| 1 | ->''"All the better! Cases are so much easier when the bad guy offs himself like that."'' |
| 2 | -->-- '''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck''', after a villain gets (apparently) fatally HoistByHisOwnPetard in "[[Recap/DarkwingDuckS1E34DryHard Dry Hard]]" |
| 3 | |
| 4 | When Bob the hero is spared the burden of dispatching the villain because the villain engineers his own death or defeat. |
| 5 | |
| 6 | While the [[MonsterOfTheWeek monsters of the week]] have the decency to be [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman sufficiently inhuman]] and [[FacelessMooks faceless]] that [[WhatMeasureIsAMook the heroes feel no guilt over slaying them]] (so polite!), ''human'' enemies are another story. How can Bob bring [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Cleo the Necromancess]] to justice when "stealing chunks of [[AnatomyOfTheSoul soul anatomy]] from innocent bystanders" is nowhere in ''Black's Law Dictionary''? And even if a high-ranking member of the police is a SecretKeeper who can [[JusticeByOtherLegalMeans get Cleo jailed for other charges]], [[CardboardPrison what prison could hold her?]] Then there are the villains who are remorseless, sociopathic murderers. Nothing but death will prevent Saul Fingerchopper from killing again, but [[IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim is it right for Bob to stop a killer by becoming a killer himself...?]] |
| 7 | |
| 8 | When Bob refuses to take a human life, for any reason, there are ways to work around this. Saul could meet his end at the hands of [[VillainsDoTheDirtyWork another villain]], [[TheDogBitesBack an underling he betrayed]], or [[AlwaysABiggerFish a killer even more evil than he is]]. He might be sealed away in some extra-legal sense by TheChosenMany Corps or TheMenInBlack. He might even [[SparingThemTheDirtyWork be dispatched by one of Bob's more pragmatic teammates]]. But the audience, having seen Saul and Bob finally come to a confrontation, will feel cheated if a third party takes care of the problem, especially if they [[DeusExMachina acted without foreshadowing]] and/or it's obvious that this happened only so that Bob could keep his hands clean. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | Fortunately, there is an alternative to having Bob break his code or having someone else do it for him -- the soon-to-be-defeated villain can go for the VillainBall. Instead of begging for mercy and "playing nice" for a few episodes, Saul and Cleo will double down. When Saul is rescued from [[TakeMyHand hanging off the cliff's edge]] and given a LastSecondChance, he inevitably takes the opportunity to [[BackstabBackfire backstab Bob]] (who then reacts in self-defense when he cuts Saul down). When Cleo is defeated while holding the ArtifactOfDoom, she will never simply drop the thing [[ISurrenderSuckers and 'surrender']]. She will scream "[[BigNo No!]] ThisCannotBe I just need ''[[DrunkOnTheDarkSide more power!!!]]"'', bringing on the SuperpowerMeltdown that destroys her. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | In short, Bob will not have to bear the burden of killing because these villains will cause their own downfall. Their excessive egos and poor planning will turn on them at exactly the wrong moment and get them [[HoistByHisOwnPetard Hoist By Their Own Petard]], sent to a FateWorseThanDeath, or [[KarmicDeath destroyed by their own death traps]]. They can also take themselves out nonfatally, ending up {{Depower}}ed, amnesiac, in a ConvenientComa, or trapped in a TailorMadePrison. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | The purpose of this trope is to resolve the villain's menace without going into the moral complexity of what justifies taking a human life. As such, it often appears in series where killing would be wildly inappropriate for the target audience or tone of the setting, such as works for children. When it appears in more adult fare, it is there to enable a certain kind of hero -- a KnightInShiningArmor or someone with IncorruptiblePurePureness -- to deal credibly with Cleo and Saul without [[GreyAndGreyMorality tarnishing his image]], or (if the heroes have no problem with killing people) to simply deliver a particularly KarmicDeath and drive home exactly how foolish and self-destructive a villain's brand of evil is. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | Conveniently, this trope also keeps [[DeathBySecretIdentity Bob's secret identity secret if the villain had discovered it]]. The aftereffects of the {{Phlebotinum}} she was using (or even a simple TapOnTheHead) will [[LaserGuidedAmnesia immediately make Cleo forget any damning information she may have uncovered]]. It might even make her forget she ''[[ForgotTheCall is]]'' a villain. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | A big part of the appeal of this trope is that it makes for a smooth but satisfying resolution. Once Saul has dispatched himself, Bob and his party can walk to the nearest BurgerFool and order a [[DeusExMachina Delicious Extra Meaty]] without feeling the slightest pang of guilt (well, except maybe over the empty calories in the fries). If they're particularly {{Nice Guy}}s, they might [[WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife feel a little sad that Saul got himself killed/trapped/disposed of]] -- but whatever; it's not like he won't be [[ResetButton back in the next episode]] anyway. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | Compare DisneyVillainDeath, which oftentimes uses this trope to dispose of a villain for good while leaving the hero's hands clean. If you were looking for the trope about a literally self-disposing body, see NoBodyLeftBehind. Also contrast SelfPunishmentOverFailure, when the "punishment" is deliberately self-inflicted. See also WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing for broader examples of victory without having to get one's hands dirty. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | !!'''As a {{Death Trope|s}}, all Spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.''' |
| 23 | ---- |
| 24 | !!Examples: |
| 25 | |
| 26 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 27 | |
| 28 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 29 | * ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'': |
| 30 | ** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]]'': Anubis attempts to throw himself at Jotaro and Polnareff when they think he's defeated, but thanks to Iggy interfering, he ends up starting a sequence of events that leads to him being lost at the bottom of the Nile River. |
| 31 | ** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond is Unbreakable]]'': Cheap Trick kills whoever its possesses by waiting for someone to look at their backs. Cheap Trick is defeated when Rohan exploits the fact that anyone who looks back while in Reimi's ghost alley will be DraggedOffToHell and positions himself so that Cheap Trick has to look back towards Koichi in the alley and gets hauled off. |
| 32 | ** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind Golden Wind]]'': Secco threatens to melt Doppio after he's taken him hostage, but Bucciarati punches his arm and he ends up using his melting powers on his throat. He then promptly trips into a garbage truck, coincidentally the same one Cioccolata's mangled corpse is in. |
| 33 | * Johan Liebert of ''Anime/{{Monster}}'' holds a boy hostage and forces [[TheHero Tenma]] to make the SadisticChoice of [[ThouShaltNotKill killing him]] or letting the boy die. Then the boy's [[ChekhovsGunman father]] conveniently shows up armed and suddenly it's a moot point. |
| 34 | * ''Anime/SailorMoon'': The major villains (QuirkyMinibossSquad and up) have a tendency to either kill each other off for various reasons (YouHaveFailedMe, YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness, EvilVersusEvil) or be destroyed by their [[HoistByHisOwnPetard own technology/attacks]], leaving the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Monsters of the Week]] and {{Big Bad}}s, who are [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman less human-looking]], to be destroyed by the heroes. This is especially true of the Witches 5 from the ''S'' season. Eudial is killed by Mimete, Mimete is killed by Tellu, Tellu is killed by her own plant, Viluy is killed by her own nanobots, and the twins Cyprine and Ptilol actually end up killing each other in battle. The Sailor Guardians barely have to do a thing, besides tricking Cyprine and Ptilol into blasting each other. |
| 35 | * This is how the tale of Satou Matsuzaka, the VillainProtagonist of ''Manga/HappySugarLife'' ends. The execution for her cover-up for Shouko's murder is perfect. She can escape overseas at any time and the authorities will no longer be able to find her again. Well, aside that she missed her wedding ring and went back to the burning apartment to find it. This doesn't end well for her and she dies shielding Shio from falling off the top of the apartment. Thankfully (or not), while her tale ends, her legacy doesn't. |
| 36 | * ''Anime/InuYashaTheMovieAffectionsTouchingAcrossTime'': Ruri copies Miroku's Wind Tunnel for her own use, and this hits her hard when she later deliberately expands it to gain an edge over Miroku, only to quickly lose control of it and be consumed. |
| 37 | * From ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'', Kenshin Himura was usually pretty good about making friends of enemies or convincing them to otherwise not be evil. But when he goes up against foes who are irredeemable, they usually get killed by someone else or wind up dying mid-battle. Most notably, Shishio Makoto unambiguously ''defeats'' Kenshin, [[SpontaneousHumanCombustion and then promptly bursts into flames and turns to ash]] because of his inability to regulate his body temperature combined with fighting well past his breaking point. |
| 38 | * In ''Anime/MonsterRancher'', Naga is defeated by Mocchi and is hanging onto the edge of a cliff. The heroes try to [[SaveTheVillain save]] him, but he lets go on purpose. The Fox channel skipped the episode because of this. |
| 39 | ** Ironically they did not skip the episode where Undine jumps into the fire and ''burns to death''. |
| 40 | ** General Durahan is taken out by his own troops who are loyal to Moo, whom Durahan has betrayed. And shortly before that, he kills Lilim. |
| 41 | ** [[BigBad Moo]] appears to partially self-destruct when he and the Phoenix destroy each other, based on this line: |
| 42 | --->'''Moo''': Now I understand. You and I are destined to eternal battle for as long as we live. In that case, I can't let you exist. Nor myself! |
| 43 | * In ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesDiamondAndPearl'', [[BigBad Cyrus]] walks into a portal leading to a dimension he possessed [[OlympusMons Dialga and Palkia]] to create, despite the fact that the dimension was slowly vanishing due to Dialga and Palkia being released, thus [[UncertainDoom seemingly killing himself]]. (Even if Dialga and Palkia directly destroyed the dimension sooner than it would have taken to disappear on its own) |
