| 1 | A LikableVillain can be fun, either because [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans they have a good goal]], [[AffablyEvil are pleasant]] or otherwise relatable. But sometimes you want a more straight villain, [[HateSink someone to be hated for their evil]]. Maybe the likable villain used to fill that role, but since they TookALevelInKindness that role needs filling. Perhaps there needs to be a worse villain for the nicer villain to have a plausible EnemyMine situation with the hero, or have a HeelFaceTurn [[EvilVersusEvil to oppose them]]. The darker shade of black contrasts the nicer by lacking their nobler intentions, [[EvenEvilHasStandards standards]], attachments and geniality. If the likable villain isn't a KnightOfCerebus, this villain might be. That, and/or they function as a HateSink, though sometimes they can take the role of [[LoveToHate being enjoyed for their heinousness]] in a way the nicer villain can not. Usually they're an [[EvilCounterpart even eviller counterpart]], {{Foil}} or even ContrastingSequelAntagonist to the honorable villain to make the point clear. Expect them to provoke EvenEvilHasStandards from the other villains. This gets {{exaggerated|Trope}} if the previous villain was {{harmless|Villain}}, while the new one is a CompleteMonster, and it may overlap with VileVillainSaccharineShow as well. |
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| 3 | Not the same as EvilerThanThou, which is when one villain demonstrates their superiority over another villain, usually to prove they're more of a threat. Here, the new villain is shown to be more ''evil'' to another villain without any sort of rivalry involved. If there ''is'' a rivalry involved, then it will likely lead to MakeWayForTheNewVillains, with the old one suffering from TheWorfEffect to establish the danger of the new threat. It may also show that VillainousEthicsDecay is in effect. |
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| 5 | The "Oblivion" in EvilVersusOblivion often fill this role, but that doesn't mean they have to eviler than the "Evil". A WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds is easily more sympathetic than a bumbling CardCarryingVillain, but they're also likely to be more threatening in terms of strength and conviction, making them worse by default. The polar opposite of ALighterShadeOfBlack, where a villain is better than another, and, like that trope, it's often used to determine who should be rooted for or against in EvilVersusEvil situations. |
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| 7 | May lead to an EnemyMine situations (where the previous villain has to team-up TheHero to finish this menace and come back to the previous status quo) or a HeroRivalBaddieTeamUp (where TheRival is also summed to the team to defeat this menace), both alliances made temporarily and ''[[TeethClenchedTeamwork teeth-clenched]]''. When there's a truly heroic figure to compare, it's TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil. Related to SortingAlgorithmOfEvil, MoreHateableMinorVillain, and particularly SlidingScaleOfAntagonistVileness - the new villain has to be less sympathetic on that scale than the older one. Compare SympatheticVillainDespicableVillain if the Viler New Villain is irredeemably evil and the older becomes intentionally sympathetic. |
| 8 | ---- |
| 9 | !!Examples: |
| 10 | |
| 11 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 12 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 13 | * ''Manga/AkameGaKill'': The Jaegars serve TheEmpire, but even the worst of them have a strict moral code, don't indiscriminately kill citizens of the Empire unless they believe they're part of LaResistance. Later on the Wild Hunt is introduced as secondary enforcers of the Empire, who serve to make the Jaegars look good by comparison by being [[PsychoForHire hired psychopaths]] who will kill and rape innocent citizens [[ForTheEvulz out of sadism]], and have no care for each other's well-being compared to the genuine sense of camaraderie the Jaegars have for each other. They're so vile [[EnemyMine Night Raid and the Jaegars team up against them]]. |
| 14 | * ''Manga/{{Dandadan}}'' has the Kur/Space Globalists to the Serpoians. Unlike the Serpoians, [[OneGenderRace who are all male]] and require females of other species to provide needed genetic diversity, the Kur have no need to prey on other species, they just want fodder for their weaponry and [[TheRightOfASuperiorSpecies openly consider it there's by right]]. And while the Serpoians seem to be planning an invasion of some unknown scale, the Kur are primed for total war against the Earth. Their strategies enphasize this contrast: the Serpoians operate in small cells and study Earth's supernatural phenomena while the Kur have an entire armada set to wage war against the planet, [[spoiler:though despite being able to get to Earth in spite of the heroes' efforts, said armada was no match for a single supernatural entity, which the Serpoians determined was the very reason aliens were not able to invade Earth]]. |
| 15 | * ''Manga/DrStone'': First villain Tsukasa was a WellIntentionedExtremist that wished to keep the Stone World free from scientific advancements in order to prevent war and bloodshed. His Dragon Hyoga had a similar ideal, but with a far stricter "survival of the fittest" mantra, resulting in him allowing Tsukasa's other warriors to die in a poison gas cloud, which Tsukasa would have never done. Then it's revealed he merely went along with Tsukasa so he can find his weakness and kill him, even going after his younger (revived) sister to do so. But even Hyoga is downright charming compared to the next villain, Minister Ibara, the brutal dictator of the Petrification Kingdom who claims his orders came from the island's Master, when in reality he petrified the Master long ago and destroyed his face (effectively killing him). When any of the girls he brings onto his harem discovers this truth, he murders them without a second thought, including his attempt to kill Ginro. Anyone that questions him is petrified, even his closest associates. Made worse in that he's clever too, managing to out-maneuver several of Senku's gambits. |
| 16 | * ''Franchise/DragonBall'' commonly uses this trope in regards to introducing new villains. |
| 17 | ** In the [[Recap/DragonBallRedRibbonArmyArc Red Ribbon Army arc]], General Blue (already this trope compared to Colonel Silver and General White) was a formidable opponent who very nearly got to kill Krillin and proved to be the first personally severe obstacle to overcome. He's usurped by Tao Pai-Pai, who kills him ''with his tongue'' and then proceeds to kill Bora and then hand Goku a defeat. From a larger perspective, the Red Ribbon Army as a whole serve as a more dramatic and hate-able military force than the bumbling Pilaf Gang. |
| 18 | ** The eponymous Piccolo Daimao from the [[Recap/DragonBallKingPiccoloArc King Piccolo arc]] is easily the biggest jump, as he's much more formidable and callous than the Red Ribbon Army or Tao Pai-Pai, being the embodiment of evil. This jump is strongly contrasted as he spends the first half of this arc paired with the goofy Pilaf Gang. Daimao was notably the first villain to actually achieve his plan (restore his youth and take over the world), and in short order at that. |
| 19 | ** In the [[Recap/DragonBallZNamekArc Namek arc]], Frieza serves as this role to previous ArcVillain Vegeta. While Vegeta is just as interested in conquering the galaxy as Frieza, he has [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy a warrior's pride]] and is willing to work with the heroes against a common threat. Frieza is an even larger scale villain than Vegeta was, and is shown to be far more sadistic and cutthroat. And while Vegeta has VillainousValor, Frieza [[DirtyCoward is ultimately a coward]] that tries to kill Goku behind his back [[UngratefulBastard even after Goku saved his life]]. |
| 20 | ** Cell ends up being the final antagonist in the [[Recap/DragonBallZAndroidArc Android arc]] after Android 17 and 18. Like them, he's a killer android, but while they are delinquents who only plan to kill Goku, Cell is a homicidal android that drains the life of thousands of people with cruel glee, and after becoming perfect wants to kill everyone so he can watch their faces contort in terror. While the twins end up having a HeelFaceTurn, Cell rejects any desire to stop his villainy and dies evil through and through. |
| 21 | ** Interestingly, the Majin Buu introduced at the start of the [[Recap/DragonBallZMajinBuuArc Majin Buu arc]] is a villain that causes random destruction and turns people into candy, however there is a large amount of levity to his actions [[LaughablyEvil because of his comical personality]], and only does bad things [[ObliviouslyEvil because he doesn't know they're evil]]. After he has a HeelFaceTurn, a new ArcVillain is introduced in his SuperpoweredEvilSide Super Buu, who's intentionally cruel and sadistic. He, in turn, is replaced by Kid Buu, who's animalistic and a completely insane force of evil in contrast to "Fat Buu". |
| 22 | * In ''Manga/FairyTail'', Zeref was built up throughout the first half of the series as the ultimate source of evil - a large amount of the main villains were either creations of Zeref, trying to revive Zeref, or using magic that Zeref had left behind. Then it's revealed that he's a TragicVillain who was cursed for trying to revive his younger brother from the dead. Shortly afterwards, we are introduced to Acnologia, an AxCrazy HateSink who [[EvenEvilHasStandards even Zeref views as a monster]]. |
| 23 | * Takemaru from ''Anime/InuYashaTheMovieSwordsOfAnHonorableRuler'' was far from being a good person. He was a cruel samurai and murderer. However, he had only a hatred for Inuyasha, Sesshomaru and their father. The demonic sword So'unga, on the other hand, wanted to destroy the world and flood it with undead. |
| 24 | * ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'': |
| 25 | ** In ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]]'', the moment the crusaders encounter Telence T. D'Arby, [[TheGambler Daniel's]] younger brother and the last of the Egypt 9 Glory Gods, they are left in shock that he is ''even viler'' than his older brother. Despite having stolen fewer souls than Daniel, Telence [[LivingDollCollector traps them within dolls]] and [[AndIMustScream deliberately keeps them fully aware of their situation]] and unable to do anything about it. DIO is especially fond of this guy and not only is he the worst of the Glory Gods, he is the most vicious of DIO's goons since [[SerialRapist J. Geil]]. |
| 26 | ** The plot of ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind Golden Wind]]'' centers around a bunch of mobsters, who vary in morality. However, among [[BigBad the Boss]]' Special Unit, [[MadDoctor Cioccolata]] is meant to stand out as particularly horrible. While ruthless, most of the guard is motivated [[OnlyInItForTheMoney by cash]] and try to avoid harming innocent civilians. Cioccolata, however, is a disturbed sadist and SerialKiller who only joined Passione [[PsychoForHire for the opportunity to torture and murder people]], and delights in the mass slaughter of innocent civilians. Everyone in Passione, ''even the Boss'' (who's the BigBad, mind you, and no AntiVillain himself) [[EvenEvilHasStandards considers him repulsively evil]]. |
| 27 | ** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]]'' takes place in a maximum security prison filled with rapists, murderers, lowlifes and corrupt officials, but no other character stands out in depravity as much as the former leader of a suicide cult, [[EvilOldFolks Kenzō]]. He is an egotistical, sadistic piece of work with a god complex and similarly to Cioccolata, everyone hates Kenzō and refuses to associate with him. |
