Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Difference between revisions

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** 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.

*** Of course, the Director fits this Trope too and Duffy knows it from the start. The reason he hires her to begin with is to build a [[Death Trap]] complex with the intent to use it on Batman and ''film'' it, intending to market the footage as a [[Snuff Film]]. And he doesn't plan to stop there either, having "scripted" similar films with Superman and Wonder Woman as victims. He even advertises these movies one movie poster shows Diana's dead body hanging from a gallows. Duffy's own opinion of this is, [[Captain Obvious|Batman is going to curb-stomp him]], and she hopes to be paid and be miles away before that happens. Of course, as previously mentioned, Batman does not curb stop him, ''she'' does.

*** Of course, the Director fits this Trope too and Duffy knows it from the start. The reason he hires her to begin with is to build a [[Death Trap]] complex with the intent to use it on Batman and ''film'' it, intending to market the footage as a [[Snuff Film]]. And he doesn't plan to stop there either, having "scripted" similar films with Superman and Wonder Woman as victims. He even advertises these movies -- one movie poster shows Diana's dead body hanging from a gallows. Duffy's own opinion of this is, [[Captain Obvious|Batman is going to curb-stomp him]], and she hopes to be paid and be miles away before that happens. Of course, as previously mentioned, Batman does not curb stop him, ''she'' does.

** Signalman got his start as a crook who figured he needed some gimmick to be successful, so taking inspiration from the Bat-Signal, he embarked on crimes where, like the Riddler, he left clues for the hero. But signals just don't grab a fan's attention as much as riddles do, and his costume looked like some kid scribbled all over it.

** Calendar Man started out as a lame villain. Julian Gregory Day (his name is ''three puns in one'') committed crimes on holidays with an appropriate theme. (For instance, dressing as Uncle Sam on Independence Day and robbing historic museums.) And he made really bad puns doing it. In recent years, however, he's [[Took a Level in Badass|become more serious]] and is seen in darker stories, becoming a ''little'' better and less of a joke.

** Charlie Brown, [[Sarcasm Mode|the notorious]] Kite Man. ([["Not Making This Up" Disclaimer|Not making this up]], he was a lame [[Shout Out]] to ''[[Peanuts]]'' who even crashed into a tree in one story and yelled "Rats!") Obsessed with kites, he committed crimes with a rocket-powered hang glider, until he was killed off and [[Old Shame|never mentioned in that continuity again.]] Still, the ''[[Harley Quinn (TV series)|Harley Quinn]]'' cartoon has made him, while lame, [[Rescued From the Scrappy Heap| a good deal more entertaining.]]

** Most characters designed by comic legends Bob Kane and Bill Finger would be A-list, but the Penny Plunderer was anything but. Joe Coyne [[Punny Name|(another pun there)]] was a newspaper seller who was fired for stealing pennies, and turned to crime over an obsession for them. But it gets worse. He was the ''original owner of the giant penny''~~, the one~~ proudly displayed in the Batcave. DC was [[Old Shame|so embarrassed by this story]], they gave it a [[Retcon]] that attributed the giant penny to one of Two-Face's schemes, banishing the Penny Plunderer from canon.

** Most characters designed by comic legends Bob Kane and Bill Finger would be A-list, but the Penny Plunderer was anything but. Joe Coyne [[Punny Name|(another pun there)]] was a newspaper seller who was fired for stealing pennies, and turned to crime over an obsession for them. But it gets worse. He was the ''original owner of the giant penny'' proudly displayed in the Batcave. DC was [[Old Shame|so embarrassed by this story]], they gave it a [[Retcon]] that attributed the giant penny to one of Two-Face's schemes, banishing the Penny Plunderer from canon.

** Poka-Dot Man, a guy in a bodysuit covered with multicolored poka-dots. Truthfully, this guy had a lot of pretty cool gadgets, but his ridiculous costume and name made it very hard for ''anyone'' to take him seriously.

* ''[[Wonder Woman]]'' had a few, most from [[The Golden Age of Comic Books]]:

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*** Finally, the most recent version was named Edgar Fullerton Yeung [[Don't Explain The Joke|(get it?)]] who became a regular in [[Harley Quinn]]'s own title. The [[Denser and Wackier|nature of the title]] made him more acceptable when the Chinese background was removed, but he was still a truly incompetent villain who was much happier when Harley hired him as a handyman.

* Most bad guys on this list are lame because they have lame powers. However, that was not the case with the Composite Superman. Originally an out-of-work stuntman named Joseph Meach, he tried to get back into the spotlight by setting up a tank of water on a street in Metropolis, then diving into it from the roof of a building; unfortunately, the defective tank was leaking, and he’d have been killed had Superman not shown up and saved him. Superman also got him an honest job as a janitor at the Superman Museum, but being around superhero memorabilia just made him bitter and resentful. Until, that is, one stormy night where he was sweeping the room displaying wax statues of the [[Legion of Super-Heroes]]. Lightning crashed through the window and struck the display, and somehow, [[Lightning Can Do Anything| Meach gained the powers of every member of the Legion]] (that’s right, ''all 22 of them''; keep in mind, this includes Superboy, Supergirl, and two heroes just as strong as they are, Mon-El and Ultra-Boy); it also caused him to snap and become obsessed with defeating Superman and Batman. Now, with powers like this, Meach could have become one of the most dangerous villains in existence, but sadly, he couldn’t use them very well. Being something of an [[Attention Whore]] , his first scheme involved creating a series of disasters for Superman and Batman to attend to, but he deliberately sabotaged them in order to humiliate the heroes, and then [[Engineered Heroics| fixing them himself.]] He wasted so much time doing so, he didn't realize that his powers were temporary, and eventually wore off. Indeed, the only good thing the Composite Superman did was in his second appearance, where a [[Heel Realization]] led to him defending his two foes from another villain called Xan, [[Heroic Sacrifice| dying in the attempt]]. Ironically, this last act granted led to Meach being honored with his own statue in the Museum, the inscription stating he [[Redemption Equals Death| "lived a villain, but died a hero."]]

* The [[Marvel Universe]]'s Toad is a classic example of this. He has [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|second-rate powers]], a stupid nickname, and an even stupider real name (Mortimer Toynbee). Understandably, he hated himself. However, the first ''[[X-Men (film)|X-Men]]'' live action film, with the character played by Ray Park, changed him into a wry villain with more self-respect and redefined powers that are actually scary in their deadliness—managing to become his ''own'' [[Canon Immigrant]] (in particular, his [[Ultimate Marvel]] incarnation is much more badass than his first one).

* The Shocker from ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]'':

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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.

** 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 motif 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.