History Main / PragmaticVillainy

** [[BloodKnight Kenpachi Zaraki]] helps save Rukia, not because he believes that her execution is morally wrong... but because he wants to fight Ichigo again. That and it gives him a rare opportunity to fight against his fellow captains, some of the strongest possible foes.

** This is the reason why [[spoiler: Ginjo]] from told [[spoiler: Tsukishima]] to stop {{Mind Rap|e}}ing [[spoiler: Chad and Orihime.]] He has no moral objection to it, but destroying your hostages' minds means you can't use them as pawns. It's easier to just stick to MindControl.

"EvenEvilHasStandards" has subversions.

* In ''ComicStrip/DickTracy'', the final Big Boy Caprice story by Max Allan Collins has him trying to kill Tracy with a million-dollar open contract on the detective. Eventually, the organized crime ruling committee, The Apparatus, confront Caprice and tell him that the contract must be canceled. In this case, this is a matter of professionalism considering that not only is murdering police officers stupidly bad for business but also Tracy has learned about the mob contract on him and has taken personal control of the department's Organized Crime Unit to retaliate. The Apparatus knows that they can't afford to let Tracy come at them full bore and so they must take action.

* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': In one issue, two perverts in the showers at the local [=YMCA=] are planning to rape Bruce Banner until he warns them about his having superpowers; they decide not to see whether he's bluffing. Moreover, in the future depicted in ComicBook/SpiderGirl's comics, several bands of assassins made it a policy only to subdue cops who got in their way and never to kill them, since the various law enforcement agencies involved tend to retaliate swiftly and brutally against cop-killers. A couple of petty burglars caught in the act by a superhero also surrender immediately rather than risk the near-certainty of being pounded into the pavement for fighting or fleeing.

** [[EnemyMine Also the reason he teamed up with the heroes]] to take down the [[ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths Anti-Monitor]] .After all, if everything's gone, what does he have to rule over?

->'''Eliphas''': You allow them to escape, Lord Araghast?\\
'''Araghast''': Because it serves me, Eliphas! If we kill them now, we waste the value of the traitor in their ranks. Your vengeance can wait.

* ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} is pretty much the one person in Batman's rogues gallery who has never wanted to play games or complex schemes as she's simply a thief. It was best summed up in a storyline set on Earth-2 where Batman recruits Catwoman to help him against the Scarecrow. They find themselves playing a complex game as Scarecrow wants to break Batman down before killing him with various clues left to find him.
-->'''Catwoman''': He must be crazy. All I ever wanted to do was get away from you long enough to enjoy the loot!
-->'''Batman''': I know. After psychopaths like Joker, Two-Face, and Riddler, you have no idea how refreshing it was to fight someone who was just in it for the money.
-->'''Catwoman''': I'll take that as a compliment.

* ComicBook/{{Bullseye|MarvelComics}} may be an AxeCrazy PsychoForHire, but he's managed a long mercenary career because he has absolutely no illusions as to his station on the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil, and a talent for [[KnowWhenToFoldEm bugging out of situations he can't handle]]. Unlike say, Norman Osborn (who even he thought was a nut for trying to invade Asgard), Bullseye doesn't let his pride get him over his head, and doesn't hesitate to abandon lost causes.
* ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} is like this a lot:
** He will never try to conquer the universe through TimeTravel on the grounds that it is far too reckless. He's powerful enough to stand a good chance of conquering the universe the old-fashioned way, so he has no reason to risk the ButterflyOfDoom.
** [[EnemyMine Also the reason he teamed up with the heroes]] to take down the [[ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths Anti-Monitor.]] After all, if everything's gone, what does he have to rule over?
** He objects to Desaad and Sleez's acts of evil because they are largely pointless. Desaad is a petty sadist. Sleez once mind-controlled ComicBook/{{Superman}}, but instead of doing anything useful with him like trying to conquer the world, he made Superman ''star in a porno''.
** Another example occurred in ''Cosmic Odyssey'' (not surprising, since ''Odyssey'' had basically the same plot as ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths''), in which it was Darkseid, of all people, who organized the heroes to fight the [[OmnicidalManiac Anti-Life Entity]]. Of course, Darkseid did try to manipulate the situation to his own advantage, fully in keeping with this trope.
* A [[ComicBook/DaredevilCharlesSoule story arc]] in ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'' saw Matt Murdock use a recent court case to try and create a legal precedent that would allow costumed crimefighters to testify in court without needing to reveal their secret identities, deliberately taking the matter all the way to the Supreme Court. Kingpin tries to stop this by hiring Tombstone to interrupt the proceedings, to the extent of providing him with a rocket launcher, but Tombstone ultimately does nothing and the Court finds in favour of Matt. When Kingpin calls Tombstone in a rage, Tombstone calmly points out that ''blowing up the Supreme Court'' is not only completely insane but would make him the most wanted man in the country and there's no way he's going to risk his life and freedom just for Fisk to get his own way. Also, this means Fisk is going to be too busy trying to keep himself from being implicated by Daredevil or others to bother with Tombstone which frees him up to reestablish his own criminal operation.

