History Main / TokenMotivationalNemesis

* Joe Chill, the mugger who murdered [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne's]] parents, is possibly the most well known example of this trope. While Batman's origin story was first shown in ''Detective Comics'' #33 (published November 1939, a few months after his debut), the true identity of the mugger was not revealed until ''Batman'' #47 (June 1948, almost ten years later), where he was unceremoniously killed by his very own henchmen when they learned he was indirectly responsible for the birth of Batman. In the post-''ComicBook/ZeroHour'' continuity, the [[RunningTheAsylum writers at DC]] made the identity of the mugger unclear, with the rationalization that since Batman never found out his parents' murderer, any criminal he catches might as well be the one who did it. However, the ''InfiniteCrisis'' storyline retconned the mugger's identity back to being Joe Chill.

** The TV series did give Shin a bigger role by rearranging the order of events of the first few story arcs, placing the final battle between Kenshiro and Shin a bit later than it had originally occurred. As a result, Shin gets [[MonsterOfTheWeek more henchmen]] besides Mr. Heart and the other three playing card themed thugs who worked for him in the manga and his pining over Yuria is given a bit more focus as well. He also gets [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome one good fight scene]] on the episode before his battle with Ken.

** The TV series did give Shin a bigger role by arranging the order of events of the first few story arcs, placing the final battle between Kenshiro and Shin a bit later than it had originally occurred. As a result, Shin gets [[MonsterOfTheWeek more henchmen]] besides Mr. Heart and the other three playing card themed thugs who worked for him in the manga and his pining over Yuria is given a bit more focus as well. He also gets [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome one good fight scene]] on the episode before his battle with Ken.

* Mr. Fixx killed [[WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond Terry McGinnis's]] father and then died in the first episode... [[NeverFoundTheBody maybe.]] However, [[ManBehindTheMan Derek]] [[BigBad Powers]] ordered the hit, and was still around to be the target of Terry's vengeance. However, Powers disappears at the end of Season 1 and never returned in any of the following seasons, despite [[NeverFoundTheBody the possibility being left open]].

** This story was the basis for the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' episode "Chill in the Night". The episode borrowed much from #33, but upped the ante. ComicBook/TheSpectre and Comicbook/ThePhantomStranger had a bet for Batman's soul over whether or not Batman would break his [[ThouShaltNotKill one rule]] and serve vengeance, or keep it and serve justice. Present-day Joe was now an arms dealer auctioning weapons on the black market, His henchmen were replaced with Batman's RoguesGallery (who were attending the auction), and [[spoiler:ended with the Spectre finishing Chill after Batman wouldn't, dropping a ceiling on him.]]
** [=Deconstructed=] in ''Film/BatmanBegins''. Joe Chill is killed by a mob hit before Bruce can take his revenge. Being ''denied'' vengeance motivates him to become Batman, with the added bonus of Rachel guilting him into [[DoesNotLikeGuns swearing off guns]].
*** To an extent Chill is replaced in this regard by Carmine Falcone, the gang lord who ordered Chill's death. However, as soon as Batman has dealt with Falcone halfway through, he only appears once more in prison, as Batman moves on to the far more dangerous Scarecrow and Ra's al Ghul.
** The Creator/TimBurton [[Film/{{Batman}} film version]] turned Jack Napier, the man who would become Joker, into the murderer of Bruce Wayne's parents, presumably to add more chemistry to the Batman/Joker rivalry. However, the Joker got killed in the first film and never appeared in any of Burton's or Schumacher's sequels.

* Creator/HideoKojima didn't expect the original ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' to be as successful as it was, so the first game ends with Solid Snake's {{evil twin}}, Liquid Snake, dying from a heart attack. He proved so popular that the sequels [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty sort of maybe]] [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots but not really kind of]] brought him back. [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext Nobody's]] [[GainaxEnding really]] [[MindScrew sure]]. The same happened with Big Boss in the original ''VideoGame/MetalGear1''.

