History CutLexLuthorACheck / ComicBooks

* Hilariously subverted in the short-lived DC parody comic book the ''Inferior Five''. The would-be superteam's first nemesis was Dr. Gregory Gruesome, a brilliant, evil MadScientist who was so poor he lived in a dilapidated wooden hut in the middle of a junkyard and his sole henchman was a dim-witted vagabond. Despite lamenting about his inability to "turn out multi-million-dollar missiles like they were paper planes" like this trope's namesake, he actually created some remarkably effective machines by cobbling together garbage, scrap, and various other odds and ends.

* ComicBook/{{Invincible}} once ran into a guy who'd invented a "gravity gun" in his basement and used it to rob a bank. He had considered selling his invention, but he needed the money ''now'' and that sounded like a long and complicated process. He is really bad at being a supervillain, and Mark lets him go (and returns the money back to the bank) with the advice that he should just sell the technology. In next issue it turns out that he sold the gun... to a bank robber. He didn't know who to see or call about this stuff. After capturing the second robber, Mark takes the guy to Cecil, the head of a super-secret government agency responsible for handling superheroes and supervillains, who gives him a very high-paying job to invent new weapons.

** {{Subverted|Trope}} with Magica De Spell: while it seems she could put her magic and other skills to work to become rich the honest way, it's often shown she already does that as a day job and is rather affluent (enough to pay for some of her most expensive assaults on the Bin), and her assaults for the Number One Dime happen when she has free time. Italian stories even turn [[InsistentTerminology her demands to be called a sorceress and not a witch]] into demanding to be called a ''fattucchiera'' out of professional pride, as anyone using magic can be a witch but a ''fattucchiera'' is a professional that makes money through their magic.

** {{Subverted|Trope}} with Magica De Spell: while it seems she could put her magic and other skills to work to become rich the honest way, it's often shown she already does that as a day job and is rather affluent (enough to pay for some of her most expensive assaults on the bin), and her assaults for the Number One Dime happen when she has free time.

* ''[[Franchise/{{Tintin}} The Adventures of Tintin]]'' has a subversion in ''Flight 714''. Dr. Krollspell has developed a working, if unperfected, ''truth serum''. Now, you might reasonably assume that every intelligence or security agency in the world would pay a king's ransom for it. However, instead of marketing it, Dr. Krollspell takes a job from Rastapopoulos to use it on millionaire Laszlo Carreidas to get a bank account number. This trope could even conceivably apply to Rastapopoulos too. He could have bankrolled the distribution of a massive invention... except that the truth serum ''[[EpicFail doesn't work,]]'' as Carreidas ends up babbling on about everything ''except'' the bank account number. Rastapopoulos could have injected Carreidas with Rajaijah Juice and gotten the same result.
** The serum ''does'' work, the problem is that Carreidas says the truth about everything but what Rastapopoulos wants him to speak about.

* Upheld with the main character from the 1950s horror comic "The Man Who Tricked The Devil", a rich, and famous lawyer. He wants to use his legal expertise to flaunt that he can [[http://thehorrorsofitall.blogspot.kr/2012/07/the-man-who-tricked-devil.html cheat the devil out of $10 billion with a very carefully worded contract.]][[spoiler:Unfortunately, he forgot that he had to sign the contract with his own blood. And because he filled the contract with so many clauses and prohibitions to make sure the devil wouldn't try to twist the wish in anyway, he had to sign it so many times as well, causing him to bleed out and die.]]

* Upheld with the main character from the 1950's horror comic "The Man Who Tricked The Devil", a rich, and famous lawyer. He wants to use his legal expertise to flaunt that he can [[http://thehorrorsofitall.blogspot.kr/2012/07/the-man-who-tricked-devil.html cheat the devil out of $10 billion with a very carefully worded contract.]][[spoiler:Unfortunately, he forgot that he had to sign the contract with his own blood. And because he filled the contract with so many clauses and prohibitions to make sure the devil wouldn't try to twist the wish in anyway, he had to sign it so many times as well, causing him to bleed out and die.]]

* Upheld with the main character from the 1950's horror comic "The Man Who Tricked The Devil", a rich, and famous lawyer. He wants to use his legal expertise to flaunt that he can [[http://thehorrorsofitall.blogspot.kr/2012/07/the-man-who-tricked-devil.html cheat the devil out of $10 billion with a very carefully worded contract.]]

