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Starter Villain

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"So... Tremonius has fallen. A victim of the Master Chief's might. Do not fool yourself. He was not the best of the Banished. Not by any measure."
Escharum, Halo Infinite

A Subtrope of Arc Villain, the Starter Villain ranks the lowest on the Sorting Algorithm of Evil (the heroes have to start off fighting someone). They are the first true threat to the heroes, not just some common Mook who's there to let them show how badass they are. Expect even the weakest member of the heroic team to eventually become more powerful than them (that is, if they survive). The Starter Villain is not always associated with the intended Big Bad of the whole series, usually having a whole story arc to themself. If the overall antagonist is The Empire (possibly in a setting with some degree of Grey-and-Gray Morality), the Starter Villain might be some petty bureaucrat who, in getting The Hero to oppose them, makes The Empire oppose them (and vice-versa) on principle.

As writers can't always have the Starter Villain fighting the whole team at once, they'll sometimes have Mooks who are nearly always doomed to die. The villain may have a sliver of a chance to survive, but none of their henchmen will make it.

If the series is not based on a pre-existing work, and the writers are making it up as they go along, a Starter Villain can end up turning into a Breakout Villain if the fans and/or the writers end up liking them enough.

See also: Wake-Up Call Boss. Sometimes, these may be the Disc-One Final Boss. It's not uncommon for Starter Villains to be Token Motivational Nemeses as well. If they're in a Video Game, they may be the Warm-Up Boss. If the Starter Villain remains important to the plot, they're a case of Starter Villain Stays.


Examples:

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    Anime and Manga 
  • Bamboo Blade:
    • Toyama and Iwasa, who were tormenting Dan in the first episode, prompting Tamaki to come to his defense and join the Kendo Club.
    • This is lampshaded at a later point, when the main group is well-established. Team captain Kirino Chiba has to come up with training regimens for the other members. Her realization that she forgot to make ones for them is quickly brushed off, since Toyama only came to practice to pick on the newbies and girls, and never showed up again after Tamaki taught him a lesson.
    • And subverted later still when Toyama gets into a fight in an arcade. The fact that he hadn't turned in a formal resignation meant that he was technically still a member, resulting in the entire team nearly being shut down over the incident.
  • Berserk:
    • The Snake Baron from the Black Swordsman arc is the first major bad guy Guts is shown facing in the manga; a ruthless baron of a local town who regularly slaughters its inhabitants.
    • His first encounter with demons period is with none other than Nosferatu Zodd, who has gone on to be a recurring rival and occasional ally of the Black Swordsman.
    • Chronologically, however, the first major bad guy Guts faces is the warrior Bazuso, whose defeat is what alerts the Band of the Hawk to Guts's talent.
  • The first antagonist of Black Butler is Azzurro Vener, an enforcer of the Ferro family. His appearance is foreshadowed in the first chapter, he appears in the third, and is dead by the end of the fourth. This brief run exists only for two purposes — first, to expose Ciel's role as the royal watchdog of the criminal underworld, and second, to give Sebastian a chance to demonstrate that he is far more than the mere Badass Normal he was initially portrayed as.
  • Black Clover: Revchi is a former Magic Knight who stalks the Grimoire Acceptance Ceremony in Hage, then tries to steal Yuno's four leaf grimoire in order to sell it for money. When Asta tries to stop him, Revchi easily handles him with his Chain Magic only for Asta to get his five leaf grimoire after refusing to give up, after which he uses the Anti-Magic sword contained within to kick Revchi's ass.
  • Bleach:
    • Grand Fisher — The Hollow who ate Ichigo's mom and is significantly more powerful than any of the other hollows Ichigo fights in the first arc. Unlike most starter villains, he actually isn't killed right away, and actually comes back later only for Isshin to completely destroy him.
    • An earlier example is the Hollow that shows up at Ichigo's doorstep and nearly kills his family in the first chapter, since it forces Rukia to transfer her power to Ichigo, turning him into a substitute soul reaper so he can save them. But despite this, it's just a regular hollow and easily slaughtered by Ichigo.
    • A case could also be made for Renji and Byakuya, the first enemies to kick Ichigo's ass and also the first antagonists beyond garden-variety hollows.
  • Buso Renkin: Papillion is the first major villain, eventually succeeded by the LXE, the Alchemist Army, and finally Victor. Funnily enough, though, he manages to stay in the game as a major asset against all of these without ever explicitly making a Heel–Face Turn.
  • Call of the Night: While not really a villain, Seri becomes the first real antagonist that Yamori and Nazuna face, luring Yamori to a secluded location and then keeping Nazuna busy as Kabura kidnaps Yamori so the rest of their clique can meet him.
  • Cells at Work!: The first pathogenic threat encountered is a Pneumococcus bacterium who manages to escape the Neutrophils who wiped out his brethren and tries to infect the body.
  • Cowboy Bebop: Asimov Solensan is a rogue Syndicate member who Spike and Jet go after in the first episode. He's taken down in that same episode, but the Bebop crew don't get the bounty money because he winds up dead.
  • In Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Katsuo Tanaka is a bully at the Arasaka school that David has to contend with in the first episode. He's a smug, classist asshole with some fancy though ultimately impractical plug-ins (indeed, all David would have needed to do to avoid getting the shit beaten out of him would have been to take a step back). After David installs the Sandevistan and kicks Katsuo's ass, he never appears in the story again. His father does however and, as director of the Cyber-Skeleton program, he has ties to nearly every tragedy that David suffers after installing the Sandevistan.
  • Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: The otherwise unnamed Temple Demon is the first demon to be faced by Tanjiro and Nezuko. He serves as a perfect demonstration for a number of facts shared by pretty much every other demon in the series: he immediately moves to kill and feed upon Tanjiro upon realizing he's human, is extremely territorial, arrogant and cruel, and cannot be killed with conventional methods. Even after Nezuko literally kicks his head off, his body and head continue to move independently. It's only when the sun rises that the demon finally dies, burning to ash when exposed to sunlight.
  • Digimon:
    • Digimon Adventure:
    • Kuwagamon and Shellmon are the two first hostile Digimon the Chosen Children are threatened by after arriving in the Digital World, both of whom being portrayed as nothing more than wild creatures (with the latter also talking in Pokémon Speak). Kuwagamon being an Adult-level Digimon is too much for the kids and their Baby II-level Digimon to handle, which pushes the Digimon Partners to evolve into their Child-level forms. And while their combined effort is able to knock it down, Kuwagamon stands up again and almost kills them without itself getting defeated, showing that a Digimon of a higher level cannot be defeated by a group of lower leveled Digimon at that point of the story. Shellmon is the first enemy to push a Digimon Partner to evolve into their Adult-level and he gets soundly defeated, demonstrating that evolving the Digimon Partner is necessary to survive in the Digital World. When the Chosen Children return from the real world to the Digital World, Shellmon shows up again and attacks them, only to demonstrate that the Villain Forgot to Level Grind and that the Digimon Partners Took a Level in Badass, as he gets easily defeated by the Child-level Digimon.
    • Devimon, the first Arc Villain. Toward the end of the show, his status is lampshaded, with Leomon pointing out that Devimon was nothing compared to the threats that the heroes have faced since. And considering how Devimon is a Adult-level Digimon, and everyone faced after him was either Perfect or Ultimate level, he's right.
    • Digimon Frontier: Grottemon, one of Cherubimon's henchmen, is the first villainous member of the Legendary Warriors of Ten to appear, and he overpowers the five Chosen Children quickly once he manages to get his hand on his Beast Spirit during his debut episode. For a couple of episodes, he keeps popping up as a recurring threat whom the Chosen Children cannot defeat due to their lack of Beast Spirits, even losing two of their Human Spirits during the process. Once the Chosen Children also get access to two Beast Spirits, they finally are able to beat him, get one of the Human Spirits back and steal his Beast Spirit. After that humiliating loss, Grottemon's other four villainous colleagues are introduced, who all serve as Cherubimon's Quirky Miniboss Squad. Grottemon still ends up getting killed first when the kids get another Beast Spirit, resulting in retrieving the stolen Human Spirit and also stealing Grottemon's Human Spirit. Collecting all Spirits becomes very necessary in order to unleash the full power of the Warriors of Ten.
    • MadLeomon is this for Digimon Fusion. He oversees the Bagra Army's invasion of the Green Zone and is the first enemy faced by Taiki/Mikey and friends. Tactimon is introduced as his immediate superior.
    • In Digimon Adventure: (2020), a swarm of Algomon are the first enemies that Taichi and Yamato face, with a particularly strong specimen evolving to the Ultimate-level and acting as a boss of sorts for Omegamon. Notably, this gives it power comparable to the villains of the next few arcs.
  • Dragon Ball:
    • Emperor Pilaf was the first real villain that Goku and gang faced (after pterodactyls, bear thieves, bandits, boss rabbits and cowardly shape-shifting pigs). In the manga he isn't even an Arc Villain as he shows up at the very end as the final obstacle, while in the anime he and his lackeys makes various off-screen attempts to steal the Dragon Balls over the course of the arc. What makes him this trope over the others is that he sought after the Dragon Balls to take over the world, making him a legit threat despite being a Terrible Trio.
    • The first antagonist Goku ever faces is a giant pterodactyl that ties him up and tries to eat Bulma. He doesn't survive the chapter.
    • In a similar fashion, Colonel Silver is this for the Red Ribbon Army arc in the Dragon Ball manga, as he's defeated soon after he's introduced, but said defeat is what tips the army off to Goku being a threat. This is downplayed somewhat in the anime as Colonel Silver's part of the story is significantly expanded to be its own mini-arc, similar to Muscle Tower for General White and the Pirate adventure for General Blue, thus putting Colonel Silver more on par with them.
    • General Blue could be considered one as far as the series' life-or-death battles are concerned; all previous opponents Goku fought were either too weak to defeat him or strong enough to challenge him, but within the confines of the non-lethal World Tournament. General Blue, through his superhuman physical prowess and psychic powers, managed to hold his own against Goku and nearly kill him no less than three times, with Goku only surviving their first fight out of sheer dumb luck. Fittingly, Blue is offed by Mercenary Tao shortly thereafter, setting in motion the series never-ending Sorting Algorithm of Evil in which Goku faces increasingly powerful opponents.
    • Dragon Ball Z: Raditz for the Saiyan Arc, and by happenstance Z itself. When he first shows up he's the most dangerous threat the heroes had faced at that point, forcing an alliance between Goku and then-villain Piccolo. He dies after a handful of chapters/episodes, but not before revealing there are two more Saiyans on the way who make him look like a pushover. And that's before we learn about Frieza and all of his elite crew, who each are more powerful than the both of them combined.
    • Androids 19 and 20 become this for the Android/Cell Arc. Originally, they were the Androids who terrorized Trunks' future, but Toriyama listening to his former editor's remarks about them being hardly impressive meant that when they finally appeared, they were outdated models easily fought off by the Z-Fighters, while Androids 16, 17, and 18 and later Cell were the real threats of the arc.
    • From another perspective, Mecha Frieza and King Cold could be considered this, as they only show up in the first few episodes to establish how badass Future Trunks is- and, by extension, how threatening the Androids he was talking about must be.
  • Eyeshield 21: Sena's first game with the Devil Bats is against the Koigahama Cupids, a mediocre American football team whose gimmick is being a bunch of pretty boys whose girlfriends come to all their games. The plot picks up when their next game is against the far more competent Ojou White Knights, and Sena sparks a rivalry with defensive lineman Seijuro Shin.
  • Fabricant 100: No 12 is the enemy Fabricant of the first chapter and is killed effortlessly without getting to use his enchanced legs for combat.
  • Bora the Prominence in Fairy Tail. A fire wizard who pretends to be the legendary Salamander (along with using magic charms) to lure women onto his ship, where he sells them as slaves. He's basically there to introduce Lucy to Natsu and inform her that Natsu is the real Salamander, and to get Natsu to offer Lucy a job with Fairy Tail. He also introduces how Natsu's Dragon Slayer magic works when Natsu devours his initial magic attack and quickly starts using fire magic of his own.
  • Fate/stay night: Rider, and to a lesser extent her summoner Shinji. In the second route, as part of getting the early stages of the first route over with quickly, Rider is even killed offscreen. This doesn't apply in Heavens Feel, where Rider survives to be a major heroic character.
    • Illyasviel and Berserker Hercules as well. It takes half of the first route to beat them, yet they are far from the main antagonists.
    • Fate/Zero: Likewise, Ryunousuke and Caster Bluebeard. Though they aren't defeated for good until about the halfway point.
  • Shin from Fist of the North Star, who doubles as a Token Motivational Nemesis, is the first rival martial artist that Kenshiro faces in the story. Shin was the one who defeated Ken, stole his beloved Yuria away from him, and engraved the seven scars on Ken's chest as a reminder of the humiliation. In the first story arc of the manga, Ken must fight against Shin's four playing card-themed lieutenants, each progressively more skilled than the last, before challenging his old rival.
    • There’s also Zeed, a biker gang boss who displays just how ruthless the post-war world is. He is killed by Kenshiro at the end of the first chapter where it becomes apparent that he knows nothing about the martial arts the major villains and heroes can do. It also establishes that gang bosses in this world are typically vile people and that you won’t feel sorry when they get killed.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist:
  • Getter Robo: The anime has Saki, the first Mechasaurus Emperor Gore sends after the Getter team. He's decapitated in his sole appearance, despite being outfitted with anti-Getter energy defenses.
  • Gundam:
    • Jamaican Daninghan's entire role in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam's storyline is to chase Kamille Bidan and the Argama until Paptimus Scirocco, Yazan Gable, Haman Karn and the rest of the actual main villains have arrived. Once that happens he's unceremoniously killed off by Emma Sheen. Kamille's rival, Jerid Messa subverts this, starting out as a bullying Jerk Jock, but graduating to Ace Pilot status and remaining a credible threat until the finale.
    • Michelo-Chariot from Mobile Fighter G Gundam, much like Jerid above, starts out as a loud-mouthed gang leader who happens to be the representative of Neo Italy before he is effortlessly decimated in Domon's first fight. He reappears twenty-three episodes later, now part of Master Asia's crew along with Gentle Chapman, Neo Britain's representative. He's not a very good fighter and only manages to become a threat because he's infected with DG Cells and pilots a too-powerful-for-its-own-good Gundam.
    • Miguel Aiman from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED is one of the GINN pilots with the Le Creuset Team, and the first of the team to actually confront the Strike Gundam piloted by Kira Yamato. While he is a notable pilot with an in-universe nickname ("Magic Bullet of Dusk"), he hardly poses a threat to the Bigger Stick machine due to its Phase Shift Armor, and is ultimately killed in the second fight he is featured in, with Kira and the Strike carving his GINN in half.
  • In Haruhi-chan, Ryoko claims to be the first and weakest member of the Radical Four, who answer to three even more powerful superiors, none of which are seen.
  • Heavy Object: A nameless Faith Organization Officer in Alaska.
  • After the low-stakes but very personal Token Motivational Nemesis, High School D×D has Riser Phenex, the first foe with a goal that affects everyone on Rias's team, and a squad of his own that can keep up with them in a fight. Since that goal is an Arranged Marriage with Rias and that squad is his Peerage, though, all of them survive - he might be the plot's first real challenge, but he's still just a garden-variety selfish asshole and everything he did was technically above-board. After falling from grace when he loses an Engagement Challenge to Issei, Riser undergoes some off-screen Character Development and becomes a huffy but sincere supporter in his future appearances.
  • Several examples in most Parts of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
    • Phantom Blood:
      • Dio himself is an odd example despite being the Big Bad. As children, Dio was Jonathan's tormentor, making the boy's life miserable in order to break him, only for Jonathan to eventually snap and beat Dio up so badly he decides to steer clear of Jonathan's wrath and play nice with him for several years. As adults, Jonathan is definitely the better between the two of them until Dio gets vampiric powers, although Dio still loses their first fight after he becomes a vampire due to arrogance and not being fully acclimated to his new powers yet. It's only after this defeat that Dio starts to build himself up as the major Big Bad he would become for the rest of the story.
      • Jonathan's first oponent after learning the Ripple is the newly zombified Jack the Ripper. Zeppeli decides to make killing him a final test for Jonathan before they go hunt down Dio, giving him a glass of wine and telling him to slay the serial killer without spilling a drop.
    • Battle Tendency:
      • Straizo is the first major antagonist Joseph fights and the one who tells him of Speedwagon's whereabouts. He's also the only non-Mook villain to be a normal vampire instead of a Pillar Man, with his only real trick being a hamon-proof scarf.
      • Santana is this for the Pillar Men, as he's the first to show up and entirely separate from the other three (who are in Europe while he's in Mexico), and also the youngest and least powerful, only giving Joseph trouble because Joseph was a complete novice with hamon at the time, while he needs a month of Training from Hell to match the others.
    • Stardust Crusaders: Noriaki Kakyoin serves as the first enemy Stand User to attack the Joestar group and the first indication that DIO is actively targeting them. However, as Kakyoin was simply Brainwashed and Crazy at the time, the following opponent, Gray Fly, is a much better example, being the first truly villainous Stand user the Crusaders encounter. He's also the one who turns a simple flight to Cairo into a journey spanning multiple countries.
    • Diamond is Unbreakable: The escaped convict and Serial Killer Anjuro "Angelo" Katagiri; Jotaro is partly motivated to travel to Morioh after Joseph's Hermit Purple produces pictures of Angelo and his Stand, Aqua Necklace. He gets quickly defeated by Josuke, and the plot turns to the other Stand-wielding serial killers in Morioh (plus a few normal people who got mistaken for stand-wielding serial killers), which Joseph had known nothing about.
    • Golden Wind: Leaky-eye Luca, the first mobster from Passione Giorno encounters, and the only known Stand-less member. Giorno's defeat of him is what causes Giorno to gain the attention of Bruno, leading Giorno into joining Passione.
    • Stone Ocean: Gwess, Jolyne's cellmate who forcibly shrinks Jolyne as part of an escape attempt. The fight against her introduces the concept of Stands to Jolyne.
    • Steel Ball Run: Mrs. Robinson is the first truly antagonistic opponent Johnny and Gyro encounter, and the one to show just what the other contestants of the race are willing to do to win. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't have a Stand and only lasts a couple chapters.
    • JoJolion: Ojiro Sasame is the first opponent Josuke encounters with the intention of killing him, and is also the one who gives Josuke his first clue to his past. Otherwise, he has little to do with the main storyline and his Stand is too Awesome, but Impractical to be of much use for the most part. He eventually comes back and demonstrates an upgrade to his Situational Sword of a stand, but winds up killed by Jobin. He does get to be a Spanner in the Works as a consolation prize, as he leads Norisuke to discovering what Jobin's been up to.
  • KanColle has the Anchorage Princess, who is introduced and defeated in the first episode.
  • Daimonji from Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple. Kenichi first got involved in martial arts in part to defend himself against bullies like him. Kenichi's defeat of him is what sets him on his path toward ever greater foes. When Daimonji later comes after him for revenge, Kenichi utterly trounces him, showing how far his training has progressed.
  • Lyrical Nanoha: Fate Testarossa. In contrast to later opponents of Nanoha who are various kinds of living super-weapons made from the Lost Technology of Ancient Belka and beyond and are threats to The Federation, Fate's just a more skilled and experienced mage equal to Nanoha in strength in addition to being a failed clone. Of course, thanks to a Heel–Face Turn and becoming a co-lead afterwards, she managed to avoid the fate of most Starter Villains and gets to grow stronger together with Nanoha.
  • Magi: Labyrinth of Magic: Head, leader of a bandit gang raiding caravans. He basically exists to establish Aladdin and Ugo's dynamic before being crushed to death in the first chapter.
  • Maria no Danzai: Kowase is the first of Maria's targets, giving her no trouble whatsoever and Maria not even showing up on his radar before she kidnaps him. Maria later notes that she specifically targeted him first because since he's a coward he's bound to run and escape if not dealt with quickly.
  • While not a villain, Akune from Medaka Box is the first opponent who gives Zenkichi a challenge in a fight (specifically a judo match), and comes close to beating him. The more proper version, however, would have to be Unzen Myori as he was the first antagonist that actually forced the protagonist to use physical force.
  • The first villain that Izuku from My Hero Academia fights is the Sludge villain and this allows Izuku to meet his idol All-Might and prove to Bakugo that he is not as tough as he looks.
  • Haruka Suzushiro and the rest of the Ori-Hime unit in the My-HiME manga, who are trying to get their rivals Mai, Natsuki and Yuuichi expelled.
  • Naruto:
    • The first opponent Naruto ever fights is Mizuki, one of his academy teachers who tried to use him to steal a scroll of forbidden jutsu. The Mizuki fight kickstarts major series elements- Naruto learns his signature Shadow Clone Jutsu and his performance convinces Iruka to let him graduate, but Mizuki is a low-level chuunin acting alone, and ultimately an obstacle easily overcome by an academy student.
    • A case might also be made for the antagonists from the "Land of Waves" arc: Zabuza and Haku are employed by Gato as a deadly fighting force and provide dangerous adversaries for the heroes at this point (Zabuza almost kills Kakashi in their first fight, while Naruto and Sasuke together are unable to defeat Haku until Naruto draws on the power of the Kyuubi, and even then they only survive because Haku was too nice to kill them); compared, however, to succeeding villains such as Orochimaru and the Akatsuki, they're small fry, being only around Jounin level skill and without any organization to support them.
    • Akatsuki members Deidara and Sasori serve this role in Shippuden. They're dangerous enough to capture Gaara and give the heroes a good fight, but still ultimately warm-ups compared to future villains.
  • One Piece:
    • Alvida and Ax-Hand Morgan both apply, as they were said to be extremely strong villains, but are nothing compared to just a few guys down the road.
    • Both of the above were barely better than thugs and taken down with no trouble at all. The true example is Buggy the Clown immediately afterwards, by virtue of being the first person introduced, other than Luffy himself, to have eaten a Devil Fruit, and the first to give him any run for his money. He's still only strong by East Blue standards.
    • After the Time Skip and thus Part Two of the series, we have Hody Jones. Sure, he's ages above Morgan and Alvida - they don't even come close to Hody - and he would have probably been a challenge before the timeskip, but after, he's absolutely no threat to Luffy at all and only manages to get in one hit even after going One-Winged Angel, whilst Luffy spends the whole span of their fight beating down on him, showing off his new moves. Even Zoro The Lancer manages to One-Shot Hody's pre One-Winged Angel form.
      • This is emphasized further by the fact that both of these fights take place largely underwater, which should be a huge advantage for a fishman like Hody and a huge disadvantage for a human, especially a Devil Fruit user like Luffy. Also the fact several of the main officers of the New Fish-Man Pirates are defeated off-screen by minor non-Straw Hat characters before the final confrontation; they're simply no threat without constantly scarfing down Energy Steroids.
  • In One-Punch Man the first villain of the series is Vaccine Man, a monster who looks like a dark-purple version of Piccolo who claims to represent nature's wrath towards humanity. While he's fairly powerful in-universe and is capable of wiping out a single city by himself, he's ultimately used to show how Saitama can kill anything in the most anticlimactic and unsatisfying manner possible and dies before the story even actually starts.
  • Psycho-Pass: Nobuo Ogura is a Salaryman who snaps after getting a bad Psycho-Pass and kidnaps a woman. He doesn't survive the first episode.
  • Tatewaki Kuno in Ranma ½ starts as the first real rival for Ranma, but after his first true duel, he becomes almost completely ineffectual against him.
  • In Reborn to Master the Blade, protagonist Inglis's first real antagonist is the arrogant, cheating son of a merchant, Rahl. At age 5, he initially humiliates her town's knight order and her father, the Captain, by secretly cheating during with magic during a "fair" sparring match. Inglis sees through his trickery and eventually manages to beat him herself and force him to admit defeat. 7 years later, he reappears again, having "generously made an offering" (bribe) to the technologically-advanced Highlander society to become a member himself, and wastes no time abusing his newfound diplomatic immunity and benefits like owning slaves or trying to forcibly take Midlander women for his own. After he is transformed into a Magic Stone Beast, Inglis fights him again and kills him for good.
  • Re:Zero has Elsa Granhiert, a Professional Killer that serves as Subaru's first killer in many of his loops in her plot to retrieve Emilia's insignia from Felt and Old Man Rom.
  • Rurouni Kenshin:
    • Udo Jine is the first villain in the series that Kenshin has trouble defeating, and is the first opponent that forces Kenshin to revert back to Hitokiri Battosai.
    • An earlier example is the Hiruma brothers. Hiruma Kihei tries to sell the land around the Kamiya Dojo, and has his brother Gohei impersonate the Hitokiri Battousai while claiming to use the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu style of swordsmanship to ruin the reputation of Kaoru's dojo. In the 1996 anime, Gohei is made into a composite of himself and his brother with a different motivation (vengeful former student of Kaoru's father), but the same means of carrying out his plans.
  • Sailor Moon:
    • Jadeite, the only of four sub-villains who didn't have an obvious visual gimmick or theme, with his character's shtick instead being that he was, well, the Starter Villain. The live action adaptation, however, actually kept him around past the start, and thus tossed him "excessive toadying" as his theme (which was admittedly somewhat present in the anime too).
    • In both the original series and Crystal (and by extension the manga), Sailor Moon’s first opponent was a lowly Youma named Morga. The manga and Crystal tend to move much quicker regarding generals, so Jadeite met his end two chapters later.
  • Phoenix Ikki from Saint Seiya is the first major villain the Bronze Saints have to deal with before the Pope and his Silver Saints start their full-force strike against them.
  • Shakugan no Shana: While he's not the first Crimson Lord Shana has faced in her lifetime, plot-wise, Friagne the Hunter is the first villain to present a major threat to Misaki City and the first to be defeated by Shana in tandem with Yuji. Once he's dispatched, he along with Marianne are never heard from again. Only the ring and altar he leaves behind would prove significant to the plot later on.
  • Tekkaman Blade: Tekkaman Dagger, albeit he was a bit more resilient and annoying than average. He still was far weaker than the rest of the villains.
  • Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Viral is the first named Beastman the heroes face after reaching the surface. He ends up being a recurring foe and eventual ally.
  • Descartes and Loose Ruth in the Trigun anime and Dr. Nebraska in the manga (he has to wait until the fifth episode of the anime).
  • Yu-Gi-Oh!:
    • Yu-Gi-Oh!: Seto Kaiba was Yugi's first opponent (unless you count the one-shots who appeared in the previous chapters, but he's definitely the starter villain of the Duel Monsters anime) and the first confrontation between them started the biggest rivalry in the history of the franchise.
      • Kaiba may have been Yugi's greatest rival, but Ushio, Yugi's first foe in the original manga and Toei anime, may have had an even bigger impact. He may have been little more than a thug (at least then), but after Yugi stood up to him for bullying Jonouchi and Honda, their opinion of Yugi changed for the better, resulting in Yugi gaining his True Companions. Completing the Millennium Puzzle is what allows Yugi (or rather, Yami Yugi) to defeat Ushio, kickstarting the rest of his adventures.
    • Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: Dr. Chronos wanted to deny Judai entry into Duel Academy because he not only showed up late for his entrance exams but he barely passed the written portion. However, he gets a call from the chancellor ordering him to allow Judai to take the practical exam. To ensure Judai is sent packing, Chronos uses his own personal deck instead of the decks specifically constructed for the test... and loses. He then spends the first half of the first season trying to get Judai expelled, until the Seven Stars Assassins appear with decidedly more destructive goals than just being a petty teacher. Over the course of the series, he actually grows rather fond of Judai, going as far as to cancel all his classes so he'll have insufficient credits to graduate so that Chronos doesn't have to say goodbye.
    • Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds: The aforementioned Ushio grew up to be a police officer in New Domino City who Yusei has to challenge in a Riding Duel as a diversion so his friends can escape arrest, though he is decidedly less malicious than his manga counterpart. In a city where corruption in law enforcement is the norm, Ushio keeps his word when Yusei defeats him, although Ushio keeps trying to arrest Yusei multiple and follows him to New Domino City. Ushio eventually becomes Yusei's ally, resulting in him becoming a Friend on the Force for the rest of the series.
    • Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL: Shark. The school bully with professional-level dueling abilities who plays circles around Yuma until Yuma makes a pact with the magic door from his recurring dream that causes him to meet Astral and kickstart the plot. Shark quickly becomes a main character afterwards and grows alongside Yuma to the point that the two have a fated final duel near the end of the series that determines the fate of the worlds. Said final duel between the two has multiple call-backs to their rivalry and multiple duels they had with each other, with Shark even trying to counter Yuma's Signature Move that defeated him in their first duel, only for that to backfire on him when Yuma decides not to finish it like that again.
    • Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V: Strong Ishijima. The world champion who wants to humiliate Yuya in front of the entire world to settle a grudge with Yuya's father, who mysteriously went missing right before their title match 3 years before the start of the series. He very easily drives Yuya into a corner, but when Yuya decides to persevere anyway despite how clearly outmatched he is, he awakens to the never before seen Pendulum Summon, at which point the tables are completely turned and Ishijima gets One-Turn Killed. Unlike other characters of this franchise, Ishijima never comes back after his defeat.
    • Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS: The first full duel in the series is a Speed Duel against a Knights of Hanoi Mook. His ace is the 3000 ATK beatstick Cracking Dragon, which has an effect that punishes summoning anything with a level, and he has the simple but powerful skill of drawing two cards instead of one during his Draw Phase once per duel. His main purpose is to push Playmaker in his first Speed Duel so that he can use Storm Access and then sweep thanks to the new Link Monsters conveniently having properties that allow Playmaker to beat Cracking Dragon.
    • Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS: Roa Kirishima is the first actively malicious foe Yuga and co. encounter and the first to have more than one episode dedicated to his conflict with them. He's introduced as an out-and-out narcissist who emotionally and physically abuses his cousin and bandmate Romin. He's also not above cheating and ruining Yuga's life to get his way and his motivation in his arc is to cope with his feelings of inadequacy over not being The Chosen One. He's also the only arc villain in the series that Yuga defeated in their first duel despite the cheating. However, in his very next appearance he's a much more heroic character, having been identified as one of Yuga's comrades by current arc villain Neiru's supercomputer. Subsequent episodes make it clear he's just an emotionally-stunted pre-teen who received too much superficial attention too young and doesn't know how to have meaningful relationships.
  • YuYu Hakusho: Gouki, Kurama, and Hiei are a group of these. While Gouki plays this straight and Kurama was already planned to be a part of the main team, Hiei's status was ultimately supposed to fall victim to this trope, but his role was rewritten once he was discovered to be an Ensemble Dark Horse.