* Creator/HideoKojima didn't expect the original ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' to be as successful as it was, so the first game ends with Solid Snake's {{evil twin}}, Liquid Snake, dying from a heart attack. He proved so popular that the sequels [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty sort of maybe]] [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots but not really kind of]] brought him back. [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext Nobody's]] [[GainaxEnding really]] [[MindScrew sure]]. The same happened with Big Boss in the original ''VideoGame/MetalGear''.

* Creator/HideoKojima didn't expect the original ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' to be as successful as it was, so the first game ends with Solid Snake's {{evil twin}}, Liquid Snake, dying from a heart attack. He proved so popular that the sequels [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty sort of maybe]] [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots but not really kind of]] brought him back. [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext Nobody's]] [[GainaxEnding really]] [[MindScrew sure]].

* Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger in the ''Film/IronMan'' movie; he is revealed as the movie progresses to be the one who hired the Ten Rings to kill Tony Stark, thus indirectly causing the incident that changed Stark's vision of life and led him to become Iron Man. Despite this, he doesn't survive the first movie, and is never mentioned again in the second Opus. Ironically enough, this version of him led the character to be promoted in the fans' eyes, and he is made part of the BigBadEnsemble in ''IronManArmoredAdventures''.

* Similarly, The Fixer who turned Matt Murdock into ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} dies of a heart-attack by the end of the first volume.

*** To an extent Chill is replaced in this regard by Carmine Falcone, the gang lord who ordered Chill's death. However, as soon as Batman has dealt with Falcone halfway through, he only appears once more in prison, as Batman moves on to the far more dangerous Scarecrow and Ra's Al Ghul.

* In ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD'', Issei's motivational nemesis is Reynalle, his ex-girlfriend fallen angel who killed him at the end of the first episode. He then avenges his and Asia's death when he punches Reynalle through a wall/through a window in the anime. Though Rias kills her, Issei still looks fondly back at the memories with him and Reynalle throughout their only date which traumatized him for a very long time when it comes to love.

** In some ways, having the mugger who murdered Bruce's parents be anonymous and not show up again might make it ''more'' powerful of a scene, since it shows to young Bruce (as well as the audience) that evil doesn't necessarily come wearing a clown mask or with a freeze ray, it can be as simple as a random chance mugging. One anonymous man steps up, ruins three lives, and then leaves, not knowing or understanding the relevance of this one action. Batman proves that one man, acting alone (or with the Batfamily, or the Justice League, or other heroes...) can change the world, but this random mugger proves that even through acts of evil we can also change the world.

** Manfred von Karma for [[Franchise/AceAttorney the Franchise as a whole]]. His act of murder 15 years earlier turned pretty much ''all'' of the recurring cast's lives around, be it directly or indirectly. He is only mentioned a few times in the second and third games.[[note]]He does appear in a few [[WholeEpisodeFlashback flashback episodes]] in the ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'' spinoff, though.[[/note]] His daughter Franziska is a recurring character and she has difficulty getting over the "von Karma perfection" he drilled into her. [[spoiler:He also raised the son of the victim of that murder, significantly altering said son's personality for a time.]]

* Higuma The {{Bear|sAreBadNews}} in Manga/OnePiece. He didn't exactly fight anyone, but he nearly killed the then overconfident main character, only to be forgotten entirely at the end of the arc. The fact that he was eaten by a sea monster may have had something to do with it.

* Nakatsukasa Tsubaki's brother Masamune in ''Manga/SoulEater''.

* Manga/{{Naruto}}'s first villain, the corrupt instructor Mizuki, is the one who tricks Naruto into stealing the scroll that taught him his Shadow Clone signature move and also revealed the secret about the tailed beast sealed inside him, plus allowed a moment where Naruto realized there was somebody in his life that cared for him when Iruka took a hit for him. And he never appears again, well, at least in the manga.

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' -- The Smiling Titan [[FirstEpisodeSpoiler who eats Eren's mom]] is what first motivated him to "Exterminate all the [[{{Kaiju}} Titans]]".
** [[spoiler: Subverted later though, as the Smiling Titan shows up again later and kills Hannes, and indirectly causes Eren to realize that he is the Coordinate when he unintentionally sets a horde of Titans on the smiling Titan. Needless to say, this was a rather big moment.]]

