Not-So-Harmless Villain: Difference between revisions

Possible inherent spoilers ahoy.

 

 

== Anime & Manga ==

* Toshiya from ''[[The World Is Mine]]'' starts out as [[Chaotic Evil|Mon's]] weak-willed bitch, even wearing a [[Villainous Crossdresser|female disguise]] and pretending to be Mon's girlfriend in public. Things begin to change after they're {{spoiler|killed by "Hakumadon"}} and Mon can't stand to kill. In addition to becoming the primary murderer of the two, he's also considerably more tech- and social-savvy than [[Wild Child]] Mon and he becomes increasingly vicious and [[Manipulative Bastard|manipulative]] as the story goes on.

* Kurotowa in the ''[[Nausicaa of the Valley of The Wind]]'' manga pulls the switch from "harmless" to "one to watch out for" in record time, going from appearing to be arrogant, toadying buffoon to effortlessly deflecting an assassination attempt in the space of his first appearance. And then, in his second appearance, he took control of a corvette and piloted it like an expert, even using the smoke from downed craft to cover his approach. It's even more jarring if you watched the anime first, as there all he manages is one of the most half-assed, pathetic [[Big Bad Wannabe]] attempts ever.

* In ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]!'', Kurt Godel manages to pull this off in the space of a single chapter. He's introduced as [[Manipulative Bastard]] and [[Consummate Liar]] with a lot of political power, but he has to be accompanied by a massive number of bodyguards because he's so frail. Then {{spoiler|he kicks Negi's ass with [[Implausible Fencing Powers|one attack]], even though Negi is ''made of lightning''. Turns out that he's a master swordsman, and travelled with Ala Rubra in his youth. Oops.}}

* In ''[[Bakugan]]'' we have Rabeeder. She's a Hybrid Bakugan and servant of Naga. Compared to the other gate keepers, she and her sister are quite ditzy and silly and seems like a pushover when the heroes first meet her, challenging the heroes to... a race? In fact she's pretty much harmless and even hits on the main character. Total joke, right? Nope. When Rabeeder arrives on earth, Alice, while inexperienced at fighting on her own, volunteers to go after her under the impression that she is weak and with a little help seems to be doing fine. But then Rabeeder overhears that her sister had been defeated. Believing her sister to be KIA, she goes on a [[Unstoppable Rage|''total rampage'']] where she flings around the [[The Dragon|up-until-that-point's main and secondary antagonists' Bakugan]] like rag dolls and is totally unstoppable. She is only stopped by a lucky break when she discovers her sister isn't dead. The two reunite and Rabeeder calms down. [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|But if she hadn't...]]

* ''[[Sonic X]]'':

** In earlier episodes at least, Eggman was actually genuinely formidable against most human forces and even the majority of the main protagonists. It is only against [[Invincible Hero|Sonic]] that he falls in a flash (and even then he did give him a run for his money a few odd times). He also seems to [[Laser Based Karma|become incredibly more competent]] whenever he forced to [[Enemy Mine|team up with Sonic]].

* Crump, [[The Dark Chick]] of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh]]'''s Big 5 is a joke in his first appearance. His obsession with penguins makes him rather ludicrous, and he ultimately loses a match against Tea, one of the hero's cheerleaders. He returns a few episodes later, and alongside the rest of the Big 5, engages [[The Hero|Yugi]] and [[The Lancer|Joey]] in a team duel--where he performs exceptionally well, using his Deck Master ability to power up Ganzley's WATER monsters, and maintaining control of the duel for the Big 5. It's not until the Big 5 move away from playing WATER creatures that he's forced to yield to Johnson, and in terms of overall performance he's just behind [[The Dragon|Lector]].

* ''[[Spawn]]'':

** The Violator looks like a harmless, morbidly obese, clown with hygiene problems, but he is super strong and capable of ripping a man in half with his bare hands. His true form is absolutely frightening.

