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Offscreen Villain Dark Matter: Difference between revisions
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How on earth does he fund this? Why does anyone take him seriously anymore? The only possible explanation is that there have to be scores of successful operations the villain is undertaking that we're not seeing... much like how scientists speculate that there's "dark matter" in the universe - substances that can't be directly observed, but [[Anthropic Principle|must exist if the universe is to keep working the way we believe it does]].
See also [[No Delays for The Wicked]] and [[Step Three: Profit]]. Contrast with [[No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup]]. Not to be confused with [[Kirby|a certain villain named Dark Matter]]. [[Forgot to Feed The Monster]] is a [[Subversion]].
{{examples
== Anime & Manga ==
* In ''[[Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (Anime)|Science Ninja Team Gatchaman]]'', the villain group, Galactor, has massive war machines in almost every episode and an estimated one million members around the world. It is suggested that the [[Big Bad|true leader]] of Galactor, the alien Sousai X, somehow has the massive personal resources to keep the operation going.
* The Jovians of ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]'' have a basically infinite supply of robot drones, no matter how many thousands of the things the heroes blow up over the course of the series. However, no one finds this odd as they're an [[Alien Invasion]] force... {{spoiler|actually, they're just disenfranchised ''human'' colonists that stumbled across [[Applied Phlebotinum]] similar to ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]''. When this starts breaking down, they start entertaining the notion of peace talks.}}
* [[Mad Scientist|Jail Scaglietti]] of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' never seems to run out of [[Mecha-Mooks|Gadget Drones]] and laboratories despite losing a number of them to Combat Mages under the [[Heroes
** And having a steady supply of mass-produced women to sell to arms dealers or lonely men as Dutch wives makes for good money. Especially when they can activate and kill its buyer if he needs them to.
* Averted (if only just barely) in ''[[Yatterman (Anime)|Yatterman]]'': in each episode, the Doronbo Gang is busy raising money through improbable scam schemes in order to build a new mecha.
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* In [[Marvel Comics]], there are several high-tech organizations whose budget is unexplained. A rare exception is the evil HYDRA, which was funded with hidden Nazi assets, and (in one case) structured itself as a ''corporation!'' (Not openly, of course.)
** HYDRA also controls a small nation.
** Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.), another terrorist group that broke off from HYDRA and became independent, also generates revenue by developing and selling deadly high-tech devices. This could arguably explain where [[Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?|many Marvel villains get all their fancy toys.]]
* [[The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck|Scrooge McDuck's]] longtime foes The Beagle Boys, though [[Depending On the Writer|not always]]. Lately we often see them more realistically broke, but they've also been seen going after Scrooge McDuck at sea or elsewhere with special equipment that should probably cost more than the amount of money they were after, when it wasn't Scrooge's entire property. An explanation might have something to do with how they're (rarely) shown as a world-wide criminal organisation family of which the Duckburg gang is just a small part, but it still wouldn't make much sense.
* ''[[Nodwick]]'': [http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/gamespyarchive/index.php?date=2006-05-03 Anti-Santa] [[A Wizard Did It|did it]].
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* The Limburger Building, HQ of the main villain of ''[[Biker Mice From Mars]]'' gets blown up in spectacular fashion in just about every episode, only to be rebuilt in time for the next episode.
* [[Carmen Sandiego]], particularly in the animated series. She has yet to hang on to her pilfered goods long enough to use them (and it's not like she could sell any of them anyway, given [[Monumental Theft|how famous they are]]), so where does she get the money for all the gear required to loot them in the first place?
** Carmen Sandiego, like most phantom thieves, is probably independently wealthy. Phantom thievery tends to be an occupation taken up by the rich out of boredom or the need for a challenge. See also [[
{{quote| '''Lupin''': My organization operates with a budget that surpasses that of most cities.}}
*** Or, maybe, she changes her outfit, wears a mask, and routinely successfully steals ''ordinary'' valuable items, for which she takes no credit.
* No matter how many times Dr. Claw of ''[[Inspector Gadget]]'' loses and conducts [[Villain Exit Stage Left]], he will always have enough funds and resources to conduct his next scheme. Partially justified however as he's implied to be the head of a worldwide criminal empire, and Gadget can only be in so many places at once.
* In ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' both [[Honest
* Subverted and Lampshaded in the hilarious ''[[Robot Chicken (Animation)|Robot Chicken]]'' [[Star Wars (Franchise)|Star Wars]] spoof where Vader calls up Palpatine regarding the Death Star's destruction.
{{quote| '''Palpatine:''' That thing wasn't even fully paid off yet! Do you have ''any'' idea what this is gonna do to my credit? [...] Oh, oh, "''just'' rebuild it"? Oh, real f***ing original! And who's going to give me a loan, jackhole? You? You have an ATM on that torso light-brite?}}
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