History BigBadWannabe / WesternAnimation

** The series sequel ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'' has Tankor, after he's revealed to have been a reprogrammed Rhinox from the previous series. Gaining his original memories, but having none of his morals, he decides to wipe out Megatron and the Maximals both and rule Cybertron himself. After faking his own death his plotting seems to go unnoticed, but in the climax of Season 1 it's revealed Megatron always knew Tankor was betraying him and had all of his generals' programmed so they could never directly harm him, at which point Tankor is crippled just by the sheer act of trying to attack Megatron. Megatron proceeds to call out Tankor on this and explains that the only reason he was able to run around with any free will was that it indirectly aided Megatron's own goals.
*** And even before that point, Tankor was shown to be not quite TheChessmaster he thought himself as, with the Vehicon often being sent scrambling when the people he was trying to manipulate [[SpannerInTheWorks didn't behave as he expected them to.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'': After breaking up with the Joker, Harley seeks to replace him as the top villain in Gotham City. However, her attempts only make her seen as a regular criminal at best. When she tries to attract a big-league superhero like Superman or Batman, or try to join the Legion of Doom, it never works out as she hopes, being seen as a nuisance at best or a pest at worst.

* Billy Billions from ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'' considers himself Ben's archenemy. The thing is, Ben had ''never even knew he existed'' before Billy confronted him with killer robots and started talking about "their" past. He, later on, attempted to drive Ben out of the hero business with his own superhero team called, "The Vengers". Ben doesn't even ''remotely'' take them seriously, and would rather ''literally watch paint dry'' than devote even a ''smudge'' of attention to them.

** [[spoiler:Grogar himself ultimately winds up as this as the other villain acquire the ArtifactOfDoom under his nose and plot against him with his being none the wiser. He's hapless once they make their move and backstab him, then it turns out he was never the real Grogar and was just a disguise.]]

** The Jokerz are a street gang who emulate [[ComicBook/TheJoker the Clown Prince of Crime]], but they are a far cry from the original villain, as pointed out by both Bruce Wayne and [[PretenderDiss the Joker himself]].

* Sasha and Grime in ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'' throughout Season 2. After failing to send a message to the Wartwood frogs in season 1, Sasha and Grime initially hatch a plan to take over Newtopia. The plan actually goes pretty smoothly throughout most of the season: they get the support of the other toad towers to raid Newtopia, Sasha is able to convince her friends that she's on their side, and they even successfully, if very shortly, snatch the Calamity Box and usurp the throne. However, things go south quickly afterwards: Sasha starts questioning her actions after [[TheReasonYouSuck Anne called her out for being a horrible person,]] and Grime, in an attempt to cheer her up, accidentally unviels a [[spoiler: mural showing King Andrias's true intentions, which were ''way'' worse than what they had in mind.]] This kicks both of them into a realization that [[HeelFaceTurn they need to stop this evil]] before it's too late. Unfortunately, [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder Sasha's recent history of betraying Anne's trust multiple times]] made reasoning with Anne impossible, leading her to unwittingly lead the true BigBad back into power.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond''

* The Jokerz from ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' are a street gang who emulate [[ComicBook/TheJoker the Clown Prince of Crime]], but they are a far cry from the original villain, as Bruce Wayne is quick to point out.

** [[spoiler:Moon Butterfly and the Magic High Commission support Mina Loveberry's scheme to overthrow Eclipsa as ruler of Mewni -- both realizing too late that Mina is too insane to be controlled and won't stop at just removing Eclipsa from power. Moon gets the worst of it, getting stabbed in the back by Mina the moment she tries to stop her.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans''

* King Sombra from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' legitimately ''was'' the BigBad at one point, but that was way back in the third season. Since then the good guys have got several layers of magnitude more powerful, [[CantCatchUp whereas he's been dead and so remains exactly the same]]. The real BigBad of the final season Grogar uses this as a lesson, allowing Sombra [[XanatosGambit to try and fail in order to make the point that none of them can succeed alone]]. It doesn't help that Sombra TookALevelInDumbass from "CrazyPrepared NoNonsenseNemesis" to "LeeroyJenkins SmugSnake."

