Boring Insult

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

The worst insult conceivable to a villain who prides himself on the fact that he's a genius. He's called out on being boring, predictable, and overall, just not particularly interesting. This may very well send him into a berserk rage, particularly if he can't actually counter any of the points his enemy is making. Could be a case of Bullying a Dragon from a Fearless Fool.

See also Shut UP, Hannibal.

Examples of Boring Insult include:


Anime and Manga


Comic Books

  • The Cassandra Cain version of Batgirl, when fighting the Joker, suddenly walks away saying, "Bored. You're boring." This infuriates him so much that he's thrown off-guard and she is able to subdue him.
  • In the climax of the Guardian Devil storyline, Daredevil gets an entire "The Reason You Suck" Speech about how totally unorigial Mysterio's plan is.


Film

  • Die Hard. After Hans Gruber and his band of terrorists are revealed to actually be after $600 million in bearer bonds:

Holly McClane: After all your posturing, all your little speeches, you're nothing but a common thief.
Hans Gruber: I am an exceptional thief, Mrs McClane. And since I'm moving up to kidnapping, you should be more polite.

  • In The Italian Job remake, this is the primary tone of the gang's first confrontation with Steve since Steve had previously thought them all dead. While Steve clearly thinks highly of himself for his "clever" betrayal plan (which pretty much involved hiring a bunch of guys with guns to show up at the rendezvous point) and his equally "clever" plan to safeguard the gold, the gang calls him out on the fact that in spite of being a multi-millionaire, Steve hasn't thought of anything the least bit interesting to do with his money. He just bought all the things everybody else said they would do with their share of the money. And, though they don't mention this, he basically lives his life watching TV and is so hard up for entertainment that he hits on who he thinks is the cable girl.
    • Further driven home by the fact that, in the climax, it's revealed he still had almost all the original loot when the gang steals it from him. Which isn't all that surprising considering Steve regularly engages in Blatant Lies.
  • GoldenEye: When Bond faces Janus towards the end.

Bond: You break into the Bank of England via computer, then transfer the money electronically, seconds before you set off the GoldenEye, which erases any record of the transactions. Ingenious.
Janus: Thank you, James.
Bond: But it still boils down to petty theft. In the end, you're just a bank robber. Nothing more than a common thief.

Malcolm: I've met a lot of psychos, but none as fucking boring as you -- I mean, you're a real boring fuck. Oh, sorry. I know you don't approve of swearing, so we'll sort that out: you are a boring eff-star-star-CUNT.

  • Non-villainous example in American Beauty when Ricky hits Angela with a this precision insult.

Angela: Well, at least I'm not ugly!
Ricky: Yes you are. And you're boring. And you're totally ordinary.

  • In Quo Vadis, Petronius' suicide note to the Emperor Nero where he enjoins Nero to stop boring everyone with his bad poetry; he can continue to be a bloody tyrant, but could he please stop murdering the arts?
  • In Mystery Men, when The Shoveler, Mr. Furious and the Blue Raja first face the Disco Boys, they're less than impressed by their arsenal:

Tony P: What do we got here?
Tony C: I think they're supposed to be jive superheroes.
Tony P: Well, they made a big mistake coming to Casanova's place. (as he draws a gun, the heroes snicker.) What's so funny?
Mr. Furious: (unimpressed) That's it? That's your power? You have guns? Couldn't you be a little more creative than that?
Blue Raja: Pardon the impertinence, guv'nor, but what the devil does a pistol have to do with disco?
Disco Boy: It's a Saturday Night Special.
Mr. Furious: Weak.
Blue Raja: At best.
(They high-five as more Disco Boys arrive, armed with a variety of blunt instruments.)
Shoveler: Check out the guy with the pipe. What are you, the Disco Plumber?
Blue Raja: (laughing) There's no theme at all here, mates!
Mr. Furious: I mean, if you're gonna carry a chain, at least make it a gold chain, and that's just off the top of my head... (To Tony C Yo, what's up, Tiger Lily?
Tony C: Top of your head, huh?
([The Disco Boys beat the heroes up)


Live Action TV

  • The Doctor, in the Doctor Who episode "Voyage of the Damned", after he learns that the villain wants to crash the Starship Titanic on Earth to get back at the board who seized control of his company. Capricorn spends most of his speech mugging and making faces, until he gets to the end...

"So that's the plan? A retirement plan? Two thousand people on board this ship, six billion underneath us, all of them slaughtered, and why? Because Max Capricorn is a loser."

  • Angel derides Penn, a vampire he sired, for being so lacking in imagination that he's spent the last hundred years doing the same set of kills over and over again. He backs this up by accurately describing Penn's serial killer wall despite never having seen it.
  • Done brilliantly in Homicide: Life on the Street. When trying to get a supect to confess, Pembleton and Bayliss call him the "Most boring man ever to enter the interrogation room" and list off all then types of killers They have encountered and saying that none of Them have ever been dull like Him.


Radio

  • Non-villainous example. In an episode of Hello Cheeky, John describes Barry with the aside "He could make World War II sound boring," to which Barry responds by doing his impression of World War II—an amalgamation of accents, sound effects, and war songs.

Video Games


Western Animation

  • Happens at the climax of Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. After the Joker reveals himself, Bruce radios Terry with specific instructions not to respond to the Joker's gloating, as it's just what he wants. This is the proviso Batman used during the animated series whenever he fought Joker. Terry, however, questions the logic of this approach, deciding instead to hide in the shadows and then start taunting the Joker over his failures, ending in a very mocking, condescending laugh that puts Joker over the edge.

Joker: Funny guy...
Terry: Can't say the same for you.
Joker: Impudent little brat! Who do you think you're talking to?
Terry: Not a comedian, I'll tell you that!


Webcomics

  • Varsuuvius does it in this strip of Order of the Stick, calling Nale's stratagems "tedious, unoriginal, and lacking in any truly keen insight", as part of a Spot the Imposter check. Nale fails, and gets a lightning bolt to the face for his troubles.