History KarmaHoudini / TheDCU

* ''ComicBook/HeroesInCrisis'' does end with Wally West jailed for the deaths that occurred at Sanctuary. Meanwhile, Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman receive ''absolutely no punishment at all'' for the fact their half-assing of Sanctuary and abdication of the work to an abusive computer program led to multiple heroes being psychologically tortured and abused (in fact, Wally's nervous breakdown happened due to the way Sanctuary treated so all the deaths that occurred were technically their fault) and are allowed to just keep running Sanctuary as is with the excuse they apparently have no other options. Meanwhile, Lois Lane also receives no punishment for publishing all of the secrets and private information Wally sent her during his suicidal breakdown, despite that realistically the Daily Planet should've received a civil liberties lawsuit and Lois herself should've been fired for such a ''massive'' violation of ethics. [[spoiler:Even after ''ComicBook/FlashInfiniteFrontier'' saw Wally being absolved of the deaths thanks to it being retconned into Savitar escaping the Speed Force ''and'' Gold Beetle revealing all of the heroes who died (aside from Poison Ivy and Arsenal) are alive in the Timepoint, nothing is done to excuse or acknowledge the blatant emotional and mental torture the Trinity were responsible for, nor Lois's violation of civil liberties.]]

* ''ComicBook/HeroesInCrisis'' does end with Wally West jailed for the deaths that occurred at Sanctuary. Meanwhile, Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman receive ''absolutely no punishment at all'' for the fact their half-assing of Sanctuary and abdication of the work to an abusive computer program led to multiple heroes being psychologically tortured and abused (in fact, Wally's nervous breakdown happened due to the way Sanctuary treated so all the deaths that occurred were technically their fault) and are allowed to just keep running Sanctuary as is with the excuse they apparently have no other options. Meanwhile, Lois Lane also receives no punishment for publishing all of the secrets and private information Wally sent her during his suicidal breakdown, despite that realistically the Daily Planet should've received a civil liberties lawsuit and Lois herself should've been fired for such a ''massive'' violation of ethics.

* In Creator/MarkWaid's mini-series ''ComicBook/{{Empire}}'', supervillain Golgoth rules all humanity with an iron fist ([[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor yet finds it's not everything he thought it'd be]]). Even as his problems mount, though, [[LaResistance the Resistance]] finds itself abandoned by its allies and betrayed from within (their fancy new weapons don't work). Oops. Golgoth manages to snap out of his funk long enough to personally crush the last embers of freedom. He ''is'' forced to snap his daughter's neck after seeing how his lifestyle has turned her into a monster, but this probably counts as the token loss.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':

* Mime & Marionette from the ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' sequel ''ComicBook/DoomsdayClock''. Despite being a thorn in Ozymandias, Rorschach, Batman, and The Comedian's sides in both their world and DC's, they are left unscathed by the end of the comic series, even taking over Nite Owl's former ship Archie as their mobile home for their unborn daughter. Justified as Ozymandias believes that Doctor Manhattan will grant the couple mercy as a reminder of himself sparing the couple before for having their (yet future) son be given to his former lover's family (which it happens), and that the couple will need to remain in the DC universe as an 'anchor' so that their son can traverse from the Watchmen world into the DC world.
** Doctor Manhattan himself also faces no real consequences or punishment for his outright violation of the DC Universe and everyone living in it. While we're led to believe he's atoning for his actions by restoring the Justice Society as well as Jonathan and Martha Kent, there's no acknowledgment to the destruction of everyone's individual lives and the damage he caused since the creation of the New 52 (murdering Pandora after using her as a scapegoat, making time so unstable multiple versions of the Legion of Super-Heroes have burnt out with Superman not realizing his childhood friends are all dead, trapping Wally West in the Speed Force and trying to drive him insane by forcibly tampering with his memories while also shunting his children into the Dark Multiverse and making Linda Park forget he ever existed). That's not even factoring in the very strong implication that once the universe tried to fight back to restore everyone's memories when Wally escaped, Manhattan doubled down and forced those memories to conform to the timeline he set up.