* The {{Trope Namer|s}} ComicBook/LexLuthor. Pre-Crisis, this was pretty much played straight. In fact, the specific scene that named the trope featured a MadScientist Lex Luthor being brought in to consult with some government officials who wanted to wipe out the ComicBook/SwampThing. Luthor was introduced as an expert, "charging one million dollars for a ten-minute consultancy". After ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', Lex Luthor was retooled into an [[CorruptCorporateExecutive amoral billionaire industrialist]], subverting this trope by showing that he was still a brilliant scientist and engineer, but had used his inventions to become fabulously wealthy.
** Creator/ElliotSMaggin beautifully subverts this trope in his [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks Pre-Crisis]] novels ''Literature/LastSonOfKrypton'' and ''Literature/MiracleMonday,'' which assert that Lex regularly maintains multiple false identities as prominent scientists, businessmen, and even artists; and that they are [[WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys how he is always able to raise the money necessary for the equipment and hired minions]] his world-conquering and Superman-busting schemes require. In other words, Lex is perfectly capable of playing the legitimate marketplace like a fiddle and ''regularly does so as a matter of course,'' but because he views himself as an {{ubermensch}}, he considers the idea of just playing by society's rules and getting rich and famous to be ''beneath him.'' He only views the money thus earned as a means to an end -- that end being conquest of the world and the destruction of Superman, two things polite society frowns upon. Also, [[OlderThanTheyThink although no one remembers it]] (a fact Maggin has lamented), the name "[=LexCorp=]" actually originated in Maggin's story "The Ghost Of Superman Future," a FlashForward that depicted Luthor [[HeelFaceTurn going straight]] in his old age and marketing his inventions, as well as becoming friends with Superman again [[WeUsedToBeFriends as they had been in their]] [[ComicBook/{{Superboy}} youth.]]
** A year or so before the ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths,'' Creator/MarvWolfman wanted to write a story where Luthor "goes legit" and becomes a respected businessman, in the process [[VillainWithGoodPublicity gaining the public's trust]] and therefore becoming a much harder opponent for Superman to fight. [[ExecutiveMeddling Editorial]] considered this [[StatusQuoIsGod too big a departure]] for Luthor and nixed the idea, so Wolfman rewrote the script with ComicBook/VandalSavage as the villain in question. The resultant story feels a little forced, as Superman seems to take the whole thing very personally, despite the fact that he and Savage didn't have anywhere near the history that he and Lex did. By Wolfman's own account, this is where the idea for Lex's Post-Crisis CorruptCorporateExecutive persona originated.
** In post-Crisis continuity, it is established that Lex Luthor became a corporate tycoon through his invention of the Lex Wing, a military airplane that Lex claimed made him an aeronautical revolutionary on the scale of John Glenn, or Neil Armstrong.
** In ''ComicBook/LexLuthorManOfSteel'', a PerspectiveFlip into Lex Luthor's day-to-day life, we see more of Lex outside of plotting to kill Superman. In the series, he has both built the Science Spire, a giant skyscraper-research lab-tribute to human ingenuity and bankrolled Hope, a new superhero [[spoiler: who is actually an elaborate artificial human. It's ultimately deconstructed, as he ends up destroying both as part of a plan where the main outcome seems to be "make Superman look bad to people". For all his humanist talk, Lex's obsessions with Superman are blinding him to reality and the good he could be doing for others]].
** In several stories, this is shown to part of why Superman cares so much about Luthor, and at times, pities him. Superman may be powerful, but [[ReedRichardsIsUseless it's been shown many times that his brute force abilities can't change the world easily]]. Luthor, on the other hand, is a scientist, and therefore capable of helping people on a completely different level. If he put his mind to it, he could probably cure every disease, eliminate hunger and poverty, and bring humanity to the stars. Instead, he takes time off from extortion and corporate skulduggery to stuff space rocks into robots and hold orphanages hostage.
** In ''ComicBook/AllStarSuperman'', Superman goes to Lex, [[spoiler: reveals that he's dying,]] and challenges him to make the world a better place in the way that he always said he would as one final attempt to really show up Superman. Lex... spits at him. Because, as Lex himself notes at another point, by this point he's just so filled with hatred and bitterness towards Superman that he really doesn't care about doing anything other than destroying Superman.
* Played straight with ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' enemy and off-and-on Luthor ally Prometheus, a ShadowArchetype of ol' Batsy who also happens to be a GadgeteerGenius of such talent that Lex actually offers to cut ''him'' a check in exchange for the advanced technology he's come up with. Prometheus turns him down, though, because he also happens to be a BloodKnight who only sees his technology as a means to an end (destroying institutions of justice) and, like Bronze Age Lex detailed above, sees the idea of making money legitimately as beneath him.
** ComicBook/TheRiddler is almost the patron-saint of this trope. It's been shown countless times over multiple media that, if Edward Nigma actually used his amazing intellect for honest endeavors, he'd be rolling in cash. It's also been shown that he also could be [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain a MUCH more formidable criminal mastermind than he is]] if he merely focused on the task at hand instead of following his obsession with riddles and trying to prove he's smarter than everyone else. One time he ''tried'' to commit robberies without leaving riddles, but couldn't resist the compulsion to send them Batman's way ''without even consciously realizing it''. When Batman told Riddler, Eddie realized that he really is insane and needed treatment. There was also a period where a TapOnTheHead cured Nigma of his riddle obsession, leading him to go straight and became a very successful private detective, but [[StatusQuoIsGod ultimately this didn’t last]].
** In ''ComicBook/HeartOfHush'' Victor Fries aka ComicBook/MrFreeze invents a machine that allows Hush to [[spoiler: remove Catwoman's heart and keep her alive, and preserve the heart while it's out of her body]]. Hush says in a throwaway line that Fries is ahead of his time, and the work he'd done could merit a Nobel Prize if he'd done it legitimately. Just think about the money he could make adapting the machine to help organ transplant patients!
** Franchise/{{Batman}} has a recurring minor [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain "villain"]] named Jenna Duffy. Originally a pickpocket and con artist, she became a mook working for Tweedledum and Tweedledee and took up the mantle of The Carpenter. [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway Her gimmick was]] [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin carpentry.]] After a few run ins with Batman she decided to actually learn how to build stuff and became a proper carpenter, making a pretty tidy amount of money. Though she mostly does civilian work now, she occasionally does work for supers on [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor both sides of the law]] due to her skill in [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower building and disarming deathtraps.]]
** ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': Tim is flabbergasted when he fights Trickster during ''ComicBook/BatmanWarGames'' because ''"If you own shoes that let you walk on air, why rent yourself as a cheap hood? If you'd just mass produce them, you'd be ten times richer than Bruce Wayne by now."''
** {{Subverted|Trope}} with B-list ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' villain Firefly. His backstory has him working as a pyrotechnics expert for movies before he was lost his due to a recession in Gotham leading him to become a PsychoForHire before he decides to forgo the "For Hire" and embraces the fact he is a straight-up {{Pyromaniac}} who likes seeing stuff burn.
* {{Subverted|Trope}} with Doctor Sivana of [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] fame. He started in his youth as an idealistic scientist brimming with ideas to change the world for the better with superscience even Luthor would gape at. Then he met the corporate world. Said encounter tremendously embittered him, showing him the world won't change without good reason and enough power to change the status quo. He resolved to change the world, and that's how a brilliant scientist got broken into the very image of the MadScientist.
* ComicBook/DoctorDoom could have probably taken over the world ''financially'' in far less time, with less effort and without any legal opposition if he just incorporated rather than maintaining his feudal {{Ruritania}} and venting his ComplexityAddiction. Especially since people in the ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'' are constantly shown to value security over freedom. This is mirrored by his heroic counterpart, {{Trope Namer|s}} [[ReedRichardsIsUseless Reed Richards]], who seemingly makes more money patenting and then ''not'' selling his inventions, and thus not overly-disrupting the similarities between Marvel Earth and RealLife. "Doomwar" reveals that he actually ''does'' use his technology to make money, albeit secretly. Ever wonder how he's able to fund his various schemes or afford to construct all that incredible technology (including his never-ending army of [[ActuallyADoombot Doombots]])? Turns out he's involved in ''thousands'' of perfectly legal businesses, and has made a killing in patents for robotics and medical research.
* For all that he ends up being [[TheWorfEffect Worfed]] in practice, ComicBook/{{Juggernaut|MarvelComics}} of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse is in theory one of the most powerful people on Earth, combining strength roughly equal to ComicBook/TheMightyThor's with [[NighInvulnerability being]] [[HealingFactor indestructible]]. Even if being capable of lifting mountains, immunity to any non-magical attack, not even being fazed by being StrippedToTheBone, and being incapable of getting hungry or tired (he doesn't even need oxygen!) doesn't present options in the legitimate world, Juggernaut could be a lot more of a villain than simply being a roving [[TheBrute Brute]]. You would ''think'' he could make millions as a running back in American Football, even as he is today. Justified, since his powers come from a GodOfEvil named Cyttorak that wants him to wreak havoc. If Juggy ever did go legit or try to be a less mindlessly destructive villain, Cyttorak would depower him. Which is exactly what happened when Juggernaut made a HeelFaceTurn and joined the X-Men; his power kept declining to the point that the Wrecking Crew (superhuman in their own right, but normally Juggy could beat them in his sleep) flatted him. Not long after, [[ComicBook/WorldWarHulk Juggernaut was in a fight with the Hulk]] and to get the power he needed he cut a deal with Cyttorak that he'd return to his evil ways afterward. This provided a good example of how strong a fully empowered Juggernaut is, as Hulk ''couldn't overpower him'' and could only win by turning Juggernaut's unstoppable momentum against him.
* Eventually {{subverted|Trope}} by the first Icicle, Joar Mahkent. He went into villainy partly for the thrills, but he used his time in jail to work on his inventions and made a legitimate fortune once he reformed, half of which he left to Franchise/TheFlash.
* {{Averted|Trope}} with the Creator/MarvelComics character ComicBook/{{Taskmaster}}. Able to flawlessly imitate anyone's physical abilities after seeing them in action once, he initially made money and his reputation training flunkies for {{supervillain}}s, teaching them how to take down their superhero opponents. Once it became known he was a mercenary, not merely a dedicated villain, legitimate governments and law enforcement started hiring him to teach their people on how to take down superpowered threats. To the extent that, in his first appearance, he concludes that if he stayed and fought, he could probably defeat the entire Avengers team (and one of their more powerful line-ups at that). However, he sees no profit in it or point to fighting superheroes, and runs away instead.
* {{Subverted|Trope}} by the villain Purple Man, who has pheromone-based mind-control powers. He lived the high life without doing anything to attract super-hero attention -- only to get caught by Doctor Doom and used as a component in a world-conquest gizmo.
* {{Averted|Trope}} with ''Creator/{{Wildstorm}}'' Universe villain Kaizen Gamorra who sells battle-droids and pleasure robots to finance his country's terrorism.

* {{Defied|Trope}} with Comicbook/TheAvengers villain Kang The Conqueror. He journeyed back to 1900 Wisconsin, and used his futuristic technology to start a company as the aptly named Victor Timely.
* {{Discussed|Trope}} with ''ComicBook/{{Manhunter}}'' (2004 series, Kate Spencer version) in which the titular character tells her technical support and former supervillain weapons designer, Dylan Battles, to imagine what would happen if he focused his talents on curing cancer. In the FlashForward at the end of the series, it is revealed that Dylan has become extremely wealthy, because the government is willing to pay big money to keep weapons patents off the market.
* {{Subverted|Trope}} with the Turtle Man, a Silver Age villain that the Flash (Barry Allen) fought from time to time. After he inherited a fortune, he realized that he didn't need to commit crimes to make money any more. But he still did so - simply because it was fun.