-->"My dear Eva, illicit business pays well, and what really matters is that it's done in cash. I'm sure that home is full of money."

* In the ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Magica is definitely a villain and often a cruel and trolling one, but doesn't commit villainous acts for their sake, only in the pursuit of her goals and only if the peaceful solution has failed. In particular, in her quest for the MidasTouch she always tried to ''buy'' the necessary coins from the billionaires who owned them, offering a lot of money or other services and using force only if they refuse. And it worked ''twice'': Scrooge was willing to sell her a dime he touched for a dollar (their enmity coming entirely from Magica discovering that Scrooge still owns his first coin that thus would work much better for the spell, and he refused to sell that one even when Magica offered him ''one thousand dollars''), and a previous billionaire asked her to plant trees on a barren land near his home (Magica turned it into a ''forest'', so as far he's concerned his Number One coin now belongs to her, and when Scrooge stole it from Magica and gave it back to him the billionaire just waited for her to show up and gave it back to her).
** Another pragmatic trait of Magica is that she ''always'' keeps her word, even offering to magically seal the promise and make herself unable to go back on it if she's dealing with someone who has reason to not trust her. This may seem a good trait... Except Magica is also a businesswoman, [[CutLexLuthorACheck selling magic wares for a living and to fund her assaults on the Money Bin]] and ''needs'' to be trusted.

* ''ComicBook/TheFlash'': The Rogues tend towards this, especially Captain Cold; it is one of their unspoken rules ''not'' to kill speedsters since they ''know'' that the other superheroes ''will'' hunt them down, ''will not stop'', and may even be "''creative''" about retribution... for example, what Wally "The Flash" West [[AndIMustScream did to Inertia]] for [[spoiler:de-powering Wally's cousin Bart Allen, also aka The Flash, which led to his death when the Rogues panicked and unwittingly killed him]]. They promptly turned on Inertia for that, meaning that [[spoiler:Iris told Wally that Inertia was the "''prime mover''" in Bart's death]], but still ended up on the run for a year; ''Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge'' was about them deciding to [[spoiler:first hang up the spandex and disband, but then upon hearing of Inertia's escape, they decide to do their one last job and kill Inertia in revenge. Upon succeeding, they dump his corpse in Keystone City with a message to "''Tell the Flash we're even -- The Rogues''."]]
** Also, when Libra tries to get the Rogues to join, Captain Cold's refusal explicitly taunts him: "''Have fun with the heat comin' your way for takin' out the Martian''." That, and as Captain Cold pointed out in ''Rogues Revenge: #1'', [[spoiler:they were ''persona non grata'' among supervillains in the year after they'd killed a Flash, so Captain Cold isn't inclined to back them either]].
* ComicBook/TheJoker explained that he doesn't place Joker Venom on post office stamps because it was too ludicrous a crime even for him, preferring instead to operate on a much smarter level in regards to such matters. This was also when [[NotMeThisTime he was framed for placing Joker Venom on postage stamps and nearly executed as a result]].
** He himself also invokes the trope, whenever the bad guys do a VillainTeamUp, they RARELY (If ever) invite the Joker in. While most of them were [[EvenEvilHasStandards genuinely afraid of him]], some of them didn't like ComicBook/TheJoker because [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder he's not exactly a team player]] and is considered unprofessional and untrustworthy even from his fellow villains. The exception is ComicBook/LexLuthor, who does invite him if he's in charge of the villain team-ups on the basis that it's safer to have an unpredictable Joker on your team than it is to have an unpredictable Joker who's offended you snubbed him.
** [[ComicBook/SpiderManAndBatmanDisorderedMinds One time]], he begged off from doing a VillainTeamup with ComicBook/{{Carnage}} because Carnage considered it artistic just to maim and kill, while Joker preferred to set up elaborate punchlines in his murders.
--->'''The Joker:''' I always thought of myself as the Creator/OrsonWelles of crime and chaos, while you, apparently, aspire to be nothing more than... Creator/DavidHasselhoff!

