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4[[quoteright:328:[[Webcomic/LookingForGroup https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/killed_the_guide.jpg]]]]
5[[caption-width-right:328:Richard, you really, ''really'' DidntThinkThisThrough...]]
6
7->''"I am compelled to do evil, regardless of its utility.''"
8-->-- '''Dmitri Noumenon''', ''Webcomic/DresdenCodak''
9
10An {{exaggerated|Trope}} form of ForTheEvulz, where a character feels the need to do evil things even at times when such actions are ''clearly'' not in their best interests, sometimes to the point where it goes against basic self-preservation. Such characters will [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder betray allies]], [[TeamKiller kill team-mates]], [[ThrewMyBikeOnTheRoof threaten or harm people who were previously willing to give them what they wanted]], [[EvilIsPetty be petty]], [[BullyingADragon piss off]] all [[AwakeningTheSleepingGiant the wrong people]], [[EvilVersusEvil attack fellow villains]] to [[EvilerThanThou prove they are more evil]], [[TheStarscream sabotage their leaders]], [[BadBoss abuse and exploit underlings]], [[TheBully throw their weight around at every opportunity]], [[{{Sadist}} engage in utterly pointless acts of cruelty]], [[TheFarmerAndTheViper reward kindness with cruelty]], [[LeeroyJenkins spurn plans and start fights that they absolutely should not have started]], [[DickDastardlyStopsToCheat rub salt in the wound even when it would destroy an already-present advantage]], and generally be [[TooDumbToLive suicidally stupid]] simply [[DickDastardlyStopsToCheat because it's eeeevil]].
11
12In short, these characters cannot let go of the VillainBall, to the point that it's a wonder they haven't [[TooDumbToLive caused their own death]] already, and it comes as no surprise if they eventually do. A useful solution to the question of HanlonsRazor; instead of debating whether a [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs villain is stupid or evil, they're both at the same time]].
13
14This, along with ChaoticStupid, is also often one of the reasons the forces of evil never manage to destroy the forces of good: it's not particularly evil to [[VillainTeamUp work with others]], or [[CutLexLuthorACheck acquire wealth and power through legal means]], and so forth. In particular, this is both a JustifiedTrope and a serious occupational hazard for demons and other MadeOfEvil entities - an innate compulsion to spread evil and subhuman intelligence (or even just a human-plausible lack of intelligence, foresight, and/or creativity) are a very dangerous combination.
15
16In video games, this often results from poor implementation of a KarmaMeter. These games need to provide the player with the opportunity to be evil, but their evil actions usually can't go too far without either breaking the game's narrative or going over the line into uncomfortable territory. Thus, most "evil" options in games take the form of random KickTheDog or VideoGameCrueltyPotential moments, most of which offer little to no gain (extorting a quest-giver to slightly increase a meager reward) or are even harmful to you (killing off a potential ally). In games where [[NoPointsForNeutrality having very low karma provides some kind of benefit]], it turns into players aiming to get the lowest as quickly as possible, which invariably leads to this trope in terms of how their character will act.
17
18Compare with LawfulStupid, ChaoticStupid, StupidNeutral, and StupidGood. Contrast with PragmaticVillainy, when a villain only does evil things for practical reasons and refrains from doing them when they would be counter-productive, or PokeThePoodle, when a character tries to do bad things but is either too [[GoodCannotComprehendEvil kind]] or {{ineffectual|SympatheticVillain}}. See also the InsufferableImbecile, who is not always a villain, but whose deliberate ignorance leads to a rejection of the basic rules of decency. Also compare SanityHasAdvantages. A SmugSnake is usually StupidEvil, although it's not mandatory - sometimes their incompetence and overconfidence isn't closely related to their evil. If an otherwise competent antagonist momentarily becomes Stupid Evil, they've caught a VillainBall. See also DickDastardlyStopsToCheat, where a villain sabotages their own scheme by doing evil when they could've won by playing fair, and CutLexLuthorACheck, where a villain uses something for evil when their goal could have been accomplished with it legally. If a character becomes aware of this trope and switches sides, see MoralPragmatist. For this trope's GoodCounterpart, see GoodIsDumb.
19
20Not to be confused with StupidCrooks, although these tropes can overlap.
21
22[[noreallife]]
23----
24[[folder:Tropes]]
25[[index]]
26* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Typically their reputation, as they have a well-earned rep for being gigantic liabilities that you don't want to be anywhere near.
27* AxCrazy: A villain is [[SanityHasAdvantages too unstable and/or irrational to make good decisions]], and consequently [[EvenEvilHasStandards becomes a pariah among fellow villains]] after they gain a rep as a liability and/or a ticking time bomb who is just as likely to attack you as they are the enemy.
28* BadBoss: Mistreating the people that work for you while thinking the fact you sign the checks gives you free license to kill or torture them doesn't breed loyalty.
29* BetterToKillThanFrighten: When explicitly against the boss' orders or colleague expectations, a villain (out of stupidity or blood thirst) kills someone when intimidation/blackmail would have been enough. More often than not, it becomes a huge KickTheDog act for the killer that, at absolute best, leaves the boss [[SurroundedByIdiots looking for a reason to get rid of them]] and at worst is the direct reason of their inevitable demise.
30* BondVillainStupidity: There is nothing quite as dumb as telling the hero how to stop your plan just because you're ''so'' certain that they're going to die and therefore can't do anything about the scheme.
31* TheBrute (with TheHero as TheSmartGuy)
32* BullyingADragon: The villain repeatedly antagonizes and torments someone who is far above their weight class because they think that they won't do anything about it.
33* CardCarryingVillain: The villain is so determined and proud to be ObviouslyEvil (even literally [[MyCard having cards printed out]]) that he absolutely refuses any kind of pragmatic options because he doesn't believe that's what villains do.
34* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Villains don't care much about maintaining loyalty, but this villain really doesn't know how to do anything else but betray whenever he thinks he can get away with it... emphasis on "can".
35* ChronicVillainy: A villain goes back to their villainous ways despite being taught that doing villainy will bite them in the rear.
36* CompleteMonster: When their particular breed of idiocy involves one unspeakably vile and cruel act after another, with zero redeeming value and often zero forethought.
37* CutLexLuthorACheck: The villain uses their powers and gadgets to commit crimes for profit when they could easily be using their gifts to get money the legal way.
38* DesecratingTheDead: Many villains have lost the fight because for many, literally kicking a dead horse is considered too damn much to tolerate.
39* DickDastardlyStopsToCheat: The villain cheats in a competition even though their opponent has no chance at beating them, which often ironically leads to the opponent being able to beat them because the villain's cheating allowed them time to catch up.
40* DirtyCoward: It’s hard for bad guys to find assistance to help them with their EvilPlan if they have a reputation of throwing said assistance under the bus to save their own skin in times of danger. And if said lackeys survive the betrayal, [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge they’ll likely seek retribution for it.]]
41* DisproportionateRetribution: The villain punishes someone for a relatively minor offense, no matter how minor the offense, and said punishment runs the risk of making the villain cross the line.
42* DoNotTauntCthulhu: A villain decides to piss off a PhysicalGod, no matter how dumb it is.
43* TheDogBitesBack: The usual result of needless, pointless cruelty.
44* EvenEvilHasStandards: The general reaction from saner, more rational villains.
45* EvilCannotComprehendGood: The bad guy doesn't understand why the heroes do what they do or is unable to conceive of a reason for the heroes' actions that isn't selfish, cruel or otherwise immoral.
46* EvilIsNotAToy: The villain decides to toy with [[TheDarkArts dark]], [[DealWithTheDevil hellish powers]] that are [[EldritchAbomination beyond his understanding]], and ends up screwing himself over because either the power source is too much for him to handle, or it decides it doesn’t want to play second fiddle to said villain and promptly kills him or [[FateWorseThanDeath worse]].
47* EvilIsPetty: Bad guys are willing to commit the most heinous of atrocities just because they're pricks.
48* EvilVersusEvil: When villain internecine is due to one villain needlessly starting trouble with another just to try and flex.
49* EvilerThanThou: The villain is determined to prove he's more evil, even if that means doing stupid decisions.
50* TheFarmerAndTheViper: The villain repays the person helping them out by being evil to them.
51* FascistButInefficient: This is when "foot stomping on humanity's face" supersedes "the trains run on time", even if the trains running on time is very important to keep stepping on humanity's face.
52* ForTheEvulz: Committing evil deeds solely for the sake of doing them, to the point that they jeopardize their own plan simply because they cannot restrain the urge to be a sadistic, unnecessarily cruel moron. This is the core trope.
53* TheFriendNobodyLikes: This "friend" is HatedByAll, typically for a good reason.
54* GloryHound: Deliberately endangering people in the pursuit of glorifying their ego isn't going to breed loyalty.
55* GreedMakesYouDumb: Villains who are motivated by {{greed}} sometimes end up screwing themselves out of profit because of it.
56* HateSink: Most Stupid Evil characters are this, as their needless cruelty and sadism cement their loathsomeness.
57* HoistByHisOwnPetard: What many, many examples of Stupid Evil behavior often result in.
58* HairTriggerTemper: When a villain has a level of restraint so minuscule that he ends up BlindedByRage and blows their master plan because someone insulted him or he thinks they did.
59* IrrationalHatred: A villain that hates someone so much that they don't bother to question the origin of that hatred (hating someone because they killed your family makes sense, hating them because they are gingers doesn't) or whether or not the actions taken for the sake of destroying them are actually useful for ''anything''.