| 28 | * ''Manga/MagiLabyrinthOfMagic'' has as its first antagonists a cruel but completely incompetent conqueror, and later a robber gang and a corrupt and incompetent king. But the opponents who then attack the heroes belong to an organization of black magicians who want to bring the world into chaos and call themselves Al-Thamen. |
| 29 | * The [[TheEmpire Zanscare Empire]] manage to be worse than every previous villainous faction to come before in ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' (which is no small feat given the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName mold]] many are cut out of). While most of the early villainous factions were shown to have plenty of sympathetic, well-intentioned or honorable members in their ranks, Zanscare seems to be almost entirely comprised of AxCrazy religious fanatics bent on enacting a [[FinalSolution total cleansing]] of Earth. The final stretch of episodes even sees them trying to [[spoiler:MindRape the entire planet with a KillSat powered by innocent women and children]]. [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer Yeah]]... |
| 30 | * ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed'' manages to continuously ratchet up how monstrous the antagonists tend to be. Starting with Rau le Creuset and his elite squadron, it largely plays out as two sides of a war clashing. Things get more complicated in the third act, as the mantle of BigBad ends up being taken by human supremacist [[AxCrazy Murata Azrael]] and PLANT chairman [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Patrick Zala]]. [[spoiler: Both of them are actually being played for fools by Rau le Creuset, an OmnicidalManiac who believes that humanity doesn't deserve to exist. He manipulates the ZAFT military directly as a commander, and gives technology to the Earth forces to allow them to use nuclear weapons freely against the colonies.]] |
| 31 | * Charles Augustus Milverton, once he finally shows up in ''The Phantom of Whitechapel'' arc of the manga ''Manga/MoriartyThePatriot''. He does everything ForTheEvulz, and it's notable that Sherlock Holmes ''loathes'' him, even though he's quite fond of VillainProtagonist William James Moriarty. |
| 32 | * In ''Manga/MuhyoAndRoji'', Enchu, the main antagonist of the first saga, as well as his accomplice [[spoiler:Rio Kurotori]] were both sympathetic villains with tragic backstories, while the next arc introduced CorruptCorporateExecutive Goryo and his {{Jerkass}} sidekick Ebisu, who were thoroughly unsympathetic. After Muhyo and Roji reunite, the next villain they face, Tomas, is one of the most despicable characters in the series, while Goryo and Ebisu (who are forced to accept Muhyo's help against their common enemy) become somewhat more sympathetic, partially by comparison. |
| 33 | * In ''Manga/OnePiece'', Hody Jones acts as a follow-up to Arlong. And while Arlong was already unsympathetic, Hody Jones is far worse. While Arlong cared for his fellow fishmen and would not harm them even if they disappointed him, Hody Jones is more than willing to do just that, even killing the fishmen's beloved queen because she wanted to bury the hatchet with humanity. Arlong was content with humanity bending the knee and offering tribute, but Hody Jones was after humanity's total destruction. And while Arlong had the justification of experiencing the FantasticRacism levelled against fishmen by humans firsthand, [[spoiler:humanity never did anything to Hody Jones personally and he doesn't even know if their FantasticRacism still exists]]. |
| 34 | * The first parasites from ''Manga/{{Parasyte}}'' just want to eat humans, and actually have no sadistic pleasure in killing them. [[BlueAndOrangeMorality They even compare the eating of humans with the consumption of pigs and cows]]. But then Gotou, a particularly powerful parasite, is the new enemy, and he's [[AxCrazy crazy]] about killing as many humans as possible. |
| 35 | ** After Gotou is finally dealt with and the parasites have gone into hiding, [[PostClimaxConfrontation the final antagonist of the series]] is actually the revolting but ''human'' SerialKiller Uragami, a [[ImAHumanitarian cannibalistic]] and [[ILoveTheDead necrophiliac]] [[TheSociopath sociopath]] who butchers and dismembers people for fun. While he's not even a ''fraction'' as much of a threat as Gotou was (being only an ordinary human PsychoKnifeNut), he served to drive home the theme that HumansAreTheRealMonsters, as even Gotou was driven by an irresistible instinct to kill humans, while Uragami [[ForTheEvulz just enjoys it]], and he still comes ''dangerously'' close to killing Shinichi's girlfriend Satomi. The most disgusting character in the entire series, Uragami is a complete HateSink. |
| 36 | * ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'': Cassidy and Butch serve as this and EvilerThanThou rivals to Jessie, James and Meowth. Both are Pokémon thieves working for Team Rocket, but Jessie and James are shown to care for their own Pokémon, [[EnemyMine work with]] or even sympathize with the heroes and have other likable traits. Cassidy and Butch, by contrast, lack any AffablyEvil traits and don't show any care for their Pokémon. |
| 37 | * ''Anime/ProjectAKo: Uncivil Wars'': In contrast to the villains of the main series, who were all comical and caused harm as a result of misunderstandings or incompetence, the SpacePirates are an ApocalypseCult seeking [[OmnicidalManiac the destruction of all existence]] so their leader, Lady Xena, may remake everything [[InTheirOwnImage in her own image]]. And while the {{mooks}} are stupid, the leaders are played seriously, with Xena in particular being a depraved, AxCrazy maniac and GodhoodSeeker who blows up fleets, planets, and an entire galaxy onscreen while reveling in their deaths. |
| 38 | * ''Manga/ThePromisedNeverland'' had Isabella as its first ArcVillain. By the end of the arc she was shown to have been like the main characters when she was their age; she attempted to escape from the [[PeopleFarms farms]] they grew up on, but gave up [[DespairEventHorizon after seeing the giant gap outside the surrounding wall]]. After that, she simply devoted herself to living as long as she could and [[LetThemDieHappy thought of herself as giving the children she watched the happiest life possible before their deaths.]] The first ArcVillain encountered after the children escape is [[AristocratsAreEvil Lord Bayon]], one of the nobility among the demons who eat humans. Finding human meat prepared from farms to be tasteless, Bayon had children shipped to his home so he could relive the thrill of when he hunted humans. As his food was much more tasteful when he killed it himself, he had his hunts in increasing numbers, while inviting other nobles to join in the hunts as well. |
| 39 | * ''Anime/SonicX'': As bad as Dr. Eggman could get, he wasn't a {{sadist}}, was AffablyEvil, and wanted to conquer the world, not destroy it. Dark Oak, the BigBad of the third season, is a genocidal monster who's destroyed multiple planets by stealing their Planet Eggs, plotted to wipe out all non-plant life forms in the galaxy, and [[spoiler:decides to destroy the entire galaxy in his final moments rather than let Sonic and Shadow win]]. |
| 40 | [[/folder]] |
| 41 | |
| 42 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 43 | * ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': The team's archnemesis [[Characters/MarvelComicsDoctorDoom Doctor Doom]] is regarded as the Most Dangerous Man On Earth, being both an OmnidisciplinaryScientist and versed in FunctionalMagic. Doom rules the small Balkan nation of Latveria as absolute monarch. That is, until he was snared by the Puppetmaster, leaving his nation bereft of a leader. Exiled Prince Zorba appears, and claims the Latverian throne. Zorba then slowly devolves into a petty tyrant, turning Latveria from the crown jewel of Europe into a jackboot hellhole. The Fantastic Four actually help Doom regain the throne rather than let decent people suffer Zorba's tyranny. |
| 44 | * ''ComicBook/GIJoeIDW'': The first Cobra Commander is the ruthless leader of an international terrorist organization, but he does have a son he genuinely loves, he keeps the more unhinged Cobra operatives on a tight leash, and he's fair to his subordinates as long as they're not a danger to the organization. After his death, his replacement, Krake, takes Cobra down a far more aggressive and militaristic path, employing tactics such as ChildSoldiers and biological weapons that the first Cobra Commander wouldn't have been willing to use, [[BadBoss being far more willing to sacrifice his own men]], and letting the more psychopathic Cobra agents run rampant. |
| 45 | * ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'': The second [[Characters/DCComicsMongul Mongul]] ended up getting this treatment upon his RoguesGalleryTransplant and attempted coup of the Sinestro Corps. While [[Characters/GreenLanternThaalSinestro Sinestro]] is a fascist alien who enforces his will with fear, [[WellIntentionedExtremist he still believes he's a force for good and order]], [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes and cares for his daughter]]. By contrast, Mongul merrily runs whatever he conquers into the ground and punched off the head of his own sister because she was a "weakness". Sinestro also carries a certain charisma and properly leads the Sinestro Corps, while Mongul is a {{Jerkass}} [[BadBoss who kills anyone that remotely questions him]], and [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating his faction only follows him because they fear for their lives]]. |
| 46 | * In the modern ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' comics, ComicBook/TheJoker has a new girlfriend named Punchline, due to Characters/{{Harley Quinn|TheCharacter}} leaving him for good as well as pretty much being an AntiHero by this point, whereas Punchline is more of a CardCarryingVillain. |
| 47 | * ''{{ComicBook/Spawn}}'': With the Redeemer being an anti-villain with him eventually becoming an ally of Spawn and a member of the Scorched. The Forsaken aka Dark Redeemer takes over his old role being the first Redeemer but more Aggressive and vengeful than the other Redeemers. |
| 48 | * ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': |
| 49 | ** While [[Characters/MarvelComicsVenom Venom]] was introduced as a villain, he became more popular as an AntiHero. This led to the creation of [[Characters/MarvelComicsCarnage Carnage]] to serve as his [[EvilCounterpart truly evil counterpart]]; while [[Characters/MarvelComicsEddieBrock Eddie Brock]] was antagonistic to Spider-Man out of IrrationalHatred, [[Characters/MarvelComicsCletusKasady Cletus Kasady]] was a convicted SerialKiller who used the Carnage symbiote to kill people [[ForTheEvulz for fun]], often leading to an EnemyMine situation with Spidey and Venom against him. During the majority of the 2000s, the [[Characters/MarvelComicsMacGargan Mac Gargan]] version of Venom usurped this status, and Carnage was temporarily killed off. |
| 50 | ** While Carnage is by far the more popular Viler New Villain with regards to Spider-Man's RoguesGallery, Stegron was this to the Lizard long before Carnage became this to Venom, being a reptilian supervillain to Spider-Man like the Lizard who was inspired by Curt Connors to transform himself into Stegron but possesses much less humanizing qualities, is seen much less in his human form, doesn't have a family, and whatever small sympathetic traits he has are played up much less compared to Curt Connors' good qualities. |
| 51 | * ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': [[Characters/SupermanBrainiacCharacter Brainiac]] functions like this with the Man of Steel's other ArchEnemy [[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]]. Both are [[EvilGenius evil geniuses]], however, Luthor has always been given humanizing elements like [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans believing that he's bettering humanity]], [[EvenEvilHasStandards standards,]] [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes loved ones,]] [[AffablyEvil or affability]]. Brainiac, by contrast, has almost always been written as a completely inhuman foe ([[AliensAreBastards literally]] and figuratively) who destroys civilizations [[ControlFreak just to keep their knowledge to himself]]. While Luthor and Brainiac have teamed up on numerous occasions, [[TeethClenchedTeamwork Luthor is usually uneasy about it]]. |
