History SmugSnake / ComicBooks

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!!Other Comics

* ComicBook/AmandaWaller is generally a MagnificentBastard, but if someone who defied her falls into her web, she isn't above a spot of gloating. Memorably, at the end of Justice League vs. Suicide Squad, Waller initially refuses to even consider allowing the League to take away Killer Frost... until Batman admits that despite his original doubts, he might have been wrong about the Squad's value. Waller takes a moment to process this, then decides the whole fiasco was Worth It just to hear Batman acknowledge one mistake, and happily allows Frost to leave. She's fairly sure Frost's going to end up in Belle Reve one way or the other, anyway, and the entire conflict was in her favor anyway, as she got control of the assets of Checkmate after capturing Max Lord.
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':
** Drug kingpin Milo Lewes, the villain of the classic story "Death Strikes At Midnight And Three", is a textbook example. Lewes portrays himself as an EvilGenius and ManOfWealthAndTaste, bragging about graduating magna cum laude from the Sorbonne, showing off his knowledge of French wines, and comparing himself to the likes of UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar, UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat and UsefulNotes/ErwinRommel. Even when Batman destroys his drug ring, Lewes confidently thinks that his name will be revered by the ''congnoscenti'' of the salons, and plans to taunt Batman from his new hideout. The story ends with [[OhCrap Batman confronting Lewes in his getaway plane]]:
--->''Milo Lewes recognized the voice coming from the speaker and considered bolting through the escape hatch, or charging the pilot's compartment, or drawing his Llama automatic. But he did none of those things. Instead, he struggled to control a whimper. To beg. To crawl.''
** ''ComicBook/DetectiveComicsRebirth'' has Colony Prime. He's convinced of his superiority to Batman due to spending years studying him, and barely even considers Batwoman worth his time.

* Grayven, the 3rd son of ComicBook/{{Darkseid}}, who is as treacherous as Desaad, as prideful as Darkseid himself...and less competent than [[WellDoneSonGuy Kalibak]]. Nearly every scheme he masterminds fails miserably yet he still truly believes it is his destiny to overthrow Darkseid. Let's put it this way: Darkseid holds ''Kalibak'' in higher regard than [[TheUnfavourite Grayven]].
* ''ComicBook/ComicCavalcade'': In the Franchise/WonderWoman feature Prof. Plasm's smug belief in his own intellect proves to be his undoing when his attempt to kill ComicBook/SteveTrevor and several others with a nitroglycerin-filled baseball leads to them being shaken out of their drug-induced stupor. The entire reason he turned villain was that he thought himself better and smarter than his employers and wanted to humiliate them.

* The Wizard from ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' thinks very highly of himself, but really he is just a 4th rate ComicBook/DoctorDoom wannabe with lamer motives, lamer tech and way fewer accomplishments. He is dumb enough to attack the Fantastic Four, a group that defeats Dr. Doom and Galactus on a regular basis, by forming [[ThePsychoRangers a group called the Frightful Four]] and having the Trapster, a loser villain with a glue gun who used to be called "[[AtrociousAlias Paste Pot Pete]]", as a member.
** One of his later appearances involves him breaking into the Baxter Building with a new Frightful Four during a period where the Fantastic Four are suffering a downturn in their public fortunes and aren't expecting him, giving them a beat-down, and then broadcasting it all over the world to gloat about it. Yes, that's correct -- his 'greatest triumph' is essentially a case of [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown kicking someone when they're already down]]. And then Reed essentially lets him do it so that he'll leave without threatening Reed's children, and so that the Four can deal with him later.
* ''Franchise/GreenLantern'': The Controllers of the DC Universe become these in the prelude of ''ComicBook/BlackestNight''. Their egos rival those of the Guardians' but where the Guardians succeeded in upholding order in the universe the Controllers' every attempt has failed miserably. During their expedition to retrieve the orange light of greed they make boasts about being as powerful as the Guardians themselves. [[spoiler: Then Larfleeze eats them]].
* ComicBook/IncredibleHulk villain The Leader is a textbook InsufferableGenius with an ego the size of a planet. Unlike many of the villains on this list he is capable of learning from his mistakes, and has been the BigBad of multiple arcs, but his arrogance and obsession with the Hulk continue to undermine his plans, no matter how hard he tries to rectify that.
* ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'' [[BigBad Alex Luthor]] is of the type that is possible to mistake for a MagnificentBastard at first glance. An AlternateUniverse counterpart of ComicBook/LexLuthor with RealityWarper abilities and a serious bone to pick with how Franchise/TheDCU works, the man gets four whole miniseries leading up to the CrisisCrossover proper detailing his massive scheme, with pawns ranging from a frail old woman all the way up to ComicBook/TheSpectre himself. In the name of remodeling the universe into a "perfect" one of his own design, he rallies almost every supervillain that ever lived behind him, wipes out all Earthly magic, and even has planets moved from their very axes. Yet in the end, his scheme gets too bloated even for him to control, and he ends up making a lot of classic villain mistakes: he doesn't count on how much DC's heroes will resist his "perfect world" pitch, he lets outside forces break through to his [[UnwittingPawn patsies]] (and they listen), he doesn't keep his [[TheDragon Dragon]] on a short enough leash, and in general sorely underestimates the power of HeroicResolve. His ultimate fate? Gunned down like a street punk in the slums of Metropolis by his main-universe counterpart and ComicBook/TheJoker, who knew he would fail the whole time and were just waiting to strike until he did.
* Kanjar Ro, a [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] foe of the Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica and "[[SpacePirates intergalactic entrepreneur]]", fits this trope.

