History Main / Mooks

This trope is the EvilCounterpart of the RedshirtArmy, which are Mooks on the good side. Similar to but not to be confused with their non-combat brother EvilMinions (likewise the RedshirtArmy with the RedShirt). Occasionally, it turns out they were NotAlwaysEvil. If a "character" who would otherwise qualify as a Mook is disqualified because he's apparently acting on his own, you have BitPartBadGuys.

'''Note for Tropers:''' The Mooks page deals specifically with easily-killed ''bad'' guys. If you want easily-killed ''good'' guys, you want the RedShirtArmy.

''Note for Tropers:'' The Mooks page specifically deals with easily-killed ''bad'' guys. If you want easily-killed good guys, you want the RedShirtArmy.

[[folder:Click here to vanquish the army of Mook subtropes]]

'''Specific variations include''':

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'''Other related tropes''':
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This trope is the EvilCounterpart of the RedshirtArmy, which are Mooks on the good side. Similar to but not to be confused with their non-combat brother EvilMinions (likewise the RedshirtArmy with the RedShirt). Occasionally, it turns out they were NotAlwaysEvil. If a "character" who would otherwise qualify as a Mook is disqualified because he's apparently acting on his own, you have BitPartBadGuys.

Also Compare {{Meat Puppet}}s when biological mooks are directly controlled via DemonicPossession, MindControl, or similar.

In Video Games, mooks tend to be slightly more powerful, and able to at least hurt the hero, if not kill him a few times. However, 9 times out of 10, the hero has a HealingFactor (more often objects used to heal than spontaneous healing) while the mooks stay hurt forever. Also, while the hero can restart if he/she dies, the mooks (usually) only die once per level, and when the level is restarted, they usually do the exact same thing they did before.

If they're lucky, mooks may very occasionally get [[MookPromotion promoted]] to the status of a more major villain. The heroes may also be able to [[HeelFaceTurn persuade them over to the good side]], in which case they have performed a MookFaceTurn. Humanizing mooks is a basic technique of {{Deconstruction}}. In some VideoGames, [[MookDebutCutscene certain kinds of mooks will have a special introduction when they appear for the first time]].

Armies of mooks are ''not always'' but usually [[MenAreTheExpendableGender overwhelmingly male]]. Typically, killing or harming even ''one'' nameless female tends to twist an audience's sympathies differently than the effect of the same to a male. As your protagonist escapes the fortress of doom, you don't want the audience worrying about the mooks being taken out or hurt. In video games however, all-male mook armies are usually there for an entirely pragmatic reason, since including random female enemies would be requiring constructing entirely new character models for characters the player won't interact with outside of killing them.

If the mooks also provide romantic services, this may overlap with PaidHarem.

When supposedly elite fighters in large number are less competent together than a man alone, it's ConservationOfNinjutsu.

'''Note #1:''' With respect to media (particularly anime), a "mook" can also refer to a Japanese publication which is a hybrid of a magazine and a book.

'''Note #2:''' It's also a mostly obsolete racial slur against Italians, so use with caution.

'''Note #3 (to Tropers):''' Mooks refer specifically to easily-killed ''bad guys''. If you're looking for easily-killed ''good guys'', you want RedShirtArmy.

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%%If you have time, please take time to put examples in alphabetical order. This page Administrivia/HowToAlphabetizeThings should help you with that.
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!!Example subpages:

