No Honor Among Thieves



"Imagine that. A Decepticon turning out to be less than trustworthy."

- Steeljaw

In order for a team to be effective, teamwork and trust among members is needed. Villains on the other hand, who are often motivated by greed or power rarely (if ever) trust each other. As a result, it is common for villainous teams and evil organizations to ultimately destroy themselves from infighting. This can take several forms.


 * The second in command tries to kill or usurp the leader in order to seize power and control.
 * A member of a heist team in a heist that has gone wrong abandons their companions with as much of the stolen loot as they can.
 * Thieves start fighting over larger quantities of stolen loot instead of dividing it equally.
 * Multiple major villains in an alliance or team-up start fighting among each other when victory is near.
 * Unruly vassals or governors in an evil empire, kingdom or nation tries expanding the power and influence of their own territories and fiefdoms at the cost of the others.
 * A boss betrays a high ranking minion when they are of no further use for them
 * A villain betrays another because they were paid to do so by another evil party

Examples

 * Madame Medusa betrays Mr. Snoops as soon as the Devil's Eye diamond is in her possession hoping to make more money rather than split the loot with him. Snoops in turn betrays Medusa and the two start fighting over the diamond while Penny escapes with Bernard and Bianca.
 * Diablo, Mephisto and Beal have at times succeeded in assaulting Heaven, but every time victory is near, the demon brothers start fighting among each other for greater power, this allows the Angels to launch a united counter attack and defeat the demons.
 * Starscream has attempted to overthrow Megatron and become leader of the Decepticons at least once in every incarnation of Transformers except for maybe the live-action films themselves. The only mention of this is when Megatron berated Starscream for leaving him "for dead" in Revenge of the Fallen, and later when Megatron refers to Starscream's decapitated head as his "treacherous friend" in The Last Knight.
 * Marluxia and Larxene attempted to overthrow Xemnas and seize control of Organization XIII by trying to take control over Sora.
 * Ramsay Bolton betrays his father Roose Bolton in order to seize control of The North.
 * In the post-Revenge of the Fallen Titan Magazine comics, Bludgeon murders fellow Decepticon Breakdown in order to ensure discipline to the Decepticons of his splinter faction.
 * In the Rising Storm comic prequel to Dark of the Moon, he mistakenly kills Storm Surge while fighting against Mirage yet does not seem bothered by it.
 * Preed betrays Captain Korso and holds him, Cale, and Akima at gunpoint in order to save his own hide from the Drej.
 * Darrell Boxman rats out Lord Boxman on Cosma, getting his father fired and launched out of a cannon towards the sun for the destruction of Box More caused by Boxman Jr. and ultimately taking his place as company CEO out of jealousy for Junior.
 * In Transformers: Requiem of the Wreckers, Overload double-crosses Tarantulas by revealing that he intends to use the Timemaze to kill Megatron throughout all of time and space.
 * In a twist of the Moral Event Horizon, Kylo Ren murders Supreme Leader Snoke and assumes command of the First Order because he wants to "let the past die".
 * In the 2016 Ratchet & Clank film and PlayStation 4 videogame, Chairman Drek gets turned into a sheep by Dr. Nefarious and is sent to New Quartu in an escape shuttle while the "vengeful scientist" commandeers the Deplanitizer.
 * In the second season finale to Robots in Disguise, Steeljaw acquires a pair of Decepticon Hunters and uses them to take control of "Decepticon Island", the wreckage of the starship Alchemor. When Glowstrike tries to fight back with a similar weapon left behind by Bumblebee, she and Saberhorn are incapacitated by Steeljaw.
 * In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, Shredder has Baxter Stockman sent to Tokyo upon revealing that the scientist has only been "a footnote". However, Shredder himself is betrayed by Krang, who was using him to open a portal to Dimension X for the Technodrome to emerge through.
 * Over the course of the Ben 10 franchise, Vilgax has been known to double-cross other villains such as Albedo, Eon, Dr. Animo, and the Weatherheads if it means getting the power of the Omnitrix for himself. In the end, Vilgax gets fates worse then death: getting his butt kicked by the very villain(s) be was using. This is especially seen when he gets sent to the Null Void by the High Override following a failed attempt to betray Ben and Glitch and take over the Omnitrix during the Fulumni invasion.
 * Similarly, Khyber left Dr. Psychobos to be captured and abandoned both Zeb and his Panuncian on two separate occasions, having retrieved the Nemetrix in the process. Khyber would get his retribution when Skurd defects to Ben's side, leaving the bounty hunter to uncontrollably transform into Tyrannopede before finally being robbed of the Nemetrix and taken into custody.
 * Additionally, Maltruant double-crossed his lackies, resulting in Psychobos being left behind in Mad Ben's dimension, Subdora and Exo-Skull being left in Ben 10,000's timeline, and Eon getting banished back to his home dimension. In the end, this left him with no one to prevent him from being imprisoned in a time loop of getting destroyed and rebuilt again and again for an eternity.
 * Lord Shen orders his second in command, the Wolf Boss to fire his cannon at the heroes, not even caring his own soldiers will be caught in the blast. When the Wolf Boss refuses, the wicked peacock coldly tosses a knife at his throat.

