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| 10 | %% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1435962805010446700 |
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| 13 | [[quoteright:350:[[Series/DoctorWho https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/157f9c5c7a79b547ce09bcf722cbc27d.jpg]]]] |
| 14 | [[caption-width-right:350:On the right: the UltimateLifeForm [[PoweredArmor wearing]] a HoverTank. On the left: its master, [[EvilCripple a blind guy in a wheelchair]].]] |
| 15 | |
| 16 | ->''"You see, I never had the chance to serve in battle, nor did fate provide me the opportunity to sacrifice myself for humanity as it did for so many others in the Great War."'' |
| 17 | -->-- '''The Director''', ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' |
| 18 | |
| 19 | The BigBad, as everybody knows, is the source of conflict in a work of fiction, with their defeat being the main goal of TheHero which brings an end to that StoryArc. But, what exactly makes them such a threatening villain? Is it because AsskickingLeadsToLeadership (and RankScalesWithAsskicking)? If the protagonist is an ActionHero, he must be up against an unbeatable Action Villain, right? Well, not always. They could be extremely [[TheChessmaster cunning]], and able to {{manipulat|ivebastard}}e others to do their bidding. They might be simply [[EvilerThanThou eviler]] than anybody else, willing to go to lengths others shy away from. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | However, this villain has zero fighting ability. They might be elderly, disabled, a woman in a setting where women aren't usually trained in combat, or they fight well ''for a human'' but they're against a superpowered hero. Or they just think fighting is beneath them; that's what the [[TheDragon hired]] [[QuirkyMinibossSquad help]] is for. In any case, what they lack in physical prowess they make up for in resources, cunning, and/or [[VillainWithGoodPublicity good PR]]. In the event they do encounter the hero one-on-one, they usually try to trick them into not attacking, just run for it, or they have the fight stacked in their favor by empowering themselves and/or weakening the hero. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | If encountered in a video game, this character will either act as a deliberate AntiClimaxBoss, an outright ZeroEffortBoss, or even be TheUnfought, unless they become empowered over the course of the game and go all OneWingedAngel. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | Often overlaps with EvilCripple and DarkLordOnLifeSupport, where the villain doesn't fight because they physically can't. Often leads to a case of WeakBossStrongUnderlings. An EvilSorcerer or MadScientist who’s weak because they spent their time developing their mind is probably a SquishyWizard. Also compare TheManBehindTheCurtain and DragonInChief; in both cases, the Big Bad is only nominally in charge while someone else is calling the shots. If The Dragon knows they’re the one truly in charge and decides to do something about it, he may become TheStarscream. For Big Bads who ''have'' power but act like this until the climax, see OrcusOnHisThrone, where the Big Bad doesn't carry out any plans beyond sitting around being generally evil. This trope may result in ItsPersonalWithTheDragon, as The Dragon doing all the heavy lifting may become the hero's personal ArchEnemy. |
| 26 | |
| 27 | While we can't name examples this is partly TruthInTelevision, as commanders are usually more well known for being a MagnificentBastard, and even real-life badasses aren't the OneManArmy that fiction tends to suggest. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | ---- |
| 30 | !!Examples: |
| 31 | |
| 32 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 33 | |
| 34 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 35 | %% * Dr. Tenma in the 2003 version of ''Anime/AstroBoy''. |
| 36 | * ''Anime/CodeGeass'': Schneizel el Britannia is a purely political figure, but he more than does the job with his silver tongue and has the protection of the [[OneRiotOneRanger Knights of the Round]], [[spoiler:and late in the series, [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveANuke FLEIJA]] and [[KillSat Damocles]]]]. |
| 37 | * [[VillainProtagonist Light Yagami]] from ''Manga/DeathNote''. He only kills by writing names in the "[[ArtifactOfDoom Death Note]]" and has a single physical fight in the entire series. |
| 38 | * Akihiro Kurata from ''Anime/DigimonDataSquad'' is a scrawny human scientist with no combat training. He never directly confronts the protagonists, relying on his various minions to do the fighting for him. The few times that he gets directly threatened by something with no minions to hide behind, [[DirtyCoward he panics]] and runs for his life. [[spoiler:This goes out the window when he merges himself with the incredibly powerful demon Belphemon, however, and he gives the heroes one hell of a fight in this form.]] |
| 39 | * ''Manga/DragonBall'': |
| 40 | ** "Emperor" Pilaf was the closest thing to a main antagonist the series had during its early years... and was basically a tiny little PsychopathicManchild, who relied entirely on his duo of [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain ineffective goons]] to do all the leg work. |
| 41 | ** Commander Red in the Red Ribbon Army saga is such a weakling that, when his subordinate decides he wants to be in charge, he kills Red easily. |
| 42 | ** The Crane Hermit is the main antagonistic force in the 22nd Tenkaichi Tournament arc. He's actually quite strong, but he leaves the fighting to his pupils, hoping they'll crush his old enemy's own pupils; when he lashes out at them for [[HeelFaceTurn turning against him]], [[OldMaster Roshi]] sends him flying. |
| 43 | ** Babidi in the Buu saga of ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' is a powerful magic user but is absolutely no match for the planet-splitting main heroes, relying on his minions to do the fighting. He's eventually killed when Buu realizes that being bossed around by someone so much weaker than him who has nothing to offer doesn't make sense, and [[TheDogBitesBack reacts accordingly]]. It didn't help that Babidi was [[BullyingADragon a massive dick to Buu]] either. Hint to aspiring villains: when commanding a minion vastly superior to you in power, treat them with respect. |
| 44 | * Mayo Sakaki in the 3rd {{O|riginalVideoAnimation}}VA to ''Manga/FushigiYuugi''. She gets sucked into the book, where she is hoping to find happiness, and winds up with Miaka's wedding ring and 12-week-old fetus. Because she is [[MysticalPregnancy pregnant]], Boushin will not allow her to go with Tamahome to find the other Seishi, as the Priestess would usually do. And so Mayo remains at the palace. She vomits up a magical orb that allows her to spy on Tamahome, and she prays to [[spoiler: a demon posing as]] [[TheFourGods Suzaku]] [[PrayerOfMalice for the destruction of Konan]]. |
| 45 | * [[spoiler:Godha]] in ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'' never fights or even has any weapons, and his mooks rarely use any violent means. Which doesn't stop [[NonActionGuy Aramaki]] to [[spoiler:have him [[ChunkySalsaRule riddled with exploding bullets]]]] when he refuses to be taken into custody. |
| 46 | * ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'': |
| 47 | ** Neither [[AdiposeRex Degwin Zabi]] or his [[TheEvilPrince son]] [[DragonInChief Gihren]] were up to much physical action in the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam''. As the political (and military in Gihren's case) rulers of Zeon they didn't need to be. |
| 48 | ** ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'': Both Jamitov Hymem and his [[TheDragon right-hand man]] Bask Om never actually step in a Mobile Suit or take to the field in any way. Although, [[spoiler:the true BigBad Paptimus Scirocco is himself a gifted Mobile Suit pilot who ends up being the FinalBoss of the series.]] |
| 49 | ** ''Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam'': [[EvilChancellor Prime Minister Fonse Kagatie]] leads the Zanscare Empire in committing some of the most horrific war crimes in the Universal Century, all while staying back and never actually fighting. |
| 50 | ** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'': {{Non Action Guy}}s Muruta Azrael and [[GeneralRipper Patrick Zala]] are the show's BigBadEnsemble. The former is a psychopathic madman who leads the Earth Forces from behind the scenes, the latter an InsaneAdmiral turned PresidentEvil who rules ZAFT with an iron fist. Both lead massive armies, and are dedicated to eliminating one another. [[spoiler:In reality however, they are both {{Unwitting Pawn}}s of AcePilot and MagnificentBastard [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Rau Le Creuset]], who is the ''real'' BigBad of the series.]] |
| 51 | ** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'' has a BigBadEnsemble of Lord Djibril and [[DarkMessiah Gilbert Durandal]]. Both have more than enough resources (and [[AxCrazy madness]]/[[ManipulativeBastard manipulative ability]]) to make up for their lack of frontline combat skills, with Djibril heading a world-wide network of hate-groups, and Durandal as ZAFT's new PresidentEvil (but with both [[WellIntentionedExtremist better intentions]] and [[VillainWithGoodPublicity better publicity]] than his predecessor). |
| 52 | ** Chancellor Wong in ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'' is the bad guy in the second act- he's super manipulative (he even has literal chess-pieces in the shape of the Gundams), is the De-Facto leader of everything and holds authority over [[OldMaster Master Asia]]... however, he hardly stands up from his floaty chair, only sets up fights for Domon, and has an [[Manga/DeathNote L]]-Level sweet tooth. Suffice to say, [[spoiler: he's almost vaporized by collateral damage--which was the direct result of his own manipulations--and when he actually gets in a Gundam (unwillingly) he lasts all of two minutes. And most of those two minutes are spent talking]]. |
| 53 | ** [[AffablyEvil Rustal Elion]] of the second season of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'' is never shown in a mobile suit cockpit, much less piloting one. Somewhat justified, since unlike other villains, Gjallarhorn was ruled by a system of families - and in Rustal's case, he was the heir of the Elion family, one of the families that ruled Gjallarhorn. [[spoiler:He even manages to [[TheBadGuyWins completely destroy Tekkadan]] without ever lifting a finger.]] |
| 54 | * The Major from ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}''. For an OmnicidalManiac enamored of war and carnage, he noticeably lacks any combat involvement and limits himself to inspirational speeches. Hilariously, he can't even shoot a disobedient soldier standing ''right in front of him'', despite emptying a clip of ammo at him. Eventually, he just has his more loyal {{Mooks}} do the killing for him. |
| 55 | * Jail Scaglietti of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers''. Being a MadScientist with SuperIntelligence and a lot of resources, he was one of the biggest threats to the TSAB itself in the franchise and came the closest to taking TheFederation down even though he himself has little to no fighting abilities. [[spoiler:The battle against him was pretty much over once all of the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Combat]] {{Cyborg}}s guarding his base were neutralized and [[TheLancer Fate]] finally got around the Capturing Threads set up in his lab]]. |
| 56 | * In the ''Mazingerverse'': |
| 57 | ** [[BigBad Dr. Hell]] of ''Anime/MazingerZ'' is a [[MadScientist certified genius]]... and a seventy-year-old man who isn't physically fit at all. He always sends his henchmen, minions and war machines off into battle because he can't fight his enemies face-to-face. |
| 58 | ** The Great Emperor of Darkness of ''Anime/GreatMazinger''. Despite of being a very powerful, god-like being, he never fought the heroes directly. |
| 59 | ** King Vega from ''Anime/UfoRoboGrendizer''. He would appear throughout the series giving orders to Blaki and Gandal until the destruction of Planet Vega. While hardly ever seen in battle, King Vega commands the King of Vega spaceship that can fight in space. |
| 60 | * Nagi dai Artai in ''Anime/MyOtome'', albeit largely because males can't become Otomes. [[spoiler:The manga also has True Mashiro, who [[TheChessmaster manipulates everything]] (except [[TheStarscream Sergey]]) while [[EvilCripple in a wheelchair]].]] |
| 61 | * Gato in the first arc of ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', which ended up being his undoing after he tried to dispose of Zabuza for failing to defeat Kakashi, only for Zabuza to return the favor by killing Gato himself. After that, every other BigBad in the series has fully embodied RankScalesWithAsskicking. |
| 62 | * ''Manga/OnePiece'': |
| 63 | ** Spandam is the leader of the Cipher Pol 9, an elite group of government assassins. He's also physically weaker than a single common fodder soldier. He does have a CoolSword - Funkfreed the sword which "ate" an elephant transformation Devil Fruit - but the problem is that he can hardly use it properly. When he unleashes it on Franky, Franky [[spoiler:convinces the elephant to squish SPANDAM]]. |
| 64 | ** Eventually Subverted with the heads of the World Government, whom are the ones ordering the marines, including the Fleet Admiral. Several of the members of the [[TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness Five Elders]] have what look to be battle scars, and one even carries a sword, so it was very implied that they're retired fighters even though none of them were been seen fighting [[spoiler:until the final saga, where during Nefertari Cobra's assasination they display the ability to transform into demonic creatures thanks to Mythical Zoans, and as seen in Egghead one of them (Jaygarcia Saturn) can heavily injure and even blow people' heads from a distance and even regenerate from some injuries dealt to him]]. |
| 65 | ** [[spoiler:Imu, the man in command of ''them'', is not allowed to go out and fight either, because him being in charge of the World Government goes against its very tenets that no one man could rule the entire world; him trying anything in person would risk blowing a civilization-shattering secret wide open. Thus, in a subversion Imu showcased an ability to command arrow-like shadows only when Sabo intruded in his and the Elder Stars' assasination of King Cobra]]. |
