History Main / FromNobodytoNightmare

[[folder:Web Original]]
* The [[EldritchAbomination Hunger]] in ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance'' started out as [[spoiler:John, a motivational speaker in his home plane who was struck with extreme nihilism. In time, his conviction of the multiverse's meaningless spread to ''every single thing'' in his entire plane, down to the last straw of grass or grain of sand. Because of a depressed motivational speaker, an entire plane turned into an EldritchAbomination out to consume the multiverse in order to force it to have meaning.]]
* ''Series/CobraKai'': All the Cobra Kai students started off as meek, bullied kids with some form of disability, and ended up feared, ruthless martial artists. However, the standout is Eli, who went from trying to hide in his clothes to a berserker whose capacity for aggression and brutality frightens even the other members of Cobra Kai.
* ''WebVideo/CoyleCommand'' found its origins as a laundromat. Its leader, Coyle Commander, had the job of opening and closing it every day.
* Cute swamp monster Theodora, from roleplaying podcast ''Podcast/DiceFunk'', goes from a bit character in the previous season to a main character in the next one...[[DealWithTheDevil a main character in Faustian service to a God of Abominations.]] By the time the other characters realize that she's NotSoHarmless and sweet, Dora has become the living avatar of a dark god and sacrificed everything she's cared about on that god's altar. [[spoiler:Worse yet, she accomplishes exactly what she'd set out to do, killing dozens and trapping thousands of innocent people in a FateWorseThanDeath inside of [[IronicHell ironic hells]] that they can no longer escape. Ever.]]
* ''WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog'' goes this route with the main character. In the prequel comic released, he was merely a geeky kid who was inspired by a MadScientist's moment of triumph to be a Supervillain (albeit one with [[WellIntentionedExtremist good aspirations]]). He consistently remains unsuccessful at impressing his superiors and is eventually shoehorned into a situation where he must commit a murder or [[YouHaveFailedMe be executed for incompetence]]. Eventually [[spoiler:with the accidental murder of Penny, the girl he loved]], he becomes a true supervillain in both position and personality.
* After two online users, ghettofinger and [=GirlVinyl=] were kept from creating a Wikipedia article about a certain [=LiveJournal=] user, they went on and created their own wiki so they could get away with it. The result: The infamously offensive (and NighInvulnerable) ''Encyclopedia Dramatica''.
* Alastor, AKA [[TheRedBaron The Radio Demon]] of ''WebAnimation/HazbinHotel''. He arrived as just a rank and file damned soul in Hell. And in disturbingly short order, toppled powerful demons who had been ruling for centuries. The entire underworld is rightfully wary of getting his attention.
* ''WebAnimation/MadnessCombat'': Tricky the [[MonsterClown Clown]] starts out as a random {{Mook|s}} in the [[DiscOneFinalBoss Sheriff]]'s employ, but then assimilates [[RealityWarper reality-warping]] technology and becomes the setting's most enduring villain. As of ''Expurgation'', he's reached HumanoidAbomination status as "The Thorn in Reality's Side".
* [[http://www.orionsarm.com/xcms.php?r=oa-story&story=dr_yes_jolonah The Queen of Pain]] from ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'', an EldritchAbomination that was once a perfectly normal cat.
* Several of the most feared Villains in ''Literature/APracticalGuideToEvil''.
** [[ObviouslyEvil Dread]] [[TheEmperor Empress]] [[RedBaron Malacia]] and her BlackKnight conquered [[TheEmpire The Empire of Praes]], reformed its [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Legions of Terror]] into a BadassArmy, and have subjugated [[TheGoodKingdom Callow]] for decades by the start of the story. Before any of that though, they were [[spoiler:the ChildhoodFriends Alaya ("Ally") the waitress, and Amadeus ("Maddie") the FarmBoy]].
** [[VillainProtagonist Catherine]] [[ConvenientlyAnOrphan Foundling]] was a no-name orphan in an occupied nation. Within a few years, she became [[spoiler:a HumanoidAbomination with her own country, was declared [[TheDreaded Arch-Heretic of the East]], [[DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu negotiated with the King of the Dead]], and is now in the process of taking over the [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder Drow]] so she can turn them into yet another army against the invading crusaders]].
* ''Literature/TheQuestportChronicles'': The Fellowship never finds out who [[NoNameGiven the mage]] who [[spoiler:destroyed Questport]] is or where he came from. No one had heard of him until after the cataclysm.
* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Cinder wants to be [[NeverBeHurtAgain strong, powerful and feared]] because she came from nothing, and has clawed her way into the position she now holds as TheHeavy to the BigBad. [[spoiler:An orphan who was bullied by older, bigger children, she was bought by a wealthy Atlesian hotelier to function as a slave. A sympathetic Huntsman, Rhodes, secretly trained her to become a Huntress so that she could escape when she came of age; however, years of abuse took their toll on Cinder, who snapped and murdered her step-family. When Rhodes tried to arrest her, she killed him, too. Now she's obsessed with gaining power at all costs, and treats others as abusively as her step-mother once treated her.]]
* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue''
** The BigBad of ''[[Machinima/RedVsBlueTheChorusTrilogy The Chorus Trilogy]]'' and the series' overall GreaterScopeVillain, [[spoiler:Malcolm Hargrove, was originally the PA to the chairman of the UNSC Oversight Subcommittee. He proceeded to become the actual chairman of the subcommittee, and would later become the CEO of Charon Industries, using his new power to try to [[OmnicidalManiac wipe out an entire planet's population]] and then claim ownership of the planet's invaluable alien artifacts afterwards]].
** The {{Big Bad}}s of ''[[Machinima/RedVsBlueTheShisnoTrilogy Season 15]]'', [[spoiler:the Blues and Reds are this, especially their leader, Temple. Similar to the Reds and Blues, the group started as lowly Simulation Troopers designed as living training dummies for the [[SuperSolider Freelancers]], only to end up [[TookALevelInBadass Taking a Level in Badass]] and becoming competent soldiers in their own right. However, whereas the Reds and Blues ended up becoming war heroes, the Blues and Reds became revenge-driven murderers out to personally kill all the remaining Freelancers as well as the entire UNSC.]]

* Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses:
** [[WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers Ma-Ti]] goes from the ButtMonkey of the group in the ''WebVideo/TGWTGYearOneBrawl'' to the BigDamnHero in ''WebVideo/SuburbanKnights'' to the BigBad in ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee''.
** ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'' has The Entity, a [[NightmareFuel terrifying]], [[OmnicidalManiac universe-devouring]] EldritchAbomination that motivated [[spoiler:Lord Vyce]] to become TheDreaded [[MultiversalConqueror across the multiverse]] just to stop it. The identity of the Entity? [[spoiler:[[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Missingno]], a relatively harmless [[GlitchEntity video game glitch]] which only becomes creepy when FridgeLogic is applied to it.]] Also counts as AdaptationalBadass.
* The heroine of ''Tired Fairy'' is originally just a joung woman from a middle-class family, going on university vacation. Then she finds the [[ArtifactOfDoom Sphere of Power]], an ancient artifact that can kill everybody and destroy anything the wielder wishes (think Manga/DeathNote on steroids). By the end of the first book, she is de-facto in control of the world.
* A host of kids in the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'' who are nothing until somewhere around the age of fourteen they manifest as mutants. Deathlist, most feared hero killer in the world, started out as an ordinary schoolboy.
* [[VillainProtagonist Taylor Hebert]] from the web serial ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' is a depressed fifteen-year-old girl that's the victim of [[TeensAreMonsters heavy bullying]]. Roughly [[{{Doorstopper}} 1,680,000 words later]], she has been an [[spoiler:infamous Supervillain/Warlord, a renowned Superhero, a voice at the table when TheIlluminati discussed their response to the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt impending apocalypse]], a dimension-hopping PhysicalGod of total [[{{Brainwashing}} mind-control]] ability]]. Then she peacefully retires at around nineteen years old.
[[/folder]]

* [[FromNobodyToNightmare/{{Film}} Films]]

