History Main / DisappointedByTheMotive

** All but one of the following films (''Film/DieHardWithAVengeance'', ''Film/LiveFreeOrDieHard'' and ''Film/AGoodDayToDieHard''), upon the reveal that the villains have done so much wanton terrorism in order to get richer (''incredibly'' richer, but still), [=McClane=] is [[SeenItAll experienced enough]] to not care anymore, while his sidekick of the movie has one big "what?" moment. ''With a Vengeance'' even has the villain's henchman react this way to learning the real motive. ''Film/DieHard2'' is the odd one out: while all of the bad guys are mercenaries getting paid a hefty amount of money to get TheGeneralissimo to a country with no extradition, the BigBad General Stewart has an actual political motive for his actions (he's essentially an Ollie North CaptainErsatz helping a former Cold War ally).

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'': At the end of the Freelancer Saga, Church and Carolina find the Director of Project Freelancer, who committed numerous crimes, treated his soldiers as disposable pawns, and tortured the Alpha AI into Fragments. But instead of an evil mastermind, they find a broken man trying to revive his dead wife. Church then rails at the Director for what he's done and why;

* In ''Machinima/HeavyIsDead'', when Engineer is ''finally'' outed as the perpetrator (by accident), he confesses that his entire motive for killing Heavy is because he thinks he's fat and ugly. [[ItMakesAsMuchSenseInContext Heavy is not happy about this reveal and shortly after gets revenge by killing Engineer]].

'''Sergeant Prendergast:''' Is that what this is about? You're angry because you got lied to? Is that why my chicken dinner is drying out in the oven? Listen, pal, they lie to everyone. They lie to the fish. [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse But that doesn't give you any special
right to do what you did today]].

'''Sergeant Prendergast:''' Is that what this is about? You're angry because you got lied to? Is that why my chicken dinner is drying out in the oven? Listen, pal, they lie to everyone. They lie to the fish. [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse But that doesn't give you any special right to do what you did today]].
* {{Subverted}} in ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}''. Bond openly states "I'm disappointed in you, Goldfinger" as the man's entire plan to rob Fort Knox will never work as it's impossible to remove all the gold in less than two weeks. At which point, Goldfinger smugly replies "whoever mentioned anything about ''removing'' it?" Bond realizes Goldfinger's ''real'' plan is to detonate a dirty bomb within Fort Knox, rendering the U.S. gold supply worthless for decades which means Goldfinger's own private gold holdings become ten times more valuable.

* ''Film/GoldenEye'': Bond mocks Trevelyan over his plan to electronically rob the Bank of England and then detonate a [[KillSat Golden Eye satellite]] above London to erase the electronic records, saying it boils down to petty theft. Trevelyan retorts that his plan is less about the money and more about getting revenge on the British government for sending his Lienz Cossack parents to their deaths following World War II. Bond is even less impressed at this motive, saying that Trevelyan is prepared to create a global financial Stone Age and potentially kill millions for the sake of an old grudge.

-->'''Trevelyan''': You always did have a small mind, James. It's not just erasing bank records, it's everything on every computer in Greater London. Tax records, stock market, credit ratings, land registries, criminal records. In 16 minutes and 43, oh, 42 seconds, the United Kingdom will re-enter the Stone Age!
-->'''Bond''': A worldwide financial meltdown. And all so mad little Alec can settle a score with the world, fifty years on.

** The initial reason that [[BaldBlackLeaderGuy Roy]] is trying to defeat [[BigBad Xykon]] is because his late father vowed to avenge his master, whom Xykon killed after stealing something from his house. They don't know what was stolen, but presume that it's an artifact of great power. Instead it turns out to be...the little crown that he wears.

-->'''Ramada:''' You turned your back on America...for the sake of your own petty jealousy.

* The ''WebVideo/ScottTheWoz'' episode "The Great Mysteries of Gaming" is a TenLittleMurderVictims HalloweenEpisode in which Scott and a few others attend a dinner party, only for the host to be killed, and the other guests one-by-one soon after. In the end, Scott confronted the killer, which explains to him that [[spoiler:he killed the host because the latter did money laundering, and then he killed the guests because he was too shy to admit that he murdered the host]]. Scott was understandably not impressed.
-->'''Scott:''' ...Really? Five homicides and that's your reason?

** At the end of the first season, when Kirito asks Kayaba why he imprisoned ten thousand people in [[TheMostDangerousVideoGame a deadly video game]], Kayaba gives [[SpoofedWithTheirOwnWords his canonical response]] of "I don't even remember anymore", which gets an incredulous ''"are you fucking serious?!"'' out of Kirito. Then Kayaba admits he's just messing with them and gives his real motive: [[spoiler:the reason that players die when their avatars die is because of a glitch that came up when Kayaba spent three weeks working without sleep to finish the game by its deadline. In a mixture of sleep-deprived delusion and panic, Kayaba locked everyone in ''SAO'' and doubled down by presenting himself as an evil mastermind because he thought the game would review better on Metacritic if its lethality was a feature and not a bug]]. Kirito and Asuna are just as incredulous to this motive.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Anime/AfterWarGundamX'': This is Garrod Ran's response to the Frost Brothers' MotiveRant: they do have PsychicPowers, just not ones particularly useful to the military, so they were discarded as "Category F" Newtypes; worthless to the military's cause. Because of this they... attempted to exterminate all Newtypes and engineered a world war great enough that it could very well end [[AfterTheEnd what's left of civilization]]. All because their egos were bruised and they were jealous.
-->'''Garrod:''' All of this!? For such a reason as that!?
* ''Manga/AttackOnTitanJuniorHigh'': Eren Yeager reveals that the reason why he has a murderous hatred of the Titans is because a Titan stole his lunch. Everyone finds this really weak.
* Subverted in the first episode of ''[[Anime/BurnUp Burn Up W]]''. Terrorist group Falcon Claw seize control of a skyscraper and take the workers hostage, then make an absurd list of demands: the manager of their favourite baseball team should publicly prostrate himself to apologize for his team's poor performance, the next installment of video game series ''Draqemon IX'' should have the word "FINAL" added to its title, every surfboard at the local beach must be smashed to pieces, and the town's IdolSinger must perform a nude bungee jump. This tips the police off that Falcon Claw are just clueless amateur patsies invited to indulge in their petty whims by the true masterminds of the terrorist strike. In short, the subversion is that the heroes are disappointed at first, but realize soon after that they're being set up.
* A weird case appears in ''Manga/TheDemonGirlNextDoor''. Momo spontaneously fell to darkness again due to a buildup of negative emotions. She finds the trigger so embarrassing, she genuinely considered staying fallen rather than admitting it. [[spoiler:Her trigger was that she missed her chance to eat Yuko's cooking.]] However, even when Myth/{{Lilith}} ends up disappointed, Momo lampshades that this is a pretty lame reason to fall to darkness.
-->'''Lilith:''' And you fell to darkness just because of that?\\
'''Momo:''' Here's to my petty and boring life...
* ''Manga/DragonBall'':
** In the first arc, Oolong is outraged when he learns that Bulma's intended wish for the Dragon Balls is for a boyfriend, especially since he never asked to be dragged along on the adventure; he's only there because Bulma tricked him.
** Puar is shocked to learn that Yamcha wants to use the Dragon Balls to wish away his fear of women, instead of wishing for wealth or world domination. Yamcha counters that he doesn't want to rule the world and can steal all the money he needs. But his phobia of women is consistently holding him back.
** Commander Red, leader of the Red Ribbon Army (which has been an entire army made of [[KnightOfCerebus Knights of Cerebus]]) initially says he needs the Dragon Balls in order to take over the world. However, he eventually reveals he wants them to wish to be a few inches taller. When his second-in-command, Adjutant Black, finds out, Black kills him and takes over the army.
** This gets a CallBack in ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly''. Freeza heads to Earth to find its Dragon Balls in order to wish that he was a whole five centimeters taller -- any more would be too obvious a change, and any less than that wouldn't be worth the trouble. His subordinates are rather incredulous that Freeza would wish for that, but are too scared of him to voice their disappointment. It helps that Freeza's strong enough to take over the universe ''without'' help from the Dragon Balls.
** At the end of the Champa Saga in ''Dragon Ball Super'', Beerus says he used his wish to [[TheOmnipotent Super Shenron]] for a more comfortable bed. Bulma's incensed that a [[DestroyerDeity God of Destruction]] wasted the dragon's power on a wish that ''she'' could have granted. [[spoiler:However, Beerus is lying. He actually used it to wish that Universe 6's Earth would be brought back after it was destroyed, and with the level of culture that Universe 7's Earth had on top of that, all so Beerus's brother Champa could enjoy Earth's cuisine. Beerus just doesn't want to come across as soft, which is why he lied about it.]]
** Tien's reaction to Yurin's reason for wanting revenge on him; Tien left the Crane School without sparring with her thirty years ago. For this, Yurin wrecks an entire village. Tien is blown away by the pettiness.
* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' (Manga, ''Brotherhood'', and [[Film/FullmetalAlchemist2017 live-action]]): Edward Elric attacked Shou Tucker upon realizing that the talking chimera from two years ago was Tucker's wife, and that the new chimera was fused from Tucker's dog and child. To further Ed's disappointment, Shou experimented on his family in an attempt to remain a state alchemist. Tucker not only thought that what he did to his family was acceptable, but also expected it [[EntitledBastard to be rewarding]]. Tucker tries to give Ed a NotSoDifferentRemark speech, but Ed [[NotSoSimilar counters]] that Ed and Al attempted human transfiguration out of a misguided attempt to save their mother. Tucker put his family through inhuman experiments because he didn't want to lose a steady paycheck, which Ed calls out in his speech as pure greed.
* In ''[[VideoGame/GundamBattleGunplaWarfare Gundam Breaker Battlogue]]'', the Masked Man reveals the reason why he developed the runner system to capture and permanently destroy the gumpla of other competitors is for revenge [[spoiler:on Takuma Nagitsuji for [[SoreLoser defeating him in a previous tournament]].]] Sana's response sums it up best:
-->'''Sana:''' What a stupid grudge.
* ''Manga/MonsterMusume'': One episode involves an Orc radical group causing a HostageSituation at a bookstore. The Orcs' demand for releasing the hostages is that [[SeriousBusiness erotic manga and light novels must start to have more Orc protagonists]]. The police commissioner asks his aide what the Orcs' other demands are, and develops a TwitchyEye when it's clear that this is ''all'' they want.
* Due to [[LovecraftLite the nature of the work]], this trope ends up happening quite a lot in ''LightNovel/NyarukoCrawlingWithLove''.
** When Mahiro found out that the first villain in the series is trying to sell him so that the villain can be a star in a TV drama, Mahiro gets frustrated enough to ask Nyarko to kick the villain's ass.
** Mahiro's mom is kidnapped by the Cthulhu Corporation. Mahiro, getting used to the new absurdity of his life, tries to predict what's about to happen, and comes to the conclusion that "sononium" (the flimsy excuse that his mom has making to [[CuddleBug hug him]]) was what the villains were after. The real reason is that she reviews games, and she's rather famous in space. Mahiro, who had braced himself for the absurdity, still finds this so outlandish that he has a brief HeroicBSOD at the very idea.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** In the Fishman Island arc's climax, Hody Jones is a FantasticRacist who utterly ''hates'' humans. However, it's revealed in an exchange that occurs between himself and Prince Fukaboshi that Hody Jones was just reared to be a bigot. [[FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence He's never had a bad experience with humans personally.]] Fukaboshi immediately sends out a mass-communication admitting that Hody's grudge is "one without substance".
--->'''Fukaboshi:''' What happened to you? Did humans enslave you? Did they hurt your loved ones? Answer me, Hody! What the hell did those humans do to you?\\
'''Hody Jones:''' Nothing.
** One year before the story's beginning, the "Pirate Noble" Cavendish took the world by storm. One year later, Cavendish's fame was eclipsed by Luffy and several other rookie pirates now known as the "Worst Generation". Being the AttentionWhore that he is, Cavendish has sworn vengeance on those pirates. Even Luffy, an IdiotHero of the first order, is smart enough to call this out as a rather petty grudge. [[spoiler:Cavendish eventually gets over it (kind of) and even becomes the first commander of the Straw Hat Fleet. Though he still wants to be the most famous of them.]]
* ''Webcomic/OnePunchMan'':
** A rare villain-on-hero version of this. The villains may, from time to time, ask Saitama why he's a hero in the first place, fighting against the likes of {{Eldritch Abomination}}s and the Monster Association who want to TakeOverTheWorld and/or KillAllHumans. Saitama reveals that it's not for a sense of justice, for revenge on some villain who wronged him, for glory that comes with being a hero, or even for money that would inevitably come with being part of the Hero Association's upper ranks. Saitama is, in his own words, "just a guy who's a hero for fun". Many of the villains Saitama fights are utterly baffled that this NighInvulnerable CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass would want to be a hero just for the sake of his own amusement.
** Saitama himself says this to Boros, upon hearing that Boros is motivated primarily by boredom like himself.
--->"Are you an idiot? You can't go around attacking planets just to liven up your boring little life! Even telemarketers wouldn't think of that!"
** Saitama also finds himself disappointed with Garou, the Hero Hunter who is going on a rampage attacking heroes and otherwise breaking down their philosophies. Garou attempts an ArmorPiercingQuestion on Saitama by asking "Why are you a hero?!" after meeting him, but Saitama throws this back in Garou's face with an Armor-Piercing Question of his own: "Why are you holding back?" Saitama, thanks to his own incredible level of strength, notes that Garou is intentionally not going all-out in their fight, leading to Saitama ending up disappointed when he deduces Garou's actual motive: Garou decided that if he couldn't be the world's greatest hero, he would instead be the world's greatest villain. Saitama follows this up with a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech about how Garou will never beat him with a petty mindset like that, which significantly weakens Garou's resolve to be a bad guy.
* One VillainOfTheWeek in ''Manga/OutlawStar'' posed as the anonymous leader of a terrorist group, announced he would inflict a ColonyDrop on a major population center, and did just that. Gene and his crew soon discover who they are, however -- to their surprise and slight disgust, these bad guys weren't a terrorist group at all (in the motivational sense), but a large group of thieves. They used the Colony Drop to evacuate the city so they could steal as many valuable items as they could before the area is annihilated. Gene calls them out on being nothing more than petty thieves willing to ruin people's lives and kill who-knows-how-many people for the sake of a little money.
* In ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'', Kirito and Asuna, [[MostDangerousVideoGame trapped in a game where losing all your HP means death in the real world]], investigate a series of murders (two staged and one actual) that supposedly happened because of LootDrama. While Kirito has enough experience with [=MMOs=] to be disgusted by that, the culprit's real motive is even worse. The guild leader's husband was disturbed by how much more confident and assertive his previously meek and submissive wife was becoming, and wanted to kill her while she was still his wife so that she didn't divorce him in the real world. Kirito and Asuna are appalled, and [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech tell Grimlock that if he feels this way, he never truly loved his wife]].
-->'''Kirito:''' Your wife wouldn't listen to you... and that's why you killed her?
* ''Manga/UshioAndTora'': During the "Great Youkai War" arc, the Kamaitachi duo Raishin and Kagari are confronted by the [[AxCrazy three western Kamaitachi]], who have proven to be violence-loving nutjobs. Before their climatic duel in the mansion, they ask them why they're always in human form, explaining that, in their case, it was a sign of their newfound respect for Ushio and a sign that they overcome the FantasticRacism which cost them their little brother Juuro, who succumbed for his hatred (helped by the fact that one of the trio reminds them of said brother). The first brother says it's because he's [[GoodSmokingEvilSmoking addicted to cigarettes and he wouldn't be able to smoke in a weasel's body]], the sister claims [[BrainlessBeauty that she just loves wearing human dresses which make her look sexy]], and the last brother simply likes the idea of having a body with limbs and neck fully distinct from the body. Upon hearing these reasons, the two [[LetsGetDangerous are angered by these petty motives and find the resolve to fight them without holding back.]]
* In ''Anime/YuGiOhFirstAnimeSeries'', Yami Yugi is more than a little peeved to find out that the PhonyPsychic Kokurano has caused dangerous accidents after predicting them beforehand, all so he could pretend that he could predict the future and have people pay attention to him.
-->'''Yami Yugi:''' All your predictions are fake. The fire and the light in the gym. You did it all, that's all there is to it. And all just so you could pretend to have superpowers.
* ''Anime/YuGiOh'': Rex Raptor joined the Orichalcos, which is stealing peoples' souls and aims to wipe out humanity, and is trying to kill Joey Wheeler. When the two confront each other, Rex says his motive is revenge for Joey beating him in a Duel Monsters game once, which made Rex lose his popularity. Joey is annoyed and tells Rex to get a life.
[[/folder]]

* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': There was a storyline in 2014 where someone goes out of their way to get the team to end, including framing the Thing for murder, using Reed and Sue's son Franklin's powers to create models of old superheroes to attack the real world, and so on. The villain behind all of this is the Quiet Man, who also took the team to court for the collateral damage that they have caused. The Quiet Man reveals that he only did this because he was interested in Sue in college, and was jealous that Reed "stole" her from him. Reed quickly calls this out as both pathetic and insane, pointing out that the Quiet Man wasted his whole life on petty vengeance when all signs show that he's a genius who could have changed the world if he wasn't being so petty and spiteful.

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/245671 And That Made all the Difference]]'' has the two Twilight Sparkles trying to learn why [[spoiler:an alternate world version of Princess Celestia]] abducted them from their home dimensions and let [[AlternateUniverse their universes]] become {{Crapsack World}}s. All their kidnapper can say as to why they did it is "I don't know." The kidnapper is following their [[DreamingOfThingsToCome visions for the future]], despite having no idea what would happen. As a result, the two Twilights are outraged.
* ''Fanfic/BecomingATrueInvader'': Everyone is dumbfounded to learn that, ultimately, the only reason Zim wants to [[TheStarscream conquer Irk]] is so that he can then officially make himself an Invader again.
* In ''Fanfic/BitterTearsAnAnonAMissFic'', the CMC get this reaction twice, first by Rainbow Dash, then by Sunset.
** The first time is when Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo confess to being Anon-A-Miss. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle acted out of [[GreenEyedMonster jealousy]] that Sunset Shimmer was getting so much attention from Applejack and Rarity, causing the Crusaders to feel left out when Sunset was invited to a sleepover and they weren't. The Rainbooms aren't too happy about how petty of a reason that is to basically ruin Sunset's life. Rainbow in particular calls the Crusaders "secret-spreading, backstabbing, lying little brats" after they confess. Sunset later points out that the upcoming Apple family holiday party was right around the corner, and that Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle would have had plenty of time to hang out with their sisters there. Had they just waited a few more days, they would have gotten everything that they wanted.
--->'''Rainbow Dash:''' Let me see if I got this right. You posted our most private and embarrassing secrets, made us laughingstocks of the entire school, framed Sunset, and turned the school completely on its head... because you didn't get invited to a freaking slumber party. That's what you're telling me.
** The second time is when Rainbow asks Scootaloo why she was part of Anon-A-Miss, because Scootaloo doesn't have a sister in the Rainbooms like the other Crusaders. The only explanation Scootaloo can come up with is "ItSeemedLikeAGoodIdeaAtTheTime". Rainbow is disgusted with this answer, punching Scootaloo in the face for it. Later, Sunset says that while Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle at least had a motive for being Anon-A-Miss -- a short-sighted, selfish, petty motive, but a motive all the same -- Scootaloo doesn't even have ''that''.
* During their confrontation in Chapter 70 of ''Fanfic/BlazBlueAlternativeRemnant'', Ruby is left incredulous when Terumi explains that his reason for [[spoiler: engineering Ragna's Black Beast transformation and causing so much death and destruction throughout Vale]] is [[ForTheEvulz "Well, why not?"]]
* In ''Fanfic/BonneFoi'', when Edward learns that [[spoiler:he was turned and abandoned by Victoria in a moment of idle boredom]], Bella voices her disgust at how unbelievably petty that is to justify what Edward’s been through.
* In ''Fanfic/ClashOfMarvelsACorelineShortStory'', the reactions of Asuka and Misato reflect their incredulity at the villain's motive. [[spoiler:An alternate of Georgia Sivanna was desperate at wanting to have a fellow "super-criminal" friend. To this end, Alternate Georgia forced an apparently lethal example of LetsYouAndHimFight on Asuka (who has the powers of the Marvel Family) in the hopes that she would get DrunkOnTheDarkSide from the "kill" so that Georgia could arrive later and offer her friendship.]]
* ''Fanfic/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDenial'': While Nagito sees the mutual killing game as an ''excellent'' way of strengthening Hope, he is absolutely ''disgusted'' when he figures out the second murderer's motives, accusing them of being driven by Despair. When the full truth comes out, there's some implication that he also feels personally insulted by their methods: [[spoiler:they set up a trap to blacken ''somebody else's'' hands, leaving it up to luck who would wind up murdering their target]].
* ''Fanfic/TheDaysOfReckoningAreUponUs'': In one snippet, upon hearing the Maximoff twins' reason for hating Tony Stark (that he made the missile that killed their parents), Ultron is so disgusted that he not only kills them both for their obvious insanity, but decides to contact Tony Stark and give him (and humanity) the benefit of the doubt. Ultron even takes time to ask if it occurred to the twins to want revenge on the people who fired the missile at their home or the ones who ordered the attack and it's made clear that they didn't.
* ''Fanfic/DekuIThinkHesSomePro'': When Sir Nighteye [[WhatTheHellHero confronts Toshinori]] over his continued insistence that Izuku cannot become a hero, he eventually admits that part of the reason he's so against it is because ''he'' wasn't able to become a Quirkless Hero himself. He was only able to achieve his own dreams because Nana gave him One For All. Nighteye is disgusted by the realization that Toshinori arrogantly assumes that because ''he'' couldn't do it, ''nobody'' could, and makes clear just how [[DisappointedInYou much that hurts his opinion of his long-time friend]].
* The ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' adaptation of ''Anime/DragonBallZBrolyTheLegendarySuperSaiyan'' has Vegeta (who had up to that point practically been [[TheKnightsWhoSaySquee squeeing]] over how awesome Broly is) fall into this trope when he learns that Broly's entire motivation is that when they were babies, he and Goku had neighboring cribs and Goku's crying kept him awake. Then he's utterly stunned that the Legendary Super Saiyan is literally nothing more than a [[PsychopathicManchild giant baby]] throwing a [[PersonOfMassDestruction galaxy-destroying]] temper tantrum.
-->'''Paragus:''' Broly hates Kakarot. Because he cried. A lot. For like, ''three'' hours!\\
'''Vegeta:''' But... that's really dumb. But he's so cool! But that's '''SO DUMB!'''
* ''Fanfic/GuardiansWizardsAndKungFuFighters'': Upon finding out about her reasons for leaving for Meridian, [[spoiler:Alchemy]] is outright pissed that Elyon is willingly staying with Phobos out of nothing more than a desire to be a [[IJustWantToBeSpecial princess]].
* In the ''Fanfic/InfinityCrisis'' spin-off ''Sins, Sirens & Strife'', Jane Foster reflects that Amora's goal of making people love her is fundamentally pathetic.
* Unlike [[Anime/YuGiOhGx canon]], in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12290211/7/Jaden-s-Harem-Return-of-the-Supreme-King Jaden's Harem: Return of the Supreme King]]'' Jaden isn't remotely sympathetic to Bier and Beauregard who became the Duel Giant and stole cards from Obelisk students due to being made fun of. He gives them a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech about how in the real world, people aren't required to be nice to you and they need to grow up already.
* In ''Fanfic/KarmaInRetrograde'', Touya's self-loathing is amplified by him being disappointed in ''his own'' motive. [[FreudianExcuse Sure, he did suffer from]] [[AbusiveParents an abusive father]], [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse but so did his other siblings]], and ''they'' didn't become murderous supervillains.
* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/15687246/chapters/36449661#workskin Kidnapping the Waynes]]'' has a Wayne Enterprises employee feeling insulted that Bruce Wayne reduced the board's importance and named his sixteen-year-old ChildProdigy son CEO. The way he decided to vent his frustration was NOT to Bruce's tastes.
-->'''Batman:''' You stole money from a man, and then used it to send Rogues to prey upon his children. You traumatized multiple people -- multiple children. Onomatopoeia nearly killed one of Damian Wayne's friends. Jason Todd-Wayne was poisoned and thrown in the trunk of a car. The man you sent to watch Richard Grayson-Wayne would have raped and mutilated him if given half the chance. Both the men you chose to set upon Tim Wayne would have done worse. You arranged for a child to be tortured before being killed. All because you felt ''[[DisproportionateRetribution slighted]]''?
* ''Fanfic/LeaveForMendeleiev'':
** Ondine and Kim are unimpressed by the zookeeper getting akumatized into Animan over something as petty as a child making fun of a panther, commenting on how he's pettier than [[SpoiledBrat Chloé]].
** Mme Bustier gets so upset at [[GrewASpine Marinette standing up to her]] and refusing to be [[GotVolunteered forced to tutor her long-time bully]] that she's akumatized into Zombiezou. Naturally, Marinete and Jean are less by impressed by this, and Ladybug takes her aside afterwards to [[WhatTheHellHero call her out]] on her SkewedPriorities.
** Chloé gets akumatized out of outrage over the notion that the heroes are refusing to give her the Bee Miraculous, which [[EntitledBitch she's decided she wants]] because [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections she's the Mayor's daughter]] and it matches her preferred aesthetic. Again, everyone who figures this out finds it utterly ''ridiculous''.
** Chat Noir also falls victim to this. When [[InternalReveal Marinette and the rest of Team Miraculous learn that]] he was willing to let all of Paris fall victim to a terrible fate just because [[SecretChaser he wasn't privy to all of Ladybug's secrets]], it proves to be TheLastStraw. [[spoiler:This spoiled attitude ensures that he never gets the Ring back.]]
* In the ''Film/{{Maleficent}}''/''Film/{{Descendants}}'' crossover ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13414681/1/Maleficent-and-Descendants-A-mother-s-love A mother's love]]'', when Maleficent confronts her Auradon counterpart, she is disgusted that her Auradon self's actions were motivated purely because she felt insulted that she wasn't invited to the Christening. Fae-Maleficent may recognize that her initial curse on Aurora was MisplacedRetribution, but she counters that at least she was motivated by a legitimately personal issue with the king rather than a relatively minor personal slight.
* In ''WebVideo/MyLittlePonyTotallyLegitRecap'', Twilight is less than impressed when Cozy Glow details [[FreudianExcuse what made her so evil]]: nothing. Cozy intended to give herself a DarkAndTroubledPast to justify how evil she was by creating a tragic backstory claiming she was manipulated by Tirek into causing a SugarApocalypse. [[{{Beat}} After silently glaring at Cozy for a few seconds]], the cast throws Cozy into a cell in Tartarus.
* ''Fanfic/NeitherABirdNorAPlaneItsDeku'': Izuku is dumbfounded when he hears [[spoiler:the Ultra-Humanite's]] motive for destroying the Tokyo National Museum and potentially killing everyone inside.
-->'''Izuku:''' Y-You're going to destroy the TNM? Just because they're getting rid of some good-looking art? That-That's so stupid!
* ''Fanfic/TheNewAdventuresOfInvaderZim'':
** Several times in Season 1, [[DragonInChief Norlock]] expresses disappointment and disbelief towards Zim's actions and plans. He also doesn't think much of why the Tallest sent Zim to Earth in the first place, seeing it as squandering his potential.
** Dib and Viera are both disgusted by Zim's plan in Season 2 Episode 9 boiling down to [[ForTheEvulz just causing property damage and random chaos out of boredom]], noting that it seems lazy and small-scale compared to his usual stuff.
* ''Fanfic/PrincessOfTheBlacks'':
** In the second story of the series, several students try to kill Jennifer [[SinsOfOurFathers because her mother Bellatrix Lestrange killed their family members]]. While Jen can understand and even somewhat respect their reasoning, she calls Cormac [=McLaggen=] pathetic because he wants to kill Jen for being chosen as the junior champion of the Triwizard Tournament the previous year.
** Lily is later both disappointed and horrified that Jen's sole motivation for not trying to become the next Dark Lady is because [[PragmaticVillainy she'll have all the wealth and power she could want when Sirius steps down as head of the house and getting slightly more power isn't worth the hassle doing so would probably entail]].
* ''Fanfic/PrincipalCelestiaHuntsTheUndead'': Celestia is dumbfounded by the reason that the BigBad of the story helped start a zombie plague. [[spoiler:Principal Cinch, who is now a vampire, is out for revenge on Canterlot High because Crystal Prep lost the Friendship Games. Cinch had previously spent months trying to appeal the decision to the school board, and failed each time. Cinch eventually decided to take actions that resulted in people at CHS dying or having their lives destroyed, all for the sake of having Canterlot High's win reversed and restoring Crystal Prep's perfect undefeated record. Celestia can't believe Cinch's pettiness, calling the Friendship Games "a stupid set of random contests", one that certainly isn't worth all the trouble that Cinch brought to their town.]] Celestia says that the Big Bad's reason for causing so much misery in Canterlot is [[StupidestThingIveEverHeard the dumbest thing she's ever heard]]. Iron Will later voices similar sentiments at the Big Bad's motive.
