History BigBadWannabe / FanWorks

* ''Fanfic/AStarstruckPhantasmicRomance'', Chapter 29. The chapter in question is called Control Freak...and it is mostly Danny just mocking Control Freak. When Danny becomes a Teen Titan, his first job is to stop a disturbance caused by Control Freak. Meeting him, Danny is less than impressed at him due to Control Freak not only looking utterly pathetic and proving hilariously ineffective at even putting up a proper fight, but also having pathetically low ambition goals in his life and desires to defeat the Titans.

** [[spoiler:Beleth, the progenitor of evil Geass. The Epilogue of R2 reveals that he planned on hijacking Neo-Ragnarök from Megatron for himself to spread chaos and cruelty across the universe, and that only he would reign supreme. He immediately finds out the hard way, that he was never "the Chaos Bringer" he thought himself to be but nothing more than a pawn in the true Chaos Bringer's game against the Forces of Primus, and is absorbed by Unicron to prepare for his awakening, alongside Megatron and Victor.]]

** Starscream and Schneizel halfway through R2. While Starscream is as much of a joke of a villain as he is in canon, Schneizel is an interesting example where under the right circumstances he could actually be the BigBad of the story. Unlike Starscream, he actually has wits and charisma to bring people around him, and lacks an out of control ego that constantly causes his demise. [[spoiler:Unfortunetaly, for all his genius much, like Starscream, Schneizel still made the mistake of underestimating Megatron, which led to their reign after seemingly defeating being short-lived, resulting in both his and Starscream's gruesome deaths, alongside all the remaining rogue members of the Decepticon faction.]]

* ''Fanfic/Flashpoint2AdventSolaris'' as an adaptation of the ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' storyline while also crossing it all over with the ''WesternAnimation/DCAnimatedMovieUniverse'', inevitably features Dr.Eggman as this due to the fact Mephiles the Dark is the true main antagonist. There's also a one chapter wonder character as well in the form of Elise's aunt, who is practically a wannabe of a wannabe.

** [[WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} Cinder Fall]] is certainly a dangerous antagonist in her own right and is not one to be taken lightly. Under normal circumstances, her plan to destroy Beacon and steal the Fall Maiden's powers -- combined with her cruelty, intelligence, and vast resources -- would be more than enough to qualify her for the status of BigBad. However, she is overshadowed by [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords Darth Nihilus]], whose evil and malevolence far outstrips hers and presents a greater threat to the story overall.

* Percival himself is reduced to this in Prehistoric Earth's subsequent ContinuityReboot ''Fanfic/PrehistoricParkReimagined''. In this story, he is firmly established as one of the least pleasant members of the Novum executive board and to have ideas for the park that his boss (and uncle) Theodore, the majority of the other board members, and everyone at the park are all too swift to reject, with the implication being that he plans to commodify the de-extinct wildlife on display at the titular zoo so as to make them into a means of earning Novum even more money. But while his Prehistoric Earth self was able to easily run rings around the good guys without them even being fully aware of anything untoward going on, everyone who knows him personally in this continuity are well aware of what he wants and are swift to shoot his ideas down in flames. And while he is swift to make a serious effort at getting them to 'change their minds' by hiring a group of lazy temporary workmen to make life difficult for the park and serve as his spies, said serious effort blows up in his face when the workmen end up convinced to change allegiance as a result of him [[BadBoss giving them insultingly low wages due to largely viewing them as a means to an end]].

* Lestat in ''[[http://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-28404-1/DianeCastle+Xendra.htm Xendra]]'' thinks he's a highly dangerous vampire, partially because having his still human friends as underlings make other vampires think [[MistakenForBadass that he's a master vampire so old he can hold multiple humans in his thrall]]. In reality, he's an extremely out of shape fledgling who's only a few months old. The only real reason he's a threat is that Buffy is out of town so the other Scoobies have to deal with it.
** After being turned, Snyder ''tries'' to prey upon the Scoobies and their families but fails miserably. Not only is he rather weak for a vampire (due to both being an out of shape middle-aged man and being a newborn vampire), but after his first attack, everyone was onto him. Xander and Willow's family nearly kill him while Joyce stands just on the other side of the doorway and threatens him for several minutes as she waits for one of the Slayers to come by and dust him.

* ''Fanfic/ThePowerOfSeven'' starts by taking Draco Malfoy's canon reluctance to kill Dumbledore to the point that he fails to cast the Killing Curse even when Dumbledore's directly in front of him. On a more personal note for Harry and his 'harem'- Ginny, Hermione, Luna, Demelza Robbins, Susan Bones, Katie Bell and Fleur Delacour- [[spoiler:Pansy Parkinson attempts to infiltrate the group to pass on information to Voldemort, but the harem all know from the start what she's really up to and just FeedTheMole to give her fake information]].

