History Main / StarterVillain

* ''Literature/HeavyObject'': A nameless Faith Organization Officer in Alaska.

* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'': Gouki, Kurama, and Hiei 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.
* ''Franchise/YuGiOh'':
** ''Manga/YuGiOh'': Seto Kaiba was Yugi's first opponent (unless you count the one-shots who appeared in the previous chapters, but he's definitely the starter villain of the Duel Monsters anime) and the first confrontation between them started the biggest rivalry in the history of the franchise.
*** Kaiba may have been Yugi's greatest rival, but Ushio, Yugi's first foe in the original manga and Toei anime, may have had an even bigger impact. He may have been little more than a [[TheBully thug]] (at least then), but after Yugi stood up to him for bullying Jonouchi and Honda, their opinion of Yugi changed for the better, resulting in Yugi gaining his TrueCompanions. Completing the Millennium Puzzle is what allows Yugi (or rather, Yami Yugi) to defeat Ushio, kickstarting the rest of his adventures.
** ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'': Dr. Chronos wanted to deny Judai entry into Duel Academy because he not only showed up late for his entrance exams but he barely passed the written portion. However, he gets a call from the chancellor ordering him to allow Judai to take the practical exam. To ensure Judai is sent packing, Chronos uses his own personal deck instead of the decks specifically constructed for the test... and loses. He then spends the first half of the first season trying to get Judai expelled, until the Seven Stars Assassins appear with decidedly more destructive goals than just being a petty teacher. Over the course of the series, he actually grows rather fond of Judai, going as far as to cancel all his classes so he'll have insufficient credits to graduate so that Chronos doesn't have to say goodbye.
** ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'': The aforementioned Ushio grew up to be a police officer in New Domino City who Yusei has to challenge in a Riding Duel as a diversion so his friends can escape arrest, though he is decidedly less malicious than his manga counterpart. In a city where corruption in law enforcement is the norm, Ushio keeps his word when Yusei defeats him, although Ushio keeps trying to arrest Yusei multiple and follows him to New Domino City. Ushio eventually becomes Yusei's ally, resulting in him becoming a FriendOnTheForce for the rest of the series.
** ''Anime/YuGiOhZEXAL'': Shark. The school bully with professional-level dueling abilities who plays circles around Yuma until Yuma makes a pact with the magic door from his recurring dream that causes him to meet Astral and kickstart the plot. Shark quickly becomes a main character afterwards and grows alongside Yuma to the point that the two have a fated final duel near the end of the series that determines the fate of the worlds. Said final duel between the two has multiple call-backs to their rivalry and multiple duels they had with each other, with Shark even trying to counter Yuma's SignatureMove that defeated him in their first duel, only for that to backfire on ''him'' when Yuma decides not to finish it like that again.
** ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'': Strong Ishijima. The world champion who wants to humiliate Yuya in front of the entire world to settle a grudge with Yuya's father, who mysteriously went missing right before their title match 3 years before the start of the series. He very easily drives Yuya into a corner, but when Yuya decides to persevere anyway despite how clearly outmatched he is, he awakens to the never before seen Pendulum Summon, at which point the tables are completely turned and Ishijima gets One-Turn Killed. Unlike other characters of this franchise, Ishijima never comes back after his defeat.
** ''Anime/YuGiOhVRAINS'': The first full duel in the series is a Speed Duel against a Knights of Hanoi {{Mook}}. His ace is the 3000 ATK beatstick Cracking Dragon, which has an effect that punishes summoning anything with a level, and he has the simple but powerful skill of drawing two cards instead of one during his Draw Phase once per duel. His main purpose is to push Playmaker in his first Speed Duel so that he can use Storm Access and then sweep thanks to the new Link Monsters conveniently having properties that allow Playmaker to beat Cracking Dragon.
** ''Anime/YuGiOhSEVENS'': Roa Kirishima is the first actively malicious foe Yuga and co. encounter and the first to have more than one episode dedicated to his conflict with them. He's introduced as an out-and-out narcissist who emotionally and physically abuses his cousin and bandmate Romin. He's also not above cheating and ruining Yuga's life to get his way and his motivation in his arc is to cope with his feelings of inadequacy over not being TheChosenOne. He's also the only arc villain in the series that Yuga defeated in their first duel ''despite'' the cheating. However, in his very next appearance he's a much more heroic character, having been identified as one of Yuga's comrades by current arc villain Neiru's supercomputer. Subsequent episodes make it clear he's just an emotionally-stunted pre-teen who received too much superficial attention too young and doesn't know how to have meaningful relationships.
* ''Anime/SailorMoon'':
