History Main / IncidentalVillain

Basically, the Incidental Villain is a character who technically ''isn't'' a villain, and they only actually does something worthy antagonistic occasionally; most of the time they aren't doing anything particularly bad, only when necessary. The rest of the time, they have no problem playing by the rules or [[AffablyEvil being amiable]] [[FauxAffablyEvil to our heroes]]. So, half the time the hero doesn't have to worry, because at the moment the enemy doesn't really care to antagonize: They know they're capable of villainy, but they tolerate them because they're not currently doing anything wrong. This kind of attitude is pretty common in sitcoms where the main character is a LoserProtagonist who minds his own business, has no heroic aspirations and would never even consider opposing the villain since they are totally out of their league and could possibly even be their boss. They just occasionally ends up victimised by him when the villain looks for an easy target. In some cases (especially when the world is already their oyster) the only way to stop them is by talking them into taking some preferable action which will be more in their best interests instead of whatever atrocity they originally planned to commit.

Just don't piss them off, get in their way, or otherwise force their hand. Because if he thinks he needs to deal with you, or even think it might be to his benefit, you ''will'' regret it, though a necessary part of this kind of character is that he doesn't actively plot against the heroes. He more or less takes schemes as they come.

A PunchClockVillain is often this way, due to evil being only a job to him. It's also quite common for the CorruptCorporateExecutive and other cases of enterprising and capitalistic villains. This character does not go through the HeelFaceRevolvingDoor, because he doesn't actually change sides; he just decides not to do anything evil for lengths of time. If anything, these characters are extremely neutral until they decide to do something devious, and go right back to neutral afterwards. This is a subtrope to PragmaticVillainy. Even a particularly opportunistic CompleteMonster can be this.

* The Penguin, in the ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' comics, is mostly this nowadays. Officially he's a "legitimate" businessman who owns a nightclub, and functions as a small time criminal operator and sometime snitch, and his club is the place to be whenever the villains of Gotham want to meet or relax. All in all, he himself doesn't really threaten the city much; he's largely a neutral figure, who helps both villains and sometimes gives Batman info if coaxed enough - unless he's in the mood to try and corner Gotham's underworld, in which case he shows just how deadly and threatening he can be. This happens every once in a while, and the end result is never pretty.

Basically, the Incidental Villain is a character who technically ''isn't'' a villain, and they only actually does something worthy antagonistic occasionally; most of the time they aren't doing anything particularly bad, only when necessary. The rest of the time, they have no problem playing by the rules or [[AffablyEvil being amiable]] [[FauxAffablyEvil to our heroes]]. So, half the time the hero doesn't have to worry, because at the moment the enemy doesn't really care to antagonize: They know they're capable of villainy, but they tolerate them because they'r not currently doing anything wrong. This kind of attitude is pretty common in sitcoms where the main character is a LoserProtagonist who minds his own business, has no heroic aspirations and would never even consider opposing the villain since they are totally out of their league and could possibly even be their boss. They just occasionally ends up victimised by him when the villain looks for an easy target. In some cases (especially when the world is already their oyster) the only way to stop them is by talking them into taking some preferable action which will be more in their best interests instead of whatever atrocity they originally planned to commit.

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Basically, the Incidental Villain is a character who technically ''is'' a villain, but he only actually does something worthy of a true villain occasionally; most of the time he's not doing anything particularly bad, only when necessary. The rest of the time, he has no problem playing by the rules or [[AffablyEvil being amiable]] [[FauxAffablyEvil to our heroes]]. So, half the time the hero doesn't have to worry, because at the moment the enemy doesn't really care to antagonize: They know he's capable of villainy, but they tolerate him because he's not currently doing anything wrong. This kind of attitude is pretty common in sitcoms where the main character is a LoserProtagonist who minds his own business, has no heroic aspirations and would never even consider opposing the villain since he is totally out of his league and could possibly even be his boss. He just occasionally ends up victimised by him when the villain looks for an easy target. In some cases (especially when the world is already their oyster) the only way to stop them is by talking them into taking some preferable action which will be more in their best interests instead of whatever atrocity they originally planned to commit.

Just don't piss him off, get in his way, or otherwise force his hand. Because if he thinks he needs to deal with you, or even think it might be to his benefit, you ''will'' regret it, though a necessary part of this kind of character is that he doesn't actively plot against the heroes. He more or less takes schemes as they come.

