History Main / VillainousValour

* In ''Webcomic/CheshireCrossing'', The Wicked Witch Of The West repeatedly faces off against Mary Poppins. Poppins is depicted as a stern, overpowered witch who flattens her opponents with brute force, and shows off in both magical matters and mundane with little flourishes that [[SmugSuper let others know just how in charge she is]]. The Witch of the West on the other hand is made out to be a bitter underdog, defeated before at least once, who spends her time in search of arcane secrets and power sources. When they encounter each other for the first time while in Oz, Poppins is able to knock the Witch of the West around until the Witch of the West gets the drop on her with a bucket of water. [[KillItWithWater Oz has special rules]], and Poppins hasn't done her homework.

* In ''Series/HoratioHornblower'' episode "The Frogs and the Lobsters / The Wrong War", the Marquis de Montcoutant is exactly the type of EvilAristocrat that ''caused'' the French Revolution, and his sole priority on returning home is to terrorize and punish his former subjects by [[OffWithHisHead guillotining them in dozens]]. When the royalist expedition falls apart and Hornblower urges him to flee, however, Montcoutant elects to face certain death rather than leave his home again. Predictably, the villagers get their hands on him and drag him off for a KarmicDeath on the scaffold, but he remains DefiantToTheEnd rather than beg for mercy.

Compare WorthyOpponent. See also EvilVirtues. This sort of behavior is the staple of the NobleDemon, and the BloodKnight.

* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSDfxde8fSg this video]] that is violently opposed to the [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]] [[MemeticMutation arrow to the knee meme]], a [[HollywoodNerd short, fat, nerdy guy]] goes to type the joke into a Website/YouTube comment when the game's main character bursts out of the screen, [[{{Kneecapping}} kneecaps]] the nerd with arrows to both knees, then begins to strangle the nerd and tell him how much he sucks for [[NeverHeardThatOneBefore liking meme jokes]]. He goes to [[CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon make some gory and violent death threats]] should the nerd ever do it again. The nerd responds by [[DefiantToTheEnd making an arrow to the knee joke]]. Sure, it gets him KilledMidSentence, but as the top-rated comment on the video says "I have to admit, the nerd has balls."

[[caption-width-right:349:Did they really think that ''[[TheDreaded Darth]] [[HeroKiller Vader]]'' would yield?]]

[[caption-width-right:349:Did they really think that ''Darth Vader'' would yield?]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'': Frollo gets a small moment of this in the climax when the cathedral is under siege. He takes a sword off one of his mooks and uses it to hack through the (considerably heavy) wooden doors of the cathedral, braving a torrent of molten lead being poured down from the top by Quasimodo in doing so. When he gets to the top, he briefly wrestles with Quasi (who is half his age and demonstrably strong enough to ''shake the entire cathedral'' with his exertions) and he fights Quasi and swings with enough force to crack solid stone. Not bad at all for [[EvilOldFolks such an old man]].

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order.

** The Tau are specifically presented as an underdog faction who can't match either the numbers of the Imperium or their most extreme powerhouses (Space Marines and the like)--but they have still managed to defeat Imperium forces on many occasions due to fighting more intelligently, using maneuver warfare and modern tactics and communications against the more ponderous formations and protocols of the Imperium.

* Caliborn in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}''. Though he may be a petulant, [[ItsAllAboutMe sociopathic]] {{Jerkass}}, he's also a {{Determinator}} who defeats his session of Sburb despite nearly impossible odds - including his own [[AmbiguousDisorder implied mental issues]].

* ''Literature/{{Worm}}'':
** This is regularly displayed by supervillains who show up to battle [[{{Kaiju}} the Endbringers,]] which are steadily killing humanity as a whole and generally kill one-fourth of the capes that join the fight against them per battle. Villains are generally less coordinated than the heroes, so they take more casualties, but they ''keep showing up.''
** On a more personal level, there's [[VillainProtagonist Skitter,]] who in one case spends two minutes sparring with Mannequin, a SerialKiller who has [[WasOnceAMan turned himself into the perfect counter to her powers]] and is one of the most deadly people on the planet, in order to protect civilian refugees.

