History Main / SelfDisposingVillain

** Voldemort [[VillainousBreakdown kills Pius Thicknesse after one of his Horcruxes is destroyed]]

** Vincent Crabbe casts Fiendfyre in an attempt to kill Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and accidentally incinerates himself (along with one of Voldemort's Horcruxes)

** Averted with Cell. He selfdestructs, but is able to regenerate FromASingleCell.

* ''SailorMoon'': The major villains (QuirkyMinibossSquad and up) have a tendency to either kill each other off for various reasons (YouHaveFailedMe, YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness, EvilVersusEvil) or be destroyed by their [[HoistByHisOwnPetard own technology/attacks]], leaving the [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman less human looking]] [[MonsterOfTheWeek Monsters of the Week]] and {{Big Bad}}s to be destroyed by the heroes. This is especially true of the Witches 5 from the ''S'' season. Eudial is killed by Mimette, Mimette is killed by Tellu, Tellu is killed by her own plant, Viluy is killed by her own nanobots, and Cyprine and Ptilol actually end up killing each other in battle. The Sailor Senshi never have to do a thing.

* "Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'': Belloq and his Nazi cohort opened the Ark of the Covenant themselves and its powers then disintegrated them a very painful manner.

* The Composite Superman, a SilverAge enemy of {{Superman}} and {{Batman}}, [[SuperpowerLottery possessed ''all'' the powers]] of the ComicBook/{{Legion Of Super-Heroes}} and knowledge of the heroes' secret identities. He defeated them and demanded that they give up being heroes, and they actually considered it(!), but the powers then ''faded away'', leaving him without even the memories of ever having been a villain! (This actually happened [[FleetingDemographicRule *twice*]]!)

* The Composite Superman, a SilverAge enemy of {{Superman}} and {{Batman}}, [[SuperpowerLottery possessed ''all'' the powers]] of the {{Legion Of Super-Heroes}} and knowledge of the heroes' secret identities. He defeated them and demanded that they give up being heroes, and they actually considered it(!), but the powers then ''faded away'', leaving him without even the memories of ever having been a villain! (This actually happened [[FleetingDemographicRule *twice*]]!)

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', Damien. Though it's sort of {{justified|Trope}} for VillainousBreakdown of someone who was batshit insane to begin with.

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', Damien. Though it's sort of {{justified}} for VillainousBreakdown of someone who was batshit insane to begin with.

The MonsterOfTheWeek has the decency to be [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman sufficiently inhuman]], [[MonsterOfTheAesop anthropomorphic]], [[FacelessMooks faceless]] and [[CompleteMonster irredeemably evil]] that [[WhatMeasureIsAMook the heroes feel no guilt over slaying them.]] So polite!

* [[CompleteMonster Johan Liebert]] of ''Anime/{{Monster}}'' holds a boy hostage and forces [[TheHero Tenma]] to make the SadisticChoice of [[ThouShaltNotKill killing him]] or letting the boy die. Then the boy's [[ChekhovsGunman father]] conveniently shows up armed and suddenly it's a moot point.

What exactly is a hero to do? [[ThouShaltNotKill Killing]] is right out, but letting them go free is very likely to just cause more mayhem. BigDamnVillains or AlwaysABiggerFish aren't always around when you need them. And very often the hero can't count on a [[TheChosenMany Chosen Many Corps]] or TheMenInBlack to back him up with high tech/mystical imprisonment. The hero may [[HeroForADay have his powers lost/stolen]] every other episode, but permanently {{Depower}}ing a villain is rarely ever possible for an unsympathetic villain. And let's not even get into BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood.

* This was very common in the early seasons of ''{{Smallville}}'' with the krypto-freaks. If they didn't somehow lose their powers they inevitably met a messy end at their own hands.
* Major trope of ''{{Buffy}}'', particularly in the early seasons. Human villains tended to fall into pits of their own monsters while Buffy tried in vain to save them. See especially "The Pack" and "Go Fish".
* In the ''{{Angel}}'' episode "Supersymmetry" Fred attempts to kill the villain who, years earlier, had trapped her in Pylea, a demon Hell Dimension, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard by sending him through one of his own portals]]. When her boyfriend, Charles Gunn, intercedes, he explains [[IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim that if she kills him in revenge she will never be the same.]] ''Gunn'' then snaps his neck and throws him into the portal, and they tell the rest of the heroes that this trope happened and he fell into his own portal.

** "Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'': Belloq and his Nazi cohort opened the Ark of the Covenant themselves and its powers then disintegrated them a very painful manner.

