Overlord Jr.

Like any good dad, Bowser will always be there to support his son's dreams of world domination.

"I will not have a son. Although his laughably under-planned attempt to usurp power would easily fail, it would provide a fatal distraction at a crucial point in time."

— Evil Overlord List, Rule #18

The male offspring (or nephew) of the bad guy.

Their personality can vary a lot from sniveling wannabe who pushes his familial connections, a kid who idolizes his dad and is more mischievous than truly evil, a carbon copy of their dad, a spoiled Royal Brat, or a selfish scumbag who would kill his own dad to seize power. Could even be a "Well Done, Son" Guy.

Why are these guys so evil? Is it because of Villainous Lineage, are they being loyal to their father... or do bad guys just make lousy parents?

Often the ones who seek to avenge the villain and sometimes they'll come out of nowhere with no prior hint of their existence. Though it's not uncommon for them to show no concern whatsoever for the death of their parent. If Overlord Jr is in trouble, expect Dad to come in to save him since Even Evil Has Loved Ones. If Overlord Dad and Overlord Jr have a good relationship, you can expect Overlord Jr will believe Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad.

A Sister Trope (or more accurately Brother Trope) to Daddy's Little Villain (the Distaff Counterpart to this).

These characters differ from Mad Dictator's Handsome Son in that they almost never change sides and are often truly evil. Contrast Evil Parents Want Good Kids, where the son's evil may mark them as an Inadequate Inheritor to the father.

noreallife

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Code Geass. Schneizel fills this role, pitted against his exiled and rebellious half-brother Lelouch.
• Pride in Fullmetal Alchemist. Somewhat of a subversion since he's actually over three centuries old, but he still sees himself as his father's loyal child.
• Gihren Zabi of Mobile Suit Gundam is one of the nastiest versions of this trope, being much more dangerous than Degwin while lacking any human qualities his father his has. It culminates in Gihren killing and usurping Degwin when he tries to do something sensible and make peace.
• Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ: Glemy Toto turns out to be either Gihren's illegitimate son or his clone. It's not entirely clear, but he definitely inherited a number of traits from him.
• Freeza's son Kuriza in Neko Majin Z is a parody of this. Freeza himself was one to King Cold, with the twist that the son is the primary villain and we never even hear about his father until after Freeza's defeat. Cold retrieves and upgrades Freeza's body, only for them both to be curb-stomped by Future Trunks the minute they set foot on Earth. Just to rub salt in the wound, Goku would have teleported to Earth and done the exact same thing if Trunks hadn't shown up.
  • Also, the Piccolo in Dragon Ball Z started off as "Ma Junior", son of Demon King Piccolo in Dragon Ball. Though technically he's more of a reincarnation.
    • Garlic Jr also counts, even though we never see Garlic Sr except for one flashback.
• Helmeppo, son of Axe hand Morgan in One Piece. He's a sniveling jerk who does whatever he likes as his dad controls the town. He eventually realizes his dad doesn't care about him and manages to do a Heel–Face Turn.
• Giovanni from Pokémon: The Series is one of these, but to his mother. She was the leader of Team Rocket, a Yakuza-like organisation that illegally hunts, steals, and smuggles Pokémon before he became the leader.
• Ukyo of Samurai 7 starts out as the spoiled son of the wealthy merchant who owns the city to which our heroes come to recruit samurai to protect the village. Strange appearance, gentle voice, Royal Brat tendencies when not immediately satisfied. Lives a sybaritic lifestyle with a large kidnapped (but not unwilling) harem and is immune to repercussions for anything he does—until Kikuchiyo slices his car in half, provoking a meltdown and revenge for his first time feeling physically threatened. Or something. It's not for the car, anyway.
  • And then he turns out to be running an Evil Plan with assassinations and things to edge his father out and take over. And otherwise to have a mind and ambition.
  • And then he turns out to be adopted. Specifically, to be one of the Emperor's many clone-children, whom he scattered across the kingdom among peasants and merchants to see if that would produce a worthy heir since all the ones he raised at court were judged idiots. Ukyou, who was originally seeded into a village and clawed his way up, undergoes a lengthy test of his leadership abilities where he basically proves that he's a Magnificent Bastard. Emperor is very pleased and declares Ukyou his heir instead of killing him. Ukyou, naturally, murders daddy dearest that night. Thus, Emperor Ukyou becomes the final Big Bad after having been an early distraction kind of threat.
    • So basically, he's this twice, and Starscreams them both.
• Prince Lotor/Sinclaine, son of the villain Zarkon/Daibazaal in Voltron/GoLion goes under the greedy scumbag who hates his dad. However, in his first appearance, Lotor/Sincline got along quite well with his father and it’s only after he saw Princess Allura/Fala that things began going south between them.