* The Intelligencia from ''[[Fall of the Hulks]]''. The team is made of [[MODOK]], Leader, Wizard, Red Ghost, and Mad Thinker. Together they have become a pretty deadly force. How deadly, you ask? They managed to [[Out Gambitted|out gambit]] ''Doctor freakin' Doom''.

* One of the upsides of the ''[[Brand New Day]]'' era of ''[[Spider-Man]]'', to many fans, has been the recasting of C- and D-list loser villains into competent and credible threats. The Spot comes back as a vengeful psychopath who slowly drives his prey insane by stalking him, while the White Rabbit is an [[Ax Crazy]] drug dealer who's willing to commit mass murder to collect the money she's owed. This also applies to classic Lee-Ditko-Romita villains like Electro, the Shocker, and the Rhino, who have all been rehabilitated from the [[Villain Decay]] they've suffered over the last several years.

* The Beast in ''[[Kung Fu Hustle]]''. Bald, overweight, and at first dressed in a less than intimidating manner, even [[The Syndicate]] that freed him didn't believe he was really the Beast until he held a gun six inches away from his head, pulled the trigger, and [[Bullet Catch|caught the bullet]]. With [[Establishing Character Moment|two fingers.]] He [[You Kill It You Bought It|quickly ascended]] to being the [[Big Bad]].

* ''[[The Dark Knight Saga|Batman Begins]]'':

** In ''The Dark Knight'', both Batman and the mob are shown dismissing [[The Joker]] out of hand. The mob considers Batman their more pressing problem, while Batman (somewhat hypocritically) rationalizes that he's just one man, and so can't possibly be more dangerous than the mob. He ends up destroying quite a bit of the city, driving the last nail into the mob's coffin, [[Near Villain Victory|and almost doing the same for Batman]] and [[The Corrupter|drives Harvey Dent to madness.]]

* The [[Killer Rabbit]] from ''[[Monty Python and The Holy Grail]]''.

* ''[[The Pillars of the Earth]]'': Yeah, see that idiot, envious kid named William Hamleigh?]] Got made a fool of, butt of a lot of marriage jokes, and he lusts after a girl he'll never...[[Moral Event Horizon|OH SHIT DID HE JUST RAPE ALIENA!]] He gets worse from that.

* In ''[[Counselors and Kings]]'' {{spoiler|Dhamari}} is introduced as a middle-aged wizard of unremarkable talents and unassuming nature significant only because he was once married to one protagonist's mother. {{spoiler|He's actually one of the trilogy's main villains who's been helping half of the [[Big Bad Duumvirate]] with her schemes ever since they were apprentices together, and while he's no more magically talented than he looks and is too petty to be a true Chessmaster, he's got more than his fair share of low cunning and [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]]}}.

 

 

* Percy, the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Nikita (TV)|Nikita]]'', started out seemingly ineffectual, always being [[Out Gambitted]] by Nikita at every turn. However, as the series goes on, he becomes more and more of a [[Complete Monster]], and as the penultimate episode of the first season shows, he is also one hell of a [[Magnificent Bastard]]. Check out his description on that page for details.

* [[Smug Snake|Vern]], [[Psycho Loner]] and [[Big Bad Wannabe]] of ''[[Dark Oracle]]'' spent a season-and-a-half being treated as a joke by the main characters, who had far bigger problems to deal with in the form of their [[Evil Twin|Evil Twins]] Blaze and Violet. Then in rapid succession Vern, finds and reads the comic book that shows Blaze and Violet's world, steals an amulet from [[The Mentor|Doyle]] and attempts to kill Doyle, Lance and Cally with it, absorbs some of the amulet's magic so that even after losing it he remains a threat, and frees previous [[Big Bad]] [[Evil Sorcerer|Omen]] from the comic, eventually helping him trap Lance in the comic, and loosing [[The Dragon|Blaze]] in the process. Unfortunately for him, Blaze being on the loose means that Vern is again overshadowed, and ultimately {{spoiler|has to pull a [[Heel Face Turn]] when he realises Blaze is going to turn on him}}.

