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* [[AtrociousAlias Paste-Pot Pete]] had one of the more unfortunate villainous monikers in supervillainy. Even after changing his name to "The Trapster" and becoming more effective in his use of specialized glues and pastes, he ''still'' [[NeverLiveItDown/ComicBooks gets ragged on mercilessly]] about his old name by the likes of Spider-Man and the Human Torch. In fact, in one story where the Trapster was actually rather competent, he still couldn't win. After beating a couple of crooks senseless who had double-crossed him, he left them trussed up in his paste to let everyone know he had done it. Unfortunately, when the police found the two crooks, they mistook the paste for ComicBook/SpiderMan's webbing, and assumed that the hero had caught them and left them for them to find. (An honest mistake, actually, since Spidey tended to do that a lot, but the Trapster was ''really'' upset.)
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* [[AtrociousAlias Paste-Pot Pete]] had one of the more unfortunate villainous monikers in supervillainy. Even after changing his name to "The Trapster" and becoming more effective in his use of specialized glues and pastes, he ''still'' [[NeverLiveItDown/ComicBooks gets ragged on mercilessly]] about his old name by the likes of Spider-Man and the Human Torch. In fact, in one story where the Trapster was actually rather competent, he still couldn't win. After beating a couple of crooks senseless who had double-crossed him, he left them trussed up in his paste to let everyone know he had done it. Unfortunately, when the police found the two crooks, they mistook the paste for ComicBook/SpiderMan's webbing, and assumed that the hero had caught them and left them for them to find. (An An honest mistake, actually, since Spidey tended to do that a lot, but the Trapster was ''really'' upset.)
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* Asbestos Lady. This gal was a thief who thought it was a good idea to fight the Human Torch (not Johnny Storm, [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks the original one]]) with an asbestos costume. Know how she eventually died? From cancer. [[DidntThinkThisThrough Go figure.]] She was later reworked into Asbestos Man in the 1960s, who was a villain of the Johnny Storm Human Torch. He ''also'' died of cancer.
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* Asbestos Lady. This gal was a thief who thought it was a good idea to fight the Human Torch (not Johnny Storm, [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks the original one]]) with an asbestos costume. Know how she eventually died? From cancer. [[DidntThinkThisThrough Go figure.]] She was later reworked into Asbestos Man in the 1960s, who was a villain of the Johnny Storm Human Torch. He ''also'' died of cancer. He did, however, manage to fight the ComicBook/GreatLakesAvengers to a standstill, by way of the fact that they all refused to go near him.
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* IneffectualSympatheticVillain/SpiderMan
* IneffectualSympatheticVillain/TheAvengers
* IneffectualSympatheticVillain/TheAvengers
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* IneffectualSympatheticVillain/SpiderMan
''IneffectualSympatheticVillain/SpiderMan''
*IneffectualSympatheticVillain/TheAvengers''IneffectualSympatheticVillain/TheAvengers''
*
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** It is later revealed that [[spoiler:the only reason he built the arena in the first place was because he was so bad at his job that the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Masters of Evil]] had laughed him out of his own birthday party, so he built the arena in an attempt to prove that he was actually capable. Instead, after the kids he had abducted and forced to kill each other escaped, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard the Masters punished him]] [[WouldHurtAChild for killing kids]] [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment by strapping him to the front of their helicarrier]].]]
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** It is later revealed that [[spoiler:the only reason he built the arena in the first place was because he was so bad at his job that the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Masters of Evil]] had laughed him out of his own birthday party, so he built the arena in an attempt to prove that he was actually capable. Instead, after the kids he had abducted and forced to kill each other escaped, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard the Masters punished him]] [[WouldHurtAChild for killing kids]] [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment by strapping him to the front of their helicarrier]].]]]]
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Arcade
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* Asbestos Lady. This gal was a thief who thought it was a good idea to fight the Human Torch (not Johnny Storm, [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks the original one]]) with an asbestos costume. Know how she eventually died? From cancer. [[DidntThinkThisThrough Go figure.]] She was later reworked into Asbestos Man in the 1960s, who was a villain of the Johnny Storm Human Torch. He ''also'' died of cancer.
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* Asbestos Lady. This gal was a thief who thought it was a good idea to fight the Human Torch (not Johnny Storm, [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks the original one]]) with an asbestos costume. Know how she eventually died? From cancer. [[DidntThinkThisThrough Go figure.]] She was later reworked into Asbestos Man in the 1960s, who was a villain of the Johnny Storm Human Torch. He ''also'' died of cancer.cancer.
