History Main / MeaninglessVillainVictory

* ''WesternAnimation/FreeWilly'': Jessie and Willy were looking for a lost treasure and lost it to the villain. Then, it was revealed the chest actually contained whistles.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' was rather infamous for this in its two major arcs where Aizen and Yhwach were the primary antagonists. Both villains basically achieve all their primary goals, with Aizen [[spoiler:successfully creating and fusing with the Hōgyoku]] and Yhwach [[spoiler:essentially destroying Soul Society and absorbing the Soul King]], only for the both of them to be defeated at the very last second by Ichigo.

* The Big Bad successfully unleashes a SealedEvilInACan, but then learns the hard way that EvilIsNotAToy. To add insult to injury, the hero then proceeds to re-seal the evil, or even [[DidTouJustPunchOutCthulhu kill it]].

* The Big Bad successfully unleashes a SealedEvilInACan, but then learns the hard way that EvilIsNotAToy. To add insult to injury, the hero then proceeds to re-seal the evil, or even [[DidTouJustPunchOutCthulu kill it]].

* The Big Bad successfully unleashes a SealedEvilInACan, but then learns the hard way that EvilIsNotAToy. To add insult to injury, the hero then proceeds to re-seal the evil, or even [[DidTouJustPunchOutCthulhu kill it]].

** At the end of Season 4, The Lich [[spoiler:tricks Finn into opening a portal to Prismo's Time Room. He then uses the one wish that anyone who enters the Time Room gets to wish for the extinction of all life. However, since Finn and Jake followed him through the portal before he made the wish, they weren't affected and also got wishes. Coaxed along by BenevolentGenie Prismo, Jake wishes that the Lich had used his wish to send Finn and Jake back home. All of the Lich's schemes and trickery to get to Prismo's Room is instantly rendered moot.]]

** After decades spent attempting to wield power through others, (first her drunken, apathetic King of a husband and later her children) Cersei finally grabs the reins of power for herself at the end of Season 6. [[spoiler:Too bad nearly every single region of the Seven Kingdoms is involved in either open or covert rebellion against her, Cersei's family and the throne have utterly bankrupted themselves, her armies are in tatters from "winning" the war, her beloved children are all dead, and ''everyone'' around is looking to pile on, including old enemies, new rivals, and even supernatural threats. Good luck, Cersei. Enjoy it while it lasts.]]
** In the end, Cersei really doesn't. [[spoiler:Her sole true achievements in the final season, killing Daenerys' friend in front of her via execution and one of her two surviving dragons via her underling, ends with Daenerys fully embracing the Targaryen madness and unleashing the full might of her armies and remaing dragon upon King's Landing. It's more than a CurbStompBattle, it is a '''massacre''', and Cersei is forced to first declare surrender to the North and then try to run away... only for her to find out the escape tunnel caved in and then finally get crushed by a collapsing ceiling.]]

** While the World Government got away with summoning a [[AlphaStrike Buster Call]] on Ohara for trying to translate the Poneglyphs and research the [[SuppressedHistory Void Century]], their victory was rendered utterly meaningless over time by a number of factors: one, [[SoleSurvivor Nico Robin survived the destruction of Ohara]], the event driving her to complete the research her colleagues died for; two, the very act of [[ItsTheOnlyWayToBeSure wiping out an entire island]], [[LeaveNoSurvivors civilians included]], [[DisproportionateRetribution just for researching history]], [[ThisMeansWar galvanized Monkey D. Dragon]] into [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified forming the Revolutionary Army]], an organization dedicated to fighting the World Government's injustices across the globe for the next twenty years; and three, [[spoiler:the research texts used by the scholars of Ohara that they dumped into a lake that the Marines conveniently ignored would end up salvaged by the giants of Elbaf, who eventually shared it with [[WorldsSmartestMan Dr. Vegapunk]] so that he would independently continue their research in secret]].

