The DCU
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Comic Books
Comic Books
- Batman
- The Joker has a variation: You have succeeded admirably... But I'm bored. Working for Joker is like Russian Roulette. With bullets in all 6 chambers. And two guns. And the bullets are dipped in poison. And you don't get to spin the barrel. According to Gail Simone, that same chaotic nature also means Joker might shower you in cash for doing something like tipping a chair over. This is presented as the only reason anyone would be stupid enough to work for the Joker: it's Russian Roulette mixed with traditional roulette.
- First played straight and then later there's a subversion in the first Robin miniseries. The villain of the piece kills two of his Mooks with his bare hands for failing him, then promotes a Dragon Lady named Lynx to the position of head Mook. When she inevitably fails as well, he ponders over the dilemma of leaving her unpunished and having to kill a woman. He then hands her to his Dragon for a "not too dire, but memorable" punishment. Which, to the Dragon, meant putting out her eye.
- In the Night of the Owls arc, a few of the resurrected Talons have this in their backstory—whether out of sloppiness,note "misguided honor,"note or failing to do a job properly, they were retired early. Often, part of the issue featuring them focuses on their attempts to atone for their mistakes, perceived or otherwise.
- Catwoman: When in Rome: Louisa Falcone orders her nephew, The Blond, dead because he falls in love with Selina and couldn't kill her.
- Darkseid sometimes kills people who fail him — he has to keep up appearances — but since he uses his Omega Beams, he usually just resurrects them later when he needs them again.
- Subverted in Hourman. When a villain who presides over a hellish slave camp learns that one of the mooks screwed up, he finds the underling cowering in fear, certain that he's about to be killed for his failure. Instead, the villain pats him on the back, tells him to believe in himself, and gives him a couple of bucks to go buy himself a snack. It turns out their entire evil organization uses a series of self-help seminars as a front, and so they have a policy of only using positive reinforcement with the henchmen. And it works.
- Simon Dark: When five of Dall Moss' cultists fail to kill Neal Jones when the driver survives being beaten, drugged and then put in a truck that's shoved off a cliff and blown up, Dall has them all killed and he and the rest of the cultists watch their deaths for entertainment.
- Superman:
- In "Guess Who's About to Die!", a Mad Scientist's attempt to clone Supergirl results in six dwarf-sized copies. He sends them out to kill Supergirl but they fail, causing his enraged boss to crush his skull.Drake: Th-The Chairman! Then it... It, ah... Is her— er... SHE?!
Chairman: Supergirl! Who you swore to me would die before she could return here and interfere again! You realize what this means, Drake? Not only have your clones failed— our entire operation has been put in dire jeopardy!
Drake: I... Ah, I...
Chairman: Say nothing! You failed me... And that I will not tolerate! You were given a chance— and one is all I will allow! - The Killers of Krypton: Empress Gandelo gets Harry Hokum executed as a punishment for being defeated by Supergirl and the Omega Men.
- Starfire's Revenge: After busting one of interfering with one operation of the titular crimelord, Supergirl gets Starfire's minion Rodney out of the place so his boss does not kill him in punishment for failing to kill the Girl of Steel.Supergirl: It's no laughing matter! You failed Starfire! And for that— your reward is death! Just like it was death for Derek— Because he, too, failed— failed to immobilize me!
- Superman/Supergirl: Maelstrom: Variant. Wanting to get rid of Maelstrom, Darkseid allows her to go and attempt to kill Superman, threatening to banish her from Apokolips forever if she fails…fully aware that she will never defeat a Kryptonian.
- In "Guess Who's About to Die!", a Mad Scientist's attempt to clone Supergirl results in six dwarf-sized copies. He sends them out to kill Supergirl but they fail, causing his enraged boss to crush his skull.
- Wonder Woman:
- Wonder Woman (1942): Zara and Hypnota berate and then try to behead Clarice Mystik when the frightened young woman fails successfully sell the highly conspicuous and reported stolen Amazonian Royal Gems they'd ordered her to liquidate. Diana and Etta save her.
- Circe has on at least one occasion cooked and eaten one of her Bestiamorphs when they failed an assignment. Her Bestiamorphs are humans, mostly men, who she has transformed into creatures to do her bidding usually without their consent.
