History Main / TheManBehindTheMan

'''Because this trope is often used as TheReveal whenever it appears, beware of spoilers.'''

* ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'': Mr. Perkins, the head of the Bank of Evil, is this for [[spoiler:his son Victor]], also known as Vector, as he hijacks Gru's plan and gives it to Vector to carry out. He is also this [[GreaterScopeVillain for the franchise as a whole]] (depending how long he's been active) as he has the entire criminal underworld in his pocket and can fund any scheme he wants.

** [[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney The first game ever]] has Miles Edgeworth, the smug, arrogant "genius prosecutor" who will "do anything to get a guilty verdict." Then in the fourth case of the game, you're up against the devilish-sounding and looking Manfred von Karma, Edgeworth's mentor. It doesn't help that von Karma, also a perfectionist, tries to get the boy he took in since Edgeworth's father died found guilty for the sake of preserving his 40-year-long perfect record. Not only that, but the identity of the murderer in that case is deduced by Phoenix in court, but it's not until he he finds a letter in said culprit's shack that he discovers that it was von Karma who came up with the plan for the murder.
** ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth'' has a large scale international smuggling ring, and throughout a large portion of the game, you see small areas of it, and solve crimes related to it. Eventually you find out that Calisto Yew not only ordered a hit job, murdered two men in cold blood, tried shooting the main protagonist dead, betrayed and back-stabbed her friends, but is also part of the smuggling ring [[UpToEleven AND ON TOP OF THAT]] also claims to be the Yatagarasu. Throughout a large portion of the game, you're lead to believe she's the big bad, and the person behind everything. Until it's eventually revealed that she's just a puppet who was being ordered around by the REAL big bad, the ringleader of the entire smuggling operation.

* [[spoiler:EXE]] in ''WebAnimation/TVTomeAdventures'' was the one really in charge of the D-Bug Organization. In ''WebAnimation/{{TOME}}'', [[spoiler:Rubirules]] takes on this role instead, with different motivations (as the D-Bug Organization, now called D-Buggers.org, is [[spoiler:[[AdaptationalHeroism more benevolent as a whole]] this time around]]).

** [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope Except that it was actually]] a different Immortal [[Main/FrameUp pretending to be her]] because she was responsible for [[Main/FramingTheGuiltyParty other, similar cases]], [[Main/JackTheRipoff thus allowing them deflect attention away from himself.]]]]

* Complicatedly used in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}''. The Black Monarchs are the {{Big Bad}}s at first, but their DragonWithAnAgenda, Jack Noir, kills them and assumes the title. Later it's revealed that Vriska manipulated events so that Jack rose to power. And even later, Doc Scratch reveals he manipulated her all as part of his own plan to bring his boss, Lord English, into the universe. It's hinted however that the ultimate BigBad may in fact be Lil' Cal. [[spoiler:So, still Lord English.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'', the [[TheIlluminati Shadow Council of Ricks]] turns out to have been this for the original Council of Ricks that [[spoiler:Rick C-137 ("our" Rick) killed earlier in the season]]. They plan to be this for the newly elected [[spoiler:President Morty]] as well, but unfortunately for them, [[spoiler:President Morty -- a.k.a. Evil Morty -- has other plans, and [[BoardToDeath has most of them killed]] and [[ThrownOutTheAirlock their bodies blown out into space]]]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'': The climax of the third season drops a rather big bomb on the plot, revealing that [[spoiler:Oropo, leader of the Brotherhood of the Forgotten, is the one who ordered Dathura to trick Ogrest, pretty much kickstarting the Chaos of Ogrest and the entire settings of Wakfu and the current state of the world, including the retreat of the Gods to Inglorium. He also left the Elacube where Nox found it, which would eventually cause him to become a TragicMonster.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', much of the villains' activity (including Cadmus, the Kobra venom, and the mole within the heroes) can be traced to the Light, working towards their goal of jumpstarting human evolution through conflict. The end of season 2 reveals that [[spoiler:the Light has an alliance with Apokalips, which is clarified in season 3 to be a temporary alliance to conquer the universe before a final battle for domination).]]
** In reaction to the Light, [[spoiler:the Justice League leaders Batman, Wonder Woman, Kaldur, Nightwing, and Miss Martian form a BenevolentConspiracy to coordinate the seemingly-separate hero factions, including Batman's defected League members and Nightwing's own team. They even took staged events to promote Beast Boy's Outsiders. Needless to say, when the other heroes, including Beast Boy and Black Lightning, found out, they were not happy]].