* In ''Fanfic/SavingTheBoy'', the BigBad, OriginalCharacter Misu Teeyer, is ''also'' this. While she's still the biggest direct threat to Peeta during the Games, in the end she's small potatoes compared to Snow and the Capitol and a pawn for them like everyone else. [[spoiler:This becomes all too clear at the end of the story, where it's revealed that Snow rigged the Games to ensure Peeta would win, to the point of deliberately having the mutts that would kill Misu programmed to ignore him. Misu never had a chance at winning, and never even realized it]].

** All for One. Unlike his canon villainous mastermind, this version of the character may have been a great and unstopable force of evil in the past, but by the time the story rolls around, it's clear he is all bark, no bite. First he gets maimed while trying to steal Overhaul's Quirk, [[spoiler:loses said Quirk (alongside 40 others) during the Kamino arc, it's left paraplegic during his rematch against All Might and finally, his last great scheme to steal his apprentice's body backfires immensely when Tomura seizes control of his Quirk, destroys his consciousness and explodes his braindead body.]]
** Re-Destro and the Meta Liberation Army are this as well. For all the talk about their grandiosity and how the country would fall with their revolution, they only manage to kill a handful of heroes during the Uprising, before being promptly defeated in less than a day. Re-Destro gets the most humilliating defeat of all. Instead of losing in battle against a retired All Might, he gets curb-stomped, loses all of his teeth and is finished off by [[AlmightyMom Inko Midoriya]], out of all people. And the whole fight got recorded in video, which means his defeat will be forever be remembered in the internet. [[spoiler:Add insult to injure, Re-Destro and his lieutenants survive only long enough for Tomura to steal their Quirks and leave them to die in an explosion during the Tartarus breakout.]]

* ''[[Fanfic/BecauseIKnewYou Multiverse of Madness: Clea Cut]]'' establishes [[spoiler:Maya Hansen as this; not only did her counterpart in the prime Marvel Cinematic Universe die as nothing more than a pawn of another villain, but her Earth-717's self ultimately amounts to nothing. While 717-Maya is able to set things up so that she acquires control of Stark Enterprises after Tony's death and joins the new Avengers as Iron Woman, when she tries to use Clea to take out the other Avengers so that she can become the sole hero for this Earth in the aftermath, she subsequently loses a fight to 616-Spider-Man (even when Peter doesn't have access to Stark technology in his suit any more) and after a final attempt to kill America Chavez, she is held immobile by Strange and Peter long enough for Wanda to crush her in her own armor]].

* [[Fanfic/AStarstruckPhantasmicRomance]], Chapter 29. The chapter in question is called Control Freak...and it is mostly Danny just mocking Control Freak. When Danny becomes a Teen Titan, his first job is to stop a disturbance caused by Control Freak. Meeting him, Danny is less than impressed at him due to Control Freak not only looking utterly pathetic and proving hilariously ineffective at even putting up a proper fight, but also having pathetically low ambition goals in his life and desires to defeat the Titans.

* [[Fanfic/AStarstruckPhantasmicRomance]], Chapter 29. The chapter in question is called Control Freak...and it is mostly Danny just mocking Control Freak. When Danny becomes a Teen Titan, his first job is to stop a disturbance caused by Control Freak. Meeting him, Danny is less than impressed at him. Here are some reasons:
** His overall appearance had Danny believe he's more of some bum living in his mother's basement, with a large potbelly to his greasy hair.
** His main assault was to bring a standee and chocolate bars to life, and Danny wastes no time in just reaching him before threatening him in a low but REALLY flat voice.
** The journey to the police station, both Starfire and Danny don't bother acknowledging Control Freak and even then Danny can't help but mock him, even giving a look of disbelief at the fact that he is a villain
** Danny even remarks that he created a powerful weapon and a remote that can bring things to life...and he decided to become a villain instead of selling it to the government.
** Not even the Teen Titans think he is a threat. They just do it in private
** Finally when Control Freak vows revenge, Danny makes one more remark, mocking him over the fact he needs a shower.
** His whole ambition is wanting to marry Starfire and take over the world. Considering he is nothing but a bum makes Dann

* ''[[Fanfic/AStarstruckPhantasmicRomance]]'', Chapter 29. The chapter in question is called Control Freak...and it is mostly Danny just mocking Control Freak. When Danny becomes a Teen Titan, his first job is to stop a disturbance caused by Control Freak. Meeting him, Danny is less than impressed at him. Here are some reasons:

** ''Webcomic/NaruHinaChronicles'': Several groups of rogue ninjas have claimed to be the Akatsuki in the years since the actual Akatsuki disappeared. In the flashback from Chapter 130, Yuko met one of those groups and called them "Fakesuki" as she sees them as nothing more than two-bit rogues:

* ''Fanfic/{{CRISIS|Thuktun}}'' has [[Literature/{{Animorphs}} Visser Three]]. He clearly thinks of himself as a key member of the LegionOfDoom, but ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} and the others don't take him seriously. [[spoiler: And his confrontation with the Animorphs during the FinalBattle ends up almost comically anticlimactic in nature.]]

