History Main / BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork

** Vetinari: In his own words “history needs its butchers as well as its sheperds” or, in plainer language “{{MagnificentBastard}}s do the dirty work.” note Swig ''also'' used the phrase.

** Buffy is fighting for life after being shot by BigBad wannabe Warren. Willow appears, heals her, and takes the bullet, which she uses to torture Warren with [[FaceHeelTurn and become the new]] BigBad.

* ''The Probability Broach'': It would be wrong to attack the Hamiltonians ''before'' they import a nuclear weapon, so they're killed off by a [[ChekovsGun previously mentioned]] side effect of closing a broach when [[PortalCut something is halfway through it.]]

Different from a HeelFaceTurn because the villain isn't actually being heroic; the villain may be entirely motivated out of self-interest, such as [[EnemyMine fighting a common threat]] or because [[EvilerThanThou a competitor is challenging his place as nemesis]].

Also see ExitPursuedByABear, DesignatedEvil, and TokenEvilTeammate.(the one who does the dirty work in a team of good guys)

Subtrope of ShootTheDog. Compare PoisonousFriend and ExitPursuedByABear. May overlap with BodyguardBetrayal, and with BaitAndSwitchBoss when used in video games. See also SelfDisposingVillain and TokenEvilTeammate. If the villain ''unwittingly'' saves the day with his or her dastardly actions, then it's NiceJobFixingItVillain.

Different from a HeelFaceTurn because the villain isn't actually being heroic; the villain may be entirely motivated out of self-interest, such as [[EnemyMine fighting a common threat]] or because [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou a competitor is challenging his place as nemesis]]. Could also be a result of [[EvenEvilHasStandards the situation being something that even they find utterly distasteful]] despite their general lack of morals and makes their feelings known in a decidedly vicious manner.

'''Contrast VillainousRescue, where a villain pulls a BigDamnHeroes without committing any villainous acts in the process''' (though he may well plan to do so afterward). If the villain saves the day by accident through doing something villainous, that's NiceJobFixingItVillain. Compare DesignatedEvil. Also see TokenEvilTeammate. (the one [[BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork does the dirty work]] in a team made of good guys)

* Non-villain example: On ''{{Angel}}'', Fred is about to kill the professor who sent her to Pylea for five years, but Gunn kills him to keep her pure.

* [[CompleteMonster Reaver's]] job in ''{{Fable}} 3'' is to do this. He stands in court to argue in favour of the evil option when making decisions as king. While these options are generally quite despicable and having an orphanage would be a fine and dandy in the long run, you could really do with the 1.25 million you'd make from opening a brothel right now to [[spoiler:fight back the EldritchAbomination that threatens to destroy Albion]].

* ''The Probability Broach'': It would be wrong to attack the Hamiltonians ''before'' they import a nuclear weapon, so they're killed off by a previously unknown inanimate phenomenon (when someone tries to pass a Broach through another Broach, kaboom).

* ''BlackestNight'' has a sequence where the heroes desperately concoct a BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork plan in order to stop a rampaging Black Lantern version of the Spectre, one of the most powerful characters in the entire DC Universe. The plan: unleash the fear entity Parallax, who had previously been sealed away by Hal Jordan, and let him possess Jordan. Parallax is one of the very few beings that the Spectre is afraid of. Sure enough, he beats down Spectre and frees him from Black Lantern possession. Great news...except that now, the heroes have to find a way to stop Parallax again.

** Vetinari: In his own words “history needs its butchers as well as its sheperds” or, in plainer language “{{MagnificentBastard}}s do the dirty work.” note Swig ''also'' used the phrase.

* As tempting as it was, Batman couldn't bring himself to kill Alex Luthor in ''InfiniteCrisis''. But the Joker could.

** Vetinari: In his own words “history needs its butchers as well as its sheperds” or, in plainer language “{{MagnificentBastard}}s do the dirty work.” note Swig ''also'' used the phrase.

* Depending on if you see him as a hero, anti-hero or an anti-villain, most everything [[{{Hellblazer}} John Constantine]] does could be seen as this: [[IDidWhatIHadToDo he certainly does what needs to be done]] when Swampy and others he interacts with hesitate to.