* Sasha and Grime in ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'' throughout Season 2. After failing to send a message to the Wartwood frogs in season 1, Sasha and Grime initially hatch a plan to take over Newtopia. The plan actually goes pretty smoothly throughout most of the season: they get the support of the other toad towers to raid Newtopia, Sasha is able to convince her friends that she's on their side, and they even successfully, if very shortly, snatch the Calamity Box and usurp the throne. However, things go south quickly afterwards: Sasha starts questioning her actions after [[TheReasonYouSuck Anne called her out for being a horrible person,]] and Grime, in an attempt to cheer her up, accidentally unviels a [[spoiler: mural showing King Andrias's true intentions, which were ''way'' worse than what they had in mind.]] This kicks both of them into a realization that [[HeelFaceTurn they need to stop this evil]] before it's too late. Unfortunately, [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder Sasha betraying Anne's trust multiple times]] made reasoning with Anne impossible, leading her to unwittingly lead the true BigBad back into power.

* Sasha and Grime in ''{{WestrenAnimation/Amphibia}}'' throughout Season 2, Sasha and Grime planned to take over Newtopia, Sasha even pretends to change, once she and Grime stage their Coup to take over Newtopia and overthrow King Andrias,when they begin to redecorated the Castle, the two discover that King Andrias is an evil Tyrant who is planning to used the Calamity Box to takeover other Worlds. After realizing what she will become if she stays down this path, she and Grime tried put a {{HeelFaceTurn}} for real. Though given that Anne called her a Horrible person and ended her friendship with her, Sasha decides to stop Andrais.

* Sasha and Grime in ''{{WestrenAnimation/Amphibia}}'' throughout Season 2, Sasha and Grime planned to take over Newtopia, Sasha even pretends to change, once she and Grime stage their Coup to take over Newtopia and overthrow King Andrias,when thet begin to redecorating the Castle, the two discover that King Andrias is an evil Tyrant who is planning to used the Calamity Box to takeover other Worlds. After realizing what she will become if she stays down this path, she and Grime tried put a {{HeelFaceTurn}} for real. Though given that Anne called her a Horrible person and ended her friendship with her, Sasha decides to stop Andrais.

* Sasha and Grime in ''WestrenAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'' throughout Season 2, Sasha and Grime planned to take over Newtopia, Sasha even pretends to change, once she and Grime stage their Coup to take over Newtopia and overthrow, King Andrias,and begin to redecorate the Castle, the two discover that King Andrias is an evil Tyrant who is planning to used the Calamity Box to takeover other Worlds. After realized what she will become if she stays down this path, she and Grime tried put a {{HeelFaceTurn}} for real. Though given that Anne called her a Horrible person and ended her friendship with her, Sasha decides to stop Andrais.

* Sasha and Grime in ''WestrenAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'' throughout Season 2, Sasha and Grime planned to take over Newtopia, Sasha even pretends to change, once she and Grime stage their Coup to take over Newtopia and overthrow, King Andrias,and begin to redecorate the Castle, the two discover that King Andrias is an evil Tyrant who is planning to used the Calamity Box to takeover Newtopia. After realized what she will become if she stays down this path, she and Grime tried put a {{HeelFaceTurn}} for real. Though given that Anne called her a Horrible person and ended her friendship with her, Sasha decides to stop Andrais.

* Sasha and Grime in ''WestrenAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'' throughout Season 2, Sasha and Grime planned to take over Newtopia, Sasha even pretends to change, once she and Grime stage their Coup to take over Newtopia and overthrow, King Andrias,and begin to redecorate the Castle, the two discover that King Andrias is an evil Tyrant is planning to used the Calamity Box to takeover Newtopia. After realized what she will become if she stays down this path, she and Grime tried put a {{HeelFaceTurn}} for real. Though given that Anne called her a Horrible person and ended her friendship with her, Sasha decides to stop Andrais.

