History Main / VillainCred

* Roderick Kingsley, the original Hobgoblin, a ''[[ComicBook/SpiderMan Spider-Man]]'' foe came out of retirement to kill the fourth Hobgoblin, in part for being an embarrassment to the name Hobgoblin. He has since taken to establishing a business of establishing a costumed identity, gaining villain cred, and then licensing out the name to another villain; in fact when the ''sixth'' Hobgoblin killed his brother and took the mantle, Kingsley chose to let him live after being impressed by his moves and hammering out an agreement to be given a share of the proceeds from his crimes.

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': After much evil perpetrated around the Tri-State Area, Dr. Doofenschmirtz rescues [[PetTheDog one kitten]] from a tree, and risks the complete loss of his evil-genius status.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': The episode "Jailbreak!" reveals that every criminal in Bikini Bottom looks up to Plankton; they outright describe him as "criminal royalty."

** In "The Last Adventure!", [[spoiler:Bradford Buzzard betrays his ally, the CardCarryingVillain Black Heron, and has her wiped from existence. Rather than be mad about this turn of events, Heron spends her last moments commending Bradford on this act of villainy]].

* In the ''VideoGame/EvilGenius'' game, this is your genius' Notoriety, which increases as you successfully complete Acts of Infamy. It also riles up the good guys something fierce, so you have to strike a balancing act.

* ''Manga/EdensZero'': Oracion Seis Galactica member and feared criminal boss Drakken Joe takes his reputation as TheDreaded LoanShark ''very'' seriously, as he sees it as insurance of his "clients" paying their owned dues on time knowing if they cross him they've got AFateWorseThanDeath lined up. He doesn't hesitate to kill a lackey not just because he lost to the main characters, who he views as a bunch of inexperienced and idealistic brats way in over their heads, but because said lackey name-dropped his relation to Drakken and his screw-up reflects on him.
* ''Manga/OnePunchMan'': King is a hero who only has to show up and look emotionlessly at low-level monsters for them to flee or surrender, knowing he's taken out multiple high-level threats and no one knowing how he did it. He doesn't even have to be there for it to happen, just hearing the King Engine going "DOOM DOOM '''DOOM'''" faster and faster as he gets ready to butcher them is enough. As a result, the monsters who survived facing him (by letting themselves be arrested rather than fighting him) enjoy significant VillainCred in prison. [[spoiler:It's all BS: ''King'' is the one scared out of his mind and literally has no powers beyond keeping a perfect PokerFace to prevent his fear from showing, the "King Engine" is just his unusually loud heartbeat that gets faster as he thinks he's going to die. The monsters he supposedly took out are actually Saitama's before he became a registered hero. Thankfully he's able to explain the situation to Saitama and even become friends with him.]]

* In ''ComicBook/Eternals2021'', after an initial attempt to goad Thanos into killing him, his omni-genocidal great-uncle Uranos eventually hails him as the one member of his line who is ''not'' a disappointment. For his part, Thanos thanks Uranos and refers to him as "grandfather".

** A [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] story has the Joker and Clayface commit crimes using each other's M.O.s so that each can claim the title of Public Enemy #1.
** The same basic gimmick was used in Poison Ivy's debut story in the 1960s, where she arranges the capture of three other female criminals -- Public Enemy numbers 1, 2, and 3 -- so that she can step forward and take credit for various previously unsolved crimes.
** And used again in a story in the 1970s where rumors of Batman's murder sweep through the underworld, prompting the villains to assemble a JokerJury of their own to evaluate the Villain Cred of the various supervillains (ranging from ComicBook/TheJoker to ComicBook/LexLuthor to to ComicBook/TheRiddler to ComicBook/{{Catwoman}}) claiming to be Batman's killer.

** In ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfLuthor'': Lex bursts in rage when ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} saves his life because he, who used to be respected by all criminals, will be the gangland laughingstock from now on thanks to her.

** When his reputation plummeted Phantom Blot was outraged and even had a VillainousBreakdown, as [[CardCarryingVillain he actually enjoys people cowering in fear at his name]], and many of his plans actually rely on civilians and the police fearing him. He then went and temporarily wiped out the memory of ''everyone in Mouseton'' just to be feared again, and [[TheBadGuysWin succeeded]].

* In ''Literature/InterviewingLeather'', the titular villainess describes two different types of crime she commits. To enhance her VillainCred, she does loud flashy attacks in which she rants, breaks things, terrorizes the citizens, dares the local superheroes to try and stop her, etc. To [[OffscreenVillainDarkMatter pay the bills]], she leads her henchmen in quiet efficient robberies that draw far less attention (unless something goes wrong).

* A VillainOfTheWeek on ''{{Series/Bones}}'' wants to get arrested because he’s a rapper. Brennan had trouble understanding the idea of “street cred”, which is basically this trope.