    Comic Books 
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
    • In the original series, the Shredder was a starter villain, getting himself killed rather humiliatingly at the end of the very first issue. A colony of intelligent worms would later assume the mantle of the Shredder, but even they only appeared in a few issues and played a fairly minor role in the comics' plot. However, due to his status as the first villain the Turtles fought and his It's Personal ties to their backstory, all subsequent versions (namely all four cartoon series and the first two movies) went and made him the long-running Big Bad.
    • Old Hob and his gang serve this role in the IDW TMNT series. A cat mutated in the same incident that created the protagonists, he serves as a personal menace to the Turtles for their early days, but was little more than an aggressive thug hired by a significantly more dangerous villain. At least, he was at first...
  • Scott Pilgrim: Matthew Patel is the first Evil Ex-Boyfriend of Ramona that Scott encounters. He's mostly the equivalent of a Warm-Up Boss (something that is also very much the case in the video game), because while he's the first obstacle he's a kind of pathetic manchild who nobody really cares about or considers threatening, despite having some magic powers. Scott defeats him in their first encounter using nothing more than brawling ability, whereas with every one of the other exes Scott will either need multiple encounters with them or some sort of trick or power-up before he can prevail against them. In the movie, he has the lowest point value of any opponent short of out-and-out mooks.
  • X-Men: In Grant Morrison's New X-Men, John Sublime fits this, despite being the second Arc Villain rather than the first. He's the least-powerful (a non-powered Corrupt Corporate Executive), has the least far-reaching scheme (selling mutant organs on the black market) and is defeated in the shortest amount of time (three issues) of all the major villains in the series, and he and his henchmen pretty much exist for the main characters to demonstrate their powers on. As well, the first Arc Villain, Cassandra Nova, actually wins in that arc (though neither the readers nor the characters know it at the time) and has to be brought down in a later one. This, of course, makes it a particularly effective twist when the final arc reveals Sublime to have been the Big Bad behind everything, and possibly, with a bit of Alternate Character Interpretation, the Greater-Scope Villain behind everything bad that had ever happened in any X-Men comic ever.
  • Batman: Batman usually starts in adaptations and reboots by butting heads with the Gotham mob bosses or the corrupt police force which is (minus Jim Gordon) more than happy to blame all of the city's troubles on him. As Batman takes them down, maniacal super villains like The Joker then step up to the plate. The actual first villain Batman faced in his very first issue was crooked chemical baron Alfred Stryker, who fits this trope as he is non-powered, out of shape, and dead by the end of the issue. His first supervillain arrived a few issues later, in the form of Doctor Death.
  • Captain America: In Captain America's first Golden Age appearance, he battled Heinz Kruger, the Nazi spy who had murdered the scientist who gave him his powers. In a later story in the same issue, he faced his first supervillain in the form of Allied traitor George Maxon, alias the Red Skull, who would, of course, be revealed in time to be merely a decoy for the REAL Skull, top-ranked Nazi Johann Schmidt.
  • The Incredible Hulk: The Hulk's starter villain was The Gargoyle, the spy who arranged the sabotage of the gamma bomb test that turned Bruce Banner into the Hulk.
  • Iron Man: Iron Man's starter villain was the Vietnamese warlord Wong-Chu, who captured Tony and attempted to force him to develop weapons for him. It backfired.
  • Tintin: Tintin has many, depending on the adventure. A few that come to mind are the fakir in the Indian portion of Cigars of the Pharaoh, Mitsuhirato in The Blue Lotus, Puschov in The Black Island, or Bab el-Ehr in Land of Black Gold and The Red Sea Sharks.
  • Fantastic Four:
    • The titular team fight the Mole Man in the first issue before encountering their Big Bads Namor and Doctor Doom. Naturally, due to the nature of comic books, they proceeded to encounter Mole Man many times afterwards.
    • Subverted in the stand-alone Fantastic Four: Season One graphic novel, wherein Mole Man shows up as a threat- and is then promptly, almost immediately defused by Sue Storm's gentle reassurance that he doesn't have to live the way he does. After that point, he becomes the team's ally, eager to use his scientific genius in helpful ways and in a special darkened lab.
  • Daredevil: Daredevil starts off battling the Fixer, the gangster responsible for the death of his father. He doesn't survive the issue.
  • Ms. Marvel: In Ms. Marvel (2014), the first enemy Kamala faces is The Inventor.
  • Superman:
    • Superman's first foe was Bea Carroll, a murderess who framed one of her rivals. She's taken care of less than halfway through Superman #1.
    • Supergirl's first enemy were the Dales, a couple of swindlers who sold a so-called "power tonic" which supposedly granted Super-Strength in Action Comics #254. Supergirl quickly -and stealthily- destroys their racket and ensures their victims get their money back. Kara would fight crooks, swindlers and bullies for several issues until The Unknown Supergirl introduced her first real villain.
  • 100 Bullets: The first antagonists to appear are Officers Swirski and Morgan, a pair of Dirty Cops who wanted in on a Latino gang's heroin racket. When the gang leader refused, as he had been trying to go straight to support his son, the pair murdered him and his son too. Their luck runs out at the hands of Isabelle "Dizzy" Cordova, the dead man's vengeful widow, with a little help from Agent Graves and the titular hundred untraceable bullets; the two officers' ultimate role in the plot is to introduce this element and these two characters.
  • Spider-Man:
    • The starter villain was Uncle Ben's killer, and The Reveal that he's the same robber who Spidey let off earlier ties into the moral of the story. His first supervillain threat is the Chameleon, a character who would go on to be a regular member of his rogues gallery. The Vulture was the second villain he fought, but the first to re-appear.
    • His Ultimate counterpart starts off fighting the Enforcers and Electro, all of whom are working for Wilson Fisk.
  • Man-Thing: Ellen Brandt, Ted Sallis's conniving ex-lover. Brandt's betrayal of Sallis to steal his prototype Super Serum led to her mark transforming into the titular Swamp Monster. She survived, but was left disfigured by his infamous touch, and depending on the continuity, either sought to atone for her evil deeds or became an even worse villain.
  • The Flash: Back in his solo days at Quality Comics, DC speedster Max Mercury (then called "Quicksilver")'s first one was von Lohfer, a Mad Scientist who mind controlled the local police department to destroy an industrialist who called him a fake in a Noodle Incident. Given his diminutive stature and Non-Action Guy status, Max made short work of him.
  • Martian Manhunter: Interestingly, the debut story has No Antagonist. The main conflict is that J'onn J'onnz is trapped on Earth by the well intentioned scientist Saul Erdel, who dies of a heart attack shortly after. J'onn then impersonates a human police detective and most of the ensuing cases are with nondescript mobsters who the Martian plows through. The first crook who actually posed a threat to him was Alex Dunster, a thief who used a teleportation machine to steal technology from other planets.
  • The Invisible Terror: We first see the Invisible Terror battling De Pix, an international criminal out to get the formula that gives the Terror his powers. He's arrested at the end, and taken to serve a life sentence.
  • Kismet: Man of Fate: The first foe we see is Colonel Freydrich, a Nazi official so cruel he's called "the Headsman." He doesn't even survive halfway through the issue.
  • Pat Patriot: America's Joan of Arc: We first see Pat fighting an unnamed factory foreman who fired her for protesting harsh working conditions and is running a smuggling operation for the Nazis. He's taken down in the first issue and presumably never leaves prison.
  • K-Bar Kate: The first Big Bad Duumvirate are Shorne and Hinson, who are plotting to divert water away from the Slocum ranch to Shorne's.
  • All-Star Squadron: Obscure DC hero Air Wave had as his first foe Snake Scalotti, a local crime boss whom the DA was having difficulty gathering evidence on. He's taken to prison at the end of the first issue and never seen again.
  • The Atom:
    • Al Pratt's was an unnamed crime boss who held his girlfriend as ransom against her rich father. He's clobbered and arrested at the end of his first appearance.
    • Ray Palmer had Carl Ballard, who captured a tiny, teleporting alien and forced him to rob banks, being arrested at the end of the issue.
  • The Sandman: The Wesley Dodds version had Boris Leland, a spy who stole plans for a device Wesley was planning to show at the New York World's Fair. He's taken to prison by the end of the first issue.
  • Golden Age DC hero the Gay Ghost's first foe was the unnamed leader of a group of footpads who tried to rob the Ghost in life. He manages to kill our hero and is defeated by a minor character.
  • Gunsmoke: The first foe we see is Ringo Moody, a cattle rustler and gambler trying to force a rancher to give him his property. He's gunned down within eight pages of his introduction.
  • Yellowjacket: The first foe we see is Jake Mallon, a jewel thief who chased a girl into Vince's house.
  • Typhon: The first foe we see is an unnamed ruler of an undersea kingdom who's fond of doing a Forced Transformation to anybody who opposes him. He's rendered into a Living Statue by the end of the issue.
  • The Wraith has Silky Weaver, the gang leader who killed the Kennedy brothers and is killed halfway through the first story.
  • The first foe of The Green Knight was an unnamed vampire whom Knight saved Lance from, and who's burned alive by issue's end.
  • The Steel Fist had Ludlow, the Nazi saboteur who mutilated Tim's hand and is arrested by issue's end.
  • The Blue Streak had Scarface, the criminal who killed Jim's brother and is taken out in the first issue.
  • The Wasp (Lev Gleason): The Wasp is first seen fighting B-8, a foreign spy trying to steal the military's plans for a stealth plane. He's arrested by issue's end.
  • The Eye Sees: We first encounter the Eye fighting Islam Herat, a Corrupt Corporate Executive who stole a giant Middle Eastern trade empire and is arrested by issue's end.
  • The Lone Warrior: Herr Kampf, a Nazi spy sent to sabotage the Army base Stan has been stationed in. He causes some damage, but is clearly subordinate to spymaster the Dictator's Shadow and is imprisoned by issue's end, never to be heard from again.
  • Mother Hubbard: An unnamed Nazi agent who's sent to torture the formula for a flame gun from its inventor. He's blown up at the end of the first issue.
  • The Crusader: Carl Meyer, a Nazi spy masquerading as a ghost to hide his experiments and secure ownership of his base of operations. He's arrested, presumed to be executed later, by the end of the issue.
  • Ace McCoy: Captain von Hartmann, the leader of a Nazi shipwrecking operation. He's a formidable threat, but is killed in a U-boat crash at the end of the first issue.
  • Ace Powers: Heat Devron, a gangster who robbed a payroll and was working on betraying his gang in order to take all the money for himself. He's arrested at the end of the issue, and never returns.
  • Ace of Space: The Slogons, a group of aliens who killed Ace's predecessor and are invading Earth co conquer it. Their fleet is destroyed and they are killed by the end of the first issue.
  • The Black Spider: Sol Risko, a crime boss who masterminded a scheme to have the evidence needed to convict him stolen from the DA. His scheme fails, and he's convicted by the end of the issue.
  • Captain Flash: The Iron Mask, a megalomaniac who played Criminal Mind Games with the scientists of Atom City under the threat of a hydrogen bomb destroying the city and is knocked out a several-story video at the end of the issue. He's an interesting case, as he's the villain of the second story, but he still qualifies as the first one has No Antagonist.
  • The Mad Hatter: Jim Murray, the secret crime boss of the whole city, who spends the first story pursuing a witness who knows his true identity and is arrested at the end of the issue.
  • The Masked Marvel: Reno, a ranch foreman and secret cattle rustler who framed one side of a family feud for another side's murder so he could use the distraction to make a killing. He's gunned down at the end of the issue.
  • Tomboy (Sterling): The Claw, an escaped crime boss who intends to bomb the docks and use the distraction to rob a museum. He's killed in a plane crash at the end of the issue.
  • Adam Strange: The Eternals, a race of aliens who attacked Rann for a rare mineral soon after Adam first teleported there, and are trapped in the Fourth Dimension at the end of the issue.
  • Animal Man: An unnamed alien who has similar powers to Buddy and used them to go on a rampage in a small town, only to plummet off a cliff at the end of the issue.
  • Aquaman: An unnamed Nazi commander who sent U-boats after civilians, and is killed via grenade at the end of the issue.
  • Buckskin: America's Defender of Liberty: Jarg Marsool, a Nazi spymaster who wants to destroy a plane factory and is blown up at the end of the issue.
  • Stardust the Super Wizard: The unnamed leaders of a Nazi spy ring who try to destroy the US government upon learning of Stardust coming to Earth. They're arrested at the end of the issue after being forced to look at the skeletons of their victims.
  • Aztek: Piper, AKA the real Curtis Falconer, who is forced to commit a robbery to save his daughter and is killed in an explosion at the end of the first issue, but not before tasking Aztek with protecting his daughter.
  • Black Lightning: Joey Toledo, an agent of the 100 who pushes drugs at the hogh school Jefferson Pierce works at. He lasts all of two issues before getting killed.
  • Blackhawk: Captain von Tepp, a Nazi officer terrorizing Poland, who killed Blackhawk's siblings and inspired him to take up a quest for vengeance before being gunned down at the end of his issue.
  • Blue Beetle:
    • The Fox Comics edition of Dan Garret (where he was a cop who got superpowers from a fictional vitamin) has the White Face, a gang leader who kidnapped a banker (and disappointingly, did not actually wear whiteface; he instead had a white handkerchief covering his lower face). The Charlton reboot has Kha-Ef-Re, a giant undead mummy who menaced the now-archaeologist Dan Garrett before he found the scarab that gave him his powers.
    • Ted Kord had his uncle, Jarvis Kord, who tricked him into helping build a series of robots to Take Over the World. Ted brought his friend Dan Garrett over to help stop him, but Dan and Jarvis both died in the ensuing battle, leaving Ted to take over the Blue Beetle title.
    • Jaime Reyes was introduced during the Infinite Crisis event, so the first villain he faced was Brother Eye. His first solo villains were thugs working for La Dama.
  • Green Lantern:
    • Alan Scott had Albert Dekker, a corrupt businessman who destroyed a railroad after losing a contract and died of a heart attack when Scott showed up to seek vengeance.
    • Hal Jordan has a group of unnamed saboteurs attempting to destroy an experimental plane, who get arrested at issue's end.
  • Green Arrow: Ezra Samson, a Serial Killer targeting members of a historical society, and who dies in a car crash by first issue's end.
  • Enemy Ace: A group of unidentified pilots trying to down a zeppelin. Hans manages to shoot down two of them, but one does a kamikaze run into the blimp.
  • Jonah Hex: Big Jim, an outlaw terrorizing a town's residents away so he can sell their land, and is killed by throwing knife by issue's end.
  • Justice Society of America: Fritz Klaver, a Nazi spymaster plotting to subvert various elements of the US war effort, and is captured by the end of his issue.
  • Justice League of America: The JLA first banded together to fight the invasion of the Appellaxians, an alien race of various bizarre types who sent several warriors themed after elements to Earth; whoever conquered the planet first would win the right to rule Appellax. Ultimately, the heroes who fought off some of the Appellaxians themselves teamed up to fight more of them together, forming the Justice League of America. However, thanks to the first published story (which was not the League's origin story in-universe) having the League battling Starro, and the relative few appearances by the Appellaxians in comparison, they're often forgotten and Starro is mistakenly attributed as being the League's first foe. (It doesn't help that various media adaptations and comics reboots have replaced the Appellaxians outright with other, more formidable foes, like Comic Book/Darkseid or the Imperium.)
  • Justice League International: John Charles Collins, a terrorist leading an attack on the United Nations, who kills himself upon being thwarted in the first issue.
  • Judge Dredd: Dredd has two characters who could be considered this. The first being Randolph Whitley, the first criminal he encountered in the comics. Whitley killed and impersonated a Judge before being arrested, initially nothing special, later stories would Retcon him as a bigger deal, as someone who could escape from the harshest prisons. Second would be Call-Me-Kenneth, a construction robot who led a robotic revolt against humankind and was the first arc villain. Dredd short-circuited and destroyed him at the end of the arc. He managed to returns a couple times until he was Killed Off for Real after his attempt to hijack an oil tanker ended with him blown to pieces along with the ship.
  • Mr. Miracle (Holyoke): Sango, a foreign agent plotting to steal the powerful Mind-Ray for his own country. However, he has the bad luck of stealing it right after Miracle is empowered by it, and is promptly thwarted and left for the police by issue's end.
  • The Cavalier: Felice Long, who murdered her father figure to cover up forgery and is arrested by issue's end.
  • Blacksad: Ivo Statoc is the first villain that John Blacksad faces in the series, being responsible for murdering the woman he once loved. However, while Statoc is a Corrupt Corporate Executive whose vast resources could be a recurring problem for John, he is killed during their first and only meeting in a revengeous Vigilante Execution.
  • Usagi Yojimbo: Lord Hikiji is an interesting example, as he has yet to be properly defeated despite ending up a starter villain. The inciting incident of the comic is him killing Usagi's Lord Mifune in battle, and he's set up as the Big Bad from the outset. But as the comic went on and the story's focus shifted elsewhere, his role greatly diminished, though he never exactly left the story. Instead Hikiji settled into the role of a Greater-Scope Villain while Usagi frequently crosses paths with or foils the plans of Hikiji's various allies and pawns.