* {{Inverted|Trope}} in ''ComicBook/SwampThing'' -- While acting as a paid consultant, the Floronic Man discovers Swamp Thing's [[TomatoInTheMirror true nature]], only to be promptly fired. His employer treated him as disposable, and drastically underestimated the importance of the reveal. Also ''literally'' inverted later in the same series when the same group of villains who hired the Floronic Man hire Lex Luthor as a consultant to help take out Swamp Thing because, as one of them puts it, "He has a certain amount of experience in fighting invincible enemies." The consult takes five minutes, for which Luthor is paid $10 million.
* Dr T.O. Morrow beats Luthor having built multiple fully sapient androids and working tesseracts, and fellow MadScientist Professor Ivo is similar, having created Amazo, an android with "adaptive cells" capable of duplicating superpowers. Both collaborating together created an even more advanced model of superpowered android whose AI successfully developed concepts deliberately left out of her programming, while the hardware was advanced enough to fool Superman's enhanced senses. However, neither is overtly interested in actual cash -- Ivo's motivation is his severe thanatophobia, since he only developed the machine as a means to develop actual immortality. Morrow is just uncaring about such things, thinking he can always just rob another bank as long as he can keep developing his machines, and in the rare occasion he actually pays for anything, he just hacks the seller's account to pay for his purchase.

* ''ComicBook/TheSuperiorFoesOfSpiderMan'' has Beetle, who despite being a Valedictorian of Columbia Law dreams of becoming a supervillain. Her father [[spoiler:Tombstone]] is disappointed in this, stating that she's much too smart for such antics as he feels that being an AmoralAttorney is essentially legitimized crime that you can't get arrested for.
* In ''Spider-Man and the X-Men'', Sauron discusses this trope with Spidey. Spider-Man points out to Sauron that he could cure cancer with his technology, which allows him to alter a person's DNA as he pleases. Sauron bluntly replies that he doesn't ''want'' to cure cancer, he wants to turn people into dinosaurs. In fact, he is so committed to this desire to turn people into dinosaurs that when the world was under threat of being destroyed by black goo in ''Deadpool #10'', he joins forces with Deadpool to stop it, because if the world was destroyed, he would no longer be able to turn people into dinosaurs.

* ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'' arch-enemy ComicBook/{{Bullseye|MarvelComics}} has the ability to throw any object with perfect accuracy with enough force to kill someone. Before becoming a super-villain (according to one of his many origin stories), he was a major league baseball player whose skill meant he always pitched a no-hitter. He could've easily just stayed in this job and never committed a single crime in his whole life but quit so he could satisfy his inherent bloodlust, and ended his career by using a pitch to murder a batter. "Bullseye." Bullseye even admitted to Comicbook/NormanOsborn that he barely spends any of the money he earns as an assassin, and that he could very well be richer than Norman. The only reason he charges anything is just to see how much people are willing to offer for his services. He kills people because it's ''fun''.
** ''ComicBook/DaredevilBornAgain'' {{Deconstruction}}. Wilson Fisk is trying to expand into legitimate businesses and be a VillainWithGoodPublicity, but his vendetta against Daredevil is costing him money and putting that ambition in jeopardy. The first crony to try and point that out to him is "bought out" and later has both his legs broken off-panel; the second is murdered by Fisk then and there. Fisk is ''trying'' to turn his criminal genius to more acceptable enterprises, but his obsession with Daredevil and his violent instincts keep overriding his sense.

* Played with in an issue of ''Marvel Adventures: ComicBook/SpiderMan''. ComicBook/{{Mysterio}} has apparently gone straight, and starts a very profitable Broadway special effects show. However, the show is actually just a distraction so that Mysterio can go out and rob nearby hotels and businesses. When called out on his seemingly boneheaded move, Mysterio says it was never about the money, but the challenge and the thrill of deception.
* Many Spider-Man villains, like Vulture and the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel version of the Shocker, zig-zag this trope: They started out wanting to be legit entrepreneurs and inventors but after being victimized by unscrupulous CorruptCorporateExecutive types they turn to crime. Subverted, perhaps even Deconstructed, with retcon-villain Clash, from the Post-Secret-Wars Learning To Crawl subseries in The Amazing Spider-Man. A brilliant nerd (not unlike Peter) who was present as Spider-Man's first fight with Crusher Hogan, Clash begins using his supreme intellect to craft a "superhero" identity for himself, utilizing sound wave. His intention is to be an entertainment act, like Spider-Man was before Uncle Ben's murder. Instead, he winds up quite believably sliding down the Slippery Slope before becoming a full-on supervillain, who gets thrashed by Spidey, arrested, and because of his criminal record, forced to be a henchmen for several years. Finally, he runs into Spider-Man again, who promptly offers him a job at Parker Industries (on the condition that he leaves his Clash shenanigans behind).
* ComicBook/MisterTerrific describes a device's ingenuity as, "...Luthor Level, maybe even Apokolips." For the record that is the [[ArmedWithCanon canonically]] third smartest man in the world comparing this device to something made by either the smartest man in the world, or an alien demigod.
* ComicBook/TeenTitans had in one Christmas story a villain who took in shipments of junk, then used a ray to turn it into new, high-quality goods. Huge profit potential, right? Except he was actually removing a disguise field on the items, one put in place at least a full day before. The military and espionage applications for the disguise field and its counter, and thus the potential for vast profits, should be fairly obvious. He and his partners used it as a way of evading tariffs and duties on high-end goods.

* ''ComicBook/{{Fraction}}'': when a group of small-time crooks find a set of power armor and divvy up the pieces around them, while one becomes a hero, another kills his abusive stepfather, and a third just goofs around with his, the final guy subverts this trope when he tries to sell the chest plate that he got to a technology firm, only to be rejected due to their correct suspicion that it's stolen property.

* One issue of ''DC Super Friends'' (the 2008 comic series, unrelated to [[WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}} the cartoon]]) sees the Super Friends, after busting a MadScientist convention, point out that the various inventions shown off at the convention could actually be used for a good cause (e.g. a growth ray creating giant food and ending world hunger). [[CardCarryingVillain The scientists]] then start bawling their eyes out at the very ''idea'' that their gadgets could be used for good.