!!Example Subpages:

!!Other Examples:

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' features this trope in several different ways.
** The Reiss family are the true rulers of mankind within the walls, with the supposed King really being a {{puppet|King}} stand-in employed by them.
** The various Titan Shifters are all part of a single unit led by Zeke [[spoiler:Yeager]] aka the Beast Titan. They were sent by the Kingdom of Marley, along with the other mindless, man-eating Titans, to exterminate the population of Paradis so Marley could seize the rich fossil fuel deposits of the island.
** Within Marley, the Tybur family, a noble Eldian family who rebelled against King Fritz and sided with the Marleyans 100 years ago, are the secret rulers of the Marleyan government and the ones responsible for concocting much of the fake history about the origins of the Titans and the Great Titan War.
** The biggest one though is [[spoiler:[[VillainProtagonist Eren Yeager]] himself, who used the MentalTimeTravel abilities of the Attack Titan to influence events all throughout the series in order to set himself up to acquire the power of the Founding Titan so he could use it to [[OmnicidalManiac exterminate all life outside Paradis]].]]
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
** All hints pointed to Gin being the BigBad, but after Aizen is revealed to be alive, he [[BreakTheCutie impales his loving vice captain]] and walks away with Gin following him obediently. It's made even more shocking by the prior implication that they were enemies, and that the former had killed the latter. [[UpToEleven It gets even deeper than that]]. Aizen claims he's basically the man behind the entire series. Ichigo (and Uryu, for that matter), wouldn't have been ''conceived'' if not for Aizen, because he's the reason why Isshin and Masaki even met in the first place.
** In [[{{Filler}} the New Captain Shusuke Amagai arc]], it's presumed that Kumoi wants to kill Rurichiyo and control the Kasumioji clan, but then when the confrontation comes, Kymoi, Amagai appears out of nowhere, kills him, kidnaps Rurichiyo, and then proceeds to let everyone know his plans to kill Yamamoto, and he used Kumoi and the entire Kasumioji clan to get his hands on a weapon that [[PowerNullifier somehow disables all but his Zanpakutou so he could kill Yamamoto with it]].
* ''Anime/BloodPlus'' does this fairly often. In early episodes, Van Argeno is set up as the BigBad; however, after about ten episodes, he's revealed to be working to Solomon. Later, Solomon is shown to actually be the lowest-ranking of five Chevaliers. Then, for a time, their progenitor Diva is expected to be the mastermind, but she turns out to be too crazy to be the leader. By the end, it's become apparent that Amshel is calling the shots, whereas Argeno is reduced to cowering in fear and begging for his life. The final episode also implies that Nathan had been pulling the strings all along.
* ''Anime/TheBraveExpressMightGaine'': The series setups up Exeve as the BigBad, being the catalyst of the events to start the brave express but it's eventually revealed he was just a puppet used by Black Noir. [[UpToEleven It's even implied that there was a higher power behind Black Noir's actions.]]
* ''Manga/Cyborg009'': At the end of the "Underground Empire of Yomi" arc, Skull is revealed to be reporting to three brains residing inside of the Demon Statue.
* In ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'', it looks like it's such a MeleeATrois that there can't possibly be a BigBad. However, it turns out that TheSyndicate, the [[SpyVersusSpy dueling intelligence agencies, the Japanese police force, and PANDORA were all controlled by the same people]]. Evening Primrose was actually LaResistance, and other than their influence, all the conflict in the series had been due to the higher-ups pitting the Contractors against each other to keep them from finding out their genocidal plans.
* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'':
