History SaveTheVillain / WesternAnimation

* In ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong'' episode "The Ski Trip", Jake learns that Rose, his love interest, and Huntsgirl, his arch-enemy, are one and the same. As such, when Huntsgirl gets caught in an avalanche, Jake swoops in to save her, much to her confusion.

** This was something of a hallmark of early Franchise/{{Superman}} cartoons. The 1941 shorts "The Mad Scientist" and "Mechanical Monsters" each end with Superman grabbing Lois and the villain as the building blows up and leaping to safety.

---->'''Joker''': Batman! You wouldn't let me fry, would you?\\
'''Batman''': ''[[ImThinkingItOver (considers it)]]''\\
'''Joker''': BATMAN! (Batman pulls him up)

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** Prince Zuko, an AntiVillain, is fighting Admiral Zhao, a full-fledged villain, when the latter is suddenly seized by the Ocean Spirit. Even though Zuko hates Zhao's guts, he yells, "TakeMyHand," because he's just honorable like that. Zhao refuses Zuko's help and suffers a KarmicDeath. [[spoiler: It isn't until [[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra the next series]] that we discover he suffered a FateWorseThanDeath instead.]]
** Naturally, Aang, the hero, has saved Prince Zuko on a number of occasions, including in the unaired pilot. His friends don't always approve.
--->'''Aang:''' Wait -- we can't just leave him here.\\
'''Sokka:''' Sure we can...
** Even MOMO saves enemies which wanted to eat him five minutes earlier.

* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'': [[CaptainSuperhero Captain Planet]], being the Superman-style NiceGuy hero that he is, responds to anyone in need of help, including the eco-villains. Very few of them ever reward him for it at all.

* This was something of a hallmark of early Franchise/{{Superman}} cartoons. The 1941 shorts "The Mad Scientist" and "Mechanical Monsters" each end with Superman grabbing Lois and the villain as the building blows up and leaping to safety.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'':
** In "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE44DayOfTheSamurai Day of the Samurai]]", Batman's second encounter with a villainous ninja, Kyodai Ken, ends with the ninja stranded on a rock in the middle of a lava flow. Despite all that has passed between them, Batman throws a line and offers to try and pull him to safety. The rescue is refused, and the ninja [[NeverFoundTheBody presumably dies]] seconds later.
** In "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE6TheUnderdwellers The Underdwellers]]", Batman saves a villain called the Sewer King from being hit by a subway train. When the astonished villain asks why, Batman responds that he leaves judgment and execution to the courts. Batman is still sorely tempted to make an exception here, what with the [[WouldHurtAChild nature]] of the otherwise silly-looking villain's crimes.
** Another episode has Batman saving an unconscious Joker from an exploding building - probably unnecessary, given Joker's [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat history with big explosions]].
** In "[[Recap/TheNewBatmanAdventuresE9LoveIsACroc Love Is a Croc]]", when other villain Killer Croc drops Baby Doll ([[AntiVillain/WesternAnimation already a sympathetic character, anyway, though still insane]]) over a [[NoOSHACompliance poorly designed]] ledge in the nuclear power plant, Batman catches her. She then knocks out Croc with a chemical, saving Batman in return.
** Lampshaded in "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE4TheLastLaugh The Last Laugh]]", where ComicBook/TheJoker is hanging over a pit of molten metal.
--->'''Joker''': Batman! You wouldn't let me fry, would you?
--->'''Batman''': ''[[ImThinkingItOver (considers it)]]''
--->'''Joker''': BATMAN! (Batman pulls him up)
** In "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE14HeartOfIce Heart of Ice]]", Batman thaws out a mook who accidentally got hit with Mr. Freeze's cold gun. Later, Batman stops Mr. Freeze from murdering Ferris Boyle, but out of disgust for Boyle's crimes, he gives the reporter Summer Gleason evidence of them and leaves without unfreezing him.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', Batman saves the life of ComicBook/TheJoker, who'd been betrayed by the washed-up [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] supervillain he'd [[RetiredMonster brought out of retirement]]. Joker is [[UnwantedRescue quite displeased]], and says that he'd ruined his best joke ever -- if the Weeper had killed Joker, he'd have "claimed his destiny", going from washed up lame bad guy to the king of crime.
* ''WesternAnimation/BlazeAndTheMonsterMachines'' had several situations where [[TheHero Blaze]] had to rescue [[TheTrickster Crusher.]]
* An interesting subversion happens during the three-part "World's Finest" episodes in ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries''. The Joker has just accidentally set the huge flying wing he, Harley Quinn, Batman, and ComicBook/LexLuthor are all on board to exploding; Superman turns up, Batman tells Superman to get Luthor, he's got Quinn... ''exeunt omnes'' through Superman's entrance hole... ''without making even the slightest effort to save ComicBook/TheJoker'', who's on the far side of what's functionally a minefield. Granted, it did give us the immortal lines after the plane had gone up in a fireball the size of a small city:
-->'''Harley Quinn''': '''PUDDIN'!'''\\

