Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Difference between revisions

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** Another time he teamed up with fellow loser the Trapster (see below), had Spidey at their mercy and only didn't kill him due to suddenly getting a call from their boss informing them that their pay would be doubled if Spidey lived. Ever the pragmatist, Shocker accepted though he remarked that if he killed him, he would "save a fortune on therapy bills".

** While the "regular" Shocker has his moments of competence and [[Not So Harmless]], his [[Ultimate Marvel]] counterpart consistently fits this trope.

* ''[[Daredevil]]'s'' big problem is that he has a few good villains (like Bullseye, the Kingpin, the Owl, and Elektra) but most of the others are lame:

* ~~''[[Daredevil]]''~~ ~~villain~~ Stilt-Man. A man whose suit of Powered Armor offers some minimal amount of protection while making him very tall. One of the more baffling villains of his era, writers gave up on revamping him into a serious threat a long time ago. Since then, whenever you needed a really pathetic villain to beat up, Stilt-Man was your guy. Eventually, [[The Punisher]] killed him. For all that, his wife, Princess Python, was pretty hot, so perhaps Stilt-Man was effective in other areas.

** Case in point, Stilt-Man. A man whose suit of Powered Armor offers some minimal amount of protection while making him very tall. One of the more baffling villains of his era, writers gave up on revamping him into a serious threat a long time ago. Since then, whenever you needed a really pathetic villain to beat up, Stilt-Man was your guy. Eventually, [[The Punisher]] killed him. For all that, his wife, Princess Python, was pretty hot, so perhaps Stilt-Man was effective in other areas.

** While Stilt-Man may be dead, his legacy lives on in...''Lady Stilt-Man!'' Her first appearance consisted of being mocked by Spider-Man (who thanked her for improving the miserable day he was having), and being defeated by stepping into an open manhole. Even Spider-Man felt sorry for her when she started crying. This ~~change~~ in her next appearance in "Villains for Hire", where she upgraded her armor and [[Took a Level in Badass]].

** While Stilt-Man may be dead, his legacy lives on in...''Lady Stilt-Man!'' Her first appearance consisted of being mocked by Spider-Man (who thanked her for improving the miserable day he was having), and being defeated by stepping into an open manhole. Even Spider-Man felt sorry for her when she started crying. This changed in her next appearance in "Villains for Hire", where she upgraded her armor and [[Took a Level in Badass]].

** The Matador was a former bullfighter who was kicked out of the sport for cruelty to animals. [[Everyone Has Standards|Just think about that for a minute.]] Now you know how a regular matador uses his cloak to goad the bull into charging? This lame villain tried to use that technique on armored cars, so he could rob them. He tried to use it on Daredevil too, who is blind in case you forgot.

** The LeapFrog. Vincent Patilio was a burglar and small-time inventor who made a frog suit with spring boots. The costume wasn't even very intimidating, and he got his clock cleaned by Daredevil. Still, one might say he had more smarts than most villains on this page, because once he did time, he decided to quit being a villain. Unfortunately his teenage son Eugene decided to use the suit and try to be a hero [[Failure Hero|(though not a very good one)]], renaming himself the Fabulous Frog-Man. While his career as a hero has lasted longer than his dad's stint as a crook, and he occasionally manages to save the day, it's [[Achievements in Ignorance|usually completely by accident.]]

* Rhino sometimes gets this treatment. Recently, he underwent a [[Heel Face Turn]], but [[Failure Is the Only Option|this is doomed to fail]]

** There was a two issue story about him in a Spider-Man spinoff focusing on the various other characters in Spidey's life, with his idiocy being what makes him so pathetic. However, he ends up becoming super-intelligent via super science and ends up getting the girl and becoming the strongest crime boss in New York, along with figuring out Spider-Man's true identity. He goes back to being dumb, however, when he ends up being miserable by not being able to connect with people anymore.

* Slyde. A villain who claims that his parents were gunned down by the [[Incredible Hulk]] and [[Captain America (comics)]], and whose primary mode of attack is the "Slyde Punch", which is just a jab to the ribs. He gets taken down and hauled off to jail with incredible speed. As it happens, he's just a guy going through a midlife crisis who decided to go toe-to-toe with Spider-Man instead of just [[Midlife Crisis Car|buying a Corvette]] or something.

