History Main / VillainBallMagnet

* Everything the good guy of ''Manga/AngelDensetsu'' says and does reeks of villainous DoubleEntendre.

* ''LightNovel/DemonKingDaimao'': The core of the entire show. No matter what Akuto (whose name ''literally'' means "villain") does, he just can't seem to convince the other students he's not evil.

* In Literature/PleaseDontTellMyParentsImASupervillain, despite Penny's firm desire to switch to the side of good things just never seem to work out that way, as even when they manage to do good, people just continue to assume The Inscrutable Machine are supervillains. By the end, they get tired of correcting them and just roll with it.

If they kick a soccer ball to a child who lost it, it will instantly [[KickTheDog morph into a puppy]] before the poor kid's very eyes just to retroactively force evil on this villain. If they have a LoveInterest, almost all other characters (and possibly even the viewer) will think of their affections as StalkerWithACrush or worse material. This character is often the object not merely of bad luck or karma but of active stereotyping, with the world at large openly calling their lifestyle, deeds or even their very ''existence'' ([[BadPowersBadPeople in the case of those with powers]]) things like "criminal", "wrong", or "abomination against [[[HelloInsertNameHere insert god here]]]."

Generally treated by the author as either a figure of comedy or of tragedy. A comedic mandatory-character will generally keep on trying throughout the entire series or story to make themselves good, and will generally keep their spirits up despite the misfortune visited upon them. On the other hand, a tragic mandatory-character will sometimes become so fed up with their lot in life that they decide to [[ThenLetMeBeEvil deliberately cross]] the MoralEventHorizon into genuine villainy, and doing so may be treated either as a sign of the character's deep inner pain, as a sign that YouCantFightFate, or as a sign that the character was too morally weak depending on both the author's intent and in the seriousness of their suffering. When stereotyping is the thing that forces the villainy, there will sometimes be a stated or implied {{Aesop}} that all the suffering could have been avoided but for the type-casting committed by the less sympathetic characters.

* In Literature/PleaseDontTellMyParentsImASupervillain, despite Penny's firm desire to switch to the side of good things just never seem to work out that way, as even when they manage to do good, people just continue to assume The Inscrutable Machine are supervillains. By the end they get tired of correcting them and just roll with it.

* Mordred from ''Series/Merlin2008'': Despite his attempts to do good as an adult, Merlin (and some of his allies) distrust him because of the prophesy, resulting in him being left for dead on several occasions. While this frustrates him, it doesn't break him to turn into a villain until...[[spoiler: his lover is sentenced to death for (repeated) murder of camelot's guards and attempted regicide.]]

** A great example of this is in Captain Hammer's introduction scene. Dr. Horrible is using his cellphone to remotely control a van. Hammer leaps onto the van and smashes up the apparatus receiving Horrible's signal, which causes the van to go out of control and very nearly run down Penny, Horrible's LoveInterest. After saving her -- by yeeting her into a pile of garbage bags as Horrible regains control of the van -- Captain Hammer self-righteously blames Horrible for the whole thing, even though the loss of control that endangered innocents was Hammer's fault.

* In ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'', Avalanche became this, if only for one episode. Tired of failing, being pushed around by Mystique, and generally being unliked by people he respected (Scott) and liked (Kitty) Avalanche defects to the X-Men. However, Scott and several of the others don't trust him, and when something goes wrong, immediately blame him. The younger X-Men even start taking advantage of this, doing extremely risky things that Avalanche gets blamed for. At the end, Scott admits he was wrong, and Kitty kisses him, but because StatusQuoIsGod, he still decides the whole thing is too much effort, and heads back to the Brotherhood.

* The Penguin reformed in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', but his past deeds made him the target of suspicion for Batman and the target for mean spirited pranks for the social elite. He turns back to evil by the end of the episode, though it's implied that with a little more patience he would have been accepted back into society.

* Princess Luna of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' had to endure this, albeit thankfully for her only for a single episode. Fresh from her HeelFaceTurn she decides to swing by Ponyville and see what [[HalloweenEpisode Nightmare Night]] is all about, but swiftly learns that her [[NoIndoorVoice archaic mannerisms]] are terrifying [[FishOutOfTemporalWater by today's standards]] and that Nightmare Night is basically a holiday that demonizes Nightmare Moon for [[WouldHurtAChild eating children who don't bring her candy]]. From there all her attempts at fitting in or being good either fail because she's a NightmareFetishist or because [[TheMillstone Pinkie Pie keeps inciting panic]], until they figure out that they can play up her spookiness because ponies like being scared.