Of course, fortitude in the face of adversity is not necessarily always a redeeming quality; sometimes, if the villain had slaughtered TheHero's entire family, [[ForTheEvulz driven by a desire to inflict needless suffering]], then subjected the hero's LoveInterest to ColdBloodedTorture, before explaining his evil plan to destroy the city, [[SoftSpokenSadist all while maintaining an even tone of voice]], their [[DefiantToTheEnd refusal to back down]] without a fight can serve to demonstrate a stubborn refusal to allow the hero to dispense clean justice, or otherwise demonstrate that the villain does not even value their own life, let alone that of anyone else.

Compare WorthyOpponent. See also EvilVirtues. This sort of behavior is the staple of the NobleDemon.

-->-- '''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}''', Act 5, Scene 8.

** [[BigBad Abaddon The Despoiler]] may have a reputation as a MemeticLoser (thanks to some poor writing on the part of Games Workship), but he's still a Space Marine who can remember walking and fighting alongside the Emperor of Mankind Himself. As such, he'll face anyone who manages to directly engage him in battle head on. In-universe, he's kept scars inflicted on him on two separate occasions by particularly [[WorthyOpponent worthy opponents]]. It's also notable that when he finally destroyed the Fortress World of Cadia, he made it a point to teleport down to the thickest fighting to directly engage the Imperial forces. Those forces included [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Saint Celestine, a Living Saint]] as well as the grim forces of [[Undead The Legion of the Damned]]. He was the last living warrior of Chaos to retreat before the final conflagration and saluted his surviving enemies as he teleported away.

* [[http://www.tuckerskobolds.com/ Tucker's Kobolds]] are a textbook case. Even though they were no match for the high-level adventurers in a straight fight, they used the terrain to their advantage and set up a variety of clever traps to make the [=PCs=]' lives hell.

** Pretty much the only thing [[WarGod Khorne]] [[TheBerserker worshippers]] can't be accused of is cowardice under fire, even if it's more of the FearlessFool variety. They also really hate Slaaesh worshippers, and will gladly screw up rituals that would get a victory for Chaos as a whole just to spite them.

This is one method for avoiding doldrums from having an InvincibleHero. Scenes of Villainous Valor show the antagonists to be outmatched, forcing them to rely on daring, cunning, skill and determination to hold their own against the heroes, or at least [[FaceDeathWithDignity go out with a little dignity]]. They sometimes even [[LastVillainStand continue a hopeless battle]] for higher reasons than spite! This often results in a tense back-and-forth as the heroes' raw power is set against whatever the villains brought.

This valour may show up more easily in an EvilVersusEvil fight. The BadassNormal villain may be arrogant, determined, sure of themself and DefiantToTheEnd against the BadassNormal hero, but what if they have to fight against an EldritchAbomination? Perhaps [[TheWorfEffect they are defeated easily]], just to prove that the eldritch abomination means business. Or perhaps... they will be arrogant, determined, sure of themself and defiant to the end, even in the face of armageddon. In that case, they may earn our admiration, and if they even manages to [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu punch out]] or [[DidYouJustScamCthulhu scam]] the eldritch abomination, even more so.

This trope also has a complicated relationship with BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork, wherein villains are capable of being depicted committing actions that are from a logical point of view beneficial to the protagonist and also entirely necessary, but would conflict with a protagonist's moral code; when the villain does this in a self-sacrificing or at the very least supremely cool manner, then it combines the two tropes. However as often as not, the villain really is doing actually reprehensible things that just also happen to require astonishing resolve and bravery to pull off.

** [[VillainProtagonist Hordak]] is handily outmatched in an EvilVersusEvil conflict, ill, and has a regime that is slowly falling apart. In spite of this, he is not only among the bravest characters but among the most cunning, clever and honorable, with NobleDemon traits.

