Doctor Who: 10 Villains The Doctor Couldn't Defeat
5. The Listen Creature (Listen)
The Series 8 episode Listen is a strange one, because depending on your point of view, it either has a villain, or it doesn't. Either way, the Doctor doesn't do much "defeating".
The story kicks off when the Doctor speculates that there may be a creature out there that has perfected the art of hiding. And if its sole purpose - and its main survival mechanism - is to hide... then how would we know it exists?
It's an interesting topic, and while the episode is vague on the details, it does heavily hint that such a creature exists, and in one tense scene, the Doctor is shown to be hesitant to face it, let alone defeat it.
This occurs when the Doctor and Clara encounter a young Danny Pink, who lives in a children's home. In his bedroom, the trio is cornered by a mysterious something hiding under a blanket, and the Doctor grows quite panicked, demanding that Clara and Danny turn their backs on the creature and avoid looking at it.
We rarely see the Doctor be scared or unsure, but here, he thinks that the best way to deal with this creature is to not deal with it at all. Was there even a villain in this episode? We don't know. But if there was, it feels like the Doctor would've been powerless to stop it.