** Jadeite, the only of four sub-villains who didn't have an obvious visual gimmick or theme, with his character's shtick instead being that he was, well, the Starter Villain. The [[Series/PrettyGuardianSailorMoon live action adaptation]], however, actually kept him around past the start, and thus tossed him "excessive toadying" as his theme (which was admittedly somewhat present in the anime too).
** In both the original series and ''Crystal'' (and by extension the manga), Sailor Moon’s first opponent was a lowly Youma named Morga. The manga and Crystal tend to move much quicker regarding generals, so Jadeite met his end two chapters later.
* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'':
** ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'':
** Kuwagamon and Shellmon are the two first hostile Digimon the Chosen Children are threatened by after arriving in the Digital World, both of whom being portrayed as nothing more than wild creatures (with the latter also talking in PokemonSpeak). Kuwagamon being an Adult-level Digimon is too much for the kids and their Baby II-level Digimon to handle, which pushes the Digimon Partners to evolve into their Child-level forms. And while their combined effort is able to knock it down, Kuwagamon stands up again and almost kills them without itself getting defeated, showing that a Digimon of a higher level cannot be defeated by a group of lower leveled Digimon at that point of the story. Shellmon is the first enemy to push a Digimon Partner to evolve into their Adult-level and he gets soundly defeated, demonstrating that evolving the Digimon Partner is necessary to survive in the Digital World. When the Chosen Children return from the real world to the Digital World, Shellmon shows up again and attacks them, only to demonstrate that the VillainForgotToLevelGrind and that the Digimon Partners TookALevelInBadass, as he gets easily defeated by the Child-level Digimon.
** Devimon, the first ArcVillain. Toward the end of the show, his status is lampshaded, with Leomon pointing out that Devimon was nothing compared to the threats that the heroes have faced since. And considering how Devimon is a Adult-level Digimon, and everyone faced after him was either Perfect or Ultimate level, he's right.
** ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'': Grottemon, one of Cherubimon's henchmen, is the first villainous member of the Legendary Warriors of Ten to appear, and he overpowers the five Chosen Children quickly once he manages to get his hand on his Beast Spirit during his debut episode. For a couple of episodes, he keeps popping up as a recurring threat whom the Chosen Children cannot defeat due to their lack of Beast Spirits, even losing two of their Human Spirits during the process. Once the Chosen Children also get access to two Beast Spirits, they finally are able to beat him, get one of the Human Spirits back and steal ''his'' Beast Spirit. After that humiliating loss, Grottemon's other four villainous colleagues are introduced, who all serve as Cherubimon's QuirkyMinibossSquad. Grottemon still ends up getting killed first when the kids get another Beast Spirit, resulting in retrieving the stolen Human Spirit and also stealing Grottemon's Human Spirit. Collecting all Spirits becomes very necessary in order to unleash the full power of the Warriors of Ten.
** [=MadLeomon=] is this for ''Anime/DigimonFusion''. He oversees the Bagra Army's invasion of the [[GreenHillZone Green Zone]] and is the first enemy faced by Taiki/[[DubNameChange Mikey]] and friends. [[TheDragon Tactimon]] is introduced as his immediate superior.
*** The ''Manga/DigimonXrosWars'' manga has [=MachLeomon=], a lighter, knife-wielding PaletteSwap of [=MadLeomon=] that has SuperSpeed and oversees the invasion of the Green Zone in the latter's place.
** In ''Anime/DigimonAdventure2020'', a swarm of Algomon are the first enemies that Taichi and Yamato face, with a particularly strong specimen evolving to the Ultimate-level and acting as a boss of sorts for [[AdaptationalEarlyAppearance Omegamon]]. Notably, this gives it power comparable to the villains of the next few arcs.
* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'': Viral is the first named Beastman the heroes face after reaching the surface. He ends up being a recurring foe [[spoiler:and eventual ally]].