| 44 | * Happened several times throughout the ''Manga/DragonBall'' manga: |
| 45 | ** In ''Manga/DragonBall'', when Staff Officer Black learned that Commander Red, leader of the Red Ribbon Army, was going to use the almighty Dragon Balls to ''wish himself taller'' and made all the sacrifices of his men thus far look like they died for the sake of dog crap, it set him off enough to put a bullet right between the commander's eyes in utter disgust for his moronic leader, saving Goku and company the trouble of taking him down. |
| 46 | ** In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', virtually all of Frieza's henchmen are offed by Vegeta except Bund and Vug (killed by Krillin and Gohan), a few mooks who are killed by three Nameks, Blueberry and Raspberry (who are killed by a giant crab), any who remain on Planet Frieza or travel with King Cold (killed by exploding building and Trunks, respectively), and some mooks who are killed by Frieza or Captain Ginyu, which also fits the trope. |
| 47 | *** Dr. Gero has his head crushed by Android 17. |
| 48 | *** Nappa is killed by Vegeta [[YouHaveFailedMe for losing a battle to Goku]]. |
| 49 | *** Majin Buu kills Babidi when he becomes tired of his abuse. |
| 50 | *** [[AssholeVictim Van Zant]] is the first victim of Evil Buu. And when he becomes Super Buu, [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath Smitty gets it]]. |
| 51 | *** Zigzagged with Cell. He self-destructs but is able to regenerate FromASingleCell. |
| 52 | *** The most egregious example is likely Garlic Jr. from the movie ''Anime/DragonBallZDeadZone'' and the subsequent filler arc in the anime. He is the first villain in the franchise to successfully use the Dragonballs to give himself CompleteImmortality, making him an InvincibleVillain the heroes simply cannot kill ever...and when all hope seems lost, he opens up a [[PowerOfTheVoid portal to a void dimension]] to dispose of the heroes, who of course use it to get rid of ''him'' instead. He does this in ''both'' of his appearances, despite each time being able to win simply by waiting for everyone to exhaust themselves fruitlessly fighting him. |
| 53 | * In ''Anime/DigimonGhostGame'', there are several obviously unrepentant Digimon who sabotage and undo themselves rather than the protagonists actively killing them, [[ThouShaltNotKill since they are not keen on killing hostile Digimon]]. |
| 54 | * The final battle of ''Anime/KillLaKill'' has Ryuko foiling Ragyo Kiryuin's EvilPlan and wanting her to come back to Earth safe since she's her mother. In response, Ragyo [[BeatStillMyHeart rips her own heart out of her chest]] and crushes it, spreading away the remaining Life Fibers in a possible SequelHook. For an anime called KILL la KILL, the heroes sure don't do a lot of killing... |
| 55 | ** Earlier in that episode, [[TheDragon Nui Harime]] decapitates herself in order to be absorbed by the Primordial Life Fiber and power Ragyo up. |
| 56 | * Precia Testarossa from ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' meets her ([[NeverFoundTheBody supposed]]) end by falling into an interdimensional void when her attempts to use the Jewel Seeds cause her fortress to collapse. |
| 57 | * In the last ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' movie, Kozo Fuyutsuki pilots a NERV warship into battle himself, despite the fact that it's automated and is entering an area of space that will kill him. He brings with him exactly the set of items that Mari will need for a daring rescue and doesn't even try to struggle against her when she comes to collect them. He offers so little explanation for this that it might even be considered switching sides. |
| 58 | * Happens to Lordgenome at the end of the first part of ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' after Simon blasted a hole through his chest. After telling him and Nia that he would come to regret this and that [[GreaterScopeVillain something worse was coming]] in a cryptic way, he jumped off what remained of Teppelin's palace, against his daughter's wishes. [[spoiler:Thanks to Rossiu, it didn't stick.]] |
| 59 | * Happens ''twice'' to the same villain within one episode of ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero''. Raphtalia is about to kill the noble who enslaved and tortured her, but then she decides [[IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim If I Kill You, I Will Be Just Like You]] and spares him. Then the noble trips on his whip and falls out of the window behind him. Then it turns out that he survived that fall, and he releases a [[SealedEvilInACan monster that was sealed near his mansion]]. Then, said monster [[HoistByHisOwnPetard stomps on him]]. The audience gets the satisfaction of seeing that bastard dead, and Raphtalia gets to keep her moral high ground. |
| 60 | * William James Moriarty of ''Manga/MoriartyThePatriot'' is the ''only'' character who would like for him to die, but if he has to do all the work himself, that's fine with him. His entire plan requires his downfall. |
| 61 | * ''Manga/ChainsawMan'': The {{Yakuza}} to whom protagonist Denji owes an exorbitant amount of money in the first chapter end up disposing of themselves when they make a DealWithTheDevil for power, failing to consider [[ZombifyTheLiving the logical result of a pact with a Zombie Devil]]. |
| 62 | * Parodied in ''Manga/{{Nichijou}}''. Dolph stages a rebellion of the Fey Kingdom in order to get the keys to a powerful ancient weapon. As he stalks up to the princess to force her to give him her key, however, he ends up [[DeathByFallingOver tripping over his own feet, killing himself]], to [[MassOhCrap the shock of the princess and his army]], the latter of which immediately surrenders. |
| 63 | * ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'': |
| 64 | ** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'': While some members of the Zabi family are taken out by our heroes, the rest are done in by their own hubris (and Char). Degwin Sodo Zabi is killed by his eldest son Ghiren, Ghiren is killed by his sister Kycillia and Kycillia is done in by Char. |
| 65 | ** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'': [[GeneralRipper Patrick Zala]] shoots lowly subordinate Ray Yuki for trying to talk him out of firing [[KillSat GENESIS]] on Earth to wipe out all Natural life on Earth in a fit of rage. Patrick's son Athrun arrives to stop him... just in time to see Ray use the last of his breath to shoot Patrick InTheBack multiple times, resulting in the latter's death. |
| 66 | [[/folder]] |
| 67 | |
| 68 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 69 | * ''ComicBook/DakotaNorth'': The villainous Sheik Ibn Bheik is seeking a stolen sample of nerve gas, hidden inside a pen. After he's unconscious and presumed dead, one of his minions claims it. When the Sheik recovers, they scuffle over the pen, it breaks and the gas kills both of them. |
| 70 | * ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'': There's a story written by Creator/DonRosa where the Beagle Boys are the main characters and decide to break into Scrooge [=McDuck=]'s money bin once again after stealing the building's original architectural plans. They carry out the scheme while the building is closed at night, but they all gradually end up trapping themselves in various situations with the remaining Beagle Boys deciding to come back for them once they've successfully carried out the heist. The comic ends with the Beagle Boys discovered by a mightily surprised Scrooge and Grandpa Beagle hearing the cops talk about this from his jail cell and muttering that his grandsons can't even beat an inanimate building. |
| 71 | * ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': Batman is fond of these, especially in his earlier years. In fact, his very first villain burned himself alive! Another, more recent example is when Batman caught up to Joe Chill and told him who he was. DeathBySecretIdentity took hold and Chill went to beg for help from his cronies, telling them that Batman was after him due to having killed his parents. The other criminals were [[{{Understatement}} not pleased]] to hear that Chill was responsible for Batman's creation. |
| 72 | * ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'': The villain Libra built a device that could transfer half the power of anything to the user. After successfully using it on the Justice League, he forgets his Evil Overlord List and uses it on the universe, but is unable to handle the power and dissipates across the cosmos. Darkseid eventually put him back together for ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis''. |
| 73 | * ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': |
| 74 | ** The original ComicBook/GreenGoblin (who was especially dangerous because he knew who Spidey was) getting impaled by his own glider in ''ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderMan1963'' #122, also known as ''ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied''. (He got better, later). |
| 75 | ** The Jackal (Miles Warren) having a meltdown after being unmasked by Gwen Stacy's clone and ending up being killed (along with the Spider-Man clone) by his own bomb at the ending of the original Clone Saga in ''ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderMan1963'' #149. (It was not the last we saw of either). |
| 76 | ** The burglar conveniently having a fatal heart attack in ASM #200 moments after Spider-Man took off his mask and showed him he was the nephew of the guy he murdered in ''ComicBook/AmazingFantasyNumber15''. |
| 77 | ** Carrion (Professor Warren's clone), who also [[DeathBySecretIdentity inconveniently knew Spider-Man's secret]], killed by his own Spider-Amoeba in ''[[ComicBook/TheSpectacularSpiderMan Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man]]'' #31. |
| 78 | * ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} had a similar situation as Spidey and the burglar who killed Uncle Ben, as in his very first story, when he caught up to the hired killer who was responsible for killing his father, the latter died from heart failure. Daredevil has varying degrees of culpability for this [[DependingOnTheWriter depending on what retelling of the story you read]]. |
| 79 | * ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'': |
| 80 | ** "ComicBook/SupergirlsBigBrother": A conman called Biff Rigger tries to swindle the Danvers out of their money by masquerading as their deceased son Jan. When he finds out that their adoptive daughter Linda is Supergirl, Biff gives up his original plan in lieu of convincing Supergirl to give him superpowers. After managing to talk her into giving him one pill which grants powers for one hour, Biff uses them so carelessly that he burns off his fake birthmark, tipping off Supergirl that he is a fraud. Since his attempt to blackmail her into making him more super-power pills fails, Biff tries to make one pill, but he gets the ingredients wrong and gets killed when his powers wear off too soon. |