* Ro has quite the DistaffCounterpart (only you know, good looking) in Creator/MarvelComics with fellow space pirate Nebula, self proclaimed granddaughter of certified MagnificentBastard Thanos, who has taken great pleasure by making her his personal punching bag... More than once.

* Creator/JackKirby's ''ComicBook/NewGods'' mythos: Desaad, Darkseid's majordomo/torturer, and Glorious Godfrey, Darkseid's PR man, who tends to show up as a very-punchable political news commentator.
* ''ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX''.
** Rawlins
** To some extent, Nicky Cavella as well.
* During their brief visit to 1907, the ComicBook/{{Runaways}} encountered The Swell, a self-aggrandizing slumlord with a "lucky" walking stick and a small group of rogues called the Street Arabs. His reign came to an abrupt end when he plotted to sell the Runaways to local supervillain group The Sinners. Unfortunately for him, [[spoiler:the Sinners were actually run by the Yorkes, the parents of late Runaway Gertrude Yorkes]]. A fight ensued, and the Sinners decided to punish The Swell by [[spoiler:laying waste to his Street Arabs and then blasting off the head of his walking stick]], which presumably stripped him of whatever power he actually had.
* ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'':
** The ENTIRE Cabal. Needless to say, they all perish in relatively anticlimactic ways, including the Maker/Ultimate Reed, arguably the worst out of the bunch.
** Mr Sinister thought he would be a new power in New York with his army of succubus/Boom Boom hybrid clones. Madeleine Pryor mind-controls one of them into reducing him into a stump on two legs.
* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'':
** ComicBook/NormanOsborn, particularly in ''ComicBook/DarkReign''. He's a successful {{Chessmaster}} and ManipulativeBastard, yet cannot roll with the unexpected, and is--thanks to his Green Goblin persona--his own worst enemy. He may have successfully capitalised on his VillainWithGoodPublicity status, but that doesn't change the fact that he's still irrational, hugely arrogant, misogynistic, and prone to {{Villainous Breakdown}}s at the worst possible moments. He's able to effectively displace the real Avengers and replace them with his own team, but simply cannot hold it together for long. He fails to control Doctor Doom, is used by [[TheTrickster Loki]] for his own ends, relies increasingly on brute force to keep his team intact, and is ultimately humiliatingly defeated by ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and ComicBook/IronMan.
** The 4th Hobgoblin was a B-rate villain who stole the costume and gear of one of the more formidable foes in Franchise/SpiderMan history, and eventually the original Hobgoblin came out of retirement to kill the guy with the 7 page losing streak for his wannabe aspirations.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** 'Nasty' Luthor is an obnoxious, condescending bully who plagued [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Linda Danvers]] for a while during the late Silver Age, scheming to out her SecretIdentity or get her fired from her job at the very least. However, although she is manipulative, conniving and a Luthor, she is ''not'' [[Comicbook/LexLuthor her uncle]], her first scheme backfired ''badly'', and she only succeeded at driving Supergirl mad. In ''Comicbook/DemonSpawn'', when Supergirl is rescuing her, she takes advantage of her closeness to tug at her hair, thinking Supergirl wears a wig... and it is Linda the one wears a wig.
** In ''ComicBook/SupergirlCosmicAdventuresInThe8thGrade'', Belinda Zee is a smug, arrogant and scheming bully who is determined to ruin Supergirl's life. However she is too arrogant and prone to not thinking things through, which means her plans often backfire. She's brainwashed into acting like a duck in the second issue, and in the fourth issue she gets attacked by Streaky the Super-Cat. She's then [[spoiler:turned into a statue by Mr. Mxyzptlk in issue six]].
