Inspector Oblivious

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

He's the man. The villain has been vanquished, the innocent protected, the world saved yet again, often at the very last moment. If it had been anyone else, it's the Big Damn Heroes moment. Only someone forgot to tell the Big Damn Hero.

Inspector Oblivious isn't aware he vanquished evil, protected the innocent or saved the world because he's in one of his own. He's doing his own thing not recognizing the screaming coming from the cat-stroking archvillain who waves one fist angrily at the monitor as yet another plan is foiled and yet more minions are carted off to jail (or the morgue). It wouldn't be so bad if it was intentional, if he was facing an adversary worthy of their battle, but the hero is a complete doofus who's proud because he thinks he foiled a scheme to illegally sell fake Girl Scout cookies, ignoring the orbital Death Ray satellite plunging into the villain's volcano headquarters that resulted from Inspector Oblivious's pratfalls, mistakes and cluelessness. And he does it again and again.

Some days an Evil Overlord just can't catch a break.

Often a Spanner in the Works. A subtrope of Invincible Incompetent, The Fool, and Defective Detective. See also Accidental Hero, Mistaken for Badass.

Examples of Inspector Oblivious include:


Anime and Manga

Comic Books

  • Deadpool: P.I. Wade is trying to solve a murder, and he's so oblivious that he forgot HE was the one who killed the guy in the first place.

Film

Live-Action TV

  • The original inspiration (and voice!) for Inspector Gadget, Maxwell Smart.

Western Animation