** In the [[Anime/DigimonAdventure02 second season]], we started off with the Digimon Emperor, who later did a HeelFaceTurn and who it was revealed was the pawn of two other villains. They in turn were working for another, who was actually ''possessed'' by still another. It gets even weirder when you realize that some of the Fake Bosses' plans didn't jive well with those of the big man (Malo Myotismon). So, either Malo had one extremely bizarre GambitRoulette going that he never bothered to explain, or the writers simply decided to fall back on HijackedByGanon.
** The fourth season had Cherubimon who went corrupt, but it turned out that Lucemon corrupted him and two other Digimon called the Royal Knights into collecting data so he could return.
* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' does this several times in a row in the manga and the anime. After Raditz is defeated Nappa and Vegeta are revealed to be the Saiyans behind the Saiyan. After they are defeated, King Kai mentions the "root" of the problem, which is shortly afterwards introduced as the Saiyans' (ex-)boss, Frieza. Even later in the series, Frieza's father, King Cold, is introduced and revealed as the secret leader of the Planet Trade Organization, which Frieza supposedly ruled.
** ''Anime/DragonBallGT'', the anime-only continuation, has a confusing chain of this. The Para-Para Brothers work for Cardinal Muchy Muchy, whose superior is revealed to be Muchy, who in turn is under the command of Dolltaki. Dolltaki is the leader of the worshipping Cult of Luud, and Luud turns out to be a robotic sham creation of Dr. Myuu. Dr. Myuu created Baby, the eventual BigBad of the arc, and it's eventually revealed that Baby created him, not the other way around.
* Near the end of ''Anime/ExcelSaga'', the head of ACROSS -- the organization Il Palazzo serves -- is revealed to be a previously-established character known only as "That Man". He makes reference to being one of the "ACROSS Six," the other five of whom are revealed in the unaired final episode to be "This Man, That Man There, That Man Over Here, This Man Over There, and This Man Over Here."
* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', Zeref is doing the manipulating to bring himself back to life (although he seems to not ''technically'' be dead). Ultear also plays this role both for Lyon and Jellal. Although in reality that was [[spoiler:Ultear pretending to be Zeref]]. Zeref himself doesn't seem to be aware of any of this stuff happening. Also, her actions are actually done on Hades' commands.
* This is implied near the end of ''Manga/FruitsBasket'', after Akito's HeelFaceTurn, the 'man' in question being the Sohma family elders, who criticize Akito for not emotionally destroying the members of the Zodiac.
* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', at first it seems like the homunculi are simply manipulating the country of Amestris because the Fuhrer, King Bradley, is the homunculus Wrath. Then we find out that Bradley himself is simply the result of an experiment by Father, and that Father has been controlling the entire country behind the scenes since the very day it was established 400 years prior. Most of the military's upper command is fully aware of this fact.
** [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist The first anime]] has a similar scenario, although it differs in key areas. Dante is the mastermind of this conspiracy and controls the government through Bradley, her ultimate creation. Once the Philosopher Stone that Hohenheim left her began to diminish, she infiltrated the government in order to facilitate the creation of a new one. Unlike in the manga, only Bradley and Tucker seem to be aware of her existence.
* In ''Anime/GaoGaiGar'', the Season 1 BigBad Pasdar turns out to be a subordinate of one of the 31 Primevals, which are themselves fragments of the much more fearsome Z Master.
* ''Manga/GiantRobo'' has Johnny Soccor, the producer of the BF tv network manipulated both GRO and UNISOM into fighting the GR units to sow fear and panic among the people to boost ratings.
* While not actually villainous, it's pretty obvious that Austria's the true power behind the Holy Roman Empire in ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers''. Which is what happened in RealLife, via [[TheClan the Habsburgs]].
* ''Manga/InuYasha'' has Naraku, the puppeteer behind just about EVERY conflict in the show, past and present, having manipulated Inu Yasha and Kikyou into fighting each other in order to taint the Shikon no Tama further, who only surfaced after a while in the manga. [[spoiler:At the end of the series, Naraku proves to have a man behind ''him'' as well -- the Jewel of Four Souls itself, which actually has a will on his own.]]
* ''Manga/{{Kinnikuman}}'':
** Big the Budo, who for the past two rounds had been working as Neptuneman's lackey, is revealed not only to be Neptune King, the one in charge, but the one who turned Kenkaman INTO Neptuneman, making him the true villain of the Choujin Tag Arc.
** Similarly, Mr Barracuda, Warsman's trainer unmasks himself as Robin Mask, who says that he trained Warsman specifically to kill Kinnikuman, making him the true villain of the 21st Choujin Olympics.
** In the 2012 series, who sent the Perfect Large Numbers to attack Kinnikuman and why are the Devil Chojin involved in this especially Goldman/Akuma Shogun? The person is not other than Chojin Enma.
* ''Manga/KyouKaraOreWa'': Fujieda, was ''officially'' leader of the delinquents of Nan High original, but he took orders from Shiratori behind the scenes.
