Save The Villain / Comic Books

• Batman, himself, has taken this trope to ridiculous extremes — to the point of once performing CPR on the Joker in Joker's Last Laugh. Considering how CPR actually is, it's kind of a win-win situation: Joker lives to keep Batsy all heroic and stuff, and Batman gets to ensure this by more or less beating the shit out of him again. And in that case, it was less saving the Joker than saving Nightwing from the knowledge that he killed a man in cold blood.
  • In Batman: Devil's Advocate, Batman saves the Joker from the death penalty. He went out of his way and against the advice of everybody to prove Joker innocent of the crime he was scheduled to be executed for. It ended with Batman saying something like "And from now on, whatever you do, you'll know that you only live because of me. What's the matter? Don't you appreciate the joke?" Seeing as this also means that the Joker is free to carry on murdering people due to Batman's intervention, the joke may be on him.
  • In Batman: Cacophony, the Serial Killer Onomatopoeia (who targets superheroes, though he doesn't mind killing other people for fun either) stabs the Joker in the heart after their villain team-up fails and prepares to flee — but waits a few seconds because he wants to see whether Batman will save the Joker or let him die to pursue Onomatopoeia. Batman chooses the first option despite strong protests from Jim Gordon, whose wife and daughter were murdered and crippled by the Joker, respectively. When the Joker asks him why he did it, Batman explains that due to One Bad Day, he can't bear to see anyone die in front of him if he has the power to stop it.
  • Played with multiple times in The Batman Adventures. In "With a Price on His Head," a grieving father puts a fifty-million-dollar bounty on the Joker's head. Suddenly, everyone in Gotham wants to kill Joker. Batman ends up taking him to the Batcave for protection... and horrific hilarity ensues. Similarly, the "No Asylum" storyline deals with Ra's al Ghul's attempts to murder his entire Rogues Gallery as a gesture of goodwill towards Batman, his daughter's 'beloved' and Batman's attempts to save the villains.
  • In a Detective Comics issue titled "The Executioner Wore Stiletto Heels", Batman risks his life to save an escaped prisoner who has been condemned to death. He almost dies in the process, but the criminal saves him.
  • This trope is subverted in Knightfall. During the Knightquest portion, replacement Batman Jean-Paul Valley has Abattoir hanging by a chain with a vat of molten metal underneath him. Jean-Paul is haunted by the spirits of Saint Dumas (who demands the man be killed) and his father (who demands the man be spared). Jean-Paul's solution? Walk away from it all and let them duke it out. Abattoir is killed, so is his prisoner and Bruce Wayne decides to take back the mantle.
  • When Jason Todd, second short-lived Robin, returns as the Red Hood, he puts Batman in a situation that fits this trope intentionally: he takes the Joker hostage and uses him as a human shield, leaving Batman with only a kill-shot on Todd himself, then demands that Batman either kill Joker right then and there or save the villain by killing his former sidekick. Batman takes a third option and uses a ricochet to disarm Todd with a batarang, saving both villains.
    The Joker: [laughs maniacally] I can't believe you got 'im! You expert, rootin' tootin', eagle-eyed, Goth-lovin' marksman. I love it! You managed to find a way to win. And everybody still loses!
  • This happens twice with the Spoiler in separate partnerships.
    • Played straight in Huntress/Spoiler: Blunt Trauma when the Spoiler helps her father, the Cluemaster, escape when he tells that her temporary partner, the Huntress, is "not like that overgrown ferret and his brat. She's gonna kill your old man if she gets the chance."
    • In a Robin (1993) story, she and Robin are put in a building about to be demolished by the Baffler. Except he knocks himself out, so he ends up there as well. The two manage to save themselves but Robin points out they need to save the villain as well, much to Steph's dismay. Yet when the Baffler says they could become a team, the duo beat him up and leave him for the police.
  • Batgirl Cassandra Cain takes this to an extreme, being willing to run straight into the line of fire of an automatic weapon to prevent a nameless Mook from getting hit with friendly fire. That's how much she sticks to Thou Shalt Not Kill.
