History Main / BondVillainStupidity

* Deep down, the Villain actually cares about the hero, and they subconsciouly want the hero to escape. They may be family, in love with each other, or maybe they [[WeUsedToBeFriends used to be friends]] in the past. Whatever the reason, they still care about each other in spite of everything that happened betweeb them, so while the Villain doesn't want to aknowledge it or admit it out loud, they don't actually wany to kill the hero. Thus, they subconsciously sabotage themselves by subconsciously giving a chance to the hero.

* Thel Villain wants to demonstrate that TheVillainKnowsMoment.

* In ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'', the minor antagonist, Helis, failed to kill the protagonist, Aloy, three times. Despite being a strong man, it seems that Helis was not willing to kill Aloy by himself because he didn't make sure that Aloy had been killed after he defeated Rost in the proving, and captured Aloy alive in Project Zero Dawn facility, saying, 'Still alive...Good.' In the final battle, when Helis finally tried to finish off Aloy by himself, Aloy defeated him and soon executed him. It was said that Helis had a crush on Aloy but there weren't enough proofs.

* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': Name any villain that the Caped Crusader has fought at least twice, and it's a sure bet that he or she has done something like this. The [[SanityHasAdvantages fact that his enemies tend to be insane]] is one of the biggest reasons he's survived so long. This gets deconstructed with ComicBook/TheRiddler, who knows full well that leaving clues at his crime scenes and leaving a difficult-but-possible escape method in his deathtraps is just going to land him back in Arkham Asylum. By his own admission, he quite literally cannot help himself.

* ''ComicBook/BlackOrchid'': Averted in the first issue of the 1988 miniseries. [[spoiler:The villain has the heroine at his mercy, and instead of sticking her in a deathtrap, he just shoots her. And then, having established that she's immune to bullets, he kills her with fire, and makes sure she's dead. The miniseries turns out to be about the heroine's sister dealing with the consequences of her death]].

** Despite being a supergenius, ComicBook/DoctorDoom falls prey to this a lot whenever he's trying to kill his hated ArchEnemy [[ComicBook/MisterFantastic Reed Richards]]. This is sort of justified though, because Doom's end goal isn't killing Reed — it's proving to Reed that Doom is smarter than him, and ''then'' killing him. Therefore, killing Reed without gloating about how he has been outsmarted and making him watch Doom TakeOverTheWorld and kill everyone Reed loves isn't just a tad disappointing to Doom — it would be completely antithetical to Doom's entire purpose in being evil.

* ''Fanfic/AllAssortedAnimorphsAUs'': In "What if Tom's yeerk got the morphing cube from David first?", [[spoiler:Jake blows his cover when he accidentally gives Tom the morphing power. Instead of exposing the Animorphs then and there, the Yeerk tells his posse to take the morphing cube to Visser Three while he deals with Jake. This the real Tom a chance to save Jake, and the other Animorphs enough time to get the cube back.]]

* ''ComicStrip/HsuAndChan'' lampshades this in an issue dedicated to parodying most James Bond movies. After the character in the James Bond role is captured easily due to [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome reality kicking in after a night of heavy drinking]], the character in the Dr. No role tries to prod the severely hung over hero into giving him a chance to brag about his plan.

* In ''HorizonZeroDawn'', the minor antagonist, Helis, failed to kill the protagonist, Aloy, three times. Despite being a strong man, it seems that Helis was not willing to kill Aloy by himself because he didn't make sure that Aloy had been killed after he defeated Rost in the proving, and captured Aloy alive in Project Zero Dawn facility, saying, 'Still alive...Good.' In the final battle, when Helis finally tried to finish off Aloy by himself, Aloy defeated him and soon executed him. It was said that Helis had a crush on Aloy but there weren't enough proofs.

* ''Before I Kill You, Mister Spy...'' ([[TheTropeFormerlyKnownAsX formerly known as]] ''James Earnest's [[WritingAroundTrademarks Totally Renamed]] Spy Game'', [[TheTropeFormerlyKnownAsX formerly known as]] ''Before I Kill You [[Franchise/JamesBond Mister Bond]]'') is based entirely around tormenting captured spies before you kill them. Each consecutive time you [[IShallTauntYou Taunt]] a particular spy doubles your score when you finally do kill him, but if another player has and uses a Taunt card of the same type, the spy escapes and blows up your [[SupervillainLair Lair]]. Taunts include {{Death Trap}}s; NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine; and JustBetweenYouAndMe.

* The trapmaster in ''Super TabletopGame/{{Munchkin}}''. He plays a trap card at you when you start fighting him. If he defeats you, however, his Bad Stuff is that "he leaves you in one of his traps and strolls off laughing. [[LampshadeHanging The idiot. No effect]]."