** Voss Ratarau. The Romulan warbird he manages to capture and reverse-engineer into a handful of other ships altogether makes him a moderate-sized threat, but as he's going up against the [[TheAlliance Terran Treaty Organization]] and the entire Romulan Empire, he's nowhere near as impressive as he thinks he is [[spoiler: and ends up killed anticlimactically by his own rebelling slaves]].

* Wei and his [[TheDragon Dragon]] Sho, from ''[[Fanfic/TheFallOfTheFireEmpire Legacy of the Fire Empire]]'' hold several children hostage so they can [[spoiler: force Fire Lord Jiazin to step down from her throne]], and bring back the Fire Empire. When Kanoda throws a spear at them, they make the mistake of sending out the soldiers leaving themselves unguarded. Kanoda then acts as a diversion, while [[spoiler:Avatar Aang]] ambushes the soldiers when they come back and promptly knocks out Wei and Sho.

* ''Fanfic/MyFathersSon'': Balon Greyjoy spent several years through the chaos of Rhaegar's Rebellion and the great plague preparing with his brother Euron for a campaign of reaving and conquest on the mainland. Of course, with Rhaegar starting to rebuild trust in the land, and the rise of [[spoiler: dragons]], and especially with Euron having a finer touch, Balon in the end was way out of his depth, with Rhaegar remarking that while [[spoiler: his father Aerys had greatness in him once]], Balon was just a pathetic old man.

* ''Fanfic/ForTheGloryOfIrk'': Xia eventually becomes TheDragon to [[spoiler: the Control Brains]], but is completely oblivious to the true power dynamic between them, being convinced that she's the ultimate authority and smartest person around, with even [[spoiler: the Control Brains]] serving her. And while her position and skills ''do'' make her extremely dangerous, she's ultimately just another UnwittingPawn of TheConspiracy, being utterly in the dark about what's really happening and why.

** [[EvilSorcerer Lung]], Daolon Wong's former [[BastardUnderstudy apprentice]], who views himself as the only one powerful and skilled enough to take Wong's place as the [[TheArchMage Darkest Mage]]. However, his master plan -- to force Jade, and by extension, her Shadowkhan, into his service -- was too simple-minded, and fell apart rather easily. More importantly, the fact that his only response to said plan failing was to not acknowledge that fact and keep bludgeoning ahead, and that his reaction to Jade's minions showing up was to slip into a VillainousBSOD bordering on a full-scale [[VillainousBreakdown breakdown]]... yeah, he's really not in Wong's league. [[spoiler: And then Jade's minions kill him, so he's ''definitely'' never going to make BigBad.]]
** Shortly afterward, Drago arrives from the future in an attempt to [[MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight change the timeline to his desire]]. However, while he has the strength to back up his plans, said plans are constantly derailed by every other faction he comes up against kicking his ass [[spoiler: and he's eventually sent back to the future, where the Matriarch (future Jade) has him restrained and beaten]]. He doesn't look so impressive at that point.

* ''[[http://kleinerkiller.deviantart.com/gallery/41037509/Minecraftia-Saga Yognapped]]'' has [[spoiler: Peva]]. He's built up as a ManipulativeBastard and a worthy successor to previous BigBad Sben, killing [[spoiler: Sips]] on a whim and forcing the Yogscast to mine away at bedrock until [[spoiler: [[SealedEvilInACan Herobrine]] is released]]. Once things predictably go to hell and [[spoiler: Peva loses his entire pool of gathered troops instantaneously]], he's revealed as little more than a {{Jerkass}} with a petty grudge, and his attempt to fight results in a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown with him on the losing side, [[spoiler: shortly afterwards being stabbed in the skull by a resurrected Sben.]]