| 81 | ** In ''ComicBook/TheStrangeRevengeOfLenaLuthor'', villain Mind-Bomber loses control of his own telekinetic blast and blows himself up; conveniently for ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}, since he had just learned her secret identity. |
| 82 | * ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': |
| 83 | ** The Composite Superman, a [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] enemy of Superman and ComicBook/{{Batman}}, [[SuperpowerLottery possessed all the powers]] of the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes and knowledge of the heroes' secret identities. He defeated them and demanded that they give up being heroes, but the powers then faded away, leaving him without even the memories of ever having been a villain. |
| 84 | ** Creator/JackKirby's run on ''ComicBook/SupermansPalJimmyOlsen'' ended with Superman, Jimmy Olsen and the Newsboy Legion confronting a villain called Victor Volcanum, who has a volcano lair and an army of robotic minions. Superman [[YouCouldHaveUsedYourPowersForGood tries to reason with Volcanum and convince him to use his resources and inventions to better the world rather than conquer it]], but Volcanum instead spitefully detonates his lair and obliterates himself in the process. |
| 85 | * ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'''s ComicBook/{{Thanos}} routinely comes dangerously close to complete universal domination, only to screw up in some fashion at the last moment and engineer his own defeat. This behavior is noted by both Vision and Adam Warlock in ''ComicBook/TheInfinityGauntlet,'' wherein after taking on almost everyone in the Marvel Universe, [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu including Eternity himself]], he decides to become a disembodied presence and leave his body sitting on his throne, allowing his alleged granddaughter to simply grab the titular CosmicKeystone from his inert form with no resistance at all. Adam Warlock then talked Thanos into making a temporary HeelFaceTurn with a HannibalLecture wherein he accused Thanos of deliberately--albeit subconsciously--sabotaging himself and giving up the power he knows he has no right to wield. |
| 86 | * ''ComicBook/MortadeloYFilemon'': It's a rule in the comics that when a villain really tries to destroy the pair for real, he will fail miserably and get himself owned. A notable example is "El señor todoquisque" the bad guy is a man who can disguise himself and, in the first half of the album, humiliates our heroes in very painful ways. However, when he decides to take care of them himself and goes to the TIA, his plans brutally backfire on him, and, at the end, he goes insane. |
| 87 | * ''ComicBook/Superboy1994'': The cruel extraterrestrial slaver Kossak kills himself rather than be taken into custody after he's defeated as he refuses to be chained up or imprisoned under any circumstances. |
| 88 | * ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'': |
| 89 | ** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': King Aknaten, who claims himself to be immortal so long as he wishes to live, apparently loses that will when ComicBook/SteveTrevor arrives and frees Wonder Woman, Etta Candy, Bobby Strong, and Glamora Treat, whom Aknaten had just been monologuing to. He and his minions just fade away, and his previously empty sarcophagus suddenly contains his mummy, but all the tech he'd been using as a villain remains in his hideout. |
| 90 | ** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': The magic the White Magician uses to upgrade his body and powers in order to kill Wonder Woman proves to be too much for his body to handle and after fatally wounding ComicBook/{{Artemis}} his fight with Wondy is cut short when he lets out a BigNo and is ReducedToDust by his own power. |
| 91 | * In the ''ComicBook/ConanTheBarbarian'' story "At the Mountain of the Moon-God", Conan and a few others are escaping from a mountaintop fortress through a crevice in the floor. The fortress's commander tries to kill them by pouring boiling oil down the crack, but in his haste, he somehow tips the vat the wrong way and spills the oil all over himself. |
| 92 | * The 95th issue of ''ComicBook/JourneyIntoMystery'' had Thor fight a scientist named Professor Zaxton, who used an invention of his to create an EvilKnockoff of Thor. The story ends with Zaxton causing his own demise when he [[DisneyVillainDeath falls to his death trying to reach for his invention]], which destroys the machine in the process, but not without the contraption first creating [[MorallySuperiorCopy a benevolent clone of Zaxton]] who subsequently takes the deceased scientist's place. |
| 93 | * In the final story of the ninth issue of the 1946 ''ComicBook/KidEternity'' series, a painting clone of Governor Vance willingly leaps to his demise after being confronted by Kid Eternity and prevented from doing away with the real Governor Vance. |
| 94 | [[/folder]] |
| 95 | |
| 96 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 97 | * ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': In this ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' fanfiction, [[Characters/AbraxasHrodvitnonHumans Alan Jonah]] becomes this. It's him keeping San's old severed head around and suffering BrownNote from it that ultimately leads to his downfall as an independent threat, although not before he creates a greater foe [[spoiler:and he becomes assimilated as a part of said foe]]. |
| 98 | * ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': Occurs in the climactic dog fight scene between Bolt and Ike in "The Wind." Bolt, who is beginning to get the worst of the battle, uses a [[ChekhovsSkill spin move]] to get out of the way of his antagonist Ike, who charges towards him with head lowered. The latter doesn't realize Bolt has evaded him and crashes full force into a brick wall, breaking his neck with a [[SickeningCrunch loud snap]]. |
| 99 | * The ''[[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra Legend of Korra]]'' fanfic [[FanFic/BookFiveLegends Book Five: Legends]], the BigBad of the story, Temuji, is ultimately done in by the bending powers he stole tearing his body apart during the final battle. |
| 100 | * {{Discussed|Trope}} in ''Fanfic/GuardiansWizardsAndKungFuFighters''. After Wong's [[TheStarscream coup attempt]] against Phobos fails and he's forced to [[VillainExitStageLeft flee]], Lothar comments how it's a shame the two didn't succumb to a MutualKill, as that would have saved everyone a lot of trouble. |
| 101 | [[/folder]] |
| 102 | |
| 103 | [[folder:Films -- Animated]] |
| 104 | * In ''WesternAnimation/AladdinAndTheKingOfThieves'', Sa'Luk accidentally touches the golden edge of the Hand of Midas and is permanently turned into a gold statue. Played with, in that Cassim was [[BatmanGambit counting on Sa'Luk being too short-sighted to recognize the risk and threw the Hand at him with the intent of ultimately killing him.]] |
| 105 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TheBoxtrolls'', Archibald Snatcher's obsession with upward nobility and [[DeathByGluttony insistence on cheese-tasting]] despite his ''violent'' allergies causes him to explode into a cloud of nasty yellow mist. |
| 106 | * In ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMeetsTheBooBrothers'', the Skull Ghost ends up trapping himself when he opens the safe holding the hidden jewels, burying himself under it while Scooby, Shaggy, and Scrappy stood back at gunpoint. |
| 107 | * In ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'', right after nearly falling to his death, BigBad Claude Frollo apparently thinks it's a good idea to ''not'' go to the balcony and to instead try to kill the heroes while precariously perched on top of a small gargoyle probably too thin to support a full-grown man's weight, so [[DisneyVillainDeath he falls down with the gargoyle after it breaks]]. Although MaybeMagicMaybeMundane applies, as it's ambiguous whether the gargoyle broke because of Frollo's weight (and it coming to life may or may not have been a hallucination), making his death self-disposing all the way through, or if a superior being (either God or the cathedral) made sure that the villain would get what he deserved. |
| 108 | ** Note that this trope only applies to the Disney version. In most other adaptations (and the original novel), Quasimodo outright throws Frollo off of Notre Dame to his death. Even the Disney musical version used the original version. |
| 109 | * In ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'', the final battle with Clayton sees him wrapped up in vines, and in a rage, he begins to hack himself loose with a machete, not noticing the vine wrapped snugly around his neck. When Clayton cuts the last vine holding him up, he falls through the trees until the vine runs out of slack, [[NeckSnap breaking his own neck]] and suffering a FamilyUnfriendlyDeath. |
| 110 | * Will Magnus, the BigBad in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueGodsAndMonsters'', commits suicide using his nano machines after he and the Metal Men are defeated by the Justice League. |
| 111 | * ''WesternAnimation/CatsDontDance'': Darla Dimple ends up outing herself as the culprit behind the flooded set earlier in the film when she screams at Danny about it, not realizing there's a [[EngineeredPublicConfession live microphone]] strapped to her back. |
| 112 | * ''WesternAnimation/Cars1'': Despite Lightning losing the big race at the end of the movie in order to [[HonorBeforeReason help The King finish his last race]], [[JerkJock Chick Hicks]] already ruined his own racing career after his heinous actions during the race, which included causing King to get into a violent crash [[SoreLoser purely because he didn't want to lose to him again.]] |
| 113 | * In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2'', Lord Shen rejects Po’s offer of mercy and viciously attacks him. However, his blades cut the ropes holding up his cannon, and it winds up falling on and crushing him. |
| 114 | * In Creator/BillPlympton's "I Married a Strange Person!", early in the climax, Col. Ferguson has inserted a [[RealityWarper Reality Warping]] flesh growth called the "lobe" inside the back of his neck. His first use of the power was to turn himself into a walking armory of guns, but after that proved unwieldy, he opted to give himself explosive TouchOfDeath powers. The destruction he causes while testing that power out makes him want to pee, only for him to blow up his nether regions. After walking out of the bathroom missing his crotch (and his inner thighs too), he thinks about how to better apply his new powers, only to touch his temple while doing so. |
| 115 | -->'''Col. Ferguson:''' I've got to think of a better-- [[OhCrap AHH!]] ''(Kaboom!)'' |
| 116 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheFoxAndTheHound'': [[spoiler:The gigantic bear at the climax. Tod, Copper and Amos can't do anything to seriously hurt him, and it takes him angrily smashing a log [[TooDumbToLive that he's standing on]] to send him falling to his death.]] |