* In the original run of ''Comicbook/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|Mirage}}'', The Shredder, the evil ninja who would serve as the Turtles' archenemy in later versions of the saga, turned out to be this, being killed by the Turtles in the first issue, though he was resurrected and used as a villain (and then killed permanently) in later arcs.
** And these later arcs came ''after'' the first cartoon and the comics based on it made Shredder the BigBad. The writers have said more than once that the Shredder was never intended to be the Turtles' Darth Vader, and he really isn't missed in the comicverse.

* [[spoiler:Manfred von Karma]] from the first ''LightNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' game, whose murder of [[spoiler:Gregory Edgeworth]] 15 years earlier turned pretty much ''all'' of the recurring cast's lives around, be it directly or indirectly. He is only mentioned a few times in the second and third games. [[spoiler:He does appear in a [[WholeEpisodeFlashback flashback episode]] in ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'', but his role there is little more than a cameo for the purpose of ContinuityPorn.]]
** Though he did appear with significant importance in another WholeEpisodeFlashback in [[spoiler: Investigations 2, which shows the buildup to Gregory's death.]] [[spoiler: His daughter Franziska]] is also a reoccurring character, and both she and Edgeworth are clearly damaged from his raising them. [[spoiler: Franziska]] especially has difficulty getting over the "von Karma perfection" he drilled into her.
** Similarly, [[spoiler:Redd White]] from the same game. He kills [[spoiler:Mia Fey]], an act that is responsible for many characters' first meetings and is the main reason Maya chooses to participate in the series at all. Phoenix gets him arrested, and everyone promptly forgets he ever existed. Even when the third game introduces a new character whose entire characterization is based around that murder, he barely acknowledges the murderer.

* Dr. Bruce Banner's transformation into ''Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk'' has Igor Drenkov ([[{{Retcon}} then named Igor Starsky]]), who, by inaction during the gamma bomb test left Banner to be bombarded by gamma rays shortly after saving the life of teenager Rick Jones, in an attempt to have him killed and steal secrets of the G-bomb. He got beaten up by the Hulk and arrested for his trouble, but he later informed his handler, [[EvilGenius The Gargoyle]], who arranging the whole incident, and doesn't survive past the first issue. We don't see Igor again until the [[MilestoneCelebration 30th anniversary issue]], where it's revealed that he got off scot-free due to a spy trade deal the US had with the Soviet Union, but the Hulk is understandably still pissed about his life being in shambles because of this guy and decides to mete out his own ironic punishment to him. This either doesn't work, or works ''too'' well, as Drenkov out of guilt, shame and fear, was already [[DrivenToMadness driven insane]] from relizing his part in the Hulk's creation by the time the jade giant encountered him.

* [[spoiler:Manfred von Karma]] from the first ''LightNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' game, whose murder of [[spoiler:Gregory Edgeworth]] 15 years earlier turned pretty much ''all'' of the recurring cast's lives around, be it directly or indirectly. He is only mentioned a few times in the second and third games. [[spoiler:He does appear in a [[WholeEpisodeFlashback flashback episode]] in ''AceAttorneyInvestigations'', but his role there is little more than a cameo for the purpose of ContinuityPorn.]]

* Joe Chill, the mugger who murdered [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne's]] parents, is possibly the most well known example of this trope. While Batman's origin story was first shown in ''Detective Comics'' #33 (published November 1939, a few months after his debut), the true identity of the mugger was not revealed until ''Batman'' #47 (June 1948, almost ten years later), where he was unceremoniously killed by his very own henchmen when they learned he was indirectly responsible for the birth of Batman. In the post-''ZeroHour'' continuity, the [[RunningTheAsylum writers at DC]] made the identity of the mugger unclear, with the rationalization that since Batman never found out his parents' murderer, any criminal he catches might as well be the one who did it. However, the ''InfiniteCrisis'' storyline retconned the mugger's identity back to being Joe Chill.

* In the original run of ''Comicbook/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|Mirage}}'', The Shredder, the evil ninja who would serve as the Turtles' archenemy in later versions of the saga, turned out to be this, being killed by the Turtles in the first issue, though he was resurrected and used as a villain (And then killed permanently) in later arcs.

* Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger in the ''Film/IronMan'' movie; he is revealed as the movie progress to be the one who hired the Ten Rings to kill Tony Stark, such indirectly causing the incident that changed Stark's vision over life and led him to become Iron Man. Despite this, he doesn't survives the first movie, and is never mentioned again in the second Opus. Ironically enough, this version of him led the character to be promoted in the fans' eyes, and he is made part of the BigBadEnsemble in ''IronManArmoredAdventures''.
* Magneto did away with his NotSoDifferent nemesis Sebastian Shaw in ''Film/XMenFirstClass'', but never mentioned him in the TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture trilogy that preceded it. We're talking about the man who killed Magneto's mother and whose role Magneto assumed after killing him. Of course, the writers of the trilogy couldn't have predicted the future (in fact, Shaw doesn't look very dead, or old enough to have been an adult in TheForties, in his television appearance in X2.) [[spoiler:And it doesn't matter, as ''Days of Future Past'' removes the trilogy from existence.]]

One would think that a villain of such importance to the very mythos of the story would be a continue to be a source of character motivation and story importance...

** This story was the basis for the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' episode "Chill in the Night". The episode borrowed much from #33, but upped the ante. TheSpectre and the PhantomStranger had a bet for Batman's soul over whether or not Batman would break his [[ThouShaltNotKill one rule]] and serve vengeance, or keep it and serve justice. Present-day Joe was now an arms dealer auctioning weapons on the black market, His henchmen were replaced with Batman's RoguesGallery (who were attending the auction), and [[spoiler:ended with TheSpectre finishing Chill after Batman wouldn't, dropping a ceiling on him.]]

* Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger in the ''Film/IronMan'' movie; he is revealed as the movie progress to be the one who hired the Ten Rings to kill Tony Stark, such indirectly causing the incident that changed Stark's vision over life and led him to become Iron Man. Despite this, he doesn't survives the first movie, and is never mentionned again in the second Opus. Ironically enough, this version of him led the character to be promoted in the fans' eyes, and he is made part of the BigBadEnsemble in ''IronManArmoredAdventures''.

* Similarly, The Fixer who turned Matt Murdoch into ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} dies of a heart-attack by the end of the first volume.

** Creator/FrankMiller's re-telling of Daredevil's origin, entitled "The Man Without Fear," has The Fixer ordering the Kingpin (at that point, his main enforcer) to kill Matt Murdoch's father. Later in the miniseries, Kingpin takes control by killing the Fixer.

A villain traumatizes the hero in the opening pages of a comic book's first issue, possibly scarring him physically. Driving the hero to train him/herself into the very ''definition'' of a perfect warrior/detective/vigilante/wizard/whatever you will, this scumbag quite literally made the hero what he is today.

One would think that a villain of ''such'' importance to the very mythos of the story would be a continue to be a source of character motivation and story importance...

...only that by the final pages of the first issue (or at the end of the first story arc), having served his purpose of making the hero the way he is today, he is unceremoniously disposed of, and almost invariably '''never''' spoken of again.

* Mr. Carradine, the thief who murdered [[Franchise/SpiderMan Peter Parker's]] uncle Ben Parker. He came back for a second appearance in the seventies, and died of a heart attack when Spidey revealed his identity.

** In the [[Film/SpiderMan third movie]], Uncle Ben's murderer was actually Sandman, a member of Spidey's RoguesGallery in the original comics. However, the killing was accidentally provoked by the burglar originally thought to had been Uncle Ben's murderer, who was the Sandman's lackey.

* The Hiruma brothers of ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' for Kamiya Kaoru, whose defaming of ''Kamiya Kasshin Ryu'' drove her Dojo where our heroes lived into financial destitute for the entire story and kicked off the franchise, were never mentioned or seen again after [[TheHero Himura Kenshin]] ran him out of town by the second chapter of the second volume of the manga (At least by Kenshin and Kaoru. Sanosuke runs into them briefly in volume 26). The anime makes them a [[CompositeCharacter single character]] but the result is exactly the same by the fifth episode.