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
** Grand Fisher -- The Hollow who ate Ichigo's mom and is significantly more powerful than any of the other hollows Ichigo fights in the first arc. Unlike most starter villains, he actually isn't killed right away, and actually comes back later [[CurbStompBattle only for Isshin to completely destroy him]].
** An earlier example is the Hollow that shows up at Ichigo's doorstep and nearly kills his family in the first chapter, since it forces Rukia to transfer her power to Ichigo, turning him into a substitute soul reaper so he can save them. But despite this, it's just a regular hollow and easily slaughtered by Ichigo.
** A case could also be made for Renji and Byakuya, the first enemies to kick Ichigo's ass and also the first antagonists beyond garden-variety hollows.
* ''Franchise/OnePiece'':
** Alvida 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.
** Both of the above were barely better than thugs and taken down with no trouble at all. The true example is Buggy the Clown immediately afterwards, by virtue of being 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. He's still only strong by East Blue standards.
** After the TimeSkip and thus Part Two of the series, we have Hody Jones. Sure, he's ''ages'' above Morgan and Alvida - they don't even come close to Hody - and he would have probably been a challenge before the timeskip, but after, he's absolutely no threat to Luffy at all and only manages to get in one hit ''even after going OneWingedAngel'', whilst Luffy spends the whole span of their fight beating down on him, showing off his new moves. Even Zoro TheLancer manages to One-Shot Hody's pre OneWingedAngel form.
*** This is emphasized further by the fact that both of these fights take place largely underwater, which should be a huge advantage for a fishman like Hody and a huge disadvantage for a human, especially a Devil Fruit user like Luffy. Also the fact several of the main officers of the New Fish-Man Pirates are defeated off-screen by minor non-Straw Hat characters before the final confrontation; they're simply no threat without constantly scarfing down [[PowerAtAPrice Energy Steroids]].
* ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'':
** Udo Jine is the first villain in the series that Kenshin has trouble defeating, and is the first opponent that forces Kenshin to revert back to Hitokiri Battosai.
** An earlier example is the Hiruma brothers. Hiruma Kihei tries to sell the land around the Kamiya Dojo, and has his brother Gohei impersonate the Hitokiri Battousai while claiming to use the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu style of swordsmanship to ruin the reputation of Kaoru's dojo. In the anime, Gohei is made into a [[CompositeCharacter composite]] of himself and his brother with a different motivation (vengeful former student of Kaoru's father), but the same means of carrying out his plans.

