The Villain Must Be Punished: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
Under most circumstances, the heroes are perfectly content with thwarting a villain's [[Evil Plan]]. This is ''not'' one of those circumstances; the villain has harmed innocent people, performed all manner of horrible deeds, [[Kick the Dog|kicked every dog]] out there.
Simply stopping his plans isn't enough anymore; whether by [[Humiliation Conga|humiliation]], [[Cruel and Unusual Death|death]], or [[Fate Worse Than Death|worse]], the [[Big Bad]] has to actually '''''pay''''' for what he's done. In some cases, the heroes may disagree on what is fair, or isn't.
Compare [[It's Personal]], a common reason why the heroes come to feel this way; and [[Laser-Guided Karma]], where the universe itself does the punishing. Contrast with [[Karma Houdini]]. <!-- and [[Revenge Is Not Justice]], the opposite of this trope. --> <!-- MOD: We don't have that trope documented yet. Commenting until we do. --> Can sometimes trigger (or just be another point in) a [[Cycle of Revenge]] or [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]], especially if the heroes tried to make the villain suffer instead of quickly getting it over with. Can sometimes overlap with [[Disproportionate Restitution]], depending on just ''how'' villainous the villain actually is, and how extreme the punishment is.
{{examples}}
== [[Advertising]] ==
* Some PSAs emphasize that if you drive drunk, cops must arrest you. They emphasize it's better to be alive and in jail before a bad accident happens.
* The Trix rabbit and new Cookie Crisp wolf mascot run into this when they try to get their hand on Trix cereal or Cookie Crisps. While sometimes the kids just steal back their cereal, other times they deliberately ensure that the mascots suffer a mild [[Humiliation Conga]]. Because after all, "Trix are for kids!"
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
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== [[Comic Books]] ==
* ''[[The Killing Joke]]'': The Joker invests a lot of time in tormenting Commissioner Gordon, intending to break him and prove that "one bad day" would drive anyone crazy just as it did him. Batman saves him, after which Gordon insists that Batman go after Joker and bring him in without stooping to the Clown's level.
* [[The Punisher]]'s entire schtick revolves around this. He doesn't want to just lock crooks up; he wants to make them pay for their crimes with their lives.
* ''[[Gotham Central]]'': Harvey Dent in one arc frames Renee Montoya for murder and kidnaps her just as Bruce Wayne pays for her legal defense. He thinks this means she will have to date him as his prisoner. Renee has to point out that he outed her as a gay woman; she respects his virtues as a villain and the good man he used to be, but they're incompatible. Then he threatens her girlfriend, unable to face this logical flaw in his plan; Renee ends up in a gun struggle with him that Batman interrupts. She asks Batman how many times Two-Face will try and murder the ones that she loves as long as he's alive. Batman says the important thing is that Renee didn't become the criminal that Two-Face wanted her to be. Unable to deal with the trauma, Renee resigns from the force and becomes the second Question.
== [[Fan Works]] ==
* In ''Harry Potter and the Lack of Lamb Sauce'', Gordon Ramsay hates teachers or any adult that bullies children. He hates Dumbledore for this reason, thinking he's endangering the students by not reining in the magical chaos. But then Neville and Harry tell him about Snape nearly poisoning Trevor back in third year. Gordon marches off to confront Snape, telling him off for a power play, and demanding accountability. They nearly come to blows, with Minerva breaking them up, but Gordon warns Snape to knock it off.
* In ''The Eliza Trilogy'', [[Heel Face Turn]] Draco in an [[OOC Is Serious Business]] mode talks to Fudge in Book Two after Harry {{spoiler|curb-stomps Diawna and rescues the school hostages from her}}. For the crime of {{spoiler|impersonating her dead twin sister Eliza, poisoning her father Snape, killing a student for recognizing her, blowing up Gryffindor Tower, handing over an underage Wyren to Voldemort, and kidnapping more than half of Hogwarts}}, Draco demands that she receive {{spoiler|the Dementor's Kiss}}. Everyone is aghast at this, including Minerva and a heartbroken Severus but {{spoiler|Fudge agrees because she's too much of a threat to leave alive}}. Granted, later Draco admits that {{spoiler|he was mad that Diawna gave him false hope that Eliza was alive, and kissed him while pretending to be her sister}}.
