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Harmless Villain (view source)

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** Though a special prize has to go to Spidey villain the Spot, until he got a revamp to make him a major threat. During his first appearances, he was so pathetic that Spidey couldn't even be bothered to fight him, and instead, he falls over laughing at the mere sight of him.
*** He actually turned up in ''[[Spider-Man: The Animated Series]]'' and kicked seven shades out of Spider-Man, IIRC.
* ''[[Daredevil]]'' arguably has it worse. The Matador ([[Name's the Same|not to be confused with]] the [[Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne|other]] [[That One Boss/Other Games/Atlus|guy]])? His entire gimmick is about obscuring your vision with his cape, which, for Daredevil, doesn't do anything. Stilt-Man? [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Exactly what he sounds like]]. The Gladiator? Just a musclehead with anger management issues who happened to have a costume lying around. Daredevil basically has ''three'' legitimately threatening villains (one of them [[Rogues Gallery Transplant|transplanted]] from [[Spider-Man]]'s rogues gallery), and about 30 or so total losers.
** The Stilt Man. The Leap Frog. In the early days of his comic, Daredevil was the [[Mystery Science Theater 3000]] of comic book super heroes.
** The Gladiator got turned into a [[Not-So-Harmless Villain]] when they started playing his early ramblings and characterization, which by more modern and mature standards sound silly and slightly delusional, very seriously and turned him into a violently unbalanced crazy person with an unhealthy love of buzz saws and ancient Roman culture.
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* In ''[[StarCraft II]]'', Donny Vermillion likes to fancy himself as the face of Emperor Mengsk's unstoppable propaganda machine. In truth, he's laughably incompetent at his job; the fact that his star reporter either isn't in on the plan or actually ''likes'' Raynor doesn't help. Supposedly, the media is a major weapon for Mengsk, so it's possible Raynor only watches Donny's show because the others are actually good at it.
* Duc de Puce, a.k.a. "[[Fail O'Suckyname|The Rat]]", from the ''[[Stronghold]]'' series. [[Too Dumb to Live]], [[General Failure]], [[Minion with an F In Evil]], [[Small Name, Big Ego]]. He's more of [[Narm|an entertainer]] than a real antagonist.
* The [[Fallout: New Vegas]] DLC ''Old World Blues'' has The Toaster, anpossibly [[OmnicidalLaughably ManiacEvil| the most hilarious]] obsessedcase withof burning[[A.I. Is a Crapshoot]] in the franchise. This is one of many appliances you have to find a personality chip for, and in this case, the chip ended up in a [[Bedlam House]]. As a result, when the chip is reinstalled, the toaster proves to be a sociopathic madman who wants to destroy the world with nuclear armageddon. He is limited in his evil quest by being a talking toaster (and that alas, unbeknownst to him, [[After the End|the world has already burned]]. He gets very upset when you point this out). About the worst he can do, should you not suffer an attack of stupid and [[Too Dumb to Live|stick your hand into his bread slot]], is ''threaten'' to set you on fire. Eventually, the other appliances turn against it, dumping it into a bathtub, causing it to short out. Its dying words are to curse them, swearing they will [[Crowning Moment of Funny| "rue the day when they had bread... and no way to toast it."]]
* ''[[Okage]]: Shadow King'' has Evil King Stanley Hihat Trinidad XIV, or Stan, the [[Sealed Evil in a Can]] who's taken over your shadow. He really likes proclaiming how evil and mighty he is, but with one of his first displays of his terrible might being to rescue a cat stuck in a tree, he is not that good at it. Especially with how a bunch of Fake Evil Kings have stolen his power while he was sealed away.
 
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* Dr. Drakken in ''[[Kim Possible]]'' is pretty much the mascot of this trope, if only because that show's [[Periphery Demographic]] makes it so self-aware. You get the feeling that he and Shego aren't even trying to harm Kim, just keep her occupied. He becomes a [[Not-So-Harmless Villain]] in some cases, especially in [[The Movie]] "So the Drama". (In fact, being the most recurring villain, he's all over the scale; sometimes he's so ridiculous that Kim hardly needs to bother, but he's also the one who occasionally comes closest to his [[Take Over the World]] goal.)
** This is because Drakken is an [[Expy]] of [[Austin Powers|Doctor Evil]], with Shego taking Scott's place as the more competent one who points out the other's ineffectiveness with snarky remarks.
* The Swiper in ''[[Dora the Explorer]]'': any villain who can be foiled by saying "Swiper, no swiping!" isn't going to give Hannibal Lecter a run for his money. Granted, he [[My God, What Have I Done?|becomes repetant whenever he actually does something]] [[Even Evil Has Standards|truly callous]], and could perhaps be considered more a [[Screwy Squirrel]] than an outright villain. It's commonly theorized that [[It Amused Me|he only bothers Dora for fun]].
