Ex-Big Bad

Razputin: Do you promise this isn't another plan to take over the world?
Oleander: Razputin, that was the old me.
Razputin: Yeah, like three days old.

— Psychonauts 2

It's a simple setup. The heroes on the one side, and the villains on the other. The story consists of their back and forth until the primary evil, the driving force behind the villainy in the story, the Big Bad, is foiled. That's a wrap, call it quits, everybody can go home. But what happens after that?

What happens in stories where the heroes continue to have adventure after dealing with their original Big Bad? Sure, the easy answer is that they'll have to deal with a new Big Bad, but what about the old one? After all, the Big Bad doesn't die in every story. Some of them lead lives in other sectors of the world.

This trope is for the figures in a work who once held the title of Big Bad, but no more. Maybe it's a case of How the Mighty Have Fallen, and they're struggling to claw their way back to the top; maybe this was the work of the The Man Behind the Man. Maybe they've decided to become a Retired Monster, and leave all the hard work to the next generation. Maybe they've only been Demoted to Dragon. Maybe they've undergone a Heel–Face Turn, joined the heroes as their Token Evil Teammate, or even become The Atoner.

...Or maybe they just want you to think that, and some poor sap is about to have their plan Hijacked by Ganon. Or they only claim to have turned a new leaf, only for it to turn out to be a lie.

Nota Bene: In order to keep this trope from decaying into "Big Bads Who Lose But Don't Die", the Ex Big Bad must be shown or at least referred to as being no longer a Big Bad during a future point of an ongoing series. Villains who lose the status at the end of a story don't count, but if they appear in a sequel or a later season, they do.

Warning: This is usually a major plot point, so most if not all of these examples are unmarked spoilers.

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Examples

Anime & Manga

• Black Clover: As the leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun, "Licht" (Patry) is the main villain of the first saga, leading the Third Eye and his other underlings to obtain all the magic stones and reincarnating the elves into humans' bodies to resurrect his tribe and get revenge on the Clover Kingdom. However, Zagred reveals himself to be the mastermind behind the elf massacre Reincarnation Magic, leading him to work with the Magic Knights to stop the devil. Afterwards, he plans to atone for his misdeeds.
• Digimon Adventure 02: As the Digimon Kaiser, Ken is the main villain of the series from episodes 01-20. He suffers a Villainous Breakdown after Wormmon's Heroic Sacrifice and eventually starts working to undo the damage he causes to the Digital World following Wormmon's return. It takes a while for the team to accept his change but he is eventually welcomed as a friend and teammate.
• Dragon Ball:
  • Piccolo is the final Big Bad of the first part of the Dragon Ball and the original anime which adapts it , but in the second part of the manga and its adaptation Dragon Ball Z, he reforms under Son Goku's and Son Gohan's influence and joins the good guys full-time, fighting a slew of new Big Bads alongside them.
  • In Z, Vegeta was the Big Bad of Saiyan Arc, bent on seeking Immortality and stuff like that. After he is defeated, he begrudgingly and gradually joins the Z fighters against other forces stronger than him, and settles down with Bulma.
  • Freeza, who serves as the Big Bad of the Namek Saga as well as the "Resurrection F" arc in Dragon Ball Super, and is subsequently brought back again much later to serve as a Token Evil Teammate for the crew during the Tournament of Power arc.
• In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's, Hayate is the "Big Bad" for most of the story (even if the Final Boss is the embodied Book of Darkness that Hayate used). After our heroes helped to deal with the whole problem, Hayate then got to get proper treatment for her illness, and some years later in StrikerS, she becomes the Big Good.
• MegaMan NT Warrior: Dr. Wily is, of course, the original Big Bad of the show, but after ultimately falling from grace, he spends the duration of Stream and Beast as a hobo on the streets, his ambition mostly depleted.
• Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans: Nobliss Gordon was a player in the Big Bad Ensemble of season 1 with his plan to assassinate Kudelia and use her death to ignite a conflict he can profit off of, but by season 2 he's given up on this plan since he already got most of what he wanted and seemingly content to allow Kudelia to live, even investing in her new company.
• Naruto: Orochimaru was the Big Bad of Part I. In Part II where the stakes are higher, he is reduced to a recurring villain who gets killed off by Sasuke partway through, and gets replaced by much more powerful and intimidating villains that have more effect on the plot than even he does. By the time of Boruto, he's mellowed out considerably — though he still performs morally-dubious experiments.
• One Piece: Because Luffy tends to leave the Big Bads of each arc alive but severely beaten, all arc Big Bads in the series are this. Some of them are given a side story to show what they do with their lives after their defeat (Buggy, Wapol, Enel Lucci and the CP9), while some others are imprisoned and punished (Buggy, again, and Crocodile -through they escape just in time for the War Arc-, Hody, Doflamingo) or at least implied to be as such (Arlong), and yet others are unknown.
• Mewtwo from Pokémon: The Series is introduced as the Big Bad of Pokémon: The First Movie (and its CGI remake Mewtwo Strikes Back—Evolution), where it plots world domination to get revenge on mankind after being abused by Team Rocket's leader Giovanni, who ordered its creation by scientists in the first place, but eventually performs a Heel–Face Turn, and relocates to Johto in Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns, where Ash and friends encounter it again and try to defend it from Giovanni and the rest of Team Rocket, who are still going after it. Mewtwo then appears again in Pokemon Journeysthe Series, where Ash and Goh battle it, only to be defeated, and Mewtwo reveals itself to be the caretaker of various Pokemon rescued from abusive trainers.
• Saint Seiya has Phoenix Ikki as the main antagonist of the first story arc. After his defeat, he eventually ends becoming part of the Five-Man Band group of heroes.
• Sword Art Online: Akihiko Kayaba was the Big Bad of the first arc, but after his initial goals of seeing SAO to the end were complete, he performs a Brain Uploading and remains around for the rest of the series as a Virtual Ghost, becoming a Friendly Enemy to Kirito and often assisting him when he's in a tight spot.
• Lordgenome of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is the Big Bad pre-timeskip, but after he's defeated, he becomes our heroes' ally post-timeskip, helping them fight against the Anti-Spirals (who were the ones that forced him to keep humanity underground in the first place to protect them).
• Hiei of YuYu Hakusho, who was the Big Bad for the first real story arc in the series and later becomes a main character.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! has Seto Kaiba, who serves as the Big Bad for the Death-T arc, and is brought back in both the Duelist Kingdom and Battle City arcs to serve as The Rival and an occasional ally to Yugi while he faces off against new Big Bads. Subverted with Yami Bakura, as he plays the role in the Monster World arc and then takes a backseat into a minor antagonistic role during the two previously mentioned arcs, but returns with a vengeance as the Big Bad for the final arc of the series.
  • Pegasus was the Big Bad of the Duelist Kingdom arc, and after his defeats at the end of it, he gives up on villainy and continues to make minor appearances, occasionally offering aid or advice to the heroes. Notably though this only apples to his anime counterpart, in the manga he is murdered by Yami Bakura after having his Millennium Eye ripped out following his defeat by Yugi's hands.