60* ItsAllAboutMe: A villain is self-centered to the point of making poor decisions because he cares more for himself than everything else.
61* {{Jerkass}}: A villain goes out of their way to be an asshole to people they meet, and as a result ends up bringing more harm than good upon their head.
62* JustAGangster: The villain has a desire for street rep and "thug life" to the point he will actually [[CutLexLuthorACheck undermine any attempt at getting more money or reputation that, even slightly, requires legitimate channels]] or label anybody who does as a "gone soft sell-out" and try to kill them, no matter how stupid ''that'' is.
63* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: If a villain keeps pushing their luck just because they can, they'll find their warranty expiring much sooner than they would want it to.
64* KarmicDeath: Frequently the fate for these villains. More often than not, their needlessly cruel acts lead to their demise.
65* KickTheDog: Many villains of this type just cannot resist doing evil crap, even when it isn't in their best interest.
66* LeeroyJenkins: A villain impulsively starts or joins fights that are way out of their league.
67* LethallyStupid: When a dumb villain is dangerous solely due to the repercussions of their own bad decisions.
68* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: What mistreating your minions ends up leading to.
69* TheMillstone: The villain ends up making things worse for his team than if they weren't there.
70* MookDepletion: The villain has executed so many of his minions and/or sent so many of his minions to their deaths that he has none left to assist in his schemes or defend him when the heroes come calling.
71* MoralEventHorizon: The one bad deed a character does that erases any chance there was of redemption. While this is an audience reaction trope, any deed horrific enough to be a MoralEventHorizon will usually erase a huge chunk of a villain's trust, support, and goodwill if it becomes known in-universe as well.
72* MachiavelliWasWrong: When villains that rule by fear escalate things to the point that they either self-sabotage themselves or their evil scheme by being said fearmongering asshat, or their minions grow to hate them more than fear them and either [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere promptly desert them]] or [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal rebel]].
73* NiceJobFixingItVillain: The villain attempts to do something to harm the hero, but their actions instead shift things toward the hero's favor.
74* NoHonorAmongThieves: Villains who believe this rarely have a better plan than "backstab, grab, and run". Most don't even think that doing it ''after'' the plan is well and truly over and they are 100% sure the loot ''won't'' get lost, or that their colleagues won’t catch on and preemptively off them are good ideas.
75* OmnicidalManiac: It's very hard to find reliable allies when your goal in life is "kill all life, things that annoy me the most first" and make no attempt to hide it.
76* OverzealousUnderling: When a goon is so willing to please the boss that they overstep their boundaries, causing death and destruction (and misunderstandings) the boss did not want, and the heroes to come looking for blood.
77* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: A villain goes out of their way to be bigoted, and as a result brings more harm than good upon their head.
78* RapePillageAndBurn: A villain committing wanton destruction (and rape, which most people ([[EvenEvilHasStandards and even some villains]]) consider [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil one of the worst crimes a villain can perform]]) will do nothing but earn them a bunch of enemies.
79* RevengeBeforeReason: A villain is so consumed with revenge against whoever wronged them that it either hampers their performance because they’re too wrapped up finding a way to savagely murder the offender to think clearly, or the target in question has proven themselves to be the type of person the villain [[BullyingADragon doesn’t want to ever screw with, retribution or otherwise.]]
80* {{Sadist}}: A villain is so consumed with their joy for harming others that they spend too much time making their enemies suffer when [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim they could have just simply finished them off]].
81* SanityHasAdvantages: Villains with mental health issues often make incredibly poor choices that sane, stable villains would likely not make, and even end up vulnerable to being taken advantage of by others.
82* SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers: Calling out foolish, low-life cynics.
83* SmugSnake: A character becomes so overconfident and arrogant that their own hubris sabotages their plan, or their attempts to rub their sense of superiority in the faces of others ends up not having the desired effect.
84* SelfDisposingVillain: In cases where the villain manages to either put themselves out of commission or kill themselves because of their own boneheaded decisions.
85* ThrewMyBikeOnTheRoof: A villain decides to vandalize someone else’s property for shits and giggles, only to have their target end up causing trouble for them in the long run, or being promptly caught by the police and arrested.
86* ThisIsUnforgivable: Congratulations, now the hero is so pissed off that [[ThisMeansWar nothing less than the villain's complete defeat/death will be accepted as a resolution]], and [[GodzillaThreshold will be driven to utilize tactics that he would never think of doing otherwise]] because assholes like these must be eliminated as soon ([[DeaderThanDead and as effectively]]) as possible. All because the villains decided to paint themselves as utterly irredeemable. Because they're idiots.
87* TooDumbToLive: A dumb character ends up killing or endangering themselves because of their idiocy.
88* UnderlingWithAnFInPR: Because of sheer stupidity or a dangerous addiction to being a CardCarryingVillain (which is no different), an underling constantly blurts out the secret that their boss is a villain (and maybe other information about their schemes) [[LooseLips for everybody to listen]], which destroys the boss's attempts at creating good publicity (or at least keep the heroes away from their trail).
89* VillainBall: The result of a normally-competent villain doing something extremely stupid for no good reason, usually out of cruelty or greed.
90* VillainousEthicsDecay: The evil character, young blood in the game, is so driven to prove themself as [[EvilerThanThou the most evil of them all]] ASAP that they break anything the other villains consider standards. More often than not, that leads to the young blood being singled out for destruction - the heroes because the villain [[GodzillaThreshold is considered too much of a threat]], and the other villains because whippersnappers need to know their place.
91* WickedWastefulness: A villain's wasteful behavior can often be their undoing.
92* YouMonster: A villain is rebuked for being particularly cruel.
93* YoureInsane: A villain is called out for doing or attempting to do something that proves they are completely out of their gourd.
94[[/index]]
95[[/folder]]
96----
97!!Example Subpages:
98[[index]]
99* StupidEvil/AnimeAndManga
100* StupidEvil/ComicBooks
101* StupidEvil/FanWorks
102* StupidEvil/{{Literature}}
103* StupidEvil/LiveActionFilms
104* StupidEvil/LiveActionTV
105* StupidEvil/VideoGames
106* StupidEvil/WesternAnimation
107[[/index]]
108
109!!Other Examples:
110
111[[foldercontrol]]
112
113[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
114* Scar from ''[[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 The Lion King]]'' wanted to become king due to not wanting to live in his brother Mufasa's shadow. But what he absolutely refuses to consider is that being a king isn't just a prize, it's a ''job'' - one with real consequences if he doesn't do it right. He eventually manages to kill Mufasa and apparently kill Simba, meaning [[TheBadGuyWins he got exactly what he wanted]]. But Scar eventually runs the Pridelands into the ground because of how bad he is as the king, making it a MeaninglessVillainVictory. Scar keeps letting the hyenas overhunt because Scar just wanted to satisfy his grudge against Mufasa, and didn't care about the consequences. By the time Simba has grown up, even the hyenas themselves are starting to resent Scar because he's no longer living up to his promises. And when he finally fights Simba in the finale, he nearly kills the young lion but just ''has'' to give Simba a HeroicSecondWind by confessing to murdering Mufasa. [[spoiler: Eventually, the hyenas eat Scar, having overheard him blaming them for his actions and becoming sick of being used]].
115** Scar's mate Zira ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKingIISimbasPride'' is clearly cut from the same cloth. She is utterly obsessed with RevengeBeforeReason despite Scar's demise being his own fault and Simba not actually killing him in their confrontation. Even when this revenge costs her two of her three cubs (Kovu defecting and Nuka dying in an accident), she still refuses to stop until she herself dies- possibly of suicide.
116* Claude Frollo ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'' is for the most part a competent if evil man, but then Esmarelda shows up and has the gall to be sexy in his general direction. After this, he becomes more and more obsessed with killing and/or boning her at the expense of his rational behavior, to the point that by the climax, Phoebus is able to rally Parisians against Frollo, previously a VillainWithGoodPublicity judge, by pointing out that somebody who is currently setting fire to Paris in general and Notre Dame in particular is probably not a good guy.[[spoiler: [[DisneyVillainDeath Damaging the gargoyle he was standing on was probably not a smart move either]]...]]
117* Gaston from ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' calls thinking "a dangerous prospect" in one of his songs, and it shows. While he does have a certain cunning when push comes to shove and is dangerously good at whipping up angry mobs, his response to any slight to his ego is to simply push back harder regardless of consequences. Belle doesn't like him? He tries to coerce her into it instead of attempting to find common ground with her or courting any of the village girls who ''do'' like him. Belle finds somebody else? MurderTheHypotenuse! "Somebody Else" happens to be magically cursed with a bestial form and a better fighter than him? No problem! [[spoiler: He even dies because he can't wait five seconds for the Beast to save him from a DisneyVillainDeath before attacking.]]
118* Buyn'Large from ''WesternAnimation/WallE'' turned Earth, the source of their goods and home of their customer base, into a global waste dump with their sheer short-sighted capitalistic disregard for the environment.
119* [[spoiler:Rourke]] from ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire''. For the first part of the story, he comes off as a ReasonableAuthorityFigure for the expedition, [[EvilAllAlong until he displays his true side to Milo in Atlantis]], revealing that he wants to take the Heart of Atlantis with him so he'll sell it to the highest bidder. Even though ''being part of the team which discovered friggin' Atlantis'' would already have made him rich and famous beyond his wildest dreams. Even if all he wanted was money, he had the king at gunpoint and could have just ransacked the vaults and walked away with more priceless treasure than he knew what to do with, without needing to commit genocide (hell, his former comrades end up getting paid in exactly that by the end of the movie). Or, hell, just ask the [[Fiction500 fabulously-wealthy]] Whitmore to add a couple of zeros onto his paycheck, which would undoubtedly be a rounding error compared to building the physics-defying, battleship-sized submarine used for the expedition. [[spoiler: [[{{Greed}} Too bad Rourke wants more]], even at [[ItsAllAboutMe the expense of quite literally everyone else]], from [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness his own team]] right down to [[OmnicidalManiac the Atlanteans themselves]].]]
