History Main / CutLexLuthoraCheck

* ''Manga/SuccubusAndHitman'': {{Lampshaded}}. Mount Beatdown uses magic to turn Shouya and Kaname's ammunition into gold when they start attacking him. Shouya quickly does the math aloud on the value of the gold cartriges and shotgun shells and concludes that Mount Beatdown is in the wrong business; he irritatedly retorts that [[{{Handwave}} the power isn't unlimited]].

* Zig-Zagged in ''Film/{{Chappie}}'': The villain turns villainous because the remote-controlled, heavily-armed combat mecha he designed was overlooked by South African police in favour of the AI-controlled robots that are smaller, more modular, and suited for urban environments. Over the course of the film, he is motivated by a desire to prove that his mecha is much more effective in fighting crime than the robots. That he believes AI is evil is just the icing on the cake. On the other hand, his mecha ''is'' overkill for urban policing, even in Johannesburg. One wonders why neither he (as an ex-military man) nor his boss tried to arrange meetings with actual military officers who would have lapped up an advanced combat mecha like that.

* ZigZagged by [[BigBad Dr. Eggman]] in ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog2020''. His brilliant inventions could earn him a lot of honest money, but he ''does'' work for the American government, meaning he has an "honest" job - even though it's mentioned he helped in coups against nations in the Middle East. However after obtaining one of Sonic's quills, he uses it for his own purposes of building more robots and plotting to TakeOverTheWorld instead of researching it as a new energy source. It is justified, however, because Eggman's massive ego meant that once he had access to Sonic's limitless energy he would no longer need to work ''under'' others and could instead put everyone else in their ''rightful'' place beneath him.
* In ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2014'', Sacks has a building in downtown Manhattan, a mansion home outside of town, helicopter, resources to have labs - but he's evidently not rich ''enough''. He wants to be "[[LampshadeHanging stupid rich]]", by poisoning the city and selling the cure.
* ''Film/ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKid'' has Butch briefly wonder about this sort of thing, noting at one point that E.H. Harriman ''must'' be spending more on things like a special train and a super-posse composed of experts from all across the US to stop Butch and Sundance's robberies than they could possibly be stealing from him in those robberies, even admitting that if Harriman used that money to just pay them off to stop robbing him then they ''would'' stop robbing him.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld''

* From the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series is the MegaCorp Umbrella Corporation, which had enough legitimate profit as the world's leading pharmaceutical company to not be dabbling in bio-weapons. And on top of that, when you consider what they are able to accomplish with their research, they'd probably make much, much more money pursuing something legitimate and marketable, as opposed to selling mutants and skinless dogs on the black market.
** What makes it even sadder is that all the money that was invested in making these biological weapons could have vastly improved the lives of the civilian world. All these villains could have helped people had they wanted to and still have made a huge profit off of it.
** Edward Ashford, one of the three original founders of Umbrella, did indeed want to research the regenerative abilities of the Virus, if only for the scientific value and potentially healing the sick. He, however, contracted a viral infection (unspecified if it was related to said research). As Marcus, the other founder besides Spencer, [[MadScientist had no business acumen]], Spencer was left the de facto leader (until Marcus's assassination).
** The zombie virus actually bit Umbrella in the ass. At the beginning of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'', it is revealed that for the zombifying of and forcing the nuking of Raccoon City the US government [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome froze Umbrella's assets, the price of their stock dropped, and the company was forced into bankruptcy.]]
** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' revealed that Oswald Spencer's ultimate goal with Umbrella was to mutate a virus he'd discovered into something that would make him godlike and immortal. All the zombies, skinless dogs, and mutants were byproducts of this research. Spencer still crosses the MoralEventHorizon by trying to weaponize them and not giving a damn about any of his employees' lives.
** Lampshaded in one of the notes in [[VideoGameRemake the remake]], where Wesker was looking over the books and realized there was no way Umbrella could turn a profit, even on the black market, with all of the [=RnD=] costs that went into it. The only possible way that Umbrella could even break even was if an "accidental" outbreak occurred and killed all of the staff so they didn't have to get paid...
** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'' sheds some light on Umbrella's madness: [[spoiler:the Simmons Family is Biohazard's version of TheIlluminati. The Family secretly controlled America since colonial times from the sidelines, and had a controlling influence on the Umbrella Corporation, giving them access to Spencer's research with every breakthrough]]. So, Spencer was at war with America all along, and some of his planned outbreaks were meant to brick his research from being stolen by 'them', while weeding out their potential spies.

* ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'': The franchise as a whole zig-zags on this idea. The modern-day [[MegaCorp Abstergo Industries]] is a front for UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar who are dedicated to [[TakeOverTheWorld taking over the world]] by [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill abolishing free will]], and they have dedicated much of the past several hundred years to locating [[{{Precursors}} First Civilization artifacts]] as their creators were specialists in mind control. While they keep the artifacts themselves a close secret, they've reverse-engineered a lot of the ancients' technology and shared it with the mass market and have profited enormously thereby. Their most valuable technology by far, however, remains a secret: the Animus, a machine allowing GeneticMemory to be experienced and recorded in real-time. By the time of ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag'', they've perfected the Animus sufficiently to create a version that allows ordinary people to replay memories not in their own bloodline. Rather than offer this to researchers, historians, and documentarians to permit humanity to gain a never-before-attained glimpse into the truth of the past, they instead form an entertainment division dedicated to selling video games and feature films with dumbed-down, mass-market dreck based on heavily edited and propagandized versions of the lives that they've unearthed. The given justification is that making money and benefiting humanity are secondary to their main goal of turning humans into easily controlled sheep. On a meta level, [[TakeThatUs Ubisoft is parodying themselves]].
** There's one additional element revealed in the series (mostly II): the Templars effectively invented modern capitalism and its institutions as a way to conceal their activities in an increasingly connected world from an increasingly literate and informed public, for roughly the reasons they helped end aristocratic traditions. Just as nobody questions why a random person wields great power in a world where it appears any common citizen can succeed and eventually wield great power, nobody questions why a business concern (or later corporation) is doing things if those things clearly make money. Effectively, Abstergo already has ''wealth'' (what money can buy): they only make money to obfuscate how much of what they have money actually ''can't'' buy. They view a profit motive as one of their manipulative tools; it's no surprise they don't value it themselves.
* ''VideoGame/Portal2'':
** Under Cave Johnson's leadership, Aperture made genuinely miraculous inventions that would revolutionize industry, transit, and artificial intelligence. However, Cave Johnson refuses to sell them to the public, instead using them solely for extremely dangerous "tests". In fairness to the man, he was blitzed out of his mind on moon rocks at the time.
** What little technology he did allow to be sold were marketed for completely unrelated reasons. The Portal Gun was initially marketed as a shower curtain alternative, and two gels they made that repelled any substance that made contact with them was sold as diet drugs (which ended up killing anyone who took them since the food would just bounce out of their stomachs instead of being digested). This is implied to be a combination of extreme tunnel vision on Cave's part (because his company initally made it big selling shower curtains) and because Black Mesa may have stolen the Turret from them and then made a killing off of selling it to the US military, so Cave tried to market their turrets (and other subsequent products) as domestic home-use items.
** Comically zig-zagged in the Perpetual Testing Initiative dialogues about the various alternate Caves; in one universe Cave actually had the common sense to market his inventions and actually took over Aperture's main rival Black Mesa and prevented the entire plot of the ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' series from happening by vetoing the dangerous experiment that led to the whole mess. In another, he was apparently comically evil enough to spend all of his resources ''teleporting in a cube of frozen urine as a practical joke'' (which Cave Prime had to melt with hairdryers before it could be teleported out).
** Cave Prime initially came up with the initiative because building the testing arenas was bleeding him dry (he still hasn't figured out he could sell his inventions, which at this point included ''a multi-dimensional gate'' and proving that there are other universes in existence) and instead wanted to con other universes into building the arenas for him. Subverting it in that he did end up making a profit, but not by selling his inventions. Rather he managed to get his man to jump through enough universes to find one made entirely of money.
* The trope is played with throughout the ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' series, ultimately turning out to have majorly backfired when it did happen. The main villain, [[spoiler:Junko Enoshima, is the second smartest human being on Earth, and the smartest naturally occurring one, as the smartest person was made into that via mad science. Unfortunately, she's so smart that regular existence is extremely miserable for her due to extreme boredom, as her analytical ability essentially allows her to predict the future with flawless accuracy purely from pattern recognition, meaning nothing ever comes as a surprise to her. The only thing that alleviates her boredom is despair (both that of others and herself), because it makes people act in ways that not even she can predict, leading her to successfully cause the apocalypse just to stop being bored]]. It's then revealed that that person's protégé is just as smart, and just as insane. The only difference is that the protégé is also [[spoiler:the illegitimate daughter of the CEO of the largest tech company around, the Towa Group. As TheUnfavourite she's been abused all her life, but when her father sees her robotics genius, she's put in charge of their robotics division while still a tween. However, by this point, she's already been "adopted" by Junko (and was a sociopath beforehand, attempting to trick her friends into a SuicidePact with no intention of joining), and begins building Junko's Monokuma robots for the aforementioned apocalypse and the killing game of the first game. Not only that, but when her father finds out what she's up to, he uses the foreknowledge of the coming downfall of humanity to save their city, take it over, and is working towards taking over the rest of the world when she later kills him after Junko's death]]. Needless to say, giving these people infinite resources to build things probably wasn't the best plan, considering [[spoiler:billions die]].