 

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[Final Fantasy VI (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VI]]'':

** Speaking of ''[[Final Fantasy]]'', what about the recurring monster Tonberry? Little green guy in a coat, carrying a lantern and a kitchen knife, he should be easy to kill, right? Wrong... it doesn't help that he's creepy as hell too.

** What's more, in the ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics (Video Game)|Final Fantasy Tactics]]'' series, Tonberries are among the most powerful enemies, capable of doing up to ''999'' damage with ''100%'' accuracy. And for the people who don't know, that is ''all'' of the damage. At least, that can be done in any one attack.

** And then we have to go full circle and bring up Kefka again. More specifically, his [[Dissidia Final Fantasy (Video Game)|Dissidia Final Fantasy]] incarnation. Due to the way that universe is built up, when a character dies, s/he will simply be resurrected again, though of at expense of the memories of his/her previous life. All through the 13th resurrection circle, Kefka is trying, with the help of [[Final Fantasy III (Video Game)|the Cloud of Darkness]], to get Terra Branford to join their side. Again. See, she actually WAS on their side in the 12th circle, but due to Kefka being neglectful she pulled a [[High Heel Face Turn]]... So, why does the Cloud of Darkness not call Kefka out on it being his fault? And why does she act like she had never seen Terra before? Well, because she tipped the heroes off on how to stop the invasion of [[Mook|Manikins]], beings that can nullify the resurrection process, and Kefka did not like that... So he killed her... Let me repeat that, and then you can sit there and let it sink in: The gibbering [[Psychopathic Manchild]], Kefka, pulled a [[You Have Failed Me]] on the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] [[Humanoid Abomination|of the realm of nothingness]]. <ref> To put that into further perspective; not even the Onion Knight, the Cloud of Darkness' fated nemesis, could kill her in his main storyline.</ref>

* ''[[Devil May Cry]] 3'' gives us Jester, goofy [[Monster Clown|clown demon]] who shows up randomly to annoy Dante and give him advice on how to proceed. Then you have to fight him as a boss and even that ends up being funny due to Jester's [[Affably Evil|personality]], but during [[The Reveal]] {{spoiler|you find out he's Arkham's Devil Trigger and has been manipulating Dante, Vergil, and Lady in a [[Evil Plan]] to open the portal to the demon world, give him the sealed power of Sparda, and generally bring [[Hell On Earth]]}}.

* ''[[The King of Fighters]] '97'' has the New Faces Team. At first they appear to be just some punk kids (or whatever kind of band they had) with upbeat attitudes and realistic fighting styles. Supplemental materials suggest that they hate Iori and may have punked the '94 Sports Team, but otherwise they're pretty normal. Then it is revealed that all three of them are villains from the Orochi bloodline, and they display highly powerful elemental abilities in their new forms. And then one of them becomes Orochi himself, and you're suddenly fighting a world-destroying god. A world destroying god who was originally ''Chris'', the Team's [[Cute Shotaro Boy]] and [[Fragile Speedster]].

* Garland, of the original ''[[Final Fantasy I (Video Game)|Final Fantasy I]]''. Wussy first boss of a knight that you'd probably forget about once you reach the final dungeon, where he turns out to be the [[Big Bad]].

** Marluxia. "A pink scythe? Flowers? You can't be--oh shit!"

* ''[[Dragon Fable (Video Game)|Dragon Fable]]'':

** Later in the quest line, {{spoiler|when she faces the Elemental Avatars, the player gets the chance to control her. ''Her basic attack'' consists of several hits that do hundreds of damage ''each''. Due to the way the battles work, it's still a [[Hopeless Boss Fight]], but ''damn''}}.

