History EvilerThanThou / WesternAnimation

** [[EvilSorcerer Hex]] ended up being betrayed by his niece and BastardUnderstudy [[DarkMagicalGirl Charmcaster]] in her debut appearance.

* In the conclusion of the storyline of the fourth season of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', Robin formed an uneasy alliance with Slade, after Slade convinced him that Trigon was a far greater evil (which Robin really couldn't deny). Later, however, Slade proved that he was still a contender when he faced Trigon's demonic guardian:

* ''WesternAnimation/TurtlesForever''. The [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 2003 Shredder]] is this when compared with his [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 1987 counterpart and Krang]]. At first, 1987 Shredder hoped they could form a BigBadDuumvirate with him... then he discovered Ch'rell was murderously violent and Karai's involvement allowed him to take over the Technodrome, and all of 1987 Shredder/Krang's assets, upgrade them to his own means, and use them in a plan to destroy the Multiverse. The 2003 Shredder considers the '87 villains incompetent and worthless, and eventually has them imprisoned when he can't stand them any longer (except Bebop and Rocksteady, who he allows to serve him....BIG mistake.)

* Doubly subverted (but not a DoubleSubversion) in ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim''. Tak isn't Eviler than Zim, she's merely more ''competent'' (Tak at least ''tries'' to BreakingSpeech him, but Zim [[OverlyLongGag just continues screaming]]), and Zim doesn't form an EnemyMine with Dib because he's disgusted by her methods, [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou but because she's stealing his job.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' has never been subtle about this. Its first season quickly introduced rivals Prince Zuko and Admiral Zhao, the latter whom was eviler than the former. With Zhao's KarmicDeath in the season finale and Zuko's cemented status as an AntiVillain, it became a subject of great debate as to which Season 2 villain would prove the most threatening: Ozai's [[TheDragon Dragon]] Princess Azula, or the EvilChancellor Long Feng (most bets were against a PowerTrio of teenaged girls). [[spoiler:The two eventually teamed up in the second season finale, each and planning to double-cross the other, but the charismatic and sociopathic princess ended up the unequaled victor, which she]] made clear BreakThemByTalking style.

** [[TheStarscream Starscream]] and [[BigBad Megatron]] acted like this ''all the time'' in G1 (and any number of alternate continuities). In general, the Autobots always teamed up with Megatron after he'd inevitably been betrayed by Starscream, because, while often more cowardly and incompetent as an actual leader than Megatron, Starscream's ambition was ''limitless''.

** Also, the girls were once defeated by an alien, who was using some of Mojo's ideas. When Mojo realized the alien was actually achieving everything he always wanted to, [[BerserkButton he went berserk]], beat the tar out of him, and forced him to admit that he's more evil.
** Only for the townsfolk, the PPG, and the narrator to all laud him as a hero, to his chagrin.

** Mojo Jojo and Him end up in this kind of contest, attempting to show the [[ThePsychoRangers Rowdyruff Boys]] who's the [[HasTwoMommies better father]]. In the end, the Boys decide they're both pathetic and go out to fight the Powerpuff Girls on their own. (The most ironic thing about this episode is, the Girls don't appear at all.)

* Franchise/{{DCAU}}:

