History Main / CutLexLuthorACheck

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': The episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S2E24TheRipVanWinkleCaper The Rip Van Winkle Caper]]" has a group of gold thieves trying to evade the law. One of them accomplishes this by using a gas he created to put the gang in suspended animation for a hundred years instead of patenting the substance and becoming a well-respected and incredibly rich scientist.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers''

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': The episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E60TheRipVanWinkleCaper The Rip Van Winkle Caper]]" has a group of gold thieves trying to evade the law. One of them accomplishes this by using a gas he created to put the gang in suspended animation for a hundred years instead of patenting the substance and becoming a well-respected and incredibly rich scientist.

Finally, there's also the [[LogicalFallacies Logical Fallacy]] that seems to assume that because someone manages to invent some sort of amazing new product, they will also automatically be successful at marketing it. Just because someone has the science smarts to develop something brilliant doesn't necessarily mean that they also have the business smarts to sell it effectively... and if you try and sell your product to a business, there's always the danger of a CorruptCorporateExecutive cheating you out of your rightful share of the profits. Indeed, many villains' StartOfDarkness is kicked off by such failures in such legitimate or even good uses of their talents, and for villains trying to go straight is often the primary method of [[StatusQuoIsGod ensuring that they don't]].

** The traitor [[spoiler:Goro Akechi]] is only masquerading as a [[spoiler:"ace detective"]] to make himself a VillainWithGoodPublicity and to discredit [[spoiler:the opponents of his employer Shido]], but [[spoiler:as shown during the Niijima's Palace heist, in ''VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth'' and during the Maruki's Palace heist in the UpdatedReRelease, he is ''actually'' competent in detective work and helped solve a huge portion of the Phantom Thieves' puzzles.]]

* ''VideoGame/Persona5'':
** One of the early-game {{Arc Villain}}s, Madarame makes a living by tutoring students and claiming their artwork as his and is even willing to let a woman die just to grab her own artwork over an artist's block. Given he could actually teach students to draw (and thus has legitimate artistic talent), it shouldn't be a problem for him to actually publish legitimate artwork or become an art critic rather than ruining dozens of aspiring artists.
** The traitor [[spoiler:Goro Akechi]] is only masquerading as a [[spoiler:"ace detective"]] to make himself a VillainWithGoodPublicity and to discredit [[spoiler:the opponents of his employer Shido]], but [[spoiler:as shown during the Niijima's Palace heist, in ''VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth'' and during the Maruki's Palace heist in the UpdatedReRelease, he is ''actually'' competent in detective work and helped solve a huge portion of the Phantom Thieves' puzzles.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}'''s Charles Muntz has somehow managed to create a universal translator for dogs, which, in a world where surely dogs are just as popular as pets as in reality, should have made him a multimillionaire, or even billionaire. He could have simply marketed this invention and used the money to fund the search for his precious bird. How easy would it have been to find it with modern camera technology? Never mind the fact that this would have earned him considerably more renown than any animal discovery. Justified in that Muntz has become murderously obsessed with the bird.

* In ''Film/AustinPowers: International Man of Mystery'', Number Two grows furious with Dr. Evil for engaging in high-risk world-threatening schemes when their front companies were already making billions a year, ''legally and pretty much risk-free''. Ratcheted up in the second movie where Dr. Evil has a time machine and only uses it to thwart Austin Powers and to attempt to hold the world ransom in a decade that has less money to extort.

* ''Film/JurassicWorld'' is an odd one - the titular theme park seems, by all appearances, to be incredibly popular and profitable (there's an offhand line to the effect that it's losing popularity and people are bored of regular dinos, but that's scarcely borne out in the film). In spite of this, they decide it'd be a great idea to deliberately engineer the Indominus rex, a killing-machine dino, for a military contract, using facilities on the park itself. Predictably, the Indominus escapes, kills dozens, and basically destroys their entire corporate empire overnight. Apparently, they were planning to double-dip and make it another attraction along with filling out the contract, but as the Indominus doesn't look too different from their current stock, and its genetic modifications include ''camouflage'', it's a wonder how they thought it'd be successful at that past the novelty. Had they just kept running the theme park, or designed a cool-looking but harmless dino, they'd be sailing smoothly.

* In the ''Film/ResidentEvilFilmSeries'', the MegaCorp Umbrella Corporation should have been making enough legitimate profit as the biggest pharmaceutical company in the world to not need to take the risk of creating bioweapons. One of the films tries to justify the zombie creation virus by saying that Umbrella Corporation was working on a skin creme that reanimated dead skin cells (as a beauty treatment)... except when they tested it, it turned the test subjects into zombies. Instead of scrapping the research, they kicked it to bioweapons, and thus... zombies as weapons. By the time later sequels roll around, Umbrella's business model has taken a hard swing into full-blown StupidEvil, spending untold billions upon billions of dollars on exact replicas of major cities, stocked with perfect clones of people implanted with false memories, for the sake of unleashing their bioweapons on them and showing footage of the destruction to potential buyers. Not only could any of these technological wonders have made them fantastically wealthy on its own, but by this point in the story [[AfterTheEnd there's not enough political and economic stability in the world]] for any possible buyers to even ''exist'' anymore. [[spoiler:''Film/ResidentEvilTheFinalChapter'' makes it clear that the higher-ups of the Corporation, just like their video game counterparts, were just looking to become god-like all along and the world-wide extinction-level ZombieApocalypse was the means to an end (they were even cryogenically frozen while it all happened). Still doesn't excuse the StupidEvil of the people on lower levels such as the clone of Dr. Isaacs, though.]]

