Civilian Villain: Difference between revisions

*** 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.

* 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 From the Dead]], people just kind of [[Too Dumb to Live|accepted his word]] and the word of his necromancer that Roger wasn't dangerous anymore.

* ''[[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.

** It is further implied that at least some of those who ''were'' sent to Azkaban really had been coerced or mind-slaved, and simply didn't have the money to bribe people. Not many people ''really'' cared about the truth as long as they got paid.

* The [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] gives us a few of these. Most of the time, the system actually does work. However, when it doesn't, it fails egregiously. Such is the case of Admiral Daala, an Imperial admiral who oversaw the construction of the Death Star, and the orbital bombardment of several planets. Her current job? [[President Evil|Head of the Galactic Alliance!]]

 

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* In the exceptionally dark ''[[Doctor Who]]'' story ''Revelation of the Daleks'', Davros takes to calling himself the Great Healer {{spoiler|and offering a solution to galactic famine. Thanks to this, Davros can truly call himself [[I'm a Humanitarian|humanitarian]].}} (Somewhat subverted in that Davros somehow thinks that he can remain anonymous, despite his unique appearance. The story itself does not address this.)

** 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.

* 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.

{{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.]]" }}

** Wily does it again in '' 9'', when he gets out of jail, having apparently reformed. He then frames ''Dr. Light'' as plotting to take over the world, and asks all the people of the world to send donations to his [[Swiss Bank Account]] so that he can build a new fighting robot to stop Light and his eight robot masters.

* Ultros in ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' eventually becomes the receptionist at the Coliseum. Subverted in that he never attacks the party again. On the other hand, his pet Chupon is now your only opponent in the arena, ever. [[That One Boss|Dammit]].

 

 

== Web Originals ==

 

 

== Western Animation ==

** To twist the knife here, after the Penguin is done with his epic snap and Batman has rescued her, she admits, a bit sadly, "You know, I was really starting to grow fond of you."

** The Ventriloquist also genuinely reforms after getting some psychiatric help.

** The Riddler also reforms in the episode "Riddler's Reform." He does seem to be genuinely trying to reform, and his legitimate business is quite lucrative, but his obsession with outsmarting Batman won't leave him alone, so he decides that the only solution is to kill him. When he thinks Batman is dead, he does literally burn his mask and swear to quit being the Riddler, but of course it doesn't work out that way.

** 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.

** 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.

** This Subverted ''again'' when the the Simpsons find Bob as the Mayor of a small town in Italy who has once again reformed and started a family. It doesn't stick as Lisa accidentally ruins it, and [[The Family That Slays Together|Bob's new family want in on revenge]].

* As a parody/homage to/of Batman, [[Darkwing Duck]] faced something similar in one episode, with one twist: Darkwing, under his secret identity Drake, ended up hosting the criminal Tuskernini after (accidentally) enrolling in the city's 'Adopt-A-Con' program. His trick in getting Tuskernini to reveal his con? Convincing him that {{spoiler|he, his daughter, and his sidekick were undercover criminals, that they believed Tuskernini all along, and that Tuskernini caught ''them'' in the act of plotting a robbery.}}

* There was Gil from ''[[Kim Possible]]''--Everybody bought it except for Ron, which ended up being the key to his defeat.

* There was one of these in the [[Powerpuff Girls]]. Perhaps dealing with Mojo Jo Jo?

 

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