History TooDumbToLive / ComicBooks

* "ComicBook/Amazing Spider-Man": #180 reveals that the Green Goblin this time was not Harry Osborn, but his psychiatrist, Dr. Bart Hamilton. He and Harry fight on a conveyor belt and it looked like Harry has won; thats when Hamilton activates a bomb detonator to kill Harry, Spidey, and himself. Unfortunately for him, the conveyor belt was still moving, and Hamilton couldn't help but monologue. He fell over the conveyor belt, and the bomb killed only himself.

* Amazing Spider-man #180 reveals that the Green Goblin this time was not Harry Osborn, but his psychiatrist, Dr. Bart Hamilton. He and Harry fight on a conveyor belt and it looked like Harry has won; thats when Hamilton activates a bomb detonator to kill Harry, Spidey, and himself. Unfortunately for him, the conveyor belt was still moving, and Hamilton couldn't help but monologue. He fell over the conveyor belt, and the bomb killed only himself.

** In ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfLuthor'': When he realizes that Supergirl is chasing after their getaway car, Luthor -who is driving- turns around to shoot her as keeping one hand on the steering wheel. Inevitably, his car crashes into a guardrail, Luthor bangs his arm and shoots himself. A fate which could have been averted if he had ordered one of his underlings to shoot her as he focused on driving.

** In the beginning of ''ComicBook/RedDaughterOfKrypton'', [[Characters/DCComicsLobo Lobo]] has just stomped a crime lord and his enforcers but decides to leave without killing them off. However the crime lord reaches for a shotgun and aims at Lobo. Lobo swiftly rips the weapon off his hands and remarks he's the '''dumbest''' crime-lord he has ever met in the galaxy before getting him killed.

* In ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey'', Katrina Armstrong is the new Spy Smasher who thinks it's a great idea to blackmail Oracle and take over the Birds. This leads to her getting her ass kicked by Barabara Gordon (who, remember, is in a wheelchair). When Katrina boldly declares Oralce is fired and she "owns" all the operatives, she finds herself confronted by two dozen of the Birds' allies (even a few villains) who make it clear there is no way in hell they're listening to her. Black Canary warns Katrina if she breathes a word of Oracle's identity to anyone, they're coming after her, with Katrina realizing pissing off folks like Big Barda, Catwoman, and Lady Shiva is a bad idea.

** Proving she learned nothing from the above ''Birds of Prey'' fiasco, Katrina Armstrong thinks it's a brilliant idea to try to supplant ''Amanda Waller'' as a top government black ops boss. She even tells Waller that a terrorist attack is about to occur that the U.S. wants to happen to try to trap her. Armstrong honestly thinks she can trick Waller into implicating herself for treason. Instead, Waller saw through the ruse in a second and before she knows it Katrina is the one who's framed for treason and arrested with Waller smugly smiling.

* If you're a pedophile, it's a good idea to try and keep how sick and perverted you are a secret. It's not a good idea, at a public event, to look at two young girls and mention how much you'd like to have sex with them, saying this in a normal tone of voice so anyone nearby can hear you. When the person standing next to you points out that the two girls ''are not even old enough to be teenagers'', it's not a good idea to just shrug indifferently. It's a fatal mistake when that person next to you is ''Characters/{{Deadpool|WadeWilson}}'', an extremely dangerous mercenary whose very well-known BerserkButton is harming children. The speaker became a deceased AssholeVictim after Deadpool was finished with him.

** Whenever a superhero needs to put down the Hulk, they almost always resort to trying to out-punch him rather than using the powers Hulk can't as easily counter. Examples include Thor prioritizing slug fests over lightning, Iron Man's Hulkbuster armor mostly being very melee-focused, and Dr. Strange using the nearly infinite power of Zom to wrestle the Hulk.