* Zigzagged with the ComicBook/{{Huntress}}. Just how evil she is is a matter for some debate. Certainly she's a multiple murderess who shows no remorse about her crimes, and she was [[AdaptationalVillainy made into a villainess]] in ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' without any significant changes to her personality or methods. So whether she's a VillainProtagonist, SociopathicHero, or just a very dark AntiHero is a question of interpretation. But in any case, when she joined the ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey, she did agree to stop killing people, not because she thought it was wrong, but because the other Birds would not work with her otherwise. Of course, the reason she wanted to be a part of the Birds in the first place was that she valued [[OnlyFriend the friendship of Black Canary so much]]. So is Huntress a pragmatic villainess who restrains her murderous impulses because she knows her teammates won't work with her otherwise, or is she a killer who has been at least partly redeemed by the PowerOfFriendship?
** Notably, she had a similar agreement with Batman during her time in the JLA but was prepared to break it for revenge on Prometheus, who was completely helpless at the time. Batman stopped her and promptly kicked her out of the League.
** The No Man's Land arc around the same time also may have had an impact on her. After failing to live up to Batman's expectations operating as Batgirl, Huntress sided with an AxCrazy cop who shared her beliefs on killing criminals. It went very badly.

* ComicBook/TheKingpin will support superheroes (or at least stay out of their way) when it comes to planet-threatening matters- TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt is ''really'' bad for business. He also clamps down as much as possible on personal sadism in his underlings; no sense in killing possible customers or causing riots.

* Oswald Cobblepot, better known as ComicBook/ThePenguin, is often portrayed this way in contrast to the rest of Batman's RoguesGallery. As a VillainWithGoodPublicity, he works hard to preserve his image as a "legitimate businessman," and while he does commit countless crimes, they're largely centered on finance, backroom deals, and the black market. This also counts as CharacterDevelopment, as Penguin was initially just as likely to develop insane, Gotham-conquering schemes as foes like Joker and Poison Ivy--he got out of the game after realizing that there was a lot more money to be made in BoringButPractical crime, especially because it didn't result in Batman coming down on him. The Dark Knight himself even (albeit begrudgingly) treats Penguin as something of a FriendlyEnemy, as Cobblepot's massive web of contacts and knowledge of the underworld makes him a great resource for information; Penguin himself has the same attitude and treats his interactions with Batman as part and parcel of doing business in Gotham. It helps that Cobblepot ''isn't'' criminally insane like the majority of Batman's other villains, meaning that he genuinely possesses the logic and reasoning that they don't.
** In one issue of ''Batman And Robin'' where Damien briefly gets superpowers and corners a group of top-level villains, Penguin panickedly yells at everyone to stand down. The villains might want all the Bats dead, but killing Robin would unleash a RoaringRampageOfRevenge from Batman and [[SupermanStaysOutOfGotham cause the entire Justice League to come to town]].
** In ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand'', a massive earthquake strikes Gotham, leading to chaos as the villains battle each other for dominance of the city. Penguin is one of the few who doesn't get involved in the in-fighting; instead, he starts funneling in goods from the outside world for a hefty price, making himself a fortune.

