History Main / SelfDisposingVillain

* This is how the tale of Satou Matsuzaka, the VillainProtagonist of ''Manga/HappySugarLife'' ends. The execution for her cover-up for [[spoiler:Shouko's murder]] is perfect. She can escape overseas at any time and the authorities will no longer be able to find her again. Well, [[spoiler:aside that she missed her wedding ring and went back to the burning apartment to find it. This doesn't end well for her and she dies shielding Shio from falling off the top of the apartment.]] Thankfully (or not), [[spoiler:while her tale ends, her legacy doesn't.]]

When Bob refuses to take a human life, for any reason, there are ways to work around this. Saul could meet his end at the hands of [[VillainsDoTheDirtyWork another villain]], [[TheDogBitesBack an underling he betrayed]], or [[AlwaysABiggerFish a killer even more evil than he is]]. He might be sealed away in some extra-legal sense by TheChosenMany Corps or TheMenInBlack. He might even be dispatched by one of Bob's more pragmatic teammates. But the audience, having seen Saul and Bob finally come to a confrontation, will feel cheated if a third party takes care of the problem, especially if they [[DeusExMachina acted without foreshadowing]] and/or it's obvious that this happened only so that Bob could keep his hands clean.

** ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome''': Mysterio gets reckless during the final battle and gets himself shot by his own drones.

** The first Green Goblin is HoistByHisOwnPetard (impaled by his glider as per the comics above, Dr. Octopus and the New Goblin die due to RedemptionEqualsDeath, and Eddie Brock kills himself by diving into the Venom symbiote just as Spidey's about to incinerate it. It's lampshaded by Aunt May in the third entry after Peter thinks he's killed Sandman [[WeaksauceWeakness with water]]: "Spider-Man doesn't kill people!"
** The accidental but somewhat convenient death of the burglar in the first movie -- removing as it does the threat of Spider-Man's identity being compromised right at the start of his crime-fighting career -- can also be seen as a case of this.

Fortunately, there is an alternative to having Bob break his code or having someone else do it for him -- the soon-to-be-defeated villain can go for the VillainBall. Instead of begging for mercy and "playing nice" for a few episodes, Saul and Cleo will double down. When Saul is rescued from [[TakeMyHand hanging off the cliff's edge]] and given a LastSecondChance, he inevitably takes the opportunity to [[BackstabBackfire backstab Bob]] (who then reacts in self defense when he cuts Saul down). When Cleo is defeated while holding the ArtifactOfDoom, she will never simply drop the thing [[ISurrenderSuckers and 'surrender']]. She will scream "[[BigNo No!]] ThisCannotBe I just need ''[[DrunkOnTheDarkSide more power!!!]]"'', bringing on the SuperpowerMeltdown that destroys her.

Compare DisneyVillainDeath, which oftentimes uses this trope to disposes of a villain for good while leaving the hero's hands clean. If you were looking for the trope about a literally self-disposing body, see NoBodyLeftBehind. Also contrast SelfPunishmentOverFailure, when the "punishment" is deliberately self-inflicted.

* In ''Anime/MonsterRancher'', Naga is defeated by Mocchi, and is hanging onto the edge of a cliff. The heroes try to [[SaveTheVillain save]] him, but he lets go on purpose. The Fox channel skipped the episode because of this.

*** Zigzagged with Cell. He self-destructs, but is able to regenerate FromASingleCell.

* The final battle of ''Anime/KillLaKill'' has Ryuko foiling Ragyo Kiryuin's EvilPlan and wanting her to come back to Earth safe, since she's her mother. In response Ragyo [[BeatStillMyHeart rips her own heart out of her chest]] and crushes it, spreading away the remaining Life Fibers in a possible SequelHook. For an anime called KILL la KILL, the heroes sure don't do a lot of killing...

