Biography
Appealing to my better nature? I'm a villain! Here is My Card! "Eve L. Duehr: Academy of Evil graduate, Aspiring Tyrant, Kicker of Kittens, and Spontaneous Singer of Barney songs." I crossed the Moral Event Horizon while still in grade school and have never once looked back. And you think you can talk me out of my evil deeds? I shall laugh at your feeble attempts to stop me like so, Ahahahahahahahahaa!"
Villains like this may be greedy, violent, comical, etc. but most importantly, they are Evil. It's in the job description. They refer to themselves as Evil, with a capital "E". Stretch it out to "Eeeeeevil" for emphasis. (They may even pronounce the "I" with emphasized shortness. Ee-vill. Like the froo-it of the dev-ill.) Terminal cases even require their minions to call them "Your Evilness". In fact, calling them evil, vile, ruthless, or any generally negative epithet will backfire and be received by these villainous types as the kindest of compliments.
The Card-Carrying Villain demands to be respected and feared and on top of the heap over everyone else because Evil Is Cool and Good Is Dumb.
Thus, they are expected to Kick the Dog and never Pet the Dog. They will shun anything saccharine, and if they acted differently, they'd lose their Evil ranking. Especially ironic if the reason they fell was because they wanted freedom from constraints on their actions. Whatever action they as a good guy wanted to do is considered "bad", so they have to do other bad things as well now. After a while, they usually forget about whatever goal it was that turned them Evil in the first place. So...in a very odd way, they're very much The Fettered; since their actions are bound by the expectation of Evil.
There are, in general, three spheres of Card-Carrying Villainy. A lot of villains combine one or more, though:
Control — the Villain wants to rule; be it a gang, a city, a state, the country, the world, or a similar goal, and have everyone else below them obey their every whim. Sometimes goes so far as thinking of themselves as being of a superior race, a perfect being, or even a god, and therefore entitled to it.
Corruption — the Villain wants to turn other people Evil, and often To Create a Playground for Evil. Give in to The Dark Side!
Destruction — the Villain wants to destroy and kill for its own sake. Taken to the extreme, the first and second spheres may recognize that this includes them as well, so this often results in Evil Versus Oblivion or Eviler than Thou if the villain teams up with the heroes so they can Take Over the World at a later date. (You can't take over the world if it's not there!)
A Black Cloak, a low-ranking Terrible Trio, an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain, or someone who's succumbed to The Dark Side is usually most likely to identify themselves this way.
A subversion is for these folks to not actually be cruel, greedy, or unnecessarily violent, but just doing their jobs. A Noble Demon is a Card-Carrying Villain who talks the talk, but has a tendency to hold back or even help from time to time.
While the trope can result in an entertaining villain, they can also be cheesy or shallow. 80s kid's shows made a lot of these, where the villain referred to themselves as evil. Writers apparently believed that the children watching wouldn't be able to define the bad guy unless he was blowing up cities or poisoning lakes For the Evulz. It also reveals a condescending belief that children are unable to understand that evil people usually don't consider themselves evil. Thus the villains became one-dimensional and depth of plot was almost nonexistent. In works that are aimed at older audiences and/or use Grey-and-Gray Morality for their other villains, a Card-Carrying Villain has a good chance of ending up as a Base-Breaking Character or even The Scrappy.
In comedy situations/shows, this fate is usually averted, as it's a humorous thing (and thus right in place). It can also be used with a darker twist — showing a person so beyond redemption, so beyond what we call usual morality, that he is literally impossible to argue and reason with. This trope is also difficult (but not impossible) to pull off convincingly in a more serious, dramatic work or just live action in general. Most people in Real Life simply aren't that evil or conceited enough (or stupid enough) to proclaim themselves as such in any way. Not overtly, at least.
On the other hand, there are still dramatic situations where characters are that evil even in serious situations — certain kinds of world-destroyers, the excessively vengeful, and full-on psychopaths. It is easier to pull this seriously with a villain who acts like this in private but pretends to be something else in public, but even if not, it can work if the character is a total psycho. Demonic entities also have full access to this trope. In the final stage, you have a villain who insists on justifying their actions because "it's what villains are supposed to do"; see Contractual Genre Blindness. In dramatic situations, the hero may try to induce a Heel–Face Turn and tell them they have a choice. They choose to keep being evil.
