History StupidEvil / AnimeAndManga

* The Apostle Wyald in ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', a berserker who put so much effort into being a vicious sadist that he tried to kill Griffith, the one person he was absolutely not supposed to kill. When he's called on it, he mouths off to his superior, [[BloodKnight Zodd]], who tears Wyald in half for being such a moron.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** Bellamy was little more than a sociopathic bully who terrorized an entire town with his crew with no real reason or goal; he just wanted to push his weight around and be as much of a dick as possible. Of course, he was also operating under the flag of the Warlord of the Sea Donquixote Doflamingo, who was ''not'' pleased to find out that he was being associated with Bellamy's idiocy, which led to Bellamy getting stabbed and kicked out of Doflamingo's gang. [[spoiler:He got ''much'' better over the {{Timeskip}} after he TookALevelInBadass and TookALevelInKindness, to the point Luffy actually considered him a friend and went [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge to town on Donflamingo]] after the Warlord played Bellamy for a fool and forced him to fight Luffy to the death.]]
** Don Krieg is one of ''the'' premiere examples of the series. Most of his arc would have never occurred if he hadn't decided to terrorize the staff of the Baratie just to be a dick, and he probably would have kept far more of his crew if he hadn't decided to continue to go after Mihawk just to save his wounded pride even after it was made very clear that Mihawk was ''light years'' above him.
** Caesar Clown embezzles research funds from ''Big Mom'' of all people, trusting in his indirect connection to Kaido through Doflamingo to keep him safe. Big Mom is one of the Four Emperors and has a reputation for being inventively gruesome to people who defy her. When Doflamingo goes down, Caesar winds up having to produce the gigantification serum she wanted in two weeks… or else get turned into candy by Perospero's Lick-Lick fruit powers.
** Jack, a commander under the pirate Emperor Kaido, one of the most powerful men in the world, possesses both an insatiable bloodlust and extreme confidence in his (admittedly impressive) strength that leads him to make ''many'' costly decisions that could have been mitigated or avoided entirely if he utilized a little something called "tact":
*** Introduced in the Zou arc, he comes to Mokomo Dukedom, the country on Zou, looking for a specific individual their info said would be there. The residents state outright that they don't know the person he's asking for, but are willing to cooperate with his search in order to avoid trouble. Jack responds by siccing his underlings on them, destroying the country, and torturing them for information that, by all indications, they did not have. [[spoiler:In truth, they ''did'' know where to find who Jack was looking for, but were determined not to give it up, but Jack never discovered that nor had any hint to it.]]
*** He goes on to attempt to bail out a newly-arrested Donquixote Doflamingo even after being informed that the odds are objectively hopeless, since Doflamingo's transport fleet is guarded by people who could give ''his boss'' trouble, let alone him, and gets beaten to a bloody pulp for his trouble, though he gets away alive.
*** Jack finishes by attempting to kill Zunisha, the gigantic (think particularly huge TurtleIsland) elephant for which Zou gets its name, and [[spoiler:[[CurbStompBattle a single sweep of its trunk later]], he loses his ship and only survives dropping into the ocean because he's a fishman, [[AndIMustScream while still utterly paralyzed at the bottom because he's a Devil Fruit user]]]].
*** Ironically enough, the Wano arc shows he's also capable of playing OnlySaneMan to Kaido… at least, when Kaido is drunk.
* ''Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam'': In a maddened fit, Tassilo Vago shoots [[spoiler:Maria Pia Armonia]] in front of Uso, even though her being his hostage was the only thing keeping Uso from killing him. The action is so pointlessly evil it sends Uso into a HeroicBSOD.
* Ribbons in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' blows up his own allies, and replaces them with worthless kamikaze machines that are a complete waste of technology and time and seem to serve no purpose other to make him look even eviler for using such weapons. Most of the atrocities his puppets committed early in the second season, including blowing up a country or two, were committed [[ForTheEvulz for no solid reason]].
* [[GeneralFailure Iok Kujan]] of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'' pretty much excels at this. His standout examples include ignoring [=McGillis=]'s warnings about a [[AIIsACrapshoot Mobile Armor]] and deliberately awakening it, which leads to his own men dying, and using weapons of mass destruction on a fleet of women and children ''who were already trying to surrender to him''. It should be no surprise that even his own allies find him distasteful.
* Duke Otho von Braunschweig from ''Literature/LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes'' is an example when you put together a [[FeudalFuture corrupt nobility with a futuristic military]]. An example? When a protest breaks out on one of his planets, Westerland, he immediately [[spoiler:[[MakeAnExampleOfThem declares the order]] to [[ExaggeratedTrope nuke the whole planet of 2 million people to death, rendering it uninhabitable]]]]. Luckily, [[MagnificentBastard Oberstein]] has the whole thing recorded and broadcasts it to the whole Empire. [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating Even soldiers once loyal to him immediately abandon him]], resulting in his eventual death by being force-fed poisoned wine and the downfall of the Lippstadt League. What further increases his stupidity is that he's ''advised'' by Ansbach to provide a more proper punishment. His justification is that since it's ''his'' planet, he has the right to do it. His reckless actions are even lampshaded by the same adviser, stating how the Goldenbaum dynasty can't survive when it cuts itself apart.
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Loly Aivirrne. "Let's beat up the human girl our boss told us to specifically not hurt as she is useful to [[EvilPlan "the plan"]] for no reason other than [[ClingyJealousGirl we're jealous]]!"
* Katana Man in ''Manga/ChainsawMan'' [[spoiler:managed to be outsmarted by IdiotHero Denji of all people]]. Unlike the other [[HalfHumanHybrid Devil hybrids]], he was TheBrute who lacked ingenuity and [[AttackAttackAttack simply relied on the raw power of his Devil form to win fights]]. Not only is he strategicially incompetent but he's just plain stupid, considering his [[{{Hypocrite}} hypocritical motivations]] and general [[LeeroyJenkins lack of planning]]. [[spoiler: Not much good can be said about a lifelong {{Yakuza}} (with superpowers) who's so bad at fighting that he lost to an [[EpicFail illiterate teenager with no arms.]]]]

