Villain Exit Stage Left: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

Regardless of the means, the escaped [[Smug Snake]] will [[Evil Gloating|gloat]] about how it [[Just As Planned|"all went according to plan"]], maybe set off the [[Self-Destruct Mechanism]] in the [[Collapsing Lair]], and return "triumphantly" next episode. Less often, you'll see them lick their figurative and literal wounds at having not only been beat, but forced to show the better part of valour and try to come up with a ''new'' Plot Of The Week that will work, throwing in a [[We Will Meet Again|"Next Time, Tropeworthy!"]] for good measure.

Most villains who exit stage left also favor the [["Friend or Idol?" Decision]] and [[Sadistic Choice]] as backups, setting off small bombs or traps on loved ones to force the hero to choose between their capture or their friends' lives.

'''There may be unmarked spoilers ahead!'''

== Anime and Manga ==

* Naraku of ''[[Inuyasha]]'' had an irritating habit of doing this. Every episode Naraku was directly involved in ended with him either running away after getting his ass handed to him or him doing something that made it impossible for him to be directly attacked. And ''every single incarnation'' he created would inevitably run like hell when things got sticky. Honestly, how many times can the [[Big Bad]] get savaged and [[Badass Decay|still claim to be all powerful?]]

** As of ''Black and White'', instead of "blasting off", they simply escape, usually by jetpack, when they lose.

* In ''[[Sailor Moon]]'', after the [[Monster of the Week]] is deployed, the member of the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]] who did it virtually always teleports, drives or runs away while the main characters are distracted by the monster. In some cases, they actually watch the battle without participating, and then escape after the monster is defeated. Of course, nobody bothers to stop or chase them; except ''once'' when the Outers try attacking Kaolinite. She summons up incredible power to beat them all...and then runs away anyways.

* In ''[[Naruto]]'', Itachi Uchiha is a master of [[Memetic Mutation|the Art of Run]]. Supposedly {{spoiler|he was a good guy that wanted to limit collateral damage}}, so that might explain it.

** Kabuto and Orochimaru seem to be impossibly good at escaping when at a disadvantage, especially when compared to the majority of other villains. A fair amount of the time, their opponents are also badly injured or out of chakra, though.

** Subverted at the climax of ''[[Captain America]]: Reborn''. Here, the Red Skull's consciousness is forced back into his robot body after being forced out of Rogers' by Rogers himself. Unplugging himself, the Red Skull tries to make a break for it hoping the big fight around would cover his tracks. Sharon Carter stops that in a brilliantly counter-intuitive way by using Dr. Hank Pym's size changing technology to make him a giant before he got away. Yes, that means that there now is a giant Red Skull trying to stomp the superheroes, but it also means that there is no way he can sneak away now and fighting with [[Colossus Climb]] tactics is old hat for Captain America and his friends, not to mention Sharon gets the Vision to access the Skull's ship's weapons systems to hit a now ''really big'' target.

* Invoked but not carried out by Harley Quinn in volume 2 of [[Batman|"Hush"]]. As she flees Batman she quotes Snagglepuss, 'Heavens to Murgatroid, exit, stage left.' But is caught before she can fully escape.

* In ''[[Daredevil]]'' #17, the Masked Marauder slips away from view long enough to beat up a security guard and steal his uniform, escaping capture to menace New York another day.

* Parodied in ''[[The Simpsons|The Simpsons Comic]]'': Bart and Lisa have just survived a run-in with Sideshow Bob, Kang and Kodos. Bob sees a helicopter with a rope-ladder hanging from it and assumes his henchmen have prepared his escape. He gives the standard "We shall meet again" speech and flees - only to realise something:

== Fan Fiction ==

* This trope is frequently subverted in ''[[The Legend of Spyro a New Dawn (Fanfic)|The Legend of Spyro a New Dawn]]''. Commander Hades attempts this after his defeat, only to be {{spoiler|cut off by [[The Dreaded|Drake]], who effortlessly [[Curb Stomp Battle|curbstomps him]].}} Empress Tyrania's [[Dragon]] attempts this after {{spoiler|the curse keeping the slaves from hurting him is broken and all his guards are demolished. Sparx slams his exit door in his face.}}

* Used successfully by Gaul in ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4625774/1/The_Legend_of_Spyro_New_Frontier The Legend of Spyro: New Frontier]'', assisted with a [[Sadistic Choice]].

