Kingpin in His Gym: Difference between revisions

[[File:Daredevil_Daredevil -_170_ 170 -_The_Kingpin_3869 The Kingpin 3869.jpg|frame]]

Some [[Big Bad|Almighty Overlords]] like to do more than [[Slouch of Villainy|lounge]] [[Orcus Onon His Throne|around on]] [[Cool Chair|nice chairs]] in their [[Evil Tower of Ominousness|fortresses]]. They'll go for a bit of [[Time to Unlock More True Potential|self-improvement]] instead. Some may get a [[Training Montage]] or two, while others may pursue a [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique]] or [[Forgotten Superweapon]] in parallel with [[The Hero]]. Regardless of how they choose to better themselves, showing a villain building his prowess can be a menacing taste of what's to come when the heroes finally reaches his doorstep. Like [[Orcus Onon His Throne|our good old friend]], however, they don't pose any direct physical threat to the good guys at the moment.

Contrast with [[Orcus Onon His Throne]] and [[Slouch of Villainy]].

== Anime &and Manga ==

* ''[[Hayate Cross Blade (Manga)|Hayate Cross× Blade]]'' also shows [[Arch Enemy|Ensuu]] doing crunches hanging off the top half of a bunk bed and jogging in the school gym on two separate occasions before facing off with the protagonists' team.

* In ''[[Death Note (Manga)|Death Note]]'' Teru Mikami, Light's [[The Dragon|right-hand man]], visits the gym religiously. Given that his method of killing just involves writing down names, this is purely for his own benefit, and has nothing to do with fighting.

* While not exactly a villain, the Raikage in ''[[Naruto (Anime)|Naruto]]'' is introduced lifting huge dumbbells in his gym. Oddly enough, he's the only leader of any group that's been seen training at all so far, despite the setting being a [[World of Badass]] supernatural ninjas.

* Tao Ren is shown working out in the lead-up to his first official tournament fight with the protagonist, who doesn't exactly share his obsessive work ethic. Of course, since Ren is a walking ball of issues and ''[[Shaman King (Manga)|Shaman King]]'' the rare shonen series where [[Unstoppable Rage]] ''does not help'', Yoh's mellower approach works in his favour.

* General Silver from ''[[Dragon Ball (Manga)|Dragon Ball]]'' is shown working out at least once in order to beat Goku. It doesn't work.

* Eddie Brock's first appearance established him as a gym bunny, who channeled his rage against Spider-Man (prior to actually becoming Venom) via working out.

* Issue 350 of ''[[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]]'' showed the recently-resurrected [[Red Skull]] practicing his hand-to-hand skills by slaughtering several of the [[Taskmaster]]'s trained cronies... all of whom were dressed as Captain America.

* [[Rocky (Filmfilm)|Rocky Balboa's]] major opponents got their own [[Training Montage|Training Montages]]s, which often told viewers something about their character: Clubber Lang's dungeon-like basement emphasized his monstrosity while Ivan Drago's almost clinical routines (and his steroid use) showed his lack of "heart."

* A few [[James Bond (Filmfilm)|Bond villains]] are fond of this:

** Largo practices his aim with clay shooting in between stages of SPECTRE's plan to detonate stolen nuclear weapons in ''[[Thunderball (Film)|Thunderball]]''.

** Scaramanga, ''[[The Man With the Golden Gun (Film)|The Man Withwith the Golden Gun]]'', has a warped relationship with his diminuative manservant Nick-Nack; in the event of his death, Nick-Nack inherits everything...in return for Nick-Nack actually ''trying'' to kill him by hiring the best assassins in the world for Scaramanga to pit his skills against.

** Max Zorin sparred with his [[The Dragon|Dragon]] May Day in ''[[A View to A Kill (Film)|A View to Aa Kill]]''.

** Colonel Moon in ''[[Die Another Day (Film)|Die Another Day]]'', whom we meet taking his Tae Kwon Do- frustrations out on a punching bag containing his anger therapist- that'll teach him to lecture Moon. [[Big Bad]] Gustav Graves also has some fun at a fencing club. {{spoiler|We later find that they're the same person}}.

