Stating the Simple Solution in Comic Books.
- Archie Comics: One story has Archie attempting all sorts of wacky tactics to study, like rewarding himself with a snack for each page read and blasting music while studying, and none of it works since it keeps simply distracting him. Eventually, he goes to Dilton for advice who tells him, ever so gently, to JUST STUDY. It works and he earns a B on a particularly difficult test.
- The Avengers: In Dark Avengers #2, Doctor Doom pisses off Morgan Le Fay. She uses her magic to travel back in time and murder Doom when he was a child, but at the last moment decides that killing a helpless boy in his sleep doesn't prove anything, and instead, she should defeat Doom when he's at the height of his power to make the point that she's better than him. So she returns to the present and launches a full-scale assault on Latveria castle instead.
- Batman: During The Seduction of the Gun, Tim Drake is incredibly annoyed to learn that the high school he's infiltrated, where supposedly over 95% of the school population brings a gun to school, only turns on the metal detectors at the doors on Wednesday mornings. Despite the fact that figuring out what's wrong with the school board and having the metal detectors actually used would have solved most of the plot, this is never brought up again.
- C.O.P.S. (1988): In the final issue of the Comic-Book Adaptation, the C.O.P.S. have no hard evidence of Big Boss' criminal activities but they do have a large stack of unpaid parking tickets from his gang. So they come up with a Batman Gambit in which the whole team shows up at his office to take him to task for the tickets in the hopes that Big Boss will do something blatantly criminal to stop them so they can arrest him. When the crooks see the police arrive, they discuss what they should do about them. Big Boss' idiot nephew Berserko suggests they pay the tickets and ask the police to leave since they no longer have any reason to be there. He is glared into silence by the rest of the gang, which then tries to drive the C.O.P.S. off with brute force, which results in the police grounds to arrest them for owning illegal weaponry and attacking the police.
- Blue Beetle: The third Blue Beetle has a race of evil aliens called the Reach as villains, led by the Negotiator. The first thing said by the Negotiator's Dragon is "Why don't we just kill him?" to which the Negotiator replies, "No. Not without study." (The Beetle is meant to be a Reach Infiltrator, and the Negotiator's position is that they need to know why he isn't in case it happens again.)
- Doctor Strange: Dormammu could obliterate Strange without breaking a sweat, but he inevitably stalls and prolongs the moment (or lets Strange manipulate him into fighting 'fair'). Dormammu's wiser sister Umar is usually the one to point out that this strategy isn't the best.
- Justice League of America: Subverted in the story New Year's Evil: Prometheus has rendered Green Lantern helpless and muses that he could just shoot him if he chose to—then proceeds to do just that. (GL survives.)
- Lucky Luke: The Dalton brothers capture Luke more than once and, despite Jack and William suggesting just to kill him, Joe has always a "crueler" form of revenge that would let Luke finally escape from one way.
- MAD: In the parody of Double Jeopardy, the main character briefly considers using the fact that her husband, whom she was framed for murdering, is, in fact, alive against him to secure her pardon and ensure he gets his just deserts, but instead is talked into doing what she did in the movie — killing him under the belief that she can't be tried for his murder again.
- Marvel Adventures: In Marvel Adventures: Super Heroes #17, the scientist Diablo attempts to steal the Voynich Manuscript, believing it to be an alchemical text that will help him defeat the creature that has been causing chaos with his abilities. The Vision points out that the entirety of the manuscript is available online, and thus there was no need to steal it. Diablo stammers in shock at this revelation.
- Marvel Westerns: In "The Man Called Hurricane", a gathering of bandits has the titular gunslinger dead to rights and decide to give him a death by firing squad, only to succumb to Bond Villain Stupidity by allowing him to use his guns to attempt to retaliate, ignoring their Only Sane Man teammate who insists that they should NOT allow him to draw because "this is where everyone messes up". After all, they have a hundred men and he's only one guy - no way he could live through that... right? Hurricane then uses his supernatural powers to shoot every single one of them dead.
