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Sinestro: I will have [the ring] after your death! —Superman: The Animated Series, "In Brightest Day"
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Basically, the character refuses to carry the Hero or Villain Ball. They may be Genre Savvy or simply very practical, and won't delay or take unnecessary chances when their objective is at hand. For example, the villain really does think that Murder Is the Best Solution, and no, they aren't going to do any Evil Gloating or exposit on their plan before shooting, thank you very much. A Wrong Genre Savvy opponent is probably going to be confused to the point they outright ask "You're really going to just shoot me?" They might try to stall their No Nonsense Nemesis by offering suggestions like "Wouldn't it be more fun to suspend me above a vat of acid and slowly lower me?"
See also Killed Mid-Sentence. Compare Shut Up, Kirk and Aren't You Going to Ravish Me? Contrast Evil Is Stylish.
Anime and Manga[]
- Matt's death in Death Note is this. He is chased and cornered by Mooks, and explains that they aren't going to shoot him because they'll need to interrogate him. They shoot him to death immediately, with one remarking that Matt was obviously stalling.
- Frieza from Dragonball Z. When Gohan, Piccolo, Krillin, and Vegeta team up on him, he doesn't take any chances holding back his One-Winged Angel card. And the minute he transforms, his first target is Dende, who wasn't actually fighting but was healing the others behind his back.
- Cell is this while imperfect - as he knows he is too weak to win against his stronger foes without gaining power, he instead deliberately and mercilessly kills to gain power. When fighting those he knows he can defeat, he methodically goes after anyone who makes themselves a threat - once he is struck by anyone entering the fight he immediately makes sure they can't return later to screw up his plans before continuing his main goal. After he becomes Perfect, however, he starts holding the Villain Ball more often.
- Crocodile in One Piece doesn't usually mess around, unless he's absolutely sure he can do so and has the time for a minor distraction. When he first fought Luffy, Crocodile gave him a few minutes to attack pointlessly, then promptly kicked his ass. Subsequent fights are similar.
- Even more so Magellan. He rarely speaks while fighting, and when he comes across Blackbeard and his crew invading Impel Down, he attacks them instantly instead of questioning their motives.
Comic Books[]
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Punisher: I've got all the therapy you'll ever need right here, comedian. |
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- Played with in Punisher comics quite a lot, especially the MAX series. In the "In the Beginning" arc, villain Nicky Cavella puts a gun to the Punisher's head when the Punisher is tied up and pulls the trigger. The Punisher dodges the shot and bites off several of Cavella's fingers. Later lampshaded in the "Widowmaker" arc, where several villains comment how every time the Punisher is captured, the villain doesn't just shoot him.
Film[]
- Kind of an odd example from Serenity, since you don't know if River is a bad guy or not at this point:
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[River is pointing a gun at Mal] |
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- Joker claims to be one in The Dark Knight, see below, but he really isn't.
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Gambol: You think you can steal from us and just walk away? |
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- The First Order in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy. Compared to their Galactic Empire predecessors, the First Order will come at you with an overwhelming amount of firepower as their opening attack to prevent you from mounting any kind of defence. Though The Last Jedi shows that this is also a pitfall of First Order tactics. As they always make a forward assault, it blinds them to their enemies doing something else.
- The Black Order, particularly Thanos and Corvus Glaive, in Avengers: Infinity War. They show up and go right to attacking for the Stones, not letting themselves be distracted by the usual Marvel Cinematic Universe bantering. Thanos goes one-step further in Avengers: Endgame by destroying the Infinity Stones once he has no further use of them to ensure the Avengers can't use them when they inevitably come for him.
Literature[]
- Dragon And Thief: "Don't I get a last meal? A blindfold? Anything?" Jack says this just before the baddies attempt to herd him into an airlock. He fortunately managed to stall long enough anyway.
- Fidelias in The Codex Alera. He tends to solve everything with as little fuss and drama as possible, and generally follows Pragmatic Villainy to the end.
- Nicodemus in The Dresden Files. Harry lampshades it when Nicky captures him in Death Masks, noting that Nicodemus is the kind of person who, when he says "join me or die", will do the "or die" part quickly, cleanly, with no gloating and a minimum of fuss.