** In the ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}''/''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' crossover, the BigBad has, through luck, become symbiotic with a Xenomorph queen. In order to make weapons capable of taking down superheroes, she has spliced the DNA of supervillains with the eggs laid by the queen in order to create Xenomorphs with the intelligence of supervillains, but not the life experiences that drove them to villainy. It actually works surprisingly well, though Batman ends up getting the better of the Xenomorphs. Emboldened by her success, she splices the DNA of Killer Croc with a Xenomorph ''not'' laid by the queen. Unfortunately, she didn't do her homework. Croc wasn't driven to villainy by his experiences; he's as instinctive as they come, and not nearly intelligent enough to place emphasis on higher thought. Add that to the fact that the Xenomorph used was not the queen's offspring, meaning the queen is unable to control it, and it should come as no surprise that [[HoistByHerOwnPetard Crocmorph decides she looks good enough to eat]].

** A security [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy guard]] in ''Arkham Asylum: Madness'' ran head first into this trope. See, in this continuity, [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]] had a tragically dead son named Milton Napier. The guard decided taunting the insane murder clown with a plaque labeled [[BerserkButton "Milton Napier"]] would be a great laugh. Long story short, Arkham Asylum [[ExtremeMeleeRevenge quickly found themselves needing a new guard.]]

** In the ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}''/''Franchise/{{Aliens}}'' crossover, the BigBad has, through luck, become symbiotic with a Xenomorph queen. In order to make weapons capable of taking down superheroes, she has spliced the DNA of supervillains with the eggs laid by the queen in order to create Xenomorphs with the intelligence of supervillains, but not the life experiences that drove them to villainy. It actually works surprisingly well, though Batman ends up getting the better of the Xenomorphs. Emboldened by her success, she splices the DNA of Killer Croc with a Xenomorph ''not'' laid by the queen. Unfortunately, she didn't do her homework. Croc wasn't driven to villainy by his experiences; he's as instinctive as they come, and not nearly intelligent enough to place emphasis on higher thought. Add that to the fact that the Xenomorph used was not the queen's offspring, meaning the queen is unable to control it, and it should come as no surprise that [[HoistByHerOwnPetard Crocmorph decides she looks good enough to eat]].

** Then there was Warren White in ''ComicBook/ArkhamAsylumLivingHell'', at least initially. You'd be safer making a guilty plea in Gotham than an insanity plea.[[note]] In short, if you're found guilty, you'll get sent to Blackgate Penitentiary, where criminals like Penguin are usually sent to. If you plead insanity, you'll be sent to [[BedlamHouse Arkham Asylum]], where you'll have fellow inmates like [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]].[[/note]]

** Lampshaded in ''ComicBook/{{Nightwing}}'' #150. One of [[Characters/BatmanTwoFace Two-Face]]'s {{mooks}} is standing right behind a guy Two-Face wants to shoot. Two-Face points out that this isn't a good place to be, and the guy needs it explained to him: "I can't afford to lose any [[Franchise/StarTrek red shirts]]." When the mook doesn't get the reference, Two-Face has had enough, declares him too dumb to live, and blows him away.
** Then there's Lester Dent in ''ComicBook/BatmanGothamAdventures'' #2. After he wins two million on a game show, Two-Face takes over the studio. A session of CallingTheOldManOut ensues on live television, but Lester keeps calling his (gun-wielding, supervillain) son a "punk" and whining that he's ruining his lucky day. When it's clear that Two-Face is going to flip the coin on whether to shoot him or not, he ''dares'' him to do it.

** In the ''Franchise/{{Batman}}''/''Franchise/{{Aliens}}'' crossover, the BigBad has, through luck, become symbiotic with a Xenomorph queen. In order to make weapons capable of taking down superheroes, she has spliced the DNA of supervillains with the eggs laid by the queen in order to create Xenomorphs with the intelligence of supervillains, but not the life experiences that drove them to villainy. It actually works surprisingly well, though Batman ends up getting the better of the Xenomorphs. Emboldened by her success, she splices the DNA of Killer Croc with a Xenomorph ''not'' laid by the queen. Unfortunately, she didn't do her homework. Croc wasn't driven to villainy by his experiences; he's as instinctive as they come, and not nearly intelligent enough to place emphasis on higher thought. Add that to the fact that the Xenomorph used was not the queen's offspring, meaning the queen is unable to control it, and it should come as no surprise that [[HoistByHerOwnPetard Crocmorph decides she looks good enough to eat]].