* Deathroy from ''[[Blue Dragon]]''. What appears to be an annoying sidekick turns out to {{spoiler|have been the [[Big Bad]] all along. In fact, he's the [[Big Bad]] that killed all of the Not-Really-The-Big-Bad's people.}}

** And at the end of ''[[Halo 3]]'', after seeing him do little more than float, blabber on, and occasionally send Setinels to kill MC, he kills Johnson and actually kicks Master Chief and Arbiter's asses in a case of [[Cutscene Power to The Max]]. Sure, he becomes an [[Anticlimax Boss]] as soon as you realize Johnson's [[BFG|Spartan Laser's]], the right tool to finally end his whining, but until then, he was putting down some serious hurt.

* The [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] of ''[[Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga (Video Game)|Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga]]'', Fawful, poses very little threat when he fights the heroes at the end of the game, and even refers to himself as "Fawful, who is just a toady!" Then, after spending the next game in the series plotting his revenge in the sewers beneath Peach's castle, he returns as the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Mario and Luigi Bowsers Inside Story (Video Game)|Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]].''

** Likewise, the [[Killer Rabbit|Fluff enemies]]. You get used to crushing these guys with minimal effort in the first two areas... and then the Zen Gardens introduces suicidal Cherry Fluffs that gang up on you and then ''explode'' [[For Massive Damage]]. Later areas include Fluffs that sink you in quicksand as well.

* Rider in ''[[Fate Stay Night]]'' spent the first route having even Shirou calling her weak and in the second route she got killed offscreen by a normal, non magus human. Fierce. But then she shows up in HF and ''starts turning people into stone by looking at them.'' (Surprise! She's Medusa!) Oh and then she makes a [[Heel Face Turn]] (sort of...) so this overlaps with [[Let's Get Dangerous]].

* ''[[Ghostbusters the Video Game]]'' subverts this. [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]] Walter Peck is back... {{spoiler|but hints start getting dropped partway through that he's actually the [[Big Bad]], and his obnoxious bumbling obstruction is a cover for his nefarious motives. In the end, it turns out he ''is'' just an obnoxious Obstructive Bureaucrat, and the real [[Big Bad]] is the ghost of Ivo Shandor -- and Peck's not even the one who was possessed by him, it was the mayor.}}

* ''[[Xenogears (Video Game)|Xenogears]]'':

** From the same game: Krelian. He's presented as an antagonist from the beginning, so he's never exactly "harmless," but at first he seems pretty insignificant compared to Grahf, the Gazel Ministry, and Id. {{spoiler|Turns out he's a [[Chessmaster]] [[Magnificent Bastard]] who's been manipulating everyone of consequence for the last five centuries. In the end HE WINS.}}

* ''[[Pokémon]]'':

== Web Comics ==

* ''[[Order of the Stick]]'':

** Qarr the imp is a definite case of playing with a trope. The first we saw of Qarr was an ominous red and black speech bubble speaking from just off panel during a [[Cliff Hanger]]. Fans went into a flurry of speculation about this mysterious new being, but nobody expected it to be [[The Imp|a tiny imp]] with virtually no power of its own and who wasn't even all that bright. However, Qarr's attempts to convince Vaarsuvius into a [[Deal With the Devil]] drew the attention of the IFCC, a trio of powerful evil beings bent on creating enough chaos, confusion and disorder so that they can move ahead with their own attempt to seize [[Eldritch Abomination|The Snarl's]] Gate. Qarr is now working with them, and as a result after starting out as something of an inversion, Qarr is now much more dangerous than he ever was in his previous position.