| 66 | ** Another important group within the World Government, [[AristocratsAreEvil the Celestial Dragons]], however play this straight, as these are hardly ever seen fighting, depending almost entirely on [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem their ridiculous level of authority over the Marines and the populace]] and the fear of [[DisproportionateRetribution how they won't hesitate to use such authority]] against anyone who so much as annoys them - sure, they use firearms a sometimes, but it's mostly against weak or helpless targets who couldn't possibly hurt them; the few times they try on someone stronger than an average civilian or grunt marine (i.e. almost any named character), [[NoSell it doesn't have any effect]] and/or invites [[CurbStompBattle a completely one-sided stomping]] if the other party is angry enough and/or doesn't give a damn about ending up on the entire World Government's shit list. |
| 67 | ** Shogun Kurozumi Orochi is not a fighter in any capacity despite possessing a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit. [[spoiler:When Zoro and Oden attack him, he just stands there and pisses his pants in fear, and probably would have died without someone else saving his ass. This is emphasized when Kaido decapitates him in an instant, setting the stage for himself and Big Mom to serve as the FinalBoss for the arc. Though Orochi survives, the most damage he can do is attempting to set Onigashima on fire.]] |
| 68 | * Marder from ''Anime/PanzerWorldGalient'', who is completely defenseless in an actual battle and got almost killed at least once when [[UndyingLoyalty Hy ]][[TheDragon Shaltat]] wasn't around. |
| 69 | * Every single antagonist on the ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'', since it's the Pokémon who do all the fighting for them, while the main antagonist are not shown to have any fighting ability whatsoever. The Pokémon themselves are said to never be evil, while the theatrical [[OlympusMons legendary Pokémon]] are merely troubled, confused, or highly protective, and are EasilyForgiven at the end. |
| 70 | * The BigBad of ''Franchise/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica,'' [[spoiler:Kyubey]], may be an [[AboveGoodAndEvil amoral]] ManipulativeBastard, but doesn't really have any sort of battle ability; in fact, [[spoiler:Kyubey]] gets killed pretty easily. [[ImmortalLifeIsCheap Multiple times]]. |
| 71 | * Desparaiah from ''Anime/YesPrettyCure5''. While her DragonInChief Kawarino is the most difficult villain the girls have to face in this season, the only things Desparaia does during the GrandFinale is [[spoiler:summoning {{Mooks}}, blocking the attacks with a barrier... and undergoing a '''HighHeelFaceTurn''']]! Weirdly she ''is'' the most powerful being in this season, the only reason why Kawarino is so damn loyal to her. |
| 72 | * Sakyo of ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' is one of the primary antagonists in the Dark Tournament Saga, even if Toguro overshadows him in plot importance. He also knows he can't fight, despite being the fifth member of Team Toguro, so he says that the outcome of Toguro's match will decide the outcome of his, thus enabling whoever wins it to win the tournament. |
| 73 | [[/folder]] |
| 74 | |
| 75 | [[folder:Board Games]] |
| 76 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Chess}}'': The king is barely superior to a simple pawn, and spends as much time as possible hiding and fleeing (especially since it usually can't attack another piece without moving into check first). |
| 77 | [[/folder]] |
| 78 | |
| 79 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 80 | * ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'': When the Elders of the Universe plot some evil scheme, the Astronomer usually orchestrates the plot and acts as leader. While many of the Elders have incredible superhuman powers and/or incredible technology at their disposal, the Astronomer does not seem to have any powers that are useful in a fight, and always teleports away if trouble starts. |
| 81 | * ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': |
| 82 | ** In most forms of media ComicBook/TheJoker is this - he's generally portrayed as scrawny, and occasionally it will only take one punch from Batman to bring him down. He makes up for it by being a ManipulativeBastard and stacking the odds. In a number of stories, the tension isn't on Batman beating him in a fight, but trying to catch him before he murders more innocent people. That said, it's also not uncommon for him to be a wily, experienced, and dangerously unpredictable street-fighter who can actually go to-to-toe with the Bat, even if he's more of a FragileSpeedster than a LightningBruiser like his ArchEnemy. |
| 83 | ** This usually goes for most of Bats' RoguesGallery, to various degrees. Guys like ComicBook/TheRiddler or ComicBook/TheScarecrow are more masterminds than fighters. ComicBook/TwoFace or the Black Mask are gangster types who are capable of using a gun or fighting, but don't have the physique or skill needed to take Bats on in a straight fight. |
| 84 | * ''ComicBook/ContestOfChampions2015'': The Collector. Justified, as without the Iso-8 Sphere, he's a somewhat fragile immortal. He has to resort to threats, bluffs, and the aforementioned sphere to keep everyone doing what he says. |
| 85 | * ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': The Leader. He may be a [[{{mutants}} mutate]], but his only power is SuperIntelligence, and he's got the physique of a string bean. |
| 86 | * ''Comicbook/IronMan'': Guys like the Roxxon Oil heads, Justin Hammer, and the leaders of the Maggia are corrupt businessmen or mafia bosses who could not go up against the heroes one-on-one and often employed super villains. Obadiah Stane and Count Nefaria also started off this way but both men either gained powers later or eventually wore a suit of PoweredArmor. |
| 87 | * ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'': Most iterations of ComicBook/VandalSavage outside of the comics are much more schemers than fighters. Comics Savage, on the other hand, is always up for a brawl. |
| 88 | * ''ComicBook/SinCity'': |
| 89 | ** The Roarks, Ava Lord, Wallenquist, and the Colonel never get their hands dirty and are likely incapable of doing so. Instead, they send {{dirty cop}}s, {{mooks}}, hitmen, and assassins to do their jobs who tend to be more physically capable. Manute, for instance, was Ava Lord's dragon. Ava was only dangerous if you were a man who didn't know she was untrustworthy. Manute, on the other hand, is so dangerous that he has been a recurring villain in the series... a rarity. |
| 90 | ** The Yellow Bastard. Sure he's a rapist and murderer (of children, no less) with enough influence to get the muscle to help along, but in combat, he's a DirtyCoward and is eventually killed pretty easily. |
| 91 | * ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': |
| 92 | ** MadScientist and underworld supplier the Tinkerer is an old man with no fighting skills. The same can be said for Jonas Harrow, who's a DirtyCoward on top of it. (Ironically, Harrow was a one-time suspect for the Hobgoblin's identity.) |
| 93 | ** ComicBook/TheKingpin is interesting in that he is a very strong and skilled fighter, but he is usually in the mob boss role. In his earliest appearances, he had legitimate SuperStrength and could fight guys like Franchise/SpiderMan and even overpower him. [[RoguesGalleryTransplant Once he became]] a Comicbook/{{Daredevil}} villain, he was brought down a peg or two and less likely to fight Spider-Man. Instead, when he shows up in Spidey's books now, he is usually employing supervillains. |
| 94 | ** Fortunado is a crime boss who, at one time, filled the EvilPowerVacuum left by the Kingpin. While portrayed as a fighter in his youth, he's an old man at present whose physical skills have degenerated. |
| 95 | ** Silvermane is this when not a cyborg; usually he's running his criminal organization from a wheelchair, being half-crippled. In one storyline he was even running his organization while bedridden. |
| 96 | * ''ComicBook/StarWarsMarvel1977'': Darth Vader, of all people, ended up this way. The reasoning behind this was that Lucas Arts did not want to have Vader and Luke fighting too often, lest it conflict with the movies, which the comics were supposed to coincide with. |
| 97 | * ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': |
| 98 | ** [[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]] most of the time. He does have a [[PoweredArmor battlesuit]], but he tends to get in fistfights a lot less than he uses his ManipulativeBastard and CorruptCorporateExecutive aspects. |
| 99 | ** ''ComicBook/SupermanUpUpAndAway'': After Superman has been depowered, Luthor declares he will kill the alien with his bare hands. Superman, who is ''still'' larger and brawnier than Lex, punches him out rather easily. |
| 100 | ** Lesla-Lar is a brilliant mad scientist, a cunning schemer and a subtle manipulator, but she has zero fighting skills. In ''ComicBook/TheUnknownSupergirl'', Lesla gets easily caught by ordinary cops, and [[ComicBook/StrangersAtTheHeartsCore the only time]] she fights ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} hand to hand, she loses badly. |
| 101 | ** ''ComicBook/TheKillersOfKrypton'': [[BigBad Empress Gandelo]] spends most of the story plotting, scheming and expecting her underlings to do her work for her. When she finally confronts Kara, she fails to be a serious physical threat. |
| 102 | ** ''ComicBook/DayOfTheDollmaker'': The titular main villain is a pudgy runt. Without his army of killer dolls or bomb-strapped hostages Dollmaker cannot protect himself and is knocked out in one single punch by Catherine Grant, who has no fighting skills whatsoever. |
| 103 | * ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel'': |
| 104 | ** ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'': |
| 105 | *** Bolivar Trask, the man who may be responsible for the deaths of the Parkers, as well as the Brocks, and the main villain of the Symbiote Wars arc. Justified because he's a middle-aged businessman, without any superpowers whatsoever. |
| 106 | *** Kingpin again. Not that he isn't strong, he just prefers to sit back and stay incredibly rich, rather than get his hands dirty. Well, dirtier. |
| 107 | ** ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'': Loki. Justified, because if he uses his powers Odin will know where his is. The most he can do is mess with people's perceptions. Eventually he decides he doesn't care, and lets loose. |
| 108 | * ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: During the Saturnian Empire arc pretty much every Saturnian Wonder Woman, ComicBook/SteveTrevor and ComicBook/EttaCandy face off against is a manipulative dangerous fighter while the Emperor sits on his throne. Once Diana gets into the throne room itself the Emperor decides to sign a treaty with the United States rather than fight himself. |
| 109 | [[/folder]] |
| 110 | |
| 111 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 112 | * ''Fanfic/AllForLuz'': |
| 113 | ** Governor Maxwell being an unpowered politician has his heavily-armed militia keep the superhuman teens he had kidnapped in line. |
| 114 | ** Tyler Wittebane hires Quirk-user assassins to do his dirty work for him, as he a Quirkless minister would stand no chance against Luz, the wielder of All For One. |
| 115 | * ''Fanfic/AllWorldsAlliance'' has a {{Downplayed}} case for Chikage Tachibana, [[DragonInChief despite]] being the fanfic's ''de facto'' BigBad[[note]]He is only acting as one and is, in reality, TheDragon to his superiors[[/note]]. Often times when he shows up, he is there to simply menace Chizuru all the time and he leaves most of his dirty work to his other Apostle members, preferring to stay away from battling. Despite that, however, he is a fighter powerful enough to take out an army by himself. |
| 116 | * ''Fanfic/AlwaysVisible'': In fact, doctor Baselard appears in the book exactly once, but this does not prevent him from looking to Galbraith like a certain professor Moriarty. |
| 117 | * In ''Fanfic/AnEmeraldUnearthed'', Randall Silva is a ruthless LoanShark who usually leaves the physical work to his grunts. He does personally shoot people's loved ones when they fail to pay up, but that's the most action he gets. [[spoiler: When he gets held hostage by Emerald, he is utterly helpless.]] |
| 118 | * ''Fanfic/AngelOfTheBat'': Lipov doesn't have much fight in him and prefers to leave the dirty work to the Odmience. |
| 119 | * ''Fanfic/{{A New World|IcedFairy}}'': Lord Tenshou is a particularly poor military leader. He'd prefer to be an advisor to a more competent BigBad, but his powerset all but ensures he's handed the position of main tactician anyway. [[spoiler:Yukari uses this trait to utterly screw him over.]] |
| 120 | * From ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' fanfics: |
| 121 | ** ''Fanfic/LastChildOfKrypton'': Gendo is a ManipulativeBastard, but when Shinji attacked him, there was nothing he could do to stop his son. If he did not have kryptonite, his life would be over. |
| 122 | ** In ''Fanfic/NeonGenesisEvangelionGenocide'', Gendo and the SEELE members are manipulative bastards and schemers but no one of them can fight the heroes or the alien monsters directly. The latter instead relies on their [[TheDragon Dragon]], the shadowy official, Musashi Kluge, to do the heavy lifting. |
| 123 | ** In ''Fanfic/OnceMoreWithFeeling'' Gendo and SEELE are good working in the shadows, plotting, scheming and moving their minions like chess pieces, but neither of them is a physical menace. |
| 124 | ** In ''Fanfic/TheSecondTry'', Gendo was the Big Bad, Manipulative Bastard and The Chessmaster who turned everyone into his unwitting pawns. Asuka almost killed him with her bare hands. Yes, he was nearly strangled to death by an angry teenager. |
| 125 | ** ''Fanfic/ThousandShinji'': Gendo and SEELE are schemers and manipulative bastards, but they have absolutely no fighting skills whatsoever. They're unable to do anything other than cringing when the main characters act directly against them, and Shinji actually mocks them for being helpless when their plots go awry and their puppets refuse to obey. |
| 126 | * ''Fanfic/RubyAndNora'': |
| 127 | ** ''Ruby's Birthday'': Admah Keter downplays it. He's a SerialKiller who prefers to kill his own prey, but he only does it when he can ambush them. He stands no chance in a straight-up fight [[spoiler:as Pyrrha and Yang prove]]. |