* Naruto accidentally figures out in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9920512/1/Reaching-for-a-Dream Reaching for a Dream]]'' that the biggest reason Madara wants to ensnare the world in the Infinite Tsukiyomi is because he had an unrequited crush on Mito. Naruto is amazed by how pathetic Madara's motive is, telling him to get over it.
* ''Fanfic/{{Syngenesophobia}}'': While her husband was talking with Dr. Lopez, Rita Loud asks her daughters how they had handled the Sister Fight Protocol. Turns out the Loud sisters beat their brother so badly that he went to the hospital because Lori and Leni were fighting over owning the same dress. After learning the full story, Rita angrily yells at Lori and Leni for doing something so terrible over something so trivial. Ronnie-Anne also calls Lori and Leni stupid for for not realizing that the Sister Fight Protocol wasn't working.
* ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/305811 ...That's It?]]'' is all about Twilight Sparkle having this response regarding Starlight Glimmer's FreudianExcuse ([[AccusationFic in contrast]] to her [[SympathyForTheDevil canon reaction]]). When Starlight says that the reason she almost caused TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt is because her friend Sunburst moved away when they were kids after he got his cutie mark, Twilight is utterly dumbfounded, reacting with the fic's title. Twilight proceeds to [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech explain how childish, petty, and selfish]] this all is to Starlight, [[HeelRealization who listens]].
** ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/310814/we-can-do-this-forever We Can Do This Forever]]'' also does this with Twilight and Starlight. Twilight's not only incredulous at how petty she finds Starlight's motive, but Twilight also says that Starlight [[StatingTheSimpleSolution could have just sent Sunburst letters if he was that important to her]].
** In ''Fanfic/SunsetShimmerIsMadAboutEverything'' Twilight maintains her canon attitude regarding Starlight Glimmer's motives, whereas Sunset, who's already on a somewhat passive-aggressive jag of picking at inconsistencies in everything going on around her, is all over this. She's actually more sympathetic than Twilight to Starlight's feelings (especially once given the impression they're both orphans), but also comes out of it with the first hint that there's something fundamentally ''missing'' in Starlight's head that isn't just going to fix itself with friendship.
* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/21417982 to lose someone]]'': Alya and Lila convince the rest of their class to tear up one of Marinette's sketchbooks as 'revenge' for her [[MaliciousSlander supposedly bullying]] [[WoundedGazelleGambit Lila]]. Marinette (who anticipated this and ensured the only sketchbook they could ruin was one [[HoistByHisOwnPetard filled with designs meant for them]]) is less than impressed by their reasoning, laying on the sarcasm very thick about how their plan was supposed to work.
-->'''Alya:''' We just... we just wanted you to know what it felt like for Lila, being bullied by you all the time.\\
'''Marinette:''' Wow. ''[slow clapping]'' Wow. A-plus execution there, guys, congrats. I am a fully reformed person and I will never say another bad word against Madame Lila Agnes Rossi ever again. Wow. Who knew that in order to make a bad person good, all you have to do is try and make them feel like shit? Truly, you have unlocked the answer to life, death, and the universe. Please, tell me your secrets, oh great ones.
* ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'':
** In the episode "Rocks Fall, Everyone Duels", the Pharaoh is stumped as to why Dartz would want everyone in the entire world dead after Atlantis was destroyed and everyone was turned into monsters, since it doesn't make any sense to him. As the Pharaoh puts it, Dartz "lived in a nice place, some rocks fell from the sky, the place wasn't so nice anymore, so now [he's] using these rocks to kill everybody." It's lampshaded throughout the episode with various characters saying "well, that checks out" when some InsaneTrollLogic pops up. Kaiba subverts this, since he doesn't care about Dartz's explanation or the fate of the world at all; Kaiba [[SkewedPriorities just wants to play a card game]] because Dartz took over his company.
--->'''Yami:''' Remember in ''[[Film/AvengersInfinityWar Infinity War]]'', when you realize that maybe what Thanos was doing kind of made sense? Yeah, this is the exact opposite of that.
** Dartz's entire organization runs on this. Raphael's family drowned and he was stranded on an island for several years when their ship sank in a storm, and he was later saved by some fishermen; he just decided afterwards that HumansAreBastards. Alister lost his little brother in the war that destroyed his home country, which he decided to blame on the first person he saw (Gozaburo Kaiba, and [[SinsOfOurFathers by extension]] Seto) since he had no idea which country was attacking them. Valon actually gets commended by Joey for being the only member with anything resembling a coherent motive; he's a MisanthropeSupreme who "just fucking hates people."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* In ''Series/AgentsOfShield'' this, along with a dose of ButForMeItWasTuesday thrown in for good measure, is how Agent Coulson reacts to hearing Anton Ivanov's motive for doing everything the man's done, and that the only thing he cares about is stopping maniacs like Ivanov from destroying the world for their own petty and selfish little reasons.
--> All of these things you've done, all of the energy spent, the hatred. And you know what the funny thing about it is? I have no idea who the hell you are. I've been on hundreds of missions in my time. This one you're so upset about, I was sent to retrieve an object. If I'm being honest, I don't even remember what it was. As far as I'm concerned, you're just another RedShirt like so many others who tried unsuccessfully to stop me from saving the world. 'Cause that's what I do. So, cool origin story bro, but this means nothing to me.
* In ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', Malcolm Merlyn gets a double dose of this when he confronts his wife's murderer, first thinking that Brickwell killed her to get into a gang, only to find out that he used it for his initiation after the fact; Brickwell didn't intend to kill her, just rob her. When she fell to pieces begging for her life, he was so disgusted by her weakness that he shot her just for spite.
* Parodied in ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'': When someone steals Captain Holt's pie, he acts as if it's a serious crime, and is disgusted when he [[spoiler:finds the pie uneaten and thrown in the garbage]].
-->'''Holt:''' My pie. It [[spoiler:wasn't even eaten. Just thrown away like common street trash]].\\
'''Hitchcock:''' Makes me sick. You spend your life on the force, and it never gets easier.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Late in Season 5, this is Buffy's initial reaction to TheReveal that the extent of Glory's EvilPlan amounts to nothing more than just using Dawn/the Key to open a portal so she can return to her home dimension. However, she immediately learns that this will kill Dawn and the portal will cause ''all'' dimensions to bleed into each other and destroy the world, so it is still very dangerous, not to mention Glory is a sadistic former GodOfEvil trying to regain her lost power, so she needs to be stopped either way.
-->'''Buffy:''' That's it? ''That's'' Glory's master plan? To go ''home''?
** PlayedForLaughs, sort of, in "Earshot." The gang knows that ''someone'' is going to try and kill lots of people at school, and try to figure out who it could be and what their motives are. At first it seems to be Jonathan[[note]]who brought a gun to school [[InterruptedSuicide to kill himself]][[/note]], and Buffy manages to talk him down with a powerful speech that acknowledges how much pain he must be in to have been pushed so far. Then she finds out that the ''real'' would-be killer is [[BeneathSuspicion the school lunch lady]], who is apparently just crazy.
--->'''Lunch Lady:''' Vermin! You're all vermin. You come in here and you eat, and you eat. ''Filth!''\\
'''Buffy:''' ''[{{Beat}}]'' I don't see this being settled with logic.
* ''Series/CriminalMinds'': In "Hopeless", the team initially assume that the perpetrators of several brutal home invasions were a group of disenfranchised, unemployed individuals with nothing left to live for taking out their rage on society at large. Morgan is disgusted to find out that the killers were actually fairly comfortable blue-collar men with decent jobs who killed [[ForTheEvulz purely for the fun of it]]. This disgust is what likely fueled the team's decision to let the unsubs get killed via SuicideByCop.
* ''Series/CSIVerse'':
** ''Series/{{CSI}}'':
*** In one episode, while investigating one murder, Grissom finds signs that another one may have occurred. After finding the body of the hotel owner's wife in his water tank, the owner casually sighs.
---->'''Owner:''' She nagged me.\\
'''Grissom:''' ''[dumbfounded]'' She ''nagged'' you?
*** ArcVillain [[DeadlyDoctor "Dr. Jekyll"]], who goes on a rampage of [[TimeDelayedDeath Time-Delayed Deaths]] and MedicalHorror. His FreudianExcuse is being forced by his dad to work as a waiter and chef instead of allowing him to become a surgeon (and everybody who he had killed so far was a friend of the family that he had displaced his anger towards -- [[DirtyCoward man wasn't even brave enough to go for his father until months after he started his rampage]]). The only reason why the crime scene investigators don't act any more dumbfounded is because [[DramaBomb just one minute before]] him going into his MotiveRant he killed a cop [[HeroKiller and heavily wounded Nick]] [[KnightofCerebus with a shotgun]]. Langston buys time by telling "Jekyll" his own FreudianExcuse (a BloodKnight dad, the fear of this being [[VillainousLineage hereditary]]) and pointing out that, next to ''that'', "Jekyll's" [[DisproportionateRetribution is just obscenely disproportionate]].
** ''Series/CSIMiami'':
*** One case saw an entire family slaughtered except for the youngest daughter who had been hidden in the closet. It eventually comes out that the father is the killer. The reason why he went and ''killed his entire family with a shotgun''? He felt that family life had become too stressful. Horatio is less than impressed.
*** A rare defied example of this trope happens early on, when an ex-Marine ColdSniper goes on a murderous rampage. Cold, calculating, and with no other evidence of what apparently made him wake up one morning with a desire to kill people than whatever the man will decide to say at the end...:
--->'''Sniper:''' [[MotiveRant Don't you want to know why?]]\\
'''Caine:''' [[BoringInsult You're a killer. You enjoy death.]] [[ShutUpHannibal I hope you enjoy your own.]]
** ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' has Danny say "You killed a guy over a cockroach?" The guy actually did. A [[CoolPet jewel-encrusted Madagascar cockroach]] escaped from its owner in a restaurant and the chef, understandably, tried to kill it, at which point the busboy, a FriendToBugs, flipped out. The detective was dumbfounded that the killer wasn't even trying to reclaim or steal the jewels; he was just trying to save a bug.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E9TheEvilOfTheDaleks "The Evil of the Daleks"]]: Jamie is incredulous that Theodore Maxtible has collaborated with the Daleks and caused all this anguish just to learn how to turn metal into gold. The Doctor says that people have done worse for less.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E2TheEndOfTheWorld "The End of the World"]]: Lady Cassandra attempts to sabotage the planet Earth's "funeral party"... so she can manufacture a hostage situation with herself as one of the hostages and then sue for compensation. The Doctor is deeply unimpressed that, five billion years in the future, it still comes down to money.
** [[Recap/DoctorWho2007CSVoyageOfTheDamned "Voyage of the Damned"]]: The Doctor finds out that the only reason the villain is trying to crash the spaceship into Earth is to get back at the board that kicked him out of his own company. The Doctor calls him out on how pathetic he is.
--->'''The Doctor:''' So that's the plan? A ''retirement'' plan? Two thousand people on board this ship, six billion underneath us, all of them slaughtered, and why? Because Max Capricorn is a '''loser'''!
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E3Rosa "Rosa"]]: The discovery in the final act is that the VillainOfTheWeek is a time traveller out to MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight in the Civil Rights Movement by preventing Rosa Parks's famous bus protest. He's not doing it out of some grand scheme to conquer the world or anything similar; it's because he's just some random racist mass murderer from the 52nd century with a RestrainingBolt who got his hands on a time machine and didn't want black people to be equal to white people. This motive is enough for the person that heard his MotiveRant to look at him, utterly stupefied, for a couple of seconds. Then, they PayEvilUntoEvil by [[spoiler:shooting him with his own temporal transfer gun, sending him even further into the past and most likely to the dinosaur era, this time with no way back]].