Live Action TV[]
- Doctor Who
- The return of The Master in "Utopia" initially suggests he'll be like this; he lampshades and refuses to "have a nice little chat where I tell you all my plans and you think of a way to stop me", refuses to be moved by the Doctor's abject pleas, (even after the Doctor obeys his command to "use my name",) and instead of hanging around for ages to gloat or invoke The Only One Allowed to Defeat You, he simply abandons the Doctor in a situation that is likely to be fatal, but fully expects him to escape and plans accordingly. Even though this No Nonsenseness doesn't last (this version of the Master being one of the largest hams in television history), his brief appearance at the end of the relevant episode is very memorable for the sudden appearance of such a Dangerously Genre Savvy antagonist.
- The New Dalek Paradigm in "The Time of the Doctor", contrasting the usual Dalek Wrong Genre Savvy and Bond Villain Stupidity. While everyone else tried a variety of Zany Schemes to get past the Trenzalore force field, the Daleks just called in their units from across the galaxy and when they had enough of a force, simply assaulted the Papal Mainframe for how to get past the force field, even pulling an "I Have Your Wife" tactic with Clara to get the Doctor to agree to their requests. When that failed, they just carpet-bombed the shield until it broke and sent in their whole army to stop the return of the Time Lords.
Videogames[]
- While Dr. Eggman is a master of the Villain Exit Stage Left trope, at the end of the first game it was optional to attempt to kill him by completely destroying his Eggmobile. Sonic the Hedgehog's disregard for the doctor's well being became a recurring trope in the series; even Modern Sonic has had his moments.
Webcomics[]
- U.F.O:
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Ingrid: I mean, don't you want the satisfaction of knowing you beat me in a fair fight? |
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- Gort from Darken makes a habit of just killing enemies before they start a journey of lifelong revenge and repeated skirmishes. Friends and Repentants make no difference
- Jack Noir from Homestuck. When faced with a fight against John and Rose he simply teleports and sucker-stabs John in the back.
- Draconian Dignitary has this down to a tee.
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There's a narrow line to walk between obeying the orders of a clear superior and blindly facilitating a perfectly useless genocide. It takes a very savvy breed of psychopath to pull it off. |
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- In The Order of the Stick, Vaarsuvius disintegrates a captive without knowing who it is simply because dim nice guy Elan has captured him, which means the captive must be a villain who will escape to bedevil the team.
- Though it should be noted that V was suffering from a combination of PTSD and (the elven equivalent of) sleep deprivation at the time, and it's probable he/she would not have done so in a proper state of mind.
Web Original[]
- Item #7 on the Evil Overlord List.
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When I've captured my adversary and he says, "Look, before you kill me, will you at least tell me what this is all about?" I'll say, "No." and shoot him. No, on second thought I'll shoot him then say "No." |
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Western Animation[]
- In the Kim Possible movie "A Sitch in Time, Drakken is disappointed Shego wants to just kill Kim and co without first expositing her rise to power.
- The Simpsons: Sideshow Bob's brother Cecil is about to kill Bart.
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Cecil: At last I'm going to do what Bob never could. Kill Bart Simpson! |
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- A Deleted Scene from "$pringfield" (The One With... Mr. Burns opening a casino in Springfield and Homer becoming a blackjack dealer), seen in the "138th Episode Spectacular."
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Blofeld: 20. Your move, Mr. Bond. |
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- A scene from "Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming," when Bob's demands aren't met after taking control of an expired nuclear warhead:
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Bart: Bob, no! |
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- In My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Nightmare Moon is this. Her attempts to stop the main cast from reaching the Elements of Harmony are terribly half-assed, and she does take the time to gloat about having stolen them later on. However, she knew where they were the entire time, and shatters them as soon as Twilight comes anywhere near them - she was just having a little fun. If it weren't for the other way to trigger them, Equestria would be screwed.
- Her older sister shows a heroic version of this when Discord escapes from his prison. Her response is to drop her calm, Trickster Mentor mentality and order the Mane Cast to take the Elements Of Harmony to take him down ASAP. Sure, he managed to beat her to the Elements, but you've got to give her props for effort. Justified as she was the one who put him in his can in the first place and knows just how dangerous he really is.
- The Decepticons in Transformers: Cyberverse. Despite Evil Is Hammy, their preferred tactic is to kill everything they can and raze the land before going in so they can get what they came for.