| 128 | ** ''Weiss and Pyrrha'': [[spoiler: Nurse Abigail Lemon is an Angel of Death SerialKiller and only kills with hospital drugs and her {{EMP}} Semblance. She avoids a straight-up fight with [[TheAce Pyrrha]] and only kills from the shadows during the final confrontation. When Pyrrha starts deflecting bullets with her magnetism Semblance, Abby panics since she has no fighting ability whatsoever]]. |
| 129 | ** ''Cold'': As [[TyrantTakesTheHelm Jacques Schnee]] takes center stage as BigBad, he doesn't actually fight the heroes. He mostly has the military doing his work. |
| 130 | * ''Fanfic/QueenOfShadows'': The various Queens of the Shadowkhan are all inherently physically weak, being really only meant to rule and [[MookMaker create new males]], to whom the task of fighting is left. |
| 131 | * ''Fanfic/LovedAndLost'': [[TheUsurper Prince Jewelius]] is highly cunning and a ManipulativeBastard, but he's just an average unicorn as well as a DirtyCoward who lets his more powerful allies/pawns fight for him. The most physical things he does are [[spoiler:telekinetically [[DestinationDefenestration throwing a guard out of the throne room's window]] [[OffingTheAnnoyance for making a wrong question]] as well as [[ThwartedCoupDeGrace trying to decapitate]] his subdued aunt Princess Celestia during the final battle]]. |
| 132 | * ''Fanfic/APrizeForThreeEmpires'': The Supreme Intelligence is the ruler of the Kree Empire and one of the most intelligent beings in the galaxy. Nonetheless, he abandons his ongoing scheme and teleports away as soon as the Earth's heroes storm his base to rescue Carol Danvers. |
| 133 | * ''Fanfic/HereThereBeMonsters'': Dr. Sivana is a brilliant MadScientist and a good strategist, but he is ''not'' a fighter, which is why he runs away when [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} the Marvel Family]] manage to break out of their shackles and begin trashing his allies. |
| 134 | [[/folder]] |
| 135 | |
| 136 | [[folder:Films — Animation]] |
| 137 | * The Duke of Weselton from ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'' isn't capable of fighting, let alone being able to overpower someone who has ice powers like Elsa. Instead he sends his bodyguards to kill her but even then, Elsa easily repelled them off. [[spoiler:Similarly, while Hans does show his sword-fighting skills against Marshmallow, he is still no match for Elsa's unstable ice powers and relies on manipulations to mentally break the queen before finishing her off and later on, Anna was able to successfully knock him out of the boat with a single punch]]. |
| 138 | * Hades in ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'' is a fast-talking con man who has to recruit monsters and [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] for the more physical parts of his schemes. |
| 139 | * Subverted by Scar from ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994''. He complains early on about lacking Mufasa's strength, relies on his hyena minions for most of the physical work, and doesn't try to directly kill anybody unless he thinks they can't escape or defend themselves. However, at the climax, he proves he ''can'' fight, and gives a legitimately epic LastVillainStand. |
| 140 | * ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsFriendshipGames'': Principal Abacus Cinch of Crystal Prep Academy has no magic or physical skills of her own. Instead, she mentally and emotionally manipulates the human Twilight Sparkle into being her [[TheDragon Dragon]], and the real threat of the film. |
| 141 | * ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood1973'': Prince John makes the plans to capture and kill Robin Hood, but relies on the [[TheDragon Sheriff of Nottingham]] to do his dirty work. When Prince John gets involved in the fighting, he proves to be a DirtyCoward who immediately runs away in fear if he doesn't have an advantage. |
| 142 | [[/folder]] |
| 143 | |
| 144 | [[folder:Films — Live-Action]] |
| 145 | * ''Film/TheAccountant2016'' [[spoiler: Lamar Blackburn]] is just a CorruptCorporateExecutive who doesn't even try to confront Wolf on his own, instead leaving him to [[TheDragon Braxton]] and his mercenaries. [[spoiler: But after Braxton [[HeelFaceTurn figures out Wolf is his long lost brother and changes side]], Blackburn is left completely defenseless and Wolf unceremoniously blows his brains out without second thought.]] |
| 146 | %% * Christo from ''Film/ActOfValor'' doesn't even try to resist when his yacht is boarded. |
| 147 | * ''Film/AssassinsCreed2016'': |
| 148 | ** Alan Rikkin is an administrator and a speech giver; not a fighter. When [[spoiler: the Assassins start a prison riot]] he immediately leaves. |
| 149 | ** Tomás de Torquemada has no fighting skills. [[TheDragon Ojeda is his sole rampart]] when Aguilar and Maria ambush him inside the Alhambra chamber where Muhammad XII kept the Apple of Eden. |
| 150 | * Much like [[ComicBook/LexLuthor in the comics]], [[Characters/DCEULexLuthor Lex Luthor]] from ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'' never fights Superman or Batman directly, but he's very cunning and uses that to his advantage. |
| 151 | * Every BigBad in ''Film/TheBourneSeries'' counts. |
| 152 | ** Alexander Conklin from ''Film/TheBourneIdentity'' spends the film sending agents after Bourne from the safety of his control room. When Bourne confronts Conklin in person, Conklin makes sure to surround himself with bodyguards. When Bourne defeats Conklin's bodyguards, he is about to knock out Conklin effortlessly. Conklin survives, but is then unceremoniously shot on the orders of his superiors. |
| 153 | ** Ward Abbott from ''Film/TheBourneSupremacy'' forges evidence against Bourne and manipulates the authorities into going after Bourne. Although Abbott does kill an unsuspecting underling himself, when Bourne confronts Abbott in person, Abbot doesn't even attempt to fight back. |
| 154 | ** Noah Vosen from ''Film/TheBourneUltimatum'' spends most of the film either spying on Bourne and his allies to predict his next move, or sending assassins to kill them. Vosen does shoot at Bourne at the end of the film as a last ditch effort to prevent his escape, but fails miserably. Vosen's superiors, Dr. Albert Hirsch and CIA Director Ezra Kramer, also qualify for this trope in ''Ultimatum''. |
| 155 | ** Eric Byer from ''Film/TheBourneLegacy'' is only seen out in the field in one scene that took place years earlier, and even then he's out of the action. During ''Legacy'', he either spends his time in NRAG's office or in a crisis suite, hundreds of miles from the film's conflict. |
| 156 | ** Dewey from ''Film/JasonBourne'' in particular may not be a physical threat, but he is the head of the CIA and this gives him a massive amount of men and money. He used this to have Bourne's father killed, and arranges for the death of several characters. He is also an expert smooth talker, capable of getting Jason to stand down, and is the closest any villain in the series comes to killing Bourne. |
| 157 | * King Edward "Longshanks" from ''Film/{{Braveheart}}'' commands his armies from the sidelines instead of fighting in battles personally. The closest thing Longshanks gets to fighting is when he throws an advisor out the window and beats his own son. When William Wallace confronts Longshanks personally, Longshanks flees to safety. |
| 158 | * ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'': Heinrich Strasser is a threat mainly through what he represents, namely the might of the Third Reich. On a personal level, he is an aging DeskJockey with no relevant combat skills, [[spoiler: and goes down like a sack of potatoes when he tries to out-draw Rick.]] |
| 159 | * Nearly all the main villains of ''Film/Dune2021'' and ''Film/DunePartTwo'' (Baron Vladimir Arkonnen, the Emporer and [[spoiler:the Bene Gesserit]]) don't participate in any of the movies' physical conflicts with the protagonists and let their soldiers or [[TheDragon trusted henchmen]] do the fighting while their villainy consinsts of plotting and manipulating their enemies and allies alike. |
| 160 | * ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious'': |
| 161 | ** Carter Verone in ''Film/TwoFastTwoFurious'' mostly relied on his brains and left his henchmen to be the brawn. Although he does try to kill heroes with a shotgun in the climax, Bryan manages to shoot him in the shoulder first and he puts up no further resistance. Even [[GracefulLoser accepting his defeat with dignity and giving the heroes a smile]], as customs agents are taking him away. |
| 162 | ** In ''Film/FastAndFurious'' (the fourth film), we have Braga, who despite being a ''very'' SmugSnake who boasts that he clawed his way up from the slums, puts up no resistance once the heroes get the drop on him, beyond trying to [[NotSoDifferentRemark convince Dom they aren't so different]] and spends the climax bragging that his men are going to kill them once they catch up, until Bryan gives him a very satisfying elbow to the face. When Braga turns up again in the sixth installment, he arrogantly confronts Bryan like he's invincible, while he has couple goons with shivs to back him up. But as soon as they're dispatched, Bryan finally wipes that smug look off his face, as Braga can do nothing but [[DirtyCoward beg for his life, until he gives Bryan the information he was after]]. |
| 163 | ** Despite being a drug lord, Hernan Reyes in ''Film/FastFive'' is a CorruptCorporateExecutive and the only time he kills anyone personally, [[YouHaveFailedMe is when executing one his own men.]] Instead, Reyes relies on his {{mooks}}, money, and the heavily corrupt Rio Police Department to throw at the heroes, and when [[spoiler: [[ItMakesSenseInContext a giant steel vault is flung into his car]], he can only crawl out and beg for mercy, before Hobs puts a few bullets in him]]. |
| 164 | ** Despite being the GreaterScopeVillain for most of the films, Cipher never directly fights the heroes throughout ''Film/TheFateOfTheFurious'', instead sending Dom (whom she coerced into a FaceHeelTurn) and [[TheDragon Connor Rhodes]] to steal nuclear weapons for her. Even when Deckard Shaw finally confronts Cipher, [[DirtyCoward she chooses to escape via parachute than deal with him.]] It gets even worse in ''Film/{{F9}}'' where her only action was piloting a drone remotely in an attempt to kill Dom near the end. ''Film/FastX'' finally averts this, [[spoiler: where [[CurbStompBattle Cipher mops the floor with her henchmen after they betrayed her]] and even puts up a fight with Letty in the Antartica base.]] |
| 165 | %% * The Governor from ''Film/AFistfulOfDynamite'' |
| 166 | * [[spoiler:Rex Lewis]]/The Doctor/[[spoiler:Cobra Commander]] in ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra''. Slightly subverted. While he does leaves the dirty work to his Vipers and [=McCullen=], he does use his tools in wanting to torture [[spoiler:Duke]]. [[spoiler:Which makes sense since Rex blames Duke for his apparent death]]. |
| 167 | * Commodus from ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'' is a DirtyCoward who has no combat experience apart from killing his deathly ill father to become Emperor. He relies on his countless soldiers to carry out his evil deeds, and sends his best gladiators into the arena in an attempt to kill TheHero Maximus. When Maximus goads Commodus into fighting him in the arena, Commodus stabs a restrained Maximus in order to win the fight unfairly. [[spoiler:Commodus still loses.]] |
| 168 | * Mason Verger in ''Film/{{Hannibal}}'' pulls the strings to set much of the plot in motion - from disgracing Clarice Starling to the capture of his nemesis Hannibal Lecter. Mason's encounter with Hannibal left him a mutilated quadriplegic, so needless to say he relies entirely on hired help for his schemes. |
| 169 | * In ''Franchise/{{Hellraiser}}'', Leviathan, despite being extremely powerful in it's home dimension, relies on Pinhead and the other Cenobites to travel to Earth to capture souls on its behalf. |
| 170 | * Pretty much every ''Film/JamesBond'' villain relies on TheDragon, TheBrute, or just a GiantMook to present a physical threat to Bond, while they provide the resources and ideas. There are some exceptions though; [[spoiler:Alec Trevelyan]] in ''Film/GoldenEye'' is a match for Bond, being [[spoiler:a former [=MI6=] agent himself]]. |
| 171 | ** Ernst Stavro Blofeld, 007's biggest ArchEnemy, usually relays his orders to his {{Mooks}} while sitting on his CoolChair and stroking his RightHandCat, as [[spoiler:even his incarnation]] from ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' is never seen engaging in combat, and during the FinalBattle in London, [[spoiler:he simply watches as 007 tries to save Madeleine from the bomb going off at the ruins of the old UsefulNotes/{{MI6}} building]]. However, this is subverted in ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService'', where, when he began taking an active role, ''[[KnightOfCerebus things really got uglier]]''. The book version of Blofeld even fights to the death with Bond near the end of ''Literature/YouOnlyLiveTwice''. |
| 172 | *** Though given Blofeld's position as [[NebulousEvilOrganisation SPECTRE's]] top guy, it's implied this wasn't the case before, as he [[KlingonPromotion killed many to rise to the top of the criminal food chain]]. |
| 173 | * Balem only has one fight in ''Film/JupiterAscending'', and he loses pretty easily. Even Jupiter, who gets abducted or taken hostage by ''everyone'' in the film, can easily defeat Balem once they're in a one-on-one fight. |
| 174 | * Valentine from ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService''. He has no stomach for blood or violence, and he's a feeble techie to begin with, so he lets [[DarkActionGirl Gazelle]] do the fighting for him. |
| 175 | ** Poppy Adams, the sequel's main antagonist, despite being a ruthless and brutal drug lord, who has no problems [[spoiler: having one of her newest henchmen throw the recruiter in a ''meat grinder'' as a test]], never personally gets her hands dirty; even when Eggsy and Harry have her cornered, the most she tries to do is be [[EvilIsPetty as uncooperative as possible]] (they still need her password to shut down the EvilPlan). |
| 176 | * General Peter [=McAllister=] and Arjen Rudd from the first two ''Film/LethalWeapon'' movies. In the first movie, [=McAllister=] is able to sneak up on Riggs without the latter noticing, and is clearly proficient with firearms. He just chooses not to get his hands dirty. And in the second movie, the only time Rudd takes action is to empty an entire clip on Riggs in the climax. |