* An example where the problem regards both earning and spending the cash can be seen in the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' series. The first movie established that the Jigsaw Killer is John Kramer, a man who once faced with terminal cancer and decided to test people's will to live by putting them in simple {{Death Trap}}s. As the following films went on to feature [[SequelEscalation increasingly]] bigger, deadlier, and more elaborate traps, one wonders if all that was spent in gathering those resources wouldn't be better employed financing John's own cancer treatment or at least in John using his impressive engineering skills to raise the necessary money. This is even compounded in ''Film/SawVI'', where it's shown that he tried applying for life insurance while saying he had the money for the treatment!
* ZigZagged by [[BigBad Dr. Eggman]] in ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog2020''. His brilliant inventions could earn him a lot of honest money, but he ''does'' work for the American government, meaning he has an "honest" job- even though it's mentioned he helped in coups against nations in the Middle East. However after obtaining one of Sonic's quills, he uses it for his own purposes of building more robots and plotting to TakeOverTheWorld instead of researching it as a new energy source. It is justified, however, because Eggman's massive ego meant that once he had access to Sonic's limitless energy he would no longer need to work ''under'' others and could instead put everyone else in their ''rightful'' place beneath him.

** [[GadgeteerGenius Tinkers]] can produce technology that is centuries ahead of modern technology, but [[BlackBox it can't be reverse engineered]] due to restrictions on the power. Tinkertech also requires constant maintenance by the creator to remain functional, preventing mass production. The only Tinker who is free of these limits is Dragon whose specialty is reverse engineering.

* The Spot in ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAcrossTheSpiderVerse'' complains that he can't find any work and nobody will hire him now that he's been transformed. This is a villain that can open up portals and move through anything. The idea that he can't find any way to legally make money with such a power set is a bit absurd.

* ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' subverts this, as all powers are designed for use in, causing or facilitating conflict, and actively sabotage attempts to use them peacefully or for profit. Powers that generate matter cannot be used for construction, as the matter generated will gradually or suddenly disappear again, probably at the most inconvenient time.
** On top of this, there is an entire body of law specifically dedicated to making it as hard as possible for parahumans to legally use their powers in a productive manner. The ostensible function of this is to prevent unfair competition, [[spoiler: the semi-secret function is to force parahumans into joining the [[MutantDraftBoard Protectorate]], and the ''real'' purpose is to force parahumans to use their powers in ways that will cause conflict and suffering, causing new parahumans to [[TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening trigger]] to fight Zion]].

* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', this trope is played with. While there exists a subset of parahumans called "rogues" who turn their attention entirely to legal ventures with their powers, [[GadgeteerGenius Tinkers]] almost always end up as either heroes or villains, being as (a) the alternative is being coerced into producing equipment for heroes or villains and (b) [[ReedRichardsIsUseless Tinker equipment isn't generally fit for mass production.]]
** The trope's also {{enforced|Trope}} in that there is an entire body of law more or less dedicated to making it difficult for parahumans to legally use their powers for any kind of productive purpose. Its ostensible function is to prevent unfair competition, its semi-secret function is to force those parahumans to join the [[MutantDraftBoard Protectorate]], and its ''extremely'' secret purpose is [[spoiler: to force parahumans to use their powers in ways that will cause conflict and destruction, [[TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening triggering]] more parahumans in order to have as large an army as possible for the final battle against Zion]].

* ''Manga/SuccubusAndHitman'': The ability of Clobbering Mountain allows them to turn lead into gold. This trope is then discussed by other characters but then defied by the wielder, saying there is a limit to it.

* ''Film/ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKid'' has Butch briefly wonder about this sort of thing, noting at one point that E.H. Hartman ''must'' be spending more on things like a special train and a super-posse composed of experts from all across the US to stop Butch and Sundance's robberies than they could possibly be stealing from him in those robberies, even admitting that if Hartman used that money to just pay them off to stop robbing him then they ''would'' stop robbing him.

See also FakeRealTurn, where a [[LegitimateBusinessmensSocialClub business that is serving as a front operation for a criminal activity or organization]] becomes so successful in its own right that characters decide to pursue it as a legitimate business. And YouCouldHaveUsedYourPowersForGood. Compare MoralPragmatist.

** It is notable that WellIntentionedExtremist Dr Diabolik's main source of income isn't from his practice of sacking whole cities, but from stock manipulation (enabled by said raids) and sales of intelligence-increasing serums and tools, all done through various shell organizations.

* Referenced and subverted in ''Wish/Carefully'', where Lucius Malfoy mentions having expected the criminal low class supporting the Death Eaters to replace the Light supporters that formed the middle class before they left with Harry Potter, only to realize too late that criminals were criminals (among other reasons) because they didn't have the skills for anything else.

