Glad He's on Our Side

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
"I gotta tell you, I'm glad he's on our side, because can you imagine a criminal so neat that he never leaves behind any hair or fingerprints?"
Detective Zach Nichols on Adrian Monk in a USA Network promo.

So that guy can lift heavy objects, fly, move at super speed, see through things, and shoot fire out of his eyes? Damn, it's a good thing that he's a Superhero because he would make one hell of a villain.

Basically, this trope is when a character expresses the sentiment that it's a good thing that so-and-so is on their side, because they would make a dangerously formidable enemy.

Sometimes this is followed up with the joke "at least I think s/he is" or a variant thereof. Or a less certain "...he is, right?"

This is also likely to be said by someone who works with a Heroic Sociopath.

Sometimes spoken directly to the person in the form of "I'm glad you're on our side."

Examples of Glad He's on Our Side include:

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Anime and Manga

  • In Soul Eater, Maka says this of Ragnarok after his and Crona's Face Heel Turns when he effortlessly blocks an attack from a Giant Chainsaw and topples the Golem wielding it. Maka even goes as far as to express surprise and Fridge Horror that she once fought it.
  • In Fullmetal Alchemist, one of the Briggs soldiers says this about Ling/Greed when he single-handedly drives off Bradley's reinforcements.

Comic Books

  • Inverted in Watchmen: The heroes are dismayed to realize who isn't on their side after all, because of his capabilities.
  • In the first issue of Superman, a group of politicians/law enforcement types say this of Superman at the end.

Fan Works

  • In Lost and Found, or, a Time Lord's Holiday, a story from Undocumented Features, Magneto, recently arrived in the UF 'verse from the Marvel universe, catches a piece of falling machinery with his magnetic powers when the local version of Rokk "Cosmic Boy" Krinn fails to stop it with his own powers. Later, still awed by the unbelievable magnitude of Magneto's abilities, Krinn says to a coworker, ""Can you imagine if that guy ever went off the rails? He'd be all but unstoppable. Thank the gods he's on -our- side."

Film

Giant Man: Who's the chick with the hammer? [referring to The Mighty Thor]
Iron Man: Whoever she is, I'm glad she's on our side.

  • Disney's Pocahontas - "I'm glad you're on our side."
  • Bloodsport - "I'm glad you're on our side."
  • Three Men and a Baby - "Aren't you glad he's on our side?"
  • To Have and Have Not (1944) - "I'm glad you're on our side." (said twice)
  • Screamers - "I'm glad those things are on our side."
  • WarGames: The Dead Code - "Glad she's on our side."
  • Back to Bataan (1945) - "I'm sure glad you guys are on our side."
  • Earth 2100 - "I'm glad you're on our side."
  • Odysseus and the Isle of the Mists - "I'm glad that you are on our side."

Television

  • Inverted in one episode of Frasier with regards to his agent's skill/total lack of morals.

Frasier: You've lied, cheated and manipulated not only me, but the news media and the entire city of Seattle! What could you possibly have to say for yourself?
Bebe: Aren't you glad I'm on your side?

Video Games

  • In the Vorkuta level of Black Ops, when you first meet Sergei, Mason says to him, "Glad you are a friend, Sergei," due to his brute strength.
  • In Mass Effect 1, Kaidan says this about Nihlus. He also says the same thing about the super-dreadnaught, Destiny Ascension. The first ends up dead via betrayal in the first 30 minutes of the game and the second ends up either blown up via Epic Fail or saved at the cost of quite a few Alliance ships. Notice a pattern, here?
    • Mass Effect 2 has a mega-Krogan heft a large piece of plate armour aside with next to no difficulty. While not exacly on Shepard's side, Garrus is "glad he's friendly".
  • Inverted in Left 4 Dead the Tank's not on your team, but Rochelle wishes he was.
  • Pretty much every Psychonaut. They can wreathe things in fire with ease, drop a giant rock on your head with telekinesis, psi-blast you in the face, and it's implied that they have the power to make your head explode with their minds.
  • In Star Wars Battlefront II, if you go on a killing streak your allies make comments. One of them is "I'm glad your on our side!" Another is, "Save some for the rest of us!"

Western Animation

  • In G.I. Joe, after Storm Shadow left Cobra and joined the Joe team, his file card had a quote from General Hawk: "I'm glad he's on our side now." Understandable since Storm Shadow's skills are equal to, if not greater than, those of Snake Eyes.
  • Family Guy:

Toy Designer: I've just finished the new line of G.I. Jew toys. [pushes a button on the G.I. Jew action figure]
G.I. Jew: You call these bagels?
Toy Designer: Whoa, I'm glad he's on our side.

  • Jonny Quest
    • "The Mystery of the Lizard Men". Race Bannon says it after Dr. Quest uses the mirror to reflect the Big Bad's laser beam back and blow him up.
    • "Treasure of the Temple". Dr. Quest says "I'm glad you're on our team" to Race Bannon after he defeats a crocodile to save Jonny and dumps a canoeload of villains into the water.
  • Hanna-Barbera's Moby Dick, episode "The Sinister Sea Saucer". Tug says this about Moby after Moby blows away a giant enemy manta ray.
  • The Herculoids episode "The Lost Dorgyte". Dorno says "I'm glad you're on our side" to Tundro.