Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Difference between revisions

** The [[Laughably Evil]] [[Gonk]], Foxy the Silver Fox, particularly in the anime where he gets more screen time. He's relatively [[Weak but Skilled]] and has only built up such a large crew because he won them in games stacked in his favor, but they seem to genuinely enjoy serving under him because of the fun carnival atmosphere of the Davy Back Fights.

** Another [[Laughably Evil]] villain was Wapol, the [[Big Bad]] (the term should be applied loosely) from the Drum Island Arc. While this guy had a cool Devil Fruit power with the potential to make him a threat, he was ''never'' even a small threat to the heroes, he was just... ''there'', and the arc would have gone smoother had he ''not'' been there. His one redeeming trait is that he is ''very'' funny, and became a rather complex and interesting recurring character after [[Redemption Promotion| he ''quit'' being a villain and went into toymaking.]]

** The Fake Straw Hats from the Return to Sabaody Arc. This small group of pirates led by a guy named "Three-Tongued" Demaro Black (the only member deemed dangerous enough to have a bounty) had an idea that seemed good on paper, they’d pretend to be the Straw Hat crew, hoping that group’s reputation would help them recruit a decent crew.<ref>There are indeed stories about [[Real Life]] novice pirates taking the names of well-known ones in order to gain notoriety, as before the invention of photography, few could tell two groups of pirates apart.</ref> On one hand, this worked at first, and they managed to recruit several hundred competent pirates, including the Caribou Pirates. But they ran into trouble very quickly for several reasons. One, they didn’t look like the Straw Hats at all. To put it this way, [https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Demaro_Black this is Black] and [https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Monkey_D._Luffy this is Luffy]; the other fakes were no better. Possibly justified, as they barely knew what the real Straw Hats looked like, failing to recognize members of the real crew at least twice; they even made fools of themselves trying to intimidate the real Nami and Usopp by claiming to be the Straw Hats. Worse, they advertised by placing fliers in public places, making them targets of several dangerous enemies of the Straw Hats, including the hulking Marine enforcer Sentamaru, a group of Pacifistas, several rank and file Marines and bounty hunters, and for that matter, the Caribou Pirates, once they figured out it had been a ruse. Most ironically, the two impersonating Robin and Chopper helped the real ones a great deal; after the fake ones were caught by a group of Marines, the real ones were able to throw off pursuit for a while. Not to mention, they weren’t very good fighters either. While there was ''one'' "hero confronts his imposter" moment in the story, it was lackluster, with Luffy belting Black and his gang into unconsciousness a single Haki, never realizing they were anything more than common muggers.

** Uh, Spandam. Seriously, while this guy isn't the only reason the viewers will start to wonder if C9 is worthy of their reputation (and what exactly the Marines' guidelines are for recruits), he ''is'' a big reason. He's clumsy (a [[Running Gag]] involved him spilling coffee on himself during moments of excitement), [[Dirty Coward| cowardly]], short tempered, and all too often, just plain dumb. Overlapping with [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain]] he could be blamed ultimately for deaths of countless Marines; his cruel abuse of Robin during the Water 7 Saga (breaking a promise to the Straw Hats in the process) made her so enraged that he was the first victim of her dreaded "Clutch" attack (where she uses her Devil Fruit powers to cause her arms to sprout on the victim's body and break his spine.) Ironically, he survived, but [[It Gets Easier|this first time made it far more easier for Robin]] afterwards, and since then, whole armies have perished from her Clutch.

** Humpty-Dumpty, who is so [[Anti-Villain|delightfully inoffensive that even calling him a villain is a big stretch]]. Even when one learns that there's a good reason that he's in Arkham, one kinda feels sorry for him; he has an obsession with fixing things by taking them apart and putting them back together again, because his ''whole life'' has been [[Deus Angst Machina|a string of disasters]], one after another. Unfortunately, his attempts to fix things only make them run ''worse''. His attempts to fix stuff like a subway train, an elevator, and a clock tower have lead to people getting hurt or even ''killed''. And, of course, he murdered his abusive grandmother when he tried to take ''her'' apart and put her together again.

** Condiment King, an absurd parody of gimmick villains, is this trope [[Lampshade Hanging|with a lampshade]]. Originally introduced as an original character for ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'' where he wasn't a villain, but a brainwashed pawn of the Joker, he eventually emigrated to mainstream comics as a real one. Just dangerous enough to be worthy of Batman and Robin's attention, he has at least the ''potential'' to be a real threat (think "mustard gas", for just one example). However, in practice, he repeatedly gets defeated in a single page. Because he's an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain, he keeps getting parole.