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E10TheTimelessChildren "The Timeless Children"]]: Ashad the Lone Cyberman's grand plan is to upgrade the Cybermen completely into robots and wipe out all organic life. The GreaterScopeVillain dismisses the plan as lacking originality since robots are ''everywhere'', and proposes an alternative approach.
--->'''The Master:''' ''[deadpan]'' Oh, you mean robots. You'll be robots. ... Throw a stick in this universe, you'll hit a robot. I used to do that (for fun).
* ''Series/TheFlash2014'': Season 1 BigBad Eobard Thawne, a.k.a. the Reverse Flash, went through the trouble of going back in time so he could kill the Flash's mother and essentially ruin his entire life, all out of hatred toward him. In season 2, Barry, holding [[HaveWeMetYet a time-traveling version of Eobard]] captive, finally confronts him and asks why he hates him so much. Turns out Eobard is an AscendedFanboy GoneHorriblyWrong: he used [[IJustWantToBeYou to admire the Flash, to the point he found a way to replicate his powers so he could be him]]... only to find out through his ability to time travel that he was destined to be his worst enemy, and [[ThenLetMeBeEvil embrace it out of spite]]. Barry is understandably disgusted he caused so many people to die for such a petty reason. Thawne [[BerserkButton doesn't like Barry calling out how weak his reasoning is]]. [[spoiler:Then in Season 8, he reveals an even pettier reason. A specific event that made Thawne snap was when he was about to save a group of people and reveal himself to the world as a superhero, only for a time-traveling Barry to arrive and save the crowd that Thawne was going to save. In other words, the whole reason for making Barry's life hell is because Barry unknowingly outshone him and robbed him of fame. To say Barry isn't amused is an understatement, telling Thawne to his face that only TheSociopath would react with such rage to so small an incident.]]
* One episode of ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'' had Bayliss investigate the murder of a Buddhist monk who he deeply respected. He eventually discovers that the murderer was a homeless man [[EvilIsPetty who had killed the monk for offering him a spoon while feeding him at a soup kitchen because it made him feel disrespected.]] Bayliss is disgusted to learn this and calls him out for the petty motive; [[DisproportionateRetribution this drives the man to try to kill Bayliss]], who is forced to draw his gun and kill him in self-defense.
* ''Series/KamenRiderDrive'': In the final arc, the BigBad Professor Banno[=/=]Gold Drive reveals his ultimate plan is to convert all of humanity to data and rule over them as [[GodhoodSeeker a god]], with those who refuse to [[KneelBeforeZod bow to him]] being denied physical form. Banno's son Gou (Kamen Rider Mach) snarks that he expected "the great and mighty Tenjurou Banno" to have a more grandiose MadScientist-type ultimate plan and not just some generic TakeOverTheWorld garbage. This actually pisses Banno off so much that he declares he's going to [[OffingTheOffspring kill Gou]] first.
* In the final episode of ''Series/{{Monk}}'', Monk confronts his wife Trudy's killer at gunpoint, temporarily [[BatmanGrabsAGun overcoming his fear of germs to do it]]. Once Monk finally learns who killed his wife and why, he's equal parts dumbfounded and furious. [[spoiler:Trudy's killer didn't really have a grand scheme or a massive criminal plot; he just wanted to cover up an affair he had with her, and killed Trudy to cover it up.]]
* ''Series/{{Motive}}'': In "The Dead Hand", Angie is rather underwhelmed to learn that what set off a series of DisasterDominoes resulting in a double homicide, a MiscarriageOfJustice and a hostage situation (where she was the hostage) was [[spoiler:a guy wanting to be with his new girlfriend without the hassle of a divorce.]]
* In the ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' episode "Detour", Ducky and Jimmy are abducted by people seeking something from the murder victim (he was a spy providing them with information). When the team finds the killer, Gibbs chews him out, threatening to have him in thrown in jail for murder and treason, until the thoroughly confused man insists that he's knows nothing about the victim's espionage and that he killed him in self-defense after finding out that the guy was sleeping with his wife. Gibbs' utterly annoyed "Geez" sums it up.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In the episode "Starship Mine", Picard battles a group of terrorists on the ''Enterprise'' after he's stranded on there when the ship is going through the middle of a decontamination sweep. When their leader Kelsey captures him near the end, he reveals his identity and offers himself as a hostage if she'll forget about the weapons-grade material she took. She admits that she doesn't have a political agenda, [[OnlyInItForTheMoney she's just a thief]]. This disgusts Picard even more.
-->'''Picard:''' Profit. This is all about profit.\\
'''Kelsey:''' I prefer to think of it as commerce.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/Castlevania64'' and [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaLegacyOfDarkness its Legacy of Darkness remaster]], Actrise tells [[KidHero Carrie Fernandez]], right before their fight, about the [[OffingTheOffspring time she slew her own child in attempt to gain immortality]], Carrie quickly responds by calling it pathetic in contrast to her (Carrie's) stepmother making a sacrifice to save her stepchild's life.
* In ''VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness'', the party is disappointed to learn that the reason Vulcanus tried to start a war between Celestia and the Netherworld was so that [[AGodAmI he could become God]]... [[StepThreeProfit somehow]]. Etna, GenreSavvy as ever, called this out much earlier.
-->'''Etna:''' See? I told you it would be something selfish and stupid.
** In ''VideoGame/Disgaea3AbsenceOfJustice'', Almaz is incredulous that Mao's motive for trying to defeat and usurp is father is to get back at his Dad for stepping on his PS Vita that he left sitting on the floor. Over the course of the story we learn that there's quite a bit more to the story than that.
* Cole's reaction to Bertrand's motives for attempting to start a Conduit arms race in ''VideoGame/{{inFAMOUS 2}}'' falls into this category. Though he doesn't explicitly state his disappointment, his tone of voice does it for him.
-->'''Cole:''' I finally get it. You thought the Ray Sphere was gonna turn you into some shiny superhuman, but instead it turned you into a [[Attackofthe50FootWhatever fifty-foot maggot]].
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV''
** In the main story quest of the base game, Thancred and the [[PlayerCharacter Warrior of Light]] manage to catch Ungust trying to rob them when they were dressed like beggars. Thancred demands to know why Ungust is selling out people to the Amal'jaa, who are using the people Ungust drags away as offerings to Ifrit, the flame primal. Ungust responds that it was because "the coin was good" and he was making more money from selling people off to be sacrifices to Ifrit than he was at farming. Thancred is thoroughly unimpressed, calling Ungust pathetic for leaving people to die because he wanted money.
--->'''Thancred:''' You sacrificed innocents so that you could line your own pockets? Words fail to express the contempt I feel for you.
** [[TheEmperor Emperor Varis]] is attacked and mortally wounded by his son [[TheEvilPrince Zenos]] at the end of the ''Shadowbringers'' expansion. Varis assumes that Zenos is [[KlingonPromotion assassinating him in a bid for the throne]] and scornfully tells Zenos that he is unfit to rule the empire. Zenos retorts that he doesn't give a damn about the empire, and reveals his motive: his father's plan to unleash a DeadlyGas against the Eorzean Alliance would [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou rob Zenos of his planned rematch with the]] [[PlayerCharacter Warrior of Light]]. Zenos has become so obsessed with beating the Warrior of Light that Varis has to die all to make absolutely sure that this rematch can still happen. Varis is left utterly dumbfounded in his final moments that Zenos would kill him for that.
** In ''Endwalker'', the actions of Zenos have effectively destroyed the Garlean empire, its capital left in ruin, and its citizens dead, tempered, or freezing in the harsh climate. When his motive is brought up to Jullus, he's livid that Zenos ruined the lives of millions of people just to goad one person into a fight. Zenos responds by asking Jullus if he'd be happy with the outcome if he had a "better" motive.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2'', Luso's appalled to hear that the Lang brothers' crimes were the result of a [[DisproportionateRetribution vicious spiral of vengeance... as the result of someone spilling a drink on one of them]].
-->'''Luso:''' You knifed nearly thirty guys over a spilled drink?! You're a threat to society!
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'', Master Eraqus is upset that Master Xehanort is trying to cause a massive imbalance in light and darkness, obtain the X-Blade, and corrupt Kingdom Hearts, which is the heart of all worlds. Any one of those three things happening would be catastrophically bad, but all three at once could potentially [[ApocalypseHow jeopardize the existence of every world across]] TheMultiverse, and kill who-knows how many people in the process. However, Eraqus is even more upset when he finds out that Xehanort is planning to do all of this because [[ForScience he just wants to know what would happen]]. Eraqus sums up his disappointment by saying "[[YouFool You fool!]] You would risk an apocalypse out of sheer curiosity?!"
* In ''VideoGame/LaytonsMysteryJourneyKatrielleAndTheMillionairesConspiracy'', Katrielle gives this to the BigBad, Lord Adamas [[spoiler:or actually her assistant, Ernest Greeves]], when she realizes that Adamas was plotting to financially ruin the Seven Dragons in {{revenge}} for them supposedly doing the same thing to his grandfather. She's saddened that he would put all his talents toward a goal like that, [[spoiler:especially since he'd helped her all game]]. There's a bit more to the story than that, but by the end of the night, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone Adamas agrees with Katrielle]].
* By the end of ''VideoGame/{{Lunarosse}}'', [[spoiler:Naamari's reason for throwing the story of Corlia's world into chaos wasn't a more understandable goal like getting home, but because he thought her story sucked and he didn't like the role he was assigned. Channing gives him a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech over how lame it was.]]
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
** ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'':
*** In Jack's loyalty mission, they find out that someone is trying to rebuild the experiment that tortured and exploited Jack and other kids like her. At the end, she discovers that the person doing it is another victim like she was, who is trying to make sense of it and justify what happened to them by saying it must have had a purpose. His plan is to restart the whole thing with other children until he finds what the original scientists were after. Jack is ''extremely'' pissed when she hears this, and the PlayerCharacter, Commander Shepard, is likewise angry that he'd let other kids go through that kind of nightmarish hell for such a ridiculous reason.
*** In Jacob's loyalty mission, it's discovered that Jacob's father, Ronald Taylor, had spent the past ten years marooned on a planet where the edible plant life degenerates intelligence. At first, the plan was to ration out safe food to the essential staff that could fix the rescue beacon while the non-essentials survived on the toxic stuff until help arrived. However, Taylor and several of the other officers started to enjoy the position of power this put them in -- ruling over what amounted to a rape camp of docile, mentally-inhibited women -- and as unrest among the crew increased, Taylor kept order by withholding food until his enemies went dumb, and rewarding those loyal to him by "giving away" women to them. In the end, Taylor -- by this point the only "smart" one left -- only activates the (long since fixed) rescue beacon because his reserves of safe food are about to run out, and the male crew members have grown violent and threaten to overrun his camp. Jacob flat-out calls it a "juvenile fantasy" when he finds out.
** ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'': During the mission to stop the hanar diplomat from betraying his entire planet to [[EldritchAbomination the Reapers]], the diplomat goes on a MotiveRant. His race has always worshiped [[{{Precursors}} the Protheans]] as gods, but the BrokenMasquerade has revealed that most accomplishments credited to the Protheans were actually accomplished by the Reapers, and that the surviving Protheans are now a SlaveRace brainwashed to serve them. Thus, as worshipers of the Protheans, the hanar must also serve whom the Protheans serve. It's also revealed that the diplomat is BrainwashedAndCrazy, but that doesn't stop Shepard from having an epic reaction.
--->'''Shepard:''' You big, stupid jellyfish!
* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'', Venom Snake and his buddies find out that Huey Emmerich murdered Dr. Strangelove. The reason: she was against their son, Hal, being a test subject in his mad experiments. Needless to say, many people who knew what Huey has done were outraged.
* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'': Most of the assassins have something behind them, some reason for what they do or at least some sort of emotional core. Bad Girl just kills people because she ''wants'' to. Travis is ''not'' prepared for this, and his reaction is stripped of all his usual snark.
* ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'':
** At the end of Olberic's storyline, he confronts the man responsible for the fall of his homeland Hornburg [[spoiler:whom Erhardt was working for as TheMole]], who orchestrated the death of Olberic's king, and who has caused countless amounts of misery throughout the various towns that Olberic has visited. The villain reveals his motivation for it all was because Hornburg was home to the Gate of Finis, and he wanted to open it to see what was behind it. Olberic is incredulous that his life was ruined, his king was murdered, and his kingdom was destroyed all because of Werner's curiosity. [[spoiler:Especially once a player goes behind the Gate of Finis to face the TrueFinalBoss, and sees for themselves that it houses the EldritchAbomination of a dark god known as Galdera. Essentially, opening the gate would have caused TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt had Werner gotten what he wanted.]]
--->'''Olberic:''' You destroyed a proud and prosperous realm... Led countless multitudes to their deaths... All for some... some ''gate!?'' You thought that a price worth paying!?
** In Primrose's third chapter, she infiltrates the hideout of the Right Hand of the Crow in Noblecourt, accompanied by her father's friend Forsythe. There, they find out that the Right-hand Man is Albus, the former captain of the city watch, [[FakingTheDead believed to be a honorable man who died resisting her father's murderers]]. Forsythe is horrified when Albus gives a MotiveRant that reveals he joined a criminal organization for the sake of more money and power; the horrors inflicted on Primrose and her family never really entered into his mind. To say that Primrose and Forsythe aren't impressed with this would be a major understatement.
--->'''Forsythe:''' You traitorous bastard! Lord Geoffrey was a thousand times the man you are! You'll sully his name no longer!\\
'''Primrose:''' [[TranquilFury The time for talk has ended.]] [[PrepareToDie This man — if one can even call him a man — should not live a moment longer.]]
* Clank spends most of the first ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClank2002 Ratchet & Clank]]'' believing [[BigBad Chairman Drek]] is the WellIntentionedExtremist-type, out to create a new homeworld for the Blarg from the pieces of other planets after their old homeworld became too polluted for them. When he learns that Drek is actually a CorruptCorporateExecutive who deliberately polluted the Blarg homeworld in order to force the Blarg to pay him a fortune for the new one and is planning to do the same thing all over again to make even ''more'' money, he reacts with dumb-founded disgust.
* Mario and his allies in ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' are less than impressed when they learn that Doppliss turned the villagers in Twilight Town into pigs because he thought they were boring.
* ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'':
** ''VideoGame/Persona4'':
*** Towards the end of the game, the culprit behind the murders and attempted murders in Inaba is revealed as [[spoiler:Adachi, the detective on the police force who was [[SmallTownBoredom bored with the small town life]] and was ObfuscatingStupidity while he was on the force]]. The killer tells the Investigation Team that the reason he committed the first murder was because he found out a celebrity he was crushing on had a sexual affair with a married man, and he threw a temper tantrum that she was "spoiled". And the second murder had a similar reason: when the killer spotted a high school girl talking to an older man, he accused her of being unchaste and murdered her for being "a whore". From then on, he fell headfirst into [[Film/TheDarkKnight "some men just want to watch the world burn"]] territory, and committed the rest of the attempted murders strictly [[ForTheEvulz because he could]]. The Investigation Team is aghast that their entire adventure started because of one man's childish, perverted insecurities. The killer hints that there might be more to it than that and this was just the final straw, but by this point, the heroes are just sick of hearing him whine. During the boss battle that follows, the Investigation Team even gives the killer a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech about how [[InsaneTrollLogic his logic is completely insane]].
*** Earlier on, someone else claims to be the culprit. However, it soon comes out that this suspect is not the serial killer; they're an AttentionWhore who claimed to be the killer because it would make people pay attention to them after they felt neglected. The rest of the Investigation Team, particularly Chie and Yosuke, are fairly disgusted and a bit depressed to hear that their suspect only did it to get attention. [[spoiler:Mitsuo is an {{otaku}}, but is a DeconstructedCharacterArchetype of one, showing how his indulgences make him an IneffectualLoner with a LackOfEmpathy. Mitsuo's otaku behavior and lack of any real friends led to him slowly losing his mind. This eventually morphs into Mitsuo becoming so desperate for attention that he'd commit murder just to have people notice him. He may not have killed the first two victims or kidnapped the others, but he did [[JackTheRipoff commit a copycat crime]] by killing the teacher at the party's high school. He also rejects his Shadow, thus giving into the darker part of himself that wants to be focused on. In fact, Mitsuo's claims of being the killer only causes the real killer to attempt to murder Mitsuo, and once it's clear that he's not the killer, people go right back to ignoring him. [[VillainousBreakdown Mitsuo does not take this well]].]]
** ''VideoGame/Persona5'':
*** Once Black Mask reveals their identity to the Phantom Thieves, Black Mask's MotiveRant consists of telling the Thieves that all of the mental shutdowns across Tokyo were because [[spoiler:Goro Akechi has big-time BastardAngst. Akechi intended to get the attention of his father, Masayoshi Shido, just so that Akechi could reveal himself as Shido's bastard son after Shido was elected Prime Minister of Japan, thus destroying Shido's political career]]. The Phantom Thieves point out that [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot all of this could have been avoided]] by stealing the Treasure of Black Mask's target, and that Black Mask is just throwing a temper tantrum because [[IJustWantToBeSpecial they feel less special than the rest of the Thieves]], especially PlayerCharacter Joker. As Black Mask starts having a VillainousBreakdown, they cop to being jealous, but also [[IveComeTooFar refuse to join the rest of the Thieves]]. Black Mask even says that "all I care about now is killing you... to prove I'm better than you!" right before the ClimaxBoss battle starts.
*** Akechi does this with the boss of the Casino Palace after the latter says they hate criminals with a passion due to anger over [[spoiler:the death of Sae's father in the line of duty as a police officer. This contrasts with Sae's younger sister Makoto, who is not only one of the Phantom Thieves, but handling their father's death better without giving into cynicism about the nature of justice]]. Akechi is disappointed, remarking that he'd hoped that the Palace Ruler had a better motive for trying to pervert justice than that.
*** In Makoto's Confidant route, Makoto tries repeatedly to get it into her ChildhoodFriend Eiko's head that her boyfriend Tsukasa is a scammer who ropes in girls to sell their bodies to pay nonexistent debts. [[EvenEvilHasStandards Even other hosts in the Red Light District hate Tsukasa's guts for giving them a bad name]]. Eiko adamantly refuses to believe Makoto; even after learning that Tsukasa has been texting multiple other girls behind her back, Eiko jumps to the conclusion that Makoto is a "bitch" who's trying to steal her boyfriend away. After Makoto catches Tsukasa in a lie, Eiko admits she knew it was all an act but she went along with it because Tsukasa was the only person who paid attention to her. Makoto is so disgusted with Eiko's explanation that she [[ArmorPiercingSlap slaps Eiko in the face]], one of the few times that the submissive StudentCouncilPresident is physical with anybody. At Rank 10 of her Confidant, Makoto says that while she felt like she went too far with the slap, Eiko needed a reality check.
* In both ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'' and [[VideoGameRemake the 2002 remake]], Chris and Jill are ''not'' impressed by Wesker's motive for betraying STARS. Depending on the character and the version, their reactions range from a [[TranquilFury cold dismissal]] to [[OminousAdversarialAmusement laughing in his face at how pathetic he is]].
* ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxTheDevilsPlayhouse'' has shades of this in the final episode "The City That Dares Not Sleep", when Sam learns that [[spoiler:the Narrator (aka Max's Super-Ego) plans to use his powers to destroy the city and half the US, just because he's "upset Max isn't more highbrow".]]
* ''VideoGame/SlyCooper'':
** In ''VideoGame/Sly2BandOfThieves'', Sly initially thinks that Arpeggio reassembled Clockwerk's body simply because he can't fly, outright calling him pathetic. [[SubvertedTrope As it turns out]], Arpeggio [[ImmortalitySeeker actually did so because he seeks Clockwerk's immortality]].
** ''VideoGame/SlyCooperThievesInTime'': How Sly views [[BigBad Le Paradox]]'s motive for traveling back in time and stealing the Cooper Clan's canes during the final showdown. He would have at least accepted Le Paradox [[AvengingTheVillain doing it for revenge, since his father was left holding the bag for a crime Sly's father committed]], but when he found out that the real reason was [[spoiler: just so [[EvilIsPetty he could prove he was a better thief than the Coopers]]]], Sly calls him an idiot and gives him a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, pointing out [[spoiler: that he already had an expansive power base and was a VillainWithGoodPublicity, and blew his own cover to both Sly and Interpol just to satisfy his own ego]].
* ''VideoGame/SwordOfPaladin'': The one behind the Arc Guard coup, [[spoiler:Kingsguard Commander [[KnightTemplar Lancelot]], reveals that he failed to protect Asgard from Berienstahl and failed the Paladin trials, resulting in him losing his confidence. Now he believes that obtaining the insanity-inducing Extra Gems and Royal Gems, tricking people into deadly test runs of these gems, and taking over the world are all necessary actions for him to become a true hero. After hearing Lancelot's self-justification, Nade loses his respect for his former superior and accuses him of being weak-hearted for resorting to such villainous means to compensate for his wounded ego.]]
* ''VideoGame/TokyoMirageSessionsFE'' has the party less than impressed when they learn [[BigBad Gharnef's]] motives for causing everyone so much trouble, boils down to bitterness and jealousy at being passed-over for someone else, comparing it to the motives of a villain in a B-movie.
* In the After-Story of ''VideoGame/TokyoXanadu'', the X.R.C. fights against [[spoiler: the strongest Greed and the cause of the Tokyo Twilight Disaster, the Twilight Apostle. Even though it's able to speak to the party and talk about its plans for destroying all existence, Kou just laughs in its face that for all of its power, it's just another basic Greed and that they'll destroy it the same as those they've fought throughout the game.]]
* In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel Trails of Cold Steel 2]]'', everyone in the party is disappointed when [[BigBadWannabe Duke Cayenne]] reveals his real motives. [[spoiler: His ancestor was the "False Emperor" dethroned by Dreichels in the War of the Lions, whose family now rules. Cayenne started a civil war just to settle a petty family feud that no-one but him cares about anymore.]]
* In the ''VideoGame/WeHappyFew'' Lightbearer DLC, it's eventually revealed that the entire reason [[spoiler: [[BigBad Foggy]] [[SerialKiller Jack]]]] dragged Nick into his killing spree and nearly convinced him the murders were his fault...was so he could get a song written about him. Nick, understandably, is absolutely ''livid'' to find out he's been put through the ringer all for "some [[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] notoriety".
* In ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'', one of the antagonists explains why he did all he's done throughout the game thus far: [[spoiler:Mumhkar had been going on a bloody purge throughout the world]] because he wanted the Monado so he could be a hero. Dunban is less than impressed.
-->'''Dunban:''' Is that it!? ''That's'' the puerile reason you've killed all those innocent people? Ravaged our home?!
[[/folder]]