** Subverted with [[AnIcePerson the Brain Freezer]], who wishes he was less evil so he could just use his ice-based technology for a legit business. After Johnny helps him, [[HeelFaceTurn he does just that.]]

** The show plays with this quite often, as very few villain schemes seem to be profitable and many of the villains in question seem to be extremely wealthy already. The villains who are shown making money seem to make it through either legal routes, or illegal-but-not-supervillainous routes, such as selling off stolen artwork or Wide Wale's criminal syndicate. Supervillainy in the universe of the series is pretty much treated as a pastime for the wealthy and mentally unstable rather than an occupation, albeit one with quite the WeirdTradeUnion. In short, the reason villains don't just use their powers to make money legally is that they're either already rich or completely bonkers--without being one or both, they wouldn't be able to be supervillains in the first place.

* Griffith in ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', after becoming Femto and incarnating in the human world, at first appears to be using his powers constructively; unifying the demonic Apostles under a single banner, manipulating events so that he's viewed as TheMessiah by people around the world, and building his own city-state to serve as a utopia. But then it becomes apparent just ''[[InvincibleVillain how]]'' powerful he really is; he's essentially a RealityWarper with abilities that transcend all reason. If he wanted to make the world a better place, he could kill every Apostle on the planet with trivial ease, and manipulate causality to create a real end to war and suffering. But because he's obsessed with the trappings of fulfilling his dream, he spends his time on building an army he doesn't really need and creating massive threats to all of humanity to drive them to his {{Egopolis}}. Essentially, his goal isn't to help humanity; it's to boost his ego, and he's doing so by playing the divine equivalent of a strategy game with all the cheat codes turned on.

-->'''Sugou''': Mr. Kayaba was a genius, but he was also a fool. All he wanted to use his technology for was his game. He couldn't see the potential.

* Similarly, the infamous [[WithholdingTheCure suppression of an all-purpose cancer cure conspiracy theory]], which purports that the pharmaceutical industry has developed and is sitting on a cure, even sending hired assassins to murder alternative medical practitioners in order to keep the whole thing under wraps in spite of the fact that anyone who developed such a cure would be sitting on a licence to print money. Modern cancer treatment methods have saved enough lives that people are living long enough to get cancer ''again''; unless the cure was permanent-something much harder to develop- a cancer cure could wind up being used by the same patient at least two or three times in their lives.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'', when the creator of the Headmasters is fired for wanting to make something with military applications, he decides to make his own company... and start it by stealing approximately 6.3 metric buttloads of money. This requires him to ignore that 1) he could just get a grant from any number of other companies that ''do'' work with the military '''without''' stealing and 2) if he actually got the amount of money he demanded, he and several dozen generations of his descendants would never have to work another day in their lives. But then he's a StrawLoser [[AcceptableTargets gamer nerd]], so...

* The ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS11E3TheOldManAndTheBigC The Old Man and the Big 'C']]" shows that Carter Pewterschmidt has the CureForCancer, but [[WithholdingTheCure refuses to sell it]] on the grounds that it would be a short-term gain, long-term loss, because he also makes money on chemotherapy and pharmaceutical treatments. Ignoring the fact that his fortune came from about a hundred other enterprises including his inheritance, he's obviously not aware of how much money and praise will get ''showered'' at him if he were to unveil the holy grail of medicine; sometimes publicity is more valuable than the product. Not to mention that not even his ''original'' reasoning makes sense. Since we see him after having taken the drug, we can assume that it is a ''cure'' for cancer, not a ''vaccine''; otherwise he would have never had to deal with the cancer in the first place (unless there was [[InsaneTrollLogic some reason why he wouldn't want a cancer vaccine in his system]].) As it is just a one-time cure, and relapses would require a second dose, he could just sell it at an absurd price; it doesn't matter, everyone would still buy it. Plus, unless he owns a monopoly on chemotherapy and other cancer pharma, the only people losing money would be ''his competitors''. Really, the writers just didn't think this through[[note]]TruthInTelevision, the conspiracy theory of a cure for cancer being sat on in order to make more money with chemo and other treatments is, sadly, pretty popular, despite the absolute ''zero'' sense it would make in real life to do this.[[/note]][[note]]For one thing, there is no such thing as a single cure for cancer in the first place, given that it comes down to an individual's DNA.[[/note]]

* Carter Pewterschmidt in ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' has the CureForCancer, but [[WithholdingTheCure refuses to sell it]] on the grounds that it would be a short-term gain, long-term loss, because he also makes money on chemotherapy and pharmaceutical treatments. Ignoring the fact that his fortune came from about a hundred other enterprises including his inheritance, he's obviously not aware of how much money and praise will get ''showered'' at him if he were to unveil the holy grail of medicine; sometimes publicity is more valuable than the product. Not to mention that not even his ''original'' reasoning makes sense. Since we see him after having taken the drug, we can assume that it is a ''cure'' for cancer, not a ''vaccine''; otherwise he would have never had to deal with the cancer in the first place (unless there was [[InsaneTrollLogic some reason why he wouldn't want a cancer vaccine in his system]].) As it is just a one-time cure, and relapses would require a second dose, he could just sell it at an absurd price; it doesn't matter, everyone would still buy it. Plus, unless he owns a monopoly on chemotherapy and other cancer pharma, the only people losing money would be ''his competitors''. Really, the writers just didn't think this through[[note]]TruthInTelevision, the conspiracy theory of a cure for cancer being sat on in order to make more money with chemo and other treatments is, sadly, pretty popular, despite the absolute ''zero'' sense it would make in real life to do this.[[/note]][[note]]For one thing, there is no such thing as a single cure for cancer in the first place, given that it comes down to an individual's DNA.[[/note]]