* A variation happens between Superman and Lobo in the ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "The Main Man". Lobo was in no danger of ''dying'', but he had been captured by [[TheCollector the Preserver]] along with Superman, and couldn't escape his cell on his own. Superman offered to help, so long as he promised ''never'' to bother the Earth again. Once Lobo agreed and told him that "the Main Man's word is as good as gold", Superman broke him out.
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'':
** In the episode "Twilight", this is ''averted'' by ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' of all people. When {{ComicBook/Darkseid}} tells the League that Brainiac is trying to assimilate Apokolips, Superman refuses to help and the rest of the League has to convince him otherwise. After Darkseid's inevitable betrayal, Superman actually hunts him down to personally kill him, and is only prevented by Batman because ''the entire base was about to explode''. That said, it does work in that they leave the tyrant to die in the explosion and it sticks -- Darkseid remains dead all the way to the finale of ''Unlimited'' four seasons later.
** Also subverted in the earlier episode "The Enemy Below." Orm ends up dangling off a ledge over a high drop, screaming for help, after trying to kill both his brother Aquaman and [[PapaWolf his infant son]] as well as untold numbers of people by melting the polar ice caps. Aquaman reaches down...and grabs his nearby trident instead, while Orm falls to his death.
--->'''Aquaman:''' I believe this is mine.
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueAction'': Superman and Wonder Woman save the Joker from Mongul in "Galaxy Jest" and Lex Luthor from a black hole in "Repulse".

* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'', Superman tries to save Kroleteans about to be destroyed by a bomb hidden in their volcano base. [[spoiler:They don't believe him and keep attacking, so he fails.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'': Batman ''tries'' to do this with Joe Chill, [[YouKilledMyFather the man who murdered his parents]], by saving Chill when his fellow villains turn on him so he can live to stand trial. He succeeds in defeating them, [[AllForNothing only for a section of the ceiling that was damaged in the fight to collapse and fatally crush Chill]], with it being strongly implied that [[TheUnfettered the Spectre]] deliberately caused this to happen in order [[DeathBySecretIdentity to protect Batman's secret identity]].

** Played much straighter in "Operation: Breakdown." When the human terrorists MECH get their hands on Breakdown and start dissecting him, Optimus insists on a rescue mission, if only to keep MECH from acquiring dangerous tech. Bulkhead is initially reluctant to help his rival, but Miko convinces him to do it so he can beat Breakdown fair and square later.

* ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouseClubhouse'': In "Donald's Big Balloon Race" after [[CheatersNeverProsper Pete crashes into a tree]] just before the finish line, Mickey refuses to leave Pete stuck because he wants Donald to be a good sport, so the two use a rope ladder to rescue Pete before flying over the line.

* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', Superman tries to save Kroleteans about to be destroyed by a bomb hidden in their volcano base. [[spoiler:They don't believe him and keep attacking, so he fails.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'', Comicbook/CaptainAmerica nearly sacrifices himself to save ''Madame Viper'' from the Super Skrull. When Henry Gyrich asks what he's doing, Mockingbird responds with "He's being Captain America!" [[spoiler:Viper returns the favor by helping the Invisible Woman save Cap, though she's back to being a bonafide villain after the Skrull invasion is foiled.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10 Alien Force}}'':

** "[[Recap/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteersS2E5ThePredator The Predator]]": After spending the entire episode slaughtering sharks and trying to kill the Planeteers when they attempt to stop him, Argos Bleak gets knocked into the ocean near a blue shark and has the nerve to beg for help. The Captain snarks that he'd hate for the shark to get indigestion and pulls Bleak out of the water.

