“ | I no longer go by the name of Kuroto Dan. I'm now... NEW Kuroto Dan! | „ |
~ Kuroto Dan |
“ | Have you recently lost a loved one in an aviation disaster? Have you suffered injury, shock to the senses, or property damage as the result of airplane debris or— God forbid— falling body parts? Then call me, Saul Goodman! | „ |
~ One of Saul Goodman's many tasteless commercials. |
“ | Get the stick Max! Get the stick! (Max barks and runs after the stick that was thrown) *chuckling to himself* There's no, stick! I'm smarter... | „ |
~ The Grinch tricking Max with throwing a stick. |
Comic Relief villains are more light-hearted and less dark or evil than what is considered normal for the works in which they appear, having a comedic presence within an otherwise serious story. They are mutually exclusive from and the exact opposites of Game Changers. These villains are usually seen in TV shows as they sometimes become more nasty, depending on the episode. In particular, if a villain falls under Mischievous, Incompetents, Dimwits or Ensembles, they are likely to be part of this (e.g. Condiment King, many versions of Harley Quinn, and Tabitha).
It is almost impossible for Big Bads or Bigger Bads to be Comic Reliefs because if a main antagonist is comical, then by default most of the other story elements will be as well and this trope cannot apply. The only exception would be if a story driven primarily by realism or dramas and inexplicably had a comical or cartoonish villain who was the only recurring antagonist but irrelevant to the rest of the plot (e.g. Aku).
Comic Reliefs can and tend to have their more threatening moments (e.g. Wheatley, Cave Johnson, King Dedede, Fawful, Ryuk, Double Trouble, Twice, Runa Yomozuki, and Monokuma) but their comedy must be more prominent and/or remembered.
IMPORTANT: Villains who are Pure Evil can NEVER qualify because their acts are always taken seriously and/or fearsome in comparison to others. This is applicable even if they appear to be funny because their humor is usually sadistic or twisted and makes them even more threatening (e.g. Emperor Palpatine, Bryan Fury, Ares, Cioccolata, Junko Enoshima, AM, Zhan Tiri, Lord Commander, Yuuki Terumi, Mahito, It, Ramsay Bolton, Percival C. McLeach, and Micah Bell). Even if a Pure Evil villain does have some genuinely funny moments, their acts are still played seriously in-universe (e.g. Bill Cipher, Frieza, Scar, Dio Brando, Patrick Bateman, Stu Macher, Syndrome, Katz, Randall Boggs, Agatha Trunchbull, Kefka Palazzo, most versions of the Joker, Dimentio, Mysterio, Freddy Krueger, Chucky, Hades, Ivan Ooze, and Rasputin) UNLESS they are using a comedic persona as a tool to show off and manipulate the in-universe audience into some evil belief, then LATER they will be taken seriously again after it's revealed that they used the comedy for a serious, evil purpose. Pure Evil villains like the ones listed should go under Faux Affably Evil, Trickster, Charismatic and/or Comedy villains instead.
Also, DO NOT add characters like these even if they are not Pure Evil and/or Game Changers:
- Comedy villains from comedic media, even if they are comedic and amusing themselves (e.g. Eric Cartman, Peter Griffin, Balthazar Bratt, Dr. Neo Cortex, Discord, Heinz Doofenshmirtz, Aloysius O'Hare, Captain Hook, Ken, Dr. Nefarious, and Hades).
- Villains who the audience may find funny, but are not treated as such in-universe (e.g. Norman Osborn, Doma, Lalo Salamanca, Trevor Philips, Hans Landa, Jabba the Hutt, Professor Ratigan, and Vaas Montenegro).
- Villains who start off comedic, but grow out of it as the story goes on (e.g. Ernesto de la Cruz, DOR-15, Turbo, Doctor Sivana, Tighten, Earl of Lemongrab, Gaston LeGume, Spot, Dawn Bellwether, and Jesse Pinkman).
- Villains who present themselves in a comedic way, but it only increases how loathsome and sadistic they are rather than downplaying it (e.g. Frau Engel, Byron Hadley, Professor Marmalade, Adam, Devin Weston, Kikimora, Dan Tae Joo, Homelander, Stormfront, Eddy's Brother, and Chris Hargensen).
This is for villains who appear in a serious setting and are treated comically/lighthearted in-universe.