Asian Animation

• BoBoiBoy: Adu Du is the Big Bad of the first season and remains the primary antagonist for most of the second season before Ejo Jo comes and pulls an Eviler than Thou, forcing Adu Du to team up with BoBoiBoy to defeat Ejo Jo. Adu Du then becomes good for a while before taking the Big Bad spot again for a story arc. Afterwards, he becomes a more neutral character who can ally or fight BoBoiBoy depending on the situation.

Comic Books

• In the post-TV show Avatar: The Last Airbender comics, genocidal megalomaniac ex-Fire Lord Ozai is imprisoned but still trying to manipulate and corrupt his son and successor Zuko.
• Warren Mears, the Big Bad of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Six, is resurrected in the post-show comics to become a Smug Snake minor recurring villain. (Though he was lucky to have even temporarily achieved the status of a Big Bad).
• In Fables, the Adversary, Geppetto, Big Bad of the first half of the comic, is allowed to join the community as a Retired Monster after his fall, but is never trusted and never truly reforms.
• Negan of The Walking Dead serves as the Big Bad of the "All-Out War" arc, but survives it to be deposed as leader of the Saviors and become a Token Evil Teammate to the heroes by the time of the Whisperer War arc.

Films — Animation

• Sunset Shimmer was Twilight's predecessor and the Big Bad of My Little Pony: Equestria Girls. In its sequel, Rainbow Rocks, she transitioned to an atoning Deuteragonist and became their last minute Hero. By Friendship Games, she has become The Leader of the Equestria Girls and more or less the Hero Protagonist of the spin-off series.
• Sid Phillips as the garbageman in Toy Story 3.
• Chick Hicks is revealed to have become a sports commentator and talk show host during the events of Cars 3.

