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{{trope}}
[[File:Shortpacked why not sell it 5959.jpg|link=Shortpacked!|
{{quote|''"I never believed the [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|original]] Luthor. Every story would begin with him breaking out of prison, finding some giant robot in an old lab he hid somewhere, and then he'd be defeated. My view was [[Fridge Logic|if he could afford all those labs and giant robots he wouldn't need to rob banks]].''"
|'''[http://www.supermanhomepage.com/comics/interviews/interviews-intro.php?topic{{=}}c-interview_wolfman1 Marv Wolfman]'''}}
A villain who constantly fails at beating the heroes [[Villain Ball|never realizes]] [[Evil Virtues|their intellect and hard work]] might mean they'd get a lot more done if they did an honest day's work; any attempt at going straight is simply a [[Civilian Villain|ruse to lull heroes into a false sense of security]]. This may be more a factor of [[Status Quo Is God|maintaining the Status Quo]], and it's usually mentioned that the [[Mad Scientist]] is ''[[Science-Related Memetic Disorder|mad]]'' after all. Sometimes [[Lampshaded]] at a villain's death with "If only he'd used his powers for good, instead of for evil." This is a dying trope as comic book characters became more complex, but was extremely common for many villains decades ago. Also, it ties closely into [[Reed Richards Is Useless]]—even if [[The Government]] gets ahold of secondhand ultratech, they just use it for ill-conceived attempts to either conquer other nations or abuse their citizens.
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Consider, for a moment, the [[Trope Namer]]: [[Lex Luthor]]. His earliest incarnations were generally focused on using his [[Mad Scientist]] inventions for the sort of schemes typical in [[The Golden Age of Comic Books]] and [[The Silver Age of Comic Books]], with the goals of pure monetary gain, "[[Take Over the World|ruling the world]]", or eliminating [[Superman]] as an obstacle ''to'' monetary gain and ruling the world... The question is then raised as to why he just doesn't sell his amazing inventions legally.
In the [[Post-Crisis]] world, however, author John Byrne decided to finally
This trope could almost be a case of [[Reality Is Unrealistic]]. For all the criticisms thrown at comic book supervillains, ''many'' real life criminals make this trope [[Truth in Television]], as seen below.
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See Also: [[Fake Real Turn]] where a business that is serving as a front operation for a criminal activity or organization becomes so successful in its own right that characters decide to pursue it as a legitimate business. And [[You Could Have Used Your Powers for Good]].
Compare [[Recruiting the Criminal]], [[Reed Richards Is Useless]], [[Screw the Rules, I Have Supernatural Powers]], and [[Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat]]. Contrast [[Visionary Villain]] and [[Pragmatic Villainy]]. See also [[Science-Related Memetic Disorder]] and [[Sanity Has Advantages]] for the possible [[Justified Trope|justifications of this trope]]. Can end up leading to [[Boxed Crook]] when put into practice.
{{examples}}
== Gaining more money legitimately ==
* The Team Rocket trio in the ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' anime invents some of the most impressive [[Death Trap]]s one could ever imagine, almost every episode... until they occasionally run out of money. It's mentioned in one episode of the Johto series that they borrow their traps from Team Rocket, and that they were invented by the R&D at their HQ. They're also not above taking and maintaining legit work until the inevitable screw up, and it's always manual labor anyway. Ironically, their "honest" work is almost always profitable, and they always prove to be much better at it than being bad guys. They'd probably have better lives if they just ''stopped'' chasing Pikachu.
▲=== Anime & Manga ===
** In one instance, Team Rocket tried to set up a memorabilia stand for some Pokémon tournament, and did well with it. Then they sank all of their money into it - just in time for the tournament to end and the market for their stuff to disappear.
** Later seasons have Jessie entering Pokémon contests in Sinnoh; not only is she pretty good at it, she has won a few, even progressing quite far in the Sinnoh Grand Festival. James also acts like pre-[[Flanderization]] Brock on occasion, showing potential to be a great Pokémon breeder. Meowth, being able to speak both English and Pokémon language, also could be filthy rich if he stopped being a criminal and just became a translator.
* Subverted in ''[[Tsukihime]]'' canon; the 14th Dead Apostle Ancestor, Van-Fem, rather than drinking blood and harming humans, he took a preference to human society/life and built a highly-profitable casino boat in Monte Carlo shortly after [[World War I]] which earned him a high social status among humans.▼
** In the Pikachu short film "Pokémon -- Gotta Dance", Meowth invents a Pokébaton that can control Pokémon. However, he just uses it to make Pokémon dance, and he ends up allowing it to be destroyed. Meowth in general is a borderline [[Gadgeteer Genius]]; James mentioned that the cat's the one responsible for most of the [[Humongous Mecha]] that they throw at the twerps!
▲* Subverted in ''[[Tsukihime]]'' canon; the 14th Dead Apostle Ancestor, Van-Fem,
* Inverted in ''[[One Piece]]'', when minor villain Wapol actually starts a new life and builds a massive toy-making empire by using his powers to recycle objects into toys. In fact, the alloy his power creates (dubbed "Wapometal") is apparently a unique and amazing compound, which makes him even richer when a scientist discovers its properties and Wapol begins capitalizing on that. Later in the series, Franky starts building tanks using the revolutionary metal.
* Possibly lampshaded in ''[[Slayers]] NEXT''. Martina is horribly, comically hopeless as a villain, but turns out to be sufficiently talented in retail and handicrafts, and manages to raise a small army of thugs out of her profits from selling (and making) paper flowers for a few episodes.
* Averted in ''[[Baccano!]]'' when Nice (who qualifies as a villain only in the sense of being a criminal) invents a new form of explosive and immediately sells it to the mining industry.
* In the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' manga, Seto Kaiba originally invented the [[Hard Light|Solid Vision]] as part of a revenge scheme against Yugi
=== Comic Books ===
* Eventually subverted by the first Icicle, Joar Mahkent. He went into villainy partly for the thrills, but he used his time in jail to work on his inventions and made a legitimate fortune once he reformed, half of which he left to the Flash.
* Averted with the [[Marvel Comics]] character [[Taskmaster]]. Able to flawlessly imitate anyone's physical abilities after seeing them in action once, he initially made money and his reputation training flunkies for [[
* Subverted by the villain Purple Man, who has pheromone-based mind-control powers. He lived the high life without doing anything to attract super-hero attention—only to get caught by [[Doctor Doom]] and used as a component in a world-conquest gizmo.