Comic Books

• The Amulet graphic novels give us Prince Trellis, whose dad clearly hated him from the day he was born, giving him a name like that. Said father is the evil elf king who's been despoiling the world for years since a huge magical power-up drove him insane, and he does not give a damn about his child. Faint shades of Royal Brat at first, mostly huge inferiority complex.
  • Trellis really wants to please his father, but his morals are increasingly a problem until after being informed his father has approved killing him if he keeps giving trouble, he turns traitor to help the main characters do a heroic thing. They do not actually notice that he did this, so the second book ends with Trellis completely alone on a hill, watching the heroes' house walk away.
  • Worth noting that these elves are sort of greyish with nasty sharp pointy teeth, and Trellis is about three times as human-looking by the end of his Heel–Face Turn as he was early in the first book.
• The Awesome Slapstick had Dr. Denton, Destroyer of Worlds, a five-year-old genius who built a giant robotic teddy bear. It's never shown if his parents were also Mad Scientists, but he does get chided for building robots indoors.
• Captain America has Baron Helmut Zemo, the son of Baron Heinrich Zemo.
• Flattop Jr in Dick Tracy.
• Ezekiel Stane is the come out of nowhere variety. He took revenge on Iron Man for his father's death 20 years prior (real time).
• Mongul in The DCU is the son of the original Mongul. He is also far, far, far worse; if his father was a Blood Knight douchebag with some genuine Magnificent Bastard moments, his son is an arrogant, manipulative, and depraved monster who kickstarted his career by punching his own sister's head off, and from there displayed some of the most consistently disgusting behavior short of Darkseid or Vandal Savage that the DCU has seen in a long time. Of course, he eventually fucks with Sinestro and meets some much-needed karmic retribution.
• In a sort of odd reversal, in the 1990s New Gods series, Yuga Khan popped up outta nowhere. "Yuga Khan?" Um, yeah. He's Darkseid's father. He's so horrifically badass, Darkseid basically hid in the basement when Daddy returned until the latter managed to get himself imprisoned on the Source Wall. Again. It sort of makes Darkseid an Overlord Jr. by means of retcon. Never heard from again, of course.
  • Of course, Darkseid also has someone who tries to play the trope straight, his son Kalibak, The Un-Favourite and "Well Done, Son" Guy par excellence. Sadly, he’s just not very good at it.
  • Darkseid's third son, Grayven, is as bloodthirsty as his father. He's not nearly as intelligent, though, so Darkseid prefers not to acknowledge his existence.
• Victor Von Fogg from PS238.
• Sin City gives us the Yellow Bastard, the heir to the Roark crime/political family, who is appropriately enough named Junior.
• Harry Osborn is the "Well Done, Son" Guy variety combined with a boatload of drugs and the mistaken belief that Spider-Man killed his dad.

Fan Works

• Princess Lotora from "Hottie 3: The Best Fan Fic in the World"
• In the Avatar: The Last Airbender fic "The Once and Future King],"] Prince Aziru is this to his [[ActionMom mother, Azula. He hates the rest of his family and wants to help depose Zuko and put Azula on the throne, but he's not a bad kid - Azula's raising him as a Laser-Guided Tyke-Bomb, and all he wants is to make his beloved mother happy.