* The ''Mazinger trilogy'' played much with this trope:
** ''Anime/MazingerZ'': In the original manga, Baron Ashura shows up before Dr. Hell, leading several Mechanical Beasts and the Iron Masks troops and calling it "Ashura's army". In that chapter he seemed like the BigBad, but one chapter after Dr. Hell is introduced and we learnt Hell was behind the whole operation and he is the real BigBad.
** In the anime, Archduke Gorgon was apparently a Dr. Hell's ally. In the last chapters we learnt he was a DragonWithAnAgenda was working for Great General of Darkness/Ankoku Daishogun. Likewise...
** ''Anime/GreatMazinger'': In the ''Mazinger-Z versus Great General of Darkness'' movie it is said the legions of Mykene Warrior Monsters are commanded by Great General of Darkness. He seems to be the supreme leader of the Mykene Empire. In first episode of Great Mazinger we learnt he is the supreme commander of the Mykene ''army'', and he is under the orders of the Emperor of Darkness (also known like Hades).
** ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer'': In the original manga, Blackie is the first Vegan commander in showing up, and he seems being behind the invasion. However, in the next chapter BigBad King Vega and DragonInChief Gandal (commander of the armies tasked with the invasion) are introduced.
* ''Anime/MermaidMelodyPichiPichiPitch'' did this every season. In fact, in both seasons, we had a DoubleSubversion of this trope. Season one had Gaito (Gakuto and Gackto in the manga), who was working for Sara, who did a HeelFaceTurn, leaving Gaito as a worse BigBad than Sara was. Season two had Michel's sidekick Fuku appear to be above him but below "That Man", but in the end, That Man was also manipulated by Fuku.
* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'', Rau Le Creuset is eventually revealed to be The Man Behind The Man to archenemies [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Muruta Azrael]] and [[GeneralRipper Patrick Zala]], pretending to be TheMole for the former and TheDragon for the latter. It's all part of his plan to move both sides in the war to such extremes that [[KillAllHumans human extinction will be guaranteed.]]
* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' exaggerates this trope to absurd extremes. It's first revealed that [[StandardEvilOrganizationSquad Akatsuki]] is lead by a mysterious figure known as Pain. Some chapters and an important character death later, we find out that "Pain" is actually a [[PeoplePuppets collection of dead bodies controlled]] by a man named [[DarkMessiah Nagato]], who [[APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil once studied under the same sensei]] as Naruto. Then Nagato is actually being manipulated by a masked man known by the alias "Tobi" who claims to actually be the legendary shinobi known as [[TheDreaded Madara Uchiha]]. Later on, Tobi [[DeadPersonImpersonation isn't the real Madara Uchiha]], but is actually a former leaf shinobi named [[FallenHero Obito Uchiha]] who used to be a student of Naruto's father and later turned evil. Then, it turns out Obito's [[AssimilationPlot "Moon's Eye Plan"]] was actually the real Madara's plan, and Obito was also supposed to bring Madara back to life to he become the jinchuuriki of the Ten Tails. [[GambitPileup But later we learn that Obito never had any intention of reviving Madara and himself using him in order to become the jinchuuriki of the Ten Tails]]. But then, [[TheSymbiote Black Zetsu]], a mysterious member of Akatsuki and a being that Madara thought he himself had created to carry out his will, is actually carrying out the will of [[AncientAstronauts Princess Kaguya]], an ancient [[PhysicalGod Physical Goddess]] whom the current shinobi clans are descended from and who created Black Zetsu centuries ago right before she was [[SealedEvilInACan sealed away]] to ensure that she would be revived. And then {{The Movie}}s happened...
