Villains Blend in Better: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

*** Except in the ''Wanderers'' continuity, where his only ability was to merely ''communicate'' with Bugrom. It is unclear whether he controlled the Bugrom or communicated with them in the first OVA series as it was only apparent that he got along with them very well somehow. In ''The Magnificent World'' however, it definitely helped that he supposedly fit a prophecy regarding a [[The Chosen One|messenger who would lead the Bugrom to victory]]...

 

* Unlike most Gods, Ares from the ''[[Wonder Woman]]'' comics is adjusted to the modern world, often wearing casual clothing, knowing how to use computers, operate machinery, and able to pass as an ordinary person. To be fair, the other Gods are too arrogant to see any reason to want to fit in.

** His counterpart in [[Marvel Universe]] has been able to adjust very well both before and after his [[Heel Face Turn]] – as a villain he managed to become the leader of terrorist organizations in all the world and as a good guy he quickly found a job and became a completely normal parent. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] because he was spending all his free time between Ancient Greece and the modern Age of Heroes causing and taking a part in Earth's conflicts, so he really has time to learn.

 

== Film ==

* A strange variation happens in ''Just Visiting'': while the medieval protagonists have to go through the standard [[Fish Out of Temporal Water]] routine when transported to the present, the utterly incompetent wizard that sent them there manages to follow them, and somehow purchase clothes, spell components and ''rent a hotel room'' with no problems. This was averted in the original ''Les Visiteurs'' by having the person helping them not be the original wizard but rather {{spoiler|a modern descendant of his}}.

* In ''[[Last Action Hero]]'', [[Cowboy Cop]] Jack Slater and hitman Mr. Benedict are action movie characters who end up in real world New York City. Jack has difficulty understanding why cars don't explode when you shoot them and becomes despondent after about five minutes of exposure to "our" [[Crapsack World]], whereas Mr. Benedict (after spending a similar period being bemused that murdering people in the streets has no immediate consequences) is elated to have found a world where "the bad guys can win!" The Ripper has no trouble blending into a movie premiere wearing his freakish villain costume consisting of a yellow raincoat, dirty long hair and collapsible axe, but only because he's mistaken for his actor showing up in character, and even then he's quickly pulled aside by the actual actor's agent, who chastises him for his behaviour and attempts to order an emergency tuxedo for him.

* In the ''[[Highlander]]'' films:

** In [[Highlander|the first film]], MacLeod hangs onto the past as an antique dealer, and uses his old mentor's sword. In contrast, the Kurgan embraces the newest music and fashions, and wields a high-tech collapsible sword.

* In ''[[Terminator 2]]'', the T-1000 can look and act like any human it encounters, while the T-800 is easily recognizable to those who have already encountered one.

** Which is justified in-universe, as T-800 is purely combat model, while T-1000 has been built to be more capable of infiltration tasks.

 

== Literature ==

** Played straight with Uncle Andrew (not villainous, but clearly not shown [[It's All About Me|in a very nice light]]), who arrives in Narnia and promptly has a breakdown at the thought of animals having human intelligence. His time there is generally used for comic relief, with the animals viewing him as some sort of pet.

** Carcer actually points this out, saying that while Vimes requires others to believe he is a policeman in order to act as one, Carcer is better at being a criminal while no one believes he's one.

** In terms of "time to position of power", Vimes actually probably beat Carcer by several hours, since he {{spoiler|had the cops convinced by the end of the scene after being let out of his cell}} but he got beaten up several times in the process and Carcer was ahead both of the first two times they met face to face.

** Well, she was hiding the entire time, really. The only times she popped up was when she {{spoiler|pretended to be a lost, confused old woman on a plane (she didn't speak English), when she took over a plane brutally and forcefully and when she tricked Ivan's ex fiancee into trying to poison him.}}

** The fact that Baba Yaga could cast spells was an enormous advantage. If she didn't want to get noticed, she didn't get noticed. The fact that she had some idea that she was going on an adventure and thus prepared for a trip also helped.

* Saint Dane in ''[[The Pendragon Adventure]]'' blends in extremely well, regardless of territory. His [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]] abilities play a part, but in some cases, he's gone as himself (Zadaa), and still assimilated fairly easily. Hero Bobby Pendragon has a much harder time no matter what the Territory.