* The Snake Baron from the Black Swordsman arc of ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' is the first major bad guy Guts faces in the manga. His first encounter with demons period is with none other than Nosferatu Zodd, who has gone on to be a recurring rival and occasional ally of the Black Swordsman. Chronologically, however, the first major bad guy Guts faces is the warrior Bazuso, whose defeat is what alerts the Band of the Hawk to Guts's talent.
* Shin from ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'', 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.
** There’s also Zeed, a biker gang boss who displays just how ruthless the post-war world is. He is killed by Kenshiro at the end of the first chapter where it becomes apparent that he knows nothing about the martial arts the major villains and heroes can do. It also establishes that gang bosses in this world are typically vile people and that you won’t feel sorry when they get killed.
* Daimonji from ''Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple''. Kenichi first got involved in martial arts in part to defend himself against bullies like him. Kenichi's defeat of him is what sets him on his path toward ever greater foes. When Daimonji later comes after him for revenge, Kenichi utterly trounces him, showing how far his training has progressed.
* ''Manga/BambooBlade'': Toyama and Iwasa, who were tormenting Dan in the first episode, prompting Tamaki to come to his defense and join the Kendo Club.
** This is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] at a later point, when the main group is well-established. [[KendoTeamCaptain Team captain]] Kirino Chiba has to come up with training regimens for the other members. Her realization that she forgot to make ones for them is quickly brushed off, since Toyama only came to practice to pick on the newbies and [[WouldHitAGirl girls]], and never showed up again after Tamaki taught him a lesson.
*** And [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] later still when Toyama gets into a fight in an arcade. The fact that he hadn't turned in a formal resignation meant that he was technically still a member, resulting in the entire team nearly being shut down over the incident.
* ''Anime/TekkamanBlade'': Tekkaman Dagger, albeit he was a bit more resilient and annoying than average. He still was far weaker than the rest of the villains.
* ''Manga/BusoRenkin'': Papillion is the first major villain, eventually succeeded by [[spoiler: the LXE, the Alchemist Army, and finally Victor]]. Funnily enough, though, he manages to stay in the game as [[EnemyMine a major asset against all of these]] without ever explicitly making a HeelFaceTurn.
* Bora the Prominence in ''Manga/FairyTail''. A fire wizard who pretends to be the legendary Salamander (along with using magic charms) to lure women onto his ship, where he sells them as slaves. He's basically there to introduce Lucy to Natsu and inform her that Natsu is the ''real'' Salamander, and to get Natsu to offer Lucy a job with Fairy Tail. He also introduces how Natsu's Dragon Slayer magic works when Natsu devours his initial magic attack and quickly starts using fire magic of his own.
* While not a villain, Akune from ''Manga/MedakaBox'' is the first opponent who gives Zenkichi a challenge in a fight (specifically a judo match), and comes close to beating him. The more proper version, however, would have to be Unzen Myori as he was the first antagonist that actually forced the protagonist to use physical force.
* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'':
** The first opponent Naruto ever fights is Mizuki, one of his academy teachers who tried to use him to steal a scroll of forbidden jutsu. The Mizuki fight kickstarts major series elements- Naruto learns his signature [[CloneArmy Shadow Clone Jutsu]] and his performance convinces Iruka to let him graduate, but Mizuki is a low-level chuunin acting alone, and ultimately an obstacle easily overcome by an academy student.
** A case might also be made for the antagonists from the "Land of Waves" arc: Zabuza and Haku are employed by [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Gato]] as a deadly fighting force and provide dangerous adversaries for the heroes at this point (Zabuza almost kills [[TheMentor Kakashi]] in their first fight, while Naruto and Sasuke together are unable to defeat Haku until Naruto draws on the power of the Kyuubi, and even then they only survive because Haku was too nice to kill them); compared, however, to succeeding villains such as Orochimaru and the Akatsuki, they're small fry, being only around Jounin level skill and without any organization to support them.
** Akatsuki members Deidara and Sasori serve this role in ''Shippuden''. They're dangerous enough to capture Gaara and give the heroes a good fight, but still ultimately warm-ups compared to future villains.
* The first villain that Izuku from ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' fights is the Sludge villain and this allows Izuku to meet his idol All-Might and prove to Bakugo that he is not as tough as he looks.
* Haruka Suzushiro and the rest of the Ori-Hime unit in the ''Manga/MyHime'' manga, who are trying to get their rivals Mai, Natsuki and Yuuichi expelled.