The Smug Snake is one of the more likely villainous types to openly revel in their harmful actions, which tends to highlight the fact that they are not nearly as intelligent as their inflated ego leads them to believe they are.
Card-Carrying Villains are particularly likely to commit atrocities out of a sincere desire to cause harm. Expect them to have relations with the dark and/or have evil powers. Also expect plenty of petty behavior. When it goes to their head, they might even start to develop a Devil Complex.
Surprisingly, a Card-Carrying Villain occasionally has one "redeeming" quality as far as villains go: They're honest. They will not hide the fact that they're the villainous scumbag, they will not deceive you that they were worthy of some sympathy by being a misguided Well-Intentioned Extremist, that's just hypocritical. This may make them more obvious targets for the heroes to gun down, but they will not hide behind sweet talks (unless it's meant to showcase a Faux Affably Evil personality), and sometimes lies would hurt more than a blatant assault. They are also not self-righteous at all.
Of course the alternative is true: it can be their single most despicable quality. Even a Well-Intentioned Extremist can make a good point once in a while despite their immoral deeds. A Card-Carrying Villain on the other hand, is fully aware that they're scum and openly embrace it.
Not to be confused with My Card, where the villain emphasizes their evilness in this trope, My Card actually deals with a business card (and is not always for villains). For people who fight using cards, see Death Dealer. Oh, and this is also not to be confused with the villains in Yu-Gi-Oh!, as everybody seems to carry cards in that series.
Subtrope of Obviously Evil. Super-Trope to Chaos Is Evil. Dastardly Whiplash is a specific subtrope from comic melodrama. Many if not most examples of Ron the Death Eater are also this.
Compare:
The Barnum: A Con Man who openly and unashamedly takes pride in their sleazy ways.
Card-Carrying Jerkass: A character with a similar attitude towards being mean and nasty to others, but isn't necessarily evil. The two tropes can often overlap, however.
Complete Monster: A villain who is pure evil with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. A Card-Carrying Villain can easily be this if their actions are Played for Drama and emphasize their love of evil by being particularly terrible.
Drunk on the Dark Side: A character gains immense power, usually via Black Magic, and undergoes a Sanity Slippage because they enjoy their newfound powers too much, regardless of morality or lack thereof. If the character wasn't a Card-Carrying Villain before, they are now.
Hate Sink: A villain who is intended to be hated by the audience. While a lot of Card-Carrying Villains are too goofy to truly hate, making a Hate Sink openly gloat about their evil nature is a good way to invoke disgust from viewers.
Noble Demon: A villain who makes no bones about that fact, but will generally do less dog-kicking.
Contrast:
Above Good and Evil: When a villain dismisses morality as a meaningless concept.
Being Evil Sucks: When a villain becomes ashamed of their evil actions and leaves the dark side.
I Am a Monster: Where the character laments rather than embraces how bad they are.
Knight Templar: A villain who views themselves as good. They can still be a Card-Carrying Villain if they embrace the evil persona others hold them to.
Moral Myopia: Where the villain decries the evil acts of others while ignoring or rationalizing their own.
Obliviously Evil: When a villain believes that they aren't doing anything wrong.
Punch-Clock Villain: Who doesn't take any particular glee in being evil, instead looking at it as just their job.
Compare and Contrast:
Fully-Embraced Fiend: A character who embraces becoming a literal monster, such as a vampire or werewolf. These can be of any alignment, but an evil Fully-Embraced Fiend can also be a Card-Carrying Villain.
Then Let Me Be Evil: A character eventually becomes a villain after being labelled as one, having lost all hope in changing others' opinion of them. They know they are a villain and embrace the image, but they do so out of bitterness at being misunderstood, not pride.
See also Always Chaotic Evil, Bad is Good and Good is Bad, Lawful Stupid, Chaotic Stupid, Stupid Evil, Villain Ball and Eviler than Thou.