** It goes even further than ''that''. Orochimaru was originally set up as the BigBad, but Itachi seemed to be the GreaterScopeVillain. Then it seemed that Danzo was one to Itachi, but then it was revealed that ''he'' was being manipulated by Tobi and so on and so on.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** Big Mom is one of the four strongest pirates in ''Manga/OnePiece'', a tyrant in the New World who, along with her children and other allies, can eliminate the armies of entire countries and get them to submit to her. She was not always like this though -- she was always incredibly strong, but she was once kind-hearted. Who made her that way? It's [[spoiler:Streusen, a no-name cook]] who decided he would use her raw strength to achieve his own goals of being in control of people. [[spoiler:He met Big Mom when she was still a child and has since effortlessly manipulated her actions so that she would become the conqueror she is at the present while he stays free of suspicion as her head chef.]]
** Donquixote Doflamingo is a major underworld figure, supplying weapons left and right, having moles here and there, and even have enough political leverage to get the [[AristocratsAreEvil World Nobles]] to do him favors now and then. He also ate Ito Ito no Mi, allowing him to produce threads which can be used as RazorFloss and play PeoplePuppets. [[spoiler:[[VisualPun He's the man pulling the strings, figuratively and literally.]]]]
** A brief chain of these can be found with the World Government. Behind the mighty Admirals, who command the actual fleets in the field and [[PersonOfMassDestruction do their own fighting when there's big hitters involved]], are the Gorosei, or Five Elder Stars: Five old men at the head of the Entire World Government, taking the decisions even the Admirals find distasteful. [[spoiler:And behind these five, standing against the most important principle under which the World Government was founded, that there wouldn't be a single king to rule over all, is the enigmatic figure known as Im, who calls the biggest shots such as what bits of history need to be completely erased]].
* In ''Anime/PrettyCureAllStars DX 3'', similar to the ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' example above it's revealed that the creature known as Black Hole was the source of all evil the girls face. It's kind of hard to figure out, though, if he meant the villains from the TV series itself (which wouldn't make sense as ''Anime/SuitePrettyCure'' was going on at the time, and it was hinted he wasn’t the source for that season's villain) or the villains from the various movies up to that point (whom he resurrected for this).
* Shishio is set up as the BigBad of ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'', but behind him is Enishi, the final villain of the series. Shishio has at his disposal an ultra-modern (for the setting) gunship, which he got through Enishi, who owns a fleet of them, and Enishi's [[TheDragon Dragon]]/ EvilGenius hides among Shishio's group, pretending to be DumbMuscle.
* In ''Franchise/SailorMoon'', every story arc has this type of villain behind that storyline's recurring villains. Queen Beryl of the Dark Kingdom has Queen Metallia, Prince Demande of the Black Moon Clan has Wiseman/Death Phantom (and even earlier, Prince Demande is behind Rubeus and the Ayakashi Sisters), Mistress 9 and Professor Tomoe of the Death Busters have Master Pharaoh 90, Zirconia of the Dead Moon Circus has Queen Nehellenia, and Sailor Galaxia of Shadow Galactica has Chaos. The only time this ''doesn't'' happen is during the Makaiju FillerArc in the [[Anime/SailorMoon anime]], where the aliens and the Makaiju are working entirely alone.
** The [[Manga/SailorMoon manga]] practically makes a matroshka doll of villainy as not only does each story arc feature the same series of villains behind villains as the anime does, but the final story arc one-ups them all as in the manga, the final villain is still Chaos, but in this storyline, Chaos itself has been repeatedly incarnated into all of the previous BigBad villains as well and Sailor Moon was merely fighting the same villain for a ''fifth'' time in a new form.
** In the [[Theatre/SeraMyu musical adaptation]] of the series, Chaos is downgraded to Galaxia's subordinate/jester, and not even a true dragon. But he still turns out to be TheManInFrontOfTheMan.
* ''Manga/SamuraiDeeperKyo'' starts with Genma, leader of the Three-Color Gang, mention a "certain person" who ordered him to find and kill Kyo, and later the mysterious Twelve Heavenly Generals, who appears to work for the same person and with the same objective. Said lord is later revealed to be a revived [[DemonKingNobunaga Oda Nobunaga]], who was killed by Kyo in the past and know wants revenge. Later on, it's revealed that Nobunaga and the Twelve Generals were actually supplied and supported from the shadows by the Mibu clan, a legendary clan of divine-like figures who have secretly controlled Japan from the shadows since ancient times. The Mibu proves to be the origins of the troubles for pretty much every single character: Sasuke (an ArtificialHuman made by them), Yuya ([[spoiler:her missing dead brother was a Mibu Shaman who figured out their secret]]), Benitora (The Mibu want to eradicate the Tokugawa for usurping Nobunaga's place as the Shogun), Kyoshiro ([[spoiler:former Mibu higher up]]) and Kyo himself, [[spoiler:who's actually a true-blooded Mibu.]]
