Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Difference between revisions

* ''[[Farscape]]'': In the episode "Prayer", it's ambiguous whether or not John knew Scorpius was going to {{spoiler|kill the merged Chiana-Aeryn}} when he brought him along to the alternate universe, but it's [[Shoot the Dog|what had to be done]]. See page quote.

** In an earlier episode, Moya is in orbit around a planet with notoriously sexist laws, and accepts a visit from a mechanic- accompanied by an armed security guard. Things go well, up until Chiana discovers that the mechanic is actually a woman, rebelling against the government by doing a [[Sweet Polly Oliver]]; just when it looks like they're becoming friends, the security guard shows up and, infuriated that he's had a woman under his nose all this time, holds both of them at gunpoint. Given that there's almost nobody else aboard the ship at the time, it looks as though the two of them are going to die...right up until Scorpius calmly drifts past and snap the man's neck. All the more impactful because [[Affably Evil|Scorpius had been having a friendly chat with the guard before then]].

* This has happened tons of times in ''[[Smallville]]''. Clark has to face people with dangerous superpowers, and while he can beat them readily enough, he can't very well run a super-jail or convince them to lead an honest life because, well, Kryptonite gives most people a god complex, and most krypto-freaks aren't stable/good to begin with. Having Clark kill or permanently disable them is far too [[squick]]y for a proto-Superman to do, so the preferred solution is to have them depowered or [[Hoist by His Own Petard|hoist by their own petard]]. The other solutions that pertain to this trope are to have them be killed by evil infighting among themselves, or having Lionel (and later Lex) deal with them.

* In the third season of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', {{spoiler|a [[Brought Down to Normal|recently depowered]] Peter}} heads off with [[Anti-Magic|the Haitian]] to {{spoiler|kill his father and destroy [[Super Serum|the Formula]].}} However, once they get there they encounter problems {{spoiler|when Peter can't pull the trigger as Arthur makes his saving throw to turn Peter to his side.}} The obvious solution? {{spoiler|Sylar shows up, complete with recently stolen lie detection power, to ask Arthur if he's really a Petrelli. Naturally, Arthur lies, thus causing Sylar to allow the bullet he had grabbed in thin air to kill Arthur stone dead permanently.}}