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Happens in the Dressrosa arc, chapter 742: [[spoiler:Usopp is the only person left who can knock out Sugar and return all the people she transformed into toys to normal. He tries to stand up against her bodyguard Trebol, but gets thoroughly beaten. However, Sugar feeds him the grape she assumed was poisoned to get rid of him (it's actually spiked with an ultra-spicy substance). The result is Usopp screaming in absolute agony while making a ''spectacular'' NightmareFace, [[AccidentalHero scary enough to make her scream and faint in turn]], rendering her victory moot]]. Comes up a bit again later when [[spoiler: Usopp weaponizes her newly-gained trauma to save Luffy and Law by launching a projection looking like said face to render her unconscious again, all while unlocking Haki.]]

* In ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'', King Aultcray and Malty seek to deprive Naofumi Iwatani, the Shield Hero of any advantages in order to keep him a destitute and impoverished nobody, and had latched onto him owning a Slave as a Party Member as [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil a reason to demonize Naofumi]]; [[{{Hypocrite}} conveniently ignoring the fact that they were the ones who made slavery legal in the kingdom.]] Having beaten Naofumi in a challenge that resulted in him losing his slave and removing her RestrainingBolt, the recently-freed Raphtalia berated and yelled at them for doing this, citing that while she was purchased as Naofumi's slave, she was but a Slave to him in-name-only and that she saw Naofumi for the kind man that he really was; and as such ''willingly'' went back to Naofumi's side to prevent him from falling into a DespairEventHorizon, resulting in Naofumi and Raphtalia's bonds with each-other deepening [[RestoredMyFaithInHumanity as it helped stabilize Naofumi's troubled mind.]]

* The BigBad kills the hero and squashes the rebellion against him, but only succeeded in making his victims martyrs who inspire more widespread rebellion.

A Meaningless Villain Victory occurs when there's a last second caveat that renders the whole point of the villain's win moot. [[WorthlessTreasureTwist The big pile of gold he's just won turns out to be pyrite]]. The ancient superweapon he's claimed is irreparably broken, and probably has been for a long time. The BigBad achieves his goal to become immortal, but is now [[AndIMustScream trapped forever inside of an inescapable location]]. The Big Bad gets the throne/promotion/influence he wanted, but crossed the MoralEventHorizon so hard that [[LonelyAtTheTop everyone he wanted that power for now hates his guts]]. The BigBad kills the hero and squashes the rebellion against him, but only succeeded in making his victims martyrs who inspire more widespread rebellion. However it plays out, the audience can rest assured that evil never pays, and the villain has just blown a boatload of his evil resources on a SnipeHunt.

* ''Anime/LittleWitchAcademia2017'' has Professor Croix finally manage to unlock the Grand Triskelion, AKA the world restoration magic. Too bad that, without the Shiny Rod, it's nearly useless, amounting to a small twig that can only be used for party tricks. VillainousBreakdown ensues.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory4'', Gabby Gabby's plan is to steal Woody's voice box and use it to repair her own. She's been left on the antique store's shelves for decades and believes that Harmony, a girl who frequents the store, will buy her if her voice box works. [[spoiler:Woody willingly gives up his voice box to Gabby Gabby, but Harmony leaves her on the shelf, to Gabby Gabby's sorrow.]] Gabby Gabby is sympathetic enough that the trope gets subverted: [[spoiler:Woody persuades her to come with him to the nearby carnival, where Gabby Gabby finally ''does'' get HappilyAdopted by another young girl]].

** Same goes for Kreese himself in season 4. Thanks to Tory's victory, the Cobra Kai dojo as a whole is awarded the Grand Prize, but he doesn't get to enjoy his victory for long. Silver soon reveals that he [[FrameUp framed Kreese for aggravated assault and attempted murder]], leading to his arrest and Silver acquiring full control of Cobra Kai, which he plans to franchise. Kreese had also made a gentleman's bet with Daniel to close down Miyagi-Do if they lost the tournament, which Daniel [[ILied flat-out refuses to do]] and recruits Chozen to continue the fight against Cobra Kai.

