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Plot Irrelevant Villain (view source)

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While the easiest way to sum up this trope is "useless character", that's more objective as what's going on here. For example, Oogie Boogie from ''[[The Nightmare Before Christmas]]'', awesome though he may be, is motivated purely by [[For the Evulz]], causes trouble only after the [[Denouement]], and has little if anything to do with the main plot of how Halloweentown takes over Christmas.
 
This trope can possibly go in line with [[Designated Villain]]. If he's there to provide someone to boo because the main problem is too cool to hate or a morally neutral problem (a runaway train, an earthquake) it's a [[Hate Sink]]. Compare with [[Breakout Villain]] and [[Orcus Onon His Throne]]. When it's an entire unwholesome class of characters who don't seem to do of the dirty deeds of their profession, it's [[The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything]].
{{examples}}
 
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* From ''[[Pokémon (Animeanime)|Pokémon]]'', Gary Oak in the first season. He's a [[Jerkass]] antagonist to Ash for absolutely no reason, and continually antagonizes him in ways that never add anything to the story.
** [[Terrible Trio|Team Rocket]] also fall into this sometimes. Sometimes only showing up to keep up appearances.
 
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* Although he's a very memorable character, pretty much the entire plot of ''[[The Nightmare Before Christmas]]'' happens without Oogie Boogie, and the [[Final Battle]] happens after the climax as a way of tying off loose ends rather than causing any resolution or character development.
** Tellingly, in the original poem (found on the blu-ray [[So Cool Its Awesome|narrated by]] [[Christopher Lee]]) Oogie Boogie doesn't appear at all despite the rest of the poem following the movie point to point.
* Humma Kavula from the ''[[The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy (Filmfilm)|The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy]]'' movie. Oh yes. He's given little [[Backstory]], his motives are only hinted at, and seems to exist only to push for the inclusion of the [[MacGuffin]] used to save the day at the end. No doubt if sequels were made he'd have a larger role, but sequels seem unlikely at this point. And the most aggravating point is that the movie already ''had'' villains! Do the Vogons chasing Zaphod for kidnapping the President (himself) and stealing a ship not count?
* ''[[Gigantic]]'' is an indie romantic comedy. Not exactly a genre needing a villain, yet for some reason it has a strange homeless man who attacks the male lead at random intervals for basically no reason whatsoever. One of the more bizarre examples, as there is not even a token attempt to shoehorn him into the plot, ''[[Mind Screw|he's just there.]]''
* The closest ''[[Madagascar]]'' has to a villain are the fossa - but they are a menace that hardly appears. The major conflict is both the protagonists being stranded in a strange place, and the sole carnivore of them [[Warm Bloodbags Are Everywhere|becoming hungry]].
 
== [[Literature]] ==
* Draco Malfoy is this most of the time in the early ''[[Harry Potter (Literaturenovel)|Harry Potter]]'' books. He only really starts to dovetail with the actual villains in [[Harry Potter (Franchise)/Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix|book 5]].
 
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* The insane simulant in the ''[[Red Dwarf (TV)|Red Dwarf]]'' episode 'Justice': Aside from providing an excuse for reaching the space station, he had no purpose other than to tack on an (admittedly funny) action sequence after the plot proper was resolved.
** The simulants are perfect for this sort of thing: Need to get the crew in a Wild West simulation? Simulant. Need a reason to get Rimmer on his own planet for 600 years? Simulant. Need a way to introduce a drugged-up twin brother of Kryten? Simulant. The only Simulant that appears that is directly related to the plot of the episode is The Inquisitor, and really, he might as well not be one, as his motivation isn't the killing of humans, but replacing them in history with those he thinks deserves life more.
* ''[[Kamen Rider Den-O]]'' worked well as an ensemble [[Monster of the Week]] show, and then basically fell apart at the very end, when they tried to introduce a primary antagonist. Not helped by the villain's motivation being rather obtuse up through the end of the series.
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* The main antagonists, Duchess and Terrence, from ''[[FostersFoster's Home for Imaginary Friends]]'', were important in the pilot and pretty well ignored since. The show never really needed bad guys, and when it did, it could usually be better performed by Bloo, the resident [[Jerkass]].
* The [[Christmas Special]] ''Christopher the Christmas Tree'' has a scene where a fox and weasel show up for no reason other than to lend the end of the special a little suspense by planting the idea that Christopher will be chopped down for firewood, rather than picked to be a Christmas tree.
* Transfer (and his boss, Sullivan) in ''[[Around the World With Willy Fog (Animation)|Around the World Withwith Willy Fog]]'': Transfer sets up a lot of obstacles for the heroes, yes, but in [[Around the World Inin Eighty Days|the original book]] those obstacles arose just fine without anybody trying to sabotage the trip.
* Parodied in the ''[[American Dad (Animation)|American Dad]]'' episode "Don't Look a Smith Horse in the Mouth", where Roger is riding Stan in a horse race ([[It Makes Sense in Context|Stan's mind is temporarily in a horse's body]]). Roger mentions his regret that he doesn't have a rival to race against and make it more exciting, so when Stan points out that it isn't too late, Roger ''deliberately'' picks a fight with another jockey just to create a rival.
 
== [[Video Games]] ==
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* In the ''[[Spider-Man]]'' games, Shocker qualifies. Almost every other villain has an important role in the story to some extent. Shocker is just there to get his ass whupped and not make a single contribution to the story.
* Zed from ''[[Wild Arms]]'' might qualify, too.
* To an extent, ''[[Batman: Arkham Asylum]]'' has Bane: he shows up once to fight Batman and gets taken down immediately, unlike the other villains who all come back at least once. His indirect role in the plot, however, is much greater: {{spoiler|Joker plans to use a deriative of the [[Psycho Serum|Venom]] formula in his blood to make rampaging monsters out of all of Gotham.}}
 
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