History YouHaveFailedMe / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'':
** When [[DarkMessiah Brother Blood]] almost has his identity exposed by Team Arrow halfway through Season 2, his [[TheManBehindTheMan benefactor]] [[spoiler: [[FallenHero Slade Wilson]]]] kills several of his associates as punishment for his clumsiness, and warns him that if it happens again, [[spoiler: Slade]] will kill ''him''.
** [[EvilSorcerer Damien Darhk]] has a habit of killing anyone who fails (or even disagrees with) him using his magic. At one point, one of his lieutenants expresses doubt over Darhk's wife's ability to win the mayoral election, while in a tele-conference, thinking he's safe from Darhk's reprisal. He's wrong. So, after [[spoiler:Darhk's source of power is destroyed by the WesternAnimation/{{Vixen}}]], he finds himself in jail with most of his underlings happy to let him rot there. [[spoiler: And when Darhk's powers are restored, he takes his revenge by killing all his associates and taking full control of HIVE.]]

* ''Series/GothamKnights2023'':
** Detective Ford and his squad are all decapitated by the Talon for failing to eliminate Turner and the others.
** [[spoiler: Mayor Hill is fatally gassed by the Court of Owls for bungling handling the Mutant Gang's attack on the Founders' Gala.]]

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** Wilson Fisk in ''Series/Daredevil2015'' repeatedly uses this:
*** After Karen Page exposes a numbers racket that he was running at Union Allied Construction, Fisk has everyone involved in the scheme killed off. He spares Karen because everything she knows is now public knowledge, but he has her boss killed and staged to look like a drug overdose. Clyde Farnum (a guard that James Wesley had blackmailed into attempting to hang Karen in her jail cell, which failed as she fought back and clawed at his eyes) is shot in his basement and staged to look like a suicide. And Rance (an assassin that tried to kill Karen in her apartment, but whom Matt Murdock fought off) is hanged in his jail cell, ironically by the very method that Farnum had tried to do to Karen
*** After Detective Christian Blake, a corrupt cop on Fisk's payroll, accidentally leaks information to the "Devil of Hell's Kitchen" about the Russians' hideouts, Fisk arranges for him to be shot by a sniper while manning the scene of a hostage situation. This fails to kill Blake, forcing Fisk to send his partner Carl Hoffman to finish him off at the hospital.
** ''Series/LukeCage2016'':
*** Cottonmouth kills his lieutenant Tone after Tone, dispatched to find Chico, tries to take him out by lighting up Pop's barbershop with two submachine guns, killing Pop (who was a mentor and friend to Cottonmouth) in the process.
*** When Shades questions Diamondback's actions too much, Diamondback decides to send Zip to kill him. The attempt backfires as Shades is able to grab a gun, kill both of Zip's men, get Zip to admit to Diamondback's complicity, then shoots Zip in the head.

* ''Series/SpiderManJapan'': The last episode of the series has Professor Monster give Amazoness one last chance in killing Spider-Man. Amazoness thinks she succeeds, but after Spider-Man is revealed to be still alive, Professor Monster responds by having Bella and Rita mortally wound her. Amazoness tries to spite her boss by fleeing in his escape rocket as she dies, but Professor Monster simply blows the rocket to Kingdom Come as it takes off.

* In the ''Series/{{Titans|2018}}'', episode [[Recap/TitansS1E5Together "Together"]], [[spoiler: the Nuclear Family]] are killed by the Organisation after being captured by the Titans, partly due to this trope and partly so [[spoiler: they]] can't talk. Armed goons are sent after [[spoiler: Dr Adamson, the Family's [[TheHandler handler]] as well, but he's saved by [[ComicBook/{{Robin}} Dick and Jason]]]].

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959:'' "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E65TheObsoleteMan The Obsolete Man]]": The Chancellor of the State is tricked and trapped by a lowly simple librarian named Romney Wordsworth after Wordsworth is sentenced to death for his obsolescence. Wordsworth is given the choice of his manner in death and chooses an assassin. The assassin, at Wordsworth's instructions, placed a powerful bomb in Wordsworth's apartment, then a film crew set up a remote camera to film the death, and then Wordsworth asked the Chancellor over. Once the man is there, Wordsworth locks the door and plans to keep the man there until the bomb goes off. While the Chancellor is initially confident someone will order his rescue, Wordsworth is confident that the State would never risk losing face in needing to rescue one of their own. The Chancellor realizes there is truth to this and spends the next half hour increasingly nervous and antsy while Wordsworth calmly reads passages from the Bible to all who are watching. Before the final minute is up, the Chancellor cracks and begs in the name of God to be set free, which Wordsworth grants but remains in the blast. For his cowardice before the televised audience, the next day the Chancellor is declared "Obsolete" and the mob which sentenced Wordsworth now surrounds and lunges at the former Chancellor, who all the while is proclaiming his worth to the State as they drag him away to be killed.

-->'''Damar:''' Oh, I'm sure she'll understand. But if she doesn't, I look forward to meeting Weyoun 9.

** A variation occurs as well in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E06SacrificeOfAngels}} Sacrifice of Angels]]" where [[TheDragon Damar]] kills Ziyal, the daughter of Gul Dukat, after learning she turned traitor and tried to help the Federation retake the station; using Dukat's [[IronicEcho own words]] on how traitors must be dealt with as the reason why he ''had'' to do this. Dukat suffers a complete mental breakdown as a result.

