Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Difference between revisions
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* [[The DCU]] villain Dr. Light started out as a formidable foe capable of taking on the Justice League single-handed, but was a victim of severe [[Villain Decay]] in the [[The Bronze Age of Comic Books|Bronze Age]] and [[Post-Crisis]] eras, mostly notable for being repeatedly defeated by kids. And while defeat at the hands of the [[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]] isn't all that shameful, he was ''also'' humiliated by Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys, a team of non-powered pre-teens! That all changed with his [[Rape as Drama|rape-the-wife]] moment in ''[[Identity Crisis]]''.
* The entire [[Legion of Doom|Injustice League]], which consisted of Major Disaster, Cluemaster, Clock King, Big Sir, Multi-Man, and Mighty Bruce. Individually, they were talented in some area, if lacking in others. As a group...they're still a bunch of losers. Here's how bad their luck is—while staying in Europe, they happened to attend the same French as a Second Language class as the Justice League. And this was following a bank robbery that was thwarted by the fact that none of them could effectively communicate the idea of "This is a stickup" in French.
** The Clock King deserves special mention, as he overlaps this Trope with [[Tragic Monster]] (and no, this is not the villain in ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'', he has [[In Name Only| nothing to do with this one]]). At first William Tockman seems utterly ridiculous, an armed robber and burglar with no super-powers at all, just a silly costume covered with clocks who steals expensive clocks. But then you hear his history. Tockman spent years caring for his invalid sister, and when a doctor tells him that he is also terminally ill with six months to live, he is terrified of what might become of his sister when he dies. He commits crimes hoping the profit will pay for her treatment once he is gone, the clock motive used to remind him his time is limited. Unfortunately, he botches a robbery, and is caught by [[Green Arrow]]. While in jail, his poor sister dies alone, and in ''horrible'' irony, [[All For Nothing|his own diagnosis had been wrong]], the incompetent doctor having switched his papers with that of another patient. He busts out of jail seeking revenge on Green Arrow and the doctor, later joining the Injustice League and then conscripted into the [[Suicide Squad]], failing in their first mission and not seen since.
* Bolphunga the Unrelenting, from ''[[Green Lantern]]''. A [[Large Ham]] villain, notable for using an axe against power-ring wielding space cops, and for attempting to take on [[Genius Loci|Mogo]].
* Turk, the pettiest of the petty hoods in Harlem, in the ''[[Daredevil]]'' comics.
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* Asbestos Lady is a villain who fits this Trope in hindsight. This gal was a thief who thought it was a good idea to fight the Human Torch (not Johnny Storm, the original one) with an asbestos costume. This made perfect sense back in [[The Golden Age of Comic Books]] before anyone knew that asbestos was a dangerous carcinogen. Later in the modern era, it was confirmed she had died of cancer, done in by her own costume, and that she had been secretly funded by the U.S. government to combat the perceived threat superhumans posed, sort of a precursor to the Superhuman Registration Act during the ''[[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]]''. In effect, poor Asbestos Lady had become [[Aesop Collateral Damage]] in a [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop|precautionary tale]] of how a corrupt government could ruin the lives of its own employees for selfish personal agendas.
** There was also Asbestos Man, another foe of the Torch. When he appeared a second time - quite a bit later, in ''[[The Fantastic Four|The Fantastic Four Vol. 5 #1]]'' - he also suffers from cancer and has to carry an oxygen tank around with him even as he commits crimes. This ironically makes him more successful, as everyone he tries to rob is terrified at the thought of getting the disease. Despite this, he is miserable, as he now has no purpose (he came out of retirement seeking revenge on the Torch, only to find out he was dead) and thinking that if anyone remembers him at all, it will be as a lame fool. Fortunately, the Great Lakes Avengers (the heroes who oppose him in this story) are no strangers to being regarded as lame, and promise they will remember him and spread the word about how notorious a villain he is, if he simply turns himself in. He agrees, and passes away soon after.
* Codpiece, from ''[[Doom Patrol]]''. This crook started his criminal career when he was rejected by a girl in high school who said he wasn’t “big enough”. She meant height but he thought she meant [[Teeny Weenie|something else]], and it inspired him to build… [https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Codpiece_(New_Earth) eh, this]. Even worse was the way he was defeated - rookie heroine Coagula was trying to make a name for herself after the Justice League rejected her application, and figured fighting this villain would help, but because she didn’t have a costume yet, she bought a cheap frog mask from a convenience store and took him down in a… [[Groin Attack|rather humiliating manner]]. It did indeed gain Coagula a spot on the Doom Patrol, but Codpiece wasn’t so lucky. He hasn’t been seen since.
== Film ==
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