| 52 | * ''ComicBook/XMen'': Magneto's slow reformation under Chris Claremont meant that they needed another potential archenemy for the team. As such, Louise and Walter Simonson created Apocalypse. He was designed around Darwinian principles and without any of Magneto's redeeming qualities. |
| 53 | [[/folder]] |
| 54 | |
| 55 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 56 | * The ''Franchise/ToyStory'' franchise has [[spoiler:[[KillerTeddyBear Lots-o'-Huggin]] [[BitchinSheepsClothing Bear]]]] be portrayed as being far more evil than any of the other villains in the franchise, who are either antagonistic humans who have no idea that the toys are sentient or antagonistic toys who are portrayed in a more sympathetic light. |
| 57 | [[/folder]] |
| 58 | |
| 59 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 60 | * ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'': [[Characters/BatmanRasAlGhul Ra's Al-Ghul]] is the BigBad in ''Film/BatmanBegins'', but he's is a WellIntentionedExtremist and respects Bruce Wayne despite the latter opposing him as Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}}. After Ra's Al-Ghul's defeat, a clown-themed villain named [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]] shows up to fill the vacancy in ''Film/TheDarkKnight''. Unlike Ra's, the Joker is a CardCarryingVillain who plunges Gotham into chaos ForTheEvulz and only sees Batman as an amusing challenge. |
| 61 | * ''Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse'': ''Film/ManOfSteel'' had General Zod, a warmongering alien that would decimate all life on Earth, but ultimately he just wanted to restore his destroyed world. ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'' had Lex Luthor, whose motives aren't nearly as understandable. Luthor goes out of his way to antagonize and defame Superman so that not only would the public turn against him, but someone like Batman would try to kill him. Unlike Zod, Luthor doesn't give a damn how many of his own people will be slaughtered in the process. |
| 62 | * In [[Film/HerculePoirotKennethBranagh Kenneth Branagh's series of movie adaptations based on Agatha Christie's Poirot novels]], the murder culprits thus far get steadily more heinous with each new film. The ''Film/{{Murder on the Orient Express|2017}}'' culprits are portrayed as sympathetic [[AntiVillain anti-villains]] whom never actually kill anyone aside from their intended target (who was much worse than them even when they're at their lowest), and Poirot is ultimately convinced to let them go. The culprits in ''Film/{{Death on the Nile|2022}}'' are more greedy and selfish in their motivations, and willing to murder people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, but they [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes deeply love each-other]]. Then ''Film/AHauntingInVenice'' features a culprit who murders people on flimsier suspicions that they ''might'' be onto the truth, and who committed filicide (albeit accidentally) because they'd been poisoning their own child just to prevent them from escaping. |
| 63 | * ''Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom'': [[Characters/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom Eli Mills]] is one of the single most despicable characters across all the movies. He's a ruthless [[TheSociopath sociopath]] motivated purely by his own monetary gain, he has none of [[Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark Peter Ludlow]]'s standards or Unintentionally Sympathetic qualities nor any of [[Film/JurassicWorld Hoskins]]' [[PetTheDog dog-petting moments]], his goals are arguably more materialistic than the ForScience motivations of Dr. Wu, and he crosses all sorts of lines that neither the aforementioned antagonists nor [[Film/JurassicPark Nedry]] crossed ([[spoiler:directly murdering his long-time elderly employer]], planning to abduct and experiment on a [[spoiler:cloned]] little girl, selling captured dinosaurs not to a new park on the mainland nor even to the official military but to literally any black marketeers who had dough). |
| 64 | * ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:'' |
| 65 | ** The villain for the Infinity Saga, Thanos, is willing to commit multiple genocide to achieve his goals, but believes in part it's for a good but hideous reason, and is capable of some twisted form of love. The ArcVillain replacing him, Kang, doesn't, and his introductory film establishes he's annihilated entire worlds, entire ''universes'' without even the slightest shred of remorse, simply the rush of doing so. |
| 66 | ** For a franchise-specific example, Vulture from ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'' was a black-market arms dealer, but cared for his men and tried to limit innocent casualties as much as he can, even offering Peter an opportunity to back out with no strings attached, and even protects Peter's identity from known criminals. [[spoiler:Mysterio from ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'' initially presented himself as TheCape, but is soon revealed to be a FakeUltimateHero with implied casualties in his drone attacks numbering thousands, doesn't care about his team more than their skillset, and brutally {{Mind Rape}}s Peter after his true colors come to light, despite liking the kid earlier. Even when Peter eventually defeats him, Mysterio manages to get the last laugh by ''publicly framing Spider-Man behind the London attacks as well as his murder and then '''exposing his SecretIdentity''' for the world to see''.]] |
| 67 | * Franchise/MonsterVerse: The [[Film/Godzilla2014 first movie]] introduces the [=MUTOs=], destructive [[NonMaliciousMonster Non-Malicious Monsters]] who only want to live out their natural life cycle and are indifferent towards the humans and cities around them ([[spoiler:until said humans [[MamaBear destroy the female's nest]]]]). Next, ''Film/KongSkullIsland'' introduces the Skullcrawlers, who are hyper-aggressive carnivores driven by an extreme metabolism and at times appear to enjoy hunting their prey. Then ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' introduces King Ghidorah, an intelligent and genuinely evil [[spoiler:alien]] kaiju who [[{{Sadist}} goes out of his way to]] [[KillAllHumans kill as many humans as possible]] and is actively seeking the destruction of Earth's natural order. |
| 68 | ** This trope also somewhat applies to the human antagonists. In ''Skull Island'', Preston Packard is an unstable war veteran with rather sympathetic circumstances, who's driven insane by losing his men one by one to the kaiju. ''King of the Monsters'' introduces Alan Jonah, a cold-blooded killer and misanthrope EcoTerrorist, who proves to be a NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist when he doesn't care that Ghidorah threatens all life on Earth so long as it makes humanity suffer. |
| 69 | * ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'': While he's not necessarily introduced as such, Hoffman is progressively shown to be a much more immoral and dangerous BigBad than the original Jigsaw, as well as later killers and copycats, being one of the very few who directly murders people without using death traps. He eventually becomes an absolute sociopath with his VillainousBreakdown throughout ''Film/Saw3D''. |
| 70 | * The movie version of ''Literature/SometimesTheyComeBack'' shows three murderers who become undead and haunt those who killed them then. The three murderers in the sequel, on the other hand, have [[DemonOfHumanOrigin become demons]], and they are much more cruel and sadistic than those from the prequel. |
| 71 | * ''Franchise/StarWars'': Darth Vader was initially introduced as a straight villain, but as the original trilogy progressed he was revealed to be a TragicVillain [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes who deeply cared for his son Luke]] and [[WeCanRuleTogether wanted to rule the galaxy together]]. To make his eventual redemption and fall seem more understandable, Emperor Palpatine was introduced as an unambiguously evil figure [[TheManBehindTheMan who turned Vader evil in the first place]] and for Vader to ultimately strike down as part of his break from the Dark Side. While Darth Vader would be characterized as an AntiVillain and FallenHero [[BeingEvilSucks who hated what he'd become]] and his StartOfDarkness would be shown in the prequels, Palpatine would be written as lacking any redeeming qualities, and having no tragic past or good reason why he became who he was aside from [[DespotismJustifiesTheMeans sheer power-lust]] [[EvilFeelsGood and sheer delight in being evil]]. It happens again in ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' [[spoiler: as he [[HijackedByGanon hijacks]] the First Order from Kylo Ren, setting up the latter for a HeelFaceTurn]]. |
| 72 | * ''Film/TransformersRiseOfTheBeasts'': The [[BigBadDuumvirate Decepticons Shatter and Dropkick]] in ''Film/{{Bumblebee}}'' were vicious and cruel, but at least had some sense of camaraderie between them. Scourage of the Terrorcons on the other hand is a psychopath in service of [[GreaterScopeVillain Unicron]] who takes pleasure in wiping out civilizations for his master while preparing planets for him to feast on, hunting down survivors and making them suffer before killing them. |
| 73 | [[/folder]] |
| 74 | |
| 75 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 76 | * In ''Literature/AccelWorld'', Cyan Pile, the villain of the first volume, does a HeelFaceTurn at the end, while Cherry Rook is a TragicVillain who had been corrupted by the Armor of Catastrophe. Dusk Taker, however, is a truly despicable character who uses blackmail, manipulation and illegal technology to gain the upper hand. |
| 77 | * ''Literature/ConanTheBarbarian'': Conan will frequently go from [[AssholeVictim administering well-deserved violence unto a reprehensible example of humanity]] at the start of a story to [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu punching out Cthulhu]] by the end. |
| 78 | ** ''Literature/ThePhoenixOnTheSword'': The conspirators attempting to assassinate King Conan and usurp his throne are not nice people, but EvilSorcerer [[BreakoutVillain Thoth-Amon]] and the demon he summons with his Serpent Ring of Set are so nasty a long-dead adversary of Set is forced to give Conan mystical assistance from beyond the grave (the titular Phoenix) to stop them. |
| 79 | ** ''Literature/XuthalOfTheDusk'': Thalis is the primary antagonist for much of the story, intending to sacrifice Conan's GirlOfTheWeek to [[EldritchAbomination Thog]] so she can have Conan all to herself. She's eaten ([[NothingIsScarier or something]]) by Thog, leaving Conan to lay the smackdown upon the "god." |
| 80 | ** ''Literature/TheValeOfLostWomen'': Conan leads his tribe of warriors to slaughter the tribe they'd come to parley with (who Conan knew full well would betray them the first chance they got) to rescue the fair maiden the other tribe had captured. In a panic, said fair maiden flees into the titular Vale, home to a "[[EldritchAbomination Demon of the Outer Dark]]," which Conan sends packing with his trusty sword. |
| 81 | * ''Literature/IsItWrongToTryToPickUpGirlsInADungeon'' had as their first antagonists rather some assholes (and later also {{asshole victim}}s) who have maltreated Liliruca. The sequel ''Sword Oratoria'', on the other hand, had an evil adventurer and contract killer working for a [[ManEatingPlant malicious plant monster]]. |
