Line #5 PunchClockVillain/ComicBooks


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9	* ''ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}'': As the Human Flying Fish says, he is just a wage slave doing his job: they design the suit, they get to pick the name and the color scheme, he gets to beat people up.
10	* ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'': Quite a few Roman legionaries (at least those who aren't schemers or nationalists) are there to make some fast (and they thought easy) money and get on with their lives. They don't care much about the indomitable village or revenge, attacking Gauls only to avoid punishment from their superiors (and in some cases preferring the punishment than the beatdown they will suffer from their intended victims).
11	** Best summed up in ''[[Recap/AsterixAndTheCauldron Asterix and the Cauldron]]'' where thanks to a misunderstanding the legionaries of a fort thought that it was paying time. When told to give money instead of receiving them, they started a strike and shouted ''We are not conquerors for nothing!''
12	* In ''Comicbook/AstonishingAntMan'', the Power Broker creates a smartphone app called "Hench," which is designed to help low-level supervillains find employers who want to hire their services. It is also shown that the villains behave like members of any real world profession, and even pay taxes. A group of baddies even tell a new villain to steer clear of ever working for the ComicBook/RedSkull, who has a habit of [[BadBoss killing his underlings]].
13	* In the ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' story "Ellie's Friends", Ellie's nephew Fred is making money on the side by renting out Ellie's collection of [[RobotBuddy robot friends]] as mooks and henchmen to anyone.
14	* ''ComicBook/AtomicRobo'' portrays most German soldiers this way, making sure that the readers see them as human beings.
15	--> '''German who just came face to face with a ticking bomb''': "Dammit, I don't even like [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Hitler]]."
16	* In ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey'', ComicBook/{{Huntress}} and ComicBook/BlackCanary go disguised as former minions of the Penguin and Riddler to a large meeting of Gotham's hired muscle. It turns out, rather than planning some massive heist as the heroic duo originally thought, the guy who called them is actually trying to form them into a unofficial union in an effort for them to get better pay and treatment from the main villains who hire them.
17	* In the Evanier/Spiegle run of ''Comicbook/{{Blackhawk}}'', Professor Merson is an American scientist who designs [[StupidJetpackHitler wonder weapons]] like the [[MonowheelMayhem War Wheel]] for the Nazis. But only because they pay him. After finally being captured by the Blackhawks and in British custody, Merson happily switches sides to work for the Allies after UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill offers him more money.
18	* The ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'' comic book upgrades the faceless minions of ComicBook/{{HYDRA}} into Punch Clock Villains, mostly through the info we receive from Deadpool's kidnapped [[strike:pet]] minion Bob, Agent of HYDRA. Through him we learn that some of the minions of HYDRA do not really care about the take over the world agenda of the organization. They just can not find work anywhere else. They also fear and hate ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, ComicBook/{{Elektra}} and ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}. However, one downside of working for HYDRA is that they don't get dental insurance. Deadpool himself once stopped midway through a fight with ComicBook/SpiderMan when he realized that he was off the clock. Though "villain" is a pretty harsh word, considering the fight at that point had degraded to a [[YourMom Yo Momma]] contest.
19	* Ron Gomz in ''Comicbook/DoomPatrol'' was hired by the team's benefactor Thayer Jost to take them on as a publicity stunt... but when he attacks and finds out they cancelled their contract with Jost (and consequently he wasn't going to get paid), he had a bit of a meltdown of properly villainous proportions.
20	* Most of the thugs, minions, and lackeys in ''Comicbook/{{Empowered}}'' are pretty decent guys, especially the protagonist's boyfriend and his buddies. The segment where he explains that killing superheroes is even dumber than killing cops is ''hilarious'', and makes an enormous amount of sense.
21	* Spoofed in a ''Comicstrip/TheFarSide'' comic, where a series of woodland creatures are shown lining up at a pair of punch clocks, labeled "Predators" and "Prey" respectively.
22	* The new Big Wheel in ''Comicbook/GhostRider'', who even goes so far as to say "nothing personal" and that this is just work for him.