Films — Live-Action

• Captain Barbossa, the Big Bad of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie and Captain Jack Sparrow's Arch-Nemesis, becomes an Anti-Hero and Jack's (still selfish and treacherous) ally in the sequels.
• The James Bond film For Your Eyes Only has a bald man in a wheelchair (who most certainly isn't Blofeld) appear as the movie's Starter Villain in The Teaser, where he tries one last time get revenge on Bond after he thwarted his plans in multiple previous films.
• In the live-action Transformers movies, Megatron is the sole Big Bad in Transformers (2007), but is later Demoted to Dragon in Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen and usurped by Sentinel Prime in Transformers: Dark of the Moon, where he is a broken-down shadow of his former self after suffering major injuries at the climax of Revenge of the Fallen and a major verbal beatdown in Dark of the Moon. Once resurrected in Transformers: Age of Extinction, he's only a minor part of the Big Bad Ensemble, and Transformers: The Last Knight has him as part of a Big Bad Duumvirate.
• In The Dark Knight Trilogy, Scarecrow, who was one of the Big Bad Duumvirate of Batman Begins, turns up as the bad guy in the Batman Cold Open of The Dark Knight and again presiding over Bane's Kangaroo Court in The Dark Knight Rises.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe: Loki is the Big Bad in Thor and The Avengers, but after his defeat by the Avengers turns into a reluctant Nominal Hero and a Token Evil Teammate to Thor and Jane in Thor: The Dark World, and then a Lovable Rogue who initially minds his own business but in the end arrives with The Cavalry to save the day in Thor: Ragnarok. Finally, in Avengers: Infinity War, he is brutally killed by the film's Big Bad, Thanos after attacking him.
• The Matrix Resurrections: In the original Matrix films, ex-Agent Smith ended up as the Big Bad, trying to consume the entire Matrix to infinitely replicate himself. In Resurrections, he's seemingly been cured of his megalomania and is serving the Analyst by helping to keep an eye on Neo while having fun by tormenting him in petty ways. But in the end, when he's faced with the choice between seeing Neo defeated again and survival, he does the sensible thing.

Literature

• In the Discworld book The Last Hero, Cohen and his crew of octogenarian barbarians team up with "Evil Harry Dread", a former Evil Overlord with the vibe of a clapped-out old rock star, against whom they waged epic campaigns in their younger days. They reminisce about old times with a kind of camaraderie.
• Harry Potter: Downplayed. While the books are about Harry's clash with Voldemort, hanging in the backstory is Dumbledore's clash with Gellert Grindelwald, which figures prominently in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Only the "prequel" movies based on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them feature Grindelwald as the villain.
• Downplayed in Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Luke Castellan was the reveal Big Bad of the first book, but by the last book he was Demoted to Dragon. In the fifth book he changes sides to the heroes on his deathbed.
• Zones of Thought
  • This trope is downplayed in A Fire Upon the Deep. Emperor Scientist and Evilutionary Biologist Flenser is noted to have previously been in charge of the Flenserists (a faction which was, of course, named after him), but for all intents and purposes, his defeat prior to the events of the book have made him a (literal) fragment of himself, and Steel runs the show. At the end of Fire, Flenser undergoes a Heel–Face Turn and becomes genuinely invaluable to the protagonists in the sequel, taking the trope even further.
  • In The Children of the Sky, the pack Screwfloss is revealed late in the story to actually be the remains of Lord Steel, disguised and rearranged with a new member or two. He's still not the nicest fellow, but he seems to have undergone a Heel–Face Turn since escaping from the Fragmentarium, a sanctuary for fragmented packs.
• In the Fairyland series by Catherynne M Valente, the Marquess, the Big Bad of the first novel, makes several appearances in later novels, and is eventually redeemed in the final one.

