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Civilian Villain: Difference between revisions
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In particularly tragic instances of this, the villain really does reform, but the [[Reformed but Rejected|mistrust from their environment]] (and possibly the hero in particular) convinces them it's not worth it, and they go back to villainy.
Compare [[Heel Face Turn]], where the villain becomes an out-and-out hero. Likewise compare [[Chronic Villainy]] for when a villain sincerely attempts to reform but cannot get over his old obsessions. Also compare [[Reformed but Rejected]], where the villain really does give up his evil
{{examples}}
==
* Subverted in [[Kurt Busiek]]'s ''[[Astro City]]'' during the ''Tarnished Angel'' arc. Steeljack, former supervillain, does indeed try to go straight. No one believes him, and about the only work he can find is people who want to hire him to do criminal jobs for them. Then he discovers an actual evil conspiracy...only none of the good guys will believe a thing he says because of his past reputation. He does {{spoiler|manage to go straight}} in the end, although he has to {{spoiler|almost die before any of the heroes are willing to listen to him}}.
* [[Batman]] gets this one a lot, since his theme is "justice, not vengeance" and he's contractually obligated to give people a chance, even if he doesn't believe it himself.
** In the "Going Sane" story in ''Legends of the Dark Knight'', after the Joker thinks Batman has died, he gets plastic surgery and goes on a regime of prescription drugs to make himself look normal. In a short while, he [[Laser-Guided Amnesia|forgets all about his life as the Joker]] and turns into a shy, kindly eccentric. (Amnesia of this kind can [very rarely] happen in the [[Real Life]]. Psychologists call this "fugue".) Needless to say, this all falls apart when the Batman re-appears.
** In one especially screwy story, an overly-suspicious Batman broke into Penguin's factory, realized Penguin wasn't doing anything wrong, and got him on a parole violation
*** Batman storms out of the parole board hearing, after failing to convince them that the Penguin's heart was in the right place, complaining that they won't listen. (Ironically, [[Book Ends|the story began]] with Batman storming out of the original parole hearing because they let the Penguin out in the first place.)
** ''[[The Dark Knight Returns]]'' has ''two'' instances of this:
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*** Also, it was the Silver Age.
* Moloch from ''[[Watchmen]]''. Unfortunately for him, Rorschach never forgives a former villain, and even breaks Moloch's finger when he tries to defend himself from Ror's unjustified home invasion.
* A [[Pre Crisis]] Superman story had Luthor reforming after falling in love and deciding to marry. He even allowed Superman to scan his mind with a device to confirm it. Except it turned out to be a convoluted scheme even Luthor himself wasn't aware of ''[[Memory Gambit|since erasing his own memories was part of the plan]]''
* Among others, Captain Cold in ''[[The Flash]]'' has done this several times. On at least one occasion he even fought crime alongside the vocally suspicious Flash on the encouragement of his then-girlfriend. Then it turned out that at night she was using his equipment and costume to commit burglaries so that he would take the blame if she was ever spotted. He promptly attempted murder-suicide.
* At one point, [[Superman|the Cyborg Superman]] attempted this, creating a new identity as a schoolteacher and befriending a high school student who, co-incidentally, was involved in a few of Superman's adventures, mostly those in the original post-Crisis Kandar. When his identity was revealed, he snapped and attacked, only to escape once more.
== Films ==
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== Literature ==
* In the backstory to ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', Sauron, after the events of ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', promised to abandon the ways of his former [[Evil Overlord]] and master Morgoth. Then he went and made [[Artifact of Doom|the One Ring]]?
** Things went in a bit different order; Sauron was implied to have genuinely regret his decision of siding with Morgoth after the first time he fell, if for no other reason than that it
*** I heard somewhere that in addition to his pride, Sauron realized that with Morgoth defeated and the Valar returning to Valinor, ''he'' was now the most powerful being in Middle-Earth, and he decided to take advantage of it.
** Of course this brings up the topic of Morgoth, who was let out from imprisonment and seemed to be an allright guy? Until he destroyed the trees, stole the Silmarils, and murdered Fëanor's father.