* In theory, any supervillain who uses expensive, fantastic technology for theft could subvert this: provided the technology is a one-time expense, they would eventually make back the money and start profiting if they manage to steal enough, meaning they can do it for the money ''and'' ForTheEvulz. The problem is, in a world where superheroes are everywhere thwarting your every move, this isn't likely to happen.
* In ''ComicBook/AllStarSuperman'' Lex is so bitter and twisted towards Superman that he can't really be bothered doing anything that isn't related in some way to his vendetta. At the end, when he tries to accuse Superman of encouraging HoldingOutForAHero, Superman points out this trope to him: If Lex had truly ever wanted to save the world, he could have done it years ago.
* In the ''ComicBook/SpiderMan''/''ComicBook/XMen'' ExpandedUniverse novel ''Time's Arrow: The Present'', written by Adam Troy-Castro, Spidey muses on "the guys who spend six million dollars building robot suits so they can rob banks". He compares this with his own initial decision to make money as a masked wrestler/novelty act, rather than sell his webbing formula to an adhesives company, and concludes that it's not really about the money; it's about proving something to everyone who ever laughed at them.
* In the first issue of ''ComicBook/TheHood'', a friend of the VillainProtagonist spots Electro in a bar and speculates on why Electro doesn't just take a job with the electric company and earn millions that way. He points out that his friend would never last an hour at a straight job. Practically any supervillain or any other character who is subject to NoConservationOfEnergy could take over the world by offering themselves as a free energy source, which everyone would inevitably end up depending on.
* ''Franchise/TheFlash'': The general inability/unwillingness of the [[RoguesGallery classic Flash supervillains]] to think bigger has been noted quite a few times in that title.
** Doctor Alchemy somehow got his hands on the Philosopher's Stone -- giving him the power to create infinite amounts of riches, transmute any substance to anything else, psychokinesis, and makes him immortal. He uses it to commit petty crimes which repeatedly get him sent to jail. This is lampshaded extensively and hilariously in the opening narration of ''Manhunter'' #7.
** Mirror Master is arguably the greatest inventor in the history of the world. He has created such devices as a matter duplicator, teleportation, and interdimensional portals. The first Mirror Master used these things to rob banks, the third uses them for mercenary work. If they just sold them they could become obscenely rich and not have to get the crap beaten out of them by a pajama-clad speedster. The third Mirror Master actually ruminated on this once, that he and most of the people he ran with could become filthy rich beyond anything they could earn in petty crimes if they sold even half their individual tech, and that people had outright pointed this out to him before. He, however, concluded he LIKED running around being a {{supervillain}} far too much to really consider going legit.
** In another story, a police detective who is forced to team up with Captain Cold calls him out for his criminal tendencies, pointing out how a man who invented a device that could manipulate matter on a molecular level (his "Cold Gun") would have had no problem getting rich legitimately. The Captain responds by pointing out the detective's preference for expensive suits despite their impracticality in his line of work. "We all have our vices." He's also admitted that many of the Rogue's villainous tendencies boil down to bad habits.
** In a Silver Age story, the Flash encounters the villain Element Master, whose gimmick is, well... the atomic elements. In the climax of the story, Element Master says he discovered a new element (the creatively dubbed "elemento") that is a sort of magnetic light, which he uses to ''send the Flash to the Moon''. Ignoring everything wrong with that idea, if it were true, Element Master would've completely changed the way we look at the elements, magnetism, Einstein's theory of relativity, and space travel, easily becoming the most important scientific figure in recent history. Instead... he tries to steal stores of "elements" like gold, platinum, and diamonds (carbon).
** Averted by villain the Chunk, who gave up supervillainy and used his suction powers (being able to siphon off material to another universe inside his own body) to start a personal removal business.
*** With many of the "science villains" who make up the RoguesGallery for Franchise/TheFlash, it's noted that the reason they don't turn their talents towards legitimate profit is because they often genuinely are too unstable to either think of it or even to want to. For example, Dr. Alchemy has two personalities; one of them is an incredible douche who [[WhatMeasureIsANonSuper thinks of all other humans as insignificant]], so he thinks that sharing his Philosopher's Stone is beneath him, while the other is more benevolent but can't actually make the Stone.
* In the Marvel comic ''ComicBook/HeroesForHire'', a mercenary named Paladin breaks into a special armory where the props and weapons of various former gimmick villains are stored, seeking valuable weapons to both arm himself with and to sell. He comes across the "alchemy gun" of the former supervillain Chemistro, and comments amusedly that "This guy invented a gun that could turn lead into gold, and all he could think of was to rob banks with it". Moments later, he had a lightbulb moment, saying "You know what? Forget the rest of the stuff, I'm good with just this." He immediately tries to escape with his prize, realizing of course that he won't need to steal and fence the other items once he has a device that can make gold, but unfortunately the heroic female version of the Scorpion destroys the gun while trying to subdue him and prevent his escape. He is understandably furious. He presumably was unaware of the fact that any object transmuted by the alchemy gun turns into dust after exposure to heat or after a certain amount of time.
** ComicBook/{{Luke Cage|HeroForHire}} would eventually comment that Chemistro was just one of those guys who had power and wanted to throw it around so people knew he meant business. If he turned things into gold and made himself rich, no one would be afraid of him or know who was boss. Chemistro's alchemy gun is in fact a subversion. In one issue of ''ComicBook/IronMan'', Curtis Carr tells Tony Stark that he has in fact tried to create new alchemy guns by attempting to duplicate the radiation field that gave his original gun its powers. As much as Carr might ''want'' to mass-produce his invention and get rich that way, so far he's had no luck.
** Even if he just had the one gun, there are millions if not billions to be made by hiring yourself out to turn dangerous and unwanted things-- think nuclear waste, surplus [=WMDs=], or ''other'' Mad Science gadgets-- into gold, then letting them disintegrate into harmless powder. Or he could just turn random objects into gold, sell them for big bucks, then be gone before they disintegrate. Illegal, but not in the high-profile way that tends to attract superhero attention. Or for ''that'' matter, there's surely some industrial process for which some company would happily "rent" large quantities of short-term gold.
** All that aside, Curtis Carr was another subversion in that he invented his alchemy gun intending to get rich ''legally''. However, he developed it on company time using resources owned by the company he worked for. Curtis's boss said that meant the gun was legally the company's property, and the boss wasn't likely to pay Curtis royalties. Curtis's original reason for becoming Chemistro was to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against his crooked boss, which led to the boss hiring Luke Cage for protection.
* ''ComicBook/IronMan'':
** The comic loves to simultaneously avert, lampshade and justify this trope, by pointing out negative implications of letting weaponized supervillain tech (or, more frequently, Iron Man's repulsor tech) out into the world. Once one of his enemies implanted repulsor-variant technology into terrorists' bodies, turning them into high-end suicide bombers. [[spoiler:Hundreds were killed and Stark Industries was completely wiped out.]]
** Iron Man once defeated a villain called the Living Laser. An alternate universe comic has him simply hiring the certified genius as Tony Stark. Unfortunately, this doesn't work because like most villains, he doesn't fit into society. This is arguably the best reason for not cutting Lex a check... villains who don't fit in still don't with money.
** Gregor Shapanka, the original Blizzard, is another subversion who started out as a legitimate Stark International engineer. However, he embezzled money from Stark's company to finance his own personal projects. When Stark fired him for theft, Shapanka became the costumed villain Blizzard to get revenge on Stark.
** Stark pointed this out in an ''Iron Man'' annual (as part of an interview in ''[[BlandNameProduct Playmates]]'' magazine) -- "Take the Melter, for instance: there had to be three-hundred separate industrial uses for that molecular destablization ray of his, and what does he end up using it for? Robbing banks and suchlike. Just plain stupid. He could've licensed that thing to Stark International and made ten times more money than he'd ever see from his ill-considered extortion schemes."
* Averted with ''ComicBook/AstroCity'''s Mock Turtle, who put his skills to creating PoweredArmor for a company, only for them to forbid him from piloting it, so he snapped and stole it.
** In the ''Tarnished Angel'' arc, Steeljack interviews the loved ones of supervillains who had recently turned up dead. The boyfriend of the Chain said that he always thought the Chain's technology to transfer one's consciousness into a metal body had a lot of potential in deep sea or space exploration, but whenever he brought that up the Chain would look at him like he was an idiot and say he didn't understand.
** Steeljack himself acknowledges this many times in the arc; whenever Astro City's low-level villains did manage to pull off a successful scheme, they would inevitably try to blow all their cash on their next scheme because "this is the next big heist, this is the one I'll retire with." By their actual retirement years, most of these local terrors and master criminals are living in slums, unable to find gainful employment because nobody trusts them. Steeljack muses at one point that he could have put his ChromeChampion body to work in a legal manner as a soldier or an explorer, but he was a low-level thug who lucked out, so of course the only thing that occurred to him at the time was using it to smash through bank walls.
** Deconstructed in Volume 2, Issue 10, "The Old Villain With the Money." Hiram Potterstone became the Junkman precisely because he ''wasn't'' allowed to work legitimately anymore, having been forced into retirement by the company he founded and not being able to find work elsewhere due to his age. And when he manages to pull off a bank heist and retire to Rio, he finds he's ill at ease because nobody ever found out who did it. He didn't want the money, he just wanted people to recognize that he was still brilliant. He ends up going so far as to recommit the crime, just so he can get caught and have his crimes on the public record.
* Minor Creator/MarvelComics D-lister Alexander Gentry is a subversion. He started out as a weapons designer for the military and developed a suit of porcupine-themed armor equipped with [[ComboPlatterPowers a wide variety of different weapons]]. Gentry thought that the U.S. government wouldn't pay him what he deserved for the armor, so he kept it for himself and became the supervillain Porcupine. Given how badly his villain career turned out, he probably would have been better off selling it to the military....
* Subverted by the Ultimate version of the Thinker, who turned to crime after he was fired from Roxxon for proposing alternative energy based on Vibranium.
** The Ultimate Mad Thinker, though, fails to use her SuperIntelligence productively because A: she's insane (a girl who cuts out chunks of her own brother's ''brain'' to graft to her own brain and "boost her thinking capabilities" is clearly not playing with a full deck), and B: she's out to get revenge on the governmental think-tank that expelled her for being too crazy.
* Averted in some Marvel comic or other. Molecule Man chats with another supervillain: "So eventually I got out of prison, and I thought?" "''Now I shall have my revenge!''" "No, no. ''Who needs the grief?'' With my powers I can live in luxury ''without'' ever doing anything to draw the heroes' attention."
* ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' once ran a series of text pieces chronicling the history of the team. One entry featured this quote about ComicBook/BaronZemo, one of ComicBook/CaptainAmerica's enemies from UsefulNotes/WorldWarII:
-->'''Rick Jones''': Funny thing, a guy like [Zemo]. He invented some kind of super-glue or something. I mean, if he would’ve found a practical use for it he would be the President of 3M or something. Right?
** For the record, Heinrich Zemo is an actual Nazi in most continuities. He probably *did* make a fortune back in the day, but he might have trouble finding buyers after the war.
* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'':
** An issue of ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'' lampshaded and subverted this trope with Ultimate Shocker. Unlike the main universe version, the ultimate version is a real loser seen as a joke by everyone and constantly mocked by Spider-Man. However, after learning that Shocker had created his blasters himself, Spider-Man asked him why he didn't make a fortune selling the technology. The subversion: Shocker reveals that he ''had'' worked for a big company creating inventions, and while said company made even more money, he was fired without seeing a single cent. Which also added a tragic aspect to the formerly laughable character, because he also explains how he studied at MIT until his eyes bled.
** {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d and played straight, one right after the other in ''Spider-Man''. When the Man Who Would Be Hobgoblin first examines the Green Goblin's cache of equipment, he remarks on how incredible the technology is. Specifically, that the personal bat glider must surely represent a breakthrough in the field of aeronautics, and how this proves ComicBook/NormanOsborn's insanity, since he could have made far more money by patenting the design than he could ever have hoped to by using it for crime. In his very next breath, however, the man states that keeping such a thing to yourself would be one part of proving yourself better than those around you, and thus using it for personal gain makes sense.
*** Averted after getting hit with the Inversion spell in ''ComicBook/{{AXIS}}'', Roderick Kingsley decides that he's going to franchise out the Hobgoblin name, turning it into a hero thing. It works, just that some people don't like that idea. By the end, he's even technically a reserve member of the Avengers.
** The Vulture is another one of those subversions who started out making money honestly. It was only after he had been ripped off by his business partner that Adrian Toomes decided to use his new flying harness as a professional criminal. In one of the Web of Spider-Man comics he actually goes further into this when asked by a fellow prisoner (who was the leader of a gang blackmailing him to build a vulture suit to fly out) why Toomes didn't just sell his technology (his partner is gone and can easily build the equipment with little resources -- he was making it in prison for at least the second time). [[spoiler:He tells him that since the partner who betrayed Toomes looked down on him as weak, he uses the equipment to do whatever he wanted so that no one ever would think he was weak again.]]
** One of Spider-Man's oldest enemies is the Tinkerer, an InsufferableGenius who specializes in making powerful weapons out of used technology. At first he was both a supplier to criminals and a criminal himself. However, after too many defeats that almost proved lethal for him, he gave up committing crimes himself, but still worked as an underworld weapons supplier. He may be an egomaniac (something that Spidey himself has called him) but he is perfectly lucid and could probably bring in far more profit if he worked for honest customers. (To emphasize how good he is... he's also the CrazyPrepared type. His inventions usually tend to have some sort of mechanism in them that he can trigger if a client refuses to pay him, making sure that they regret it.)
** Averted with [[ComicBook/DoctorOctopus Dr. Octopus]] in most of his incarnations: He was a scientist who invented and used his arms for legitimate research purposes. It took a lab accident fusing the arms to his body and driving him insane to turn him into a supervillain. Further subverted with the ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel'' version of Dr. Octopus. He was caught in an explosion as per usual, but S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist Henry Pym let his condition deteriorate to the point where his arms couldn't be removed. NiceJobBreakingItHero. Ock went on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the man he blamed for the explosion until he was captured. He later escaped from prison twice, both times attempting to continue his revenge spree against first S.H.I.E.L.D. and then his ex-wife, who was trying to profit off of his story. Upon subsequent arrest and running out of people to get revenge on, Ock made a deal with the FBI to use his knowledge of Spider-Man's DNA to produce Spider-Man clones for the agency. In the end it's played straight in a fight with Spider-Man, as Ock realizes that he ''likes'' being a supervillain, even if it's stupid and doesn't work out for him.
