Basic Trope: A villain suffers an emotional or psychological breakdown as a result of their plans being defeated.
- Straight:
- The normally Affably Evil Emperor Evulz responds to the failure of his plan at the hands of Alice with a screamed rant and physical violence against his minions.
- Same as previous example, except Evulz is Faux Affably Evil. Meaning that once Alice foils his plans, he drops all pretense of kindness and goes on a rant about how his plan should never have failed in the first place, even attempting to kill Alice for even trying to foil such plans.
- Exaggerated:
- Emperor Evulz responds to his defeat by attempting to blow up the galaxy.
- Emperor Evulz goes completely insane after his plan fails.
- Emperor Evulz decides to go One-Winged Angel after being almost killed as he has nothing left to lose and would rather die a monster than let the hero destroy his meticulous planning.
- Downplayed: Emperor Evulz responds to his defeat with suppressed rage, a nervous twitch, and clear desperation to come up with a new plan.
- Justified:
- Emperor Evulz is not particularly well-adjusted at the best of times, and the shock of his recent experiences with the heroes has been gradually unhinging him. His plan's ultimate defeat at the hands of Alice was just the straw that broke the camel's back.
- Emperor Evulz has spent years working towards his plans. Wouldn't you be jarred if someone crushed your life's work and goal?
- Evulz knows he's going to be subjected to a Cruel and Unusual Death and can't do anything to stop it from happening.
- Evulz thought he was unbeatable. His ego can't handle the fact that he's not.
- Evulz was defeated by another villain who is an Omnicidal Maniac. When Evulz witnesses his opponent defeat his Arch-Enemy Alice, his ego cannot handle being second best on top of being defeated, and he goes absolutely berserk on the villain who beat him.
- Inverted:
- Alice suffers a Heroic BSoD upon suffering a major defeat at the hands of Emperor Evulz.
- Emperor Evulz takes over the world and has a break down on the realization that now he has to run it.
- Emperor Evulz's defeat taught him an important lesson about keeping emotions under control and he is far more collected in his future appearances.
- Emperor Evulz was more than a little unhinged before he took over the world. Now that he's the new ruler, the constant trial by fire has made him dangerously competent at what he does.
- Emperor Evulz goes mad with power as his plans succeed.
- Evulz goes into a coma after being defeated.
- Evulz losing his mind is precisely how his plan fails.
- Evulz suddenly drops the Villain Ball the second his needlessly complicated plans fall apart, deciding it's time to get dangerous and just shoot the hero.
- As things start to go wrong Emperor Evulz goes from a Large Ham to a calm, focused and careful state.
- Amazing Girl goes bonkers after failing to defeat Emperor Evulz.
- Bob gets thrown into a Heroic Safe Mode when Emperor Evulz defeats him.
- Emperor Evulz actually succeeds with his evil plan and suffers a Villainous BSoD as a result.
- Evulz only becomes a Large Ham once he gets Drunk on the Dark Side, with his subsequent humiliation bringing him back to his senses.
- Subverted:
- Evulz only appears to be having a breakdown; he's actually lulling Alice into a false sense of security so that his back-up plan will catch her by surprise.
- Emperor Evulz starts to get worked up, but his top minion General Drake snaps him out of it.
- After his plans fails horribly for the hundredth time, Evulz just looks in disbelief for a few seconds before facepalming with a quiet moan.
- Evulz goes on a lengthy rant on how his plan has been foiled...only to regain composure and confidence not long afterwards before proceeding to taunt Alice.
- Double Subverted:
- Unfortunately for Evulz, Alice foils his back-up plan as well; this time, Evulz's breakdown is very genuine.
- Evulz does not respond well to Drake's Get A Hold Of Yourself Man, and gives him a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
- Moments later, he slams his face into the desk in disappointment, before letting out a scream of pure mental agony that his plans keep failing, complete with a Big "WHY?!".
- Parodied: Evulz responds to his defeat with a petty and childish Inelegant Blubbering-laden temper tantrum which would make a four-year-old child embarrassed.
- Zig Zagged:
- Evulz suffers rapid Mood Whiplash; it's hard to tell when he's genuinely having a breakdown and when he isn't (and when he's just messing with his minions).
- Evulz breaks down when his plans are getting close to ruined, but shortly after he's been defeated, he calms back down, composes himself, and creates another scheme, restarting the cycle once the heroes fight him again.
- Averted:
- Evulz manages to keep it together despite his plans falling apart.
- Evulz finds it genuinely hilarious when his own plans implode.
- Evulz wins.