120* [[spoiler:Hans's]] betrayal of Anna in ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'' isn't just cruel; it's unnecessary, given that [[spoiler:Anna is frozen solid and about to die anyway. All he needs to do is kiss her, and if it doesn't work, he could just claim that he sincerely believed it was TrueLove. He could also have convinced her to stay in the room willingly while he pretended to get help, actually letting her freeze to death as he went to kill Elsa. But because he decides to be a dick and refuses to kiss Anna when she needs it, and to [[EvilGloating gloat about his plans]], Anna realizes his true colors and escapes[[note]] though it should be noted that she doesn’t escape on her own, as she was helped by Olaf, whom Hans presumably didn’t even know existed[[/note]] and proves to be the SpannerInTheWorks by throwing herself in front of Hans's sword just when he goes to execute Elsa, saving Elsa and exposing Hans's lies, which gets him deported back to the Southern Isles in disgrace for trying to murder the two sisters.]] Ironically, the sequel has Elsa abdicate and Anna become queen, so the whole scheme was completely useless; [[spoiler: Hans could've become King of Arendelle by marriage without any skullduggery at all]].
121* [[spoiler: Dawn Bellwether's]] plan to start a FunnyAnimal race war in ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'' is good on the surface, but incredibly short-sighted as if nothing else, eventually someone would notice that carnivores were going feral only in this one particular city. Had the villain turned the planning skills necessary to run the conspiracy to legitimate pursuits, they probably could've done much better for themselves.
122* Sunset Shimmer from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'', a unicorn that is exceptionally skilled in magic to the point where she could've probably rivaled Twilight Sparkle at some point, seems to think that staying in a world where her [[BroughtDownToNormal unicorn magic is useless]], being the AlphaBitch of a local high school for a couple of years, and eventually hatching a scheme that involves bringing Twilight Sparkle's Element of Harmony to said world will get her closer to becoming an Alicorn than simply staying in Equestria (with or without Princess Celestia as her teacher) and working on improving her own magic.
123* Tempest Shadow from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie'' acted villainous due to her desperation to fix her broken horn, which the Storm King promised he could do. Surprise surprise, the guy was lying and couldn't actually fix her horn better than established Equestrian magic that has, if nothing else, at least dealt with broken unicorn horns before. She also doesn't consider that having her horn fixed would probably be a cold comfort as her actions under the Storm King would've labeled her a terrorist if she didn't about-face and Twilight Sparkle wasn't so forgiving.
124** The Storm King himself is a very classic villain who wants power for its own sake and doesn't care about the consequences (up to and including killing himself and a good chunk of the continent) and betrays Tempest Shadow for primarily gloating rights. She of course turns on him and he's left without a valuable asset.
125* King Haggard in ''WesternAnimation/TheLastUnicorn'' caused his own misery and the decay of his kingdom when his greed and apathy made him capture all the unicorns in the world all for himself, without them the world is vulnerable to decay and mortality. As a sign of his own downfall, once Amalthea was brave enough to fight back against the red bull, all the unicorns were free and Haggard died when his castle crumbled with him symbolizing his decrepit mindset and feelings
126* General Mandible in ''WesternAnimation/{{Antz}}'' is a social darwinist that claims to care for the colony, but he betrayed the queen, he lied that termites are declaring war against them to get rid of the soldiers that are loyal to her, he fooled the worker ants to make a mega tunnel that supposedly was going to provide food for everyone, but in reality he wanted to drown the worker ants because of being physically thinner than the soldier ants and he thought of them as weak, but he underestimated them as they made a ladder to climb to the surfice, where Mandible's troops saw his true colors, Coronel Cutter betrayed Mandible and helped the workers climb. It was clear Mandible didn't cared for the colony but himself and his control over everyone saying "I am the colony", he then tried to kill Cutter for rebelling but Z saved him and he and Mandible fell in the hive, Z landed in water and Mandible landed in a root. Mandible's plan would fail as the hive didn't fully flooded, even if he was successful in drowning everyone, Bala would've witnessed it and she already hated him from start, she would've told the remaining soldiers of Mandible's treason and ordered to execute him. If he made his genocide on the workers, the colony would've have less manpower to fix the infrastructure and Bala wouldn't be sexually mature yet to be pregnant and replace the dead ants and they'd have to build a new hive somewhere else
127* Captain Qwark in ''WesternAnimation/RatchetAndClank2016'' has the motivation of being jealous of Ratchet's newfound popularity as a hero. To accomplish this, he decides to betray Ratchet in the process of stopping a planet from being blown up. This is despite the fact that betraying the Galactic Rangers and assisting in the destruction of a planet would be far more damaging to his ''own'' career as a hero, and indeed, gets him sent to prison even after his rather hasty HeelFaceTurn. Downplayed overall, though, as he does realize and regret what he did. In the original game, he was merely employed by the villains to begin with, due to being a sponsor and highly paid spokesperson for the Chairman's new planet. While that strategy is still somewhat stupid, it's at least more consistent.
128* ''WesternAnimation/ChickenRun'' The moment the pie making machine is repaired, Mrs. Tweedy orders her husband to have all the chickens to be killed and made into pies... which would leave her without any more chickens, and thus no more filling for her pies, and no more business- and out the money she spent on the pie machine and advertisement. There's no indication that she even did anything to get more chickens to keep the pie business going.
129* ''WesternAnimation/CloudyWithAChanceOfMeatballs'': the mayor is a typical opportunistic hack that will do anything to have political gain. He at first hated Flint like everyone else for his failed inventions, but the moment his FLDSMFR works, he first claims him as his son figure, then he convinced Flint to use the machine in full capacity despite Flint's warnings that the giant food will crush them. Then he programs the computer to make a worldwide food hurricane and destroys the antenna that will shut it down, then blames Flint for this despite it was him who ordered that much food. His final act as mayor was ditching his citizens and eating his sandwich boat, which he manages to survive due to him becoming so fat that he could now float in water.
130** Chester V in ''WesternAnimation/CloudyWithAChanceOfMeatballs2''. Despite having a world-renowned inventing company and having the best scientists in the world working for him, instead of asking Flint Lockwood to build another FLDSDMFR to make his food bars, he sent many of his employees to Swallow Falls Island to retrieve the original machine, all of whom end up getting killed by the mutant food wildlife. Then he betrays Flint after he found the FLDSMDFR, which in turn causes Flint, his friends and the food wildlife to turn against him for wanting to kill them and exploit them for his food bars. His pet orangutan Barb also turned against him after Sam made her realize that Chester doesn't care about her. Lastly he thought he would be saved by his holograms but they didn't; as he tried to make his escape, a cheesespider ate him.
131* The opening of the ''WesternAnimation/RainbowBrite'' movie has the Dark Princess being told that stealing Spectra will drain all color and life from the universe, destroying it. She doesn't care and later attempts to shatter Spectra when stealing it becomes impossible.
132* PlayedForDrama in ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'' with [[BewareTheSuperman Hal Stewart AKA Tighten]]. Before gaining superpowers, he was a somewhat creepy bumbling loser. After gaining powers and being rejected by the object of his affections, he decides to become a supervillain and terrorize the city. The fact that he is an idiot actually makes him more dangerous than Megamind, because while Megamind is [[PragmaticVillainy reasonable and looking to profit from crime]], Hal is a [[EvilIsPetty petty]] PsychopathicManchild who will lash out at the world and live out all of his dark fantasies because [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveSupernaturalPowers he knows that nobody can stop him]]. It won't do anything good for him, but he doesn't care and it ultimately doesn't matter; all that matters is that as long as Hal lives free, a lot of good people are going to die for bad reasons.
133* [[FatBastard "Big" Jack Horner]] in ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'', is a sadistic, cruel, selfish, and unrepentant crime boss/pie salesman who seeks the wishing star for [[ItsAllAboutMe the selfish desire to control all magic]]. Over the course of the movie, [[BadBoss he shows very little regard for his subordinates]], and kills the majority of his own men by being LethallyStupid. Henchmen attrition has left him with only one guy by the time of the final battle- and once that one is taken out, he goes down easy.
134-->'''Jack Horner:''' Well, you know what they say; can't bake a pie without [[WeHaveReserves losing a dozen men]].
