History ContrastingSequelAntagonist / Literature

** ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'' notably frames Grand Admiral Thrawn and Joruus C'baoth as {{Foil}}s of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader, respectively, making it clear that the series wouldn't simply be a retread of the Original Trilogy. While Palpatine was an ominous black-cloaked [[CardCarryingVillain card-carrying]] human villain known for his sadism and his mastery of the Dark Side, Thrawn is an impeccably [[WickedCultured cultured]] OfficerAndAGentleman known for his [[TheChessmaster tactical brilliance]] and his love of art, as well as a HumanAlien who habitually dresses in well-tailored [[LightIsNotGood white military regalia]]. Likewise, while Vader was a tragically corrupted Dark Jedi known for his stoicism and physical discipline, and he ultimately turned against Palpatine in a HeelFaceTurn, C'baoth is the insane [[CloningBlues clone]] of a legendary Jedi Master who's brought down by his own mental instability, and Thrawn turns against ''him'' when it becomes clear that he can't be controlled.

* ''Franchise/StarWarsTheHighRepublic: [[Literature/StarWarsLightOfTheJedi Light of the Jedi]]'': The Nihil are entirely different from any other major enemies in ''Star Wars'' to date. They're not Force-wielders like the various Darksiders, they're not religious fanatics like the Sith cultists, they're not an enemy nation, and they're not even high-level criminals like the Hutts or the Shadow Collective. They are basically just a random band of marauders who lucked into a huge technological advantage. Even then, it's repeatedly made clear that the only reason they are a real threat to the Republic is because it's an unprecedented era of peace and there's barely any military presence in the Galaxy.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** The series has Lord Voldemort as the consistent BigBad, but each individual book also has its own secondary antagonist whose nature and motivations often say much about the themes and conflict at the heart of each installment. ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone The Philosopher's Stone]]'' has [[TheRenfield Quirinus Quirrel]], the frail and cowardly servant of the crippled Voldemort; ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets The Chamber of Secrets]]'' has "[[FromNobodyToNightmare Tom Riddle]]", the ghostly echo of Voldemort's former self; ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban The Prisoner of Azkaban]]'' has [[spoiler: [[EvilFormerFriend Peter Pettigrew]]]], the confidant of the Potters who betrayed his friends out of cowardice; ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire The Goblet of Fire]]'' has [[spoiler: [[WellDoneSonGuy Barty Crouch, Jr.]]]], the troubled young Death Eater initiate who remains faithful to Voldemort in the wake of his downfall; ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix The Order of the Phoenix]]'' has [[TyrantTakesTheHelm Dolores Umbridge]], the corrupt Ministry bureaucrat who denies Voldemort's return; and ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince The Half-Blood Prince]]'' has [[TheRival Draco Malfoy]] and [[spoiler: [[TheAtoner Severus Snape]]]], who finally openly join Voldemort after six years of lurking in the background at Hogwarts.
** The ''Film/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem'' franchise has Gellert Grindelwald, the world's most powerful Dark Wizard before Voldemort. Voldemort goes by an alias, while Grindelwald uses his real name. Voldemort was a model student at Hogwarts, and hid his true nature from most people, while Grindelwald was known as a troublemaker and expelled from Durmstrang. The Dark Arts twisted Voldemort's appearance, while Grindelwald looks like [[Creator/JohnnyDepp his actor]]. Voldemort kept his reign of terror focused on Britain, [[spoiler: while Grindelwald expanded all across Europe, and into America. As a polar opposite of Voldemort, in this regard, Grindelwald studiously ''avoided'' attacking Britain out of fear of Dumbledore]]. Additionally, Grindelwald lacks Voldemort's FantasticRacism, instead hating {{Muggle}}s purely for forcing wizards into hiding.

* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia:'' Going by publishing order, [[Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe the first book]] has a non-human sorceress who bans all humans from Narnia. [[Literature/PrinceCaspian The second]] has a human {{Muggle}} who bans all magical creatures from Narnia.
* The Franchise/HannibalLecter series has several examples:
** Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb of ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' is as much the direct opposite of Francis "the Tooth Fairy" Dolarhyde of ''Literature/RedDragon'' as he is his parallel. While both killers seek to transform themselves through their killing, Dolarhyde's goal is to transform himself in spirit and become the culmination of his present state by empowering his "Great Red Dragon" alter, while Gumb's goal is to transform himself in body and become the antithesis of his present state by fashioning a GenuineHumanHide suit that would, in his eyes, enable him to become a completely different person.
** Mason Verger of ''Film/{{Hannibal}}'' bears this relationship to Gumb. Gumb is a handsome raving lunatic from a lower-class background who kills on impulse, and has only the most tenuous personal connection to Hannibal Lecter; he also spends most of the movie as the target of a nationwide manhunt after kidnapping a US Senator's daughter. By contrast, Verger is a wealthy, [[WickedCultured cultured]] psychopath with [[NightmareFace gruesome facial mutilations]] who [[TheChessmaster calmly plans his every move]], and he's driven by his desire for revenge against Hannibal Lecter, being one of his previous victims; he's also a textbook VillainWithGoodPublicity who successfully manages to hide his depravities from most of the public, and gets off with community service the one time that he's discovered.

** Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb of ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' is as much the direct opposite of Francis "the Tooth Fairy" Dolarhyde of ''Literature/RedDragon'' as he is his parallel. While both killers seek to transform themselves through their killing, Dolarhyde's goal is to transform himself in spirit and become the culmination of his present state by empowering his "Great Red Dragon" alter, while Bill's goal is to transform himself in body and become the antithesis of his present state by fashioning a GenuineHumanHide suit that would, in his eyes, enable him to become a completely different person.

** ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'' notably frames Grand Admiral Thrawn and Joruus C'baoth as {{Foil}}s of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader, respectively, making it clear that the series wouldn't simply be a retread of the Original Trilogy. While Palpatine was an ominous black-cloaked [[CardCarryingVillain card-carrying]] human villain known for his sadism and his mastery of the Dark Side, Thrawn is an impeccably [[WickedCultured cultured]] OfficerAndAGentleman known for his [[TheChessmaster tactical brilliance]] and his love of art, as well as a HumanAlien who habitually dresses in well-tailored [[ManInWhite white military regalia]]. Likewise, while Vader was a tragically corrupted Dark Jedi known for his stoicism and physical discipline, and he ultimately turned against Palpatine in a HeelFaceTurn, C'baoth is the insane [[CloningBlues clone]] of a legendary Jedi Master who's brought down by his own mental instability, and Thrawn turns against ''him'' when it becomes clear that he can't be controlled.

* Near-future epic thriller ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'''s two major story arcs can be roughly divided into "Before the Apocalypse" and "After". The villains are quite different.
** In the first, The heroes fight against the dystopian US federal government, which is immensely powerful in theory, but terminally crippled by corruption, mismanagement, InsaneTrollLogic economic policies and every conceivable sort of PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad. As far as the raw resources available go, they can easily crush the rebelling states on paper, but given how dysfunctional and increasingly fractured the country is becoming, they can only ever mobilize a fraction of their available forces against them, and often not make effective use even of those due to lack of will, political meddling or passive-aggressive sabotage from within.
** Then, in the post-American chaos, the newly formed free Confederation faces various enemies, but the most serious threats are [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Leader von Braun's]] neo-Nazi Midwestern state, and then the West Coast's [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Democratic Republic of Azania]], which becomes the ultimate "villain" faction. The former is basically the Confederation's own dark mirror image, which takes its Second-Amendment-and-Apple-Pie RightWingMilitiaFanatic style much too far and straight into unambiguously evil (though [[RepressiveButEfficient efficient]]) extremes; the latter, meanwhile, is its ultimate ideological antithesis, a transhumanist LadyLand that spits on Americanism and Christianity. Whereas the Feds were (with some exceptions) usually either incompetent or corrupt, these enemies are rather leaner and meaner, more of the NoNonsenseNemesis and EliteArmy variety, though each in turn in its own way: the Nazis have a truly excellent old-school military establishment, with well-organized logistics, good officers and doctrine and first-rate troops, while Azania has the most advanced systems-integrated military technology in the setting, employing drones, guided missiles, AI assistance for the staff and various other gadgets.