Kingpin in His Gym: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|"I gotta work out so I can kill the world!"|'''Harry Russo''', ''Schizophreniac: The Whore Mangler''}}
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Contrast with [[Orcus on His Throne]] and [[Slouch of Villainy]].
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime
* Geese Howard hadn't been the [[Big Bad]] since the first ''[[Fatal Fury]]'' OVA, but in the third, Billy Kane finds him training in the woods. After receiving the report on the heroes' activities, Geese busts out a Raging Storm that obliterates some of the surrounding vegetation.
* ''[[Hayate
* In ''[[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.
** Then again, considering how ''animated'' he is about writing down names, he possibly does it to avoid pulling something.
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* 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]]'' the rare shonen series where [[Unstoppable Rage]] ''does not help'', Yoh's mellower approach works in his favour.
* General Silver from ''[[Dragon Ball]]'' is shown working out at least once in order to beat Goku. It doesn't work.
== Comic Books ==
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* Subverted by [[Lex Luthor]]. Shortly after coming back as his own [[Cloning Gambit|Evil Clone]] (don't ask), he is shown training in martial arts in his gym. After his trainer hands him his ass in front of witnesses, he later tracks her down and murders her in cold blood.
** Inverted in his last days as President, when he is using Venom (a kind of super-steroid) to muscle up.
* 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.
** Later stories expanded upon this: Red Skull never tells his would-be appointments that he is going to fight them to the death, just for the added lulz of watching them panic when they realize that Skull was going to kill them.
== Film ==
* [[Rocky (film)|Rocky Balboa's]] major opponents got their own [[Training Montage
* A few [[James Bond (film)|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]]''.
** Scaramanga, ''[[The Man with 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]]''.
** Colonel Moon in ''[[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 the [[Jet Li]] film ''[[Fist of Legend]]'', the [[Big Bad]] General Fujita gets a scene showing him training by hammering nails into boards with his bare palms, smashing slabs of rock, and letting a team of students break thick wooden rods over his body, to establish his overwhelming power and [[Made of Iron|resilience]] in combat.
* In ''[[Gladiator (film)|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 film)|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.
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*** In fact, the reason he uses the myostim unit chair is because he's at the peak of what exercise alone could do for him.
*** 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 on 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
* The main villain in the second ''[[The Transporter|Transporter]]'' movie is practicing Kendo against multiple opponents in his introductory scene.
* ''[[Robin Hood|Robin and Marian]]'' establishes the Sheriff as a credible threat by having him practice swordsmanship against three men at once. When he and Robin do fight... well, they're Robert Shaw and [[Sean Connery]].
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== Live-Action TV ==
* In Season One of ''[[The Wire]]'', [[Big Bad Duumvirate]] Avon Barksdale and Russell "Stringer" Bell were shown working in the gym and on the basketball court while planning gangland operations.
* 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,
* ''[[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.
* Various episodes of ''[[The Wild Wild West (TV series)|The Wild Wild West]]'' had scenes of the episode's [[Big Bad]] either sparring or actually fighting with one or more of his underlings. Unless said Big Bad was Doctor Loveless, these episodes invariably had said Big Bad later dying in the same room, as a result of making a fatal mistake while fighting Jim West.
== Web Comics ==
* Though not shown on-panel, dialogue states that ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'''s villain, Xykon, spent the entire duration of Roy's absence researching new spells and crafting magic items, the [[Evil Sorcerer]]'s equivalent of working out.
** Of course, [[RPG Mechanics Verse|the nature of reality there]] renders him incapable of doing this for longer than 8 hours per day, and, as a lich, he doesn't sleep, either. As such, he generally spends the rest of his day messing around in a bid to alleviate his boredom, which is what the reader ''usually'' sees whenever Xykon is present.
== Western Animation ==
* Spoofed in ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', where Mr. Burns makes Smithers work out on his behalf.
* In ''[[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|
'''Xanatos:''' I'd fire you if you did. }}
* Both Prince Zuko and [[The Dragon|Princess]] [[Magnificent Bastard|Azula]] each spend one of their respective first appearances in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' practicing their firebending. Zuko demands to learn the advanced techniques even though Iroh insists he hasn't mastered the basics yet. Azula, on the other hand, does the advanced bits
* Done three times in the second ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003]]'' series. The first occurs with the Shredder, who gets a training scene in the episode "Darkness at the Edge of Town". The second occurs with Karai, whose very first scene is of her training. The third time occurs in a supplementary short of dubious canonicity, also featuring Karai, which shows her apparently killing the four turtles...until its revealed that they're actually advanced training robots.
▲* Both Prince Zuko and [[The Dragon|Princess]] [[Magnificent Bastard|Azula]] each spend one of their respective first appearances in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' practicing their firebending. Zuko demands to learn the advanced techniques even though Iroh insists he hasn't mastered the basics yet. Azula, on the other hand, does the advanced bits flawlessly--but ''completely'' freaks out (foreshadowing her ultimate [[Villainous Breakdown]]) when ''one hair'' falls out of place.
* Tombstone does this in ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]''.
▲* Done three times in the second ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003]]'' series. The first occurs with the Shredder, who gets a training scene in the episode "Darkness at the Edge of Town". The second occurs with Karai, whose very first scene is of her training. The third time occurs in a supplementary short of dubious canonicity, also featuring Karai, which shows her apparently killing the four turtles...until its revealed that they're actually advanced training robots.
* One chapter of ''[[Star Wars: Clone Wars]]'' opens with Count Dooku sparring with General Grievous.
▲* Tombstone does this in ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'' - fitting, since that adaptation promoted him to the Kingpin's usual role (they couldn't use the trope namer himself due to rights issues).
* In one episode of ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'', mobster Rupert Thorne is in his private gym, punching a bag while a henchman — named Dicky — holds it for him and urges him on. Thorne is clearly getting a little tired, but then Dicky says, "Come on, boss! No wonder the Batman is runnin' circles around ya!" Thorne snarls and punches Dicky in the face, knocking him out. Then he grabs a towel from another thug, mentioning before he leaves, "Oh, and when Dicky gets up, tell him he's fired."
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]
[[Category:Kingpin in His Gym]]
[[Category:Esoteric Trope Names]]
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