135* Bowler hat guy in ''WesternAnimation/MeetTheRobinsons'' was Lewis' old roommate Goob, he wants to steal Lewis' credit of inventing his memory scanner despite he doesn't know how it works and how to use it, he does it to get revenge that he lost a baseball game in his childhood, which to his credit it was Lewis' fault for keeping him awake in the night, but it was his own fault he wasted 30 years sobbing for that game that noone cared afterwards, he deluded himself in believing everyone hated him for losing the game which made his potential foster parents reject him and he isolated himself in the orphanage after was closed. Is also stupid as Lewis is the lead inventor of the future, ruining Lewis' scientist career will worsen the lives of many others from not having his inventions to progress society, which came true when he befriended a robot hat that was using him to mass produce other robot hats what will enslave humanity. After Lewis chose not to invent DOR15, he shown Goob the apocalyptic future he could've made, and despite that Lewis didn't hold it against him, instead he wanted to invite Goob to the Robinson family but Goob left feeling he doesn't deserve a second chance after what he could've caused
136** In a deleted scene, Lewis brought adult Goob to the game he lost and helped himself win it, making him reflect he didn't had to ruin Lewis' career
137* The Once-ler in ''WesternAnimation/TheLorax2012'' started out as a humble inventor that wanted to sell thneeds to make his family proud and prove himself valuable, but then he became greedy after listening to his mom that he gotta cut all the truffula trees to make the thneeds faster. Instead of breaking his promise of not cutting the trees and making lots of logging machines, he could've hired farmers that would collect the truffula fur to make thneeds and he would've saved more money, got good PR for protecting the environment and he wouldn't have run out of materials to make thneeds. At the end, his mom never genuinely loved him for him and only in how she could exploit his potential to benefit herself
138** Alossyous O'hare is arguably worse because while the Once-ler did regret destroying the environment and betraying his animal friends, O'hare is actively wanting to make the environment worse so that he can keep profiting from it. When everyone realized how bad the environment is and were singing "Let It Grow", in O'hare's verse he seemed to have a change of heart but then revealed he doesn't care; he literally sang "Let it die", which caused everyone to turn against him.
139* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'':
140** Mr. Huph threatens to fire Bob if he stops a mugging, while it was more convenient for the former if the mugging was thwarted, as the company wouldn't have to pay insurance to the victim.
141** Syndrome is for the most part dangerously cunning and competent, but he ''repeatedly'' undercuts himself with his short-sighted ego and his very specific desire to fake being a classic superhero so he can get glory. He categorically refuses to take the easier routes of using his genius inventions to greatly improve general quality of life (he does intend to sell his inventions, but only once he's "old and had [his] fun," and only so that nobody else can stand out through superpowers) or even doing the work to become a real superhero (as seen when Bob calls him out, [[EvilCannotComprehendGood he doesn't really understand heroism beyond a surface level and thinks being able to win fights is enough]]), he ''has'' to stage a MonsterProtectionRacket so he can play the kind of superhero he idolized as a child. 
142** When he's first introduced as Buddy/'Incrediboy', he utterly ruins Bob's takedown of Bomb Voyage and nearly kills himself and makes a train crash because he refused to listen to Bob and FailedASpotCheck about the incredibly obvious bomb that Bomb Voyage attached to his cape.
143** When he returns in the present as Syndrome, he shows that he really hasn't learned anything about practicality and he loves his dramatic flourishes no matter how often they bite him in the ass; he has Bob completely at his mercy, but snatches defeat from the jaws of victory by throwing Bob far away with a hammy gesture, allowing Bob to escape and learn important information about his ultimate plan. To his credit, he at least realizes he screwed up here and is quite annoyed with himself. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And he's still wearing that impractical cape]].
144** He cannot comprehend of loyalty being a two-way street, and can't even ''fake'' an apology to Mirage after he lets Mr. Incredible hold her hostage (he instead tries to justify his actions by saying he knew it was a bluff, which unsurprisingly does ''not'' mollify her), which leads to Mirage betraying him.
145** His MonsterProtectionRacket plan had one glaring flaw: the Omnidroid had to be a threatening enough villain that no one else could defeat it, but at the same time it had to be unable to present a threat to Syndrome himself. He's taken completely by surprise when said uber-powerful robot designed to defeat any opponent is able to recognize him as a threat, understand ''why'', and use the advanced AI he programmed into it to solve the problem. He ends up looking absolutely ridiculous, knocking himself out, and the Incredibles have to save the day.
146** Finally, [[spoiler: a superhero geek like Buddy would surely know of the multiple precedents for [[CapeSnag capes being a very bad idea]]...]]
147** in ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'', the Screenslaver clearly takes after Syndrome as a villain who maxed [=INT=] and dumped [=WIS=]. Their anti-super philosophy is deeply flawed and ultimately serves as an excuse for a PsychopathicManchild throwing a temper tantrum because they blame superheroes for choices others made. And their idea of trying to stop superheroes from being re-legalized? Stage villainous plots that the heroes foil, giving themselves all the good publicity they need. [[spoiler: Of course, Evelyn was planning to use her hypnogoggles to subvert all the superheroes her brother Winston gathered and only failed because she didn't realize that a) Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack escaped, and b) her brother was [[BadassBystander a lot more heroic than she'd thought]], but she's still doing something that she ''knows'' will only make the world worse (she doesn't benefit personally at all, except in getting her aimless revenge) without superheroes and probably won't prevent re-legalization as people can argue that with villains like her around, the world needs superheroes more than ever. And while she did try to save Winston's life, she was still knowingly ruining his life's work, and thus her relationship with him. Most supervillains try to ''not'' end up worse off after their evil plans succeed, but not Evelyn.]]
148[[/folder]]
149
150[[folder:Music]]
151* Music/{{Eminem}}'s [[AlterEgoActing Slim Shady]] character will kill anyone for absolutely no reason and antagonise everyone else, up to the point of trying to annoy his own surgeon during an operation. Everything he does ends up a chaotic mess as a result.
152[[/folder]]
153
154[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]
155* [[TooDumbToLive Satan]] is definitely this: Revolting against omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, omnibenevolent God, taking third of angels with him, and deceiving God's supreme creation, who are considered to be His children (Humans). Yeah, how's that a good idea?
156* Orthodox Christianity states that sin (i.e. acting against God's love and His will) is ''inherently'' stupid (basically Evil Is Dumb). It brings His wrath upon you, totally ruins your soul, mind, and body, ''makes you want to sin more'', and eventually, brings you to a FateWorseThanDeath. (Not to mention that ''the whole universe'' has changed for the worse after Adam and Eve's first sin.) In fact, the only reason that we ''exist'' now, according to saints, is that He wants us to repent (feel guilt, ask God for forgiveness and stop sinning, and live by His Commandments (Old and New Testaments)). At the same time, however, it recognizes the concept of NecessarilyEvil (killing in wars while protecting your country, for example). It's ''still'' a sin, and should be avoided and repented if committed, but it's allowed. It also makes an above-mentioned statement about Satan even more outlined.
157* Judas betrayed Jesus for a measly 30 pieces of silver, despite knowing that he was God/The Son Of God, so doing so could only end in disaster, even if the reward wasn't such a pittance. Unsurprisingly, he was shunned by all the other disciples and ended up being DrivenToSuicide, and it's strongly implied he went to Hell.
158* Zoroastrianism argues that evil is self-defeating because it is inherently stupid. This is why Angra Mainyu is fated to lose compared to the intelligent Ahura Mazda, and indeed in mythology, most of his "plans" (read: spiteful decisions) backfire horribly one way or the other.
159* There are quite a lot of figures in Myth/ClassicalMythology that seem to be low on survival instinct, but the king of them all is probably Ixion. He became the first kinslayer when he invited his father-in-law to dinner and, as revenge for him stealing horses after Ixion refused to pay a bride price, pushed him into a pile of coals and burned him to death. This resulted in him being shunned by society, until Zeus himself took pity on Ixion and decided to give him shelter on Olympus. Ixion, having been already endured the consequences of a violation of SacredHospitality and having been granted a second chance by the ''god'' of sacred hospitality, then decided it would be a great idea to ''try to rape his wife, who is also a goddess''. Zeus was so pissed at the guy's stupidity that not only did he humiliate him by tricking him into having sex with a cloud instead (which eventually resulted in the first centaurs), but he incinerated him with a lightning bolt and tied him to a flaming wheel for eternity.
160[[/folder]]
161
162[[folder:Podcasts]]
163* ''Podcast/MomCantCook'': On at least a few occasions, the hosts lampoon villains for overly complicated plots, or [[NiceJobFixingItVillain fixing them by accident so the heroes don't have to]].
164* In his regular editorial for the ''Role-Playing Public Radio'' podcast, Tom Church explained that part of his hatred for the ''TabletopGame/StarWars'' RPG is the insistence of players on playing Sith while unable to grasp the concept of quiet, calculating menace that makes them such appealing villains in the first place. "Would you like to go out for some babies later this evening?" "Why yes, that would certainly hit the spot."
165[[/folder]]
166
167[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
168* Wrestling/{{Kane}} kept falling into this pattern of behavior when he was trying to get Wrestling/JohnCena to "Embrace the Hate" in the course of their recent feud. Although his long-term plan was to poison relations between Cena and the [[FanCommunityNicknames "Cenation"]] and then between him and his friends Wrestling/ZackRyder and Wrestling/EveTorres (and this plan proved partially successful), Kane just could not restrain himself from attacking and maiming Ryder (or ''further'' maiming, since he had already put Ryder in a wheelchair) simply because he could, which only shifted attention away from Cena's ambivalent relationships with his allies and motivated Cena to oppose Kane all the more.
169* Wrestling/BrayWyatt at the start of his feud with Wrestling/DeanAmbrose. His plan to [[TheCorrupter convince Dean Ambrose to become his new follower]] would have worked a lot better if he ''hadn't'' attacked Dean and cost him the match against his ArchEnemy.
170* When you get down to it, {{Heel}} authority figures are often this — insulting the crowd, making decisions against their wishes, etc.... despite said crowd being the company's main source of income.
171[[/folder]]
172
173[[folder:Roleplay]]
174* The Dark Dragon in ''Roleplay/DawnOfANewAgeOldportBlues'' originally intends to go after the government agent Travers, but has his plan waylaid when Melissa is able to convince him to attack public civilians instead. Irene, who is listening in, is amazed that he'd be so stupid as to fall for such a blatant manipulation tactic.