Live-Action TV

• Subverted with Charles Logan in the long run of 24. After serving as the Big Bad in the fifth season, he seems to seriously regret his actions during Season Six and ends up as The Atoner aiding Jack, but ends up on the receiving end of a (non-lethal) Heel–Face Door-Slam instead. This ends up having a nasty end result, as in the eighth season he ends up returning and retaking his position as Big Bad.
• Malcolm Merlyn in Arrow. While he was the Big Bad of the first season, he remains around after his initial defeat. In the second season, he only has a handful of appearances, and in the third, he instigates the conflict with Ra's, but is soon forced to ally with Oliver over his fear of the man. He develops back to a full-time villain by season 4's end, but doesn't regain his footing as Big Bad, having to ally with Team Arrow in the finale again (on Arrow, anyway; he's part of the Big Bad Duumvirate in Season 2 of Legends of Tomorrow). At the end of Season 5, he returns to help the heroes against new Big Bad Prometheus and goes out in a Heroic Sacrifice to save Thea during the season finale.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Spike starts out as the Big Bad of Season 2, only to lose the position to Angelus come the second half of the season; after forming an Enemy Mine with Buffy to take Angelus down, he later tries to regain the Big Bad title, but fails and ends up pulling a Heel–Face Turn, going from one of Buffy's most dangerous enemies to one of her most trusted allies.
• Logia is the second Arc Villain of Chouseishin Gransazer. After he's defeated he stays on Earth and reappears in the following arcs to try and settle his score with Tenma. By the end of the series, he's completely given up on fighting and, once the conflict with Warp Monarch is averted, chooses to leave Earth peacefully after bidding farewell to Tenma.
• Farscape did this twice. The first season's Big Bad Crais rethinks his life after being tortured by Aeryn and Demoted to Dragon by Scorpius, and spends the second season as a Wild Card before joining the protagonists for the third season, and dying heroically at the end of that one. Scorpius himself is the Big Bad for the second and third seasons, but at the beginning of the fourth season, after being deposed by Grayza, he pulls an Enemy Mine with the protagonists against the Scarrans and remains their Token Evil Teammate for the rest of the show.
• King Richard in Galavant starts out as the main villain, kidnapping Galavant's girlfriend Madalena in the first episode and setting up the main conflict. But he turns out to be completely ineffectual and is replaced in short order by Madalena herself, as both ruler of Valencia and Big Bad of the series. By the second season, Richard has been reduced to being Galavant's sidekick.
• Kamen Rider: The post-series films are fond of bringing back old Big Bads and giving them new roles (usually either as spectators or aloof allies).
  • Although he died at the end of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, Masamune Dan gets revived in the post-series Another Ending movie trilogy. By that point his son Kuroto has surpassed him and become the new Big Bad, which leads to Masamune forming an Enemy Mine with the heroes purely to spite his own son.
  • Kamen Rider Build: In a similar situation to the above, Evolt manages to return in the post-series New World movie through a backup plan he had to revive himself. He doesn't get to resume his role though as there's now an even greater threat than himself (his own hedonistic older brother Killbus) on the scene. After helping the heroes defeat him, Evolt wisely decides to leave Earth peacefully rather than stay and start another conflict, bidding the heroes an amicable "ciao" as he departs into space.
  • Swartz seemingly died at the end of Kamen Rider Zi-O, but was reincarnated as the school principal in the reset timeline Sougo created. Despite retaining his memories of the old timeline, Swartz doesn't seem too interested in resuming his role as the Big Bad for now and even appears to be genuinely invested in his role as principal.
  • Gai Amatsu/Kamen Rider Thouser was one of two Big Bad contenders in Kamen Rider Zero-One, but he steps out of the role after pulling a last-minute redemption. From there he gets reassigned to the "Thouser department" for his failures in stopping the Ark, leaves his job altogether after the ZAIA Japan HQ is destroyed during the events of Kamen Rider Zero-One Others: MetsubouJinrai and starts his own company Thouser-Intellion. In Zero-One and Ex-Aid's post-series crossovers, Gai's joined in this role by the Ark, which has not only survived its defeat but seemingly become Bored with Insanity. It would now much rather observe and take amusement in Kuroto Dan's antics rather than do anything all that villainous, and even steps up to help with fighting the new Knight Templar AI that's emerged onto the scene.