| 117 | |
| 118 | [[/folder]] |
| 119 | |
| 120 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 121 | * All of the ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' films [[Film/Batman1989 since 1989]] used this trope extensively, at least [[WhatMeasureIsAMook regarding named villains]]. Batman and Robin (and later Batgirl) never, ''ever'' kill. Their opponents are beaten by falling to their deaths; either trying to escape (ComicBook/TheJoker) or trying to kill the heroes (Two Face, in two movies), killed by another villain (Schreck and The Penguin by Catwoman, Bane by a more heroic Catwoman) driven insane from overdosing on {{Phlebotinum}} (Riddler), and captured in {{Tailor Made Prison}}s (Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy). The only one who dies (mostly) by Batman's hand is the Two Face from ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', but in that case, Batman was only trying to tackle him to stop him from killing a child and he fell as a result. Stretched a bit in ''Film/BatmanBegins'', where Batman refuses to deliver a killing blow to Ra's al Ghul but nonetheless leaves him to die as the derailed train on which they're riding crashes, the derailment having been caused by Jim Gordon under instruction from Batman. |
| 122 | * In ''Film/{{Casper}}'', Carrigan's goal throughout the movie has been to take a "treasure" from the mansion, a goal she continues to pursue after coming back as a ghost. Finally, she does get her hands on the treasure, and she gloats that now that she has it, she has no unfinished business, she has everything--so against her will, she crosses over to the afterlife, as all ghosts must once their unfinished business is complete. |
| 123 | * In ''Film/EllaEnchanted'', the BigBad Sir Edgar defeats himself with the poisoned crown he planned on using to kill his nephew and heir by putting it on during his MotiveRant at the end of the movie. |
| 124 | * ''Film/TheGeneralsDaughter'': When Kent reveals himself to have strangled Elizabeth after he found her tied up, then rejected him after he tried to help, he kills himself by stepping on a landmine rather than face justice. |
| 125 | * ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'': Apex Cybernetics wanted to [[spoiler:use Mechagodzilla to make humanity the dominant Alpha species over all the Titans]], but it was going to end with Apex's own destruction and the ruination of their EvilPlan without any input from the heroes; since they [[spoiler:used Ghidorah's remains as the psionic control mechanism for Mechagodzilla, and the moment Mechagodzilla gains a lasting power supply is the moment Ghidorah's remains take control of the Mecha]]. |
| 126 | * In ''Film/TheGreenGoblinsLastStand'', just like the comic, the Green Goblin dies at the hand of his own glider. |
| 127 | * Taking the place of Vincent Crabbe from the book, [[DeathByAdaptation Gregory Goyle]] is the one who casts Fiendfyre in ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallowsPart2'', and while trying to climb to safety, grabs a loose chair and falls into the fire. Although his only intent was to kill Ron, he essentially killed himself. |
| 128 | * In ''Film/HighAnxiety'', [[DragonInChief Nurse Diesel]] accidentally [[DisneyVillainDeath falls off a high tower]] when she attempts to jump Dr. Thorndyke in a last-ditch effort to kill him. |
| 129 | * A common theme in the ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' films as it's more or less the lust for power that does the villain in while Indy wises up and leaves well enough alone. It has been pointed out in some movie reviews that in four out of the five films, Indy could have stayed home and let the villains destroy themselves with no negative repercussions (aside from initially rescuing his father and Marcus in the third film). |
| 130 | ** ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'': Belloq and his Nazi cohorts Toht and Dietrich open TheArkOfTheCovenant themselves and [[HolyIsNotSafe its powers then disintegrate them in a very painful manner]]. |
| 131 | ** ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'': Donovan drinks the wrong chalice (which he let Elsa Schneider, his assistant, choose) and rapidly ages to nothing. Shortly after, Elsa falls to her death in an abyss when she's concerned more about reaching the HolyGrail below her than saving herself. |
| 132 | ** ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'', Colonel Spalko wants unlimited knowledge, and she gets more than she bargained for when [[MySkullRunnethOver she bursts into flames]]. |
| 133 | ** Happens yet again in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheDialOfDestiny'': the titular Dial is an artifact that allows for time travel, but only by finding specific rifts in space-time. Nazi scientist Voller wanted to use it to go back to 1939 to usurp Adolf Hitler and ensure that the Nazis win the war, but Archimedes programmed the Dial to send whoever uses it back to the Siege of Syracuse, and Voller ends up dying there when his plane crashes. |
| 134 | * The villain Mitch Leary in ''Film/InTheLineOfFire'' refuses to take his nemesis Frank Horrigan's hand and [[DisneyVillainDeath plunges to his death]] instead, in an IronicEcho of an earlier scene in which Leary saves Horrigan from dying the same way. |
| 135 | * ''Franchise/JurassicPark'': Happens a lot in the films, where the human antagonists suffer LaserGuidedKarma via dinosaur without the human protagonists really having to do anything. |
| 136 | ** ''Film/JurassicPark'': Nedry accidentally ends up crashing into the ''Dilophosaurus'' exhibit while on his way to deliver the stolen dinosaur embryos to [=InGen=]'s corporate rival, and is gruesomely mauled to death. The other characters remain completely oblivious to his fate and (once his corporate espionage is discovered) [[DramaticIrony believe he managed to cunningly sneak away]]. |
| 137 | ** In ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark'', Peter Ludlow is killed by a ''T. rex'' after trying to steal its baby in a last-ditch effort of desperation to recover his losses once his scheme to revive Jurassic Park falls apart. |
| 138 | ** ''Film/JurassicWorld'': The SmugSnake Hoskins is killed by one of the ''Velociraptor''s he begged to set loose to hunt the ''Indominus'' to begin with (while the protagonist, Owen, was heavily against the idea). |
| 139 | ** ''Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom'': Mills is killed at the end when he's ripped apart and eaten by the ''T. rex'' and a ''Carnotaurus'' set loose during the stampede of dinosaurs, because he was so focused on retrieving the ''Indominus'' DNA sample that [[FailedASpotCheck he didn't even notice the meat-eating dinosaurs all around him]]. |
| 140 | ** ''Film/JurassicWorldDominion'': Dodgson is killed when he tries to escape with the dinosaur embryos by himself after his scheme to cause a world food shortage literally goes up in flames, only for the power to the hyperloop train to get shut off, leaving him trapped inside the tunnel. Then, a pack of ''Dilophosaurus'' arrives... |
| 141 | * In ''Film/TheKillerThatStalkedNewYork'', Matt dies by falling to his death after misjudging a jump while trying to escape the police by {{Roofhopping}}. |
| 142 | * In ''Film/{{Maleficent}}'', Stefan self-disposes by trying to kill Maleficent even though she said "it's over", and tried to walk away. Overlaps with DisneyVillainDeath. |
| 143 | * In the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'', fate conspires so that the heroes rarely kill their own big bads. |
| 144 | ** In ''Film/IronMan2'', Ivan Vanko blows himself up after being defeated by Iron Man, though he could've been taken into custody or attempted an escape, mainly because he was confident in his success and had nothing else to live for. |
| 145 | ** In ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', the Red Skull is teleported to Vormir as a punishment when he tries to handle the Tesseract. |
| 146 | ** This is set up and subverted in ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'': the Vulture tries to fly off with whatever salvaged bits of stolen technology that he can, unaware that his glider suit is malfunctioning. However, Peter saves him from the ensuing explosion. |
| 147 | ** In ''Film/ThorRagnarok'', Surtur destroys himself in the process of destroying Asgard and the actual BigBad that the heroes [[AlwaysABiggerFish summoned him]] to destroy. The fact that the heroes had evacuated Asgard beforehand, so his TakingYouWithMe attack doesn't actually take anyone with him other than said BigBad, doesn't particularly seem to bother him. |
| 148 | ** ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'': Mysterio gets reckless during the final battle and gets himself shot by his own drones. |
| 149 | ** ''Film/TheMarvels2023'': Dar-Benn opens a rift in reality using the Quantum Bands to try and kill Carol, despite warnings that using both was too dangerous. The energy proves to be too much for her to handle, obliterating her. |
| 150 | * In ''Film/TheSatanBug'', Ainsley chooses to leap out of his own helicopter after Barrett gains the upper hand rather than tell Barrett where the missing flask of botulinus is. |
| 151 | * A non-lethal example in ''Film/{{Scooby Doo Monsters Unleashed}}''. The Evil Masked Figure trips and hangs over a wire from the grate as he tries to escape, thus allowing his capture. |
| 152 | * In ''Film/Shazam2019'', this trope is subverted as it appears that Envy leaving Sivana's body is going to cause him to plunge to his death. At the last second though Shazam snatches Sivana up before he hits the ground. |
| 153 | * Used in all three ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'' movies to remove the villain while [[LoopholeAbuse technically]] allowing the main character to keep to his [[ThouShaltNotKill code against killing]]. |
| 154 | ** Even before any of the supervillains, the accidental but somewhat convenient death of the burglar in the first movie -- [[DeathBySecretIdentity removing as it does the threat of Spider-Man's identity being compromised]] right at the start of his crime-fighting career. |
| 155 | ** The first Green Goblin is HoistByHisOwnPetard (impaled by his glider as per the comics above), Dr. Octopus and the New Goblin die due to RedemptionEqualsDeath, and Eddie Brock kills himself by diving into the Venom symbiote just as Spidey's about to incinerate it. It's lampshaded by Aunt May in the third entry after Peter thinks he's killed Sandman [[WeaksauceWeakness with water]]: "Spider-Man doesn't kill people!" |
| 156 | * In ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1990'', Shredder is done in when he rushes Splinter and falls into a garbage compactor after trying to kill him with a throwing knife when he was on the edge, with the turtle's much less heroic (though still good-hearted) ally Casey Jones flipping the switch. Of course he's NotQuiteDead and comes back for some more shredding in the [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIITheSecretOfTheOoze sequel]], and does ''himself'' in by turning into Super Shredder via [[PsychoSerum the last vial of the ooze]] and causing an entire dock to collapse on him while trying to kill the Turtles. |