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'', one sidequest deals with a pair of crime bosses fighting over their organization. Should you take one of them out and then convince the other to give up their life of crime, she turns up in the next game on [[WretchedHive Omega]], [[GoodFeelsGood using her people skills and knowledge of the criminal underworld for social work]].
-->'''Paragon Shepard:''' That's... more noble than I expected.
* In the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' setting, the Red Wizards of Thay are mostly known as a tyrannical {{magocracy}} with aspirations to world conquest. In ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'''s second expansion ''Storm of Zehir'', though, there's a magic shop in Neverwinter run by a Red Wizard who says making money selling magic items is a better use of his associates' time.
* In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', the Great Khans have members that were taught chemistry and decided to use it [[DrugsAreBad to manufacture drugs.]] A Courier can point out to them that the same knowledge could also be used to make medicine, and in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, the latter is likely to be more profitable - something they'll quickly agree with.
** In the backstory, this was what led to the Gun Runners turning from just another two-bit raider gang to becoming the West Coast's premier arms dealers. They came across a weapons manufacturing plant with functional blueprints and managed to establish themselves as high-quality merchants of death and one of the economic powerhouses of the NCR.
* {{Justified|Trope}} in ''VideoGame/EvilGenius'' and ''VideoGame/EvilGenius2'' - while several of the playable geniuses do have the capacity to earn money via legitimate means, they want to rule the world for reasons ''beyond'' wealth - Maximillian wants it to make up for the lack of love and respect he has received all his life, Alexis wants it out of pride, and Zalika believes in TheEvilsOfFreeWill.
* Cyrille Le Paradox, the villain of ''Videogame/SlyCooperThievesInTime'', is already a successful crime lord with an excellent cover identity as a fine art collector and probably would have been fine had he not wanted to mess with the timeline in order to retroactively beat the Cooper Clan and erase them from existence. Instead not only does he nearly cause a TimeCrash but he ends up exposing himself as a criminal and getting arrested, with Sly insulting him during their final fight for his short-sightedness.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'', Plankton actually sells all of his evil inventions in order to get enough money to pay everyone in town to sign a petition to bulldoze the Krusty Krab. He even manages to buy Mr. Krab's signature... four times! The only person who doesn't sign the petition is [=SpongeBob=], but he still has the majority on his side "and in a democracy, that's all you need", so the Krusty Krab is bulldozed... [[spoiler:[[ShaggyDogStory one foot away, so it will comply with the new law that says all fast-food restaurants must be at least 100 feet away from each other.]]]]
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'':
** In one episode Dr. Doofenshmirtz's technology was being used in optometrist appointments and he started receiving royalty checks, however, he was angry that his invention was being used for good. So he decided to "balance it out" by making an -inator that would give people poor vision, forcing them to use the same device and give him even more money.
** Doofenshmirtz actually appeared on an episode of ''[[Series/DragonsDen Shark Tank]]'', a series where inventors pitch their ideas to a panel of potential investors. Doofenshmirtz pitched his Shrinkinator, stating that he originally designed it to shrink City Hall and put it in his pocket for ransom, but decided that everyone could use one, giving examples of making more closet space and shrinking your car if you can't find a parking space. It's simple to use, as there's only two controls: a forward-reverse switch... and [[InventionalWisdom a self-destruct button]]. Doofenshmirtz stated that each one costs $1,000 to make and would sell them for $1,001. Mark Cuban offered to accept the pitch, on the basis of owning 95% of the company and receiving a $2 royalty for every $1 Doofenshmirtz got for selling a Shrinkinator. Doofenshmirtz thought the deal sounded pretty good and would have accepted if he hadn't accidentally pressed the self-destruct button.
** At one point, Doofenshmirtz tried to use his genius to create a working formula that brought hair back and market it legally, which would've flown off the shelves...if he didn't name it [[AmbiguousSyntax "Get Back Hair".]]
--->'''Singers:''' Geeeeeeet back haaaaaaaair...
** In another episode, Doofenshmirtz creates a device that rapidly ages anything he shoots with it, which he uses to rapidly age cheese to perfect flavor. He ends up trying to use it maliciously anyway, since [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Perry ate all of his cheese out of gluttony]], justifiably angering him.
* In ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinChronicles'', Jack Spicer actually uses his tech skills to make money in episode 9 (though in more of a Geek Squad way than by using his own inventions). Especially noticeable since he often makes huge robotics breakthroughs (both in this series and the previous one) and has never really seemed to consider selling his skills until now. However, he only started having money troubles recently, so he might not have needed to before (in the first series, he explicitly has rich parents).
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E19ADogAndPonyShow A Dog and Pony Show]]", the Diamond Dogs could make a lot more money in their mining outfit acting as businesscanines instead of kidnappers. Both Rarity and the Diamond Dogs want gems, Rarity can dowse for gems but can't dig, and the Diamond Dogs can dig but can't dowse. The math should've been obvious, even to a race that's naturally BookDumb (hell, it's actually shown ''on-screen'' to be the most profitable system the Diamond Dogs have ever seen, since it takes the whole cast to cart away the amount mined in a single afternoon).
* The ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS11E3TheOldManAndTheBigC The Old Man and the Big 'C']]" shows that Carter Pewterschmidt has the CureForCancer but [[WithholdingTheCure refuses to sell it]] on the grounds that it would be a short-term gain, long-term loss, because he also makes money on chemotherapy and pharmaceutical treatments. Ignoring the fact that his fortune came from about a hundred other enterprises, including his inheritance, he's obviously not aware of how much money and praise will get ''showered'' at him if he were to unveil the holy grail of medicine; sometimes publicity is more valuable than the product. Not to mention that not even his ''original'' reasoning makes sense. Since we see him after having taken the drug, we can assume that it is a ''cure'' for cancer, not a ''vaccine''; otherwise, he would have never had to deal with the cancer in the first place (unless there was [[InsaneTrollLogic some reason why he wouldn't want a cancer vaccine in his system]]). As it is just a one-time cure, and relapses would require a second dose, he could just sell it at an absurd price; it doesn't matter, everyone would still buy it. Plus, unless he owns a monopoly on chemotherapy and other cancer pharma, the only people losing money would be ''his competitors''. Really, the writers just didn't think this through.[[note]]TruthInTelevision, the conspiracy theory of a cure for cancer being sat on in order to make more money with chemo and other treatments is, sadly, pretty popular, despite the absolute ''zero'' sense it would make in real life to do this. For one thing, there is no such thing as a single cure for cancer in the first place, given that it comes down to an individual's DNA.[[/note]]
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TimeSquad'' had Houdini using his magic to commit a string of robberies. People were so impressed by it that after some prodding by Otto, they set up a fake diamond exhibit that people paid to get in simply to see him steal it. After learning this, Houdini realizes he can get rich simply by being a performer.

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': Old Man [=McGuckett=] is living in a shack in a junkyard in his first appearances, despite his building a robotic lake monster in an attempt to get his son to respect him, and his other inventions. Justified in the second season when it turns out his brain was scrambled by a memory-erasing device he invented to wipe his memories of [[spoiler: Bill Cipher. And in the finale he regains his sanity after Bill's defeat and patents his inventions, getting enough money to buy Northwest mansion.]]