| 177 | * Sauron from ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' film series is a partial case. He does come out, and he DOES do some major damage in the prologue against the Last Alliance, until he's deprived of his RingOfPower. But he never comes out to play again during the main story arc; in the film explicitly because his form has been reduced to just an eye on his tower. |
| 178 | * Dieter von Cunth in ''Film/MacGruber'', for all his fearsome reputation, just stands there and gets his ass kicked when the finale comes. |
| 179 | * ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'': |
| 180 | ** ''Film/IronMan1'': The film is sometimes said to "not have a supervillain". [[spoiler:Obadiah Stane]] admits that he's "never had a taste for this sort of thing" as his plan goes from behind-the-desk manipulation to mighty fisticuffs in the last twenty minutes. |
| 181 | ** Justin Hammer from ''Film/IronMan2''. While he isn't quite as old as his comic book counterpart, he still doesn't get involved in physical combat, preferring to act as a CorruptCorporateExecutive. |
| 182 | ** ''Film/{{Thor}}'' and ''Film/TheAvengers2012'': Downplayed with Loki. While he is well above any mortal in physical prowess, he isn't up to par with Thor in combat, preferring to compensate with his intelligence and cunning. As such, he tends to use his [[MasterOfIllusion illusion powers]] to avoid direct conflict, or to rely on the Destroyer / brainwashed minions / alien army to do the fighting for him. In ''The Avengers'', he readily dispatches S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that are no threat to him and proves Captain America's superior during their short battle, but when he has to deal with the Hulk, the latter throws him around like a limp noodle. |
| 183 | ** ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'': [[spoiler: Alexander Pierce]] does nothing more in terms of action than use a gun to hold people hostage a few times. [[spoiler: Dr Zola]] is much the same, although he at least has the excuse of being [[spoiler: a computer now]]. |
| 184 | ** ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'': [[spoiler: Helmut Zemo]] despite being a former Spec Ops soldier, never directly confronts or fights the Avengers. It actually makes him more dangerous as he acknowledges he can't ever match or defeat them [[spoiler:and instead turns them against each other to destroy the group]]. |
| 185 | ** ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'': [[spoiler: Quentin Beck]], who was initially shown as being in a powered-up supersuit and fighting with magic, was unsurprisingly revealed to use a heck lot of drones for his elaborate illusions and to do all the fighting, with the true Beck wearing nothing more than a motion capture suit. He promptly goes down to stray bullets from a drone in the final battle, [[spoiler:which may or may not be an illusion]]. |
| 186 | ** ''Film/BlackWidow2021'': Dreykov is a fat old man with no real combat ability beyond throwing weak punches. It's the Widows that do all the real work. [[spoiler: As soon as Natasha breaks her nose to get past Dreykov's [[{{Pheromones}} pheromonal lock]], he simply flees since he can't fight back.]] |
| 187 | * {{Downplayed|Trope}} in ''Film/MissionImpossibleRogueNation''. Solomon Lane is the only villain in the series that doesn't engage in hand-to-hand combat with Ethan. Nonetheless, he usually makes an effort to be on-site whenever an EvilPlan is being carried out, even if his minions are doing the actual work, just to make sure everything goes according to plan. [[RankScalesWithAsskicking He is also a decent shot and sometimes carries out murders on his own]]. [[spoiler: In the finale, he chases Ethan down [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} Terminator-style]], only to find he was lured into a trap and is captured.]] This fully averted in sequel ''Film/MissionImpossibleFallout'', where he personally ambushes and captures [[spoiler: [[ActionGirl Illsa]]]] and comes seconds away from killing another one of the heroes, before [[spoiler: Ilsa]] manages to free herself and save him, before a engaging Lane in very even fight. |
| 188 | * ''Film/MurderParty'': Alexander never once lifts a finger to participate in any of the conflicts that happen during the film, playing instead with his cellphone nonchalantly both when [[spoiler: the rest of the group hunt Chris armed and dangerous (well, apart from Lexi)]] and even more dumbfoundingly [[spoiler: when Zycho attempts to murder them all and Lexi tackles him and Macon lands him the killing blow]]. |
| 189 | * Morton in ''Film/OnceUponATimeInTheWest'', a crippled railroad baron who relies on gunslinger Frank and his henchmen to "remove small obstacles from the track." The trope's played with though: Morton initiates the film's events but Frank grows increasingly insubordinate, and the two spend the second half of the film trying to kill each other. |
| 190 | * Cutler Becket from the ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' movies. He loves to sit and enjoy his tea while he watches his armies fight against the pirates. [[AllThereInTheManual According to secondary materials]] he is an [[MasterSwordsman expert swordsman]] but never gets the chance to show it in the films. |
| 191 | * Dr. Zaius is the main antagonist of ''Film/PlanetOfTheApes1968'', but being a somewhat elderly orangutan he's not exactly an imposing physical presence, and easily taken hostage by [[TheHero Taylor]] at the movie's climax. Zira and Cornelius even chastise Taylor for not being gentler on the old doctor. |
| 192 | * Dr. René Belloq from ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' is an intelligent ManipulativeBastard SmugSnake who surrounds himself with his personal goons whenever he confronts Indiana Jones, but never attempts to actually fight him. However, without him, the Nazis would have gotten nowhere. Colonel Herman Dietrich, the leader of the Nazis searching for the Ark, also qualifies. Although Dietrich looks imposing, he never does any physical work apart from manhandling Marian, leaving his Nazis to do all the fighting. |
| 193 | * Tama, the villain of ''Film/TheRaidRedemption'', is a pudgy middle-aged gangster who is entirely reliant on his [[TheDragon main enforcer]], Mad Dog, in combat. However, he's a pretty cunning enemy, and quite capable of [[BreakingThemByTalking breaking his enemies by talking]]. |
| 194 | * The BigBadDuumvirate of ''Film/TheRaid2Berandal'', are the [[TheEvilPrince spoiled mob prince]] Uco and the ruthless [[AmbitionIsEvil up-and-coming]] fixer Bejo, who [[EvilCripple walks with a cane]]. As in the first movie, most of the villainous ass-kicking is done by underlings: in this case, the CarnivalOfKillers under Tejo's command. There's also the [[CorruptCop corrupt police commissioner]] Reza, a very important character who gets very little screen time and is almost a LivingMacGuffin, and when we do see him, he's a pretty nondescript and unimposing old man. |
| 195 | * In ''Film/RamboIV'', unlike the other villains, Major Tint is [[DirtyCoward shown running for his life]] and hiding from the battle at the end of the movie. |
| 196 | * Dick Jones from ''Film/RoboCop1987''. Aside from [[spoiler:trying to take the Old Man hostage]], he never even attempts to harm anyone directly, instead using his [[MechaMooks ED-209 drones]] and [[PetRat Clarence Boddicker]]. |
| 197 | * Subverted with Professor James Moriarty in ''Film/SherlockHolmesAGameOfShadows'', who seems like only a thinker and not a fighter on the surface, and never gets into a straight up fight with Holmes in the film. But it is established early on that he is a former college boxing champion, and later in the film, he [[spoiler: subjects Holmes to ColdBloodedTorture via ramming a hook through the latter's shoulder]]. Also, during Moriarty and Holmes's mental battle at the end of the film, both of them conclude that thanks to Holmes's [[spoiler: shoulder injury]], Moriarty would have probably won a straight up fight between the two. [[spoiler: Luckily Holmes is [[CombatPragmatist smart enough not to play fair]].]] |
| 198 | * In ''Film/TheShining'', Jack Torrance has been sent to kill his family by the ghosts of the Overlook Hotel. The ghosts do torment the main characters with hallucinations, and they do have some physical influence in the hotel, such as when one of them bruises Danny's neck, and when the free Jack from the kitchen. However, they rely on Jack to do the killing, and when Jack dies and the family escapes the hotel, the ghosts presumably can't do a thing about it. |
| 199 | * ''Film/SpaceJam'': Mr. Swackhammer is the boss of the Monstars, and is the one who sends them to kidnap the Looney Tunes, but as he acts as their coach, he doesn't really engage in any action himself. |
| 200 | * ''Franchise/StarWars'': |
| 201 | ** Grand Moff Tarkin in ''Film/ANewHope'', in a prime example of the films' EarlyInstallmentWeirdness. Although he commands [[ThatsNoMoon the Death Star]] and leads the hunt for the Rebels, he's just a bureaucrat and lacks any sort of Force power, in stark contrast to the major villains of the other movies and the saga in general. |
| 202 | ** Jabba the Hutt from ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' serves as a DiscOneFinalBoss version of this, a [[FatBastard massive]] gangster who can't even move from his throne and is so inept at the physical stuff that Leia simply strangles him with the chain he was using [[GoGoEnslavement to enslave her]]. |
| 203 | ** Memorably subverted with TheEmperor, who projects an image (both to the audience and to Luke) of being a helpless feeble old man (even using a cane that [[ObfuscatingDisability he doesn't need]]) who needs [[TheDragon Darth Vader]] to fight for him. Then he busts out the [[ShockAndAwe Force Lightning]]. The same applies in the prequels (which take place before he was the Emperor), where he manipulates things behind the scenes and lets his subordinates do the actual fighting. When he's forced to actually get into a fight, however, he's shown to be a LightningBruiser and MasterSwordsman able to kill several Jedi masters in seconds, even without using Force Lighting. |
| 204 | * All three [[BigBad Big Bads]] in the ''Film/{{Taken}}'' trilogy are this, with the [[TheDragon second-to-last villain]] putting up a big fight with [[RetiredBadass Bryan]] [[Creator/LiamNeeson Mills]] near the end of each movie. |
| 205 | ** The first film has three different characters that can qualify for the BigBad, (the guy who actually kidnapped the hero's daughter, the man auctioning off the women, and the sheik who buys her) ''none of which'' put up a fight, with only the first one actually trying to resist and the third making a feeble attempt to take his daughter hostage. |
| 206 | ** Murad in ''Film/Taken2'', despite the plot being about his own [[ItsPersonal personal revenge]] against Bryan Mills, he does absolutely none of the physical work beyond slapping Bryan while they had him captive and without his goons to do the killing, he is completely defenseless. When Murad tries to shoot Bryan in the back, after the latter tried to make peace [[spoiler: and dropped an unloaded gun to test him, Bryan kills him with one blow]]. |
| 207 | ** In ''Film/Taken3'', after the defeating the ex-Soviet Spetsnaz and crime lord who was thought to be the man behind everything, both Bryan and the audience are treated to the revelation that, [[spoiler: Stuart St. John, Bryan's ex-wife's former new husband and CorruptCorporateExecutive]] with no known combat ability what so ever is the true Big Bad. |
| 208 | * [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in ''Film/{{Unbreakable}}'', where the mother of Elijah Price, a comic art gallery owner, mentions the "soldier villain", basically an {{Elite Mook|s}} who fights with his fists, and the mastermind villain, who plots and plans and is often much more dangerous. David Dunn, the {{Nigh Invulnerab|ility}}le protagonist, runs into the film's BigBad, who is an example of the latter, pretty much immediately afterwards. [[spoiler: It turns out to be Elijah.]] |
| 209 | * ''Film/UnderSiege2DarkTerritory'': Travis Dane, the mastermind who hired the mercenaries and devised the plot to hijack the KillSat, isn't much of a physical threat. This is exacerbated by Ryback's InvincibleHero status, as TheDragon lasts only a few minutes in a fight against Ryback, Dane only seconds. |
| 210 | * Much like the comics, ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'' follows suit with their human villains: |
| 211 | ** William Stryker, the most recurring BigBad in the series, has a military background, unlike his comic counterpart. That said, he almost never takes on any of the mutant heroes, either because of his advanced age or because he couldn't possibly match them in a fight; even in his prime, he decides to run away rather than face them head on. The only instance where he takes action is in ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'' when he shoots Wolverine with adamantium bullets. |
| 212 | ** Bolivar Trask in ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'', though it's extra-justified due to his dwarfism. |
| 213 | ** Zander Rice in ''Film/{{Logan}}'' is a MadScientist just like Trask, but unlike his predecessors [[spoiler:he successfully engineered the extinction of mutantkind through genetically modified food-stuff]]. |
| 214 | [[/folder]] |
| 215 | |
| 216 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 217 | * ''Literature/AngiesFirstCase'': The main villains of two plotlines ([[spoiler:burglary ring spy and planner Heather, and counterfeiter Mr. Wells]]) are never seen in person, while their associates pose bigger threats. |
| 218 | * The bad guy in ''Literature/DragonBones'' is a noble who has all the dirty work done by his underlings. He is after a substance that can greatly increase a mage's power, but doesn't intend to use it on himself; he wants to use it on a powerful mage who is completely loyal and subservient to him. |
| 219 | * Malkaris in the ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'' book ''Mattimeo'', who's a deformed creature who physically ''can't'' defend himself or fight, so he has his [[TheDragon Dragon]] lead his forces. |
| 220 | * ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': |
