History PlayingWith / HoistByHisOwnPetard

** Emperor Evulz tries to poison a rival, sending a bottle of tainted wine through a series of proxies so it will not be traced back to him, but the wine ends up in Evulz personal cellar. It is not till said rivalry is long forgotten that Evulz finally dies of said bottle of poisoned wine.

* '''Straight''': The BigBad produces a grenade and prepares to throw it at TheHero. It turns out, though, that he [[ThrowthePin threw the pin]], and the [[ExplosiveStupidity grenade explodes and kills him instead]].

** The villain has constructed a death ray on another planet and is planning to destroy Earth, but it explodes, destroying the planet he is on.

* '''Downplayed''': The BigBad tries to slam a big stone into TheHero, only to have it slammed into [[AgonyOfTheFeet his own feet]] instead.

** The weapon has some kind of defect the villain didn't anticipate.
** The weapon had an inherent flaw that the villain could or did not know not fix.
** The villain really WAS that dumb and [[TooDumbToLive it was only a matter of time.]]
** The villain was not dumb at all and knew about the risk. He simply took a gamble and lost.

** The hero's weapon backfires, killing him. The villain is completely unharmed.
** The villain sends the hero on a WildGooseChase. This saves the hero's life when he's not there when the villain's base blows up.
** The KnightTemplar villain takes a poison to avoid being captured and questioned. Unbeknown to him, the air was carrying a poison gas, and they act as mutual antidotes, leaving him still alive.
* '''Subverted''': The villain's weapon backfires, but he is NotQuiteDead and uses it again to kill the hero.
* '''Double Subverted''': The hero is also NotQuiteDead and uses the villain's weapon to kill the villain, for good this time.
* '''Parodied''': The villain's weapon kills him... because he had his head stuck down the barrel trying to see why it wasn't working.

** (Continued from Double Subverted) The villain and hero attack each other with the former's weapon, but every time they think they've killed each other, they turn out to be NotQuiteDead.
** A couple of the villain's ZanyScheme[=s=] backfire non-fatally, and others are just CrazyEnoughToWork. Ultimately, the villain does die, though not necessarily by means of his own making.

** The villain's death is not the result of his own weapon.
** The villain's weapon does not backfire.
** The villain does not die; for that matter, maybe TheBadGuyWins.

** The heroes provoke the villain into firing his weapon repeatedly, knowing it will eventually overheat and explode, killing him.

* '''Implied''': There is talk in the background about a new handheld explosive being detonated during one scene with the villain. A while later, the villain has a robotic replacement arm.

* '''Conversed''': "Wow, the villains in these stories really need to institute some tighter quality control checks."
* '''Deconstructed''': The villain's weaponry comes complete with inherent flaws and is highly unstable, meaning that it could kill ''anyone'' at any time; it's a turkey shoot whether it'll even work properly. The villain, though aware of this, is willing to take that chance.
* '''Reconstructed''': Unfortunately for him, the villain is [[StupidEvil just that bad]] at using it.
* '''Plotted a Good Waste''': The series has been building up around fate and how [[YouCantFightFate things are already decided.]] The BigBad, deciding to ScrewDestiny, uses copious resources building up a new weapon that would allow him to break the chain of events and kill the heroes early. He misuses it so badly he loses his arm as prophesy says the fight would go.
* '''Played for Laughs''': The villain's attempts to kill the hero fail. [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Every. Single. Time.]] Even when all the flaws are worked out.

* '''Parodied''': The villain's weapon kills him... [[WhatAnIdiot because he had his head stuck down the barrel trying to see why it wasn't working.]]

* '''Exaggerated''': The villain has constructed a death ray on another planet and is planning to destroy Earth, but it explodes, destroying the planet he is on.

* '''Straight''': The BigBad produces a grenade and prepares to throw it at TheHero. It turns out, though, that he threw the pin, and the grenade explodes and kills him instead.

* '''Downplayed''': The BigBad tries to slam a big stone into TheHero, only to have it slammed into his own feet instead.

* '''Downplayed''': The BigBad tries to trick TheHero into weakening themselves to open a magical door so the BigBad can run past him. In the end the BigBad ends up running too early and weakens himself on the door before the heroes can.

** The weapon had an inherent flaw that the villain could not fix or did not know.