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{CyberSix}}'' [[TheDragon Jose]] plans to break into a bank using a massive drilling machine. There is ''no'' amount of money in that bank that could possibly top the amount of money he'd make from legally marketing a drilling machine, capable of operating automatically or manually, that can be assembled by unskilled labor (his ''[[DumbMuscle Fixed Ideas]]'' throw it together), that is able to drill a perfect city-block-long underground tunnel in ''sixty minutes''. The construction industry would want it, the military would want it, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boring_Company the Boring Company]] would kill a man for it, the list goes on. Somewhat justified in that, while Jose is a genius he's also an immature child driven by a need of [[WellDoneSonGuy impressing his father with his genius and villainy]].

* In one episode ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'', Professor Nimnul actually tried to go legitimate by using his new aging ray to instantly transform milk into aged cheese. However, after a DisastrousDemonstration in which he accidentally flooded the dairy convention hall with sour milk and ended up being blackballed, [[ThenLetMeBeEvil he decided to stick to being a villain]].

*** [[spoiler:He managed to get a stable, good-paying job after leaving Japan back to America following ''Aincrad'' but to him what good is it if he can't go back to killing people in the VR world to his heart's content]]?

* ''Film/TheKingOfComedy'': Rupert's standup routine is shown to be decent and a bit generic, but still genuinely funny. One gets the feeling that if he'd just heeded Jerry's BoringButPractical advice to work his way up from the bottom and gain more experience, he would've eventually made it to fame legitimately.
* In ''Film/LordOfWar'', Yuri Orlov eventually abandons his business as an arms dealer and adopts, in his words, "more legal methods of exploiting Third World countries", but notes that it isn't as thrilling as his old line of work, and there is comparatively more competition. He inevitably returns to arms dealing, with the change that it is [[spoiler:government sponsored]].
* Played both ways in ''Film/IronMan2'' with Ivan Vanko. Vanko's capable of replicating the Arc Reactor with his father/[[spoiler:Tony's father]]'s incomplete diagrams. Though not as efficient as Tony's, it's nevertheless a functional copy and Tony even points out that a man like Vanko has the kind of connections necessary to market it to whoever he wants, legitimately or otherwise. Vanko retorts that his motives are personal. [[spoiler:Vanko's father ''did'' try to sell it for massive profit but Howard Stark would have none of it, exiling him from the US instead. Ivan is out for Tony's blood as his family stole the opportunity to have that check cut for them. In other words, the ship already sailed long ago for Ivan as far as making money, he's just interested in making Tony suffer by this point.]]
* In ''Film/TheInvisibleMan2020'', Adrian Griffin is one of the leading scientific minds in optical research, and even invented a suit that renders its wearer invisible. This would be considered a technological marvel, and he squanders it to get revenge on his ex-girlfriend. Downplayed due to the fact that he's already used his other inventions to become extremely wealthy, with a news article mentioning he was planning a $2 billion venture, and merely acquiring more money doesn't seem to interest him as much as controlling and dominating the people in his life. It's also justified by the fact he's a narcissistic sociopath.

* In ''Film/ThePrestige'', [[spoiler:Nikola Tesla tries to invent a teleportation machine for Robert Angier to use in his magic shows. The problem was, the machine ended up ''copying'' things instead of teleporting them. But Angier still used the machine to perform his magic trick, creating copies of himself so that it appeared as though he was teleporting across long distances. Angiers could become the richest man in the world almost overnight by copying valuable objects with the machine, but he's already a wealthy gentleman who is more interested in magic than riches. He could also do things like completely end world hunger by copying food and so forth, but his obsession to out-do his magical rival blinds him to all other goals]].
* In ''Film/StreetFighter'', M. Bison is the dictator of some tiny southeastern Asian country, but somehow has developed both super-soldier biochemical engineering, as well as hover boots, with which he wants to use to conquer the world. He could probably become the ''de facto'' ruler of the world just by marketing those two bits of technology.
* ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2014'''s Eric Sacks finds a mutagen that can, theoretically, allow a person to regenerate cellular damage. He could be the wealthiest pharmaceutical supplier in the world without causing the death of millions, and without risking arrest or worse in the process, but then the plot would have nowhere to go.
* ''Film/TheAvengers1998''. Sir August could have legally made billions of dollars just by selling the services of his WeatherControlMachine to the governments of the world. Possibly justified because he's insane and wants revenge on the British government for firing him.
* In the Disney film ''Film/{{Sky High|2005}}'' villain [[CardCarryingVillain Royal Pain]] invents a weapon [[spoiler: that reverts its target to being an infant. Let that sink in. She has made a device that can make an individual instantly young again. It's also heavily implied the device can actually pinpoint a specific age regardless of how old you are. So she could quite easily create and market a device that makes you (biologically speaking) 18 every time you use it]]. The financial rewards for marketing this would be so unimaginably vast that any power the supervillain desired would be easily gained legally. So obviously it's used in a zany evil scheme instead. Semi-justified, as trying to take over the world with an entire generation of superheroes turned into loyal, amoral minions was probably more tempting. Also justified in that the device blew up and reverted ''her'' to infancy during its initial field test (because the superhero she was aiming it at punched it while it was charging up), and she has to steal the original prototype back from the hero's trophy room before she can use it again (thus strongly implying that she's unable to make copies of it -- apparently it runs on unique phlebotinum that is not mass-producible).
* ''Film/UpstreamColor'' features several mysterious people who exploit the unique properties of a blue substance that produces hypnotizing effects and amazing empathic links between people. Introducing it to the world could yield untold fortunes, with world-changing possibilities. Instead, one of them uses it to steal the savings of random people he encounters, while another uses it to inspire his music.
* From ''Film/ColossusAndTheHeadhunters'', one can't help but think there are much better ways Kermes could go about trying to gain the power he wants. He imprisoned and tortured the King, betrayed his country to a group of savage headhunters, slaughtered hundreds, and then kidnapped the Queen... only to reveal that his end goal is simply to become ''[[EvilChancellor the Queen's advisor]]''? Way to aim low, villain! Did it ever occur to you that she might have just given you the position if you weren't such a rat?
* ''Film/TheTrumanShow'':
** The interesting thing is the scheme- putting a guy on a reality show for his whole life and not telling him- does apparently make money, "the wealth of a small country", through product placements. But the creators must have forgotten that they were able to create an entirely artificial ''biome'', with weather you can control with a ''touchscreen'', bodies of water, soil and plant life, air, and housing. There are tons of applications for all that. Wealthy areas with water shortages, like California, Saudi Arabia, and Israel would pay through the nose for such environments. There would be people who could build their own separate self-sustaining communities. You could colonize Antarctica, or possibly space. And if a TV studio can afford it, you know similar-sized groups and national governments can afford these.
** One for the show's continued survival in-universe: ''The Truman Show'''s writers specifically hired a woman to play his love interest and future bride, but Truman himself had genuinely fallen in love with a recurring extra in his college years. As a result, Truman and "Meryl" are trapped in a loveless marriage as he obsessively pines for Sylvia/"Lauren", which might create some exploitable television drama in the short term but ends up motivating him to get out of [[ClosedCircle Seahaven]] as soon as possible, which would put a permanent end to the show. [[spoiler:And is exactly what happens in the ending.]] If only they had allowed Sylvia to update her contract to make her the official love interest, his wanderlust may have been kept permanently and happily in check. [[labelnote: Although...]] Lauren is actually a member of the "anti-Christo" movement, who believe the show should be cancelled and Truman set free to live his own life. Whether or not this was as a result of being attracted to him is unclear, but the show's producers couldn't take the risk she would try to break him out of the show. [[/labelnote]]

** In ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'', King Oil is doing well and stands to make a lot more money thanks to its pipeline from Azerbaijan even before [[spoiler: Elektra plans to blow up a Russian nuclear submarine in the Bosphorus, crippling the principal rival east-west oil pipeline and giving her one a near-monopoly.]]