* Happens ''twice'' to the same villain within one episode of ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero''. Raphtalia is about to kill the noble who enslaved and tortured her, but then she decides [[IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim If I Kill You, I Will Be Just Like You]] and spares him. Then the noble trips on his whip and falls out of the window behind him. Then it turns out that he survived that fall, and he releases a [[SealedEvilInACan monster that was sealed near his mansion]]. Then, said monster [[HoistByHisOwnPetard stomps on him]]. The audience get the satisfaction of seeing that bastard dead, and Raphtalia gets to keep her moral high ground.

** The burglar conveniently having a fatal heart-attack in ASM #200 moments after Spider-Man took off his mask and showed him he was the nephew of the guy he murdered in ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15.

** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': King Aknaten, who claims himself to be immortal so long as he wishes to live, apparently loses that will when ComicBook/SteveTrevor arrives and frees Wonder Woman, Etta Candy, Bobby Strong and Glamora Treat, whom Aknaten had just been monologuing to. He and his minions just fade away, and his previously empty sarcophagus suddenly contains his mummy, but all the tech he'd been using as a villain remains in his hideout.

* In the ''ComicBook/ConanTheBarbarian'' story "At the Mountain of the Moon-God", Conan and a few others are escaping from a mountaintop fortress through a crevice in the floor. The fortress's commander tries to kill them by pouring boiling oil down the crack, but in his haste he somehow tips the vat the wrong way and spills the oil all over himself.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'' the final battle with Clayton sees him wrapped up in vines, and in a rage he begins to hack himself loose with a machete, not noticing the vine wrapped snugly around his neck. When Clayton cuts the last vine holding him up, he falls through the trees until the vine runs out of slack, [[NeckSnap breaking his own neck]] and suffering a FamilyUnfriendlyDeath.

* All of the ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' films [[Film/Batman1989 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; either trying to escape (ComicBook/TheJoker) or trying to kill the heroes (Two Face, in two movies), killed by another villain (Schreck and The Penguin by Catwoman, Bane by a more heroic 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'', but in that case Batman was only trying to tackle him to stop him killing a child and he fell as a result. 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, the derailment having been caused by Jim Gordon under instruction from Batman.

* In ''Film/HighAnxiety'', [[DragonInChief Nurse Diesel]] accidentally [[DisneyVillainDeath falls off a high tower]] when she attempts to jump Dr. Thorndyke in a last ditch effort to kill him.

** ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'': Belloq and his Nazi cohorts Toht and Dietrich open TheArkOfTheCovenant themselves and [[HolyIsNotSafe its powers then disintegrate them a very painful manner]].

** In ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark'', Peter Ludlow is killed by a ''T. rex'' after trying to steal its baby in a last ditch effort of desperation to recover his losses once his scheme to revive Jurassic Park falls apart.

*** Dolores Umbridge finds herself surrounded by Centaurs while trespassing on their land, and elects to call them [[FantasticRacism an in-universe slur]] and threaten them with legal action from an oppressive government. They predictably capture her, freeing the protagonists in the process.

*** Vincent Crabbe casts Fiendfyre in an attempt to kill Harry, Ron, and Hermione, unleashes far more flaming destruction than he reckoned on, and accidentally incinerates himself (along with one of Voldemort's Horcruxes).
*** Voldemort himself. Harry explains him that the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Elder Wand]] Voldemort uses is actually Harry's, due to a set of complicated magical rules concerning wand ownership. As a result of this, the Elder Wand will not kill Harry. Despite this explanation and the chance to repent, Voldemort still fires a killing curse at Harry, which reflects back towards him, finishing him once and for all.

