History Main / StarterVillain

A "beginner's" villain, lowest on the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil. He is the first true threat to the heroes, not some common {{Mook}} that allows them to show how {{Badass}} they are. Expect even the weakest member of the heroic team to eventually become more powerful than him (that is, unless he survives). The StarterVillain is not always associated with the intended BigBad of the whole series, usually having a whole story arc to himself.

* Lord Crump in ''[[PaperMario Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door]]'' takes on Mario almost as soon as the game begins. He tries to defeat Mario a few times later on, but he becomes increasingly outmatched even as Lord Crump himself continues to improve.

* ''NewJediOrder'': Somewhat similar to the above, the first book introduces Prefect Da'Gara and his Praetorite Vong forces, terrifying aliens from beyond the Rim bent on galactic conquest and possessing powers and weapons far beyond anything the galaxy has ever seen. They live precisely one book- it turns out the Praetorite Vong are only one (largely unimportant) political faction among the Yuuzhan Vong Empire and Da'Gara was just kickstarting the invasion to grab some glory for himself. His troops weren't even particularly well-trained by Vong standards, and the nightmarish EldritchAbomination he had on a leash as his secret weapon was ''defective'' compared to others of its kind. Da'Gara's main purpose was to give the Galaxy a taste of its new threat before being killed off to make way for the ''real'' bad guys.\\
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However, the same book also introduces Da'Gara's political ally Nom Anor, who not only survived, but would go on to continue making trouble for the Jedi and the New Republic all the way until the final book in the series. Hell, he outlives both the BigBad ''and'' TheManBehindTheMan (though not by long).

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* The Lizard in SpiderMan gets this in a lot of adaptations. Mostly because he's not explicitly evil due to his JekyllAndHyde nature and helps cement just how much being Spider-Man sucks.

[[folder: Fan Works ]]

* Yamcha from ''DragonBall''. Raditz in ''DragonBallZ''.

As writers can't always have the StarterVillain fighting the whole FiveManBand at once, he'll sometimes have underlings. These men are nearly always doomed to die. He has a sliver of a chance to survive, but none of his men will make it.

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]
* Yamcha from ''DragonBall''.
** Raditz in Dragon Ball Z.
* Gouki, Kurama, and Hiei from ''{{Yu Yu Hakusho}}'' are a group of these. While Gouki plays this straight and Kurama was already planned to be a part of the main team, Hiei's status was ultimately supposed to fall victim to this trope, but his role was rewritten once he was discovered to be an EnsembleDarkhorse.

* Grand Fisher (The Hollow who ate Ichigo's mom) in ''{{Bleach}}''. He just sort of disappeared and was forgotten about until he showed up just to die against Ichigo's dad. A case could also be made for Renji and Byakuya, the first enemies to give Ichigo a serious fight.
* [[OnePiece Alvidia and Ax-Hand Morgan]] both apply, as they were said to be extremely strong villains, but are nothing compared to just a few guys down the road.
** They were barely better than thugs, and taken down with no trouble at all. The true example is Buggy the Clown immediately afterward, the first person introduced, other than Luffy himself, to have eaten a Devil Fruit, and the first to give him any run for his money.

* Shin from ''{{Fist of the North Star}}'', who doubles as a TokenMotivationalNemesis, is the first rival martial artist that Kenshiro faces in the story. Shin was the one who defeated Ken, stole his beloved Yuria away from him, and engraved the seven scars on Ken's chest as a reminder of the humiliation. In the first story arc of the manga, Ken must fight against Shin's four playing card-themed lieutenants, each progressively more skilled than the last, before challenging his old rival.

[[AC:{{Comic Books}}]]
* In ''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'', ''the Shredder'' himself was this in the original Mirage Comics, where he makes an average showing and gets himself killed rather humiliatingly at the end of the very first issue. A colony of intelligent worms would later assume the mantle of the Shredder (it's a long story), but even they only appeared in a few issues and played a fairly minor role in the comics' plot. However, due to his status as the first villain the Turtles fought and his ItsPersonal ties to their backstory, all subsequent versions (namely the two cartoon series and the first two movies) went and made him the long-running BigBad.
* Matthew Patel is the first Evil Ex-Boyfriend of Ramona that ScottPilgrim encounters. He's mostly the equivalent of a WarmUpBoss.
** In the movie, he has the lowest point value of any opponent short of out-and-out mooks.

[[AC:FanWorks]]
* James and Victoria are this in ''Fanfic/{{Luminosity}}''. They are the first intentional threat to Bella's life[[spoiler:, and are killed fairly quickly via SummonBiggerFish on the biggest vampires around]].

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* The thuggish, cowardly hobgoblin Lord Toede from the ''{{Dragonlance}}'' novels, a mid-ranking minion of the Dragon Overlords. Though never a serious threat, he proved popular enough to get his own spin-off novel.

