| rdfs:comment | - Imagine if you will, Colonel McGoodguy and The Squad are in a pinch. They're all out of ammo, the Redshirt Army is knee deep in Mooks on the other side of town, their Military Mashup Machine is a smoldering pile of scrap, and even though The Smart Guy managed to Reverse Polarity and get a second shot out of the Applied Phlebotinum that only works once, it's not enough. General Shagnasty and his goons have them dead to rights, and they're staring down the barrels of way more BFGs than they should have left after our heroes blew up their factory two episodes ago. The villains gloat, because nothing can stop them now!
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| abstract | - Imagine if you will, Colonel McGoodguy and The Squad are in a pinch. They're all out of ammo, the Redshirt Army is knee deep in Mooks on the other side of town, their Military Mashup Machine is a smoldering pile of scrap, and even though The Smart Guy managed to Reverse Polarity and get a second shot out of the Applied Phlebotinum that only works once, it's not enough. General Shagnasty and his goons have them dead to rights, and they're staring down the barrels of way more BFGs than they should have left after our heroes blew up their factory two episodes ago. The villains gloat, because nothing can stop them now! But something does. An unstoppable onslaught sends the villains running for cover! The day is saved! ...wait, aren't those the Elite Mooks from season two? ... Dr. Bludengutsen? Is that you? Why are you helping us? The reasons can be many:
* Maybe the villain doing the rescuing is The Only One Allowed to Defeat You.
* Maybe he still thinks you're his best bet against the villain he's saving you from - this can be Big Bad versus rival Big Bad, or The Dragon using you against his master for good or not-so-good reasons.
* Maybe he wants to cut you open to extract that Plot Coupon you swallowed a few episodes back, and you'll wish you were back with that other form of impending doom in short order.
* Maybe he wants to gain your goodwill in order to betray you later.
* Maybe the rescuing villain hates Shagnasty more than the heroes.
* Maybe he's just very, very hungry and doesn't care what he eats.
* Maybe the villain is an Anti-Villain and decided to Pet the Dog.
* Maybe the rescuing villain wants to run the world, and the other villain wants to destroy it.
* Maybe the villain has a plot in the works that requires the heroes' continued survival to function.
* Maybe the villain is a bit more affectionate towards the hero than they admit.
* Maybe the villain simply feels that losing to Shagnasty is an unworthy end for the hero.
* Maybe the villain has a sense of fair play and thinks that Shagnasty's underhanded methods disqualify this battle.
* Maybe the villain has a cordial relationship with the hero or really, genuinely is the hero's friend and does not want the hero to get hurt. Or at least not unnecessarily when it's not a matter of foiling the villain's important plans.
* Maybe the villain has good, if somewhat extreme intentions but otherwise protects those that cannot protect themselves. Luckily, they respect the hero enough to include him or her under that category.
* Maybe it's genuinely a coincidence, an unintended consequence of an attack on a rival. In this case, the villain is probably not all that happy that he just saved the hero's hide. Not to be confused with Save the Villain or Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work. Overlaps with Enemy Mine, as it can be how such a situation begins, but not all instances of bad guys helping good guys falls into this category. Examples of Villainous Rescue include:
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