* Count Olaf of ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'' plays this trope fairly straight (despite his general incompetence), with one notable subversion in the last book.

* In ''[[Animorphs]]'', the [[Puppeteer Parasite|Yeerks]] can generally adapt to Earth customs much faster than [[Sense Freak|Aximili,]] {{spoiler|or [[Alien Among Us|Elfangor,]] }}thanks to their hosts' memories and Voluntary Controllers. Ax keeps getting too distracted to follow his friends' advice and blend in by [[Trademark Favorite Food|cinnamon buns.]] [[Verbal Tic|Buhn-zuh.]]

 

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** Inverted in the ''The Time Monster'' (featuring the Pertwee Doctor). The Master materialises his TARDIS in Atlantis, convinced he'll easily dupe these primitives into thinking he's a god, but the wise old king sees through his charlatan's tricks and laughs off an attempt to hypnotise him. To add insult to injury, as the Master is being led off by the guards he runs right into the Doctor and Jo Grant whom he last saw in his inescapable [[Death Trap]]. The king gives these two a better reception.

** Similarly, in ''The Mysterious Planet'', Sabalom Glitz is convinced that with a few explosives and a machine gun, he'll easily impress the backwards locals on Ravalox that he's the guy who should be in charge and thus be able to dismantle a valuable technological gizmo they believe to be a sacred totem. Unfortunately, he didn't count on their queen being more savvy than her primitive lifestyles would suggest, or the fact that many other con-artists have had the same idea as he did and approached her giving multiple reasons why ''they'' should be allowed to dismantle the totem as well. He's soon captured and thrown in a dungeon, much to his bewilderment. However, ironically this still works to impede the Doctor; when he goes before the queen with the ''real'' reason that he needs to dismantle the totem (it's about to explode and rip a hole in the universe), the queen's so sick of hearing [[Crying Wolf|all these false stories]] that she locks the ''Doctor'' up as well.

* ''[[Lilo and Stitch]]'' - While Stitch causes havoc around the island attempting to overcome his programmed genetics, his [[Mad Scientist]] creator and a hapless government agent, who are both aliens with non-human body shapes and numbers of eyes, get along just fine [[Paper-Thin Disguise|Strangely Effectively Disguised]] as tourists.

* One episode of ''[[Superfriends]]'' had Superman switch with his duplicate from a [[Mirror Universe]]; Evil Superman figured the whole thing out within fifteen seconds of coming to in the Hall of Justice, while Good Superman kept going "What's happening? Batman, why do you have a goatee? Why did you just say 'Hall of Kicking Puppies'?" until the bad guys figured it out and Kryptonited him.

* In the ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' cartoon, Starfire's villainous sister Blackfire is well-adapted to Earth cultures, and even has a normal pattern of speech compared to her more awkward sister.

* Speaking of ''[[Transformers]]'', it ought to be surprising how often the Decepticons manage to persuade humans that the Autobots are evil. The ''Decepticons''. The ''DECEPT''icons. The unsubtly-scary-looking Decepticons.

** In Transformers ''[[Beast Machines]]'' we find out what happens to the Beast Wars cast as when they arrive on Cybertron. The Maximals wake up de-upgraded, missing two members, and plagued by a virus. Megatron? {{spoiler|He returned to the Predacon underground, developed and deployed a planet-crippling virus, captured all the souls of the entire planet, and now acts as sole ruler with armies of mass-produced drones.}} All this happens before the first episode.

*** Well Megatron did exit the transwarp field [[The Slow Path|early enough]] to arrive on Cybertron long before the Maximals got there. It's likely Megatron had years to put his plans into action while the Maximals were attacked immediately on arrival and had no chance at all to adapt like Megatron did.

*** However she was talking to her sister not her subjects.

** Meanwhile, Discord, a different villain who has been trapped in the form of a [[Taken for Granite|statue]] for even longer than Luna was on the moon, has no trouble with modern speech patterns at all. However, when he first breaks out, he seems to know a lot about the main cast, implying that he was [[And I Must Scream|aware of his surroundings while he as locked into his statue]], which would explain that.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Evil Tropes]]

[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]

[[Category:Villains]]