    Fan Works 
  • Nedzu deliberately sets up the violent vigilante "King" as one in Mastermind: Rise of Anarchy, letting him 'secretly' operate as the violent vigilante so as to let Uraraka take him down and unmask him as Bakugou Katsuki, to further his goal of grooming of her to become a new Symbol of Peace.
  • Megami no Hanabira: Kaiwan is the first genuine threat the girls encounter, killing a Flock member right in front of Sara and one more offscreen earlier in the story. He even manages to take down one of their demons for the first time, and they ultimately defeat him through treachery rather than sheer force.
  • Luminosity: James and Victoria are the first intentional threat to Bella's life, and are killed fairly quickly via Summon Bigger Fish on the biggest vampires around.
  • White Devil of the Moon: Jadeite, whose attack on Kyouya's wedding is the first battle between the heroes and the villains.
  • Pony POV Series: In the side story "Gaiden: 7 Dreams/Nightmares", Film Critique (aka the Pegasus Despot) is this to Patch. He's the first antagonist in her quest for the Rainbow of Light shards, but while he manages to trick her into a defeat in their first fight, he goes down easily the second time, and compared to Basil and Grogar, isn't much of a threat. It's implied that the next villain she fought would have been more of a Big Bad, but sadly, the Doctor negated that adventure.
  • Azula Trilogy: Heart of Fire sets up General Azun as the Big Bad, but by the end of the story it's clear that his visions aren't hallucinations, and he really is being manipulated by a spirit (Zhan Zheng, the Spirit of War, actually), who abandons him at the end of the story, and moves on to use other pawns for the rest of the trilogy.
  • Friendship Is Aura has the dragon Razorfang, the self-proclaimed King of the Everfree, who challenges — and is defeated by — Lucario early on. He doesn't provide nearly as much of a threat as Chrysalis or Lord Tartarus.
  • The Prayer Warriors has a few.
    • Grover, Clarisse's rational study group and Annabeth in "The Evil Gods Part 1". They're killed off in fairly short order to prove the Prayer Warriors' power, until Percy Jackson is set up as the initial Arc Villain.
    • Wawa the Titan in "The Titans Strike Back". He's the first of the five Titans to be killed off.
    • Horus for the "Attack of the Sphinx" story, as the first of the Egyptian Gods William faces.
  • In Perfection Is Overrated, Hitomi is the first SUE the Himes fight against, although Mariko had been inadvertently killed by Miyu defeating Akane, and their memories had been wiped of her. The Himes fight against Hitomi unaware of her true nature or that there are others like her, which only becomes apparent after her defeat.
  • In The Captain of the Virtual Console, offshoots of the Thoughtless are fought in Chapter 2, and a fully-grown one in chapter 4.
  • Shadowchasers (Cyber Commander): The first Shadowkind seen is the ophidian Hebi-Na, and while her role in that fic isn't all too big, she plays a much bigger role in Shadowchasers: Power Primordial, where Ember starts to regard her as an Arch-Enemy. (However, she makes a Heel–Face Turn in a later work.)
  • Enter Ken Finlayson: Moloch the Death Raptor. He shows up half-way and is killed off in the second to last chapter in the first story in a series of fan fictions.
  • Risk It All: At the end of it all, Black Mask is just Ren's first villain and not an especially powerful one beyond his mob connections. Ren demolishes him in two hits, crippling Black Mask for the rest of his life. Ren even discusses this, saying that he traded Black Mask for a much grander enemy in his own family, as his grandparents were willing to attempt to murder his dad for the sake of politics.
  • Transcendence: Rah'zesh, the leader of the Hatecrest Naga. He's the first real threat that Ichigo is forced to tangle with on Azeroth, but he isn't particularly impressive. He has no magical abilities or special weapons. He's just a larger-than-average naga. Compared to later threats, he's little more than an Elite Mook.
  • Fractured Fates: Though not exactly a villain in the traditional sense, Azami Kurobe still acts as this, being the first blackened student.
  • The World is Filled with Monsters: Blightweaver the Giant Spider. It's a terrifying, seemingly unstoppable threat when it appears, but it's dealt with early into the story and it later becomes evident that it's only a part of much, much vaster stirrings, and far from the most dangerous thing out there in the wild.
  • Urabumi is this to Izuku in inFAMOUS Hero Academia, as she's the first super-villain he faces in his journey to become a hero, having been hired by All For One's hooded associate.
  • Fairy May Cry: The first arc in the first story has Vergil be this, with the amounts of defeats he hands to the Fairy Tail members establishing the kind of villains that they'll be facing in the story.
  • Hunters of Justice: Upon arriving on Earth following Remnant's destruction and spending time recuperating and training with the Justice League, Teams RWBY and JNPR's first major outing has them helping the Batman Family stop the Scarecrow from spreading his fear gas throughout Gotham, making him their first DC Super-Villain that they encounter.
  • The Ghost of Ochs: Monica's first opponent after returning to the Officers Academy is Raine, a carriage robber causing trouble in Ochs territory, and an accomplice to Monica's kidnapping plot. Raine only has a small squad of henchmen at her disposal, and after she is defeated, Edelgard opts to place her under arrest instead of killing her outright. She gets pushed to the background once "those who slither in the dark" begin making moves in the second story arc.
  • The Scary Cases of Scooby-Doo has the Moat Monster, an amphibious creature that seemingly intruded a haunted house attraction, but is actually Gill Beaman, as a ticket seller for said attraction). It's the first monster that the Mystery Inc. gang deals with in the narrative, and the one to fully get them out of retirement from mystery-solving.