| 221 | ** President Coriolanus Snow, being a politician who has lots of underlings to do things for him. He also veers into DarkLordOnLifeSupport as well, since he is a 80-year-old man [[spoiler: diagnosed with a potentially fatal illness]], compared to our healthy 16-year-old female heroine. |
| 222 | ** [[spoiler: President Alma Coin]] from the third book, ''Mockingjay''. In fact, the series as a whole averts the RankScalesWithAsskicking rule; none of the physical characters in the series can be counted as true villains, as they mostly do their dirty work because higher, non-action but charismatic, powers force them. [[TruthInTelevision Which is how politics work in real-life, as well]]. |
| 223 | * ''Literature/{{Divergent}}'': |
| 224 | ** The series features Jeanine Matthews, who never, in her entire appearance, puts up a physical fight against anyone, especially not to TheProtagonist, Tris. What she is identified the most is that she has the highest IQ among her colleagues, which is why she is elected as leader of her faction. And when someone manages to totally corner her, [[spoiler: she dies]]. |
| 225 | ** [[spoiler: David]] from the third book, ''Allegiant''. Sure, [[spoiler: he is the one who kills Tris]], but it's done by a pistol, which everyone can pick up, plus [[spoiler: Tris]] isn't in the best of [[spoiler: her]] condition, having been [[spoiler: incapacitated by the death serum]]. Like Jeanine, [[spoiler: David]] is also outclassed physically, being a [[spoiler: handicapped middle-aged man against a combat-ready teenage girl]]. |
| 226 | * Chancellor Ava Paige from ''Literature/TheMazeRunner'' isn't just isn't physical; she is never even ''[[TheGhost seen]]'' once in the entire series. |
| 227 | * ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'': |
| 228 | ** The Council of Thirteen are Non-Action {{Greater Scope Villain}}s, as they're political leaders and their hosts are apparently just normal Hork-Bajir and Taxxons (though a few have unknown hosts). They could take a normal human in a fight, sure, but they probably wouldn't stand up to the Animorphs. Their [[VoluntaryShapeShifting morph-capable]] servant, Visser Three, is the real BigBad. |
| 229 | ** Subverted with Visser One. You wouldn't think a middle-aged housewife could be very formidable in a fight, even if she is controlled by the leader of the initial invasion of Earth. You would be wrong. |
| 230 | * ''Franchise/StarWars'' [[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]]: |
| 231 | ** Ysanne Isard, the primary villain of books one through four and eight of the ''ComicBook/XWingSeries'', loses the only actual physical fight she gets involved in for the entire series. As [[JustTheFirstCitizen Director of Imperial Intelligence]], she's a {{chessmaster}} type. |
| 232 | ** Grand Admiral Thrawn from ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'' can get physical when required and is implied to be at least a decent fighter, but he has no interest in engaging in combat himself--it's strategy and trickery that hold his interest, not brawling. In more recent licensed fiction, he has been upgraded to a BadassBookworm. |
| 233 | ** The BigBad for the first six books of ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'' is a [[VoluntaryShapeshifting Shi'ido]] named Borborygmus Gog. While the series' ''other'' Shi'ido, Hoole, takes several different forms in order to fight various menaces, Gog prefers to use his talents for impersonation and trickery. His menace comes from [[MadScientist his projects and schemes]], and while he menaces people with a blaster a couple times and once [[spoiler:detonates an ExplosiveLeash in a creation's [[YourHeadASplode skull]]]], he never actually fights anyone himself. |
| 234 | * Lord Straff Venture in the second ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'' book- he's a thoroughly evil man, but is middle-aged, out of shape, and a Tineye (meaning that he has magical abilities, but they involve SuperSenses rather than anything physical). As such, he prefers to work through his army and his AxCrazy [[TheDragon Dragon]] [[spoiler: and illegitimate son]] Zane. |
| 235 | * Lord de Worde in ''Literature/TheTruth'' doesn't hit people. He hires people to do that. |
| 236 | * The Toad Lord from ''Literature/TheBuilders''. He's a gluttonous, immobile PuppetKing who doesn't appear until the final chapter, while [[TheHeavy Mephetic]] is the one who does all the dirty work and sends his soldiers to go after the Captain's crew. |
| 237 | * The [[VillainProtagonist title character]] of ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'', largely because he's [[TeenGenius twelve years old]] and wouldn't last two seconds in a fight. And ''doesn't''; although his scheming in the first book causes no end of trouble, once Holly escapes she just [[TalkToTheFist punches him in the mouth]]. |
| 238 | * Prince/King John in most versions of the Myth/RobinHood tales never confronts Robin directly, leaving that up to the Sheriff of Nottingham. |
| 239 | * In one of the Israeli writer Bormor's short short stories, an adventuring party fights its way thorough the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, defeating many bosses along the way. At last they encounter the BigBad in his throne room... and he falls after the first strike. The adventurers [[JustifiedTrope justify it]]: after all, the BigBad was dangerous because of his commanding talents, not because of personal fighting prowess. |
| 240 | * Sauron is this by the time of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. He ''used'' to be considerably more badass once, and much of the plot is set into motion by the threat of him regaining at least a dangerous portion of that power should the [[ArtifactOfDoom One Ring]] ever fall into his hands again, but he never even puts in a personal appearance in the books; it's purely his servants and his armies that act in his name. |
| 241 | * All three of the ''Literature/{{Ravenor}}'' trilogy’s main villains—Jader Trice, Orfeo Culzean, and [[spoiler:Zygmunt Molotch]]—are scheming [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]]-types that prefer not to get their hands dirty and leave the killing to their more-than-capable subordinates. [[spoiler:Molotch]] is a subversion: while he prefers not to fight, he’s an exceptionally skilled and deadly combatant. |
| 242 | * ''Literature/TheRunningMan'': Killian is just an executive who pumps out horrible entertainment to the masses, so he simply spends all his time in an office. [=McCone=], the head Hunter, is charged with tracking Richards down and killing him, even though they only run into each other at the end. |
| 243 | * Tal Hajus, one of the [[BigBadDuumvirate two main villains]] of ''Literature/APrincessOfMars''. Despite being the [[{{Conlang}} jeddak]], or high chief, of [[TheHorde Thark]], a nation of twelve-foot tall [[MultiArmedAndDangerous four-armed]] SpaceOrcs, he's established early on as a DirtyCoward MilesGloriosus. But the Green Martians are a ProudWarriorRace among whom AsskickingLeadsToLeadership, and after his leadership and bravery are called into question, he has no choice but to face the lower-ranking chieftain Tars Tarkas (one of the good guys) in single combat for the title of jeddak. It's such a CurbStompBattle that it only takes a single sentence to relate. |
| 244 | -->The combat was soon over, and, with his foot upon the neck of the dead monster, Tars Tarkas became jeddak among the Tharks. |
| 245 | * ''Literature/BazilBroketail'': Although it has a considerable army under its command, the Doom is itself completely immobile and defenceless. It relies on slaves to move it up and down in a vertical tube in order to move around its fortress, and has absolutely none combat capabilities of its own, being essentially round, black, featureless stone sphere. |
| 246 | * [[BigBad The master]] in ''Literature/TheZodiacSeries'' is very clearly not a combatant, despite having an army of followers. [[spoiler:The one fight scene he's apart of, he doesn't hurt anyone (and in fact gets hit with a Scarab) and he goes without a weapon for the whole of ''Thirteen Rising'', something even [[TheHero Rho]] doesn't do.]] |
| 247 | [[/folder]] |
| 248 | |
| 249 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 250 | * Most of ''Series/TwentyFour'''s {{Big Bad}}s, who prefer to leave the fighting to TheDragon or other more violent underlings. |
| 251 | * In ''Series/BlakesSeven'', Servalan was originally meant to be just this. It was initially thought that the Supreme Commander (later President) of the Federation would have better things to do than personally go around chasing Blake. In the real world, a Commander in Chief wouldn't command a flagship during wartime, let alone go about chasing terrorist units. Those are jobs for his generals, admirals, and Black-ops units. The Federation was [[SpaceIsBig just that big]]. Originally, he (yes, Servalan was originally conceived as a male character) was only to have only appeared once in the series. Jaqueline Pearce's performance was so well received that she became a regular character and archenemy of Blake and Avon. |
| 252 | * ''Series/BreakingBad'': |
| 253 | ** Walter White becomes this toward the end of the series after he assumes the role of Big Bad. Being an older man with no combat or shooting experience dying of lung cancer means he's useless in a fight and can be taken out by his own protégé, the short, string-beaned Jesse Pinkman. Walt uses this in his favor at points as more dangerous drug lords consistently [[UnderestimatingBadassery underestimate him]] through the series; his intelligence, knowledge of chemistry and engineering, and cunning make him far more dangerous than you'd think. |
| 254 | ** Lydia is one of the main antagonists in the last season, [[MurderIsTheBestSolution and is absolutely ruthless in dealing with any possible threat]], but she utterly detests actually getting her hands dirty, or even ''looking'' at violence, and relies on a network of underlings and hitmen to carry out the crimes for her. Whenever she's actually faced with the possibility of personal retaliation and no one to hide behind, [[DirtyCoward she's always quickly reduced to begging for her life]]. |
| 255 | * ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': |
| 256 | ** The Mayor hates getting his hands dirty (literally, as he's a NeatFreak who loathes germs), and while he gains NighInvulnerability, that's all he gets; [[ButtMonkey Xander]] could probably take him in a fight. The problem is he's just as good a politician amongst demons as amongst humans, with no end of {{mooks}} and evil pacts to give the Scoobies a headache. His ultimate goal is to become [[ScaledUp a giant demon snake]], averting this trope... for all of ten minutes before the Scoobies blow him up. |
| 257 | ** The First Evil, having no physical form, must resort to MindRape as well as TheDragon and its EliteMooks. It does not ''want'' to be this trope, and attaining a physical form is implied to be its endgame (since it is MadeOfEvil, the more evil it can make the world, the closer to fulfilling this ambition it gets). On the flipside, it is completely invincible and AsLongAsThereIsEvil it will always exist, so it's a pretty high-functioning example of this trope. |
| 258 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': |
| 259 | ** Davros is an EvilCripple who created the Daleks. He can't do much beyond sit and talk and laugh maniacally, although he gets an artificial hand [[ShockAndAwe that can shoot bolts of electricity]] later in the series. |
| 260 | ** The Master didn't start as this, but became it later. The Roger Delgado incarnation did a lot of dirty work himself and got into quite a few physical confrontations, including a memorable sword fight against the Doctor in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E3TheSeaDevils "The Sea Devils"]]. Later incarnations changed him to be more of a ManipulativeBastard who preferred working behind the scenes and through patsies, and would run at the first sign of an actual fight. |
| 261 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E3PlanetOfTheOod "Planet of the Ood"]] has CorruptCorporateExecutive Mr. Halpen: |
| 262 | --->"Can't say I've ever shot anyone before. Can't say I'm gonna like it. But... it's not exactly a normal day, is it?" |
| 263 | * V.M. Varga, the loan shark and money launderer from ''Series/FargoSeasonThree'', relies entirely on hired muscle to deal with anyone whom he's unable to intimidate verbally or buy off. |
| 264 | * Joffrey Baratheon from ''Series/GameOfThrones''. Notorious for being a cruel sociopath and one of the biggest assholes on the show, he can't fight worth squat, and [[GeneralFailure isn't a good strategist]] either. He talks tough, but when the fight starts, he runs and hides. At first glance, being as young as he is might be considered an excuse, but given the setting (younger ''female'' characters were skilled at swordplay) it can only truly be attributed to laziness. |
| 265 | * [[spoiler: Tousei Kaneshiro]] from ''Series/GAROTheOneWhoShinesInTheDarkness''. Justified, as he knows that the sect of demon hunters that oppose his plans are forbidden to slay ordinary humans. Thus, his complete lack of superpowers ironically becomes the perfect defence against his superpowered enemies. |
| 266 | * Linderman from ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', who as a [[AffablyEvil seemingly friendly]] old man with [[HealingHands healing]] as [[GoodPowersBadPeople his power]] is the only BigBad without decent combat skills. |
| 267 | * Common enough in ''Series/{{Justified}}''. While [[VillainProtagonist Boyd Crowder]] (Seasons 1-the present), [[ArchnemesisDad Bo Crowder]] (Season 1) and [[SerialKiller Robert Quarles]] (Season 3) were capable (and in Quarles' case, terrifying) combatants, most of the other big players rely on their underlings to do their fighting for them. [[EvilMatriarch Mags Bennett]] (Season 2) was an older woman who operated through her sons and never personally pulled the trigger, [[SmugSnake Nicky Augustine]] (Season 4) executed an unarmed man, but always let [[TheDragon Mr. Picker]] do the fighting, and Theo Tonin (GreaterScopeVillain to Quarles and Augustine) never appeared in person, operating through more physically capable agents like [[ProfessionalKiller Sarno]] and [[PraetorianGuard Elias Marcos]]. |
| 268 | * While it's almost a requirement for a BigBad in ''Franchise/KamenRider'' to be able to match the heroes, there have been a few exceptions. |