- Enforced: "Let's face it; Actor Bob is a Large Ham, and it'd be a shame to waste that when he's playing Emperor Evulz. Let's write a scene at the end when he just snaps; give Bob a chance to really chew the scenery."
- Lampshaded: "Heroes breaching my fortress walls! My plans in ruins! I AM INCREDIBLY PISSED OFF HERE, PEOPLE!"
- Invoked: Alice knows Emperor Evulz's Berserk Button and is gleefully pushing it during the climactic battle precisely to trigger a breakdown on his part, thus destabilizing him and giving her the advantage.
- Exploited: Alice knows Emperor Evulz is bound to lose his cool and exploits his lack of focus accordingly.
- Defied:
- Evulz takes mind-altering drugs and has had extensive brain surgery specifically designed to remove his capability of breaking down in a crisis.
- Whether it is for the sake of defiance or dignity, Evulz absolutely refuses to allow his enemies to see him become unhinged. And so, even to the last second, he doesn't.
- Evulz has surprisingly good composure, and knows that if he screws up by having a villainous breakdown, it could risk the plan completely getting thrown in the trash.
Evulz: A plan of such magnitude has an even chance of being foiled as it is succeeding! I must not lose composure, else it gets foiled even more... - Discussed: "The only way you'll win a battle against Evulz is if you make him angry. Very angry."
- Conversed: "Wow, the villains in these comic books need some serious anger management lessons."
- Deconstructed:
- Evulz's tantrum is just an example of how maladjusted, infantile and ultimately pathetic he is.
- Evulz has a heart attack.
- Evulz's emotional breakdown clouds his judgement and causes him to make the situation worse.
- Evulz’s mental state collapses and he turns into an Empty Shell from the sheer stress of the situation. As a result he’s rendered completely helpless when the heroes knock down his door.
- Reconstructed:
- Evulz's tantrum comes at the end of an amazingly unfortunate, stressful and humiliating series of defeats for him; who won't vent a little?
- Evulz become MORE, not less, dangerous than before when he's enraged: going from a Smug Snake who was constantly Just Toying with Them to a No-Nonsense Nemesis backed by Unstoppable Rage.
- Played for Laughs:
- Evulz, in a Wangsting fashion, throws a screaming, crying hissy-fit upon being defeated by Alice.
- Evulz stops for a brief period before chuckling slightly. He then suddenly begins laughing maniacally and practically bashing himself over the head while reciting how absurd his loss is. The heroes stand there, watching him take down the remainder of his own plan. After he's done throwing a fit, he then just falls over unconscious.
- Evulz, with all of his insane science creations, is overpowered by Bob the Destroyer. Alice tries to also defeat Bob, but fails. With all of his best inventions destroyed, and Bob gloating over him, Evulz somehow becomes so enraged that he manages to start hitting Bob hard enough to knock him down to the ground. Alice and the other heroes watch as Bob is reduced to a blubbering crybaby and leaves Earth. Evulz then walks off, battle damaged, but determined to be the number one evil in this town. The heroes then watch him leave and have conflicting emotions about what they just witnessed.
- Played for Drama:
- Evulz is a Tragic Villain with a Dark and Troubled Past and his screaming, crying breakdown is portrayed as sympathetic.
- Evulz is an Evil Former Friend of Alice who was forced or tricked into betraying her. He futilely begs her to let him go before screaming and cursing her and family, as Alice reluctantly turns him in.
- Evulz is a Fallen Hero Well-Intentioned Extremist whose conscience is eating away at him. When his defeat renders all his crimes pointless, the guilt and shame destroys him.
- Played for Horror:
- Evulz's breakdown makes him even more dangerous than he was before, as now there's nothing holding him back from simply killing Alice. And it is terrifying.
- Evulz is about to face a Cruel and Unusual Death, mainly by fire. The instant he catches fire, he begins to screech and panic, frantically rolling about in vain to try and put the fire out. It doesn't help him, but the cries of agony and sheer terror is daunting enough to even shake Alice.
- Plotted a Good Waste: The Faux Affably Evil Evulz starts ranting on how his evil plans, as heinous as they may be, should never have failed, right in front of Alice's face. Alice ignores all this and dismisses them as boring small talk, yet Evulz's so called evil plans are actually for the benefit of the entire world, making him a Well-Intentioned Extremist with understandable goals. His rants only serve to make the audience label Evulz and lovable and sympathetic villain and Alice a hated heroine. Other characters in Alice's story also see Evulz as the hero and Alice as the villain, hence why they prefer to cheer for Evulz and jeer Alice.
Back to Villainous Breakdown.
