History Main / MascotVillain

** [[Spoiler: [[SerialKiller William Afton]] can also qualify, seeing as he serves as the GreaterScopeVillain of the series and has made multiple recurring appearances or mentions across multiple games]].

** For ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', Vader’s predecessor as Darth Sidious’s apprentice, Darth Maul, to an extent. However, Maul’s direct successor [[spoiler: Count Dooku/Darth Tyranus]] did not get this treatment, at least partially due to the nature of his first appearance in series, and his [[spoiler: minimal amount of screen time in his second and last one]].

* [[VillainProtagonist Heihachi]] from ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'', being the only member of the Mishima family to appear in all installments of the franchise, and being the ArchEnemy of his son [[BaitTheDog Kazuya]] and grandson [[TheHero Jin]].

** ''VideoGame/FarCry3'' - [[RuthlessModernPirates Vaas Montenegro]]. Vaas is not the BigBad, though, just {{TheDragon}}. The actual main villain is [[AmoralAfrikaner Hoyt Volker]].

* The Noid was the mascot of Domino's for much of the late 80s, despite technically being the antagonist of their commercials. In the commercials, The Noid would try to ruin your pizza, only to be thwarted at every turn.

* The Franchise/{{Metroid}}s are mutant leeches that [[TheHero Samus Aran]] usually has to exterminate on a regular basis. They are also {{Mascot Mook}}s. [[ArchEnemy Ridley is also a big contender for mascot villain status due to [[DeathIsCheap never staying dead no matter]] [[JokerImmunity how many times Samus kills him]], being a badass space dragon that commands the Space Pirates who usually serves as TheDragon to the game's main villain (or is at least [[TheHeavy a recurring foe who heavily impacts the narrative]]), having an awesome battle theme, and [[ItsPersonal having a connection with Samus in his backstory]].

* The Franchise/{{Metroid}}s are mutant leeches that [[TheHero Samus Aran]] usually has to exterminate on a regular basis. They are also {{Mascot Mook}}s. Ridley is also a big contender for mascot villain status due to [[DeathIsCheap never staying dead no matter]] [[JokerImmunity how many times Samus kills him]], being a badass space dragon that commands the Space Pirates who usually serves as TheDragon to the game's main villain (or is at least [[TheHeavy a recurring foe who heavily impacts the narrative]]), having an awesome battle theme, and having a connection with Samus in his backstory.

* Dung Beetle from ''Manga/{{Bokurano}}''. His true status as a villain is up for grabs, as whatever is causing the events of the story is left nebulous, but he still regularly taunts the characters and acts like a {{Jerkass}}.

* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam''. Char Aznable, though making a full rotation through the HeelFaceRevolvingDoor, could still count as a semi-example, and is popular enough to inspire [[CharClone a slew of copycats.]]

* The Sanderson sisters are this to ''Film/HocusPocus''. They get the most advertisements and they're the ones on the cover of ''Literature/HocusPocusAndTheAllNewSequel''.

* The ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' series has Billy the puppet, avatar of the Jigsaw killer. It's probably the most recognizable malevolent figure in the series, moreso than John Kramer or Dennis Hoffman (AKA the actual Jigsaw killers).

* Starting with ''VideoGame/FarCry3'', the ''VideoGame/FarCry'' series has done this. With the exceptions of ''VideoGame/FarCry3BloodDragon'' and ''VideoGame/FarCryPrimal'', each game features its main antagonist front and center in the cover art and promotional material.

Many series have their own Mascot, ({{Series Mascot}}s, In Universe mascots or otherwise). Sometimes that mascot is one of the ones responsible for all the bad things happening (or at best is a neutral force that still causes things to go wrong for the heroes more often than not.) Though it's not necessary, the mascot can still fall into the RidiculouslyCuteCritter or SmallAnnoyingCreature tropes just to make things [[CuteIsEvil extra twisted]]. Whether they are {{Big Bad}}s, [[TheDragon Dragons]], {{Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain}}s or just the humble MascotMook is not needed, what distinguishes this from the other tropes is that the SeriesMascot is evil.

** For ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', Vader’s predecessor as Darth Sidious’s apprentice, Darth Maul. However, Maul’s direct successor [[spoiler: Count Dooku/Darth Tyranus]] did not get this treatment, at least partially due to the nature of his first appearance in series, and his [[spoiler: minimal amount of screen time in his second and last one]].

* Monokuma from ''{{Franchise/Danganronpa}}'' falls into the RidiculouslyCuteCritter category (though less so than the [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica above-mentioned]] [[spoiler: Kyubey]], thanks to his more sinister TwoFaced design motif). He's even voiced by ''Anime/{{Doraemon}}''[='s=] most notable voice actor; for a Western analog, imagine a teddy bear with the voice of WesternAnimation/BugsBunny, WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse, Franchise/WinnieThePooh, or WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarePants (the German dub actually does this) constantly trolling you, emotionally and psychologically torturing and blackmailing you, and egging you on to kill people.

** ''VideoGame/FarCry3'' - [[RuthlessModernPirates Vaas Montenegro]]

* Darth Vader, the single most recognizable character in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' franchise, to the point that an entire film trilogy was made about his StartOfDarkness.

** Captain Phasma sometimes shares this role with Kylo Ren as well, her prominence can be seen on various merchandises rather than being TheHeavy like Ren.

* FountainOfMemes Dio Brando from ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure''. If there's ever going to be a ShoutOut to the series, it's usually going to involve either Jotaro or Dio.

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* ''Franchise/MobileSuitGundam''. Char Aznable, though making a full rotation through the HeelFaceRevolvingDoor, could still count as a semi-example, and is popular enough to inspire [[CharClone a slew of copycats.]]

* Wrestling/KaijuBigBattel uses the helmet of it BigBad, Dr. Cube, for its logo.

* Wrestling/KaijuBigBattel uses the helmet of its first BigBad, Dr. Cube, for its logo.
* Wrestling/CheerleaderMelissa for most of [=ChickFight=]'s time in the UK, almost overlapping with EvilForeigner.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film]]

* As a general rule, this is extremely common with {{horror}}. Even if it doesn't simply become a VillainBasedFranchise, a horror movie franchise will usually see its villain/monster turn into its most recognizable character.

* The Red Knight from ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'', [[spoiler: also known as the Soul of Cinder, is the FinalBoss and the manifestation of every last unfortunate Lords of Cinder doomed to live inside an AnimatedArmor [[AndIMustScream for eternity]]. Naturally this includes [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsI Gwyn, the First Lord of Cinder]] and the [[DuelingPlayerCharacters Chosen Undead]].]]