== [[Film]] ==
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== [[Literature]] ==
* In ''[[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (novel)|Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince]]'', Harry and Dumbledore discuss this. Dumbledore notices that Harry is feeling despondent about his destiny, that either he or Voldemort will kill each other. Harry feels like he has no choice, and there is a chance he will die instead. He asks Harry, "Suppose there was no prophecy," that Harry was an ordinary boy wizard." What would he do with Voldemort? Harry thinks about it. He remembers his parents, Cedric Diggory, ''Sirius'', and Neville's own parents, the lives that were ruined. He says, with new determination, he would want Voldemort dead, and would want to do it to avenge the innocent.
* In J.M. Barrie's [[Peter Pan|novelization of ''Peter Pan'']], normally the selfish and heartless Peter sees fighting Hook as a game. Then Hook nearly kills Tinkerbell with a poison meant for Peter, and kidnaps the Lost Boys as well as the Darlings. Peter, in his coldest voice, whispers, "Hook or me this time" and goes for one final showdown.
* Deconstructed in the short story "Cruel Sisters", a retelling of the "Twa Sisters" ballad. Here we have three sisters instead of two, with the middle child being the [[Only Sane Woman]]. As the narrator Margaret puts it, eldest sister Anne and youngest Eleanor would get into bitter quarrels, with Eleanor making up lies to get her big sister in trouble and Anne ruining Eleanor's things to "make the lies true". When they fight over the same guy, Margaret suggests they talk it out when William chooses Eleanor, on an evening stroll. Everyone believes Anne when she comes home, stricken, and says Eleanor slipped into the river by accident. {{spoiler|When the harpist comes and plays the harp made of Eleanor's bones months later, Anne smashes the harp after it accuses her of murdering Eleanor and stealing William, saying she "made the words true". Margaret lays into the harpist who thought he was bringing a killer to justice; he carved up a dead body rather than return it to the royals for a proper funeral, and didn't consider that Eleanor might have lied in death, as she was a liar in life and William was not faithful. The harpist is horrified when he actually considers this. As it is, the king confines Anne to a convent where she dies several months later, they have a funeral for Eleanor with a tiny coffin that makes everyone feels worse because of the thought that Eleanor's bones were carved for this spell, and Margaret is left as the last child standing. She regrets surviving, for understandable reasons}}.
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** Xander's hatred of Angel first spurs from jealousy; he nurses a crush on Buffy, but Angel becomes Buffy's boyfriend in season two. Things get complicated when Buffy causes Angel to lose his soul and revert to the soulless serial killer vampire he used to be, but she ''still'' can't kill him. Xander is not the only one who calls out Buffy for this; Giles wants a piece of Angelus for what he does to Jenny Calendar. When Angelus kidnaps Giles in the season two finale and prepares to cause the apocalypse using his intel under interrogation, even though it will kill him as well, Willow prepares to restore Angel's soul before that happens and asks Xander to relay a message that Buffy should stall Angelus for as long as possible. Xander instead relays this message to Buffy: "Kick his ass." It takes several years for Buffy to learn the truth, and she's furious with Xander long after she and Angel have broken up and he moved to another city. With that said, Buffy also acknowledges that she hesitated in killing Angelus and that she bears some blame.
** Warren Mears, the [[Big Bad]] of Season 6, quickly shows himself to be a vile excuse for a human being, using a [[Mind Control Device]] to turn his ex-girlfriend into a [[Sex Slave]], killing her when she snaps out of it and tries to escape, and using magic and time-distorting demons to dupe Buffy into thinking ''she'' killed Katrina so she'll take the fall, which [[Near Villain Victory|nearly succeeds]]. By the final episodes of the season, he's shot Buffy, nearly killing her, and killed Tara, the latter of which unleashes [[Super-Powered Evil Side|Dark Willow]], who fully intends to kill Warren for it. Dawn and Xander are so disgusted and furious with him that they openly support Willow's intentions; Buffy, meanwhile, preaches [[Thou Shalt Not Kill]], but only because she [[If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him|doesn't want Willow to become a murderer]].