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'', Plankton actually sold all of his evil inventions in order to get enough money to pay everyone in town to sign a petition to bulldoze the Krusty Krab. He even managed to buy Mr. Krab's signature... four times! The only person who didn't sign the petition was [=SpongeBob=], but he still had the majority on his side "and in a democracy, that's all you need", so the Krusty Krab got bulldozed... [[spoiler:[[ShaggyDogStory one foot away, so it would comply with the new law that says all fast-food restaurants were at least 100 feet away from each other.]]]]

--->'''Singers''': Geeeeeeet Back Haaaaaaaair...

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''
** In the episode "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE25TheClockKing The Clock King]]", efficiency expert Fugate was ruined at the end of the DistantPrologue, but seven years later, as the Clock King, he has a lot of OffscreenVillainDarkMatter. (He can afford ConspicuousConsumption, cool GadgetWatches, has acquired an AbandonedWarehouse ''to his real name'', and he organizes a BankRobbery but left all the money in the vault.) As Batman has never heard of Fugate before their first meeting, it's implied Fugate didn't need to resort to crime to get all that OffscreenVillainDarkMatter, as his skills could make his fortune by legal means again.
** A very clever subversion occurs in "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE24FearOfVictory Fear of Victory]]", in which the Scarecrow combines both legal and illegal methods to make money. He bets against famous professional and college athletes, and then secretly dopes them with his fear toxin. When the athletes lose their competitions, the Scarecrow makes a huge amount of money for betting against the odds. The Scarecrow uses the money to pay for the chemicals and other paraphernalia he uses in his more dangerous schemes, making "Fear of Victory" one of the rare times when we actually ''see'' where OffscreenVillainDarkMatter might come from. Notably, Batman and Robin only discover the Scarecrow's plans when Robin is accidentally doped with fear toxin along with his college football playing-friend. Still somewhat played straight in that his toxin would be absolutely invaluable for numerous government and military applications and he'd likely make an order of magnitude more money in licensing it out for legitimate research than ripping off bookmakers with it.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "A Dog and Pony Show", the Diamond Dogs could make a lot more money in their mining outfit acting as businesscanines instead of kidnappers. Both Rarity and the Diamond Dogs want gems, Rarity can dowse for gems but can't dig, and the Diamond Dogs can dig but can't dowse. The math should've been obvious, even to a race that's naturally BookDumb (hell, it's actually shown ''on-screen'' to be the most profitable system the Diamond Dogs have ever seen, since it takes the whole cast to cart away the amount mined in a single afternoon).
* Carter Pewterschmidt in ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' has the cure for cancer, but refuses to sell it on the grounds that it would be a short-term gain, long-term loss, because he also makes money on chemotherapy and pharmaceutical treatments. Ignoring the fact that his fortune came from about a hundred other enterprises including his inheritance, he's obviously not aware of how much money and praise will get ''showered'' at him if he were to unveil the holy grail of medicine; sometimes publicity is more valuable than the product. Not to mention that not even his ''original'' reasoning makes sense. Since we see him after having taken the drug, we can assume that it is a ''cure'' for cancer, not a ''vaccine''; otherwise he would have never had to deal with the cancer in the first place (unless there was [[InsaneTrollLogic some reason why he wouldn't want a cancer vaccine in his system]].) As it is just a one-time cure, and relapses would require a second dose, he could just sell it at an absurd price; it doesn't matter, everyone would still buy it. Plus, unless he owns a monopoly on chemotherapy and other cancer pharma, the only people losing money would be ''his competitors''. Really, the writers just didn't think this through[[note]]TruthInTelevision, the conspiracy theory of a cure for cancer being sat on in order to make more money with chemo and other treatments is, sadly, pretty popular, despite the absolute ''zero'' sense it would make in real life to do this.[[/note]][[note]]For one thing, there is no such thing as a single cure for cancer in the first place, given that it comes down to an individual's DNA.[[/note]]

* In ''Series/HarrysLaw,'' it's subverted at the end of the series premiere. The main character used to be a patent lawyer, and three thugs had rigged up a device to get car doors open. They decided they wanted to patent it instead.

* ''Series/Batman1966'' episodes:
** "The Joker's Flying Saucer". The Joker creates a flying saucer that can (based on the Joker's comments) travel through outer space to other planets. He decides on the standard "conquer the world" strategy when he could have just sold the design to NASA for billions of dollars. Then again, this ''is'' the [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Joker]].

** "The Ring of Wax". After getting caught in one of his wax traps, Batman notes that if the Riddler were oriented towards good, the world could be so wonderful.