  • JLA/Avengers: Batman saves drug dealers from The Punisher. This should come as no surprise to anyone who read Deadly Knights, wherein Frank becomes yet another person Bruce has prevented from killing the Joker.
• Subverted in Catwoman at the end of the "Relentless" arc, where Black Mask begs her to save him from falling off the balcony of his penthouse, despite the horrific and irrevocable acts he has spent the arc performing on her family and friends. She stands back and watches him fall, apparently to his death.
• Captain America to Baron Zemo, lord knows how many times: "Your HAND, man! Give me your hand!" Astonishingly, this eventually pays off when Zemo surprisingly returns the favor at the cost of his face becoming scarred in a battle with Moonstone. He's still a villain, though, or more like an Anti-Villain.
• Daredevil: Played straight when Daredevil drags the sociopathic Bullseye out of the path of a subway train, and then subverted in a later story when (under severe provocation) he lets go of Bullseye's hand while he's dangling over a long drop. Joker Immunity preserves Bullseye's life, but he winds up in a hospital bed, completely paralyzed. (...for a while.) In Born Again, Daredevil also desperately tries to save the maniacal Super-Soldier Nuke after he realizes that he isn't even aware of his surroundings and needs all the help he can get.
• The Flash: This is how Flash defeats Reverse-Flash in The Flash #762; since his Paradox Person powers make killing him effectively meaningless, Barry instead chooses to forgive him and uses the Speed Force to ground him in reality, erasing his villainous past and making it so that he never became a villain in the first place, allowing him to live a peaceful, happy life.
• Green Lantern: Blackest Night: In the end, the day is saved by Black Hand being brought back to life (although since Black Hand killed himself in the first place, this was very definitely an unwanted 'rescue').
• Hound (2014): Near the end of the story, Cú Cullan saves Queen Maeve from King Connor and stops the warriors on both sides. Maeve agrees to end fighting and Cú Cullan proceeds to expose Morrigan as the true enemy.
• Mouse Guard: Gwendolyn saves Midnight from decapitation by Black Axe in the climax of Fall. Notably not due to any kindness on her part:
  Gwendolyn: If he dies, he becomes a martyr.
• In Disney Ducks Comic Universe comics:
  • In Carl Barks' "Uncle Scrooge" comic "The Horseradish Story," the villain who has attempted to swindle Scrooge McDuck out of all of his billions and then kill all of the ducks is about to drown in the ocean after his unsuccessful attempt of drowning his helper. Scrooge at first acts as if he is not going to help, but gives in at the last minute and rescues the guy.
  • Another notable case, in the comic "The Great Wig Mystery", was of a villain who tried to use a Frivolous Lawsuit to get Scrooge's fortune. In that story, Scrooge explained to his family he never expects any kind of gratitude from the villains he saves. He simply doesn't want their deaths to make a weight on his conscience.
  • The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck: When Glomgold runs into the lion Scrooge rode into town, Scrooge laments, "Drat the luck! Now I gotta save his hide rather than tan it!"
• ElfQuest: In the first graphic novel there's a dramatic moment when Rayek falls off a stone bridge and is dangling by his fingertips... Cutter thinks what will soon become a Catchphrase of his ("No elf must die!") and crawls out to help him. Rayek isn't grateful, but blasts Cutter with the full fury of his hate before backing off the bridge, leaving the acrophobic Cutter there to figure his own way off. (It gives Cutter the resolve to pass the test he'd been unable to do before, winning the final battle between him and Rayek. Way to go, Rayek.)
• Parodied in Marshal Law, where the main character, upon seeing the Batman-esque hero-in-name-only Private Eye dangling off a ledge above an industrial-sized meat grinder, muses that not even Private Eye deserves such a fate, and that he has to go save him. He then proceeds to blow his nose and walk very slowly over, before extending his hand while standing a good distance away and calling out to take it. When Private Eye loses his grip and falls to his grisly demise, Law sarcastically curses himself for being too late.
