Karma Houdinis are Pure Evils who have gotten away with their crimes, either by outright winning or escaping before they can be punished. This is uncommon for Pure Evils due to the severity of their crimes, though it still sometimes occurs.

This category also includes villains who were defeated and imprisoned in the past (e.g. Taurus Bulba, Randall Boggs), or killed (e.g. Frieza and Chucky) but they somehow managed to get back and continue their bad ways.

When a Pure Evil who is a Karma Houdini is also considered a Hate Sink, then their status as a Karma Houdini will make the villain much more hated, as Pure Evil Hate Sinks are wished the worst by most of the audience/fans.

They are the opposite of Pure Goods who are falsely blamed for actions they never committed.

Deceased and Presumed Deceased villains usually do not count as Karma Houdinis; the only way for such a character to count is if their death/presumed death is of natural causes (e.g. Noah Cross, Donald Love, Fritz and Warren T. Rat), or if there is a higher chance that they survived and escaped rather than died (e.g. Rasmin Yelkov and Ego). In addition, villains who are truly Imprisoned with no way to escape should not count either. Villains who took their own lives (e.g. Samuel Norton) cannot count. If the villain is killed by another villain or a neutral character before they can be punished by the heroes, they CANNOT count even if they didn't get caught by a more powerful character (e.g. Yashiro's Brother). Pure Evil villains who were defeated without being killed off or imprisoned do not necessitate as Karma Houdinis if their humiliating defeats are played for satisfaction and they are no longer perceived as threats afterwards (e.g. Thumper, Gary Smith). Furthermore, villains in cancelled media can count if the story prematurely ends without them being punished (e.g. Saruman from Ralph Bakshi's adaptation of The Lord of the Rings and Green Goblin from The Spectacular Spider-Man).