Quotes / Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work

Rachel: I'm going to take David back to the island and leave him there again.

Cassie: I don't know if you can do it a second time.

Rachel: (snapping) You know what, Cassie? I don't know, either. So will you do it for me?

Cassie: (taken aback) I... I don't...

Rachel: Yeah. I didn't think so.

— Animorphs

John: No... no, I can't.
Scorpius: (sigh) I can. (grabs pistol in John's hand, and fires)

— Farscape, "Prayer"

"We had come late to Robert's cause. It was necessary to demonstrate our loyalty. When I laid those bodies before the throne, no man could doubt that we had forsaken House Targaryen forever. And Robert's relief was palpable. As stupid as he was, even he knew Rhaegar's children had to die if his throne was ever to be secure. Yet he saw himself as a hero, and heroes do not kill children."

— Tywin Lannister from A Song of Ice and Fire explains why he ordered the murder of two children, both 5 years old or less.

"The big front page scoop of the morning was a picture someone had taken with his cell phone from one of the buildings on the same street as the building we’d burned down. Our silhouettes were visible as we stood on the street with dozens of ABB members strewn around us. The headline? ‘VILLAINS STEP IN’."

— A newspaper in Worm, following the local supervillains attacking a gang that had gone on a bombing spree.

"Civilization rests on the principle that we treat our criminals better than they treated their victims. That we not stoop to their level. But you and I are outliers. We're not really a part of civilization. We're something... older. Which means, of course, that we can do the things that civilized people can't."

— Carl Elias to Officer Simmons before having him killed, Person of Interest

"You wanna know the awful truth? I've only been in Gotham for a few days, and I've already accomplished so much more than you in the...what has it been, two years that you've been doing the whole costume thing? Roman Sionis? Gone! Loeb! Whoa, that guy was corrupt to the core! Got rid of him! That warden at Blackgate? Pretty sure he'll be facing charges after what I made him do tonight."

— Joker to Batman, Batman: Arkham Origins

"Now zat is how a supervillain does it. Quick and efficient."

— Greta Gravity, Spinnerette, after concussing a rampaging cerberus with a pair of levitated cinderblocks

"That's why you came to me, isn't it, Captain? Because you knew I could do those things that you weren't capable of doing. Well, it worked. And you'll get what you wanted: a war between the Romulans and the Dominion. And if your conscience is bothering you, you should soothe it with the knowledge that you may have just saved the entire Alpha Quadrant, and all it cost was the life of one Romulan senator, one criminal... and the self-respect of one Starfleet officer. I don't know about you, but I'd call that a bargain."

— Elim Garak, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: "In the Pale Moonlight"

"I am not a good man. A good man would regret a lot of the things I've done, I think. But I've known good people. Or at least, people who deserved a lot better than what they got. And I figured that I could do things that good people can't."

— Colt, The Zombie Knight

Black Queen: They're right to be on pins and needles about it: nobody wants a young Regicide walking around, only this one protected by treaty. I won't argue to throw her to the wolves, we have to clean our own houses, but we have to give them something.
White Knight: ... I do not see what we can, Black.
Black Queen: [bares teeth] Then pray, hero. And I'll see what I can get done down in the mud.

— A Practical Guide to Evil

Payne: For all we know, those things are some new form of revenant - and the only thing to do is kill them. Could you burn down people - women and children - even if you knew they had become monsters?

Agatha: I... no... I don't know.

Payne: The Baron can - the Baron has. I respect him for that, but I don't want to be him. No sane man would.

— Girl Genius

Mary Margaret: Emma, we can't do this.
Regina: No, I can. That's why I'm here.

— Once Upon a Time

Agent Sitwell: Is this little display meant to insinuate that you're gonna throw me off the roof? Because it's really not your style, Rogers.
Captain America: You're right. It's not. It's hers.
Black Widow: [throws Agent Sitwell off the roof]

— Captain America: The Winter Soldier

"Why don't you just be a good cop, and leave the killing to me."

— Cleve, Best Seller

"There has to be someone in the kingdom capable of doing what needs done, and it can't be the man sitting on the throne. Continue to hold the scribes back. It will be better if my brother can reasonably disavow what we're about to do."

— Dalinar "the Blackthorn", The Stormlight Archive

Do you know what my people call this last year? The Long Halloween. Johnny Viti, my nephew, was the first one to die. On Halloween night. It could have stopped there. But, it didn't. And we both know why. You and the cops just let it continue because he was killing our people. Mia famiglia! And you stand here and act like your hands are clean.

— Carmine Falcone, The Long Halloween

Amos: You're not that guy. You're not that guy.
(Prax lowers his gun and leaves)
Doctor Strickland: Oh, thank you, thank you.
(Amos closes the door)
Amos: I am that guy.
(Amos shoots Strickland.)

—The Expanse

This ain't for you, to kill a man tied up. It's for work like this, you bring along a man like me.

— Black Dow, The Blade Itself.

Thor: I don't know what surprises me more, General Fury, the Brotherhood of Mutants working for S.H.I.E.L.D. or the fact that you're employing Magneto's children here.

Nick Fury: Ain't the first time the security services done deals with terrorists, big man.

— The Ultimates

I knew you'd play your part to perfection. But your role really wasn't supposed to be some embodiment of Death. No, you were London's guardian angel... My minions worked tirelessly to ensure that the finger of guilt could never come to rest on you. It's all thanks to them that you were exalted as the demigod the Reaper became.

— Mael Stronghart, The Great Ace Attorney

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