*** Even further subverted by him once he steals Peter Parker’s body and becomes the ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan. He decides that with his new lease on life that he’s going subvert this and ReedRichardsIsUseless by becoming the, well, superior Spider-Man, attempting to prove that given the chance he would be a greater hero than Parker ever was. He even manages to start a mega-corporation, Parker Industries.
** Actually, Spider-Man himself is a good example. Peter Parker invented a web-casting technology that can hold guys like the Rhino for up to an hour if he gets it on thick enough. He can fund the creation of more web fluid with a freelance photographer's salary, and the only thing he uses it for is to fight crime, all the while worrying about Aunt May. If he sold his web shooters to Police/Swat/SHIELD they would have an inexpensive, non-lethal way to hold villains that are ImmuneToBullets and Peter could afford to get Aunt May regular access to doctors at world class hospitals. Back when he was a teenager the legal hurdles might have been problematic, but now that he is buddies with Tony Stark it seems like Stark's lawyers could help smooth that stuff out (and Nick Fury likely being eager to push defense contractor money through the bureaucracy in exchange for web pistols for all his agents). Peter doesn't even need to stop being Spider-Man.
*** Spider-Man has tried to sell his web before, but usually as more household-friendly items like glue. Chemists were interested in its strength, until they realized it dissolved in an hour, and Peter hadn't gotten around to making a more permanent formula. Since Spidey once used his webbing to ''hold together a damaged building'' until the cops could evacuate the area, there'd also be a solid market in using it to shore up damaged or unstable buildings and environments until more permanent supports can be built and brought in.
*** In ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'', Peter is taken on-board the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, escapes, and gets his hands on one of the [[FamilyFriendlyFirearms expanding goo-firing pistols they already have]]. He quips that it'll save him on webbing.
*** In ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan'', S.H.I.E.L.D. appears to have his webbing in a form of cannon, suggesting that perhaps due to his affiliation with them, it's their decision what to do with it.
*** The ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'' comic series does a major {{Reconstruction}} of this trope when [[spoiler:Doctor Octopus]] pulls a [[spoiler:GrandTheftMe]] on Spider-Man and begins using his technology both to fight crime more effectively and make a profit as well. Unfortunately, using his technology that way allows [[spoiler:the Green Goblin]] to ''hijack it'' and use it to further his own criminal schemes.
*** In the novel ''Spider-Man and X-Men: Time's Arrow: The Present'', Spidey connects his early career, where he thought he was in it for the money, but was appearing on wrestling shows rather than selling his webbing, to the similar decisions made by his villains. It's not actually about the money; it's about proving everyone who laughed at you wrong.
** Like the Vulture, above, there's the recurring Spidey foe Slyde; Jalome Beecher created a frictionless, non-stick coating he planned to market for pans, but his place of business was taken over by a CorruptCorporateExecutive and he was fired (since the guy was using the place as a front to launder money for [[TheMafia The Maggia.]]) Needing money to [[StartMyOwn start his own]] business and market the coating, but unable to get a bank loan, he covered a costume with the coating and set out rob banks. He never planned to be a villain, seeing it as simply a means to a legitimate career (even saying he'd "trash the suit" and live a normal life when he got the money he needed). However, he fell prey to MotiveDecay and became a villain for reasons, only to eventually be killed by Hammerhead as an example to other villains that wouldn't join him during the ''ComicBook/CivilWar.''
** ''Spider-Man and the X-Men'' series
*** Spider-Man pleads with Sauron and tells him that he could use his technology to cure cancer instead of wildly impractical pursuits like transforming people into dinosaurs. [[MemeticMutation Sauron's response is a rather popular meme]];
---->'''Sauron:''' But I don't ''want'' to cure cancer. I want to turn people into dinosaurs.
*** A later issue of that same series reveals that apparently, Spidey foe Mysterio is actually something of an aversion of this. Turns out that a few years back Mysterio copyrighted the term "Sinister Six" behind the backs of his teammates. Now whenever other villains try to use the name for team-ups he forces them to pay royalties. Given how many villains have tried to steal the name since [[spoiler: Dr. Octopus's death]], this was probably a pretty smart move.
*** The first novel in the ''Literature/SinisterSixTrilogy'' discusses the irony of Mysterio's situation. The main thing that pushed him over the edge and caused him to become a supervillain was that he was an underpaid B-movie makeup and effects artist who felt nobody appreciated him or took his work seriously. Now, in the age of modern sci-fi and superhero blockbusters, someone with Mysterio's skills could make ''millions'' by working on major Hollywood productions, but his criminal actions have damaged his reputation to such a degree that he has zero chance of landing a legitimate job ever again.
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':
** Averted when ComicBook/TheRiddler performs a variant of this based on his compulsive disorder and rampant ego: he becomes a detective, to keep his ego inflated and potentially beat Batman at his own game, ''without'' having to worry about the inevitable Bat-Fist to the face and subsequent jail time should he fail.
*** In ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures'' the DCAU's version of the Riddler ultimately defies this trope by marketing some communications equipment he made for a criminal scheme as an advanced cell phone. He ends up earning a legitimate fortune, and even finds an outlet for his riddle compulsion by [[LoopholeAbuse sending Batman riddles without actually committing the associated crimes]].
** Averted when, at one point, the Riddler is seen chatting with ComicBook/ThePenguin, who has discovered he can make more money as a legitimate businessman selling cheaply made merchandise at extortionate, but legal, markups. Penguin averts this trope again with the Iceberg Lounge. Criminal empires are fun, but Batman tends to kick your ass. Solution? Open a prestigious nightclub that doubles as a BadGuyBar for Batman's huge RoguesGallery. It tends to get blown up a lot, but it provides a steady source of legal income, as well as making Batman just a ''bit'' more lenient on him, as Batman knows he can lean on Penguin for underworld info in exchange for looking the other way on minor lawbreaking.
** Sort of occurred with the Mad Hatter. He used to use his {{mind control}}ling hats to commit crimes, feeling that the riches he made this way would make him happy. So did he realize that he could cut out the middleman and sell the technology for all the riches he wanted? No! He realized that he could use the hats ''on himself'' to become blissfully happy whenever he wants, thus cutting out ''two'' middlemen. He still commits crimes, but now it's just for fun.
** In one comic, where Batman was relating to one of the Robins all of the death traps that he has foiled, Batman mentions a Haunted House of Death that ComicBook/TheScarecrow created to try and kill Batman. Robin states that Scarecrow would have made a fortune in the entertainment industry, making haunted houses for theme parks. Batman actually states that he recommended that to the Scarecrow after capturing him, but, Scarecrow being Scarecrow, he didn't listen. More generally, the Scarecrow could probably have named his own price for selling his fear toxins to spy agencies like the CIA or [=MI6=], or to political dictators. Instead, he prefers to pursue his own research using the people of Gotham as his unwilling guinea pigs.
** In one [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' story, ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} establishes up a fashion magazine as part of plan to steal a fur coat. Think about what the investment versus return on that particular caper must have been. Somewhat justifiable; the Catwoman -- no matter her incarnation -- isn't in the game for the profit; she's in it for the rush.
** Another [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] ''Batman'' story has a character named Carlos who had a phony mind-reading show; Bruce figured right away he was using code words to get the answers, gaining real mind-reading powers following a car accident and emergency brain surgery that "Fate slyly played its hand in". He does use his power to make money somewhat legally at first, in card games and radio shows, but decides to turn to crime so he can make even more money. He hits this trope head on when he learns Batman and Robin's real names, but can't think of anything better than to blackmail them into keeping away from him. It bites him on the ass when his last robbery victim [[spoiler:[[DeathBySecretIdentity fatally shoots him in the back]] while he's distracted fighting Batman]].
** There was another [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] ''Batman'' story featuring a person with a photographic memory. Despite graduating from college with ''every degree possible'', this guy couldn't get any work better than stage acts. He was recruited by mobsters so that he could memorize secret information without taking the relevant documents themselves and later sell said info, under the condition that the mobsters [[EvenEvilHasStandards don't kill anyone during their jobs.]] The man's skills are proven when he forces Batman to fight dirty, renders him and Robin unconscious via nerve pinching, and ''perfectly copies the Batplane.'' Ultimately, since this story takes place during WWII, the story is subverted when Batman saves the man's life and recommends him to the Army so his talents can be used against the Axis to atone for what he's done.
** Victor Fries, or Mr. Freeze, was originally an inexplicable cold-based villain, already falling under this trope. The guy has a gun that turns thermodynamics upside down and rather than patent that and claim his Nobel, he robs banks. ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' established he was trying to save his frozen wife and committed crimes to get the necessary funds. He was a downright sympathetic AntiVillain. He's also essentially ageless with a technology that could be invaluable to the rest of the world. Given he's not just in it ForTheEvulz, one's got to wonder why he doesn't just go legit, prove what he's done, and wait for university and corporate backers to line up just for a chance to throw resources at him. One comic suggested that, while he is not in it ForTheEvulz, he's also not willing to part with any of his inventions (with the occasional case-by-case exception) until Nora is all fixed. In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'', Hugo Strange pokes at this idea when he speaks with Freeze, claiming that Victor could have cured Nora a long time ago if he'd gone to others for help and not spent his time working alone and blaming others. Considering that it's ''Hugo Strange'', however, it's debatable how much of that he actually believes - Especially since Freeze's chronologically first appearance in the Arkhamverse shows that Fries ''did'' try asking others for help at first, only for Boyle to never honor his side of the agreement, which is what drove Victor to attempt the experiment that Boyle interrupted, which turned Victor Fries into Mr Freeze.
*** Considering the commonality of his origins and his backstory, Victor was always a bit troubled until he met Nora and the incident that turned him into Freeze also appeared to give him severe trust issues.
*** It still doesn't explain why Batman never contacted his 'good friend' and public sponsor Bruce Wayne to employ Fries to work on his own terms. Avoiding this trope is part of the reason that the ComicBook/New52 retconned Victor into a lunatic. [[spoiler: Nora was never his wife. She had been frozen for over fifty years, and he fell in love while doing his doctoral thesis on her.]] The fandom was not pleased with this retcon and it was gotten rid of not long afterwards restoring his original motivation.
** [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] points out in Website/TheAgonyBooth review of ''Batman'' #147, that the scientist Garth could have patented an age-reversing ray instead of working with jewel thieves.
** In ''Shadow of the Bat'', there was this one Batman villain named the Human Flea who invented a device allowing him to jump extraordinarily high. The Human Flea went around robbing diners to save his father from going bankrupt. After capturing the Human Flea, Batman tells the supervillain that he could make himself rich off patenting his invention. The Human Flea responds that he never thought of that.
** ComicBook/PoisonIvy falls into a variant of this that actually exists in real life: ecoterrorism, wherein an attempt at enacting social/environmental change is done in such a way that discourages people from doing as desired. Making things far worse than real cases, she really is an absolute genius with plants, able to create miraculous strains that could solve all ''sorts'' of environmental problems that harm the plant ecosystem, the sort of thing she fights for... if only she would market her creations on the legitimate market, rather than turning them into weapons to try and wipe out all humanity, if not all animal life. For instance, she could bring about an instant end to logging by selling seeds for a tree that produces wood that can be harvested in large quantities without killing the tree (and does so much more frequently than letting trees grow the old way), instead of making trees that have digestive systems and eat loggers.
*** Batman even tried to reason with her in a one-shot issue where she planned to murder a CorruptCorporateExecutive who had napalmed an island (killing plant life ''and'' the poverty-stricken humans who lived there) telling her how much good she could do with her powers if she tried. His speech convinced her to spare the man's life (brainwashing him with her pheromones into confessing to the police) but nothing more.
*** In general, Poison Ivy's inability to market herself productively is generally given a simple explanation: she's absolutely ''batshit insane''. Whilst whether or not she was an [[WesternTerrorists eco-extremist]] before her transformation varies DependingOnTheWriter, after her transformation, she completely lost her mind. At best, she's become a TautologicalTemplar who can't understand that non-violence would actually make her message more convincing. Furthermore, there's also that despite Ivy's supposed ideological motivation, her crimes also have a selfish motivation driven by her past as a mousy wallflower with strict parents and being used by the college professor she liked for the experiments that turned her into Ivy. Presumably, her crimes (such as subjugating and seducing men) are done out of her spite.
*** In the Convergence comics, when Poison Ivy loses her powers and Gotham is hurting for food and supplies, several different versions of Ivy become the city's best assets. Her knowledge of plants helps keep the population from starving, and her fighting experience with Batman means that no one is going to steal from her.
** Inverted with Roman Sionis, aka. "Black Mask". Before he took on his alias he was, like Bruce, a wealthy entrepreneur from an established Gotham family... and he failed ''miserably'' at it. It was only after he elected to go around with a blackened wooden mask and [[TortureTechnician feed bits of people to other people]] that he really found himself in his element.
* One scene from the Creator/PattonOswalt-penned ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'' story "Welcome to the Working Week" sees Batman convince Flash's enemy the Weather Wizard to sell his latest weather control device to Wayne Industries (who will use the device to help irrigate deserts) for $50 million plus royalties rather than use it to rob a bank, which would likely only net the criminal $30,000 to $40,000 at most. Batman also hints that the royalties might be enough to allow the Weather Wizard to retire from his life of crime. The Wizard actually seems to be thinking about it.
* Marvel's Plantman has the same problem as Poison Ivy, except he was always considered a [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain pretty lame villain]] by heroes, and didn't care much for the environment, only using his powers for selfish reasons or a deluded dream of world conquest. Spider-Man once called him out on it with the typical YouCouldHaveUsedYourPowersForGood speech (to which the villain thanked him for the career advice, but said he "always had my heart set on world domination", and Plantman ''himself'' admitted in ''Paradise X'' how much more well-off he'd have been if he had used his powers to fight world hunger. (Of course, he seriously TookALevelInBadass when he joined the ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}'' and changed his name to Blackheath.)
* ''ComicBook/{{Sleepwalker}}'':
** Subverted with the villain 8-Ball, who actually started out working for a defense firm as an engineer, before he was fired when his employers thought he was selling company secrets to pay his large gambling debts, leading him to create his weapons and costumed identity.
** Subverted with Spectra, who first got a job in a laboratory so she could rob the place, only to obtain superhuman powers after Sleepwalker interferes in the robbery. At first, she seems poised to become a criminal, but when she reappears it turns out she's gotten a legitimate job using her light-generating powers.
** One of his first villains was Crimewave, who wanted to, among other things, kidnap models and hold the valuable clothes they were wearing hostage... using his remote-controlled, armored van with a tentacles-and-guns self-defense system. This is justified, as the bad guy cares more about fame--he even has his own cameraman--than actually making a profit or toppling Kingpin.