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* In an early arc of ''[[The Boondocks]]'', Riley gets an idea to spray-paint the cutesy street names with those from rappers. The adults are annoyed by this; in addition to the vandalism, it's messing up their ability to navigate around the neighborhood. In a rare moment of insight, Riley decides to lie low as the cops investigate, because he knows they'll go hard on a black kid. Then Cindy decides to ask him to rename her street, even offering that she'll do it if he lends her the art supplies. Riley realizes she can be a perfect patsy, and dials in an anonymous tip after giving her the supplies. He gets away with it because while Cindy names him as an accomplice, she's holding the proof: the spray bottles. Cindy is grounded by her parents but faces no criminal charges.
* ''[[FoxTrot]]'': Downplayed since they're all children.
** If the kids get in trouble, their siblings will egg on their mom to punish them. Jason will happily tattle on Peter for going over the speed limit or arriving late after curfew.
** If Paige is writing a story where Jason is the villain, she will ensure that his fictional counterpart has a [[Cruel and Unusual Death]]. Jason will do the same, but only because he enjoys trolling his sister.
** Jason actually hates this trope in ''Star Wars''. He says that the villains are much cooler than the heroes. This belief motivates him to write a fix-it-fic where he is Luke's brother and switches to the Dark Side during the trilogy, making a great escape.
== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], Myths and Legends ==
* In [[Hindu Mythology]], asuras and rakshasas have a habit of asking for boons from the gods that would allow them to conquer the humans. Sometimes they then go for the devas in an attempt to conquer heaven and rule all three realms. They forgot one thing: the same gods that granted them the boons ''always'' put in a loophole. They then either reincarnate as the avatar that can defeat them, or create a warrior to do the job for them. While the usurper may be given a fair chance to back down, they're too prideful or arrogant to consider that surrendering may save their lives.
** Prahlad's father Hiranyakashipu made this mistake by saying he wanted to be slain by "Neither man nor beast, with or without a weapon, indoors or outdoors, at neither day nor night, and not on the Earth or the sky" as told to Brahma. Then he proceeded to conquer the heavens. The devas went to Vishnu, asking him to stop the king. Vishnu said he was on it. When Hiyanyakashipu threatened his son for being a Vishnu devotee, complete with a few murder attempts, Vishnu reincarnated as Narasimha, a man with a lion's head. Narasimha beat Hiranyakashipu with his clawed fists, dragged him to the palace threshold at twilight, placed him on his lap, and tore him apart.
** Another Vishnu incarnation was made for vengeance. Parashurama was a Brahman "blessed" with a warrior's temperament, and he received an axe that would help him do the job. He killed a king named Arjuna for stealing sacred cows from the ashram, which Arjuna did to bait Parashurama into a fight. The problem is the princes sought vengeance by killing Parashurama's father, who was not nice but also not part of this. After Parashurama found his mother wailing and cremated the body, he swore to wipe out kshatriya royalty to avenge his father. The gods had to step in after he wiped out the bad kshatriyas and started going after the good ones.
== [[Puppet Shows]] ==
* Normally in ''[[The Muppet Show]]'', Miss Piggy's attacking guests or Kermit for insulting her, or trying to manipulate him in wanting to be more than friends, leads to her getting off scot-free. There was one time that she went too far, by planting a story that he and Miss Piggy got secretly married in Las Vegas, and tricked him into posing for a cover photo of ''Tongue'' magazine. Kermit became so mad at this "bald-faced" lie that he fired her on the spot.
== [[Recorded and Stand Up Comedy]] ==
* Discussed by Hasan Minhaj in "Homecoming King". As a first-generation immigrant, he always felt that racism had to be called out and the perpetrators punished, especially after 9/11. His parents always went for [[Turn the Other Cheek]], that being in America was worth the indignities that they suffered from white people.