* Arcade. When first introduced, he was lauded as the greatest assassin in the game. However, his refusal to [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim kill heroes without first putting them through his]] [[DeathTrap death traps]] means that prior to ''[[ComicBook/AvengersArena Avengers Arena]]'', ''every single hero he has been shown capturing has escaped.''
** During ''Avengers Arena'', one of his captured heroes [[LampshadeHanging points this out]], prompting Arcade to [[spoiler:[[DisproportionateRetribution blow up her boyfriend]] [[NotSoHarmlessVillain with a snap of his fingers]].]]
** It is later revealed that [[spoiler:the only reason he built the arena in the first place was because he was so bad at his job that the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Masters of Evil]] had laughed him out of his own birthday party, so he built the arena in an attempt to prove that he was actually capable. Instead, after the kids he had abducted and forced to kill each other escaped, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard the Masters punished him]] [[WouldHurtAChild for killing kids]] [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment by strapping him to the front of their helicarrier]].]]
* Arcade. When first introduced, he was lauded as the greatest assassin in the game. However, his refusal to [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim kill heroes without first putting them through his]] [[DeathTrap death traps]] means that prior to ''[[ComicBook/AvengersArena Avengers Arena]]'', ''every single hero he has been shown capturing has escaped.''
** During ''Avengers Arena'', one of his captured heroes [[LampshadeHanging points this out]], prompting Arcade to [[spoiler:[[DisproportionateRetribution blow up her boyfriend]] [[NotSoHarmlessVillain with a snap of his fingers]].]]
** It is later revealed that [[spoiler:the only reason he built the arena in the first place was because he was so bad at his job that the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Masters of Evil]] had laughed him out of his own birthday party, so he built the arena in an attempt to prove that he was actually capable. Instead, after the kids he had abducted and forced to kill each other escaped, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard the Masters punished him]] [[WouldHurtAChild for killing kids]] [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment by strapping him to the front of their helicarrier]].]]
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!!Franchise/MarvelUniverse
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* [[AtrociousAlias Paste-Pot Pete]] had one of the more unfortunate villainous monikers in supervillainy. Even after changing his name to "The Trapster" and becoming more effective in his use of specialized glues and pastes, he ''still'' [[NeverLiveItDown/ComicBooks gets ragged on mercilessly]] about his old name by the likes of Spider-Man and the Human Torch. In fact, in one story where the Trapster was actually rather competent, he still couldn't win. After beating a couple of crooks senseless who had double-crossed him, he left them trussed up in his paste to let everyone know he had done it. Unfortunately, when the police found the two crooks, they mistook the paste for ComicBook/SpiderMan's webbing, and assumed that the hero had caught them and left them for them to find. (An honest mistake, actually, since Spidey tended to do that a lot, but the Trapster was ''really'' upset.)
* Stilt-Man. A man whose suit of Powered Armor offers some minimal amount of protection while making him very tall. One of the more baffling villains of his era, writers gave up on revamping him into a serious threat a long time ago. Since then, whenever you needed a really pathetic villain to beat up, Stilt-Man was your guy. Eventually, ComicBook/ThePunisher killed him. For all that, his wife, Princess Python, was pretty hot, so perhaps Stilt-Man was effective in other areas. Now, while Stilt-Man may be dead, his legacy lives on in... ''Lady Stilt-Man!'' Her first appearance consisted of being mocked by Spider-Man (who thanked her for improving the miserable day he was having), and being defeated by stepping into an open manhole. Even Spider-Man felt sorry for her when she started crying. This change in her next appearance in "Villains for Hire", where she upgraded her armor and TookALevelInBadass.
* The All-New Orb from ''ComicBook/GhostRider'' is a man with a giant eyeball for a head and a repulsor ray gun. Captain America describes the problem as "nobody takes him seriously enough to put him in an actual cell." He's not quite a NotSoHarmlessVillain since he's yet to prove a proper threat to any superhero thus far, but he's more dangerous than he looks.