* Marv in ''ComicBook/SinCity''. Dwight says in a different era he would've been worshipped as a hero and had his choice of women. Instead ''everyone'' treats him as dumb muscle.

If they kick a soccer ball to a child who lost it, it will instantly [[KickTheDog morph into a puppy]] before the poor kid's very eyes just to retroactively force evil on this villain. If they have a love interest, almost all other characters (and possibly even the viewer) will think of their affections as StalkerWithACrush or worse material. This character is often the object not merely of bad luck or karma but of active stereotyping, with the world at large openly calling their lifestyle, deeds or even their very ''existence'' ([[BadPowersBadPeople in the case of those with powers]]) things like "criminal", "wrong", or "abomination against [[[HelloInsertNameHere insert god here]]]."

* Mordred from ''Series/{{Merlin2008}}'': Despite his attempts to do good as an adult, Merlin (and some of his allies) distrust him because of the prophesy, resulting in him being left for dead on several occasions. While this frustrates him, it doesn't break him to turn into a villain until...[[spoiler: his lover is sentenced to death for (repeated) murder of camelot's guards and attempted regicide.]]

* The Urpneys hold the ball to ludicrous levels in ''WesternAnimation/TheDreamstone''. While most of them are cowardly {{Punchclock Villains}} who [[TrappedInVillainy only serve Zordrak out of fear for their life]], they are consistently viewed as irredeemable scum by the otherwise messianic Land of Dreams, for [[PokeThePoodle trying to give them nightmares]] no less. Their only willing attempt to truce with the Urpneys was by {{Heel Face Brainwashing}} them. Ironically between the two, the heroes actually performed the nearest to a genuine VillainBall (the Urpneys pull {{Idiot Ball}}s by the thousand, but rarely KickTheDog [[PragmaticVillain outside orders]]), [[ATasteOfDefeat getting humiliated by the Urpneys]] during a couple of instances after [[DisproportionateRetribution taking their retribution to too gratuitous a level]].

* This gets PlayedForLaughs with Brian and Quagmire in ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''. Under normal circumstances, Quagmire is a complete sexaholic who routinely drugs women and is into all sorts of kinks. Of course, the one time Brian tries to relate to Quagmire about his relationship with a woman, it turns out to be Quagmire's sister who had been horribly beaten by her husband. Another time, Brian tries to strike up a conversation with Quagmire and Quagmire's "nephew" while in line to meet a mall Santa. Quagmire's nephew is actually his niece who has ''brain cancer'' so her hair fell out from the chemo. Granted, sometimes Brian is purposely a jerk, but he also can't catch a break where Quagmire is involved. The feud reached a climax where, after one too many outbursts from Quagmire, [[ThenLetMeBeEvil Brian bites back]] and decides to hit a ''very'' personal blow for revenge. Since then, the animosity [[RunningGagged has not reappeared]] outside a couple far more passive aggressive moments.
** It has reached extremes on occasion in later episodes, however they are almost always when Brian is dishing out as much vitriol towards Quagmire as he takes or is even genuinely screwing him over, making Quagmire's hatred of him far more provoked. Still he can still be rather outspoken and petty in his grudge against Brian, with a lot of their beefs with each other lampshaded as HypocriticalHumor.

A character who simply cannot become liked or even viewed by the other inhabitants of their world as basically ''good'', no matter what they do: If they kick a soccer ball to a child who lost it, it will instantly [[KickTheDog morph into a puppy]] before the poor kid's very eyes just to retroactively force evil on this villain. If they have a love interest, almost all other characters (and possibly even the viewer) will think of their affections as StalkerWithACrush or worse material. This character is often the object not merely of bad luck or karma but of active stereotyping, with the world at large openly calling their lifestyle, deeds or even their very ''existence'' ([[BadPowersBadPeople in the case of those with powers]]) things like "criminal", "wrong", or "abomination against [[[HelloInsertNameHere insert god here]]]."

A character who simply cannot become liked or even viewed by the other inhabitants of their world as basically ''good'', no matter what they do. If they kick a soccer ball to a child who lost it, it will instantly [[KickTheDog morph into a puppy]] before the poor kid's very eyes just to retroactively force evil on this villain. If they have a love interest, almost all other characters (and possibly even the viewer) will think of their affections as StalkerWithACrush or worse material. This character is often the object not merely of bad luck or karma but of active stereotyping, with the world at large openly calling their lifestyle, deeds, or even their very ''existence'' ([[BadPowersBadPeople in the case of those with powers]]) things like "criminal", "wrong", or "abomination against [[[HelloInsertNameHere insert god here]]]."

