Villains with a significant periods in their character history where they are not a major threat to the characters. These villains have a "cooling off period" where they are no longer an active threat to the characters or others as they were when they were the major threat in the main story.

After their defeat where they have not died or have not been seen again, the villain appears where they are no longer an immediate threat to the heroes or anyone. These villains may only appear to speak or to do a task that another character tells them to do. As these villains are temporarily not a major threat, they appear to serve another role in the story.

Some cases include:

1. The villain's superpowers were stripped and the villain can no longer be a major threat either permanently or only for a certain amount of time.
2. The villain has become subservient to another character or other forces for whatever reason (e.g. lost their legal authority, or were cursed) after their defeat.
3. The villain is imprisoned and trying to break free (e.g. Taylor Swift, Niles).
4. The villain temporarily allies with the heroes to fight against a threat bigger than them or assisting them in something important for reluctant or pragmatic reasons, they can also help the public or neutral characters on something (like rebuilding a town, etc.).
5. The villain spends a significant amount of time being imprisoned or taken as a hostage on-screen (e.g. Lusty Krabs).
6. The story moves onto other villains/arcs or takes a break from the drama and the villain is no longer the main or immediate focus to the heroes.
7. The villain is left alive or active after suffering a major defeat that either left them in a permanently different condition or handicapped. In some cases, the villain works for another character.
8. The villain is exposed to toxins or forces that brought out lighter qualities or something even better for a short amount of time. The villains under these instances were either possessed, purification, or brainwashing from an external source.
9. The villain's true colors are exposed to the public, and thus he/she is no longer a threat anymore or is currently hiding or on the run.
10. The villain spends a significant chunk of the story hiding from the heroes instead of going into action.
11. The villain, for whatever reason, can only attack and commit evil deeds at certain times and spends the rest of the time doing not much else. (ex. Satoru Gojo)

It is important to note that these villains do not have any redeeming qualities and have not expressed any remorse for their past actions. These villains are only serving others for their own self-interests. They may still antagonize the heroes or commit crimes during the time where they are not the main threat. The moments for these villains may go on for a single story arc to multiple story arcs. In some cases, the story could end with them not coming back up to be the main threat to the heroes. However, these moments are usually temporary until the villain returns to being a major threat to the heroes.

Some of these villains can qualify as Karma Houdinis especially if they got off scot-free during their "cooling-off" period.

This category only applies to villains who are not a major threat for a significant amount of time in the story.

NOTE:[]

• One-Shot villains may not fall under this category as this is for villains who appeared across multiple episodes or chapters throughout a show, story or any other media.
• Revived villains would not qualify for having a cooling-off period. Since these villains were dead, they were not active to do anything to show that they were not a major threat for a period of time (such as allying with the heroes, being imprisoned on-screen, being subservient to other characters, etc). Only exceptions to revived villains qualifying would be if they displayed any of the aforementioned moments in the list above, before or after their deaths,
• if they were reanimated as an undead being to have one of their aforementioned moments before their revival, or if the villain is shown on-screen and active in an afterlife setting displaying any of the aforementioned moments before their revival.
• This category is different from On & Off because they are switching sides or committing heroic deeds from time to time while Villains with Cooling-Off Periods have significant amount of time where they never did anything wrong or doing nothing instead of facing the heroes. However, the thing that gets these ones here is how they are more than willing to pick the side of evil and have a moral agency and have no redeeming qualities and if they have had any back then they likely have shedded their redeeming qualities away and corrupted themselves like Fallen Heroes or Destroyers of Innocence.