* In ''Anime/ScienceNinjaTeamGatchaman'', Berg Katse is presented as the face and leader of Galactor. The viewer finds out long before the characters that Sosai X is the true power.
* ''Manga/SoulHunter'': Late in the manga, it's revealed that Dakki is working for Jouka, one of the [[{{Precursors}} First People who was sealed away for wanting to wipe out everything on Earth and make it into their old homeworld]]. Dakki agreed to help her in exchange for great power, but planned to take over Jyoka's body and use its power to merge with the Earth like the other First People did. Also in turn, [[spoiler:Jouka's brother Fukki, along with Genshi Tenson, conspired to prepare the Hoshin plan in order to defeat Jouka once and for all and free the world from History's Signal. Fukki was controlling both sides of the conflict by splicing his soul to create Taikoubou and Ohtenkun.]]
* ''Anime/StellviaOfTheUniverse'' does this with [[NoAntagonist non-sentient antagonists]]. The supernova, the antagonist for the first half of the series, was caused by the crack in space, which is the antagonist for the second half.
* The Anti-Spiral is effectively this to Lordgenome in ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' as they are the ones who caused him to drive the humans underground.
* ''Manga/{{Toriko}}'': The main forces on the field seems to be the I.G.O. and the Gourmet Corps led by the villainous Midora. However, the Cooking Festival arc finally introduces a third party, NEO, which masterminded the conflict and is shown to have manipulated both parties in the conflict in order to get their hands on the ultimate food GOD, and whose leader is [[spoiler:Dark Chef Joie]]. Later on, during the final arc, [[spoiler:Acacia, the supposed BigGood and Gourmet God, is revealed to be behind NEO and Joie along with the Gourmet Nobles, though the very end reveals that Acacia was GoodAllAlong and teamed up with [[TokenGoodTeammate PAIR]] to concoct an [[TheLongGame extremely long-timed plan]] to free his apocalyptic Appetite Devil Neo and release all the food it ate, which would release countless ingredients and revive the Blue Nitro.]]
* While he was a more traditional BigBad in the manga, in the ''Anime/{{Trigun}}'' anime Knives Millions instead occupies this role, with his [[TheDragon Dragon]] Legato doing most of the work until the very end.
* ''Anime/WeissKreuz'': In season 1, Reiji Takatori is the man behind criminal organizations like the Creeper gang and the Liott prostitution ring, and [[AncientConspiracy Essett]] is behind Takatori. In Season 2, Mayumi Tsujii is behind [[EnfanteTerrible Todou]] and [[AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil S Class]], and Epitaph (and by extension Essett again) is behind Tsujii. Rampant ChronicBackstabbingDisorder -- particularly on the parts of [[ThePsychoRangers Schwarz]], who start out as one of the groups that Reijia Takatori is behind and end up backstabbing their way right out of Essett altogether -- muddies the exact order in both cases.
* In ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'':
** The villain of the third season, Professor Cobra, is revealed to be working for a Duel Monster spirit named Yubel. Later in Season 4, initial villain "Trueman" is revealed to be working for Yusuke Fujiwara... only for Yusuke to be revealed as a host for Darkness, the true villain.
** ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'' has a series of these. The first true villains are the Dark Signers lead by Rudger. The second season reveals that Rudger was manipulated by Yliaster and the Three Emperors, who in turn work for Z-one. Furthermore, it is revealed Z-one was the commanding force for Paradox in the 10th anniversary movie.
* The ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' manga reveals at the end that every villain Yusuke faces throughout the series is acting with the approval and, in some cases, the aid of King Enma, who wants to make himself look better by having major threats repeatedly stopped by Yusuke and allies (who work for him). The anime opted instead to end with another TournamentArc, which was glossed over in the manga.
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[[folder:Myths & Religion]]