* ''Film/AGoodDayToDieHard'' features a scene where the villains break out some kind of chemical spray that "cancels radioactivity." Assuming this isn't common tech in the world of the film, this basically breaks a hole in how radiation science works, and even the intended use of it in the movie (clearing out irradiated areas) could be worth billions. They use it to rob Chernobyl.
* ''Film/TheSerpentAndTheRainbow'': Louis Mozart is a peddler of zombie powder that can put people into death-like comas, and is often used as a poison throughout Haiti. When he finds out the AdventurerArchaeologist trying to buy some of his powder has been dried by a pharmaceutical company seeking to use it as an anesthetic, he is intrigued to realize how much more money and fame this could bring him and works hard to complete it and then help the main characters smuggle it out of the country, under the nose of the SecretPolice.

* In ''Film/DontWorryDarling'', [[spoiler:Frank and his inner circle create a fully-immersive virtual reality program. Rather than selling it to any number of companies in entertainment, especially video game developers, Frank instead creates a small subscription-based community in which his supporters kidnap women so that they can live out their misogynistic fantasies of being adored husbands in the 1950s.]]
* ''Film/BlackLightning2009'': Viktor Kuptsov's company is a Fiction500 that can make technology bordering on SciFi, yet he spends all of his resources on assassinations to mine diamonds he may not even be able to use.
* ''Film/TheGreatRace''. Professor Fate can design and construct a rocket vehicle, a human-powered dirigible, a torpedo that can track loud noises, a sophisticated security system, and a car capable of matching a professionally designed one in a race around the world with additional offensive and defensive equipment. In ''1908''. If he'd stop trying to outdo Leslie, he'd be rich.

* An unusual example is [[Comicbook/GreenArrow Oliver Queen]] in ''Series/{{Smallville}}''. Being a billionaire, he develops tons of ridiculously advanced technology... [[HypocriticalHumor to rob the rich to give to the poor.]] He seems to have given up on that after a while and [[HeroWithBadPublicity concentrated on blowing up Lex Luthor's evil facilities]].

* Zig-Zagged in ''VideoGame/{{BioShock|1}}'', as [[spoiler:Frank Fontaine's]] ultimate goal is to become the richest and most adored man alive [[spoiler:after killing off anyone who could get in his way]] by bringing Rapture's technology such as [=ADAM=] to the surface.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'', Aperture Science developed several technologies that, with proper application, would have revolutionized the world. Just one, the portal gun, could have, in an instant, solved nearly every transportation and logistical problem on the planet, enabled CasualInterstellarTravel, and incidentally made the company trillions. They also developed BrainUploading, [[AIIsACrapshoot true AI]], HardLight, some really amazing hardware to prevent [[NotTheFallThatKillsYou injury from falling]], and a variety of other things. But they were so into testing all their inventions that they never marketed them publicly, instead marketing and shipping them to ''themselves'' for even '''more''' testing. It also doesn't help that they ignored even the most basic of safety standards, to the point where their facilities would have given [[NoOSHACompliance OSHA inspectors]] a heart attack. Then they were all [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters killed by the AI]] that they put in charge of the facility, which happened around the same time as the [[VideoGame/HalfLife2 Combine invasion of Earth]]. An alternate universe had their Cave get rich enough from selling his company's products to outright buy out Black Mesa and wound up stopping said Combine invasion.

** The traitor [[spoiler:Goro Akechi]] is only masquerading as a [[spoiler:"ace detective"]] to make himself a VillainWithGoodPublicity and to discredit [[spoiler:the opponents of his employer Shido]], but [[spoiler:as shown during the Niijima's Palace heist, in ''VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth'' and during the Maruki's Palace heist in the UpdatedReRelease, he is ''actually'' competent in detective work and helped solve a huge portion of the Phantom Thieves' puzzles.]] He could had been started a legitimate job [[spoiler:as a detective]] using his investigative skills.

* [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-zagged]] in ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' spinoff material where Mystia Lorelei uses her MagicMusic to strike humans night-blind and sells them grilled lamprey as a night-blindness cure. The con is seen as a minor issue in Gensokyo, and her cooking is good enough that she gets away with it, and gets return business and turns a profit. She's also explicitly not in it for the money: she's a bird youkai, so [[CarnivoreConfusion she wants humans to stop eating poultry]].
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
** Minor example in ''VideoGame/MassEffect1''. A salarian named Schells asks Shepard to help him perfect his invention that will enable him to cheat at Quasar (he claims he isn't actually going to use it himself: he's going to ''sell'' it to others... [[InsaneTrollLogic for some reason]], he thinks this makes it legal). If Shepard chooses to expose what he's doing to the casino owner, Schells despairs at what he's going to do from now on. Shepard's team will point out that with his obvious talents, landing a well-paying job as a programmer or engineer shouldn't be too difficult for him. He scoffs at this.
** Lampshaded in ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda''. The raider captain in Liam's loyalty mission salvaged and restored a derelict Kett ship to... [[TheAllegedCar mostly working order]]. The team notes that with the mechanical skills he must have to accomplish this he could've easily become a technician or engineer.
** In the same game the former security officer Sloan has turned to drug dealing using a locally produced substance that combines antibiotic effects with quick healing and suppressing pain while being highly addictive. It never seems to occur to her to exploit its obvious pharmaceutical potential, something that would have been far more profitable in the long run.
* ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'': Handsome Jack's primary motivation is to find the vault containing The Warrior, so he can use it to take over Pandora... except that he's already the CEO of what's implied to be one of the most powerful {{Mega Corp}}s in the setting, and if he would use his vast resources for something useful rather than wasting untold amounts of money trying to find the vault or on useless vanity projects like [[FascistButInefficient Opportunity]], he would probably be able to rule the planet legitimately. Or decide to move his efforts to another planet that isn't a DeathWorld. ''VideoGame/BorderlandsThePreSequel'' reveals that Jack was convinced that the Vault in Elpis would give him access to the wealth and power and alien technology that all other Vault Hunters seek, and make him impossibly rich. It turns out that what the Vault held was [[spoiler: an Eridian device that held knowledge of the Warrior, which promised him incredible power]]. However, at that moment, [[spoiler: Lilith attacked him and smashed the device, horribly scarring his face, because up until that point he'd been becoming more and more violent, unhinged, and megalomaniacal]]. As a result of what happened, Jack was driven completely over the edge into the lunatic psychopathic dictator and CorruptCorporateExecutive Handsome Jack, obsessed with unlocking the Vault on Pandora so he could inflict his revenge.
* While it's questionable if they're "evil", the management in ''Franchise/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' possesses animatronics... that can walk around by themselves very quickly and have the strength, intelligence, and dexterity to pick up heavy endoskeletons (and humans) and put them in suits. [[SuperPoweredRobotMeterMaids Pretty damn advanced for mere animatronics]]. Then the new animatronics in ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys2'' one-up them by also being able to [[AirVentPassageway crawl through air ducts]] (again, unaided) and having advanced {{facial recognition|Software}} [[spoiler:in '''''1987'''''. Far beyond even anything made in '''''2014''''']]! Eventually, they just straight up make fully conscious AI! How are they still a small-time pizza joint and not the robotics equivalent of Apple or IBM?!
** Through two games, the nature of the animatrons is left as MaybeMagicMaybeMundane, but it is strongly implied that there is something outright supernatural about the machines, and the company would not exactly want to promote their more fantastic properties. [[spoiler: Plus all the ''murders'' they've been involved in have put the company out of business. Twice.]]
** The [[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys3 third game]] reveals that the company had animatronics that could be worn as a suit by humans. And the animatronics still work after being used as suits. Even after they're effectively dismantled and shoved into different areas of the suit, which is some pretty damn impressive technology considering the suit's no larger than the average animatronic (so where do the pieces go when a human's inside?). This trope is {{justified|Trope}} in this case, however, thanks to the suits being ''ludicrously'' unsafe [[spoiler:(as Springtrap can attest to)]] and Fazbear Entertainment retiring them after multiple failures.
** Afton himself. Not only did he likely have his fingers in all of the above, but he also made what is basically AI (and even made an android copy of his son if some theories are to be believed), and can upload a brain into a computer virus, but also discovered remnant, a material that binds the soul to metal and is damn hard to destroy. This not only proves souls exist, but basically provides ''immortality''. Honestly, any one of these discoveries would have him in the history books with the greatest minds of the world. But he squanders all that just to kill kids.
* ''VideoGame/Payday2'' has Sokol, a Russian hockey player who apparently joined the Payday Gang after [[EvilGenius Bain]] told him he could make more in one heist than in a year as a hockey player. This trope comes into play as it is revealed he made the [[ThisIsADrill BFD]] used in the Golden Grin Casino Heist (which, [[NonIndicativeName despite the name]], is a plasma cutter, not a drill) why it never occurred to him that he could patent the thing and make a fortune legally is anyone's guess.
* Thanks to LevelScaling, bandits in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' will try to extort 100 gold out of you even if they're wearing a full set of {{Infinity Minus One|Sword}} Glass Armor, which can be sold for several ''thousand'' gold. The game doesn't tell you how they got it, but whatever it is, they really should be doing more of ''that'', instead of MuggingTheMonster for what is at this point pocket change.
* In the Vault-Tec Workshop DLC of ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', [[EvilInc Vault-Tec]] had an employee named Ted Reily, a gifted inventor who created useful and highly profitable products that worked ''exactly'' as intended with no hidden tortures-disguised-as-experiments, such as an automated eye exam machine and a soda tastier than Nuka-Cola. His coworkers all hated him for completely missing the point of working for an evil mad science corporation. You can use his creations to genuinely improve the lives of your settlers, much to the disappointment of your MadScientist Overseer partner.
* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies'': Florent L'Belle is a brilliant cosmetic chemist who has invented his own line of cosmetics, most of which are quite ingenious (such as a hair dye that can be easily washed out and reapplied without damaging the hair) and in high demand, and he could easily use them to become a multi-billionaire. The problem is, he's such a ridiculous {{Narcissist}} that he ''never'' sells his stuff because that would mean the "peasants" could emulate his look. Instead, he sticks to using them for himself and just advertising the products so he can rub it in people's faces that he has something they don't. [[spoiler: Unsurprisingly, this behavior has left him flat broke. Even then, he'd rather commit murder than market his products]]. In ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice Spirit of Justice]]'', his products have apparently started being sold to the general public, presumably because he's in jail and thus isn't in charge of the brand anymore. They are selling well enough that even overseas countries have them in stock.
* ''VideoGame/JustCause4'': BigBad Oscar Espinosa has all but perfected Project Illapa, a series of weather-control drones that can cause devastating lightning storms, tornadoes, sandstorms, or blizzards. While he is selling these as weapons for trillions, it never occurs to him that simply making agriculture-friendly rain with them would turn entire nations into a captive audience that would trade a blank cheque for the boons to their farmlands. Compounding the issue, this was the projects intended purpose, ''stopping'' superstorms and breaking droughts as humanitarian aid. If Espinosa had just convinced Miguel Rodriguez to add some leasing fees instead of bumping him off to weaponize the project, he would have been hailed as a hero.
* ''VideoGame/RuphandAnApothecarysAdventure'': When talking about Red Cap's weapon-creation abilities at the end of the Scharlachrot bestiary entry:
--> '''Brill:''' I wonder why Red Cap even turned to a life of crime to begin with? He could make buckets of Sil building weapons like this!