** Hasan especially felt this when his prom date Bethany Reed stood him up, with her white family saying that a Muslim-Indian boy wouldn't be a "good fit" for their photos, not even giving the courtesy of calling him before he showed up in a tux, on his bike. He didn't tell anyone what happened, especially since he wasn't supposed to be dating as a teen, let alone white girls. For the next few years, he only dated Indian women and remained cold with Bethany whenever she reached out to him and acted like they were cool. (You can't blame him; she reached out to ask for tickets to Gotham Comedy Club after he posted an offer to give them to friends on Facebook. In what he calls turning lemons into "revenge lemonade", he replied that she wouldn't be a "good fit" for the photos that they would be taking at the event. The audience cheered when he announced that he sent that.) It was his father, recovering from a heart attack, that convinced Hasan to hear her out; while Hasan thought his father was disappointed that he had kissed a girl and lied to him, his father was disappointed that Hasan didn't at least try to understand her perspective as a teenage girl with scared parents only doing what they thought was right. Hasan split the difference; he called out Bethany on Twitter, ''in public'', for claiming they went to prom after he appeared on a Pizza Hut commercial. He agreed to meet Bethany after she asked if they could catch up, especially after finding out she was dating ''another'' dark-skinned Indian guy, one darker than him, with a longer name. After they met for a meal, Hasan confronted her when she tried to talk about rent control, asking why she let her parents humiliate him, never confessed to the student body what happened, and violated his trust in white girls. Bethany admits that she owes him an apology, lots of them, for giving in to pressure from her parents, and says that she understood if he never wanted to speak to him again. She also stood up for her serious boyfriend, said Indian guy, when her parents refused to lend money for them to move into a shared apartment; she said she wasn't giving up another dark-skinned guy to please them. Hasan found the compassion to forgive Bethany, wishing her and her new partner well.
== [[Theatre]] ==
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== [[Visual Novel]]s ==
* In ''[[Cooking Companions]]'', Nightmare Mode is about the other characters doing this to ''you''. Why? {{spoiler|Because you have been luring refugees to your cabin, starve them out, and eat their flesh when getting the opportunity. The ghosts of your former "friends" taunt you and call you out for betraying them. They were refugees, vulnerable and hungry. They torment you as best as they can.}}.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[Van Von Hunter]]'', before its Tokyopop incarnation, had the title character mow down anything that seemed remotely evil. Even the vampire lawyer defending him and Sidekick when they were tried for [[Van Helsing Hate Crime]]s. He insists it's because it's what he swore to do, to wipe out "evil stuff". Ari was the exception, but that's because Van Von Hunter will not hurt a little girl, especially one that saved him and Sidekick.
* ''Real Life (webcomic)''
** One time the gang for lulz tried to hack into Jack-in-the-Box's server to change the prize on an item. Unlike with the FBI, whose password is "12345", the counterattack does more than block the hackers. It utterly deletes their computer. Jack-in-the-box takes its pricing seriously.
** It's mentioned a few times that Tony is an evil genius in ''Real Life'' and he basically spares the main cast because they're friends. After a stint, however, the FBI arrested Tony and the gang, to interrogate them about Tony's plans. Later, they used a parallel version of Tony, and a clone, to infiltrate his space base. They insisted on taking him down for sheer dickery and being a threat to American life. While they don't succeed, you can see their point.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Comes up at a few points in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''.
** "The Southern Raiders": After Zuko {{spoiler|has switched sides and proven it's for real this time, Katara still hates him. When he asks her why, she reminds him about his betrayal of her Ba Sing Se that led to Aang dying temporarily. She says sarcastically says that if he wants to make up for that, he can either recapture Ba Sing Se in the name of the Earth King or bring her mother back to life. Zuko realizes that Katara is mad at herself for opening up about her mother with him back in Ba Sing Se, and decides to help track down the man who killed Kya. This puts him and Katara at odds with Aang and Sokka; Sokka because while he has been grieving his mother, assassinating a Fire Nation general in enemy territory is a bad idea; Aang, because he's worried what murdering someone will do to Katara's soul, and tries to dissuade her. When Katara says she's going anyway, Aang replies he won't stop her but hopes that she'll find it in her heart to not seek vengeance. Sure enough, Katara doesn't forgive the man that killed her mother in cold blood, a pathetic veteran named Yon Rha, but she spares his life because she realizes that his death would give her no satisfaction}}.