• Once Upon a Time:
  • Regina Mills, aka the Evil Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, is the Big Bad in the first season, but undergoes a slow redemption process afterwards, with some setbacks.
  • Her sister Zelena, aka the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz, is the Big Bad of the second half of Season 3, and eventually ends up undergoing the same process.
• Power Rangers:
  • Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd from are the Big Bads in all seasons of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. In Power Rangers Zeo, they are driven off by the feared Machine Empire and flee to another galaxy. They reappear halway through the series, but never reclaim their status as Big Bad. Instead, they try all sorts of schemes to reclaim this position, most of which fail spectacularly. While they do succeed in the finale, Power Rangers Turbo reveals they have given up the fight against the Power Rangers.
  • During Power Rangers in Space, Karone wore the mantle of Astronema; the Princess of all Evil and later promoted to queen, due to the death of her superior. In the sequel series Power Rangers Lost Galaxy, she becomes a Power Ranger instead, but her past as Astronema is still alluded to. Once, she disguised herself as Astronema to intimidate the patrons of a Bad Guy Bar into giving her a priceless artifact. At another moment, she fought a doppelganger of her past self as a test to prove she was no longer evil.
  • In the finale of Power Rangers Time Force Ransik turns himself in to the Rangers when his actions almost caused the death of his beloved daughter. He reappears in Power Rangers Wild Force during their crossover with Time Force and helps both teams of Rangers to attone for creating their current enemies.
• In Pretty Little Liars, after being revealed as A, Mona spends the third season as an ambiguous figure: is the "new" A actually still her, is she helping the new A, or is she actually reformed? It turns out to be the second, but A drops her at the end of the season. Ever since, she's been an ally of the main characters, if not an entirely trusted or trustworthy one.
• Superman & Lois: Tal-Rho is the Big Bad of season 1. His civilian persona, Morgan Edge, fired Clark Kent from his job, rewrote Lois' article, and threatened Smallville. Tal-Rho kidnapped Kal-El, attempted to forcibly possess him with the consciousness of General Zod, and put Jordan (Clark's son) in extreme danger. But his motive is eventually revealed to be that he just wants to have a family which means he's always willing to listen to Clark, his younger half-brother. Initially, Clark rejects Tal-Rho's attempts to connect as a family but by the end of season 2, Tal-Rho has risked his life multiple times to help Superman fight the current big bad. Clark explicitly states that he now considers Tal-Rho both family and friend and one of the final things Superman says to his former antagonist in the season is "I love you too."
• Supernatural: Several of the shows' former seasonal Big Bads or Big Bad Ensemble members have returned in a redeemed or more minor capacity after losing the title to other antagonists. For examples: Crowley in Season 8 severs all ties with Team Free Will to become one of the main antagonists, but at the start of the next season, he's been brought low by a new addiction to human blood and reverts to being an on-off ally to Team Free Will; Season 9's Metatron reappears a few times across the next two seasons as a pathetic, powerless Big Bad Wannabe who ultimately joins the fight to stop Amara; and Season 11's Amara makes a post-Heel–Face Turn reappearances in the final season, looking to be left alone until Chuck, the Final Boss of the series, manipulates her into merging with him.
• Super Sentai:
  • The three Gaiark Pollution Ministers (Yogostein, Kitaneidas and Kegalesia) were the main antagonists for the first half of Engine Sentai Go-onger. They return in Samurai Sentai Shinkenger Vs Go Onger Ginmaku Bang where Pollution President Batcheed tries to re-recruit them back into the Gaiark, only for them to rebuff his offer, as they would much rather retire and eat sushi instead.
  • Gekkou of Illusions and Shizuka of the Wind were two players in the Big Bad Ensemble of GoGo Sentai Boukenger. They survive the series and make several appearances in crossover movies, including showing up in Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger vs. Space Sheriff Gavan: The Movie as prisoners of the Zangyack (alongside the Pollution Ministers and various other reformed villains). The Gokaiger set them all free.
• Negan from The Walking Dead serves as the Big Bad during the second half of Season 6 and the entirety of Seasons 7 and 8, but survives to be deposed as leader of the Saviors and becomes a Token Evil Teammate to the heroes during the Whisperer arc of Seasons 9 and 10 and onwards.