* Tatewaki Kuno in ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' starts as the first real rival for Ranma, but after his first true duel, he becomes almost completely ineffectual against him.
* Phoenix Ikki from ''Manga/SaintSeiya'' is the first major villain the Bronze Saints have to deal with before the [[BigBad Pope]] and his [[RankInflation Silver Saints]] start their full-force strike against them.

* ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'': Fate Testarossa. In contrast to later opponents of Nanoha who are various kinds of living super-weapons made from the LostTechnology of [[{{Precursors}} Ancient Belka and beyond]] and are threats to TheFederation, Fate's just a more skilled and experienced mage equal to Nanoha in strength [[spoiler:in addition to being a [[CloneAngst failed clone]]]]. Of course, thanks to a HeelFaceTurn and becoming a [[BreakoutCharacter co-lead afterwards]], she managed to avoid the fate of most Starter Villains and gets to grow stronger together with Nanoha.
* Descartes and Loose Ruth in the ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'' anime and Dr. Nebraska in the manga (he has to wait until the fifth episode of the anime).

* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'': Asimov Solensan is a rogue Syndicate member who Spike and Jet go after in [[Recap/CowboyBebopSession1AsteroidBlues the first episode]]. He's taken down in that same episode, but [[spoiler:the Bebop crew don't get the bounty money because he winds up dead]].
* ''Anime/PsychoPass'': Nobuo Ogura is a {{Salaryman}} who snaps after getting a bad Psycho-Pass and kidnaps a woman. He doesn't survive the first episode.
* The first antagonist of ''Manga/BlackButler'' is Azzurro Vener, an enforcer of the [[TheMafia Ferro family]]. His appearance is foreshadowed in the first chapter, he appears in the third, and is dead by the end of the fourth. This brief run exists only for two purposes -- first, to expose Ciel's role as the royal watchdog of the criminal underworld, and second, to give [[BattleButler Sebastian]] a chance to demonstrate that he is [[OurDemonsAreDifferent far more]] than the mere BadassNormal he was initially portrayed as.
* After the low-stakes but very personal TokenMotivationalNemesis, ''Literature/HighSchoolDXD'' has Riser Phenex, the first foe with a goal that affects everyone on Rias's team, and a squad of his own that can keep up with them in a fight. Since that goal is an ArrangedMarriage with Rias and that squad is his [[ChessMotifs Peerage]], though, all of them survive - he might be the plot's first real challenge, but he's still just a garden-variety selfish asshole and everything he did was technically above-board. [[spoiler:After falling from grace when he loses an EngagementChallenge to Issei, Riser undergoes some off-screen CharacterDevelopment and becomes a huffy but sincere supporter in his future appearances.]]
* ''Manga/GetterRobo'': The anime has Saki, the first Mechasaurus [[BigBad Emperor Gore]] sends after the Getter team. He's decapitated in his sole appearance, despite being outfitted with anti-Getter energy defenses.
* ''Manga/Eyeshield21'': Sena's first game with the Devil Bats is against the Koigahama Cupids, a mediocre American football team whose [[GangOfHats gimmick]] is being a bunch of pretty boys whose girlfriends come to all their games. The plot picks up when their next game is against the far more competent Ojou White Knights, and Sena sparks a rivalry with defensive lineman Seijuro Shin.
* ''Manga/CellsAtWork'': The first pathogenic threat encountered is a ''Pneumococcus'' bacterium who manages to escape the Neutrophils who wiped out his brethren and tries to infect the body.
* ''Literature/ShakuganNoShana'': While he's not the first Crimson Lord Shana has faced in her lifetime, plot-wise, [[MarionetteMaster Friagne the Hunter]] is the first villain to present a major threat to Misaki City and the first to be defeated by Shana in tandem with Yuji. Once he's dispatched, he along with Marianne are never heard from again. [[spoiler:Only the ring and altar he leaves behind would prove significant to the plot later on.]]

* In ''Anime/CyberpunkEdgerunners'', Katsuo Tanaka is a bully at the Arasaka school that David has to contend with in the first episode. He's a smug, classist asshole with some fancy though ultimately impractical plug-ins (indeed, all David would have needed to do to avoid getting the shit beaten out of him would have been to take a step back). After David installs the Sandevistan and kicks Katsuo's ass, he never appears in the story again. [[spoiler:His father does however and, as director of the Cyber-Skeleton program, he has ties to nearly every tragedy that David suffers after installing the Sandevistan]].

* ''Manga/Fabricant100'': No 12 is the enemy Fabricant of the first chapter and is killed effortlessly without getting to use his enchanced legs for combat.

*** Season 1 -
*** Season 2 -
*** Season 3 -
*** Season 4 -
*** Season 5 -
*** Season 6: Fast forward -
*** Season 7: Back to Sewer -

* ''WesternAnimation/TangledTheSeries'':
** Season 1 - Lady Caine and her army were the first group of baddies whom Rapunzel and Eugene had to take down.
** Season 2 -
** Season 3 -

* ''VideoGame/MasterDetectiveArchivesRainCode'' has two characters fulfilling this role simultaneously in Chapter 0. Swank is the first corrupt Peacekeeper that antagonizes Yuma Kokohead and forces him to go into the Mystery Labyrinth for the first time in order to find the real killer framing him, with Swank's Mystery Phantom serving as an obstacle within the Labyrinth. The killer on the Amaterasu Express, [[spoiler:[[ProfessionalKiller a hitman]] who [[KillAndReplace killed and replaced]] the Master Detective Zilch Alexander]], is the first killer that Yuma must identify with Mystery Labyrinth and the first culprit whose soul is reaped by Shinigami.

