History Main / TheBigBadShuffle

** ''Anime/DragonBallGT'' has a pretty extensive case of this between Episodes 9-16, where the series plays hot potato with who the main bad guy is. Each episode gives each character their own dramatic reveal as if they were the main villain, before finally landing on the first proper ArcVillain. In order, it's Bon Para, then Mutchy Mutchy, then his whip, then Dolltaki, then Lood, then Dr. Myuu, ''and then'' Baby takes over as the central villain.

* As the Final Saga of "Franchise/{{OnePiece}}" unfolds, we gradually learn the top contenders for the primary villain role. First up, there's Marshall D. Teach, aka Blackbeard, who rose to power as one of the Four Emperors after killing Whitebeard and taking over his territory by capturing Ace, Luffy's brother, thus instigating the Marineford conflict. Next on the list is Fleet Admiral "Akainu" Sakazuki, the head of the Marine forces, who is responsible for Ace's death. Finally, there's Imu, the mysterious true leader of the World Government who wields authority over the Five Elders. Who will emerge victorious in the end is yet to be revealed.

* Due to how morally complex the story is, ''VisualNovel/FullMetalDaemonMuramasa'' is a doozy with it introducing Big Bad candidates left, right and center which gets even more complicated depending on the route. The common route already introduces the ruthless conquer [[EvilOverlord Moriuji Ashikaga]] and his entourage, the mysterious and destructive silver star [[OmnicidalManiac Ginseigo]], the leader for the invading allied powers with General [[WellIntentionedExtremist Charles Willow]] and finally the old yakuza [[TheQuisling Ichizo Sorimachi]] who seems just a little ''too'' on top of things. [[spoiler:Moriuji and Charles are both BigBadWannabe's. The seeming ally [[SatanicArchetype Chachamaru]] is in reality allied with Ginseigo, a.k.a. the main characters [[CainAndAbel sister Hikaru]], and the real brain of the two. The two possible main love interests, [[BlackAndWhiteInsanity Ichijo Ayane]] and [[MoralSociopathy Kanae Otori]], become the respective Big Bad's of their own routes as [[BigBadSlippage they succumb to extremism]]. Ichizo stays mostly in the background but is ready to pounce on the main character when it will hurt the most and remains a personal threat throughout. And then the final reveal makes it clear that the true Big Bad of this entire thing was none other than the main character Kageaki Minto himself and that [[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain he had simply refused to accept it]]]].

* ''VisualNovel/ParanormasightTheSevenMysteriesOfHonjo'': [[SerialKiller Fumichika Nejima]] is presented as the main threat throughout much of the game, as he is planning to use his curse echo to commit a massacre of hundreds in Honjo and get revenge on everyone who got him arrested, but it gradually becomes clear that he's being enabled by some third party. The heroes initially suspect said person to be Natsume Yamamori, the CEO of Hihaku Soaps, but it turnsz out that while she has her hand in some of the happenings, she has nothing to do with Nejima. Then, Ayame Tono is built up as the mastermind of the entire Rite of Resurrection, but she also turns out to not be Nejima's supplier. The game's true villain turns out to be [[BitchInSheepsClothing Yoko Fukunaga]], who orchestrated the entire game in order to resurrect [[GreaterScopeVillain Lady Ashino]] from the dead.

Tropes by which this can be invoked include TheManBehindTheMan, TheManInFrontOfTheMan, TheStarscream, HiddenVillain, TheDogWasTheMastermind, DiscOneFinalBoss and HijackedByGanon. May often involve the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil as one villian is dispatched and the next, more powerful one takes its place.

* While ''{{WebAnimation/RWBY}}'' makes it very clear that Salem is ''the'' BigBad of the show and has Volume 8 be her VillainNoLongerIdle moment, near the end of the Volume, [[spoiler:she's blown up by Ozpin's cane. The rest of the Volume is Ironwood and Cinder practically competing to fill in for the short time she's out of commission]].

->''"There's always someone stronger waiting to be revealed. Jack showed up shortly after that, and he was MUCH stronger. Eventually the curtains get pulled back, and you find out who was behind every terrible thing that happened all along. Someone who is invariably stronger than all other adversaries by a wide margin. The supreme villain!"''

** Season 6 revolves around the search for a mysterious hooded figure destined to kill Emma Swan. It begins with Mr. Hyde and the Evil Queen as a BigBadEnsemble. [[spoiler: Hyde gets killed four episodes in leaving the Queen as sole BigBad.]] At which point the hooded figure [[spoiler:(Rumple and Belle's grown up son, Gideon)]] shows up to usurp the role - except he is just a pawn for the Black Fairy, the FinalBoss of the season. Even after she is defeated [[spoiler: Emma's death needs to be stopped completely leaving Gideon as the PostFinalBoss since the FinalBattle between them is one to ensure that neither of their hearts turn dark rather then a battle of good and evil.]]
** [=Victoria Belfry/Lady Tremaine=] is the initial antagonist of Season 7 given she is in control of Hyperion Heights. Except she did not cast the curse that created the city, that was [[spoiler: her daughter, Drizzella.]] The two proceed to swap between the BigBad position for a while with Mother Gothel acting as a consul to both of them. The real main antagonist is [[spoiler: Gothel and her Coven of Eight.]] And things get even more complicated when [[BigBadEnsemble two new antagonists are introduced]] Doctor Facilier who wishes to harness the power of the Dark One Dagger and [[spoiler:[[SerialKiller the Candy Killer]] who is hunting down the witches living in Hyperion Heights.]] In the end, [[spoiler: the Candy Killer is revealed as Facilier's pawn and is killed off, while Gothel dies in the penultimate episode before the two-part series finale, leaving Dr. Facilier as the last man standing...or it looks like until he ends that same episode getting dispatched by Wish!Rumple, who is the show's TrueFinalBoss.]]

* Mystique and Bolivar Trask compete for title of villain in ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast''; it's Trask's Sentinels that lead to the BadFuture, but it's Mystique killing him and being captured for experimentation that leads to the Sentinels getting approved by the government, making ''her'' the one whose EvilPlan needs to be stopped. Additionally in the future Trask and Mystique are dead, making the Sentinels themselves the villains. [[spoiler:And then in the past Magneto ends up becoming a ''third'' villain when he decides to kill Trask and the President.]]
* At first Cable appeared to be the BigBad of ''Film/Deadpool2'', [[spoiler:however, at the beginning of the third act Cable's target Russell is revealed to be the primary threat until his own redemption.]]

** Further complicating things are the villains of ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'' and ''Film/{{Skyfall}}''. In the former case, Le Chiffre is clearly working closely with Quantum, and ultimately disposed of by them, but it's never made clear if he's a member, or if they're simply one of the many organizations that use him to shelter and launder their money. In the latter case, Silva is never shown to have any ties to the organization or to the larger mytharc at all and his motivations are very personal - it's only one movie later that we find out SPECTRE was behind him too, though no specifics are ever given.