* {{FromNobodyToNightmare/Webcomics}}

!!Example subpages

* FromNobodyToNightmare/{{Film}}

!!Other examples

** Despite optimistic predictions, Cody never really made it out of the midcard marsh in WWE, leading him to eventually leave the company to seek his fortunes on the indies and in smaller promotions like ROH and NJPW. It was during his time in NJPW that he ended up joining Wrestling/BulletClub and eventually ousted the famous Wrestling/KennyOmega to become ''leader'' of the hottest stable in the wrestling world. Eventually Cody and his friends in Wrestling/TheElite (Omega and Wrestling/TheYoungBucks) had amassed enough clout to hold their own indie PPV, ''All In'', where Cody won the esteemed NWA World Championship, the same title his legendary father [[Wrestling/DustyRhodes Dusty]] had once held, and they parleyed this success into founding ''their own promotion,'' Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling, which has quickly managed to become one of the hottest wrestling promotions in the world, with Cody as its top massively-over babyface. To call his post-WWE career "prolific" would be an understatement of the ''highest'' order and he's the unquestioned poster boy for a wrestler leaving WWE to become a bigger star outside of it than they were allowed to become within it. He's probably the biggest arch-enemy Wrestling/VinceMcMahon has had since Wrestling/EricBischoff; how appropriate that he's called the [[Wrestling/DustyRhodes American Nightmare]].

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': [[spoiler: Cinder Fall]], as revealed in "Midnight," started out as an orphan that was

bullied by the older, bigger kids, before being "adopted" (read "bought") by a wealthy Atlesian woman to be a slave-in-all-but-name. [[spoiler: A local Huntsman named Rhodes, however, took pity on her, and started training her in secret to become a Huntress so she could leave for an Academy when she was old enough. Unfortunately, the abuse of her "family" proved too much, and Cinder murdered them in a rage, followed by Rhodes when he tried to arrest her]]. By the time the series has begun, [[spoiler: she's become TheDragon to an insane HumanoidAbomination bent on the annihilation of mankind, motivated by promises of power - enough to ensure [[NeverBeHurtAgain she can never be anyone's slave again]]]].

* The Franchise/EvilliousChronicles's Duke Venomania, otherwise known as [[spoiler: Cherubim]], as expanded in LightNovel/TheLunacyOfDukeVenomania, the tie-in to the song of the same name. He's a [[spoiler: [[TheWoobie deformed guy who was locked in the basement because of this, and only two people actually cared about him]]...and then [[DespairEventHorizon the girl he loved rejected him.]]]] So he ''murdered his entire family, made a DealWithTheDevil, and [[RapeAsDrama raped]] [[ReallyGetsAround pretty much every character in that story arc]].'' Not to mention all of the murders and brainwashing he committed to keep it quiet.

%% Image and caption selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=9qa1o3mbmlvl7emg49wofl4d
%% Image kept on page per IP thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1586793027023897000
%% Please do not change or remove either without starting a new thread.

[[quoteright:300:[[Franchise/StarWars https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_anakin04_3011.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300: ''"From [[Characters/StarWarsAnakinSkywalker slave]] to [[Characters/StarWarsDarthVaderAndServants slaughterer]]."'']]

* ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'': [[spoiler: The students of Hope's Peak Academy's 77th class (excluding Chiaki) were all fairly normal, if [[DarkAndTroubledPast somewhat messed up]], high school students before they became members of Ultimate Despair. Afterward, they were responsible for the murders of their families and friends, terrorism, coup d'etats, wars, the massacre of countless innocents, and even [[BodyHorror destroying their own bodies through self-inflicted mutilation]]. The [[Anime/DanganRonpa3 finale anime]] describes them as ''million-class murderers''.]]
** [[spoiler:Hajime Hinata takes the cake among the cast, starting off from someone with no talent being selected by Hope's Peak for an experiment. Said experiment erased his memories and personality to make him multi-talented for the sake of creating Ultimate Hope... but the aftereffects made him a prime target to become ''the'' Ultimate Despair, triggering TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.]]

* ''WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog'' goes this route with the main character. In the prequel comic released, he was merely a geeky kid who was inspired by a MadScientist's moment of triumph to be a Supervillain (albeit one with [[WellIntentionedExtremist good aspirations]]). He consistently remains unsuccessful at impressing his superiors and is eventually shoehorned into a situation where he must commit a murder or [[YouHaveFailedMe be executed for incompetence]]. Eventually [[spoiler:with the accidental murder of Penny, the girl he loved]], he becomes a true supervillain in both position and personality.