* The buffoonish Genma of ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'' has a scene where he uses his InstantArmor powers to dismantle a truck and then amuses himself by beating up the protagonist while transformed into a human mech. This wasn't the brightest idea for two reasons: First, the protagonist was interested in the MacGuffin in one of the trucks, and Genma [[NiceJobFixingItVillain showed him which one was the decoy]]. Second, when the protagonist starts escaping, Genma's first reaction is to get in the truck to pursue him, but then he does an OhCrap when he remembers he just ''disassembled his mode of transportation''.

* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', both Lust and Envy fall into this, loving to inflict pain so much that they can't resist "twisting the knife" and antagonizing the heroes, even when it is [[TooDumbToLive foolish to do so]]. [[spoiler:This backfires on both of them when they do it to Mustang; while he kills Lust as cleanly as he can, he makes [[{{Sadist}} Envy]] suffer so much that they're [[DirtyCoward running and begging]] for their life before he's done with it.]]

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'':
** Orochimaru tends to pick up the VillainBall because of this trope. Case in point: he manages to persuade the Kazekage to help him invade Konoha… and then randomly decides to kill him anyway. Fast forward a couple of arcs later and, as a result of Orochimaru's treachery, the Sand Siblings end up killing three of the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Sound Five]], who at the time were tasked with delivering Sasuke to him. This ensures that he can't make it in time before Orochimaru is forced to BodySurf into one of his spares, delaying his plans for another three years.
** Hidan is a bloodthirsty, impulsive idiot whose combination of immortality and Kakuzu's ability to bail him out of compromising situations gives him free rein to indulge in his love of overly long and complicated RitualMagic that is incredibly impractical for anything other than making people die as painfully as possible, as well as his other love of long-winded shit-talking and boasting [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim before he actually even gets to the killing part.]] A living, breathing example of ForTheEvulz, Hidan does a great job at demonstrating just how much he relies on Kakuzu to save him from himself, as each and every time that Kakuzu wasn't directly involved in a fight he started, he got his ass whooped and was rendered helpless until Kakuzu intervened and pieced him back together.
** Danzo does this as well. We find out he's being Kabuto's tragic backstory — Kabuto's adoptive mother was one of Danzo's best spies. Kabuto offered to act as his spy as well. Danzo used his safety to guarantee the mother's loyalty… while subtly altering the photographs he sent her of Kabuto so when she met her son as an adult, she didn't recognize him. Why didn't he want her to recognize him? Danzo hoped they'd kill each other because they were too knowledgeable as spies. Keep in mind that both were still totally loyal at this point and he had leverage on Kabuto's mother. Instead, he just set off Kabuto's StartOfDarkness. So, in the end, he's out two spies and one has turned on the village.
* ''Manga/FairyTail'': During the ''Nirvana'' arc, [[PoisonousPerson Cobra]] almost ''killed'' Natsu after their battle, despite his injuries, and was set to deliver a fatal blow then and there. And yet [[BadBoss Brain]] ''still'' pulled a YouHaveFailedMe on him, even though he ''didn't fail'', apparently just because he didn't succeed ''well enough'' against a "real" Dragon Slayer. Granted, Brain made it clear he intended to {{brainwash}} Natsu to his side, but that was nothing that couldn't have been accomplished just by telling Cobra "hey, stop". [[spoiler:Mentally gloating about how Cobra and the rest of Oracion Seis were just pawns to him didn't help matters either, and [[{{Timeskip}} seven years later]], Cobra paid him [[KarmicDeath fatally back]] after he got them all out of prison, with the rest of the guild saying "good riddance".]]
* ''Manga/DragonBallZ'':
** Frieza simply ''cannot'' resist an opportunity to KickTheDog or toy with his enemies no matter what. This bites him in the ass when he collects all the Dragon Balls but doesn't know how to summon the dragon to wish for immortality, and all but three Namekians who could tell him how have been killed under his orders. This is taken up to eleven in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', where Frieza goes out of his way to hurt Goku's friends ''right in front of him'' and put a bounty on Krillin's head since he knows that killing him would cause Goku great pain. [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge This is despite knowing]] [[UnstoppableRage exactly what happened]] the last time he pushed Goku to his [[RageBreakingPoint breaking point]]. Luckily for Frieza, Goku maintained his cool even after he murdered Piccolo. And then there's [[spoiler:him killing Paragus in order to make Broly angry enough to defeat Goku in ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly''. [[GoneHorriblyRight It goes about as well]] [[UnstoppableRage as you'd expect.]]]]