175* Mike Block on ''Roleplay/NoPixel'', hands down. On his first day in Los Santos, he attempted to claim the central police station as his gang territory, and tried to get officers to pay the "hood tax."
176[[/folder]]
177
178[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
179* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'':
180** The forces of Chaos (appropriately enough) make some pretty questionable tactical decisions from time to time. There's a reason that the symbol for Chaos is an [[WeAreStrugglingTogether arrow that points in eight different directions]].
181*** They enjoy sacrificing hundreds of their own cultists for purely symbolic reasons (as opposed to sacrificing hundreds of cultists for perfectly ''practical'' reasons, like summoning [[TheHeartless daemons]], [[SealedEvilInACan bigger daemons]], and ''[[EldritchAbomination really really big daemons]]'' to attack their opponents).
182*** [[EnemyCivilWar Infighting between various Chaos factions]] has spelled the ruin of more than one attack on the Imperium. This might be an aversion since it seems that the Big Four doesn't want to win their war with the Imperium. If they win the war, the human population will drop drastically, along with human psychic emanations that form their existence.
183*** Kharn the Betrayer[[note]]What a guy![[/note]] is such a bloodthirsty, frothing AxCrazy that even his fellow Ax-Crazies don't want to get anywhere near him. This is because he has a tendency to slaughter friend and foe alike when his blood is up. At one point, when the World Eaters (Kharn's legion of Chaos {{Space Marine}}s) were attacking an enemy force of Emperor's Children ([[EnemyCivilWar another Legion of Chaos Space Marines]]), a blizzard so terrible even the genetically-enhanced and daemonically-powered {{Super Soldier}}s couldn't take it descended and forced both sides to retreat into shelter. In a fit of rage, Kharn ''burned shelters to the ground'' and proceeded to run around in a psychotic frenzy, slaughtering anyone that came within [[ChainsawGood chainsaw-axe]] range. Both Legions had to kill their own battle brothers to get inside the shelters and survive, and as a result, they were never again able to take the field as a unified fighting force, and are now reduced to fighting alongside other Chaos warbands as shock troops. This is represented in the tabletop game by Kharn's special rules: if you roll poorly to hit in close combat, where any other character would simply miss, Kharn instead ''hits someone on his own side''. Though he does have a little [[JustifiedTrope Justification]]; Kharn is fanatically dedicated to Khorne, the Blood God, and [[BloodKnight Khorne cares not from where the blood flows,]] ''[[InLoveWithYourCarnage so long as it flows]]''. Thus, as far as his faith is concerned, he was doing the right thing and all the other world eaters were being cowards.
184*** Diverting shock troops in extremely rare and strong armor, even by Space Marine standards, from a strategically important battle to take out an enemy propaganda station run by a dozen unarmed monks, then annihilating it from orbit while the shock troops are still inside. Chaos commanders seem to have a collective inferiority complex or something.
185** The Imperium of Man suffers heavily from this; half the time, it seems like it's done to keep them from completely wiping out the Chaos Marines. Acts done by the Inquisition are the worst case; they don't shy away from committing acts of NecessarilyEvil but are infamous for doing things like [[DisproportionateRetribution leveling whole planets just because a few people came into contact with alien technology]]. The Imperial Guard, DependingOnTheWriter, will be led by incompetent {{General Ripper}}s [[WeHaveReserves that can't think of any tactics beyond throwing human wave tactics at things that will tear them in half]], as opposed to, say, shooting them from a distance with their huge tanks.
186** Dark Eldar love torturing stuff. Technically, they do have a reason, as they do it so that an [[CosmicHorror evil god]] their ancestors ended up creating won't eat their souls, but let's face it, they just love torturing people for fun (especially when you consider that doing stuff like that created the thing in the first place). So much so, in fact, that their vehicles are designed for swooping in, grabbing prisoners, and zooming off into the sunset at the expense of all else -- [[FragileSpeedster including armor and crew and passenger protection]], though [[GlassCannon not necessarily firepower]]. Though the Dark Eldar avert this to a degree. They are [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder backstabbing assholes]], yes, but unlike Chaos, they at least understand that turning on each other during a life-or-death battle is [[TooDumbToLive absolutely moronic]]. Of course, once the raid is over, their rivals are fair game again.
187** Orks are done this way on purpose. They pick a fight with anything they meet, including each other if there's nothing else around. But for them, it's part of their appeal, and the fact that they basically reproduce by dying helps cover for their stupidity. The Orks' inability to stop infighting is actually a justification for why there is a setting at all: If the orks, in all their unfathomable numbers, didn't like killing each other as much as everything else and actually managed to work together long enough, ''nothing in the universe would be able to stop them.'' Downplayed in that Orks are not really evil so much as [[BloodKnight Blood Knights]]: for them, war and violence are nothing more than fun pastimes. In fact, Orks are just as often ChaoticStupid as "Stupid Violent".
188** The Eldar, of all factions, grab the IdiotBall almost as often as the Imperium. They will lie, mislead, manipulate, and be jerks just to show off their superiority. They will orchestrate deaths of billions of the Imperium soldiers to save a few hundred of their own kin, despite the fact that the Imperium is the only thing protecting the galaxy from being overrun by forces of disorder.
189* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
190** Drow elves in most campaign settings are like this. Being forced to live in the Underdark, surrounded by swarms of magic-eye-beam-firing, mind-controlling, acid-spewing, nastiness-causing beasties is bad enough. But they also worship an insane demon and turn their own civilization into a SocialDarwinist nightmare, to the point that they expend three-quarters of their energy fighting themselves. It helps that in most settings, the drow are watched over by a ChaoticEvil goddess named Lolth, the Queen of the Spiders; Lolth rules the drow society and ''demands'' that they [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder constantly double-cross each other]]. She is specifically described as "constantly watching for signs of too much cooperation."
191*** That said, the drow can still go too far into Stupid Evil [[EvenEvilHasStandards even for Lolth's social Darwinist tastes]]. The ''Literature/StarlightAndShadows'' trilogy sees Lolth sending a divine avatar to command them to tone it down for a while, lest the whole drow race completely destroy itself. The ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' also has the "Silence of Lolth", where she simply cut off all access between herself and the drow for seven months; by the time Lolth came back, drow society had collapsed into even worse infighting and cult worship, and was on the brink of destruction before Lolth got everything back in order. At least as much order as a society like the drow elves could ever have with their Stupid Evil tendencies.
192** The Drow are far from alone amidst evil ''D&D'' monsters and villains here. In fact, some of the most blatant examples are ''human'' (many of the TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms's Zhentarim come to mind) -- in this case, their individual evilness may be unconsciously or deliberately played up because they have no convenient "monstrous" traits to clearly mark them as ObviouslyEvil otherwise.
193** Demons pretty much have this as their [[PlanetOfHats hat]]. While devils (which are not the same thing in D&D cosmology, one is ChaoticEvil, the other is LawfulEvil) are scheming, manipulative bastards who constantly backstab each other and occasionally indulge in pointless cruelty, they are at least capable of working together effectively in an organized legion and hierarchy. Demons, on the other hand, represent the worst aspects of chaos ''and'' evil. They exist solely to indulge their darkest vices, which includes RapePillageAndBurn throughout the ''entire multiverse''. To make it worse for them, each and every demon believes itself to be the pinnacle of creation with no equal, and the only thing that makes them work together is [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership a stronger demon]]. The only reason the legions of hell haven't won their ForeverWar is that there are infinite demons, whereas devils are short on manpower. Hell probably would have allied with Heaven to finish the demons once and for all, if the angels hadn't recognized that an eternal stalemate between the universe's two mightiest and cruelest factions is the best possible option.
194** The hill giant god Grolantor basically has this as his characterization. He's incredibly strong and even cunning on a good day, but he's also proud, entitled, and self-destructively stupid, which is why he remains at the lowest level of the Ordning.
195** Most {{Game Master}}s will disallow the ChaoticEvil alignment among players because of this trope. While LawfulEvil is usually interpreted as either having a personal code, PragmaticVillainy or [[TheChessmaster exploiting the law to their advantage]], Chaotic Evil is usually interpreted as indulging in cruel whims and vices. At the best of times, a chaotic evil player might simply kill a monarch and thus land the party in deep shit, while at the worst they might burn down an orphanage [[ForTheEvulz for funsies]] or ''betray the party and join forces with the BigBad''.
196* Intentionally employed in the ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'' {{RPG}} system, where all of the player characters are supposed to be stupid evil and the "plot" is just an excuse to put them all in one room while they try to out-backstab each other. Not only that, but they're all at the mercy of an omnipresent LawfulStupid {{NPC}}, Friend Computer so that they have to try to get away with being Stupid Evil while acting like they're Lawful Stupid.
197* The Skaven of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}} Fantasy'' are very much Stupid [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder Backstabbers]]. While this serves a useful purpose in ensuring [[TheSocialDarwinist only the strong survive]], this isn't saying much since Skaven take the WeHaveReserves and ZergRush approaches; on the other hand, their tendency to turn every minor engagement into a five-way leadership battle is pretty much the sole reason apart from sheer troop inadequacy that they haven't taken over the entire friggin' world. Seriously, in one of the ''Literature/GotrekAndFelix'' novels, Thanquol could have won by page 200 if he hadn't been ''sending the heroes to eliminate his rivals'' out of fear for his position. In the setting's [[TabletopGame/WarhammerTheEndTimes grand finale]], they took on basically everyone else except the other Chaos factions at once and ''won'' on almost every front, only failing to win the entire war outright because some of them decided to blow up a moon over one of the continents while a large portion of their warriors were currently standing on it.
