History Main / UltimateEvil

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

!!Examples

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

!Examples:

[[folder:Comicbooks]]

[[folder:Gamebooks]]
* An example of Ultimate Evil appears in the ''first'' book of the ''LoneWolf'' series, ''Flight From the Dark''. If Lone Wolf ends up in the Graveyard of the Ancients, he'll stumble upon the tomb of an ancient king. If you hand him an IdiotBall and he opens the sarcophagus...
-->You are in the presence of an ancient and timeless evil, far older and stronger than the Darklords themselves.
** Revealed in the remake to be [[spoiler: Naar, the King of the Darkness, the true BigBad of the series, and literally the Ultimate Evil of the setting]].

[[folder:FanWorks]]
* In ChallengeOfTheSuperFriendsTheEnd. the EldritchAbomination known as the Benefactor is never seen. Only its voice is heard arising from the air, and it sounds oddly comforting, parental, like a patient teacher.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* In Disney's ''Disney/{{Bambi}}'', the Ultimate Evil known as "[[HumansAreCthulhu Man]]" is never shown on screen. WordOfGod states that the human that shot Bambi's mother was, in fact, [[spoiler:[[Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast Gaston]]]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

[[folder:Web Originals]]

* The Lich from ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' is seen only through the creatures it posesses.

* ''{{Berserk}}'': The true BigBad of the manga appears only in a [[MissingEpisode Missing Chapter]] that was never issued out of concern of revealing too much. We only catch a brief, unclear glimpse of the [[GodIsEvil Idea of]] [[GodOfEvil Evil]], the entity responsible for Midland's woes that only the Godhand have met.

* ''Film/{{Alien}}'' pulled the same trick; the director realized that while HRGiger's design was awesome and the creature did look scary in glimpses in the dark, it ran the risk of looking fake if it was too visible. When the special effects caught up with the design, we got ''Film/{{Aliens}}''. Although not really, because NothingIsScarier fully applies here.

* Galactus in ''Film/FantasticFour: Rise of the Silver Surfer'' is only shown as a massive cloud of smoke. This is likely because his common depiction in the comics is, frankly, rather silly looking. This helps because Galactus ''doesn't'' actually have a set form in the comics; different species perceive him differently, because his [[EldritchAbomination true form is incomprehensible to lesser beings]].

* Arguably, Pennywise the Clown from ''{{It}}''. The forms that ARE seen are based on childhood fears. [[spoiler: The giant spider form at the end, although weak-sauce to the extreme, was meant to be the most terrifying of the forms that humanity can safely comprehend. Beyond that, madness ensues.]]

** Current consensus is that both versions are true- originally it was a small scar, but the armour he has made to hide it was put on too early, before it was cooled, so he really does have horrifying burns all over his body. Also the scar was not caused by a labloratory explosion but by [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils the demon Mephisto]] scratching his face (the result of said experment, followed by the explosion) and thus it wasn't simple vanity that drove him to do that; he rushed to put the armour on because he could still feel the demon attacking his face.

** Well, actually, we see Trigon in the very first season. Or at least, we see Raven's Inner Darknesss and it looks exactly like him. So more of an inversion, or perhaps a zig-zag, with avatar of villain revealed-> true form of villain concealed-> true form revealed.

** Sauron will appear as the Necromancer in the film adaptations of ''Literature/TheHobbit'', but it is unknown if his actual form will be seen.

* The Crimson King, BigBad of Creator/StephenKing's meta-continuity among his novels, possessing various incarnations across dimensions, such as [[TheManBehindTheMan The Man Behind The]] BigBad of ''TheStand'', is constantly said to be the horrific source of all evil. However, behind-the-scenes VillainDecay sets in, and by the time he's revealed, [[spoiler:he's [[TheManBehindTheCurtain a gibbering old man in a red cloak]], who attacks the hero with weaponized HarryPotter toys while continually screeching "Eeeee!" and is then erased by Patrick]]. Given the absolute terror he inspires in his subordinates (some of it due to firsthand experience), there has been elaborate {{Fanon}} created to explain this inconsistency.

* The Otherness in the RepairmanJack and AdversaryCycle books.

* Tobi from ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' is never fully seen without his mask. At one point he claimed to be Madara Uchiha, [[spoiler: but it's then revealed he was lying, and not only that, he's actually Obito.]]

!!Examples

[[folder:Film]]

* In Disney's ''Disney/{{Bambi}}'', the Ultimate Evil known as "[[HumansAreTheRealMonsters Man]]" is never shown on screen.
** WordOfGod states that the human that shot Bambi's mother was, in fact, [[spoiler:[[Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast Gaston]]]].

* SKYNET, the BigBad from the ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' franchise, has never been depicted on-screen (except for in various non-canonical video games and the Universal Studios Terminator ride). Justified in ''Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines'' when it turns out that SKYNET is, in fact, the Internet. An avatar of SKYNET appears as a character in ''TerminatorSalvation'', played by [[spoiler: HelenaBonhamCarter]].

* The Monster in the Darkness of ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' qualifies as this; so far, he has [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin only been shown in complete darkness]].

* In Disney's ''Disney/{{Bambi}}'', the Ultimate Evil known as "[[HumansAreBastards Man]]" is never shown on screen.

* in EdEddNEddy [[spoiler: Eddy's brother is kept from being seen, his presence only indicated by the stories Eddy tells, and his legacy only shown by the frightened Eddy, and the fearing Rolf. When we do finally see him, We see that he does mostly just look like Eddy, but coupled with his behaviors and the wildly frightening evil smiles and rather evil expressions he gives everyone, it's clear he is by far the greatest villain above the rest the show has to offer]].

* AlanDeanFoster's ''HumanxCommonwealth'' [[TheVerse universe]] features a classic EldritchAbomination as its Ultimate Evil -- a galaxy-sized region of space in which no matter or radiation exists. Moreover, it is sentient and mobile, traveling across the universe in search of new galaxies to devour. It has been discovered by several species at various points in galactic history, even the most advanced of which could barely do more than find a way to flee. Naturally, Flinx, the protagonist of the series, is the ChosenOne who is said to be the key to its destruction. However, as scary as the concept is, the thing never actually gets to our galaxy before Flinx manages to destroy it, leaving its implacably hostile nature something of an in-universe TakeOurWordForIt.

** The origin of this particular usage was dramatized in the fictional film ''The Bad and the Beautiful'', in which Kirk Douglas (playing a CompositeCharacter based partly on ''Film/CatPeople'' producer ValLewton) and Barry Sullivan spend a scene or two working on a B-movie called ''Cat Men''.

** The degeneration of the main villain fits in with the overall theme of TheDarkTower, where eveything is breaking down. Things fall apart, the center cannot hold...

* In ChallengeOfTheSuperFriendsTheEnd