Film — Animated

• What Syndrome wanted to do with Baby Jack, the youngest son of The Incredibles. It didn't work because the baby manifests his shapeshifting powers while been snatched.

Films — Live-Action

• The Archer: Michael, the warden's son, also works in the reform camp and pretty much acts as his father's henchman.
• Scott Evil and Mini-me to Dr Evil in Austin Powers.
• In Bring Me the Head of the Machine Gun Woman, el Chinchinero has a son who he is training to follow in his footsteps as a Professional Killer. The son even wears a miniature version of el Chinchinero's outfit. At the end of the film, the son attempts to avenge his father by shooting the Machine Gun Woman.
• The most famous aversion of all comes in The Empire Strikes Back:
  Vader: "Luke, you have not yet realized your importance. You have only begun to discover your power. Join me, and I will complete your training. And with our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict, and bring order to the galaxy... Luke, you can destroy The Emperor! He has foreseen this! It is your destiny! Join me, and together we can rule the galaxy as father and son."
• Iosef Tarasov for Russian crime boss Viggo Tarasov in John Wick.
• Chris D'Amico (Red Mist) in Kick-Ass.
• Special Female Force: It's revealed late in the film that the Big Bad terrorist known as "The President" has actually died years ago, and was replaced by his son who uses a latex mask resembling his late father's face to appear as his old man in public.

Literature

• The Ballad of the White Horse has Harold, Guthrum's nephew. Unlike most other examples, he's stupid enough to be The Brute and thus the first of the major villains to die - in fact, the only named character to die before Book Six.
• In Brilliance of the Moon, the third Tales of the Otori book, one of the main villains is Iida Nariaki, the nephew of Iida Sadamu, the Big Bad from the first book.
• In The Chathrand Voyages, the Shaggat Ness has twin sons, Pithor and Erthalon, who are every bit as insane, idolize him and work hard to support his rule and later return (despite his habit of setting their clothes on fire while they're asleep). While the Shaggat is an Ax-Crazy maniac, however, the sons are more just weird, especially Erthalon, who thinks he's destined to be king of a colony of monkeys on a remote island.^note That's actual monkeys we're talking about, as in the animal, not a derogatory term for island natives. Yeah.
• Kalarus Brencis Minoris in Codex Alera manages to be a snivelling wannabe, a spoiled brat, a selfish scumbag, and a "Well Done, Son" Guy all at once. His dad is shown to be abusive, but how well Brencis Jr. took to the bigotry, sexism, and pleasure in casual sadism, murder, and rape that his father taught him kills any hint of this being a Freudian Excuse.
• Haplo of The Death Gate Cycle essentially starts out as this (yeah, he's not Lord Xar's biological son, but the two consistently frame their relationship as surrogate father/surrogate son and are about as close as an Evil Overlord and his Dragon can be), and Haplo does all he can to lay the groundwork across the multiverse for Xar's coming rule. However, as Haplo's Character Development gradually kicks in across the series, he begins to realize that maybe Xar is no longer the good lord Haplo believed him to be; following his Heel–Face Turn, Haplo becomes Xar's enemy (albeit with much regret on both sides) though in the end Haplo willingly offers his life to Xar to prove that he still believes in him and that Xar's other adviser Sang-drax- a demonic entity in humanoid form- is their mutual enemy. Yeah, Haplo has a complicated relationship with his adopted father, and by extension this trope.
• Dune has House Harkonnen this way. Headed by Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, human life is of little consequence to the Baron or his nephews, the brutish Glossu Rabban and Harkonnen's heir Feyd-Rautha.
  • Ironically, it's the Baron's grandson and granddaughter (whose relation to him was hidden, and who are also the children of his arch-enemy, who he tried to kill) and later great-grandson who actually become overlords, although the first is a subversion, the second is possessed, and the third is a Necessarily Evil Dark Messiah.
• In the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Antorell, the son of head wizard Zemenar, isn't actually a kid, but is still something of a Harmless Villain who wants to impress his father but doesn't ever really pose a credible threat to main characters unless he has other wizards with him.
• Draco Malfoy of Harry Potter has elements of this, though it turns out he's more like The Dragon Jr., and while he never does a Heel–Face Turn, by the climax of the sixth book he's learned he's just not cut out to be truly evil, either, and his position is mostly as Harry's Rival and the books' Alpha Bitch / Jerkass for all occasions.
• Klitch of the Redwall book Salamandastron has an argumentative but mutually-admiring relationship with his father Ferahgo, the warlord. When Ferahgo thinks Klitch had plotted to kill him, he reacts with a distinct "better luck next time" vibe.
• A Song of Ice and Fire. Ramsay Bolton is the bastard son of the evil Roose Bolton. Roose raped Ramsay's mother, then took him as his heir after Ramsay had Roose's trueborn son murdered. Roose is annoyed by Ramsay's overt evil and lectures him about keeping his sadistic hobbies on the down low as Roose does.
• Mordaunt, son of Milady (a rare example of the Overlord Jr. being the son of a female villain) in 20 Years After.
• The War of the Flowers: Lord Nidrus Hellebore, the architect of the plot to unleash Old Night into the mortal world, has a son named Anton who takes after his father in terms of evil if not necessarily ambition. Born to a life of idle luxury and raised by an Evil Sorcerer, Anton becomes a sadistic hedonist who takes glee in torturing Hellebore's enemies, including the daughter of his ally, who betrays him out of love for the protagonist.