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[[folder:Web Comics]]

* [=YodaKenobi=], author of the epic ''StarWars'' fanfic series ''Legacy of the Sith'' loves this one. The villain of the first story is set up as [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Vagaari]] leader Goresh Tenziesh, but he turns out to be controlled by [[SmugSnake General Kol Renin]], one of the leaders of the true Sith Empire. ''Then'' it's revealed that Renin is only an apprentice Sith. The real mastermind is his Master, [[MagnificentBastard Darth Malig]]. Now it's being foreshadowed that even Malig isn't the complete answer to the puzzle, though it's unknown if there's another villain controlling him or not.

* ''ComicBook/JusticeLeague2018'' and ''ComicBook/DarkNightsDeathMetall'' reveals that Perpetua, their BigBad, was this, as she was the mother of [[ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths the Anti-Monitor]] and after he was defeated, she manipulated [[ComicBook/ZeroHourCrisisInTime Parallax]], [[ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis Alexander Luthor Jr. and Superboy-Prime]], [[ComicBook/FinalCrisis Darkseid and Mandrakk]], and [[ComicBook/DarkNightsMetal Barbatos]].

** Inverted in the fourth movie, where Dom and Brian try to find the identity of the one running the drug cartel by tracking their handler, but it turns out that the handler was the leader all along.
** The sixth movie reveals that BigBad Owen Shaw had the drug cartel within his pockets, along with the CIA, DEA and numerous terrorist organisations.

[[caption-width-right:350:[-''[[Music/NickCave You're just a microscopic cog in his catastrophic plan\\

* Late in the ''Manga/SoulHunter'' manga, it's revealed that Dakki is working for Jouka, one of the [[{{Precursors}} First People who was sealed away for wanting to wipe out everything on Earth and make it into their old homeworld]]. Dakki agreed to help her in exchange for great power, but planned to take over Jyoka's body and use its power to merge with the Earth like the other First People did. Also in turn, [[spoiler:Jouka's brother Fukki, along with Genshi Tenson, conspired to prepare the Hoshin plan in order to defeat Jouka once and for all and free the world from History's Signal. Fukki was controlling both sides of the conflict by splicing his soul to create Taikoubou and Ohtenkun.]]

* In ''Manga/{{Toriko}}'', the main forces on the field seems to be the I.G.O. and the Gourmet Corps led by the villainous Midora. However, the Cooking Festival arc finally introduces a third party, NEO, which masterminded the conflict and is shown to have manipulated both parties in the conflict in order to get their hands on the ultimate food GOD, and whose leader is [[spoiler:Dark Chef Joie]]. Later on, during the final arc, [[spoiler:Acacia, the supposed BigGood and Gourmet God, is revealed to be behind NEO and Joie along with the Gourmet Nobles, though the very end reveals that Acacia was GoodAllAlong and teamed up with [[TokenGoodTeammate PAIR]] to concoct an [[TheLongGame extremely long-timed plan]] to free his apocalyptic Appetite Devil Neo and release all the food it ate, which would release countless ingredients and revive the Blue Nitro.]]

* ''ComicBook/AcePowers': The Panther, Ace's Arch-Enemy, is revealed to be working for a mastermind known as the Spook in the comic's final issue.

* In ''ComicBook/AcePowers'', the Panther, Ace's Arch-Enemy, is revealed to be working for a mastermind known as the Spook in the comic's final issue.

* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', much of the villains' activity (including Cadmus, the Kobra venom, and the mole within the heroes) can be traced to the Light, working towards their goal of jumpstarting human evolution through conflict. The end of season 2 reveals that [[spoiler:the Light has an alliance with Apokalips, which is clarified in season 3 to be a temporary alliance to conquer the universe before a final battle for domination).

* ''Anime/WeissKreuz'' has layer after layer of this. In season 1, Reiji Takatori is the man behind criminal organizations like the Creeper gang and the Liott prostitution ring, and [[AncientConspiracy Essett]] is behind Takatori. In Season 2, Mayumi Tsujii is behind [[EnfanteTerrible Todou]] and [[AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil S Class]], and Epitaph (and by extension Essett again) is behind Tsujii. Rampant ChronicBackstabbingDisorder -- particularly on the parts of [[ThePsychoRangers Schwarz]], who start out as one of the groups that Reijia Takatori is behind and end up backstabbing their way right out of Essett altogether -- muddies the exact order in both cases.

* In ''ComicBook/StarWarsCrimsonEmpire'', Lumiya was retconned to be behind Carnor Jax, the alleged new leader of the Imperial Remnant forces.

** During ''ComicBook/KryptoniteNevermore'' Morgan Edge tries to bring Superman down because he poses a threat to his true leader, Darkseid.

* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20130628 Tweedle is frustrated by multiple layers of this.]]

* [[Anime/TheBraveExpressMightGaine Might Gaine]]: The series setups up Exeve as the BigBad, being the catalyst of the events to start the brave express but it's eventually revealed he was just a puppet used by Black Noir. [[UpToEleven It's even implied that there was a higher power behind Black Noir's actions.]]

** In ''ComicBook/NickSpencersSpiderMan'', the Kingpin's idea to get to Boomerang by going after his roommate Peter Parker is nixed by an unknown, giant-centipede-carrying third party, who forces Fisk to kneel and remember "who really runs things around here". A second attempt to get Boomerang has his forces back off at the sight of "The Roomate".