| 82 | * ''Literature/MorganvilleVampires'' features the vampire [[IceQueen Amelie]] and her father Bishop. Amelie as leader of the Morganville vampires can be ruthless and perfectly willing to kill people if it means that vampires are able to survive as she feels its for the good of her people. That said she does everything with the [[WellIntentionedExtremist best of intentions]] and is also [[AffablyEvil genuinely friendly]] and even views the series heroine Claire Danvers as a surrogate daughter of sorts. In contrast her father, Bishop who is introduced later in the series is a ruthless sociopath who would bring about the extinction of all other vampires but him if it meant he got to rule and is far more prone to violence and bloodshed. Every ounce of politeness or apparently kind thought that comes from Bishop is [[FauxAffablyEvil fake]]. |
| 83 | * ''Literature/TheMortalInstruments'': |
| 84 | ** Valentine Morgenstern was a racist [[FantasticRacism who had despised the humans and]] [[FantasyKitchenSink downwoldlers]], and wanted a world in which there are only [[{{Nephilim}} shadowhunters]]. After he was defeated, and Sebastian Morgenstern became the next BigBad, it turned out that he was much more evil and wanted to turn the whole world into a hotbed of demons. |
| 85 | ** [[TheFairFolk Fairies]] are generally considered [[FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon beautiful, but also vicious]]. First, only the fairies from Seelie Court are shown, and many of them are really prone to be evil. But the sequel ''Literature/TheDarkArtifices'' shows the Unseelie Court. And the fairies there are even more cruel. |
| 86 | * Luke from ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' is an anti-villain who has at least a legitimate reason to rebel against the gods, even if that does not excuse many of his actions. But the sequel ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'' shows Gaia, who is a very powerful and very evil goddess and wants to destroy the world. Even minor villains like Octavian are far more vicious than Luke was. |
| 87 | * ''Literature/Overlord2012'': Ainz is stuck babysitting a bunch of murderous psychopaths (essentially a bunch of [[OriginalCharacter Original Characters]] created by people in full edgelord phase) united only in their unwavering faith and devotion in Ainz as their PhysicalGod and their hatred of humans. Because Ainz still thinks like a human, he's unaware of their more troublesome quirks like Demiurge running a vast vivisection operation on beastmen or Lupusregina interpreting Ainz's orders to guard a human as "don't kill him yourself", even as he's trying to run a kingdom where different races can live in peace. |
| 88 | * ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': |
| 89 | ** [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] with Roose and Ramsay Bolton in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''. Roose Bolton is a [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] [[AristocratsAreEvil lord]] that starts as the TokenEvilTeammate for House Stark, [[TheStarscream before betraying them]] in the Red Wedding. While bad, he tries to promote order. His [[BastardBastard bastard son]] Ramsay is a wild sadist who openly tortures and kills people, much to his father's frustration. However, Roose is almost sadistic as his son beneath his MaskOfSanity and opposes Ramsay's naked cruelty [[PragmaticVillainy because it's bad PR rather than any morality]]. However he does have one distinct standard above Ramsay, that being even he wouldn't kill his own kin despite how StupidEvil his bastard is, while Ramsay is heavily implied to have murdered his legitimate half-brother to become Roose's heir. |
| 90 | ** Balon Greyjoy is far, far from a saint, being an {{abusive parent|s}} to his last living son and a ruler who desires to bring back the old ways of the Ironborn, raping and pillaging as they please. Still, he has certain standards that come with the Ironborn culture, loves his daughter and at least one of his brothers and is generally too incompetent to do too much lasting damage, only indirectly ruining House Stark's chance to win the war. After he is killed off, Euron Greyjoy, his not-so-loved brother, comes into the picture and takes the Seastone Chair. Euron by contrast has no sense of honor, [[BlueAndOrangeMorality Ironborn]] or otherwise, no love for anyone and is sadistic for the the sake of sadism. Euron manages to be evil by real-world standards, common Westerosi standards, and even ''Ironborn'' standards. This coupled with his extremely high competence as a military leader and politician, and possible use of dark magic make him a much more dangerous, serious and despicable contender for the Throne than Balon ever was. Though [[GodhoodSeeker Euron]] himself seems to desire more than that and appears willing to bring about the apocalypse in order to obtain what he desires. |
| 91 | * ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'': Akihiko Kayaba was no saint, but he had his [[MoralSociopathy own moral code]] and [[FairPlayVillain stuck to it to the end]]. The Fairy Dance arc brings in Nobuyuki Sugou, who has none of Kayaba's AffablyEvil traits and is just an amoral, greedy, perverted {{Jerkass}} who commits such horrifying atrocities as trapping 300 SAO survivors for the sake of performing mind control experiments, trying to rape Asuna while making Kirito watch, and then trying to kill Kazuto IRL. And while Kayaba had VillainousValour, was a good fighter even without admin privileges, and ultimately [[GracefulLoser took his defeat well]], Sugou is a DirtyCoward who knows he doesn't stand a chance against Kirito without GameMaster powers and [[InelegantBlubbering wimps out]] when the tables turn on him. |
| 92 | * ''Literature/TheseWordsAreTrueAndFaithful'': Ernie, the VillainProtagonist, has standards but sometimes grants himself a dispensation because he lets his heart (or other body parts) rule him. His affair with Danny, who turns out to be an amoral leech, causes him to reconsider what he's done. |
| 93 | * ''Literature/{{Zodiac|1988}}'': [[spoiler:Aquarius is a WellIntentionedExtremist who genuinely believed in what he was doing, and didn't even want to do it at first. Which amounts for a lot more when you compare him to [[BitchInSheepsClothing Blaze]] and [[HeroKiller Aryll]]]]. |
| 94 | [[/folder]] |
| 95 | |
| 96 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 97 | * ''Series/BreakingBad'': While Tuco Salamanca always was crazy, he doesn't hold a candle to the meticulous and conniving Gus Fring. By the end of the series, [[spoiler:actual neo-Nazis make Jesse's life hell.]] His protagonist nature blurs the line, but Walter White's slow but certain descent into villainy makes him an example compared to the initial small fries. Even then, [[spoiler:the above-mentioned Neo-Nazis pull an EvilerThanThou on him and betray him to such an extent that Walt eventually becomes TheAtoner for the remainder of the series.]] |
| 98 | * This happened several times in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. |
| 99 | ** Spike started as [[BigBad Big Bad]] of the second season. But by the [[AlwaysChaoticEvil standards of vampires]], he was not very evil. Although he was a real opponent for Buffy, and killed some humans, Angelus was worse. He showed from the outset a very cruel and sadistic behavior. And he wanted to free a demon that would turn the whole world into hell. |
| 100 | ** [[DarkActionGirl Faith]] in the third season kills Mr. Trick, [[TheDragon the Dragon]] of the BigBad. And then she became his new dragon. Among her acts were her sexual assault of Xander, the (indirect) rape of Riley, the kidnapping of Willow, the brutal torture of Wesley, a murder attempt on Angel, and at least four murders (three humans and a benevolent demon, the first of which was really an accident). |
| 101 | ** Maggie Walsh in the fourth season was just a scientist with evil motives. And she created a monster named Adam, which consisted of the body parts of humans, demons and machines. Adam killed her and became the next ''Big Bad'' of the season. However, since he pursued roughly the same plan as Maggie Walsh, it is more a case of creating a more dangerous villain rather than a more vicious villain. |
| 102 | ** In the sixth season, the new opponents are a trio of supervillains. The three are not very effective as villains, and at least one of them is [[HarmlessVillain more of a nuisance than really evil]]. But after Warren kills Tara, Willow falls into evil magic and trying to destroy the world. |
| 103 | ** In ''Series/{{Angel}}'', this is discussed as the heroes fight a powerful demon they call ''The Beast''. They want to get Angelus to give them information on how to fight this demon. But some of the heroes are against it, arguing that Angelus could be far more dangerous than this demon. |
| 104 | ** Angelus's explanation of who the Beast is also involves explaining that there is a Viler New Villain who the Beast was serving; the Beast looked like he was acting on his own, but Angelus explained that he isn't smart enough or mighty enough to be operating without [[TheManBehindTheMan a man behind the man]]: a Master who has [[TakeOverTheWorld stronger ambitions]] even though she has a lot of [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans utopian justifications.]] In turn, the Beast's sheer destructiveness against Wolfram and Hart makes him look like an [[EnemyMine "enemy of the heroes' enemies"]] [[EvilerThanThou who is really more evil than they are]]. |
| 105 | * The three Weird Sisters from ''Series/ChillingAdventuresOfSabrina'' are [[TheBully really assholes]]. But even during the first season shows that Father Blackwood is much more malicious. And at the end of the plot, they even have to fight the devil. |
| 106 | * ''Series/GameOfThrones'': The Night King serves as this in contrast to the rest of the various lords squabbling for power. While many of these lords and nobles are bad people, they're still human beings with relatable or reasonable reasons for what they do. The Night King, by contrast, is a literally inhuman force of nature than only wants to [[OmnicidalManiac wipe out every living thing]], and has zero interest in any of the politics or personal relationships of the rest of Westeros. |
| 107 | * ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' |
| 108 | ** ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'': Rita Repulsa, the BigBad of the first season, is a comical and petty villaines who always complains about headaches whenever she loses. Her superior Lord Zedd, introduced in the second season, is shown to be completely devoid of comical qualities and exudes an aura of fear towards his subordinates. Zordon sees his arrival as reason enough to supply the Rangers with new Zords. Lord Zedd was apparently so scary, that MoralGuardians demanded him to be toned down. |
| 109 | ** ''Series/PowerRangersDinoFury:'' The BigBad of the first season is Void Knight, who has a mysterious history but uses the Sporix to [[spoiler:try and revive his comatose lover. The second season reveals his goal after that is to simply go home with her]]. In the second season, he shows he has ''some'' standards (and additionally a few moments of being TheComicallySerious), just as Void Queen steps onto the stage, and demonstrates she has ''no'' standards, [[spoiler:wanting to get revenge on all of humanity, even destroying a chance to leave, and blasting Void Knight when he objects, eventually brainwashing and mutating him into a monster out of spite]]. |
| 110 | * ''Series/{{Primeval}}'': |
| 111 | ** [[PlayingWithATrope Played straight]] from Season 1 to Season 2. In the first season, Helen just wants to [[spoiler:find an Anomaly to the future so she can explore it for herself]], and the worst she does in pursuit of that goal is manipulating Cutter and the team into expending their troops and resources to serve her own ends. Oliver Leek from the next season is listed as a Complete Monster on this wiki for a reason: his entire motivations are power-hunger and ego, he's willing to use [[spoiler:captured creatures]] to commit mass terrorism, and he also attempts to have Cutter's team [[spoiler:fed to a Smilodon]] while Cutter helplessly watches just for kicks. |