*** Not really. Morgoth is Tolkien's analogue for [[Satan]]: he is the incarnation of evil; he never reformed and never will. Morgoth's brother [[Wide-Eyed Idealist|Manwë]], the guy who released him, simply failed to understand why anybody would want to be evil. When I think of it, remind me why Eru Ilúvatar put Manwë in charge of the world…
* Count Olaf pulls this trope multiple times over the course of ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]''.
* In the [[Tortall Universe]], Duke Roger is one of these for the last two books of the Lioness quartet. Before he died the first time, he ''tried to kill the crown prince as well as the queen'', among others. After he came [[Back
** The belief was that having died had changed him, and it had - before he'd just been trying to gain the throne, but after being brought back he wanted to destroy everything.
* ''[[Harry Potter]]'': After Voldemort was defeated trying to murder baby Harry, some Death Eaters claimed to have been bewitched or unwilling participants and tried to go back to living a normal life. This was most successful in conjunction with ministry connections and large bribes. Of course, in most cases it was only a lie to keep them out of Azkaban.
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** In ''[[Sonic Chronicles]]: The Dark Brotherhood'', he claims to have "completely reformed". ''Nobody'' believes him, but ''they [[Enemy Mine|work with him]] anyway'' for a good stretch of the game since they legitimately need his tech. No prizes for guessing how ''that'' turned out.
** Also, in ''[[Sonic Colors]]'':
{{quote|'''Dr. Eggman:''' "This amusement park was constructed entirely out of a sense of remorse for my past transgressions, and [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|is in no way associated with any sort of evil plot or premeditated misdeeds]]."
'''Sonic:''' "[[Sarcasm Mode|Well, that's a relief.]]" }}
* The plot to ''[[Mega Man 3]]''. Dr. Wily claims to have reformed, and works with Dr. Light to build a giant "peacekeeping robot" which Mega Man has to go out and get the components for. The components, oddly enough, are guarded by 8 robot masters... and once they've gathered them all, Dr. Wily steals the new robot and plots to use it to take over the world, of course.
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*** Batman recognizes that Harley is one of his few villains who isn't irredeemable, just sort of misguided and broken. [[Word of God]] is that after the {{spoiler|Joker's timely and well deserved death}}, Harley went straight and started a family.
*** Indeed, ''[[Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker]]'' shows her as a stereotypical Jewish grandmother, and an extremely pissed one due to her granddaughters' fall to delinquency - in a gang called the Jokerz, no less!
** In a short spinoff comic, the Scarecrow starts giving thought to his retirement plans, escapes Arkham, and goes back to teaching under a new identity - this time as an English professor, which has much less opportunity in the line of unethical experimentation. While he dislikes most of his students, he seems to be satisfied with his work otherwise, much to Batman's
* Lex Luthor in the Cadmus story arc of ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'' does this as part of a [[Xanatos Gambit]] to discredit Superman.
* About half of Sideshow Bob's appearances in ''[[The Simpsons]]''.
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* On ''[[Superfriends]]'', the Legion of Doom pulled this once. Of course since they proceeded to travel into the future because they thought the Superfriends wouldn't find them there, the viewer is left to question why.
* ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'': Plankton pretends he changed in a convoluted charade to get Mr. Krabs's secret formula.
* There was Gil from ''[[Kim Possible]]''
* In ''[[Batman Beyond]]'', Mister Freeze was subjected to this after he was given an honest shot at redemption and a normal life. Few people believed he was willing to change, with the exception of Terry, as a twist (elderly Bruce seems to have witnessed this trope being averted a few too many times to believe in Freeze's reform). Couldn't make good on it though, as the technology used to heal his body...wasn't that good. He was doing fine until {{spoiler|the doctors treating him wanted to [[They Would Cut You Up|vivisect him]] to see why the treatment wasn't permanent.}}
* After being defeated the first time in ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'', Doctor Octopus pretends to have returned to his original meek personality and asserts that criminal actions were the result of his tentacles forcing him into it. By doing this, it allows him to be kept at an institution under relatively low security and mastermind a break-out for his fellow villains, who, being sane, are kept in maximum security prison.
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