* The ComicBook/RedSkull may indulge in petty wasteful sadistic villainy often, but he does not appreciate anyone on his payroll doing the same. Villainy committed on his dime has to have ''some'' kind of profit for him.
** During his origin story, he was ordered by Hitler to execute a Nazi officer who had failed him. The Skull instead used his ImprobableAimingSkills to simply shoot off the buttons of the officer's jacket, explaining to Hitler that while a dead officer is useless, one who knows exactly what will happen if he fails again, is quite valuable.
** One comic showed him foiling a plan of Viper's, his subordinate at the time, to blind every American who was watching a television set. He said he was called a lot of things, but never a Nihilist anarchist. (Hilariously, he once renounced Nazism to embrace... nihilist anarchism. [[{{Retcon}} It didn't take.]])
** [[ComicBook/UncannyAvengers His clone]] takes this to another level -- while still an unrepentant racist, he's started recruiting from [[EqualOpportunityEvil both sexes and all races]], in order to gather enough people who hate mutants as much as he does.
** Just to hammer home the point of how pragmatic Red Skull can be, he once [[EnemyMine teamed up]] with [[ArchEnemy Captain America himself]], to take on a Neo Nazi he disagreed with.
* ''ComicBook/RequiemVampireKnight''
** You're Dracula. The series is ''ComicBook/RequiemVampireKnight''. Six million lemures, the souls of those who were mistreated and murdered in life and can only be stopped by killing their tormentor in death, are swarming your ship. Do you fight them all one on one? Or do you [[spoiler:step into your back room and break Hitler's neck, wiping out all six million in a stroke?]]

-->"Revenge is a loser's game. There's no percentage in it. All that matters is profit and power."

* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogIDW'': [[HypercompetentSidekick Dr. Starline]] prefers to be very thorough with his experiments, conducting enough experimentation on his projects in order to have sufficient data samples to work out from. This directly contrasts him with Eggman, who just [[UnfinishedUntestedUsedAnyway hastily implements his plans]] the ''instant'' his experiments show the results he wants. Best displayed when they test the [[UnwillingRoboticisation Metal]] [[ZombieApocalypse Virus]]. Starline objects to Eggman deploying the virus after he's conducted the bare minimum of tests on it, not out of any moral grounds, but because he had literally ''just'' created the virus and they should run more experiments to be sure there's no unforeseen effects.
** In ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'', the immortal villain Mammoth Mogul decides to stop being an active villain and run a shady but ultimately legitimate casino business. It is not because he had decided to stop being evil, but because Mammoth realized that fate itself was [[PlotArmor was bending to make sure Sonic won]], with Sonic able to use Chaos Force to become a RealityWarper. Mammoth thus decided the best strategy to beat Sonic was to literally [[TheLongGame just wait for Sonic to die of old age]]. Mammoth is immortal and Sonic is not, so in Mammoth's mind, it's just a matter of being patient.

** Another Spider-Man example; after escaping from Ravencroft, ComicBook/{{Carnage}} assaulted Martha Robinson and then wrote his catchphrase "Carnage Rules" using her blood ''and'' his next to her on an elevator wall, but did ''not'' kill her, because he felt that a live, injured, and frightened victim would cause more panic among the ''Daily Bugle'' staff than a corpse would. (And it certainly did.)

* This can be summed up as the rationale behind any seeming PetTheDog action Rustal Elion does in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans''. Allowing a lowborn like Julieta into his ranks? She's a skilled AcePilot, which is more than enough for him to put his classism aside. [[spoiler:Reforming Gjallarhorn to be more democratic? It both helps Gjallarhorn save face and buys him a good reputation, not to mention his reforms suspiciously align with him becoming sole leader of the organization. Giving Mars its independence? Better than waiting for Mars to inevitably rebel and become a hotbed of conflict. Signing a treaty to ban [[ChildSoldiers human debris]]? Buys him some good publicity, not to mention the new AV Type E system having made human debris irrelevant anyway. Choosing to spare the few surviving members of Tekkadan? With Tekkadan destroyed and its remaining members no longer a threat, he has no reason to go after them.]]

