History Main / MeaninglessVillainVictory

* ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueAdventures,'' the comic-tie in with the "''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague''" series, in issue #15 had Kanjar Ro hired by Kromm and Sayyar, two Warlords who were in "war games" with Queen Hyathis. Kanjor Ro ends up capturing Hyathis' latest prize, the Gamma Gong, and the Justice League as well. Kanjar Ro uses the Gamma Gong to entrance Hyathis' people, and loot her trophies. When Ro seems he'd get away with his loot when the Gong's destroyed, Hyathis gives him a proposition Batman advises her to: join the Warlords in their games. This gives Kanjar Ro "respectability" as it means he's no longer scurrying around like a thief; but Queen Hyathis then reminds Ro he's limited in the use of his loot. And that she'd watch him, Kromm, and Sayyar to make sure they don't cheat from here on. To help with enforcement of this...the Queen shows her new allies -- The Justice League!

* The ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' episode "Patriot Act" has Wade Eiling, having used a SuperSoldier formula to become a hulking behemoth, attack a parade where the Justice League sent a number of its members to show support. His intent was to defeat the League and prove the danger of superpowered individuals, and he delivers a brutal CurbStompBattle to the Leaguers present--but ends up accomplishing the exact opposite of his goals. As it turns out, all the Leaguers present were {{Badass Normal}}s with nothing but tech and magical equipment at best, and yet still managed to HoldTheLine through sheer gallantry in the name of protecting the civilians. And, as is pointed out, Eiling's attempt to prove that the Justice League are dangerous metahumans resulted in him ''becoming'' [[YouAreWhatYouHate a dangerous metahuman]], which the Justice League exists to combat. If anything, his attack actually ''raises'' the profile of the Leaguers involved, who were previously seen as CListFodder who were picked for parade duty in the first place for not being involved in anything important at the time: the crowd goes from disappointed to hailing them as true heroes.

* The final episode of ''Series/{{Alias}}'' has [[spoiler:Sloane finally achieving immortality... only for Jack to sacrifice himself in an effort to [[SealedEvilInACan seal Sloane beneath a mountain]] for all eternity.]]

** In "Dances with Smurfs" Cartman uses his position as morning announcement leader to basically become an obnoxious sensationalist pundit who Wendy, the school president, for literally ''everything'' as well as accusing her of trying to kill Franchise/TheSmurfs, which ends with Wendy admitting Cartman is right and stepping down so Cartman can become the school president. Except, Wendy admits he was right in a way that makes him seem like the bad guy in his fictional Smurf story with her being heavily sympathetic, ''she'' sells the rights to the story to Creator/JamesCameron who uses it to make ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', Cartman can no longer read the morning announcements since that can't be done by the school president, and he learns said school president is at best [[PuppetKing a figurehead with no real power]]. Naturally, it also ends with the new morning announcement kid all the school's problems on the school president.

* The ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' movies almost always do this. Despite, and often because of, Indy's best efforts, the bad guys obtain their prize, only to be killed by it.

** Indy and Elsa manage to acquire the Holy Grail in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'', but the knight guarding the Grail informs them that it can't be removed from the temple. Elsa tries anyway and dies for her efforts.
** Irina achieves her goal in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'' of attaining knowledge from the aliens. However, [[MySkullRunnethOver the information she receives is too much]] and she disintegrates while begging them to stop.

* ''VideoGame/CapcomFightingEvolution'': Play as [[VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}} Jedah Dohma]] and for him, victory is assured. Swarms of Q-Bees assaulting civilians, [[VideoGame/RedEarth Kongou and Gi Gi]] are wreaking havoc, and cities have been devasted. Jedah, rather fittingly, [[LaughingMad decides to celebrate his triumph]]... oh yeah, and [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Dante]]'s about to kill him right there and then.

* In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'', Tai Lung does get the Dragon Scroll eventually. But it's blank. Or rather, it has a mirrored surface to show the reader ItWasWithYouAllAlong. Po gets the message, Tai Lung doesn't, and gets his tail kicked by Po because of it.

* ''Justice League Adventures,'' the comic-tie in with the "''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague''" series, in issue #15 had Kanjar Ro hired by Kromm and Sayyar, two Warlords who were in "war games" with Queen Hyathis. Kanjor Ro ends up capturing Hyathis' latest prize, the Gamma Gong, and the Justice League as well. Kanjar Ro uses the Gamma Gong to entrance Hyathis' people, and loot her trophies. When Ro seems he'd get away with his loot when the Gong's destroyed, Hyathis gives him a proposition Batman advises her to: join the Warlords in their games. This gives Kanjar Ro "respectability" as it means he's no longer scurrying around like a thief; but Queen Hyathis then reminds Ro he's limited in the use of his loot. And that she'd watch him, Kromm, and Sayyar to make sure they don't cheat from here on. To help with enforcement of this...the Queen shows her new allies -- The Justice League!

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': Near the end of Season 3, Zaheer achieves his goal of [[spoiler:dispatching the already corrupt and incompetent Earth Queen, resulting in the Earth Kingdom descending into chaos, but in the process he's lost everyone he cares about and ends up in prison for his crimes. What elevates this act from a PyrrhicVictory to this trope is Kuvira promptly [[TyrantTakesTheHelm installing herself as the dictator of the newly christened Earth Empire]], and thus [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains taking over as the new]] BigBad of the fourth season. To add insult to injury, he also tried to get rid of the Avatar for good as part of his scheme, which incapacitated Korra to the extent that she wasn't able to deal with Kuvira when she otherwise could've, allowing the latter to become a far more oppressive and monstrous despot than even the Earth Queen could've hoped to be - and for someone who values freedom as much as Zaheer does, spending life in prison is nothing compared to the horrors she's unleashed]]. So all in all, as he himself bitterly concedes, the only thing Zaheer succeeded at in the long term was making an already bad global situation even ''worse''.

** ''ComicBook/TheBlackRing'': Luthor becomes a PhysicalGod at the climax, just as he'd wanted, but he cannot use the power for negative purposes. This is largely fine by Luthor, who uses the power to banish suffering from the universe... until he finds out that he can't harm Superman. He winds up throwing away everything he'd spent the series working for so he could attack Superman again. Total time with unlimited cosmic powers: less than 5 minutes. To top everything, that was his final appearance in that continuity.

** In ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheDialOfDestiny'', Jürgen Voller manages to get the titular device and accomplish his objective of traveling back in time, [[spoiler:but the Dial of Destiny is set to carry travelers to only one location: the Siege of Syracuse, many centuries before modern Germany even exists, let alone the Nazi regime Voller wishes to save from losing in World War II. And then Voller is killed by the Greek army, sealing the StableTimeLoop that was foreshadowed well in advance.]]