Quotes
"(Slashmark: Well if I hadn't been forced to work with these buffoons-) (Heatseeker: I'm gonna hit you in the buffoon if you keep talkin' like that!)"

- Slashmark displaying his discomfort with working amongst incompetent Stunticons, which Heatseeker makes feels offended.

"(Korso and Preed shoot the holograph of Cale's father and corner Cale and Akima on the Titan) (Korso: He always did talk to much.) (Akima reaches for a gun, but Preed shoots it out of her hand) Ah-ah-ah. (Cale: Korso, don't do this! This ship is all we have left. Doesn't that mean anything to you?) (Korso: Sorry, kid. World blowin' up changes a man.) (Cale: Look, the Drej--) (Korso: See, you can't beat the Drej. No one can! They're pure energy! Face it, Cale. You've lost!) (Preed points his gun at Korso) Actually, you ALL have. Captain, if you'll relieve yourself of your firearm... (Korso, furious over Preed's betrayal: You backstabbin'...) Well, I learned from the best. But it wasn't just the money the Drej were offering. It was the health plan that came with it. They'd let me live, provided I kill all of you before they get here. They should be here shortly!"

- Preed betraying Captain Korso and holding him, Cale and Akima at gunpoint, just to save his own hide from the Drej.

"(Chairmen Drek, to a Blaarg as Captain Quark teleports into the control room: So after you pick up my dry cleaning, you need to polish this segway, and after that-) (Captain Quark: Drek! I want to talk to you. You tried to kill my rangers! You said you'd leave them alone!) (Chairman Drek: And I mean it at the time! I detest bloodshed as much as any Blaarg, but sometimes sacrifices are necessary for the greater good.) (Captain Quark: I know you're working with Nefarious on this!) (Chairman Drek: Yes, isn't it wonderful? We're all part of the same dream team. We should make t-shirts!) (Captain Quark: You're making a big mistake! You have no idea of the kinds of evil he is capable of!) (Chairman Drek: Oh, but I do. It's all right here on his resume. Special skills: Horrendous evil. Unspeakable evil. Diabolical evil. He's very well-rounded. [takes a closer look at what he is reading] And apparently, he can juggle.) Uh oh. Do I feel my ears burning? (Chairman Drek: And there's our little juggling psychopath now!) (Captain Quark: You died in a prison escape. There were witnesses!) Oh, people will say and do just about anything for the right price. What was yours, Qwark? What was your price for selling out your friends? Your face on another cereal box, perhaps? Bleh. Why don't you run along so the Chairman and I can get back to the business at hand? (Captain Quark: But what am I supposed to do?) (Chairman Drek: You can guard the Star Cracker water cooler. Oh! But with fury! Mmm-hmm. [the doors close on a disappointed Quark] That was fun! And T-shirts would be a good idea. Good for morale. What do you think, Neffie? Should we-) [Suddenly, Drek gets transformed into a harmless sheep.] Sheepinator. One of my personal favorites. It's time for a change of management. [Nefarious drags Sheep Drek towards the docking bay and loads him into an escape shuttle.] You wanted New Quartu? I'll give it to you. [Nefarious launches the escape shuttle Sheep Drek is riding towards New Quartu] Happy trails! (Deplanitizer Computer: Now entering Umbris atmosphere.) Yes, it's almost here. The beginning of the end. (Blaarg: The end of what?) [Nefarious fires a Combuster at the nosy Blaarg, causing him to collapse in defeat.] Let the games begin. [Nefarious presses a detonator that causes the Deplanitizer to activate on its own.] (Deplanitizer: Remote detonation now activated. It is about to get real.)"