Video Games

• The Big Bad of The Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures, Fred Fucks, returns in the remastered version of The Angry Video Game Nerd II: ASSimilation as The Rival and a Recurring Boss, but he's not the one who turned the world into a shitty game- the Fuckotron 9000 is. He created it, only for it to turn on him.
• In Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia, Mir is the Big Bad who wants to wipe out all of humanity. In later games, she became The Atoner and tried to return the world to its original state. In the second game, she even joins the party, and the protagonist Croix can romance her.
• Art of Fighting: in the first game, Mr. Big was the Big Bad who kidnapped our hero's younger sister and forced their father to work for him. In the second game, he still appears, now as one of the regular fighters who wants to go against his boss, Geese Howard.
• Towards the end of Dragon Age: Origins, it is possible to recruit Teyrn Loghain Mac Tir — the Bad of the game's The Good, the Bad, and the Evil ensemble — into the Grey Wardens, instead of simply executing him for his crimes. If this option was taken (and he survived the Final Battle of Origins), Loghain appears in following games as one of the good guys, such as when he helps out the title organization in Dragon Age: Inquisition to fight the Elder One.
• Halfway through Far Cry: New Dawn, the people of Prosperity, Hope County, decided to send the Captain to ally with the cult village of New Eden, formed by the surviving members of the Project at Eden's Gate left over after the former Player Character, the Deputy of Far Cry 5, killed most of them, and after Hope County got nuked in the "Resist" ending of the last game. After being allowed entry to New Eden upon finding a book of the teachings of Eden's Gate's founder, Father Joseph Seed, the Captain ventures into the north to find Joseph living as a meditating hermit. Joseph, having mellowed out upon seeing that the world was a lot less peaceful after society's collapse than he hoped it would be, is no longer interested in trying to brainwash and capture more converts to his cult, instead focusing on keeping his remaining flock alive. So for that reason, he agrees to ally with his former enemies at Prosperity against the murderous Highwaymen, and he even names the Captain his successor as the leader of New Eden and gives them a mystical empowering apple to boot. Sadly, Joseph's bastard son Ethan is bitter towards his father for giving that power to someone not of the cult, and not to him, his own family, so he decides to sell his people out to the Highwaymen in exchange for a mystical apple of his own. After the apple's power mutates Ethan into a monster and the Captain has to kill him, Joseph finally feels the pain and heartbreak he'd forced the rest of Hope County to experience, realizing that spreading death and destruction was not what God wanted, and begs the Captain to grant him a Mercy Kill so he can face God's justice.
• In Ghostbusters: The Video Game, Vigo the Carpathian, the Big Bad of Ghostbusters II, is shown to be stuck in his painting and kept in the Ghostbuster's firehouse as a memento, where he is powerless to do anything except make impotent threats and the occasional reminiscence about the good ol' days to the new recruit if he stops by to observe him.
• The King of Fighters: The same Geese Howard above was the Big Bad of two of the Fatal Fury games, while his half-brother Wolfgang Krauser was also the Big Bad in one FF game. In KOF 96, they appear together as the Bosses Team along with Mr. Big; they aren't the masterminds of the story (that'd be Goenitz), but they do act as mid-bosses who try to get their hands on the power of the Orochi. In KOF XIV, Geese reappears, now along with his two henchmen as the participants for the tournament that year.
• Kirby:
  • In the very first game, Kirby's Dream Land, King Dedede was the Big Bad who stole all the food in Dream Land and Kirby had to take it back. In subsequent appearances, Dedede has been either mistaken for the Big Bad, possessed by the real Big Bad, or even a friendly rival for Kirby.
  • In his first appearance, Magolor from Kirby's Return to Dream Land manipulated Kirby and his allies into defeating Landia for him so he can claim the Master Crown for himself and become a Galactic Conquerer. New Challenge Stages from Kirby's Dream Collection features Magolor returning to build Kirby a theme park in Dream Land to make up for the incident. He's more of a rival to Kirby in this instance, but at least they depart on friendly terms in the end. The new "Magolor Epilogue" in the Video Game Remake Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe shows Magolor stranded in Another Dimension and how he decided to atone for his misdeeds, culminating in a fight against the very same crown he sought.
• The first Knightfall game has Satan as the Final Boss. In the sequel, you find him Drowning His Sorrows in a tavern near the beginning.
• Legacy of Kain: Played with in regards to Kain. He was the series' original Anti-Hero protagonist in Blood Omen, but becomes the Big Bad in Soul Reaver by virtue of being the target of Raziel's vengeance. However, after Soul Reaver, it turns out that Kain was playing a far more complicated game, and from there he goes to being a quasi-ally to Raziel, with the Big Bad position then being shared by Moebius the Timestreamer, the Elder God, and the Hylden Lord.
• Mega Man Battle Network
