# Villains helping the good guys? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 26, 2006, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-helping-the-good-guys/358297 "2006-05-26T09:15:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-helping-the-good-guys/358297/21 "2006-05-26T15:20:40Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > The movie THE ROCKETEER where the FBI & the Mob stop shooting at each other & join to shoot at the Nazi invaders. Damn, I wanted to be the one to mention this, because I would get to mention Jennifer Connelly. My favorite bit in the entire movie is when head Mob guy Paul Sorvino is shoulder to shoulder with FBI guy Ed Lauter. In the midst of firing his tommy gun at the Nazis, Sorvino looks over at Fitch and gives him a classic “attaboy, buddy” grin. Paul Sorvino is a hell of an actor. ---
**Author:** ![Idlewild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8491ac/32.png) [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-helping-the-good-guys/358297/22 "2006-05-26T15:23:12Z")
In the anime series _Saiyuki_, one set of bad guys seems to be so permanently in a truce with the good guys that it makes me wonder why they still bother being bad guys. It’s really kind of cute. Lots of snarling and posturing, not so much mortal dooooom. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-helping-the-good-guys/358297/23 "2006-05-26T15:23:54Z")
They did it all the freakin’ time on DuckTales. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-helping-the-good-guys/358297/24 "2006-05-26T15:24:53Z")
> [@Dusty](#): > > Murdoch and MacGuyer team up to save Murdoch’s daughter (as I recall) from his former employer in one episode of _MacGuyer_. Was it his daughter? I thought it was his sister and there was some romantic tenson between Mac and her. Is that the episode where they teach us that snakes are repelled by the smell of gasoline? ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-helping-the-good-guys/358297/25 "2006-05-26T15:28:35Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Damn, I wanted to be the one to mention this, because I would get to mention Jennifer Connelly. > > My favorite bit in the entire movie is when head Mob guy Paul Sorvino is shoulder to shoulder with FBI guy Ed Lauter. In the midst of firing his tommy gun at the Nazis, Sorvino looks over at Fitch and gives him a classic “attaboy, buddy” grin. > > Paul Sorvino is a hell of an actor. Doesn’t Sorvino at one point say “hey we may be gangsters, but were’s still Americans!” ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-helping-the-good-guys/358297/26 "2006-05-26T15:34:28Z")
In _Princess Mononoke_, there’s some collaboration, although it’s pretty unclear who the bad guys are in the movie. There’s at least one scene in _Serenity_ where the villain helps the good guys out–and another scene where the villains inadvertantly help out the good guys. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-helping-the-good-guys/358297/27 "2006-05-26T15:36:53Z")
Not exactly helping the hero, but in Incredible Hulk 418, a bunch of supervillains show up at Rick Jones’s wedding. Everyone thinks they’re going to fight, but they all just want to attend. A great Peter David touch (almost as great as the visit from someone who might just be mistaken for Neal Gaiman’s Death, but we all know she’s a DC character and wouldn’t appear. 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-helping-the-good-guys/358297/28 "2006-05-26T15:41:24Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > The movie THE ROCKETEER where the FBI & the Mob stop shooting at each other & join to shoot at the Nazi invaders. That was a great moment…“I may not make an honest day’s pay, but I’m as American as they come.” Or words to that effect. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-helping-the-good-guys/358297/29 "2006-05-26T15:52:17Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Not exactly helping the hero, but in Incredible Hulk 418, a bunch of supervillains show up at Rick Jones’s wedding. Everyone thinks they’re going to fight, but they all just want to attend. A great Peter David touch (almost as great as the visit from someone who might just be mistaken for Neal Gaiman’s Death, but we all know she’s a DC character and wouldn’t appear. 😉 ) Great issue. Yeah, some Krull wanted to start a fight, then they find out Rick has asked the Silver Surfer to be the bouncer… he floats up on his surfboard and says “Sit… _down…_” They sit. Rick’s fiancee: You look familiar; have we met somewhere? Death: Once. You wouldn’t remember me. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-helping-the-good-guys/358297/30 "2006-05-26T16:30:15Z")
Gargamel ended up singing with the Smurfs to help stop an evil stranger from destroying Christmas, the Smurfs’ village and Gargamel himself. All this and more! in the first _Smurfs Christmas Special_. Oh, yeah, and Skeletor teams up with both He-Man and She-Ra to help save a buncha silly kids in _The He-Man & She-Ra Christmas Special_. What _is_ it with Christmas specials? During them, the biggest badasses in the cartoon world get downgraded to flunky and, consequently, they never seem evil enough afterward. It’s like, “Sure, sure, Skeletor, I know you wanna roast He-Man over a flaming pit, and give Teela a pearl necklace, but you saved two kids and a puppy. Wuss.” ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-helping-the-good-guys/358297/31 "2006-05-26T17:47:59Z")