* ''[[Austin Powers]]'' does this a couple of times, with Dr. Evil flying off into space. To be fair they do seem to track him but only pay attention when he re-enters orbit.

* The rewritten version of Gandalf vs. Witch-King in ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' has major shades of this. In [[The Movie]], the Witch-King actually has Gandalf at his mercy, then quickly exits when [[The Cavalry]] arrives.

** Note that Prime's {{spoiler|super-armor was provided by Jetfire, who complained about being low on energon, sacrificing his body for the parts. Prime discarded that armor pretty quickly right after the fight, in which the Fallen destroyed one of the turbines, so he must've burned through what little reserves were left.}}

* Count Dooku in ''[[Star Wars]]: [[Attack of the Clones]]'' does this after the clone army attacks, fleeing to his personal space craft, and though Anakin and Obi-Wan (and then Yoda) pursue him they aren't that effective, leaving him alive for the next film.

** This was even lampooned in an issue of MAD Magazine, in which Count Olaf goes into a showing of ''[[Lord of the Rings|Return of the King]]'' and Mr. Poe says it's too much trouble to go after him.

* Used in the ''[[Ender's Game]]''-universe novel ''Shadow of the Giant'' to create a moral dilemma: in order to save a hostage, Bean promises the villain he'll let him escape, and then has to decide whether to keep that promise, knowing that doing so will probably result in many deaths.

* Justified in ''[[Warrior Cats]]'', where the Warrior Code makes it so that the winning cats have to let the defeated cats escape, to prevent unnecessary bloodshed.

** Also played straight at the end of ''A Dangerous Path'', where Tigerstar just runs away without putting up a fight.

*** Unharmed, maybe. But they call the cops on her the second time, so she doesn't actually escape.

* Subverted in the ''[[V]]'' regular TV series, which begins right at the moment ''V: The Final Battle'' ended where Diana made her escape. Donovan immediately realizes that she's getting away, chases her and catches her right away.

* Quite a few ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' episodes feature the heroes standing around and letting Spike get away. This didn't seem so bad after his [[Badass Decay]] but back when he was a legitimate threat it could really get on your nerves. Perhaps the most [[Egregious]] is in the episode "Halloween", where Buffy is standing ''right next to him'' as he starts to run away in defeat and clearly could have easily killed him.

** "Crush" was possibly the most [[Egregious]]; Spike declared his love for Buffy, was rebuffed, attempted to have Drusilla kill her, failed, and Buffy's response is to ''close the front door in his face''. Not, say, kill somebody who'd just proved himself willing and able to kill people again. [[Jumping the Shark|The shark,]] [[Television Without Pity|she is jumped.]]

** The instances of Harmony getting away are rather irrational, considering that they always beat her so easily. She does still drink people's blood!

*** They can't take her seriously. When Buffy learned she had assembled a gang, she ''laughed''. Earlier, Xander even confronted said gang by standing on the door of Buffy's home and telling them off due their inability to enter uninvited, and when Dawn accidentally invited her in Xander was able to kick her out. Xander, a normal human who had no cross at the moment, KICKED OUT THE VAMPIRIC HARMONY. How could they take her seriously?

{{quote| "Exit Stage Crowley." }}

== Video Games ==

* A notable ''attempt'' at aversion is seen in ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'', where Sabin (and maybe Shadow) confront Kefka in the Imperial Base outside of Doma. Kefka ''repeatedly'' employs a [[Villain Exit Stage Left]] after being hit, but Sabin ''does'' try to chase him down. The only reason Kefka gets away is because of conveniently placed enemies.

** Kefka employs this trope an awful lot in the early parts of the game, while he's still being portrayed as a minor comic-relief villain. Pretty much everything goes to hell when Kefka stops running.

* [[Rival Turned Evil|Seifer]] in ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'' does this every time you fight him. One gets the impression that Squall really just doesn't want to kill him.

