History Main / VillainyDiscretionShot

* Anakin's massacre of the Sand People ([[MemeticMutation "not just the men, but the women and the children too"]]) in ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/AttackOfTheClones'' is disturbingly rarely reflected upon (Palpatine briefly mentions it near the beginning of ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', but that's all). This is particularly troubling as this behavior would seem much more indicative of ties to the Dark Side than the petulant behavior on which the film spends more time. None of the Jedi know, and it turns out not to be very relevant at all. Even Padmé, to whom he confesses the act, doesn't seem too distressed by it. [[spoiler:[[WouldHurtAChild His slaughter of Yoda's younglings, on the other hand...]]]] It's discussed in much more detail in the Creator/MattStover {{novelization}}: the point is made that Anakin was totally out of control, killing the Sand People out of blind rage. His murders in Ep III are cold-blooded and premeditated.

* Sayid of ''Series/{{Lost}}'' was in the Iraqi Republican Guard. They show some pretty grim stuff, but that has to be the [[StockPhrases tip of the overused metaphor]]. Have you EVER looked at the reports of the "Al Anfal" campaign, the brief occupation of Kuwait, or their behavior in Iran? Well, it makes ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' look pretty damn tame. And the fact that Sayid is known to have participated in some of the nastier parts (such as the post-Gulf I uprising and suppression) is horror if you know about the subject. At least it terrified Hurley.

* It's difficult to tell if this or OffstageVillainy is at play during [[spoiler:Lelouch]]'s time as Emperor in ''Anime/CodeGeass''. A person in a crowd comments that he would kill people and their entire families for speaking against him, but this behavior is never shown. It ''is'' certainly implied he had no trouble using violent methods to eliminate Britannia's system of nobility, but [[AcceptableTargets who likes lazy aristocrats anyway?]] It seems like this technique was used so that those who liked the character would assume his bark was worse than his bite, whereas those who didn't would conclude (as colorfully expressed on this site) that he was "worse than four Hitlers".

'''Loretta:''' So you take me for what I am - a psychopathic, schizophrenic, serial killing femme fatale?\\

* [[BloodKnight Kenpachi]] gets a textbook one in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''. It's stated that instead of going through the normal political channels to become a squad Captain, he challenged and [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority killed an existing captain]] in front of 200 witnesses. While this is supposed to add to his badass legend, the fact that we don't know anything about the victim or the particulars of the fight could have very well made this a [[BaitTheDog seriously disturbing]] KickTheDog moment.

** In the next season, they [[DefeatMeansFriendship accept]] several new friends into the fold. Although most of them have not been explicitly shown killing, Cinque did kill Zest, and it can be safely assumed that most, if not all, have some blood on their hands by season's end, considering that they attacked and disabled the Einherjar, and the only people they were not allowed to kill in the last battle were [[spoiler:Subaru, Erio and Fate]].

* [[BloodKnight Kenpachi]] gets a textbook one in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''. It's stated that instead of going through the normal political channels to become a squad Captain, he challenged and [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority killed an existing captain]] in front of 200 witness. While this is supposed to add to his badass legend, the fact that we don't know anything about the victim or the particulars of the fight could have very well have made this a [[BaitTheDog seriously disturbing]] KickTheDog moment.

* Used with many of the desperadoes ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'' encounters in order to explain their notoriety. If rumours and wanted posters are to be believed Phil de Fer, the original Dalton gang, Joss Jamon and most specifically Pat Poker and Billy the Kid have quite a remarkable body count. In Billy's case it is said that many of his victims were fellow criminals and Luke himself calls him worse than the Daltons (the new ones at least).

* Anakin's massacre of the Sand People ([[MemeticMutation "not just the men, but the women and the children too"]]) in ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/AttackOfTheClones'' is disturbingly rarely reflected upon (Palpatine briefly mentions it near the beginning of ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', but that's all). This is particularly troubling as this behavior would seem much more indicative of ties to the Dark Side than the petulant behavior on which the film spends more time. None of the Jedi know, and it turns out not to be very relevant at all. Even Padmé, to whom he confesses the act, doesn't seem too distressed by it. [[spoiler:[[WouldHurtAChild His slaughter of Yoda's younglings, on the other hand...]]]] It's discussed in much more detail in the Creator/MattStover {{novelization}}: the point is made that Anakin was totally out of control, killing the Sand People out of blind rage. His murders in Ep III are cold blooded and premeditated.