Wow…it seems I’m the first one to mention that the Legion of Super-Heroes recruited together the five most wanted villains in the galaxy to help them battle the Sun-Eater. The villains were good for that one mission, and then, as soon as the Sun-Eater was destroyed, they banded together as the Fatal Five and went back to evil. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-helping-the-good-guys/358297/32 "2006-05-26T17:55:00Z")
“Doc” Smith’s **Skylark** series fits the bill, with “Blackie” DuQuesne as the perpetual villain who becomes more ambiguous morally as the books progress. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-helping-the-good-guys/358297/33 "2006-05-26T17:56:23Z")
Daffy: It’s RABBIT season! Bugs: It’s DUCK season! Daffy: RABBIT season! Bugs: DUCK season! Daffy: RABBIT season! (rips off flyer to reveal an ‘Elmer Fudd Season’ poster - shifty glints in the eyes of Bugs AND Daffy.) Bugs AND Daffy: Be wewy wewy quiet. We’we hunting Elmers. It’s Elmer season, you know. He-he-he-he-he-heh. ---
**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:** [May 26, 2006, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-helping-the-good-guys/358297/34 "2006-05-26T18:26:03Z")
There was an old Captain America where he teamed up with Diamondback to save the rest of the Serpent Society from being killed by the Viper. When Surtur showed up to destroy Asgard ( and everything else ), Loki joined Odin and Thor, because in his words “What’s the use of ruling all I survey if all I survey is a burned out cinder ?” Loved the battlecries : Odin “FOR ASGARD !” Thor : “FOR MIDGARD !” Loki : “FOR MYSELF !” Just now I’m rereading _Sidhe-Devil_, where a gangster named Rudi Bergmonk teams up with the heros to fight the fair world’s version of the Nazis. At one point when several of the good guys are pinned down, the Bergmonk Boys show up and machinegun the pseudo-Nazis from behind. In the Princess Merideth books by Laurell Hamilton, Merry teams up with her villainous aunt all the time ( not that she has much choice ). Hamilton’s Anita Blake has worked with a variety of villainous types, although she usually ends up killing them in a book or two ( she has a higher body count than the villains ) In _Down Among the Dead Men_, the heros team up with a gang of outlaws to beat a nasty entity called the Beast. Spider Man and the villain Chance teamed up together against some ultrarich survivalists after they tortured Chance. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-helping-the-good-guys/358297/35 "2006-05-26T18:33:54Z")
In the original Legion of Super-Heroes run, the Legion got five super-villians (Tharox, Mano, the Emerald Empress, Valdius and the Persuader with his atomix Ax) together to help them defeat the Suneater (basically, a pink cloud that went around the cosmos eating suns). The villians later formed [The Fatal Five](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_Five) ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-helping-the-good-guys/358297/36 "2006-05-26T19:45:09Z")
Just happened this week on **24** ; Christopher Henderson helped Jack disarm the missiles on the submarine. **ST:TOS** : both Harry Mudd episodes involved Harry eventually helping Kirk. **B5** : Bester (temporarily) aiding the B5 crew against the Shadows. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-helping-the-good-guys/358297/37 "2006-05-26T19:55:59Z")
In _Buffy_ season 2’s finale, Spike was an excellent villian and he and Buffy made a truce in order to stop Angelus who was out to destroy the world, of course, which led to this great exchange: Buffy: What do you want? Spike: I told you. I want to stop Angel. I want to save the world. Buffy: Okay. You do remember that you’re a vampire, right? Spike: We like to talk big. Vampires do. ‘I’m going to destroy the world.’ That’s just tough guy talk. Strutting around with your friends over a pint of blood. The truth is, I _like_ this world. You’ve got… dog racing, Manchester United. And you’ve got people. Billions of people walking around like Happy Meals with legs. It’s all right here. But then someone comes along with a vision. With a real passion for destruction. Angel could pull it off. Goodbye, Piccadilly. Farewell, Leicester Bloody Square. You know what I’m saying? … Buffy: I hate you. Spike: And I’m all you’ve got. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-helping-the-good-guys/358297/38 "2006-05-26T20:07:27Z")
Tom and Jerry of cartoon fame were known to team up on occasion. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-helping-the-good-guys/358297/39 "2006-05-26T20:29:18Z")
Itchy & Scratchy teamed up to fight Bart & Lisa in a Treehouse of Horror segment. ---
**Author:** ![NailBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NailBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NailBunny)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2006, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-helping-the-good-guys/358297/40 "2006-05-27T01:13:06Z")
In **The Prophecy** , Satan (can’t get much more villain than that) teams up with the good guys to defeat the angel Gabriel [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-helping-the-good-guys/358297.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/villains-helping-the-good-guys/358297.md?page=3)