Live-Action TV

• John Ross Ewing III, in the Revival of Dallas. Considering who his father is, it should come as no surprise.
• Howlyn, the Big Bad of season 5 of Earth: Final Conflict, is an Atavus who ruled prehistoric Earth millions of years ago, when his kind were forced into hybernation by a meter shower. His son Yulyn wants nothing to do with Howlyn and refuses to kill to feed. He wants to return the Atavus to their homeworld, where they don't need to do that.
• Kyojuu Tokusou Juspion has Mad Gallant, who acts as The Dragon to his father Satan Gorth. Satan Gorth is grooming him to be his successor and intends to one day pass his empire onto him.
• Even if you don't feel Uther is especially evil, Arthur from the BBC's Merlin (2008) qualifies completely. Bit of a "Well Done, Son" Guy, extremely loyal to his father, although he increasingly questions his most hardline policies, particularly on magic. (Which is logical, because Uther's stance on that particular matter is heavily irrational.)
• The Peripheral (2022): Lev Zubov has an adorable little boy named Anton, who can only be 7 or 8 years old at most. He accompanies his father he corners Ash and Ossian having learned of their attempted betrayal. His father asks him to fetch him a knife, and, when he returns with the weapon, he asks if he can watch.
• Thrax, son of Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd from Power Rangers Operation Overdrive. He seeks to avenge his parents' magic-induced Heel–Face Turn at the end of Space.
  • Subverted, more or less, with King Mondo's eldest son Prince Gasket from Power Rangers Zeo. He aspired to be The Starscream, but then fled like a coward when his very angry father confronted him.
• Smallville's Lex Luthor was apparently raised to be the "resents his father" variant, complete with multiple references to Alexander and other great conquerors. Although at first he was too nice, he later goes totally off the deep end and becomes the feared character we always knew he could be.
• Stargate SG-1: Klorel, son of Apophis. Since the Goa'uld are a race of Explosive Breeders and Puppeteer Parasites with Genetic Memory and several more layers of Bizarre Alien Biology, including Klorel having a "human" brother named Shifu... Well, it is too bad the character was Put In A Jar Through A Gate.
• Super Sentai
  • Battle Fever J has an interesting play on this in that the Monster of the Week, the Egos Monsters, are created from the essence of Big Bad Satan Egos and thus are considered his "children", which makes them Number Two to him and ranked above his actual Co-Dragons, Commander Hedder and Salome.
  • Warz Gill from Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger is the son of the Zangyack Emperor, who has yet to be seen onscreen, but he's the one who orders the attack on Earth. Of course, the "damned pirates" are always in his way, so it's just a matter of time now until Daddy shows up to see why his son hasn't conquered Earth yet... Episode 37 confirms that his Dragon was effectively his babysitter and that he was aware of this the entire time. He pulls out all the stops against the Gokaiger, but is killed in the following episode. Enter one very annoyed Overlord Senior.
• Walker, Texas Ranger has had this occur a few times.
  • Sheik Ali Faisal, an Iraqi terrorist from Season 8's "Thunderhawk", likely became the leader of the terrorist organization, the Black Talon, since the death of his father after NATO took out one of his chemical plants, and has been in the market for a superweapon capable of wiping out the country. About a year after the episode aired, the September 11 Attacks occurred.
  • Season 9's "Legends" has Michael Viscardi, the son of notorious Dallas mobster Samuel E. Viscardi. The plot of the episode has Michael seeking revenge on all the people who convicted his father for his crimes, from the jurors to the judge, and to top it all off, Walker (who likely arrested him) and Alex (who served as the prosecuting attorney). Who knows if he has children of his own to succeed him in the organization after the Rangers arrest him for his revenge killing spree?