[[AC: Manga/MyHeroAcademia]]

* ''Fanfic/TheNuptialverse'': [[spoiler: Olive Branch is set up as the BigBad of ''Families'', a VillainWithGoodPublicity aimed at taking down Celestia's regime who appears to be TheChessmaster...until the climax, where his ultimately poorly thought out plans fall apart, [[SmugSnake with him unable to compensate at all]].]]
* [[Fanfic/RealityChecksNyxverse The Nyxverse]] story ''Alicornundrum'' has this in its main antagonist, Duke Blueblood (Prince Blueblood's father). It's made clear that Celestia has been shooting down his petty schemes with ease for years (usually leaving his "victims" better off than they were beforehand). Even the main threat he represents -- a conspiracy of unicorn supremacist nobles -- while successful in undermining Celestia's government for a time, falls apart completely the moment the Princesses are presented with hard evidence of its existence. [[spoiler: As does the Duke's mind, as the shock of realizing how badly he's been OutGambitted results in a VillainousBreakdown that actually causes brain damage, reducing him to the mental state of a foal.]]
* ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries'': In the [[BadFuture Dark World]] timeline, [[EvilGenius the Valeyard]] views himself as TheManBehindTheMan to [[BigBad Discord]], humoring him while planning to one day [[TheStarscream steal his power for himself]]. However, while he ''is'' a genuine threat, he ultimately doesn't match up to Discord [[spoiler: and is defeated well before he is]].
** In the Wedding Arc, [[spoiler: there's [[TheQuisling General Lone Ranger]], who thinks he's playing the Changelings for his own convoluted agenda of making Equestria become more warlike]]. However, while he's pretty strong and smart, [[spoiler: he's an UnwittingPawn all along]], and by the time the Mane Six confront him, he's so physically and mentally broken down that he goes down easy.

* Blaze and [[spoiler: Cinder]] in ''Fanfic/TeamLVDR''. Blaze, while the main antagonist of the first volume, is a SmugSnake and DirtyCoward.

* Essentially the case for the Trust in ''Fanfic/WhatYouAlreadyKnow: Lost City'' (even if they wouldn’t consider themselves the ‘villain’), as Daniel Jackson’s new psychic abilities and Kinsey’s vendetta against the archaeologist lead to the Trust’s leaders being identified and captured before they can actually put any of their plans for the Stargate program into action.

* ''Fanfic/TheWolfInMe'': Margo in “Revenge of the Wolf” talks a good game about wanting to use Jade to have werewolves conquer humanity, but it is clear that she is just a pawn in Mr. X's game against Jade. When she dies, Mr. X simply continues on as if nothing happened.

[[AC:''Anime/YuGiOh'']]

** [[spoiler:Beleth, the progenitor of evil Geass. The Epilogue of R2 reveals that he planned on hijacking Neo-Ragnarök from Megatron for himself to spread chaos and cruelty across the universe, and that only he would reign supreme. He immediately finds out the hard way, that he was never "the chaos bringer" he thought himself to be but nothing more than a pawn in the true Chaos Bringer’s game against the Forces of Primus, and is absorbed by Unicron to prepare for his awakening, alongside Megatron and Victor.]]

** [[spoiler:Beleth, the progenitor of evil Geass. The Epilogue of R2 reveals that he planned on hijacking Neo-Ragnarök from Megatron for himself to spread chaos and cruelty across the universe, and that only he would reign supreme. He immediately finds out the hard way, that he was never "the chaos bringer" he thought himself to be but nothing more than a pawn in the true Chaos Bringer’s game against the Forces of Primus, and is absorbed by the Unicron to prepare for his awakening, alongside Megatron and Victor.]]

* ''Fanfic/CListers'': Killer Moth has grand ambitions of being [[EvilCounterpart "the anti-Batman", the protector of Gotham's underworld]], but he's hindered by the fact he's a cowardly, moronic ManChild with no impulse control.

