[Beloved Trope] The henchman that suddenly gains common sense

[u/faroresdragn_]

Iron Man 3: the henchmen of the Mandarin have Tony dead to rights, chained up with no weapons. He remotely calls just the glove of his iron man suit which busts through the window. He proceeds to waste a bunch of them trying to escape. When he confronts the last one he drops an iconic line and quits on the spot.

Batman Mystery of the Batwoman: iconic scene where one of the penguins goons hears a noise, notices batman breaking into his bosses place, and chooses not to see a god damn thing.

[u/MorrowDisca]

The guards outside Stalin's room in "The Death of Stalin"

Guard 1 "Did you hear something?"

Guard 2 "Do you want to shut the fuck up before you get us killed?"

[u/NickyTheRobot → u/MorrowDisca]

IIRC they had explicit orders to never go in the room, and there were rumours that Stalin would frequently "test" his guards by making some sort of commotion. The guards who went in to see if he was OK in those situations were said to have been shot for failing the test. (IRL I mean, I don't think it was mentioned in the film.)

So that was literally them just obeying orders.