Professional Wrestling

• AEW has Mr. Brodie Lee Jr., aka "–1", son of the late, lamented Dark Order leader Mr. Brodie Lee.^note AEW signed the younger Lee, 8 years old when his father died, to an actual contract to help support the family. More of a borderline case because The Dark Order underwent a Heel–Face Turn after the elder Brodie's passing.
• Vince McMahon's son Shane and son-in-law Triple H both qualify whenever they are heels.

Radio

• Our Miss Brooks: In "Babysitting New Years Eve", Miss Brooks babysits Mr. Conklin's bratty nephew, who's constantly yelling "I want a drink of water!". Averted with Mr. Conklin's daughter, Harriet, a series regular who is very much a friend of Miss Brooks'.

Theatre

• In Cesare - Il Creatore che ha distrutto, Cesare claims to hate his father, but their body language and mannerisms — and flair for the dramatic — are strikingly similar. Act 2 opens with Rodrigo in a pose very similar to Cesare's at the very end of the play.
• Herbert von Krolock in Tanz Der Vampire, who not only acts as The Dragon to his father but whom Word of God states is personally responsible for Alfred's nightmare during the "Carpe Noctem" dance sequence.

Tabletop Games

• Dungeons & Dragons example; while this hasn't been confirmed, it has been suggested that Demon Lord Graz'zt is this to Archdevil and God of Evil Asmodeus. Whether he's the rebellious (but still evil) son, or secretly still working for his father, is also up to speculation.
  • Lixer is a much better example since he is confirmed to actually be Asmodeus' son and is far more competent (if slightly weaker personally) than Graz'zt could ever hope to be.
• Joseph Prosek II ^note He's named after his grandfather, in case you were wondering in Rifts is this to his father Karl, Emperor-For-Life of the Coaltion States. Surprisingly, while he is arguably even more evil than his father, he is also a completely loyal, loving son, content to serve as Minister of Propaganda while patiently waiting for his father to step down. Karl is equally devoted to his son, and both stand side-by-side in their iron fist in a velvet glove rule.
• The Pyramid article "Call No Man Happy Until He is Dread: Dark Lords in GURPS Discworld" has a bit about family which warns "Sons, unfortunately, seem to slip into the Unwisely Trusted Lieutenant role with appalling ease; being brought up by someone with lousy parenting skills, who nonetheless convinces you that you're an Heir To Power, is doubtless bad for team spirit and moral sense."