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' kytons, a [[Film/{{Hellraiser}} Cenobite-like]] race of fiends who seek self-improvement through surgery, consider the augurs the least of their kind due to their lack of pragmatism. All kytons take pleasure in mutilation, but most are very goal-oriented and keep their sadism under control, while augurs tend to die because they're too busy rolling blood to notice enemies.

Virtually any VillainWithGoodPublicity tends to be a master of this trope. Villains With Good Publicity almost always have years of experience in earning the trust of their supporters and are well aware that angering dog-lovers (among others) [[SlaveToPR will not advance their cause]]. In fact, it may hinder it. Even for those who don't happen to be AffablyEvil, if any dog-kicking is deemed necessary, they will keep these acts of cruelty out of the public eye, or when they can't do that, they'll do what they can to make it look like [[AssholeVictim the victim deserved it]]; how evil they [[WhatYouAreInTheDark truly are under cover of darkness]] must remain shrouded. They also tend to be masters of the XanatosGambit. The NobleDemon will probably attempt to justify his nobility this way, with varying degrees of success in passing it off as pragmatism. Whenever there's a GenericDoomsdayVillain or an OmnicidalManiac around, there's a good chance the [[EvilVersusOblivion other villains]] will form an EnemyMine with the heroes to stop them, as they want to rule the world, '''not''' [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt destroy it]]. Or at least [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou not steal their job of fighting the heroes]]. Even most ChaoticEvil AxCrazy villains who do things ForTheEvulz fall to this trope. [[VictoryIsBoring There's no fun]] [[NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction or challenge]] for them if everyone's dead -- they'd be left forlorn with no idea [[AndThenWhat what to do next]]. An IncidentalVillain most often excels in this with his worldview generally being that of a Monopoly game where advancing towards their goals through the quickest and most efficient way is the only thing that matters to them and beating the rivals on their way is optional and hardly obligatory much of the time. This mindset is helpful in stories where the bad guys have a huge advantage over their antagonists, leading them to not so much beat them, as much as convince them that it will be more profitable not to commit the crimes that they intended to and instead choose a legit way as an alternative.

** In contrast to most other Imperial factions, Rogue Traders tend to be motivated by self-interest, greed and personal ambition more than by zealotry and adherence to state doctrines. As a result, they are largely diseterested in directly aiding the Imperium's ForeverWar unless there's something in it for them (they're more than happy to sell arms, but they won't be putting their own necks on the line), and will happily engage in actions that orthodox Imperials would find repulsive or treasonous, such as working with aliens (if they're what's available and good at their jobs, why not?) or attacking Imperial shipping if they think they can get away with and the haul is worth the risk.

* Bullseye may be an AxeCrazy PsychoForHire, but he's managed a long mercenary career because he has absolutely no illusions as to his station on the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil, and a talent for [[KnowWhenToFoldEm bugging out of situations he can't handle]]. Unlike say, Norman Osborn (who even he thought was a nut for trying to invade Asgard), Bullseye doesn't let his pride get him over his head, and doesn't hesitate to abandon lost causes.

** He objects to Desaad and Sleez's acts of evil because they are largely pointless. Desaad is a petty sadist. Sleez once mind-controlled Franchise/{{Superman}}, but instead of doing anything useful with him like trying to conquer the world, he made Superman ''star in a porno''.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Empowered}}'', most career villains (including mooks) avoid killing heroes unless absolutely necessary, particularly the weak, useless ones like Empowered -- doing so will result in your victim's hero friend tracking you down to exact bloody vengeance instead of just arresting you.
* Franchise/TheFlash's Rogues tend towards this, especially Captain Cold; it is one of their unspoken rules ''not'' to kill speedsters since they ''know'' that the other superheroes ''will'' hunt them down, ''will not stop'', and may even be "''creative''" about retribution... for example, what Wally "The Flash" West [[AndIMustScream did to Inertia]] for [[spoiler:de-powering Wally's cousin Bart Allen, also aka The Flash, which led to his death when the Rogues panicked and unwittingly killed him]]. They promptly turned on Inertia for that, meaning that [[spoiler:Iris told Wally that Inertia was the "''prime mover''" in Bart's death]], but still ended up on the run for a year; ''Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge'' was about them deciding to [[spoiler:first hang up the spandex and disband, but then upon hearing of Inertia's escape, they decide to do their one last job and kill Inertia in revenge. Upon succeeding, they dump his corpse in Keystone City with a message to "''Tell the Flash we're even -- The Rogues''."]]