* Averted with ''[[Wildstorm]]'' Universe villain Kaizen Gammora, who sells battle-droids and pleasure robots to finance his country's terrorism.
* Third-rate [[Spider-Man]] villain the White Rabbit defies this. A [[Trophy Wife]] who inherited a fortune from her deceased billionaire husband, she hardly needs to commit crimes for money and only does so for fun, seeing as her whole life has been that of a bored socialite. In fact, given her absurd Wonderland themes, it is implied she can only convince [[mook]]s to work for her because she pays them a thousand dollars a week, and this is stated in a story from 1972.<ref>A little more than $6.2K in 2021 dollars.</ref>
* Third-rate [[Fantastic Four]] villain Diablo (notice how a ''lot'' of these villains are third rate?) tried doing this in his earliest appearances. He seemed to be [[Only in It For the Money]] selling his alchemical concoctions to make profit, but failed at that because most of his potions wore off in a few weeks at most. Maybe... lowering the price of his youth serums and fertility suppliments and putting a disclaimer on the bottles would have helped?
=== Film ===
* Played straight and subverted in the first ''[[Austin Powers]]'' film, when Number Two grows furious with Dr. Evil for engaging in world-threatening schemes when their front companies were already making billions a year ''legally''.
* In [[Ridley Scott]]'s ''[[Robin Hood (2010 film)|Robin Hood
=== Literature ===
* The Goliath Corporation in the ''[[Thursday Next]]'' novels are an absolutely giant monolith who practically own Great Britain; still, they insist on harebrained schemes like trying to enter fiction on a wide-scale basis. On the other hand, we infer that a large part of how they made their money in the ''first'' place was on evil schemes...
* The memoirs of one James Crosbie, a moderately notorious armed robber, describe a fairly impressive list of achievements; he held a responsible position at a Kenyan mining company, and for a long while was running his own quite successful metalwork business. And yet despite having earned better money during those times—to say nothing of ''not being on the run from the law''—he claims to have felt a much lesser sense of achievement from this than from robbing banks, despite the much greater failure rate, smaller financial returns and lengthy prison sentences. Of course, a better example of an [[Unreliable Narrator]] is hard to imagine...
* In ''[[Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]'', the Amazon tribe has become far more successful this way than they were back in the days they were known as savage man-hating warriors, {{spoiler|having founded Amazon.com and running it out of Seattle.}}
=== Tabletop Games ===
* In its earliest appearances, Mitsuhama Computer Technologies from ''[[Shadowrun]]'' were depicted as a front for the yakuza. Eventually, the writers caught on that a billion-nuyen criminal organization is hardly going to use a ''trillion''-nuyen triple-A [[Mega Corp]] as a cover. The retcon became 'because several of the original investors happened to be oyabun, Mitsuhama and the Yakuza have a historical connection'. However, the original oyabun rapidly retired from crime to enjoy their new money machine, and the connection doesn't go much beyond "to the degree that any megacorp will deal with criminal syndicates under the table (for money laundering, industrial espionage, etc.)
* ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' had Thay as [[The Magocracy]] with two main parties: Imperialist and Researcher. The former favored using their magical prowess for territorial expansion - mostly via military means, but also via subverting other political entities. The latter wanted to use magical achievements for gain, whether directly or indirectly (excess of magic allows production
=== Video Games ===
* From the ''[[Resident Evil]]'' series
** What makes it even more sad is that all the money that was invested in making these biological weapons could have vastly improved the lives of the civilian world. All these villains could have helped people had they wanted to and still have made a huge profit off of it.
** Resident Evil 5 revealed that Oswald Spencer's ultimate goal with Umbrella was to mutate a virus he'd discovered into something that would make him godlike and immortal. All the zombies, skinless dogs and mutants were byproducts of this research. Of course, Spencer still crosses the [[Moral Event Horizon]] by trying to weaponize them and not giving a damn about any of his employees'
* ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'': Blutarch and Redmond Mann have hired teams of elite mercenaries to fight over lumbermills, granaries, and barren scraps of land in the middle of Death Valley
* Many members of the Mad Gear gang from ''[[Final Fight]]'' managed to find legitimate ways to earn money later. Hugo figured out that pro wrestling paid better than street brawling, while Poison transitioned to an even ''more'' evil role - [[Sarcasm Mode|his manager.]] Later they actually become this reality's version of Vince and Linda McMahon, forming their own pro-wrestling franchise, the HWA. (Huge Wrestling Army)<ref>If that sounds weird, don't forget, the game originated in Japan, and Japan has a franchise called ''Wrestle and Romance'', [[Widget Series| because, well, it's Japan]].</ref> Abigail, J, Axl, and Roxy opened an autobody shop, but unfortunately, Abigail's rotten temper got him - and them - into more trouble during the events of ''[[Street Fighter V]]''.
=== Western Animation ===
* COBRA in ''[[G.I. Joe]]''. The majority of the plots in the cartoon involved stealing
== Possibility of gaining more money legitimately ==
▲=== Anime & Manga ===
* ''[[Mazinger Z]]'': [[Mad Scientist|Dr.]] [[Big Bad|Hell]] is wealthy and intelligent enough to build dozens of [[Humongous Mecha|gigantic]] [[Robeast|war machines]], Doomsday weapons, squads of cyborgs, several HQ, [[Cool Airship|aircrafts]], [[Cool Ship|submarines]]... It was kind of [[Justified Trope|justified]] in one of [[Alternate Continuity|the different manga continuities]] when Dr. Hell revealed {{spoiler|shortly after finding the old Mykene's [[Humongous Mecha|mechanical warriors]], [[Psycho Supporter|Count]] [[Co-Dragons|Brocken]] took over several ancient European [[The Mafia|Mafia]] in order to earn cash for Hell.}} However he will not use his talents for legitimate -and less frustration-inducing- gain because he sees himself like [[The Woobie]] and wants making the whole humankind paying for all humilliations and hurt he suffered in the past. He NEEDS enslaving everybody and making them [[Kneel Before Zod|bowing down to him]].
** Which is not necessarily true in [[Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-hen]], where most of his reasons to hate the world don't apply. If anything, it would make even more sense for that version of Dr. Hell to go legit.