** Babidi has a very bad habit of [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness killing anyone he thinks he doesn't need anymore]]. This leads to him killing Spopovich and Yamu when they succeeded in their mission to collect energy. When he learns that they managed to gather enough energy to fill Majin Buu up by half, he has no clue how they did it since he killed them. He also gleefully allows Buu to fight and eat Dabura when he tries to warn him that Buu wouldn't remain loyal and will eventually kill him. To top it all off, he [[BullyingADragon constantly demeans and threatens to reseal Buu]], despite having no other protection since he no longer has Dabura around. It leads to his [[LaserGuidedKarma well-earned demise]] when Buu finally gets sick of taking his bullshit and [[YourHeadAsplode crushes his skull]]. It's strongly implied he only lived that long because Buu is smart enough to know rebelling openly would get him resealed but not quite smart enough to figure out how to prevent this. Once Goku points out how much stronger and ''faster'' Buu is, "Bye bye Babidi!"
** Anime-only character [[SadistTeacher Mr. Shu]] already had successfully prevented Chi Chi from finding out about his sadistic acts towards her son Gohan while acting as a strict teacher by making himself out as the victim and Gohan supposedly the perpetrator when the latter decides to fight back. But rather than continue capitalizing on this, immediately afterward, he decides to insult Goku — Chi Chi's husband, mind you — mocking him as a failure and how he never acts like a father to them. He also decides to whip Gohan ''right in front of his mother'', which ended up making him obviously the guilty one. No mother would want anyone who insults their family like that to stick around, and that includes Chi Chi, who promptly drives him out of her house and tells him to never come back again.
* ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'':
** [=PoH=] is far too sadistic and bloodthirsty for his own good and simply can't resist "twisting the knife" or opportunities to KickTheDog, actively antagonizing Kirito and his friends even when doing so ultimately a ''not'' good idea. [[spoiler:This backfires on him during the Alicization arc, where, after being curb-stomped by a newly-empowered Kirito, he decides to [[EvilGloating openly mouth off]] to Kirito that once he logs out of the Underworld, he won't stop coming after Kirito and Asuna until he manages to brutally murder them in real life; in response, Kirito traps him in a tree and leaves him to rot in Underworld, swearing that he will never log out from Underworld]].
** Quinella of the Alicization arc is an utter ControlFreak, which bites her in the ass when it's revealed that humanity is doomed because she refuses to allow the existence of any military force that isn't under her complete control. This realization is what convinces Alice to turn on her in favor of Kirito.
* ''Franchise/FateSeries'':
** ''Anime/FateStayNightUnlimitedBladeWorks'': Caster's first Master, Atrum Galliasta, brags about his alchemy workshop where he sacrifices several kidnapped girls to create magic crystals. Caster points out how inefficient and wasteful this is, demonstrates she can create much larger and more powerful crystals at will and requests that he close down the workshop and release the prisoners. He instead beats her up and mocks her, repeatedly calling her a witch (her BerserkButton). Although he was smart enough to use a Command Spell to order her not to kill him, she simply used her [[AntiMagic Rule Breaker]] [[ZerothLawRebellion on herself]] to undo their contract, ''then'' [[TheDogBitesBack she killed him.]]
** ''LightNovel/FateApocrypha'': Astolfo/Rider of Black's initial master, Celenike Icecolle Yggdmillenia, is not just [[MoreDespicableMinion extremely vile]], but she's also incredibly stupid. She's only in the Holy Grail War to satisfy her lust on molesting her Servant and violating his honor for nothing but sheer [[{{Sadist}} sadism]]. She rarely to never discuss strategies with her fellow Yggdmillenia family members to improve their chances to win the Holy Grail, she's deliberately keeping her own Command Spells solely to force Astolfo to do a lot of sadism based on her own anger rather than doing something to give the Black faction an advantage. Even stupider, she's doing it in the middle of an open field when no faction has been declared a winner, allowing Mordred (Saber of Red), who doesn't even have a Presence Concealment, to sneak behind her and [[OffWithHisHead lop off her head.]]
* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'': Dio Brando zigzags this trope. At first, he wisely makes the decision to stop antagonizing Jonathan and instead [[BitchInSheepsClothing pretends to turn over a new leaf]] to lull him into a false sense of security. However, as a young adult, he poisons George in order to get his inheritance faster, but with the same exact poison he used on his father, leading to Jonathan connecting the dots and exposing him. This also comes off as unnecessary and ForTheEvulz due to the fact that Dio is already doing great in studying law, could have waited for George to die of natural causes, and could have used George's continued support while he was still alive. However, his actions do lead to him becoming a powerful Stand-wielding vampire due to his crazy luck.
