History Main / InterimVillain

** ''[[Film/TheAvengers2012 The Avengers]]'' has Comicbook/{{Loki}} and Chitauri as the main villains, with the ending revealing that Comicbook/{{Thanos}} was the true ManBehindTheMan who set everything in motion as part of a plot to claim the Infinity Stones. Thanos returns (this time in person) as the main threat of ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', the third entry in the series. While [[Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron the second movie]] contains a continuation of the Infinity Stones subplot to some degree, it is Comicbook/{{Ultron}} who is the main villain, rather than Thanos or another of his underlings.
** ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014'' has Ronan the Accuser as the main villain, but like Loki he is backed by Comicbook/{{Thanos}} before the former decides to [[TheStarscream rebel]] against him. The Guardians appears in the aforementioned ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' teaming up with the Avengers to face the Mad Titan himself. Prior to that the Guardians battle against [[spoiler:Ego the Living Planet, Peter's father,]] and the main villain in [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2 their second movie]], who not only lacks any affiliation with Thanos or his underlings, but also doesn't feature the Infinity Stones subplot in any degree, unlike ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron''.

** In the Eleventh Doctor's era the main villains were the Silence, except for Series 7, where instead the Great Intelligence was the BigBad for that season.

* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'': In some seasons the first BigBad's replacement turns out to be an Interim Villain, and the original comes back by the finale even though they were defeated earlier in the story.

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'': The Begnion Senate are the main enemies of Part 1, Part 3 (despite a few perspective flip chapters where you play as their reluctant allies, which are treated more as VillainShoes) and side with the ultimate BigBad of Part 4. Part 2, however, deals with a coup against Elincia in Crimea led by Duke Ludvek.

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* ''Film/JamesBond''

* In ''Film/{{Exam}}'', [[spoiler:Brown]] acts far more antagonistic while [[spoiler:White]] is in his coma.

* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': Season 1 features Wilson Fisk as the main villain, with the Hand being first introduced as an associate gang of Fisk's. At the end of the season, Fisk is arrested and sent to prison. Season 2 focuses on the Punisher and the Hand, and the power vacuum that's opened up as a result of Fisk being arrested. Fisk even makes a brief two-episode arc where he takes a step towards rebuilding his criminal empire by using Frank to murder the head of a prison contraband gang who insulted him. He also begins investigating Matt after Matt threatens his relationship with Vanessa. Season 3 then returns to featuring Fisk as the main villain front and center, where we see that the events of his little Season 2 arc were him biding his time as he waited for his long-term manipulations of Ray Nadeem to run their course, so he could manipulate the FBI into letting him out of prison.

* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow'': In the first game {{Satan}} is the BigBad and the true manipulator behind all of the events. By the end of the game, [[spoiler:TheHero Gabriel Belmont becomes Dracula and serves as the interim villain of ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadowMirrorOfFate Mirror Of Fate]]''. In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow2'', Dracula performs HeelFaceTurn,]] and Satan returns as the main villain.
* ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'' had [[FallenHero Superman from the Injustice Earth]] as the BigBad, while its [[VideoGame/Injustice2 sequel]] has [[OmnicidalManiac Brainiac]]. The tie-comic that bridges the gap between the two games has [[GaiasVengeance Ra's Al Ghul]] and the League of Assassins as primary antagonists.

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'': Bern is the main antagonistic nation for most of the story, but the midgame has you fighting [[LesCollaborateurs a faction of Etrurua that capitulated to Bern]], led by [[AristocratsAreEvil Roartz and Arcard]]. After the retaking of Etruria, Bern takes center stage as enemy again, although Roartz himself isn't dealt with until later, when fighting Bern's occupying forces in either Sacae or Ilia.

* ''Franchise/IndianaJones'': While the [[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk first]] and [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade third]] films both have the [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazis]] as the antagonists, the [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom second]] instead has Mola Ram and his cult. [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystallSkull Fourth]] has Soviets but [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheDialOfDestiny fifth]] has [[TheRemnant Nazi Remnant]] who want to go back in time and turn World War II in Nazi favor.