*** Double subverted when ''[[Super Robot Wars Z]]'' adapted this version of Dr. Hell. While he still could legit turn his knowledge towards legitimate means, this version of him found a good reason not to care. {{spoiler|A multiverse destroying threat that would make that meaningless}}. Of course, he could of course achieve the goal of preventing this threat by working WITH the good guys, but [[Insufferable Genius|he's convinced he's the only one wise enough to know what to do with his knowledge regardless]].
* ''[[Pumpkin Scissors]]''. This trope is almost the premise of the series—this is a world where rather than building safer tanks or devices to protect people from chemical weapons, they engineer people who can withstand tank-fire and chemical weapons. Lampshaded in the interlude where a lab assistant finds a report about the protective fluid that the Flamethrower Troopers use and mentions that they could be used to help burn victims. Her superior replies to that by telling her to throw it out because he doesn't need it anymore.
* Sunred points this out to his [[Friendly Enemy]] General Vamp in ''[[Tentai Senshi Sunred]]''. Vamp is such a good homemaker that Sunred tells him, "You oughta give up the world domination thing and open a restaurant."
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* The villains in ''[[Karakuridouji Ultimo]]'' have some truly unusual day jobs, including music composer, elementary school teacher, and [[Memetic Mutation|pro golfer]]. It never seems to occur to them that they'd be better off using their incredibly powerful robot servants to pay the bills instead. The exception is K, who only joined the villains so he could quit his job and bum around all day. The manga constantly reminds us that he is unemployed.
* In ''[[Dragonball Z]]'', Dr. Gero was capable of building machines that have infinite fuel. Given the world's demand for fuel, he could easily become the richest man in the world with this technology. Too bad he was only interested in getting revenge against Goku.
* [[Hideaki Anno]] is reported to have asked why Neo-Atlantis in ''[[Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water]]'' wants to conquer the world instead of just using their superior technology for their own benefit. Reportedly, he got no answer. Though [[wikipedia:Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water#Pre-production discussion|Wikipedia reports this,]]
* Lampshaded in ''[[Durarara!!]]'' when [[Intrepid Reporter|Shuji]] wonders why the [[Super Strength|unnaturally]] [[Nigh Invulnerable|superhuman]] Shizuo Heiwajima is slumming it in a rather low status and low-paying job as a debt collector
=== Comic Books ===
* In theory, any supervillain who uses expensive, fantastic technology for theft could subvert this: provided the technology is a one-time expense, they would eventually make back the money and start profiting if they manage to steal enough, meaning they can do it for the money ''and'' [[For the Evulz]]. The problem is, in a world where superheroes are everywhere thwarting your every move, this isn't likely to happen.
* In ''[[All-Star Superman]]'', Lex is so bitter and twisted towards Superman that he can't really be bothered doing anything that isn't related in some way to his vendetta. At the end, when he tries to accuse Superman of encouraging [[Holding Out for a Hero]], Superman points out this trope to him: If Lex had truly ever wanted to save the world, he could have done it years ago.
* In the first issue of ''[[The Hood]]'', a friend of the [[Villain Protagonist]] spots Electro in a bar and speculates on why Electro doesn't just take a job with the electric company and earn millions that way. He points out that his friend would never last an hour at a straight job.
* ''[[The Flash]]'': The general inability/unwillingness of the [[Rogues Gallery|classic Flash supervillains]] to think bigger has been noted quite a few times
** Doctor Alchemy somehow got his hands on the Philosopher's Stone—giving him the power to create infinite amounts of riches, transmute any substance to anything else, psychokinesis, and makes him immortal. He uses it, of all things, to commit petty crimes which repeatedly get him sent to jail. This is lampshaded extensively and hilariously in the opening narration of ''Manhunter'' #7.
** Mirror Master is arguably the greatest inventor in the history of the world. He has created such devices as a matter duplicator, teleportation, and interdimensional portals. The first Mirror Master used these things to rob banks, and the third uses them for mercenary work
** In another story, a police detective who is forced to team up with Captain Cold calls him out for his criminal tendencies, pointing out how a man who invented a device that could manipulate matter on a molecular level (his "Cold Gun") would have had no problem getting rich legitimately. The Captain responds by pointing out the detective's preference for expensive suits despite their impracticality in his line of work. "We all have our vices."
** In a Silver Age story, the Flash encounters the villain Element Master, whose gimmick is, well... the atomic elements. In the climax of the story, Element Master says he discovered a new element (the creatively dubbed "elemento") that is a sort of magnetic light, which he uses to ''send the Flash to the Moon''. Ignoring everything wrong with that idea, if it were true
** Averted by
* Sleez, one of the [[New God]]s of Apokolypse. While few would argue that the adult film industry is, indeed, a profitable - if controversial - business,
* In the Marvel comic ''Heroes for Hire'', a mercenary named Paladin breaks into a special armory where the props and weapons of various former gimmick villains are stored, seeking valuable weapons to both arm himself with and to sell. He comes across the "alchemy gun" of the former supervillain Chemistro, and comments
** [[Luke Cage, Hero for Hire]] would eventually comment that Chemistro was just one of those guys who had power and wanted to throw it around so people knew he meant business. If he turned things into gold and made himself rich, no-one would be afraid of him or know who was boss.
* ''[[Iron Man]]''▼
** Chemistro's case itself is a subversion. In one issue of ''[[Iron Man]]'', Curtis Carr tells Tony Stark that he has in fact tried to create new alchemy guns by attempting to duplicate the radiation field that gave his original gun its powers. As much as Carr might ''want'' to mass-produce his invention and get rich that way, so far he's had no luck.
** The comic loves to simultaneously subvert, lampshade and justify this trope, by pointing out the [[Unfortunate Implications]] of letting weaponized supervillain tech (or, more frequently, Iron Man's repulsor tech) out into the world. In a recent example one of his enemies implanted repulsor-variant technology into terrorists's bodies, turning them into high-end suicide bombers. {{spoiler|Hundreds were killed and Stark Industries was completely wiped out.}}▼
▲* ''[[Iron Man]]'':
▲** The comic loves to simultaneously subvert, lampshade and justify this trope
* Averted with the villain Mock Turtle, who put his skills to creating [[Powered Armour]] for a company, only for them to forbid him from piloting it, so he snapped and stole it.▼
** [[Deconstructed]] in an alternate universe comic where Iron Man villain and certified genius Living Laser was hired by Tony Stark. Unfortunately, the gambit backfires - sometimes money isn't the reason a villain doesn't fit into society.