[[AC:Unsorted]]
* ''Fanfic/CListers'': Killer Moth has grand ambitions of being [[EvilCounterpart "the anti-Batman", the protector of Gotham's underworld]], but he's hindered by the fact he's a cowardly, moronic ManChild with no impulse control.
* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'': Dr. Robert Reynolds, the ArcVillain of Book 2's Smallville arc, has pretensions to being a serious player who can pull a WhosLaughingNow on everyone, up to and including the White Council. Harry points out that he was skulking around in the dark to avoid being caught, and even after he's powered up into what would be a genuine threat, one that pushes Harry and Clark to their limits to subdue, he isn't treated all that seriously. Clark's merely wary of him, while Harry [[IgnoredEnemy outright ignores him when something more important/interesting comes up]], and contemptuously quotes "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E6TheLazarusExperiment The Lazarus Experiment]]", stating that he was nothing but "a vain old man who tried to defy nature" and got consumed by the [[DealWithTheDevil devil's bargains]] he'd made and his own hubris.
* ''Fanfic/CodeGeassPaladinsOfVoltron'':
** Compared to the Galra Empire, the Holy Empire of Britannia is small fry, for while Britannia controls over a third of the planet Earth, the Galra rule pretty much the entire universe.
** Cornelia thinks herself to be Zero/Lelouch’s greatest enemy. She ''was'' before Lelouch became the Black Paladin, and now she’s little more than a nuisance.
* ''Fanfic/CodePrime'':
** The Britannians think themselves as the top rulers of the Earth. Unbeknownst to a majority of them, the Empire is nothing more than a puppet state for the Decepticons, as Charles only managed to become Emperor thanks to Megatron’s mentorship. [[spoiler:At the end of R1, the Decepticons proceed to demonstrate just how outclassed the Britannians are, by launching a full scale assault on the capital, and assassinate Charles.]]
** Gene Smilas in ''R2'' envisions creating a European Empire and tries to martyr Lelouch/Zero and Leila to do so. [[spoiler:However, thanks to Lelouch’s connections with Peace Mark, he finds out that Gene was the one who assassinated Leila’s father, and when Lelouch confronts him, he proceeds to Geass Gene into obedience, but not before telling him that Optimus would have seen right through him.]]
* In ''Fanfic/TheConfectionaryChronicles'', Draco Malfoy basically ''wants'' to be Hermione's enemy once she's sorted into Slytherin after starting at Hogwarts. However, from Hermione's perspective, when she's already the High Priestess and unofficially adopted daughter of [[Series/{{Supernatural}} the Trickster Loki]], [[spoiler:and has had to face being tortured and nearly executed by Odin because of that association]], Draco barely qualifies as an annoyance.
* ''Fanfic/{{CRISIS|Thuktun}}'' has [[Literature/{{Animorphs}} Visser Three]]. He clearly thinks of himself as a key member of the LegionOfDoom, but ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} and the others don't take him seriously. [[spoiler: And his confrontation with the Animorphs during the FinalBattle ends up almost comically anticlimactic in nature.]]
* When Donna Noble is de-aged and sent back to 1991 in "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13755768/1/Donna-Noble-and-the-Magic-Castle-Year-1 Donna Noble and the Magic Castle]]", once she starts attending [[Franchise/HarryPotter Hogwarts]], she reflects that Snape and Malfoy don't really compare to the regained memories she's gained from the Doctor, and even based on her personal experience she regards Davros as far more intimidating than either of them.

* When Donna Noble is de-aged and sent back to 1991 in "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13755768/1/Donna-Noble-and-the-Magic-Castle-Year-1 Donna Noble and the Magic Castle]]", once she starts attending [[Franchise/HarryPotter Hogwarts]], she reflects that Snape and Malfoy don't really compare to the regained memories she's gained from the Doctor, and even based on her personal experience she regards Davros as far more intimidating than either of them.
* ''Fanfic/EarthsAlienHistory'' has a couple of examples:
** The Mekon. It's not that he isn't threatening -- he's actually the first major villain in the story -- it's just that in the long run, he inadvertently ends up helping more than he hurts our heroes.
** Voss Ratarau. The Romulan warbird he manages to capture and reverse-engineer into a handful of other ships altogether makes him a moderate-sized threat, but as he's going up against the [[TheAlliance Terran Treaty Organization]] and the entire Romulan Empire, he's nowhere near as impressive as he thinks he is [[spoiler: and ends up killed anticlimactically by his own rebelling slaves]].
* ''Fanfic/FallenKing'' has Yami Bakura, who is a threat, but isn't nearly as pressing or as personal a threat as Pegasus is. In his internal monologue, Joey thinks that Pegasus is the real monster and Bakura can't compare.
* ''Fanfic/Flashpoint2AdventSolaris'' as an adaptation of the ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' storyline while also crossing it all over with the ''WesternAnimation/DCAnimatedMovieUniverse'', inevitably features Dr.Eggman as this due to the fact Mephiles the Dark is the true main antagonist. There's also a one chapter wonder character as well in the form of Elise's aunt, who is practically a wannabe of a wannabe.
----

* ''Fanfic/ForTheGloryOfIrk'': Xia eventually becomes TheDragon to [[spoiler: the Control Brains]], but is completely oblivious to the true power dynamic between them, being convinced that she's the ultimate authority and smartest person around, with even [[spoiler: the Control Brains]] serving her. And while her position and skills ''do'' make her extremely dangerous, she's ultimately just another UnwittingPawn of TheConspiracy, being utterly in the dark about what's really happening and why.

