History Main / ShootTheDangerousMinion

* This is inverted in the first ''Film/TheMarine'' movie. When two of his minions get into a fight, the BigBad elects to keep the [[PsychoPartyMember most dangerous and unhinged one]] specifically ''because'' he's the most dangerous and unhinged member of the crew. He says you never know when those qualities will come in handy. This is despite the fact that said member is responsible for the job going from a simple bank robbery to being on the run from the whole state when he [[CopKiller killed a couple of cops]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' Darth Sidious ordered Dooku to kill Ventress. Sidious feared that Ventress had grown powerful enough that Dooku might turn her against him. This was a legitimate concern, as it's common practice for a Sith apprentice to seek out an apprentice of his own when betraying the Sith master...and Expanded Universe stories had depicted Ventress repeatedly advising Dooku to do exactly that (with herself as the new apprentice).

* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', [[spoiler:Coil decides to kill Skitter after she helped his plan to conquer Brockton Bay reach fruition, as he knows that she would oppose his continuing to hold Dinah Alcott prisoner]].

UriahGambit and PleaseShootTheMessenger are subtropes.

* In ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'', [[TheMafia Mafia]] Don Bartolo Runorata sets Gustavo Bagetta up against the [[NeighbourhoodFriendlyGangsters Gandor Family]] in order to get rid of him after Gustavo becomes more trouble than he's worth. In the anime, Don Bartolo ends up blowing Gustavo away personally as a gesture of good faith to Eve Genoard; in the LightNovels, [[NobleDemon Luck Gandor]] does the honors, but not before pointing out to Gustavo that Don Bartolo is aware of his shenanigans and will be glad to be rid of him.

* In ''Literature/ShardsOfHonor'', [[TheExtremistWasRight Emperor Ezar]] turns out to have deliberately launched an invasion which was doomed to fail, so that he could kill his son [[TheCaligula Prince Serg]] and discredit the violent nationalists at his court. The sacrifice of numerous innocents during that invasion made it possible for the throne to pass to Ezar's grandson, Gregor, who is a noble and benevolent [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask Guy Wearing the Kingly Mask]]. Ezar himself not only confesses to it all on his deathbed, but makes it clear he's looking forward to dying. And [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone hoping there's no afterlife]].

* Yang Wenli in ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'' is on the receiving end of a nonlethal version. After becoming a public hero to the Alliance, the politicians of the Alliance views him as an immense threat should he ever decide to run for office and they take every chance they get to smear his reputation, hound his operations [[ObstructiveBureaucrat through bureaucracy or congressional hearings]], or outright playing the UriahGambit on him in the hopes he'll fail and his reputation will be ruined.

* In the ''VideoGame/MegaManX4'' manga, Repliforce sub-commander Frost Walrus is a hotheaded Reploid with a penchant for causing destruction. In fact, his destructive nature got him marked for termination as a Maverick, but before he could be punished, the General did him a favor and saved him by inviting him to join Repliforce. Walrus engages in multiple riots during Repliforce's coup d'etat against the human government, many of which are not even helpful to the cause but are just destruction for destruction's sake. This eventually causes him to be rebuked by the Colonel, who says he will report Walrus to the General and tells him to stop causing wanton destruction. And what does he do next? He throws a temper tantrum, slams the ground, and decides to do the same thing he was warned to stop doing. He releases dozens of Reploid prisoners he has kept in the base and proceeds to slaughter them all one by one, with one Reploid being saved by the timely intervention of Hunters X and Blizzard Buffalo. Walrus's strength is too much for them, and he knocks X out while ruthlessly impaling Buffalo with a Frost Tower. When X comes to fight him again at his base, the Hunter destroys several of the ice cases of Reploid bodies in Walrus's base, infuriating him. Walrus is then heavily injured by X destroying the fuel tank of a Ride Armor, but he still recovers and gains the upper hand. General then brutally shoots him down and kills him to save X's life, and as punishment for his previous sociopathic behavior.