* Zigzagging in the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse''. Plenty of the {{Mad Scientist}}s do, in fact, patent their inventions, and figure out uses for them. Furthermore, Ayla Goodkind is making sure to look for these people and CUT them checks. And this is [[LampshadeHanging mercilessly lampshaded]] by Ayla Goodkind herself when she complains that [[SuperheroSchool Whateley Academy]] needs better contract law help for these inventors, and courses to teach the inventors how not to get robbed by the CorruptCorporateExecutive so they have to turn to crime later in life.

* In WesternAnimation/TheCentsables, an EdutainmentShow, the VillainOfTheWeek apparently took notes from [[Film/SkyHigh2005 Royal Pain]] and Frank William Abagnale, Jr., producing a raygun that can turn anyone into an infant (no word mentioned on age selectability), all made possible by a fairly simple check bouncing scheme and the parts purchased therefrom.

** However, over time, it becomes clear that his goal isn't exactly the money, but "respect". Specifically, the "respect" he interpreted his older brother (who was his role model and mentor in scamming) got when they were young as he ruled the neighborhood, being feared/admired by everyone. He becomes more desperate as time goes by, which culminates in the TheMovie. He admits to having made a lot of stuff up when we see how much of a BigBrotherBully Eddy's brother is. Ironically enough, Eddy finally overcoming his faults and acknowledging them was what netted him and his friends their long-desired respect and acceptance from the other kids.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheZetaProject'': Zigzagged with the Zeta Project scientists. In the first place, they were building a weapon for the government rather than any supervillain. But played straight in that once the project was complete several of them (Arroyo, Boyle, and Myrell) left government service in order to use the kind of technological innovations they'd built Zeta with for more widely accessible and beneficial science (Industrial robotics, a space probe, and technology to cure disabled children, respectively). That being said, [[spoiler:Boyle]] and [[spoiler:Myrell]] both have trouble funding that peaceful research and commit some criminal act to rectify that.

When a person is pursuing a goal, especially if it's something tempting like wealth, fame, or political power, there may come a time when they have to choose between doing what's easy and doing what's right. At that moment the legitimate method of earning it may be slow, difficult, or unprofitable, while at the same time there's an illegal or unethical option that offers quicker gains to whoever can get away with it. On the other hand, assuming that the shady option is ''always'' the most expedient is a mistake that leaves a lot of would-be villains not only punished, but broke as well. They may think they're acting in their own interest, but often they screw themselves over because they don't realize that they could have done better--or at least reduced the risk of being caught and defeated by the heroes--by using more honest means.

* ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'':
** Dr. Octopus is researching a new power source in ''Film/SpiderMan2''. In order to control it, he invents a system of mechanical arms that interface with his brain, have [[AIIsACrapshoot artificial intelligence]], are [[NighInvulnerability indestructible]], have the strength to throw cars, and never seem to need new batteries. Every aspect of the things would seem to merit a Nobel Prize, but Octavius and the rest of the world initially only treat them as a simple tool. By his FaceHeelTurn, Octavius was more obsessed with achieving his dream of creating [[ThePowerOfTheSun a living sun]] than a Nobel Prize. Justified in that the chip allowing him to have control over the mechanical arms was destroyed and it was their artificial intelligence manipulating him. [[spoiler:By the end of ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'', his sanity has been restored after MCU Peter built a new Inhibitor Chip for him and he manages to nab an Arc Reactor to take home, which would fulfil his original plan with much less of the destruction and danger.]]
** In ''Film/SpiderMan3'', Sandman needs to raise money for his sick daughter and turns to a life of crime. When he becomes living sand, you'd think he could strike a deal to work off his debt to society for a little government health care. It's not like a guy who can meld with sand wouldn't come in handy in any construction projects or ongoing warzones. Instead, he simply robs banks.

* Mr. Freeze's appearance in ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' has him stealing giant diamonds and using them to both fuel his suit and build a giant freeze ray he plans to use to hold Gotham hostage in exchange for funds to further the research he needs to save his wife. Why he doesn't just ''sell the giant diamonds'' is never explained. If not that, he could have just patented the smaller ray immediately, waited for the Nobel, and wondered how many new laws in physics will be named after him. The applications are endless and he's just disproved everything known about thermodynamics. He would never again want for funds no matter what he's researching. At the end of the film [[spoiler:Batman talks him into doing just that. Oh, and giving him the cure to the early stage of the horrible disease his wife had. The stage, coincidentally, Alfred happens to have. Freeze trades the cure for a cell with Poison Ivy, since he learned she tried to kill his wife]].

* ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' features [[Characters/MarvelComicsThanos Thanos]] [[spoiler: successfully using the Infinity Gauntlet to wipe out half the Universe]] as he claims there aren't enough resources to support everyone. He could have simply used the gauntlet to create more resources. The problem is that Thanos is motivated by pride as much as anything else: he wants to prove his [[TheyCalledMeMad original proposed solution]] of culling half the population to save his homeworld would have worked. Increasing resources wasn't an option for him then, so he isn't interested in doing it now. In ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', when faced with hard evidence that it ''doesn't'' work, his response is [[NeverMyFault to blame the survivors for refusing to move on]] and attempt to destroy the ''entire'' universe so he can remake it as grateful to him.

