# The Pivotal Moment: Stupid Villain Mistakes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 7, 2010, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pivotal-moment-stupid-villain-mistakes/542271 "2010-06-07T14:11:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pivotal-moment-stupid-villain-mistakes/542271/41 "2010-06-12T02:45:46Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > What happens to a moon when you blow up the planet it orbits? It gets destroyed - eventually. Which is more useful when the enemy on the moon doesn’t have lots of ships with FTL drives. Also, given that Yavin is a gas giant it’s uncertain just how effective the superlaser would be in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pivotal-moment-stupid-villain-mistakes/542271/42 "2010-06-12T07:05:37Z")
“How about we boot up the laser NOW so it’ll be ready to go when the moon is in range?” “Shut up.” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pivotal-moment-stupid-villain-mistakes/542271/43 "2010-06-12T08:33:31Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > It gets destroyed - eventually. I don’t much care about that. What happens _ **before** _ that? > [@](#): > > Which is more useful when the enemy on the moon doesn’t have lots of ships with FTL drives. Well, yeah. And waiting a good while to shoot that moon instead of the planet also gives lots of ships a chance to launch. I mean, squadron after squadron after squadron of 'em – and while I’m not sure as to how much _ **more** _ any pilots would’ve been inconvenienced if the planet had done got blowed up real good first, the ships that launched weren’t inconvenienced _ **at all** _ as was. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pivotal-moment-stupid-villain-mistakes/542271/44 "2010-06-12T14:28:01Z")
The supervillain who wants to corner the market in Silicon chips or whatever who spends trillions on his bizarre plans, giant spaceships/submarines and underground bases when if he used all that money legitamitly he would probably achieve his ends anyway. Of course he’s have to have more money then mine and Bill Gates put together. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pivotal-moment-stupid-villain-mistakes/542271/45 "2010-06-13T20:03:46Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > The supervillain who wants to corner the market in Silicon chips or whatever who spends trillions on his bizarre plans, giant spaceships/submarines and underground bases when if he used all that money legitamitly he would probably achieve his ends anyway. > > Of course he’s have to have more money then mine and Bill Gates put together. Or any supervillain who just marketed his services, instead of spending years on complicated plans and butting heads with heroes. Classic example: The Weather… Wizard? From Sliver-Age Flash comics? Anyhow, a guy who could control the weather could make a few (billion) bucks. With just one small ad. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pivotal-moment-stupid-villain-mistakes/542271/46 "2010-06-13T22:14:59Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Classic example: The Weather… Wizard? From Sliver-Age Flash comics? Anyhow, a guy who could control the weather could make a few (billion) bucks. With just one small ad. IIRC, he was _ **already** _ a fugitive on the run from the authorities when he stumbled across the weather-controlling stroke of good luck. (Maybe he could’ve haggled for a full pardon or something at that point, but it’s no longer a slam-dunk.) ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pivotal-moment-stupid-villain-mistakes/542271/47 "2010-06-14T12:58:35Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > \<…\> > > Hitler invading the Soviet Union in September, without equipping his army with adequate winter gear or long range bombers? … … … I cannot be the only one to realize that Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in _ **JUNE** _ 1941, right…? O.o (to be precise, June 22, 1941) > **[Operation Barbarossa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_barbarossa)** > > Frontline strength (22 June 1941) > Frontline strength (22 June 1941) > Total military casualties:1,000,000+\[d\] ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pivotal-moment-stupid-villain-mistakes/542271/48 "2010-06-14T14:18:12Z")