[[index]]
* Mooks/AnimeAndManga
* Mooks/ComicBooks
* Mooks/{{Film}}
* Mooks/{{Literature}}
* Mooks/LiveActionTV
* Mooks/TabletopRPG
* Mooks/VideoGames
* Mooks/{{Webcomics}}
* Mooks/WesternAnimation
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!!Other examples:
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[[folder:Card Games]]
* Vs. System has army characters that are generally mooks given they can get killed off quickly and lack uniqueness because you can only have 1 copy of non-Army characters like Spider-Man on the field; army characters are replaceable. Some examples are S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Doom Bots, and Sentinels. Also, army characters do not have any restriction whatsoever in deck construction, whereas any other card is restricted to 4 copies (at most).
* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' has creature tokens, which are creatures who aren't even worth having their own card. By default, creature tokens' names are also their creature type, and if they leave play they simply cease to exist. They rarely have abilities, and those they do have are typically keyword abilities ("Flying," versus, "Any creature able to block this creature must do so."). They are also typically created in large numbers, either via a one shot deal creating two or more, or by a repeatable effect squeezing out one each turn. Creature tokens didn't have any sort of official representation until Magic Online needed some standardized way to represent them, and then they weren't printed in paper for years afterward.
** Each Color has their own flavor of Mooks: Green has [[AlienKudzu Saprolings]] (it used to be ''[[http://goo.gl/P0Eiv squirrels]]''), Black has [[ZombieApocalypse Zombies]], Red has Goblins, White has Soldiers, while Blue has whatever is assigned as Blue creatures in the settings. Green is the biggest offender when it comes to spawning endless hordes of Mooks.
* Tokens also exist in ''CardGame/YuGiOh'' with similar rules. They are mainly used as sacrifices for bringing out stronger monsters or occasionally as fodder for stalling the opponent. There also are a few cards that summon token under the opponent's control. Cards that summon them in large numbers usually have some restrictions on what they can be sacrificed for.
* ''[[TabletopGame/{{Munchkin}} Super Munchkin]]'' has the "Wimpy Thugs", "More Wimpy Thugs" and "Still more Wimpy Thugs" monsters. "3,872 Orks" from the original game might count since they are the only monster going in hordes.
* ''TabletopGame/SentinelsOfTheMultiverse'' features decks for the villains that summon mooks to help the villain do their dirty work. Depending on who the players are fighting against, the number of mooks in the deck vary from few in number to half of the deck. Villains who rely on theirs mooks as a part of their deck's strategy include Baron Blade, Citizen Dawn, Grand Warlord Voss, the Dreamer, Omnitron, La Captian, the Chairman, the Matriarch, and Gloomweaver.
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Also called "baddies", "[[FacelessGoons goons]]", "scrubs", "[[AttackDrone drones]]", "[[BitPartBadguys small fry]]", "{{flunk|yBoss}}ies", "[[TabletopGame/{{Chess}} pawns]]", "toadies", "grunts", "[[EvilMinions minions]]", "[[SycophanticServant lackeys]]", "underlings", "[[ZergRush swarmers]]", "{{hench|menRace}}persons", "popcorn enemies", and "CannonFodder". In Japanese videogame jargon, they're known as "zako" or "small fry". The actual term "mook" presumably comes from Hong Kong Cinema, and takes its name from the ''mook jong'', the wooden training dummies used in Wing Chun, whose only function is to get hit. In Hong Kong movie circles, they're often called "three-hit men," in reference to [[RuleOfThree how many hits it takes]] to put them down, though the actual number of hits varies.

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[[folder:Other]]
* Creator/DavidFosterWallace, in his 1998 essay on the porn industry "Big Red Son", notes that "mook" is industry jargon for the paying customers of porn. Whether it comes from the Hong Kong movie term or is a corruption of "[[TheMark mark]]" he doesn't say.
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* Mooks/WebComics

Except where noted in some of the subcategories, it is generally considered [[LawOfConservationOfDetail "bad form"]] for mooks to be given any sort of detailed backstory or personality (beyond broad strokes). Put another way, for the purposes of heroes continuing to be seen as heroes, and to avoid a major mood swing, mooks generally have no girl/boyfriends, children, parents, grandparents; they don't belong to church groups or non-profits that might miss them; they don't spend part of their day looking forward to what's on TV tonight (never to see the show because they're about to die), and they generally die quick, semi-painless deaths (blood and gore optional). Mooks are rarely female, and if they are, they generally don't fall into the "gorgeous" category because you don't want the viewer/reader to become attached to a character the hero is about to kill (''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'' is a noted example where this rule is broken, and 35 years later ''Film/JamesBond'' fans still criticize the decision to have Bond murder Caroline Munro's helicopter-flying babe). There are, of course, exceptions, either to make a MoodWhiplash and ponder about the nature of violence, establish the protagonist as a ruthless AntiHero, or [[PlayedForLaughs briefly acknowledge that the mooks have lives and personal affairs]] but [[ComedicSociopathy they're so trite and cliche that they deserve no sympathy anyway]].