** A security [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy guard]] in ''Arkham Asylum: Madness'' ran head first into this trope. See, in this continuity, ComicBook/TheJoker had a tragically dead son named Milton Napier. The guard decided taunting the insane murder clown with a plaque labeled [[BerserkButton "Milton Napier"]] would be a great laugh. Long story short, Arkham Asylum [[ExtremeMeleeRevenge quickly found themselves needing a new guard.]]

** ''ComicBook/HarleyQuinn'' herself has a pretty big case of this. Namely, she stays with the Joker despite him [[DomesticAbuse abusing her constantly]] and straight up trying to murder her multiple times. The post New 52 comics finally Subvert this, as she manages to leave him for good.
** Then there was Warren White in ''ComicBook/ArkhamAsylumLivingHell'', at least initially. You'd be safer making a guilty plea in Gotham than an insanity plea.[[note]] In short, if you're found guilty, you'll get sent to Blackgate Penitentiary, where criminals like Penguin are usually sent to. If you plead insanity, you'll be sent to [[BedlamHouse Arkham Asylum]], where you'll have fellow inmates like ComicBook/TheJoker.[[/note]]

** Lampshaded in ''ComicBook/{{Nightwing}}'' #150. One of ComicBook/TwoFace's {{mooks}} is standing right behind a guy Two-Face wants to shoot. Two-Face points out that this isn't a good place to be, and the guy needs it explained to him: "I can't afford to lose any [[Franchise/StarTrek red shirts]]." When the mook doesn't get the reference, Two-Face has had enough, declares him too dumb to live, and blows him away.

* ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'': The Joker comes to find out that [[BigBad Alexander Luthor]] didn't let him in because of his unpredictability. Of all the super villains Alex was gathering, he didn't let the Joker in. The Joker is understandably pissed. Jump to the final issue, with Alex planning to rebuild his power and his power base, only to be ambushed by the Joker and ComicBook/LexLuthor. And as Alex is begging for mercy, Lex tells him flat out his one big mistake wasn't attacking Superman or killing Superboy or any of that. It was "not letting the Joker play."

** Though viciously mangled and missing a few limbs and eyes, a pair of skinhead thugs ([[ThoseWackyNazis The Zyklon-B Boys]]) managed to survive [[MuggingTheMonster an encounter with Deadshot and Catman]]. However, a few weeks later one of the thugs sees ComicBook/{{Deadshot}} entering a club and decides it is time for revenge, following him until the rest of the gang can gather for the attack. Deadshot notices him and delivers ''another'' vicious beating, but again leaves him alive because he had made a promise not to kill anybody tonight (he was on a date). However, even though the thug has now lost a ''second'' eye, when the rest of the gang arrives they decide to ''still'' go after Deadshot. This same person has now beaten and ''mutilated'' their members on two separate occasions, and they ''still want to track him down''. At this point they are simply asking for it, and Deadshot's ''date'' kills the lot of them, explaining that ''she'' did not make any promises that night.