- Mickey Mouse Comic Universe: In Mickey Mouse Outwits the Phantom Blot, Mickey is frequently captured by a masked villain named The Phantom Blot. The Phantom Blot tries to dispose of him with various complicated death traps, which Mickey always manages to escape from. When the Phantom Blot is finally captured, Mickey asks him why the Phantom Blot didn't just kill him instead of using the death traps. The Phantom Blot then reveals he cannot stand to watch somebody die, and therefore used the death traps so he wouldn't be around when Mickey died.
- Monica's Gang: In one commemorative story, Monica and Jimmy Five go to an island where, according to an Internet legend, they would have access to tons of comic books if they handed over three artifacts found in the sea. When they complete the tasks and arrive there, however, they meet a bookstore owner who explains that he got stranded on the island and used his computer to create that legend, with the three required artifacts actually being pieces he needed to make a ship so he could escape (plus a popsicle he liked). When Monica and Jimmy Five point out that, since the bookstore owner had a working computer and access to the Internet, he could have simply called the competent authorities and asked for a rescue instead, he yells at them to stop pointing out flaws in his plan.
- New Avengers (2015): An instance of someone doing this to themselves, when the Plunderer boasts about how his Plunder-Bots are totally worth the rental fee, before stopping and asking why he and his minion, who are criminals, didn't just steal them (since the implication is Kevin's latest rampage is to recoup the costs of the rental fee).
- The Punisher: This happens in the The Punisher MAX storyline "Widowmaker". As seen in the earlier storyline Welcome Back, Frank, actually shooting the Punisher sometimes just makes him even angrier.
- The Question: Charlie's final epiphany about how to deal with the insurmountable Wretched Hive that is Hub City: Give up on it and leave.
- Richie Rich: Used in one story where Richie's friend, kid comedian Jackie Jokers, has realised that the "president" of the United States is a fake, but then he and Richie are kidnapped before they can expose the fake. It's all part of a plot to blow up Washington DC with a stolen atomic bomb, then blame the attack on an obvious Captain Ersatz of the Soviet Union and have both countries destroy each other, leaving the plotters' country as the most powerful in the world. But instead of simply shooting the boys once the plotters have them helpless, they leave them tied up right next to the ticking atomic bomb and of course, the boys escape and manage to find a way to stop the bomb.
- Rom: Spaceknight: An early story reverses this trope: After Rom is captured alive by some Dire Wraith scientists, they try to use the hero as a test subject. The Big Bad who commands them will have none of this and orders Rom killed as he is way too dangerous to keep alive. The scientists argue the point, but they ultimately comply. Fortunately, they are still so reluctant to do so that they take too long to get that task done that Rom still escapes in time.
- Runaways: While searching the Steins' property for evidence that they're supervillains, the teens find a locked shed. While Alex, Nico, Karolina, and Gert puzzle over how to lockpick or break it (even debating over whether Karolina should use her newly-discovered light powers to blast it open), Chase grabs a shovel, smashes it, and admonishes them for thinking too much.
- The Simpsons Futurama Crossover Crisis: Fry finally convinces Bart that the latter is a comic book character by showing him the Simpsons comic they're both in. Fry then asks Bart to help him find his friends, leading to:Bart: Why don't you just look in the comic and see where they are?
Fry: [slapping his own face] D'oh! - Spider-Man:
- In one issue of Sensational Spider-Man, Spidey has been captured by the Looter, who explains how he’s going to sell all the priceless things he’s stolen in order to buy a special meteorite with the profits. Spidey then asks why the Looter, a master thief, didn’t just steal the meteorite itself. After a pause, the Looter admits that the thought just never occurred to him.
- In an arc from Nick Spencer's run on The Amazing Spider-Man, the Thieves' Guild used a magic artifact to steal various hero's weapons and devices, including Spider-Man's web-shooters (while he was swinging through the city no less), Captain America's shield, Iron Man's armors, The Punisher's arsenal and Doctor Strange's Eye of Aggamoto. Reed Richards and Tony Stark formed a highly detailed plan to locate the stolen items, when Ms. Marvel announced that the Thieves' Guild also stole her cellphone. And that she just got a ping from her tablet's "Find My Phone" app.Tony Stark: Well, this is embarrassing.
