"The real Batman never talked to you very much, did he? That's probably why you were so fixated on him. ... The real reason you kept coming back was you never got a laugh out of the old man. Get a clue, clowny! He's got no sense of humor. He wouldn't know a good joke if it bit him in the cape."
— Batman (Terry McGinnis) to the Joker, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
When an earnest simplistic hero is juxtaposed with a snarky cantankerous villain. Often overlapped with Brains Evil, Brawn Good in having this specific pairing where a strong hero is displayed as physically formidable and wholesomely simple while the genius villain is portrayed as deviously intelligent and a Deadpan Snarker.
Expect the villain to offer an endless slew of criticism and passive aggressive commentary to make them different from the hero and for An Aesop about the villain being the guy with the most flippant attitude. Even more apparent when overlapped with Shabby Heroes, Well-Dressed Villains where the hero comes from a humble upbringing to highlight their wholesome demeanor while the villain comes from a privileged haughty background.
Though there are cases where the hero happens to be a Byronic Hero with some Knight in Sour Armor qualities under his belt, expect the villain to be substantially more snarky than the hero and constantly mocking his "hero" status to highlight their villainy. Often times they're the snarkiest characters in the setting.
Often contrasted by Polite Villains, Rude Heroes (this applied to inverse personalities) and Fair-Play Villain types who prefer honest action and earnest speech. Often overlaps with Hammy Villain, Serious Hero.
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- Inverted in Death Note. Knight Templar Villain Protagonist Light Yagami, who has the tragically simplistic notion of fixing the world by murdering anyone he considers to be evil, goes up against Deadpan Snarker Nominal Hero L, who's interested in trying to figure out Light's identity as Kira mainly because he finds it enjoyable.
- In Kemono Jihen, Kabane is a straightforward and earnest Extreme Doormat because of how he was raised by his Evil Aunt. He tends to answer with unvarnished Brutal Honesty and comes across as Innocently Insensitive due to lacking the social skills to be tactful. By contrast, the dialogue of kitsune like Nobimaru is gushing with snark and barely hidden contempt.
Comic Books
- Superman is known for his wholesome Farm Boy charm that makes him popular with kids and adults alike. He always tries to take the moral high ground some interpretations of him still believe in Santa Claus. By contrast, his Arch-Enemy, Lex Luthor, is a conniving Insufferable Genius whose dialogue drips with snark when he's not busy manipulating people. That said, Superman can still snark with the best of them when he wants to, especially since he has Lois Lane as his spouse.
- Batman is known for his persona as The Stoic and Memetic Badass that makes him popular with kids and adults alike for his dedication to justice and earnest sense of right and wrong. He always tries to take the moral high ground, with some interpretations of him being Comically Serious. By contrast, his Arch-Enemy, the Joker, is a bombastic and maniacal Straw Nihilist Monster Clown whose dialogue drips with snark towards everyone when he's not torturing people. That said, Batman can still snark against his adversaries albeit with a very dry sense of humor.
Film — Animated
- In Wonder Woman: Bloodlines, the snarky characters are the ones seemingly most tied to villainy while Wonder Woman is constantly earnest and simple. Best highlighted when Veronica Cale, the film's snippiest and most snarky character, is revealed to be the mastermind behind the whole plot and Wonder Woman's greatest enemy by the end of the film.
- Demonstrated in Atlantis: The Lost Empire with Colonel Rourke as a ruthless laidback Deadpan Snarker mercenary in conflict with the simple Milo Thatch. Rourke's crew has their own snarky tendencies which highlight their amoral status until they decide to join Thatch later on.
- Best demonstrated in Disney's Hercules, where the Big Bad is the perpetually snarky God of the Underworld Hades whose attitude is in direct opposite to the humble demigod strongman farmboy Hercules. The film's next snarkiest character is Meg, who happens to be a Dark Action Girl working for Hades who becomes more open, less snarky, and honest when she becomes more involved with Hercules.
- Inverted in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker where Terry McGinnis openly borrows a page from Joker's snarkiness and uses it against him by calling his jokes, fixation with Batman and MO for villainy stale with a Boring Insult. The clown reacts negatively with a Villainous Breakdown.
Film — Live-Action
- Thor and Loki, like that of classic mythology, especially in The Avengers (2012) and Thor: The Dark World. Becomes more of an inverted trope as with time Thor becomes more of a Deadpan Snarker while Loki becomes less snarky and more wholesomely honest about his intentions.
- Castor Troy of Face/Off is quite the comical smart-aleck, while his nemesis Sean Archer is stone-serious and determined to stop him. It's one of the few things in the movie that makes logical sense, as Archer's son was murdered by Troy and he later has his identity stolen by him, while Troy's cutting up and joking around conveys how little a shit he gives about most of the death and destruction he causes (though he does get a humanizing moment or two where he's at a loss for humor).
Tabletop Games
- Warhammer Fantasy: Essentially the defining character trait of Wulfrik the Wanderer, whose entire schtick is looking for enemy champions and insult them into attacking him (note that the Warhammer verse being what it is, he might be fighting an earnest villain as well). In his novel, a duel with a Sigmarite priest has the priest yell imprecations that don't really phase Wulfrik much, while his barbs are much more effective.
Visual Novels
- The protagonist of Double Homework largely shed his snarky attitude following the Barbarossa incident. By contrast, Dennis gets more snarky as the story progresses.
- The protagonist of Melody is pretty much devoid of snark. Bethany can suppress her snark to win someone over, but it comes back before long.
Web Animation
- In RWBY, Ruby Rose is an Anti-Nihilist who often wins allies and friends with her sunny disposition, kind words, and the occasional Rousing Speech. Roman Torchwick, the show's Starter Villain, is a Straw Nihilist who snarks his way through every second of his screentime.
Western Animation
- From the Hercules mythos, this is demonstrated again by Loki in Hercules: The Animated Series who's displayed as a sleazy movie producer/agent with a constant sarcastic jab at his more brutish and simplistically friendly Norse God brethren. Naturally he ends up an enemy to Hercules.
- Shego from Kim Possible is without a doubt the snarkiest character in a World of Snark setting and the most dangerous of Kim's enemies and her archnemesis. Kim who is a perky and somewhat snarky heroine is highlighted as much more wholesome than Shego by contrast.
- Played straight in the dynamic between Gibbs and Spud in Titan Maximum. Gibbs, though the most competent member and strategist of the Titan Force Five, hated his team and constantly threw a sardonic comment at his teammates and became even more vicious after becoming fed up and leaving the team to become an interstellar terrorist. Spud, in contrast, was the "drug-fueled heart" or "lovable goofball" of the group whose friendly, earnest lovable nature kept the team together despite their constant bickering, to the point even Gibbs respected him for his courage even after his death.