** "[[Recap/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteersS2E5ThePredator The Predator]]": After spending the entire episode slaughtering sharks and trying to kill the Planeteers when they attempt to stop him, Argos Bleak gets knocked into the ocean near a blue shark and has the nerve to beg for help. The Captain snarks that he'd hate for the shark to get indigestion and pulls Bleak out of the water.
** Lampshaded in one episode:

* Occasionally {{lampshade|Hanging}}d on ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'':
-->'''Dr. Blight''': You've got to save me, Planet! It's in your hero's manual!
-->'''Captain Planet''': For once, she's right.

* In one episode of the ''WesternAnimation/XMen'' animated series, Juggernaut starts an all-out attack on Xavier's mansion, but is stopped when somebody else steals his powers. Cain Marko then starts to die, requiring the X-Men to find the Ruby of Cyttorak to restore his power and save his life. They do, and Juggernaut repays them by stopping the attack and leaving.

* WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs end up doing this to Gargamel on various occasions, one reluctantly being when Gargamel accidentally turned himself into a statue while the Smurfs rejoice afterward, Papa Smurf being the exception.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'': In "Get Back Jojo", Mojo uses a time portal created by the Professor to go back in time to RetGone the Girls. The Girls follow him back in time and kick him into the volcano where he would later build his observatory. However, they realize they can't leave him like this and save him just as the Professor uses a claw to pull both the Girls and Mojo back to the present.

** In the short, "C.L.I.D.E. and Prejudice" from the episode, "[[AVerySpecialEpisode Elephant Issues]]", Monty orders an attack robot called S.N.I.D.E. [[note]][[FunWithAcronyms Standing for Super New Improved Droid Eradicator]][[/note]] to attack C.L.I.D.E. [[note]]Standing for Cybernetic Laser Ionized Digital Entity[[/note]]. Specifically, programming S.N.I.D.E. to "Attack Nearest Geek". As a result, S.N.I.D.E. tries to attack Monty. C.L.I.D.E. transforms into a race car to catch up to them, then to an airplane to catch Monty and get him away from S.N.I.D.E.. Monty thanks C.L.I.D.E. for saving him, and tells him that [[AnAesop he was wrong to judge him based on his looks]], but C.L.I.D.E., aware of Monty's plan to destroy him, transforms into an [[AnvilOnHead anvil to flatten him]].

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'' had both Bob and Megabyte both fighting for survival in a glitched-up Game, which culminated in Megabyte being trapped by the User's character. Bob saves him, and later in the episode, successfully resolves a standoff by reminding Megabyte that he owes him. The indisputable highlight, though, is the way Megabyte finally asks for help...

** Averted in one episode. [[spoiler:When Kevin foils Ragnarok's plan to harvest the Sun's energy to sell on the alien market, he is left dangling from a platform and risks falling into the sun, and begs Kevin to save him, saying it's what his father would have done. Kevin acknowlegdes this. However, as [[YouKilledMyFather said father was killed by Ragnarok]], Kevin's not in the mood to save him, and lets him fall to his death.]]

* Audience-based subversion: There was once an ''WesternAnimation/ActionMan'' advert where Dr. X was hanging off the edge of a building, about to fall to his death, and viewers voted whether Action Man should save him or not. They voted no, and Dr. X fell to his death.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'', Orel (reluctantly) shoots a bear in order to rescue [[AbusiveParents Clay]]. This was ''after'' the latter had [[MoralEventHorizon shot Orel in the leg and showed no remorse for it]]. Clay then asks Orel if he shot the bear, but Orel lies to Clay that ''he'' shot the bear to remove his satisfaction.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'': Batman ''tries'' to do this with Joe Chill, [[YouKilledMyFather the man who murdered his parents]], by saving Chill when his fellow villains turn on him so he can live to stand trial. He succeeds in defeating them, [[AllForNothing only for a section of the ceiling that was damaged in the fight to collapse and fatally crush Chill]], with it being strongly implied that [[TheUnfettered the Spectre]] deliberately caused this to happen in order to protect Batman's secret identity.