* ''Fanfic/InTheService'' has more than one comment on the bravery and discipline of the common New Belkan soldier. No matter how badly the situation around them goes, no matter how little chance there is they will survive the effort, they will carry out their orders. Some characters think them brave far beyond the point of stupidity. Others think they're the finest soldiers the universe has ever seen, with some of the worst training and leadership.

* ''FanFic/{{Eugenesis}}'': When Siren and Death's Head corner [[TheDragon Haxian]] to [[spoiler: retrieve the Matrix]], he seemingly shoots himself rather than fight them. Than they go to get [[spoiler: the Matrix]] and Haxian's body violently explodes, mortally wounding Siren; Haxian had known he was done for and [[HeroicSacrifice rigged himself to explode in a desperate attempt to keep the Autobots from stopping his leader]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'': Frollo gets a small moment of this in the climax, when the cathedral is under siege. He takes a sword off one of his mooks and uses it to hack through the (considerably heavy) wooden doors of the cathedral, braving a torrent of molten lead being poured down from the top by Quasimodo in doing so. When he gets to the top, he briefly wrestles with Quasi (who is half his age and demonstrably strong enough to ''shake the entire cathedral'' with his exertions) and he fights Quasi and swings with enough force to crack solid stone. Not bad at all for [[EvilOldFolks such an old man]].
* Another comedic example is in ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'', with a ''raccoon'' who will not back down from his garbage-can raiding, even when facing a superhero baby whose powers include laser-beam eyes, turning into a miniature ogre, and bursting into flame.

* Professor Zoom in ''WesternAnimation/SuicideSquadHellToPay'' is a despicable sociopath who has his own self preservation as top priority, and also happens to be dying due to [[spoiler:having his [[BoomHeadshot brains blown]] out by Thomas Wayne in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueTheFlashpointParadox'']]. As such, he is using every ounce of the Speed Force to stretch out his death as long as possible so he can live a little longer, which makes him a {{determinator}} in his own right.

* ''Series/{{Alphas}}'' had a one-off villain called The Caretaker whose job it was to look after Mitchell, an Alpha with the ability to store anyone's memories inside his brain. When Hicks and Cat remove Mitchell from his holding location, The Caretaker comes charging after them. In terms of pure fighting ability, he's outmatched: Hicks has SuperReflexes and Kat, due to her superhuman muscle memory, has a number of devastating fighting moves (and has recently completed the ''entire'' FBI Academy course load in about two weeks, meaning she is now trained in the use of a firearm as well.) The Caretaker has one advantage though: A HealingFactor. The guy shrugs off getting shot, ''having his neck broken'', and '''being rammed with a Mack truck''' all in the name of taking care of his charge. He only dies because Kat exploits the fact that he can't swim while healing.
* Almost certainly the reason for Spike's early popularity on ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', being simultaneously the first vampire adversary of Buffy to be depicted as more than a soul-less monster, and the first to avoid the {{Curb Stomp Battle}}s that were endemic in Season 1.

* An episode of the classic UsefulNotes/WorldWarII series ''[[Series/Combat1962 Combat!]]'' called "The Cossack" had the most tenacious German soldier of all time. In the teaser, he fails to blow up a strategically important bridge during the German retreat, and tries to complete the task before the rest of the American army comes through. He infiltrates the local Church and disguises himself as the town priest. He manages to keep his disguise with all the Americans around him, making up cover stories for his German accent ("I'm Swiss.") and being near the bridge ("I'm going fishing.") on the fly, even managing to get away with killing the young Catholic GI who sees through him without anyone seeing. It was almost disappointing to see him fail in the end, he'd worked so hard up to that point.

** Ramsay in the show is even ''more'' dangerous than the Ramsay of the books, as he has not only butchered his way through Yara's fifty best Ironborn reavers, leading from the front without a stitching of clothing protecting his vital organs but also runs roughshod over Stannis's admittedly demoralised and outnumbered army and all without a single scratch on his person to show for it.