23	* The ComicBook/HarleyQuinn comic book showed the "business side" of being a henchman in Gotham City, as Harley held auditions. (Looking, like most Bat Villains, not just for muscle but ''stylish'' muscle). The group she wound up with, the Quinntet, were all veterans of other Gotham villains' gangs, and discussed past job experiences almost as if they had been in theater productions. ''Streets of Gotham'' loves this trope, as it has an affably villainous 'just business' realtor-to-supervillains, and a carpenter, both of whom work on the utmost principles of discretion.
24	* ''ComicBook/HellblazerRiseAndFall'': Unlike other demons Constantine has faced, Lucifer seems to be more interested in things like sin and evil as a professional curtesy and is otherwise a nice guy. He even decides to steal Despondeo's con -- [[AssholeVictim selling "salvation" to a rich guy who has it coming just to watch him plummet to his death]] -- before leaving back to Hell.
25	* Similar to HYDRA, Marvel's mad-science terrorist organization AIM is often shown to be staffed with clock-punchers. It's particularly attractive to STEM graduates who are having trouble finding honest work; a repeated gag is that low-level AIM minions are mainly motivated by the need to pay off their student loans.
26	* Recurring minor ''ComicBook/{{Invincible}}'' villain Furnace. In his later appearances, he wants to kill Invincible for damaging his suit to the point that it required massive repairs, setting him back millions of dollars and forcing him to start at square one. "I'm just trying to make a living, he has no idea how expensive this thing is..."
27	* In the first issue of the ''Comicbook/TheInvisibles'', King Mob kills a whole slew of security guards while trying to break Dane out of a juvenile facility run by the [[CosmicHorror Archons of the Outer Church]]. About twelve issues later, we see the life of one of those security guards -- his family, his relationship with his wife, his time in the military -- up until his death at King Mob's hands.
28	* ''ComicBook/{{Iznogoud}}'': Wa'at Alahf, Iznogoud's henchman, only goes along with Iznogoud's schemes because he is employed by him; he is indifferent to the question of who actually rules Baghdad, and has long since realised that his boss' plans to become Caliph instead of the Caliph are doomed to failure. A number of stories from TheNineties added the subplot that Wa'at is running his own profiteering schemes behind Iznogoud's back, and may be richer than his boss.
29	* In ''ComicBook/LittleGloomy'', Simon von Simon's hunchback assistant Boris honestly couldn't care less about whatever project Simon is working on; he is a hunchback, so being the mad scientist's lab assistant is the only job he can really get. He also tells Frank that he is just doing his job before hacking him to pieces with an axe. When Simon's castle blows up, not only is Boris long gone (the gig was clearly going sour), his first thought is sifting through the newspaper's want ads for new employment.
30	* For Creator/MarvelComics villain organizations, the Advanced Idea Mechanics or A.I.M would be this. Unlike the fascist Hydra who aim to take over the world and various similar organizations, A.I.M members are largely about scientific progress that veers off into MadScience. Many members aren't particularly criminally inclined and more than happy to go legit. In the ''[[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Captain America: Sentinel of Truth]]'' series, Steve Rogers doesn't like A.I.M but Sharon Carter counters that many of them aren't criminals and everyone of the heroes currently helping Steve have at least one friendly contact within A.I.M. Likewise Storm of the X-Men has a friend within A.I.M and she even invited him to a Hellfire Gala. New Mutants' Sunspot takes the cake, he made so many friendly acquaintances in A.I.M that he hired them and turned them into [[ComicBook/NewAvengers2015 a hero team]].
31	* One of the concentration camp guards in ''ComicBook/{{Maus}}'' is shown to be surprisingly affable, acting friendly with prisoners and reminiscing about beautiful countrysides. When one day he comes to work incredibly chilled and frightened, acting harshly with the prisoners, Vladek guesses that the guard witnessed a mass killing since he was stationed for a time at Birkenau (or Auschwitz II) before coming back.
32	* The Raider in ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'' is the most infamous time travelling criminal of all time, responsible for countless heists throughout history. But he is also a single father who only does what he does to support his son, and works mostly on commission for his employers, the Organization. One issue even has a future version of him who retired, while in another he is impressed that Donald can manage to raise three children without turning to crime, whereas he can barely handle one even with his life of crime.