* Atsurak the leader of a Marat barbarian horde in the ''{{Codex Alera}}'' series. The novice spy races against time and an ex-mentor to {{Bring News Back}} to the local Legion's garrison before Atsurak can invade a valley in a rural part of Alera. The {{Farm Boy}} gets used as a pawn by another barbarian, an enemy of Atsurak. Five books later, Atsurak is an afterthought, all the Marat are allies to the Alerans and actually the least important faction in that alliance, and it's not just the valley that's at stake but all intelligent life in the world. If not for the fact that some {{Chessmaster}}s from the first book are still around, the first book could be considered separate from the rest of the series.
* Somewhat similar to the above, the first book of the ''NewJediOrder'' introduces Prefect Da'Gara and his Praetorite Vong forces, terrifying aliens from beyond the Rim bent on galactic conquest and possessing powers and weapons far beyond anything the galaxy has ever seen. They live precisely one book- it turns out the Praetorite Vong are only one (largely unimportant) political faction among the Yuuzhan Vong Empire and Da'Gara was just kickstarting the invasion to grab some glory for himself. His troops weren't even particularly well-trained by Vong standards, and the nightmarish EldritchAbomination he had on a leash as his secret weapon was ''defective'' compared to others of its kind. Da'Gara's main purpose was to give the Galaxy a taste of its new threat before being killed off to make way for the ''real'' bad guys.
** However, the same book also introduces Da'Gara's political ally Nom Anor, who not only survived, but would go on to continue making trouble for the Jedi and the New Republic all the way until the final book in the series. Hell, he outlives both the BigBad ''and'' TheManBehindTheMan (though not by long).
* Chamdar, alias Asharak, from ''TheBelgariad'' is an EvilSorcerer and high-ranked priest in a ReligionOfEvil who [[spoiler: killed TheHero's parents]] and follows him around for a while in the early part of the series making a general nuisance of himself [[spoiler: but is killed spectacularly midway through the second of five books after goading TheHero into unlocking his powers]].
* EvilSorcerer Victor Sells from ''TheDresdenFiles'' is the first bad guy to give Harry Dresden a serious challenge on-page, but doesn't make it past the first book (and there are ''much'' more dangerous things than him out there, anyway). Of course, from Harry's perspective his real StarterVillain was EvilMentor Justin DuMorne, but as Justin's been dead for years by the beginning of the first book, the reader doesn't really experience him that way.
* Draco Malfoy of the ''HarryPotter'' series. One of the first wizards Harry meets, and whose general unpleasantness shows how wizards can be be as big of jerks as muggles. Dealing with him is a large part of the early books, but even though he repeatedly tries to TakeALevelInBadass, he never manages to be anywhere nearly as powerful or evil as the true villains of the piece.

[[AC:{{Live-Action TV}}]]
* ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': The parasites in the episode "Conspiracy" were intended to return, but weren't for budget reasons. They were "replaced" by the Borg and Romulans as the BigBad.
* The Suliban, genetically augmented Gecko-Men, initially filled this role in ''{{Enterprise}}'', but lukewarm reception had them soon replaced with the much more credible Xindi as the series' main enemy race.
* ''{{Firefly}}'' had an undercover Alliance agent as the villain of the pilot episode. Although he seems to be built up as a potentially recurring villain, the ending of the episode subverts multiple tropes when, during a PutDownYourGunAndStepAway / WeWillMeetAgain moment, Mal simply walks up and shoots him in the head.
** WordOfGod is that had the show continued past the first season, he would have turned out to have survived the shooting and would have come back (with a cybernetic eye!) to seek revenge on the crew. In fact, this is exactly what happens in "Those Left Behind," a comic book set between the series and the movie.

[[AC:{{Tabletop Games}}]]
* Any single enemy with a challenge rating of 2 or 3 in ''DungeonsAndDragons''. Anything less would need a group to present a serious threat to even a level one party (Assuming four players, of course).

[[AC:{{Video Games}}]]
* Garland from ''{{Final Fantasy|I}}'', [[spoiler:who turns into the BigBad, Chaos, at the end.]]
* Kefka is a notable aversion in FinalFantasyVI, in that he's definitely StarterVillian material for most of the game, only to evolve into the game's true BigBad.
* Two of the origins in ''DragonAge'' have the player character face off with a StarterVillain. In the Dwarf Commoner origin, the character will have to take down the crime boss [[SmugSnake Beraht]]. In the City Elf origin, the PC will come up against [[CompleteMonster Bann Vaughan]] in a "right of the lord" scenario. In an aversion, the latter may survive the story if the hero [[WhatTheHellHero takes his bribe.]]
* Lord Crump in [[PaperMario Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door]] takes on Mario almost as soon as the game begins. He tries to defeat Mario a few times later on, but he becomes increasingly outmatched even as Lord Crump himself continues to improve.