* ''Franchise/IndianaJones'': While the [[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk first]] and [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade third]] films both have the [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazis]] as the antagonists, the [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom second]] instead has Mola Ram and his cult. [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheCrystalSkull Fourth]] has Soviets but [[IndianaJonesAndTheDialOfDestiny fifth]] has [[TheRemnant Nazi Remnant]] who want to go back in time and turn World War II in Nazi favor.

* ''Franchise/IndianaJones'': While the [[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk first]] and [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade third]] films both have the [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazis]] as the antagonists, the [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom second]] instead has Mola Ram and his cult.

* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', almost every ArcVillain has some connection to one of the series' two primary [[MythArc Myth Arcs]], one involving [[EvilSorcerer Zeref]] and the Dark Guilds and the other involving [[TheDreaded Acnologia]] and the disappearance of the dragons ([[spoiler:which are later revealed to be related]]). The exception to this is King Faust, the main antagonist of the Edolas arc. He is the tyrannical ruler of an AlternateUniverse where the Fairy Tail guildmembers get stuck, and the guild's conflict with him is mostly unrelated to those with Zeref and Acnologia.

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' LOVES this trope and even loves to play around with it as well as subvert it sometimes. Part 1, has a main villain in the form of Dio Brando, a human-turned-Vampire. In [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Part II]], the main villains were the Pillar Men who were also GreaterScopeVillain for [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Part I]], since these guys created the Stone Masks that Dio used to become a vampire in the first place. In Part [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders III]], Dio Brando returns, and is more powerful than ever. And this is actually continued. Part 4 has a SerialKiller as a main villain who is completely unrelated to Dio. Part 5 in many ways subverts it since Giorno is technically Dio's son but he is actually a good guy and a protagonist and actually has no idea of his father's conflict with the Joestars (who have almost no role in this story) or even his existance at all. Main villain is Diavolo, Mafia's boss, who can be argued was in some ways, a GreaterScopeVillain to Part 3 since he was the one who sold Stand Arrows to Dio's servant Enya Geil. But ultimately fully played in straight in ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]]'' where we go back to focusing on the Joestars/ Cujohs and the main villain being [[SinisterMinister Enricco Pucci]], Dio's unseen servant prior to events of ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders'' who now wants to finish Dio's job, and receate the universe in Dio's image.

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' has a main villain in the form of Dio Brando, a human-turned-Vampire. In [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Part II]], the main villains were the Pillar Men who were also GreaterScopeVillain for [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Part I]]. In Part [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders III]], Dio Brando returns, this time as DIO.

* ''Manga/RaveMaster'' gives us [[FallenHero Pumpkin Doryu]], who is the primary antagonist between [[spoiler: King's death and Lucia reviving Demon Card.]]

* ''Anime/DigimonUniverseAppMonsters'' gives us [[PsychoForHire Sateramon]], who only temporarily takes up his predecessor's, [[SmugSnake Mienumon's]], position as TheHeavy before being finally defeated after only a few episodes (he didn't even appear in some of them). After him came [[TeenGenius Unryūji]] [[{{Bishounen}} Knight]] who is {{implied}} by the [[SpoilerOpening second OP]] to be the last [[DragonInChief major henchmen]] [[OrcusOnHisThrone of Leviathan]]. [[spoiler: [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness Well, not for long]].]]

* ''Fanfic/RubyAndNora'': After the story ''Field Trip'', all of the villains have some connection to [[BigBad Salem]] and her overarching plan, either by being recruited by her or enabled by her. The only one who doesn't is the villain of ''Attacks''. [[spoiler: Harold White is just a self-centered man engineering [[ScoobyDooHoax fake Grimm attacks]] so he can be the leader of his village while undermining the current village leader, Penwood.]] This conflict is completely unrelated to the larger Salem plot.