* ''WebVideo/SwordArtOnlineAbridged''

* In Machinima/HeavyIsDead, when Engineer is ''finally'' outed as the perpetrator (by accident), he confesses that his entire motive for killing Heavy is because he thinks he's fat and ugly. [[ItMakesAsMuchSenseInContext Heavy is not happy about this reveal and shortly after gets revenge by killing Engineer]].

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'': In "[[Recap/TheBatmanS1E8QAndA Q and A]]", Arthur Brown reveals that he had kidnapped and held for hostage several people because they had beaten him in a trivia game show thirty years ago, when they were children. Batman doesn't hide how utterly weak he finds Arthur's descent to villainy was, wasting a potentially good future for a game he refused to believe he lost fairly.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': In "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE35NightOfTheNinja Night of the Ninja]]", reporter Summer Gleason, not believing someone can be as honest as Bruce Wayne presents himself as, expects the episode's villain to be someone hurt by Bruce's businesses. She's upset Kyodai Ken turns out to be "just a thief" whose past disgrace at Bruce's hands was ''his'' fault instead of Bruce's. It's notable that Kyodai doesn't really protest being called a common thief, he just takes offense since he considers himself the ''best'' thief.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', Professor Farnsworth reveals the reason he had campaigned against {{robosexual}} marriage is because [[spoiler:his girlfriend left him for a robot]]. When Amy gets angry over such petty reasoning, he attempts to counter by pointing out [[spoiler:his girlfriend was a robot herself]], only to have a HeelRealization that [[NotHelpingYourCase this makes him look even worse]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'': In "The Crass Unicorn", the gang meets a {{Jerkass}} unicorn named Mary Frances who didn't join the rest of her kind when they migrated to the sea. When she says that the only reason she stayed behind was that she doesn't know how to swim, Billy complains that he wanted a story involving ninjas.
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': Gorilla Grodd spends the final season being very secretive about his EvilPlan, which is later revealed to be [[spoiler:transforming all people in the world into gorillas.]] ComicBook/LexLuthor is quick to point out the ridiculousness of such a plan, and no one in the Secret Society bats an eyelash when Lex shoots Grodd and usurps his leadership. While Lex does say that he was ''always'' planning on pulling TheStarscream on Grodd, he nonetheless can barely contain his laughter at the bizarreness of the plot and it's this that prompts him to do so immediately.
* In ''WesternAnimation/MastersOfTheUniverseRevelation'', Evil-Lyn becomes ''enraged'' with Skeletor because, even with the power of a god, even with the power to reshape reality, in the end all he wants to do with it is ''kill He-Man''. [[EvilIsPetty He's not even bothered to think beyond that]] and outright lacks the creativity to do anything with all that power beyond swinging it around like a club to kill his ArchEnemy.
* Played with by ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug''. Most [[MonsterOfTheWeek Akumatized villains]] are angry about extraordinarily petty things, but they're not doing it of their own free will; the main villain Hawk Moth simply has the power to send out entities known as "Akuma" that are attracted to negative emotions. Once an Akuma attaches to a person, it enhances and enforces these negative feelings, along with making said person a [[PersonOfMassDestruction walking WMD]]. Upset at a parking ticket, pissed you lost a competition, or someone was just a jerk to you and now you're mad? Congrats, you're possessed by a magic butterfly and that minor problem is now your ''only'' concern in life, and [[PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery you're willing to make all of Paris burn]] [[DisproportionateRetribution if that's what it takes to get payback]]. As a result, some people (like Miss Bustier) try to avoid ''any'' level of conflict knowing that anyone they upset is potential prey, while others (namely Chloe) become one-person villain factories due to constantly angering those around them.
* In ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb,'' [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Doofenshmirtz]] often has a FreudianExcuse from his HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood to explain his latest ridiculous plan. In ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerbTheMovieAcrossThe2ndDimension'' he meets Doof-2, his eviler and more competent counterpart from another dimension, whose only tragic backstory is...he once had a toy train and then lost it.
-->'''Dr. Doofenshmirtz:''' What, that's it? That-that's your emotionally scarring backstory? Dude, I was [[RaisedByWolves raised by ocelots]]! I mean, literally, [[IHaveNoSon disowned by my parents]] and raised by Central American wild cats, and you're telling me that you've lost a toy train? I had to work as a lawn gnome, I was forced to wear hand-me-up [[DraggedIntoDrag dresses]]! [[DaddyDidntShow Neither of my parents showed up]] [[BeyondTheImpossible for my birth]]!
* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'', the Smith family provides this in both of their appearances.
** The first episode with the Smiths, "Supper Villain", has Harold Smith reveal to his family and the Powerpuff Girls that the reason he kidnapped Professor Utonium was boredom. Harold was tired of his mundane blue-collar life and wanted something to break out of it, so he turned to super-villainy. The girls are incredulous that Harold would go that far for such a petty reason, but between Harold's wife Marianne trying to salvage the dinner party and having to make sure of the Professor's safety, the girls don't have time to give him the tongue-lashing that they want to. Eventually, once the Professor's safety is assured, he and the girls promptly have Harold sent to jail.
** During the second Smith family episode, "Just Desserts", Marianne and her children join Harold in helping him eliminate the Powerpuff Girls following his release from prison. After backing the girls and Utonium to a corner, she explains that her motive for wanting to destroy them was not really because they drove her husband insane or sent him to prison, but [[DisproportionateRetribution because they ruined her dinner party]]. The girls remark that it isn't a good reason at all for trying to kill them, and Marianne's bluster instantly deflates. It doesn't stop the girls from [[CurbStompBattle beating up the Smiths]] and sending them all to jail, though.
* In ''WesternAnimation/SpaceGhostCoastToCoast'', Space Ghost reacts this way when his former mentor, Warren, reveals that he cloned Space Ghost and tried to take over the show because "I just felt like it."
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Stripperella}}'' the bad guy creates a working papier-mâché volcano he plans to use to destroy the town because it's something he's "just always wanted to do." When she tries to see if he has a FreudianExcuse, he again admits he's only doing it because he felt like it.
* A peculiar RunningGag on ''WesternAnimation/TotallySpies'' is the VillainOfTheWeek using DisproportionateRetribution for some absurdly simple [[EvilIsPetty and petty]] reasons (like one of them trying to destroy all of Beverly Hills with a FreezeRay because people don't buy his ice cream, for example). Understandably, our heroines' reactions to the villain's MotiveRant is usually "...'''that's''' why you're doing this?!" They tend to be particularly harsh on villains who use technology that could [[CuttingTheKnot directly solve their issue]] or outright [[CutLexLuthorACheck be far more lucrative]] but instead choose to go on an absurd vengeance scheme instead.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersCyberverse'', Hot Rod expresses disappointment when he learns that the primary reason the Quintessons wipe out universes is that they think the multiverse has too many different universes.
** Autobots and Decepticons alike express annoyance when they learn that Starscream's reason for allying with Quintessons to wipe out their universe is to get back at them for being mean to him.
[[/folder]]