* ''James Earnest's Totally Renamed Spy Game'' ([[TheTropeFormerlyKnownAsX the game formerly known as]] ''Before I Kill You [[Film/JamesBond Mr. Bond]]'') is based entirely around tormenting captured spies before you kill them. Each consecutive time you [[IShallTauntYou Taunt]] a particular spy doubles your score when you finally do kill him, but if another player has and uses a Taunt card of the same type, the spy escapes and blows up your [[SupervillainLair Lair]]. Taunts include {{Death Trap}}s, NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine and JustBetweenYouAndMe.
* The Infernal TabletopGame/{{Exalted}} have Acts of Villainy which they commit in order to please their Yozi masters if they've managed to offend them somehow. Most of them have them act in line with this trope - picking a favoured arch-enemy as per Best Enemy Recognition, leaving the enemy to slow death instead of killing them quickly (Fiendish Deathtrap Compulsion), lecturing them about your plans (Infernal Genius Declaration), leaving clues or sending them straight to your enemy (Insane Death-Dealing Provocation) or just driving people insane for giggles (Kindly Lunatic's Blessing). And it's best to perform as much of them at once as possible.

* ''TabletopGame/TimeLord'', a 1990s licensed ''Series/DoctorWho'' RPG, gave villains a negative "Gloating" skill. If they captured a player character, they would be forced to roll against it, and if they "succeeded" they would waste time monologuing.

* The villain wants/needs the hero to go though a process that will benefit him and kill the hero. If the hero is killed some other way, then that benefit is lost. The villain may not even care at all about the hero, but about said benefit. For example, what a vampire really wants is the blood of his victims; he won't get anything if he vaporizes people with some futuristic giant laser gun.

-->-- ''Film/AustinPowersInternationalManOfMystery''

* ''Fanfic/AllAssortedAnimorphsAUs'': In "What if Tom's yeerk got the morphing cube from David first?", [[spoiler:Jake blows his cover when he accidentally gives Tom the morphing power. Instead of exposing the Animorphs then and there, the Yeerk tells his posse to take the morphing cube to Visser Three while he deals with Jake. This gives the Animorphs enough time to get the morphing cube back.]]

** Taken to extremes in one issue. Dr. Eggman decides he's sick of fooling around with Sonic and launches an all-out attack on his hometown. His forces manage to blast nearly every single good guy (except three) with powerful lasers that seem to vaporize them on contact. He then beats the crap out of Sonic for good measure. Looks like Eggman has finally won... except that those lasers didn't kill Sonic's friends, they were just teleport beams, which sent them all to cells at Eggman's HQ. Eggman announces he'll kill them all THERE… even though he could have killed them much more easily by simply making his lasers lethal in the first place. This is doubly stupid because Sonic believes everyone is dead... until Eggman TELLS Sonic that his friends are alive, and where to find them. Then he's actually surprised when Sonic mounts a rescue and frees them all. If he'd just kept his trap shut, Eggman would have had plenty of time to kill everybody.

* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': Name ''any'' villain that the Caped Crusader has fought at least twice, and it's a sure bet that he or she has done something like this. The [[SanityHasAdvantages fact that his enemies tend to be insane]] is one of the biggest reasons he's survived so long. This gets deconstructed with ComicBook/TheRiddler, who knows full well that leaving clues at his crime scenes and leaving a difficult-but-possible escape method in his deathtraps is just going to land him back in Arkham Asylum. By his own admission, he quite literally cannot help himself.

* ''Comicbook/BlackOrchid'': Averted in the first issue of the 1988 miniseries. [[spoiler:The villain has the heroine at his mercy, and instead of sticking her in a deathtrap, he just shoots her. And then, having established that she's immune to bullets, he kills her with fire, and makes sure she's dead. The miniseries turns out to be about the heroine's sister dealing with the consequences of her death]].

* ''Fanfic/JWITCHSeason1'': When Cornelia and Jade are captured in "Gladatorial Clash", they're left trapped in a magic sphere when the villains go to spring their trap for the other heroes. No-one stays to guard them, and they're not searched for any weapons or tools, with Phobos assuming there's nothing they can do. By the time Tarakudo and the Dark Chi Enforcers realize that they're possessing the Heart of Kandrakar and come to take it them, the two girls have just used it to free themselves and thwart the bad guys with an [[WeaksauceWeakness onion]] and the [[{{Invisibility}} Snake Talisman]].

Creator/RogerEbert called this the "Fallacy of the Talking Killer" in his [[Literature/EbertsGlossaryOfMovieTerms Glossary of Movie Terms]].