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'':

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' has an [[ZigZaggedTrope interesting variation]] with Tai Lung, the first proper villain that Po faces in the entire franchise. He's already reached a high level of mastery by the time he's faced Po and the Furious Five and is more powerful and skilled than Shen, the sequel villain. However, threat level-wise, Shen is still greater than Tai Lung because he has an entire army, advanced weaponry, and more grand country-wide ambitions and Tai Lung is completely eclipsed by Kai from the third movie in both threat level and power. On the other hand, taking into consideration the different animated shows, Tai Lung would get utterly demolished by major arc villains like Ke-Pa, Jindiao, the White Bone Demon, and Zuma with the Tianshang weapons but is likely still far more dangerous and powerful compared to some of Po's regular RoguesGallery like Fung, Hundun, Tong Fo, Temutai, and Taotie, placing Tai Lung in that unique niche of being a StarterVillain who stays strong relative to the entire franchise since there are later villains who surpass him in power and threat level, but not every single later villain Po faces necessarily reaches his level either.

* ''WesternAnimation/TangledTheSeries'': Lady Caine and her army were the first group of baddies whom Rapunzel and Eugene had to take down.

*** This is emphasized further by the fact that both of these fights take place largely underwater, which should be a huge advantage for a fishman like Hody and a huge disadvantage for a human, especially a Devil Fruit user like Luffy.

* ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'': Fate Testarossa. In contrast to later opponents of Nanoha who are various kinds of living super-weapons made from the LostTechnology of [[{{Precursors}} Ancient Belka and beyond]] and are threats to TheFederation, Fate's just a more skilled and experienced mage equal to Nanoha in strength [[spoiler:in addition to being a [[CloningBlues failed clone]]]]. Of course, thanks to a HeelFaceTurn and becoming a [[BreakoutCharacter co-lead afterwards]], she managed to avoid the fate of most Starter Villains and gets to grow stronger together with Nanoha.

** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime'': Each timeline has a tutorial boss. In the past, it's Baby Bowser, who attempts to kidnap Baby Peach — forcing Baby Mario to challenge him. In the present, the Junior Shroobiod is causing trouble, forcing the adult Mario to confront him.

** ''Anime/YuGiOhARCV'': Strong Ishijima. The world champion who wants to humiliate Yuya in front of the entire world to settle a grudge with Yuya's father, who mysteriously went missing right before their title match 3 years before the start of the series. He very easily drives Yuya into a corner, but when Yuya decides to persevere anyway despite how clearly outmatched he is, he awakens to the never before seen Pendulum Summon, at which point the tables are completely turned and Ishijima gets One-Turn Killed. Unlike other characters of this franchise, Ishijima never comes back after his defeat.

*** Dio himself is an odd example despite being the BigBad. As children, Dio was Jonathan's tormentor, making the boy's life miserable in order to break him, only for Jonathan to eventually snap and beat Dio up so badly he decides to steer clear of Jonathan's wrath and play nice with him for several years. As adults, Jonathan is definitely the better between the two of them until Dio gets vampiric powers, although Dio still loses their first fight after he becomes a vampire due to being to arrogance and not being fully acclimated to his new powers yet. It's only after this defeat that Dio starts to build himself up as the major BigBad he would become for the rest of the story.

** ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'': Grottemon, one of Cherubimon's henchmen, is the first villainous member of the Legendary Warriors of Ten to appear, and he overpowers the five Chosen Children quickly once he manages to get his hand on his Beast Spirit during his debut episode. For a couple of episodes, he keeps popping up as a recurring threat whom the Chosen Children cannot defeat due to their lack of Beast Spirits, even losing two of their Human Spirits during the process. Once the Chosen Children also get access to two Beast Spirits, they finally are able to beat him, get one of the Human Spirits back and steal ''his'' Beast Spirit. After that humiliating loss, Grottemon's other four villainous colleagues are introduced, who all serve as Cherubimon's QuirkyMinibossSquad. Grottemon still ends up getting killed first when the kids get another Beast Spirit, resulting in retrieving the stolen Human Spirit and also stealing Grottemon's Human Spirit. Collecting all Spirits becomes very necessary in order to unleash the full power of the Warriors of Ten.
** The ''Manga/DigimonXrosWars'' manga has [=MachLeomon=], a lighter, knife-wielding PaletteSwap of [=MadLeomon=] that has SuperSpeed and oversees the invasion of the Green Zone in the latter's place.