* In ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'', [[TheMafia Mafia]] Don Bartolo Runorata sets Gustavo Bagetta up against the [[NeighbourhoodFriendlyGangsters Gandor Family]] in order to get rid of him after Gustavo becomes more trouble than he's worth. In the anime, Don Bartolo ends up blowing Gustavo away personally as a gesture of good faith to Eve Genoard; in the LightNovels, [[NobleDemon Luck Gandor]] does the honors, but not before pointing out to Gustavo that Don Bartolo is aware of his shenanigans and will be glad to be rid of him.
* In ''{{Manga/Bleach}}'', Kugo Ginjo advises his [[BigBadDuumvirate partner]] Shukuro Tsukishima to dispose of Moe Shishigawara after they're done with the Shinigami because his [[WindsOfDestinyChange Fullbring ability]] could be too powerful for either of them. [[EvenEvilHasStandards Even Tsukishima]] says this is a dick move. On top of that, Shishigawara is only Tsukishima's lackey, not a member of Xcution. It never happens, though, due to both Ginjou and Tsukishima dying; although Tsukishima finds comfort in his last moment with his loyal lackey Shishigawara.
* In the sequel to ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'', it is revealed that [[HunterOfMonsters CCG]] has policies and contingency plans for disposing of the members of the experimental [[HalfHumanHybrid Quinx]] [[ProHumanTranshuman Squad]] if need be. The members are aware of this and seem to accept it as a reality of their situation.

* One ComicBook/{{Punisher}} story has Frank go back in time to the Prohibition and get a job with UsefulNotes/AlCapone (by demolishing some of his goons in seconds). He brings his enthusiastic aid in taking out other criminal gangs, and soon Capone is holding a victory banquet... where the guests are tied up and he walks among them with a baseball bat, beating up traitors and those who've displeased him, explicitly invoking this trope when it's Frank's turn. Frank gets rid of the rope and kills Capone (no Capone, no Mafia; no Mafia, [[DeathByOriginStory no shootout in Central Park where his family was having a picnic...]]). [[spoiler:And then it turns out it was AllJustADream.]]

* In ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers'', Richelieu is happy for this reason when the heroes kill Milady and gives D'Artagnan a promotion/job as a reward. While the Cardinal was willing to use her services, he's AffablyEvil (and later books dropped the 'evil' part), whereas she was a psycho [[TheVamp vamp]] and thus he was happy to be rid of her.

* In the ninth and final (that was the plan, anyway) book of the ''Literature/AlexRider'' series, GreaterScopeVillain Zeljan Kurst is well aware that Levi Kroll is angry over being repeatedly passed over for leading an operation, and arranges for him to be assassinated at the next meeting of Scorpia executives. This not only gets Levi out of the picture, but also allows him to use Levi's corpse for an UriahGambit that [=MI6=] walks right into.

* Sigma in ''VideoGame/MegaManXtreme2'' thanks X and Zero for taking care of Berkana, saying she went too far and was too greedy with the power she was taking.

* [[TheMafia Knuckles]] from ''VideoGame/GhostMaster'' suffered this fate. One night at the casino, he caught the croupier cheating so that his Don would win every time. Since this moment could ruin both the croupier and Don's reputation, Knuckles was shot on the spot. They definitely shouldn't have done it: though his body was disposed, his ghost remains at the casino - vengeful and really powerful.
* In ''VideoGame/FaeryLegendsOfAvalon'', it turns out that this is sort of what Oberon (the king) did to you before the start of the game, except he put you stasis rather than kill you outright. He tries to defend himself by pointing out that although he froze you, he's also the one who woke you up again (although that was just because he needed your services again).
* In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2'', Yuri assassinates Premier Romanov to seize power and then orders you to kill General Vladimir, who was already suspecting Yuri's motives and had been framed for the murder. The Player General continues to serve Yuri for a while until his continued success makes Yuri wary of a new threat. Lt. Sofia reveals Yuri's treachery before you can take him up on his invitation to visit him in Moscow, however, instead bringing half the army with you.
* Attempted in ''VideoGame/{{Mercenaries}} Playground of Destruction''. Sergi, the leader of the local [[TheMafiya Russian Mafia]] branch, becomes increasingly paranoid of Josef, the HypercompetentSidekick who was sent to keep an eye on him and make sure that he didn't screw things up. This leads to Sergi selling both Josef and the player character out to the North Koreans, at which point Josef, who had until then been completely loyal due to being a strict follower of the Russian Mafia's code of conduct, turns around and takes over the operation, paying you to eliminate Sergi.
* At the end of ''VideoGame/GhostOfTsushima'', after [[PlayerCharacter Jin Sakai]] has given everything to save Japan from the Mongol invasion, [[spoiler:the Kamakura Shogunate thanks him by declaring him a war criminal and ordering his immediate execution. Officially, they do so because of [[ShootTheDog the dishonorable tactics Jin employed against the invaders]]. ''Un''officially, they're doing it because Jin's growth into a LivingLegend and inspiration of the peasantry is endangering the feudal caste system that keeps them in power; it wouldn't do for the lowly commoners to forget their place and get ideas about standing up for themselves without relying on samurai masters for protection.]]