** However, unlike Reno, you do knock him out once.

* This happens several times in ''[[Odin Sphere]]''. Most notably when Cornelius allows the obviously insane and world-destruction-seeking [[Big Bad]] King Valentine to stumble away after besting him, TWICE. {{spoiler|Not only that, Belial manages to survive FOUR boss fights before finally being killed, and that was only because he asked to be killed. And if that weren't enough, four characters didn't the foresight to kill Leviathan before he grows to full power, though Gwendolyn has the defense of Oswald's safety being more important to her at the time. Remarkably this IS subverted at one point though when Oswald decides to kill Skuldi rather than let him live. A good thing too, because the latter was about to attack him again. This is also partially subverted at another point when Cornelius seems to really consider killing Ingway before the latter asks him if he could deal with the guilt of killing his lover's brother.}}

** ''In [[Mega Man Powered Up]]'', Dr. Wily escapes if you beat him on Easy. Beating the game on harder difficulties causes Wily to go to his usual routine of begging Mega Man to leave him alone, claiming to have learned his lesson.

* Present in most ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' titles, especially when Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik is the main (and only) boss. Every time you defeat him, he'd come back again in a bigger and sometimes-more-dangerous mecha to menace Sonic again and again.

{{quote| Sonic: ''If there's one thing he's good at, it's that!''<br />

'''And after defeating the Ghost Condor in Sky Babylon:'''<br />

Sonic: ''Argh! He ran off again!''<br />

Blaze: ''Those guys just will not sit still!'' }}

* ''[[Pokémon]]'' villains, upon defeat, will always get away from the hero, who at the end of the game might even have a fire breathing dragon. We don't know how they do it, because the game conveniently turns the lights out.

* Lord Yuna of ''[[Breath of Fire IV]]'' constantly does this. Whenever someone confronts him over his [[Complete Monster|monstrous deeds]], he quickly teleports away like a coward. Unfortunately, {{spoiler|it seemed to work [[Karma Houdini|quite well]] for him.}}

* [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Gorgutz 'Ead 'Unter]] in ''[[Dawn of War]]'' does this in both ''Dark Crusade'' and ''Soulstorm'', and implied to have done this after ''Winter Assault'' (given he managed to escape Lorn V). Both Tau commanders also do this after their Ethereal is killed.

* Lampshaded in ''[[World Destruction]]''. Immediately after killing someone, members of the World Salvation Front catch your party. Agan exclaims "Exit, Stage Left!" and your party proceeds to run off through the ''same door your opponents have just used to enter'' while they watch you leave.

* In ''[[Alpha Protocol]]'', {{spoiler|Conrad Marburg}} attempts this at the end of the {{spoiler|Rome}} mission and {{spoiler|Sergei Surkov}} attempts this at the end of {{spoiler|Moscow}}. Depending on your choices and how you've interacted with them up to that point, they may or may not get away. {{spoiler|Marburg, if he escapes, can later be convinced to say [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here]] and wash his hands off the whole affair.}}

** Except for two worlds, where the airship actually ''left without'' him. This results in him running after it and Mario ''finally'' chasing him to it. An airship level ensues. You fight him at the end, {{spoiler|although he just [[Destination Defenestration|jettisons]] you each time you beat him. Stupid Kamek.}}

*** In the final world {{spoiler|(save the secret one)}} there isn't any chase scene, you just run up to the airship, infiltrate it, and engage him in his {{spoiler|really final boss fight. I mean it this time.}}

* Happens with {{spoiler|Sekto}} in ''[[Strangers Wrath|Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath]]'', who {{spoiler|swims off in the now-un-dammed river}}. It's somewhat justified however, as {{spoiler|1). Stranger wasn't aware of Sekto's [[Brought Down to Normal|'true form']], and 2). he and the Grubbs were generally rather distracted by [[The Reveal]] of Sekto's abandoned host body: the previous guardian Steef}}.

* In ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'', [[Harmless Villain|Dr. Doofenschmertz]] gets away [[Once Per Episode|every time]], though usually [[Amusing Injuries|not unscathed]].

* Perhaps the most frequent use of this trope was in the cartoon segments of the ''[[Super Mario Bros Super Show]]''. After Bowser's latest plot is foiled, he would often have an exit (usually a "warp zone potion") that would allow him to duck out just before the heroes can fully defeat him. Except for one episode, this was done every time without fail (though to tell the truth, the reason for this was simply because the good guys never thought of simply running after him).