* In ''Fanfic/FrozenTurtles'', while Hans is ruthless and ambitious, he’s a rank amateur at best when compared to the Shredder, [[spoiler:and is swiftly taken down when his attempts to inspire a revolt prove to be a failure]].
* In the ''Fanfic/InfinityCrisis'' spin-off ''Sins, Sirens & Strife'', while Amora the Enchantress thinks of herself as a brilliant strategist with great plans, Thor tells her that Loki once commented that her plans were so transparent it was like she was standing naked in front of a clear glass window.
* ''Fanfic/JauneArcLordOfHunger'':
** [[WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} Cinder Fall]] is certainly a dangerous antagonist in her own right and is not one to be taken lightly. Under normal circumstances, her plan to destroy Beacon and steal the Fall Maiden's powers -- combined with her cruelty, intelligence, and vast resources -- would be more than enough to qualify her for the status of BigBad. However, she is overshadowed by [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords Darth Nihilus]], whose evil and malevolence far outstrips hers and presents a greater threat to the story overall.
** Collan Eislo from the chapter "[[Recap/JauneArcLordOfHungerLegends Legends]]" aspires to become a Sith and vies for ownership of the [[ArtifactOfDoom Mask of Darth Nihilus]], a Sith artifact that he believes can grant him Force-sensitivity. Despite his ambitions, Collan is just a pampered rich kid (albeit one that's slightly Force-sensitive) who's clearly in way over his head trying to compete with the galaxy's criminal underworld. [[spoiler:He ends up being [[EvilerThanThou unceremoniously killed off]] by Darth Nihilus, the very being he [[DeathByIrony sought to summon from the mask]].]] For his part, Nihilus finds Collan pathetic and considers him unworthy of even being a Sith neophyte (the lowliest rank of the Sith).
** Adam Taurus is a terrorist leader with the goal of sparking a global Faunus uprising. He thinks that the Fall of Beacon is his main event and treats it as the culmination of his lifelong revenge against the Schnee family. In reality, he's an UnwittingPawn for Cinder and serves as little more than a stepping stone for her true goal of stealing the Fall Maiden's powers. During the Battle of Beacon, he does little to contribute to the battle itself and instead wastes most of his time trying to settle a petty vendetta with his ex-girlfriend. [[spoiler:When faced with Darth Nihilus, he is [[CurbStompBattle easily overpowered]] and drained of his life.]]
* ''Fanfic/JusticeLeagueOfEquestria'':
** ''Mare of Steel'': By the time the second arc starts, Rainbow Dash has apparently had to deal with numerous wannabe villains all claiming to be her ArchEnemy. She finds it all annoying.
** Steel Wing is the first antagonist introduced in the second arc, but is quickly reduced to ComicBook/{{Brainiac}}'s UnwittingPawn, and is dealt with before him and Silversmith.
* Blaze and [[spoiler: Cinder]] in ''Fanfic/TeamLVDR''. Blaze, while the main antagonist of the first volume, is a SmugSnake and DirtyCoward.

* Wei and his [[TheDragon Dragon]] Sho, from ''[[Fanfic/TheFallOfTheFireEmpire Legacy of the Fire Empire]]'' hold several children hostage so they can [[spoiler: force Fire Lord Jiazin to step down from her throne]], and bring back the Fire Empire. When Kanoda throws a spear at them, they make the mistake of sending out the soldiers leaving themselves unguarded. Kanoda then acts as a diversion, while [[spoiler:Avatar Aang]] ambushes the soldiers when they come back and promptly knocks out Wei and Sho.
* ''Fanfic/LimitlessPotential'': Dr. Fujiwara thinks he's in full control of Operation: Independence Day, and he's been secretly working with Sigma to cause several Maverick incidents in his bid to gain control of Abel City. Sigma finally decides that Fujiwara has become unnecessary for his plans and promptly executes him to show as [[MakeAnExampleOfThem an example of what'll happen to anyone who opposes him]].
* In ''Fanfic/LovedAndLost'', an extended retelling of the 2nd season finale of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Queen Chrysalis]] is reduced to this. Her invasion is stopped in the fic's first quarter ([[IncredibleShrinkingMan differently]] than canonically, though), but [[TheUsurper Prince Jewelius]], who proves himself to be a more competent manipulator, [[LetNoCrisisGoToWaste uses the mess she caused]] to turn the public against all the other heroes than [[CorruptTheCutie Twilight Sparkle]] and make himself Equestria's king, while Chrysalis and her Changelings are locked up in Canterlot's dungeons. The [[WhamEpisode 11th chapter]] reveals that [[spoiler:Chrysalis started her canon plan when Jewelius first approached her, played her like a fiddle, and helped her infiltrate Canterlot and steal Cadance's identity by telling her about the underground caverns. However, when Jewelius saw how Chrysalis' imperfect impersonation of Cadance made [[ProperlyParanoid Twilight Sparkle]] (whom [[LoveInterestTraitor he himself charmed]] with his [[BitchInSheepsClothing considerate façade]]) suspicious (he even scolded Chrysalis for endangering their plan because of this), he successfully double-crossed her at a crucial moment when he decided he'll gain more for himself by helping Twilight defeat her]]. The Changelings eventually escape, and everypony (except for [[SkewedPriorities Jewelius]] himself) is afraid of a new Changeling invasion, but Chrysalis is unable to beat Twilight when the unicorn blocks her path to Jewelius, so she retreats to plan from the shadows. [[spoiler:With some secret assistance from one of her disguised Changelings, the heroes defeat Jewelius' forces and corner him in the final battle, at which point Chrysalis sweeps in and has her Changelings kill Jewelius as revenge. She then attempts to beat the exhausted heroes, only for Shining Armor and Cadance to give her and her army [[ATwinkleInTheSky their canon defeat]] that has been delayed only because of the plot alterations caused by Jewelius.]]
* ''Fanfic/TheMiraculousAdventuresOfDanKuso'': [[WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug Hawk Moth]] thinks that he can share the powers of the Miraculous with the vengeful alien trying to restore his planet’s corrupt regime. He ends up in a TimeStandsStill situation (along with [[TheBigGuy his bodyguard]]) as soon as said alien no longer needs him.