| 269 | ** ''Series/KamenRiderRyuki'''s Shiro Kanzaki is one. It's a common misconception that [[DragonInChief Kamen Rider Odin]] is him when in fact it's simply someone he brainwashed. As he merged with the mirror world to become its embodiment, he literally has no physical form and thus relies on using the Mirror Monsters and the other Kamen Riders to do his dirty work. |
| 270 | ** ''Series/KamenRiderDenO'': Kai has very few powers that are useful in combat, instead relying primarily on sacrificing chunks of his own memory to summon Imagin to various time periods to wreak havoc. When it comes time to throw down with the heroes, he does so by putting all of his remaining memories into producing one very powerful Imagin to serve as the final boss, causing it to become a LoadBearingBoss that erases Kai and his entire army by proxy after it's destroyed. |
| 271 | ** ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'': While DJ Sagara is easily the most powerful character in the setting, he's simply a projection of Helheim to serve as a commentator on the war for the Golden Fruit, and thus nobody wastes their time trying to fight him. |
| 272 | ** ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'' has Juzaburo Namba, president of [[WarForFunAndProfit Namba Heavy Industries]]. While he's exceptionally ruthless and cunning, he's also an [[EvilOldFolks old man]] and thus relies on the army of {{Tyke Bomb}}s he's been raising and his other minions to do the fighting for him. |
| 273 | * The Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse has given us a few such villains: |
| 274 | ** ''Series/Daredevil2015'': Wilson Fisk. For the most part, he is very hands-off, and always has others do his dirty work for him, unless he's in a really bad mood and it's for very personal reasons. At which point he's more than willing to dirty his own hands. The only five times in the show he personally kills someone rather than have someone else do it, they've all been for personal reasons: his father (for beating his mother with a belt), Vladimir Ranskahov (for crashing his date with Vanessa), Ben Urich (for visiting Fisk's mother), Leland Owlsley (for poisoning Vanessa), and Agent Weller (for being the unfortunate agent to inform him that Dex has failed at killing Karen to avenge Wesley). |
| 275 | *** Enforced in season 3, where Fisk is under "house arrest". Which means nothing as the FBI agents guarding him are all on his payroll (with Dex providing a physical antagonist for Matt to fight), and it's gambits he's been planning while behind bars that are the main hurdle for everyone else. |
| 276 | ** ''Series/JessicaJones2015'': Kilgrave. Physically average in every way, it's his CompellingVoice that makes others fight for him. |
| 277 | ** ''Series/LukeCage2016'': |
| 278 | *** Mariah Dillard. Out of the first season's rather crowded BigBadEnsemble, she is the only one with no fighting ability whatsoever. Instead, she prefers to act through hired thugs, powerful connections, and plausible deniability (and a bit of luck), while using her position to provide a legit front for it all. After [[spoiler: she kills Cottonmouth]], she becomes a lot more ruthless but is still no physical match for Luke himself. Note that this is a far cry from her comic book counterpart, Black Mariah, who is a BrawnHilda and Luke Cage's most famous rogue. This also contrasts her sharply with Bushmaster in season 2, who is more than willing to dirty his own hands. |
| 279 | *** Shades to a degree. While more than capable of holding his own in a fight thanks to growing up as a street brawler, those moments where he has to get physical are very rare. And unlike other henchmen, he's also smart enough to never challenge Luke to a fistfight. |
| 280 | ** William Rawlins, AKA Agent Orange, from ''Series/ThePunisher2017''. He does perform interrogations, but possesses no real combat skills and is completely helpless in a fight against anyone who isn't tied up. Despite receiving numerous rewards for his service to the UsefulNotes/{{CIA}} he's never actually seen combat, and both protagonist Frank Castle and his DragonInChief [[spoiler: Billy Russo]] are disgusted by his refusal to actually get his hands dirty. [[spoiler: When Russo decides he's had enough of Rawlins, he discreetly sets Frank loose, knowing that without his intervention Frank will utterly destroy Rawlins, despite Frank having been tortured to the point of not even being able to stand on his own.]] |
| 281 | * ''Series/ResurrectionErtugrul'': |
| 282 | ** Grand Master Petruchio in the first season. While he is the de-jure leader of the Amanus Mountain Knights Templar, he's a frail old man who hardly engages in active combat and spends most of his time either plotting within his fortress or going undercover to obtain vital information. |
| 283 | ** Two seasons later, Master Simon also displays traces of this trope, being the owner of the Hanli Market and far more likely to use his wits and financial knowledge than his weapons when it comes to conducting his schemes. |
| 284 | ** Not as much of a full-on BigBad as the previous two, but Tekfur Kritos shows a few qualities of this trope at work. He’s not too adept when it comes to direct brawls, but he is clever enough to both govern a whole city and an elite battalion (And is actually present to supervise his army slightly more often that the other two examples). |
| 285 | * The Dominion from ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' are led by the "Founders", a race of reclusive changelings. The only thing they do personally is infiltrate their enemies (being shapeshifters, they're uniquely suited for this role); for everything else, they just pull the strings and use their most loyal armies as enforcers against the others. |
| 286 | [[/folder]] |
| 287 | |
| 288 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 289 | * Dr. Wily in Music/TheProtomen's albums. It's lampshaded in Act I. |
| 290 | [[/folder]] |
| 291 | |
| 292 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 293 | * Haki Shinpi, Darklord of Rokushima Táiyoo in TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}, is a nearly powerless geist. He can turn invisible and scare people, but can't interact with objects and has a very difficult time hurting anyone. In his canon version his influence is still powerfully felt even if he can do little himself; in the Fraternity of Shadows version he becomes a GreaterScopeVillain who manipulates his sons into endless war. |
| 294 | * ''TabletopGame/LeviathanTheTempest'' has Ophions, Leviathans whose [[GodOfEvil divine self]] has overcome their humanity and [[{{Kaiju}} bestial self]]. With only their divine nature remaining, Ophions barely remember that they ''have'' a physical body (in game mechanics terms, they lose all dots in Physical skills upon becoming an Ophion and still suffer the usual penalty for unskilled actions). As such, if you can engage an Ophion in physical battle they will usually go down fairly easily for something as alien and powerful as a Leviathan. Unfortunately, that's a pretty big "if", given that any Leviathan who's been around long enough and indulged its divine nature enough to become an Ophion will usually have a powerful {{Cult}} and an extensive network of proxies to work through. Worse, many Ophions descend into the [[EldritchLocation Rift]] and only contact their cult through Rituals or through the Channels that allow for telepathic communication, making it nigh on impossible to physically engage them. |
| 295 | [[/folder]] |
| 296 | |
| 297 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 298 | * Though he is the Big Bad of ''40 Winks'', you do not actually fight against Nitekap[[spoiler:, mostly because he is not really that evil, just grumpy and sleep-deprived because the clock in his bedroom keeps him awake]]. |
| 299 | * In ''VideoGame/AceCombatJointAssault'', neither the Valahaia leader nor [[spoiler:Oliveri]] fight you in the air. |
| 300 | * ''VideoGame/ActionDoom2UrbanBrawl'': Peter Crisp, the old, wheelchair-bound CorruptCorporateExecutive, who doesn't actually do anything during the final showdown, instead sending [[FlunkyBoss waves of mooks]] (and a helicopter) at you. |
| 301 | %% * Adrian Malprave from the ''Fracnhise/JamesBond game ''VideoGame/AgentUnderFire''. |
| 302 | * In ''VideoGame/AliceMadnessReturns'', [[spoiler:Doctor Bumby]] cannot fight at all in the real world. At the climax of the game, Alice (who also isn't much of a fighter in the real world, and is much younger than he is) is able to [[spoiler:finish him by shoving him in front of a train]]. |
| 303 | * Henry Leland in ''VideoGame/AlphaProtocol''. [[spoiler:He can be the final boss, but the fight is [[AntiClimaxBoss a joke]] and its made clear that this is just an act of desperation.]] [[spoiler:Sergei Surkov]] is also one. |
| 304 | * Baron Alexander in ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent'' never fights the player. Unlike most games it isn't as jarring, as there's no combat anyway. |
| 305 | * ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'' has Hugo Strange; his "fight" with Batman consists of a cutscene where he's shoved aside so Batman can access some consoles. The Joker, as the other major player in the BigBadEnsemble, is even more of an example than usual, as he's dying of blood poisoning and understandably not up for a fight. |
| 306 | * Santiago Espinosa in ''VideoGame/{{BattleTech}}''. Unlike many nobles in the setting, Santiago is a politician and not a [=MechWarrior=], and never faces you on the battlefield in any shape or form. His daughter Victoria, meanwhile, [[TheDragon does on several occasions]]. |
| 307 | * ''VideoGame/BioShock'': |
| 308 | ** Andrew Ryan of ''VideoGame/BioShock1'', [[spoiler:until you deal with him and Fontaine takes over the show]]. |
| 309 | ** Sofia Lamb from ''VideoGame/BioShock2'' spends all her time ranting at Delta over the radio, and even in her attempt to kill him she didn't harm him directly. |
| 310 | ** Zachary Comstock from ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'' is weak and dying from years using dimension-tearing technology and in no shape to put up much of a direct fight against Booker. This wasn't always the case, but saying any more than that would spoil it. |
| 311 | * ''VideoGame/BladedFury'' have it's main villain, Lord Tian, who can summon demons and supernatural creatures to fight you. But Tian himself is a frail old man who can't even put up a fight (in comparison, you're a WarriorPrincess who killed your way in and out of hell). Tian's final solution when you confront him is to slit his own throat. |
| 312 | * In ''Byteria Saga: Heroine Iysayana'', TheManBehindTheMan Behind The Man is [[spoiler:an unidentified superior being attempting to bring down the CelestialBureaucracy]]. He doesn't want the archangels to come for him, of course, so he [[spoiler:stays hidden and lets Paulinus, his mortal DragonInChief, execute his plan. He only (carefully) manifests himself when he tries to convince the heroes to join him; he could presumably wipe the floor with them but doesn't risk leaving traces]]. |
| 313 | * ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'': |
| 314 | ** Major General Nikita Dragovich from ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps''. The best he can muster against Mason and Hudson when he confronts them directly at the end of the game is to try and shoot the former with his sidearm, before being easily beaten up and choked to death. |
| 315 | ** The same can be said of Imran Zakhaev from the original ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare''. Without his Ultranationalist armies to protect him, he's just an angry [[EvilOldFolks old dude]] with [[EvilCripple one arm]]. The only reason he manages to kill Gaz and most of Soap's other squadmates is [[WorfHadTheFlu because they previously had a tanker truck explode in their faces]]. The moment Soap gets hold of a gun, he's done for. |
| 316 | * ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'': |
| 317 | ** The Center, leader of the Council. Heroes have only ever been able to talk him via radio in a mission added over six years after the game's launch. Villains can meet him in person during one of their story arcs, where he is indeed not a combatant. |
| 318 | ** King Midas, leader of the Gold Brickers, has never appeared in person at all. |
| 319 | * In the arcade version of ''VideoGame/TheCombatribes'', the main heroes spent the last two stages chasing after a man in a suit who fits the image of a stereotypical crime boss. When the crime boss is cornered in the final stage, he is betrayed and killed by his [[BodyguardBabes female bodyguard]] Martha Splatterhead, who proceeds to fight the player in her boss' place. |
| 320 | * Dr. Neo Cortex of the ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'' series. He's a super genius and at least arms himself with a deadly laser gun, but he's also a weedy midget with a head almost bigger than his stick-like body. Granted RuleOfFunny applies on occasion; in ''VideoGame/CrashTwinsanity'' he actually ''brawls with Crash toe to toe''. |
| 321 | * Marian Mallon in ''VideoGame/DeadRising2: Case West'' is an EvilCripple in a wheelchair. In ''VideoGame/DeadRising3'' [[spoiler:she fights Nick with a series of cranes, but doesn't physically challenge him. She is later killed unceremoniously by the game's real BigBad]]. |
| 322 | * Victor Donovan of ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive''. Despite being the BigBad of the entire game series, he has yet to be a final boss (a unique case among fighting game villains) and is more of a schemer than a fighter. |
| 323 | * Bob Page from ''VideoGame/DeusEx''. Although he's in the ''process'' of [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence becoming a god]], at that particular stage in the process he's so vulnerable that effectively all you do is turn off his life support. |
| 324 | * ''VideoGame/EscapeFromButcherBay'': Hoxie, the Warden of Butcher Bay, never actually fights Riddick personally and spends the entire game residing in the corporate offices of the prison. Even when Riddick faces off with him at the end, Hoxie attempts to flee and let his robotic guards deal with Riddick. |
| 325 | * In ''Videogame/EvilGenius'', the Evil Genius character is unable to attack enemies (though that doesn't stop him/her from [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness dispatching]] {{Mooks}}). Averted in [[Videogame/EvilGenius2 the sequel]], where the Geniuses can fight but aside from [[TheGeneralissimo Red Ivan]] (the military-focused Genius) it's not their forte and their deaths will result in your loss. |