* Dr. Drakken of ''[[Kim Possible]]'' often gets away at the end of the episode (in a hovercar or other escape vehicle he and Shego conveniently had waiting). Sometimes he does go to jail, but [[Cardboard Prison|he never seems to stay there long]]. It was also subverted once when he tried to get away with a jetpack, but forgot he was inside and collided into the ceiling.

** Although at the beginning of the fourth season, while Kim would be fighting some other villain, an episode would sometimes end with Drakken, showing how he was coping in prison with his ridiculously annoying cellmate/FanBoy Frugal Lucre. Further twisting the knife, at least twice someone broke out Shego, leaving Drakken behind to rot.

* Spoofed in the ''[[South Park]]'' episode, "Super Best Friends", where the villain escapes via a Cobra Commander-like escape pod. The heroes just stand around and curse watching him get away.

* Done by Batman to the Legion of Doom at the end of ''[[Justice League|Justice League Unlimited]]''. For helping save the world from Darkseid's invasion, he gave them "A five minute head start." As the last episode of the series, it was more than enough time.

** And it's not like Cobra Commander usually makes much attempt to conceal his intention to run away, what with his habit of loudly shouting "COOOOOOBRA! RETREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAT!" in full earshot of the Joes.

*** Well, they don't want to put themselves out of a job, after all!

* One of the most notable examples from Western Animation is ''[[Inspector Gadget]]'''s arch-nemesis Dr Claw, who'd flee in his [[Flying Car]] of evil with his parting [[Catch Phrase]] "I'll get you next time, Gadget... next time!"

** In the second season, recurring MAD agents would appear for three episodes, escaping without being arrested in each episode. No one really seemed to care that the MAD agents were still loose and could strike again at anytime. Penny in particular suffered character decay, as she didn't seem to be bothered in the slightest about the escape of agents who had been trying to kill her uncle, and who would return to do so again.

** Lampshaded in one episode where a guest character shouts "Shredder is getting away!" and Raphael wearily responds "Yeah, you get used to that."

** Averted by Shredder in The 2K3 series, but played straight by Agent Bishop.

{{quote| '''Actress!Azula''': ''(pointing offscreen)'' [[We Need a Distraction|What's that]]? I think it's your honor.<br />

'''Actor!Zuko''': Where?<br />

** This made it all the more satisfying in "The Incredible Magnatroid" when Birdman decides there's enough time left in the episode to actually prevent Metallo from escaping in a helicopter with the following immortal line:

{{quote| '''Birdman''': Look, Avenger! Our culprit's trying to escape! Well, he won't get far without ''propellers!''}}

* Happens in every series in ''[[Transformers]]''. Typically the reason for the Decepticons getting away in the old series was that they could fly and the Autobots couldn't, even though they could in the pilot episode. A spin on it was done in ''Transformers Armada'', where the Decepticons got away by teleporting; the episodes that revolved around getting a Minicon always had them teleporting away, regardless of whether they got it or not. This led some to some moments where they would leave even if they had the overall advantage. Although this wasn't the only Transformers series that did it, it did it the most frequently.

* In an episode of ''[[Jimmy Neutron]]'', [[Villain of the Week]] The Junkman has been tied to a chair on his own ship. He tricks Jimmy into freeing him, then heads over to an escape pod, and escapes, while everyone just stands there.

* In ''[[The Magician]]'', while Ace Cooper would always be able to capture the minor, one shoot villains in each episode, the major baddies such as Black Jack, Sonny Boy and Faceless would always escape. In Black Jack's case, it's not that he ran away, but is that his lawyer Clockwise would always be able to twist the facts around so Black Jack wouldn't be arrested.

* At the end of [[The Movie]] of ''[[Batman Beyond]]'', Joker is apparently so used to this trope through the years tangling with Batman that when Terry destroys his [[Kill Sat]] control and sends the ensuing [[Death From Above]] heading right towards the Joker's hideout, his only response is:

{{quote| '''Joker:''' [[Sarcasm Mode|Oh, good]], the beam's headed ''here'': Now I'll have to start all over again. Thanks for wrecking everything, kid. See you around...}}