* ''Fanfic/MyFathersSon'': Balon Greyjoy spent several years through the chaos of Rhaegar's Rebellion and the great plague preparing with his brother Euron for a campaign of reaving and conquest on the mainland. Of course, with Rhaegar starting to rebuild trust in the land, and the rise of [[spoiler: dragons]], and especially with Euron having a finer touch, Balon in the end was way out of his depth, with Rhaegar remarking that while [[spoiler: his father Aerys had greatness in him once]], Balon was just a pathetic old man.
%%* ''Fanfic/NewTamaran'': Control Freak. %%ZCE: How so?
* ''Fanfic/TheNuptialverse'': [[spoiler: Olive Branch is set up as the BigBad of ''Families'', a VillainWithGoodPublicity aimed at taking down Celestia's regime who appears to be TheChessmaster...until the climax, where his ultimately poorly thought out plans fall apart, [[SmugSnake with him unable to compensate at all]].]]
* [[Fanfic/RealityChecksNyxverse The Nyxverse]] story ''Alicornundrum'' has this in its main antagonist, Duke Blueblood (Prince Blueblood's father). It's made clear that Celestia has been shooting down his petty schemes with ease for years (usually leaving his "victims" better off than they were beforehand). Even the main threat he represents -- a conspiracy of unicorn supremacist nobles -- while successful in undermining Celestia's government for a time, falls apart completely the moment the Princesses are presented with hard evidence of its existence. [[spoiler: As does the Duke's mind, as the shock of realizing how badly he's been OutGambitted results in a VillainousBreakdown that actually causes brain damage, reducing him to the mental state of a foal.]]
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fanfic ''Fanfic/PartiallyKissedHero'' stated that Severus Snape's real reason for hating James Potter was that James' bullying of him during their school years prevented Snape from being taken seriously enough to become a Dark Lord in his own right.
** Voldemort is also reduced to this, as his only successes come when Harry and Dumbledore are busy fighting each other, and he loses horribly to both in different parts of the story.