* An unusual example would be [[Comicbook/GreenArrow Oliver Queen]] on ''Series/{{Smallville}}''. Being a billionaire, he develops tons of ridiculously advanced technology...[[HypocriticalHumor to rob the rich to give to the poor.]] He seems to have given up on that after a while and [[HeroWithBadPublicity concentrated on blowing up Lex Luthor's evil facilities]].

* On ''Series/{{Vegas|2012}}'' mobster Vincent Savino invokes this trope to explain why he no longer has any interest in the traditional mob rackets like loan sharking, prostitution, or protection schemes. There is so much money to be made legitimately by running a Las Vegas casino that he sees no reason to engage in small-time crimes anymore. Unlike his bosses, he has never been convicted of a felony so he can legitimately own and operate a Nevada casino. His main problem is that his bosses do not see things his way and he is powerless to stop them from messing up the casino business in order to further their own petty schemes.

* On ''Series/{{Justified}}'' mobster Avery Markham made a lot of money in the illegal marijuana trade and now his sources tell him that the state of Kentucky is about to legitimize marijuana. Markham immediately starts buying up farmland in Harlan county because he knows that he can make way more money selling marijuana legally than he could ever make in the illegal drug trade. However, he still insists on acquiring the land using AnOfferYouCantRefuse tactics if the current owners refuse to sell. This quickly attracts the attention of the US Attorney and the US Marshals.

** Afton himself. Not only did he likely have his fingers in all of the above, but he also made what is basically AI (and even made an android copy of his son if some theories are to be believed), and can upload a brain into a computer virus, but also discovered remnant, a material that binds the soul to metal and is damn hard to destroy. This not only proves souls exist, but basically provides IMMORTALITY. Honestly, any one of these discoveries would have him in the history books with the greatest minds of the world. But he squanders all that just to kill kids.
* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries'': Riddler. The man could do a lot of good legally, if not for his ego compelling him to prove he's smarter than everyone else.

* Often noted in Jabootu recaps of '' Challenge of the WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'' episodes. For example, commenting on the potential uses of [[http://web.archive.org/web/20160309170850/http://www.jabootu.com/cotsftt.htm a time machine]]:

* Creator/{{Seanbaby}} also had a good time mocking ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'' for this reason, depicting Luthor going over their profits from Project Doom to discover that they spent twenty billion dollars to (among other things) build an evil toy-themed deathtrap planet in the middle of a black hole, so they could steal a few hundred thousand from a bank. It barely even covers the cost of repairing [[Characters/{{Aquaman}} Black Manta]]'s submarine.

** Mr. Freeze's appearance averts this. It's mentioned that he is wealthy and puts his fortune towards making amends to the families who were hurt by his villainous actions in the past. Unfortunately, it all [[GoneHorriblyWrong Goes Horribly Wrong]]...
** Zig-zagged with this version of Spellbinder, a psychologist who uses sophisticated MindControl devices to hypnotize people into stealing for him. Aside from the fact that he's invented all this hypnotic equipment but can't think of anything better to do with it than trick people into stealing for him, he probably doesn't even make a profit on his crimes. However, in his introductory episode Spellbinder goes on a rant which indicates that this may be more about revenge than greed. It took another turn when Spellbinder got wiser and began marketing his equipment as virtual reality generators [[LotusEaterMachine that allowed people to live out their fantasies]]. He "marketed" it like a drug pusher and got taken down by Batman for it. It's unlikely that there would be any actual law against using the tech on willing people itself, but there would be for coercing other people especially minors into committing crimes for him.
** Inverted with Shriek, was a brilliant, yet impractical engineer who specialized in sonics. For his market debut, he developed a suit that could generate and direct sound waves for demolition purposes. However, his boss, CorruptCorporateExecutive Derek Powers, had the reaction upon seeing the suit in action of "dynamite's cheaper" -- his invention isn't practical and ''couldn't'' turn a profit if put on the market, the validity of Powers' claim is unknown as the actual costs of creating and using the suit aren't shown to the viewers. He promised Shriek to continue funding his experiments if he took care of Batman instead. Shriek is later seen to have invented some astonishing devices that would rake in millions, such as a gadget that selectively blocks loud noises (imagine the applications if you live near a construction site), but his boss still forces him to act as a personal killing machine. Afterward, Shriek becomes deaf and thus somehow invents a device that appears similar to headphones that can reverse deafness for as long as it's worn by the person, but by this point, he's too obsessed with getting revenge on Batman to care about making money.