!!Examples:

* ''Fanfic/IcedFairysANewWorld'': Every single major player in Gensokyo, Luna, and Earth, including the supposed villain Lord Tenshou, has been nothing but [[TheChessmaster Yukari]] [[MagnificentBitch Yakumo]]'s puppet for at least three hundred years and serves to complete her final and most ambitious BatmanGambit. It's a testament to her skill, everyone's predictability, or both, that she's been ''dead'' during that time.

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[[folder:Pinball]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* Stacy Bradshaw is this to Bridget in ''WebVideo/SororityForever''.
* Roleplay/WeAreOurAvatars: [[VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas Yes Man]] to the [[VideoGame/MadWorld Deathwatch Organization]] and [[VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes UAA]]. Then, it turns out Yes Man was using the plan of a "Courier 6"

** This reveal was used in ''ComicBook/SupermanBrainiac'' to explain the contradicting appearances Brainiac made throughout the DC Universe, only now they're saying that Brainiac has been operating this way ever since his debut in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}}.

* ComicBook/UltimateMarvel

[[folder:Films — Animation]]

* ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'': In ''Avengers vs. New Ultimates'' the Avengers think that Nick Fury is behind a conspiracy, and the New Ultimates that it is Carol Danvers. It is eventually revealed that it was Gregory Stark from the begining, scheming to make both groups fight each other.

* ''Fanfic/{{Downfall}}'' has an interesting one -- although it appears at first glance that Unohana and her faction are the villains, subsequent perspectives given the readers have rendered that perspective uncertain. At best, that is only half the answer, and it is implied that some other force may be manipulating events.

%%* In the ''Fanfic/Gameknight999Series'', the end of the first series reveals that [[spoiler:Herobrine was behind the attacks of lesser villains]].

Compare and contrast GreaterScopeVillain, where a villain more powerful than the BigBad exists, but is either not personally involved in the plot or is not a "person" to begin with. Not to do with a GambitPileup, though you might get one if everyone is trying to manipulate each other. This trope and/or GreaterScopeVillain may also come into play if the villains are terrorists backed by larger powers like DirtyCommunists or {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' exaggerates this trope to absurd extremes. It's first revealed that [[StandardEvilOrganizationSquad Akatsuki]] is lead by a mysterious figure known as [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Pain]]. Some chapters and an important character death later, we find out that "Pain" is actually a [[PeoplePuppets collection of dead bodies controlled]] by a man named Nagato, who [[APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil once studied under the same sensei]] as Naruto. Then Nagato is actually being manipulated by a masked man known by the alias "Tobi" who claims to actually be the [[TheDreaded legendary shinobi known as Madara Uchiha]]. Later on, Tobi [[DeadPersonImpersonation isn't the real Madara Uchiha, but is actually a former leaf shinobi named Obito who used to be a student of Naruto's father and later turned evil.]] Then, it turns out Obito's [[AssimilationPlot "Moon's Eye Plan"]] was actually the real Madara's plan, and Obito was also supposed to bring Madara back to life to he become the jinchuuriki of the Ten Tails. [[GambitPileup But later we learn that Obito never had any intention of reviving Madara and himself using him in order to become the jinchuuriki of the Ten Tails]]. But then, Black Zetsu, a mysterious member of Akatsuki and a being that Madara thought he himself had created to carry out his will, is actually carrying out the will of Princess Kaguya, an ancient [[PhysicalGod Physical Goddess]] whom the current shinobi clans are descended from and who created Black Zetsu centuries ago right before she was [[SealedEvilInACan sealed away]] to ensure that she would be revived. And then {{The Movie}}s happened...

%%* In the ''Literature/Gameknight999Series'', the end of the first series reveals that [[spoiler:Herobrine was behind the attacks of lesser villains]].

* Franchise/{{Superman}}:

** In ''ComicBook/SupermanRedSon'', Superman initially defeats and reprograms Brainiac to help him increase the efficiency of his burgeoning Global Soviet Union, until Brainiac reveals that he merely faked being reprogrammed since Superman was already carrying out Brainiac's plans anyway. This leads Superman to the realization that he's no better than Brainiac in trying to control humankind.

Designed and directed by his red right hand''-]]]]]

[[quoteright:300:[[ComicBook/UltimateXMen https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/puppet_master_8781.jpg]]]]
[-''[[caption-width-right:300:[[Music/NickCave You're just a microscopic cog in his catastrophic plan\\
Designed and directed by his red right hand]]]]''-]