Bond Villain Stupidity: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

[[Bond Villain Stupidity]] is a form of [[Genre Blindness]] commonly exhibited by villains. It occurs when a villain fails to kill the hero when he has him cornered, incapacitated, or otherwise defenseless, thus giving the hero a chance to escape and later come back to defeat the villain. It is so named because it occurs frequently in [[James Bond]] movies. A common form of Bond Villain Stupidity is to place the hero in an elaborate [[Death Trap]] from which he can escape (slow dipping mechanisms over [[Shark Pool|pits of sharks, alligators, or lava]] are perennial favorites). If you ever asked why the villains [[Stating the Simple Solution|don't just shoot him]] then use their resources to dispose of the body, then congratulations, you are smarter than the average megalomaniac. Also common is the inability to resist a [[Just Between You and Me]] moment before putting the hero in said death trap. Several variants of this one made the [[Evil Overlord List]].

* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85SvVn3cpl0 This commercial for Geico] parodies it, with the villain giving the Bond [[Expy]] an explanation of his plans via Powerpoint. The hero's expression [[What an Idiot| says a lot.]]

 

* ''[[Dragon Ball|Dragon Ball Z]]'' has many examples of this:

** Frieza shows that he completely outclasses Goku and the rest of the heroes while only fighting at 50% power and that he could kill all of them in an instant, and yet he toys with them and lets the fight drag on... until Goku transforms, that is.

* In ''[[With Strings Attached]]'', the [[Big Bad]] {{spoiler|(Brox)}} asks [[The Dragon]] {{spoiler|(Grunnel)}} why he wouldn't let {{spoiler|her}} kill George and Ringo, who were both useless to them. {{spoiler|Grunnel}} responds with a number of reasons, including that it's funnier to have them powerless and unable to stop the proceedings. (Also, he does genuinely like them.) Later, after it becomes clear that the two have managed to get useful stuff done despite having their magic neutralized, {{spoiler|Grunnel}} apologizes to {{spoiler|Brox}} for being wrong. The latter isn't terribly upset, though, as {{spoiler|she}} believes that they still can't bull their way through dozens of wizards to get into the warehouse.

* Frequently in ''[[Naruto Veangance Revelaitons]]''. For example, Madara manages to defeat Ronan once, but then decides to inject him with a serum and have him go around the world

 

== Films -- Live-Action ==

* Simon in ''[[Die Hard With a Vengeance]]'' handcuffs [[The Hero|John McClane]] and [[Sidekick|Zeus]] to a bomb on a ship and leaves them to die, instead of shooting them and blowing up the ship after.

* After John's cover is blown in ''Stone Cold'', the bad guys put him into a chopper (which is vital part of their [[Evil Plan]]) where they plan to strap him with explosives and then drop him on unsuspecting cops below. Of course, he gets loose, some other guy gets blown to bits mid-air instead and the chopper crashes.

 

== Literature ==

** At one point she ''is'' about to kill him, realizing that he's no longer necessary to her plans, and in the middle of sharpening her knife when Edmund (currently tied to a tree) is rescued.

* Most if not all of the villains in the ''Twilight'' series fall victim to this. Probably the most egregious are the Volturi. In ''New Moon'', the only reason they don't want to kill Bella is because she looks like she'll make for an interesting vampire. Instead of just biting her then and there and holding her captive to brainwash her into being a member of their guard (which ''Breaking Dawn'' says is what they want from her), they decide to let her go back to Forks, and according to Edward will probably forget about her for thirty years or so, giving the Cullens plenty of time to turn her on their own terms, or hide her. In ''Breaking Dawn'', their goal was apparently to use Renesmee as an excuse to kill the Cullens/force some of them to join the guard. Instead of quickly going to Forks and doing the job, they spend a full month heading over (thus giving Alice a chance to see it and warn the family) and bring a ton of witnesses, which means they have to put on a show of being fair and let the Cullens go. The witnesses aren't even necessary, since [[Word of God]] says that the vampires generally accept the rule of the Volturi as right.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* A few [[24]] fans weren't too attached to the [[Affably Evil]] Jonas Hodges in season 7, because of this trope. At one point in the season, Jones Hodges manages to frame Jack Bauer for the death of a man he tortured by tasering, but could've just as easily killed Jack Bauer in the process. A bit of context: the incapacitated man was lying in the hospital bed recovering from the aforementioned torture when Jack Bauer sneaked back into the room (Bauer wasn't allowed to see him, but had to [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique|interrogate him...again]]). When this happened, Jonas Hodges deployed knockout gas into the room to knock them out for a few brief minutes, which he then sends some men to kill the tortured man, and then leave. This makes the more [[Genre Savvy]] fans think, "why didn't he kill Jack while he had the upper hand?" (Answer: because that would be bad for ratings) To be fair, many other villains kept Jack alive far longer than he should be, but those moments were done more realistically to suspend disbelief.

* Patrick Jane from ''[[The Mentalist]]'' has been saved by this trope quite a few times. Often involves [[Holding the Floor]] till [[The Cavalry|Lisbon]] arrives.

 

== Tabletop Games ==