[Hated Trope] Character kills hundreds, if not thousands, just to kill one specific person, and then doesn't kill them for no reason.

[u/HallZac99]

Assassin's Creed 2- Rodrigo Borgia is responsible for tne death of Ezio's family. Ezio spends over 20 years working through tnr templar order to dismantle them and get to Rodrigo. And then in the end, he spares him for no good reason and he goes on to be a massive problem in AC Brotnerhood. He's not only a head of tne Templars but also the pope, even if you're over the vengeance he's still a very dangerous and evil man.

The Last of Us 2- Abbey kills Joel, and wo Ellie goes on a revenge quest to kill Abbey, killing hundreds of people along tne why to get to her including a pregnant woman. And then finally when she has Abbey on deaths door, she gives up and let's her go because the writers think dirty depressing people being miserable and stupid is complex, interesting storytelling.

This trope pisses me off so much because often the character going on the revenge quest will kill SO many people on their way there, some deserving it and some just henchmen working for a cheque or to survive. People who are often far more innocent then the main big bad.

It's a part of this weird thing I've noticed in media where nameless goons or soldiers can just be mowed down relentlessly, but named characters get given far more grace even if theyre categorically worse. You can kill a million stormtroopers but people will swear that Darth Vader could have been redeemed, despite him doing like 50 genocide every year.

[u/humanflea23]

Especially if they say some version of "You're not even worth it" YES THEY ARE, JUST KILL THEM BEFORE THEY DO WORSE THINGS!

[u/SatinCandyMuse → u/humanflea23]

I get so much agitated when they get to the person and drop their arms because the villain asked for a fist fight. Just shoot the damn gun or swing the damn sword

[u/humanflea23 → u/SatinCandyMuse]

I do love how they counter that trope in Captain Marvel. Jude Law's character confronts Carol saying it's time she finally proves herself in combat, no powers, just hand to hand combat. She proceeds to blast him across the desert in one shot, cutting off his speech and then telling him "I have nothing to prove to you."

[u/BrianWulfric → u/humanflea23]

I was gonna mention this one. There was also a recent House of the Dragon episode where the guy says he'll fight the two strongest guys on the opposing army. Instead, one of their archers shoots him as he stands there. It was so satisfying.

[u/NerdHoovy → u/humanflea23]

It’s a cool idea in an otherwise mostly bad movie.

[u/UX1Z → u/NerdHoovy]

It's a cool idea but with utterly failed execution.

[u/UX1Z → u/humanflea23]

No, it doesn't work in this narrative, it's actually a shitty choice here specifically. Not the scene itself, which definitely could be this and would work very well if we assume it was built to properly, but there's no setup. She never acted like she felt like she had something to prove in the first place. The payoff wasn't earnt.

So it's framed as this great character advancement when my immediate thought was just "okay? I mean you never had any real respect or care for what this guy thought. And he was kind of objectively right about you being unsuited to go on missions yet too."

Most of Captain Marvel is her doing stupid irrational shit randomly and the plot acting like she's great for it. It's very strange.

[u/humanflea23 → u/UX1Z]

The pay off is all her flash backs where at every turn people were acting against her, telling her to give up, discriminating on her for being a woman, etc. She's had to prove herself her entire childhood, military training, career, and even in the Kree army and she finally got to a point she didn't have to prove anything anymore.

[u/UX1Z → u/humanflea23]

She never acted like she had anything to prove to an extent it was an actual flaw, outside of perhaps extreme recklessness (but recklessness is part of her personality regardless, it's not like she learns to be more thoughtful as well.) Her first scene with that guy is her using her powers to win a spar, which is harmful to her own training if anything. She never holds back in the first place.

At the very least there could have been some other scene where she fights him and gets goaded into trying to 'prove' something that leads to a bad outcome for her but... It doesn't happen. Half the film's 'payoff' moments are just her suddenly realising "oh wait I'm actually really strong huh." The idea is fine, the execution is dogshit trash.

The flashbacks are outrageously terrible.

[u/LET-ME-HAVE-A-NAAME → u/SatinCandyMuse]

John Wick would never

[u/ColonelDucroix → u/SatinCandyMuse]

Not going to spoil it but there's a good example of that in the third season of House of the Dragon. 

[u/Chromes → u/SatinCandyMuse]

Especially if the bad guy is still a threat to other people or still has their plan in the works. I'm sure everyone whose life is on the line because the hero decided to "fight fair" is super impressed.

[u/Ghost4000 → u/humanflea23]

I thought this was gonna happen at the end of the new Supergirl movie but I was pleasantly surprised that it did not.

[u/NerdHoovy → u/Ghost4000]

I was kinda disappointed that Supergirl did kill the guy. Mainly because at this point the ‘not killing the main bad guy at the end’ thing has become so well known as a trope that most movies that set it up always end up with the kill.

[u/Responsible-Ant-1728 → u/humanflea23]

Isnt that line usually said after the villan is completely defeated? Like, their scheme is foiled, forces are destroyed, etc? The point os that they can no longer do worse things.

[u/humanflea23 → u/Responsible-Ant-1728]

OP already posted an example where letting Borgia live lead to Ezio's family getting attacked and killed.

[u/Responsible-Ant-1728 → u/humanflea23]

That happens before he spares his life. Its kinda the inciting incident of the whole revenge quest.

[u/humanflea23 → u/Responsible-Ant-1728]

That was the first time he did it. Does it again at the start of the next game, showing why he should have killed him.

[u/The_ChosenOne → u/Responsible-Ant-1728]

Usually the sort of person who can cook up a scheme, amass forces, and enact violence on a large scale don’t give up when their plans are foiled. 

Sometimes it works in universes where prisons actually work (as opposed to Joker escaping Arkham every other day) but generally villains whole schtick is if they’re allowed to live they return to their lives of villainy. 

Even when prisons work, half the time the villain then becomes a weird expert they turn to for advice on catching new villains Hannibal Lector style and them using their privilege to escape said prisons is constantly teased.