* In ''[[Gladiator (Filmfilm)|Gladiator]]'', Commodus practices his swordsmanship against multiple opponents, showing that wealth and power have ''not'' made him soft.

* In ''[[Dragon Tiger Gate]]'' the Big Bad is introduced and almost exclusively shown in his personal training area... including the climactic battle.

* The 2011 film adaption of ''[[The Three Musketeers (2011 (Filmfilm)|The Three Musketeers 2011]]'' shows [[Big Bad|Richlieu]] sparring in his off-hours. With three opponents, no less.

* [[Star Wars|Count Dooku]], a.k.a. Darth Tyranus, was shown sparring with General Grievous in the ''[[Star Wars: Clone Wars]]'' animated series. Most other master vs. apprentice fights in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' universe tend to be cases of attempted [[Klingon Promotion]] although they ''could'' be considered training for the apprentices.

*** He uses the chair because excercise bores him. He prefers eating at his expensive restaurant, date-raping and dumping mind controlled babes, and musing how much better he was than everone else. He's closer to an [[Orcus Onon His Throne]], were it not for the fact that spends a lot of time engaged in various evil schemes.

** In the ''[[X Wing Series]]'' comics, [[Manipulative Bastard|Ysanne Isard]] is once shown [http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/4769/blz03q.jpg training against] [http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/9642/blz04e.jpg Mrlssti laser phantoms] while she works on her plots to control the Empire. In one novel she talks to an [[Enemy Mine]] while using a weight machine with no sign of strain. Notably, Isard never actually fights people herself, preferring schemes and [[Manchurian Agent|Manchurian Agents]]s. Apparently she believes the old adage about healthy body, healthy mind.

* In ''[[Snakes Onon a Plane]]'', crime boss Eddie Kim is shown practicing karate while ordering the titular plan. Could have been a [[Chekhov's Gun]] for an eventual Kung Fu faceoff with [[Samuel L. Jackson]], but [[They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot|nope.]]

* In ''[[Kick -Ass (Filmfilm)|Kick Ass]]'', Frank D'Amico is shown training in the gym to show he's a step above his mooks, later on even using his skills against a hapless superhero cosplayer. His son is shown [[What the Fu Are You Doing?|clumsily messing around with some weapons]].

* From ''[[Avatar (Filmfilm)|Avatar]]'' we have [[General Ripper|Col. Quaritch]] lifting weights, who comments on the fact he needs to keep his muscles in top condition in Pandora's low gravity.

* Prince Humperdinck in ''[[The Princess Bride (Literaturenovel)|The Princess Bride]]'', with his Zoo of Death.

* Played for laughs in ''[[Doctor Who]]'' when the Delgado Master, locked up in a sea fortress, exercises on a rowing machine. It doesn't seem to be working, though--thethough—the Doctor remarks that the Master has put on weight!

* ''[[Stargate Atlantis (TV)|Stargate Atlantis]]'': When we are first introduced to him, Commander Kolya of the Genii is having a sparring session with some of his military subordinates.

* Spoofed in ''[[The Simpsons (Animationanimation)|The Simpsons]]'', where Mr. Burns makes Smithers work out on his behalf.

* In ''[[Gargoyles (Animation)|Gargoyles]]'', David Xanatos enjoys sparring in a dojo. As always [[Magnificent Bastard|subverting]] such things, he shows how [[Badass]] he is by ''losing'' to his [[Battle Butler]] and then commenting on how surprised he was that Owen has improved.

{{quote| '''Owen:''' Would you prefer I pretend to lose, sir?<br />

*:* Not totally subverted, though; the rest of the episode, which seems to be a pointless attack on the Gargoyles, is revealed to be Xanatos convincing himself that he hasn't lost his "edge". [[Xanatos Gambit|Not that losing was detrimental to his plan]].