- Wonder Woman (1987): Dr. Zeul, otherwise known as Giganta, manages to combine this with You Have Outlived Your Usefulness when her assistant uploads her mind into a gorilla instead of a human body. She throws her hapless assistant from the roof while trying to escape the authorities, but they are rescued by Wonder Girl (Cassie).
- Zatanna (2010): Mammon plunges his elemental assassins into the fires of perdition for failing to kill Zatanna, even though he never really expected them to succeed in the first place. Letting them slide would set a bad precedent.
Films
Films
- In Tim Burton's Batman (1989), The Joker immediately executes his top henchman after his master plan is foiled:The Joker: My balloons. Those are my balloons. He stole my balloons! Why didn't anyone tell me he had one of those... things? Bob? Gun.
Bob the Henchman: [hands the Joker a gun, who promptly shoots him] - Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker: One of the Jokerz mouths off to the Joker for not telling them his plan after they fail a heist...Bonk: (finishing his rant) I want out!
The Joker: (pulls a gun) If you insist...
Bonk: Take... Take it easy, man — I was just kidding!
(Joker pulls the trigger, the gun fires — and all that happens is a 'BANG!' flag pops out)
The Joker: So was I.
(Bonk relaxes — Joker pulls the trigger again, firing the flag into Bonk and impaling him)
The Joker: Ooops... No I wasn't. - In The Dark Knight Rises Bane does this to two of his goons when they bring Commissioner Gordon into his lair, revealing the entire operation to him. He crushes the throat of one and then orders the other to search Gordon "And then I will kill you."
- Played straight in the Green Lantern (2011) movie. When Parallax arrives on Earth, his first action is to kill his human minion for failing to kill Hal Jordan before Parallax arrived.
Live-Action TV
Live-Action TV
- Arrow:
- When Brother Blood almost has his identity exposed by Team Arrow halfway through Season 2, his benefactor Slade Wilson kills several of his associates as punishment for his clumsiness, and warns him that if it happens again, Slade will kill him.
- Damien Darhk has a habit of killing anyone who fails (or even disagrees with) him using his magic. At one point, one of his lieutenants expresses doubt over Darhk's wife's ability to win the mayoral election, while in a tele-conference, thinking he's safe from Darhk's reprisal. He's wrong. So, after Darhk's source of power is destroyed by the Vixen, he finds himself in jail with most of his underlings happy to let him rot there. And when Darhk's powers are restored, he takes his revenge by killing all his associates and taking full control of HIVE.
- Gotham Knights (2023)
- Detective Ford and his squad are all decapitated by the Talon for failing to eliminate Turner and the others.
- Mayor Hill is fatally gassed by the Court of Owls for bungling handling the Mutant Gang's attack on the Founders' Gala.
- In the Titans (2018), episode "Together", the Nuclear Family are killed by the Organisation after being captured by the Titans, partly due to this trope and partly so they can't talk. Armed goons are sent after Dr Adamson, the Family's handler as well, but he's saved by Dick and Jason.
Video Games
Video Games
- In Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis, after his men bungle a mission to blow up an armory, Black Manta kills them.
- Batman: Arkham Series
- Batman: Arkham Asylum has this with the Joker. One of his radio chatter lines uses the trope name word-for-word to the last two mooks that Batman is yet to take down. And once Harley Quinn is defeated by Batman, he doesn't kill her, but just tells her she's "off the party list".
- Towards the end of Batman: Arkham City, Professor Hugo Strange gets stabbed in the back (literally and figuratively) by his boss Ra's al Ghul for being defeated by Batman. It doubles as You Have Outlived Your Usefulness and He Knows Too Much, as the whole purpose of Strange's plan was to prove himself worthy of being Ra's's successor; his failure in doing so demonstrates not only that Ra's has no real use for him, but also that Strange is a liability. Unfortunately for Ra's, his pawn does not appreciate being cast aside and uses his dying breath to activate their shared base's self destruct.
Western Animation
Western Animation
- Black Mask from The Batman killed his Number One and told a random Mook "You! You're my new Number One." The first just because he was pissed and he shot, the second questioned anti-gravity spray working and was made a test subject.
- Batman Beyond:
- A Society of Assassins member who fails to kill the target becomes the Society's next target. This backfires when Curaré, after failing to complete a job, destroys the rest of the group in self-defense.
- In "Return of the Joker", the Joker does this to one of his gang after a robbery attempt is foiled by Batman. Though, to be fair, the henchman in question unwisely mouthed-off to him.