> [@JoseB](#): > > I cannot be the only one to realize that Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in _ **JUNE** _ 1941, right…? O.o Yes, but Russia is a damn big place. He couldn’t conquer it, or even break up all its military forces, in the few months before winter got bad. They did a very good job of it, but there was simply too much to swallow. The original plan was to attack first thing in Spring, and that might have succeeded. It would have favored Hitler’s mobile assault for longer and quite possibly seen them conquer the entire western Russian heartland, making any reserves Stalin could have brought in from the east irrelevant. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pivotal-moment-stupid-villain-mistakes/542271/49 "2010-06-14T14:26:37Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Yes, but Russia is a damn big place. He couldn’t conquer it, or even break up all its military forces, in the few months before winter got bad. They did a very good job of it, but there was simply too much to swallow. The original plan was to attack first thing in Spring, and that might have succeeded. Historian John Keegan, among others, has asserted that the spring _rasputitsa_ (the muddy season of liquefied roads) lasted unusually long in 1941 and the attack _could not have been made_ significantly earlier than the third week of June (which is when it happened). So an attack earlier in the spring would have instantly bogged down into immobility, not the key to victory. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pivotal-moment-stupid-villain-mistakes/542271/50 "2010-06-14T14:34:05Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > The supervillain who wants to corner the market in Silicon chips or whatever who spends trillions on his bizarre plans, giant spaceships/submarines and underground bases when if he used all that money legitamitly he would probably achieve his ends anyway. > > Of course he’s have to have more money then mine and Bill Gates put together. One of the ASTRO CITY collections (the one featuring Steeljack, I forget the name since I bought the individual issues) shows the family of one of those villains; they live in a crappy four-room apartment in a bad part of town because all of the money the guy managed to steal went into giant blimps/submarines et cetera. ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pivotal-moment-stupid-villain-mistakes/542271/51 "2010-06-14T17:32:36Z")
“I give you 60 seconds” Khan to Kirk. “I’ll give you 60 seconds for you and your gallant Crew” Kruge to Kirk. Never give Kirk a minute to think his way out of a situation. But Seriously… Khan’s cockiness undid him so many times, which is probably why he lost on Earth during the Eugenics wars. In Space Seed, when he is suffocating Kirk in the medical chamber to make the other crew members join him, he turns off the monitor and let’s his new girlfriend leave the room. Khan is so caught up in his magnificent greatness he fails to even consider that there was a possibility her previous long loyalty to her Captain and Starfleet might be stronger than her attraction to his genetically enhanced manly wonderfullness. Then he decides to take Kirk on hand to hand, not bothering to think maybe Kirk wouldn’t allow himself to be pummeled by the awesomeness of Kahn’s mighty genetically engineered fists without picking up a large bludgeoning tool to defend himself. Khan, with the upper hand, takes his sweet time and allows Kirk to grab a pipe and bitch beat him to the ground. 15 years later he decides that his two masterfully directed shots and the sheer power of his genetically perfected personal magnetism was enough to cripple Kirk and his ship despite Kirk’s years of experience and previous history of cheating. He gets to Gloat with his powerful genetically refurbished sneer missing the fact that Kirk is about to do the equivalent of pant-sing Khan’s ship and giving it a spanking. Next, after Kirk is found again and imprisoned in the center of a dead planet… Buried alive… buried alive **(KHHHHHAAAAAAANNN!**! … oop sorry got carried away) Khan, blinded by his own aura of totally genetically manufactured awesomeness, fails to catch the worst coded message in all of the history of warfare and allows Kirk to escape. Finally, his Super amazingly genetically prefabricated Mega pride allows him to be sucked into a fair fight, even after another Genetically modified, Bright-brained, right hand man warns him that he’ll get them all killed if he does something so incredibly stupid. I’ll say this for him, at least he’s consistent ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pivotal-moment-stupid-villain-mistakes/542271/52 "2010-06-14T19:25:49Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > IIRC, he was _ **already** _ a fugitive on the run from the authorities when he stumbled across the weather-controlling stroke of good luck. (Maybe he could’ve haggled for a full pardon or something at that point, but it’s no longer a slam-dunk.) Thanks for that Fighting Ignorance thing you did there. And just because I can’t resist: “ **Hello, good people!** ” I’ve been known to say that as I walk into the classrom, but since no one there is old enough to have seen _The Great Waldo Pepper_, it’s just annoying. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pivotal-moment-stupid-villain-mistakes/542271.md?page=2)