History Main / NiceJobFixingItVillain

-->-- '''Gandalf the White''' (discussing Gollum), ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''

* In the ''WebAnimation/MetaRunner'' episode "Overload", Evelyn is about to finish off Tari, but she decides to make her suffer more in her final moments by revealing that she's also responsible for killing Theo. Masa, who's under the villains' mind control, hears Tari crying due to this revelation, and the emotions this triggers are strong enough to restore his free will, letting him kill Evelyn's virtual self, and also pull a TakingYouWithMe on [[BigBad Sheridan]] in the real world.

* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'': [[EngineeredPublicConfession "I'll kidnap a thousand children before I let this company die!!!"]]

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'': Lord Shen attempting genocide on the pandas not only enabled Po to complete the prophecy, but also provided the Valley of Peace with a way to stop Tai Lung in the original film.

** Later, Vector has Gru give him the shrunken moon in exchange for the release of Margo, Edith, and Anges, which he immediately [[ILied goes back on]]. However, this ends up working in Gru's favor, as it turns out the effects of shrink ray he used are temporary, and the moon growing back to normal size ends up hindering Vector's escape, allowing Gru to save the girls. Additionally, because all this happened in the air, Vector unwittingly ended up returning the moon to its original orbit (as his aircraft's thrusters helped launch the moon back into space).

* ''Film/FerrisBuellersDayOff'': In his determination to nail Ferris for truancy, Principal Rooney breaks into the Bueller household to get proof that he's cutting classes. Unbeknownst to him, Ferris' sister Jeanie is also there to do the same thing, and through the cascade of hilarious misunderstandings that follows, Jeanie comes out of it having gotten over her resentment and jealousy of Ferris ''and'' with the means to blackmail Rooney into keeping mum about the breaking and entering he committed earlier in the day. In other words, Jeanie was already doing his investigation for him, and had Rooney just hung back at the office and done his normal job, Jeanie would have gladly returned to school and ratted Ferris out once she uncovered his ruse, allowing Rooney to bust him fair and square ''without'' publicly embarrassing himself, getting his car towed away, or getting mauled by the Bueller family's Rottweiler.

* ''Film/GhostRider'': The hellspawn Blackheart, when first confronted by Ghost Rider, taunts his enemy that his signature Penance Stare[[labelnote:*]]An esoteric ability of the Ghost Rider that causes a victim to be rendered catatonic from the sum of the pain of every sinful act they've committed in their lives being inflicted back on them at once[[/labelnote]] is useless against him as he [[TheSoulless has no soul to burn]]. After powering himself up with the 1000+ souls enacted by the Contract of [[WretchedHive San Venganza]], he fails to realize beforehand that by taking in so many souls, he's effectively turned them into ammunition for the Penance Stare to quickly neutralize him, and it does.

* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'': Biff does this twice in the same scene. Marty plans to get aggressive with Lorraine, so that [[DateRapeAverted George can intervene and be the hero]]. This plan totally fails because Lorraine ''wants'' to sleep with Marty. However when Marty leaves the car, Biff happens by and [[AttemptedRape actually tries to rape Lorraine]], giving George the chance to save her for real. Initially, Biff is easily able to fight George off, but when Lorraine tries to stop him, he pushes her down then takes a moment to laugh at her, which angers George enough to give him the HeroicResolve to [[TalkToThefist punch Biff out]] and ultimately win Lorraine's heart.

* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'': Biff does this twice in the same scene. Marty plans to get aggressive with Lorraine, so that [[DateRapeAverted George can intervene and be the hero]]. This plan totally fails because Lorraine ''wants'' to sleep with Marty. However when Marty leaves the car, Biff happens by and [[AttemptedRape actually tries to rape Lorraine]], giving George the chance to save her for real. Initially, Biff is easily able to fight George off, but then takes a moment to taunt him for his weakness, giving George the HeroicResolve to [[TalkToThefist punch Biff out]] and ultimately win Lorraine's heart.

** A flashback in the episode "[[Recap/AngelS02E07Darla Darla]]" shows that Spike murdered the family of the gypsy mystic while Darla was holding them hostage, foiling her plan to blackmail the gypsy mystic into removing Angel's soul.

** Darla, in the long run is a tremendous case of this, as by turning Liam (Angelus/Angel [[WasOnceAMan as a human]]) into a vampire she unintentionally helped saved countless of lives in the future. Had Liam remained a drunken delinquent in Ireland he would've just died of disease, in a bar fight, or of old age, and he wouldn't have become so evil that a vengeful gypsy would cursed him with a soul and he'd spend the rest of his immortal life saving and protecting innocent lives, and prevent the apocalypse multiple times. For bonus points, she was the one who gifted a bound and gagged gypsy girl to Angel, leading her clan to curse him in revenge. Darla said she "saw greatness in him", but [[FridgeBrilliance it wasn't the kind of greatness]] a soulless vampire like her had in mind. She even does it again in "[[Recap/AngelS02E15Reprise Reprise]]", as by sleeping with a recently JumpedOffTheSlipperySlope Angel, she makes him [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone realises]] how far he has fallen and go back to his TrueCompanions Cordiela, Wesley and Gunn whom he had abandoned.

* For a bit of FridgeHorror in ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe1'', that little kid in the beginning would've died had Vector not stolen the real pyramid and replaced it with an inflatable.

** The 3rd defendant of ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorneyAdventures'', Magnus [=McGilded=], is a slimy person overall, but some plot twists in the sequel show that he did manage to benefit England in spite of himself when he [[spoiler: tampered with evidence in his trial. See, Lord Mael Stronghart didn't want Ryunosuke Naruhodo to replace Kazuma as a lawyer (because Kazuma was supposed to be an assassin, and Ryunosuke isn't), so he gave him the ImpossibleTask of successfully defending the clearly guilty Magnus. Ryunosuke manages to do it because of Magnus's shenanigans, leaving Stronghart with no reason to deny him as a law student... which caused problems when Ryunosuke started to uncover the massive GovernmentConspiracy Stronghart led.]]