** "Sozin's Comet": Zuko emphasizes to Aang that {{spoiler|there is no reasoning with Ozai or imprisoning him, and they need to kill his father before he uses the titular comet to burn the Earth Kingdom to the ground. Pacifist Aang protests about this; he points out to Zuko that, familial ties and physical abuse aside, Ozai is a person, who was once an innocent baby, that had a life. He asks why not try other solutions like coating him in glue so he can't firebend. Zuko says even if they captured Ozai, as long as he can firebend, he is still dangerous. Granted, Zuko is remembering he was Aang's age when that fateful Agni Kai happened and doesn't want his friend to suffer the same fate. Team Avatar suggests an alternate plan: if they gang up on Ozai and [[Zerg Rush]] him, it will at least give Aang an opening to decide what he wants to do. Toph especially seems keen on the idea. They have to abandon that plan and split up when a vision spirits Aang and Momo off to a mysterious island: while Zuko and Katara go to confront Azula, the rest of the Gaang goes to stop the airships and have no choice but to let Aang fight Ozai alone. When Ozai reactivates Aang's avatar state, the past reincarnations swiftly kick the man's butt, speaking through Aang about his crimes. Aang opts not to kill Ozai but agrees he must be punished. So he removes Ozai's firebending instead and has him imprisoned. Ozai finds this much worse.}}
* In ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'', this happens a few times. Usually Batman is all about saving criminals and rehabilitating them after the beatdown, which makes it serious when he goes for the beatdown.
** "The Man Who Killed Batman". Batman fakes his death and makes it seem that a low-time crook named Sid the Squid offed him, figuring that an apologetic, horrified Sid would lead him to Rupert Thorne since the man offers protection to those who join his mob. When Thorne is about to kill Squid believing he must be a criminal mastermind for killing Batman and surviving a murder attempt from the Joker, {{spoiler|Batman takes his time beating up the guy, saying this is for multiple crimes. He thanks Sid for helping bust the operation, revealing that ''he'' broke Sid out of the Joker's acid vat that nearly killed him. Sid still has to go to jail for his criminal activities, but he's happy to be alive and has a reputation as the guy who ''almost'' killed Batman and "outsmarted the Joker" which earns him the respect he sought all episode}}.
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** In "A Quick One While He's Away," Paige Sinclair and Maximilian Banks uncover evidence that {{spoiler|BoJack Horseman may have been involved in celebrity Sarah Lynn Himmelfarb's fatal drug overdose.}} They spend a few months gathering the proof, planning to break it in a big news story. When Princess Carolyn gets ahead of their game {{spoiler|by staging an interview with Biscuits Braxby that makes BoJack come off as a troubled horse that made mistakes and he's sorry}}, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJg_n-A_V0s Paige storms into Biscuits's office]. {{spoiler|She tells Biscuits that she has proof that BoJack was ethically and criminally culpable in Sarah Lynn's death, and has sources. Biscuits hears out her source, and becomes furious on learning that BoJack left Sarah Lynn unconscious for seventeen minutes to cover his ass, because there was a real chance to save her. Her second interview with him is more brutal, as a result, to reveal the horse's real character}}.
* ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'': Normally, Robin is the one who can't stand Slade and wants to bring him down by any means necessary. When Slade returns in season 4, however, he's gunning for Raven, to [[Mind Rape]] and taunts her that her destiny is coming. Raven ends up in uncharacteristic [[Heroic BSOD]] as her friends do research about {{spoiler|how Slade came back from being burned alive in lava. Then when fleeing to Azarath, Raven finds out that Trigon had ravaged the city and killed her mother, who could only leave a piece of herself behind to say goodbye to Raven and apologize for not protecting her better. Stricken with grief and horror, Raven returns to Earth and finds Slade torturing her friends. She slams a door into him and demands that he fight her instead, to set her on fire. Slade reveals he can't, because Trigon ordered him to keep Raven physically intact, and begins to retreat. Raven says, "I'm not finished with you!" and proceeds to unleash a [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown]] that scares her friends, as Raven is angry but in complete control of her powers. She only lets Slade go after he points out how worried the other Titans are and she promises she's not going to be Trigon's pawn}}.
== [[Real Life]] ==
* This is the basis behind "punitive" damages, that when someone causes harm and is sued, they may be liable for such emotional or physical harm. For example, a drunk driver may be sued by the family of a victim they hit, and have to pay compensation in addition to receiving a DUI.
* The #MeToo movement sometimes sparked this reaction when stories came out about serial abusers in media, literature, and so forth. Supporters would call for the predators to be removed from their prominent positions, and sometimes even face criminal charges. This is the best-case scenario; there have been instances where the victims have been harassed.
{{reflist}}
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