33	* ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': Villain Lisa Yurigama, aka the Rising Sun Archer, considers her job to be just that, a job, even if she does have a degree of professional pride in her accuracy and effectiveness.
34	* ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'': Cain routinely and casually murders his brother Abel. In ''The Wake'' it is revealed that Abel is a dream; Cain murders him over and over because it is what he is, and that defines him. If he stopped, he would no longer be Cain, and would cease to exist. For him, ''anything'' is a reason to kill Abel, including being bored.
35	* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'':
36	** The Shocker differs from his peers mainly because he considers supervillainy more of a job than a way of life. He is essentially a gifted inventor that considers robbing banks to be more entertaining than a typical desk job, and has taken pains to avoid causing casualties in the past. Later, he starts working for Hammer Industries, which hires him out as muscle, where he punches into work and has a supervisor, etc.
37	** The Sandman is, while a supervillain, still a halfway decent person, who, among other things, changed his real name so that [[DontTellMama his mother wouldn't get caught up in his criminal career]]. He even tried a heroic career, and kept it for quite a while before the ChronicVillainy set in. He is still shown to be a relatively amiable person once you get past the life of crime, and is noticeably less violent and cruel than his peers in Spidey's RoguesGallery. He occasionally gains traits of an AntiVillain as well, especially in ''Film/SpiderMan3'', where he was a full on AntiVillain who only commits crimes to save his daughter. In the early Marvel days, Sandman and [[ComicBook/TheThing Ben Grimm]] ran into each other in a neighborhood bar. They put down some minor troublemakers who were disturbing the peace, then spent the rest of the afternoon sitting side-by-side at the bar, swapping stories over beers.
38	* ComicBook/{{Taskmaster}} is a mercenary, and generally has no strong idealogical bent one way or the other. If the bad guys are paying him more, he'll work for them, and if the good guys are paying more, he'll work for them. In ''All-New Captain America'', [[Characters/CaptainAmericaCentralRoguesGallery Baron Zemo]]'s plot to use a bomb to unleash a sterilizing virus is ultimately thwarted because [[ComicBook/DaughtersOfTheDragon Misty Knight]] pays Taskmaster an obscene amount of money to simply not press the detonator.
39	* When the ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}'' were turned over to HAMMER in the wake of Comicbook/DarkReign, one of ComicBook/NormanOsborn's immediate hires was Paladin. Paladin has made a name for himself in the Marvel Universe as a reliable mercenary who gets the job done and doesn't ask questions, and he stays true to that reputation for much of his tenure with the team. He knows Osborn is crazy and that what he is doing is wrong, but, well, as long as there is money, you know?
40	* The mercenary Batroc the Leaper has but two goals: make lots of money, and beat ComicBook/CaptainAmerica in a fight. He is disgusted by any activity that doesn't involve one of these things. In ''ComicBook/TheUnbelievableGwenpool'', he extends his philosophy and declares villainy to be superior to superheroing because you get to spend more time off the clock. Sometimes the heist works and you get to go enjoy your ill-gotten gains for a few months; meanwhile, Captain America is still strapping on that shield every single day.
41	* In ''ComicBook/{{Violine}}'', Marushka's robots. They even apologize for it. The Baron and his hunting party also count, being paid by Marushka to hunt down Klaas, and later Francois and Violine.
42	* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': Bill Baker, who "played the part" of the The Chauvinist, The Exploiter, and Involute the Conqueror for pay by the White Magician, and seemed to think ComicBook/{{Artemis}} was in on the fact that it was all an act. His cluelessness might stem from the fact that he was getting magically altered by a true villain as payment for his "acting".
43	* ''ComicBook/XFactor'': During Creator/PeterDavid's first run, a villain named Random trashed most of X-Factor as well as the illegal foreign immigrants they were protecting, without breaking a sweat. Then he casually mentioned that he was getting two grand to return the [[{{Pun}} X-Patriots]] to their country of origin, which is all he cared about, as a working stiff. Havok pointed out that X-Factor were working stiffs too, [[CrimefightingWithCash and wrote him a check for four thousand dollars on his government expense account, and the battle was concluded amiably]]. "Pleasure doing business with you."
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Context PunchClockVillain / ComicBooks