• Superman:
  • There have been several stories like Bizarrogirl about the Superman Family saving Bizarro World from destruction, even though that planet is dangerously insane. They just can't stand seeing anyone lose their homeworld, no matter how bad it is.
  • Superman has also saved Lex Luthor's life on several occasions, even though Luthor's ultimate goal in life is to kill him.
  • War World: Superman tries to rescue Mongul before his weapon-satellite blows up, but he's unable to find him in time.
  • Who is Superwoman?: The titular villain's power suit breaks down during a fight with Supergirl, unleashing energies which tear Superwoman's body apart. Supergirl still tries to help the villain who has just attempted to kill her, but she can't do anything to stop Superwoman's suit from exploding.
  • Day of the Dollmaker: When one of Dollmaker's killer dolls stabs Toyman, Supergirl swiftly slaps the murder toy away and cauterizes Toyman's wound with heat vision.
  • Let My People Grow!: Subverted when Brainiac is hit by his own size-changing ray and begins shrinking uncontrollably. Brainiac begs Supergirl to save him, and even Superman pleads with her, but Kara puts her foot down: their enlarging ray has only two shots left to enlarge her cousin and Kandor, and she is not squandering one of them on Brainiac. Hence, the Coluan is out of luck.
    Brainiac: What... have... you... done... to... me...?
    Supergirl: I did nothing, Brainiac — you've done this to yourself!
    Brainiac: Please, Supergirl — you've got to help me!
    Supergirl: [coldly] I'm sorry, but there isn't enough energy left in the enlarging ray to save Superman — Kandor — and you!
    Brainiac: Can you be so callous — so cruel? I beg you — don't let it end like this!
    Superman: Blast it, Kara — he's right! We must try to save him!
    Supergirl: Cousin — NO! We can't afford to waste the energy!
  • "Luthor Unleashed": In the battle which opens the issue, Lex Luthor's hovercraft is about to crash into the ground after getting hit by Luthor's own death which got bounced off Superman and back at him; however, Superman cushioned his fall with a blast of Super-Breath. Of course, Luthor finds extra-aggravating being saved by the enemy whom he just tried to destroy.
  • In Superman Smashes the Klan, this happens quite a few times thanks to the Klan being filled with wannabe martyrs who happily try to kill themselves to accomplish their goals. Matt Riggs tries not once but twice to kill Superman in a situation where doing so would end his life as well.
  • In Doomsday Clock, Dr. Manhattan decides to Make Wrong What Once Went Right across the DC Rebirth timeline in order to test Superman's resolve, and has a vision of Superman trying to kill him which he wants to see the result of. When they actually do meet and he even tells Superman that he was responsible for the death of his parents, Superman charges toward him to save him from a sneak attack. He tells Manhattan that he's free to make his own destiny and Take a Third Option, and Manhattan is so inspired by his optimism that he undoes the damage he caused. Meanwhile, Batman encourages Rorschach's successor to live by his own principles instead of running from his past, and he in turn saves the life of Ozymandias so he can answer for his crimes.
• Averted in at least the early arcs of Judge Dredd. Dredd has no problem with killing when the situation calls for it, and deliberately lets members of the Angel Gang die when he could have saved them.
• A discussion of this concept is held between Chuck and the freedom fighters in Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics) issue #74:
  Chuck: Of all the actions I regret most, it's saving Robotnik from his own kind that haunts me above all the others! And yet even if I knew then what I know now, I'd still save his miserable neck!
  Tails and Amy: You would?
  Chuck: Of course! I consider all life to be sacred! Just because my enemies lack character is not excuse enough for me to stoop to their level!
• Empowered once saved a Punch-Clock Villain who was guarding her. She saw with her X-ray vision that he had an aneurysm and was in mortal danger.
• Subverted and dissected ruthlessly by Mr. A.