Video Games

• Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, though he's for the most part the Dragon-in-Chief.
• The Player Character in Dark Messiah is the spawn of the Big Bad, the Satanic Archetype Kha-Beleth. If he stays loyal to his father he winds up as the Generation Xerox version of this trope.
• Deltarune: Lancer. Looks almost exactly like his dad? Desperately looking for approval? A Royal Brat who commands subservience from his father's minions? He's this in spades. He even, in a pacifist run, overthrows his dad and takes over himself. Thankfully, he's also an innocent example who doesn't actually know a lot about evil and ends up making friends with the party.
• Rico Jr., son of the demon lord Rico Sr., in Dokapon Kingdom. He has traits of the Royal Brat, Enfante Terrible, and a carbon copy of his dad.
• Several examples in Fire Emblem:
  • There are a ton in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War.
    • Scorpio plans to avenge and succeed his father Andrei.
    • Downplayed with Danann's younger sons Iuchar and Iucharba, since they're more of a pair of anti villains and one of them can be spirited to the hero's side by Larcei, the girl they both have crushes on. Their also anti villainous older brother Brian is a subversion - he fights for familial honor rather than Danann himself, and as he dies he says he's fought for the wrong side.
    • Then there's Julius who manages to strip his father Arvis of all his authority.
  • In Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, there's the sniveling Erik, son of the greedy Darin.
  • Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia has Berkut, nephew to Emperor Rudolf of Rigel and heir to the Rigelian throne. ...or so he thinks. In actuality, Alm is Rudolf's son and the true heir. When Berkut learns that he had been strung along by his uncle for his entire life, he snaps, and his fiancee, his friend, and he himself all pay the price.
• Rufus Shinra in Final Fantasy VII. His dad tried to Take Over the World with money, once he gets done in by the game's Big Bad, the son vows to do the same but with fear instead.
• Knight Bewitched: Typhus the Younger is the son of the Big Bad, Typhus the World Breaker. He's also just as genocidal towards non-dragons as his father.
• Ogura from The Legendary Starfy has multiple sons as bosses. The mom question is avoided as he created them magically.
• Dr. Wily has a son in Mega Man Battle Network, Regal, that also took up villainy. Regal's MUCH worse than Wily is, hands down. Wily actually did a Heel–Face Turn to stop him, out of sheer horror at Regal's misdeeds.
• Allen O'Neil Jr., son of Allen O'neil in Metal Slug Advance. He's basically a weaker version of his father and even has the same maniacal laugh.
• Sektor is revealed to be one of these in Mortal Kombat 9. He's the son of the Lin Kuei Grand Master, willingly gets transformed into a cyborg in both timelines, and in the original timeline, he kills his father and becomes the Grand Master himself. However, in plotline terms, this is for all of about five minutes, as Sub-Zero has taken that title from him and incapacitated him by the time of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance.
• The Witch Boy of Overlord II is the son of the Evil Overlord of the former Overlord. However, he never plays sidekick to his father since the original Overlord ended up stuck in hell after he takes it over at the end of his adventure.
• Discussed and analyzed in Resident Evil 6, when Jake learns he's the son of the Omnicidal Maniac Mad Scientist Albert Wesker. His attitude, fighting style, and even abilities are remarkably similar to Wesker's and he becomes moody and snappish out of fear that he's on his way to becoming Wesker Jr. He ultimately averts it: not becoming this trope becomes the driving force that turns him into a selfless and heroic person.
• In the second Robopon game, it's revealed Dr. Zero, the first game's Big Bad, is this.
• Sonic the Hedgehog has Eggman Nega: a near-identical decendant of Dr. Eggman from the far future. Eggman Nega has very little of the Doctor's redeeming qualities, being a ruthless sociopath who delights in chaos and destruction.
• In Star Fox, Andross' nephew Andrew is this. In Star Fox: Assault, Andrew pilots a giant robot that fights in a similar way to Andross, prompting Falco to say, "What's this, an Andross wanna-be?"
• With the death of Mr. X in the Streets of Rage series, his crime syndicate is left under the control of his children, Mr. and Ms. Y, in Streets of Rage 4.
• The Super Mario Bros. series has Bowser Jr., who looks a lot like his dad, admires him greatly, and is more of a mischievous troublemaker. As much of a jerk Bowser is to practically everyone else, it's at least made clear that Bowser Jr. is one of the few people that Bowser genuinely cares about very deeply, and it shows right back, as Bowser Jr. just wants to make him proud.
  • Bowser had the Koopalings, six other sons (and one daughter) who are also chips off the old block, though they were later retconned into being siblings, but not his kids. Ludwig in particular was generally treated as Bowser's heir before the introduction of Bowser Jr.