* Sasha and Grime in ''WestrenAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'' throughout Season 2, Sasha and Grime planned to take over Newtopia, Sasha even pretends to change, once she and Grime stage their Coup to take over Newtopia and overthrow, King Andrias,and begin to redecorate the Castle, the two discover that King Andrias is an evil Tyrant is planning to used the Calamity Box to takeover Newtopia. After realized what she will become if she stays down this path, she and Grime tried put a [[HeelFaceTurn]] for real. Though given that Anne called her a Horrible person and ended her friendship with Sasha decides to Andrais.

* Sasha and Grime in ''WestrenAnimation/Amphibia'' throughout Season 2, Sasha and Grime planned to take over Newtopia, Sasha even pretends to change, once she and Grime stage their Coup to take over Newtopia and overthrow, King Andrias,and begin to redecorate the Castle, the two discover that King Andrias is an evil Tyrant is planning to used the Calamity Box to takeover Newtopia. After realized what she will become if she stays down this path, she and Grime tried put a [[HeelFaceTurn]] for real. Though given that Anne called her a Horrible person and ended her friendship with Sasha decides to Andrais.

** As seen in the page quote, Long Feng. He had a pretty good conspiracy going in Ba Sing Se, managing to keep the Earth King under his control by not letting him know there was a war going on. He manages to delay the Avatar and his friends, [[spoiler: brainwashes and kills Jet]], and even manages to maintain control of the Dai Li after he is exposed for his treachery. When [[MagnificentBastard Azula]] shows up in the city he tries to use her to start a Coup against his king. When this plan succeeds and he tries to betray her, he finds that Azula's charisma has made the Dai Li loyal to her [[spoiler: putting Ba Sing Se in the hands of the Fire Nation]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', Darth Maul, Savage Oppress, and the Death Watch are certainly dangerous antagonists in their own right and they talk a big game. However, the second their schemes start interfering with [[BigBad Palpatine's]] work, Palpatine heads to Mandalore personally and [[spoiler: effortlessly curb-stomps Maul, kills Oppress, and cripples Deathwatch.]]
** Similarly, the Nightsisters [[SmallNameBigEgo sing praises about themselves]] and their dark magic make them dangerous to many, but when they get in the way of what Palpatine wants he just sends General Grievous and his droid army in, who proceed to massacre all but two of the Nightsisters with ease. The fact that [[SuicidalOverconfidence the Nightsisters thought they could beat gun-toting enemies made of metal with spears, bows, and hand-to-hand combat]] helped.

** Discord, despite simply being a neutral trickster, depicts himself as the main antagonist of "The Return of Harmony" since he is the one who drives the plot and causes problems for the Mane Six. Even in spite of all of this, since it was revealed in "Keep Calm and Flutter On" that he never had a friend before, he was never a true villain.

* Megabyte from ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'' has an... interesting relationship with this trope. He ''seems'' to be the BigBad in the Mainframe, but it's eventually revealed [[spoiler: his dreams of taking over the whole Supercomputer are an egotistical delusion at best; the Guardians could've had easily blasted him to dust decades ago, but the idealistic [[TheHero Bob]] believed that Megabyte could be redeemed and so blocked their attempts to kill him. However, Megabyte eventually realizes that he's a Wannabe and thus dedicates himself to becoming more powerful, [[SlowlySlippingIntoEvil beginning to go to increasingly vicious lengths to get what he wants]]. By season 3, he's sufficiently [[TookALevelInBadass Taken His Level In Badass]] and after the battle with Daemon, it's clear that Megabyte was the one true BigBad all along.]]