* Subverted with Muhammad Hassan in 2005. A radicalized Arab-American from Detroit ([[FakeNationality although played by Italian-American wrestler Mark Copani]]), he certainly had good reason to be angered by anti-Arab prejudice at the height of the Iraq War. He denounced other Arab-Americans as Uncle Toms for being ashamed of their native culture, and would enter arenas in a Bedouin headdress and wailing loudly like a muezzin just to outrage bigoted audiences. He even seemingly had the courage to challenge Undertaker to a match for the Number One Contendership to Batista's World Heavyweight Championship at the ''Great American Bash'' in July, but Hassan was a lot more cowardly than he appeared at first glance: he took on Undertaker, yes, but only after garroting him with piano wire and having several black-clad, faceless "sympathizers" beat the tar out of him. 'Taker finally punished him by powerbombing him through the Buffalo arena's entrance ramp, apparently killing him (which was actually a result of ExecutiveMeddling, since WWE thought that the character was in bad taste after a terrorist bombing in London).

** On September [=23rd=] the Authority (Triple H and Stephanie [=McMahon=]) essentially threw the Shield to the wolves by attempting to placate the aggrieved faces with an eleven-on-three elimination tag team match... though the Shield had tried to stack the odds by attacking members of the eleven-man face team[[note]]Wrestling/RobVanDam, Wrestling/KofiKingston, Wrestling/DolphZiggler, Wrestling/ZackRyder, Wrestling/TheUsos, [[Wrestling/PrimeTimePlayers Darren Young, Titus O'Neil]], Wrestling/JustinGabriel, [[Wrestling/RonKillings R-Truth]]... and [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]][[/note]] beforehand, they too had to recover from a pre-match attack by the Rhodes brothers as well. Nevertheless they almost evened the odds with quick eliminations of five faces, with Reigns in particular eliminating Titus O'Neill, Justin Gabriel and Zack Ryder with spears in less than a minute without tagging out. It would take Daniel Bryan dropkicking Ambrose and Rollins to isolate Reigns before the faces were able to outnumber him ''just'' enough to pin him, the sheer OhCrap look on Ambrose and Rollins' faces at the sight of this -- ''the only time that Reigns was pinned in his time on the main WWE roster''[[note]]not counting his time on NXT[[/note]] -- signalling that the tide had irrevocably turned; Ambrose and Rollins would go on to eliminate Darren Young, and after Ambrose's elimination Rollins eliminated R-Truth as well before finally being overwhelmed by the remaining Ziggler, Uso brothers and Bryan.

* In most role playing games that focus on combat, the player characters are the top dogs in most or even all their fights. If they weren't, an honest game would not be possible. Even if the player characters were even money to win, the campaign would be over after four battles in 93.75% of cases. Thus, the villains and monsters of just about every combat-centric RPG have some serious chutzpah going up against your Murder Hobos.
* Most ''TabletopGame/RocketAge'' villains tend to have some very admirable traits, even the ''Nazis''. One is an absolute gentleman for example, while another might be unspeakably brave despite his cruelty. However their deficiencies in... other areas tend to leave them somewhat less palatable.

** [[BigBad Abaddon The Despoiler]] may have a reputation as a MemeticLoser (thanks to some poor writing on the part of Games Workship), but he's still a Space Marine who can remember walking and fighting alongside the Emperor of Mankind Himself. As such, he'll face anyone who manages to directly engage him in battle head on. In-universe, he's kept scars inflicted on him on two separate occasions by particularly [[WorthyOpponent worthy opponents]]. It's also notable that when he finally destroyed the Fortress World of Cadia, he made it a point to teleport down to the thickest fighting to directly engage the Imperial forces. Those forces included [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Saint Celestine, a Living Saint]] as well as the grim forces of [[Undead The Legion of the Damned]]. He was the last living warrior of Chaos to retreat before the final conflagration, and saluted his surviving enemies as he teleported away.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'', althought not villains per se, the dvergar who choose to fight the drow rather than trading with them shows this. Even after being reduced to a remnant by the desperate, fleeing dokkalfar (and later outright invading drow) and having no mana, they still are a real danger to drow trade caravans and get in a few good blows against the [[{{Ranger}} Highland Raiders]]. The last is a bit like Somali pirates attacking a US battleship in terms of power levels.