* Doctor Lovecraft in the ''Franchise/{{Justice League|OfAmerica}}'' initially did legitimate work for his company, but when they pursued financial wrongdoing, they allowed him to pursue more dangerous experiments to create mutates to steal for the company. As these mutates later devolved out of sentience, this explains why he could not have gone public with his results.
* The Trapster follows this trope to a T. He invented a type of super adhesive and decided to use it to rob banks instead of just patenting it, for some reason that they never explained. He even got a pardon after his first criminal outing, by helping the Avengers defeat Baron Zemo and yet still went back to crime after that. In a rather excellent print short story, the Trapster completely subverts this trope. He changes his name and begins selling his products on behalf of a Seen on TV company. His inventions are successful, he starts dating, and he even gets to ham it up on television. Unfortunately his old colleague the Wizard sees him enjoying himself and threatens him into going back to his Trapster identity and threatening a live studio audience, [[spoiler:but his girlfriend talks him down in a touching ''on camera'' scene just before U.S. Agent clocks him in the jaw. As the story ends, Trapster is a sympathetic reformed criminal who keeps the girl and his job and gets legal representation to help clear up his parole problems]]. None of this is canon.
** In a much later issue, ComicBook/BlackPanther fights the Trapster, and notes that the villain's traps are all incredibly advanced and well designed. While beating the stuffing out of him, [[CasualDangerDialog Panther casually mentions]] that he might have work for the Trapster when he gets out of jail.
* The third issue ever of the ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' has an inverted invocation of this trope: the villain in this case, the Miracle Man, is a stage magician who used his skills as a hypnotist and illusionist to fool the Fantastic Four into thinking he had powers far greater than theirs. Then he used these powers to fight them off as he went around stealing jewelry. Reed Richards ultimately deduced that his powers were phony and pointed out that if those powers were real, the Miracle Man could easily have conjured up all the jewels and treasure he wanted without having to stoop to such petty thievery in the first place.
* Averted with ComicBook/TheAtom's foe the Bug-Eyed Bandit, who became a criminal because no one ''would'' buy his technology -- no one would fund his research without a working model of it, but he couldn't build a working model of it without funding. Eventually, he got so ticked off that he just stole the money he needed, built his tech at last and used it to become a career criminal.
* Linkara called the one-shot ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'' villain "The Surgeon General" on her whole organ-stealing shtick, which inherently relies on being a ''skilled surgeon''. Of course, what Linkara probably forgot is this schtick is TruthInTelevision, and the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_trade organ trade]] is very real, as [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} That Other Wiki]] shows.
* ''ComicBook/TheAuthority'' tends to do this in varied ways. "Tank Man" is simply talked into giving up his murderous ways and settling down (it doesn't turn out well, but they tried). Jacob Krigstien is given an outlet for his world-changing habits by being allowed to do it in a non-killing-people way. An animal-abusing psychopath is put on retainer for when the Authority needs to get information out of human-abusing psychopaths.