  • Original Big Bad Dr. Wily plays with the trope. Rather than appear directly in his capacity as an [Ex-BB] (like his NT Warrior self above), Dr. Wily is often presumed dead after his schemes, only to reappear and retroactively establish that he'd been acting as a Greater-Scope Villain of some kind or another. He plays it straight at the end of the fifth game, appearing to redeem the current Big Bad by force.
  • Played straight by former Gospel head Sean in the third game, who appears and reveals he's been using his skills to help people, despite his tragic history.
• Giratina would definitely qualify retroactively in all of its appearances since its debut prior to Pokémon Legends: Arceus, where it was a genuinely malevolent Pokemon who plotted to get revenge on Arceus and destroy the entire Pokemon world together with Volo's help, making its more benevolent characterization in other games a Foregone Conclusion once it has been finally defeated
• Portal. In both the first game and the first half of Portal 2, GLaDOS acts as the Big Bad of the game. But once Wheatley ended up getting uploaded into the facility, he becomes the new Big Bad of the second half while GLaDOS becomes the Deuteragonist as she teams up with Chell to stop the facility from being destroyed out of Wheatley's sheer stupidity.
• Psychonauts does this with the villain of the first game and interquel.
  • Coach Oleander is the mastermind behind the plot to steal the brains of the campers and have them power psychic death tanks to Take Over the World, but thanks to Raz going inside his mind and defeating his personal demons, he does a Heel–Face Turn at the end. In subsequent games, he is an uneasy ally of Raz who helps him against the new villains.
  • Dr. Loboto is the one who kidnaps Truman Zanotto in Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin, but in Psychonauts 2 he has been detained and is little more than a Starter Villain who Raz and the others interrogate in an attempt to learn the identity of his boss, the new Big Bad. Loboto more-or-less vanishes from the plot after the first stage, becoming just another NPC.
• In Sengoku 3, there's Byakki and Okuni, two nukenin that ran away and became some of the first bosses the protagonist group fights. In the end, both join the group by Defeat Means Playable to defeat the Greater-Scope Villain.
• Street Fighter
  • In the very first game, Sagat was the Big Bad and Ryu's final challenge. In his subsequent appearances, he becomes a part of Shadaloo to take revenge on Ryu, but then loses his interest in revenge and becomes a regular fighter.
  • M. Bison, leader of Shadaloo, is the Big Bad in 2 and Alpha. In 4, the Big Bad is Seth, leader of one of Shadaloo's branches, and Bison goes to fight him (and anybody in-between). M. Bison regains the Big Bad status in 5, where he is Killed Off for Real.
• At the end of Tales of Xillia, Gaius is convinced by the party to stop his campaign of gathering all of the world's most powerful weapons. As an Anti-Villain, Gaius respects the party's strength because of his code of honor, and willingly stands down after he loses. Come Tales of Xillia 2, he's undergone a total shift in attitude, even joining the player's party to help stop the next crisis from occurring.
• In the Touhou Project series, each game only covers a single incident. Since each incident is usually separate, and Defeat Means Friendship is in effect, the Big Bad of one game can make a friendly appearance in the next. Sometimes they even become playable characters.
• Zeus from World Heroes 2 Jet is the Big Bad of the game, organizing the tournament in which the fighters are involved. In the next game, World Heroes Perfect, he appears as the "Big Bad", but after defeating him in one round, the real Final Boss, Neo Dio, appears and replaces him for real.
• Sarevok in Baldur's Gate. He's the final boss of the first game. Then in Throne of Bhaal you are forced to resurrect him and he becomes an optional party member who never betrays you. A good Charname can even convince him to change his alignment to Chaotic Good.
• Gaius van Baelsar in Final Fantasy XIV is the main villain during the beginning of the A Realm Reborn story where he leads his troops to conquer Eorzea and purge it of its primals problem so that The Empire can rule over everyone. After his defeat, he seemingly dies when the facility he's in explodes all around him. He doesn't show up until much later during the story of Stormblood where he reappears without his helmet and states that while he still supports the Empire, he's only interested in the ideals they used to hold rather than conquering people and he also wants to get revenge on the Ascians who helped caused most of the mess he was in. Most of the main cast don't trust him at first and one even lampshades on how he's still alive when he should have been dead. Later on in Shadowbringers, he appears in the Weapons Project side story where he has to deal with his former adopted children who are now grown adults and are fighting for the Empire long after he had given up on his rulers.
• Heroes of Might and Magic/Might and Magic: Archibald Ironfist ends up as this. He is first introduced as the Big Bad of Heroes II, where he canonically loses the succession war but is spared. He then moves over to the Might and Magic series, with VI featuring his release (out of necessity) and VII starting out with him having usurped control of another kingdom. However, over the course of the game he ends up usurped himself, with his immediately prior plans having been to secure a safe place to flee to and set up shop. He then helps save his brother (the same one who won the succession war) and promises to stay on his little island from then on.