** Jenna Duffy, aka The Carpenter (see trope image), was a member of Tweedledee and Tweedledum's "Wonderland Gang", [[Cut Lex Luthor a Check|but had the sense to get out of supervillainy and to work exclusively as...an actual carpenter.]] Her specialty (who do you think ''builds'' all those [[Death Trap|deathtraps]] in Gotham?) can still get her into trouble, however.

*** Amazingly enough, however, Jenna manages to become a [[Not So Harmless Villain]] ''and'' a three-dimensional character in ''[[Batman: Streets of Gotham]]''. When she is double crossed by her employer (a crime boss called the Director) and realizes he never intended to pay her and that his scheme to kill Batman requires ''her'' death as well, she turns against him and his gang, taking them all down in what could best be described as an R-rated version of ''[[Home Alone]]''. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|(And yes, she kills one thug ''with a nail gun''.)]] Batman later advises her to leave Gotham, and she does - for a while.

** The Hate Monger. With his pointed Hood that made him look like a klansman, this villain could cause a [[Hate Plague]] in his victims. Unfortunately, this villain’s gimmick was the secret identity behind his mask, kind of like a darker version of a crook from [[Scooby-Doo]]. When the heroic foursome took him down and removed his mask (revealing him to be a clone of [[Adolf Hitler]] himself) he lost that edge and there was nothing left. Even the [[Red Skull]] (an actual Nazi) called him lame.

** [[Stan Lee]] once claimed in an interview that the one character he may have regretted creating was Diablo. Yep, this was a [[Card-Carrying Villain]] who was purposely designed as a Card-Carrying Villain, hence his name. He was pretty much Marvel's poster boy for the [[Alchemy Is Magic]] trope, but never really accomplished much. In fact, initially it seemed he was [[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.

 

== [[Eastern Animation]] ==

 

== [[Film]] ==

* Peter Lorre in ''[[M]]''. And again in ''[[Casablanca]]''. And in ''[[The Maltese Falcon]]''. And ''[[Arsenic and Old Lace]]''. In fact, [[Peter Lorre]] in general.

** Exception: he was pretty unsympathetic and effective in ''[[Casino Royale 1954]]''. And as Mister Moto, he's a two-fisted detective hero.

** Further exception: he's [[Playing Against Type|the hero]] in the film of ''The Mask of Dimitrios'' (aka ''[[A Coffin for Dimitrios]]''), and Sydney Greenstreet, who was usually the more competent villain to Lorre's ISV, is the ISV of this film.

* [[Prince Charmless| Prince Charming]] from ''[[Shrek the Third]]''. He was an okay - if [[Flat Character| a little flat]] - character when he was his mother’s crony in [[Shrek 2| the second movie]], but as the main antagonist in the third, he went from flat to lame. First of all, everyone in the film sees him as the butt of a bad joke - when even Pinocchio is trolling you, it kind of underscores the idea that you could ever be a threat to anyone. And he isn’t. His [[Evil Plan]] isn’t exactly well thought out - putting on a play where he heroically slays Shrek at the end, an action he assumes will forever cement him as the hero and Shrek as the villain. Sure, he gains points for creativity, but the flaw in this plan is obvious from the start - by this point in the franchise, Shrek has established himself as a beloved hero, while everyone despises Charming. More than likely, Prince Charming is a lesson for any villain’s goofy sidekick with thoughts of becoming a [[Dragon Ascendant]] - sometimes it’s better to stick to what you’re good at.

* Jacob Hopkins, the museum curator from ''[[The Owl House]]'' is this and a [[Hate Sink]]. Much like [[Big Bad| Emperor Belos]], Jacob is a bigot of the [[Fantastic Racism]] type, a [[Narcissist]], [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]], [[Attention Whore]], and unmistakable proof that [[Humans Are the Real Monsters]] in this series. Belos, however, while utterly despicable, is a captivating and interesting villain with an intriguing backstory and deep storyline. Jacob is just... an idiot, being a [[Conspiracy Theorist]] of the most absurd sort. While most villains who fit that Trope have at least some leg to stand on and often bring up some good points, Jacob seems to have based his beliefs - including the idea [[Insane Troll Logic| that demons and witches come from Mars in order to collect human teeth in order to build a time machine]] - from internet blogs with RPG content. In fact his sole motivation for wanting to dissect [[Non-Malicious Monster| poor Vee]] is because his [[YouTube]] account has been banned for being obnoxious, and he believes obtaining proof of his ideas will get it unbanned. Very [[Catharsis]] for the viewer to see [[Mama Bear| Ms. Noceda]] beat him to a pulp, jail him in his own demon-holding cage, and then learn that he was fired later.

 

== [[Real Life]] ==