** Temple Fugate lost everything in appeal for twenty million dollars against his company seven years ago. When he appears in "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE25TheClockKing The Clock King]]", he has enough money to [[OffscreenVillainDarkMatter buy bombs, an Abandoned Warehouse Supervillain Lair at his name, and can throw off a clock valued at $6,000]]. Justified because he never suffers MotiveDecay; all he wants is to humiliate Mayor Hill, and then kill him. Money no longer matters to him, only revenge. Notice that after he is arrested, he uses his talents for the government as a BoxedCrook.
** Averted in the spinoff comic ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures''. The Riddler signs a deal with some out-of-town businessmen who find that the device he's used to [[DoNotAdjustYourSet hijack broadcasts]] can be the basis for a super-advanced cell phone which makes him millions. He finds an outlet for his ongoing urges by sending Batman riddles without actual crimes attached.
** In "[[Recap/TheAdventuresOfBatmanAndRobinE14RiddlersReform Riddler's Reform]]", the Riddler signs a contract with a toy company, using his genius for riddles and puzzles to design puzzle toys and the notoriety he earned as a criminal to pitch them in TV commercials. It almost works for him... but [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter the compulsion to outwit Batman]] is too great, and he decides that the only way he could enjoy his new life is to lure Batman into a death trap and get rid of him altogether. Unfortunately, this doesn't work, and Riddler goes back to prison.
** Notably, Nygma had a similar motivation as Fugate starting out -- he was initially a software engineer who developed a smash hit title, but his boss [[StealingTheCredit took credit for making it]] and unceremoniously fired Edward, asking "[[TitleDrop If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?]]" and prompting Nygma's StartOfDarkness.

* ''Challenge of the WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'':
** The show was notorious for this. Lex Luthor invents a time machine? He and the Legion of Doom use it to steal a few treasures from the past, and never use it again. A teleportation device? They use it to avoid being captured at the end of the episode. But never any other way. Invisibility cloak? Used for a few petty crimes, and never heard from again.

** That said, it is completely and utterly ''defied'' by Lex, who apparently did this during his presidential candidacy. When confronted by the Question about it in "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS2E9QuestionAuthority Question Authority]]", amid giving the poor faceless hero a NoHoldsBarredBeatDown, Lex points out he had no interest whatsoever in any of the legitimate power, authority, or money being president would bring him, and in fact [[EvilIsPetty merely did it to annoy Superman]].

* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' started out with a very interesting subversion. Lex Luthor was going to use a giant mech, something which was ''stated'' to cost millions of dollars to make, to make money illegally. However, Lex wasn't going to use it to rob the banks or other such schemes, he was secretly selling it to terrorists (who were paying him a ''billion'' dollars) knowing that the US government would later hire Luthor to design a better mech to fight the one the terrorists "stole". [[SpannerInTheWorks Superman ruined that scheme]]. The whole premise seems like a sly riff on the [[WesternAnimation/SupermanTheatricalCartoons Fleischer cartoon]] mentioned further down the page.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "Injustice for All", the League's battles with Luthor's Injustice Gang all revolve around money. Lex has brought them together with cash, he almost breaks them up when they ask for more money, and in the end, Batman brings the chaos to an end. How? He gets the Ultra-Humanite to ambush Lex by doubling Lex's offer. This allows the Humanite to achieve his main goal -- funding opera on a PBS expy. Not ALL Viewers are Like You!

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* Disney's ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'' had Mechanicles, a Greek inventor who made robots. Lots of them. Though they were bulky, powered by steam, and made of bronze, they still had functionality well beyond what we are capable of in the modern day. In any episode where he appeared, he would use them to steal things, either because he wanted them, or just to build more robots. Though Mechanicles was also really arrogant and prissy, and his ultimate goals were to reform the world in some insanely [[NeatFreak "tidy"]] ways, like turning the desert into glass or evaporating the seas. It's likely nobody would work with him; he was nuts.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' explored the concept with some of its reoccurring villains.
** The Penguin is sane enough to admit associating with criminal riffraff is pretty distasteful anyway and he'd make much more profit with a [[BadGuyBar skimming-off-the-top grey market nightclub]]. Subverted in that he still doesn't turn his act around in the end.
** Temple Fugate lost everything in appeal for twenty million dollars against his company seven years ago. When he appears in "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE25TheClockKing The Clock King]]", he has enough money to [[OffscreenVillainDarkMatter buy bombs, an Abandoned Warehouse Supervillain Lair at his name, and can throw off a clock valued at $6,000]]. Justified because he never suffers MotiveDecay; all he wants is to humiliate Mayor Hill, and then kill him. Money no longer matters to him, only revenge. Notice that after he is arrested, he uses his talents for the government as a BoxedCrook.
** In "[[Recap/TheAdventuresOfBatmanAndRobinE14RiddlersReform Riddler's Reform]]", the Riddler signs a contract with a toy company, using his genius for riddles and puzzles to design puzzle toys and the notoriety he earned as a criminal to pitch them in TV commercials. It almost works for him... but [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter the compulsion to outwit Batman]] is too great, and he decides that the only way he could enjoy his new life is to lure Batman into a death trap and get rid of him altogether. Unfortunately, this doesn't work, and Riddler goes back to prison.
*** Notably, Nygma had a similar motivation as Fugate starting out - he was initially a software engineer who developed a smash hit title, but his boss [[StealingTheCredit took credit for making it]] and unceremoniously fired Edward, asking "[[TitleDrop If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?]]" and prompting Nygma's StartOfDarkness.