** Mongul was inspired by Comicbook/{{Thanos}} from Marvel Comics who in turn was inspired by Comicbook/{{Darkseid}} though Mongul comes off as a vaguely pathetic shadow of Darkseid. While he is as strong as Superman and very intelligent, he is too petty and shortsighted for grandscale galactic conquests. His constant sneering, combined with [[ComicBook/WarWorld his repeated, humiliating defeats]] at Superman's hands result in a thoroughly un-magnificent bastard. Nevertheless, Alan Moore manages to evolve Mongul into a MagnificentBastard in ''ComicBook/ForTheManWhoHasEverything''.
** In ''ComicBook/KryptonNoMore'', Franchise/{{Superman}} and ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} fight Protector, an one-time villain who has a cool power but is arrogant, cocky, and underestimates his enemies. He picks a fight with Superman, and when he loses badly, he runs away and begs an ally to help him.
** [[ComicBook/Supergirl2005 Post-Crisis]] Reactron's Kryptonite-powered suit and his army training make him dangerous and formidable enough to kill dozens of Kryptonians during ''ComicBook/NewKrypton'''s opening arc. However he treats everyone -including his would-be allies- as dirt, he always underestimates his enemies, is prone to wasting time gloating and playing cat-and-mouse games, and proves to be a dirty coward when push comes to shove. So, in ''ComicBook/WhoIsSuperwoman'' he gets humiliated by Superwoman when his Kryptonite blasts prove to be ineffectual against her, and loses against Supergirl because he's eager to fight her hand-to-hand instead of using his energy blasters from afar, even after she's shown to be a good melee fighter. And in ''The Hunt for Reactron'', when his suit gets crushed by Flamebird, he surrenders, begs for mercy and claims he was just following orders.
** ''ComicBook/{{Brainiac}}'', sometimes. He's an incredibly competent Chessmaster (at times even better than Luthor), but is arrogant, and has great difficulty innovating or dealing with the unexpected. How well he handles this depends on the the writer.
** [[ComicBook/Supergirl2011 Simon Tycho]] is a manipulative corrupt businessman and arms dealer, who albeit cunning, tends to overestimate his own smarts and resourcefulness ''a lot''. In ''ComicBook/LastDaughterOfKrypton'', he thought kidnapping a Kryptonian girl and pilfering her techonology was a good idea. When she breaks free -thanks to one mook taking issue with his boss torturing a girl- and starts wrecking his base, Tycho does nothing but frantically shout at his soldiers "Take her down!". He ends up with half body scorched because he refuses to evacuate and admit he has been "defeated by a little girl" when the place is exploding around him.
** In ''ComicBook/{{Crucible}}'', [[TheDragon Roho]] was too arrogant, smug and stupidly overconfident to be an effective threat. His villain squad has the chance to kill Supergirl's team off after winning their first bout, but he leaves the heroes alive because he wants to make them suffer later. As a result of it, Supergirl and her group track Roho's group down, now aware of their enemies' powers and abilities, and they utterly slaughter his squad and force him to flee. Shortly after Roho decides to fight Supergirl ''hand to hand'' with predictable results, and he has to be bailed out by the BigBad himself. To top it off, he's beaten off panel during the final battle.
* ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'': Ultimate Abomination considers himself to be a superior Hulk because he retains his genius intellect. The Hulk very quickly demonstrates to him how mistaken he is. Hurricane also gets in on the smuggery in her one-sided fight with Hawkeye. She stops gloating in very short order once Quicksilver gets in on the action.

* ''Franchise/XMen'': In the regular continuity Fabian Cortez, while having his moments as a Manipulative Bastard, often overestimates his own abilities and pays the price for it.