| 326 | * Lord Lucien in ''VideoGame/FableII''. The final battle can be resolved by killing him with one attack, and if you wait long enough, Reaver does it for you. In neither case does he try to fight back. |
| 327 | * King Logan in ''VideoGame/FableIII''. After cutting a swath through his armies, TheHero storms Logan's throne room, only for him to surrender gracefully. |
| 328 | * ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' has [[PresidentEvil President Dick Richardson]]. Confront him, and you'll find he has no weapons and no armor (though his health is above average, but not enough to survive more than a single round of attacks). He won't even try to fight back unless you shoot first, and if you do, he won't do much more than punch and kick ineptly. Even when he knows who you are, he's content to [[HannibalLecture just calmly explain his motives to you]]. Of course, attacking him also sets off the alert in the base, and will result in troops in PoweredArmor with heavy weapons rushing either to his rescue or to avenge him. The actual FinalBoss [[DragonInChief is the head of the Secret Service]], who, needless to say, is a lot more dangerous. |
| 329 | * ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'': |
| 330 | ** Caesar does not fight unless you decide to [[StormingTheCastle assault his fort]], preferring to let his [[TheDragon Dragon]] Lanius take command of the military campaign. It's justified in that he's an aging man with a brain tumor and doesn't put up much of a fight by himself, though statistically he is equivalent to an {{Elite Mook|s}} with nonexistent armor since he wears ceremonial robes and is surrounded by {{Praetorian Guard}}s. |
| 331 | ** Dr. Mobius in the ''Old World Blues'' DLC. While he spends the entire DLC siccing his Robo-Scorpions on you in as maniacal a manner as possible, when you actually meet him he turns out to be a heavily senile and grandfatherly old brain who can barely remember half of what he says. Most of his more maniacal rants are due to him taking Psycho. You can fight him, but he's hardly a match for you. Similarly, [[spoiler:The Think Tank at the end are equally pitiful in combat, though it's made clear early-on that without their pacification field there's nothing stopping you from curb-stomping them]]. |
| 332 | * Counselor Arruntius, the main villain from ''VideoGame/GladiatorSwordOfVengeance'', is a frail old man confined to his throne, whose power comes from his pact with the dark gods. Despite being the cause of all your pain and suffering, in the final cutscene after you defeated all of his minions and even the gods Deimos and Phobos, Arruntius' only response is to cower and ''plead'' for you to not hurt him. You sensibly complies by [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks chucking your sword into Arruntius]]. |
| 333 | * Queen Brahne from the first half of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX''. She's initially presented as the main antagonist, but while she can use her daughter's Eidolon's to devastate the enemy, she's a morbidly obese queen with no weapons or fighting ability. [[spoiler:She ultimately gets killed in a cutscene when her accomplice Kuja takes control of Bahamut and destroys her fleet]]. |
| 334 | * [[spoiler: Hyman Roth]] in ''VideoGame/TheGodfather 2''. Once you get past his plans and mooks, he's a ZeroEffortBoss who can be killed however you like with ease. |
| 335 | * Alex from the ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' series. While it's presumed that he's capable of fighting as he [[DeceptiveDisciple was once Mia's apprentice]] and is a fellow member of the Mercury Clan, the closest he ever comes to fighting anyone is when he ''says'' he'll hold off Blados and Chalis atop Apollo Ascent at the end of ''[[VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn Dark Dawn]]''; he's not shown on-screen for the rest of the game, so presumably he just left. This fits perfectly into his usual M.O. of [[LetsYouAndHimFight pitting various groups against each other while he takes advantage of both of them.]] |
| 336 | * Throughout the ''VideoGame/{{Gradius}}'' series, the main villain of each game is typically a giant brain or a giant humanoid head with a proportionately giant brain. Most of the time they don't try to fight you, and when they do their attacks are laughably easy to dodge. That said, they're also in control of the various enemies you've been fighting throughout the game, including the incredibly tough ones leading up to their rooms. |
| 337 | * ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' has Devin Weston. Unlike [[BigBadEnsemble fellow main villain]] Steve Haines, he shows no aptitude for combat and never gets personally involved in anything dangerous. [[spoiler:When Trevor storms his mansion in Ending C, his response is to try to hide, and he can't defend himself from getting knocked out and stuffed in the trunk of his own car]]. |
| 338 | %% * Massimo Torini and Paulie Sindacco in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoLibertyCityStories''. |
| 339 | * Dr. Breen in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2''. The final battle consists of sabotaging his teleporter before he can ''run away'' (nuking you in the process), while he taunts you. |
| 340 | * In ''VideoGame/HenryStickminSeries'', even though Reginald Copperbottom is the BigBad of ''Airship'' and all routes in ''Mission'' if ''Rapidly Promoted Executive'' or ''Pure-Blooded Thief'' is taken, whenever Henry closes in on him, he always tries to run away, relying on the Right Hand Man to defend himself. The moment Right Hand Man is defeated, he's easily subdued and surrenders without a fight. The same also applies to Sven Svensson in ''Government Supported Private Investigator'' routes where he is easily knocked out by Henry and Ellie with one punch the moment he is disarmed. However, this is averted if Right Hand Man is the BigBad in ''Relentless Bounty Hunter'' routes as he does not hesitate to engage Henry directly. |
| 341 | * Dr. Curien, Goldman, and the Mysterious Man in ''VideoGame/HouseOfTheDead'' series. All of them are ordinary human beings, and in the case of the former two, you fight their ultimate creations- the Magician and the Emperor, respectively- as the final bosses of the first and second games. [[spoiler:Curien does come back in the third game as the Wheel of Fortune, though]]. |
| 342 | * ''VideoGame/KnightEternal'': The queen of Zamaste is set up as a suspicious figure [[spoiler:and she is indeed planning to start a war with Halonia. However, she never takes to the battlefield and she dies of poison]]. |
| 343 | %% * Dr. Harlan Fontaine in ''VideoGame/LANoire''. |
| 344 | * ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'': |
| 345 | ** After spending ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' in an uneasy alliance with Shepard, the Illusive Man becomes this, with Kai Leng acting as TheHeavy. It's kind of like they split the role Saren had in the first game into two people - Shepard and the Illusive Man constantly try to talk the other around to their way of thinking, while Leng is an exclusively physical threat who [[spoiler:ends up on the wrong end of Shepard's omni-blade]]. Originally, the creators intended for the players to fight a reaperized version of The Illusive Man as the final boss, however they felt that since TIM was meant to be a villain whose intelligence was his greatest weapon it would undercut the character for him to become a GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere. |
| 346 | ** [[spoiler:The Catalyst]] doesn't seem to have any weapons, powers, or anything else to oppose you or anyone else, until [[spoiler:the Crucible]] is plugged in - yet, as the Reapers' governing intelligence, it at least indirectly controls thousands upon thousands of enormous machines designed and optimised solely to destroy entire species. |
| 347 | * ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda:'' The Archon, leader of the kett forces in the Heleus Cluster. Despite Ryder coming face-to-face with him at one point, there's never a chance to directly fight him. It's justified since he's essentially a general; he's supposed to have an army to do the fighting ''for'' him. |
| 348 | * [[spoiler: Victor Branco]] in ''VideoGame/MaxPayne3''. The one time he tries to pull a gun on Max, he gets disarmed quickly and only TheDragon saves him. The "boss fight" with him is just [[spoiler: blowing out his private jet from under him]]. |
| 349 | * King Cepheus and Lady Vega in the first two ''VideoGame/MegaManStarForce'' games tend to rely on their ultimate weapons, {{Quirky Miniboss Squad}}s, and minions to do the fighting for them. In both games, the final boss isn't the villain, it's the device they planned to use to take over/destroy (delete as applicable) the world. In the third game, the villain Mr. King '''[[AvertedTrope averts]]''' the trope by ''becoming'' the final boss, Crimson Dragon. |
| 350 | * Subverted in ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance''. With the bad guy being a senator, you'd think you'd only have to reach him, and it would all be over. After all, you're a {{cyborg}}. Then he [[ActionPolitician starts riding a Metal Gear]]. [[spoiler:And then he further subverts this to ridiculous lengths, personally giving Raiden the worst beating he'll take in the whole game, thanks to his nano-machine enhancement.]] |
| 351 | * ''VideoGame/Metroid1'': Mother Brain lets her minions attack and automated defenses hinder you rather than do anything herself. She's been more active in every reappearance. |
| 352 | * Dr. Zomboss, the EvilGenius leader of the zombies in the ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies'' games. He would rather send his fellow zombies or pilot a HumongousMecha than fight the plants directly. |
| 353 | * The Voice in ''VideoGame/{{Pyre}}'' simply ''does not like you'' and makes his contempt known early on. While he starts warming up over the first three cycles, [[spoiler:once Volfred rejoins the Nightwings' roster]] the vitriol returns with a vengeance in the fourth cycle. The scathing commentary is all he can really do against you, however; not only is he all the way up in the Commonwealth whereas you (and the action) are in the Downside, but he's just as bound to the laws of the Rites as you are. |
| 354 | * John Brightling in ''VideoGame/RainbowSix'', to the point that once you reach his lab he simply surrenders. |
| 355 | * ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'': |
| 356 | ** [[TheManBehindTheMan Ozwell]] [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Spencer]] is a [[EvilOldFolks old man]] [[EvilCripple in a wheelchair]]. Needless to say, without the UndyingLoyalty of his DragonInChief, {{Colonel|Badass}} [[FormerRegimePersonnel Sergei]] [[TheUndead Vladimir]], he wouldn't be very dangerous. |
| 357 | ** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations'' has its main villain [[spoiler:Morgan Lansdale]], who never physically opposes the heroes. Once they get evidence of said villain's crimes, the confrontation boils down to the BigGood ordering them arrested without resistance. |
| 358 | * ''VideoGame/ShadowrunReturns'': Adrian Vauclair of the expansion, Dragonfall, is an elderly scientist in the process of dying of leukemia. His [[TheDragon security chief/assassin,]] Audran, is a huge orc with a minigun and military-grade power armor. Unsurprisingly, the latter is the final boss, while the former [[TheUnfought shoots himself once it's clear his plans have failed.]] |
| 359 | * Embraced in some iterations of ''Franchise/SilentHill'' series: |
| 360 | ** The [[VideoGame/SilentHill1 first game]]'s villain, Dahlia Gillespie, functions behind-the-scenes and doesn't attack Harry directly. Plus, during the climax, [[spoiler: she gets [[HoistByHisOwnPetard incinerated]] by Alessa before Harry can do anything to her]]. |
| 361 | ** In the same vein, Claudia Wolf of ''VideoGame/SilentHill3'' acts through her minions to fulfill her goals and rarely takes action herself, [[spoiler: until she decides to swallow the God pill and [[FaceFullOfAlienWingWong gives birth to God]], that is]]. |
| 362 | * In ''VideoGame/TheSimpsons'', the classic 90's arcade game, the main villain is Mr. Burns whose decrepitude has long been a running joke in the cartoon. When you face him as the FinalBoss, he fights from inside a MiniMecha. Once you destroy the mech, he goes down in a single hit. |
| 363 | * ''VideoGame/Splatoon2: Octo Expansion'' has Commander Tartar, a [[spoiler:sentient A.I. complex housed inside what appears to be an old telephone]] -- it can't even ''move'' on its own, let alone fight. The final battle is a LevelInBossClothing in which you have to find the most efficient route to completely cover a DoomsdayDevice in ink before Tartar fires it. |
| 364 | * ''VideoGame/SlyCooperThievesInTime'' has Le Paradox, to an extent. As Sly points our while dishing out a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, Le Paradox never actually stole the Coopers' various canes himself, instead leaving it up to his various partners to do all of the dirty work for him. That being said, he does put up a good fight against Sly during the FinalBoss fight. |
| 365 | * ''VideoGame/SuperCatboy'' have it's EvilutionaryBiologist main villain, Dr. Ungefug, who relies on his legion of animal mutants. After you defeat his most powerful creation, the CatNinja, Ungefug automatically surrenders in the following cutscene. |
| 366 | * [[spoiler: Jack Denham]] in ''VideoGame/{{Syndicate}}'' (2012). He tries to shut down your CHIP, but when that fails he doesn't raise a single weapon. |
| 367 | * ''VideoGame/TombRaider2013'' has Mathias, who largely leaves it up to his Solarii goons or Himiko's Stormguard to do the fighting for him. He does attack Lara in the finale, but is easily shot off of a cliff. |
| 368 | * ''VideoGame/TailConcerto'' has Fool, an arms dealer who supplies Alicia and her gang with the tools needed to ravage the Prairie Kingdom and set up his world-conquering plan. However, despite all the tools at his disposal, Fool never fights anyone directly, preferring to have The Black Cats Gang [[spoiler:and The Iron Giant]] do his dirty work for him. It's lampshaded in one area of the game, where he baits Waffle into a fight, only to then take a VillainExitStageLeft immediately after stating that "physical labor isn't his style". |
