worst, a pitable Designated Villain whose only crime is that he's The Rival to Mr. Krabbs. However, in The Movie, he frames Mr. Krabs for the theft of Neptune's crown and gets him frozen in ice, and takes over Bikini Bottom and makes everyone his slave.
 * Looney Tunes: Daffy Duck and Porky Pig could be very silly...when they weren't, y'know, running around with axes.
 * Goofy, when he gets Drunk with Power and put in charge in Sandwich Makers.
 * One episode of Aladdin the Series had the recurring villain, Mirage, convince Chaos, who was visiting, to make a little, well, chaos, in the palace of Agrabah where Aladdin and Jasmine are holding a dinner for some nobles. Did I mention that Chaos is a silly blue cat with wings? Did I also mention that he has more power in his whisker than a palace full of genies, can conjure up his own wishes, was able to poof up an Evil Clone that Aladdin was forced to fight to a near standstill when he expressed distaste in the cliche of him always winning against his opponents in the series, shrunk Jasmine to the size of an insect and nearly getting stepped on by her own husband when she actually tried to order him to stop his mischief, and actually terrifies Mirage, who if you didn't know, is an Evil Elemental who has proven many times capable of offing the heroes and wiping Agrabah off the map? And after the series, Chaos appeared one last time in a short Aladdin comic in Disney Adventures Magazine in a Deus Ex Machina type ending by stripping the powers of a devilish entity known simply as "Evil" who was near to defeating Aladdin when he felt things were getting too predictable.
 * In the Harley Quinn cartoon, after Batman is injured and falls into a coma, Alfred decides to create his own costumed identity, dressing up in a gaudily-colored tuxedo, a domino mask, and a really large wig (that conceals various high-tech weaponry) and fight crime as the Macaroni. While he looks utterly ridiculous in this getup, he's able to pull a Big Damn Heroes and fight off Two-Face's goons with relative ease.