** ''Manga/StardustCrusaders'': Two words: '''''STEELY. DAN.''''' He has one of the most versatile and inapproachable Stands in the series in Lovers, taking over Joseph's body so that any pain done to Dan is transferred to him, essentially taking him hostage. Dan could have ended Part 3 right then and there, but he's so overly sadistic and impractical with his powers that he wastes time bullying Jotaro and making him do humiliating tasks, like making him polish his shoes with his tongue or stealing from a jewelry store. By the time the heroes get Lovers out of Joseph, it's too little, too late for Dan to regain any sort of advantage, and he ends up [[VillainsWantMercy begging Jotaro for mercy.]] [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown Jotaro doesn't oblige.]]
** ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'': Keicho Nijimura is looking for someone with a Stand power that can MercyKill his father, who's been reduced to a grotesque and nearly mindless shell of a man, but he goes about it in the stupidest way possible. After getting the Stand Arrow and a bow to fire it, he goes about shooting random citizens of Morioh, but there are two problems with that. The first is that if the target doesn't have the potential to develop a Stand, the Arrow will kill them, and the second is that there's no guarantee that if the person survives and gains a Stand power, they can or will help Keicho. As a result, Keicho ends up killing several people and creating several of the [[MonsterOfTheWeek enemies of the week]], one of whom ends up killing him. Worst of all, the Stand Arrow can guide its user to potential targets, a feature that Yoshihiro Kira, [[PragmaticVillainy a man with fewer scruples than Keicho but vastly more intelligence]], uses to create foes to slow Josuke and the other heroes down without any needless casualties.
** ''Manga/GoldenWind'': [[spoiler:Diavolo]]'s insane paranoia and obsession with absolutely nobody knowing anything about him leads him to direct Team Bucciarati to bring his newly discovered daughter to him. While this is pragmatic (as his hit squad had gone rogue and was looking for her), his hit squad had gone rogue because he'd denied them a pay raise and then had two members very brutally killed for trying to find info on him. Then he just had to [[spoiler:kidnap Trish from Bruno literally moments before he would've delivered her normally, and in the process driving Bruno to fight back and go rogue, bringing Team Bucciarati with him]].
* ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'': Princess Malty Melromarc is pretty much the ''human personification'' of this trope. A CompulsiveLiar with ChronicBackstabbingDisorder and a bad habit of [[KickTheDog kicking the dog]] either out of [[EvilIsPetty petty spite]] or for [[ForTheEvulz the fun of it]], Malty tends to ruin the lives of anyone she comes in contact with, even when this ends up backfiring in the long run. A truly smart villain would KnowWhenToFoldEm after suffering from the humiliating punishment of having their name legally changed to Bitch after their lies are exposed, but Malty still continues to backstab and ruin other people just to get the last laugh, even if some of those people were her allies. Naturally, this makes her [[HatedByAll hated by everyone who knows her]], and by the time she's foiled in her schemes a second and third time and about to receive her punishment, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome nobody is willing to come to her aid no matter how much she begs since they all know her true nature]].
* In ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'', Catarina Claes was this in the original game. She repeatedly bullied Maria Campbell, the original game's protagonist, for getting close to Catarina's fiance or adoptive brother, depending on the route, even though she has nothing to gain from it. In fact, Catarina's bullying Maria results in her getting exiled in Geordo or Keith's good endings, while her trying to murder Maria gets her killed in their bad endings. When Catarina regains her PastLifeMemories as someone who played the game and realizes what's in store for her, she immediately goes to great lengths to avoid this, even though all she needed to do was not be so pointlessly cruel.
* ''Manga/ElfenLied'' has this as a hat for the Diclonii, though it's unclear how much is the result of instinctive behavior and the result of terrified humans making their lives a living hell. [[VillainProtagonist Lucy]]'s [[EnemyWithin personality born from instincts]] and the Diclonii who chose to be evil qualify, as they seek to spread the DNA to cause more of them to born, and to KillAllHumans. The "stupid" part comes from the fact that aside from Lucy, Diclonii are incapable of reproducing, so if they actually succeeded in replacing humanity, it would only lead to their extinction.
* ''LightNovel/{{Overlord}}'': Due to them being literally ''created'' to be or by players who were role-playing {{Card Carrying Villain}}s back in ''YGGDRASIL'', most of the Floor Guardians will default to just murdering everyone unless Ainz gives them very precise and unambiguous instructions not to. Apparently they aren't as capable of learning as he thinks because he makes it very clear that he wants to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, but they still cause massacres the moment he takes his eyes off of them. Even [[TokenGoodTeammate Sebas]] gets in on this in a way by picking a fight with the criminal underground of the kingdom and slaughtering even helpless surrendering mooks, though that's more GoodIsNotNice in his case. The main reason this hasn't really backfired on Nazarick is because they're so much higher-leveled and stronger than just about anything in the New World nothing actually ''can'' stop them nor does it really bite them in the ass (since the slaughtering tends to convince the survivors/onlookers to just give up).
* Aoi Mibuomi in ''Manga/{{Kakegurui}} [[{{prequel}} Twin]]'' was the BitchInSheepsClothing secondary antagonist. His entire goal was to recruit Mary for his plan to take over the AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil, but it ends up falling apart when he [[TheSociopath reveals his sociopathic nature]] and [[KickTheDog verbally abuses his fiancee]] for losing a gamble to her [[EvilCannotComprehendGood and is surprised when Mary rejects his offer upon seeing this]].