* ''Webcomic/OurLittleAdventure'' is set in an RPGMechanicsVerse where the BigBadDuumvirate prohibit any of their subjects from reaching CharacterLevel 17, on pain of death. Zig-zagged when they nonchalantly kill [[spoiler:Janice]] for that reason and [[YourSoulIsMine trap her soul]], only to bring her BackFromTheDead at Level 16 because they don't want to waste a useful minion.

* The ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode ''The Man Who Killed Batman'' follows milquetoast feeble rookie goon Sid "The Squid" Debris as he's threatened by the entire Gotham underworld in one way or another for (accidentally) appearing to kill Batman. After a WholeEpisodeFlashback, his boss, mafia kingpin Rupert Thorne, showcases that he's yet another of the brutal and stupid men that Sid's run into all night long by believing that Sid is just applying ObfuscatingStupidity and trying to shoot him in order to prevent him from becoming a threat to Thorne's power. Thankfully, Batman (who faked his death and had been following Sid all along to find out who his boss was) chooses to barge into Thorne's penthouse right then.

The DragonInChief is often a target of this, although by their very nature they may survive such attempts to get rid of them by an inferior villain.

* The ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode ''The Man Who Killed Batman'' follows milquetoast feeble rookie goon Sid "The Squid" Debris as he's threatened by the entire Gotham underworld in one way or another for (accidentally) appearing to kill Batman. After a WholeEpisodeFlashback his boss, mafia kingpin Rupert Thorne, showcases he's yet another of the brutal and stupid men that Sid's run into all night long by believing that Sid is just applying ObfuscatingStupidity and trying to shoot him in order to prevent him from becoming a threat to Thorne's power. Thankfully Batman (who faked his death and had been following Sid all along to find out who was his boss) chooses to barge into Thorne's penthouse right then.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surena Surena]], the Parthian general who defeated Marcus Licinius Crassus at the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Carrhae Battle of Carrhae]] (very much a real-life CurbStompBattle; Surena's 10,000 strong all-cavalry army defeated seven legions (about 50,000 men) while suffering less than 100 casualties), was executed by the Parthian emperor Orodestes II shortly after his victory because of this trope. To add insult to injury, Surena had been a core supporter of Orodestes in his just-finished CivilWar against his brother Mithridates.

* In ''{{Manga/Bleach}}'', Kugo Ginjo advises his [[BigBadDuumvirate partner]] Shukuro Tsukishima to dispose of Moe Shishigawara after they're done with the Shinigami because his [[WindsOfDestinyChange Fullbring ability]] could be too powerful for either of them. [[EvenEvilHasStandards Even Tsukishima]] says this is a dick move. On top of that, Shishigawara is only Tsukishima's lackey, not a member of Xcution. It never happens, though. Due to both, Ginjou and Tsukishima dying, although Tsukishima finds comfort in his last moment with his loyal lackey Shishigawara.

** In ''Anime/DragonBallZBrolyTheLegendarySuperSaiyan'', King Vegeta commands his subjects to kill Broly who was just born the that day because his battle power was too high for a Saiyan his age and might become a danger to his family. Broly survives the destruction of the planet Vegeta and becomes an AxCrazy OmnicidalManiac.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Tyranny}}'', optional correspondence with Fatebinder Myotis reveals that [[EvilOverlord Kyros]] regularly sends out Bleden Mark to 'cull' anyone who looks like they might develop Archon powers in their empire. [[spoiler:Bleden Mark will attack the PlayerCharacter in three of the four endings of the game no matter your other actions up to that point, implying that ''you'' have just become a liability to Kyros.]]