* Subverted by the Ultimate version of the Thinker, who turned to crime after he was fired from Roxxon for proposing alternative energy based on Vibranium.▼
▲* Averted with the villain Mock Turtle, who put his skills to creating [[Powered Armour]] for a company
* Averted in some Marvel comic or other. Molecule Man chats with another supervillain: "So eventually I got out of prison, and I thought?" "''Now I shall have my revenge!''" "No, no. ''Who needs the grief?'' With my powers I can live in luxury ''without'' ever doing anything to draw the heroes' attention."▼
▲* Subverted by the Ultimate version of the Thinker, who turned to crime after he was fired from Roxxon for proposing an alternative energy based on
* ''[[Spider-Man]]''▼
▲*
** An issue of ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' lampshaded and subverted this trope with Ultimate Shocker. Unlike the main universe version, the ultimate version is a real loser seen as a joke by everyone and constantly mocked by Spider-Man. However, after learning that Shocker had created his blasters himself, Spider-Man asked him why he didn't made a fortune with selling the technology. The subversion: Shocker reveals that he ''had'' worked for a big company creating inventions, and while said company made even more money, he was fired without seeing a single cent. Which also added a tragic aspect to the formerly laughable character, because he also explains how he studied at MIT until his eyes bled.▼
▲* ''[[Spider-Man]]'':
** [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] and played straight, one right after the other in ''Spider-Man''. When the Man Who Would Be Hobgoblin first examines the Green Goblin's cache of equipment, he remarks on how incredible the technology is. Specifically, that the personal bat glider must surely represent a breakthrough in the field of aeronautics, and how this proves [[Norman Osborn]]'s insanity, since he could have made far more money by patenting the design than he could ever have hoped to by using it for crime. In his very next breath, however, the man states that keeping such a thing to yourself would be one part of proving yourself better than those around you, and thus using it for personal gain makes total sense.▼
▲** An issue of ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' lampshaded and subverted this trope with Ultimate Shocker. Unlike the main universe version, the ultimate version is a real loser - seen as a joke by everyone and constantly mocked by Spider-Man. However, after learning that Shocker had created his blasters himself, Spider-Man asked him why he didn't made a fortune with selling the technology. The subversion: Shocker reveals that he ''had'' worked for a big company creating inventions, and while said company made even more money, he was fired without seeing a single cent. Which also added a tragic aspect to the formerly laughable character, because he also explains how he studied at MIT until his eyes bled.
** The Vulture is another one of those subversions who started out making money honestly. It was only after he had been ripped off by his business partner that Adrian Toomes decided to use his new flying harness as a professional criminal. In one of the more recent Web of Spider-man comics he actually goes further into this when asked by a fellow prisoner (who was the leader of a gang black-mailing him to build a vulture suit to fly out) why Toomes didn't just sell the his technology (his partner is gone and can easily build the his equipment with little resources—he was making it in prison for at least the second time). {{spoiler|He tells him that since his partner who betrayed Toomes looked down on him as weak he uses the equipment to do what ever he wanted so that no one ever would think he was weak again.}}▼
▲**
** Averted with Dr. Octopus in most of his incarnations: He was a scientist who invented and used his arms for legitimate research purposes. It took a lab accident fusing the arms to his body and driving him insane to turn him into a supervillain. Further subverted with the ''[[Ultimate Marvel]]'' version of Dr. Octopus. He was caught in an explosion as per usual, but S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist Henry Pym let his condition deteriorate to the point where his arms couldn't be removed. [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]. Ock went on a [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] against the man he blamed for the explosion until he was captured. He later escaped from prison twice, both times attempting to continue his revenge spree against first S.H.I.E.L.D. and then his ex-wife, who was trying to profit off of his story. Upon subsequent arrest and running out of people to get revenge on, Ock made a deal with the FBI to use his knowledge of Spider-Man's DNA to produce Spider-Man clones for the agency. In the end it's played straight in a fight with Spider-Man, as Ock realizes that he ''likes'' being a supervillain, even if it's stupid and doesn't work out for him.▼
▲** The Vulture is another one of those subversions who started out making money honestly. It was only after he had been ripped off by his business partner that Adrian Toomes decided to use his new flying harness as a professional criminal. In one of the
** In the ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]''/''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' [[Expanded Universe]] novel ''Time's Arrow: The Present'', written by Adam Troy-Castro, Spidey muses on "the guys who spend six million dollars building robot suits so they can rob banks". He compares this with his own initial decision to make money as a masked wrestler/novelty act, rather than sell his webbing formula to an adhesives company, and concludes that it's not really about the money; it's about proving something to everyone who ever laughed at them.▼
▲** Averted with Dr. Octopus in most of his incarnations: He was a scientist who invented and used his arms for legitimate research purposes. It took a lab accident fusing the arms to his body and driving him insane to turn him into a supervillain.
▲** In the ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]''/''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' [[Expanded Universe]] novel ''Time's Arrow: The Present'', written by [[Adam Troy-Castro]], Spidey muses on "the guys who spend six million dollars building robot suits so they can rob banks". He compares this with his own initial decision to make money as a masked wrestler/novelty act, rather than sell his webbing formula to an adhesives company, and concludes that
* [[Superdickery.com]] riffs on [https://web.archive.org/web/20180707040857/http://www.superdickery.com/honestly-its-probably-what-i-would-do-too/ another case] involving ''X-Men'' villain Sauron:
{{quote|"But I don't ''want'' to cure cancer. I want to turn people into dinosaurs."}}
* ''[[Batman]]''
** Averted when the Riddler performs a variant of this based on his compulsive disorder and rampant ego: he becomes a detective
**
**
**
**
** Victor Fries, or Mr. Freeze, was originally an inexplicable cold-based villain, already falling under this trope. The guy has a gun that turns thermodynamics upside down, and rather than patent that and claim his Nobel, he robs banks. ''[[Batman: The
** [[Atop the Fourth Wall|Linkara]] points out in [[The Agony Booth]] review of ''Batman'' #147
** In ''Shadow of the Bat'',
** Poison Ivy falls into a variant of this that actually exists in real life: ecoterrorism, wherein an attempt at enacting social/environmental change is done in such a way that discourages people from doing as desired. Making things far worse than real cases, she really is an absolute genius with plants, able to create miraculous strains that could solve all ''sorts'' of environmental problems that harm the plant ecosystem, the sort of thing she fights for... if only she would market her creations on the legitimate market, rather than giving them forcibly, with fangs and a taste for human flesh added in.