** Inverted with Shriek, was a brilliant, yet impractical engineer who specialized in sonics. For his market debut, he developed a suit that could [[MakeMeWannaShout generate and direct sound waves]] for demolition purposes. However, his boss, CorruptCorporateExecutive Derek Powers, had the reaction upon seeing the suit in action of "dynamite's cheaper" -- his invention isn't practical and ''couldn't'' turn a profit if put on the market, the validity of Powers' claim is unknown as the actual costs of creating and using the suit aren't shown to the viewers. He promised Shriek to continue funding his experiments if he took care of Batman instead. Shriek is later seen to have invented some astonishing devices that would rake in millions, such as a gadget that selectively blocks loud noises (imagine the applications if you live near a construction site), but his boss still forces him to act as a personal killing machine. Afterward, Shriek becomes deaf and thus somehow invents a device that appears similar to headphones that can reverse deafness for as long as it's worn by the person, but by this point, he's too obsessed with getting revenge on Batman to care about making money.
** Played with in "The Winning Edge". Unlike Bane, who only used Venom for himself to commit crimes, Chappell manages to convert Venom into an easily usable dermal patch that he begins marketing as a performance-enhancing drug to teenagers. However, he still does this illegally through black market means, presumably because it's unlikely a Venom-based compound would ever be made legal.
** In another episode, a talented weapons designer loses his high-paying job at a defense contractor. It's heavily implied that although he could easily find another job, it wouldn't bring in as much money as he and his family had grown accustomed to having. Instead, he goes into business as a corporate mercenary/saboteur, which apparently pays pretty well [[WretchedHive in Gotham]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'', the Riddler subverts this trope by starting out as a legitimate scientist who wants to help the world with his intellect-enhancing inventions. Unfortunately, his co-worker and the girl he liked would end up sabotaging it in front of their first potential investors and him taking the fall (according to her, she found him unstable due to him losing his temper at a condescending investor who reminded him of his abusive dad.) Riddler does not take it well when Batman spells it out for him (Riddler assuming it was the businessman who did it.) This leads Eddie to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge in becoming Riddler. Batman even lampshades the whole thing when he tells Robin to not untie her, with the implications being she is going to be arrested:
-->'''Batman''': One last riddle, Robin. When is a villain not ''the'' villain?

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Invincible|2021}}'': Cecil notes that the cyborgs D.A. Sinclair made were impressive enough on their own, even though they were created in a sewer, implying that he could be more useful in an actual lab. Which is foreshadowing of his decision to recruit Sinclair to the GDA instead of putting him in prison.

** Shown in "Tabula Rasa". After Lex Luthor goes to prison, he leaves his business in the hands of his loyal minion Mercy Graves, who puts [=LexCorp=] back in the black by cancelling his MadScience projects and concentrating on making a profit. Lex is not grateful in the least, being still obsessed with taking on the Justice League. When Mercy goes to walk out on him, Lex points out that's she's hardly immune to the [[GoodIsBoring thrill of transgression]].
** That said it is completely and utterly ''defied'' by Lex who apparently did this during his presidential candidacy. When confronted by The Question about it, amid giving the poor faceless hero a NoHoldsBarredBeatDown, Lex points out he had no interest whatsoever in any of the legitimate power, authority, or money being president would bring him, and in fact [[EvilIsPetty merely did it to annoy Superman]].
---> '''Lex:''' "President"?! Foolish, faceless man; my campaign is a farce! A small part of a much grander scheme. ''(chuckles)'' "President"...? do you know how much power I'd have to ''give up'' to be President? That's right, conspiracy buff. I spent 75 million dollars on a fake Presidential campaign, ''all just to tick Superman off!''

* In ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'':

* Justified / deconstructed in ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty''. Rick is often involved in various bizarre get-rich-quick schemes despite the fact that he could easily make himself wealthy simply by selling his inventions to the public or use them for more productive purposes... but he's far too unstable to maintain the interest and consistency necessary to sustain any enterprise. This is best illustrated in "Something Ricked This Way Comes": Rick combats the Devil's shop of BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor cursed items by starting a shop of his own that removes the curses while keeping the benefits, but as soon as he accomplishes his goal of trolling the Devil and he finds himself at the butt end of a lot of paperwork, he gets bored and sets fire to the place. Other Ricks in alternate universes, who are less unstable than our Rick, really have built some impressive empires and, hilariously enough, our Rick even envies some of them such as wishing he was the one to come up with the ''incredibly'' lucrative daycare service for Jerries.

** The villains in ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' have this worse than any of the others, as their costumes are far more realistic and advanced than in previous series. What's even worse about this? Crystal Cove, the place they're haunting, has hauntings as their primary tourist attraction. The ones who are after money could make a fortune by opening a haunted house legally. But they just use their costumes and schemes to steal stuff or do it for their own personal grudges. However, there is Destroido, a very successful large company that still leaves the environment ruined and behind a lot of shady stuff. [[JustifiedTrope Turns out there's one massive explanation for all of this:]][[spoiler: Virtually every single one of the costumed freaks and villains do their crimes because they are influenced and corrupted by a malevolent EldritchAbomination known as Nibiru, who is sealed in a crystal sarcophagus underneath Crystal Cove. One who has spent ''centuries'' influencing hundreds of people (especially certain groups that the Mystery Gang is the latest iteration of) as part of a grand plan to enact a ritual and free him so he may wreak havoc on the world. When Scooby and the gang proceed to kill his mortal form and thus untether him from reality, he is subjected to retroactive {{Retgone}}, creating a Crystal Cove and timeline where its negative influence never existed, meaning their families, neighbors and the costumed criminals all had happier and more productive lives. This includes the gang as they ended up living new productive lives not associated with mysteries]].