** Oh, and whenWhen he ''getsdoes'' thesuccessfully stuff?steal Doessomething, he keep it for himself? No, heusually throws it intoout theof bushesreach with a cackle of, "You'll never find it now!", and runs off.
** There's even thea bit of [[Moral Dissonance]] that occurs with Swiper during ''"The Berry Hunt'', in which": Dora and Boots sneak onto a hill ''where Swiper '''lives''''', quietly lift a bucketful of berries, then make enough noise that Swiper comes out of his hole... and the heroic duo frown at the thought that Swiper might steal "[[Protagonist Centred Morality|their]]" blueberries. "That Swiper!"
** ThereIn was anone episode, whereSwiper hesteals stoleeveryone's theFriendship friendshipDay bracelets for friendship day. When he found out, he did a [[Heel Face Turn]] for the rest of the episode and helped the rest of the cast find all the bracelets. There's also the [[Christmas Special]], where Dora and Boots took a trip to bring a present for Santa. Along the way, Swiper swipes it, but returns it when he's told what he had taken.
** There was also the [[Christmas Special]], where Dora and Boots took a trip to bring a present for Santa. Along the way, Swiper swipes it, but does a [[Heel Face Turn]] and returns it when he's told what he had taken.
** Under the theory he is only harrassing Dora [[It Amused Me|for fun]] and [[My God, What Have I Done?|becomes repetant whenever he actually does something]] [[Even Evil Has Standards|truly callous]], Swiper could perhaps be considered more a [[Screwy Squirrel]] than an outright villain.
* Glowface from ''[[The Xs]]'' is one such villain, he even gets upset when his monologues are interrupted, and is perfectly willing to put off villain chores [[Villains Out Shopping|to play video games]].
* The Monarch in ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'' almost qualifies. When he isn't psychologically damaged, being pushed around by the higher-ups in the Guild of Calamitous Intent, and being inept at commanding his henchmen, he can, in fact, be quite deadly. The trouble is, he's so bad at arching that his nemesis, Dr. Venture, doesn't even consider him a real threat. Later seasons show, however, that The Monarch can, indeed, be a very threatening villain, if he bothered to extend his goals beyond being a pain in the ass to Dr. Venture.
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** His [[Future Badass]] self from [[The Movie]] on the other hand...
{{quote|'''Future Box Ghost:''' ''Beware.''}}
* ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]''.:
** The Amoeba Boys, pictured above. Their devious plans include crimes such as disobeying a "Keep Off The Grass" sign (*gasp*), jaywalking (*SHOCK*) and... dare we mention it?... ''Littering'' (*DUN DUN DUN*). They only turned to such crimes after they tried, and ''failed'', to work up the courage to steal an orange from a produce stand. This also applies to them in ''[[Powerpuff Girls Z]]'', though to a lesser extent.
*** Hilariously,The thefirst "Keep off the grasscrime" thinglisted turnedwas intothe onefocus of the mostepisode serious"Geshundfight" threats in the show's run.- The Amoeba Boys stayed on the grass all night, through a storm, and got colds. AsThem theybeing aregiant gigantic germ...''things''amoeba, this mutated into a disease that couldspread have killed offto ''all of Townsville'', and would've caused a pandemic proper if the Girls hadn't managed to find the Amoeba Boys and convince them to let a vaccine be extracted. OfThis coursemeant that, absolutelyfor ''none''all of thisone was intentionalepisode, butthey were one of the biggest threats ever to imperil Townsville - ''completely'' by heyaccident.
*** They ''almost'' crossed the line to [[Not So Harmless Villain]] in one episode, where they were able to create an army of duplicates of themselves using mitosis, and then stole all the oranges in Townsville, resulting in almost all the populace getting sick with scurvy (a clear-cut case of [[Rule of Funny]]). It was rather easy for the Girls to beat them to a pulp (Heh-heh, pulp, oranges, get it?), but in the end, that was what they had wanted all along.
** Also, the villains of the same name in ''[[Powerpuff Girls Z]]''.
* In [[Disney Animated Canon|Disney's]] ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'' sequel ''Return of Jafar'' and the TV series, there's [[Punny Name|Abis Mal]]. His patheticness is particularly compounded by being an [[Expy]] of the legendary loser, George Costanza, on ''[[Seinfeld]]'', since Jason Alexander plays both roles.
** He does get at least one [[Not-So-Harmless Villain]] moment in [[Recycled: the Series|the series]], in which he gets a hold of another lamp and wishes that the protagonists get smashed like bugs. When told that genies can't kill, he has a moment of brilliance and asks for the protagonists to be turned into bugs so that ''he'' can smash them like bugs.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Villain Ball{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:No One Respects the Spanish Inquisition]]
[[Category:Saturday Morning Cartoon]]
[[Category:Villain Ball]]
[[Category:Villains]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}Competence Tropes]]
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