** ''Anime/FateStayNightUnlimitedBladeWorks'': Caster's first Master, Atrum Galliasta, brags about his alchemy workshop where he sacrifices several kidnapped girls to create magic crystals. Caster points out how inefficient and wasteful this is, demonstrates she can create much larger and more powerful crystals at will and requests that he close down the workshop and release the prisoners. He instead beats her up and mocks her, repeatedly calling her a witch (her BerserkButton). Although he was smart enough to use a Command Spell to order her not to kill him, she simply used her Rule Breaker to undo their contract, ''then'' she killed him.

** Orochimaru tends to pick up the VillainBall because of this trope. Case in point: he manages to persuade the Kazekage to help him invade Konoha… and then randomly decides to kill him anyway.
** Hidan is a bloodthirsty, impulsive idiot whose combination of immortality and Kakuzu's ability to bail him out of compromising situations gives him free rein to indulge in his love of overly long and complicated RitualMagic that is incredibly impractical for anything other than making people die as painfully as possible, as well as his other love of long-winded shit-talking and boasting before he actually even gets to the killing part. A living, breathing example of ForTheEvulz, Hidan does a great job at demonstrating just how much he relies on Kakuzu to save him from himself, as each and every time that Kakuzu wasn't directly involved in a fight he started, he got his ass whooped and was rendered helpless until Kakuzu intervened and pieced him back together.

* ''Anime/FateStayNightUnlimitedBladeWorks'': Caster's first Master, Atrum Galliasta, brags about his alchemy workshop where he sacrifices several kidnapped girls to create magic crystals. Caster points out how inefficient and wasteful this is, demonstrates she can create much larger and more powerful crystals at will and requests that he close down the workshop and release the prisoners. He instead beats her up and mocks her, repeatedly calling her a witch (her BerserkButton). Although he was smart enough to use a Command Spell to order her not to kill him, she simply used her Rule Breaker to undo their contract, ''then'' she killed him.

* Aoi Mibuomi in ''Manga/{{Kakegurui}} [[{{prequel}} Twin]]'' was the BitchInSheepsClothing secondary antagonist. His entire goal was to recruit Mary for his plan to take over the AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil, but it ends up falling apart when he [[TheSociopath reveals his sociopathic nature]] and [[KickTheDog verbally abuses his fiancee]] for losing a gamble to her [[EvilCannotComprehendGood and is surprised when Mary rejects his offer upon seeing this]].