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E26TwilightsKingdomPart2 "Twilight's Kingdom, Part 2"]], Lord Tirek proves to be worse than Discord, bullying the former chaos spirit and stealing all his magic when Discord is no longer useful.
** In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E26SchoolRazePart2 "School Raze, Part 2"]], when Chancellor Neighsay takes control of the school Cozy Glow is better at manipulation than him and easily turns the other students against Neighsay and getting control of the school for herself.
** In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS9E2TheBeginningOfTheEndPart2 "The Beginning Of The End, Part 2"]], [[spoiler:Grogar]] intimidates Tirek, Chrysalis and even Cozy Glow, who were dangerous villains in their own right, into remaining in his LegionOfDoom after showing them [[MakeAnExampleOfThem how Sombra failed to defeat the Mane Six alone]], and even throws in an ImpliedDeathThreat for good measure.
*** Come [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS9E24TheEndingOfTheEndPart1 "The Ending of The End", Part 1"]], the above example is subverted when [[spoiler: Grogar turns out to be Discord in disguise, and has his chaos magic drained by Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow]]. Furthermore, [[spoiler: the front he put up was intended to boost Twilight's morale for her coronation; what he didn't anticipate was the villains finding a way to turn the tables in ''their'' favor]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'':
** [[spoiler:Tarrlok]] has always been a bit of a dick and definitely a villain. [[spoiler:Too bad [[MagnificentBastard Amon]]'s better]]. In terms of historical parallels, [[spoiler:Tarrlok]] was the fascist to [[spoiler:Amon]]'s communist, which fits the theme of two extremes quite nicely. [[spoiler:It should be noted that it was revealed that Tarrlok was Amon's younger brother, and that of the two, ''he's'' the one who redeemed himself in the long run.]]
** [[BombThrowingAnarchists The Red Lotus]] vs. [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen the Earth Queen]] in Season 3. [[spoiler:It ends badly for the Earth Queen. Ironically enough, The Red Lotus [[ALighterShadeOfBlack are actually less evil than the Earth Queen]], but they're also far more competent and dangerous.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/YinYangYo'':
** Carl the Evil Cockroach Wizard and his brother Herman get along just as badly as the two main protagonists. Carl retains magical abilities and makes use of planned out schemes, while Herman retains colossal strength (contrasts with his ant-like size) and prefers to use brute strength to achieve victory. Naturally, the two have worked together (albeit forcibly) on occasion to take on Yin and Yang, but their extreme dislike of being within two feet of each other always leads to their failure.
** Played with with Carl and [[BigBad the Night Master]] - Carl helped the heroes defeat the Night Master, because he stole Carl's idea to blot out the suns. Initially, Carl insisted he didn't care and had gotten over such things. Then Yin and Yang pressed his BerserkButton by claiming the Night Master would say he stole the idea from Herman, not Carl.
* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'':
** This is done with a rare subtlety in ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' amongst the Predacons, with a nice contrast between Megatron and Tarantulas. Rather than fighting outright, the two do the best to bend the other to their own purposes. Don't think for a second that it's just between the two of them. Blackarachnia's also a major player, and other contenders come and go from the game over the course of the series, but that'd be telling.
** [[TheStarscream Starscream]] and [[BigBad Megatron]] acted like this ''all the time'' in G1 (and any number of alternate continuities). In general, the Autobots always teamed up with Megatron after he'd inevitably been betrayed by Starscream, because, while often more cowardly and incompetent as an actual leader than Megatron, Starscream's ambition was ''limitless''.
* In the conclusion of the storyline of the fourth season of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', Robin formed an uneasy alliance with Slade, after Slade convinced him that Trigon was a far greater evil (which Robin really couldn't deny). Later, however, Slade proved that he was still a contender when he faced Trigon's demonic guardian:
-->'''Demon:''' Fool. You cannot defeat pure evil!\\
'''Slade:''' Yeah? Well... I'm not such a nice guy myself.
* In ''WesternAnimation/DungeonsAndDragons1983'', Venger and Tiamat were at each other's throats just as often as they fought the heroes.
* Speaking of ''[[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons D&D]]'', in ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'', Megabyte and Hexadecimal could be considered Lawful Evil and Chaotic Neutral. They were constantly trying to get one over on each other, and it was revealed near the end of the second season that they were, in fact, [[CainAndAbel siblings]]. In the end, [[BolivianArmyEnding Megabyte took over Mainframe]], while Hexadecimal did a HeelFaceTurn and HeroicSacrifice. A subversion occurs with Daemon, who is more powerful than ''both'' of them, yet not very evil at all and considers her apocalyptic goal to be "bringing peace to the net".
* In ''WesternAnimation/ShadowRaiders'', Blokk and Lamprey were constantly vying for power as the Beast Planet's sole [[TheDragon Dragon]], even though they served the same master both functioned as {{Big Bad}}s. Blokk was overt and militaristic, Lamprey used subtle political manipulations to destroy target worlds from within. Eventually, Blokk was killed in battle and Lamprey may have survived the season 2 battle. Being just parts of The Beast, they can just be replace.