A PunchClockVillain is often this way, due to evil being only a job to him. As does a CorruptCorporateExecutive and other cases of enterprising and capitalistic villains. This character does not go through the HeelFaceRevolvingDoor, because he doesn't actually change sides; he just decides not to do anything evil for lengths of time. If anything, these characters are extremely neutral until they decide to do something devious, and go right back to neutral afterwards. This is a subtrope to PragmaticVillainy. Even a particularly opportunistic CompleteMonster can be this.

* The Penguin, in the ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' comics, is mostly this nowadays. Officially he's a "legitimate" businessman who owns a nightclub, and functions as a small time criminal operator, sometime snitch, and his club is the place to be whenever the villains of Gotham want to meet or relax. All in all, he himself doesn't really threaten the city much, and is neutral, who helps both villains and sometimes gives Batman info if coaxed enough - unless he's in the mood to try and corner Gotham's underworld, in which case he shows just how deadly and threatening he can be. This happens every once in a while, and the end result is never pretty.

[[folder: Animated Film]]

* The appearance of the Queen of Hearts late in ''WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland'' isn't ''directly'' a threat to Alice's life, as she can be civil and even playful when she isn't displeased and Alice doesn't have anything that she wants. The problem is that her mood is so unstable and so much based on whims and outbursts that a lot of incidents can cause, that she is entirely unpredictable in her insanity, no matter how polite and respectful one is, and therefore it doesn't take long before Alice's life is in big danger.

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* Shere Kahn in ''WesternAnimation/{{TaleSpin}}'' was reimagined as an AffablyEvil CorruptCorporateExecutive, and has no problem with hiring pirates to attack shipping lines that aren't his own or ruthlessly crushing the opposition, but despite being ruthless and cold, his villainy was mostly due to him being extremely pragmatic, feeling ruthlessness was the most effective way to deal with it. Most of the plots dealing with his company happened when one of his employees threatened the protagonists either outside his knowledge (like a rogue scientist going mad) or in a way that he didn't care about (like an inventor whose invention could put them out of business), he almost always helped against the villain of the week when he appeared in their plots, and was even a BenevolentBoss (mistreated employees don't work as efficiently). In the end of most plots where he was antagonistic, he would decide that his course of action was not the best he could do and abandon with no hard feelings, often even choosing Baloo's side because it was the easiest way to get the job done.
** One could argue whether the original interpretation from ''Literature/TheJungleBook'' applies to some extent. While something of a non-anthropomorphic EgomaniacHunter that likes to consider himself an intimidating figure, he is suggested to only really hate mankind out of fear of their "red flower" and isn't taken that seriously by other residents of the jungle. He breaks rules of the Jungle as well, even at that however he is merely a normal animal killing for food. The [[WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967 Disney interpretation]] has some implications of this trait but is rarely shown on screen outside terrorizing Mowgli or anyone protecting him (by the sequel he is so embittered at his defeat he is out and out sinister and malevolent).

* The Brotherhood of Mutants in ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'' were less a gang of sociopathic terrorists and more a bunch of antisocial teens being led around by an actual sociopath; once Mystique, and later Magneto, were gone, they couldn't care less about the heroes, wouldn't hurt people or really do anything bad, but just keep to themselves unless they were forced to act. They were practically friends with the X-Men, and had a more FriendlyRivalry vibe to their feud than anything; they helped them all the time, and most times they fought them outside of Mystique's influence were because, despite being not-quite-evil, they ''were'' generally [[JerkAss assholes]], or [[LetsYouAndHimFight there was a misunderstanding]]. However, with the exception of Lance, they adamantly refused to join the X-Men on principle, preferring to mind themselves. In the end, however, they stopped going around wavering on the line between good and evil and joined SHIELD.
* David Xanatos from ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' is a good example. He's an AffablyEvil CorruptCorporateExecutive whose only real motivation is his interest: if he wants something, and he can't get it legally, he'll do something illegal, and if that brings him into conflict with the heroes, he'll fight them. If he's not interested in them, he'll leave them alone, he doesn't hold grudges, and being evil isn't his primary concern, just a tool he uses.