Webcomics

• Following his defeat and subsequent sealing in a literal Pocket Dimension, Dark Star of L's Empire spent most of his time being swarmed by small annoying creatures and getting into Flame Wars with the readers. He was later joined by the following Big Bad, Phala, and they had a kid together.
• White Angels Get No Rest: Baek Yeonwha was the main instigator of conflict in White Angels Have No Wings. However, after being arrested and sent to juvie for a while, she decided to go on the straight and narrow with a steady job and a steady girlfriend. Yang Dahye is the person who drags her back out of retirement while trying to get revenge on her for the abuse she put her through in high school.

Western Animation

• Yokai/Callaghan in Big Hero 6: The Series, where he is still shown in prison in one episode, and having regretted his actions in the movie the show spun off from.
• Dragons: The Nine Realms: When former Big Bad Buzzsaw returns in the final season, he is overshadowed by the new Big Bad Jörmungandr, Apex Predator of all dragons, both in terms of threat and, later in the episode, literally.
• Human Resources (2022) is a Spin-Off of Big Mouth that features every monster seen throughout the show in either a main or recurring role. This includes the Big Bad's of seasons 2-4, Lionel the Shame Wizard, Tito the Anxiety Mosquito and Walter and Rochelle the Love Bug/Hate Worms. Depression Kitty the personal main antagonist of Jessie's story is also in the series.
• Jackie Chan Adventures:
  • In the first two seasons of the series, Valmont is part of the Big Bad Duumvirate with the demon Shendu, but after two different gambits lost, he ends up a poor beggar on the streets, desperate for cash and a chance to make his comeback. Shendu likewise loses his prominence, but he has much closer ties to the other significant villains of the show, and so his fall isn't quite as far.
  • Also, Daolon Wong is the main villain for most of Season 3, until he decides to resurrect Shendu, which results in Shendu betraying Wong and upstaging him as the antagonist of the season finale.
• In The Legend of Korra, Zaheer and the Red Lotus were the Big Bad in Book 3, but by the end, Zaheer is the only known survivor after the Red Lotus were defeated. But due to their actions of killing the Earth Queen Hou-Ting, the Earth Kingdom is left in anarchy, and a new Big Bad arrives in Book 4 in the form of Kuvira, who ends up taking over the Earth Kingdom. Korra meets with Zaheer in his prison, where he realizes that his actions led to a new enemy rising up and he decides to help Korra deal with her fears.
• The end of the first season of Loonatics Unleashed revealed Optimatus as the mastermind behind two attempts to eradicate Acmetropolis with meteors. A seemingly lesser second season villain, General Deuce, attempts to abscond with Ace's Guardian Strike Sword, and recurs in the second season finale as an accomplice to Optimatus. However, Deuce is The Man Behind the Man, and betrays his cohorts as part of an Evil Plan to control all subspace travel in the galaxy. This stinging betrayal triggers Optimatus' Heel–Face Turn in the finale.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • Manipulative, reality-warping draconequus Discord was the Big Bad of the Season 2 premiere, causing chaos throughout Equestria. After being defeated by the Mane Six, he had a Heel–Face Turn in Season 3. Then, after relapsing and getting backstabbed by Tirek, Discord became fully, if not still causing chaos For the Lulz instead of For the Evulz, reformed by Season 5 onwards.
  • Starlight Glimmer was the Big Bad of Season 5 as the ruthless mayor of a town with equal sign cutie marks that she makes with her magic. After being defeated twice, first by restoring the townsponies' cutie marks and second by Twilight Sparkle and Spike via a time-traveling misadventure and some pep talk, Starlight became Princess Twilight's student by Season 6.
  • In the final season, all of the remaining Big Bads of the show's two-parters—Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra, Lord Tirek, and Cozy Glow—are Demoted to Dragon by Grogar to serve in his Legion of Doom, with Sombra getting Killed Off for Real after trying to strike out on his own, and the rest spending the bulk of the season plotting against their new "leader" together. When it's revealed in the Grand Finale that Grogar was Discord all along and his Legion of Doom was a misguided Secret Test for Twilight, however, they immediately become the show's ultimate Big Bad Triumvirate.
• Rick and Morty: After Evil Morty left the Central Finite Curve in "Rickmurai Jack", Rick Prime—Main Rick's nemesis who murdered his wife—was set up as the new Big Bad for the series. In the episode "Unmortricken" though, Rick Prime gets majorly Out-Gambitted by Evil Morty—who returns and forms an Enemy Mine with Rick and Morty out of self-preservation—and is beaten to death by Rick. Evil Morty, meanwhile, steals Rick Prime's schematics for the Omega Weapon, but mostly as a deterrent against Rick to prevent him from coming after him, mainly wanting to be left to his own devices. While it does leave him as the biggest overarching threat in the series, for now he has no interest in directly antagonizing the heroes any further.
• Total Drama
  • Heather is the most prominent example in the series. Being the original Big Bad of Total Drama, after the conclusion of her first season, she remains around for most of the series. All the other contestants are all too wary of her shady past, but she never quite ascends to the status of main threat ever again. In World Tour she actually becomes the Villain Protagonist for the first half of the season before going through a Hazy-Feel Turn and ends up as the Anti-Hero up against the new Big Bad Alejandro.
  • Alejandro is the most prominent example other than Heather. During World Tour, Alejandro proved himself to be the most charismatic Total Drama villain of all time, manipulating and backstabbing his way through the season all the way to the finale, and having a hand in almost everyone's eliminations. Come All-Stars, unsurprisingly there is no one who trusts him due to his heinous past. This causes trouble for him once a threat greater than him emerges in the form of Mal. Being one of the few characters aware of Mal's true nature, Alejandro's attempts to warn everyone else falls on mostly deaf ears with everyone believing he's Crying Wolf.
  • Scott after causing havoc in Revenge of the Island returns in All-Stars as one of the returning villains. However unlike Alejandro and Heather, he's never treated like much of a threat, with most people brushing him off as an idiotic farmboy.

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