Visual Novels

• Seiji Amanone from Spirit Hunter: NG is the heir to Taizou Amanome, the current head of the Amanome Family. According to Taizou's profile, he dotes on his son dearly, and Seiji is clearly a chip off the old block given how well he utilizes the Yakuza and its connections. That said, Amanome Sr. isn't above giving some tough love if Seiji gets too out of line.

Webcomics

• In Girl Genius Gilgamesh Wulfenbach, the heir of Baron Klaus Wulfenbach, current dominating super-power in Europe. When we meet him he has some experience, fenced, and has a Lightning Gun in development, but didn't even stash a Death Ray or two. Later when left to his own devices he became more impressive, though fully met the Baron's high standards only by defeating a mechanized army. Single-handedly.
  • When they were preparing to fight off a horde of slaver wasps, Agatha didn't believe him until he'd insisted several times in a loud voice he didn't have any weapons hidden in his lab that she just hadn't been able to find.
    Agatha: What kind of an Evil Overlord are you going to be, anyway?
    Gil: [surprised] Apparently a better one than I'd thought...
  • Notably, Klaus conquered Europe to save it from itself, and Gil is still the leading Love Interest of the protagonist, and is almost ridiculously nice for someone in his position, although still very badass when he needs to be.
  • However, Agatha's fashion clank (don't ask) provides an alternate interpretation and wardrobe as a more typical "spoiled, cowardly son of a great man", complete with Overlord Jr. stock lines:
    My father will hear of this!
    Do you know who I am?!
    I like a girl with spirit!
    Guards! Seize them!
• The Fourth is about Lord Tiberius Skärva the Fourth, latest in a long line of ineffective Adventure Game overlords. He kind of resents being compared to his father though (whose ghost keeps showing up to criticize him).
• The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob!: Fructose Riboflavin's dad was a petty highway bandit raising his son to be a crook, too. When his dad's crimes eventually got him killed, Fructose swore revenge on the Empire's rulers and grew up to be a villain on a scope his father would never have dreamed of.
• It seems that Nale of The Order of the Stick played this role to Tarquin when he was younger. However, by the time the comic begins, Nale has already tried and failed to overthrow his father and has fled into exile, now bent on killing his estranged Good Twin Elan in order to prove his villainous credentials. Later on, Tarquin tries to bring him back into the fold, but he resists and ultimately goads his father into killing him.

Web Originals

• In chargesdotcomdotbr Tonin series, Vilano's youngest son decided to show his willingness to follow his deceased father's footsteps by forsaking his original name and renaming himself "Vilano Segundo" (Vilano the Second).
• Jobe Wilkins, of the Whateley Universe. Son of Emperor Wilkins (aka supervillain Gizmatic), the ruler of Karedonia. Jobe is a Royal Brat, and a brilliant (if sociopathic) Mad Scientist even though he is only fourteen. If he isn't destroying opponents with hideous bio-warfare inventions, he is destroying opponents with martial arts expertise. His father's only regret is that Jobe prefers biological inventing instead of mechanical inventing.