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* The appearance of the Queen of Hearts late in ''Disney/AliceInWonderland'' isn't ''directly'' a threat to Alice's life, as she can be civil and even playful when she isn't displeased and Alice doesn't have anything that she wants. The problem is that her mood is so unstable and so much based on whims and outbursts that a lot of incidents can cause, that she is entirely unpredictable in her insanity, no matter how polite and respectful one is, and therefore it doesn't take long before Alice's life is in big danger.

** One could argue whether the original interpretation from ''Literature/TheJungleBook'' applies to some extent. While something of a non-anthropomorphic EgomaniacHunter that likes to consider himself an intimidating figure, he is suggested to only really hate mankind out of fear of their "red flower" and isn't taken that seriously by other residents of the jungle. He breaks rules of the Jungle as well, even at that however he is merely a normal animal killing for food. The [[Disney/TheJungleBook Disney interpretation]] has some implications of this trait but is rarely shown on screen outside terrorizing Mowgli or anyone protecting him (by the sequel he is so embittered at his defeat he is out and out sinister and malevolent).

A PunchClockVillain is often this way, due to evil being only a job to him. As does a CorruptCorporateExecutiveNote and other cases of enterprising and capitalistic villains. This character does not go through the HeelFaceRevolvingDoor, because he doesn't actually change sides; he just decides not to do anything evil for lengths of time. If anything, these characters are extremely neutral until they decide to do something devious, and go right back to neutral afterwards. This is a subtrope to PragmaticVillainy. Even a particularly opportunistic CompleteMonster can be this.

A PunchClockVillain is often this way, due to evil being only a job to him. Note, this character does not go through the HeelFaceRevolvingDoor, because he doesn't actually change sides; he just decides not to do anything evil for lengths of time. If anything, these characters are extremely neutral until they decide to do something devious, and go right back to neutral afterwards. This is a subtrope to PragmaticVillainy. Even a particularly opportunistic CompleteMonster can be this.

* The appearance of the Queen of Hearts late in ''Disney/AliceInWonderland'' isn't ''directly'' a threat to Alice's life, as she can be civil and even playful when she isn't displeased and Alice doesn't have anything that she wants. The problem is that her mood is so incidental and so much based on also incidental whims and outbursts that she is entirely unpredictable in her insanity, no matter how polite and respectful one is, and therefore it doesn't take long before Alice's life is in big danger as she vents her frustration on her.

Basically, the Incidental Villain is a character who technically ''is'' a villain, but he only actually does something worthy of a true villain occasionally; most of the time he's not doing anything particularly bad, only when necessary. The rest of the time, he has no problem playing by the rules or [[AffablyEvil being amiable]] [[FauxAffablyEvil to our heroes]]. So, half the time the hero doesn't have to worry, because at the moment the enemy doesn't really care to antagonize: They know he's capable of villainy, but they tolerate him because he's not currently doing anything wrong. This kind of attitude is pretty common in sitcoms where the main character is a LoserProtagonist who minds his own business, has no heroic aspirations and would never even consider opposing the villain since he is totally out of his league and could possibly even be his boss. He just occassionally ends up victimised by him when the villain looks for an easy target. In some cases (especially when the world is already their oyster) the only way to stop them is by talking them into taking some preferable action which will be more in their best interests instead of whatever atrocity they originally planned to commit.

* David Xanatos from ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' is a good example. He, like Khan, is an AffablyEvil CorruptCorporateExecutive whose only real motivation is his interest: if he wants something, and he can't get it legally, he'll do something illegal, and if that brings him into conflict with the heroes, he'll fight them. If he's not interested in them, he'll leave them alone, he doesn't hold grudges, and being evil isn't his primary concern, just a tool he uses.

Basically, the Incidental Villain is a character who technically ''is'' a villain, but he only actually does something worthy of a true villain occasionally; most of the time he's not doing anything particularly bad, only when necessary. The rest of the time, he has no problem playing by the rules or [[AffablyEvil being amiable]] [[FauxAffablyEvil to our heroes]]. So, half the time the hero doesn't have to worry, because at the moment the enemy doesn't really care to antagonize: They know he's capable of villainy, but they tolerate him because he's not currently doing anything wrong. This kind of attitude is pretty common in sitcoms where the main character is a LoserProtagonist who minds his own business, has no heroic aspirations and would never even consider opposing the villain since he is totally out of his league and could possibly even be his boss. He just occassionally ends up victimised by him when the villain looks for an easy target.