| 112 | ** After Leek, however, this become a ZigZaggingTrope. In Season 3, Helen, though far more dangerous and more of a threat than before, is ultimately motivated to stop mankind from unleashing an extinction-level apocalypse, [[spoiler:even if she decides she can take the same opportunity to prevent mankind from existing altogether so that the world's other life can develop without suffering humanity's shortcomings, and she implies that she's willing to die if it'll achieve her ends]]. In Season 4, Ethan[[spoiler:/Patrick]] is a deranged, gleeful murderer who doesn't seem to have any more idea of what he wants than the writers do and doesn't really have any higher plan, but he ''does'' have a fairly compelling excuse for growing into such a psycho, and he still has something resembling a heart when it came to Charlotte. Philip Burton in the last two seasons, though he can be dangerously petty, egomaniacal, overly manipulative and ruthless in his own right, is arguably the least violent of all the seasonal antagonists: he wants to use the Anomalies to solve the worldwide energy crisis with completely-green energy which he supposedly intended to give away for free, he arguably never breaks the law outright in pursuit of his goals, and he [[spoiler:sacrifices himself to try and amend his mistake upon realizing [[BadFuture what he's done]]]]. |
| 113 | * ''Series/{{Psych}}'': The Season 3 finale introduces us to Mr. Yang, a serial killer who is only active when a worthy opponent shows up. However, the worst thing she does in the episode is kidnap Shawn's mother and strap a bomb to her. Yang's later appearances portray her as AffablyEvil nutcase who genuinely likes Shawn. In the Season 4 finale, the Psych gang face off against her mentor Mr. Yin, a genuinely evil sociopath who commits murders, attempts to kill Jules and Abigail (and Gus in Season 5), and views Yang as nothing more than a tool. |
| 114 | * ''Franchise/StarTrek'': |
| 115 | ** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' gave audiences the Borg. The Klingons and the Romulans, were interested in conquest and territory and were shown to have members who could be reasonable in deals with TheFederation. The Borg were completely different and would settle for nothing less than the complete subjugation of the Federation and all other life. |
| 116 | ** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' introduced [[TheEmpire the Dominion]]. Before they showed up, the show's main villains were believed to be the Cardassians. The Cardassians were militaristic space fascists but it was made clear that not all of them were like that. This was not the case with Dominion. Its leaders, the Changelings, were a race of smug, egotistical racists who believe themselves to be the pinnacle of creation and that they were imposing order through their aggressive imperialism. Any race deemed too difficult to conquer or simply managed to anger the Changelings, they exterminate. Telling we did see some Borg in ''The Next Generation'' who when separated from the [[HiveMind Borg Collective]] could chose to be good. Outside of [[TokenHeroicOrc Odo]] in the show's main cast, every mature Changeling in the series was evil. |
| 117 | ** Among the races in the Dominion, the Changelings also prove to be this to their Jem'Hadar soldiers, who serve as the first contact with the Dominion. The Jem'Hadar are a race soldiers who fanatically fight and die for the Changelings. But the entire reason the Jem'Hadar live for war is because the Changelings genetically engineered them as such, as well to need special drugs to survive. The Jem'Hadar are AlwaysChaoticEvil but the Changelings made them as such, while Changelings chose evil. |
| 118 | * In the first season of ''Series/StrangerThings'', the primary threat from the Upside Down is the Demogorgon, a MonstrousHumanoid that has a taste for human flesh. While it kills a fair amount of people, it's ultimately a NonMaliciousMonster driven by hunger. Season 2 introduces the Mind Flayer, an EldritchAbomination that has a twisted intelligence, and possesses Will Byers, leading to the death of many people, including [[spoiler:Bob]]. It's far more malicious and intelligent then the animalistic Demogorgon (who is revealed to be [[TheDragon its minion]]). It gets even worse in Season 3, where it "flays" multiple people to create a body. In Season 4 we find out [[spoiler:the Mind Flayer was an extension of the true BigBad Vecna/One. Formerly known as Henry Creel, One was a child that inexplicably developed psychic powers. Deeply misanthropic, One decided to use his powers to cause as much pain and death as possible for reasons that made sense only to himself]]. |
| 119 | * ''Franchise/SuperSentai'': |
| 120 | ** The Vader Clan in ''Series/DenshiSentaiDenziman'' are planet-ravaging marauders, but they're all {{Likable Villain}}s and their leader, Queen Hedrian, is a BenevolentBoss. Enter [[SixthRanger Demon King Banriki]], a self-centered brutish {{jerkass}} who spends most of his time snarking at others and drinking. It's safe to say no one in the audience was weeping when Banriki went down. |
| 121 | ** Guirail ''Series/DenjiSentaiMegaranger'' joins the villains halfway through the series. He likes to employ underhanded methods to get the job done, which includes taking little children as a hostage to even using his own allies as a HumanShield. Because of this, even the other villains hate him to the point of betraying him. |
| 122 | ** The Three Pollution Ministers in ''Series/EngineSentaiGoOnger'' are pretty [[AffablyEvil friendly]] for a band of evil robots. They treat their minions well and [[VillainousFriendship care for one another]]. When their boss Yogoshimacritein comes in however, he's shown to be a brutal tyrant who abuses his minions and views them as disposable, [[KnightOfCerebus darkening the tone of the show significantly]]. |
| 123 | ** Despite being an invasion commander of the [[TheEmpire Zangyack Empire]], [[TheEvilPrince Warz Gill]] in ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger'' is a [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain pompous buffoon]] who's more often than not played for comedy. His father, TheEmperor, on the other hand is competent and utterly merciless, with his arrival marking the point where the stakes get significantly higher. |
| 124 | ** Parodied in ''Series/HikoninSentaiAkibaranger'' with Delu-Knight. Compared to the comical villains preceeding him, Delu-Knight is a more serious antagonist. [[TheHero Nobuo Akagi]] lampshades this by proclaiming the show is {{Retool}}ing itself. |
| 125 | * ''Series/TheWalkingDead2010'': Negan is introduced to make Dwight more sympathetic and set him up for a HeelFaceTurn starting in the back half of Season 7. |
| 126 | [[/folder]] |
| 127 | |
| 128 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 129 | * ''VideoGame/Bayonetta3'': The GreaterScopeVillain of the [[VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}} original game]] and the BigBad of its [[VideoGame/Bayonetta2 second]] is Loptr, an order-obsessed wicked god who [[spoiler:instigates the bloody Witch Hunts, corrupts the noble Masked Lumen into becoming the tyrannical Father Balder and seeks to rule over the world as its sole god]]. But come ''Bayonetta 3'', Singularity, an [[spoiler:''ArtificialHuman created from an artificial body parts plant'', took it way further by blowing up more than '''two thousand universes''' (through killing their Arch-Eves, usually a Bayonetta) and [[ApocalypseHow merging them into one singularity where he rules over.]]]] Loptr might be an egostical tyrant of a god, but [[spoiler:he's not an AxCrazy SerialKiller wiping out life on an omniversal scale.]] |
| 130 | * ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot3Warped'' brought two in the form of Uka Uka and N. Tropy, who entered just as the series' BigBad, Dr. Neo Cortex, was starting to become pitiful in his failed attempts at world domination. Uka Uka was the ManBehindTheMan, an evil and intimidating elder mask whose defining characteristic is his nasty wrathful temper to enemies and subordinates alike. N. Tropy started off a milder case, being a less AffablyEvil ReplacementFlatCharacter for Cortex, though in ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot4ItsAboutTime'', he reveals his truly malicious side, betraying not just Cortex but even Uka Uka in his plans to erase the entire timeline to suit his God complex. He even doubles on this trope by bringing in ''another'' viler villain; an alternate universe version of himself that has actually succeeded in killing their own Crash and Coco. |
| 131 | * ''VideoGame/GalacticCivilizations 2'': The Drengin Empire are a CardCarryingVillain species who believe other species are only good for enslavement or Human Resources. Dark Avatar introduces the AbsoluteXenophobe Korath Clan, which split off from the Empire to pursue its goal of exterminating all alien life. |
| 132 | * In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoOnline'', [[spoiler:Avon Hertz in the ''Doomsday Heist'' scenario turns out to be one, being a CorruptCorporateExecutive with his even more OmnicidalManiac aims, backstabbing the player and his ally while using his CloneArmy and robots to plot a genocide on the human race. While there are villains which are just as powerful and dangerous as him (even the preceding [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Devin Weston]] and [[DirtyCop Steve Haines]] who were the BigBadDuumvirate in the main game), none of them have the genocidal intentions as him]]. |
| 133 | * In the original ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' campaign the Marines are portrayed as evil [[MeleeATrois despite also being enemies of the Xen aliens]]. In ''Opposing Force'' you [[PerspectiveFlip play as one of the Marines]], who are humanized a lot more than before and shown to mostly be [[PunchClockVillain Punch-Clock Villains]] ''at worst'' (granted [[PlayerCharacter Shepard]]'s squad crashed above the facility before they got the liquidate the scientists order so his team's remnants are the most well intentioned among the Marines, especially Shepard as he missed out on day 1's massacres due to being unconscious). As the creators still wanted an evil human faction for Shepard and the Marines to fight, they added the Black Ops (the vanilla game had one squad, presumably an advance guard), who are statistically the same as the NPC Marines from the first game, but are portrayed as a lot more inhuman and scary, as they all [[EvilWearsBlack wear black from head to toe, including face masks,]] and hardly ever talk (and when they do, it's invariably about some evil plan such as how they [[spoiler: plan to nuke Black Mesa to silence everyone after the marines failed to contain the aliens]]. |
| 134 | * ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'': Implied in the case of Revan. Malak is genuinely unhinged and veers close to StupidEvil, as compared to Revan's brand of PragmaticVillainy. So even many of the Sith characters you encounter would rather have Revan kick their former apprentice off the throne and take charge of the Sith again. When the backstory is read, it makes more sense. Revan and Malak became Sith after a MindRape and while Revan was lucky enough to catch a case of LaserGuidedAmnesia and return to the light, Malak became more and more unhinged. |