** And then there's the Monster In The Darkness, an unknown medium-sized creature who behaves like a young child, yet is practically invulnerable to all attacks. He once accidentally knocked a paladin through a stone wall, out of a tower, and several miles away in a game of "Who Can Hit the Lightest". He can also basically create an earthquake by stomping. {{spoiler|And he teleported Vaarsivus and O-chul a couple kingdoms away, without the knowledge of anybody in the room (namely, The Monster itself and the aforementioned Xykon), ''just by saying "escape"''.}}

* Act III of ''[[Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog]]'', when the titular [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain]] takes off the kid gloves and decides to [[Murder the Hypotenuse]] in response to [[Smug Super|Captain Hammer's]] merciless taunting over the theft of his would-be girlfriend Penny. Subverted when, even with all the provocation in the world and his [[Arch Enemy]] helpless before him, he can't bring himself to pull the trigger. [[Double Subverted]] when Hammer turns the tables and the malfunctioning [[Death Ray]] explodes, handing Dr. Horrible the victory anyway.

* ''[[Whateley Universe]]'':

** Not to mention the time she was attacked by the [[Ultra Violent]] Bloodwolf. She used railway spikes to nail him to a tree, and used silver to burn "I attack little girls" into his chest.

** Hekate also gets credit, along with Don Sebastaino. {{spoiler|Hekate came perilously close to making Fey into her mind-slave, and actually killed Jade, who got better. Both she and Don were revealed to be rapists, and at a much higher level of villainy. While both ended up defeated, Hekate is now working for a A- List Supervillain, the Necromancer. He's not a proper A List or A+ List only by comparison to other Supervillains who kill a whole lot more people.}}

* In the [[Machinima]] ''[[Deus Ex Machina]]'', {{spoiler|Patrick}} is obviously going to be a villain from the moment you see him, but from his nerdy voice and attitude, he doesn't seem very threatening. {{spoiler|Then he gets mindraped by the covenant and dons his supersuit before weakening the earth's defenses to the point that the covenant can easily break through and kill us all WHILE killing off Michael, John's only friend, and making every single attempt to save the world meaningless before throwing him into a pit with two berserkers.}} Even PLAGUE didn't cross the horizon this much.

* ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'' has Jimmy Brennan, who started out as a [[Miles Gloriosus]] type who ran around the forest screaming and [[Bring My Brown Pants|pissing his pants]] in the first thread he appeared in, and bragging about being a [[Badass]] in the next. For the most part, his antics are fun in a [[Crosses the Line Twice]] sort of way, up until he {{spoiler|beats resident [[Jerk Jock]] Philip Ward to death with a branch}}.

* [[AI Is a Crapshoot|Omega]] from ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'' is an unusual example, as the viewer doesn't learn of his [[Not So Harmless]] moment until after he's been {{spoiler|absorbed by the [[Big Bad|Meta]], taking him permanently out of the picture}}: Despite being the [[Big Bad]] for the show's first five seasons, Omega/O'Malley was always far too cartoonish and [[Large Ham|hammy]] to be taken seriously, being more a parody of the [[Big Bad]] archetype. Then, in the beginning of Reconstruction, a shell-shocked Red soldier named Walter explained to Command over what went down after the Blues at Valhalla scavenged Tex's crashed pelican (see the ending to the Blood Gulch Chronicles). Walter's rather detailed description of an ominous 'infection' to the Blues and Reds, on top of how the Blues massacred one another, made Omega seem much more threatening as an antagonist than his previous incarnation ever did. And THEN we learn that he and Gamma were put in charge of {{spoiler|torturing the Alpha until its mind disintegrated by trapping it in nightmare situations it couldn't escape from}}...

* [[Coyle Command|Dr. Vorn]] really doesn't look like much of a [[Mad Scientist]] when he first arrives, yelping and jumping at least three times in his meeting with Coyle Commander. And yet, his creation successfully infiltrates their [[New Villain Order|rivals]], takes over their head quarters and prepares to bring their plans to [[Take Over the World]] to life! ...And when that doesn't quite work, the Commander kills Vorn and hires his creation instead.

* [[The Nostalgia Critic (Web Video)|The Nostalgia Critic]] is a pathetic, miserable, useless waste of space... but he rigged ''[[Kickassia]]'' with dynamite just in case anyone wanted to take his finally-gained power away.