| 157 | * Just as in the book, in ''Film/WhereEaglesDare'' turncoat British officer Colonel Turner opts to jump out of the plane at the end rather than face justice. |
| 158 | [[/folder]] |
| 159 | |
| 160 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 161 | * In ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'' the heroes have no scruples about killing [[MenAreTheExpendableGender women]]. However, to kill [[GenderRarityValue men]] would be considered abhorrent. Keifer, the husband of the princesses survives longer than he might have without this advantage, but eventually self-disposes by insisting that they attend an opera in a public opera house, which then explodes, with half of the royal family in it, including him. While the younger princesses grieve for their sisters, they are happy to be rid of ''him''. |
| 162 | * In ''Literature/BattlefieldEarth'', Terl is extremely self-disposing. The reason Jonnie can beat him multiple times is that Terl always tells him how to do so. And after Terl's planet explodes, the alien teleports in the fireball his planet became. |
| 163 | * In earlier ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' books, [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman human]] villains have a tendency to [[EvilVersusEvil kill each other]], be [[HoistByHisOwnPetard hoist by their own petard]] or killed by side characters... so Harry doesn't have blood on his hands and [[PowersThatBe The White Council]] doesn't get angry at him. |
| 164 | * In ''Literature/{{Stardust}}'' by Creator/NeilGaiman, there are two major villains, who effectively and elegantly dispose of each other when the heroes aren't even around. In the film version, three out of the five villains die at each other's hands. |
| 165 | * Likewise, the climax for Robin Cook's ''Vector'' has the two villains polish each other off. |
| 166 | * In ''Literature/TheBookOfTheDunCow'', Cockatrice is impaled by Chauntecleer's battle spurs and mortally wounded. He lunges one last time for the rooster and finishes himself off in the process. |
| 167 | * ''Literature/HarryPotter'': |
| 168 | ** ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'': |
| 169 | *** Invoked by Dumbledore. He used the Mirror of Erised, which shows people their deepest desire, to hide the Sorcerer's Stone. Anyone whose deepest desire is to find the stone, will see themselves finding it and thus obtain it; but for anyone who wants to use the stone more than they want to find it, they will only see themselves using it, and how to get it remains hidden from them. |
| 170 | ** ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'': |
| 171 | *** Golderoy Lockhart has his mind wiped by his own Obliviator curse, courtesy of Ron's broken wand. |
| 172 | *** Mild example. Draco is so intent on distracting and taunting Harry during their first Quiddich match, that he himself becomes distracted, losing the match for Slytherin because he doesn't notice the GoldenSnitch right behind him. |
| 173 | ** ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'': |
| 174 | *** Dolores Umbridge finds herself surrounded by Centaurs while trespassing on their land and elects to call them [[FantasticRacism an in-universe slur]] and threaten them with legal action from an oppressive government. They predictably capture her, freeing the protagonists in the process. |
| 175 | ** ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'': |
| 176 | *** Wormtail is strangled by his own silver hand (which Voldemort gave him) as punishment for showing Harry a small impulse of mercy when reminded that Harry saved his life. This does not happen in the film, and the closest that is implied to a death scene for him is that Dobby killed him, who is on the heroes' side. |
| 177 | *** Vincent Crabbe casts Fiendfyre in an attempt to kill Harry, Ron, and Hermione, unleashes far more flaming destruction than he reckoned on and accidentally incinerates himself (along with one of Voldemort's Horcruxes). |
| 178 | *** Voldemort himself. Harry explains to him that the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Elder Wand]] Voldemort uses is actually Harry's, due to a set of complicated magical rules concerning wand ownership. As a result of this, the Elder Wand will not kill Harry. Despite this explanation and the chance to repent, Voldemort still fires a killing curse at Harry, which reflects back towards him, finishing him once and for all. |
| 179 | * The ''Literature/{{Lensman}}'' series has a subversion in that it's deliberately engineered by one of the heroes. Nadreck's solution to the problem of a Boskonian base is to get all the Boskonians to kill themselves and/or each other over the course of a few minutes. He ''is'' ashamed about it, but it's because he had to personally intervene to kill three of them himself when the shooting was all over; he considers this to be sloppy work. |
| 180 | * Part of the plot of ''Literature/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'' involves this trope. When the universe was just the RomanceGame ''[[FictionalVideoGame Fortune Lover]]'', Catarina Claes' sense of entitlement and resentment over anyone who would break her control (such as [[PlayerCharacter Maria]]) not only alienated her from most characters but ultimately becomes her undoing, resulting in either her exile or death without Maria (i.e. the player) actually having to do anything to Catarina herself. In the story proper, however, Catarina wakes up to her PastLifeMemories of a {{Joshikousei}} of TheNewTens Japan who played ''Fortune Lover'' hours before her death... |
| 181 | * In ''Literature/TheSatanBug'' by Creator/AlistairMacLean, Pierre Cavell gains the upper hand against Enzo Scarlatti aboard a helicopter that's in flight. After some discussion about the trial the villain will face, Scarlatti, rather than face British justice, opts to open the door and jump out to his death. Cavell doesn't try to stop him. |
| 182 | * ''Where Eagles Dare'': the traitorous British officer Colonel Wyatt-Turner opts to leap out of an airplane mid-flight rather than face the hangman, and, as in ''The Satan Bug'', the heroes don't try to stop him. |
| 183 | * In ''[[Literature/TheHeirChronicles The Dragon Heir]]'' by Cinda Williams Chima, the villain self-disposes by magically attacking someone who is not only immune to magic but sucks magic out of wizards. This effect doesn't kill itself but does cause exhaustion, so the villain falls down, and there's a handy cliff nearby ... |
| 184 | * At the climax of ''[[Literature/NightWatchSeries Twilight Watch]]'', powerful magic users across the world are channelling energy into Anton as he faces the BigBad. Anton takes all this magic and turns it into a simple shield, protecting himself from all physical and magical influences. Anton inwardly notes that he can't let the Big Bad read his mind and understand the flaw that Anton saw in his plan. The Big Bad then proceeds to teleport himself close enough to the International Space Station to be able to visually target a location to teleport directly on board, but as Anton realised, magic doesn't work in space. |
| 185 | * In ''Literature/{{Renegades}}'', it's eventually revealed that rather than getting beheaded by Captain Chromium, Ace Anarchy threw himself off the roof upon realizing that he couldn't win. At the end of the first book, this turns out that the purpose of this was [[spoiler:faking his own death, as he actually survived]]. |
| 186 | * In both ''Literature/CrimeAndPunishment'' and ''Literature/TheBrothersKaramazov'', the character who can most unambiguously be described as a "villain" (Svidrigailov and Smerdyakov, respectively) commits suicide shortly before the climax. |
| 187 | * The Dayao People from ''Literature/AlwaysComingHome'' by Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin. With considerable territories already conquered and access to ancient online databases, it would have been easy for them to equip a large enough army with high-quality regular weapons. Instead, they decided to focus on the AwesomeButImpractical; namely, an airplane force on a PostPeakOil Earth. Apparently, once your food stocks are depleted due to biofuel production, conquest becomes a tiny bit problematic. |
| 188 | * ''Literature/{{RCN}}: Some Golden Harbor'': Daniel is forced to face a Pellegrinian cruiser with an AxCrazy captain using only a corvette and a partially manned frigate. The Pellegrinian ends up mistakenly passing too close to Dunbar's World's atmosphere, and while ships in the series can normally fly in air, it's a bad idea with your {{antimatter}}-fueled High Drive switched on: given SpaceIsAnOcean, it's kind of like running aground. Captain ap Glynn blows out his own engines and is forced to make a crash landing, leaving Daniel's side in control of orbit by default. |
| 189 | [[/folder]] |
| 190 | |
| 191 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 192 | * This was very common in the early seasons of ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' with the krypto-freaks. If they didn't somehow lose their powers they inevitably met a messy end at their own hands. |
| 193 | * A major trope in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', particularly during the early seasons. [[ThouShaltNotKillMuggles Human villains]] tended to fall into pits of their own monsters while Buffy tried in vain to save them. See especially "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS1E6ThePack}} The Pack]]" and "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E20GoFish}} Go Fish]]". |
| 194 | * In the ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode "Supersymmetry". Fred attempts to kill the villain who, years earlier, had trapped her in Pylea, a demon Hell Dimension, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard by sending him through one of his own portals]]. When her boyfriend, Charles Gunn, intercedes, he explains [[IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim that if she kills him in revenge she will never be the same.]] ''Gunn'' then snaps his neck and throws him into the portal, and they tell the rest of the heroes that this trope happened and he fell into his own portal. |
| 195 | * ''Series/TheFlash2014'': Trajectory, who has gained advanced speed powers thanks to a super drug called Velocity, ends up accidentally killing herself by overdosing on the drugs and running so fast that she disintegrates. |
| 196 | * Terrorists often martyr themselves in ''Series/TwentyFour'', most notably Habib Marwan, the BigBad of Season 4. |
| 197 | * In the episode "Flashpoint" of ''Series/WalkerTexasRanger'', two rouge Irish terrorists, a man and a woman, jump out a skyscraper window after sharing a kiss, choosing to become martyrs over life imprisonment. |
