History TooDumbToLive / ComicBooks

* Nestor of ''ComicBook/{{Copperhead}}'' believes he's the smartest man in every room because all problems have obvious solutions. His solutions are always the shortest, dumbest way into a physical fight; he'd be long dead if he wasn't constantly getting protected by his brother Zolo.

** 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]].

* Ratbat in the original Marvel version of ''ComicBook/TheTransformers''. See, there's this ancient ArtifactOfDoom called the Underbase that can massively increase the power of any Transformer who comes near it. It can also completely destroy all life on a planet. Naturally, the Decepticons want it, but Starscream tricks the two Decepticon factions into fighting each other and the Autobots while he goes and swipes the Underbase for himself. Realizing they've been duped, the two Decepticon leaders, Ratbat and Scorponok, agree to team up with Optimus Prime to stop a super-powered Starscream. Then Ratbat ditches the battle to sneak back to the Autobot ship, and announces his intention to gain the Underbase's power for himself. Problem is, he did this right in front of Scorponok, who's A) about 40 times his size (no, that is not a typo, Ratbat is a cassette and among the smallest of Decepticons while Scorponok was one of the biggest) and B) [[WalkingArmory covered in guns]]. Scorponok didn't even let him finish his EvilGloating before annihilating him.

** 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, [[WhatAnIdiot having trouble remembering what comes after 12]], he'd give him a ''huge'' headstart. Later, we have this situation:

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* While ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead'' comics are chock full of it, one very special example goes out to a family consisting of a trucker dad, fat hippie mom, and bully son. [[spoiler:Said son and his friend bully a quiet nerdy kid who Sophia rescues by kicking their asses. Later, when Sophia is hanging out with Carl, they hit him with a brick and basically threaten to assault and rape Sophia causing Carl to run off, get a shovel and come back, beating them near to death. Then their parents team up with Gregory to try and poison Maggie and fail. The parents are let off with a warning, then after the wife's head is piked the dad tries to murder Rick on the way home causing Rick to rip his throat out. And then when Rick goes to offer sympathy to their son the son decides to attack Rick and nearly get choked to death, but ultimately left with a warning: one more fuckup and Rick would put a bullet into his dumb ass.]] Aaaaaand that kid decides to free [[BigBad Negan]] in an insane plan to "make the Whisperers and Rick kill each other." Apparently by means of making Rick's group think Negan is with the Whisperers or something. Oh, and he antagonizes and complains to Negan the whole time. Negan himself realizes how terrible that plan is and puts the kid out of his misery.

* ''ComicBook/ForeverEvil'': One villain, Monocle, doesn't trust the Crime Syndicate and insults them to their face. Ultraman turns him into a smoldering mark on the ground for his troubles.

[[quoteright:200:[[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tumblr_inline_o8p9sbxejc1tgzz9m_250.jpg]]]]

* ''ComicBook/{{Rat-Man}}'' is full of stupid people (including the [[IdiotHero titular superhero]]), but some are this:

** In the beginning of ''ComicBook/RedDaughterOfKrypton'', SelfDemonstrating/{{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 the story arc "ComicBook/WelcomeBackFrank", Castle is attacked by the entire remaining army of a certain mafia boss after finding out his location. Coincidentally, he had just been on his way to finish them off. Caught in the street but with all of his ordnance at hand, he proceeds to butcher several carloads of Gnucci soldiers, only to run out of ammo when he's down to the fast few. After killing one with his bare hands, the last man does the smart thing: '''he shoots him from a distance.''' However, while his gun is powerful enough to punch through Castle's kevlar, it doesn't take him down. So what does the guy do? He keeps shooting him in the chest. When a person is in shock, more bullets to the center of mass doesn't accomplish much of anything. Yes, head shots are hard to pull off, but when the target is only a few feet away and staggering slowly towards you, even a novice gunman could pull it off. Six bullets at close range, and not one head shot. There's a reason why the Mozambique Drill technique exists in the first place, even if the technique in question was [[AccidentalDiscovery discovered by accident]] in Real Life.

* ''ComicBook/{{Blacksad}}'': Ivo Statoc, the BigBad who had the eponymous hero beat up and (though Statoc does not know it) his ex-girlfriend murdered, thinks the smartest thing to do is to call out Blacksad on his morals and taunt him that he doesn't have the guts to shoot someone in cold blood. Statoc was such an asshole about it that Blacksad shot him in anger, noting that his morals really ''would'' have stopped him from cold-blooded murder of an unarmed man under normal circumstances, but Statoc's taunts were the last straw.