| 135 | * ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheForgottenLand'' features [[spoiler:Specimen ID-F86, better known as Fecto Forgo]], by far one of the cruelest villains in the otherwise fluffy ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'' franchise alongside the ''Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa'' version of [[VideoGame/KirbysAdventure Nightmare]]. Most prior villains were AffablyEvil and/or [[PunchClockVillain Punch-Clock Villains]], were [[AntiVillain Anti-Villains]] with noble traits and goals that were the only things making them evil, [[TragicVillain had tragic backstories that drove them to villainy and/or insanity]], were simply [[BrainwashedAndCrazy possessed and/or brainwashed]] into doing things [[NotHimself out of character and/or against their own will]], were simply MadeOfEvil, or were simply {{Generic Doomsday Villain}}s. [[spoiler:Forgo, on the other hand, is a despicable monster that delights in ruining the lives of others [[ForTheEvulz just because they can]], tried to subjugate the new world and its ecosystems, [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil enslaves hundreds of cute and innocent Waddle Dees]], brainwashes the Beast Pack and King Dedede into carrying out their evil deeds as their puppets, [[UngratefulBastard assimilates several members including their leader Leongar]], and [[ColonyDrop tries to make Planet Popstar and the Forgotten Land collide with each other and kill everybody in both worlds]] just because of a petty grudge against Kirby. In the postgame, Forgo even shatters Leon's soul and possesses him in their attempt to keep themselves alive.]] |
| 136 | * The overall BigBad of ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series, Ganondorf, is certainly no saint, but he at least possesses a degree of [[VillainRespect honor]], seems to [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes care about his people]], and had a genuine FreudianExcuse in that he had spend his early life toiling in the parched, dangerous Gerudo Desert. Both of his reincarnations ditch these redeeming qualities. |
| 137 | ** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaFourSwordsAdventures'' features a newly revitalized and peaceful Gerudo settlement. For no reason except greed and ambition, Ganondorf stole the Trident of the Pyramid to become the Demon King Ganon and use Shadow Link and Vaati to devastate Hyrule. And he makes it clear he doesn't see any of the four Links as a WorthyOpponent, just [[PitifulWorms worms]]. |
| 138 | ** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'' ramps up Ganondorf's sadism and cruelty to OmnicidalManiac levels, making him more similar to [[SatanicArchetype Demise]] than the original Ganondorf ever was. Eiji Aonuma even expressed in an interview that the scene where [[spoiler:he brutally kills the defenseless Queen Sonia]] was meant to set him apart as much more of a villain than his predecessors, who were "softly depicted as evil" by comparison. |
| 139 | * The ''VideoGame/MarySkelter'' series has [[spoiler:Yuto Gato, the main antagonist of ''Finale''. Snark in ''Nightmares'', while definitely cruel, was a WellIntentionedExtremist who wanted to recreate his homeworld. The Mysterious Nightmare in the second game, despite being a grave threat to everyone, is a TragicMonster who transformed and went on a rampage after apparently losing the boy she loved. Both of them also had someone they still cared about deeply that played a role in their motives (Snark had his missing wife, while the Mysterious Nightmare had Jack). Gato, on the other hand, is an OmnicidalManiac [[SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum who wants to destroy the world]] because of his FantasticRacism towards anything that isn't human and anyone sympathetic to them, has none of the sympathetic and redeeming qualities of the previous antagonists, is completely indiscriminate in the lives he ruins, and has absolutely no one he cares about, even going so far as to kill his only remaining family because she isn't human and called him brother.]] |
| 140 | * The ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' series features Dr. Weil, the last villain of the series and by far the evilest and most dangerous one in the plot. The previous antagonists all had [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans noble intentions]] and/or [[FreudianExcuse sympathetic backstories]]. By contrast, Weil isn't sympathetic in any way, and [[DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans wants to make life a living nightmare for mankind and Reploids alike]]. Any delving into his backstory only further establishes what a selfish and terrible person he is. |
| 141 | * While prior ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' villains were, at least partially or potentially, acting out of their species' natures or only showed their worst [[AllThereInTheManual in side material]], Raven Beak from ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'' has full agency yet is a sociopathic warmonger in contrast to his [[PerfectPacifistPeople fellow Chozo]], and in-game shows a personality as vile as the series' nastiest. [[spoiler:He wiped out the peaceful Chozo intending to destroy the Metroids since he sought to use the Metroids as bioweapons, causing the Metroid threat that kicked off the entire series' central conflict. He only spared fellow Chozo Quiet Robe for his usefulness, only to kill him right as he bonds with Samus. He also had his fellow tribe members executed or sealed away to die from X infection, and spent the whole game manipulating and plotting to kill his "daughter" Samus to enable his galactic conquest.]] Tellingly, Samus ultimately confronts Raven Beak with a level of rage not even her parents' killer, the previous vilest villain Ridley, managed to earn. |
| 142 | * ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon}}'' has a lot of these. |
| 143 | ** ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' has [[GodhoodSeeker Cyrus]], leader of Team Galactic. Prior to him, [[TheDon Giovanni]] was a ruthless but honorable NobleDemon who simply wanted to TakeOverTheWorld, while [[EcoTerrorist Archie and Maxie]] were {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s wanting to help the environment in conflicting ways and ended up endangering the world by accident. Cyrus ''[[OmnicidalManiac fully intends to destroy reality]]'' and remake it InTheirOwnImage, a [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill world without spirit]], which he perceives to be the cause of all conflict. |
| 144 | ** ''VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus'' has its true antagonist, [[spoiler:Volo, an OmnicidalManiac who wants to recreate the universe [[InTheirOwnImage in his own image]]]]. [[SlidingScaleOfVillainThreat The only villains who rival him in scope are Cyrus and Lysandre]], who both had [[WellIntentionedExtremist good intentions]] to [[KnightTemplar varying degrees]], and [[SlidingScaleOfAntagonistVileness the only one to rival him in cruelty is Ghetsis]], whose EvilPlan doesn't come close in terms of sheer scope. |
| 145 | ** In regards to malevolent Pokémon, ''The Teal Mask'' DLC for ''VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet'' features [[spoiler:the Loyal Three--Okidogi, Munkidori, and Fezandipiti--in contrast to the Raidon in Area Zero. The [[{{Jerkass}} Raidon]] was just a hostile, territorial bully at worst. These three, on the other hand, are willful, malicious, and greedy bandits who will hurt and use deception to get what they want. And while the Raidon was directly responsible for the death of the original Sada/Turo, that was mostly implied to have been an accident. But what these three did to Ogerpon's original partner was most definitely ''not'' an accident.]] |
| 146 | ** [[VideoGame/PokemonColosseum Cipher]] in-general is this to Team Rocket and Team Aqua/Magma. The previous two villainous organizations might be criminals and eco-terrorists, but Cipher takes it further by corrupting Pokémon into killing machines, committing vile and underhanded terrorist acts unparalleled by any other Pokémon villain, and taking over multiple towns and ''actually suceeding in it''. Zigzagged in ''VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness'', while Cipher is more prone to outright terrorist acts, a large portion of the organization's executive branch are AffablyEvil people who are keen for a HeelFaceTurn. Ardos, in the other hand, plays this completely straight when he convinces Greevil to blow up all of Citadark Isle with all of his personnel and the kid protagonist in it so they can rebuild, and he's the only post-game bonus boss who delivers a death threat rather than a word of congratulation. |
| 147 | ** The villain of ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonRescueTeam'' is Gengar, leader of Team Meanies and a petty {{Jerkass}} with ambitions to TakeOverTheWorld. He does turn out to pose a genuine threat to the main duo, but in the end [[spoiler:his potentially dooming the world was accidental, and he does a HeelFaceTurn of his own volition]]. The villain of ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonExplorers'' is [[spoiler:Darkrai]], a [[TheSociopath Sociopath]] who creates a BadFuture where time and space are frozen and everyone lives in an eternal nightmare under his puppet regime, and unlike Gengar, [[spoiler:he has to lose all his memories before he turns good]]. |
| 148 | ** ''VideoGame/PokemonRanger'': |
| 149 | *** Gordor, the villain of the first game, simply wanted to discredit and replace the titular Rangers by staging attacks on Fiore. [[spoiler:Blake Hall]], the second game's villain, wants to place all Pokémon under MindControl so they can be used as slave labor or war machines for the betterment of humanity. |
| 150 | *** The third game has [[spoiler:Purple Eyes]], who is even worse than the above. [[spoiler:He starts out kidnapping Rand's wife and daughter, then usurps his superiors, the Societea, to TakeOverTheWorld himself- but then he tries to sink the flying fortress into the ocean and wild out everyone in Oblivia, then in the post-game tries to convince Arceus to KillAllHumans.]] |
| 151 | * While Edgar Ross and Micah Bell III are the main HateSink antagonists of the respective ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' games, Micah is this trope to Edgar. [[spoiler: Edgar Ross is a DirtyCop who, despite his good intentions, uses his lawman job for his personal gain, eventually managed to betray John Marshton and killing him with his army of sieges. Micah in [[VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2 the prequel]] is TheSociopath [[TheMole Mole]] who sells out his entire Van der Linde gang to the PinkertonDetective for his personal gain and even later commit RapePillageAndBurn.]] |
| 152 | * ''VideoGame/SaintsRow'': |
| 153 | ** ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'': Zinyak, despite being a ManOfWealthAndTaste of his AlienInvasion Zin Empire, turns out to be this due to his threats being a planetary scale compared to the previous games' villains, and even managed to wipe the Earth out and [[HeroKiller reducing the numbers of Third Street Saints members drastically]]. |
| 154 | ** Satan in ''VideoGame/SaintsRowGatOutOfHell'' is even more so than Zinyak, being a [[BadBoss sadistic tyrant]] who indulges in seeing the people of Hell suffer. |
| 155 | * ''VideoGame/SenranKagura'': |
| 156 | ** The original game, ''Portrait of Girls'', has Homura as the villain leading the Hebijo girls in stealing the Suoer-Secret Ninja Scroll from Hanzo Academy, but she is at worst a NominalVillain just doing her job, does not do anything particularly evil, and treats her minions as true friends. ''Crimson Girls'' introduces us to her boss, Dogen- a cruel DiabolicalMastermind who treats the Hebijo students as his expendable pawns to be sacrificed to [[EldritchAbomination Orochi]] when he wants, and a ManipulativeBastard who strings the girls along in his plan to TakeOverTheWorld. |
| 157 | ** Orochi and its fellow [[TheHeartless yoma]], Dogen's partners, are a race of {{eldritch|Abomination}}s made of the suffering of fallen shinobi whom the shinobi are being groomed to kill. Orochi speaks in a scary VoiceOfTheLegion, they all have grotesque designs, and Dogen plans on unleashing them on the world. |