* ''LightNovel/DemonKingDaimao'': The core of the entire show. No matter what Akuto does, he just can't seem to convince the other students he's not evil.

** A great example of this is in Captain Hammer's introduction scene. Dr. Horrible is using his cellphone to remotely control a van. Hammer leaps onto the van and smashes up the apparatus that Horrible is using to control it, which causes the van to go out of control and very nearly run down Penny, Horrible's LoveInterest. After saving her -- by yeeting her into a pile of garbage bags as Horrible regains control of the van -- Captain Hammer self-righteously blames Horrible for the whole thing, even though the loss of control that endangered innocents was Hammer's fault.

A character who simply cannot become liked or even viewed by the other inhabitants of their world as basically ''good'', no matter what they do. If they kick a soccer ball to a child who lost it, it will instantly [[KickTheDog morph into a puppy]] before the poor kid's very eyes just to retroactively force evil on this villain. If they have a love interest, almost all other characters (and possibly even the viewer) will think of their affections as StalkerWithACrush material. This character is often the object not merely of bad luck or karma but of active stereotyping, with the world at large openly calling their lifestyle, deeds, or even their very ''existence'' ([[BadPowersBadPeople in the case of those with powers]]) things like "criminal", "wrong", or "abomination against [[[HelloInsertNameHere insert god here]]]."

** A great example of this is in Captain Hammer's introduction scene. Dr. Horrible is using his cellphone to remotely control a van. Hammer leaps onto the van and smashes up the apparatus that Horrible is using to control the van, which causes the van to go out of control and very nearly run down Penny, Horrible's LoveInterest. After saving her -- by yeeting her into a pile of garbage bags as Horrible regains control of the van -- Captain Hammer self-righteously blames Horrible for the whole thing, even though the loss of control that endangered innocents was Hammer's fault.

** A great example of this is in Captain Hammer's introduction scene. Dr. Horrible is using his cellphone to remotely control a van. Hammer leaps onto the van and smashes up the apparatus that Horrible is using to control the van, which causes the van to go out of control and very nearly run down Penny, Horrible's LoveInterest. After saving her -- by yeeting her into a pile of garbage bags -- Captain Hammer self-righteously blames Horrible for the whole thing, even though the loss of control that endangered innocents was Hammer's fault to begin with.

** A great example of this is in Captain Hammer's introduction scene. Dr. Horrible is using his cellphone to remotely control a van. Hammer leaps onto the van and smashes up the apparatus that Horrible is using to control the van, which causes the van to go out of control and very nearly run down Penny, Horrible's LoveInterest. After saving her -- by yeeting her into a pile of garbage bags -- Captain Hammer self-righteously blames Horrible for the whole thing, even though the loss of control was Hammer's fault.

** A great example of this is in Captain Hammer's introduction scene. Dr. Horrible is using his cellphone to remotely control a van.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

* Jack Spicer in''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown''. There have been times when Jack has tried to be good and even saved the heroes on multiple occasions but somehow it always goes wrong for him.

* [[VideoGame/YggdraUnion Nessiah]] in the ''VideoGame/DeptHeaven'' series. Played for tragedy in the main games, where his condition is the result of extreme FantasticRacism in Asgard; after all he's been through, he just [[WellIntentionedExtremist stops really caring who gets hurt]] in his attempt to settle the score, and his few chances at being happy are [[YankTheDogsChain inevitably ruined by the writers]] ([[VideoGame/BlazeUnion and]] [[OmniscientMoralityLicense Baretreenu]]). Exaggerated to [[UpToEleven outrageous extremes]] in ''VideoGame/YggdraUnison'', where everyone just kind of assumes that he's pure evil because of his appearance and [[{{Troll}} general attitude]], and [[YouDidntAsk he doesn't bother explaining his actions to them]].

** It has reached extremes in odd later episodes, however they are almost always when Brian is dishing out as much vitriol towards Quagmire as he takes or is even genuinely screwing him over, making Quagmire's hatred of him far more provoked. Still he can still be rather outspoken and petty in his grudge against Brian, with a lot of their beefs with each other lampshaded as HypocriticalHumor.

* In ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'', Avalanche became this, if only for one episode. Tired of failing, being pushed around by Mystique, and generally being unliked by people he respected (Scott) and liked (Kitty) Avalanche defects to the X-men. However, Scott and several of the others don't trust him, and when something goes wrong, immediately blame him. The younger X-Men even start taking advantage of this, doing extremely risky things that Avalanche gets blamed for. At the end, Scott admits he was wrong, and Kitty kisses him, but because StatusQuoIsGod, he still decides the whole thing is too much effort, and heads back to the Brotherhood.