 

** The second version of Dee was probably inspired by his really, really creepy, almost squicky depiction in the first run of [[Neil Gaiman]]'s ''[[The Sandman]]''. He also shows elements in this incarnation, where he starts out an atrophied, behind the times insomniac whose carjacking attempt only succeeded because the victim was being nice. Then he killed the driver (after patiently listening to her life story), recovered his [[Artifact of Doom]], and drove the entire world mad.

* While [[Darkwing Duck]]'s no-nonsense, death-penalty toting [[Knight Templar]] future self of [[Future Me Scares Me|Darkwarrior Duck]] will ''never'' be mistaken for harmless, there is a brief point where this is invoked. In a scene cut from the broadcast version, Gosalyn [[I Know You Are in There Somewhere Fight|attempts to appeal to Darkwarrior]] when he pulls his signature, and decidedly non-lethal, gas gun on her. She calls his bluff, when he reveals that he hasn't used a gas gun in years, and that the weapon he's aiming ''point-blank, at her face'' is a freaking '''missile launcher'''.

* Zet from ''[[Magi Nation]]''. Seeming at first to be a [[Harmless Villain]] as one of a [[Terrible Trio]]-style set of [[Those Two Bad Guys]] (and the eternal [[Butt Monkey]] of his [[Dumb Muscle]] superior Korg), Zet turned out to be not only a peerless mastermind once he was finally rid of Korg, but is universally considered the hardest boss in the game, having more health than the final boss himself and the ability to act twice in one turn.

* ''[[Sonic Sat AM (Animation)|Sonic Sat AM]]'':

** The show's third season plans would also have played with this for Snively, Robotnik's downtrodden lackey, who would take over briefly as [[Big Bad]]. Though supposedly leaving his mark for a brief while, the Freedom Fighters would eventually begin to overpower him, pressuring him to release Naugus who would begin his aforementioned domination. It should be noted even in what of the series was made, Snively showed odd occasions of competence and even came ''this'' close to conquering Knothole.

* In the ''[[He-Man and The Masters of The Universe (Animation)|He-Man and The Masters of The Universe]]'' universe, Hordak managed to share the same fate as Ixis: In the 2002 series, he was used relatively minorly in the series, but would have been more important in the unmade S3.

** This version of the Scarecrow is rather unthreatening in appearance, but gets his usual thing on, spreading fear and such. He isn't considered especially threatening until he starts sadistically removing people's fears, causing citywide chaos and panic.

** Even by the standards of Batman's rogues gallery, the Clock King looks like he should be a pushover. He's just some two-bit pencil-pusher with a bowler hat and clock-themed glasses, right? I mean, the only skill he has is punctuality. What are his chances against Batman? Pretty good, it turns out; his timing is impeccable, and he's studied the way Batman moves, so the Dark Knight can't even land a punch.

** Not to mention that his skills at timing and planning allowed the Suicide Squad (er, Task Force X) to break in the Justice League Watchtower and steal a god-made all-powerful armor.

** When the first cross-overs between the animated series started, Batman fought Lex and won quite effortlessly when Superman thought he couldn't handle him. And then Superman, who had absolutely dismissed The Joker as goofy-looking nobody, is then nearly defeated by the psycho (not to mention he nearly kills [[Lois Lane]] and a few hundred other people while pinning Super down).

** From an evil point of view, Lex has dismissed Joker himself because he can't handle his 'mere mortal' in Gotham. [[Eviler Than Thou|By the end the Joker completely outdoes him, nearly destroying everything he loves and nearly killing him.]]