198* ''Franchise/TheWorldOfDarkness'' as a whole seems to always have a Stupid Evil faction for the players to fight against (or join). In ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'', we have the [[ReligionOfEvil Sabbat]], who want to rule over humankind openly, ignoring that the [[AncientConspiracy Camarilla]], their opposing faction, ''already'' basically rules the world. In ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'', we have the [[EvilCounterpart Black Spiral Dancers]], who would really, really like to help the [[EldritchAbomination Wyrm]] destroy the universe. And finally, for ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'', we have the [[OmnicidalManiac Nephandi]], who want to help Demons/The aforementioned Wyrm/Every other otherworldly abomination destroy the universe [[ForTheEvulz basically for the lulz]].
199** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in the ''[[TabletopGame/MageTheAscension Mage: The Sorcerers Crusade]]'' supplement ''Infernalism - The Path of Screams'': "Here comes my Dark Lord! Booga-Booga-Booga!" "No, you don't - taste my steel!" SPLAT! End of story, right? Not if you do (Infernalists) justice." That passage goes on to describe complex and intelligent motivations and behaviors for Infernalist antagonists.
200** The ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'' has its share as well, most notably Belial's Brood in ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem''. [[SubvertedTrope ...Unless you happen to have their book]], which shows them to be more of a [[UsefulNotes/{{Gnosticism}} Gnostic]] ReligionOfEvil that views the chaos they cause as needed for their enlightenment, and quite capable of subtlety and patience if the situation calls for it. In fact, the ''pneuma'' (soul-focused) factions are actually all about subtlety and patience -- the Nameless are primarily researchers and scholars, while the Mercy Seat regards playing TheCorrupter as a holy mission.
201* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'':
202** Subverted with the Infernals... most of the time, anyway. Even after offering their souls to [[BigBad the Yozi]] and merging with a demon, most Infernals are at least practical in their quest to turn Creation into a living hell. That being said, Infernals ''are'' expected to be paragons of demonic will while they are in [[{{Hell}} Malfeas]], and participate in baby-eating contests and the like.
203** Side note: you can commit [[CardCarryingVillain super-villain style antics]], such as [[EvilGloating telling the heroes about your magnificent plans]], [[DamselInDistress kidnapping maidens]] ([[DistressedDude or men]]), or setting up [[DeathTrap elaborate death-traps]] in order to reduce your Limit (and [[YouHaveFailedMe avoid the wrath of your demonic overlords]]). In other words, the game ''encourages'' you to be Stupid Evil, at least some of the time.
204** The Neverborn's punishments of the Deathlords when they don't perform to their satisfaction, mainly, not destroying all of creation, even if they can destroy most of it. The Neverborn's punishments have proven so brutal that the Deathlords actually hesitate to carry out their plans because they're so afraid of their masters that they won't try any plans unless they are absolutely sure they will work. Granted, the Neverborn were not exactly sane even in life as Primordials, and being dead has unhinged them even more. The fact that they aren't too smart is hardly surprising.
205* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'':
206** The Rakdos from the Ravnica bloc are this ''intentionally''. They even draw a great deal of their strength from mindless slaughter, which is also reflected in their representative gameplay mechanic (Hellbent).
207** The Gruul might also be either this or ChaoticStupid, depending on who you ask. They have good reason to be pissed, though: Backstory tells that when the guilds were first formed, the Gruul were put in charge of "protecting nature." The problem is that Ravnica, their setting, is a planet-wide city, so between having much of their purpose being co-opted by the other Green-based guilds, or just eliminated by ''[[WeaksauceWeakness urban planning]]'', they were eventually cast down as a guild. [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge They didn't take it well.]]
208** The vampires of Innistrad are extremely hedonistic and short-sighted, willing to wantonly kill humans to the point of near-extinction just to satisfy their bloodthirst. It got bad enough that one of their number, [[BigGood Sorin Markov]], created the archangel Avacyn to defend humanity and act as humanity's BigGood solely to prevent the vampires from exhausting their food source. Obviously, the other vampires weren't happy about this, although Sorin maintains the necessity of his actions. Later, in the story of the set ''Crimson Vow'', the vampires stop a ritual meant to solve the impending problem of TheNightThatNeverEnds even though it would risk humanity's extinction.
209** In [[TheBadGuyWins New Phyrexia]], this seems to be the role of the black mana Phyrexians. Blue, green, and white all seek the creation of a more perfect creature or society, respectively through [[EvilutionaryBiologist research]], [[TheSocialDarwinist accelerated evolution]], or [[ReligionOfEvil spiritual purity]]. Red keeps the world running through [[TokenGoodTeammate construction and forging]]. Black... [[TheStarscream fights amongst itself over who gets to be in charge of their faction]]. Anything actually useful they contribute is pretty much just a side effect of their in-fighting.
210*** A certain amount of SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome as a result of this; when last we heard of New Phyrexia, [[ReligionOfEvil Elesh Norn]] had taken control of both the Black and Red factions as well as her own white Machine Orthodoxy. The Red Phyrexians have been confused by their feelings of empathy and not sure what to do, while the Black Phyrexians were too divided from all their pointless infighting to resist Norn taking command.
211* ''TabletopGame/LegendOfTheFiveRings''[='=] SealedEvilInACan villain, Iuchiban, was eventually revealed to be this. After twice nearly conquering the empire through subtle infiltration, relying heavily on his enemies not even realizing his existence, he trumpets his third return in blatantly evil style by [[KickTheDog murdering a ki-rin spirit]].
212* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' paints goblins as manic vermin who usually do themselves in by sheer idiocy halfway through their natural lifespan. With [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny nonexistent attention spans]], [[AttackAttackAttack no grasp of tactics]], and [[NoHonorAmongThieves no regard for each other's well-being]], they tend to deal hefty FriendlyFire before they even reach their targets and [[DirtyCoward abandon each other]] as soon as something spooks them -- a poor strategy to pursue a violent grudge against almost every other species.
213* ''TabletopGame/ArsMagica'': [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Demons]] lack the SevenHeavenlyVirtues completely, which often takes them into this territory -- for example, they compulsively [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder betray their allies]] because, lacking Faith or Charity, the idea of cooperating towards a common goal is completely alien to them and they can't bear to act for another person's benefit. Even powerful demons are relatively flighty and gullible by human standards since they're driven entirely by their worst impulses.
214* Happens every so often in ''TabletopGame/BattleTech''. The most prominent example is Jinjiro Kurita, whose response to the assassination of his father Minoru, the previous Coordinator of the Draconis Combine, was to order his troops to kill every last inhabitant of Kentares IV, to the point that he had his infantry decapitating civilians with their katanas. The Kentares Massacre slowed down their conquest of the Federated Suns, repulsed several other semi-neutral states on moral grounds, destroyed the morale of his troops, revitalized the Fedrats' resolve, which led to them turning the tide of the First Succession War, made the Draconis Combine an ally-less pariah for generations, and single-handedly undid every single achievement of his father, all in the name of his violent thirst for revenge. When his own generals and even a priest begged him to stop the massacre, he instead killed the dissenters himself.
215[[/folder]]
216
217[[folder:Theatre]]
218* ''Theatre/DoctorFaustus''. You made a DealWithTheDevil to have magic powers in exchange for taking your soul in a few short years... really, why act surprised? What did you THINK was going to happen? To make matters worse, he [[CardCarryingVillain repeatedly insists he's beyond redemption]] despite theologians and an ''actual angel'' telling him that's impossible, and even as he's about to be DraggedOffToHell, all he does is make a speech begging to be given more time to repent, even though he could easily just repent then and there and save himself.
219* ''Theatre/TheJewOfMalta''. Barabas betrays the Christians, who have wronged him, to the Turks, who reward his betrayal. He then betrays the Turks to the Christians, on the ground that he hates them both… and ends up in that boiling cauldron.
220* Don John, the "plain-dealing villain" of ''Theatre/MuchAdoAboutNothing''. For unknown reasons (sometimes interpreted as resentment over being a legal bastard) he rebelled against his brother Don Pedro before the play and lost. Rather than imprisoning him, Pedro added John to his household and treats him as a guest. John's friend Conrade advises him to accept the circumstances and keep his head down, but John refuses and instead hatches a scheme of vengeance against Pedro and his young protegé Claudio. He temporarily succeeds in scuppering Claudio's wedding and makes a run for it, but his deception is quickly uncovered and the play ends with him being apprehended again.
221[[/folder]]
222
223[[folder:Visual Novels]]
224* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'':
225** Frank Sahwit, the culprit of the very first case in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'', has no reason whatsoever to pin the crime on Larry. He had no connection with him ''or'' the victim; he simply needed to silence a witness of another crime. However, he testifies that he saw Larry do it and ends up SayingTooMuch when cross-examined, revealing him to be the killer. Had he just left and pretended he had nothing to do with the case, no one would've connected him to the crime. (The ''player'' [[ReverseWhodunnit knows him to be the killer]] from the start.)
226** ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyJusticeForAll'' has Richard Wellington, the culprit in the first case (not a spoiler; it's another ReverseWhodunnit). He pretty much went out of his way to give easily disproved excuses, even [[spoiler:trying to steal his phone back from Phoenix and not bothering to check it was the right one]]!