** In the main story quest of the base game, Thancred and the [[PlayerCharacter Warrior of Light]] manage to catch Ungust trying to rob them when they were dressed like beggars. Thancred demands to know why Ungust is selling out people to the Amal'jaa. Ungust responds that it was because "the coin was good" and he was making more money from selling people off to be sacrifices to Ifrit than he was at farming. Thancred is thoroughly unimpressed, calling Ungust pathetic and selfish for leaving people to die because he wanted money.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', [[TheEmperor Emperor Varis]] is attacked and mortally wounded by his son [[TheEvilPrince Zenos]] at the end of the ''Shadowbringers'' expansion. Varis assumes that Zenos is [[KlingonPromotion assassinating him in a bid for the throne]] and scornfully tells Zenos that he is unfit to rule the empire. Zenos retorts that he doesn't give a damn about the empire, and reveals his motive: his father's plan to unleash a DeadlyGas against the Eorzean Alliance would [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou rob Zenos of his planned rematch with the]] [[PlayerCharacter Warrior of Light]]. Zenos has become so obsessed with beating the Warrior of Light that Varis has to die all to make absolutely sure that this rematch can still happen. Varis is left utterly dumbfounded in his final moments that Zenos would kill him for that.
** In ''Endwalker'', his actions have effectively destroyed the Garlean empire, its capital left in ruin, and its citizens dead, tempered, or freezing in the harsh climate. When his motive is brought up to Jullus, he's livid that Zenos ruined the lives of millions of people just to goad one person into a fight. Zenos responds by asking Jullus if he'd be happy with the outcome if he had a "better" motive.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E2TheEndOfTheWorld "The End of the World"]]: Lady Cassandra attempts to sabotage the planet Earth's "funeral party"... so she can manufacture a hostage situation and then sue for compensation. The Doctor is deeply unimpressed that, five billion years in the future, it still comes down to money.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E3Rosa "Rosa"]]: The discovery in the final act is that the VillainOfTheWeek is a time traveller out to MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight in the Civil Rights Movement by preventing Rosa Parks's famous bus protest. He's not doing it out of some grand scheme to conquer the world or anything similar; it's because he's just some random racist mass murderer with a RestrainingBolt that got his hands on a time machine and didn't want black people to be equal to white people. This motive is enough for the person that heard his MotiveRant to look at him, utterly stupefied, for a couple of seconds. Then, they PayEvilUntoEvil by [[spoiler:shooting him with his own temporal transfer gun, sending him even further into the past and most likely to the dinosaur era, this time with no way back]].

* ''Series/TheFlash2014'': Season 1 BigBad Eobard Thawne, a.k.a. the Reverse Flash, went through the trouble of going back in time so he could kill the Flash's mother and essentially ruin his entire life, all out of hatred toward him. In season 2, Barry, holding [[HaveWeMetYet a time-traveling version of Eobard]] captive, finally confronts him and asks why he hates him so much. Turns out Eobard is an AscendedFanboy GoneHorriblyWrong: he used [[IJustWantToBeYou to admire the Flash, to the point he found a way to replicate his powers so he could be him]]... only to find out through his ability to time travel that he was destined to be his worst enemy, and [[ThenLetMeBeEvil embrace it out of spite]]. Barry is understandably disgusted he caused so many people to die for such a petty reason. Thawne [[BerserkButton doesn't like Barry calling out how weak his reasoning is]]. [[spoiler:Then in Season 8, he reveals an even pettier reason. A specific event that made Thawne snap was when he was about to save a group of people and reveal himself to the world as a superhero, only for a time-traveling Barry to arrive and save the crowd that Thawne was going to save. In other words, the whole reason for making Barry's life hell is because Barry unknowingly outshone him and robbed him of fame. To say Barry wasn't amused is an understatement, telling Thawne to his face that only TheSociopath would react with such rage to so small an incident.]]

* ''Series/TheFlash2014'': Season 1 BigBad Eobard Thawne, a.k.a. the Reverse Flash, went through the trouble of going back in time so he could kill the Flash's mother and essentially ruin his entire life, all out of hatred toward him. In season 2, Barry, holding [[HaveWeMetYet a time-traveling version of Eobard]] captive, finally confronts him and asks why he hates him so much. Turns out Eobard is an AscendedFanboy GoneHorriblyWrong: he used [[IJustWantToBeYou to admire the Flash, to the point he found a way to replicate his powers so he could be him]]... only to find out through his ability to time travel that he was destined to be his worst enemy, and [[ThenLetMeBeEvil embrace it out of spite]]. Barry is understandably disgusted he caused so many people to die for such a petty reason. Thawne [[BerserkButton doesn't like Barry calling out how weak his reasoning is]]. [[spoiler:Then in Season 8, he reveals an even pettier reason. A specific event that made Thawne snap was when he was about to save a group of people and reveal himself to the world as a superhero, only for a time-traveling Barry to arrive and save the crowd that Thawne was going to save. In other words, the whole reason for making Barry's life hell is because Barry unknowingly outshone him and robbed him of fame. To say Barry wasn't amused is an understatement.]]