* Slyde. A villain who claims that his parents were gunned down by the [[Incredible Hulk]] and [[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]], and whose primary mode of attack is the "Slyde Punch", which is just a jab to the ribs. He gets taken down and hauled off to jail with incredible speed. As it happens, he's just a guy going through a midlife crisis who decided to go toe-to-toe with Spider-Man instead of just [[Midlife Crisis Car|buying a Corvette]] or something.

* Though the rat creatures in the comic ''[[Bone]]'' are quite fearsome in force, the nameless two most commonly seen around the valley where the protagonists live are pretty pathetic on their own. They want to eat the story's protagonist, but they do themselves more harm than anyone else with their bumbling. Their constant bickering over whether to bake the Bones into a quiche is also quite endearing.

** A trilogy of junior novel sequels even have them as two of the chosen ''heroes''. Well, more like [[Token Evil Teammate]]s, really.

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* The pirates and Romans in the ''[[Asterix]]'' books.

* ''[[Iznogoud]] the Infamous'', the ever-scheming but hapless Grand Vizier to the Caliph, who merely wants "to become Caliph instead of the Caliph."

* Not all of ''[[Captain America (comics)Captain America's]]'' foes had the notoriety of [[The Red Skull]]:

* ~~''[[Captain America (comics)]]'' villain~~ Batroc the Leaper is one of the most skilled fighters in the Marvel Universe, yet he almost always loses and never gets any respect. Thankfully, the good captain [[Friendly Enemy|actually seems to like him]].

** Batroc the Leaper is one of the most skilled fighters in the Marvel Universe, yet he almost always loses and never gets any respect. Thankfully, the good captain [[Friendly Enemy|actually seems to like him]].

** Taken to another level in an issue of Marvel Adventures Avengers, in which Captain America's old enemy tries to reform and ends up inadvertently roping the Avengers into a somewhat amoral scheme to promote an internet dating business.

*** Taken to another level in an issue of Marvel Adventures Avengers, in which Captain America's old enemy tries to reform and ends up inadvertently roping the Avengers into a somewhat amoral scheme to promote an internet dating business.

** Batroc is an interesting case, as he's only 'ineffective' when he's fighting Steve one-on-one. When working for someone like Zemo, or fighting other heroes, he can be scarily effective. See his effortless beat down of the super-strong mercenary Paladin and his clashes with Bucky Barnes.

*** Batroc is an interesting case, as he's only 'ineffective' when he's fighting Steve one-on-one. When working for someone like Zemo, or fighting other heroes, he can be scarily effective. See his effortless beat down of the super-strong mercenary Paladin and his clashes with Bucky Barnes.

*** It was also noted in a comic about one of Marvel's superprisons that since Batroc's abilities all come from a lifetime of training, people like him are the most dangerous in supervillain prisons, as most of the villains either have their powers sealed or their tech taken away. Another name dropped in that vein is the Kangaroo, of all people.

*** Even ''[[Batman]]'' himself commends Batroc on his speed and skills after defeating him (off-panel) in Volume 4 of ''[[JLA-Avengers]]''.

** He's bigger than the Kingpin! He's the crime lord of Miami! He's '''the Slug'''! So says the cover blurb for ''Web of Spider-Man Annual'', but unfortunately for Ulysses X Lugman (who in fact first appeared in the ''[[Nomad]]'' limited series where Cap was a guest star), that's it. He's a 1,200 [[The Cartel|drug Lord]] with all the fighting skills of a bean bag chair. He [[Evil Cripple| can't even move on his own]] without a giant mechanical wheelchair. Maybe this could be seen as an analogy for America fighting obesity, but most of the time he's just a big joke.

* [http://images.wikia.com/marvel_dc/images/8/81/Carface.JPG Carface], who [[Huntress]] [http://media.photobucket.com/image/birds%20of%20prey,%20carface/airhikec001/blog/comics/pages/BoP119_c-carface.jpg made quick work of.]

* Rainbow Raider in ''[[The Flash]]'' became this, once going so far as to attend a villainy motivational seminar in a futile effort to stop losing all the time. Neron once sent him an invitation to his [[Not So Harmless|upgrades-for-souls meeting]] just so the Trickster could steal it from him.