• According to The Invaders (Marvel Comics), this is how Adolf Hitler died. The Golden Age Human Torch broke into Hitler's bunker during the Seige of Berlin, offering to let Hitler surrender to the Americans rather than the Russians — as in our reality, the Red Army had earned a reputation for Pay Evil unto Evil. Hitler refused and attacked the Torch, prompting the Torch to kill Hitler in self-defense.
• Subverted in Bookhunter. Agent Bay is pursuing a book thief (in possession of a priceless antique Bible) across rooftops. The thief misses a jump, and Bay shoots a power line in order to swing down on the cable... but he catches the book and lets the thief fall.
• Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four saved the life of Galactus, even after the latter had almost killed him and tried to drain the lifeforce of the earth. This prompted Galactus to (temporarily) declare that he would not attack Earth again, out of gratitude. However, Reed later wound up on trial before an interstellar court and nearly executed for his actions after Galactus consumed the Skrulls' home planet, killing billions.
• Spider-Man:
  • In Web of Spider-Man #3, Spider-Man has to save the lives of the Vulturions when the real Vulture comes to town.
  • In Untold Tales of Spider-Man #15, Spidey saves his long-time antagonist J. Jonah Jameson from being framed by the mob. This was neither the first nor last time. Spidey has saved Jonah's behind so many times, with absolutely no gratitude from Jonah after all of it, that you have to wonder why he bothers.
  • In The Amazing Spider-Man #656, Peter adopts a "No One Dies" rule after the death of Jameson's wife at the hands of the Spider-Slayer and his resulting Heroic BSoD. This leads to him Taking the Bullet for Massacre, and Jameson lampshading his Honor Before Reason, calling him "a fucking idiot" and "bleeding heart half-wit". Peter tries saving Massacre's life again during Superior Spider Man when Doc Ock has him at his mercy, but his efforts are in vain this time.
  • Shortly before the Gathering of Five arc, Spidey actually had to rescue Norman Osborn, and this trope can be combined with What You Are in the Dark for that occasion. The Kingpin sent Nitro the Living Bomb to assassinate Osborn, which resulted in him, Spidey (in his civilian identity as Peter Parker) and Norman's little grandson Normie trapped in an elevator that was about to collapse, both of them pinned. Norman, being the Magnificent Bastard he is, actually took this time to gloat a little, telling Peter that he had no idea whether or not the security cameras were still working, and telling him that any displays of Super-Strength by Peter could possibly give him away to anyone who was watching. Of course, Norman was just as strong but claimed he was unwilling for that very reason. (Or maybe he was waiting until the last second, or was actually unable to free himself, just too proud to ask for help. We may never know.) Eventually, Peter had to take the chance to save Normie (and found out quickly that the security cameras had been quite broken by the explosion) and might have considered leaving his enemy to fall. But when Normie begged him to save his grandfather, he relented and helped get Norman out. Even then, Norman couldn't help but goad him a little, telling him that if he had done nothing he would have been victorious in their feud. (And this would be a very large turning point in it; Norman would perform the Gathering of Five to gain more power to prevent things like this again, would be driven far more insane, his identity of the Goblin would be revealed, and his enmity with Spider-Man would become much deadlier than before.)
• Discussed with Marvel villain The Hood, whose hood and shoes gave him superpowers through increasing amounts of Demonic Possession. He was sent to murder Doctor Strange, who realized at once what was going on and tried to talk him down. Later, when it was obvious that the demon was more than Hood could handle, his associate tried to send him to Strange for help due to this trope. "I bet he'll help you. Even after everything. He has to, right?"
• In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures, the titular foursome are forced to save Shredder from being possessed by Krang. Shredder is PISSED that he now owes his life to the Turtles. He disappears for a long time (both in-universe and in real life), and when he re-appears to kidnap Splinter, Leonardo passionately reminds Shredder that he owes the Turtles his life. Shredder relents and releases Splinter, warning that they're now even...
• In Mega Man (Archie Comics), Mega Man saves Wily, and the rest of the world, from Ra Moon after he caused a massive global blackout. Even as far back as the first story arc, Mega Man saved Wily from being crushed by his own machine after he defeated him. Mega Man's tendency of saving Wily from himself is actually lampshaded in the Sonic/Mega Man crossover by Dr. Light.