*** She also faces a problem real-life ecoterrorists don't
* ''[[Sleepwalker]]'':
** Subverted with the villain 8-Ball, who actually started out working for a defense firm as an engineer
** Subverted with Spectra, who first got a job in a laboratory so she could rob the place, only to obtain superhuman powers after Sleepwalker interferes in the robbery. At first
** One of his first villains was Crimewave, who wanted to
*
* Doctor Lovecraft in the ''[[Justice League of America]]'' comics initially did legitimate work for his company, but when they pursued financial wrongdoing, they allowed him to pursue more dangerous experiments
* The Revenant has managed to "convince" a number of villains of the ''[[PS238]]'' universe that it is better for them to find a more practical way to use their abilities. For example, [[Godwin's Law|Mr. Godwin]], a.k.a. the Crystal Skull, was convinced to stop robbing banks and to take money from people voluntarily... by running a legit casino.
*
** In a rather excellent print short story, the Trapster completely subverts this trope. He changes his name and begins selling his products on behalf of a 'Seen on TV' company. His inventions are successful, he starts dating, and he even gets to ham it up on television. Unfortunately, his old colleague the Wizard sees him enjoying himself and threatens him into going back to his Trapster identity using a live studio audience as hostages... {{spoiler|but his girlfriend talks him down in a touching ''on camera'' scene just before U.S. Agent clocks him in the jaw. As the story ends, Trapster is a sympathetic reformed criminal who keeps the girl and his job, and gets legal representation to help clear up his parole problems.}} Of course, none of this is canon.
* A very early issue of the ''[[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]]'' has
* Averted with The Atom's foe the Bug-Eyed Bandit, who became a criminal ''because'' no-one
*
* Averted in one ''[[Tom Strong]]'' storyline; an alternate-timeline version of Tom manages to stop his [[Arch Enemy]] in the normal timeline from ever turning to crime by pointing out how much more money he could make by selling his inventions legitimately.
* ''[[The Authority]]'' tends to do this in varied ways. "Tank Man" is simply talked into giving up his murderous ways and settling down (it doesn't turn out well, but they tried)
* Hilariously subverted in the short-lived DC parody comic book the ''Inferior Five''. The would-be superteam's first nemesis was Dr. Gregory Gruesome, a brilliant, evil [[Mad Scientist]] who was so poor he lived in a dilapidated wooden hut in the middle of a junkyard, and his sole henchman was a dim-witted vagabond. Despite lamenting about his inability to "turn out multi-million-dollar missiles like they were paper planes" like this trope's namesake, he actually created some remarkably effective machines by cobbling together garbage, scrap, and various other odds and ends.
** In an earlier issue of ''[[Blue Devil]]'', the first Trickster is also asked why he didn't market his shoes. He points out they've just finished a storyline in which he tried to do that, and the buyers tried to A) kill him and B) forcibly secede California, though he does consider trying to resell to a "reputable" organization [[Horrible Judge of Character|like SKULL]]. Also, [[Depending on the Writer]], he may have been more interested in the attention than the money.▼
▲** [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in one ''Robin'' issue where he's beating up the Trickster. He points out to him that he has shoes that can walk on air, and by mass producing them, he'd be ten times richer than Bruce Wayne. Instead, he rents himself out as a mercenary.
** At one point, he decided to have it both ways and became a professional hero-distractor, doing things like putting people's lives at risk so Superman would let crooks get away to save them.▼
▲** In an earlier issue of ''[[Blue Devil]]'', the first Trickster is also asked why he didn't market his shoes. He points out they've just finished a storyline in which he tried to do that and the buyers tried to A) kill him and B) forcibly secede California, though he does consider trying to resell to a "reputable" organization [[Horrible Judge of Character|like SKULL]]. Also, [[Depending on the Writer]], he may have been more interested in the attention than the money.
* One of the ''[[Banana Man]]'' comics in The Dandy had this with a "villain"
▲** At one point, he became a professional hero-distractor, doing things like putting people's lives at risk so Superman would let crooks get away to save them.
▲* One of the ''[[Banana Man]]'' comics in The Dandy had this with a villain (well, his villainy was basically trying to scare the hero), running a fancy fake haunted house with holographic ghosts and what not. It subverted the trope because at the end, the villain DID do a [[Heel Face Turn]] and use his abilities to run a theme park Haunted House ride.
* The Circus of Crime may be D-list villains, but they're excellent circus performers. If they would go straight and abandon the "hypnotize the crowd and rob them blind" shtick, they could pull in plenty of money without getting beat up and thrown in jail. At least one comic had them propose doing that... then lament that it wouldn't really be all that profitable, since not too many people care about the circus anymore.
* ''[[Tintin|The Adventures of Tintin]]'' has a subversion in ''Flight 714''. Dr. Krollspell has developed a working, if unperfected, ''truth serum''. Now, you might reasonably assume that every intelligence or security agency in the world would pay a king's ransom for it. However, instead of marketing it, Dr. Krollspell takes a job from Rastapopoulos to use it on millionaire Laszlo Carreidas
* Minor-league
=== Comic Strips ===▼
* ''[[FoxTrot]]'' has Jason Fox, who tries several ludicrous schemes to make money, (including thousand-dollar SNOW DINOSAURS, which, you know, would MELT come Spring!) despite the fact that he has effortlessly built machines and coded programs that could have made him MILLIONS had he simply sold them. He once tried to form a one-man corporation, but all he had to show investors was "a dinky little program I wrote for fun." Unfortunately for him and them, the Darth Jason virus did not "kill off interest," it "killed off the Internet." Possibly justified in that, while genius at some things, Jason is still a child and thus doesn't always have the best common sense.▼
=== Fan Works ===
* Deconstructed to a great extent in issue #16 of ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4655553/18/Ultimate_SpiderWoman_Change_With_the_Light Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With the Light]'', when the Beetle provides a number of rebuttals to the arguments that supervillains should just patent their technology. Even if you can patent your technology, there's always the danger that some [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] will try and screw you out of your share of the profits, something the Beetle claims happened to the Shocker when ''he'' tried selling his shock blasters to Justin Hammer. Starting your own business is no guarantee of success either, particularly when many businesses fail within their first year of operation. Then there's the fact that many supervillains do ''not'' want to spend their time working for people they view as [[Pointy-Haired Boss
** Of course, so long as heroic billionaires keep owning technology companies, this argument makes no sense. Tony Stark would ''love'' to cut you a check so a) you get rich b) he gets even richer and c) the incredibly long parade of tech-themed villains that keep dropping by to ruin his weekends off grows shorter by one. Indeed, there was a period in the actual ''Iron Man'' comics where Tony did precisely this with several reformed members of Justin Hammer's
=== Films -- Animation ===
* The villain of ''[[Up (animation)|Up]]'', {{spoiler|Charles F. Muntz}}, wants to get fame and recognition by catching a rare bird. To accomplish this, he invents devices that ''allow dogs to communicate verbally
=== Films -- Live-Action ===
* Averted in ''[[Goldmember]]''. Number Two finally hits upon the brilliant scheme {{spoiler|of making the organization a legitimate business with the ethics of an evil organization,
* In ''[[Lord of War]]'', Yuri Orlov eventually abandons his business as an arms dealer and adopts, in his words, "more legal methods of exploiting Third World countries"
* The [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] in ''[[Tron]]'' made his name, position and fortune by stealing another programmer's game programs... ''with the help of his fully sentient A.I.'' It's explained that the executive's A.I. started out as little more than a chess program that could learn, but you'd expect that a learning program would still be a tad more complex than a video game.