* Doubly subverted (but not a DoubleSubversion) in ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim''. Tak isn't Eviler than Zim, she's merely more ''competent'' (Tak at least ''tries'' to BreakingSpeech him, but Zim [[OverlyLongGag just continues screaming]]), and Zim doesn't form an EnemyMine with Dib because he's disgusted by her methods, [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou but because she's stealing his job.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible''
** ''[[TheMovie A Sitch in Time]]'' has [[HarmlessVillain Dr. Drakken]], [[ViolentGlaswegian Duff Killigan]], and [[McNinja Monkey Fist]] team up with [[HypercompetentSidekick Shego]] against Team Possible. During the course of the movie, Shego betrayed the other villains by stealing the [[MacGuffin Time Monkey Idol]] for herself, [[TakeOverTheWorld took over the world]], and made herself [[EvilOverlord The Supreme One]]. Bad girl.
** Ron's SuperpoweredEvilSide is this to effectively every other villain in the show. The first time he turned evil in "Bad Boy", not only is he a far better villain and scientist than Drakken ever was, he also cowed Shego into obedient submission and captured and nearly defeated Kim. The second time, in "Stop Team Go", he ruthlessly mows down an army of evil Wego clones, then tries to hijack the Attitudinator to complete his own plan, which completely blows Electronique's out of the water: turning ''Kim'' evil.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'':
** Mojo Jojo and Him end up in this kind of contest, attempting to show the [[ThePsychoRangers Rowdyruff Boys]] who's the [[HasTwoMommies better father]]. In the end, the Boys decide they're both pathetic and go out to fight the Powerpuff Girls on their own. (The most ironic thing about this episode is, the Girls don't appear at all.)
** Also, the girls were once defeated by an alien, who was using some of Mojo's ideas. When Mojo realized the alien was actually achieving everything he always wanted to, [[BerserkButton he went berserk]], beat the tar out of him, and forced him to admit that he's more evil.
** Only for the townsfolk, the PPG, and the narrator to all laud him as a hero, to his chagrin.
* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'':
** In ''Island'' Heather was this to [[TheBully Duncan]], who was [[EvenEvilHasStandards disgusted by Heather's actions]] and said that at least he was "straight with people."
** ''World Tour'' gives us this little gem from [[ManipulativeBastard Alejandro]]:
--->'''Alejandro:''' ...because compared to me, [[AlphaBitch Heather's]] a saint.
** And Alejandro himself is less evil compared to [[DepravedKidsShowHost Chris]].
** And every single villain in the series to date (yes, even '''Chris''') are saints compared to [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Mal]] in ''All Stars'', lampshaded by former BigBad Alejandro.
--->'''Alejandro:''' But I am not the true villain, a greater evil is lurking.
** Also this line.
--->'''Alejandro:''' Mal doesn't belong in juvie. HE BELONGS IN JAIL!
** ''Pahkitew Island'' brings us the villainous duo of Max and Scarlett. Max is a [[CardCarryingVillain Card Carrying]] HarmlessVillain who declares Scarlett to be his sidekick, only for her to actually be stringing him along to take attention away from herself. When Scarlett finally reveals her true colors [[spoiler:by holding the remaining contestants hostage on the soon-to-explode island]], Max is left sucking his thumb in a TroubledFetalPosition.
* ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'':
** This is the relationship every member of the Heinous family has with their offspring. When Lucius VI is [[HumanPopsicle unfrozen]], the first thing he does is chastise Lucius VII for not making everyone miserable enough.
** In "Heloise's Rival", a girl named Mean Jean comes to Miseryville and challenges Heloise to a "mean-off." [[spoiler:Heloise wins.]]
** Heloise in general is shown to be far more evil and better at making people miserable than her boss Lucius Heinous VII, who is an ineffectual BigBadWannabe with delusions of grandeur. Many episodes have Heloise outsmarting and humiliating Lucius with one of his own misery-making schemes. However, she's happy enough with being Lucius' employee that she will never take Miseryville and Misery Inc. from him.