* A host of kids in the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'' who are nothing until somewhere around the age of fourteen they manifest as mutants. Deathlist, most feared hero killer in the world, started out as an ordinary schoolboy.
* ''Literature/TheQuestportChronicles'': The Fellowship never finds out who [[NoNameGiven the mage]] who [[spoiler:destroyed Questport]] is or where he came from. No one had heard of him until after the cataclysm.

* Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses:
** [[WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers Ma-Ti]] goes from the ButtMonkey of the group in the ''WebVideo/TGWTGYearOneBrawl'' to the BigDamnHero in ''WebVideo/SuburbanKnights'' to the BigBad in ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee''.
** ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'' has The Entity, a [[NightmareFuel terrifying]], [[OmnicidalManiac universe-devouring]] EldritchAbomination that motivated [[spoiler:Lord Vyce]] to become TheDreaded [[MultiversalConqueror across the multiverse]] just to stop it. The identity of the Entity? [[spoiler:[[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Missingno]], a relatively harmless [[GlitchEntity video game glitch]] which only becomes creepy when FridgeLogic is applied to it.]] Also counts as AdaptationalBadass.
* The heroine of ''Tired Fairy'' is originally just a joung woman from a middle-class family, going on university vacation. Then she finds the [[ArtifactOfDoom Sphere of Power]], an ancient artifact that can kill averybody and destroy anything the wielder wishes (think Manga/DeathNote on steroids). By the end of the first book, she is de-facto in control of the world.
* After two online users, ghettofinger and [=GirlVinyl=] were kept from creating a Wikipedia article about a certain [=LiveJournal=] user, they went on and created their own wiki so they could get away with it. The result: The infamously offensive (and NighInvulnerable) ''Encyclopedia Dramatica''.

* ''Series/CobraKai'': All the Cobra Kai students started off as meek, bullied kids with some form of disability, and ended up feared, ruthless martial artists. However, the standout is Eli, who went from trying to hide in his clothes to a berserker whose capacity for aggression and brutality frightens even the other members of Cobra Kai.
* [[VillainProtagonist Taylor Hebert]] from the web serial ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' is a depressed fifteen-year-old girl that's the victim of [[TeensAreMonsters heavy bullying]]. Roughly [[{{Doorstopper}} 1,680,000 words later]], she has been an [[spoiler:infamous Supervillain/Warlord, a renowned Superhero, a voice at the table when TheIlluminati discussed their response to the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt impending apocalypse]], a dimension-hopping PhysicalGod of total [[{{Brainwashing}} mind-control]] ability]]. Then she peacefully retires at around nineteen years old.
* ''WebAnimation/MadnessCombat'': Tricky the [[MonsterClown Clown]] starts out as a random {{Mook|s}} in the [[DiscOneFinalBoss Sheriff]]'s employ, but then assimilates [[RealityWarper reality-warping]] technology and becomes the setting's most enduring villain. As of ''Expurgation'', he's reached HumanoidAbomination status as "The Thorn in Reality's Side".
* Alastor, AKA [[TheRedBaron The Radio Demon]] of ''WebAnimation/HazbinHotel''. He arrived as just a rank and file damned soul in Hell. And in disturbingly short order, toppled powerful demons who had been ruling for centuries. The entire underworld is rightfully wary of getting his attention.
* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': [[spoiler: Cinder Fall]], as revealed in "Midnight," started out as an orphan that was bullied by the older, bigger kids, before being "adopted" (read "bought") by a wealthy Atlesian woman to be a slave-in-all-but-name. [[spoiler: A local Huntsman named Rhodes, however, took pity on her, and started training her in secret to become a Huntress so she could leave for an Academy when she was old enough. Unfortunately, the abuse of her "family" proved too much, and Cinder murdered them in a rage, followed by Rhodes when he tried to arrest her]]. By the time the series has begun, [[spoiler: she's become TheDragon to an insane HumanoidAbomination bent on the annihilation of mankind, motivated by promises of power - enough to ensure [[NeverBeHurtAgain she can never be anyone's slave again]]]].

