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Civilian Villain: Difference between revisions
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* 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 anyway--Penguin was trying to help other ex-cons go straight, but the terms of his parole were that he wasn't supposed to associate with them.
*** 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:
*** Harvey Dent (AKA Two-Face) gets plastic surgery to fix his mutilated face, but it doesn't actually cure his insanity, despite a promising start. Batman really hoped it would work (especially since Bruce and Harvey were friends).
*** The Joker claims to have changed after decades in Arkham, and is released after his evaluation by a [[Strawman Political|strawman liberal]] psychiatrist. He goes on a talkshow to prove he just wants to make people smile... and then kills everybody. And somehow, some people are surprised.
**** Ironically he used some [[Reverse Psychology]] on his psychiatrist, claiming to have been cured, but also that he doesn't deserve to ever walk free because of the horrible things he has done, and should just be locked up and forgotten for good. The psychiatrist sees this as a good enough reason to put him in a talkshow.
** The Harvey Dent example later showed up in current DCU continuity when he received plastic surgery as part of the "Hush" conspiracy, but in an example of petard-hoisting, the surgery put Two-Face out of control, giving Dent his sanity back. [[It Got Worse|He got worse]].
** Shockingly averted by the Penguin, who had been happily running a nightclub frequented by supervillains while doing nothing more criminal than overcharging for tee shirts in the gift shop for years, before eventually running for mayor of Gotham City... all above board, to the shock of both Batman and readers.
*** Not entirely. The Penguin did fence stolen property and arrange early paroles on the side (Batman tolerated it because the Penguin made a great stool pigeon when necessary), but he seems to have put even that behind him now.
** More recently, the Riddler is making an honest try at being a private detective, and it mostly looks like he'll join the Penguin in averting the trope. Even Batman (as Bruce Wayne) hired him once.
** Harley Quinn got this one, with a weird start. She was rejected parole(Bruce Wayne is on Arkham's board of directors), but then she was broken out of Arkham on the way back to her cell by Scarface. While she does play along with Scarface's scheme, she takes her first oppurtunity to call GCPD and get Batman to help attempt capture of the crooks and to escort her back to Arkham. Bruce Wayne called for a rehearing to reverse his vote and if what this troper has heard is correct, she has since gone on to reform.
*** She's still nuttier than a Snickers bar, but is no longer a serious threat to the society...although a friendly encounter with Mr J might change that at any time.
* [[Lex Luthor]] and the Joker team up with this gambit in ''World's Finest Comics'' #88. In the classic [[Cut Lex Luthor a Check]] tradition, the nigh-indestructible industrial robots they were manufacturing as a front would have made them fabulously rich.
** Of course, the Joker is insane. And Luthor is quite capable of making as much money as he feels like whenever he feels like it, but he's absolutely convinced that Superman is holding back Humanity from it's true potential. Neither of them are in it for the money, so cutting them a check won't work.
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* 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 lead to such a humiliating defeat, but was too proud to beg for forgiveness, and soon fell into villainy, once again. The forging of the One Ring took place a millennia later, and at that time Sauron was an all-out villain, forced to disguise himself, and work under a false identity to get the elves trust him for awhile.
*** 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…
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** In ''The Curse of Peladon'', where [[Proud Warrior Race]] the Ice Warriors claim to want to have given up their militaristic ways, which the Doctor does not believe. In fact, they have. Though as the next story, ''The Monster of Peladon'', as with humans and Time Lords, you can trust some Ice Warriors but not others.
** The first Second Doctor episode, ''The Power of the Daleks''. ''I AM YOUR SER-VANT!''
** They do it again in the new series episode "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S31
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* Eggman of ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' does this from time to time. (And in lots of incarnations, whether he's Eggman or Robotnik, not just the games.)
** 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]]."<br />
'''Sonic:''' "[[Sarcasm Mode|Well, that's a relief.]]" }}
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** In '''Joker's Millions''', the Joker becomes legitimately insanely rich by inheriting the wealth of an old enemy. He gives up crime and takes up things like golf. Unfortunately, the money turns out to be mostly counterfeit, and he goes back to his old ways when he tries to hijack an armored truck filled with cash when faced with the massive inheritance taxes and being the laughingstock of the underworld by being so thoroughly cheated.
** Harley Quinn was once declared fit to re-enter society, and while she was still [[Genki Girl|bubbly as all hell]] and kept giving other people the willies with her pet hyenas, she was well-behaved and did nothing illegal. Then a store clerk forgot to remove an anti-theft widget from a dress she bought, causing a store alarm to go off. [[It Got Worse|Then things got sad,]] [[The Woobie|poor Harley.]] [[Oh Crap|To mention nothing about the crazy general pursuing her on a tank.]]
*** 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 surprise--until he opens a can of fear gas on the [[Jerk Jock]] who abused (and [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|possibly did]] [[Date Rape|worse to]]) his favorite pupil. At the end, though Batman chides him about "reverting to type," they're ''both'' arrested.
* 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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