| 198 | * PlayedForLaughs in ''Series/TheITCrowd''. The first boss of the show, Denholm Reynolm, walks out of a top-story window when the police come to investigate irregularities in the company's pension fund. |
| 199 | * A Literature/HerculePoirot sketch on ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'' had the detective calling the SummationGathering and eventually pointing out that the perpetrator is the woman who, over the course of the scene, has inexplicably got sexier, [[GoodSmokingEvilSmoking started smoking]] and started speaking in an "evil voice". Ultimately she shoots herself rather than go to jail. "It is better zis way: some courts, zey do not accept ze evil voice as evidence." |
| 200 | * ''Series/{{Justified}}'' likes to play with this trope. In the opening scene of the series, US Marshal Raylan Givens confronts Tommy Bucks, a PsychoForHire who tortured and brutally murdered a man in front of Raylan. Raylan has no jurisdiction over the crime and no evidence to arrest Bucks for another crime so he instead told him to leave Miami in 24 hours "or else". Right before the time is up, Bucks pulls out his gun and is subsequently shot down by Raylan. Afterwards, Raylan wonders if he would have been capable of murdering Bucks if Bucks did not draw his weapon and made the shooting 'justified'. Throughout the series, Raylan is faced with moral choices that resolve themselves because the bad guys kill themselves, each other or force him to act in clear self-defense. This culminates in the finale of season 4 where a mobster threatens Rayaln's family but is does not 'self dispose' so Raylan gets a second mobster to kill the first mobster for him. |
| 201 | * ''Franchise/KamenRider'' employs it frequently to deal with major human villains: |
| 202 | ** ''Series/KamenRiderDenO'' ends with the BigBad Kai evaporating from overuse of his time manipulation. |
| 203 | ** ''Series/KamenRiderDecade'' has a number of human villains in its GrandFinale movie who dispose of themselves by attempting to unleash the Neo Organism against him, letting Decade fight the resulting monster instead. |
| 204 | ** ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'' takes out nearly all of his opponents nonlethally by stripping them of their powers. All of the major villains manage to die anyway by various means, ranging from the consequences of a DeadlyUpgrade to going mad and walking into a collapsing building. |
| 205 | ** ''Series/KamenRiderFourze'' has most of the villains survive the show, as like Double Fourze's attacks are nonlethal, but the two who abused negative cosmic energy for the longest end up disintegrating shortly after their defeat, which one of them remarks is the consequence of forcibly evolving their bodies. |
| 206 | ** ''Series/KamenRiderDrive'' has the last few surviving Roidmudes turn against their creator when he turns out to be even worse than them, ally with Drive to defeat him, suffer lethal damage in the resulting battle and die. |
| 207 | ** ''Series/KamenRiderGhost'' opens with ArcVillain Saionji attempting to collect all of the Eyecons before the heroes can. Saionji actually gets the full set first and attempts to make his wish, disposing of himself when it turns out you also need a specific device to serve as an interface with the [[PhysicalGod Great Eye]] or you'll be overwhelmed by its power and die. |
| 208 | ** ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' ends with its final villain committing suicide out of spite, taking his power source with him so the heroes can't use it to save the people he took hostage. It takes another ''five'' sequel movies for them to figure out another way to rescue the hostages. |
| 209 | ** ''Series/KamenRiderZiO'' is a show entirely about a VillainProtagonist disposing of himself through time travel convincing his younger self never to become him. |
| 210 | * ''Series/{{Narcos}}'': Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo ends up being the main cause of his own downfall just when he is at the height of his power, having ensured himself the favor of the PRI by helping them rig the 1988 Mexican Presidential election and shipped a record-setting 70 tons of cocaine into the US in one go. However, he overplays his hand when he tips off the US about a Colombian warehouse in Los Angeles to use as leverage against Cali, and orders the murder of Palma's family to scare the Plazas into line. Rather than fall into line like he had hoped, they all break away from the Guadalajara Cartel and start dealing with the Colombians separately. The resulting loss of power ensures that the government withdraws its protection of Felix and has him arrested. |
| 211 | * ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': Being more convenient for the crew not to deal with her, the spy Seska dies from a console overload in [[{{Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS2E26S3E1Basics}} "Basics"]]. |
| 212 | * ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': In the Season 5 finale, [[BigBad Prometheus]] shoots himself, as a final "screw you" to Oliver [[spoiler: as this triggers his DeadMansSwitch and blows up Lian Yu, with all of Team Arrow still on it.]] |
| 213 | * ''Series/TheTerror'': In the end, [[spoiler:[[AnimalisticAbomination the Tuunbaq]] defeats itself by devouring so many diseased or poisoned sailors that it [[TooSpicyForYogSothoth gives itself a near-lethal case of food poisoning]], weakening it enough for Crozier to finish it off.]] |
| 214 | * ''Series/Supergirl2015'': In the GrandFinale, Lex summons a legion of Phantoms to attack the heroes and lay waste to Earth. Unfortunately for him, Phantoms feed on fear, and the two most fearful beings present are those who have been masking it behind hubris: himself and Nyxly. The Phantoms proceed to seize them both and [[DraggedOffToHell drag them off to the Phantom Zone.]] |
| 215 | * ''Series/Stargirl2020'': In the GrandFinale, during the climactic battle in a junkyard, Lily Mahkent attempts to hit Wildcat with an ice blast, only to miss and hit a precariously-balanced car that falls and crushes her, Wicked Witch of the East-style. As Wildcat insists to Dr. Mid-Nite, "I didn't do it!" |
| 216 | * ''Series/ChoujuuSentaiLiveman'': While it's [[TheLeader Yusuke]] who stops his EvilPlan and [[NonProtagonistResolver Kemp]] who disrupts his [[FountainOfYouth Giga Brain Wave]], [[BigBad Great Professor Bias]] dies by his own hand when he, rapidly aging and losing his grip on reality, orders his robot henchman to activate the rockets on his downed SpaceBase, causing it to explode and collapse in on him. |
| 217 | * At the end of ''Series/KevinCanFuckHimself'', Kevin lights Allison's belongings on fire and then passes out in a drunken bender. The inferno quickly grows out of control and kills him. |
| 218 | [[/folder]] |
| 219 | |
| 220 | [[folder:Podcasts]] |
| 221 | * Jenkins of ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance'' misses a spell, causing his own monster to turn on him and throw him out the back of the train. |
| 222 | [[/folder]] |
| 223 | |
| 224 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 225 | * In ''Radio/AdventuresInOdyssey'' Dr. Blackgaard, already near death due to infection by the virus he had hoped to threaten the world with, stays behind inside the Whit's End building as the bombs he planted there are activated. |
| 226 | [[/folder]] |
| 227 | |
| 228 | [[folder:Theater]] |
| 229 | * In ''Theatre/LesMiserables'', Javert's entire worldview is [[VillainousBSOD shattered]] when Valjean saves his life from the rebels. He decides he simply [[DrivenToSuicide can't live]] in a world where criminals can be good people, and jumps off a bridge. |
| 230 | --> '''Javert''': And does he know, that granting me my life today, this man has killed me even so? |
| 231 | * ''Theatre/SpiderManTurnOffTheDark'': During the FinalBattle, the Green Goblin tries to spite Spider-Man by dropping a piano from the top of the Empire State Building onto the bystanders below. However, since Spidey had webbed the Goblin to the piano earlier in the fight, he ends up dragged to his DisneyVillainDeath. |
| 232 | * In the National Theatre's 2014 production of ''Theatre/{{Treasure Island|2014}}'', Jim's confrontation with Israel Hands ends with Hands showing his contempt by casually lighting his pipe and carelessly flicking away the match ... in the direction of the ship's gunpower store, which goes up, taking Hands with it. |
| 233 | [[/folder]] |
| 234 | |
| 235 | [[folder:Theme Parks]] |
| 236 | * The hijacker on ''Ride/TheGreatMovieRide'' at [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Disney's Hollywood Studios]] ends up offing him/herself when he/she attempts to steal a cursed jewel, which gets him/her roasted into a skeleton. |
| 237 | * One of the evil minions in ''Theatre/TheEighthVoyageOfSindbad'' at [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal's Islands of Adventure]] decides to just jump to his death when faced against both Sindbad and Amoura. |
| 238 | [[/folder]] |
| 239 | |
| 240 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 241 | * ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'': In the midst of the {{roofhopping}} area at Noctis City, Ann encounters a {{mook|s}} in [[FullBoarAction boar armor]] that immediately attempts to attack her by performing a charging rush attack. Ann immediately dodges it while the mook ends up causing himself to be thrown off the top of the building and fall straight to the ground. |
| 242 | * Almost all of the GambitPileup in ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' killed themselves or each other off before you even got to Yharnam. Byrgenwerth was abandoned after the Healing Church split from it ([[spoiler:and its master Willem turned himself into a vegetable in pursuit of Insight]]), the Healing Church higher-ups have mostly turned into beasts through their reckless use of the Old Blood, and the School of Mensis all went braindead when an attempt to contact Mergo went wrong. Your job isn't to fight them, it's to deal with the mess they left in their wake. |
| 243 | * This a common way for Psychopaths in the ''Franchise/DeadRising'' series to meet their end after being beaten in a boss fight. For example, Adam from the [[VideoGame/DeadRising first game]] dies via his own chainsaws, Leon from [[VideoGame/DeadRising2 the second]] burns himself alive and Zhi from [[VideoGame/DeadRising3 the third game]] chops off his own head. |
| 244 | * ''VideoGame/DisneysHadesChallenge'' has a rare non-death version of this since Hades is immortal; he's so freaked out on seeing you armed with Zeus's lightning that in trying to fast-talk you, he backs off a cliff and falls into the Styx. |
| 245 | * Fawful, the BigBad of ''Videogame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory'', self-destructs in a final attempt to destroy the Mario Bros. |
| 246 | * ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'': |