* In ''Webcomic/AMiracleOfScience'', one may find it hard not to root for [[MadScientist Doctor Haas]] as he strives to take over the world despite being hunted down by not only the police, but also a [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens godlike]] HiveMind. (It helps that the comic is the TropeNamer for ScienceRelatedMemeticDisorder, providing an explanation for his actions beyond simple two-dimensional villainy.)

Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose, but the mark of Villainous Valor is that it sees the "bad guys" using tropes that you wouldn't expect from them. In fact, if you were just tuning in, you might even be confused about who you're expected to root for. A fight between the KnightInShiningArmor and TheDragon with his SpikesOfVillainy will often leave you cheering for TheHero, but what if TheDragon locks swords with the hero and gets between him and his [[BigBad master]], to [[YouShallNotPass give the latter time to escape]]? What if TheDragon is seemingly struck down, only for his UndyingLoyalty towards his master and his [[{{Determinator}} sheer, unbroken will]] to spur him into a full-blown [[HeroicSecondWind Villainous Second Wind]]? The scene changes completely.

This valour may show up more easily in an EvilVersusEvil fight. The BadassNormal villain may be arrogant, determined, sure of himself and DefiantToTheEnd against the BadassNormal hero, but what if he has to fight against an EldritchAbomination? Perhaps [[TheWorfEffect he is defeated easily]], just to prove that the eldritch abomination means business. Or perhaps... he will be arrogant, determined, sure of himself and defiant to the end, even in the face of armageddon. In that case, he may earn our admiration, and if he even manages to [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu punch out]] or [[DidYouJustScamCthulhu scam]] the eldritch abomination, even more so.

Of course, fortitude in the face of adversity is not necessarily always a redeeming quality; sometimes, if the villain had slaughtered TheHero's entire family, [[ForTheEvulz driven by a desire to inflict needless suffering]], then subjected the hero's LoveInterest to ColdBloodedTorture, before explaining his evil plan to destroy the city, [[SoftSpokenSadist all while maintaining an even tone of voice]], his [[DefiantToTheEnd refusal to back down]] without a fight can serve to demonstrate a stubborn refusal to allow the hero to dispense clean justice, or otherwise demonstrate that the villain does not even value his own life, let alone that of anyone else.

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/StarWarsVaderDown https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vader_down_1.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Did they really think that ''Darth Vader'' would yield?]]

Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose, but the mark of Villainous Valor is that it sees the "bad guys" using tropes that you wouldn't expect from them. In fact, if you were just tuning in, you might even be confused about who you're expected to root for. A fight between the KnightInShiningArmor and TheDragon with his SpikesOfVillainy will often leave you cheering for TheHero, but what if TheDragon locks swords with [[ImplacableMan the hero]] and gets between the hero and his [[BigBad master]], to [[HeroicSacrifice allow him]] [[UndyingLoyalty time to escape]]? What if TheDragon is seemingly struck down, only for his UndyingLoyalty towards his master and his [[{{Determinator}} sheer, unbroken will]] to spur him into a full-blown [[HeroicSecondWind Villainous Second Wind]]? The scene changes completely.

Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose, but the mark of Villainous Valor is that it sees the "bad guys" using tropes that you wouldn't expect from them. In fact, if you were just tuning in, you might even be confused about who you're expected to root for. A fight between the KnightInShiningArmor and TheDragon with his SpikesOfVillainy will often leave you cheering for TheHero, but what if TheDragon locks swords with [[ImplacableMan the hero]] and gets between the hero and his [[BigBad master]], to [[HeroicSacrifice allow him]] [[UndyingLoyalty time to escape]]? The scene changes completely.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1552059336035203600
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.

* In the film ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'', there's a reason why Shan Yu is nowadays considered one of the most badass of Disney villains: he's strong enough to easily break down a barricaded door or effortlessly slice through a massive pillar with his sword. He's also very proud of his army, as shown at the beginning when he thought it was perfect that all of China knew they were coming after the signal fire was lit, and when he flatly refused to avoid the Imperial troops and instead opted to take them head on, knowing that they are the elite of China's armies.