* The Trickster:
** {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in one ''Robin'' issue where he's beating up the Trickster. He points out to him that he has shoes that can walk on air, and by mass producing them, he'd be ten times richer than Bruce Wayne. Instead, he rents himself out as a mercenary.
** In an earlier issue of ''ComicBook/BlueDevil'', the first Trickster is also asked why he didn't market his shoes. He points out they've just finished a storyline in which he tried to do that and the buyers tried to A) kill him and B) forcibly secede California, though he does consider trying to resell to a "reputable" organization [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter like SKULL]]. Also, DependingOnTheWriter, he may have been more interested in the attention than the money.
* The Prankster, one of Superman's less dangerous enemies, uses elaborate pranks and gags for his crimes, often using them to delay or distract Superman rather than outright battle him. At one point, he became a professional hero-distracter, doing things like putting people's lives at risk so Superman would let crooks get away to save them. This worked so well for The Prankster than he even had a full staff of well-paid assistants to help him plan all the distraction's details, including which current events would be more distracting when disrupting them with his pranks, and how much time he needed to keep Superman distracted while the villains and crooks hiring Prankster could commit their crime and escape.
* Superman fought a guy called Funny Face during the [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]]; an unsuccessful comic strip writer, he was ''much'' better at science, inventing a device that could bring [[ArtInitiatesLife comic strip characters to life]] and [[MakeMyMonsterGrow enlarge them to titanic size]]. Superman couldn't even ''touch'' these guys, much less fight them, and the only way he even ''found'' the villain is when Lois, who had been kidnapped, got the idea to write the address of his hideout on one character's shirt before the device was used. Still, Funny Face used it to rob banks and museums. In fact, the next time he appeared - much later, in an issue of ''ComicBook/AllStarSquadron'' - the heroes were dumbfounded as why he'd be stupid enough to use his miraculous invention for something as petty as pulling robberies.
* In the 2017 holiday issue of ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'', Superman encounters a desperate bank robber who built a JetPack in his garage after losing his job at a lab, and convinces him to use his intelligence for good and patent it after he gets out of jail.
-->'''Superman:''' I'm sorry, you built this ''in your garage''?\\
'''Robber:''' I mean, yeah I, the guys at the lab all said I was crazy, they-\\
'''Superman:''' You built a ''jet pack'' in your garage and your first thought was, "I should use this to commit a crime"?\\
'''Robber:''' ...Well, when you put it ''that'' way...