* The [[EldritchAbomination Hunger]] in ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance'' started out as [[spoiler:John, a motivational speaker in his home plane who was struck with extreme nihilism. In time, his conviction of the multiverse's meaningless spread to ''every single thing'' in his entire plane, down to the last straw of grass or grain of sand. Because of a depressed motivational speaker, an entire plane turned into an EldritchAbomination out to consume the multiverse in order to force it to have meaning.]]

** Despite optimistic predictions, Cody never really made it out of the midcard marsh in WWE, leading him to eventually leave the company to seek his fortunes on the indies and in smaller promotions like ROH and NJPW. It was during his time in NJPW that he ended up joining Wrestling/BulletClub and eventually ousted the famous Wrestling/KennyOmega to become ''leader'' of the hottest stable in the wrestling world. Eventually Cody and his friends in Wrestling/TheElite (Omega and Wrestling/TheYoungBucks) had amassed enough clout to hold their own indie PPV, ''All In'', where Cody won the esteemed NWA World Championship, the same title his legendary father [[Wrestling/DustyRhodes Dusty]] had once held, and they parleyed this success into founding ''their own promotion,'' Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling, which has quickly managed to become one of the hottest wrestling promotions in the world, with Cody as its top massively-over babyface. To call his post-WWE career "prolific" would be an understatement of the ''highest'' order and he's the unquestioned poster boy for a wrestler leaving WWE to become a bigger star outside of it than they were allowed to become within it. He's probably the biggest arch-enemy Wrestling/VinceMcMahon has had since Wrestling/EricBischoff.

** The {{Big Bad}}s of ''[[Machinima/RedVsBlueSeason15 Season 15]]'', [[spoiler:the Blues and Reds are this, especially their leader, Temple. Similar to the Reds and Blues, the group started as lowly Simulation Troopers designed as living training dummies for the [[SuperSolider Freelancers]], only to end up [[TookALevelInBadass Taking a Level in Badass]] and becoming competent soldiers in their own right. However, whereas the Reds and Blues ended up becoming war heroes, the Blues and Reds became revenge-driven murderers out to personally kill all the remaining Freelancers as well as the entire UNSC.]]

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': [[spoiler: Cinder Fall]], as revealed in "Midnight," started out as an orphan that was bullied by the older, bigger kids, before being "adopted" (read "bought") by a wealthy Atlesian woman to be a slave-in-all-but-name. [[spoiler: A local Huntsman named Rhodes, however, took pity on her, and started training her in secret to become a Huntress so she could leave for an Academy when she was old enough. Unfortunately, the abuse of her "family" proved too much, and Cinder murdered them in a rage, followed by Rhodes when he tried to arrest her]].

* ''VisualNovel/SuperDanganronpa2'': [[spoiler: The students of Hope's Peak Academy's 77th class (excluding Chiaki) were all fairly normal, if [[DarkAndTroubledPast somewhat messed up]], high school students before they became members of Ultimate Despair. Afterward, they were responsible for the murders of their families and friends, terrorism, coup d'etats, wars, the massacre of countless innocents, and even [[BodyHorror destroying their own bodies through self-inflicted mutilation]]. The [[Anime/DanganRonpa3 finale anime]] describes them as ''million-class murderers''.]]

** ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'' has The Entity, a [[NightmareFuel terrifying]], [[OmnicidalManiac universe-devouring]] EldritchAbomination that motivated [[spoiler:Lord Vyce]] to become TheDreaded [[MultiversalConqueror across the multiverse]] just to stop it. The identity of the Entity? [[spoiler:[[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Missingno]], a relatively harmless [[TheMissingno video game glitch]] which only becomes creepy when FridgeLogic is applied to it.]] Also counts as AdaptationalBadass.

** The BigBad of ''[[Machinima/RedVsBlueTheChorusTrilogy The Chorus Trilogy]]'' and the series' overall GreaterScopeVillain, [[spoiler:Malcolm Hargrove, was originally the PA to the chairman of the UNSC Oversight Subcommittee. He proceeded to become the actual chairman of the subcommittee, and would later become the CEO of Charon Industries, using his new power to try to [[OmnicidalManiac wipe out an entire planet's population]] and then claim ownership of the planet's valuable resources afterwards]].