* Yzma in ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'' is a comedic villain, but at one point she pursues the heroes down the high sheer wall of a castle via improvised bungee-jumping.

* Ruber in ''WesternAnimation/QuestForCamelot'' is a psychotic (but quite human) murderer who faces down and kills an enormous threatening dragon with his bare hands.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' has the Mutant Leader. When Batman shows up at the mutants' lair in his giant tank of a Batmobile and begins taking out his minions, the Leader discovers that he's been [[ThouShaltNotKill using rubber bullets]], which prompts the Leader to walk up to the Batmobile... and start [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech mouthing off to Batman, calling him a coward for not being willing to kill and challenging him to fight man-to-man]] and in the ensuing fight, he would have nearly killed Batman had Robin not intervened, and even in their second fight where Batman has the upper hand and begins fighting strategically, the Leader still holds his own. He may be a violent psychopath, but anyone willing to take on the goddamn Batman has some serious brass ones.
-->'''Mutant Leader''': All this metal, and you don't even use it to kill! It's just a shell to keep you safe?! What's the matter? Ain't you got the stomach for it?! I call you '''''COWARD!''''' Come out here and face me like a man! I kill you! I [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Eat. Your. Heart!]] Prove you can take me! ''Prove you can fight with your hands!'' Come on, man! You're ''boring'' me!
* ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'': Frollo gets a small moment of this in the climax, when the cathedral is under siege. He takes a sword off one of his mooks and uses it to hack through the (considerably heavy) wooden doors of the cathedral, braving a torrent of molten lead being poured down from the top by Quasimodo in doing so. When he gets to the top, he briefly wrestles with Quasi (who is half his age and demonstrably strong enough to ''shake the entire cathedral'' with his exertions) and he fights Quasi and swings with enough force to crack solid stone. Not bad at all for [[EvilOldFolks such an old man]].

* Almost certainly the reason for Spike's early popularity on ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', being simultaneously the first vampire adversary of Buffy to be depicted as more than a soul-less monster, and the first to avoid the {{Curb Stomp Battle}}s that were endemic in season one.

** Ramsay in the show is even ''more'' dangerous than the Ramsay of the books, as he has not only butchered his way through Yara's fifty best ironborn reavers, leading from the front without a stitching of clothing protecting his vital organs but also runs roughshod over Stannis's admittedly demoralised and outnumbered army and all without a single scratch on his person to show for it.

* ''Series/BullyBeatdown'' pits bullies against pro MMA fighters for the chance to win $10,000. Nobody likes bullies, but the deck is clearly stacked against them, and one can't help a twinge of admiration for those who hold their own and don't get stomped outright.
* ''Series/{{Alphas}}'' had a one-off villain called The Caretaker whose job it was to look after Mitchell, an Alpha with the ability to store anyone's memories inside his brain. When Hicks and Cat remove Mitchell from his holding location, The Caretaker comes charging after them. In terms of pure fighting ability, he's outmatched: Hicks has SuperReflexes and Kat, due to her superhuman muscle memory, has a number of devastating fighting moves (and has recently completed the ''entire'' FBI Academy course load in about two weeks, meaning she is now trained in the use of a firearm as well.) The Caretaker has one advantage though: A HealingFactor. The guy shrugs off getting shot, ''having his neck broken'', and '''being rammed with a Mack truck''' all in the name of taking care of his charge. He only dies because Kat exploits the fact that he can't swim while healing.

* Several of the Robot Masters are given this trait by Music/TheMegas, by having them express their certainty that Franchise/MegaMan is going to kill them (at least two literally ''call him'' [[TheDreaded "death"]]), but having them conquer their fear and stand up to go toe-to-toe with him anyway - for love, for loyalty, or even just for revenge. [[ForegoneConclusion It never ends well for any of them.]]