* A LOT of villains that ComicBook/SpiderWoman fought during her solo series fall into this category. There was Hangman (who had a noose as a weapon and little else), Daddy Longlegs (who was very, very tall), Gypsy Moth (a telekinetic who could affect only cloth, and not much else), and but by far the ''worst'' was Turner D. Century, a villain who wanted to return society to the cultural and social values that it had before World War I. (In other words, he was a bigot and a chauvinist.) He had no super powers to back this plan up; exactly why it took Spider-Woman a whole issue to apprehend him is a mystery.\\\
Keep in mind that poignant efforts to convince ineffectual and sympathetic villains to reform was a major theme in ComicBook/SpiderWoman 's solo series (and why the series is still fondly remembered today by its fans, though it turned out be too niche for long-term success as many superhero comic book readers are bored by such a theme). She didn't always succeed, but her efforts worked with Daddy Longlegs, Gypsy Moth, The Needle, Ticktock, and several others, at least until StatusQuoIsGod changed the continuity. Or the FaceHeelTurn of many of those she redeemed may have been an unanticipated side effect of her solo series final issue, in which she had a wizard try to remove all memory of her from the entire planet with imperfect success.
* The Franchise/MarvelUniverse's Toad is a classic example of this. He has [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway second-rate powers]], a stupid nickname, and an even stupider real name (Mortimer Toynbee). Understandably, he hated himself. However, the first ''Film/XMen1'' live-action film, with the character played by Ray Park, changed him into a wry villain with more self-respect and redefined powers that are actually scary in their deadliness -- [[RetCanon characterization that's made it back into the comics]] (in particular, his ComicBook/UltimateMarvel incarnation is much more badass than his first one).
* Pretty much every victim of Scourge (or would-be victim who escaped) has fit the Trope, and a few of them were guys who quit being villains because they ''knew'' they were no good at it. Scourge rarely goes after a major player. They've ''attempted'' to target a few respectable villains, including Kraven the Hunter, Hobgoblin, Puppet Master, Cobra, and Diamondback, but failed each time for one reason or another. (Of course, [[WordOfGod Mark Gruenwald claimed]] that the whole reason Scourge was designed, originally, was to dispose of villains deemed to be too minor, redundant, or ill-conceived, and he's regretted this since then.)
** In fact, those failed attempts and the fact they only target losers most of the time may be proof that the Scourges themselves fit the Trope. In the case of the Hobgoblin the Scourge who marked him had the wrong guy; [[FrameUp Flash Thompson had been framed]] by the real Hobgoblin, whose identity was still a mystery. Even worse, he went after poor Flash when [[DirtyCoward he was in prison, and couldn't defend himself.]] The Scourge who marked Cobra and Diamondback tried to do so by shooting the fuel tank of a car they were driving; [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy He missed.]] Of course, aiming at a moving target at long rang might have been too difficult for the Scourges, who usually strike by ambush with a sawed-off shotgun or sub-machine gun using a disguise to get close to a victim; if faced with actual resistance, (say, by someone like the [=USAgent=] in his mini-series), ''any'' of them can be floored with a single punch.
** The 1993 edition of the parody ''Marvel: Year in Review'' had an article in which a reporter visited the so-called Bar With No Name, best known as the location of Scourge's famous massacre (as seen in ''Captain America'' #319). The bar was established as a drinking establishment chain exclusively for costumed criminals. The writer of the article noted that he had never heard of most of the patrons in the bar. One of the patrons remarked that if he had, then they would probably have better things to do than be there.
* Teen Abomination, from the ''[[ComicBook/IronMan Superior Iron Man]]'' run. Ineffectual since most of Tony's encounters with him consist of the hero mocking his name (seriously, does he have to change it when he hits twenty-one?) before effortlessly defeating him. Sympathetic since [[spoiler:he's a thirteen-year old kid called Jamie. The reason he's stuck in his Teen Abomination form is because he killed his mother by accident during a HulkOut, leaving him permanently furious at himself.]] Luckily, [[spoiler:his mother's not actually dead, allowing him to change back and retire from supervillainy.]]
* Asbestos Lady. This gal was a thief who thought it was a good idea to fight the Human Torch (not Johnny Storm, [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks the original one]]) with an asbestos costume. Know how she eventually died? From cancer. [[DidntThinkThisThrough Go figure.]] She was later reworked into Asbestos Man in the 1960s, who was a villain of the Johnny Storm Human Torch. He ''also'' died of cancer.
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!!The following have their own pages:
[[index]]
* IneffectualSympatheticVillain/SpiderMan
* IneffectualSympatheticVillain/TheAvengers
[[/index]]
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[[index]]
* IneffectualSympatheticVillain/SpiderMan
* IneffectualSympatheticVillain/TheAvengers
[[/index]]
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