History HijackedByGanon / WesternAnimation

** A literal variation happens in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS9E24TheEndingOfTheEndPart1 the series finale]]. Throughout the ninth season, it looked like it was buiding towards [[AncientEvil Grogar]] being the FinalBoss of the series, with him bringing together Equestria's remaining unreformed villains into a LegionOfDoom and having them [[DemotedToDragon under his hoof]]. It turns out, however, that it was actually Discord in disguise, [[WellIntentionedExtremist though he did so with good intentions]], planning to use the villains [[EngineeredHeroics to give Twilight some easy victories]] to boost her confidence as the new ruler of Equestria. Unfortunately, the villains managed to outsmart him, double-crossed him, and used the Bewitching Bell to [[BroughtDownToNormal remove his magic]] so he couldn't keep them in line, leaving them to be the true final threat of the series.

* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': "Vindicators 3: The Return of World Ender" has Rick and Morty joining the Vindicators, who are trying to prevent [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the return of World Ender]]. When they find World Ender on his home planet, it turns out he's already been killed; all of them immediately assume [[AlwaysABiggerFish an even more powerful villain is responsible]]. That more powerful villain turns out to be [[VillainProtagonist Rick himself]], who killed World Ender while blackout drunk, and also set up a number of ''Franchise/{{Saw}}''-style traps which end up killing all but one of the Vindicators.
* ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'': It doesn't matter who or what's causing trouble in Frostbite Falls or anywhere else in the world. In the end, either Boris Badenov is ''always'' going to be the one causing all the mayhem, or if he ''isn't'' the antagonist of the episode, they're going to bring him in to help them out. The only exception is "The Ruby Yacht", where he does not get involved at all.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' sets up the BigBad of the third season to be [[EnfantTerrible The Collector]], released from their prison as a result of the heroes risking SummonBiggerFish as a last ditch solution to the [[KnightTemplar previous]] [[VillainWithGoodPublicity villain]] Emperor Belos. The final episode sees the heroes help the Collector undergo a HeelFaceTuurn while Belos becomes the final threat of the series when he seizes control of the island's heart and uses it in a final attempt to destroy the Boiling Isles.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' sets up the BigBad of the third season to be [[EnfantTerrible The Collector]], released from their prison as a result of the heroes risking SummonBiggerFish as a last ditch solution to the [[KnightTemplar previous]] [[VillainWithGoodPublicity villain]] Emperor Belos. The final episode sees Belos seize control of the island's heart and use it to attack both the heroes and TheCollector.

* In ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes'', Imperiex, season 2's BigBad, teams up with Brainiac 5 (Who had been taken over by the programming of Brainiac 1.0). Just as Imperiex broadcasts their alliance to the Legion, Brainiac 5 [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impales]] and disintegrates Imperiex, then takes control of Imperiex's forces himself.

** In the subsequent story arc, this happens ''twice''. ComicBook/GorillaGrodd's leadership of the Legion of Doom is usurped by Luthor, then Lex's plan to reassemble Brainiac is throttled when he accidentally brings back ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} instead.

* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': "Vindicators 3: The Return of World Ender" has Rick and Morty joining the Vindicators, who are trying to prevent [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the return of World Ender]]. When they find World Ender on his home planet, it turns out he's already been killed; all of them immediately assume [[AlwaysABiggerFish an even more powerful villain is responsible]]. That more powerful villain turns out to be [[VillainProtagonist Rick himself]], who killed World Ender while blackout drunk, and also set up a number of ''Film/{{Saw}}''-style traps which end up killing all but one of the Vindicators.

* The story of ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' relies heavily on the Matriarchal Diamonds who run the entirety of Gem society. Blue and Yellow Diamond serve as major antagonists for the vast majority of the series, however the series teases that there have been a total of four diamonds. With the fate of Pink Diamond known, and both Yellow and Blue Diamond finally pacified, the story immediately shifts to White Diamond. At this point, White Diamond becomes the de-facto focus of the story, and the fear that Yellow and Blue show when speaking of her actions makes it obvious that White is the one in absolute charge of Homeworld.
** This also extends to the majority of the creatures Steven interacts with and often fights in earlier episodes -- they're all corrupted Gems who got that way thanks to the Diamonds. (They later figure out a way to uncorrupt them all.) Just about the only antagonists Steven has to deal with that ''aren't'' Gem-related are invariably humans who are merely [[{{Jerkass}} jerks]] and are pretty much at the bottom of the threat scale.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster'' episode "Quest for the Potion of Power," Mother Brain uses the titular potion to revive Ganon so she can control him.[[note]]Only the original NES games existed at the time of the cartoon, so Mother Brain was essentially hijacking the plot of ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink''.[[/note]] Three guesses how that went.

* ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'': It doesn't matter who or what's causing trouble in Frostbite Falls or anywhere else in the world. In the end, either Boris is ''always'' going to be the one causing all the mayhem, or if he ''isn't'' the antagonist of the episode, they're going to bring him in to help them out. The exception is "The Ruby Yacht", where he does not get involved at all.

** In the subsequent story arc, this happens ''twice''. Gorilla Grodd's leadership of the Legion of Doom is usurped by Luthor, then Lex's plan to reassemble Brainiac is throttled when he accidentally brings back ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} instead.

** In the subsequent story arc, this happens ''twice''. Gorilla Grodd's leadership of the Legion of Doom is usurped by Luthor, then Lex's plan to reassemble Brainiac is throttled when he accidentally brings back Darkseid instead.

** It's revealed that Lex Luthor was being manipulated by Brainiac to build him a new body. Luthor had been infected by a copy of Brainiac's programming after Brainiac had exploded the last time he and Luthor had met.

** A literal variation happens in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS9E24TheEndingOfTheEndPart1 the series finale]]. Throughout the ninth season, it looked like it was buiding towards [[AncientEvil Grogar]] being the FinalBoss of the series, with him bringing together Equestria's remaining unreformed villains into a LegionOfDoom and having them [[DemotedToDragon under his hoof]]. It turns out, however, that it was actually Discord in disguise, [[WellIntentionedExtremist though he did so with good intentions]], planning to use the villains [[EngineeredHeroics to give Twilight some easy victories]] to boost her confidence as the new ruler of Equestria. Unfortunately, the villains managed to outsmart him, double-crossed him, and used the Bewitching Bell [[BroughtDownToNormal remove his magic]] so he couldn't keep them in line, leaving them to be the true final threat of the series.

* The Season 3 finale of ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'', "Space Race", has Archer and the ISIS crew board a space station to stop a mutiny, only to get caught in the station commander's plan to colonize Mars. Once he commits suicide, it seems for the moment they only have to worry about getting back planetside- until Barry, Archer's cyborg rival who is hellbent on killing him ([[ItMakesSenseInContext long story]]), just happens to show up (having known he'd be there thanks to Kreiger).

* More than one ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' plot has turned out to have the Ice King behind it, occasionally nonsensically. This was likely parodied in the season 2 finale, where all he did for the first part was hang around annoying everyone and trying to be involved in the story, even though there was a bigger villain around.