* The ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries'': In the [[BadFuture Dark World]] timeline, [[EvilGenius the Valeyard]] views himself as TheManBehindTheMan to [[BigBad Discord]], humoring him while planning to one day [[TheStarscream steal his power for himself]]. However, while he ''is'' a genuine threat, he ultimately doesn't match up to Discord [[spoiler: and is defeated well before he is]].
** In the Wedding Arc, [[spoiler: there's [[TheQuisling General Lone Ranger]], who thinks he's playing the Changelings for his own convoluted agenda of making Equestria become more warlike]]. However, while he's pretty strong and smart, [[spoiler: he's an UnwittingPawn all along]], and by the time the Mane Six confront him, he's so physically and mentally broken down that he goes down easy.
* ''Fanfic/ThePowerOfSeven'' starts by taking Draco Malfoy's canon reluctance to kill Dumbledore to the point that he fails to cast the Killing Curse even when Dumbledore's directly in front of him. On a more personal note for Harry and his 'harem'- Ginny, Hermione, Luna, Demelza Robbins, Susan Bones, Katie Bell and Fleur Delacour- [[spoiler:Pansy Parkinson attempts to infiltrate the group to pass on information to Voldemort, but the harem all know from the start what she's really up to and just FeedTheMole to give her fake information]].
* ''Fanfic/PrehistoricEarth'': [[EvilPoacher Frank]], TheDragon to [[BigBad Percival von Grimm]] and immediate supervisor of [[spoiler:the secret prehistoric animal smuggling ring set up on the same island as the titular ExtinctAnimalPark]]. He talks a good game, is more than willing to beat up and kill any animals he feels like attacking or capturing, and even manages to [[DragonInChief prove himself a considerably bigger immediate threat and obstacle for the park staff to overcome]] than von Grimm due to the latter largely being too uninvolved with everything going on (to the point that he himself [[TheStarscream is more than willing to make an effort at backstabbing his boss and taking full control over the operation himself]]). But at the end of the day, his actual level of ability to fully handle the situation and achieve his goals is nowhere as strong as he likes to claim; and his effort at backstabbing Percival ends up seen coming from a mile away by Percival, who proceeds to thwart said backstab attempt before it can even begin by swiftly incapacitating Frank with a taser and leaving him to the mercy of the Prehistoric Earth staff as he flees. And as if to further emphasize how he's still not true BigBad material despite otherwise being a bigtime DragonInChief, Frank ultimately dies an UndignifiedDeath via getting trampled to death by a stampeding herd of giant herbivorous dinosaurs while he's trying to hide from the park staff in a porta-potty over the course of an effort at escaping from their custody.
* Percival himself is reduced to this in Prehistoric Earth's subsequent ContinuityReboot ''Fanfic/PrehistoricParkReimagined''. In this story, he is firmly established as one of the least pleasant members of the Novum executive board and to have ideas for the park that his boss (and uncle) Theodore, the majority of the other board members, and everyone at the park are all too swift to reject, with the implication being that he plans to commodify the de-extinct wildlife on display at the titular zoo so as to make them into a means of earning Novum even more money. But while his Prehistoric Earth self was able to easily run rings around the good guys without them even being fully aware of anything untoward going on, everyone who knows him personally in this continuity are well aware of what he wants and are swift to shoot his ideas down in flames. And while he is swift to make a serious effort at getting them to 'change their minds' by hiring a group of lazy temporary workmen to make life difficult for the park and serve as his spies, said serious effort blows up in his face when the workmen end up convinced to change allegiance as a result of him [[BadBoss giving them insultingly low wages due to largely viewing them as a means to an end]].

* ''Fanfic/QueenOfAllOni'':
** [[EvilSorcerer Lung]], Daolon Wong's former [[BastardUnderstudy apprentice]], who views himself as the only one powerful and skilled enough to take Wong's place as the [[TheArchMage Darkest Mage]]. However, his master plan -- to force Jade, and by extension, her Shadowkhan, into his service -- was too simple-minded, and fell apart rather easily. More importantly, the fact that his only response to said plan failing was to not acknowledge that fact and keep bludgeoning ahead, and that his reaction to Jade's minions showing up was to slip into a VillainousBSOD bordering on a full-scale [[VillainousBreakdown breakdown]]... yeah, he's really not in Wong's league. [[spoiler: And then Jade's minions kill him, so he's ''definitely'' never going to make BigBad.]]
** Shortly afterward, Drago arrives from the future in an attempt to [[MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight change the timeline to his desire]]. However, while he has the strength to back up his plans, said plans are constantly derailed by every other faction he comes up against kicking his ass [[spoiler: and he's eventually sent back to the future, where the Matriarch (future Jade) has him restrained and beaten]]. He doesn't look so impressive at that point.
** Daolon Wong himself actually rather comes off as having degraded to this in-story, given his pitiful attempts at regaining his power and the HumiliationConga he goes through (Tarakudo even calls him a wannabe at one point).
** [[FatBastard Anton Mortimer]] thinks that his money and business connections make him beyond the touch of the law, that it makes him the ultimate DiabolicalMastermind that the J-Team can't hope to fight. After they ultimately end up blackmailing his Oni mask off him, Jade then shows up and proceeds to rob him blind, while giving him a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech over how insignificant he really is.
* In ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' fanfic ''Fanfic/ResurrectedMemories'': Despite being the central antagonist of the prom storyline Paulina doesn't even register as a threat merely being an annoying SpoiledBrat that the heroes (and [[VillainProtagonist Ember]]) want to put in her place.
* ''Fanfic/RubyAndNora'': Keter, the StarterVillain. Despite being a vicious, bloodthirsty SerialKiller, is nothing more than a sniveling, [[DirtyCoward cowardly]] child who is bested the second he stupidly attacked the protagonists.
* In ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' fanfic ''Fanfic/SavingTheBoy'', the BigBad, OriginalCharacter Misu Teeyer, is ''also'' this. While she's still the biggest direct threat to Peeta during the Games, in the end she's small potatoes compared to Snow and the Capitol and a pawn for them like everyone else. [[spoiler:This becomes all too clear at the end of the story, where it's revealed that Snow rigged the Games to ensure Peeta would win, to the point of deliberately having the mutts that would kill Misu programmed to ignore him. Misu never had a chance at winning, and never even realized it]].