| 247 | ** In ''Videogame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'', Garo Master blows himself up with a bomb to fulfill the Garo law to "[[NoBodyLeftBehind die without leaving a corpse]]". |
| 248 | ** In ''VIdeoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', Master Kohga summons a giant spikeball but is too busy gloating about Link's imminent death to actually try crushing Link with it. As a result, the spikeball rolls back towards him and pushes him into the BottomlessPit. |
| 249 | * In ''Videogame/Mother3'', Porky seals himself in the Absolutely Safe Capsule during the boss fight. This renders him completely invulnerable, but also a complete non-threat because he can't escape, interact with the outside world, or even die, (when they say absolutely safe, they mean ''absolutely'' safe, and outside the capsule is very unsafe) so from an outsider's point of view he's effectively dead, and from Porky's point of view [[FateWorseThanDeath it's probably even worse]]. Also a "[[TearJerker tragic]]" example with the Masked Man, whom the protagonist cannot even attack against, uses attacks that the Franklin Badge reflects to [[ICanNotSelfTerminate break]] [[DyingAsYourself Free]]. |
| 250 | * In ''Videogame/Uncharted3DrakesDeception'', Rameses, though wounded by Nate, shoots the window of an underwater portion of the ship, causing it to flood and drown him. Although Nate is able to escape. |
| 251 | * ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': |
| 252 | ** Ghetsis ends up in VillainousBreakdown-induced catatonia after being defeated in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'', for the non-lethal variant. |
| 253 | ** In ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'', Lysandre fires the Ultimate Weapon. Afterward, it's left ambiguous whether he's dead (Y), or ''immortal and BuriedAlive forever'' (X). |
| 254 | * In ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'', Hidden Phantom, although not exactly a straight-out villain, detonates his own body when he fails to subdue Zero before he reaches Copy X. More startling is the fact Phantom is the only one of the Four Guardians to try a suicide attack on Zero, indicating he may be the most ruthless of them all combined. |
| 255 | * At the end of the first ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'', Saturos and Menardi throw themselves into Venus Lighthouse rather than accept defeat by Isaac & Friends. Subverted with a vengeance ([[RoaringRampageOfRevenge literally]]) in ''The Lost Age'' when it turns out [[WellIntentionedExtremist they weren't exactly villains to begin with]]. |
| 256 | * Subverted and inverted in the ending of ''Super VideoGame/MeatBoy''. Dr. Fetus seems to be killed by his own DyingMomentOfAwesome, but then he pops up again, only to be crushed helpless by Bandage Girl. |
| 257 | * ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles'': |
| 258 | ** In ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'', the giant war robot "Metal Face" serves as the ArchEnemy for Shulk and most of his party for much of the game's first act, having killed countless innocent people including Shulk's ChildhoodFriend Fiora. But later on, Metal Face is revealed to actually be a HumongousMecha piloted by [[HumansByAnyOtherName a fellow homs]] named Mumkhar. After Mumkhar's final defeat, Shulk finds himself unable to take his life (reasoning that [[ThouShaltNotKill killing a sentient being]] is wrong, even if they're [[AssholeVictim a traitorous, murderous sociopath]]) and actually [[GoThroughMe stands in the way]] of Dunban (Fiora's brother and Mumkhar's [[WeUsedToBeFriends former comrade]]) when the latter tries to kill him instead. Mumkhar takes this opportunity [[ISurrenderSuckers to fire a blast at the heroes,]] but he misses and hits a spire that falls down and impales him and pins him to a falling platform, killing him. |
| 259 | ** In ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'', an already struggling Mobius O and P find out the hard way that staying in Interlink for too long causes an Annihilation Event. Noah and Mio barely have enough time to break the cliff below them in order to get them far enough that the Ouroboros aren't caught in the blast. Mobius D and J meet the same fate when Joran has a HeelFaceTurn and overloads the the Interlink in order take both him and D out. |
| 260 | * In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'' this is The Joker's fate. While Batman goes over the reasons why Joker doesn't deserve to be given the cure for his illness, Joker stabs him and causes the vial to fall to the floor and break. As the Joker lies dying without any hope of a cure, Batman points out the absurdity that despite every evil thing Joker has done, he ''still'' would have given him the cure if he'd had the chance, causing the Joker to admit that it's actually sorta funny. |
| 261 | * In ''VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}}'', Lord Raptor ends up accidentally killing himself in his character ending by absorbing too much of [[DarkMessiah Jedah's]] dark power, resulting in him blowing up. |
| 262 | * In ''Videogame/DantesInferno'', the Queen of Hell [[BrainwashedAndCrazy Beatrice]], who was preparing to fight her former lover, ends up fainting after remembering her past identity thanks to Dante proving himself to her. |
| 263 | * In ''Videogame/MassEffect1'', if your Paragon or Renegade skill is high enough, you can convince Saren Arterius to kill himself because Sovereign is taking over his mind and it's not too late to help the hero. Though you have to fight his corpse once Sovereign assumes direct control. The same can also occur to The Illusive Man in the third game if you manage to make him have a HeelRealization. |
| 264 | * The third parasite in ''VideoGame/TheCatLady'' forces the cat lady to play the piano before he kills her. Playing the piano is how she tells the neighborhood cats that she's ready to feed them, and they don't take kindly to him threatening her. |
| 265 | * ''Videogame/FiveNightsAtFreddys3'' shows that after seemingly avoiding justice for his crimes for years, William Afton returned to the abandoned Freddy Fazbear's Pizza to dismantle the animatronics, releasing the spirits of his victims and prompting him to hide in his old Spring Bonnie suit. One EvilLaugh later and [[KarmicDeath he's crushed once the suit's springlocks break loose]]. It's zigzagged, however, in that though he dies, [[HauntedTechnology he's not exactly gone for good]]. Luckily, ''Videogame/FreddyFazbearsPizzeriaSimulator'' shows him receiving his final death, after [[IdiotBall being lured into a building that he knew was probably a trap.]] |
| 266 | * ''Videogame/MrBones:'' The main villain, the vampire [=DaGoulian=], undergoes a VillainousBreakdown after failing to corrupt Mr. Bones and keeps ranting at him even as the latter tries to warn him the sun's coming up behind him, which would naturally be a problem. He refuses to listen and keeps ranting until it's too late, and he's crisped without Mr. Bones having to lift a finger (or ''wanting'' to). |
| 267 | -->'''Mr. Bones:''' Not much of a listener, was he? |
| 268 | * Some of the more evil characters in the ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal'' games suffer this fate once Calypso's JackassGenie tendencies kick in. [[TheGrimReaper Mr. Grimm]] in the second game, for instance, wishes for humanity to start dying faster so that he can consume more souls -- causing Calypso to make all humans start killing each other, giving him a short-term glut of souls to feast on followed by starvation once humanity is extinct. In the same game, the egotistical architect Simon Whittlebone wishes for the resources to construct the tallest skyscraper in the world -- which he then falls from as he keeps trying to build it ever higher so that nobody else builds one even taller. Given that Calypso is himself evil, however, evil characters are more likely than the good guys to get precisely what they wanted from their wishes. |
| 269 | * ''VideoGame/PathfinderKingmaker'': In the first boss fight against Tartuccio at Old Sycamore, he likes to cast Fireball, which does nasty AOE damage. Due to ArtificialStupidity and the small size of the boss room, he's prone to catching his {{mooks}} in the blast as well, and will even try to cast it on the player party if they rush to melee range with him--which with intelligently built characters means he has a tendency to blow himself to bits. |
| 270 | * In ''VideoGame/BrutalOrchestra'', enemies with the Withering passive status effect will automatically die when the rest of the enemies perish. Some enemies will also inflict self-damage, meaning that a player can sit back and watch as the enemy kills itself for them. |
| 271 | [[/folder]] |
| 272 | |
| 273 | [[folder:Web Comics]] |
| 274 | * In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', Damien's VillainousBreakdown upon realizing Grace can match his power and he might ''not'' be a living god drives him to use his fire powers to immolate himself and Grace. If he is a god, he'll survive it; if he isn't, [[DrivenToSuicide he doesn't want to]]. |
| 275 | * ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' |
| 276 | ** {{Subverted}} when [[SmugSnake Kubota]] cleverly surrenders right before [[TookALevelInBadass Elan]] is going to kill him as revenge for Therkla's murder. Kubota realizes that he can probably raise sufficient reasonable doubt to get acquitted in a trial and that Elan is too heroic to kill him in cold blood. DoubleSubverted, however, because Vaarsuvius ''isn't'' that heroic. |
| 277 | ** PlayedWith in [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1222.html another strip]] where it looks like Xykon unknowingly disintegrated himself walking across a booby trap, followed by the rest of Team Evil. Naturally, they're alive, but Belkar isn't fond of the supposed anti-climatic victory. |
| 278 | --->'''Belkar:''' ''(To Elan)'' If all the main villains just disintegrated themselves walking across a line on the floor, I don't want to hear about narrative structure from you ''ever again!'' |
| 279 | * In ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-11-09 Nov. 9, 2009]] Schlock is trying to subdue some rioters who locked themselves in a storeroom on the ship, so he uses his plasma cannons to cut through the bulkhead. One of the rioters throws a hand grenade at the hole Schlock made, but it misses and bounces off the wall before Schlock can even enter. This lands back on them and explodes. Turns out they were carrying antimatter which also explodes, incinerating all of them. ''Schlock didn't have to do anything.'' Mildly injured by the blast, he [[DeadpanSnarker jokes flatly]] to his crew-mate Elf, "they committed suicide when they saw me coming," a CallBack to a [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2008-06-18 colorful description of a self-destruct on a bug]]. |