- Dr. Nefarious turns Chairman Drek into a sheep and sends him to New Quartu in an escape shuttle as he commandeers the Deplanitizer.

"(Cosma: You’re being fired... out of a cannon, into the sun.) (Boxman: [shakes his head in confusion] Sons?) (A pack of lesser Darrell units come by and transform into a cannon with Lord Boxman on the end.) (Boxman: What is the meaning of this?) I ratted you out to the Board! (Boxman: You what?!) Isn’t that just the most evilest thing? Betraying my own father?"

- Darrell reveals that he is getting Lord Boxman fired out of jealously for Boxman Jr.

"(Fidget gets tired of peddling Ratigan's escape blimp. He hops on board) (Fidget: We have to lighten the load. [gestures at Olivia]) Oh, you want to lighten the load? (Fidget snickers at Olivia, but Ratigan grabs him instead.) Excellent idea! (Ratigan tosses Fidget overboard) (Fidget: No! Not me! Wait, I can't fly! I can't FLYYYYYYYYYYYY!) (Fidget plummets into the river below.)"

- Professor Ratigan betraying Fidget after he suggests to lighten the load (meaning to toss Olivia out) by tossing Fidget overboard instead, and Fidget plummets into the river below.

"Can't you shut [Arcee] up? She makes Blitzwing sound like he's got his head screwed on straight. (Starscream: You see? Now he even likes Blitzwing better than you.) (Lugnut: [bashes Shockwave aside while making his way to Starscream] No! I am the most faithful!) (Shockwave: Have you blown a diode?! I'm trying to work here!) [A scuffle between Lugnut and Shockwave ensues, and Megatron face palms himself.] Oh, for spark's sake..."

- Megatron having trouble keeping Lugnut and Shockwave in line.

"(Kylo Ren: I know what I have to do.) (Rey: Ben.) [laughs] You think you can turn him? Pathetic child. I cannot be betrayed.... I cannot be beaten. I see his mind... I see his every intent. Yes! I see him turning the lightsaber to strike true!) [Without him knowing, Ren uses the Force to face Anakin's lightsaber toward Snoke.] And now... foolish child... he ignites it... AND KILLS HIS TRUE ENEMY! [Ren clenches a fist and, right on cue, ignites a lightsaber. However, Snoke's smile suddenly vanishes in an instant as his face contorts with a combination of shock and pain, the sound of a lightsaber's ignition filling the air. To Rey's surprise, she is dropped to the floor and looks up at Snoke, who looks down at himself in horror as the camera pans backward to reveal that Ren had used the Force to ignite the lightsaber, its blue blade impaling his waist! As Kylo uses the Force to return the Lightsaber to Rey, Snoke disassembles into pieces.]"

- Supreme Leader Snoke being betrayed and killed by Kylo Ren, who takes control of the First Order.

"Why aren't we firing?! (Wolf Boss: They're taking out our gunners, sir! They're getting close!) (Shen sees Po marching toward him) Fire! Fire at them! (Wolf Boss: But, sir, we'll kill our own!) I SAID FIRE AT THEM FIRE! (The Wolf Boss glares at Shen, then flings down his torch.) (Wolf Boss: No.) (Shen gives the Wolf Boss one look, before promptly tossing a knife from his robe at Wolf Boss' throat, killing him.)"

- Lord Shen orders his second in command, the Wolf Boss to fire the cannon at the heroes, not even caring his own soldiers will be caught in the blast. When the Wolf Boss refuses, the wicked peacock coldly impales him with his knives.

"Azula: I can see your whole history in your eyes. You were born with nothing. So you've had to struggle and connive and claw your way to power. But true power, the divine right to rule, is something you're born with. The truth is: they don't know which one of us is going to be sitting down on that throne, and which of us is going to be bowing down. But *I* know, and *you* know. Well? (Long Feng: You've beaten me at my own game.) Azula: Don't flatter yourself. You were never even a player."

- Azula to Long Feng, when Azula have the Dai Li join her side.