** Grand Fisher -- The Hollow who ate Ichigo's mom and significantly more powerful than any of the other hollows Ichigo fights in the first arc. Unlike most starter villains, he actually isn't killed right away, and actually comes back later [[CurbStompBattle only for Isshin to completely destroy him]].
** An earlier example is the hollow that shows up at Ichigo's doorstep and nearly kills his family in the first chapter, since it forces Rukia to transfer her power to Ichigo, turning him into a substitute soul reaper so he can save them. But despite this, it's just a regular hollow and easily slaughtered by Ichigo.
** A case could also be made for Renji and Byakuya, the first enemies to kick Ichigo's ass and also the first antagonists beyond garden variety hollows.

** They were barely better than thugs and taken down with no trouble at all. The true example is Buggy the Clown immediately afterwards, 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. He's still only strong by East Blue standards.
** After the TimeSkip and thus Part Two of the series, we have Hody Jones. Sure, he's ''ages'' above Morgan and Alvida- they don't even come close to Hody - and he would have probably been a challenge before the timeskip, but after, he's absolutely no threat to Luffy at all and only manages to get in one hit ''even after going OneWingedAngel'', whilst Luffy spends the whole span of their fight beating down on him, showing off his new moves. Even Zoro TheLancer manages to One-Shot Hody's pre OneWingedAngel form.
*** This is emphasized further by the fact that both of these fights take place largely underwater. Which should be a huge advantage for a fishman like Hody and a huge disadvantage for a human, especially a Devil Fruit user like Luffy.

* ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'': Grottemon, one of Cherubimon's henchmen, is the first villainous member of the Legendary Warriors of Ten to appear, and he overpowers the five Chosen Children quickly once he manages to get his hand on his Beast Spirit during his debut episode. For a couple of episodes, he keeps popping up as a recurring threat whom the Chosen Children cannot defeat due to their lack of Beast Spirits, even losing two of their Human Spirits during the process. Once the Chosen Children also get access to two Beast Spirits, they finally are able to beat him, get one of the Human Spirits back and steal ''his'' Beast Spirit. After that humiliating loss, Grottemon's other four villainous colleagues are introduced, who all serve as Cherubimon's QuirkyMinibossSquad. Grottemon still ends up getting killed first when the kids get another Beast Spirit, resulting in retrieving the stolen Human Spirit and also stealing Grottemon's Human Spirit. Collecting all Spirits becomes very necessary in order to unleash the full power of the Warriors of Ten.

** ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'': Dr Chronos wanted to deny Judai entry into Duel Academy because he not only showed up late for his entrance exams but he barely passed the written portion. However, he gets a call from the chancellor ordering him to allow Judai to take the practical exam. To ensure Judai is sent packing, Chronos uses his own personal deck instead of the decks specifically constructed for the test... and loses. He then spends the first half of the first season trying to get Judai expelled, until the Shadow Riders appear with decidedly more destructive goals than just being a petty teacher. Over the course of the series, he actually grows rather fond of Judai, going as far as to cancel all his classes so he'll have insufficient credits to graduate so that Chronos doesn't have to say goodbye.
** ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'': The aforementioned Ushio grew up to be a police officer in New Domino City who Yusei has to turbo duel as a diversion so his friends can escape arrest, though he is decidedly less malicious than his manga counterpart. In a city where corruption in law enforcement is the norm, Ushio keeps his word when Yusei defeats him.
** ''Anime/YuGiOhZEXAL'': Shark. The school bully with professional-level dueling abilities who plays circles around Yuma until Yuma makes a pact with the magic door from his recurring dream that causes him to meet Astral and kickstart the plot. Shark quickly becomes a main character afterwards.
** ''Anime/YuGiOhARCV'': Strong Ishijima. The world champion who wants to humiliate Yuya in front of the entire world to settle a grudge with Yuya's father, who mysteriously went missing right before their title match 3 years before the start of the series. He very easily drives Yuya into a corner, but when Yuya decides to persevere anyway despite how clearly outmatched he is he awakens to the never before seen Pendulum Summon, at which point the tables are completely turned and Ishijima gets One-Turn Killed.
** ''Anime/YuGiOhVRAINS'': The first full duel in the series is a Speed Duel against a Knights of Hanoi {{Mook}}. His ace is the 3000 ATK beatstick Cracking Dragon, which has an effect that punishes summoning anything with a level, and he has the simple but powerful skill of drawing two cards instead of one durring his draw phase once per duel. His main purpose is to push Playmaker in his first Speed Duel so that he can use Storm Access and then sweep thanks to the new Link Monsters conveniently having properties that allow Playmaker to beat Cracking Dragon.