** Justified in that not only did the A.I. have plans of its own, its creation was largely an accident and Dillinger didn't seem to really know what he had until ''after'' it had already taken control and started giving him orders.
* The [[Sam Raimi]] ''[[Spider-Man (film)|Spider-Man]]'' films:
** Dr. Octopus is researching a new power source. In order to control it, he invents a system of mechanical arms that interface with his brain, have [[A.I. Is a Crapshoot|artificial intelligence]], are [[Nigh Invulnerable|indestructible]], have the strength to throw cars, and never seem to need new batteries. Just about every aspect of the things would seem to merit a Nobel Prize, but Octavius and the rest of the world initially only treat them as a simple tool. However, if the research in nuclear fusion had paid off, it would have been a significantly more important discovery. Also, he doesn't just patent the things because the time he revealed them to the world was shortly before the accident, and the loss of the control chip caused him to go insane. If anything, a successful test run would have let him have two major technological achievements under his belt.
** And in ''Spider-Man 3'', Sandman needs to raise money for his sick daughter and turns to a life of crime. When he becomes living sand, you'd think he could strike a deal to work off his debt to society for a little government health care. It's not like a guy who can meld with sand wouldn't come in handy in any ongoing warzones. Instead, he simply robs banks. In all fairness, however, Sandman is simply doing what comes naturally to him and has no reason to suspect that anyone would allow him to go straight. He was, after all, running from the cops when he got his powers.
*** It's still a classic example of this trope, in that he's too stupid to figure out that the ability to basically move an infinite amount of sand is worth ''billions'' to the right people, such as, oh, ''oil companies''. Heck, just outbidding the guys who made the World Archipelago would have made him enough money to not only get his daughter medical treatment but also buy out the entire Mayo Clinic.
*** Also, the places oil companies need sand moved aren't in the United States. It doesn't matter if he's a fugitive in New York - Saudi Arabia, to name just one example, is a non-extradition country.
* Lampshaded in ''Darkman III''. The doctor in charge of making a [[You Fail Biology Forever|serum based on the nerve damage suffered by the titular character]] discusses with herself the fact that she could make way more money selling to pharmaceutical companies.
* Reuben in the remade ''[[Ocean's
* In ''[[The Prestige]]'', {{spoiler|Nicolas Tesla tries to invent a teleportation machine for Robert Angier to use in his magic shows
* In the
* Mr. Freeze's appearance in ''[[Batman and Robin (film)|Batman and Robin]]'' has him stealing giant diamonds and using them to both fuel his suit and build a giant freeze ray he plans to use to hold Gotham hostage in exchange for funds to further the research he needs to save his wife. Why he doesn't just ''sell the giant diamonds'' is never explained. If not that, could have just patented the smaller ray immediately, waited for the Nobel, and wondered how many new laws in physics will be named after him. The applications are endless and he's just disproved everything known about thermodynamics. He would never again want for funds no matter what he's researching. At the end of the film {{spoiler|Batman basically talks him into doing just that. Oh, and giving him the cure to the early stage of the horrible disease his wife had. The stage, coincidentally, Alfred happens to have. Freeze trades the cure for a cell with Poison Ivy, since he learned she tried to kill his wife.}}
* Played both ways in ''[[
=== Literature ===
* ''[[Discworld]]''
** In ''[[
** This is also
** In ''[[
* A much simpler device, made of coat hangers, was used in the novel ''[[Who Ran My Underwear up the Flagpole?]]'' by Jerry Spinelli. The character in question is assigned to write a hundred lines on the board,
* A comment is offered in ''[[Vanity Fair]]'' about one character who is a stingy and sly aristocrat. The author notes that if he had been born in obscurity, he could have become a wealthy [[Amoral Attorney]], but as a baronet, he does things like being so stingy his crops fail and engaging in constant law suits - which, while profitable when he wins, are more frequently a financial drain.
* In the Paul Jennings short story ''The Strap Box Flier'', an inventor goes from town to town selling his amazing glue, which
* Subverted
* Eventually averted by [[Artemis Fowl]], who ''does'' use his genius to make money in more legitimate ways. Among others, he has several patents and won a competition to design a new opera house in Dublin.
* One telling of ''[[Hansel and Gretel]]'' outright states that the witch built her gingerbread house just to lure in children to eat. Apparently, it never occurred to her that being able to produce enough sweets to build a house from them ''in the middle of a famine'' could be a mighty profitable skill.
* ''[[Mad]]'' once had a article that said that your laziness factor factored in the amount of work you're willing to go through to get out of doing work.▼
=== Live-Action TV ===
* The Company in ''[[Prison Break]]'' is an example. They have the technology to solve most of humanity's energy and agriculture problems, and hence would become both the richest and most heralded people on the planet if they were up front and honest. Instead, they run currency scams in third world countries and sell weapons to belligerents that will make them hundreds of millions, but have the potential to wipe out all of humanity if used.
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'':
** Warren Meers could have made billions with his life-like androids. Instead, he pisses away his genius robbing banks in a small California town. Then again, Warren is very emotionally immature, such that he may well not have ''thought'' of the ramifications
** [[Word of God]] is that the super-science used by the trio and a few other villains is actually an applied form of magic ([[Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane|which the user may not be aware of]]), and cannot be used in any large-scale capacity since the tech doesn't actually work.