* ''Series/TheFlash2014'': Season 1 BigBad Eobard Thawne, a.k.a. the Reverse Flash, went through the trouble of going back in time so he could kill the Flash's mother and essentially ruin his entire life, all out of hatred toward him. In season 2, Barry, holding [[HaveWeMetYet a time-traveling version of Eobard]] captive, finally confronts him and asks why he hates him so much. Turns out Eobard is an AscendedFanboy GoneHorriblyWrong: he used [[IJustWantToBeYou to admire the Flash, to the point he found a way to replicate his powers so he could be him]]... only to find out through his ability to time travel that he was destined to be his worst enemy, and [[ThenLetMeBeEvil embrace it out of spite]]. Barry is understandably disgusted he caused so many people to die for such a petty reason. Thawne [[BerserkButton doesn't like Barry calling out how weak his reasoning is]]. [[spoiler:Then in Season 8, he reveals an even pettier reason. A specific event that made Thawne snap was when he was about to save a group of people and reveal himself to the world, only for a time-traveling Barry to arrive and save the crowd that Thawne wanted to save. In other words, the whole reason for making Barry's life hell is because Barry unknowingly outshone him and robbed him of fame. To say Barry wasn't amused is an understatement.]]

* ''Series/TheFlash2014'': Season 1 BigBad Eobard Thawne, a.k.a. the Reverse Flash, went through the trouble of going back in time so he could kill the Flash's mother and essentially ruin his entire life, all out of hatred toward him. In season 2, Barry, holding [[HaveWeMetYet a time-traveling version of Eobard]] captive, finally confronts him and asks why he hates him so much. Turns out Eobard is an AscendedFanboy GoneHorriblyWrong: he used [[IJustWantToBeYou to admire the Flash, to the point he found a way to replicate his powers so he could be him]]... only to find out through his ability to time travel that he was destined to be his worst enemy, and [[ThenLetMeBeEvil embrace it out of spite]]. Barry is understandably disgusted he caused so many people to die for such a petty reason. Thawne [[BerserkButton doesn't like Barry calling out how weak his reasoning is]]. [[spoiler:Then in Season 8, he reveals an even pettier reason. A specific event that made Thawne snap was when he was about to save a group of people and reveal himself to the world, only for a time traveling Barry to arrive and save the crowd that Thawne wanted to save. In other words, the whole reason for making Barry's life hell is because Barry unknowingly outshined him and robbed him of fame. To say Barry wasn't amused is an understatement.]]

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Late in Season 5, this is Buffy's initial reaction to TheReveal that the extent of Glory's EvilPlan amounts to nothing more than just using Dawn/the Key to open a portal so she can return to her home dimension. However, she immediately learns that this could kill Dawn and the portal will cause ''all'' dimensions to bleed into each other and potentially destroy the world, so it is still very dangerous, not to mention Glory is a sadistic former GodOfEvil trying to regain her lost power, so she needs to be stopped either way.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Late in Season 5, this is Buffy's reaction to TheReveal that the extent of Glory's EvilPlan amounts to nothing more than just using Dawn/the Key to open a portal return to her home dimension. Mind, this could kill Dawn and the portal could destroy the world, so it is still very dangerous, not to mention Glory is a sadistic former GodOfEvil trying to regain her lost power, so she needs to be stopped either way.

* Played with by ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug''. Most [[MonsterOfTheWeek Akumatized villains]] are angry about extraordinarily petty things, but they're not doing it of their own free will; the main villain Hawk Moth simply has the power to send out entities known as "Akuma" that are attracted to negative emotions, and, once it attaches to a person, enhances and enforces them along with making said person a [[PersonOfMassDestruction walking WMD]]. Upset at a parking ticket, pissed you lost a competition, or someone was just a jerk to you and now you're mad? Congrats, you're possessed by a magic butterfly and that minor problem is now your ''only'' concern in life, and [[PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery you're willing to make all of Paris burn]] [[DisproportionateRetribution if that's what it takes to get payback]]! As a result, some people (like Miss Bustier) try to avoid ''any'' level of conflict knowing that anyone they upset is potential prey, while others (namely Chloe) become one-person villain factories due to constantly angering those around them.

* Played straight in ''Film/GoldenEye''. Bond mocks Trevelyan over the fact his plan to electronically rob the Bank of England and then detonate a [[KillSat Golden Eye satellite]] above London to erase the electronic records boil s down to just petty theft. When Trevelyan retorts that his plan is less about the money and more about getting revenge on the British Government for sending his Lienz Cossack parents to their deaths following World War 2, Bond is even less impressed that Trevelyan is prepared to create a global financial meltdown and potentially kill millions for the sake of an old grudge.
-->'''Bond''': Interesting setup, Alec. You break into the Bank of England via computer and then transfer the money electronically just seconds before you set off the GoldenEye, which erases any record of the transactions. Ingenious.
-->'''Trevelyan''': [[SarcasmMode Thank you, James]].
-->'''Bond''': But it still boils down to petty theft. In the end, you're just a bank robber. Nothing more than a common thief. ''(Trevelyan [[DeathGlare scowls]] at him)''

** The first episode with the Smiths, "Supper Villain", has Harold Smith reveal to his family and the Powerpuff Girls that the reason he kidnapped Professor Utonium was boredom. Harold was tired of his mundane blue-collar life and wanted something to break out of it, so he turned to super-villainy. The girls are incredulous that Harold would go that far for such a petty reason, but between Harold's wife Marianne trying to salvage the dinner party and having to make sure of the Professor's safety, the girls don't have time to give him the tongue-lashing that they want to. Eventually, once the Professor's safety is assured, the girls promptly beat up Harold and send him to jail.

** Puar is shocked to learn that Yamcha wants to use the Dragon Balls to wish away his fear of women, instead of wishing for wealth or world domination. Yamcha counters that he doesn't ''want'' to rule the world and can steal all the money he needs. But his phobia of women is just ''ridiculous'' and consistently holding him back.

** This gets a CallBack in ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly''. Freeza heads to Earth to find its Dragon Balls in order to wish that he was a whole five centimeters taller (any more would be too obvious a change). His subordinates are rather incredulous that Freeza would wish for that, but are too scared of him to voice their disappointment. It helps that Freeza's strong enough to take over the universe ''without'' help from the dragon balls.
** At the end of the Champa Saga in ''Dragon Ball Super'', Beerus says he used his wish to [[TheOmnipotent Super Shenron]] for a more comfortable bed. Bulma's incensed that a [[DestroyerDeity God of Destruction]] wasted the dragon's power on a wish ''she'' could grant. [[spoiler:However, Beerus is lying. He actually used it to wish Universe 6's Earth (which was destroyed by a war) back with the level of culture that Universe 7's (Goku's universe) Earth had, so Champa could enjoy Earth's cuisine. Beerus just doesn't want to come across as soft.]]
** Tien's reaction to Yurin's reason for wanting revenge on him; he left the Crane School without sparring with her thirty years ago. For this, she wrecks an entire village. Tien is blown away by the pettiness.
* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' (Manga, ''Brotherhood'', and [[Film/FullmetalAlchemist2017 live-action]]): Edward Elric attacked Shou Tucker upon realizing that the talking chimera from two years ago was Tucker's wife, and that the new chimera was fused from Tucker's dog and child. To further Ed's disappointment, Shou experimented on his family in an attempt to remain a state alchemist. Tucker not only thought that what he did to his family was acceptable, but also expected it [[EntitledBastard to be rewarding]]. Tucker tries to give Ed a NotSoDifferentRemark speech, but Ed [[NotSoSimilar counters]] that while Ed and Al attempted human transfiguration out of a misguided attempt to save their mother, Tucker did it because he didn't want to lose a steady paycheck.

* In ''Anime/YuGiOhFirstAnimeSeries'', Yami Yugi is more than a little peeved to find out that the PhonyPsychic Kokurano has caused dangerous accidents after predicting them beforehand.
-->'''Yami Yugi:''' All your predictions are fake. The fire and the light in the gym. You did it all, that's all there is to it. ''And all just so you could pretend to have superpowers''.
* ''Anime/YuGiOh'': Rex Raptor reveals he joined the Orichalcos, which is stealing peoples' souls and aims to wipe out humanity, and is trying to kill Joey as revenge for Joey beating him in a Duel Monsters game, which made him lose his popularity. Joey is annoyed and tells him to get a life.

-->'''Kaga:''' What were you expecting? A master plan? A scheme to turn off the sun? This is the real world. Hatred and disgust are good enough reasons to want to kill people.
-->'''Cyclops:''' [[YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe Seriously]]? There are people who [[FantasticRacism hate us]] because we're not outcast ''[[MortonsFork enough]]''?

* In ''Fanfic/ClashOfMarvelsACorelineShortStory'', the reactions of Asuka and Misato reflect their incredulity at the villain's motive. [[spoiler:An alternate of Georgia Sivanna was desperate at wanting to have a fellow "super-criminal" friend. To this end, Alternate Georgia forced an apparently lethal example of LetsYouAndHimFight on Asuka (who has the powers of the Marvel Family) in the hopes that she would get DrunkOnTheDarkSide from the "kill" so that Georgia could arrive later and offer her friendship.]] Justified in that the villain is a character from a universe running on Silver Age rules; such a blatantly nuts plan ''would'' have been CrazyEnoughToWork in their 'verse.

* During the Great Youkai War arc in ''Manga/UshioAndTora'', the Kamaitachi duo Raishin and Kagari are confronted by the [[AxCrazy three western Kamaitachi]], who have proven to be violence-loving nutjobs. Before their climatic duel in the mansion, they ask them why they're always in human form, explaining that, in their case, it was a sign of their newfound respect for Ushio and a sign that they overcome the FantasticRacism which cost them their little brother Juuro, who succumbed for his hatred (helped by the fact that one of the trio reminds them of said brother). The first brother says it's because he's [[GoodSmokingEvilSmoking addicted to cigarettes and he wouldn't be able to smoke in a weasel's body]], the sister claims [[BrainlessBeauty that she just loves wearing human dresses which make her look sexy]], and the last brother simply likes the idea of having a body with limbs and neck fully distinct from the body. Upon hearing these reasons, the two [[LetsGetDangerous are angered by these petty motives and find the resolve to fight them without holding back.]]

** Which is odd since there was a perfectly understandable reason why a Robosexual relationship was as bad idea in ''Recap/FuturamaS3E15IDatedARobot'', but this was obviously RetCon as [[{{Anvilicious}} as stand in for gay marriage]].%%invoked