* In ''[[Literature/TheHeirChronicles The Dragon Heir]]'' by Cinda Williams Chima, the villain self-disposes by magically attacking someone who is not only immune to magic, but sucks magic out of wizards. This effect doesn't kill on itself, but does cause exhaustion, so the villain falls down, and there's a handy cliff nearby ...
* At the climax of ''[[Literature/NightWatchSeries Twilight Watch]]'' powerful magic users across the world are channelling energy into Anton as he faces the BigBad. Anton takes all this magic and turns it into a simple shield, protecting himself from all physical and magical influences. Anton inwardly notes that he can't let the Big Bad read his mind and understand the flaw that Anton saw in his plan. The Big Bad then proceeds to teleport himself close enough to the International Space Station to be able to visually target a location to teleport directly on board, but as Anton realised, magic doesn't work in space.

* The Dayao People from ''Literature/AlwaysComingHome'' by Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin. With considerable territories already conquered and access to ancient online databases, it would have been easy for them to equip a large enough army with high-quality regular weapons. Instead, they decided to focus of the AwesomeButImpractical; namely, an airplane force on a PostPeakOil Earth. Apparently, once your food stocks are depleted due to biofuel production, conquest becomes a tiny bit problematic.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''Series/TheITCrowd''. The first boss of the show, Denholm Reynolm, walks out of a top story window when the police come to investigate irregularities in the company's pension fund.

* ''Series/{{Justified}}'' likes to play with this trope. In the opening scene of the series, US Marshal Raylan Givens confronts Tommy Bucks, a PsychoForHire who tortured and brutally murdered a man in front of Raylan. Raylan has no jurisdiction over the crime and no evidence to arrest Bucks for another crime so he instead told him to leave Miami in 24 hours "or else". Right before the time is up, Bucks pulls out his gun and is subsequently shot down by Raylan. Afterwards, Raylan wonders if he would have been capable of murdering Bucks if Bucks did not draw his weapon and made the shooting 'justified'. Throughout the series Raylan is faced with moral choices that resolve themselves because the bad guys kill themselves, each other or force him to act in clear self-defense. This culminates in the finale of season 4 where a mobster threatens Rayaln's family but is does not 'self dispose' so Raylan gets a second mobster to kill the first mobster for him.

* ''Theatre/SpiderManTurnOffTheDark'': During the FinalBattle, the Green Goblin tries to spite Spider Man by dropping a piano from the top of the Empire State Building onto the bystanders below. However, since Spidey had webbed the Goblin to the piano earlier in the fight, he ends up dragged to his DisneyVillainDeath.

** In ''Videogame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'', Garo Master blows himself up with a bomb to fulfil the Garo law to "[[NoBodyLeftBehind die without leaving a corpse]]".

* The third parasite in ''VideoGame/TheCatLady'' forces the cat lady to play the piano before he kills her. Playing the piano is how she tells the neigborhood cats that she's ready to feed them, and they don't take kindly to him threatening her.

* ''Videogame/MrBones:'' The main villain, the vampire [=DaGoulian=], undergoes a VillainousBreakdown after failing to corrupt Mr. Bones, and keeps ranting at him even as the latter tries to warn him the sun's coming up behind him, which would naturally be a problem. He refuses to listen, and keeps ranting until it's too late, and he's crisped without Mr. Bones having to lift a finger (or ''wanting'' to).

* Some of the more evil characters in the ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal'' games suffer this fate once Calypso's JackassGenie tendencies kick in. [[TheGrimReaper Mr. Grimm]] in the second game, for instance, wishes for humanity to start dying faster so that he can consume more souls -- causing Calypso to make all humans start killing each other, giving him a short-term glut of souls to feast on followed by starvation once humanity is extinct. In the same game, the egotistical architect Simon Whittlebone wishes for the resources to construct the tallest skyscraper in the world -- which he then falls from as he keeps trying to build it ever higher so that nobody else builds one even taller. Given that Calypso is himself evil, however, evil characters more likely than the good guys to get precisely what they wanted from their wishes.
* ''VideoGame/PathfinderKingmaker'': In the first boss fight against Tartuccio at Old Sycamore, he likes to cast Fireball, which does nasty AOE damage. Due to ArtificialStupidity and the small size of the boss room he's prone to catching his {{mooks}} in the blast as well, and will even try to cast it on the player party if they rush to melee range with him--which with intelligently built characters means he has a tendency to blow himself to bits.