* While ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead'' comics are chock full of it, one very special example goes out to a family consisting of a trucker dad, fat hippie mom, and bully son.[[spoiler:Said son and his friend bully a quiet nerdy kid who Sophia rescues by kicking their asses. Later, when Sophia is hanging out with Carl, they hit him with a brick and basically threaten to assault and rape Sophia causing Carl to run off, get a shovel and come back, beating them near to death. Then their parents team up with Gregory to try and poison Maggie and fail. The parents are let off with a warning, then after the wife's head is piked the dad tries to murder Rick on the way home causing Rick to rip his throat out. And then when Rick goes to offer sympathy to their son the son decides to attack Rick and nearly get choked to death, but ultimately left with a warning: one more fuckup and Rick would put a bullet into his dumb ass.]] Aaaaaand that kid decides to free [[BigBad Negan]] in an insane plan to "make the Whisperers and Rick kill each other." Apparently by means of making Rick's group think Negan is with the Whisperers or something. Oh, and he antagonizes and complains to Negan the whole time. Negan himself realizes how terrible that plan is and puts the kid out of his misery.

* ''[[ComicBook/StarWarsDoctorAphra Doctor Aphra]] is portrayed as almost a 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.

** Special mention for a mook named Monty in Lee Bermejo's ''Joker''. Even by Joker mook standards, Monty seems to be a special kind of stupid. When the Joker arrives to his club, Monty not only fails to laugh at one of his jokes, not only makes fun of Joker's gang, but worst of all, he lets Mr. J catch him ogling Harley. Joker promptly skins him alive and dumps his body on the club's stage.

** In the third issue of the ''ComicBook/StarWarsVaderDarkVisions'' series from the Marvel continuity, an Imperial nurse develops a serious but decidedly one-sided crush on Darth Vader, eventually leading her to enter his chambers in order to try for a LoveConfession to him, ignoring or unaware of the fact that 1.) entering Vader's chambers unauthorized is a good way to die, 2.) seeing Vader without his helmet on (something only reserved for personal physicians) is a good way to die. and 3.) Vader possesses SingleTargetSexuality reserved only for his late wife, and is so deeply embedded in the Dark Side that he is incapable of loving anyone or anything except his son Luke. Sure enough, the nurse gets sabered right through the chest as soon as Vader figures out just what this lovesick loony is about.

* 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....

* 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 DOCTOR DOOM'']]. 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....

* 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....

* ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'': There were enough wizards and highly advanced factions that Robotnik ''really'' shouldn't have been around for the ten odd years that he was. People that could teleport or power up characters to their [[SuperMode super forms]], some could even banish people to a pocket dimension. ''None'' of them could realize that they could trivialize out this ''one guy'' who was destroying the planet with their resources and the right plan. While Tails and Knuckles had big prophesied destinies, and Robotnik did play a part in those, neither of those specifically required Robotnik to be alive. In fact, destinies or not, a lot of innocent people died or [[UnwillingRoboticisation became]] [[ReforgedIntoAMinion enslaved]] ''because'' these people let Robotnik/Eggman live for no adequately explained reason. Of course with the reboot, this is all moot as the factions were wiped out of existence. The real problem was that some of these nations that once contained such factions were [[HiddenElfVillage too isolated]] or had their heads [[HeadInTheSandManagement either in the sand]] [[CulturalPosturing or up their own asses]] to truly unite against Robotnik/Eggman. And they were all erased for their troubles.

* ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'': There were enough wizards and highly advanced factions that Robotnik ''really'' shouldn't have been around for the ten odd years that he was. People that could teleport or power up characters to their [[SuperMode super forms]], some could even banish people to a pocket dimension. ''None'' of them could realize that they could trivialize out this ''one guy'' who was destroying the planet with their resources and the right plan. While Tails and Knuckles had big prophesied destinies, and Robotnik did play a part in those, neither of those specifically required Robotnik to be alive. In fact, destinies or not, a lot of innocent people died or [[UnwillingRoboticisation became]] [[ReforgedIntoAMinion enslaved]] ''because'' these people let Robotnik/Eggman live for no adequately explained reason. Of course with the reboot, this is all moot as the factions were wiped out of existence. The real problem is that some of these nations that once contained such factions were [[HiddenElfVillage too isolated]] or had their heads [[HeadInTheSandManagement either in the sand]] [[CulturalPosturing or up their own asses]] to truly unite against Robotnik/Eggman.

* ''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."

** 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.
** Run-of-the-mill crooks, caught in the act, will almost always try to [[ShootingSuperman shoot Superman.]]

** The origin of the Abomination owes itself to this. See, Emil Blonsky was a Russian spy in General Ross's unit, when they'd just caught Banner messing with a strange machine, which unknown to them was a means of killing himself. Once everyone's gone, Blonksy decides to poke at the machine. Instead of dying horribly, he gets permanently turned into the Abomination. Many years later, Banner and Ross note that what Blonksy should by all rights have killed him.