** Devimon in ''Anime/DigimonAdventure''. Toward the end of the show, his status is lampshaded, with Leomon pointing out that Devimon was nothing compared to the threats that the heroes have faced since. And considering how Devimon is a Champion level Digimon, and everyone faced after him was either Ultimate or Mega level, he's right.

** In ''Anime/DigimonAdventure2020'', a swarm of Algomon are the first enemies that Taichi and Yamato face, with a particularly strong specimen evolving to the Mega level and acting as a boss of sorts for [[AdaptationalEarlyAppearance Omegamon]]. Notably, this gives it power comparable to the villains of the next few arcs.

* ''Literature/TheCrewOfTheCopperColoredCupids'':
** Within the series, Lord Thymon was the first foe taken on, on-screen, by the Department of Problem-Solving, in the appropriately-titled ''[[https://thecrewofthecoppercoloredcupids.wordpress.com/2019/03/30/lord-thymon-and-the-department-of-problem-solving/ Lord Thymon and the Department of Problem-Solving]]''. In his subsequent appearances, Thymon had become a good guy, so this was his one and only outing as an antagonist. Despite being a relatively low-risk mission within the story, it also had profound unforeseen consequences in future stories.
** In-universe, the Gang of the Green Gorillas were stated to be among the first enemies the Crew as a whole had to face, back in the 1970s. Back in the present day, the Crew pretty firmly outclass the Gorillas who are more of a background comic relief than a threat. (Their bionically-augmented descendants the Detraxxi are perhaps another matter.)

** The Skrulls in ''Film/CaptainMarvel'', though they're revealed to be GoodAllAlong.

** The most blatant example of this trope for the franchise, however, is actually the type of plot-irrelevant ugly, evil bandits who ravaged villages because that's what evil bandits do. They're usually the first boss faced by the players and they also serve as a tutorial for the Weapon Triangle system: They wield axes since Lords usually wield swords and swords beat axes, thus encouraging the player to use the Lord character to finish them off. This type of villain has been there since [[VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight the first game]] in form of the bandit boss Gazzak, who [[RecurringElement spawns successors taking similar roles in subsequent games.]]

** King Sombra is this in season nine, since he was the only villain Grogar ([[spoiler:Discord]]) brought back who had all the power and ego from before (since the other villains suffered VillainDecay prior to that point). He is defeated without too much trouble and sets the stage for the Legion of Doom to attack later in the season. [[spoiler:After some scheming and planning, the trio of Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow, after betraying Grogar/Discord, attack the ponies and lay waste over Equestria in the penultimate story and final two-parter of the show with a very cunning plan that almost works. The heroes needed the biggest ensemble of supporting, minor and background characters to assist them in winning what Twilight herself claimed was the last battle ever]].

* Depending on where it started, WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls has at least three starter villains: the Amoeba Boys in Craig [=McCracken's=] student film with the Whoopass Girls, Fuzzy Lumpkins in the first What A Cartoon pilot, and Mojo Jojo in the series.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** Admiral Zhao. While Zuko showed up first, he is initially [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain ineffective]] against 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'' [[MagnificentBastard worse]] [[HeroKiller Princess]] [[TheDragon Azula.]]
** Prince Zuko is an example by himself. He was the first villain in the series and was often a threat in early Book One episodes; however, he only met the Gaang a few times by the end of the season and acted as more of a mini-boss during the finale. After that [[{{Deuteragonist}} he has his own problems to worry about.]]

** The first bosses in the mainstream ''Mario'' games are designed to be relatively easy.
*** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'' has the Goomba disguised as the first Fake Bowser. There is a platform that makes jumping over him 10 times easier.
*** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'' has the first of many Birdos at the end of the first level, who mainly shoots eggs and is fought in a flat arena.
*** Larry Koopa gets this in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' and ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosWii''. His attacks in both games are relatively basic compared to the rest of the Koopalings.

* ''Series/{{Angel}}'' has Russell Winters in its pilot, who in turn is a client of the overall main villains of the series.

** Bowser has a tendency to be the starter villain in ''Mario'' {{R|olePlayingGame}}PGs.

** In the [[ComicBook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMirage original series]], the Shredder was a starter villain, getting 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, 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 all three cartoon series and the first two movies) went and made him the long-running BigBad.