227** [[spoiler:Matt Engarde]] in the final case of ''Justice For All'' is an even worse example. Hiring an assassin to kill off someone is one thing. ''[[CaughtOnTape Filming]]'' said assassin as he performs the deed so you can blackmail him, especially considering how good the man is at his job and [[EvenEvilHasStandards how much he values honor and trust]], puts a big target on your back.
228** Furio Tigre, the culprit of the third case of ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'' (again not a spoiler; he's so obvious as the killer the game doesn't even bother to hide it and shows him poisoning the victim's coffee in the opening cutscene). The guy could've gotten away with killing Glen Elg and framing Maggey just by having his girlfriend and the guy who owed him money say they saw Maggey do it, but no, he just ''had'' to pull off an overcomplicated scheme that required him to don several disguises (which both got Phoenix involved and tipped him off that something was wrong, due to Tigre's terrible acting skills) and appear several times in court, which gets him nailed.
229** Florent L'Belle is a financial version; the reason he has money troubles is because he invented multiple cosmetics for his own personal use- and then spent all his money ''advertising'' the products he never intended to sell just so he could gloat about having them to more people. He'd be set for life if he sold his beauty products, but he'd also rather commit murder than let "peasants" look as good as him.
230* ''VisualNovel/BadEndTheater'': The demons in the Overlord's castle intend to overthrow and kill the Overlord by locking her inside the castle and setting it on fire. At no point does it occur to them how setting ''their own home'' on fire could possibly be a bad idea.
231* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'': [[RecurringElement Chapter 3 in each game always contains a double murder]], but this is the only one where the second killing was ''entirely'' ForTheEvulz (in the first game, both killings were part of the culprit's [[AwesomeButImpractical complicated]] plan, and in the second, a witness walked in on the killer with their first victim's body), and it ends up doing the culprit in. Despite having already committed a murder that ''couldn't'' be pinned on them (Angie, who walked in on the killer setting up a death trap), they decided to kill someone else (Tenko) because they ''didn't want to waste the trap they'd set'', even though its use was totally unnecessary for graduation. Naturally, the circumstances of Tenko's murder end up providing enough evidence to pin the killer for Angie's as well. [[spoiler:Korekiyo also gloats about killing Tenko during the trial because Monokuma's rules mean that only the first victim discovered counts for the trial, and since Angie was discovered first he wouldn't count as the Blackened for Tenko. Problem is, while his classmates hadn't the evidence to prove he killed either Tenko ''or'' Angie, they could prove that the same person killed both girls. Admitting to killing Tenko meant Korekiyo indirectly admitted to killing Angie, which gets him executed.]]
232[[/folder]]
233
234[[folder:Web Animation]]
235* ''WebAnimation/DSBTInsaniT'': {{Evil Luddite}}s Micheal and Ashley intend to save nature...[[PoisonousPerson by using poison]], which hurts nature...
236* ''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss'': Stella, obsessed with the fact that her husband cheated on her with an imp, hires an assassin to abduct and kill Stolas while they're negotiating the divorce. Her brother has to spell out for her that killing him now will guarantee that she gets ''nothing'' from the divorce since they've already sired an heir who favors him over her.
237* ''WebAnimation/HunterTheParenting'': Although [[TheGhost still an offstage presence]], the [[TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade Camarilla Regent]] is a raging incompetent who Embraced an accountant to handle her finances, only to discard him when he told her that she had to pay her employees or [[MookDepletion they'd starve]], and also that all that money moving around would be [[ForensicAccounting incredibly suspicious]]. [[spoiler: She's also highly inattentive and [[ForgotToFeedTheMonster went months without renewing her blood-bond]] with [[CorruptCop Detective Chapman]], letting Big-D sway him to the Hunter's side.]]
238* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'':
239** [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Adam Taurus]] is a powerful warrior, but he's an [[GeneralFailure absolutely awful leader]] because he can't seem to figure out how to ''stop'' being evil in petty, spiteful ways or how to put his cause first. His insistence on putting the White Fang firmly on the 'Terrorist' side of YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters alienates both moderate Faunus ''and'' potential human allies, he's a BadBoss, and he cannot resist using his power to settle [[EvilIsPetty petty grudges]] (like ordering a hit on Blake's parents because she broke up with him). He pretty much destroys the White Fang within a few months of [[TheStarscream pulling a coup]] against the prior leader, the WellIntentionedExtremist Sienna Khan.
240** In Volume 8 we have [[GeneralRipper Ironwood]], who descended from being an uneasy and sometimes counterproductive ally to the heroes into full-on villainy for the sake of [[EvilVersusOblivion protecting Atlas (and the two keys needed to kickstart the apocalypse) from Salem]]. However, throughout the Volume, he has made stupid mistake after stupid mistake [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating that eventually causes everyone who followed him to question his orders]]. For one, when Salem, the very threat to Atlas, had been temporarily taken care of and the problem with Mantle would be resolved without his assistance, his response is to destroy ships piloted to evacuate the people of Mantle then proceed to threaten blowing it up just so he can get his hands on the Staff to make Atlas float... Even though there's no longer a reason to now that Salem is literally on the landmass he's trying to lift. [[JustifiedTrope It's justified however]], given that Ironwood has been undergoing a severe case of SanitySlippage as a result of the stress of trying to hold the burden of fighting against Salem alone, combined with his personal failings of being a [[TheParanoiac paranoid]] ControlFreak being exacerbated to extreme degrees by the perceived betrayal of everyone around him.
241[[/folder]]
242
243[[folder:Webcomics]]
244* In ''Webcomic/DresdenCodak'', Dmitri's ''[[AlliterationAndAdventurers Dungeons & Discourse]]'' character is a Stupid Evil "Dark Kantian" as a parody of Kantian philosophy.
245-->'''Dmitri:''' I am compelled to do evil, regardless of its utility.
246* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': The Comically Evil Guy, who only showed up in one strip [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/2017-08-21 and whose purpose was to have a completely unsympathetic victim for one of the incoming aberrations.]] Given that his evil plan started with ''setting fire to an orphanage'' so that he could steal money from a nearby ATM...
247* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' gives us Bangladesh Dupree. Her attempts to follow orders inevitably add a lot of "kill people" between the lines. On a more specific note, she has to be beaten unconscious so she stops trying to kill the guy trying to keep the airship they're on from being destroyed. In all fairness, she was dazed, delirious, and barely awake, and he had recently broken her jaw. And he did ''that'' because she attacked him when she saw him dragging her unconscious boss through the halls. Bang also (surprise) [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20120118 sees Klaus]] as some sort of a [[ParentalSubstitute father figure]], so she might have been trying to protect him. In her case, it's sometimes hard to tell motivated violence from [[AxCrazy unmotivated]]. She's the girl who [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20061101 complains]] about orders to not burn any towns and then adds "even if a town really ''[[ZombieApocalypse needed]]'' burning". Later comics reveal that Bangladesh is smarter than she presents herself, but is also ''more'' impulsive and hedonistic, and so her intelligence takes a backseat unless she's forced to get serious.
248-->'''Klaus:''' Dupree. When I say the words "''alive and unharmed''", do ''any'' neurons actually ''fire'' in that brain of yours?\
249'''Dupree:''' Um -- [[BluntNo no sir!]]\
250'''Klaus:''' I thought not.
251* In ''Webcomic/LookingForGroup'', Richard started out like this. In fact, he's still like this a lot. It helped with him being undead and a powerful sorcerer, not having to suffer any real consequences for his actions -- although the other party members certainly did. It's later revealed that his Stupid Evil acts ''do'' have a point, though. [[spoiler:If he doesn't continually kill innocents, he loses his powers. ''All'' of his powers. His undeath (i.e. his immortality, inability to feel pain, and ease of regeneration) ''and'' his magic.]] His insane actions are shown to be [[spoiler:a bit of a facade, as he's ''aware'' he's doing evil things, but he is doing them in hope for the Greater Good. The crazier he acts, the less responsibility he has to take for his actions, and the less clearly he remembers his old self]].
252** Later in the comics, he mellows out the evil without drawbacks, [[spoiler:since he is supposed to save innocents for power now]], but the problem is he is still an idiot and he will still do {{Jerkass}} acts for fun or if angered. Turns out he is insane, but it's a question of degree.
253* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'':
254** [[HeroicComedicSociopath Belkar]] is a great example because he's not just evil in a stupid way, he's evil ''because'' he's stupid. When Vaarsuvius cast a wisdom-boosting spell on him, he swore off evil and needless killing. Then V dismissed the spell and he ran off to kill things. However, he had a vision/hallucination of Lord Shojo which has seemingly convinced him to avoid this; if he's a bit more selective with his carnage and act as if he's playing by everyone else's rules (in his word, "faking CharacterDevelopment"), he can get people to stop hating him and possibly even [[ManipulativeBastard get them to do what he wants]]. Considering the setting (''Dungeons & Dragons''), Belkar is eerily effective at times compared to more intelligent and less stab-happy people. Belkar may also be smarter than he looks, as shown when he did a pretty effective job of dismantling Miko despite her ridiculous combat proficiency. Of course, then he was just as stupid as you'd expect when he's defeated off-camera and has the holes in his resurrection scheme pointed out. There are some hints, however, that his development may turn out to be genuine, such as [[spoiler:seeming to lament that hurting people is all he's good at after insulting Roy out of a breakdown due to Durkon's vampirization]].
255** The trope is discussed between Roy and the High Priest of Hel when Roy calls him out on why he wants to destroy the world:
256--->'''High Priest:''' Maybe it's because I'm an Evil vampire now?\
257'''Roy:''' So what? Xykon's an Evil lich. Tarquin's an Evil human. Neither of them wants to actually destroy the world. Heck, Belkar is an Evil halfling and he's like 70% towards wanting to save it. You need to have some kind of underlying ''reason'' to support this scheme!
