Incompetent villains tend to accidentally (or mistakenly) foil their own plots than the heroes they're fighting against (unless if said heroes are the same) this often happens due to their stupidity, cowardice, weakness, have equally more incompetent henchmen, poor planning or overconfidence on their part. Thus, they can be easily defeated and often hit the Scapegoat category because of this.

These types of villains mostly appear in comedies - where it is expected from the audience to see the main evil-doers or their henchmen fail miserably, but can appear as well in serious or even mature stories - if this is the case, they are often Comic Reliefs (e. g. Endreai, SSJ Mickey and Minoru Mineta). Evil organizations and corporations can also be labeled as incompetent, if most of their agents themselves are incompetent.

Incompetent villains can also be characters who have schemes that are ultimately stupid, pointless or do little to cause chaos. Sometimes their attempts at evil blow up in their faces by either causing them great harm or even aiding the heroes; thus, these villains are not really much of a threat but they can occasionally be dangerous or even intimidating. Additionally, characters who are stated or made out to be smart in the media they appear in, like strategists or even masterminds, can still be classified as incompetent if they meet any of the previous qualifications, especially if their intelligence varies. However, some incompetent villains can actually be dangerous at times if they really put their minds to it. Two good examples of this are SMG3 and Dr Robotnik (SSJ). Also, as mentioned, just because they are incompetent does not mean that they aren't smart. It is possible for villains to be good in a certain field, but still are too cowardly, lazy, clumsy or arrogant to get the job done.

For obvious reasons, such villains are likely not successful, but in certain cases, they CAN still succeed in their goals, notably if they have the help of much more frightening and competent villains, or just with luck.

Complete Monsters and Near Pure Evils will NEVER fall under this category, since these types of villains are formidable and dangerous.

Even if, in rare cases, some Complete Monsters and Near Pure Evils are somewhat incompetent, they are still able to cause serious problems. They should go under the Dimwits, Cowards, Weaklings, Egotists and/or Arrogant categories instead.

Even if they are not Complete Monsters, please DO NOT add villains who simply have a lack of competence but at the same time are still capable of committing horrific acts, as this DOES NOT automatically mean that they are Incompetent or those that are incompetent, yet taken relatively seriously (e.g. Francis).

IMPORTANT NOTE: Magnificent Baddies will also do not count, because although being incompetent is admittedly very funny, these villains are generally very competent and they always came up with new plans that work, even if they had plans that backfired or have slipped up before.