** Jim Gordon drags Professor Pyg by bringing up notorious villains such as [[ComicBook/TheJoker Jerome Valeska]], [[ScaryBlackWoman Fish Mooney]], and [[ComicBook/ThePenguin Oswald Cobblepot]], and their "staying power" in the minds of the citizens of Gotham. Compared to them, Gordon says, Pyg is nothing but a flash-in-the-pan [[BigBadWannabe second-rate wannabe]].
** By the series finale, [[ComicBook/TheJoker Jeremiah Valeska]] has earned this, with ComicBook/TheRiddler flat-out calling him "a legend" and the entire GCPD being [[TheDreaded terrified of his return]].

* In ''WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog'', Dr. Horrible's primary goal through Act I and Act II is to earn enough cred to get into the Evil League of Evil. He eventually succeeds...but at a ''horrible'' price.
* [[DiscussedTrope Discussed in]] Literature/{{Worm}} as a sort of metaphorical 'shield'; after all, if you're ''just that terrifying'' nobody will start a fight in the first place, essentially giving you a free victory. Grue is the one who first talks about this, but it's eventually embraced by [[VillainProtagonist Skitter]].
** One fan theory as to [[TheDreaded Sleeper's]] power is that it simply makes everyone ''perceive'' him as an enourmous threat without actually giving him any dangerous abilities. His power never actually gets revealed, because ''everyone is too terrified of him to try and mess with him''. This was {{Jossed}} by [[WordOfGod the author]]: Sleeper is every bit as powerful and dangerous as his reputation suggests.

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' learns that her EvilCounterpart Shego [[{{Backstory}} used to be]] part of a superhero team, and uses that [[SlaveToPR to blackmail her]] into helping her defeat this week's villain:
-->'''Kim''': Because if you don't help, I'll tell the the world you used to be a good guy.\\

** One recurring gag is that [[ButtMonkey Dr. Drakken's]] VillainCred is so weak that people haven't heard of him -- worse, they sometimes mistake him for [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter Professor Dementor]].

* The ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "The Man Who Killed Batman" provides us with one-time character Sid 'The Squid', a small time crook who wished to gain some cred as a big shot... And succeeded when he got in a scuffle with Batman and, completely by accident, ''apparently killed him''. Then it's {{Deconstructed}}. As the real life saying goes, "[[ThePerilsOfBeingTheBest when you're king of the hill, everyone else wants to knock you off]]". First, he becomes a target for another crook looking to earn cred for himself by taking down the guy who killed Batman. Then, he's kidnapped by The Joker, who [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld0uIhst3TA tries to kill Sid]] for [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou depriving him of the chance to kill Batman himself]]. Finally, he goes to [[TheDon Rupert Thorne]] for help in getting away from Gotham, but after Sid tells his story Thorne decides that there's no way Sid can be telling the truth, as surely nobody could survive such dangers through sheer dumb luck, so Thorne comes to the conclusion that Sid must be [[ObfuscatingStupidity putting on an act]] as part of an attempt to take over Thorne's drug racket. After all, if someone is tough enough bring down ''the Caped Crusader himself'' then why wouldn't Thorne see him as a rival? Of course, Batman was alive after all, [[HesJustHiding letting people think he was dead]] and keeping Sid alive through these misadventures in order to follow him and find out who was running the crime ring. In the end, Sid ''did'' get some prison cred as the man who ''nearly'' killed Batman and then proceeded to make fools of the Joker and Thorne.

** In "The Last Adventure!", [[spoiler:Bradford Buzzard betrays his ally, the CardCarryingVillain Black Heron, and has her wiped from existence. Rather than be mad about this turn of events, Heron spends her last moments commending Bradford on this act of villainy.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/PennZeroPartTimeHero'': Rippen is a PunchClockVillain who hopes to one day gain enough VillainCred to not only make it a full-time job, but finally gain the respect of his family, who are incredibly successful criminals themselves. However, since he doesn't have a single win to his name and his sidekick is a MinionWithAnFInEvil, accomplishing this is easier said than done.

* In the ''Series/MastersOfHorror'' episode "Pick Me Up", [[EvilVersusEvil two rival serial killers]] called Walker and Wheeler pick off the passengers of a bus crew that they come across in the northwest. They both despise each other for their respective {{kill steal}}s and treading on the other's "territory", but are also quite impressed by the other's ingenuity and brutality. Walker in particular prizes Wheeler on decapitating one of his victims [[ImprovisedWeapon with a baggage compartment door]].

Whether you consider it short for villain credentials or villain credibility, it's a measure both of how much respect a villain gets among his fellow rogues and of how credible a threat the do-gooders and the authorities consider said villain to be. It's earned through successful completion of bold, daring and devious deeds; in other words, nothing so pedestrian as robbing bank or holding up a liquor store will suffice. It can also be lost in a heartbeat if one runs afoul of [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo meddling kids and their talking dog]].