All items (1861)
- The Chanels
- The Cloaker
- The Collector (The Owl House)
- The Cruncher
- The Daltons
- The Detachable Kid
- The Devil (Hell and Back)
- The Devil (Lissi and the Wild Emperor)
- The Devil (Misfortune.GB)
- The Dog (Bear of Vengeance)
- The Duke (Layer Cake)
- The Dursleys
- The Fat Clown (Sons of Anarchy)
- The Fox (Bear of Vengeance)
- The Goons
- The Great White Butt
- The Greedy
- The Grizz
- The Gurumess
- The Hacker
- The King (Dan the Man)
- The Master With No Name
-
- The Merovingian
- The Mighty Endowed
- The New Day
- The Noid
- The Poodle Lady
- The Regulators
- The Reliant Regal
- The Ruff-Ruff Pack
- The Servant (Heart of Darkness)
- The Shinobi
- The Skinners
- The Smiths
- The Trickster (DC)
- The Truth (Grand Theft Auto)
- The Will of Honkai
- Theseus
- Thester Carbomb IV
- Thieves (Spooky Month)
- Thimbo
- Think-Tanks
- Thomas Flyswatter
- Thomas Jefferson (Hamilton)
- Thorn & Zorn
- Thousand-Faced High Priest Gaos
- Threatpack
- Three Gorma Stooges
- Three Great Executives
- Three-eyed Potato Baby
- Three-Headed Giant
- Throbb
- Thrust (Beast Machines)
- Thugs (Arkhamverse)
- Thugs-4-Less Leader
- Thunderblast
- Thundercracker (Transformers: Cybertron)
- Thunderlips (Rocky)
- Tibalt
- Tibbles
- Tick Tock the Crocodile
- Tick Tock the Crocodile (Peter Pan & Wendy)
- Tig Trager
- Tiny-Handed Strong Bad
- Tiron
- Tito Turtle
- Toad (LEGO Marvel Super Heroes)
- Toad (Marvel)
- Tobi (Zetsu)
- Tog
- Tokka and Rahzar
- Tom & Tab
- Tom Rivas
- Tomator
- Ton, Chin, and Kan
- Tony "Knuckles" McGee
- Tonzura
- Tord Demon
- Torgo
- Tornado Tonion
- Toxica
- Toy Freddy
- Trapsaw
- Trapster
- Tree Witch
- Trevor Slattery
- Trevor Troublemeyer
- Trey & Cruz
- Tricky Devil
- Trigger and Nutsy
- Trixie Lulamoon
- Troyo
- Truckules
- Trump Administration (SNL)
- Trundle (League of Legends)
- Tsao, Lao and Bao
- Tsubasa Kurenai
- Tsurugi Kamishiro
- Tsuyoshi Kanda
- Tubaloid
- Tuco Ramirez
- Turk Barrett
- Turk Barrett (Marvel Cinematic Universe)
- Turtle (DC)
- Tutankoopa
- TV's Frank
- TV's Son of TV's Frank
- Twice
- Twinrova
- Twitch (An American Tail)
- Twitch (League of Legends)
- Twitch (My Little Pony)
- Two-Headed Monster
- Ty Lee
- Tyler (Ginger Snaps)
- Typhon (Final Fantasy)
- Tyrannos
- Tzun
- Val (We Summon the Darkness)
- Vampronica
- Van Wayne
- Varrick
- Veigar
- Vekar (Power Rangers)
- Velifer
- Vellian Crowler
- Vezon
- Vice (Kamen Rider)
- Victor Zsasz (Gotham)
- Vigilante (DC Extended Universe)
- Vignette Valencia
- Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield
- Vinnie and Roc
- Vinnie Gognitti
- Vinnie Sinistra
- Violet (Maya the Bee)
- Visionary Messenger Voffa
- Vito Đurić
- Vlad (Payday)
- Vladimir The Great
- Vodka
- Volt Catfish
- Voltar
- Voom Voom
- Vormulax
- Wade Hebert
- Waitress (Charlie the Unicorn)
- Wally Wackford
- Walrus (Marvel)
- Walter Williams
- Ward Rackley
- Warren Stone
- Wart (Rescue Rangers)
- Warz Gill
- Waspinator
- Wave (Akame ga Kill!)
- Weapon XI
- Weasel (DC Extended Universe)
- Wellington Wetworth Junior
- Wendell and Wild
- Westar
- Wheel-Stealer
- White Goodman
- White Rabbit (Marvel)
- Wick
- Wickie
- Wigglers
- Wiggy Jiggy Jed
- Wildbreak
- Wilf
- Wilhelm (Borderlands)
- Wilhelmina Witch
- Wilkins
- Will.i.am and Britney Spears
- William Shamspeare
- Willie Brothers
- Willy Rovelli
- Wings (Dragon Ball)
- Witch Hazel (Disney)
- Wizard of Darkness
- Wizeru
- Wolf (Nu Pogodi)
- Wolf (Tex Avery)
- Wolf Pack
- Worlds
- Wormskull
- Wraith Rod
- Wyzen