*** The androids could not only be reprogrammed and maintained by people who were not Warren, but there was already an android-making villain on the show completely unrelated to Warren (the guy behind Ted in season 2), as well as the unrelated-to-either-of-those Life Model Decoy-esque androids used by whoever was impersonating Wesley's father in Angel season 5. That's a lot of reproducible examples for an allegedly non-reproducible technology.
*** In the post-TV continuation comics Willow not only builds a new Buffybot from scratch, she significantly improves on Warren's AI design. To be fair, Willow is pretty much the Buffyverse's equivalent of the Sorceress Supreme by that point in addition to being a computer genius.
* An episode of ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'' has a group of gold thieves trying to evade
* Averted in ''Dalek Empire'', the
* Subverted in the ''[[Firefly]]'' episode "Our Mrs. Reynolds", where Mal
*
* In ''[[Harry's Law]],'' it's averted at the end of the series premiere. The main character used to be a patent lawyer, and three thugs had rigged up a device to get car doors open. They decided they wanted to patent it instead.
* The reality show ''[[It Takes a Thief (2005 TV series)|It Takes a Thief]]'' is an aversion, a security makeover show where former thieves first burgle the home or business in question, and then install security systems that would've prevented them in the first place. Then they test them to see if the owners are using it properly. On more than one occasion they've found the homeowners have literally left the front door unlocked.
===
▲* ''[[FoxTrot]]'' has Jason Fox, who tries several ludicrous schemes to make money
▲* ''[[Mad]]'' once had a article that said that your laziness factor factored in the amount of work you're willing to go through to get out of doing work.
=== Tabletop Games ===
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=== Video Games ===
*
* Averted in the original ''[[Mega Man Battle Network]]'' game by Higsby, a teacher employed by the WWW to brainwash the students of ACDC and steal their rare chips for himself. He later opens up a chip shop. In the subsequent games of the series, {{spoiler|Dr. Regal and even Wily}} do this too.
* Zig
* Doctor Eggman, of ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' fame. Even if he isn't willing to sell pieces of his [[Mecha-Mooks|giant army of robots]], [[Casino Park|he seems to have a secret love for casinos and circuses.]] [[Bread and Circuses|He could probably get a lot of money and influence just by entertaining people.]] [[Sidetracked by the Gold Saucer|He might even have better luck defeating Sonic by getting him addicted to gambling.]]
*
* Gruntilda from ''[[Banjo-Kazooie]]''. Seriously, lady, give up witchcraft and go into game-shows - ''that'' is your true calling, given how [[Laughably Evil|hilarious]] [[Best Boss Ever|you are]] doing the [[Riddle Me This]] routine in the games.<!--Not sure if it's an example...-->
=== Web Comics ===
* ''[[Antihero for Hire]]''
* ''[[Freefall]]'': [http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1100/fv01006.htm Sam lampshades this dilemma.]
* Averting this trope is the driving force behind ''[[Evil Inc.
* Averted in
*
* ''[[Minions At Work]]'' discusses [http://www.minionsatwork.com/2012/04/minions-317-anti-gravity.html the wrong way and the right way] to extract profit from [[Anti Gravity]].
=== Web Original ===
*
{{quote|'''Leather:''' If [[Captain Ersatz|Leonardo Lucas]] was just after world domination, he wouldn't build giant robots and death rays. He'd get an assload of patents, make three billion dollars, and [[Strawman Political|join the fucking Republican party]].}}
* Averted in the ''[[Whateley Universe]]''. Plenty of the [[Mad Scientist]]s do, in fact, patent their inventions, and figure out uses for them. Furthermore, Ayla Goodkind is making sure to look for these people and CUT them checks. And this is [[Lampshade Hanging|mercilessly lampshaded]] by Ayla Goodkind herself, when she complains that [[Super-Hero School|Whateley Academy]] needs better contract law help for these inventors, and courses to teach the inventors how not to get robbed by the [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] so they have to turn to crime later in life.
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* ''[[Cracked.com|Cracked]]'' has [http://www.cracked.com/article_18618_6-people-who-turned-life-crime-into-legitimate-careers.html 6 People Who Turned a Life of Crime into Legitimate Careers], based on [[Real Life]] examples.
* [[Inverted Trope]] in ''[[The Spoony Experiment]]'' with the villain [[Mad Scientist|Dr. Insano]] saying that the protagonist of ''[[The Dungeonmaster]]'' should just patent his inventions and make loads.
=== Western Animation ===
* Many of the ''[[Captain Planet and the Planeteers]]'' villains. Dr. Blight, for example, can invent a time machine, but her best plan for making money with it is to ''sell a nuke to Hitler.'' Averted, however, with Sly Sludge, who eventually ''does'' go legit after being told recycling could be just as profitable as his usual poaching/polluting gigs (except for metals, it isn't). In a very strange play on this, he invents a device that shrinks garbage in response to a landfill crisis.
* ''[[Batman: The
** Averted in the spinoff comic ''[[The Batman Adventures]]''. The Riddler signs a deal with some out-of-town businessmen who find that the device he's used to [[Do Not Adjust Your Set|hijack broadcasts]] can be the basis for a super-advanced cell phone which makes him millions. He finds an outlet for his ongoing urges by sending Batman riddles without actual crimes attached.
* ''[[Batman Beyond]]''
** Mr. Freeze's appearance averts this. It's mentioned that he is wealthy and puts his fortune towards making amends to the families who were hurt by his villainous actions in the past.
** Zig
** A rather tragic example was Shriek, originally Walter Shreeve. He was formerly the head of a firm that was acquired by [[Big Bad|Derek Powers]], but his attempts to convince Powers that his sonic technology had potential for demolitions didn't impress Powers. ("Dynamite is cheaper", said Powers.) Powers suggested he turn the device into a weapon to assassinate Bruce Wayne (well, it was either that or lose his funding) and the resulting failure drove Shreeve insane, and also deaf. Ironically, what later happened cost Powers far more money than it ever could have saved him.
* In ''[[Wacky Races]]'', Dick Dastardly's Mean Machine is obviously the fastest car in the races and he ''always'' manages to get ahead of everyone else. If he wasn't so [[Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat|adamant in cheating]] and causing the other racers to get ''further'' behind of his considerable lead, he could have easily won every single race.
** Given a massive [[Lampshade Hanging]] in the new ''[[Wacky Races]]'' pilot where he tells Muttley that [[Card-Carrying Villain|as villains they have to cheat]]. They were three feet from the finish line and napping for an indeterminate time beforehand.
