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{{trope}}
Captured doesn't necessarily mean cowed. A '''Poisonous Captive''' is a villain held prisoner by the heroes who continues to undermine their objectives through their toxic influence. They have a tendency to spark disagreements between allies (up to and including the spread of a [[Hate Plague]]), to shake the good guys' confidence in themselves [[Hannibal Lecture|just by talking]], or just to make them feel uneasy by virtue of being closer around than they were as a free agent. Despite the heroes' best efforts, it's usually difficult to keep the villain in the dark about everything that's going on or prevent them from divining weak spots, so the longer they're held the more of a danger they pose, especially should they
Particularly dangerous cases may pose the threat of a hero's untimely [[The Corrupter|corruption]], if they start listening to the villain's [[Wisdom
Another common scenario is that the villain is held ''secretly'', meaning that if word were to leak out, the captors run the risk of getting in serious trouble with their superiors, being deposed by their inferiors, or losing PR with the general populace.
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Makes a pretty good case against [[Thou Shalt Not Kill]], but the typical reason for keeping him around is that the villain has some kind of information the heroes need desperately enough for it to be worth the risk. In some cases, murder would be counterproductive or even impossible, if the captive is immortal.
May be a result of [[I Surrender, Suckers]]. Compare [[Pity the Kidnapper]], a comedic version (which usually involves villains as captors rather than heroes), [[Might
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (
* ''[[Soul Eater]]'''s [[Fille Fatale|Medusa]], for the brief time she ''was'' imprisoned, did absolutely nothing for [[The Woobie|Crona]] or Maka's peace of mind.
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* In the film ''Southern Comfort'', the National Guardsmen capture a one-armed French-only speaking local Cajun hunter and trapper, one of the Cajun's who were threatening them. They attempt to talk to him but he only speaks French. Nevertheless, just his presence is enough to poison the group.
* In the remake of ''3:10 to Yuma'', Ben Wade kills off his captors one-by-one as he's transported to the train station. They're all too nice to plug him on the spot.
* In ''[[The Avengers (
* [[The Silence of the Lambs|Hannibal Lecter]] is at least the [[Trope Codifier]] if not the [[Trope Maker]] in regards to film.
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* [[The Silence of the Lambs|Hannibal Lecter]]. Not for nothing was he the [[Hannibal Lecture]]'s [[Trope Namer]].
* ''[[The Silmarillion]]''. Sauron ended up corrupting and destroying the Numenoreans after they captured him.
* In ''[[The Three Musketeers (
* In the ''[[Second Apocalypse]]'' series, Anasûrimbor Moënghus during the time he was a prisoner of Cnaiür urs Skiötha's tribe. He seduced Cnaiür's mother, convinced Cnaiür to kill his father, and talked Cnaiür into setting him free.
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Spike tended to be this when held by the Scoobies in season four of ''[[
* In ''[[
* Ben from ''[[
* Nate Haskell (Bill Irwin) on ''[[CSI]]''.
* Simeon on ''[[
* A Silurian warrior woman in series 5 of ''[[
* [[Serial Killer|Sylar]] to [[The Professor|Mohinder]] in the ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' episode "Parasite."
== [[Video Games]] ==
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* [[The Joker]] on the ''[[Batman:
** Batman himself has also done this to teams that the Joker has been on (though the Joker saw it coming).
* Batman also does this in ''[[Justice League (
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Villains]]
[[Category:Poisonous Captive]]
[[Category:
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