* ''Series/Batman1966'':
** In "The Joker's Flying Saucer", the Joker creates a flying saucer that can (based on the Joker's comments) travel through outer space to other planets. He decides on the standard "conquer the world" strategy when he could have just sold the design to NASA for billions of dollars. Then again, this ''is'' [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} the Joker]].
** In "The Penguin's Nest", Penguin opens a hugely popular restaurant, which by all indications positively rakes in the cash. However, Penguin chooses to use it as the front for a forgery scheme instead of simply living off the restaurant's proceeds.
** Also applies to Catwoman, who if she used her intelligence productively (or, let's be honest, became a model or movie star with her looks) -- or even simply give up crime and married Bruce Wayne -- could easily become as rich as she desires.
** Batman and Robin even comment during the Minstrel's appearance that he could make a good living just by selling records.
** In "The Ring of Wax", after getting caught in one of the Riddler's wax traps, Batman notes that if the Riddler were oriented towards good, the world could be so wonderful.

* ''Series/LukeCage2016'': If a real-life nightclub could pull the headliners[[note]]Actual famous musicians making cameo appearances, like Faith Evans, KRS-One, and the Delfonics[[/note]] and crowds that Cottonmouth is able to host at Harlem's Paradise, the owner would be a multi-millionaire. But Cottonmouth doesn't seem to notice or care that he has one of the hottest clubs in all of New York City. Mariah even points out that his legitimate business interests are successful enough on their own that he doesn't need to run drugs or guns in order to be the most powerful man in Harlem.
* ''Series/IronFist2017'': Madame Gao develops a synthetic form of heroin that works by skin patch and prevents the user from building a tolerance, making each hit as strong as the first. Had she marketed her innovation to the medical industry for its usefulness in pain management[[note]]One of the biggest downsides to most painkillers is diminishing returns[[/note]], she could have made billions legally ''and'' had an easier time selling it on the streets if she so desired. And since it's not injected, it would prevent the spread of diseases from sharing needles, namely HIV and hepatitis. In short, Gao could have cornered the medical ''and'' recreational opium markets had she set her sights higher than local druglords.

* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries'': The Riddler. The man could do a lot of good legally, if not for his ego compelling him to prove he's smarter than everyone else.
** ''[[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum Asylum]]'': He's able to hide multiple Riddler trophies around the joint, and demonstrates a fairly comprehensive knowledge of Gotham's criminal element and the environs of Arkham.
** ''[[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity City]]'': He has a formidable and widespread intelligence network among the gangs of the city, plus manages to build and maintain various puzzles and hide his trophies despite Arkham City's isolation. He even manages to get a few puzzles and trophies inside of a secret hideout used by ''the League of Assassins''.
** ''[[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins Origins]]'': He's actually working as the head of GCPD Cyber Crimes so he can use his access to release damning information on the city's leading lights (collected by an army of informants) in order to make Gotham collapse and be reformed as a better place. He also has the logistical know-how to secretly set up dozens of relays and data packs across the city.
*** Ironically, in ''Cold, Cold, Heart'', he's suspected of releasing information about the mayor and the incoming police commissioner about their mob ties, which made the former resign in disgrace.
** ''[[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight Knight]]'': Not only does he have Riddler Trophies and puzzles around the place, like usual, but he's also got a fair amount of robots, which he's capable of modifying on the fly. Plus, y'know, the massive race/puzzle tracks he's secretly built somehow. Oh, and his plotline ends with [[spoiler:him deploying a MiniMecha with an energy shield to fight Batman]].
*** Also in ''Knight'', CorruptCorporateExecutive Simon Stagg marvels at Scarecrow's idiocy, as his fear toxin could be modified for any number of pharmaceutical and/or military uses that would rake in serious amounts of cash, but he just uses it to scare people. [[spoiler:It's why Stagg tries to betray Scarecrow and ends up getting fear gassed for it.]]

* Mysterio in ''VideoGame/SpiderMan2'' is able to build things like a working jetpack, a fleet of [=UFOs=], and ''anti-gravity robots''. Even ''one'' of those things could make him rich beyond the dreams of avarice. Instead, he uses them to act out because a superhero is more popular than he is.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'', the Riddler subverts this trope by starting out as a legitimate scientist who wants to help the world with his intellect-enhancing inventions. Unfortunately, his co-worker and the girl he liked would end up sabotaging it in front of their first potential investors and him taking the fall (according to her, she found him unstable due to him losing his temper at a condescending investor who reminded him of his abusive dad.) Riddler does not take it well when Batman spells it out for him (Riddler assuming it was the businessman who did it.) This leads Eddie to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge in becoming Riddler. Batman even lampshades the whole thing when he tells Robin to not untie her, with the implications being she is going to be arrested:
-->'''Batman:''' One last riddle, Robin. When is a villain not ''the'' villain?
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'':
** Played with in "[[Recap/BatmanBeyondS1E5TheWinningEdge The Winning Edge]]". Unlike Bane, who only used Venom for himself to commit crimes, Chappell manages to convert Venom into an easily usable dermal patch that he begins marketing as a performance-enhancing drug to teenagers. However, he still does this illegally through black market means, presumably because it's unlikely a Venom-based compound would ever be made legal.
** Mr. Freeze's appearance in "[[Recap/BatmanBeyondS1E7Meltdown Meltdown]]" averts this. It's mentioned that he is wealthy and puts his fortune towards making amends to the families who were hurt by his villainous actions in the past. Unfortunately, it all [[GoneHorriblyWrong Goes Horribly Wrong]]...
** Zig-zagged with this version of Spellbinder, a psychologist who uses sophisticated mind-control devices to hypnotize people into stealing for him. Aside from the fact that he's invented all this hypnotic equipment but can't think of anything better to do with it than trick people into stealing for him, he probably doesn't even make a profit on his crimes. However, in his introductory episode "[[Recap/BatmanBeyondS1E9Spellbound Spellbound]]", Spellbinder goes on a rant which indicates that this may be more about revenge than greed. It takes another turn in "[[Recap/BatmanBeyondS2E8HookedUp Hooked Up]]" when Spellbinder gets wiser and begins marketing his equipment as virtual reality generators [[LotusEaterMachine that allow people to live out their fantasies]]. He "markets" it like a drug pusher and is taken down by Batman for it. It's unlikely that there would be any actual law against using the tech on willing people itself, but there would be for coercing other people (especially minors) into committing crimes for him.
** Inverted with Shriek, who starts out in [[Recap/BatmanBeyondS1E10Shriek his introductory episode]] as a brilliant yet impractical engineer who specializes in sonics. For his market debut, he develops a suit that can generate and direct sound waves for demolition purposes. However, his boss, CorruptCorporateExecutive Derek Powers, has the reaction upon seeing the suit in action of "dynamite's cheaper" -- his invention isn't practical and ''couldn't'' turn a profit if put on the market (the validity of Powers' claim is unknown, as the actual costs of creating and using the suit aren't shown to the viewers). He promises Shriek to continue funding his experiments if he takes care of Batman instead. Shriek is later seen to have invented some astonishing devices that would rake in millions, such as a gadget that selectively blocks loud noises (imagine the applications if you live near a construction site; maybe it's not cost-effective but the show never goes into this), but his boss still forces him to act as a personal killing machine. Afterward, Shriek becomes deaf and thus somehow invents a device that appears similar to headphones that can reverse deafness for as long as it's worn by the person, but by this point, he's too obsessed with getting revenge on Batman to care about making money.
** In another episode, a talented weapons designer loses his high-paying job at a defense contractor. It's heavily implied that although he could easily find another job, it wouldn't bring in as much money as he and his family had grown accustomed to having. Instead, he goes into business as a corporate mercenary/saboteur, which apparently pays pretty well [[WretchedHive in Gotham]].
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' explores the concept with some of its reoccurring villains.
** Temple Fugate loses everything in appeal for twenty million dollars against his company at the end of the DistantPrologue of "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE25TheClockKing The Clock King]]". Seven years later, he has enough money to buy bombs, cool GadgetWatches, an AbandonedWarehouse SupervillainLair ''to his real name'', and can throw off a clock valued at $6,000. As Batman has never heard of Fugate before their first meeting, it's implied that Fugate didn't need to resort to crime to get all that OffscreenVillainDarkMatter, as his skills could make his fortune by legal means again. In addition, he never suffers MotiveDecay; all he wants is to humiliate Mayor Hill, and then kill him. Money no longer matters to him, only revenge -- he organizes a BankRobbery but leaves all the money in the vault. After he is arrested, he uses his talents for the government as a BoxedCrook.
** Notably, Nygma had a similar motivation as Fugate starting out -- in [[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE40IfYoureSoSmartWhyArentYouRich his introductory episode]], he's initially a software engineer who develops a smash hit title, but his boss [[StealingTheCredit takes credit for making it]] and unceremoniously fires Edward, asking "[[TitleDrop If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?]]" and prompting Nygma's StartOfDarkness.
** Averted in the spinoff comic ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures''. The Riddler signs a deal with some out-of-town businessmen who find that the device he's used to [[DoNotAdjustYourSet hijack broadcasts]] can be the basis for a super-advanced cell phone which makes him millions. He finds an outlet for his ongoing urges by sending Batman riddles without actual crimes attached.
** In "[[Recap/TheAdventuresOfBatmanAndRobinE14RiddlersReform Riddler's Reform]]", the Riddler signs a contract with a toy company, using his genius for riddles and puzzles to design puzzle toys and the notoriety he earned as a criminal to pitch them in TV commercials. It almost works for him... but [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter the compulsion to outwit Batman]] is too great, and he decides that the only way he could enjoy his new life is to lure Batman into a death trap and get rid of him altogether. Unfortunately, this doesn't work, and Riddler goes back to prison.
** The Penguin is sane enough to admit associating with criminal riffraff is pretty distasteful anyway and he'd make much more profit with a [[BadGuyBar skimming-off-the-top grey market nightclub]]. Subverted in that he still doesn't turn his act around in the end.