* ''WesternAnimation/TurtlesForever''. The [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 2003 Shredder]] is this when compared with his [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 1987 counterpart and Krang]]. At first, 1987 Shredder hoped they could form a BigBadDuumvirate with him... then he discovered Ch'rell was murderously violent and Karai's involvement allowed him to take over the Technodrome, and all of 1987 Shredder/Krang's assets, upgrade them to his own means, and use them in a plan to destroy the Multiverse. The 2003 Shredder considers the '87 villains incompetent and worthless, and eventually has them imprisoned when he can't stand them any longer (except Bebop and Rocksteady, who he allows to serve him....BIG mistake.)
* ''WesternAnimation/FilmationsGhostbusters'' has at least two episodes featuring Big Evil trying to usurp Prime Evil's status as the main BigBad. The first episode even had Jessica commenting that Big Evil makes Prime Evil seem to be a good guy. Both episodes invoked the EnemyMine trope by having Prime Evil teaming up with the heroes against Big Evil.
* Played for laughs in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/EvilConCarne'' where the title character tries to form a LegionOfDoom; the plan falls apart because everyone at the meeting claims that he or she is the most evil and the most fit to lead the group.
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'':
** Doofenshmirtz goes through this three times, first when Agent P gets reassigned to the Regurgitator, making the OWCA drop Doofenshmirtz down to a "minor threat". He's extremely offended by this and decides to take care of it... only to realize how bad the Regurgitator really is, and starts working for him (hey, the job came with maternity leave). [[spoiler:Being as incompetent as he is, his incompetence actually defeats the Regurgitator, puts him in jail and his threat level goes back to normal]].
** Later said word for word by Doofenshmirtz to his more evil counterpart (Doofenshmirtz-2) in ''[[WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerbTheMovieAcrossThe2ndDimension Across the 2nd Dimension]]'', due to the latter's actual competence in doing evil and maintaining his rule of his Tri-State Area for 5 years.
** Later said in ''Recap/PhineasAndFerbSaveSummer'', where Aloyse von Roddenstein (or Rodney for short) happens to be far worse than Doof-2 and the Regurgitator combined, as he created a machine that will send the Earth into a new Ice Age, something which everyone is completely horrified to hear about; even Doofenshmirtz openly objects to Rodney's plot, knowing that it will endanger the entire world population.
* In ''WesternAnimation/PotsworthAndCompany'', one knows the villain who replaced the BigBad is the eviler one when the heroes resort into tricking the GreaterScopeVillain into firing him and rehiring the original BigBad.
* Happens occasionnally in all series of the ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'' franchise:
** In the original series, the Season 2 finale has [[EvilCounterpart Kevin 11]] finding and freeing [[ArchEnemy Vilgax]] to help him find and kill Ben. This is quick to end up with the two fighting each other (and Vilgax owning Kevin). They eventually team up, but Kevin then attempts to betray Vilgax, which results in both of them ending up trapped in the [[PhantomZone Null Void]]. Basically, their attempts to prove who's eviler than whom ends up their downfall.
** [[EvilSorcerer Hex]] ended up being betrayed by his niece and BastardUnderstudy [[DarkMagicalGirl Charmcaster]] in her debut appearance.
** Surprisingly averted for most of the Highbreed story arc in ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'', despite the Highbreeds being [[ScaryDogmaticAliens basically Nazi aliens]], and as such technically enemies to everybody. The only villain who ended up fighting them however was [[ManipulativeBastard Darkstar]], who is portrayed as irredeemable.
** Season 3, on the other hand, has a quite impressive fight between Vilgax and [[EnemyWithout Ghostfreak]], with the latter beating out the former.
** ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'': Season 1 has [[MagnificentBastard Aggregor]] vs [[EvilOverlord Adwaita]] (though he manipulated him and attacked him from behind rather than fighting him directly), and later Aggregor vs Kevin 11; Season 2 had a brief Charmcaster vs Adwaita and, eventually, a melee between the [[KnightTemplar Forever Knight]], [[EldritchAbomination Diagon]] and [[GalacticConqueror Vilgax]]. [[spoiler:Vilgax wins.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGummiBears'', Duke Igthorne had a SpotTheImposter situation with Princess Calla magically disguised as himself and Zummi had just magically altered his voice to give it a much higher pitch so the Ogres could not tell them apart by their voices. To prove his identity, Igthorn proposed a nastiness contest in which the one who was nastier to the Ogres would be the real Igthorn.

* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'':
** When the original Negaduck becomes supercharged as an energy-throwing, telekinetic PersonOfMassDestruction, his creator Megavolt is looking forward to all the crimes they'll commit together. Negaduck scoffs at him and says that committing crimes is small potatoes, but [[OmnicidalManiac complete destruction of everything]] is what he's ''really'' into.
** While Quackerjack himself is a VillainousHarlequin, he's far more comedic and ineffectual than the MonsterClown Paddywhack, who is an intangible demon who feeds on fear. Eventually, Paddywhack puts Quackerjack in his place and seals him inside his own magic box.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Bart is an infamous troublemaker, but he learns he can't hold a candle to [[PreachersKid Jessica Lovejoy]]. Before the episode, she was kicked out of boarding school. During the episode, she steals from the collection plate, which appalls Bart, and frames him for it.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'', the babies are tired of Angelica bullying them, so they leave her to play with a kid named Josh, who acts nice at first but then turns out to be even worse, and in the end, they have to be rescued by Angelica.
* In Season 5 of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', Darth Maul ends up on both ends of this trope. Alongside Pre Viszla's Death Watch, Maul conquers Mandalore. When Viszla betrays and imprisons him, Maul challenges Viszla and defeats him in single combat, leaving Maul the uncontested ruler of Mandalore. However, this attracts the attention of [[BigBad Darth Sidious]], who is less than pleased at his competition. One CurbStompBattle later, Maul is reduced to cowering and pleading while Sidious taunts him between bouts of [[ElectricTorture Force lightning]].
* ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'': Lord Dominator, as such she's described by the series creator as a better hater than Lord Hater.
** Hell, her VillainSong (directed at Lord Hater, no less!) is called "I'm The Bad Guy".

* ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'':
** While Zurg is an Evil Emperor and CardCarryingVillain, when he tries working with an [[EvilTwin evil Buzz Lightyear]] from the MirrorUniverse, he is quickly reduced to a sycophantic, eager-to-please nervous wreck, afraid of being seen as "soft" by his new partner. The same goes for the MirrorUniverse!Zurg, who "found himself in a new line of work"[[labelnote: note]][[BurgerFool the burger guy at Cosmo's]][[/labelnote]] after evil Buzz rose to power.
** Zurg is also on the receiving end of this when NOS-4-A2 comes up with a plan to turn everyone in the galaxy into robots to feast upon. With XL getting him past Zurg's defense systems, NOS-4-A2 then vampirizes the Hornet troopers and leaves Zurg on his own. Overwhelmed, Zurg opts to outright evacuate from the planet. It gets to the point where he recognizes his only chance to regain his throne is for Buzz to beat NOS-4-A2.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'':
** "Happy Birthday, Doofus Drake!" handily demonstrates that [[CreepyChild the titular character]] is far more disturbing and sadistic than prominent RoguesGallery members Flintheart Glomgold and Mark Beaks given [[EvenEvilHasStandards how disturbed they are]] by his antics.
** Also played for laughs when aspiring ConMan in training Louie tries to team up with his Uncle Scrooge FriendlyEnemy and OldFlame [[FemmeFatale Goldie]] [[EvilMentor O'Gilt]] for a scheme only for her to immediately backstab him and rob him blind.
--->'''Louie:''' How did this go so wrong so quickly?! \\
'''Goldie:''' Rule number one, kid. If you want to pick a pocket, you gotta get close. Better luck next time, rookie. \\
'''Louie:''' Rookie?! I'll have you know I am the [[EvilTwin evil triplet]], OK!? \\
'''Goldie:''' Sure, you're the scariest bunny in the pet shop.
** In "Glomtales", it's a RunningGag that everyone considers Magica de Spell to be Scrooge [=McDuck=]'s greatest enemy and the leader of the VillainTeamUp, which frustrates Glomgold to no end.
--->'''Scrooge:''' I knew this day would come... Magica's grand revenge!\\
'''Glomgold:''' I'm clearly standing in front!
* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster'': The villains spend "Quest for the Potion of Power" trying to restore Ganon to his former glory so that they can use him to conquer all of Video Land. However, once he's back in action, he makes it clear he won't be DemotedToDragon and that he'll conquer Video Land all by himself. Mother Brain's attempt to protest this turn of events goes very poorly.
-->'''Ganon:''' Ganon works for no one! ''[blasts her away]''

* ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'': While Zurg is an Evil Emperor and CardCarryingVillain, when he tries working with an [[EvilTwin evil Buzz Lightyear]] from the MirrorUniverse, he is quickly reduced to a sycophantic, eager-to-please nervous wreck, afraid of being seen as "soft" by his new partner. The same goes for the MirrorUniverse!Zurg, who "found himself in a new line of work"[[labelnote: note]][[BurgerFool the burger guy at Cosmo's]][[/labelnote]] after evil Buzz rose to power.

*** Grandfather's second act is to proclaim his intention to [[ZombieApocalypse zombify]] the children of the world to forcibly bind them to his will -- but not before he does the same to every recurring villain in the series, establishing beyond all doubt that he is the UltimateEvil.