| 369 | * The Camerata in ''VideoGame/{{Transistor}}'' were never combatants to begin with, but while two of them gain some method of fighting Red, [[spoiler:Grant, their leader and the cause for everything,]] ends up being TheUnfought. |
| 370 | * Katherine Marlowe from ''VideoGame/Uncharted3DrakesDeception'' never directly attacks Nathan Drake, mainly due to her old age (although she [[spoiler: ''does'' [[WouldHurtaChild slap young Drake during a flashback]]]]). To make up for this, she's the head of an AncientConspiracy that employs armies of loyal agents to dispose of Drake. Later, Marlowe hires [[RuthlessModernPirates a crew of Indian Ocean pirates]] to do the same. |
| 371 | %% * Gabriel Roman from ''VideoGame/UnchartedDrakesFortune''. |
| 372 | * ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'': Sebastien [=LaCroix=] is the Camarilla Prince of Los Angeles, the guy who bosses other vampires around and [[spoiler:one of the game's main villains]]. Despite being 200-years old, he is never seen in combat and would rather send you on errands (if you [[ButThouMust don't obey]], he uses [[CharmPerson Dominate]] to compel you), though its implied he is capable of combat since he is a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars. In one of the games' endings where [[spoiler:you actually confront him, he doesn't even put up a fight, its his [[TheDragon Sheriff]] who serves as FinalBoss. He is instead reduced to a grovelling wreck at the end or if you chose to attack him, he goes down in two stabs, despite your character being a fledgling vampire and should be all rights be much weaker than [=LaCroix=]]]. |
| 373 | * In ''VideoGame/WatchDogs'', Lucky Quinn and [[spoiler:Damien Brenks]] are both physically unimposing and prefer to get others to do their dirty work. |
| 374 | * While it's shown that Dusan Nemec of ''Videogame/WatchDogs2'' has no problem judo-chopping people who annoy him in the neck, he primarily relies on using his connections and tech-savvy to deal with [=DedSec=]. [[spoiler:In the end, Marcus and T-Bone get him arrested for Insider Trading.]] |
| 375 | * The Kilrathi Emperor and [[spoiler:Admiral Tolwyn]] in ''VideoGame/WingCommander''. The former never takes part in battle and is killed when his home planet is destroyed. The latter is not defeated in battle, but by exposing his wrongdoing to the government. |
| 376 | * The alien brain in ''VideoGame/XCOMUFODefense'' does absolutely nothing but sit in its underground base, waiting for someone to shoot it. The Great Dreamer (''VideoGame/XComTerrorFromTheDeep'') is no better. |
| 377 | * Subverted in ''VideoGame/HollowKnight''. [[spoiler: The true final boss, known as the Radiance, is behind quite literally all of the chaos in the game. She cannot be directly fought without completing certain steps first, as she is trapped in the consciousness of another character. However, despite her not being in the real world physically, she is able to possess other creatures to fight for her.]] |
| 378 | * ''VideoGame/Psychonauts2'': [[spoiler: Gristol Malik, the game's BigBad.]] He is a very skilled schemer, to the point where he successfully ensured he was BeneathSuspicion as [[spoiler:TheMole]]. When Raz and Lili confront him at the end of the game, however, the latter beats him up effortlessly with a ''doll''. |
| 379 | [[/folder]] |
| 380 | |
| 381 | [[folder:Visual Novels]] |
| 382 | * ''Franchise/AceAttorney'': |
| 383 | ** In the original trilogy, Morgan Fey never faces you in court (she testifies once as a witness, but there's no way to get her to reveal her involvement in the crime) and never kills anyone personally, but it's her plotting to replace her niece Maya (successor to the Master of the Kurain Clan) with her daughter Pearl that leads to the events of cases 2-2 and 3-5. |
| 384 | ** In ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney'' duology, [[spoiler:Mael Stronghart prides himself on never actually having killed anyone directly, technically doing "nothing wrong" [[note]]While he certainly orchestrated short of all of the events that happen in the games, he doesn't actually take the reels and kill anyone directly[[/note]]. With this, he manages to almost convince the jury to spare him of punishment, as he did all of his actions in the name of Britain. But like all of the criminals in the series, he falls too ([[VillainousBreakdown quite literally on his case]]).]] |
| 385 | * In ''VisualNovel/DaughterForDessert'', Cecilia prefers to use her nearly limitless money and information rather than violence to cause problems for the protagonist. |
| 386 | * Nerd that he is, Dennis from ''VisualNovel/DoubleHomework'' is inept at fighting. |
| 387 | * In ''VisualNovel/{{Melody}}'', Bethany, although belligerent, never gets physically violent. In fact, the one time there’s violence around her, [[spoiler:she’s the one who gets hit, and the protagonist and Melody ask if she’s okay when the smoke clears.]] |
| 388 | [[/folder]] |
| 389 | |
| 390 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 391 | * ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'': |
| 392 | ** Season 10 has The Director of Project Freelancer. Hell, he's one of the only characters in the series who doesn't wear TwentyFourHourArmor. [[spoiler:While the main characters are hunting him down, he does nothing to stop them except leave a bunch of Tex-bots for them to deal with.]] The page quote comes from season 6, ''Reconstruction''. |
| 393 | ** General Doyle is this for Seasons 11 and 12, not even having any fighting experience (he was promoted from brigadier's secretary) and having no control over Locus. [[spoiler:Even when Doyle is revealed to not be a villain at all, this trope still counts to the true BigBad, Malcolm Hargrove, the Chairman of the UNSC Oversight Sub-Commitee. He only gives orders to Locus and Felix to carry out while he waits on his CoolStarship, the ''Staff of Charon''.]] |
| 394 | [[/folder]] |
| 395 | |
| 396 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 397 | * [[Music/TheProtomen Doug Fetterman]] in ''Webcomic/DeadOfSummer''. This may explain some of why he's evil; he didn't get any cool powers like the rest of the group did. |
| 398 | * ''WebComic/SluggyFreelance'': Every CEO of the evil, world-conquest-plotting company Hereti-Corp (as of 2016; there have been a couple) has been a DiabolicalMastermind (or at least wannabe) who relies on {{mooks}} and powerful minions to do the fighting and has no combat ability himself. |
| 399 | [[/folder]] |
| 400 | |
| 401 | [[folder:Web Videos]] |
| 402 | * The Shadow Overlord in the "Rise of Red" story arc of ''WebVideo/TheIrateGamer''. He's trapped in a mirrored prison and relies on [[EvilTwin the Evil Gamer]] and R.E.D. to carry out his plot to defeat the Irate Gamer. He is ultimately crushed by the decapitated head of the HumongousMecha sent to destroy his arch enemy, who [[UnknownRival remains in the dark about his existence]]. |
| 403 | [[/folder]] |
| 404 | |
| 405 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 406 | * ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6TheSeries'' |
| 407 | ** [[Characters/BigHero6Obake Obake]] is a scheming mastermind who operates behind the scenes whilst leaving the dirty work to his robots or hired arms. The heroes never face him in direct combat and in fact aren't even aware of his existence until midway through the first season. |
| 408 | ** Liv Amara is a [[VillainWithGoodPublicity renowned philantropist]] and [[EvilutionaryBiologist biologist]] with a nasty habit of turning people (both [[VoluntaryShapeshifting willing henchmen]] and [[ForcedTransformation involuntary]] [[FaceMonsterTurn subjects]]) into genetically-engineered monsters to do her dirty work. |
| 409 | * ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'': |
| 410 | ** The Delightful Children from Down the Lane. They rarely face off against the heroes without a tough fighter, an army of {{mooks}}, or a HumongousMecha backing them up, and they get [[CurbStompBattle soundly beaten]] in the rare event that they do. |
| 411 | ** Also, [[EvilCounterpart Negative Numbuh Four]] from the half-hour episode "Operation: P.O.O.L." Not only is he not a fighter, he's a [[DirtyCoward spineless coward]], as the regular Numbuh Four was, [[SmartBall ironically, the first to figure out]]. |
| 412 | * Xanatos from ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' starts out this way; he's a MagnificentBastard to the bone, and surrounds himself with lots of MechaMooks and a very dangerous [[BigBadDuumvirate partner]], Demona, but while a skilled fighter by human standards he's physically no match whatsoever for any gargoyle. [[SubvertedTrope He does, however, recognize this, and soon has a suit of]] PoweredArmor [[SubvertedTrope made for himself that levels the playing field]]. |
| 413 | * Shendu from ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures''. Being TakenForGranite will do that to you. {{Averted}} with his true form- [[OurDragonsAreDifferent a 16 foot tall flightless dragon]] and powerful and devious [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Demon]] [[EvilSorceror Sorceror]] who [[BroughtDownToBadass even without his magical talismans is seemingly invincible and an extremely dangerous enemy]]. In both his natural form and when he's stuck [[DemonicPossession possessing unwilling human hosts]], he demonstrates supernatural and impressive fighting skills as well as the ability to [[BreathWeapon breathe fire]]. And until the 4th series, he could summon his EliteMooks [[MadeOfEvil the Shadowkhan]] at will to fight either for or with him. |
| 414 | * ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': |
| 415 | ** Dr. Drakken can be beaten by [[ThisLoserIsYou Ron]] in a fight and relies on [[HypercompetentSidekick Shego]] to do all the dirty work for him, but his plans are surprisingly menacing [[NotSoHarmlessVillain when he gets serious]]. |
| 416 | ** In the "A Sitch in Time" BadFuture where Shego took over the world, she sends other villains (including Drakken, who is now [[FutureBadass a mass of muscle]]) to do her fighting for her -- "The Supreme One always delegates". |
| 417 | * Dr. Claw from ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget''. He doesn't lift a finger throughout the show, or even [[TheFaceless deign to show his face.]] He just dispatches his {{Mooks}}, then [[VillainExitStageLeft escapes]] at the last minute once Gadget defeats them. He ''has'', however, personally engaged in vehicle-to-vehicle combat with the Inspector a few times, usually at the beginning of an episode before the plot's kicked off, but it rarely has anything to do with his plans. |
| 418 | * Subverted by Tombstone from ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan''. Spider-Man invokes this trope, right before Tombstone beats him in less than 5 seconds. |
| 419 | * The Brain from ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' season five is a very good [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]]- but he's also a literal BrainInAJar, and without his minions he can't even defend himself against a slap. |
| 420 | * On ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice,'' [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Queen Bee]] is a LivingAphrodisiac with the resources of [[{{Qurac}} her own country]], but WordOfGod [[http://www.s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?qid=15648 admits]] that her powers "aren't particularly physical." The one time she was involved in an actual battle she was knocked out pretty quickly by a female assailant, allowing the males of the Team to enter the fight. ComicBook/LexLuthor admits that he thinks physical battles beneath him, though he does keep his trusted bodyguard [[{{Cyborg}} Mercy]] around for that purpose. |
| 421 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Hurricanes}}'': Being a CorruptCorporateExecutive, Stavros Garkos usually dispatches minions to do his dirty work. However, he's not above doing some of it himself. |
| 422 | * The ''[[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' version of Norman Osborn started out as this; he [[TheManBehindTheMan the one behind]] [[TheDragon Dr Octopus]]'s chasing of Spider-Man, but for most of season 1, he remains passive and does nothing besides giving Octavius orders. [[spoiler:[[TookALevelInBadass Then he becomes]] [[HulkingOut the Green Goblin]].]] |
| 423 | * [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraVarrickAndZhuLi Varrick]] from ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' is this. He is quite ruthless and surprisigly competant a villain, yet hardly lifts a finger when opposing the heroes. Varrick isn't effective on the field, instead relying on {{Mooks}} to do his dirty work. He also makes up for it by being a MagnificentBastard. |
| 424 | * The Tallest in ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' rule the Irken Empire, which seeks to conquer/enslave everyone and everything, but they much prefer to [[OrcusOnHisThrone sit back and eat snacks]] than bother with any hard work. Though to be fair, they ''do'' manage to win a space battle when attacked by [[LaResistance the Resisty]], and [[AllThereInTheManual an unfinished episode script]] reveals that they used to be members of the Irken Elite. |
| 425 | * Major Nixel from ''WesternAnimation/{{Mixels}}'' prefers to just stay at base and let his minion Nixels do the dirty work. He brilliantly spelled out in "Nixel 'Mix Over'": |
| 426 | -->'''Major Nixel:''' Now go. Get me. Some Cubits! And I'm just gonna stand here! |
| 427 | * [[Characters/MiraculousLadybugHawkMoth Hawk Moth's]] whole deal from ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' is that he [[TheCorrupter corrupts people]] and turns them into his superpowered servants, [[VillainOfTheWeek the Akumas]]. As such, he spends most of his time [[OrcusOnHisThrone standing around in his lair]], directing them from afar. The episode "Robostus" shows that he ''is'' capable of fighting (with a handy SwordCane no less) when forced to, but he's left completely exhausted afterwards. |
| 428 | * ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': [[Characters/RickAndMortyEvilMorty Evil Morty]] never gets personally involved in combat, usually delegating that task to loyal Ricks. Season 7 episode "[[Recap/RickAndMortyS7E5Unmortricken Unmortricken]]" shows he actually can fight on his own, enough to effortlessly coordinate with Main Rick and help him beat Rick Prime. |
| 429 | [[/folder]] |
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