** In "Treehouse of Horror XXVII", [[TheBadGuyWins Sideshow Bob FINALLY succeeds in his goal of killing Bart]] only to [[VictoryIsBoring find his life afterwards unsatisfying]], so he builds a machine that can reanimate the dead so he can kill Bart again, and proceeds to resurrect and kill Bart in different ways repeatedly. This is a machine that is demonstrated to be able to bring the dead back to life, without being zombified or otherwise [[CameBackWrong coming back wrong,]] with no noticeable side effects, and with mental facilities just as they were in life from anything up to and including the remains being burned to ashes, and the only thing Bob can think of to do with it is kill a ten-year-old boy over and over again.
** A rather small-scale variant in "Lisa's Rival," where Homer tries out a ZanyScheme involving selling off stolen sugar. Marge points out that he makes far less money off the scheme than he does simply going to work and doing his job normally, at which Homer loudly claims that he wants the adventurous life and he doesn't care.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' foe Gargamel seems to edge very close to this, especially since one of his driving purposes for wanting to catch Smurfs is because they are part of the formula for creating the Philosopher's Stone. A lot of his formulas and magical devices would have a ''lot'' of potential if he didn't use them chasing down a bunch of little blue creatures, but because he does, he frequently winds up nearly killing himself, is regarded as a fool by other wizards, and even his mother and godfather hate him. One has to wonder whether giving up his foolish obsession would benefit him more than being able to create gold using magic. Though at one point Gargamel admits that it's not just about gold anymore. After so many humiliating defeats, [[ItsPersonal he's grown to genuinely hate them]].
* ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom:'' Eggman would be able to make himself rich fairly easily if he used his many inventions for just about anything other than trying to attack Sonic. In one episode, Eggman briefly becomes a successful businessman by selling (genuinely delicious) tomato sauce and would've made a fortune if he had just stuck to selling it instead of using it as a Trojan Horse to sneak his robots into everyone's homes and then bragging about it on television, torpedoing the sauce business. Another episode had him sell extremely competent robot employees to Mehburger, but that also turns out to be a scam to destroy the joint.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' - Cartman is capable of devising successful enrichment schemes, but he ends up sabotaging them when, despite making him rich, they don't win him some personal (and usually incredibly petty) goal he craves.
** In "Christian Rock Hard" he founds a Christian rock band after making a 10-dollar bet with Kyle on who can receive a platinum album (awarded for 1 million sold copies) first. He does sell the required amount, but loses the bet on a technicality (Christian music has a different set of awards in the ''South Park'' universe -- instead of silver, gold, and platinum; it's [[TheThreeWiseMen gold, frankincense, and myrrh]]), throws a tantrum, insulting both his audience and band members and ruins his career.
** In another episode he receives an inheritance and buys a failing amusement park, just so he could enjoy all the rides by himself, without having to wait in queues. Being told that nobody is allowed in [[ForbiddenFruit makes everybody]] ''[[ForbiddenFruit really want]]'' [[ForbiddenFruit to get in]], so when Cartman is finally forced to let people in in order to offset the cost of hiring security and repairmen, it becomes a huge hit. But because the park is now full, Cartman has to wait in queues again (no owner privileges?), so he no longer wants it and sells it back, whereupon the IRS takes away all the money he makes, that he owes in taxes, penalties, and lawsuits.

* [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Plankton]] in ''WesternAnimation/{{SpongeBob SquarePants}}'' has this as an inherent part of his character. He's clearly a brilliant inventor, with a ''huge'' cache of futuristic technology as his disposal, but it apparently never occurs to him to do something with his life other than [[TheRival running a rival restaurant to the Krusty Krab]]. Even then, he's apparently never considered that [[DickDastardlyStopsToCheat there are ways of running a profitable restaurant that don't require stealing your rival's recipes]]. Though the main reason he keeps trying to steal the Krabby Patty recipe is not so much because he hates Mr. Krabs but because he himself [[LethalChef couldn't cook to save his life]] so he tries to latch on to Krabs's success. Also note that either way, Krabs is a ruthless competitor. There are in fact times Plankton ''has'' tried to make legitimate profits. Krabs still tries to ruin them and steal his customers, since either way he is his business rival and ''right next door to him'' at that. At times Krabs becomes so greedy and petty in bullying away profit that it seems this trope is there just to ensure he can still look like the good guy against Plankton.

* One old [[WesternAnimation/SupermanTheatricalCartoons 1940's Superman short]] had a villain who invented remote-controlled mechanical robots that he was using to rob banks and jewelry stores. Too bad there wasn't any other way to get wealthy with such advanced labor-saving technology, eh?
* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'': Lampshaded when Lex Luthor discovers kryptonite and plans to use it against Superman - one of his researchers insists that possessing such a rare and unusual substance must have a more practical application.