* Ludo from ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' is initially this. He's completely incompetent as a villain, never showing to possess any magical abilities of his own and [[NeverMyFault frequently blaming his failures on his minions]]. In the case of the latter, he at one point punishes them for something that was clearly his fault, which is what leads to [[TheStarscream Toffee]] convincing most of his minions to turn on him. He then [[TookALevelInBadass takes a level in badass]] in season 2. [[spoiler:Only to become Toffee's pawn again. Only worse, since Toffee's spirit is outright possessing Ludo.]]
** [[spoiler:Moon Butterfly and the Magic High Commission support Mina Loveberry's scheme to overthrow Eclipsa as ruler of Mewni--both realizing too late that Mina is too insane to be controlled and won't stop at just removing Eclipsa from power. Moon gets the worst of it, getting stabbed in the back by Mina the moment she tries to stop her.]]

** The series sequel ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'' has Tankor, after he's revealed to have been a reprogrammed Rhinox from the previous series. Gaining his original memories, but having none of his morals, he decides to wipe out Megatron and the Maximals both and rule Cybertron himself. After faking his own death his plotting seems to go unnoticed, but in the climax of season 1 it's revealed Megatron always knew Tankor was betraying him and had all of his generals' programmed so they could never directly harm him, at which point Tankor is crippled just by the sheer act of trying to attack Megatron. Megatron proceeds to call out Tankor on this and explains that the only reason he was able to run around with any free will was that it indirectly aided Megatron's own goals.

* ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'': By the start of season 2, thanks to his obsessive desire to destroy Wander instead of focusing on being a GalacticConqueror, Lord Hater falls into this category. Lord Dominator usurps him as the BigBad of the show at that point, while Lord Hater starts losing every planet he's conquered and any respect or fear he still managed to command after chasing Wander for so long.

** In ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'', Starscream repeatedly tries to kill Megatron and failing miserably, but always gets let off with a slap on the wrist. When Megatron turns into Galvatron after Starscream betrays him yet again, Megatron decides he has had enough and disintegrates Starscream.

* ''WesternAnimation/GeneratorRex'' has the Consortium, a CosmopolitanCouncil of [[GodhoodSeeker godhood seekers]] who were responsible for causing the [[MassSuperEmpoweringEvent Nanite Event]] and later turn out to be the {{Mysterious Backer}}s for [[CreatureHunterOrganization Providence]]. After the TimeSkip, they replace Van Kleiss as the Big Bad and are hyped up to be some sort of UltimateEvil. In reality, they're a bunch of rich idiots with a SmugSnake complex who rely on their HypercompetentSidekick Black Knight in order to get anything done. When Black Knight decides to [[TheStarscream usurp them]], they are completely helpless to stop her. [[spoiler:Even after they fuse with the Meta-Nanites and are granted [[StoryBreakerPower story-breaker powers]], the group's [[StrongButUnskilled inexperience makes them ineffective]] to the point where [[TheHero Rex]] easily [[CurbStomp curb-stomps]] them, despite being outnumbered five-to-one.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfHeMan'', Flogg is the leader of the Evil Mutants, but once the outsider named Skeletor offers his help to turn Flogg into the king of the Tri-Solar Galaxy in exchange for a chance to defeat He-Man, Flogg never realizes that he has become a pawn of the Lord of Destruction.
* Mister Smarty Smarts and Octocat from ''WesternAnimation/{{Spliced}}''. [[TheDreaded Everyone on Keepaway Island is utterly terrified of them]], but they're really {{Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain}}s whose schemes are as likely to foil themselves as be foiled by someone else.
* Lucius Heinous VII in ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes''. Though he's a tyrant who rules Miseryville with an iron fist, he himself is actually a rather pathetic and incompetent figure, being completely dependent on his underlings Molotov and Heloise to enforce his will. WordOfGod is that he's a powerful enough RealityWarper that he could potentially be a threat despite his stupidity, but avoids using them because he wants to prove he can be a threat without them.
* The Professor from the 1950s WesternAnimation/FelixTheCat cartoons. He is the main villain of the series, [[HarmlessVillain but he's not very good at it most of the time]], and [[AffablyEvil he isn't even that villainous most of of the time either]]--the bulk of his crimes amount to petty thievery or just screwing around with Felix, and [[HoistByHisOwnPetard he'll ruin his own schemes just as often as Felix can stop them]]. In some episodes, [[GoKartingWithBowser he isn't even an enemy to Felix.]]
* Plankton from ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' is described by Karen as "1% evil, 99% hot gas". He thinks he's an EvilGenius but he fails to grasp even the simplest concepts, to the point that he once forgot how to blink.
* Ludo from ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' is initially this. He's completely incompetent as a villain, never showing to possess any magical abilities of his own and [[NeverMyFault frequently blaming his failures on his minions]]. In the case of the latter, he at one point punishes them for something that was clearly his fault, which is what leads to [[TheStarscream Toffee]] convincing most of his minions to turn on him. He then [[TookALevelInBadass takes a level in badass]] in season 2. [[spoiler:Only to become Toffee's pawn again. Only worse, since Toffee's spirit is outright possessing Ludo.]]
** [[spoiler:Moon Butterfly and the Magic High Commission support Mina Loveberry's scheme to overthrow Eclipsa as ruler of Mewni--both realizing too late that Mina is too insane to be controlled and won't stop at just removing Eclipsa from power. Moon gets the worst of it, getting stabbed in the back by Mina the moment she tries to stop her.]]