    Films — Animation 
  • As the Big Bad of the first Ice Age movie, Soto is the first full-on villain the herd goes up against. His ambitions and danger level are fairly low - he only intends to kill a baby to get revenge against a human tribe - and any threat he poses is primarily because of his pack, with multiple villains outdoing him in terms of threat level; Rudy is far bigger and stronger, Captain Gutt has an entire pirate crew and ship and is a much stronger fighter, and Gavin tried to ensure the asteroid would wipe out every mammal on Earth.
  • Kung Fu Panda has an interesting variation with first film's Tai Lung, the first proper villain that Po faces in the entire franchise. He's already reached a high level of mastery by the time he's faced Po and the Furious Five and is more powerful and skilled than Shen, the sequel villain. However, threat level-wise, Shen is still greater than Tai Lung because he has an entire army, advanced weaponry, and more grand country-wide ambitions and Tai Lung is completely eclipsed by Kai from the third movie in both threat level and power. On the other hand, taking into consideration the different animated shows, Tai Lung would get utterly demolished by major arc villains like Ke-Pa, Jindiao, the White Bone Demon, Zuma with some Tianshang weapons, and a fully Tiangshang-empowered Sir Alfred whom not even Po was able to overcome after years of experience but is likely still far more dangerous and powerful compared to some of Po's regular Rogues Gallery like Fung, Hundun, Tong Fo, Temutai, Junjie, and Taotie, placing Tai Lung in that unique niche of being a Starter Villain who stays strong relative to the entire franchise since there are later villains who surpass him in power and threat level, but not every single later villain Po faces necessarily reaches his level either.
  • The Land Before Time: Sharptooth is the very first carnivorous dinosaur antagonist faced by Littlefoot and his gang in the first movie. But in comparison to future villains of the franchise, Sharptooth remains exceedingly dangerous and menacing compared to a later carnivore like Red Claw who got chased off by Littlefoot's gang throwing fruit at him. Even after the first movie, there aren't many other carnivorous villains who are able to match him, let alone surpass him, making Sharptooth a rare beginner antagonist in an animated film franchise where the Sorting Algorithm of Evil is inverted in his favor.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • The leopard from 2001: A Space Odyssey is an odd example, as it never encounters the main hero of the story. It does, however, act as this to humanity; while not evil, it's the main threat to the tribe of apes destined to become humans at the start of the film. Then the Monolith teaches the apes how to make tools, and their next confrontation goes a lot differently.
  • Back to the Future Part II has Griff Tannen, Biff's grandson. Marty and Doc attempt to stop him from persuading Marty's future son to participate in a robbery; once Griff is out of the picture thanks to crashing into the courthouse, Biff takes over as Big Bad... three separate versions.
  • Excalibur has Uryens, who challenges King Arthur's claim because he is a bastard. After being defeated in battle, he knights Arthur and accepts him as King.
  • The Fast and the Furious series has Johnny Tran, a gang leader and Dom's main opponent in the first film.
  • The Godfather:
    • Sollozzo in Part I. Michael killing him marks the beginning of his Protagonist Journey to Villain.
    • Don Fanucci plays a similar role to Don Vito in Part II, though their confrontation happened prior to the events of the first film.
  • Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom kicks off with Indy battling Lao Che.
  • Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade begins with Dr. Jones spending decades trying to recover a jeweled cross belonging to Coronado from a mysterious antique collector.
  • James Bond:
    • In Dr. No, the titular Dr. Julius No is the first main villain of the film series. His defeat kicks off Bond's long-standing rivalry with SPECTRE. However, it is Dr. No's henchman, Jones, who is the first antagonist Bond faces in the film, and by extension, the entire series up to Die Another Day.
    • In Thunderball, Bond has to kill SPECTRE agent Jacques Bouvar before even the opening credits roll.
    • And in GoldenEye he battles Soviet Colonel Arkady Ourumov, who later becomes a General and is shown to be the ally to the film's big bad Alec Trevelyan, the former 006 agent.
    • Bond fights the Cigar Girl during the first scenes in The World Is Not Enough.
    • An unnamed character (who bears a suspicious resemblance to former Big Bad Ernst Stavro Blofeld) in the prologue of For Your Eyes Only, who tries to kill Bond.
    • Dryden is the starter villain in Casino Royale (2006), as his death leads to Bond officially becoming a double-0 agent. Bond spends the rest of the film climbing the villain food chain, going from a hired gun, to Dimitrios, then Le Chiffre, and finally confronting Mr. White.
    • Spectre opens with Bond assassinating terrorist-for-hire Marco Sciarra following an eventful chase through Mexico City that climaxes in a fight aboard a moving helicopter. Sciarra has a good deal more plot influence than the average starter villain, however, as a signet ring taken from his body and testimony from his abused Trophy Wife lead Bond to the realization that all his previous enemies - Le Chiffre, Mr. White, Dominic Greene, Raoul Silva, and the Quantum organization as a whole - had served the same master: Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
    • In something of a change for Bond films, the Soviet hit team at the beginning of The Spy Who Loved Me actually has an impact on the main plot. The team leader of the team was the lover of Major Amasova, the Russian agent Bond works with during the film. She's not happy to find out James killed him.
  • Lethal Weapon:
    • Lethal Weapon (1987) has one each depending on the cut that both show Riggs' skill and his suicidal recklessness. In the theatrical release it's the drug dealers who set up shop at a Christmas tree farm; in the extended cut it's the school shooter.
    • The nameless flamethrower-toting man rocking out to Van Halen who Riggs and Murtaugh confront in the prologue to Lethal Weapon 4.
  • The Marvel Cinematic Universe has a knack for these, often introducing a minor villain who gets his ass beat by the hero before they move on to the real Big Bad.
  • In the context of the MonsterVerse, the MUTOs from Godzilla (2014) are definitely this. Both are killed by Godzilla during the film's climax and they're established as being non-unique when another cameos at the end of Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), as well as being completely new characters of no real franchise signifiance. In contrast, the next film in the MonsterVerse features King Kong, a giant monster with an even longer history than Godzilla,note  and then King of the Monsters has Godzilla's longtime archnemesis King Ghidorah not only as the main antagonist but as an actively malicious villain rather than just being a skyscraper-sized animal doing what he does, and he "returns" in Godzilla vs. Kong as a half-dead consciousness in the body of Mechagodzilla and the real Big Bad of the film.
  • Pulgasari has the Governor, the one who is directly oppressing the inhabitants of the village who form the bulk of the good characters. In fact, the very moment after he is killed is when the film first introduces the true Big Bad, the King.
  • Matthew Patel from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is the first of the evil exes that Scott has to fight, and the only one whom Scott requires no special tricks to defeat.
  • Spider-Man:
  • Star Wars:
    • Grand Moff Tarkin for A New Hope is an interesting example. While he's the Big Bad of the film, in terms of the franchise as a whole, he's the first villain that the heroes face and defeat. Prequel works like Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels and Rogue One and other expanded material later increased his appearances and prominence and have retroactively turned him into one of the top threats of the entire franchise.
    • In A New Hope, the Tusken Raiders and Greedo serve as seperate versions for different protagonists and highlight their differences. The Tusken Raiders attack the naïve Luke while he searches for R2-D2 in the Jundland Wastes and have to be scared off by Ben Kenobi. Greedo is a Bounty Hunter who tries to collect a price on Han's head, but the streetwise and cynical Han shoots Greedo from under the table.
    • The Wampa for The Empire Strikes Back
    • Jabba the Hutt for Return of the Jedi
    • The Prequel Trilogy (and thus the entire saga) has Viceroy Nute Gunray, who, in contrast to the galaxy-spanning ambitions of the Sith, is simply a cowardly Corrupt Corporate Executive blockading a single planet over a trade dispute. We know he's basically a puppet for the aforementioned Sith from fairly early on, though, and unlike a lot of Starter Villains actually sticks around for a while and continues being a valuable pawn until he finally outlives his usefulness.
    • Zam Wesell for Attack of the Clones. She kickstarts the plot of the film by bombing Senator Amidala's starship, but is captured by the heroes and silenced by Jango Fett in the film's opening minutes.
    • Shockingly, Dooku in Revenge of the Sith. Despite being the second strongest of the bad guys (third if you include Anakin/Vader), he is the first to go down and dies less than 15 minutes in, while Gunray, Grievous, the Separatists, and later the clones (and finally, if you include 'The Clone Wars', Maul) all last longer.
  • Taken has the stalker that Bryan saves singer Sheerah from. He has a minute of screentime, but it's enough to demonstrate Bryan's all-around badassery before the real plot kicks off.
  • The Janitor in Unbreakable is the first real threat David faces, and because he inadvertently exploits David's Kryptonite Factor, he nearly kills David. Killing him and saving the family that the Janitor was terrorizing is the first time David is hailed as a hero, and his mentor Elijah later points out that defeating him is just the first step in David's burgeoning career as a real life hero.

    Gamebooks 
  • Lone Wolf: Vonotar the Traitor is the first named enemy that the fledgling Kai Lord Lone Wolf faces. It's Personal since Vonotar provided the information to the Darklords that made the massacre of the Kai possible. He is name-dropped in the first book, encountered in the second book where his only purpose is to fail against the Sommerswerd, and thrown into a prison dimension at the end of the third book after Lone Wolf hunts him down and captures him. Vonotar is never heard from again as Lone Wolf focuses on the Darklords until Book 11 when Lone Wolf is thrown into the same prison dimension. While Vonotar is more formidable than he was in the past, he still turns out to be little more than a speedbump to the mighty hero Lone Wolf has become.