| 158 | * ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'': |
| 159 | ** Eggman has this relationship with [[AlternateSelf his alternate universe counterpart]] and/or [[KidFromTheFuture future descendant]], Eggman Nega, albeit in a sense that Nega is viler in that he's more ''insane'' by comparison. While Eggman is still a FauxAffablyEvil villain who wants to TakeOverTheWorld, he's pragmatic enough to [[EnemyMine work with the heroes]] if [[EvilVersusOblivion something threatens the world]], and has a better grasp of how to [[GracefulLoser take a defeat]] or [[WorthyOpponent show respect to his enemies]], even if reluctantly. Eggman Nega, by contrast, is [[AxCrazy deranged]], [[TheSociopath sociopathic]], and often delving into OmnicidalManiac tendencies. |
| 160 | ** ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers'' features [[spoiler:THE END, who is easily the most heinous and least sympathetic villain in the game, and one of the darkest in the series due to it attempting to destroy everything for [[ForTheEvulz seemingly no reason whatsoever]]; being exceedingly arrogant, boastful, [[EvilIsPetty petty]], and a {{Narcissist}} with a LackOfEmpathy; and seemingly going out of its way just to drive species to extinction, to the point where it chases the Ancients to kill the remaining few left after they flee from their planet's destruction. Dr. Eggman is shown to have plenty of sympathetic qualities in ''Frontiers'' [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes such as his love for Sage]] and Sage herself is also an AntiVillain who wants to keep THE END sealed from Cyberspace due to the damage it'll cause, and holds no ill will towards Sonic and wants a family relationship with Dr. Eggman]]. |
| 161 | * ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles'': |
| 162 | ** The [[BigBad main villains]] of the [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1 first]] [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2 two]] games were Zanza and Malos respectively. Malos [[spoiler:lacks the free will necessary to become anything other than evil]], while Zanza [[spoiler:is revealed in ''2'' to merely be the evil SplitPersonality of a more benevolent {{God}} who has a sympathetic backstory.]] ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'' does a 180º from the first two games by introducing Z as its main villain, whose main motivation for causing centuries of suffering in Aionios is [[spoiler:[[ItAmusedMe because it entertains him]].]] |
| 163 | ** The expansion to ''3'', ''[[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3FutureRedeemed Future Redeemed]]'', has Z in turn being displaced by [[spoiler:Alpha]], an [[spoiler:OmnicidalManiac who believes that the only way to end all of the suffering in Aionios is by destroying it and almost everyone in it outright, save for a select few people he deems as not being tainted by the violence and strife of Aionios.]] Whereas Z wanted to preserve Aionios [[spoiler:for his own amusement, Alpha views it as being [[ItIsBeyondSaving beyond saving]], and proved to be enough of a threat to the entire world that Z and the Moebius allied with [[LaResistance the Liberators]] to [[EnemyMine defeat Alpha together]] - and that ended up not being enough.]] |
| 164 | [[/folder]] |
| 165 | |
| 166 | [[folder:Visual Novels]] |
| 167 | * In ''VisualNovel/IkemenSengoku'', Kennyo, a [[TragicVillain once-kind monk]] who wants revenge on Nobunaga for slaughtering his monk followers, was initially set up as the BigBad of the game with the first seven routes having the characters [[EnemyMine join forces]] at the climax to take him down. Starting with Sasuke's route, however, new and more dangerous characters have taken the villain spotlight away from Kennyo, like the crazed pirate Motonari Mouri who doesn't just want revenge on a single person but [[OmnicidalManiac on the whole world]] and the power-hungry Yoshiaki Ashikaga who treats everyone, [[BadBoss including his own subordinates]], like insects he can squash whenever he wants. |
| 168 | * ''VisualNovel/RoseGunsDays'' has four {{Big Bad}}s for each arc, and of the first three, [[AxCrazy Crazy Alfred]] is a standard StarterVillain who only lasts three chapters, [[TheDon Father Caleb]] is ruthless but honorable and a WellIntentionedExtremist, and [[YellowPeril Blue Dragon Wang]] is a SmugSnake who prefers manipulation to violence and only wants to control the spice trade. [[spoiler:Major Gabriel Kaburaya]], on the other hand, is a ruthless KnightTemplar out to exterminate all criminals in City 23 and actually succeeds in killing off several major characters, something that none of the other villains managed to do, marking him as a far bigger and worse threat to the main characters. |
| 169 | [[/folder]] |
| 170 | |
| 171 | [[folder:Web Videos]] |
| 172 | * ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'': [[EldritchAbomination The Entity]] proves to be this to [[MultiversalConqueror Lord Vyce]]. While Vyce is a haughty conqueror of worlds, [[WellIntentionedExtremist he is trying to protect the worlds he conquers from the Entity]], and while the Entity wishes to consume and assimilate the multiverse. [[spoiler:Ultimately, at the end of their lives this trope is ''reversed''. The Entity ends up becoming pitiable [[AndThenWhat due to a lack of purpose]] and bonds with Linkara over its fears before vanishing gracefully, while Vyce [[VillainousBreakdown breaks down at not being able to accept the Entity is dead]], before proceeding to destroy the entire universe out of a mad belief that it'll kill the Entity. [[HeWhoFightsMonsters In a way, he becomes worse than the Entity]], who at least was only doing what came naturally to it.]] |
| 173 | * ''WebVideo/{{Oxventure}}'': The ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' campaign started with a BigBad (or closest to one) in M. Channail, an originally oblivious gnome SnakeOilSalesman whose greed is amusing and ends up being overpowered and killed relatively easily and early on, even if he would go from opportunism to outright villainy later. "Spell Check" would introduce Lady Liliana, a KnightOfCerebus with few comedic moments, no redeeming traits whatsoever, and the strength and ambition to TakeOverTheWorld. |
| 174 | [[/folder]] |
| 175 | |
| 176 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 177 | * ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': The comical Ice King was the closest thing Finn had to a "nemesis" during the beginning of the show, but even before the full extent of his tragic past was revealed, the roots of Ice King's villainy were his loneliness coupled with his rampant insanity which prevented him from realizing his actions were wrong. Then the season two finale introduced [[Characters/AdventureTimeTheLich The Lich]], a sadistic undead abomination who was always played seriously and desired nothing less than the extermination of all life, to be the BigBad of the rest of the series. |
| 178 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'' has every season long antagonist be surpassed in villainy by their successors. Season 1's {{Arc Villain}}s are Captain Grime, the Toad leader suppressing the frogs in the valley, and Sasha Waybright, a human who becomes Grime's lieutenant as part of a deal to get back to Earth. Sasha is manipulative and doesn't care about hurting the local frogs but she does care about Anne, who's one of her best friends, while Grime is mostly a thug who becomes humanized by his budding friendship with Sasha. Season 2 has them try to launch a coup of Amphibia, but they're quickly dwarfed in threat by King Andrias of Newtopia, who turns out to have been manipulating everyone to resume his ancestors' legacy as {{Multiversal Conqueror}}s. Season 3 has Andrias's redeeming and tragic qualities slowly brought to light and it's revealed he's only TheDragon corrupted by the series true BigBad, The Core, a machine that serves as a MindHive of all of Amphibia's past leaders, including Andrias's abusive father Aldrich. While [[spoiler:Sasha, Grime and Andrias]] all redeem themselves, the Core and Aldrich remain pure evil tyrants willing to wipe out entire planets to maintain their power. |
| 179 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': [[SadistTeacher Miss Simian]] was the main antagonist for the first three and a half seasons, and while far from harmless she was ultimately more just a bully than a true villain. When Rob steps up as the true BigBad, he's quickly established as a [[VileVillainSaccharineShow much darker threat]] who's willing to commit mass murder just to get revenege on Gumball, who he blames for [[NeverMyFault causing him to become a villain in the first place]]. |
| 180 | * ''Franchise/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': |
| 181 | ** [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender The original series]] has this in play alongside the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil. The first recurring antagonist Prince Zuko is an AntiVillain with a discernible FreudianExcuse, standards and redeeming qualities. Admiral Zhao, the next recurring villain and an antagonist to Zuko and the Gaang at separate intervals throughout Season 1, is more competent and more willing to cross the MoralEventHorizon. After [[spoiler:Zhao is killed in the first season finale]], Zuko's sister [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderPrincessAzula Princess Azula]], who is more competent than Zhao and lacks any of Zuko's redeeming qualities, becomes the [[TheHeavy main villain]] and deals the team a crushing blow at the end of Season 2. Season 3 introduces [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderFireLordOzai Fire Lord Ozai]] in a full appearance as he had mainly appeared via flashback beforehand. During the series finale, [[spoiler:Azula is revealed to be a TragicVillain and gets an AlasPoorVillain]] while Fire Lord Ozai is perfectly happy to burn the world to ash to [[TakeOverTheWorld conquer it]]. |
| 182 | ** The sequel ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' also plays this trope. The Red Lotus is made up of terrorists and assassins, but their actions bring [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraKuvira Kuvira]] to power in the fourth season. |
| 183 | * ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6TheSeries'': Up till [[InspectorJavert Chief Cruz]] in the latter half of the second season, all the villains noticeably scaled up in evilness. |
| 184 | ** [[WesternAnimation/BigHero6 Yokai]] was a WellIntentionedExtremist motivated by {{Revenge}}. |
| 185 | ** Obake is a ClassicVillain who wants to [[spoiler: cause an artificial disaster to remake San Fransokyo into a {{Utopia|JustifiesTheMeans}}]]. |
| 186 | ** [[spoiler:Diane Amara]] has no qualms with forcibly transforming several people into monsters and mind-controlling them against their will to get what she wants. And even then, it became clear she just started doing it ForTheEvulz [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist at some point]]. |
| 187 | ** If you don't count Chief Cruz but do count [[spoiler:Trina]], the [[SerialEscalation pattern]] is kept, considering she literally wanted to ''[[CruelAndUnusualDeath burn everyone in San Fransokyo alive]]''. |
| 188 | * Given most ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' shorts revolved around a ComicallyLopsidedRivalry, this trope was often utilised to ensure the audience didn't sympathise ''too'' much with the outclassed villain: |