** This even gets [[LampshadedTrope lampshaded]] at one point; in ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesDiamondAndPearl'', a HeelFaceMole venture by Meowth nearly turns into a legitimate HeelFaceTurn after the heroes point out Meowth's talents could easily make him a TV celebrity. However, just on the way to finding some media connections, the heroes start their usual beatdown on Jessie and James, [[UndyingLoyalty and he just doesn't have the heart to turn his back on them]]. However in ''Anime/PokemonJourneysTheSeries'', the three ended up producing a popular podcast.

** ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'': Keicho Nijimura is looking with someone with a Stand power that can MercyKill his father, who's been reduced to a grotesque and nearly mindless shell of a man, but he goes about it in the stupidest way possible. After getting the Stand Arrow and a bow to fire it, he goes about shooting random citizens of Morioh, but there are two problems with that. The first is that if the target doesn't have the potential to develop a Stand, the Arrow will kill them, and the second is that there's no guarantee that if the person survives and gains a Stand power, they can or will help Keicho. As a result, Keicho ends up killing several people and creating several of the [[MonsterOfTheWeek enemies of the week]], one of whom ends up killing him. Worst of all, the Stand Arrow can guide its user to potential targets, a feature that Yoshihiro Kira, [[PragmaticVillainy a man with fewer scruples than Keicho but vastly more intelligence]], uses to create foes to slow Josuke and the other heroes down without any needless casualties.

** ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'': Divine deserves special mention here. After having been tricked into revealing he was responsible for the death of Misty's little brother, he mocks his death. While Misty has her Earthbound Immortal (a lizard-demon the size of a skyscraper in plain view) summoned. Cue Divine getting EatenAlive as payback.

** Amon in ''Anime/YuGiOhGX''. His ace cards are Exodia the Forbidden One and Exodius the Forbidden Lord. The first grants an automatic win if you can get all five pieces in you hand, while the second is almost [[NoSell completely indestructible and immune to all card effects]], and grants an automatic win if it attacks five times. But he becomes so DrunkWithPower because of them, he challenges [[BigBad Yubel]]… Completely forgetting that ''Yubel'' was the one who gave them to him. You'd think if anyone would known weaknesses in these cards, they would, and they do. It ends badly for Amon.

* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'': The Team Rocket trio is so obsessed with ''stealing'' valuable Pokémon that they haven't taken the time to even think about Meowth. ''A Pokémon that speaks human language fluently could be the single most valuable and useful Pokémon in existence'': He could solve countless problems between humans and Pokémon, and could give priceless insight on the behavior and mental abilities of every Pokémon to have ever lived (which, in a world with a culture so heavily ingrained with said creatures, would be a big deal). They would go down in history and be amongst the richest people on the planet if only they put Meowth to proper use instead of blindly chasing some kid and his Pikachu.

** His grandfather [[AvengingTheVillain who he sought to avenge]] was even worse. Not only does he [[KickTheDog betray Denji]] when his debt to them isn't even halfway paid off yet, but he and his cronies apparently weren't aware that they would be reduced to mindless walking corpses when they made a contract with the '''''[[StarterVillain Zombie]]''''' ''Devil''.

* ''Anime/YuYuHakusho'': During the [[TournamentArc Dark Tournament]], Elder Toguro could've killed Kuwabara with one attack and the latter wouldn't have even seen it coming. However, like so many other examples on this page, he decides to partake in a bit of sadism first by taunting Kuwabara about [[spoiler:the death of Genkai]]. This angers Kuwabara and gives him the strength boost needed to win the match.

** Frieza simply ''cannot'' resist an opportunity to KickTheDog or toy with his enemies no matter what. This bites him in the ass when he collects all the Dragon Balls but doesn't know how to summon the dragon to wish for immortality, and all but three Namekians who could tell him how have been killed under his orders. This is taken UpToEleven in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', where Frieza goes out of his way to hurt Goku's friends ''right in front of him'' and put a bounty on Krillin's head since he knows that killing him would cause Goku great pain. [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge This is despite knowing]] [[UnstoppableRage exactly what happened]] the last time he pushed Goku to his [[RageBreakingPoint breaking point]]. Luckily for Frieza, Goku maintained his cool even after he murdered Piccolo. And then there's [[spoiler:him killing Paragus in order to make Broly angry enough to defeat Goku in ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly''. [[GoneHorriblyRight It goes about as well]] [[UnstoppableRage as you'd expect.]]]]

** ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'': Keicho Nijimura is looking with someone with a Stand power that can MercyKill his father, who's been reduced to a grotesque and nearly mindless shell of a man, but he goes about it in the stupidest way possible. After getting the Stand Arrow and a bow to fire it, he goes about shooting random citizens of Morioh, but there are two problems with that. The first is that if the target doesn't have the potential to develop a Stand, the Arrow will kill them, and the second is that there's no guarantee that if the person survives and gains a Stand power, they can or will help Keicho. As a result, Keicho ends up killing several people and creating several of the [[MonsterOfTheWeek enemies of the week]], one of whom ends up killing him. Worst of all, the Stand Arrow can guide its user to potential targets, a feature that Yoshihiro Kira, [[PragmaticVillainy a man with fewer scruples than Keicho but vastly more intelligence]], uses to create foes to slow Josuke and the other heroes down without any needless casualties.

* ''LightNovel/{{Overlord}}'': Due to them being literally ''created'' to be or by players who were role-playing {{Card Carrying Villain}}s back in ''YGGDRASIL'', most of the Floor Guardians will default to just murdering everyone unless Ainz gives them very precise and unambiguous instructions not to. Apparently they aren't as capable of learning as he thinks because he makes it very clear that he wants to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, but they still cause massacres the moment he takes his eyes off of them. Even [[TokenGoodTeammate Sebas]] gets in on this in a way by picking a fight with the criminal underground of the kingdom and slaughtering even helpless surrendering mooks, though that's more GoodIsNotNice in his case. The main reason this hasn't really backfired on Nazarick is because they're so much higher-leveled and stronger than just about anything in the New World nothing actually ''can'' stop them nor does it really bite them in the ass (since the slaughtering tends to convince the survivors/onlookers to just give up).

* Duke Otho von Braunschweig from ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'' is an example when you put together a [[FeudalFuture corrupt nobility with a futuristic military]]. An example? When a protest breaks out on one of his planets, Westerland, he immediately [[spoiler:[[MakeAnExampleOfThem declares the order]] to [[UpToEleven nuke the whole planet of 2 million people to death, rendering it uninhabitable]]]]. Luckily, [[MagnificentBastard Oberstein]] has the whole thing recorded and broadcasts it to the whole Empire. [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating Even soldiers once loyal to him immediately abandon him]], resulting in his eventual death by being force-fed poisoned wine and the downfall of the Lippstadt League. What further increases his stupidity is that he's ''advised'' by Ansbach to provide a more proper punishment. His justification is that since it's ''his'' planet, he has the right to do it. His reckless actions are even lampshaded by the same adviser, stating how the Goldenbaum dynasty can't survive when it cuts itself apart.

* ''Manga/ElfenLied'' has this as a hat for the Diclonii, though it's unclear how much is the result of instinctive behavior and the result of terrified humans making their lives a living hell. [[VillainProtagonist Lucy]]'s [[EnemyWithin personality born from instincts]] and the Diclonii who chose to be evil qualify, as they seek to spread the DNA to cause more of them to born, and to KillAllHumans. The "stupid" part comes from the fact that aside from Lucy, Diclonii are incapable of reproducing, so if they actually succeeded in replacing humanity, it would only lead to their extinction.

* [[GeneralFailure Iok Kujan]] of ''Series/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'' pretty much excels at this. His standout examples include ignoring [=McGillis=]'s warnings about a [[AIIsACrapshoot Mobile Armor]] and deliberately awakening it, which leads to his own men dying, and using weapons of mass destruction on a fleet of women and children ''who were already trying to surrender to him''. It should be no surprise that even his own allies find him distasteful.

** ''Manga/StardustCrusaders'': Two words: '''''STEELY. DAN.''''' He has one of the most versatile and inapproachable Stands in the series in Lovers, taking over Joseph's body so that any pain done to Dan is transferred to him, essentially taking him hostage. Dan could have ended Part 3 right then and there, but he's so overly sadistic and impractical with his powers that he wastes time bullying Jotaro with humiliating tasks, like making him polish his shoes with his tongue or stealing from a jewelry store. By the time the heroes get Lovers out of Joseph, it's too little, too late for Dan to regain any sort of advantage, and he ends up [[VillainsWantMercy begging Jotaro for mercy.]] [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown Jotaro doesn't oblige.]]

** ''Manga/StardustCrusaders'': Two words: '''''STEELY. DAN.''''' He has one of the most versatile and inapproachable Stands in the series in Lovers, taking over Joseph's body so that any pain done to Dan is transferred to him. He could have ended Part 3 right then and there, but he's so overly sadistic and impractical with his powers that he wastes time bullying Jotaro with humiliating tasks, like making him polish his shoes with his tongue or stealing from a jewelry store. By the time the heroes get Lovers out of Joseph, it's too little, too late for Dan to regain any sort of advantage, and he ends up [[VillainsWantMercy begging Jotaro for mercy.]] [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown Jotaro doesn't oblige.]]