* Justified in ''Film/LayerCake''; the protagonist is a cocaine dealer responsible for getting an awful lot of product out onto the streets; but he himself finds the end result of his work to be distasteful, and deliberately steers clear of cocaine users. A more sympathetic example than most, as he it's implied that because of this he's making plans to leave the business behind him.

* Tuco of ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'' has a rapsheet that indicates he's a rapist and mass murderer. He doesn't do anything nearly that bad on camera and is presented as a humorous character- and the LongList of his crimes is itself somewhat PlayedForLaughs. It's possible some of the crimes were made up because he had reason to increase the price on his own head.

** Marcone is a bit of a subversion - part of his characterization is the dichotomy between the sort of bastardy typically associated with his unlawful enterprises, and the fact that Marcone himself is not all that much of a bastard, and has rather high standards.

* From ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', Garak used to be a member of the Obsidian Order, the Cardassians version of secret police. Considering what perfectly normal citizens will cheerfully do in the name of Cardassia (one notable Cardassian torturer had his daughter at 'work', while still behaving like a kind and loving father), the exact details of what a member of the Order gets up to is best left unmentioned. If he wasn't such a MagnificentBastard and on the side of the Federation (and he's only working with the Federation because he detests [[spoiler:what the Dominion has done to his beloved Cardassia]]), he'd be a villain. Noteworthy is the time when Garak responds to a dream of Bashir's where he was the enemy. "Are you saying that after all these lunches we've had together, you still don't trust me? There may be hope for you yet."
** Notably ''averted'' in the episode "The Die is Cast", when the audience does get to see Garak interrogate and torture [[spoiler: Odo]]. In this case, the resolution of the torture session involves Garak desperately pleading with the subject to give him something, ''anything'', so he can justify stopping. The look of relief and horror on his face when it finally ends shows he's far less comfortable with cold-blooded torture than he used to be. Later episodes firmly establish that he's still the resident dog-kicker (and quite good at it), but only [[IDidWhatIHadToDo when it's absolutely necessary]].
* The amount of people that have been killed one way or another by Lana of ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', who has yet to be arrested. Looking back on it, it's pretty impressive.

* Another comical example is ''Series/BlackAdder''. Various incarnations of Edmund have definitely committed a fair amount of murders and other unscrupulous deeds on innocent and not so innocent people, but when shown at all, they're generally in a humorous style to downplay his sociopathic tendencies.

* For most of her time on ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', Anya from was treated as an entirely comic character, her anecdotes about the various horrific punishments she inflicted during her ''centuries'' as a demon being more likely to cause an a moment of bemused awkwardness in the conversation than any outrage or shock. Eventually somewhat rectified (long, long after her introduction) with the episode "Selfless".
** Harmony, once just an idiot classmate, is killed and turned into a vampire, [[OurVampiresAreDifferent which in the terms of the series]] means it's a demon wearing Harmony's body. The demon, who was literally biting Willow at one point (that doesn't cause a turning) is treated like a big ding dong and laughed at as if it was just Harmony forgetting what the capitol of the United States is. This activity continues to many later episodes, including Xander (who has a serious hate-on for all vampires, much more then Buffy).

** Later seasons gradually avert the trope, as Dexter's grip on his "code" becomes more slippery. This came to a head at the end of Season 7, when he [[spoiler:attempted to murder a police captain in order to keep himself out of prison]].

* ''WebComic/EightBitTheater'' is perhaps the purest distillation of this trope, due to a combination of the CrapsackWorld setting and being a deconstruction of the typical sociopathic RPG party, with atrocities committed left, right and centre by protagonists, antagonists and others both onscreen and offscreen, with precisely ''one'' death that wasn't done comedically (and that was for about two pages).

* Nobody in ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'' ever seems to note that Captain Hero single-handedly caused the destruction of his home planet, killing everything on it, after the episode "Little Orphan Hero". Of course the same could be said for his other obliviously destructive actions, such as maiming or murdering all of the participants of a charity fund raiser to give himself a sense of pride, causing innumerable car crashes to please Clara, and generally wreaking havoc on everybody around him. Being a BlackComedy though, this may just be used to cement him as a HeroicComedicSociopath, and the NegativeContinuity probably doesn't help.

* In Disney's ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'', of all places, the comedic villain Megavolt is mentioned as having been sent to the electric chair twice. Granted, this is basically a joke about the villain's electrokinetic properties, but it also brings up the UnfortunateImplications that the most HarmlessVillain on the show is either a multiple murderer (the more likely scenario), or a child rapist.