- Suicide Squad: Deadshot's proposed solution to pretty much every mission. Even when it isn't an assassination. The Wall usually relegates it to "plan B".
- Superman:
- Last Son: Superman, after asking Lex Luthor for help, puts himself in such a perfect position to be killed that he asks Luthor why he hasn't done it yet. Luthor responds that he doesn't want to make a martyr of him right now and would like to prove that Superman is a danger to humanity first.
- The Killers of Krypton: When the Omega Men are storming into the Citadel, Harry Hokum plans to let them "find" and "rescue" several clones posing as their captive comrades. Then he will let them flee back to their base, and when they are feeling safe, he will activate his moles, and while the Omega Men are busy fighting them, he will send out an army of Supergirl clones to destroy the rebels and their base. One of his minions suggests that, since they are on board a starship loaded with nukes and the rebels are all gathered in one extremely vulnerable spot, they could just... nuke them? Nonetheless, Hokum retorts they will follow through with his perfect plan.Minion: Most revered leader Hokum, we have a rare opportunity at hand. With the rebel leadership and the Kryptonian in our sights, is it out of bounds for me to suggest an option? A nuclear option perhaps?
Harry Hokum: It is a tempting thought, isn't it? But this is a chess game. And I am four moves ahead. - The Earthwar Saga: When Lightning Lord kidnaps Light Lass, one of his minions points out that she is too dangerous to be allowed to live and they should just get rid of her quickly. Lightning Lord kills him immediately for suggesting he should kill his little sister.
- From Tank Vixens, when Üdda muses about her need for combat from her heavily-armed, orbital battle cruiser:Mook: Herr General—V'y not ch'ust nuke der liddle foxies out from orbit? You know, a liddle missile here, a liddle napalm dere? V'e cook 'em up real good for ya!
Üdda: ...V'ell how are ve gonna haff der nifty tank battles und bloodshed if you chust bomb everyt'ink!?! - Lampshaded in the following exchange from one of Tharg's Future Shocks from 2000 AD, written by Alan Moore, about a school that teaches its students how to be a proper villain.Mr. Dreadspawn: Now you have the hero in your power at last. What do you do, Doctor Devastation?
Doctor Devastation: Uhh... Shoot him?
Mr. Dreadspawn: Give me the strength! How's he going to escape and defeat you if you shoot him? - The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye:
- In one issue, Mad Doctor Pharma tries to get out of a deal with the Decepticon Justice Division by engineering and spreading a plague at a medical facility he's working at, in the hopes it would force high command to shut it down. Ratchet, "appalled... by [Pharma's] stupidity," suggests that he should have had his accomplices infect the DJD from the start. Pharma retorts that they weren't willing to try.
- Towards the end of the comic, Scorponok refuses to finish explaining his Evil Plan to the Scavengers...except, as they point out, they have the Magnificence, which knows everything and can answer any question, so they can just ask that instead. Scorponok, refusing to be upstaged by a fancy desk ornament, immediately goes right back to his monologue.
- Wonder Woman Vol 1: During their brief allegiance, Torcha gets more and more frustrated with Inventa's Complexity Addiction, repeatedly asking why they don't just kill Wonder Woman and the other Amazons while they have them at their mercy. In the end, Torcha turns on Inventa, but by then it's too late and Wonder Woman knocks her out almost instantly.
- There were plans for the X-Men crossover Fatal Attractions to include a major battle between Wolverine and Magneto. Peter David jokingly commented, "Adamantium's metal, right? If I were Magneto, I'd just rip Wolverine's skeleton out and be done with him" - which the writers and editors promptly decided to have him do. David later said that offhand comment was the biggest influence he'd ever had on the X-Men.