** [[spoiler: Peter "Wormtail" Pettigrew]] in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'', the only book in which [[VillainOnLeave Voldemort does not appear]] and is only referenced as an off-page GreaterScopeVillain (although [[spoiler: Wormtail]]'s status as one of Voldemort's CoDragons makes this a downplayed example).
** Dolores Umbridge in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', for most of the book before Voldemort and the Death Eaters return and render her unimportant by comparison. Notably, this is the ''only'' book in the franchise where TheHeavy for most of the book is ''not'' either Voldemort or TheDragon to Voldemort in some way (such as [[spoiler: Quirrel]], the Basilisk, [[spoiler: Wormtail]], Bartemeus Crouch Jr, or [[spoiler: Snape]]).

* The strongest ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' example is perhaps the Anointed One in season 2, who takes over for and tries to resurrect the Master, the previous season's BigBad, and is subsequently used to introduce Spike... who promptly kills him.
** This happened fairly often: Mr. Trick was replaced by Faith and the Mayor, The Trio gave way to Dark Willow, Spike (season 2) was eclipsed by Angelus, etc.

* ''Series/{{Gotham}}'': Unlike the other Big Bads found on season 3, [[ComicBook/TheJoker Jerome Valeska]] is the only one to not use the Tetch virus for his crime and appears right in the middle of the season after the GCPD finally arrest Jervis Tetch and curing the city of his virus but right before the Court of Owls use said virus from their own nefarious plans.

* ''Series/StorageWars'': Early in season three, Dave is kept off the show by other business interests. Filling his role as antagonist is Jeff Jarred, whose hook is that he believes that auctioneer Dan shows favoritism towards the more established buyers.

** Meg is this in Season 1, who is the daughter/henchwoman of the BigBad Yellow-eyed demon. She is [[spoiler: sent back to Hell in the Season Finale, which infuriates the Yellow-Eyed Demon.]]
** Eve, the mother of all monsters, is set up to be the BigBad of Season 6, [[spoiler: only to be defeated rather quickly in an episode that reveals that Crowley and Castiel are the big bads of the season, as they are working together to defeat Raphael.]]

* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': Season 1 features Wilson Fisk as the main villain, with the Hand being first introduced as an associate gang of Fisk's. At the end of the season, Fisk is arrested and sent to prison. Season 2 focuses on the Punisher and the Hand, and the power vacuum that's opened up as a result of Fisk being arrested. Fisk even makes a brief two-episode arc where he takes a step towards rebuilding his criminal empire by using Frank to murder the head of a prison contraband gang who insulted him. He also begins investigating Matt after Matt threatens his relationship with Vanessa. Season 3 then returns to featuring Fisk as the main villain front and center, where we see that the events of his little season 2 arc were him biding his time as he waited for his long-term manipulations of Ray Nadeem to run their course, so he could manipulate the FBI into letting him out of prison.

* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow'': In the first game {{Satan}} is the BigBad and the true manipulator behind all of the events. By the end of the game, [[spoiler: TheHero Gabriel Belmont becomes Dracula and serves as the interim villain of ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadowMirrorOfFate Mirror Of Fate]]''. In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow2'', Dracula performs HeelFaceTurn,]] and Satan returns as the main villain.

* Season one of ''WesternAnimation/DotaDragonsBlood'' has BigBadEnsemble between [[JerkassGods Selemene]] and [[SealedEvilinACan Terrorblade]] [[spoiler: and [[TheChessmaster The Invoker]]]], but the fallout from season finale more or less forces them to fade to background, aside an occassional advancement of their plans, until opening episodes of season three, when things finally come to fruition [[spoiler: as The Invoker directly or indirectly gets both Selemene and Terrorblade killed, taking over as the BigBad]]. In meantime, the main villain of season two ends up being [[spoiler: Chancellor Kasshura a.k.a. the Void Dragon]], who is revealed as the GreaterScopeVillain of Mirana's backstory.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'', Slade was the BigBad for the first two seasons, until his death by the end of the second. Brother Blood takes over as the BigBad for the third season, but he works like an ArcVillain and a FillerVillain (not a single mentioning or appearance other than his four episodes), so how is he included here? The H.I.V.E organization was already in existence in prior seasons, Slade himself returned in full on the fourth season, and Blood's defeat led to the H.I.V.E. Five striking out on their own as an independent team.

** ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' has Ronan the Accuser as the main villain, but like Loki he is backed by Comicbook/{{Thanos}} before the former decides to [[TheStarscream rebel]] against him. The Guardians appears in the aforementioned ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' teaming up with the Avengers to face the Mad Titan himself. Prior to that the Guardians battle against [[spoiler:Ego the Living Planet, Peter's father,]] and the main villain in [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2 their second movie]], who not only lacks any affiliation with Thanos or his underlings, but also doesn't feature the Infinity Stones subplot in any degree, unlike ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron''.

* In the animated ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' series, Slade was the BigBad for the first two seasons, until his death by the end of the second. Brother Blood takes over as the BigBad for the third season, but he works like an ArcVillain and a FillerVillain (not a single mentioning or appearance other than his four episodes), so how is he included here? The H.I.V.E organization was already in existence in prior seasons, Slade himself returned in full on the fourth season, and Blood's defeat led to the H.I.V.E. Five striking out on their own as an independent team.

** The eponymous mask in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' is also one in the context of the child timeline brought about by the events of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', as the game takes place between Ganondorf's two major appearances in the timeline (''Ocarina of Time'' and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'').
* Osmund Saddler from ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'', who unlike other villains in the series does not have any connection to Umbrella. Albert Wesker returns as the BigBad for ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5''.

** Subverted if you take into account the other Mario {{Role Playing Game}}s. Fawful has only been the villain in two out of nine games.

* [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/21081710 ''Power Rangers Wing Force'']] has Queen Uuhcura, who unusually for this trope, is also the GreaterScopeVillain of the story.

* The Titans in ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'' are the only non-Zeon related villain faction in the Universal Century timeline of the ''Franchise/{{Gundam}} franchise (not counting the villains in late U.C. works like ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamF91'' and ''Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam''.

** While the final arc of ''Series/KamenRiderW'' sets up the nebulous Foundation X to be the overarching villains of the Neo-Heisei era, the next season ''Series/KamenRiderOOO'' doesn't feature them at all and instead deals with threats wholly unrelated to them (a group of ancient homunculus and a renegage MadScientist). ''Series/KamenRiderFourze sees Foundation X make a proper return as the benefactors to the Zodiarts.

* The ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' series takes this [[UpToEleven to some unusual extremes]] with the BigBad of ''every even-numbered instalment'' being a returning [[ArchEnemy Opal Koboi]], and various unrelated villains each serving as the BigBad for each odd-numbered book (except for the first book, where the BigBad, essentially, is [[VillainProtagonist Artemis]] himself).

** Also, in the new Creator/DanielCraig movies, the BigBad is technically Mr. White, though he disappears at the beginning of ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' and is not even mentioned in ''Film/{{Skyfall}}''. In ''Quantum of Solace,'' we have Dominic Greene as the BigBad while in ''Skyfall'' it is Raoul Silva's turn. Mr. White returned in the next film, ''Film/{{Spectre}}''. Ultimately, subverted in that the real BigBad proved to be Ernst Stavro Blofeld and all the villains, including Mr. White, were Spectre muscle doing his dirty work. The final villain of the Craig era, ''Film/NoTimeToDie'''s Lyutsifer, doesn't work for Spectre but wipes them out instead, out of [[YouKilledMyFather revenge]].

** Also, in the new Creator/DanielCraig movies, the BigBad is technically Mr. White, though he disappears at the beginning of ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' and is not even mentioned in ''Film/{{Skyfall}}''. In ''Quantum of Solace,'' we have Dominic Greene as the BigBad while in ''Skyfall'' it is Raoul Silva's turn. Mr. White returned in the next movie ''Film/{{Spectre}}''. Ultimately, subverted in that the real BigBad proved to be Ernst Stavro Blofeld and all the villains, including Mr. White, were muscle doing his dirty work.