* Both Tyrion and Jaime Lannister from ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''. Tyrion is a fundamentally decent guy who actively tries to help the people of King's Landing while serving as Hand of the King. However, the deck is stacked against him because he's a dwarf; most of his family hates him and the common people regard him as a monster. Being [[GoodScarsEvilScars mutilated]] doesn't make him much popular either. His brother Jaime, on the other hand, is regarded as an oath-breaker for killing King Aerys, even though he secretly saved the lives of a city's worth of people doing it. Even as he tries to redeem himself and become a better knight, his name becomes associated with treachery due to circumstances beyond his control. An especially striking example of this trope for him: he threatens to send a baby to its death in a trebuchet to prevent a bloody siege of Riverrun castle. He'd previously made an oath not to raise his sword against House Tully, and this helped solve the situation without bloodshed - but everyone in listening distance got the impression that he was evil.

Compare with WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds for the tragic version of someone who snaps and does evil after much suffering and with ReformedButRejected for those who actually started out as villains at some point and it is ouf of mistrust and lack of forgiveness for what they did that they become rejected. Also compare with TrappedInVillainy for a character whose inability to reform comes from outside sources, mostly with genuine villains who threaten them into helping them. Contrast with IneffectualSympatheticVillain for the comedic -- with the difference being the intended morality at which the comedic character fails. Compare HeroWithAnFInGood. Often appears in a KafkaComedy.

* On the rare occasions that Team Rocket from ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' are acting good, the protagonists don't usually buy it, even if they were being sincere. Oddly, the weaker their disguise is when doing actual crime the more likely they are to fool Ash and friends. It seems they only really notice them out-of-uniform if they're doing anything other than evil. Team Rocket jumping to their death so Ash and Lugia live, and no-one even mentioning it: at the end of the movie (they survived), they are complaining about how no-one noticed their good deeds. Slowking then [[BreakingTheFourthWall broke the Fourth Wall]] when he told them that lots of people (the audience) knew what they did.

* ComicBook/{{Magneto}}'s origin story in some versions of the ComicBook/XMen comes from this. He survives the Holocaust and comes to view humanity as fundamentally intolerant to those different from themselves. Still tries to live a normal life. Then an [[TorchesAndPitchforks angry peasant mob]] kills his daughter by setting the inn where they lived on fire. When he was prevented from saving her, Magnus's powers manifest uncontrollably and kill the mob. His wife, who has survived all of this, calls him a monster and runs from him.

A specific type of [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Sympathetic Villain]], or even a VillainProtagonist. A character who simply cannot become liked or even viewed by the other inhabitants of their world as basically ''good'', no matter what they do. If they kick a soccer ball to a child who lost it, it will instantly [[KickTheDog morph into a puppy]] before the poor kid's very eyes just to retroactively force evil on this villain. If they have a love interest, almost all other characters (and possibly even the viewer) will think of their affections as StalkerWithACrush material. This character is often the object not merely of bad luck or karma but of active stereotyping, with the world at large openly calling their lifestyle, deeds, or even their very ''existence'' ([[BadPowersBadPeople in the case of those with powers]]) things like "criminal", "wrong", or "abomination against [[[HelloInsertNameHere insert god here]]]."

Generally treated by the author as either a figure of comedy or of tragedy. A comedic mandatory-villain will generally keep on trying throughout the entire series or story to make themselves good, and will generally keep their spirits up despite the misfortune visited upon them. On the other hand, a tragic mandatory-villain will sometimes become so fed up with their lot in life that they decide to [[ThenLetMeBeEvil deliberately cross]] the MoralEventHorizon into genuine villainy, and doing so may be treated either as a sign of the character's deep inner pain, as a sign that YouCantFightFate, or as a sign that the character was too morally weak. When stereotyping is the thing that forces the villainy, there will sometimes be a stated or implied {{Aesop}} that all the suffering could have been avoided but for the type-casting committed by the less sympathetic characters.

Compare with WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds for the tragic version and with ReformedButRejected for those who actually started out as villains at some point. Also compare with TrappedInVillainy for a character whose inability to reform comes from outside sources. Contrast with IneffectualSympatheticVillain for the comedic -- with the difference being the intended morality at which the comedic character fails. Compare HeroWithAnFInGood. Often appears in a KafkaComedy.