* ''Characters/MarvelComicsTheKingpin'': Wilson Fisk will support superheroes (or at least stay out of their way) when it comes to planet-threatening matters- TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt is ''really'' bad for business. He also clamps down as much as possible on personal sadism in his underlings; no sense in killing possible customers or causing riots.

* The Shocker, one of Franchise/SpiderMan's enemies, is almost unique among the wall-crawler's enemies in that he's rarely concerned with taking revenge on our hero and prefers to only commit crimes that are actually profitable. Of course, superhero comics being what they are, Spider-Man is almost always the one to interfere with the Shocker's robberies. He also avoids doing anything above robberies as he believes doing anything beyond that will simply attract the attention of ComicBook/ThePunisher.

An obvious foil to villains with ComplexityAddiction ([[VillainBall who will do the evil deed anyway]]), though some do manage to pair the two. A subtrope is CantKillYouStillNeedYou if applied to villains. Contrast StupidEvil, where the villain hurts their own interests by preferring indiscriminate evil. Compare and contrast ShootTheDog, where a hero or anti-hero does a morally questionable act for pragmatic reasons. See also CooperationGambit, CutLexLuthorACheck, DickDastardlyStopsToCheat, SanityHasAdvantages, and BreadAndCircuses. Compare EvilVirtues, where a villain has good traits; StraightEdgeEvil, where a villain avoids personal vices; and NominalHero, where a character does heroic acts out of neutral-at-best motivations. For the ''less'' evil and more moderate version of this trope, see JerkWithAHeartOfJerk.

* Illithids in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' have to be pragmatic since their powerbase is a mere shadow of what it was in their glory days. Illithids would like nothing better than to gorge themselves on humanoid brains, but most of them are smart enough to realize that too many suspiciously brainless corpses will alert their ''many'' enemies (including an entire ''species'', the Gith-kin, who regard Illithid murder as a religious duty and cultural pastime) to their presence, and bring pretty much everyone else down on their heads. So they limit themselves to one or two brains a month and make backroom deals to slowly regaain a stable power-base.

** The SCP Foundation specifically lists an incident with the Global Occult Coalition improperly destroying the friendly sentient chair [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1609 SCP-1609]] and instead turning it into a murderous pile of shredded wood and nails as a prime example of why they, unlike the [=GOC=], don't outright destroy anomalies. However, the [=GOC=] ''themselves'' are displeased with the actions of the agents responsible for the failed destruction of the SCP object in question… because they wanted it [[KillItWithFire incinerated]] instead of being shredded.

Even a villain finds it furthers their aims to be nice from time to time, [[PhotoOpWithTheDog even if it's just for show]] or to ensure loyalty. Maybe there's [[KickTheDog dog-kicking]] in their past; even if there isn't, the Pragmatic Villain is the type to have studied those who have. No matter the combination of dogs and boots, they're sure to have investigated them all quite thoroughly and come to the conclusion that [[CutLexLuthorACheck there just isn't anything to be gained by kicking this particular dog]]. They may even note that one's proverbial toes get a little tender after too much of that kind of thing, since [[TheDogBitesBack a dog kicked too often is a dog that will bite back]]. Though a pragmatic villain is likely to be less destructive than their CardCarryingVillain counterpart, they are made all the more dangerous by their focus on their ultimate goals and their reluctance to carry the VillainBall.

Oftentimes, their course of action is determined solely by [[StockEvilOverlordTactics discerning which]] would [[EvilPlan best serve their purposes]]. Being evil, to them, just keeps their options open when it comes to illegal and immoral acts, and doesn't stop them from using 'legitimate' (or at least socially respectable) strategies and tactics if that's what it takes. Heroes are sometimes surprised when said villains do something "unexpectedly" evil later when they were doing good things before. Should kicking the dog become a necessary step in their master plan, expect their kick to have the power and precision of an American football player going for a game-winning field goal, usually while stating it's NothingPersonal. They will happily cross the MoralEventHorizon, but only if and when it's useful for them to do so, and not a moment sooner.