• The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye:
  • In issue #34, an Autobot Scout team of First Aid, Trailcutter, Mainframe, and Bluestreak regard a battle scene, and find a single survivor with no marking. They're left wondering if he's an Autobot, Decepticon, or other robotic life-form, but they endeavor to save him by each donating four vials of Energon. The sentiment goes away when Bluestreak finds that the person has a removable face with spikes on the underside, seemingly confirming him to be a Decepticon, making him and Mainframe pull out and leaving Trailcutter and First Aid to compensate and revive the bot. First Aid's refusal to let him die is immediately drained when he finds that he's Vos of the Decepticon Justice Division, vicious killer and sadist, leaving Trailcutter to revive him on his own. Upon doing so, Vos attacks him, and while Trailcutter manages to fend him off and send First-Aid off to help, a second DJD member reveals himself. The Autobots return to find Trailcutter in messy pieces and Kaon laughing in their faces for such compassion.
  • Much later, despite Rodimus having vowed to kill Getaway for leading a mutiny against him, he proves unable to go through with it and rescues Getaway from a fire. For bonus symbolism points, the Spectralist paint job he was wearing — symbolic of his vow of revenge — gets burned away, dramatically exposing his true colours. Getaway doesn't get to enjoy it for long, though; the scraplet swarm that Whirl had befriended kills him.
• The Transformers: Drift: Drift elects to save Grit, a low ranking con he'd beaten up and imprisoned, from being executed by other Decepticons for being mistaken as a snitch.
• Issue #58 of The Powerpuff Girls (DC run) had "Weather Vain", in which Townsville is set upon by strange bad weather. A series of panels has the girls coming to the aid of Mojo Jojo, the Gangreen Gang, and Fuzzy Lumpkins.
• Before being turned Darker and Edgier, Wonder Woman felt very strongly about the sanctity of life:
  • Sensation Comics: Diana listening to one of her most vile opponents and saving her and her daughter led to Paula von Gunther switching sides and becoming one of Diana's most stalwart allies.
  • Wonder Woman (1942): Diana had to rescue a compromised submarine full of villains who'd just twice tried to kill her and the woman who was the rightful inheritor of the sunken treasure they were attempting to abscond with.
  • Wonder Woman (1987):
    • A police officer chewed Diana out for this tendency after being injured when Diana chose to save both her and the addict shooting at her. She later apologised after that same addict died saving her from a hit while she was still in the hospital.
    • When Hades suddenly went off the deep end and turned God of Evil after having been one of the most reasonable and easy-going of the Greek pantheon Diana tried to warn him that Ares was only pretending to go along with his plot in order to kill him. It didn't work, and Ares' murder of his uncle saved Diana, Ferdinand, and Cassie's lives.
  • In Wonder Woman (2011), Hades attempts to force Diana to marry him after Persephone's suicide using Eros' love pistols, only to be informed that they couldn't work for him due to his own self-loathing. He calls out Diana for pretending to love him, to which she replies that she wasn't lying because she loves everyone. Hades bitterly tells them all to leave, but on their way out Diana borrows one of Eros' pistols and shoots Hades from the other side of The Underworld while he's sadly looking at himself in a mirror, curing his depression and Lack of Empathy.
  • The Legend of Wonder Woman (2016) gives a good example of why Di has been able to save villains without regret for years when she uses her lasso of truth to force the Duke of Deception to face what he's become and how he was duped into it, allowing her to convince him to stop fighting her without her having to beat him into submission.
• A three-issue arc in the 2015 run of The Mighty Thor has Thor and Agent Roz Solomon rescuing evil executive Dario Agger from a pair of fellow villains, as his kidnapping had launched a failsafe that would cause his floating base Roxxon Island to fall and destroy New York. He is not at all grateful, probably because Roz still arrests him afterwards.

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