[[AC:{{Western Animation}}]]
* The main villain of the 2-part premiere episode of ''BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' was CanonForeigner Red Claw, a terrorist leader. The villain of the pilot "On Leather Wing" was Man-Bat, a lesser member of the RoguesGallery.
* Doctor Animo was the first proper villain Ben took on in ''{{Ben 10}}''. He doesn't ''die'', but in subsequent appearances, it's pretty clear that he's nowhere near as dangerous as other threats Ben has faced.
* Baxter Stockman and his mouser robots in the 2003 ''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' series. This has the effect of immediately setting the tone of the series, as in the original cartoon Baxter was a goofier mad scientist best known for being mutated into a fly, whereas now he's a legitimate threat even at the ''bottom'' of the villain hierarchy.
* The Pirates Clans in the FiveEpisodePilot of ''{{Exosquad}}'', before the Neosapien wars break out. They eventually become the reluctant allies of the fleet.

<<|{{Villains}}|>>

* Mr. Wink and Mr. Fibb in [[CodeNameKidsNextDoor]], the first villains Sector V ever faced. They later appear in the series as hired thugs, but they spend most of their time minding their own business otherwise and only attack if provoked.

* Somewhat similar to the above, the first book of the ''NewJediOrder'' introduces Prefect Da'Gara and his Praetorite Vong forces, terrifying aliens from beyond the Rim bent on galactic conquest and possessing powers and weapons far beyond anything the galaxy has ever seen. They live precisely one book- it turns out the Praetorite Vong are only one (largely unimportant) political faction among the Yuuzhan Vong Empire and Da'Gara was just kickstarting the invasion to grab some glory for himself. His troops weren't even particularly well-trained by Vong standards, and the nightmarish EldritchAbomination he had on a leash as his secret weapon was ''defective'' compared to others of its kind. Da'Gara's main purpose was to give the Galaxy a taste of its new threat before being killed off to make way for the ''real'' bad guys.

* Admiral Zhao from ''AvatarTheLastAirbender''. While Zuko showed up first, he is initially [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain ineffective]] agains the Gaang, while Zhao is a consistent threat to both the Gaang ''and'' Zuko for the entire first season. He's still too [[SmugSnake confident in his abilities,]] and is ultimately replaced by the ''far'' worse [[HeroKiller Princess]] [[TheDragon Azula.]]

See also: WakeUpCallBoss. Some Stater Villains tend to be [[TokenMotivationalNemesis Token Motivational Nemeses]] as well.

See also: WakeUpCallBoss. Some Stater Villains tend to be [[TokenMotivationalNemesis Token Motivational Nemesis]] as well.

Due to the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil, after the FiveManBand are introduced, the first villain they face must be a StarterVillain. Put simply, he's a "beginner's" villain. He is the first true threat to the heroes, not some common {{Mook}} that allows them to show how {{Badass}} they are. Expect even the weakest member of their team to eventually become more powerful than him (that is, unless he survives). The StarterVillain is not always associated with the intended BigBad of the whole series, usually having a whole story arc to himself.

Due to the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil, after the FiveManBand are introduced, the first villain they face must be a StarterVillain. Put simply, he's a "beginner's" villain. He is the first true threat to the heroes, not some common {{Mook}} that allows them to show how {{Badass}} they are. Expect even the weakest member of their team to eventually become more powerful than him (that is, unless he survives).

The StarterVillain is not always associated with the intended BigBad of the whole series, usually having a whole story arc to himself. Often he is a mercenary working for some corporate that wants our heroes out of the way for some reason. He will often come to respect TheHero, and sometimes TheLancer as well. Don't be surprised if his employer betrays him and he does a HeelFaceTurn to help stop the real villain. If he does this and survives, he might join the FiveManBand in time, becoming TheLancer.

As writers can't always have the StarterVillain fighting the whole FiveManBand at once, he'll sometimes have underlings. These men are doomed to die. He has a sliver of a chance to survive, but none of his men will make it.

* Gouki, Kurama, and Hiei from ''Yu Yu Hakusho'' are a group of these. While Gouki plays this straight and Kurama was already planned to be a part of the main team, Hiei's status was ultimately supposed to fall victim to this trope, but his role was rewritten once he was discovered to be an EnsembleDarkhorse.

* Gouki, Kurama, and Hiei from Yu Yu Hakusho are a group of these. While Gouki plays this straight and Kurama was already planned to be a part of the main team, Hiei's status was ultimately supposed to fall victim to this trope, but his role was rewritten once he was discovered to be an EnsembleDarkhorse.

* Gouki, Kurama, and Hiei from Yu Yu Hakusho are a group of these, but while Gouki plays this straight and Kurama was already planned to be a part of the main team, Hiei was supposed to be this as well, but was discovered by the mangaka to be an ''Ensemble Darkhorse'', to his surprise.