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Harmless Villain

The fiends!^note

"And when she arrives, I shall squirt her...With CITRIC ACID!"

— Jokerella, The Non-Adventures of Wonderella, "For Whom The CELL Tolls"

Villains are vile, ruthless, merciless, and bloodthirsty; any pretension of civility is just a smokescreen to hide a really twisted Big Bad. Not exactly kid-friendly, is it? So what are kids shows and movies supposed to do, if the original source's baddy eats babies? Why, make them a Harmless Villain of course!

Their goals can be as grandiose as any other villain's, but the way they go about their plans makes one wonder what they'd do if they ever win. Instead of putting the heroes through a Death Course, it'll merely be an obstacle course strewn with riddles. Rather than threatening to use Anthrax in the heart of London, they'll use sleeping gas to get away with a heist. If they capture the hero, expect only the most benign of Death Traps (usually with a tub of Mr. Pibb instead of a Shark Pool); and instead of outright torture, they'll use feathers to tickle the hero into submission. Or, they may say they're trying to do something truly evil, but they will fail, every time.

Specific evil plots will usually include amazing MacGuffin devices that mildly inconvenience people and get the hero involved; often, these plots are of such a scale and intricacy that if someone Cut Lex Luthor a Check, they'd be so rich, they wouldn't need that giant Gold-only Orbital Magnet to steal the world's supply of gold.

But, then again, where's the fun in that?

The only people "seriously endangered" by them are the Innocent Bystanders and Distressed Damsel that they occasionally capture, and they end up no worse for wear than if they'd spent the afternoon in a Time Share seminar, which is usually far less entertaining at that, and the villain will probably even provide far better snacks, along with room and board!

The Harmless Villain might possess an impressive array of powers, but they'll end up using it with all the effectiveness of Misapplied Phlebotinum, or have a glaring and easily exploited weaknesses that bring them to their knees just in the nick of time.

Basically, they aren't saddled with a bag of Villain Balls so much as they're expert jugglers, using them to entertain rather than as signs of stupidity (it is a kid's show, after all). A few of them are even Genre Savvy enough to be aware of this, and are pretty easy-going about it. These amiable villains will more often than not show that Even Evil Has Standards when that Very Special Episode rolls around. Out of all the villains, they're the likeliest to enjoy a good time with Villains Out Shopping, or even be Friendly Enemies with the hero!

A Harmless Villain will never Kick the Dog, much less cross the depravity line. However, they will Poke the Poodle...a LOT.

Their minions are as often as not Faceless Goons and comically good Mauve Shirts, both of which tend to do kooky and funny things when their boss isn't looking. These villains often have a degree of Karmic Protection because of the small scale of their "evil", especially when there are more serious villains around.

Keep in mind, though, that sometimes they become a Not So Harmless Villain later on. Even Team Rocket Wins every once in a while.

Compare Big Bad Wannabe, where the Harmless Villain tries to be dangerous but the more harmful villains quickly snuff him/her and make him/her know his place. Contrast Beware the Silly Ones, where an apparently Harmless Villain is only so because, as Fridge Logic reveals, The Hero is just that good. Also contrast Vile Villain, Saccharine Show, which is when a genuinely nasty villain appear in a work that would normally merit this trope. Also see Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain.

Example subpages

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Film - Animated

Meet the Robinsons has Bowler Hat Guy, who isn't capable of actually committing much harm. The robotic bowler hat, Doris, is manipulating him for her own Evil Plan. And it turns out that he has a Freudian Excuse for his hatred of Lewis, the protagonist—he was Lewis' roommate back at the orphanage, and once lost a baseball game which was very important to him because Lewis' invention building kept him up all night.

Literature

In the Discworld novel The Last Hero, Evil Harry Dread has such a strong sense of professional ethics that he always chooses his guards for stupidity and designs his dungeons for easy escape. Of course, following the same professional ethics, he betrays Cohen and the Silver Horde at the first opportunity, but they're not too fussed about it. It's just what he does.
In The Dresden Files short story Day Off, Harry is confronted by "Darth Wannabee" and his gang of amateur dark wizards. He's angry because Harry removed a curse he'd laid on a woman who'd annoyed him. Normally, this would be black magic, an incredibly serious matter and something the White Council punishes with death; their treatment of warlocks is one of the things Harry agrees with the council on, even if he thinks that they are doing ridiculously little to stop people from becoming them. But the "curse" was so weak Harry thought it had been a result of bad feng shui. They run away after, on telling Harry to defend himself, he pulls out his gun. Later, they chucked a smoke bomb through his window, which at least shows they had the sense not to confront him again.

Music

The Tom Smith song Rocket Ride has a line about harmless villains, "[villains] used to be angular, sneering and bald. If someone got killed, even they were appalled. They tried to marry the heroine, no thought of rape, and they sure as hell knew how to wear a cape. They never tortured, they never lied, they'd honor a promise if it meant they died."

Theatre

Gilbert and Sullivan enjoyed this. The Pirates of Penzance will only attack forces more powerful than they are. Ko-Ko in The Mikado has never killed anyone, although he's thinking of starting on small animals soon.
- Ko-Ko is, of course, The Lord High Executioner.

Tabletop Games

Scion has a nonhumorous example in Ouranos, one of the avatars of the Titan of Wind. As described in Greek myth, he was castrated by his son Cronos... and in the process lost absolutely all of his ambition and passion. These days he sits around in his palace of clouds, drinking and sleeping, because he just doesn't care. This makes him a perfect hostage for determined Scions, because he won't even lift a finger in his own defense - if you can get past the guards the other avatars have put around him, he won't stop you from carrying him away.

Web Animation

Burnt Face Man series has got Taps Man, who erodes metal over a period of time, Have A Nice Day Man, who wishes everyone a great day, and Detergent Man, who washes clothes deliberately on the wrong settings. There are many others.

Goldfish Poop Gang

No One Respects the Spanish Inquisition

Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain

Gentleman Thief

Anti-Villain

Hero Antagonist

Sliding Scale of Villain Effectiveness

Minion with an F in Evil

Hannibal Has a Point

Villains

Hate Sink

Gratuitous Animal Sidekick