* All of the ''Film/{{Batman}}'' films since 1989 used this trope extensively, at least [[WhatMeasureIsAMook regarding named villains]]. Batman and Robin (and later Batgirl) never, ''ever'' kill. Their opponents are beaten by falling to their deaths trying to kill the heroes (Two Face), killed by another villain (Schreck and The Penguin by Catwoman) driven insane from overdosing on {{Phlebotinum}} (Riddler), and captured in {{Tailor Made Prison}}s (Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy). The only one who dies (mostly) by Batman's hand is the Two Face from Film/TheDarkKnight. Stretched a bit in ''Film/BatmanBegins'', where Batman refuses to deliver a killing blow to Ra's al Ghul but nonetheless leaves him to die as the derailed train on which they're riding crashes.

*** In ''BatmanBegins'' it's justified since Batman is only shaping his philosophy, and Ra's would probably have been capable of saving himself, but chose death instead of getting humiliated by being captured alive. As opposed to the Tim Burton movies where Bats is several times seen casually murdering [[{{Mook}} Mooks]] with impunity.

* All of the ''Film/{{Batman}}'' films since 1989 used this trope extensively, at least [[WhatMeasureIsAMook regarding named villains]]. Batman and Robin (and later Batgirl) never, ''ever'' kill. Their opponents are beaten by falling to their deaths trying to kill the heroes (Two Face), killed by another villain (Schreck and The Penguin by Catwoman) driven insane from overdosing on {{Phlebotinum}} (Riddler), and captured in {{Tailor Made Prison}}s (Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy). The only one who dies (mostly) by Batman's hand is the Two Face from TheDarkKnightSaga. Stretched a bit in ''BatmanBegins'', where Batman refuses to deliver a killing blow to Ra's al Ghul but nonetheless leaves him to die as the derailed train on which they're riding crashes.

* A common thing in the ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' films as its more or less the lust for power that does the villain in while Indy wises up and leaves well enough alone. I.E. in ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' the Nazis opened the Ark of the Covenant themselves and its powers then disintegrated them a very painful manner. ''Film/TheLastCrusade'': the villain drinks the wrong chalice (which he let his assistant choose) and rapidly ages to nothing. Likewise his assistant dies when she's concerned more about the Holy Grail then saving herself. And in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'', Colonel Spalko wanted the skulls to tell her everything, and they give it to her until she bursts into flames.

* [[CompleteMonster Johan Liebert]] of ''{{Anime/Monster}}'' holds a boy hostage and forces [[TheHero Tenma]] to make the SadisticChoice of [[ThouShaltNotKill killing him]] or letting the boy die. Then the boy's [[ChekhovsGunman father]] conveniently shows up armed and suddenly it's a moot point.

** Which is completely at odds with his usual going-all-out-to-save-''everybody'' character. Batman could also be considered to be responsible for Two-Face's Death in ''Batman Forever,'' as he knew exactly what he was doing when he flung those coins.

*** In ''BatmanBegins'' it's justified since Batman is only shaping his philosophy, and Ra's would probably have been capable of saving himself, but chose death instead of getting humiliated by being captured alive. As opposed to the Tim Burton movies where Bats is several times seen casually murdering [[{{Mook}} Mooks]] with impunity.

* In the movie-version of ''EllaEnchanted'', the BigBad Prince Edgar defeats himself with the poisoned crown he planned on using to kill his nephew and heir by putting it on during his MotiveRant at the end of the movie.

* In ''Literature/{{Stardust}}'' by NeilGaiman, there are two major villains, who effectively and elegantly dispose of each other when the heroes aren't even around.
** In the film version, three out of the five villains die at each other's hands.
* Likewise, the climax for Robin Cook's ''Vector'' has the two villains polish each other off.

* {{Subverted}} in ''OrderOfTheStick,'' where [[SmugSnake Kubota]] cleverly surrenders right before [[TookALevelInBadass Elan]] is going to kill him as revenge for [[spoiler:Therkla's murder]]. Kubota realizes that he can probably get acquitted in a trial, and that Elan is too heroic to kill him in cold blood. DoubleSubverted, however, because [[SquishyWizard Vaarsuvius]] ''[[MurderIsTheBestSolution isn't]]'' [[MurderIsTheBestSolution that heroic]].

* The MarvelUniverse gives us Thanos, who routinely comes dangerously close to complete universal domination, only to screw up in some fashion at the last moment and engineer his own defeat. This behavior is noted by both Vision and Adam Warlock in ''The Infinity Gauntlet,'' wherein he decides to become intangible, accidentally allowing his alledged granddaughter to simply grab the titular CosmicKeystone from his body with no resistance at all. Adam Warlock then talked Thanos into making a temporary HeelFaceTurn with a HannibalLecture that amounted to, "Face it. You've had omnipotence ''twice'' now and blown it both times. Do you really think it was by accident?"

* ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' twice, in 'Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' the Nazis opened the Ark of the Covenant themselves and its powers then disintegrated them a very painful manner. Then in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'', Colonel Spalko wanted the skulls to tell her everything, and they give it to her until she bursts into flames.

[[redirect:{{Self-Disposing Villain}}]]

[[redirect:Self-DisposingVillain]]