    Literature 
  • Codex Alera: Atsurak the leader of a Marat barbarian horde. The novice spy races against time and an ex-mentor to Bring News Back to the local Legion's garrison before Atsurak can invade a valley in a rural part of Alera. The Farm Boy gets used as a pawn by another barbarian, an enemy of Atsurak (who himself is being used as a pawn by Lord Aquitaine). Five books later, Atsurak is an afterthought, all the Marat are allies to the Alerans and actually the least important faction in that alliance (well, apart from the fact that one of them is the First Lord's lover) and it's not just the valley that's at stake but all intelligent life in the world. If not for the fact that some Chessmasters from the first book are still around, the first book could be considered separate from the rest of the series.
  • David Copperfield: Mr. Murdstone is the antagonist for the first few chapters before yielding to more serious baddies like Uriah Heep.
  • Dragonlance:
    • The thuggish, cowardly hobgoblin Lord Toede, a mid-ranking minion of the Dragon Overlords. Though never a serious threat, he proved popular enough to get his own spin-off novel.
    • Also applies to his master, Lord Verminaard who served as the Big Bad for the first book.
  • Matilda: Mr Wormwood serves as the antagonist for the first few chapters before the Trunchbull is introduced.
  • New Jedi Order: The first book introduces Prefect Da'Gara and his Praetorite Vong forces, terrifying aliens from beyond the Rim bent on galactic conquest and possessing powers and weapons far beyond anything the galaxy has ever seen. They live precisely one book- it turns out the Praetorite Vong are only one (largely unimportant) political faction among the Yuuzhan Vong Empire and Da'Gara was just kickstarting the invasion to grab some glory for himself. His troops weren't even particularly well-trained by Vong standards, and the nightmarish Eldritch Abomination he had on a leash as his secret weapon was defective compared to others of its kind. Da'Gara's main purpose was to give the Galaxy a taste of its new threat before being killed off to make way for the real bad guys.
    • However, the same book also introduces Da'Gara's political ally Nom Anor, who not only survived, but would go on to continue making trouble for the Jedi and the New Republic all the way until the final book in the series. He outlives both the Big Bad and The Man Behind the Man (though not by long).
  • Chamdar, alias Asharak, from The Belgariad is an Evil Sorcerer and high-ranked priest in a Religion of Evil who killed The Hero's parents and follows him around for a while in the early part of the series making a general nuisance of himself but is killed spectacularly midway through the second of five books after goading The Hero into unlocking his powers. It is, however, eventually revealed that he was at least partially possessed by the Big Bad.
  • The Dresden Files: Evil Sorcerer Victor Sells is the first bad guy encountered in the series, and gives Harry a major challenge. However, compared to later villains he's small potatoes; he lacks actual training in the use of his magic like later evil wizards had, he was a normal human with no supernatural toughness (unlike the Denarians and most monsters), he had no real connection to the greater magical world, unlike the vampires and fae, and his being entirely self-taught and kinda Drunk on the Dark Side meant he made some serious rookie mistakes. Most of his threat came from siphoning power out of storms, which hampered his ability to act since he had to wait for them. From Harry's perspective his first villain was Evil Mentor Justin DuMorne, but Justin's been dead for years and the actual confrontation is never shown to the audience, Victor takes the role.
    • Unlike most Starter Villains, it turns out that Victor Sells was connected with the series' Big Bad (or at least, one of the Big Bads) the Black Council, or at least with the Red Court. Someone had to teach him that heart-exploding spell, after all....
  • Principal Chapman from Animorphs is the first named Human-Controller the kids encounter and the first five books focus on him rather closely. After that, though, he fades into the background as real threats such as Visser One and Tom make themselves known.
  • Harry Potter:
    • Draco Malfoy is one of the first wizards Harry meets (and the first one his own age), and his general unpleasantness shows how wizards can be as big of jerks as muggles. Dealing with him is a large part of the early books, but even though he repeatedly tries to take a level in badass, he never manages to be anywhere nearly as powerful or evil as the true villains of the piece.
    • In a way, Quirrell in the first book. Despite being possessed by Voldemort himself, he is fairly easy to defeat with The Power of Love, and it's even implied that Dumbledore set up their confrontation as a test for Harry and a warmup for what lay ahead of him.
  • Ishamael in The Wheel of Time is a subversion. He's the main villain of the first three books, calling himself "Ba'alzamon" and presenting himself as the Dark One, only to be killed off at the end of book three. Several books later, a guy called Moridin who has several of the same quirks shows up, and is gradually revealed to indeed be Ishamael reincarnated. Turns out he's the local version of The Antichrist and Rand's opposite number; it's implied that they're destined to eternally be reborn and fight each other across history. Moridin is actually one of the last villains to go down.
  • The Sword of Truth: Darken Rahl.
  • Inheritance Cycle: Eragon: Durza, the shade Eragon faces at the end of said first book. Its downplayed in that he was actually an incredible challenge, leaving Eragon with a crippling injury. But later foes are more challenging politcally or personal, forcing Eragon to learn new skills.
  • Brokenstar in Warrior Cats. Although some of his underlings do make it...
  • Ebenezer Rat in The Book of the Dun Cow is vicious and not afraid to kill, but the later Eldritch Abominations that Chauntecleer faces make him look positively tame. Ebenezer himself is killed by one of them.
  • A Mage's Power: The Cecri the main novices fight on their first mission is their first challenge as a team. On the monster ranking scale, these are C class monsters. The novices are clumsy, sloppy and come close to death. Basilard uses it as a learning experience to demonstrate what skills they need to develop to survive real battles. By the middle of the book, the novices are killing C+ class monsters by themselves.
  • Ms. Dodds and the Minotaur in Percy Jackson and the Olympians are the first monsters Percy fights as his introduction into the world of mythology, both coming in before the introduction of the series' main villains, Kronos and Luke Castellan.
  • In The Balanced Sword trilogy, Kyri Vantage sets out to get justice for the murder of her parents, and ends up thwarting a much larger scheme of which that was only a part. The ringleader of the group who murdered her parents, and also personally murders her older brother when his own investigation gets too close, is the main villain of the first book, and is defeated as its climax.
  • Redwall; Badrang the Tyrant, Big Bad of Martin the Warrior, is this for Martin's story as a whole, with the revolt against him serving as a warm up for Martin's eventual war with Tsarmina in Mossflower.
  • In Imaro, the first enemy the protagonist faces is the sorcerer N'tu-mwaa, who is notably less powerful and established than the brutal warlords and Eldritch Abominations Imaro goes on to fight. He is also only villain in the first book who isn't looking to destroy Imaro in particular - he's just looking to perform a ritual that requires the Human Sacrifice of an Illyassai warrior, and Imaro was the Illyassai warrior his henchmen happened to kidnap.
  • In the first book in the Griezelklas series by Tais Teng, the two vampire girls in the class want to make Meral the witch girl into another vampire and stalk her throughout the book. After their defeat, they're nothing more than an occasional nuisance for Meral throughout the rest of the series (or allies when circumstances force them to), as she faces off against bigger threats such as soul merchants working for the devil or Jerkass Gods.
  • Romance of the Three Kingdoms; the first major antagonist is Dong Zhuo, a tyrannical and obese warlord that forcibly makes himself Prime Minister and drives the rest of China to revolt with his cruel and corrupt actions. He's killed about a third of the way through the first volume, and his rival Cao Cao becomes the new big threat.
  • Reign of the Seven Spellblades: Vera Miligan, a fourth-year student interested in the pro-demihuman rights movement, turns out to be the primary antagonist of the first volume, having created the errant troll that attacked Katie at the school entrance ceremony in the process of Playing with Syringes to make demis more intelligent so human mages would respect them more. After Katie succeeds in teaching the troll to talk while trying to retrain it so it won't be euthanized, Vera kidnaps her to analyze her brain and figure out how she was able to do it, forcing Oliver and Nanao to battle Miligan. More than anything else, Miligan serves to establish the Blue-and-Orange Morality of the mage world writ large, and after surviving her defeat, she becomes a sort of Evil Mentor to Katie: appreciated for her assistance with various problems the protagonists face, but not trusted and not liked.
  • Shotgun Nun Vol. 2: The Wrath of God has Dr. Thomas Edwards, a snuff film producer who plans on torturing Sophia. In any normal book, he's clearly be the Big Bad. But here, he's a relatively minor villain Sister Eloise kills with little effort, and his death is what triggers the real main antagonist to target Eloise and Sophia.
  • Shen Qingqiu from The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System was this to Luo Binghe as his Sadist Teacher who abused him and condemned him to five years in the Endless Abyss, all of for which he was brutally tortured and killed by a vengeful Luo Binghe... or at least, that's what happened in the original webnovel series he was a character in. His role becomes a lot different in the actual main story when Shen Yuan, a reader of the series, transmigrates into his body and is very much intent on avoiding the original's horrible fate by ingratiating himself to Luo Binghe.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Angel has Russell Winters in its pilot, who in turn is a client of the overall main villains of the series.
  • Babylon 5: Season 1 featured the Raiders and the Home Guard as the primary recurring villains. The Raiders got almost completely wiped out as part of The Reveal of The Shadows, the show's primary villains. The Home Guard dropped off the radar and became irrelevant after President Clark came into power (since they had essentially won), and never turned up again.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
    • The show had one-shot villains for the first episode of each season; an enemy who was reasonably threatening, but who was ultimately defeated by Buffy before the credits roll: Luke in season 1, Absalom in season 2, Ken in season 3, Sunday in season 4, Dracula in season 5, and Razor in season 6. The Season 7 opener is a somewhat confusing beast, with Buffy fighting a group of malevolent spirits who are indeed defeated by the end but the true mastermind who summoned them...is never actually identified (although the episode's tag scene does set up new Big Bad the First so possibly it can be deduced that way).
    • Lothos, the main villain from the movie and The Origin, although the Buffyverse backstory establishes that he is a menace on the same level as season one big bad The Master.
  • Cobra Kai has Kyler Park, Miguel's bully and the very reason why he decides to take up karate from Johnny after the latter kicks Kyler's ass. Once Miguel beats up the bastard, the rest of the series becomes a karetka vs. karateka conflict, first with the renewed rivalry between Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso, then the return of past The Karate Kid villains: John Kreese and Terry Silver.
  • Farscape had Bialar Crais, a Peacekeeper captain whose brother accidentally died in the pilot episode when his ship ricocheted off Crichton's, which had accidentally gone through a wormhole and emerged in the middle of a space battle. Crais went into Captain Ahab mode and spent the rest of the first season chasing Crichton and his new friends. At the end of the season, Crais is replaced as by Scorpius, a Peacekeeper scientist intent on getting information about wormhole technology that had been implanted in Crichton's brain. Scorpius went on to be the show's Big Bad, while Crais underwent a Heel–Face Turn.
    • And then Scorpius is also replaced by an even bigger baddie in the form of Grayza and the Scarrans (led by the Scarran Emperor).
  • Firefly had an undercover Alliance agent as the villain of the pilot episode. Although he seems to be built up as a potentially recurring villain, the ending of the episode subverts multiple tropes when, during a Put Down Your Gun and Step Away / We Will Meet Again moment, Mal simply walks up and shoots him in the head. Word of God is that had the show continued past the first season, he would have turned out to have survived the shooting and would have come back (with a cybernetic eye!) to seek revenge on the crew. In fact, this is exactly what happens in the Serenity: Those Left Behind comic book set between the series and the movie.
  • Fringe: David Robert Jones from the first season.
  • Game of Thrones: Viserys Targaryen, the elder brother of Daenerys, serves as the main antagonist of the first act in her storyline to progress from a timid teenage girl into The High Queen, as well as one of the main antagonists in the first half of Season 1. He is then killed by Khal Drogo and replaced with villains that serve greater threats in the TV show, such as Joffrey Baratheon and Littlefinger.
    • House of the Dragon has Craghas Drahar aka the Crabfeeder, a pirate who disturbs merchant fleets in the Stepstones off the coasts of Westeros and the first major antagonist faced by the Targaryen crown a few years before the Succession Crisis starts. He's defeated and killed by Daemon Targaryen in the third episode.
  • Kamen Rider has Kumo Otoko, the very first monster beaten by Kamen Rider 1 and effectively the starter villain for the whole franchise. Each individual series usually has one as well, whose main purpose is to stir the main character into picking up the belt and transforming for the first time. There's also a variation on this, seen more commonly in shows made after 2010, who are major villains are usually beaten somewhere around a quarter of the way in to showcase the power of the main Rider's first Mid-Season Upgrade, or sometimes shortly before they acquire it.
    • Kamen Rider Build features a special case in that the Night Rogue and Blood Stalk suits were made to invoke this trope In-Universe, as they were made by the same scientist who made the Build Driver to serve as the user's initial sparring partners. Although both their users are major villains who ended up using the suits as alter-egos instead.
  • Leverage: Victor Dubenich who assembles the team to do a job for him, before betraying them and becoming the mark of the pilot. He later returns to be the Big Bad of Season 4.
  • Merlin: Nimueh, the titular character's main adversary in the first season, before she's Killed Off for Real in that same season's finale.
  • Revolution:
    • Captain, later Major, Tom Neville of the Monroe Republic is the first militia threat the protagonists go up against ("Pilot"). Neville turns out to be subordinate to Big Bad General Sebastian "Bass" Monroe. Neville ends up leaving Monroe in "The Song Remains the Same", joins up with the Georgia Federation to fight Monroe ("Home"), and then takes Bass's place as the Big Bad in the first season finale ("The Dark Tower").
    • The real Big Bad appears to be a rump U.S. government operating out of Cuba, for which Randall was working when he launched nukes on Philadelphia and Atlanta. It's hinted that the heroes may end up teaming with Neville in an Enemy Mine situation to prevent everyone from being conquered.
  • Stargate SG-1: The first Big Bad faced by the Stargate team is Apophis, who managed to last all the way to the 5th season before he was finally Killed Off for Real. Of course, the Big Bads that replaced him, such as Anubis, the Replicators, and the Ori all turned out to be even more dangerous. Although technically, Apophis himself was the second villain faced by Jack and Daniel if you want to include Ra from the film.
  • Star Trek: Enterprise: The Suliban, genetically augmented Gecko-Men, initially filled this role. A lukewarm reception had them soon replaced with the much more credible Xindi as the series' main enemy race.
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation:
    • The parasites in the episode "Conspiracy" were intended to return, but weren't for budget reasons. They were "replaced" by the Borg as the Big Bad. The Borg proved to be "too powerful" to write many episodes about... indeed, after the events of Best of Both Worlds, the only Borg encountered are small splinter groups and individuals separated from the Collective. The writers eventually settled on the Romulans and Cardassians as the preferred bad guys.
    • More to the point, the Ferengi were initially conceived as TNG's Big Bad, getting a Name Drop in the pilot as a race with a terrifying reputation (complete with the suggestion that they eat the people they conquer). Then they showed up and turned out to fall far short of the hype. So they were abandoned as the archnemesis of the series, eventually resurfacing as occasional comic antagonists, and getting a more sympathetic portrayal on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The rumors referenced in the pilot were later retconned as having been planted by the Ferengi leader, who having heard about the Federation and its economic policies concluded they must be utterly insane and hoped to intimidate them.
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine itself opened up with the Cardassians, Klingons, Romulans, and even some Bajorans (especially Kai Winn) switching off as the "bad" of the week, in keeping with the series' Grey-and-Gray Morality. Then the Dominion comes knocking...
  • Star Trek: Voyager, in an inversion to The Next Generation, started with a new race called the Kazon, who were essentially slightly modified Klingon expies, but eventually replaced them with the Borg... although the Borg eventually suffered from the Villain Decay that the Next Generation writers hoped to avoid. Again, several episodes focused on individual Borg separated from the Collective, for the same reasons as above.
  • Supernatural has Constance Welch, AKA the Woman in White, a spirit Sam and Dean encounter before they even begin their hunt for the Yellow Eyed Demon.
  • Breaking Bad has Tuco, the first real threat after Krazy-8's Warm-Up Boss, but still not quite on the same threat level as Gustavo "Gus" Fring.
  • Al Capone serves as this in the early-'60s series The Untouchables, as the pilot movie was about his arrest. The face of his organization in the series proper was his enforcer, Frank Nitti, and the organization was involved in only about a quarter of the episodes.
  • MacGyver: Carl Steubens is responsible for the explosion that drives the pilot's plot.
  • The Flash (2014) The first metahuman is some guy who eludes the police by making fog. He seems imposing at the time, but isn't even cool enough to get a codename, and once Flash gets going he has no trouble taking him down, after which he's gunned down by the police and is only ever mentioned again in relation to his brother Weather Wizard, a more serious and recurring villain.
  • Slab is the main villain of the pilot of Mr. Young, whom Adam "tames" at the end. The series doesn't really have a Big Bad, though the closest thing is Principal Tater.
  • The Ultra Series has been doing this since the very beginning. Gomess, the first monster fought by humans in Ultra Q, and Bemular, the first monster ever fought by an Ultra on-screen in the original Ultraman are the most obvious examples, but plenty of other franchise favourites such as Verokron (Ultraman Ace), Alien Magma (Ultraman Leo), Golza (Ultraman Tiga) and Demaaga (Ultraman X) have been introduced to the Ultra Series as this sort of antagonist.
  • The Wire does it in season 2 with Frank Sobotka. Major Valchek, who has a feud with Sobotka over a stained glass window, designates Sobotka as the primary target and wants a police detail to dig up dirt on him specifically. But as the case progresses, real criminals who are guilty of much worse crimes are discovered and Frank's importance in the investigation is diminished. This is even shown graphically: his picture ends trimmed down and put in a corner of the corkboard. In the end his criminal acts are so mild that even the FBI (who were specifically brought into the case by Valchek to bust Sobotka and his union) thinks he's just a small fish and want to go after bigger targets.
  • Witchblade: Tommy Gallo, a legendary mafia hitman, was the first true villain that Sara Pezzini faced, being responsible for both the murder of her partner Danny and as he later reveals, the murder of her father many years ago. He's caught and locked up at the end of the two-episode pilot, with Pezzini facing a number of other threats from thereon out. Due to a Reset Button as a result of time travel at the end of the season, Sara doesn't face down Gallo and basically ignores him since she has bigger enemies to deal with.
  • The Unusuals: Leon Wu, a juvenile drug dealer-turned-Cop Killer out of a misplaced sense of revenge. He's killed by the end of the first episode.
  • Doctor Who generally begins each Doctor's era with a minor threat or C-list member of the Rogues Gallery. The exceptions are the Second, Fifth and Eighth Doctors, who need to deal with the Daleks and the Master (twice) respectively, justified as the Fourth and Seventh Doctors regenerated because of the Master's efforts and the producers wanted the Second (as the first regeneration) to face a familiar threat to assure fans that the show hadn't changed.
    • Torchwood: The first spin-off of Doctor Who had its starter villain be Suzie, a member of the team who had a Face–Heel Turn and shot Jack in the head, before committing suicide after having ran out of ways to escape. Suzie is later resurrected, as it turns out that she had a backup plan in case she died.
    • The Sarah Jane Adventures: The second spin-off had The Bane appear as the starter villain in the pilot story. There's also The Slitheen for the first real episode of series 1.
  • 21 Jump Street: Tyrell "Waxer" Thompson, a drug dealer harassing a client to pay overdue fees. He never returns after his arrest, but his Dragon Reggie does.
  • Criminal Minds: Timothy "Tim" Vogel AKA the Seattle Strangler. A prison guard turned serial killer and rapist, he's the first criminal the BAU team had to deal with and ends up shot to death by Elle after he tried and failed to kill Gideon at the end of the episode.
  • The Adventures of Sinbad: Eblus, a Djinn prince who manipulates kingdoms into outlawing magic and descending into decadence so he can rule. He also assisted Turok, who doesn't qualify due to returning in the season 1 finale, in his scheme to kidnap a princess and take over a kingdom. He's killed with a spear to the face soon after the reveal of his true nature.
  • Resurrection: Ertuğrul: Master Simon, the owner of the Hanli Bazaar plays this role in season 3, being set up as a worthy opponent of the Kayi clan up until he dies about a third of the way in, allowing Vasilius to replace him for the remainder of said season.
    • Trader Simko in season 4 also counts as this, albeit not portrayed as a Big Bad in any way. He merely captures Ertugrul and numerous other people to become his slaves, only to be slain by Tekfur Ares after Ertugrul and several of the other hirelings escape.
  • In Stargirl (2020), the first villain Courtney has to deal with is Brainwave, who is an incredibly powerful telepath and telekinetic, who participated in the destruction of the original JSA, but who gets taken down at the end of the second episode. Then he returns in the back half of the season and becomes one of the main threats that needs to be taken down.
  • In Super Sentai, the very first Monster of the Week in each show fights usually functions as one, serving as first enemy the team needs to work together to fight against. There are some notable variations on it however.
    • The very first enemy the titular team in Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger have to fight is Geildon, the Evolian messenger leading their attack on Earth. Although he's defeated within the first two episodes, later episodes reveal he was a much more important character than he seemed, having been a good friend to Asuka and the brother of his fiancee Mahoro who, like him, was brainwashed to become a member of the Evolians.
    • Similarly, Jagged in Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger was actually one of the team leaders in the Deathgalien. He takes to the Earth himself to fight the Zyuohgers, rather than send out a monster to do it, and is destroyed in the very first episode. This becomes lampshaded when he's revived in The Movie and none of his fellow team leaders remember who he is.
  • Millennium: The first Serial Killer to be investigated by Frank in the pilot is only known as "The Frenchman" and is shot dead by the end of the episode. Although not the worst killer to be encountered by Frank, the Frenchman has the dubious distinction of being one of the craziest ones, clearly hallucinating at several points and convinced he was personally sending all his victims to Hell.