| 189 | ** The first recurring antagonist for WesternAnimation/BugsBunny is WesternAnimation/ElmerFudd, going back to 1941's ''Elmer's Pet Rabbit'' (or 1940's ''WesternAnimation/ElmersCandidCamera'', if you regard this rascally rabbit as Bugs Bunny). Elmer, however, seemed too gullible and undeserving of the KarmicTrickster's abuse, so Creator/FrizFreleng created six-gun bandit WesternAnimation/YosemiteSam in 1945 to trouble Bugs; a deliberate {{Jerkass}} who'd deserve to be bested by Bugs. Of course, Sam fared no better than Elmer, so 1948 saw the debut of Marvin the Martian, who is very calm and soft-spoken by contrast, but wants to cause an EarthShatteringKaboom, and then 1953 ushered in the Tasmanian Devil, a ChaoticNeutral whirling dervish with a ravenous appetite. |
| 190 | ** A particularly odd variation occurred with an established character for the WesternAnimation/SpeedyGonzales cartoons. Speedy's usual recurrent antagonist was WesternAnimation/{{Sylvester the Cat|AndTweetyBird}}, who could often challenge Elmer in terms of neuroses and pitiful qualities, and seldom challenged Speedy in any capacity. In later Speedy shorts, WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck took over from Sylvester as his new main antagonist, and without a natural reason to pursue the rodent like Sylvester had, Daffy was often made more outwardly nasty and vindictive to set off feuds, and was often conveyed as at least relatively less pathetic and outclassed against Speedy compared to Sylvester. |
| 191 | * Pretty much every new villain to appear in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' is more vile and evil than the last. Nightmare Moon is evil in a cartoonish way and gets a pretty quick redemption, Discord is cruel RealityWarper but also [[LaughablyEvil very funny]], Queen Chrysalis is a kidnapping power-mad G-rated [[SuccubiAndIncubi succubus]], King Sombra is a sadistic dictator who seeks to enslave the world, Tirek is a brutal monster bent on stealing all magic for himself and using it to destroy everything around him out of spite, Starlight Glimmer is a power-hungry manipulative cult-leader who uses uncomfortably realistic kidnapping, brainwashing, and borderline torture tactics, the Pony of Shadows is effectively [[MadeOfEvil darkness incarnate]], and Cozy Glow is a power-hungry EnfantTerrible who could basically be described as "Starlight Glimmer without the redeeming qualities." While some of them eventually get better like Discord and Starlight Glimmer who manage to pull {{Heel Face Turn}}s thanks to ThePowerOfFriendship, and others get worse like Queen Chrysalis, there's no denying that the writers ratcheted up the villainy with every new BigBad. |
| 192 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' has Eda's sister Lilith as the ArcVillain of the first season, but she was only an antagonist because she thought forcing Eda to serve the Emperor was the only way to heal Eda's curse. When her master, [[Characters/TheOwlHouseEmperorBelos Emperor Belos]], finally appears in the first season finale, he proves to be a genuinely evil tyrant instead of simply misguided like Lilith. Kikimora and the Golden Guard, who were both introduced in the first season, replace Lilith as the Emperor's top enforcers in season two, but neither are as bad as their boss. In the end, Lilith [[spoiler:performs a HeelFaceTurn in the first season finale]], the Golden Guard turns out to be a sympathetic villain serving the Emperor out of misguided loyalty [[spoiler:and also pulls a HeelFaceTurn]] and Kikimora remains an ineffectual villain sometimes played for laughs. Belos goes on to [[KnightOfCerebus darken every scene]] he's in and proves to be the most monstrous of all who came before him [[spoiler:with his goal to wipe out all life in the Boiling Isles because he's a human witch hunter who believes all witches and demons are inherently evil]]. |
| 193 | ** [[spoiler: Averted with [[MadGod The Collector]], who is freed from their prison at the end of season two. While they're definitely a more powerful threat than Belos, they are much less evil, possessing BlueAndOrangeMorality.]] |
| 194 | * PlayedForLaughs in ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'': Stimpy ends up causing Ren to undergo a LiteralSplitPersonality between his evil side and indifferent side. The Evil Ren ends up splitting himself to create an army, resulting in the creation of ''Hideously'' Evil Ren. This even more evil Ren ends up dodging normal Evil Ren's punches and keeps punching him, before going off to live in UnholyMatrimony together. |
| 195 | * In the early seasons of ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'' the primary antagonists consisted of Hordak as the BigBad, Shadow Weaver as TheDragon, and Catra as Adora[=/=]She-Ra's friend-turned-nemesis. As the series progresses, each of these characters display humanizing traits (such as the ability to love) and have the tragic circumstances that shaped their bad choices revealed. Then along comes [[Characters/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPowerHordePrime Horde Prime]], the GreaterScopeVillain of the series and main villain for the final season, who displays absolutely none of the sympathetic or redeeming traits of the other antagonists. While Hordak spent the series trying to conquer Etheria with his offshoot of the Horde, Horde Prime rules over an intergalactic empire which he maintains by using mind-control chips to assimilate entire populations into his HiveMind, commits wholesale genocide and planetary destruction when his enemies resist too much, and maintains an army of brainwashed clones of himself which he uses as expendable stock to preserve his immortality and erases their minds if they ever gain a sense of individuality. To put it in perspective, by the time of the series finale [[spoiler:Catra, Shadow Weaver and Hordak all redeem themselves in some way, whereas She-Ra personally kills Horde Prime because he's too dangerous and evil to leave alive]]. |
| 196 | * ''WesternAnimation/ShimmerAndShine'' introduces the sea enchantress Uzma late in season 4, who's sneakier than BigBad Zeta and is willing to harm Nazboo to get what she wants, necessitating an EnemyMine. |
| 197 | * ''WesternAnimation/SkullIsland2023'': The Kraken which serves as the series' BigBad is a lot more evil than King Kong's previous chronological enemy, the Skull Devil in ''Film/KongSkullIsland''. The Skull Devil hails from a monster species which is inherently [[HorrorHunger constantly starving for fresh meat]] from birth to death. The Kraken on the other hand is consciously {{sadist}}ic, killing Kong's human friend and murdering many other people and animals for fun and to torment Kong -- it's practically [[Characters/MonsterVerseKingGhidorah King Ghidorah]]'s personality from the movies placed inside a SeaMonster. |
| 198 | * ''WesternAnimation/TangledTheSeries'' doesn't have any {{Arc Villain}}s, generally [[spoiler: (aside from the third season)]], but it's still possible to see this in play: |
| 199 | ** [[WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} Mother Gothel]] was just a selfish woman who wanted to have eternal life and was perfectly happy to steal a princess away from her parents if it meant accomplishing that. Her goals did not extend beyond that. |
| 200 | ** Andrew and the Saporians explicitly seek to ''destroy'' Corona and everyone in it. |
| 201 | ** [[spoiler: Cassandra]] is a [[ItsAllAboutMe self-absorbed]] [[EvilFormerFriend traitor]] who actually tries to murder her former best friend and all her allies multiple times, just to see her suffer, even though (almost) no one in Corona was ever anything but kind to her. [[spoiler: Oh, and she actually does destroy all of Corona in the penultimate episode.]] Then she's supplanted by [[spoiler: [[SatanicArchetype Zhan Tiri]]]] in the last episode, who is essentially [[ShadowArchetype everything]] [[spoiler: [[ShadowArchetype Cass]]]] [[ShadowArchetype is]], but worse, and has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. |
| 202 | * ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'': |
| 203 | ** [[Characters/TotalDramaAlejandro Alejandro]] quickly makes it known that he's going to be the BigBad of ''World Tour'', saying that [[AlphaBitch Heather]], the most memorable antagonist of the first two seasons, is a saint compared to him. While the two are equally evil, Alejandro is more successful than Heather ever was, being better at manipulation, having enough charisma to avoid bad press with the rest of the cast, and he believes in PragmaticVillainy. Heather would usually waste her advantages on petty revenge and mainly avoided elimination thanks to someone else screwing up in a way no one predicted when she'd end up on the chopping block. |
| 204 | ** Alejandro finds himself on the receiving end during ''All-Stars'' when [[Characters/TotalDramaMike Mal]] comes out to play. Unlike every other antagonist, Mal less a fellow contestant and more a violent psycho possessing the body of Mike, barely even seeming to realize that he's on reality TV, and causing pain to others for a quick laugh. Alejandro's charisma and blackmail have no effect on Mal, who also happens to have superhuman abilities thanks to subjugating Mike's other personalities, which he quickly uses to force Alejandro into submission. |
| 205 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'': |
| 206 | ** The Season 2 BigBadEnsemble [[spoiler:Qilby]] and Rushu are this to Nox from the first season. Rushu is a [[CardCarryingVillain card-carrying]] OmnicidalManiac and a [[{{Jerkass}} dickwad]] who's arguably only saved from Complete Monster status by how laughable he is. Although [[spoiler:Qilby]] has [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds very compelling reasons for being the way he is]], unlike Nox, he [[StrawNihilist just doesn't care]] about the harm he causes to others, he's wiped out entire ''planets'' instead of entire countries, and he outright refuses to admit his crimes weren't worth it when he's at his lowest and his crimes have completely turned just about everyone he values against him. |
| 207 | ** Then Season 3 introduces Oropo and [[spoiler:Adamaï]]. Whilst Oropo is on the one hand more redeemable than Qilby [[spoiler:as his love for his Brotherhood ultimately stops him from going through with his EvilPlan]]; on the other hand, his active goal of committing total genocide upon an entire dimension and its inhabitants is far beyond the scope of Nox's WellIntentionedExtremist goals or Qilby's desire to drain a planet or two for his Krosmoz-cruising needs, and he tries to get under the heroes' skin in ways that the previous Big Bads never did; with his [[spoiler:seduction of Amalia partly out of personal envy of Yugo, and him drawing Adamaï into his fold]]. As for [[spoiler:Adamaï]]... it really can't be overstated how needlessly and nightmarishly vicious he was towards [[spoiler:his brother and]] his former-friends throughout his villainous tenure just because he wanted to see them suffer, and his excuse for his FaceHeelTurn is far more pathetically petty and hypocritical than the tragic backstories which motivate Oropo, Qilby and Nox. |
| 208 | * In ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'' season 4, the wizards of the Black Circle seem to have changed their ways, only for the Earth fairies to become the new enemies. After they get redeemed, it turns out the wizards just pretended to be nice and pick up their villainous ways [[spoiler: becoming the very first characters to permanently kill a main character]]. Up until season 5, the villains got worse and viler, ending with Tritannus, who was completely irredeemable. |
| 209 | * When the girls in ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'' defeat Phobos, it turns out there was another, arguably worse villain that had been planning out her come-back since the start of the series: Nerissa. [[spoiler: This gets reversed by the end, though, with Nerissa being given some humanizing qualities in spite of her remaining irredeemably evil, while Phobos defeats her, regains power, and is as devoid of honorable traits as ever.]] |
| 210 | [[/folder]] |
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