** If it wasn't for Superman, ComicBook/LoisLane would be dead since TheForties [[GoingForTheBigScoop thanks to her fondness for snooping around way too much]]. Sometimes it's shown that she takes those risks because she knows she has backup; she [[DamselOutOfDistress can handle herself just fine,]] but lets herself get into these situations because a hostage can get the best details of what the criminals and supervillains are up to, and will always have Superman to back her up if/when she needs it.
** Although ComicBook/LexLuthor is a genius, even he has done jaw-droppingly stupid things. Everybody knows Franchise/{{Superman}} is super-vulnerable to Kryptonite, right? So, why not wear a ring made of the stuff at all times, just in case? Well, as Mr. Luthor was reminded the hard way, it may not kill humans in minutes, but it is still ''a radioactive element'', as he already knew. Turns out wearing a radioactive rock on your hand gives you terminal cancer in the long run.
** ''ComicBook/PublicEnemies'' shows he didn't even appear to learn from it either. During his presidency, he began injecting himself with a steroidal cocktail mixed with liquid Kryptonite.

** ''Comicbook/KryptoniteNevermore'' provides two examples. A corrupt tycoon ''headbutts'' Superman, knocks himself out and cracks his skull. He didn't kill himself by sheer luck. Later, ComicBook/LoisLane and a pilot are captured by bandits. At one point, the three bandits turn away. The pilot decides to take advantage of their distraction to capture the ringleader... and he completely ruins his surprise attack by screaming "Smelly goat! I shall vanquish you!" when he lunges.
** It gets better. Argo City survived Krypton's destruction because ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'s father and Jor-El's brother Zor-El got a protective dome installed around the city. However, when he tries to convince Argo's Science Council that they must scout a new world to settle into lest the energy shields fail, the councilors dismiss his warnings. Later all Argonians except for ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} die because they didn't learn to listen when a member of the House of El speaks.
** In the beginning of ''ComicBook/RedDaughterOfKrypton'', ComicBook/{{Lobo}} has just stomped a crime lord and his enforcers but decides to leave without killing them off. However the crime lord reaches for a shotgun and aims at Lobo. Lobo swiftly rips the weapon off his hands and remarks he's the '''dumbest''' crime-lord he has ever met in the galaxy before getting him killed.

** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': ComicBook/SteveTrevor's secretary Lila Brown cannot stand Diana Prince. Due to this when Diana bursts into Steve's office to pull him away from the desk and yells for Ms. Brown not to pick up the pen on the desk she obstinately grabs it. As the thing was actually an experimental disintegration bomb there's not much left of her but her lower legs.

* Perhaps the greatest example in Marvel history comes in ''ComicBook/OriginalSin''. Thanks to a blast of cosmic energy, a criminal lawyer discovers a secret about a notable figure in the Marvel Universe. He tells a friend, who can't believe he's ready to march in and blackmail that person. The lawyer tells him it's fine as he's already given copies of his evidence to his wife, mistress, lawyer and bank manager. Oh, the person he's planning to blackmail? ''ComicBook/DoctorDoom''. Cue the guy waiting in the embassy getting phone calls letting him know his bank has just been blown up, his lawyer has been found dead and his wife's call cuts off...just as he's told Doom is ready to see him....

* The egregious levels of stupidity isn't just limited to the criminal side of the spectrum. Police forces, militaries, etc. the world over [[LawfulStupid also seem to be quite stupid]] when it comes to dealing with superpowered threats. For instance, despite knowing perfectly well that ComicBook/{{Magneto}}'s powers allow him to manipulate metal however he wishes, they keep sending soldiers with metal guns, metal missiles, metal tanks, etc. at him. Metal Master is a similar case. It isn't limited to those villains either, the rather facepalming lack of common sense when fighting supervillains by the rank and file is a continuous problem in comics in general.