    Multiple Media 
  • BIONICLE:
    • Different sorts of Rahi are the introductory villains, both to the Toa Mata team (after they've forgotten their past) and the brand as a whole. They're mind controlled wildlife and a definite threat, but once the Toa collect the masks of power and free the Rahi by ridding them of their infected masks, they're mostly reduced to inconveniences. At the end of the first arc, it's not even the Toa but the Matoran who defeat most of them. Although some particular Rahi like the Manas still pose a threat afterwards.
    • In-universe, chronologically the Toa Mata's first major enemies were the Avohkah energy beings, though they've lost their memories of fighting them. In real life, the Avohkah were only mentioned in the franchise's 8th year in a flashback.
    • The Morbuzakh plant in the 2004 Metru Nui saga. It's the first challenge of the Toa Metru team, and ties into the true main villain's bigger plot. While the Morbuzakh arc was told in a pair of books, multiple comics and six mini CD games, it is overall so negligible to the main story that in the Animated Adaptation Legends of Metru Nui, the Morbuzakh only gets a few second long Continuity Cameo and is never mentioned in the dialogue.
    • In the 2009 Bara Magna saga, Mata Nui in his newly created body has to face a feral Vorox. He beats it with the help of Click, a beetle who can turn into a shield, but lets the Vorox go, only keeping the tail it's lost as a makeshift sword.

     Mythology and Religion 
  • Irish Mythology: Aillen The Burner is this for Fionn Mac Cumhaill. While Fionn's boyhood had him in various clashes with Clann Morna, brigands dire beasts and supernatural threats sent by his Gruesome Grandparent Tadg, the clash with Aillen marks a major milestone in Fionn's story. Fionn managing to defeat Aillen in battle marks the end of Fionn's boyhood, his time living on the run, and his rivalry with Clann Morna. And it begins Fionn's leadership of The Fianna in their golden age, and facing off with grand opponents both mortal and supernatural.

    Podcasts 
  • The Adventure Zone: Balance has The Black Spider, aka Magic Brian, a low-level wizard who initially seems to be an overarching villain, but who turns out to be a really small fry in the grand scheme of things.
  • The Magnus Archives has Jane Prentiss for Season 1, Jurgen Leitner for Season 2. Both are played up as significant threats to the Archives, but neither is of any real consequence in the larger picture, and both are quickly dispatched..

    Professional Wrestling 
  • ARSION gave Ayako Hamada one hell of a starter villain in head booker Aja Kong. In fact, the only reason she was likely the "starter villain" was because of the conflict of interest that came with being the head booker. Kong really started as Hamada's partner though, and it took Hamada a good two years before she could finally beat Kong, so you could call The Apache Sisters Mary and Faby, Rei Tamada and Hiromi Yagi a series of starter villains until Hamada was ready while Mariko Yoshida was for Arsion as a whole, being billed as the greatest female wrestler in Japan only to suffer The Worf Effect and set up Kong as the undisputed queen.
  • After The Natural Born Sinners broke up due to an injury, Steve Corino became the first major opponent for Homicide during his Ring of Honor singles run. Corino later returned and became the first threat to Homicide following his acquisition of the World Title from American Dragon. (starter villain twice over? Ouch!)
  • ECW had a heel stable called Da Baldiesnote  that often played this role. Da Baldies main purpose was to provide New Jack with bodies to hit with weapons, but they also often jobbed to face teams in tag matches to set up the faces for a showdown with a more important heel stable.

    Tabletop Games 
  • Champions: In the 4E Golden Age Champions book, the Doberman (a nutty dog-themed supervillian) was created to be one of these in-universe. He was an incompetent tomb robber, who ran through prayers to every deity he could think of after being trapped in an Egyptian pyramid and happened to pray to Anubis right before dying. Anubis brought the Doberman back to life and granted him immortality, in order for novice heroes to gain experience by defeating him.
  • Dungeons & Dragons: Any single enemy with a challenge rating of two or three. Anything less would need a group to present a serious threat to even a level one party (assuming four players).
    • The introductory adventure in the D&D Basic set in the 1980's (which would likely be a Player's first experience with the game) featured a villain named Bargle the Infamous. While he was rather tame as far as villains go overall, and he did not appear in any other published work, his crime in the adventure - murdering the beautiful female cleric Aleena - left quite an impression and had the potential to make him the Player Characters' hated enemy. (Depending on just how far the DM was willing to expand the character.)
  • The villain of the first book in the award-winning Rise of the Rune Lords adventure path series published by Paizo (and later updated to their own Pathfinder system) is the only villain who doesn't either know about the Runelord of Greed or try to bring him back; her sin isn't even Greed, instead being Wrath. Only after defeating her can the party discover the machinations of Greed.
  • Baron Blade plays this role in Sentinels of the Multiverse, serving as the initial impetus for Legacy to unite Bunker, Absolute Zero, Tachyon and the Wraith to form the Freedom Five...while still being low-difficulty. In the digital version, he's the villain in the tutorial. Akash'bhuta plays a similar role for the Prime Wardens.

    Theater 
  • In The Mario Opera, the infamous first Goomba is the first challenge Mario faces, and jumping on it changes the power dynamics almost instantly.