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'', a MonsterOfTheWeek claims that many of the monsters who attack Townsville go there just for a chance to fight the girls, because it's a good way to build up villain cred.

* The ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' "The Man Who Killed Batman" provides us with one-time character Sid 'The Squid', a small time crook who wished to gain some cred as a big shot... And succeeded when he got in a scuffle with Batman and, completely by accident, ''apparently killed him''. Then it's {{Deconstructed}}. As the real life saying goes, "[[ThePerilsOfBeingTheBest when you're king of the hill, everyone else wants to knock you off]]". First, he becomes a target for another crook looking to earn cred for himself by taking down the guy who killed Batman. Then, he's kidnapped by The Joker, who [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld0uIhst3TA tries to kill Sid]] for [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou depriving him of the chance to kill Batman himself]]. Finally, he goes to [[TheDon Rupert Thorne]] for help in getting away from Gotham, but after Sid tells his story Thorne decides that there's no way Sid can be telling the truth, as surely nobody could survive such dangers through sheer dumb luck, so Thorne comes to the conclusion that Sid must be [[ObfuscatingStupidity putting on an act]] as part of an attempt to take over Thorne's drug racket. After all, if someone is tough enough bring down ''the Caped Crusader himself'' then why wouldn't Thorne see him as a rival? Of course, Batman was alive after all, [[HesJustHiding letting people think he was dead]] and keeping Sid alive through these misadventures in order to follow him and find out who was running the crime ring. In the end, Sid ''did'' get some prison cred as the man who ''nearly'' killed Batman and then proceeded to make fools of the Joker and Thorne.

-->'''Darius:'' Oh yeah? Tell me about it.

* ''Film/RunningScared1986'': Drug lord Julio Gonzalez is left ''furious'' by the loss of face that comes from the main character having his cadillac towed and then chasing him through his building in his underwear as the result of a raid. His way of recovering this lost prestige is to take a woman hostage and force them to toss ''their'' pants down the stairway before letting her go in order to publicly humiliate them as well.

* In ''Literature/TheSupervillainySaga'', Gary a.k.a Merciless: The Supervillain without [=MercyTM=] is constantly trying to increase his and running into the fact no one takes him seriously. This despite the fact he has a body count three figures long of other supervillains and has killed a number of NinetiesAntiHero types. Amusingly, he's genuinely surprised when villains avert it and assume he's using ObfuscatingStupidity to appear less dangerous than he is. He isn't. He's just an enormous dork.

* In the ''VideoGame/EvilGenius'' game, this is your genius' Notoriety, which increases as you sucessfully complete Acts of Infamy. It also riles up the good guys something fierce, so you have to strike a balancing act.

[[folder:Film]]

[[folder:Live-Action Television]]

* ''Film/DeathWarrant'': The SerialKiller known only as "The Sandman" is a renowned figure in the prison due to his love for killing cops. When he's first brought to the prison, the other cons give him a huge ovation.

* ''Fanfic/TheBridge'': Queen Chrysalis decides she needs to do a VillainTeamUp to have any chance of defeating the heroes and considers her options. She sees Discord as stupid and Tirek as useless, but expresses admiration for King Sombra, citing his power and intelligence.

* Demons from the ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' series tend to be rather concerned about their reputation for "evilness," but most of them aren't very good at it beyond things like [[PokeThePoodle not washing their hands or cutting class.]] This is probably for the best, since demons who are good at bad (e.g. [[BonusBoss Baal]], [[VideoGame/Disgaea2CursedMemories Zenon]], [[VideoGame/Disgaea5AllianceOfVengeance Void Dark]], and [[VideoGame/Disgaea6DefianceOfDestiny The God of Destruction]]) are kind of scary.

** ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay'': ''The Old World Bestiary'' contains descriptions of major intelligent races and monsters found in the setting, accompanied by quotes from a variety of scholars, people with first-hand experience of them, and the beings themselves when they're intelligent. One recurring commentator is Rikkit'tik, a scholar from Clan Eshin, the Skaven clan specialized in assassinations, poisoning and general subterfuge. Most of his comments are terse instructions on how to dispatch the creature in question, but in the section on hobgoblins, a goblin breed notable for being a pack of treacherous, conniving sneaks who live to win their battles with poisoned knives in the dark, he says "I kind of like these green-things. They show... promise."

** Pete, on the other hand, basks in his poor reputation, as even the police is now prone to underestimate him and forget that if given enough time to build up some cash he can take over all crime in Mouseton and then expand and even try and TakeOverTheWorld. On the occasion he stumbled on a device that could take over all machines he accumulated a small fortune and repeatedly humiliated the police, who briefly considered he could be the mysterious "Master of All Machines" but then dismissed the idea as they knew he wasn't that good with advanced technology until the device' inventor asked them for help and revealed it had been lost where Pete was on vacation.