| 280 | * ''Webcomic/ProblemSleuth'': While the heroes manage to dispatch Demonhead Mobster Kingpin, the ''real'' Mobster Kingpin doesn't get defeated by Team Sleuth at all. Instead, he is pushed through his Gravity Corset by the moon, ejected from his black hole, and dies via [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice getting his body impaled on the Ham Needle]]. |
| 281 | [[/folder]] |
| 282 | |
| 283 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 284 | * In ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'', the King of Worms is killed when he accidentally scares himself to death upon looking into Linkara's mind. |
| 285 | * ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': |
| 286 | ** In the series finale of Volume 3, [[spoiler:Roman Torchwick exits the story when he's gobbled up by a Grimm in the middle of a [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech furious beating punctuated by a rant about the stupidity and pointlessness of Ruby's heroism]]. Remember that Grimm are ''attracted to negative emotions''.]] |
| 287 | ** In ''True Colors'', [[spoiler:Fennec meets his end by trying to dive at Ghira while he's holding up the collapsing second-story balcony. Blake uses her ribbon to yank her dad out of the way at the last possible moment, and Fennec goes splat.]] |
| 288 | * ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'': ''Mercilessly'' parodied with their take on Garlic Jr. In ''Dead Zone Abridged'', he's got a bit of a problem with realizing [[DidntThinkThisThrough the flaws in his plans]] just a little too late (he only manages to use the dragon balls after ordering his minions to kill Kami because said minions are too incompetent to do so), and one of said plans is to use the Dead Zone to trap the heroes when it's also the only way of defeating him. In the main series, he comes back and immediately [[MuggingTheMonster mouths off to Mr. Popo]]. In the ''Kai'' episode that properly abridges his return arc, he claims that he's in therapy due to the events of the movie, and gets a SmartBall moment and decides to close the portal to the Dead Zone and do the obvious tactic of letting his immortality wear the heroes down. [[spoiler: And then [[WebVideo/HellsingUltimateAbridged Alucard]] shoots him into the portal.]] |
| 289 | [[/folder]] |
| 290 | |
| 291 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 292 | * ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'': It's pretty much become a running gag when [[TheyKilledKennyAgain Master Shake]] kills himself because of his own stupidity. One time he actually killed himself in an attempt to cheat at a weight loss contest by mishandling a liposuction machine that accidentally killed him in an instant. |
| 293 | * ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Discussed with a past Avatar, Kyoshi, and her defeat of Chin the Conqueror. When he tried to attack her hometown, she used her powers to split the earth and make her home an island, preventing his army from accessing it. When that happened, Chin, standing on the newly-formed cliff edge, lost his footing and fell to his death. Aang argues that Chin's death was an accident and not really Kyoshi's fault, but Kyoshi replies that she doesn't really see the difference and takes responsibility for it regardless, and further states that if it had come to it, she ''would'' have killed Chin directly without hesitation anyway. |
| 294 | * ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'': |
| 295 | ** Ra's al Ghul is killed while trying to salvage his only Lazarus Pit while his lair is about to collapse. A stray electric wire falls into the pit, making it explode before he can even react to the ensuing explosion. |
| 296 | ** In the episode "Sneak Peek", Terry and Bruce figure out the VillainOfTheWeek, a reporter who can somehow eavesdrop on even the most secure locations without being detected, is using technology that allows him to pass through walls in order to do it. However, there's not really anything they can do about it, because he's not technically committed any actual crimes (that they knew of at the time...). Even when the reporter discovers that Terry is Batman (and Bruce ''was'' Batman) and says he's going to reveal it to the world, they can't really stop him. Fortunately for them, the device that allowed the reporter (which it turns out he stole and killed the creator of) to become intangible is unstable and turns him permanently and uncontrollable intangible, causing him to [[CruelAndUnusualDeath fall to the centre of the Earth]]. |
| 297 | * Lampshaded and averted in ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'' in the episode where the Liquidator debuts, "[[Recap/DarkwingDuckS1E34DryHard Dry Hard]]". When CorruptCorporateExecutive Bud Flood falls into a pool of chemicals, Darkwing tries to reach him with a pole, only for the pole to melt. Darkwing is a little upset about it, but tries to hide it by telling Launchpad that "it saves a lot of time when the villain does himself in like that!" (Bud is ''not'' dead, however; the accident turns him into the Liquidator, making him far more of a threat than before.) |
| 298 | * In ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZimEnterTheFlorpus'', when Zim teleports Earth into the path of the Irken mothership while inadvertently opening the titular wormhole, the Tallest are only interested in getting the Earth out of their way and completely ignore the Florpus, [[OnlySaneMan even as one of the Irkens on the bridge continuously tries to warn them of the danger it presents]], but [[IgnoredExpert keeps getting blown off]]. This ends up resulting in the Irken flagship flying straight into the Florpus, trapping the Irken Armada in its void. |
| 299 | * In one infamous example on ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest'', General Fong, [[YouHaveFailedMe angered with one of his men]] for allowing the Quests to escape, [[BadBoss shoots him in a rage]]. Unfortunately, the mook's body then collapses onto a PlungerDetonator for a SeaMine Fong's boat [[HoistByHisOwnPetard was directly over]]. |
| 300 | * ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': |
| 301 | ** Darkseid and Lex Luthor both end up killing themselves when they interact with the Anti-Life Equation in an attempt to unlock great knowledge of the unknown universe. |
| 302 | ** In the episode ''Fury'', Aresia ultimately dies in her own doomsday device in a desperate attempt to continue her goal of [[{{Gendercide}} wiping out all men of the world]] in order to achieve what she thinks is peace. |
| 303 | * ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'''s Dr. Drakken has done this to himself: |
| 304 | ** In "Rappin' Drakken", he creates mind-control shampoo and tries to sell it in stores. Because of the ominous tagline ("Lather, Rinse, Obey") and the fact that the bottles have his face on them, nobody buys the shampoo. Kim chuckles about Drakken's latest scheme being "Self-foiling" and the remainder of the episode is the mad scientist trying to shill his product on a TV song contest. |
| 305 | ** In "Ron Millionaire", Drakken's latest DoomsdayDevice ends up destroying itself without Kim's involvement. |
| 306 | * In ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', Debbie dies when she accidentally triggers her shotgun at herself while trying to climb into a dumpster in order to surprise attack Buck Strickland and his wife. |
| 307 | * Twice in ''WesternAnimation/LifeWithLouie'' recurring villain [[TheBully Glen Glen]] ends defeating himself: |
| 308 | ** In ''How to Succeed in Washington Without Really Trying'' Louie buys speech from Glen Glen for class assigment and it's deemed so good the whole class goes to Washington to present it at national contest in front of the Crongress. Louie ends up confessing on stage, but refrains from naming the person who sold him the speech. Cue Glen Glen getting up and loudly threatening him if he snitches...then realizing he just told on himself in front of everyone. |
| 309 | ** In ''The Masked Chess Boy'' when Louie reveals himself as the Masked Chess Boy, Glen Glen immediatelly starts mocking him for liking chess. On a chess tournament full of people who like chess. He ends up pissing up two older, bigger boys, who drag him away. |
| 310 | * ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': Doofenshmirtz’s evil schemes tend to backfire on him all the time; in fact, there are times when Perry is not around his own inventions get destroyed on their own. Not that it stops him from cursing Perry anyway. |
| 311 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretSaturdays'', the series' main antagonist V.V. Argost is killed when after absorbing the powers of Zak Saturday's EvilDoppelganger Zak Monday, he attempts to do the same to Zak himself to enhance his already advanced power levels to an even higher god-like strength. Zak Monday in question came from an anti-matter MirrorUniverse and since reality is torn apart when matter and anti-matter collide, the combined abilities from both Zaks are too much for Argost to handle, and [[YinYangBomb he is sucked into a vortex created by the dangerous combination of conflicting energies]]. |
| 312 | * ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': Jasper's defeat happens in a sequence of events, the decisive moment when she's eliminated as a serious threat is the result of her deciding to forcibly fuse with a corrupted monster, infecting herself in the process. |
| 313 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'' episode "Horrid Lorry", the three Lorries all end up being taken off Sodor after crashing, backing into a harbor, and being overloaded and broken down respectively. Unlike other villains in the series, the engines don’t do a thing to get rid of them. |
| 314 | ** This applies to some other villains as well -- for example, in his debut episode, Bulgy ends up getting stuck under a bridge, though he is eventually repaired later in the series. In another episode, Diesel pulls too hard while trying to move some of the Troublesome Trucks and breaks the chain, causing him to fall onto a barge in the harbor. |
| 315 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'': As it turns out, Nox is so ''ruthlessly'' effective at taking care of the heroes this ends up being the only possible way he can be stopped: [[spoiler:Nox's ultimate downfall comes when he fails to realize he can ''never'' attain enough wakfu to go back two-hundred years and instead burns his entire supply going back twenty minutes, ''just'' before his victory. Nox ''[[VillainousBreakdown freaks]]'' at this.]] |
| 316 | * ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'': During Season 4's Atlantis Arc, the heroes rush to stop Ocean Master from taking the throne via duplicity, only to fail at the end. [[spoiler:When Orm (whose brain was inserted into the cloned body of Arion, former ruler of Atlantis) tries to take Arion's magic crown, though, the Lords of Order, who a. created the crown and b. have a ''significant'' grievance against Orm's boss Vandal Savage, immediately kill off Orm and drain the crown of its power]]. |
| 317 | [[/folder]] |
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