* [[http://www.tuckerskobolds.com/ Tucker's Kobolds]] are a textbook case. Even though they were no match for the high-level adventurers in a straight fight, they used the terrain to their advantage and set up a variety of clever traps to make the [=PCs=]' lives hell.
* Most ''TabletopGame/RocketAge'' villains tend to have some very admirable traits, even the ''Nazis''. One is an absolute gentleman for example, while another might be unspeakably brave despite his cruelty. However their deficiencies in... other areas tend to leave them somewhat less palatable.
* In most role playing games that focus on combat, the player characters are the top dogs in most or even all their fights. If they weren't, an honest game would not be possible. Even if the player characters were even money to win, the campaign would be over after four battles in 93.75% of cases. Thus, the villains and monsters of just about every combat-centric RPG have some serious chutzpah going up against your Murder Hobos.

* In ''Webcomic/AMiracleOfScience'', one may find it hard not to root for [[MadScientist Doctor Haas]] as he strives to take over the world despite being hunted down by not only the police, but also a [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens godlike]] HiveMind. (It helps that the comic is the TropeNamer for ScienceRelatedMemeticDisorder, providing an explanation for his actions beyond simple two-dimensional villainy.)

* Tweedle in ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' is an arrogant, ruthless, would-be conqueror of Europa, but he certainly has no lack of courage.

* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSDfxde8fSg this video]] that is violently opposed to the [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]] [[MemeticMutation arrow to the knee meme]], a [[HollywoodNerd short, fat, nerdy guy]] goes to type the joke into a Website/YouTube comment when the game's main character bursts out of the screen, [[{{Kneecapping}} kneecaps]] the nerd with arrows to both knees, then begins to strangle the nerd and tell him how much he sucks for [[NeverHeardThatOneBefore liking meme jokes]]. He goes to [[CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon make some gory and violent death threats]] should the nerd ever do it again. The nerd responds by [[DefiantToTheEnd making an arrow to the knee joke]]. Sure, it gets him KilledMidSentence, but as the top-rated comment on the video says "I have to admit, the nerd has balls."

This often appears in shows where the [[AntiVillain villains are sympathetic]] or [[AntiHero the heroes questionable]]. Nevertheless, this is '''not''' a trope about [[RootingForTheEmpire viewer sympathy]] so much as bravery, ingenuity and [[WeakButSkilled skill]] on the part of a villainous underdog. If the villains are acting more like the soon-to-be-slaughtered protagonists of a horror film, we might be looking at a MookHorrorShow instead. Contrast DavidVersusGoliath, where the hero is the weaker one.

* An episode of the classic UsefulNotes/WorldWarII series ''Series/{{Combat}}'' called "The Cossack" had the most tenacious German soldier of all time. In the teaser, he fails to blow up a strategically important bridge during the German retreat, and tries to complete the task before the rest of the American army comes through. He infiltrates the local Church and disguises himself as the town priest. He manages to keep his disguise with all the Americans around him, making up cover stories for his German accent ("I'm Swiss.") and being near the bridge ("I'm going fishing.") on the fly, even managing to get away with killing the young Catholic GI who sees through him without anyone seeing. It was almost disappointing to see him fail in the end, he'd worked so hard up to that point.

* Displayed by UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler of all people during his second appearance in ''WebVideo/EpicRapBattlesOfHistory''. He's ready to rap (against Darth freakin' Vader) only seconds after having been thawed from carbonite, a process that is agonizing, debilitating, and blinding. He then goes on a veritable roll, hitting every single one of Vader's {{Berserk Button}}s, culminating by declaring the Sith Lord's life to be a giant EpicFail and referring to him as both "Annie" and "TheEmperor's Whore." It gets him dropped into the Rancor Pit, but damn.

[[quoteright:350:Did they really think that ''Darth Vader'' would yield?]]

* In most role playing games that focus on combat, the player characters are the top dogs in most or even all their fights. If they weren't, an honest game would not be possible. Even if the player characters were even money to win, the campaign would be over after four battles in 93.75% of cases. Thus, the heroes and monsters of just about every combat-centric RPG have some serious chutzpah going up against your Murder Hobos.