** Bigby Wolf, the lovable rogue sheriff? Used to eat villages for the giggles. Not villagers, mind you. Entire villages.

* This is what caused the creation of Kate Spencer's ComicBook/{{Manhunter}}: when the metahuman serial killer Copperhead is let free because they treated his metahuman status as an excuse for his murders, she gets so fed up that she decided to settle things personally.

** In ''ComicBook/DeathAndTheFamily'', Silver Banshee murders several persons while looking for her clan's relics, gets what she wants, and teleports away before nobody can stop her. And since she was not again in Post-Crisis continuity, she ''did'' get away with it.

** Gepetto in ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'' runs an evil empire killing thousands of beings, and enslaving millions. After his empire comes crashing down, the good guys offer him amnesty and move him into an apartment in New York City with all amenities paid. Which was what all the Fables got.
** Bigby Wolf, the lovable rogue sheriff? Used to eat villages for the giggles. Not villagers, mind you. Entire villages. Not a nice man...wolf.
** Heck, most of the characters in ''Fables'' did horrible things but in the Real World their crimes are in the past, by Fabletown decree. Anything they do now is punished. The Three Little Pigs mutiny and two are guillotined.

* This is what caused the creation of Kate Spencer's ComicBook/{{Manhunter}}: when the metahuman serial killer Copperhead is let free because they treated his metahuman status as an excuse for his murders, she gets so fed up with the Houdini pulled here that she decided to settle things personally.

* ''ComicBook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl'': ''ComicBook/LexLuthor'' commits awful crimes -- which include the murder of baby [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Kal-El]], getting Barbara Gordon's parents killed, and who knows what else -- but ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' and ''ComicBook/{{Batgirl}}'' only manage to expose publicly one of his crimes. And Barbara knows that he will buy his way out of jail.
* In Creator/MarkWaid's grisly mini-series ''ComicBook/{{Empire}}'', supervillain Golgoth rules all humanity with an iron fist ([[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor yet finds it's not everything he thought it'd be]]). Even as his problems mount, though, [[LaResistance the Resistance]] finds itself abandoned by its allies and betrayed from within (their fancy new weapons don't work). Oops. Golgoth manages to snap out of his funk long enough to personally crush the last embers of freedom. He ''is'' forced to snap his daughter's neck after seeing how his lifestyle has turned her into a monster, but this probably counts as the token loss.

* ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' storyline ''ComicBook/TheGreatDarknessSaga'': After spreading chaos and destruction all over the galaxy, and enslaving a whole sentient race, Darkseid just teleports himself and his power base away when his mind control upon the Daxamites gets broken.

* In ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' storyline ''ComicBook/TheImmortalSuperman'', [[ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes the Time Trapper]], gets away with preventing Superman from going back to his own time, since Superman does not even figure out someone is messing up with him.

!!Franchise/TheDCU
Considering that DeathIsCheap and villains easily escape from prison in most comic books, and the fact that comics are generally written as unending serials, this trope is pretty much the rule rather than the exception.

** In "The Last Jack Tale," Jack of Fables is finally caught by a lot of devils he cheated on deals for his soul, and imprisoned on a barren planet. [[spoiler: However, he spends his time there thinking up and writing down ''every'' detail of a world exactly to his liking "without all those consequences," and when he's ready, he summons his old friend the Pathetic Fallacy, and makes it real, to spend eternity in his version of Paradise.]]
* ''ComicBook/HeroesInCrisis'' does end with [[spoiler:Wally West jailed for the deaths that occurred at Sanctuary. Meanwhile, Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman receive ''absolutely no punishment at all'' for the fact their half-assing of Sanctuary and abdication of the work to an abusive computer program led to multiple heroes being psychologically tortured and abused (in fact, Wally's nervous breakdown happened due to the way Sanctuary treated so all the deaths that occurred were technically their fault) and are allowed to just keep running Sanctuary as is with the excuse they apparently have no other options. Meanwhile, Lois Lane also receives no punishment for publishing all of the secrets and private information Wally sent her during his suicidal breakdown, despite that realistically the Daily Planet should've received a civil liberties lawsuit and Lois herself should've been fired for such a ''massive'' violation of ethics.]]