* On ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'', Heloise commits all kinds of KickTheDog acts, and it's hinted that she tortures people for fun. Yet all this happens off screen so she can continue being the AntiHero.

* In Disney's ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'', of all places, the comedic villain Megavolt is mentioned as having been sent to the electric chair twice. Granted, this is basically a joke about the villain's electrokinetic properties, but it also brings up the UnfortunateImplications that the most HarmlessVillain on the show is either a multiple murderer, or a child rapist.

* The ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' manga, and ''Brotherhood'', has this when it comes to [[HeroicComedicSociopath Barry]]. He's only ever shown killing one person on screen, the officer who came to investigate his and Alphonse's fight.

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' has this when it comes to [[HeroicComedicSociopath Barry]]. He's only ever shown killing one person on screen, the officer who came to investigate his and Alphonse's fight.

*** The short story *Even Hand* shows more of how he earned his reputation. He's definitely an extremely ruthless and dangerous man [[spoiler:who personally executes criminals who break his rules and nearly orders a civilian's death in order to keep a secret]].

* ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'' and ''VideoGame/GoldenEye1997 64'' for the Nintendo 64. Both games, on the lower difficulty levels, let the player get away with a ''few'' murders of civillains. These include running over St. Petersburg citizens with a tank, shooting scientists in the face, machine gunning office workers ("She's here!") and so on. And in possibly a glitch, in ''PD'', they can blast pedestrian vehicles all the live long day. Nothing happens. Conversely, in ''Goldeneye'', if the player plugs the tech nerd that is working on the death laser, their ally refuses to help them anymore.
** In Boris's case, [[FridgeBrilliance he's the only non-combatant the player can kill with Natalya watching]], as she does over the security cameras.

* While Belkar Bitterleaf, the TokenEvilTeammate of ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' has done and proposed plenty of evil things on-panel (mostly the occasional [[MurderIsTheBestSolution casual murder]] of innocent civilians and city guards, and [[BloodKnight taking a worrying amount of joy in combat]]), his worst crimes have been out-of-sight. Roy is informed by the CelestialBureaucracy that their files measure his morality on a chart labelled in "kilonazis", currently ranking somewhere shy of "a hypothetical offspring of Cruella de Vil and Sauron". We're also told, however, that Roy and the rest of the party have been a stabilising influence, and indeed the worst of his actions happened before the comic began (for example, past affiliation with slavers, and the mass killing of fifteen unarmed people in a BarBrawl that he didn't even consider unreasonable.)

* Stans in ''Film/{{Predators}}'' is a death row inmate who admits to having killed 38 people because he could and casually talks about committing rape, yet is portrayed as a [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold loveable jerk]] who is concerned about others and [[spoiler:sacrifices himself to save them]]

* Used to brilliant effect in the earlier seasons of ''Series/{{Dexter}}'', in which the eponymous character is a mass murderer with a body count of, at the ''very least'', three dozen people. It's stated numerous times that he only kills murderers (or in one instance, a child molester who was stalking his girlfriend's daughter), his actions are sometimes shown to prevent further deaths, and it's made abundantly clear that most of his victims are vile, disgusting, irredeemable scumbags far worse than him. All of this assists greatly in portraying Dexter as a SociopathicHero and perpetuating the BlackAndGreyMorality of the series.

* In the backstory of ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'', the original incarnation of [[PlayerCharacter The Nameless One]] did [[MoralEventHorizon something so terrible that even a lifetime of atonement wouldn't be enough to make up for it]], which led to him seeking immortality in hopes that ''several'' lifetimes of atonement might do the trick. The game never gives specifics as to the nature of his unforgivable act.

* Anakin's massacre of the Sand People in ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/AttackOfTheClones'' is disturbingly rarely reflected upon (Palpatine briefly mentions it near the beginning of ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', but that's all). This is particularly troubling as this behavior would seem much more indicative of ties to the Dark Side than the petulant behavior on which the film spends more time. None of the Jedi know, and it turns out not to be very relevant at all. Even Padme, to whom he confesses the act, doesn't seem too distressed by it. [[spoiler: [[WouldHurtAChild His slaughter of Yoda's younglings, on the other hand...]]]] It's discussed in much more detail in the Creator/MattStover {{novelization}}: the point is made that Anakin was totally out of control, killing the Sand People out of blind rage. His murders in Ep III are cold blooded and premeditated.

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