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'':
** Shown in "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueS2E3And4TabulaRasa Tabula Rasa]]". After Lex Luthor goes to prison, he leaves his business in the hands of his loyal minion Mercy Graves, who puts [=LexCorp=] back in the black by cancelling his MadScience projects and concentrating on making a profit. Lex is not grateful in the least, being still obsessed with taking on the Justice League. When Mercy goes to walk out on him, Lex points out that's she's hardly immune to the [[GoodIsBoring thrill of transgression]].
** That said, it is completely and utterly ''defied'' by Lex, who apparently did this during his presidential candidacy. When confronted by the Question about it in "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS2E9QuestionAuthority Question Authority]]", amid giving the poor faceless hero a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown, Lex points out he had no interest whatsoever in any of the legitimate power, authority, or money being president would bring him, and in fact [[EvilIsPetty merely did it to annoy Superman]].
---> '''Lex:''' "President"?! Foolish, faceless man; my campaign is a farce! A small part of a much grander scheme. ''[chuckles]'' "President"...? do you know how much power I'd have to ''give up'' to be President? That's right, conspiracy buff. I spent 75 million dollars on a fake Presidential campaign, ''all just to tick Superman off!''

* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'': Lampshaded when Lex Luthor discovers kryptonite and plans to use it against Superman -- one of his researchers insists that possessing such a rare and unusual substance must have a more practical application.
* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheatricalCartoons'': "WesternAnimation/TheMechanicalMonsters" has a villain who invented remote-controlled mechanical robots that he was using to rob banks and jewelry stores. Too bad there wasn't any other way to get wealthy with such advanced labor-saving technology, eh?

* {{Deconstructed|Trope}} in ''WesternAnimation/SupermanDoomsday'' -- Lex Luthor finds a cure for muscular dystrophy and orders his assistant to turn it into an expensive, lifelong treatment.

* ''VideoGame/BatmanTheTelltaleSeries'': The Children of Arkham invent a ''truth serum'' and use it to expose the mayoral candidates of their sleaziness. The thing is that in real life, ''truth serum does not exist''; billions have been wasted trying to come up with something that could expose the truth out of professional liars, and the best thing they could achieve was a serum that suppressed the ability to come up with an unprepared lie on the spot; the serum in the game is capable of forcing a person's suppressed unconscious to blab. If the Children of Arkham took the time to refine the formula and remove that pesky ''eventually turns you into an insane supervillain'' side-effect, they could easily sell the patents for ''trillions'' and achieve their goal of acquiring vengeance by simply suing whoever wronged them, as the ''world's'' broken justice system would get a major software patch with the truth serum.

* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' starts out with a very interesting subversion in "[[Recap/SupermanTheAnimatedSeriesS1E1To3TheLastSonOfKrypton The Last Son of Krypton]]". Lex Luthor is going to use a giant mech, something which was ''stated'' to cost millions of dollars to make, to make money illegally. However, Lex isn't going to use it to rob the banks or other such schemes, he's secretly selling it to terrorists (who are paying him a ''billion'' dollars), knowing that the US government will later hire Luthor to design a better mech to fight the one the terrorists "stole". [[SpannerInTheWorks Superman ruins that scheme]]. The whole premise seems like a sly riff on the [[WesternAnimation/SupermanTheatricalCartoons Fleischer cartoon]] mentioned further down the page.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueS1E8And9InjusticeForAll Injustice for All]]", the League's battles with Luthor's Injustice Gang all revolve around money. Lex has brought them together with cash, he almost breaks them up when they ask for more money, and in the end, Batman brings the chaos to an end. How? He gets the Ultra-Humanite to ambush Lex by doubling Lex's offer. This allows the Humanite to achieve his main goal -- funding opera on a PBS expy. Not ''all'' [[ViewersLikeYou Viewers are Like You]]!

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': A very clever subversion occurs in "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE24FearOfVictory Fear of Victory]]", in which the Scarecrow combines both legal and illegal methods to make money. He bets against famous professional and college athletes, and then secretly dopes them with his fear toxin. When the athletes lose their competitions, the Scarecrow makes a huge amount of money for betting against the odds. The Scarecrow uses the money to pay for the chemicals and other paraphernalia he uses in his more dangerous schemes, making "Fear of Victory" one of the rare times when we actually ''see'' where OffscreenVillainDarkMatter might come from. Notably, Batman and Robin only discover the Scarecrow's plans when Robin is accidentally doped with fear toxin along with his college football playing-friend. Still somewhat played straight in that his toxin would be absolutely invaluable for numerous government and military applications and he'd likely make an order of magnitude more money in licensing it out for legitimate research than ripping off bookmakers with it.

* This overlapping with RevengeBeforeReason is the downfall of Adrian Toomes, aka The Vulture, in ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries''. Norman Osborn's attempt at buying Toomes' company out from under him was based entirely on Osborn's claims that Toomes' experiments in anti-gravity flight were failures that would end up bankrupting the company. At that point, however, Toomes had ''finished'' a fully-functional anti-gravity personalized flight suit. If he'd just flown it over to the board meeting and shown it off, Osborn would have been thrown out of the building and Toomes' company would have been rolling in money. Instead, Toomes took up the identity of the Vulture to assassinate Osborn for trying to take over, which cost him everything.

* In [[Webcomic/TheLastMechanicalMonster]], this is discussed in regards to the villain of "WesternAnimation/TheMechanicalMonsters" (as mentioned below in this article), and at the end of the comic, [[spoiler:when Sparky leaves the patents to his inventions to Lillian, she uses them to make a fortune which she uses to rebuild the library and help the neighbourhood]].

* In ''Fanfic/TransformersMHA'', Mr Black is TheTeamBenefactor of [[NonMagicalFaction MECH]], a secret villain organisation composed of {{Muggles}} where he uses his brilliance to create technology that grants superpowers to [[UnSorcerer Quirkless]] criminals, allowing them to easily contend with some of the Top 10 Pro Heroes that Japan has to offer. Considering that the world of ''My Hero'' is a world where EveryoneIsASuper, such technology would have no doubt revolutionised Hero Society.