* If you're a pedophile, it's a good idea to try and keep how sick and perverted you are a secret. It's not a good idea, at a public event, to look at two young girls and mention how much you'd like to have sex with them, saying this in a normal tone of voice so anyone nearby can hear you. When the person standing next to you points out that the two girls ''are not even old enough to be teenagers'', it's not a good idea to just shrug indifferently. It's a fatal mistake when that person next to you is ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'', an extremely dangerous mercenary whose very well-known BerserkButton is harming children. The speaker became a deceased AssholeVictim after Deadpool was finished with him.
* In Ant-Man's original Tales To Astonish run, the same issue that introduces Janet Van Dyne as the Wasp also first reveals the tragedy that drove Henry Pym to learn of size-altering Pym Particles and ultimately become Ant-Man. His first wife, Maria, was from a totalitarian country (Back then a Warsaw Pact Soviet satellite) and wanted to have their honeymoon in her home country. She believed that since she and her defected scientist father were now American citizens, with her married to an American, she was safe. Agreeing to this trip despite concerns would prove to be the very first of Henry Pym's history of epic mistakes. In short order, KGB-types kidnap Maria in broad daylight while knocking Hank out. Recovering at the American embassy, Hank then learns that the spies from this nation have also killed Maria's father back in the states. While such murders have always been with us, and still are, one wonders if the Pyms' honeymoon didn't create a window of opportunity to hit her father as well. It is hard to say who in this scenario was more foolish - Maria, for thinking herself beyond harm in her corrupt homeland, or Henry, for agreeing to this at all.

* ''Comicbook/JudgeDredd'': In "In the Event of My Death" part 3, during a simultaneous raid on all Mega-City One's crime families to capture as many high-ranking gangsters as possible before the mob war kicks off, Raymond Santos is not only visibly delighted ro see Judge Hart was sent for him, but ''explains to the other Judge present'' that Hart is on the Santos family's payroll. Five seconds later, Hart is reporting that Santos killed his partner, so he had no choice but to take him out.

** Let's face it: [[Characters/BatmanSupportingCast Thomas Wayne]]. Instead of waiting for Alfred to show up and chauffeur them back to the mansion, the Waynes thought it'd be a good idea to take a shortcut through a back alley in an area known as CRIME ALLEY out the side door of the theater. (Yeah, its official name is Park Row, but it's hard to imagine it got its nickname for being such a safe and friendly place.) All dressed up. At night. In the rain. It's just a pity his foolishness got both himself and his wife killed, and his son traumatized along with him.

** The "Up is Down, Black is White" storyline from ''ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX'' opened with the returning Nicky Cavella digging up the skeletons of the Castle family -- Frank's wife, son and daughter -- and urinating on the bones, then mailing footage of this CLEARLY IDENTIFYING HIM (panning up to his smiling face) to the news, in HOPES that Frank Castle would see it. Amazingly this almost went [[JustAsPlanned according to plan]], to so enrage the Punisher that he'd lose focus and thus be vulnerable to ambush (as even the Punisher admitted, that's what happened)... what made it TooDumbToLive was assuming that his mooks could take advantage. This would prove his downfall once the mooks realized that they were the ones supposed to be taking on the Punisher, and let Cavella know it in no uncertain terms.

* If you're a pedophile, it's a good idea to try and keep how sick and perverted you are a secret. It's not a good idea, at a public event, to look at two young girls and mention how much you'd like to have sex with them, saying this in a normal tone of voice so anyone nearby can hear you. When the person standing next to you points out that the two girls ''are not even old enough to be teenagers'', it's not a good idea to just shrug indifferently. It's a fatal mistake when that person next to you is ''Deadpool'', an extremely dangerous mercenary whose very well-known BerserkButton is harming children. The speaker became a deceased AssholeVictim after Deadpool was finished with him.

* [[ComicBook/StarWarsDoctorAphra Doctor Aphra]] is portrayed as almost a [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder compulsive betrayer]]. Even so, trying to double-cross [[TheDreaded Darth Vader]] by ratting him out to [[BigBad the Emperor]]...she could be the poster girl for this trope.

* ''ComicBook/AvengersTheChildrensCrusade'': Emma Frost ''really'' shouldn't have gone after Wiccan and Speed. Wanda was perfectly willing to let the X-Men do whatever they wanted to her, but the second her kids were in danger, [[MamaBear the gloves came off]]. Considering [[ComicBook/AvengersDisassembled what happened]] the ''last'' time Wanda's sons were lost to her, Emma [[BullyingADragon definitely should have known better]].