** Played with in "Threads". Anubis says exactly these lines to Ba'al for losing Dakara to the Jaffa, but points out that Ba'al not only failed, he did the one thing worse than failure or even cowardice. Ba'al betrayed Anubis by cooperating with his enemies to destroy the Dakara superweapon and prevent Anubis from using it to complete his omnicidal megalomania. Anubis delays Ba'al's execution only so he can witness Anubis wiping out all life in the galaxy at once, Ba'al included.

** Used this as well. Wolfram and Hart was notorious for it, though they rarely did it onscreen. There was also the vampire Knox ([[NamesTheSame not to be confused]] with Knox the W & H employee of Season 5), who killed one of his best minions, who had been with the gang for 75 years, to prove a point about them getting soft.

** ''Series/KamenRiderZeroOne'' villain [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Gai Amatsu]] starts increasingly relying on the threat of violence as he loses control of the situation, eventually reaching the point where he starts having his own minions killed for failing him. Unlike the above examples, there's not even a hint of justification for this behavior, not even insanity: Gai's simply a monster.

'''Ira:''' Well, I'll tell ya, Dan. You're either dead or you're not dead. There's no such thing as "[[OnlyMostlyDead sorta dead]]". Here, let me show you. ''[shoots him on the spot, turns to other, more sympathetic underling]'' You've just been promoted. Congratulations.

** It looked like Spike was going to pull this on Billy Fordham in "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E7LieToMe}} Lie To Me]]" when Billy's plan to deliver several dozen people to Spike is foiled by Buffy. But not only does Spike not kill Billy, he keeps his end of the deal and sires Billy. After all, Billy kept up his part of the deal, and Spike probably knew that Buffy would be waiting at Billy's grave to stake him when he rose anyways.
** Glory does this to two of her minions in "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E18Intervention}} Intervention]]".

* In the ''Series/{{Titans}}'', episode [[Recap/TitansS1E5Together "Together"]], [[spoiler: the Nuclear Family]] are killed by the Organisation after being captured by the Titans, partly due to this trope and partly so [[spoiler: they]] can't talk. Armed goons are sent after [[spoiler: Dr Adamson, the Family's [[TheHandler handler]] as well, but he's saved by [[ComicBook/{{Robin}} Dick and Jason]]]].

** Apophis himself ordered Teal'c to kill one of fellow Jaffa, Va'lar, who had similarly underperformed, despite Va'lar offering to lead the second wave from the front. [[spoiler:Teal'c faked the Va'lar's death.]]

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

* ''Series/TwentyFour'': Season one example: One of the girls kidnapped by a sub-villain as part of a plan that's [[GambitRoulette waaay too complicated to describe here]] gets away and is hit by a car, so only [[DamselScrappy Kimberly]] is taken instead. Said sub-villain says he killed the other girl, but his boss already knew that she'd been taken to a hospital. He takes a page ''straight'' from the Darth Vader book of villainy:

** Used this as well. Wolfram and Hart was notorious for it, though they rarely did it onscreen. There was also the vampire Knox ([[NamesTheSame not to be confused]] with Knox the W & H employee of Season Five), who killed one of his best minions, who had been with the gang for 75 years, to prove a point about them getting soft.

** SubvertedTrope in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E2ThePiratePlanet The Pirate Planet]]". The villainous Captain hisses "When someone fails me, Mr. Fibuli, someone ''dies!''" — then [[TheBlofeldPloy kills a random extra]] instead of the person who actually failed, because he's the Captain's right-hand man and is too useful to kill just out of pique. Of course, the EvilOverlordList specifically says ''not'' to do this, but the Captain is just too awesome to care.

** Played straight in the episode "Losing Time": at the urging of project leader Drillic, Scorpius sends a test pilot on a flight into an unstable wormhole - only for the pilot to melt inside the cockpit. Scorpius, who generally believes in treating subordinates with proper respect, punishes Drillic for the casual waste of life by assigning him the task of piloting the second test-flight.

* ''Series/LegendOfTheSeeker'': Darken Rahl seems to be getting in the habit of this, usually by feigning understanding, taking the other person's hand, then slicing them from the wrist to the elbow and letting them bleed out. He only did it once, in the pilot, to his general, who was supposed to kill the Seeker as the baby but failed. And the blood didn't go to waste - he used it immediately to send a message to his troops.

** In the episode "[[Recap/RevolutionS1E8TiesThatBind Ties That Bind]]", Corporal Lawrence had to report to Sergeant Will Strausser that he was unable to capture Miles Matheson. Strausser responds by stabbing him dead on the spot. A JustifiedTrope, because Strausser is explicitly stated to be a sociopath.

* ''Series//EarthFinalConflict'': Alien leader Zo'or once punished subordinate Sandoval, not by killing him, but by firing the mothership's weapons into the ocean, causing a massive tidal wave that utterly destroys the island Sandoval was born on.

** Apophis himself ordered Teal'c to kill one of his generals that had similarly underperformed, despite that general offering to lead the second wave from the front. [[spoiler:Teal'c faked his death.]]