* TheGoomba (a videogame enemy defined by being, even by {{Mook}} standards, pretty mook-ish.)

** Each Color has their own flavor of {{Mooks}}: Green has [[AlienKudzu Saprolings]] (it used to be ''[[http://goo.gl/P0Eiv squirrels]]''), Black has [[ZombieApocalypse Zombies]], Red has Goblins, White has Soldiers, while Blue has whatever is assigned as Blue creatures in the settings. Green is the biggest offender when it comes to spawning endless hordes of {{Mooks}}.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TA-QJ2d3kk&playnext_from=TL&videos=5HHk7A68tmY He only has one line, but saves the day... ]] A dedication to {{Anime}} {{mooks}} in particular.

* CuteSmileMook (little blob Mooks.)

* CowardlyMooks: (Mooks that flee from battle.)

[[quoteright:350:[[Disney/SleepingBeauty https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mooks_92.png]]]]

->''"They may be called the Palace Guard, the City Guard, or the Patrol. Whatever the name, their purpose in any work of heroic fantasy is identical: it is, round about Chapter Three (or ten minutes into the film) to rush into the room, [[MookChivalry attack the hero one at a time, and be slaughtered]]. No one ever asks them if they wanted to."''

-->-- '''Creator/TerryPratchett''', ''Discworld/GuardsGuards''

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* The members of the croc fraternity Zeeba Zeeba Eata from ''ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine'' are these, with the added twist that they ''kill themselves'' rather than others killing them.
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* MiddleManagementMook (A Mook located at the very middle of the evil corporate ladder.)

* PersonalMook (Mooks that directly serve a BigBad for mundane tasks, instead of being part of their army proper.)

* MiddleManagementMook (A Mook located at the very middle of the evil corporate ladder)

* PersonalMook (Mooks that directly serve a BigBad for mundane tasks, instead of being part of their army proper)

* PersonalMooks (Mooks that directly serve a BigBad for mundane tasks, instead of being part of their army proper)

This trope is the EvilCounterpart of the RedshirtArmy, which are Mooks on the good side. Similar to but not to be confused with their non-combat brother EvilMinions (likewise the RedshirtArmy with the RedShirt). Occasionally, it turns out they were NotAlwaysEvil. If a "character" who would otherwise qualify as a Mook is disqualified because he's apparently acting on his own, you have a BitPartBadGuy.

* ArtifactMook (Previously encountered Mooks that are contextually out-of-place in later appearances.)

* MinionMaster (a character who creates mooks.)

->''"They may be called the Palace Guard, the City Guard, or the Patrol. Whatever the name, their purpose in any work of heroic fantasy is identical: it is, round about Chapter Three (or ten minutes into the film) to rush into the room, attack the hero one at a time, and be slaughtered. No one ever asks them if they wanted to."''

[[TropesAreTools Mooks play an important role]], as without someone to fight on a constant basis, an action movie/show/game would have a lot less action. If every single minion your hero ever runs into has a personality, then the pacing of the show would slow to a crawl and QuirkyMinibossSquad, TheDragon, and the BigBad would not feel as unique in comparison. Thus, mooks serve as {{Filler}} and a backdrop to the truly climactic moments of an action franchise while also ensuring that in-between things are kept lively. In VideoGames, they may also double as a ready source of ExperiencePoints, [[MoneySpider gold]], and recovery items for the player.