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E15IShotAnArrowIntoTheAir I Shot an Arrow into the Air]]", a group of astronauts crash-land on an asteroid. The villainous SoleSurvivor kills his crewmembers and takes their water, [[spoiler:only to find out that it was EarthAllAlong. They crashed in the Nevada desert]].
** "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E60TheRipVanWinkleCaper The Rip Van Winkle Caper]]" features a band of crooks who pull off a gold heist and put themselves in suspended animation to avoid the {{statute of limitations}}, sleeping for 100 years. The rest of the story deals with the lengths each member goes to (culminating in every one of them dying) trying to get the most gold. Then we learn that [[spoiler:[[WorthlessYellowRocks gold is worthless]], [[ShootTheShaggyDog because it can now be manufactured]]]].
** A famous example is "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E61TheSilence The Silence]]" in which a snobbish Colonel bets a fellow club member in desperate need of money that he can't keep quiet for a year. When despite all odds the man actually succeeds and goes to collect his money, it turns out that the Colonel is broke and can't pay him his winnings -- however, the man had his vocal cords severed so he could win the bet.

* ''Fanfic/JauneArcLordOfHunger:'' [[spoiler:During ''VideoGame/TheOldRepublic'', Jedi Knight Nariel Pridence set out to hide Nihilus's mask (which contained his soul) in the Unknown Regions where no one would ever find it. Determined to stop her, Nihilus's spirit sacrifices what little strength he has left to kill Nariel and set her ship off course. Nariel's ship is looted by smugglers not long after, who take the mask to their hideout on Volik... a remote planet in the Unknown Regions. The smugglers later abandon their base and leave Nihilus's mask behind on Volik where it sits untouched for thousands of years... [[AllForNothing exactly what Nariel wanted in the first place]].]]

* ''Fanfic/LovedAndLost'' has a variation in that while the villain does manage to [[TheBadGuyWins achieve victory]] early on, it's his actions ''afterward'' that render that victory moot. [[TheUsurper Prince Jewelius]] seizes the Equestrian throne after [[ForWantOfANail helping Twilight Sparkle capture Queen Chrysalis and her Changeling army]] ([[spoiler:which he himself helped invade Canterlot before double-crossing them]]) by [[LetNoCrisisGoToWaste exploiting the tense atmosphere of the aftermath]] and the emotionally-driven behavior on the part of everypony involved to turn the Mane 6 ''sans'' Twilight, Shining Armor, and the princesses into [[HeroWithBadPublicity hated scapegoats]] for enabling the invasion to occur (though in fairness, VillainHasAPoint is also in play), getting them all exiled and leaving him free to [[CorruptTheCutie manipulate Twilight as he sees fit]]. One week later, however, it's shown that he's decided that it isn't enough to simply have power, [[DarwinistDesire a bride in the form of Twilight to father powerful heirs with]], and the acclaim of Canterlot's citizens - [[spoiler:he also wants to ensure his success by having Celestia and Cadance killed off. After luring the fugitives back to Canterlot and capturing them again, however, he [[JustBetweenYouAndMe gloats about his success to their faces]] which motivates them to try and spring Twilight out of the peril [[CassandraTruth that she and the rest of Canterlot deny ever being in despite their warnings]]. On top of this, he also forgets to capture Luna, who suspected that the heroes were being lured into a trap and split from the rest to avoid it, allowing her to free the others starting with saving Celestia from her PublicExecution. In the ensuing chaos, all of the Changelings also escape, but Jewelius, believing them to be incompetent without his leadership, [[SkewedPriorities focuses entirely on punishing the escaped heroes]] which are now the public's smallest concern (partly due to the citizens and Twilight beginning to forgive the fugitives and especially Celestia who gave them all a touching apology speech), and eventually lets his sociopathic pettiness get the better of him in all of the events to follow, causing Twilight to have a JerkassRealization and cut off all ties with him. By the time the dust has settled, not only has Jewelius lost his authority and the respect of absolutely everypony he manipulated into turning upon each other, but a vengeful Chrysalis has served him a [[EatenAlive gruesome]] DeathByWomanScorned as well]].