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

* In ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-11-09 Nov. 9, 2009]] Schlock is trying to subdue some rioters who locked themselves in a storeroom in the ship, so he uses his plasma cannons to cut through the bulkhead. One of the rioters throws a hand grenade at the hole Schlock made, but it misses and bounces off the wall, before Schlock can even enter. This lands back on them and explodes. Turns out they were carrying antimatter which also explodes, incinerating all of them. ''Schlock didn't have to do anything.'' He thinks they did it to themselves on purpose, as he tells his crew-mate Elf, "They committed suicide when they saw me coming."
* ''Webcomic/ProblemSleuth'': While the heroes manage to dispatch Demonhead Mobster Kingpin, the ''real'' Mobster Kingpin doesn't get defeated by Team Sleuth at all. Instead, he is pushed through his Gravity Corset by the moon, ejected from his black hole and dies via [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice getting his body impaled on the Ham Needle]].

* ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'': Its pretty much become a running gag when [[TheyKilledKennyAgain Master Shake]] kills himself because of his own stupidity. One time he actually killed himself in an attempt to cheat at a weight loss contest by mishandling a liposuction machine that accidentally killed him in an instant.

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': Doofenshmirtz’s evil schemes tend to backfire on him all the time, in fact there are times that when Perry is not around his own inventions get destroyed on their own. Not that it stops him from cursing Perry anyway.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretSaturdays'', the series' main antagonist V.V. Argost is killed when after absorbing the powers of Zak Saturday's EvilDoppelganger Zak Monday, he attempts to do the same to Zak himself to enhance his already advanced power levels to an even higher god-like strength. Zak Monday in question came from an anti-matter MirrorUniverse and since reality is torn apart when matter and anti-matter collide, the combined abilities from both Zaks are too much for Argost to handle and [[YinYangBomb he is sucked into a vortex created by the dangerous combination of conflicting energies]].

** This applies to some other villains as well -- for example, in his debut episode, Bulgy ends up getting stuck under a bridge, though he is eventually repaired later into the series. In another episode, Diesel pulls too hard while trying to move some of the Troublesome Trucks and breaks the chain, causing him to fall onto a barge in the harbor.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'': During Season 4's Atlantis Arc, the heroes rush to stop Ocean Master from taking the throne via duplicity, only to fail at the end. [[spoiler:When Orm (whose brain was inserted into the cloned body of Arion, former ruler of Atlantis) tries to take Arion's magic crown, though, the Lords of Order, who a. created the crown and b. have a ''significant'' grievance against Orm's boss Vandal Savage, immediately kill off Orm and drain the crown the crown of its power]].

* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'':
** Wormtail is strangled by his own silver hand (which Voldemort gave him) as punishment for showing Harry a small impulse of mercy when reminded that Harry saved his life. This does not happen in the film, and the closest that is implied to a death scene for him is that Dobby killed him, who is on the heroes' side.
** Vincent Crabbe casts Fiendfyre in an attempt to kill Harry, Ron, and Hermione, unleashes far more flaming destruction than he reckoned on, and accidentally incinerates himself (along with one of Voldemort's Horcruxes).
** Voldemort himself. Harry explains him that the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Elder Wand]] Voldemort uses is actually Harry's, due to a set of complicated magical rules concerning wand ownership. As a result of this, the Elder Wand will not kill Harry. Despite this explanation and the chance to repent, Voldemort still fires a killing curse at Harry, which reflects back towards him, finishing him once and for all.

* This a common way for Psychopaths in the ''Franchise/DeadRising'' series to meet their end after being defeated by the game's hero. For example, Adam from the [[VideoGame/DeadRising first game]] dies via his own chainsaws, Leon from [[VideoGame/DeadRising2 the second]] burns himself alive and Zhi from [[VideoGame/DeadRising3 the third game]] chops off his own head.