** ''Manga/StardustCrusaders'': Two words: '''''STEELY. DAN.''''' He has one of the most versatile and inapproachable Stands in the series in Lovers, taking over Joseph's body so that any pain done to Dan is transferred to him. He could have ended Part 3 right then and there, but he's so overly sadistic and dimwitted that he wastes time bullying Jotaro with humiliating tasks, like making him polish his shoes with his tongue or stealing from a jewelry store. By the time the heroes get Lovers out of Joseph, it's too little, too late for Dan to regain any sort of advantage, and he ends up [[VillainsWantMercy begging Jotaro for mercy.]] [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown Jotaro doesn't oblige.]]

** ''Manga/StardustCrusaders'': Two words: '''''STEELY. DAN.''''' He has one of the most versatile and inapproachable Stands in the series in Lovers, taking over Joseph's body so that any pain done to Dan is transferred to him. He could have ended Part 3 right them and there, but he's so overly sadistic and dimwitted that he wastes time bullying Jotaro with humiliating tasks, like making him polish his shoes with his tongue or stealing from a jewelry store. By the time the heroes get Lovers out of Joseph, it's too little, too late for Dan to regain any sort of advantage, and he ends up [[VillainsWantMercy begging Jotaro for mercy.]] [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown Jotaro doesn't oblige.]]

* ''Manga:JojosBizarreAdventure'': Dio Brando zigzags this trope. At first, he wisely makes the decision to stop antagonizing Jonathan and instead [[BitchInSheepsClothing pretends to turn over a new leaf]] to lull him into a false sense of security. However, as a young adult, he poisons George in order to get his inheritance faster, but with the same exact poison he used on his father, leading to Jonathan connecting the dots and exposing him. This also comes off as unnecessary and ForTheEvulz due to the fact that Dio is already doing great in studying law, could have waited for George to die of natural causes, and could have used George's continued support while he was still alive. However, his actions do lead to him becoming a powerful Stand-wielding vampire due to his crazy luck.

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind'': [[spoiler:Diavolo]]'s insane paranoia and obsession with absolutely nobody knowing anything about him leads him to direct Team Bucciarati to bring his newly discovered daughter to him. While this is pragmatic (as his hit squad had gone rogue and was looking for her), his hit squad had gone rogue because he'd denied them a pay raise and then had two members very brutally killed for trying to find info on him. Then he just had to [[spoiler:kidnap Trish from Bruno literally moments before he would've delivered her normally, and in the process driving Bruno to fight back and go rogue, bringing Team Bucciarati with him]].

* ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'': Princess Malty Melromarc is pretty much the ''human personification'' of this trope. A CompulsiveLiar with ChronicBackstabbingDisorder and a bad habit of [[KickTheDog kicking the dog]] either out of [[EvilIsPetty petty spite]] or for [[ForTheEvulz the fun of it]], Malty tends to ruin the lives of anyone she comes in contact with, even when this ends up backfiring in the long run. A truly smart villain would KnowWhenToFoldEm after suffering from the humiliating punishment of having their name legally changed to Bitch after their lies are exposed, but Malty still continues to backstab and ruin other people just to get the last laugh, even if some of those people were her allies. Naturally, this earns her a ZeroPercentApprovalRating, and by the time she's foiled in her schemes a second and third time and about to receive her punishment, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome nobody is willing to come to her aid no matter how much she begs since they all know her true nature]].

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo'': [[spoiler:Diavolo]]'s insane paranoia and obsession with absolutely nobody knowing anything about him leads him to direct Team Bucciarati to bring his newly discovered daughter to him. While this is pragmatic (as his hit squad had gone rogue and was looking for her), his hit squad had gone rogue because he'd denied them a pay raise and then had two members very brutally killed for trying to find info on him. Then he just had to [[spoiler:kidnap Trish from Bruno literally moments before he would've delivered her normally, and in the process driving Bruno to fight back and go rogue, bringing Team Bucciarati with him]].

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': Team Rocket, oh so very much. They're so stupidly obsessed with ''stealing'' valuable Pokémon that they haven't taken the time to even think about Meowth. ''A Pokémon that speaks human language fluently could be the single most valuable and useful Pokémon in existence'': He could solve countless problems between humans and Pokémon, and could give priceless insight on the behavior and mental abilities of every Pokémon to have ever lived (which, in a world with a culture so heavily ingrained with said creatures, would be a big deal). They would go down in history and be amongst the richest people on the planet if only they put Meowth to proper use instead of blindly chasing some kid and his Pikachu.