* Most villain of ''ComicBook/TexWiller'' could be considered this by virtue of not surrendering when they hear the title character, a trigger-happy Texas Ranger who is also a OneManArmy and the FastestGunInTheWest, has three equally dangerous companions that sometime help him in his adventures, and in a pinch could ''summon the entire Navajo Nation for his battles'' ([[MightyWhitey he is, after all, their chief]]), and so those who go on and provoke him while knowing who he is, but [[CorruptHick Bob Braddock]] takes the cake: after barely getting acquitted at his trial for murder thanks to his brother providing him a very good lawyer and bribing two witnesses, he's told by lawmen that a witness has identified him as the responsible for burning down a town, and he reacts it's impossible ''because he was wearing a sack on his head before '''Tex Willer and [[HangingJudge judge "Hang'em Higher" Fielsen]]'''''. His brother, who was there and had planned to send him to Alaska to keep him out of trouble, promptly throws him to Tex and the judge (literally).

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':

** He didn't even appear to learn from it either. During his presidency, he began injecting himself with a steroidal cocktail mixed with liquid Kryptonite.

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'':

** Brakko ([[WordOfGod described by the author]] as "[[UpToEleven Even stupider than Rat-Man, if it's even possible]]") proved to be the worst, and literally graduated to this, in issue #104. Previously in the issue his friend and subordinate police officer Jordan had told him that if he were ordered to arrest a friend he'd tell him to run and count to 20 before giving chase, knowing that, having trouble remembering what comes after 12, he'd give him a ''huge'' headstart. Later, we have this situation:

* ComicBook/IncredibleHulk: The tendency for everybody in the entire Marvel Universe to go out of the way to antagonize the Hulk. Despite it being common knowledge that he is basically invincible and has unlimited strength triggered by rage everybody from [[BullyingADragon dime a dozen rent a cops with pistols to the military to even a irate fruit truck driver armed with nothing more than pepper spray whose truck the Hulk just knocked over for food decides it's a good idea to attack him with everything they've got on a near constant basis.]] This idiocy drives Hulk into his classic rages causing easily preventable massive destruction to everything in his path over and over until he decides to just take off somewhere until the next time it happens.

** During an exceedingly DorkAge arc, ComicBook/{{Steel}} and his niece Natasha move to Jersey City, New Jersey, and it plays a bit like the "Town Of Citysville" did for WesternAnimation/{{The Powerpuff Girls|1998}}, only much darker and grittier, and the series has to end before they wise up and leave. In one sequence, a local gangster that Natasha has upset brutalizes, and it is implied, rapes her. He also warns her not to bring her uncle into this, or she will feel the wrath of his "peeps". He is actually murdered by Natasha's long-lost father, John Henry's brother, but let's review. This thug's "peeps" include psychos with knives and guns. Steel, no slouch himself, has peeps known as THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA! Among Natasha's unofficial "uncles" is this alien dude you might have heard of. Too Dumb To Live? Booster and Beetle could have taken out their whole gang while looking for a good pizza place. This thug was too dumb to leave his father's privates.

** During an exceedingly DorkAge arc, ComicBook/{{Steel}} and his niece Natasha move to Jersey City, New Jersey, and it plays a bit like the "Town Of Citysville" did for WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls, only much darker and grittier, and the series has to end before they wise up and leave. In one sequence, a local gangster that Natasha has upset brutalizes, and it is implied, rapes her. He also warns her not to bring her uncle into this, or she will feel the wrath of his "peeps". He is actually murdered by Natasha's long-lost father, John Henry's brother, but let's review. This thug's "peeps" include psychos with knives and guns. Steel, no slouch himself, has peeps known as THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA! Among Natasha's unofficial "uncles" is this alien dude you might have heard of. Too Dumb To Live? Booster and Beetle could have taken out their whole gang while looking for a good pizza place. This thug was too dumb to leave his father's privates.