* King Sombra from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' legitimately ''was'' the BigBad at one point, but that was way back in the third season. Since then the good guys have got several layers of magnitude more powerful, [[CantCatchUp whereas he's been dead and so remains exactly the same]]. The real BigBad of the final season Grogar uses this as a lesson, allowing Sombra [[XanatosGambit to try and fail in order to make the point that none of them can succeed alone]]. It doesn't help that Sombra TookALevelInDumbass from "CrazyPrepared NoNonsenseNemesis" to "LeeroyJenkins SmugSnake."
** [[spoiler:Grogar himself ultimately winds up as this as the other villain acquire the ArtifactOfDoom under his nose and plot against him with his being none the wiser. He's hapless once they make their move and backstab him, then it turns out he was never the real Grogar and was just a disguise.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'' has Hordak start out as the main villain for the first four seasons who was seeking to conquer all of Etheria and defeat the Rebellion. [[spoiler:But, we also find out he’s a clone of his emperor, Horde Prime and served as his general until an error in his cloning caused a crippling illness, and he’s been trying to earn his respect and retake his position. By the end of the fourth season, Horde Prime took offense at his clone brother’s attempt at making his own empire, and sentences him to be reconditioned and demoted, effectively establishing himself as the true BigBad of the series]].

* ''WesternAnimation/GeneratorRex'' has the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Consortium]], a CosmopolitanCouncil of {{Godhood Seeker}}s who caused the [[MassEmpoweringEvent Nanite Event]] and later turn out to be the {{Mysterious Backer}}s for the resident CreatureHunterOrganization. After the TimeSkip, they replace Van Kleiss as the Big Bad and are hyped up to be some sort of UltimateEvil. In reality, they're a bunch of rich idiots with a SmugSnake-complex who barely understand their own EvilPlan. The only reason they've made anything resembling progress is because of their DragonInChief Black Knight, who the [[UngratefulBastard Consortium]] regularly [[BullyingTheDragon condescends to]]. When Black Knight decides to [[TheStarscream usurp them]], she easily cows them into submission with an ImpliedDeathThreat. [[spoiler:Even after their members fuse with the Meta-Nanites and are granted {{Story Breaker Power}}s, their inexperience [[StrongButUnskilled makes them ineffective]] to the point where [[TheHero Rex]] easily [[CurbStomp curb-stomps]] them, despite being outnumbered five-to-one.]]