** {{spoiler|And after he became Waspinator he's now twice as big as Prime. Not to mention he's hopped up on unstable Transwarp energy. Oh, and like his ''[[Beast Wars (Animation)|Beast Wars]]'' counterpart, getting blown to pieces isn't exactly life threatening to him.}}

** The Decepticons Starscream, Blitzwing, and Lugnut also fall under this category. They aren't too bright (although Starscream has some moments), are very comical, and are each capable of single handedly defeating all 5 main Autobots without too much trouble in a straight fight.

** Hell, even some of the ''human'' villains get this...Most notably the Headmaster, who's basically an [[Internet Tough Guy]] with a [[Mini Mecha]] that he can take over other robots with. Robots includeing [[The Big Guy|Bulkhead]] and, later on, the aforementioned Starscream. It's fair to say ''Animated'' has a lot of this going around.

* ''[[Danny Phantom]]'':

** The Box Ghost was a minor incompetent villain, only posing a serious threat to Danny when he was first starting out. But then he stole Pandora's Box and started releasing [[Sealed Evil in A Can]] all over the place...

** Most of Dr. Drakken's schemes ''nearly'' work, but there's usually some fatal flaw that destroys them. If not that, there always a [[Genre Savvy]] cheerleader or a certain molerat who gets in the way.

** ''[[The Movie|So the Drama]]'' saw him [[Near Villain Victory|succeed on a grander scale]], and showed how dangerous he ''can'' be when he [[Dangerously Genre Savvy|finally learns from his past mistakes]].

* ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'':

** Subverted with [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain|the Amoeba Boys]]. One episode has them unleash a potentially life-threatening virus that quickly spreads throughout the whole city. This would normally make them qualify, except for the facts that A. it was a complete accident on their part, B. they literally had no idea that they were the ones responsible for the outbreak until the Girls convinced them to hope create a vaccine, and C. ''They themselves were infected by the virus''.

** In another episode, the girls believe they were [[Obfuscating Stupidity]] after being caught in a trap. Of course the trap was really the plan of Mojo Jojo and the girls were the ones who set it up.

* Lucius on ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'' is usually the posterboy for [[The Devil Is a Loser]]. However, according to [[Word of God]], he has powers that can allow him to ''remake the planet to his will!'' The sole reason he doesn't is because he wants to prove to everyone he doesn't need to.

* Though not shown often from the present day one, [[Dora the Explorer|Swiper the Fox]], of all people, sometimes has shades of this. His [[Bad Future]] self reveals the only reason Dora can stop him is he's just polite enough to listen to her "Swiper no swiping" trick. When he ended up on the Naughty List on Christmas, he stops listening at all. The result is he becomes so successful and steals so much stuff the future Dora angrily tells the present Swiper there's nothing left to swipe and he's single handedly ruined everyone's Christmas since that day. Then when the past Swiper tries the "Swiper no swiping" trick on his future self, future Swiper simply laughs at him and says it doesn't work anymore before stealing said item anyway. Good thing Swiper is polite, huh?

* ''[[Phineas and Ferb The Movie Across The 2nd Dimension]]'' has an [[Alternate Universe]] version of Dr. Doofenschmirtz who is way more evil and dangerous than the one we're accustomed to.

* The Urpneys of ''[[The Dreamstone]]'' are blundering idiots who even the heroes described as being "tiresome". However despite their haplessness, they did on several occasions manage to outsmart or capture the heroes and actually succeeded in bringing the Dreamstone to Zordrak multiple times over. It was merely stopping the heroes from stealing it back they had problems with. In some cases it was a [[The Fool|mere number of conveniences]] that gave the heroes a victory.

** There's also Mechanikles. {{spoiler|Like Abizz Mal, his one episode where he's a major threat involves brainwashing. Unlike Abizz Mal, however, he doesn't brainwash just Jasmine, but ''everyone in Agrabah except Aladdin and Genie''}}.

* Dr Robotnik of ''[[Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' is largely considered far more incompetant than most other incarnations of the doctor, however he has been shown to be [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]] several times over and many of his inventions, as goofy as they are, are very elaborate or at least work as he intended.