* depending on if you see him as a hero, anti-hero or an anti-villain, most everything [[{{Hellblazer}} John Constantine]] does could be seen as this: [[IDidWhatIHadToDo he certainly dose what needs to be done]] when Swampy and others he interacts with hesitate to.

* In ''TheBatman'', Wrath and Scorn have figured out Batman and Robin's identity. Even though they are arrested, Batman really can't do anything to keep them from revealing this to everyone. [[spoiler:Luckily, the Joker (much like in ''The Dark Knight'') [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou didn't want someone else causing the end of Batman]] and gassed them while they were in the police van.]]

* Doomsday's first appearance in ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited''. In the comics, he killed Supes ([[IGotBetter He got better]]). However, Supes' evil universe counterpart, Justice Lord Superman, used his eye lasers to ''lobotomize Doomsday'' not five minutes into the fight (he got better too, and was mighty pissed, but that's another story).

* In one episode of the {{Pokemon}} anime, they arrive at a festival dedicated to the Pokemon Wobbuffet, and several party-crashers come and start destroying things. The festival people explain that since Wobbuffet can't hurt the enemy except by reflecting attacks, in honor of that they will not attack the party crashers. Ash & co know the guys must be stopped, but are unwilling to break the rules of the festival. [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Team Rocket]], on the other hand, have no such qualms. [[CurbStompBattle Ass kicking]] [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown ensues.]]

* The climax scene of ''LetTheRightOneIn'' goes... this way, kind of. [[spoiler: As the kid's about to be drowned, the Eli shows up and saves the day. But since he's (yes, Eli is a he - read the book) a vampire, he kills three people doing so.]]

* ''BattlestarGalactica'': it's obvious midway through "Pegasus" that Admiral Cain is a dangerous psychopath who needs to be dealt with. Adama is too moral to go through with an assassination. Fortunately, [[spoiler: Baltar has let a Cylon with a grudge against Cain loose]].

* [[ValkyriaChronicles Faldio]] might as well be the poster-boy for this trope in modern video games. The Gallian army is being decimated by an attack by Selvaria, an invincible Valkyria who cuts through tanks as if they were nothing; [[TheHero Welkin]] is a [[InformedAbility genius]] and tries to come up with a solution, but fails to do so in time. At the last second, [[DesignatedEvil Faldio]] [[spoiler: shoots Alicia, knowing she'll survive it]] to awaken her latent Valkyria powers, and she saves Gallia by stopping Selvaria in her tracks. This saves Welkin from having to come up with a solution (when Faldio defends his decision by saying there was no other way, Welkin can't find a good alternative and just punches him) ''and'' from getting any blood on his hands for doing something morally gray, while Faldio is imprisoned and [[spoiler: commits suicide as an apology]]. The game never acknowledges that he ''did'' save thousands of lives that day by making that choice, and [[spoiler:kills the people he saved by having Selvaria nuke Ghirlandaio, so she got 'em in the end and Faldio ultimately saved no one]].
** [[spoiler: ...Except for all of the playable characters.]]

-->'''The Joker:''' [[[[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou I don't want Mr. Reese spoiling everything]], but why should I have all the fun? Let's give someone else a chance. If Coleman Reese isn't dead in sixty minutes then I blow up a hospital.

-->'''The Joker:''' I don't want Mr. Reese spoiling everything, but why should I have all the fun? Let's give someone else a chance. If Coleman Reese isn't dead in sixty minutes then I blow up a hospital.

** Buffy is fighting for life after being shot by BigBad wannabe Warren. Willow appears, heals her, and takes the bullet, which she uses to torture Warren with [[FaceHeelTurn and become the new BigBad]].

* In Series/DoctorWho The Five Doctors, The Master has been captured by the Cybermen and is initially being forced to do their bidding. [[spoiler:He ends up turning the tables and wiping the whole lot of them out by skipping through a trap he's figured out the solution to, but conveniently forgets to tell his captors about.]]
** Twenty-six years later, in "The End of Time," this same Master (well, different actor/[[TheNthDoctor regeneration]]) forces [[spoiler:Rasillon]] back behind the [[spoiler:time lock on the Time War, and won't let him take the Doctor with him, either.]]

* Simba from ''TheLionKing'' is too moral to give Scar the killing blow. However, the hyenas who Scar tried to blame for everything when things started looking bad... they have no such morals.