*** [[EvilInc Pentex]] does every underhanded thing you'd ever expect from the most stereotypical evil corporation ever, but they do have some rules - and they ''are'', first and foremost, a business. While sticking a few evil spirits into their products is standard procedure, one guy in charge of the electronics division decided to overload his products with as much Wyrm corruption as he could fit in. Thing is, putting lots of pure chaos and entropy in close contact with advanced technology is a recipe for a disastrous product -- the Wyrm-stuffed electronics didn't ''work'', or at least not well enough to actually sell. Rumor has it he ended up [[ImAHumanitarian the main course]] at his replacement's welcome lunch.

** In ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'', this is engaged in by both [[ALighterShadeOfBlack the Camarilla]] and [[ReligionOfEvil the Sabbat]] with regards to humans-- The Camarilla have made revealing the existence of vampires to humans a crime punishable by death (this is the titular "Masquerade"). And while the Sabbat say they want vampires to openly rule over humans, the higher-ups at least realize that vampires couldn't possibly come out well off from a war with humans- lose (which is more than likely, as vampires can't shrug off high explosives and there are several other supernatural factions that ''would'' side with humanity) and they'd be massacred, win and not only are they badly chewed up from a worldwide war, they've eliminated their primary food source. So they encourage their soldiers to keep their actions at least cover-up-able and have a few Ghoul dynasties who clean up after them.
** Clan Tremere engages in a lot of highly questionable magical practices, all of which include blood and death, but they draw the line at consorting with demons. Not because they find demons objectionable, but because they understand that EvilIsNotAToy and any demon powerful enough to be worth the effort is also too powerful to be controlled.

*** Pentex does every underhanded thing you'd ever expect from the most stereotypical "eeeeeeeeeeeevil corporation" ever, but they do have some rules - and they ''are'', first and foremost, a business. While sticking a few evil spirits into their products is standard procedure, one guy in charge of the electronics division decided to overload his products with as much Wyrm corruption as he could fit in. Thing is, putting lots of pure chaos and entropy in close contact with advanced technology is a recipe for a disastrous product -- the Wyrm-stuffed electronics didn't ''work'', or at least not well enough to actually sell. Rumor has it he ended up [[ImAHumanitarian the main course]] at his replacement's welcome lunch.

* [[OneBadMother Mother Gothel]] of ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' merely desires to keep the FountainOfYouth magic in Rapunzel's hair to herself. She initially tries to just take a lock of Rapunel's hair, and only resorts to kidnapping when she realizes that the hair loses its power when cut. And when she raises Rapunzel, she makes sure to act like an affectionate mother because it makes Rapunzel more vulnerable to her emotional manipulation, and if Rapunzel really ''wanted'' to leave, Gothel couldn't stop her.

** One comic showed him foiling a plan by Madam Hydra, his subordinate at the time, that wanted to blind every American who was watching a television set at some point. He said he was called a lot of things, but never a Nihilist anarchist. (Hilariously, he once renounced Nazism to embrace... nihilist anarchism. [[{{Retcon}} It didn't take.]])

* In the ''Franchise/StarWars'' comic ''Boba Fett: Enemy of the Empire'', Boba Fett has been tasked by Darth Vader to retrieve a mysterious package that is only revealed at the climax to be [[spoiler:an OracularHead]]. Vader himself arrives to take the package, and the two battle over it, Fett obviously greatly outmatched. Fett's only chance of survival is to hurl the package into a volcano, knowing Vader will be forced to levitate it to safety in time. At the end of the story it is revealed that as Vader was distracted, Fett aimed his gun at him for a kill shot before thinking the better of it and fleeing. As he puts it, by then there was no reason to fight further, and killing Vader would only make him the most wanted man in the Empire. He also recognizes this trait in Vader himself, noting that "the Dark Lord is not one to make fruitless enemies. In time Vader's anger will cool, and [[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack the Empire may once again require his services]]."