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* Averted on ''[[Johnny Test]]''. Brainfreezer wishes he was less evil so he could just use his ice based technology for a legit business. After Johnny helps him, [[Heel Face Turn|he does just that.]]
* One episode of ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (animation)|Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]'' is motivated by this. [[Mad Scientist]] Prof. Nimnul has built a lightning generator whose power supply is the static electricity you get from rubbing several hundred fuzzy cats. In his [[Motive Rant]], he claims to have tried selling it to a power company, but the design was so silly that they wouldn't take him seriously. His response is to blast them with the lightning.
** Even worse was the time he tried to go legitimate by plugging his new aging ray (which used prunes as fuel) to a dairy company, under the assumption it would instantly transform milk into aged cheese. However, after a [[Disastrous Demonstration]] (his fault; he ate too many of the prunes and it ran out of power) in which he accidentally flooded the dairy convention hall with sour milk and ended up being blackballed, he decided [[Then Let Me Be Evil|to stick to being a villain]]. As shame, really, as the heroes discovered that using plums to fuel it had the opposite effect - Nimnul [[Fridge Logic| had actually discovered a way to grant to eternal youth!]]
* The ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' episode "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2/E15 The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000|The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000]]" gives us the Flim Flam brothers, who have a machine that can produce apple cider at a rate faster than the Apple Family can. Had the two brothers not tried to drive the Apples out of business, not been such a pair of [[Jerkass]]es to the Apples, or heck, even tried to cut a fair deal with them instead of giving them an obviously bad one, they'd have ended up being filthy rich off the shared profits. Instead, they're hit with [[Laser-Guided Karma]] after they become so focused on beating the Apple Family that they [[Pyrrhic Villainy|turn off the quality control on their machine, this winning the contest but making cider so awful that no one will buy it]].
** A popular fan theory is that the machine requires sufficient maintenance that it is not cost-effective to work for long periods, thus reducing the Flim-Flam brothers to a business model of 'show it off quick, then use the intimidation factor it produces to force people into unequitable contracts, then take the money and run'. Some support for this exists in the fact that in order to sustain a high production rate for any period of time the machine needs to be operated in a very unsafe manner, hence the quality control problem.
* In an episode of ''[[The Critic]]'', an actress tried to get Jay to like her in order to get a positive review from him. However, when he gives his honest opinion (that she's terrible), she turns nasty. However, buttering Jay up required her to constantly stay in character and be convincing. If she put that much of her acting talent into her movies, she'd have a shelf filled with [[Academy Award|Oscars]].
* The Misfits in ''[[Jem]]'' are a genuinely successful and popular music group in their own right, just not ''quite'' as successful as Jem and the Holograms. Their efforts to one-up and sabotage Jem generally only succeed in making themselves look bad; if they weren't so fixated on outdoing Jem and the Holograms and focused on their own performances, they'd have nothing to complain about. This is shown with particular clarity in the three-part "Starbright" episode; they manage to buy their way into and eventually take over the movie production that Jem had won the contract for in a previous episode, and their constant efforts to harass and sabotage Jem and the Holograms eventually drive the latter off the film - along with basically everyone else competent associated with the production, all of whom join Jem in shooting the original script. The Misfits' film is an unwatchable mess that went severely over its already multi-million-dollar budget only to crash and burn at the box office, no doubt resulting in their popularity taking a hit; they could have profited in both money and popularity if they'd simply spent the time touring instead, especially since Jem couldn't schedule any performances during the shooting of the movie.
* ''[[Kim Possible]]'': It's shown in the episode "Bad Boy" that if Dr. Drakken wished to, he could easily create inventions that weren't evil, which is a surprise to Shego.
=== Real Life ===
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* In the MSNBC documentary ''The Marrying Kind'', con artist George Washington Upton embezzled money from his wives and established companies selling non-existent services. Upon his arrest, one of his former wives said that he was smart enough to have made just as much money through legal means but chose to do fraud instead.
* The "Friday Night Bank Robber", Carl Gugasian, could have had a bright future with his mathematical ability, but he was arrested and imprisoned for a crime committed when he was 15. After getting out of jail, he believed that no-one would ever give him legitimate work, so he became a very successful (until he got caught) bank robber.
* [[wikipedia:Eddie Antar|"Crazy Eddie" Antar]], [[wikipedia:Kenneth Lay|Kenneth Lay]], and [[wikipedia:Bernie Madoff|Bernie Madoff]] are all examples of [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]s who were clearly talented enough to hit the big time if they'd stuck to legitimate business practices, but who ended up [[Hoist by His Own Petard|destroying their own empires]] through fraud.
* On the plus side, many criminals have been able to use the notoriety they gain from their dishonest dealings to find legitimate careers. In addition to ex-hackers going on to work for computer companies and embezzlers who go on to become fraud consultants mentioned above, there were two former burglars who became security consultants teaching people how to keep their houses from being broken into (and later had [[wikipedia:It Takes a Thief (2005 TV series)|their own popular Discovery Channel series doing the same]]), a counterfeiter who used his skills to get a high-level job at a computer company and even a marijuana smuggler who later advertised his services as a business consultant and entrepreneur based on the skills he'd gained building his dope-smuggling ring. Some art forgers who became so notorious for their crimes that people became interested in their own original work, enabling them to make a living as legitimate artists.
* Canadian Brian O'Dea built a multimillion-dollar marijuana smuggling ring in the 1980s and 1990s before he was arrested and imprisoned. After he served his sentence and got out of jail, he decided to get a legitimate job. He took out a series of ads in the ''National Post'', one of Canada's major national newspapers, advertising his services as a business manager. As proof of his skills, he cited his success in building up his dope empire. [[And It Worked]], since O'Dea received almost 600 job offers in response to his ad.
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* When [[wikipedia:Meyer Lansky|Meyer Lansky]] was arrested in the early 1970s, an FBI agent was quoted as saying "He could have been the CEO of General Motors if he had wanted."
* Look at the extent to which many students go towards cheating. With all that hard work, you wonder if it wouldn't be easier for them to do their work legitimately. Furthermore, students often rely on extra credit assignments to make up for regular assignments on which they gave little effort into. However, the extra credit often turns out to be more difficult than the regular assignments, thus defeating the purpose of slacking off in the first place.
* Many of the people who make Chinese bootleg
* A man who broke into Marriott International's computer network
{{reflist}}
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