** In the first ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1'', Syndrome nicely averts this trope, mentioning during a monologue that he was able to finance the construction of his island base and Omnidroids by selling inventions across the world.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

** Inverted with Shriek, who starts out in [[Recap/BatmanBeyondS1E10Shriek his introductory episode]] as a brilliant yet impractical engineer who specializes in sonics. For his market debut, he develops a suit that can generate and direct sound waves for demolition purposes. However, his boss, CorruptCorporateExecutive Derek Powers, has the reaction upon seeing the suit in action of "dynamite's cheaper" -- his invention isn't practical and ''couldn't'' turn a profit if put on the market (the validity of Powers' claim is unknown, as the actual costs of creating and using the suit aren't shown to the viewers). He promises Shriek to continue funding his experiments if he takes care of Batman instead. Shriek is later seen to have invented some astonishing devices that would rake in millions, such as a gadget that selectively blocks loud noises (imagine the applications if you live near a construction site), but his boss still forces him to act as a personal killing machine. Afterward, Shriek becomes deaf and thus somehow invents a device that appears similar to headphones that can reverse deafness for as long as it's worn by the person, but by this point, he's too obsessed with getting revenge on Batman to care about making money.

* Cyrille Le Paradox, The villain of ''Videogame/SlyCooperThievesInTime'', was already a successful crime lord with an excellent cover identity as an art collector and probably would have been fine had he not wanted to mess with time in order to beat the Cooper Clan. Instead not only did he nearly cause a TimeCrash but he ends up exposing himself as a criminal and getting arrested, with Sly yelling at him for his short-sightedness.
* ''VideoGame/BatmanTheTelltaleSeries'': The Children of Arkham invent a ''truth serum'' and use it to expose the mayoral candidates of their sleaziness. The thing is that in real life, ''truth serum does not exist''; billions have been wasted trying to come up with something that could expose the truth out of professional liars, and the best thing they could achieve was a serum that suppressed the ability to come up with an unprepared lie on the spot; the serum in the game is capable of forcing a person's suppressed unconscious to blab. If the Children of Arkham took the time to refine the formula and remove that pesky ''eventually turns you into an insane supervillain'' side-effect, they could easily sell the patents for ''trillions'' and achieve their goal of acquiring vengeance by simply suing whoever wronged them, as the ''world's'' broken justice system would get major software patch with the truth serum.

* Mr. Freeze's appearance in ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' has him stealing giant diamonds and using them to both fuel his suit and build a giant freeze ray he plans to use to hold Gotham hostage in exchange for funds to further the research he needs to save his wife. Why he doesn't just ''sell the giant diamonds'' is never explained. If not that, he could have just patented the smaller ray immediately, waited for the Nobel, and wondered how many new laws in physics will be named after him. The applications are endless and he's just disproved everything known about thermodynamics. He would never again want for funds no matter what he's researching. At the end of the film [[spoiler:Batman talks him into doing just that. Oh, and giving him the cure to the early stage of the horrible disease his wife had. The stage, coincidentally, Alfred happens to have. Freeze trades the cure for a cell with Poison Ivy, since he learned she tried to kill his wife]].[[note]]This explanation does not take into account the actual difficulty in selling diamonds. Mr. Freeze would not be able to find anyone to take them off his hands because of their size making them too distinctive. By the same token, he can't have them cut down into smaller diamonds: diamond-cutting is a specialised and highly-skilled job within the already-exclusive diamond industry, and even '''if''' there was an unscrupulous cutter willing to do the job and keep silent about the diamonds, the difficulty in selling becomes one of unclear provenance - the people who buy and sell diamonds wouldn't be willing to risk their professional reputation on some dubious stones.[[/note]]

** In "[[Recap/SouthParkS5E6Cartmanland Cartmanland]]", he receives an inheritance and buys a failing amusement park, just so he could enjoy all the rides by himself, without having to wait in queues. Being told that nobody is allowed in [[ForbiddenFruit makes everybody really want to get in]], so when Cartman is finally forced to let people in in order to offset the cost of hiring security and repairmen, it becomes a huge hit. But because the park is now full, Cartman has to wait in queues again (no owner privileges?), so he no longer wants it and sells it back, whereupon the IRS takes away all the money he makes, that he owes in taxes, penalties, and lawsuits.
** In "[[Recap/SouthParkS7E9ChristianRockHard Christian Rock Hard]]", he founds a Christian rock band after making a 10-dollar bet with Kyle on who can receive a platinum album (awarded for 1 million sold copies) first. He does sell the required amount, but loses the bet on a technicality (Christian music has a different set of awards in the ''South Park'' universe -- instead of silver, gold, and platinum; it's [[TheThreeWiseMen gold, frankincense, and myrrh]]), throws a tantrum, insulting both his audience and band members and ruins his career.

** In its earliest appearances, Mitsuhama Computer Technologies were depicted as a front for the yakuza. Eventually, the writers caught on that a billion-nuyen criminal organization is hardly going to use a ''trillion''-nuyen triple-A MegaCorp as a cover. This was retconned in later editions to show that Mitsuhama had several prominent Yakuza ''daimyo'' as capital investors in the company's initial formation, giving them a large, but not a majority, stake in the corporation.

* The villains of ''WesternAnimation/Cars2'' attempt to discredit alternative fuels so that they can keep on selling their oil. Except that the only alternative fuel that had ever been shown on camera is Filmore's organic gasoline, which wasn't being sold outside Radiator Springs. If Axelrod and the lemons had stuck with selling their oil legitimately, they would still have had plenty of time to get crazy rich before any alternative fuel could be produced in sufficient quantities to threaten the oil industry.

A subtrope of MisappliedPhlebotinum, with a degree of StupidEvil. Compare ReedRichardsIsUseless, ScrewTheRulesIHaveSupernaturalPowers, and DickDastardlyStopsToCheat. Contrast RichGenius, VisionaryVillain, and PragmaticVillainy. See also ScienceRelatedMemeticDisorder and SanityHasAdvantages for the possible [[JustifiedTrope justifications of this trope]]. Can end up leading to BoxedCrook when put into practice.

** Dr. Octopus is researching a new power source in ''Film/SpiderMan2''. In order to control it, he invents a system of mechanical arms that interface with his brain, have [[AIIsACrapshoot artificial intelligence]], are [[NighInvulnerability indestructible]], have the strength to throw cars, and never seem to need new batteries. Every aspect of the things would seem to merit a Nobel Prize, but Octavius and the rest of the world initially only treat them as a simple tool. By his FaceHeelTurn, Octavius was more obsessed with achieving his dream of creating [[ThePowerOfTheSun a living sun]] than a Nobel Prize. Justified in that the chip allowing him to have control over the mechanical arms was destroyed and it was their artificial intelligence manipulating him.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'', Aperture Science developed several technologies that, with proper application, would have revolutionized the world. Just one, the portal gun, could have, in an instant, solved nearly every transportation and logistical problem on the planet, enabled CasualInterstellarTravel, and incidentally made the company trillions. They also developed BrainUploading, [[AIIsACrapshoot true AI]], HardLight, some really amazing hardware to prevent [[NotTheFallThatKillsYou injury from falling]], and a variety of other things. But they were so into testing all their inventions that they never marketed them publicly, instead marketing and shipping them to ''themselves'' for even '''more''' testing. It also doesn't help that they ignored even the most basic of safety standards, to the point where their facilities would have given [[NoOSHACompliance OSHA inspectors]] a heart attack. Then they were all [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters killed by the AI]] that they put in charge of the facility, which happened around the same time as the [[VideoGame/HalfLife2 Combine invasion of Earth]].

** Dr Kyudai Garaki had managed to create a method to duplicate Quirks and apply them to others even without [[BigBad All For One]] to help. Present Mic points out that he would've revolutionized modern medicine if he wasn't using this to create the monstrous [[HumanoidAbomination Nomus]], as he had access to rare [[HealingFactor Regeneration Quirks]] and could've instead used them to heal patients easily without having to worry about quantity.

* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies'': [[spoiler:SissyVillain Florent L'Belle designs his own brand of high-end clothing and cosmetics which are exclusively for his personal use. They're actually quite ingenious (such as the hair dye that can be easily washed out and reapied), and as such are in quite high demand and many stores want to sell his products, but he refuses since the filthy, unwashed masses are unworthy of them in his eyes. He also ''advertises'' his products all over TV and magazines, purely to rub it in everyone's faces that they will never be able to have them. This has understandably left him flat broke, so he commits murder in order to steal a giant gold nugget (which as it turns out was pointless since the gold had already been stolen by someone else decades ago) instead of just, you know, ''selling his highly desired products''. In ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice Spirit of Justice]]'', his products have apparently started being sold to the general public, presumably because he's in jail and thus isn't in charge of the brand anymore. They are selling well enough that even overseas countries have them in stock]].