Western Animation

• Zuko of Avatar: The Last Airbender should have been this, but he couldn't measure up, so his little sister fills the role instead. He did seem to become this for a while, when he thinks he finally gained his father's respect, but when his father plans to commit genocide on the Earth Kingdom, Zuko makes a full Heel–Face Turn.
• Victor in Babar as the son of rhino warlord Rataxes, although as the show continues this is downplayed as Victor is actually a friend of Babar's children and is more like a Sitcom Arch-Nemesis relationship between the parents.
• Jose Von Reichter in Cybersix. He's just as much of a nasty piece of work as his old man, though he seems to eschew his father's overt Nazi ideology in favour of being a horny little freak.
• Pete Jr. in the Donald Duck cartoon "Bellboy Donald" is a Bratty Half-Pint, with a copy of his father's personality. In his newer form from Goof Troop this is inverted with him being completely different from his dad in almost every conceivable way (except his appearance which became closer), fearful and resentful of him, and an entirely sympathetic character.
• Subverted by Nordle, the son of reoccurring villain Professor Exclamation on Hamster & Gretel. Despite being pushed to follow in his villainous footsteps by his father, and being a bit of an Insufferable Genius, Nordle doesn’t wish to continue his evil legacy, even secretly befriending his father’s arch-nemesis.
• Senor Senior, Jr.: son of Senor Senior, Sr. from Kim Possible. He's a lazy young model who isn't too interested in villainy, but will grudgingly lend a hand to his dad in taking over the world. However, he has been shown to have inherited some of his father's diabolical nature. At one point, he turned his father in... for billions of dollars in reward money. This would enable him to bail his dad out and rebuild the family fortune which they had been scammed out of. In an unusual variant, the parent didn't become a villain until recently, by which point the child was at least a young adult.
• Bian Zao, the son of Taotie in Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness mostly thinks his father's plots to get revenge on the Jade Palace are "lame", but the episode "Youth in Re-Volt" reveals he's still a potential villain, he just doesn't want to do it his dad's way.
• Subverted with Tarrlok and Amon in The Legend of Korra. As children, neither of them wanted to follow Yakone's dream of ruling Republic City and taking out the Avatar, but they ended up attempting to do so anyways, albeit with different motives
• In The Little Mermaid television series, there's an episode involving a stingray-merman (who is evil) training his young son to be evil (even singing a whole Villain Song about it). The little stingray boy is conflicted between pleasing his dad and being himself.
• Lloyd Garmadon, son of Lord Garmadon, from Ninjago starts off as this. He wanted to follow in his evil father's footsteps and thus did the most vile thing he could think of: unleashing the Serpentine Tribes. After being betrayed by every one of them, he decides that he doesn't want to be evil anymore and joins the ninja.
• "OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes" has the character of Boxman Jr., the most beloved creation of series villain Lord Boxman.
• The Owl House has Hunter the Golden Guard, the right hand man and nephew of Emperor Belos. Hunter starts off acting like a smarmy, entitled jerk, but turns out to actually be a kind and caring boy who grew up completely isolated from the outside world and is terrified of provoking the wrath of his extremely abusive uncle. Played with later on when it turns out that Hunter is actually a Grimwalker, cloned from Belos's late brother Caleb, meaning Belos could just as easily be considered his brother, father, or simply his creator. Once Hunter discovers this, he runs away from home, pulling a Heel–Face Turn two episodes later.
• What Cyril Sneer wanted of his son Cedric in The Raccoons, but after the first TV specials, he does a Heel–Face Turn.
• Prince Lotor from Voltron: Legendary Defender. As a charmer and cunning strategist, he represents a somewhat different threat to his father Zarkon, who is all about brute force and authority.
• As of season 2 of Young Justice, Kaldur has become this to his father, Black Manta. It's actually subverted, he was good all along.

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