-->'''Moo''': Now I understand. You and I are destined to eternal battle for as long as we live. In that case, I can't let you exist. Nor myself!

** PlayedWith in [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1222.html another strip]] where it looks like Xlykon unknowingly disintegrated himself walking across a booby trap, followed by the rest of Team Evil. Naturally, they're alive, but Belkar isn't fond of the supposed anti-climatic victory.

While the [[MonsterOfTheWeek monsters of the week]] have the decency to be [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman sufficiently inhuman]], [[MonsterOfTheAesop anthropomorphic]], [[FacelessMooks faceless]] and irredeemably evil that [[WhatMeasureIsAMook the heroes feel no guilt over slaying them]] (so polite!), ''human'' enemies are another story. How can Bob bring [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Cleo the Necromancess]] to justice when "stealing chunks of [[AnatomyOfTheSoul soul anatomy]] from innocent bystanders" is nowhere in ''Black's Law Dictionary''? And even if a high-ranking member of the police is a SecretKeeper who can [[JusticeByOtherLegalMeans get Cleo jailed for other charges]], [[CardboardPrison what prison could hold her?]] Then there are the villains who are remorseless, sociopathic killers. You know that nothing but death will prevent Saul the Fingerchopper from killing again, but IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim...

* The Dayao People from ''Always Coming Home'' by Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin. With considerable territories already conquered and access to ancient online databases, it would have been easy for them to equip a large enough army with regular weapons. Instead, they decided to focus of the AwesomeButImpractical; namely, an airplane force on a PostPeakOil Earth. Apparently, once your food stocks are depleted due to biofuel production, conquest becomes a tiny bit problematic.

** Wormtail is strangled by his own silver hand as punishment for showing Harry a small impulse of mercy when reminded that Harry saved his life. This does not happen in the film, and the closest that is implied to a death scene for him is that Dobby killed him, who is on the heroes' side.

* 'Franchise/SpiderMan'':

* Taking the place of [[AbsenteeActor Vincent Crabbe]] from the book, [[DeathByAdaptation Gregory Goyle]] is the one who casts Fiendfyre in ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallowsPart2'', and while trying to climb to safety, grabs a loose chair and falls into the fire. Although his only intent was to kill Ron, he essentially killed himself.

--->'''Belkar:''' ''(To Elan)'' If all the main villains just disentigrated themselves walking across a line on the floor, I don't want to hear about narrative structure from you ''ever again!''

** ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'': Belloq and his Nazi cohorts Toht and Dietrich opened TheArkOfTheCovenant themselves and [[HolyIsNotSafe its powers then disintegrated them a very painful manner]].

** ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'', Colonel Spalko wanted the unlimited knowledge, and she got more than she bargained for when [[MySkullRunnethOver she bursts into flames]].

* A common theme 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. It has been pointed out in some movie reviews that in three out of the four films, Indy could have stayed home and let the villains destroy themselves with no negative repercussions (aside from initially rescuing his father and Marcus in the third film).

* In ''Film/TheKillerThatStalkedNewYork'', Matt dies by falling to his death after misjudging a jump while trying to escape the police by {{Roofhopping}}.

* ''Anime/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 [[MonsterOfTheWeek Monsters of the Week]] and {{Big Bad}}s, who are [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman less human-looking]], to be destroyed by the heroes. This is especially true of the Witches 5 from the ''S'' season. Eudial is killed by Mimete, Mimete 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 Guardians barely have to do a thing.

* ''Anime/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 [[MonsterOfTheWeek Monsters of the Week]] and {{Big Bad}}s, who are [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman less human-looking]], to be destroyed by the heroes. This is especially true of the Witches 5 from the ''S'' season. Eudial is killed by Mimete, Mimete 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 Scouts never have to do a thing.