    Video Games 
  • Bayonetta: Fortitudo is the first adversary in the game stronger than a basic mook that directly confronts Bayonetta, and serves as the main threat of the first four chapters. Despite being a giant Angelic Abomination with dragon heads that can turn an entire town in to a burning wasteland, he is still ultimately small fry compared to later bosses in the game, and later villains in the sequels.
  • Bloodborne has a few options. The first enemy you face is a generic Scourge Beast (who's supposed to kill you so you can get weapons in the Hunter's Dream), the first boss is the Cleric Beast, and the first mandatory boss is Father Gascoigne.
  • Cavern of Dreams: The first antagonist in the game is The Mighty Wall, a living stone wall who blocks Finn's path during the tutorial. He is easily taken out by one use of Fynn's Tail Slap move, and he exists primarily to teach players how to use said move.
  • Crescent Prism: The Scorchpion is the first boss of the game, who gained the power of Astra skills from the Violet Prism Stone.
  • Elden Ring:
    • Your tutorial boss is a Soldier of Godrick- a generic Lordsworn Soldier mook out in the Lands Between, but the game gives him a boss healthbar anyway.
    • Technically you can face any two Shardbearers you wish, so your starter villain could be Malenia if you really want to torture yourself, but the game expects you to first go after Godrick the Grafted, the Lord of Limgrave. He's one of the most downright evil Shardbearers, having stolen limbs from thousands of people to turn himself into a misshapen ogre of a person (hence why he's 'the Grafted'), but the game goes out of its way to paint Godrick as a pathetic excuse for a lord, barely counting as a demigod, and the Butt-Monkey of his extended family. Killing him is both getting yourself closer to fixing the Elden Ring and doing pretty much everyone in the area a huge favor.
    • The first boss you're likely to meet unless you go out of your way to avoid him is Margit the Fell Omen, but he's actually a projection of the Climax Boss, Morgott, who predicted you'd choose Godrick as your first Shardbearer and is being proactive in stopping you.
  • Final Fantasy:
    • Garland from the original Final Fantasy, who kidnaps Princess Sara and is the first boss in the series. Subverted as he turns into the Big Bad, Chaos, at the end.
    • Kefka from Final Fantasy VI is a notable aversion, in that he's definitely Starter Villain material for most of the game, only to evolve into the game's true Big Bad.
    • President Shinra from Final Fantasy VII, the main villain for the first five hours or so of the game before he's killed off by the real Big Bad, Sephiroth.
    • Final Fantasy VIII begins properly with the newly-appointed SeeDs given orders to assassinate the fascist president of a powerful nation, and his top adviser. Things quickly go south when said adviser turns out to be one of the strongest beings on the planet and both executes the president herself and marks the SeeDs for death.
    • The Three Black Waltzes from Final Fantasy IX.
    • Judge Ghis from Final Fantasy XII, the first noteworthy villain the party confronts directly.
    • Legate Gaius van Baelsar from Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, who serves as the game's penultimate boss leading up to Lahabrea and is the main driving force behind the conflict in ARR.
  • Chrono Trigger has Yakra, who kidnaps Queen Leene in 600 AD and stashes her in the back of a cathedral full of mooks, only to promptly get slain by the party as the first boss. In an amusing inverse But for Me, It Was Tuesday bit, his descendants plot against the party and the kingdom for 400 years and nearly the entire game, long after the player even remembers that Yakra was a thing, only for one of them to surface in one of the endgame subquests as basically the same boss fight, which usually ends in under a minute thanks to the now end-of-game party.
  • Mass Effect series:
    • Fist from the first game. A notorious crime lord who's been bribed by Saren to kill Tali and suppress all evidence of Saren's crimes, he acts as the main antagonist for the first mission chain following the prologue (which revolves around proving Saren's guilt), with three of the five most prominent series squadmates (Tali, Garrus, and Wrex) being recruited in the process of taking him down. Overall, he's the first real villain Shepard's team successfully takes down. Tali lampshades his starter villain nature (compared to the world-ending threats the team faces on a weekly basis from then on) in the second game.
      Tali: Fist and his men seemed so dangerous. We've come a long way. Don't know if that's a good thing, but... it's definitely more interesting.
    • Initially, it seems like Saren is the Big Bad of the first game since his assault on Eden Prime is what kickstarts the plot of the game. Later on, Sovereign is revealed to be The Man Behind the Man, and Saren turns out to be just an indoctrinated servant.
  • Master Detective Archives: Rain Code has two characters fulfilling this role simultaneously in Chapter 0. Swank is the first corrupt Peacekeeper that antagonizes Yuma Kokohead and forces him to go into the Mystery Labyrinth for the first time in order to find the real killer framing him, with Swank's Mystery Phantom serving as an obstacle within the Labyrinth. The killer on the Amaterasu Express, an unnamed hitman who killed and replaced the Master Detective Zilch Alexander, is the first killer that Yuma must identify with the Mystery Labyrinth and the first culprit whose soul is reaped by Shinigami.
  • Kingdom Hearts:
    • Clayton is the first Disney villain you fight, and the first enemy who isn't just Made of Evil or a vicious animal (Sabor). In a game where the villains include gods and evil sorcerers, he's just a stuck-up guy with a gun who needs a Heartless ally to put up a good fight.
    • Shan Yu in Kingdom Hearts II is very likely to be the first Disney villain you fight. Although being a skilled and powerful swordsman puts him slightly above Clayton's level, he still ranks the lowest in comparison to the more supernatural Disney/original villains you fight in the other worlds.
    • For the series as a whole, Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness, the final boss of the first game. Following games gave more focus on the villainous group Organization XIII, and through Arc Welding gave way to Master Xehanort, with Ansem merely serving as the Enemy Within for Riku. However, as of 3D Ansem is back as one of Xehanort's Co-Dragons and just as dangerous as ever.
    • Hades serves as this in Kingdom Hearts III. While you never fight him in this game, he is behind the main conflict of the tutorial chapter, releasing the Titans to attack Olympus and capture the gods.
  • Deltarune: The King of Spades is the Final Boss of Chapter 1 and the Disc-One Final Boss of the whole game. After that, he gets locked in a hamster cage and you can visit him in your Dark World.
  • Dragon Age: Origins: Two of the origins have the player character face off with a Starter Villain. In the Dwarf Commoner origin, the character will have to take down the crime boss Beraht. In the City Elf origin, the PC will come up against Bann Vaughan in a "right of the lord" scenario. In an aversion, the latter may survive the story if the hero takes his bribe.
  • Super Mario Bros.:
  • Most Fire Emblem games tend to have one, usually of the General class and also tends to be a Disc-One Final Boss or a Climax Boss as well. They may or may not be affiliated with one of the main antagonists, but they will typically be the most visible threat during the early game chapters, up to the point where you fight them.
    • Lundgren from Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, Lyn's great uncle, is probably one of the best examples. His plot to take over Caelin has nothing to do with the overarching Black Fang plotline, but he's the final boss of Lyn's Story, the first ten chapters of the game, and a dangerous villain and schemer in his own right.
    • Fire Emblem: Awakening has Gangrel, king of Plegia, and the main antagonist for the first act of the game. Seeking revenge against Ylisse for the war the previous Exalt waged against him, he stirs up trouble, and eventually declares war.
    • Fire Emblem Gaiden has Desaix, the general who usurped the throne of Zofia. He's the final enemy faced in Alm's first chapter, and is faced again in Alm's part of Chapter 3.
    • Fire Emblem: Three Houses has Kostas, a bandit leader who attacks the three house leaders in the prologue, resulting in Byleth coming to teach at the monastery. He's also the boss of the second chapter, which is the first real battle.
    • Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, a spinoff of Three Houses, places Kostas as the first boss again, but each of the story routes has its own separate starter villain that you fight after Chapter 2:
      • Scarlet Blaze (Adrestian Empire) has Duke Aegir and Lord Arundel, two of the greedy nobles who plotted to steal power from the previous emperor in a coup, prompting Edelgard to lead a surprise attack on the Imperial palace to wrest it from their control. Both villains stick around for a long time to plot in the background and resurface as bosses in Part II, with Lord Arundel/Thales being one of the route's Final Bosses.
      • Azure Gleam (Holy Kingdom of Faerghus) has Rufus and Cornelia, who stage an uprising in Fhirdiad to steal the throne from Dimitri. Rufus is executed for treason at the end of the chapter, but Cornelia continues to sow unrest throughout Part I until she is killed in Chapter 8.
      • Golden Wildfire (Leicester Alliance) has Shahid, a prince of Almyra who leads a massive invasion against Fódlan with the intent to conquer it. He tries this a second time at the end of Part I, ultimately forcing his brother Claude's hand in a fight to the death.
    • Fire Emblem Engage has a trio of Elusian generals (Abyme, Rodine, and Nelucce) who kickstart the plot by attacking Lythos and Firene in search of their Emblem Rings in the name of King Hyacinth.
    • The most blatant example of this trope for the franchise, however, is actually the type of plot-irrelevant ugly, evil bandit boss who leads a group of bandits to ravage villages because that's what evil bandits do. They're usually the first boss faced by the players and they also serve as a tutorial for the Weapon Triangle system: They wield axes since Lords usually wield swords and swords beat axes, thus encouraging the player to use the Lord character to finish them off. This type of villain has been there since the first game in form of the bandit boss Gazzak, who spawns successors taking similar roles in subsequent games.
  • The Beast in Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, who is your main antagonist for eight of the first ten missions (that is, roughly a third of the game) before succumbing to The Virus secretly planted in him by Caulder, the game's actual Big Bad.
    • Olaf in the first game that was released outside of Japan also counts, being the main threat of the tutorial missions and the first few missions of the story.
    • Flak in Black Hole Rising counts as one too, being the primary enemy of the tutorial missions and a couple of later missions in the story.
  • This is actually pretty commonplace in a couple Tales Series games; but it's most prevalent with Barbos in Tales of Vesperia, and Cedric/Celdic in Tales of Graces.
    • Botta, The Dragon of the Renegades, is the first major villain of Tales of Symphonia, attacking Colette right before she begins the trial to become The Chosen One. He's fought in direct combat a while later, and continues on being a minor villain for most of the game.
  • The Al-Samaad group in Alpha Protocol. Almost exclusively found in the first area, they're mostly poorly trained and equipped.
  • Spider-Man (PS4) has The Kingpin. By the time the game starts, Spidey and Wilson Fisk have been bitter enemies for years, and the game's opening sequence revolves around the final brawl between the two before Fisk is finally put in irons. The game also focuses upon the power vacuum for crime left by Fisk's arrest.
  • Marvel's Spider-Man 2 has Flint Marko, AKA: Sandman, who goes on a rampage during the game's opening moments. After he is subdued and imprisoned, however, it comes to light that his rampage was the result of his time being a captive of the Hunters, led by Kraven, who arrive in Manhattan not long after in search of new game to hunt.
  • Phantasy Star IV has Zio, the leader of a dark cult who serves Dark Force and, early in the game, kills Chaz's mentor, Alys.
  • Zeke Sanders and his anti-augmentation terrorist group, Purity First, in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Being ordinary, untrained street thugs with crappy weapons in a game where you end up mostly fighting transhuman spec-ops PMCs does that to you.
  • The Kuraselache (Shark) Leader in E.V.O.: Search for Eden. One or two major plot points haven't been introduced yet and he's the only boss in Era 1. You can run into sharks that are exactly the same as he is in Era 5. As a Degraded Boss, he's pretty easy.
  • Vlad Glebov in Grand Theft Auto IV talks a big talk and Roman is scared of him and his Albanian thugs, making it look like Roman's debt to Vlad will play a major part in the game (or at least the Broker/Dukes chapter) but it takes very little time for him to push Niko's buttons too much and get his brains blown out. Killing him and getting made to work for Mikhail Faustin is what REALLY sets the plot in motion, as it lets Dimitri find Niko for Ray Bulgarin.
  • Fallout:
    • Fallout: Garl, the leader of the Khans raider group. His band has kidnapped the daughter of the leader of Shady Sands, the first town the player character encounters after leaving the Vault, bringing him into conflict with a good character almost immediately.
    • Fallout 2 has Metzger, the leader of the slavers in the Den. The first named human antagonist you come across (assuming you're a good character), but clearly small time compared to the families of New Reno, much less the actual main villains of the game.
    • Two candidates in Fallout: New Vegas. The first is Joe Cobb, the leader of a small Powder Ganger raider gang that the Courier can help repel in the very first quest of the very first town. The second is Benny, the man who shot The Courier in the beginning of the game, and is much more prominent. The first act of the game is all about tracking him down, getting revenge, and retrieving your stolen package, a platinum chip, to finish your delivery job. As it quickly turns out, this is when the real game starts.
    • Fallout 4 has Gristle, the leader of the raider gang in Concord who are the object of the game's first quest. He and his gang are quickly killed in a Curb-Stomp Battle by the main character. On a greater scale, there's also Kellogg, the man who killed your spouse and took your son; he lasts the whole first act. Like Benny, tracking him down is the first act of the game. After you deal with him, the Brotherhood of Steel arrive and the game really begins to escalate.
  • Captain Blackstar in the Qwark vid comics in Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal. The only villain in the comics who has nothing to do with Dr. Nefarious. And he's still The Unfought!
  • Banthus is the first major antagonist in Elsword. He's not a one-level wonder boss and his theft of the El Shard actually kicks the whole plot into motion. The heroes encounter him three times before he's finally dispatched and other, more dangerous recurring villains take his place.
  • Breath of Fire:
    • Argus from Breath of Fire II is the first antagonist that attacks Ryu and co. directly in Colossea and his maniac ramblings about offering sacrifices to his God foreshadows the main plot of the game.
    • Balio and Sunder in Breath of Fire III are the first real threat for Ryu and the gang, and do so for a good third of the Childhood Chapter.
    • General Rasso in Breath of Fire IV, though never fought directly, just keeps attacking the party for most of the first half of the game, his actions eventually releasing Ryu's true powers and sending the plot into its main course. For Fou-Lu's side of the history, it'd be Yohm, the only enemy that poses any danger to the weakened dragon god.
  • In Tenchu 2, neighbouring warlord Toda Yoshisaga sets the story into motion with his attempted invasion of Lord Gohda's Realm, but only last 3 chapters before being replaced by his own subordinate.
  • Brady Culture in the first episode of Sam & Max: Freelance Police. He's the antagonist of the first episode, but is almost completely unconnected to the bigger threat of the season.
  • Borderlands typically starts off by having your first notable antagonist being a local bandit boss who's typically a King Mook with a special intro and a pack of goons before you move onto dealing with the corporations or the Vaults.
    • Borderlands has Nine-Toes as the first major bandit that you deal with before you move on to other areas.
    • The sequel has Captain Flynt, a bandit leader stranded in the middle of nowhere as your first obstacle before the plot actually gets started.
    • The Pre-Sequel has Deadlift, a bandit you deal with in order to get to the Hub City.
    • Tales from the Borderlands has Bossanova, a bandit king who serves as the main antagonist of the first episode, before the main plot gets rolling.
    • Borderlands 3 has Mouthpiece, who's a propagandist for the Children of the Vault and the guy you have to kill before you leave Pandora and travel to other planets.
  • Mirmulnir, the very first dragon you kill in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, serves as this for the main storyline of the game.
  • The Sly Cooper series has one in each game. Sir Raleigh in the first game, Dimitri in the second, Don Octavio in the third, and El Jefe in the fourth.
  • In Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the U.S. Marines are tasked with overthrowing revolutionary Qurac dictator Khaled Al-Assad. After the Marines get nuked, Al-Assad is found to be harbored by his Russian backers by the SAS, and dies rather anti-climatically at the hands of the Player Character's commanding officer. The Dragon's cell phone then rings - it's Russian ultranationalist leader Imran Zakhaev.
  • Shin Megami Tensei:
    • Shin Megami Tensei I has Ambassador Thorman and Gotou, the two major figures in the invasion of Japan. Your choice of who to side with marks the first major alignment decision and boss fight(s), and when it's all over, Thorman (actually Thor) nukes Japan.
    • Shin Megami Tensei II has Haneda, the coach of Red Bear, as the initial "villain", for lack of a better word. After Red Bear is killed, actual villains such as Hanada, Basilisk, King Frost, and Betelgeuse come into play, though the first few are small fries. The most notable, however, is the last one, Daleth, who manages to win over most of Millenium and kill the love interest off. It's with his initial defeat that the plot gets serious and, suitably enough, Daleth becomes a joke soon after.
    • Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne has Forneus, who terrorizes the Shinjuku Medical Center after the Conception and refuses to let anyone leave. After his defeat, the Vortex World is explorable.
    • Shin Megami Tensei IV comes close to it with Navarre, who, unlike fellow Luxurors Isabeau and Jonathan, is a bigot who believes Luxurors are superior to Casualries such as Flynn and Walter. He takes the position fully when he attempts to either humiliate or kill Flynn and Walter, only for the incident to break him completely.
    • Digital Devil Saga has Harley, the leader of the Vanguards. Despite being the rival of the protagonists, the Atma powers turn him into practically a scared child terrified of the Embryon, and he is killed in the first dungeon. After his defeat, the main plot is fully revealed.
    • Persona:
      • Persona 4 has Yosuke's Shadow, who serves as a starter boss that helps the player learn about exploiting enemy weaknesses for tactical advantages, as well as revealing that Shadows do not just represent the aspects of one's personality that are repressed, but can become Personas when one accepts them as a part of who they are. There is also Shadow Yukiko, the first kidnapping victim the protagonists can save and the first boss that has a whole themed dungeon to themselves.
      • Persona 5 has the Creepy Gym Coach, Suguru Kamoshida, take on this role. He's the lowest of the low when it comes to someone considering themselves above the law and has a personal connection to the first two friends the protagonist makes, fueling the desire to knock him down a peg. It later turns out that he's the only Palace boss completely unconnected to the overarching plot.
  • Metal Face/Mumkhar serves as this for roughly the first half of Xenoblade Chronicles 1. While he's the responsible for the inciting incident of the game's plot (invading Colony 9 and fatally wounding Fiora), and he works for a greater villain, he really couldn't care less about the ultimate plan. He just wants to kill as much as possible.
    • Moebius D in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 the first Moebius that the heroes go up against, and it's there where they're forced to team up for the first time and become Ouroboros. However, he continues to be a recurrent threat like Metal Face was in the above example, as well as a personal antagonist to Eunie all the way through Chapter 6.
  • In From the Depths, the Deepwater Guard pirates serve as the first enemy faction as you seek vengeance for their betrayal. The DWG are the game's weakest faction, using ships made largely of wood with a designed weakness to missiles, and have few top-tier units. Taking on the other factions results in a more difficult experience, such as the Onyx Watch's all-metal hulls.
  • Each season of Batman: The Telltale Series has a villain who plays an important part in the first episode and, even though they are taken out of action afterwards, have an impact on the rest of the season. The first season has Carmine Falcone, a mob boss who has some connection to Bruce Wayne's late father; and the second season has the Riddler, a villain from Gotham's past whose reappearance attracts not only a new group of villains, but the government as well.
  • Fruegel from The Legend of Dragoon is the one responsible for destroying the main protagonist's hometown and capturing his childhood friend, but is largely inconsequential in the grand scheme of the game's plot.
  • Nearsighted Jeego the hitman from Ghost Trick is the primary threat in the first chapter, as it focuses on preventing him from murdering Lynne. He gets killed off near the end of the chapter, immediately after which a different hitman takes his place, once that one is taken care of neither one is mentioned again, Not even in the end credits sequence, which shows every other character!
  • The Turanic Raiders in Homeworld, the first enemies you encounter. They're fairly easy to beat, and Fleet Intelligence even says that their craft are inferior to your own... which is impressive, considering your race has been (re-)introduced to space travel only half a century ago, while the Turanic Raiders have been, presumably, at this for far longer. They're quickly shoved aside before the true threat of the game - the Taiidan Empire (canonically).
    • In Homeworld: Cataclysm, your first enemies are the Taiidan Imperialists, before they get pushed away by a new (or very old) threat - the Beast.
  • The Persian King in God of War: Chains of Olympus. Kratos is sent by the gods to stop the Persian invasion of Attica led by their king, and he is dealt with at the very start of the game. That should have been the end since Kratos' mission was successful, but then the sun goes missing and the god of dreams Morpheus begins dominating the land...
  • William Bishop in Vampyr (2018). Jonathan is under the impression that he is the vampire that turned him and is responsible for all the murders in the Docks, serving as the first vampire boss in the game. Turns out he was neither responsible for transforming Jonathan nor the only vampire around.
  • Mal'Ganis in Warcraft III. He was introduced as the Big Bad of the first campaign and as Arthas' personal nemesis, before the greater conflict of the story would unfold.
    • The nameless Sea Witch (named in WoW as Zar'jira) from the prologue campaign can count too. She was the main villain of the game demo before the game's release but her missions were cut in ROC. The missions are restored in TFT and Reforged
  • Dong Zhuo from the Dynasty Warriors series is frequently one of, if not the first, enemy to be defeated in any game, and his defeat kicks off the conflict of the Three Kingdoms. As later games expand to cover more of the timeline of events, Yellow Turban leader Zhang Jiao becomes the earliest antagonist.
  • Brejik in Knights of the Old Republic. He is the Arc Villain of Taris in the early game, where he captures Bastila and tried to set her up as a prize for the swoop race, making him the main obstacle for the player trying to rescue her in the first part of the game. He is killed off before the player even reaches The Point Of No Return for Taris, and in the grand scheme of things, he was a small fry compared to Darth Malak or even Davik Kang.
  • HK-50 in Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. He is responsible for killing all the miners on Peragus and reprogramming all of the mining droids on the asteroid to turn hostile, and when he is confronted near the end of the level, he reveals his goal to capture the Exile and turn them over to Goto, and is promptly killed by the party. In fact, other models of HK-50 appear later in the game in groups as a Degraded Boss, culminating in T3-M4 defeating three models of the droid by himself.
  • Laambo in The Wonderful 101. Compared to the other GEATHJERK officers, he's not as taken seriously and has more silly moments than them. On the other hand, a later flashback reveals that he was responsible for mortally wounding Will Wedgewood's father before being taken out by the previous Wonder-Red, leading the former to become the next Wonder-Red. Fittingly, in this flashback, he is more of a challenge since you are limited to one Unite-Morph.
  • Freedom Force has the Soviet spy Sukhov as the first major villain, before he is transformed into the supervillain Nuclear Winter.
  • The main characters of Desperados III fight against the DeVitt Company, a powerful corrupt railroad Company. Except in the first real mission after the tutorial, during which Cooper has to neutralize a bandit called Big Ann and her gang, who are attacking the train that Cooper is using to go to Flagstone.
  • In Tyranny, the Vendrien Guard are the starter Hero Antagonists to the Villain Protagonist Fatebinder. The Fatebinder needs to clear them out of the Spire or earn their loyalty to prevent the Edict of Execution from killing them and everyone else in the valley they occupy. Once they're dealt with, however, they don't show up much as antagonists, with the armies of whichever Archons the Fatebinder didn't side with (or both armies on certain paths) mostly their place as The Usual Adversaries. For their part, the Vendrien Guard are well aware of how screwed they are, and are fighting in the hopes of inspiring others in the Tiers to rise up.
  • Mad Rat Dead: The Mob Rats serve as the bosses for the first two chapters: First as a Wolfpack Boss fight, and the second as a ghostly Advancing Boss of Doom.
  • Far Cry 5 has three bosses, and either one could technically be considered the starter villain. Jacob requires the least amount of points (10,000, compared to 13,000 for the other two); Faith is technically the first region the player will enter after leaving Dutch's island and so starting on hers is quite simple; and John's region is much more open, plus Mission Control will offer a Player Nudge and suggest the player go after John first.
  • Halo Infinite: Tremonius of the Banished is the first threat the Master Chief faces, and after defeating him, Escharum tells him to not let it go to his head as he considers him unremarkable in every way.
  • Mr. Big serves this role for the entire SNK mythos - despite being a rather formidable SNK Boss in his own right, it's quickly established that he's just a mere underling of South Town's kingpin of crime, Geese Howard. And when you factor in other major villains (Rugal Bernstein, Orochi, Igniz, Saiki, etc.), it becomes clear just how insignificant Mr. Big is in the grand scheme of things.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge has Bebop and Rocksteady. In gameplay terms, Bebop is the first boss encountered since he takes over the Channel 6 building, but Rocksteady sets the game's main plot of chasing down Krang's robot parts in motion afterwards. Furthermore, the duo appears continually (in boss fights or otherwise) until their final defeat in Episode 7.
  • Dark Forces Saga:
    • General Rom Mohc, the Big Bad of Dark Forces (and its Final Boss), is retroactively this to the whole series. He's tougher than he looks thanks to his Dark Trooper Phase III armor, but compared to the many Dark Side Force users to follow he's nothing special.
    • 8t88 in Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II. He's the main villain that Kyle pursues for the first part of the game, but he's simply a hired information broker with no personal combat abilities (relying on random thugs to do his dirty work) and thus presents far less of a threat than the real villains, the Dark Jedi, who simply dispose of him after he gives them the map to the Valley of the Jedi.
  • Wild ARMs:
    • Berserk from Wild ARMs is the first demon your party faces. Unlike most Starter Villains, he's actually one of the strongest, and only ends the first couple of battles because he got bored and had completed the mission anyway. He's defeated before the halfway point via a plan to amplify his power backfiring and draining him instead, allowing your party to claim victory. He's killed by Boomerang shortly afterwards.
    • Odessa from Wild ARMs 2 are a team of Starter Villains, attempting to conquer Filgaia through various forms of terrorism. They are defeated at the end of Disk One, after which the true threat to the planet becomes clear... an evil parallel universe that's trying to eat it.
    • Janus Cascade from Wild ARMs 3 is a bounty hunter who's working for the Prophets and helps with their plans to revive a demon to terraform Filgaia. He spends a fair amount of time antagonizing your party being a colossal backstabber. He meets his end due to bad timing as he walked in to gloat to the Prophets right as Siegfried is being revived.
  • Fate/Grand Order:
    • Jeanne Alter is the first major villain encountered (compared to Altria Alter, who was more of an obstacle for the heroes to overcome in the prologue). She at first is played up as a major threat due to using a Holy Grail to summon a small army of Servants, all with Mad Enhancement as well so that they'd be stronger as well as follow her orders to destroy France. However, not only is Jeanne Alter awful at commanding, and not only does the Mad Enhancement end up weakening her Servants in the long run, but it's established in this Singularity that using the Grail to summon Servants causes a Chain Summon reaction which summons more Servants, who end up joining the heroes and evening the odds. This results in the heroes gradually building up their forces while Jeanne Alter's forces fall one by one, and her attempts to mend the situation by summoning more Servants only makes things even worse for her. Most villains after her are not only alot more competent, but also much more selective about who they summon, focusing more and quality over quantity and minimizing the Chain Summons, and stray Servants end up being a mixed bag on whether they end up being allies or antagonists.
    • Lev Lainur Flauros is a more personal antagonist, being responsible for the bombing of Chaldea in the prologue, as well as subjecting Olga Marie to a Fate Worse than Death, and acts as the Arc Villain for the second singularity. However, despite having a trump card in the form of his true form as the Demon Pillar Flauros, he makes alot of the same mistakes as Jeanne Alter: summoning too many Servants (which causes Chain Summons in response) and misusing the Servants that he does have (at one point Caesar, one of Lev's Servants, complains about being sent to the frontline despite a general more suited for commanding from the rear). In the end, he's not offed by the heroes, but instead because when cornered, he ended up summoning a Servant he couldn't properly control.