* The Circus of Crime may be D-list villains, but they're excellent circus performers. If they would go straight and abandon the "hypnotize the crowd and rob them blind" shtick, they could pull in plenty of money without getting beat up and thrown in jail. At least one comic had them propose doing that... then lament that it wouldn't really be all that profitable, since not too many people care about the circus anymore. (Indeed, the reason they turned to crime in the first place was because their leader, Maynard Tidboldt the Ringmaster, felt his relatively small circus couldn't compete with the enormous ones that Americans were familiar with. Thing is, more modern depictions of Tidboldt's circus are rather large and seem pretty good in comparison.)

* Minor-league Creator/MarvelComics supervillain [[RingsOfDeath The Ringer]] thoroughly subverts this trope. He actually ''started out'' working as a legitimate engineer for NASA, but he got a serious case of GreenEyedMonster syndrome when he saw wealthy business executives like [[RichIdiotWithNoDayJob Kyle Richmond]] getting rich off the hard work of people like him. The Ringer originally embarked on his career to get revenge for the little guy by robbing Kyle Richmond, who was secretly the superhero Nighthawk. After Nighthawk defeated him and he escaped from jail, the Ringer tried again with an upgraded battlesuit that allowed him to gather condensed air particulates and assemble them into a substance that was almost as strong as steel and that he could use to make additional rings whenever he needed them. Despite the fact that this invention could probably have revolutionized the steel industry, to say nothing of manufacturing in general, the Ringer simply uses it to... try and market the battlesuit to his criminal contacts, but then the Beetle forces him to fight Spider-Man and he gets his ass kicked.
* Another minor league supervillain, the Water Wizard, originally got the power to [[MakingASplash control water]] after a freak accident, but simply couldn't figure out what to do with it. It was only after a friend of his suggested he use his powers for crime that he became a supervillain, although he turned out to be an [[{{Pun}} utter washout]] as a supervillain. He improved somewhat after changing his codename to Aqueduct, but not by much.

* ComicBook/{{Invincible}} once ran into a guy who'd invented a "gravity gun" in his basement and used it to rob a bank. He had considered selling his invention, but he needed the money ''now'' and that sounded like a long and complicated process. He is really bad at being a supervillain, and Mark lets him go (and returns the money back to the bank) with the advice that he should just sell the technology. In next issue it turns out that he sold the gun... to a bank robber. He didn't know who to see or call about this stuff. After capturing the second robber, Mark takes the guy to Cecil, the head of a super-secret government agency responsible for handling superheroes and supervillains, who gives him a very high-paying job to invent new weapons.
* Franchise/XMen villain Arcade is a hitman who disposes of victims by dropping them into ridiculously elaborate, carnival themed deathtraps he calls Murderworlds. Arcade charges a million dollars per victim, which doesn't come close to covering his expenses. However, Arcade also happens to be one of the wealthiest men on the planet, so doesn't need the money-he just does what he does because he's a psychopath that enjoys the misery he puts people through in his Murderworlds far more than the money he'd get killing them.
* ''ComicBook/{{Justice}}'' demonstrates and deconstructs this trope. As part of their latest scheme, the Legion of Doom pretend to go straight and use their technology and powers to help people instead of committing crimes. Brainiac uses his city-shrinking tech to build cheap paradise cities where nobody has to work, Scarecrow uses his chemistry knowledge to make miracle cures and elixirs, Toyman uses his robotics skills to build artificial limbs for the disabled, Captain Cold uses his cold gun to provide desert communities with abundant water, and more. The results are incredibly profitable and make people love them, but it's all a trick led by Lex Luthor and Brainiac. Why didn't they just take the money and popularity? Because they're egotistical, self-centered jerks who either [[EvilCannotComprehendGood refuse to acknowledge that altruism can help them]] or are using their enemies to try and [[NeverMyFault excuse away their shitty personalities]].
* D-list DC villain Sonar is an interesting case of this, as he was never after money in the first place. He became a supervillain in pursuit of his main goal to make his tiny native country of Modora famous, and invented and built several sound-based devices to commit crimes in order to accomplish this, capable of mental manipulation, ranged sonic attacks, lifting massive objects, and even independent flight. However, he never gets the idea that he could make his country famous and himself massively rich simply selling the technology, or better yet, giving it to the government of his homeland to turn it into a high-tech paradise, never realizing how fleeting his own exploits are and how it makes his own country look bad, if anything, compared to the country having actual value to the world. One has to imagine "home of that guy Green Lantern beats up once a month" isn't going to bring in many tourists. For that matter, using his technology to become a ''superhero'' (especially if he adopted a CaptainPatriotic theme) would've also done far more to bring fame to his nation.
* The Prowler, a former ComicBook/SpiderMan enemy turned friend is yet another subversion. Hobie Brown worked as a window cleaner and used his engineering talents to create special equipment to make his job safer. He hoped to make money legally with his inventions, but mistreatment from his racist boss turned him into an AngryBlackMan who modifies his gear to use it for crime as the Prowler. He's confronted by Spider-Man, who convinces him to give up crime. After his HeelFaceTurn, Hobie continues using the Prowler identity and equipment as a superhero, assisting Spider-Man several times. He even uses his Prowler gear to make money as a [[WeHelpTheHelpless superhero for hire]], working for ComicBook/SilverSable, and as a CostumeCopycat and bodyguard for Peter Parker.
* Fabian Stankowicz is a particularly hilarious subversion. Stankowicz was an ordinary guy who became a multimillionaire after winning the lottery. Having a lot of engineering smarts but not a lot of common sense, Stankowicz decides that the only natural thing to do with his fortune is...build an army of killer robots and try to fight ComicBook/TheAvengers. He turned out to be an IneffectualSympatheticVillain, to the point that many heroes even didn't think him worth fighting. His lowest point was arguably when he was defeated by ''Creator/DavidLetterman'', a middle-aged talk show host with no superpowers or combat training.
* Stuart Clarke, who debuted in Marvel's ''[[ComicBook/Champions1975 Champions]]'' comics, is a subversion who shows that science smarts don't always translate to business smarts. Clarke was a brilliant engineer who started out running a legitimate technology company similar to [[ComicBook/IronMan Stark Enterprises]], including competing with Tony Stark in selling PoweredArmor, but unlike Tony Stark he was an inept businessman. His company was hit hard by the recession, but he refused his accountant's advice to sell it. [[NeverMyFault Blaming the federal government's trade practices]] for his company's downfall, he used his armor to start robbing banks as the supervillain Rampage, intending to use the money to pay off his creditors. He rationalized that only the government would suffer, since it insured the banks and would compensate their losses. He was crippled when he crossed paths with the Champions, and things went downhill from there.
* This defines the second Moonstone of Marvel comics, Karla Sofen, cannot go straight even when she actually tries. She has a medical degree in psychiatry and was making good money on it. However she could have been making even more money if she had actually gained a reputation for curing her patients, which in many cases she could, rather than purposefully undermining their self worth to see if she could induce suicides. Even refusing to cure a patient and just continually subscribing them treatment in an otherwise long and healthy life would make her more money than she has, but that simply isn't enough induced suffering to satiate her sadistic streak. While tormenting the original Moonstone, Lloyd Bloch, she inadverdently breaks him so hard that the alien technology he was relying on become hers. Instead of using this lucky break in any number of legal revenue avenues she intentionally searches out criminal outfits to join, which finally destroys her reputation as a psychiatrist. Almost every legitimate business venture she has since started has turned out to be a scam. In the rare instances she has done something completely legal it still ended up branching into illegal activity at the earliest opporiunity it seemed like a quicker way to earn money more or she thought she could get away with causing someone else discomfort for giggles.
* Comicbook/{{Thunderbolts}} involves the [[CardCarryingVillain Masters Of Evil]] disguising themselves as superheroes and committing the occasional good act. Some members, like Songbird, genuinely want to reform but don't want to go through the legal process. Some, like Atlas, literally had no where else to go. Others just wanted to rob the adoring public blind. In issue twelve, Baron Zemo reveals the whole thing had been a front for his latest attempt at WorldDomination, but Moonstone tracks him down, beats him up and takes over the group because that would get in the way of the many long running scams she had planned to profit from.