Basic Trope: The Big Bad is killed before his Dragon.
- Straight:
- Emperor Evulz is the main threat of the story, with General Drake as his chief enforcer. Evulz is killed by Dirk and company during the climax, but Drake is mysteriously absent. He returns for a Post-Climax Confrontation to try and avenge Evulz.
- Dirk kills Evulz two thirds through the movie. He spends the remainder hunting down Drake, the only high-ranking member of Evulz's army left.
- Exaggerated:
- Evulz dies during The Centerpiece Spectacular halfway through the movie. Drake becomes a Dragon Ascendant and spends the back half trying to pick up where Evulz left off.
- Evulz dies in the first act. The rest of the movie is spent hunting down the rest; Drake, Faye, Dr. Crazystein, and finally Tiberius.
- Downplayed:
- Evulz dies after Drake is taken down. He's just fought and crippled first.
- Evulz and Drake are fought at the same time. Evulz just happened to die first.
- Evulz has been captured or killed, but his true defeat comes from Dirk stopping Drake from completing his Evil Plan.
- Justified:
- Drake is a Dirty Coward who didn't care about the well-being of his master. He only fought Dirk in the end because he had nowhere to go.
- Dirk and friends know that it would be smarter to kill Evulz and stop his plan first, then mop up his enforcers later (this is the basis for the 2nd exaggeration).
- When Dirk and company defeated Drake in combat, they neglected to actually kill him, only throwing him into one of Evulz's dungeons. After the climax, he escapes and attempts to exact revenge.
- Drake is The Starscream, and made sure to be just slightly too late to save Evulz, but plans to be just in time to "avenge" his former master by killing Dirk.
- Inverted:
- Dirk is Number Two in an organization intending to cleanse the land of evil. Evulz attacks his headquarters and kills Bob, the Big Good. Dirk goes into hiding, and Evulz spends the movie hunting him.
- (Of exaggeration 2) Bob dies first. Evulz and his army moves in to hunt down the rest: Dirk, Lance, Arro, Dagger, and finally Axel.
- Subverted:
- The trope appears to be played straight... But after Drake is killed, it's revealed that Evulz was Only Mostly Dead.
- Drake doesn't actually work for Evulz, but his is the final confrontation after Evulz is killed.
- Double Subverted: It happens for real in the sequel.
- Parodied: Evulz is killed around 5 minutes into the 3-hour movie. Until the very end, there's No Antagonist.
- Zig Zagged: Evulz and Drake are seemingly killed multiple times in quick succession. They turn out to be Only Mostly Dead. Every time.
- Averted: Drake and Evulz die in the usual sequence.
- Enforced:
- It's Personal with the Dragon, and the writers decided that having the final battle be against Drake would make things feel more climactic.
- Drake's character was shoehorned in at the last minute. Because the studio didn't want to rewrite the climax completely, they decided to add Drake's own scene afterwards.
- Lampshaded: "Oh, crap. There's a lot of these little bastards and I'm no good at combat. Where the hell is Drake when I need him?"
- Invoked:
- Drake admits to being a coward and leaves the scene when Dirk confronts Evulz.
- Drake gets his ass handed to him and absolutely knocked out, but doesn't actually die, allowing him to come back at any time.
- Exploited: Drake works for several villains over the series while fighting against Dirk. He uses the knowledge that Dirk will go for the Big Bad first to avoid death every time.
- Defied: Evulz is fought for a while while Drake is absent. When he is about to die, Drake jumps in and takes mortal blow, thus killing him seconds later, and allowing Evulz to either absorb and take in Drake's energy or possibly recover and get back into the fight.
- Discussed: "They always waste time fighting the right-hand man. In reality, it would be a better idea to cut the head off the snake first."
- Conversed: "He went for Evulz first! Now that is what I call smart!"
- Implied: Though Dirk informs the usually Benevolent Boss Emperor Evulz that he already killed Drake, Evulz can only muster up an apathetic "Really?" as if he doubts Dirk's claim. Still, since Dirk never revisits Drake's supposed death site and Evulz remaining dismissive even upon dying, it is left uncertain.
- Deconstructed:
- With his emperor already dead, Drake has no reason to believe he'll win over Dirk. Thus Drake becomes doubtful of his skill, causing him to forsake his former career as completely unviable.
- The fact Drake alone survived makes him untrustworthy to any potential new lords. Given the fact he ultimately isn't the kind of planner like Emperor Evulz, means Drake is completely unqualified to continue as a lone villain.
- Reconstructed:
- Though Drake survived against Dirk unlike his master, that also means he has time to prepare for fighting Dirk. Combined with the fact Dirk doesn't know where he is, gives Drake all the time he needs to launch a surprise attack.
- The fact Drake actually survived Dirk's heroic rampage makes him a valuable asset for any evil overlords next on Dirk's list. Thus not only is he provided multiple options to choose, whoever he chooses will do whatever they can to maximize the odds of him defeating Dirk.
- Played For Laughs:
- Emperor Evulz, being an impatient individual, loudly curses out the absent Drake the moment Dirk shows up to fight.
- Drake is an invincible
God-Mode Villain Sue who wins big in the Superpower Lottery. Evulz himself, on the other hand, is a blind idiot in a wheelchair who has cancer. Without Drake to serve as a bodyguard (and a de facto nanny), Evulz lasts less than a second in battle.
- Played For Drama:
- Fully aware Dirk will go after Emperor Evulz next, Drake hurries to warn his master and provide him the weaknesses he discovered in Dirk. Yet by the time he's finally arrives, Dirk has already vanquished his boss - Drake's resolve broken that he failed Evulz.
- Drake is injured and incapacitated, but not killed. He couldn't help but watch as Evulz is slaughtered by Dirk. He refuses to accept his failure and flies into Unstoppable Rage, desperately trying to take Dirk down in revenge.
- Played For Horror:
- This scenario has Evulz and his henchmen defeated, and most of the henchmen, save the right-hand man, Drake, have been executed. Drake, after getting wounded enough to yield, is dragged over by both Lance and Axel, making him Forced to Watch as Evulz gets brutally executed through a Death of a Thousand Cuts, before getting stabbed in the back for his troubles, and dumped somewhere to die (he does survive and the story is in his perspective now). What The Hell Heroes.
The Big Bad's dead. His right-hand man should be over at Dragon Their Feet.