    Visual Novels 
  • Most of the time in Ace Attorney, the games will outright show the player who the first killer is as a way of easing into the mechanics of the game, while making their contradictions easy to spot.
    • The first game's first culprit, Frank Sahwit, is more than happy to talk about things he should not know if he wasn't the killer, as well as blatantly obvious contradictions. To hammer this home, pressing someone in court is not an option that is suggested until the second case. Even the other first case villains aren't as obvious as this guy is. In addition, he turns out to be a mere burglar who killed the victim to hide his tracks, as opposed to the more personal and/or grandiose motivations of the later culprits.
    • Richard Wellington from Justice for All is just as bad. Just to make sure you really want to take him down, he's also dismissively insulting and an Upper-Class Twit.
    • Both times in the main series that the first killer isn't shown - Dahlia Hawthorne in the third game, Kristoph Gavin in the fourth - they turn out to be the game's Big Bad.
    • The prosecutor Winston Payne, and later his brother Gaspen, also fulfill this role as Smug Snakes who serve as the prosecutor of each game’s first case.
    • The trope is played with and subverted with a few later games in the series; even though it's minor, a few of the starter villains have a hand in the game's central conflict.
      • Jacques Portsman's true motives aren't revealed until the end of the first Investigations game, where it's revealed he's part of The Syndicate.
      • Horace Knightley/Mannosuke Naito in Investigations 2 is the first case's killer, one of the few who isn’t known immediately, and the second case's Asshole Victim. The game's Big Bad turn out to be his friend, who orchestrated Knightley's death because he believed Knightley betrayed him.
      • In Dual Destinies, Ted Tonate killed Candice Arme but was not the one who blew up the courtroom - the Big Bad did that.
      • In Spirit of Justice, Pees'lubn Andistan'dhin is not only Pat Rohl's real murderer, as well as the one who serves to show just how messed up the Khura'inese legal system is, but also the one that actually got the Founder's Orb to the government, a plot point that becomes important in the final case.
      • In The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures, Jezaille Brett is found to be the first's case killer, but her motives were unknown. Then in the following game, it is revealed that she is an assassin working for the duology's Big Bad. Her regular duty was to kill criminals that escaped a guilty verdict to give Barok van Zieks, the prosecutor who went after said criminals, his "Reaper" reputation. Then she was sent to Japan to kill Dr. Wilson, as he had knowledge that the Big Bad wanted erased.
      • In The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve, the real killer, Raiten Memimemo, murdered Brett because she was going to be tried in a British consular court, where she would be exonerated. As a journalist, Raiten was upset with the apparent crooked dealings between Japan and the British Empire that allowed Brett to walk free.
  • Danganronpa tends to play with this.
    • In Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, the first killer of the franchise is Leon Kuwata. While it's debatable to what extent the Blackened count as villains, since they're all terrified kids manipulated by Monokuma, this person is the first obstacle Makoto faces, and their case has some fairly obvious weak points, as the crime wasn't premeditated; Leon only tried to kill Sayaka after she attacked him first (though not in self-defense, as he'd already broken Sayaka's wrist and caused her to flee into the shower room). Sayaka even wrote Leon's name on the wall in her own blood; he's the only culprit to be so blatantly connected to the crime scene (though to be fair to the cast for not initially noticing the clue, it's upside-down, mirrored, and in English, making it a lot less obvious to people who aren't native English speakers).
    • The first killer of Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair is Ultimate Cook Teruteru Hanamura, who is also a member of the Ultimate Despair, but he doesn’t remember this and it was Nagito Komaeda who manipulated him into killing the Ultimate Imposter.
    • In Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls, the supposed leader of the Warriors of Hope, Masaru Daimon, is the Warmup Boss of Chapter 1.
    • Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony plays with this more than any other installment - the first killer is not Kaede Akamatsu, the one who got executed - Rantaro’s real killer was the Big Bad Ultimate Cosplayer Tsumugi Shirogane, who isn’t exposed until the last chapter. The closest thing to an actual Starter Villain is the second murderer (who kills Ryoma), Ultimate Maid Kirumi Tojo.
  • Tsukihime:
    • Nrvnqsr Chaos in the Near Side routes. Once he is dispatched, Arcueid can concentrate on her main task of finding and defeating Roa.
    • Similarly, Yumizuka Satsuki in the Far Side routes, though an unusual example, since most of the plot is Psychological Horror - Sacchin is mainly there to ensure that we don't forget the series is Urban Fantasy, and aren't offended when the plot ends with stabbing.
    • In -A piece of blue glass moon- (a remake of the Near Side routes), Nrvnqsr is replaced by Vlov Arkhangel, who serves a similar role as an antagonistic threat the heroes face before dealing with Roa.

    Web Animation 
  • RWBY: First appearing in the Yellow Trailer recruiting men in the background, Roman Torchwick leads the robbery of a Dust shop The Heroine is at in the pilot episode; her fight with him introduces her, the show, and several characters, while setting up the future role of his boss, who is The Heavy. Fan popularity and voice-actor skill resulted in his role being extended beyond its original intention, making him the means by which the main characters are introduced to the Myth Arc. Once the Big Bad's plan kicks into high gear, Roman is killed off, although his sidekick, Neopolitan, returns to the show later on as part of the main villain cast.
  • The first real villain in Red vs. Blue is O'Malley the Card-Carrying Villain AI. He's Laughably Evil to a greater extent than most other villains, and his lack of resources mean that the Blood Gulch Crew can defeat him even before their collective level-ups in badass. Later seasons paint him as capable of posing a far greater threat than he did in Blood Gulch (possessing Caboose and Doc must have done a number on his mental faculties), but he never gets to show it outside of flashbacks as he's quickly collected by the Meta and subsequently killed off.

    Webcomics 
  • The cats of Scurry are the first major threat the mice face, particularly Wix and Pict. After the first three chapters, the main threat comes from Erebus and his wolf pack.
  • Invoked in Super Stupor, when Lady Diamondback tells Snowy Owl that she's not ready to face off against her and should go after lower-level criminals like drug dealers and crooked cops.
  • In Weak Hero, Jimmy Bae is the first antagonist to pose a serious threat to the heroes after the schoolyard bullies they'd been dealing with up until that point. He's also the first to have a personal connection to them, having faced off against two of them in the past. Despite that, he's only the lowest-ranking head of the Yeongdeungpo Union.
  • Girl Genius: While Agatha doesn't even start to accept that Dr. Beetle was a villain until after his death and he is killed before he can enact his plan involving her, his title as the "Tyrant of Beetleburg" gives some things away, and his attempt to kill her and subsequent death sets the entire plot in motion.
  • The Lysinda Vampires of Sluggy Freelance are the first major threat the gang faces, and kickstart the comic's slow slide into Cerebus Syndrome. While vampires do pop up now and again to menace the heroes, they're generally considered second-string villains compared to the likes of later threats like K'Z'K or Hereti Corp.

    Web Original 
  • The Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids:
    • Within the series, Lord Thymon was the first foe taken on, on-screen, by the Department of Problem-Solving, in the appropriately-titled Lord Thymon and the Department of Problem-Solving. In his subsequent appearances, Thymon had become a good guy, so this was his one and only outing as an antagonist. Despite being a relatively low-risk mission within the story, it also had profound unforeseen consequences in future stories.
    • In-universe, the Gang of the Green Gorillas were stated to be among the first enemies the Crew as a whole had to face, back in the 1970s. Back in the present day, the Crew pretty firmly outclass the Gorillas who are more of a background comic relief than a threat. (Their bionically-augmented descendants the Detraxxi are perhaps another matter.)
  • How to Hero has an entry on this phenomenon titled "Starter Villains", direclty referencing the trope name.
  • Tails of the Space Gladiators has Dumoscos, a Smug Snake who manages to take out most of the "New Meat" gladiators and is the first gladiator the protagonists must face. Despite appearing as a huge threat, he's killed by David, Reeve, and Ralousha in their first fight, solely to establish that Anyone Can Die regardless of how intimidating they appear and that overconfidence can get even seasoned fighters killed.

    Western Animation  
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender:
    • Avatar: The Last Airbender:
      • Admiral Zhao. While Zuko showed up first, he is initially ineffective against the Gaang, while Zhao is a consistent threat to both the Gaang and Zuko for the entire first season. He's still too confident in his abilities, and is ultimately replaced by the far worse Princess Azula.
      • Prince Zuko is an example by himself. He was the first villain in the series and was often a threat in early Book One episodes; however, he only met the Gaang a few times by the end of the season and acted as more of a mini-boss during the finale. After that he has his own problems to worry about.
    • The Legend of Korra: Amon and the Equalists are the first threats Korra faces in her journey as the new Avatar. While a legitimately dangerous bloodbender with the power to remove one's bending, the stakes are far less compared to future adversaries Korra eventually faces in later seasons: UnaVaatu, Zaheer, and Kuvira.
  • Ben 10: Doctor Animo was the first proper villain Ben took on. He doesn't die, but in subsequent appearances, it's pretty clear that he's nowhere near as dangerous as other threats Ben has faced.
  • DC Animated Universe:
    • Batman: The Animated Series: The main villain of the two-part premiere episode was Canon Foreigner Red Claw, a terrorist leader. The villain of the pilot "On Leather Wings" was Man-Bat, a lesser member of the Rogues Gallery.
    • Superman: The Animated Series: The first threat Superman takes on is a group of terrorists hired by Lex Luthor to stage the theft of his latest invention, a robotic battle suit. What's especially noteworthy is that one of the terrorists, James Corben, would go on to become the supervillain Metallo.
    • Batman Beyond: Derek Powers, the Corrupt Corporate Executive, and his right-hand man Mr. Fixx, who kills Terry's father and prompts Terry to steal the Batsuit to get revenge. Powers lasts past his debut and is the Arc Villain of season 1, but never appears afterward.
    • Static Shock: Not only was Hotstreak the first Bang Baby Static had to face in the series, but was also Static's bully prior to the Big Bang. The main issue Static had when fighting in the first episode wasn't dealing with Hotstreak's Playing with Fire powers, but struggling to get over fealing powerless against his bully. Hotstreak does become a reoccuring villain, but is never as much of an overarcing threat compared to future villains, such as Ebon.
    • Justice League: The Imperium, shapeshifting alien invaders and White Martian expies who drew the attention of the Justice League's founders and prompted them to team up.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003): Baxter Stockman and his Mouser robots. This has the effect of immediately setting the tone of the series, as in the original cartoon Baxter was a goofier Mad Scientist best known for being mutated into a fly, whereas now he's a legitimate threat even at the bottom of the villain hierarchy.
    • In the 2012 adaptation of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Kraang actually serve as this for the turtles being a reoccurring threat throughout the series (at least until they are taken down for good in Season 3) and are even directly responsible for the turtles and Splinter being mutated in the first place.
  • Exo Squad: The Pirate Clans in the Five-Episode Pilot, before the Neosapien wars break out. They eventually become the reluctant allies of the fleet.
  • Codename: Kids Next Door:
    • Mr. Wink and Mr. Fibb are the first villains Sector V ever faced, all the way back in the show's pilot. After their first appearance, they mostly worked under Mr. Boss.
    • In the series proper, Laura Limpin (and her alter-ego The Big Badolescent) is the first villain the Kids Next Door face. She's a little girl who is capable of Hulking Out, and she's right under the thumb of the Delightful Children from Down the Lane, the show's major recurring antagonists.
  • G.I. Joe: Renegades starts with the Joes tangling against Dr. Mindbender, a COBRA mad scientist with crazed mutants at his beck and call, but little in the way of power in the actual organization.
  • In the first episode of The Spectacular Spider-Man, Spidey takes on The Vulture and the Enforcers who, while upgraded from their original comic gimmick of lasso-wielding guy (Montana), short martial artist (Fancy Dan), and strong guy (Ox), weren't exactly going to make it into the Sinister Six as was.
    • Furthermore, the show was made up of a series of short (3-4 episode) arcs which each had their own plot and villain, while also advancing ongoing storylines. The Big Bad of the first mini-arc was the Lizard (who as noted under comics often gets this treatment).
  • Spider-Man: The Animated Series: While Dr. Connors wasn’t really a villain per say, under his persona, the Lizard, he becomes the first of Spider-Man’s Rogues Gallery he faced in the series.
  • Both X-Men: The Animated Series and Wolverine and the X-Men start with the team infiltrating a Mutant Response Division base, as a prelude to taking on the Sentinels. X-Men: Evolution starts with Toad infiltrating the Xavier Academy.
  • The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes depicts the team coming together to face the decidedly C-List Graviton, a departure from both the comics and movie version, where they start with a battle against Loki. Graviton is an Adaptational Badass who proves to be an immense threat in the first episode... but definitely never again, as the Avengers go on to face multiple bad Asgardians, cosmic level threats, and coalitions of A-list villains.
  • Nightmare Moon from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, although (supposedly) powerful, really only tries to mess with the ponies and slow them down rather than directly attack them. She basically exists as a training wheel villain for the Mane Six to forge a friendship over while fighting her. The episode ends with her cured and turned back into Princess Luna.
    • King Sombra is this in season nine, since he was the only villain Grogar (actually Discord in disguise) brought back who had all the power and ego from before (since the other villains suffered Villain Decay prior to that point). He is defeated without too much trouble and sets the stage for the Legion of Doom to attack later in the season. After some scheming and planning, the trio of Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow, after betraying Grogar/Discord, attack the ponies and lay waste over Equestria in the penultimate story and final two-parter of the show with a very cunning plan that almost works. The heroes needed the biggest ensemble of supporting, minor and background characters to assist them in winning what Twilight herself claimed was the last battle ever.
  • SheZow has the Pushy Pirate Posse, the first threat Guy Hamdon had to contend with as SheZow.
  • The Lunch Lady in Danny Phantom. She is Danny's first major opponent, forcing him to reach the limits of his powers (which he still had barely any control over), and is the first to be sucked into the Fenton Thermos.
  • Kremenski in Archer was a mole for the KGB who was lethally shot by Archer at the end of the first episode before Nikolai Jakov, the show's first true Big Bad, even appeared.
  • Steven Universe: The first half of season one is spent fighting standard Monster of the Week fare, with the premiere episode having the team face-off against a giant centipede-like creature. The episode is the first time Steven got involved with Gem activity, though it was another few episodes before he was actually taken on missions alongside them. As the show goes on, these monsters take a backseat to character drama, intergalactic threats, and the overall Myth Arc to the point where over thirty episodes can go by without a plot involving them to any degree.
    • The first actual villainous Gem (the Gem Monsters are essentially animals and Lapis Lazuli is an Anti-Villain) is Peridot, built up as a nearly robotic cold-hearted scientist who heralds Homeworld's potential return to Earth. And then she appears in the same episode as Jasper, and suddenly she's an overworked minion whose biggest talent is getting out of dodge when things go pear-shaped. She notably avoids the normal fate of starter villains by having a Heel–Face Turn and gaining a Redemption Promotion.
  • Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: The Black Knight, seemingly a suit of Animated Armor who kidnapped a historian, but in actuality, museum curator Mr. Rickles seeking to cover up his forgery scheme.
  • In DuckTales (2017), the first actual antagonist in the pilot episode is a Ghost Pirate named Captain Peghook that the triplets accidentally release, who seeks Scrooge McDuck's head. Scrooge defeats the ghost within minutes by giving him the head of a statue of him.
  • Gravity Falls: In the premiere episode "Tourist Trapped", the first creatures Dipper and Mabel face off against are a group of gnomes looking for a queen.
  • Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts: Mod Frog Jamack is the main antagonist for the first part of season 1.
  • The Owl House: The pilot episode introduces Warden Wrath, the fearsome keeper of the Conformatorium who tries to go out with Eda.
  • Depending on where it started, The Powerpuff Girls has at least three starter villains: the Amoeba Boys in Craig McCracken's student film with the Whoopass Girls, Fuzzy Lumpkins in the first What A Cartoon pilot, and Mojo Jojo in the series.
  • Tangled: The Series: Lady Caine and her army were the first group of baddies whom Rapunzel and Eugene had to take down.
  • The Legend of Vox Machina started off with two episodes pitting the group against the dragon Brimscythe, who, while a credible threat, was taken out fairly fast in order to establish the characters and setting before introducing the main season antagonists, the much more threatening Briarwoods.
  • Teen Titans (2003): Chronologically wise before the Titans became a team in the Origins Episode "Go", the first enemies they faced were the Gordanians led by Trogaar, who trying to deliver Starfire to were she could live out the rest of her days as a slave.
  • Total Drama: Heather is the shows very first Big Bad who constantly proves herself to be A Lighter Shade of Black to all the later villain's.

 
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Moebius D

The very first of the Moebius the party encounters, Moebius D's first actions on screen are him mortally wounding Vandham (later killing him) and killing Mwamba, Hackt and one of Eunie's past selves, showing how vile the Consuls/Moebius can be.

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