258** Later subverted when it turns out he does have a reason. When the world is destroyed, [[spoiler:the souls of all the dwarfs in the world will belong to Hel, which will grant her the power to remake the world as she sees fit, with the High Priest presumably having a favored position at her right hand.]]
259** Nale. Compulsively boastful of his evil deeds, arrogant, power-hungry, but often doesn't think through the consequences of his actions. He once killed 417 people just to give local law enforcement an obvious clue as to where he was hiding out at (the map of the killings formed an arrow). However, his arrogance came back to bite him, hard, when [[spoiler: he plotted and executed the killing of his father's friend Malack, then boasted of it to his father, who then killed Nale and avenged Malack.]]
260* Subverted in the [=RPGamer=] comic ''ComicStrip/KnightsOfTheDinnerTable'', where player Sara Felton becomes evil because of a cursed object, but acts, as she points out, definitely not Stupid. And [[EvilFeelsGood she likes it]].
261* ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'':
262** Black Mage, who puts the "sociopath" back into HeroicComedicSociopath -- and removes the "heroic" for good measure. His apparent solution to ''every problem'' is "kill everyone, starting with the people I hate", and it seems the only reason he hasn't put this plan into action is that [[CrapsackWorld he doesn't know where to start]].
263** He also has a [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2007/12/01/episode-926-schematic-representation/ flowchart]].
264** Kary is also this, considering she blows up her own minions just for fun and to prove that she is evil, which depletes her supply of them. Later, she blames the Light Warriors for killing her minions despite admitting that it was all her fault.
265** The other Light Warriors can fall into this at points - Thief once sold a fraudulent map to someone they were ''asking for directions.''
266* Minor villain, Jaxon, in ''Webcomic/DominicDeegan'' is in the middle of a chaotic and extremely dangerous wilderness when he decides to stab his boss and go hunting for a [[FriendlyNeighbourhoodVampire monster]] that completely outclasses him. Later, while wounded, he decides to attack the unscathed main character. He's either classic Stupid Evil or just [[TooDumbToLive suicidal]].
267
268* In ''Webcomic/YetAnotherFantasyGamerComic'', when princess Dewcup tries to join the Drow because EvilIsCool, she [[http://yafgc.net/comic/0158-definitions-of-bad/ got a thing or two mixed up]].
269* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'':
270** Jack Noir (the alpha version, anyway) took a hard right into this trope via a [[MythologyGag Jail Break-like imprisonment sequence,]] where he keeps foiling his own escape plans with his compulsive need to stab everything in sight. He ends up beaten senseless by a gang of burly Prospitians.
271** [[SmugSnake Vriska]] arguably counts too -- she will do everything up to and including [[spoiler:prototyping [[BigBad Jack Noir]] with a PhysicalGod]] just so that she can influence the story's events in some way.
272** Caliborn starts as this, but [[spoiler:[[TheReveal we learn]] that he [[TookALevelInBadass took a major level in badass]] and became the BigBad Lord English.]]
273* ''Webcomic/KlonoaDreamCrusaders'':
274** Tenebrae Hue, the BigBadWannabe, has a few moments:
275*** [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] and maybe [[JustifiedTrope justified]] when Noctis Sol warns Hue that the latter's ritual will summon an ancient evil. Hue stubbornly dismisses it as "nonsense" and goes through with the procedure anyway. He does ''try'' to prepare his minions to fight this evil, but Claire the Ancient turns out to be just as dangerous as Noctis Sol said, and [[CurbstompBattle wipes the floor with all of them]]. It's implied that Hue ignored this warning because [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes he had a personal reason for his evil plans]] and ''really'' didn't want anyone trying to talk him down.
276*** Played straight later on when Hue is stranded in another world with Lolo (and the King of Sorrow, though Hue and Lolo don't know he's there yet). Hue immediately turns his wrath against Lolo, even though she had nothing to do with the portals scattering everyone, and she was the only person around as far as Hue knew. Even ''Joka'', who is usually one of the most incompetent villains, realized it would be wise to cooperate with the heroes he was stranded with.
277** [[BigBad Claire]] creates a bunch of portals that scatter the main characters, including [[BigBadWannabe Tenebrae Hue]], to different locations. But then she realizes that she needs Hue for her own plans, so she is forced to track him down. This shows that while Claire is immensely powerful, she is not very good at forward thinking.
278--->'''Claire:''' Maybe I should have thought twice before flinging you into space with my portals...
279[[/folder]]
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281[[folder:Web Original]]
282* ''Literature/SailorNothing'' does a great LampshadeHanging on Stupid Evil with the Yamiko, as General Cobalt [[spoiler:finds out the hard way]]. Yamiko are TheHeartless, made up entirely of repressed negative feelings; thus, they are entirely driven by sadistic impulses and for the most part have no ability to plan beyond 'what hurts people most right now', and can't work together, and the more powerful the Yamiko, the worse it is. The only exceptions are the ones who ''know'' they're Stupid Evil and can work around it, or like Cobalt are too focused on getting things done to be distracted.
283* [[http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/File:MPost5045-zim-alignment%2Ejpg By one definition]], "There is a fine line between ChaoticEvil and [[IdiotBall incompetent]] LawfulEvil."
284* Discussed in this Cracked article of [[http://www.cracked.com/article_19498_the-5-most-needlessly-evil-movie-villain-strategies.html The 5 Most Needlessly Evil Movie Villain Strategies.]]
285* Invoked in ''Website/SFDebris''' "The Rise and Fall of the Comic Empire", where he says that Creator/MarvelComics response to UsefulNotes/TheGreatComicsCrashOf1996 "combined the evil of [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader]] with the coordination of Creator/LaurelAndHardy".
286* The ''Website/SCPFoundation'' was known for having this problem [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness in its early days]], particularly with regards to [[BoxedCrook D-class personnel]]--some stories had them treating said personnel as cannon fodder, frequently throwing them into tests on the level of "stick your arm into this woodchipper." One bit of canon went so far as to claim that the Foundation executed all D-class personnel at the end of each month so as to maintain secrecy; apparently under the impression that the world has an inexhaustible supply of death row inmates. Later canon specifically codified a [[PragmaticVillainy "cold, but not cruel"]] approach to the Foundation for this reason.
287* The StarterVillain, Zadicus Quinn, of ''[[https://forum.questionablequesting.com/threads/the-soul-engine-original-fantasy-isekai.23829/ The Soul Engine]]'' repeatedly abuses a [[SummonEverymanHero hero summoning ritual]] and messes with their memories, ripping out half their memories and replacing them with the memories of soldiers and other fighters, before tossing them into his arenas to die in combat. It's later revealed that he basically throws out their old memories unless they contain combat experience. The main character is gobsmacked that the man is so incredibly shortsighted to repeatedly[[note]]As in, tens of thousands of times[[/note]] commit what he learns is a ''very'' heinous crime for the sake of blood sport when he could use those stolen memories to [[GivingRadioToTheRomans uplift his society via knowledge of more advanced technology]]. Even basic understanding of modern science and medicine would vastly improve quality of life, but he'd rather have those he summoned die after a single fight in his arenas.
288[[/folder]]
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290[[folder:Web Videos]]
291* [[TheCaligula Schlatt]] from the ''WebVideo/DreamSMP'' engages in pointless sadism and cruelty for absolutely no reason, which can range from [[BadBoss bullying his subordinates]] to [[WouldHurtAChild ordering the public execution of a teenager]]. His allies all wind up abandoning him because Schlatt refuses to stop [[KickTheDog kicking every dog in sight]], regardless of how much it alienates them.
292* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/c/MediaZealot/featured Media Zealot]]'' is a channel that goes into the various ways this could have been avoided by various film and show companies like [[Franchise/ResidentEvil Umbrella]], [[Franchise/RoboCop OCP]], and even [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Sauron]] is not immune to their judgment.
293* This is the main playing style of the ''LetsPlay/SpoilerWarning'' crew.
294* ''WebVideo/TheUnexpectables'': In "Skycrimes", the engineer of a pirate (air) ship complains after the fact about kidnapping an opera, which has already led to a battle with the title characters who had been attending in the audience, is so in keeping with their captain's behavior that he has no trouble accepting Greckles' cover story, and ultimately sees their ship lost to a disappointed client.
295[[/folder]]
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297[[folder:Other]]
298* Insofar as lying is "evil", then the knaves in Raymond Smullyan's logic puzzles count; they ''always'' lie, even if they would [[MostDefinitelyNotAVillain give away their being knaves]] (e.g. if you ask them "Is the Pope Catholic?", they will say "No"). The most famous and widely imitated such puzzle is described under KnightsAndKnaves. In that one and its variants, puzzle solvers are limited in the number of questions they can ask, and there is often a more conventional "Normal" character hidden among the Stupid Evil knaves, who can usually imitate a knight or knave whenever convenient.
299* The philosophy of Solipsistic Altruism is based on the idea that in the long term, all evil is stupid. Powerful people do heinous things to hold on to their power or gain more out of the fear of how they'll suffer if their power ever collapses, while driving themselves ever higher up an increasingly precarious tower. A psychological breakdown into either paranoia or denial is inevitable along that road. Therefore, the greatest benefit one could gain from exerting power is cultivating wealth and goodwill in their society: both to form a safety net for their fall and make a life without power into a desirable enough one that nobody else would see a benefit in ruining it.
300[[/folder]]
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