** The {{Big Bad}}s of ''[[Machinima/RedVsBlueSeason15 Season 15]]'', [[spoiler:the Blues and Reds are this, especially their leader, Temple. Similar to the Reds and Blues, the group started as lowly Simulation Troopers designed as living training dummies for the [[SuperSolider Freelancers]], only to end up [[TookALevelInBadass Taking a Level in Badass]] and becoming competent soldiers in their own right. However, whereas the Reds and Blues ended up becoming war heroes, the Blues and Reds became revenge-driven murderers out to personally kill all the remaining Freelancers]].

For some reason, it seems that From Nobody To Nightmare villains are ''always'' more powerful, terrifying, deadly, and threatening than your typical DiabolicalMastermind. In scenarios where the villain rose by their own effort, this often a case of [[IDidWhatIHadToDo I Did What I Had To Do]], [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope Jumping off the Slippery Slope]], and maybe a few [[AngstNuke Angst Nukes]] thrown in for good measure. This may owe itself to the shock value of the idea that anyone and anything can become the BigBad under the right circumstances; it's much more comforting to believe that only long years of [[CardCarryingVillain Card Carrying Villainy]] could possibly breed that kind of person.

* Wrestling/TheMiz. When he first appeared on television in the summer of 2006, it was merely as the obnoxious emcee for that year's Diva Search (which Wrestling/{{Layla}} El won, by the way). He eventually started wrestling, but almost everyone (except for Wrestling/MichaelCole, which Cole himself would [[LampshadeHanging Lampshade]] years later) thought of him as a joke who had only been offered a contract with WWE because he'd been on so many reality shows. (Outside of {{Kayfabe}}, of course, he'd been the second-place contestant on ''Tough Enough'', which did him no favors with the fans since the fan voted contest winner was unceremoniously booted from the WWE) He remained essentially a "curtain-jerker" for his entire first year on TV, even getting eliminated from his first Royal Rumble Match after only seven seconds! It was only after he was drafted to ''ECW on [=SciFi=]'' in the summer of 2007 and paired with Wrestling/JohnMorrison in a heel tag team that he started to emerge as something resembling a threat. Fast-forward three years and several titles later, and suddenly Miz is "Mister Money in the Bank" and eventually "the most must-see WWE Champion in history!" And, of course, [[MemeticMutation "Awesome."]]
* The Wrestling/{{WWENXT}} season one rookies were just some wet-behind-the-ears, fresh-out-of-training nobodies -- maybe something someday, but for now not worth much. Then they banded together to form Wrestling/TheNexus, and completely tore apart [[Wrestling/WWERAw Monday Night Raw]]. For a few months after that, they were "the biggest threat WWE has ever faced" -- bigger than The Alliance, bigger than the [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder nWo]], bigger than the [[Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon McMahon]]-[[Wrestling/TripleH Helmsley]] Regime, you name it. Ironically, their undoing came when [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]], the only rookie who actually had a good amount of experience before coming on NXT, and who had been expelled from the group for showing remorse, joined the WWE wrestlers in the fight against The Nexus.

* Wrestling/CodyRhodes made his WWE debut back in July of 2007 as a generic babyface who teamed up with veteran [[Wrestling/BobHolly Hardcore Holly]] to win the World Tag Team Championships later that year. But Rhodes would turn on Holly at Night of Champions in June of 2008 by revealing himself to be Wrestling/TedDiBiase Jr.'s mystery partner. Both [=DiBiase=] and Rhodes would spend the rest of 2008 to early 2010 as Randy Orton's Legacy henchmen who did all of Orton's dirty work. By spring of 2010 when Legacy disbanded, many experts predicted that [=DiBiase=] would be the breakout star of Legacy while Rhodes would be stuck in WWE Superstars-land. But it would be Rhodes who would become one of the WWE's top heels as well as one of the longest reigning Intercontinental Champions while [=DiBiase=] faded to obscurity.
** Despite optimistic predictions, Cody never really made it out of the midcard marsh in WWE, leading him to eventually leave the company to seek his fortunes on the indies and in smaller promotions like ROH and NJPW. It was during his time in NJPW that he ended up joining Wrestling/BulletClub and eventually ousted the famous Wrestling/KennyOmega to become ''leader'' of the hottest stable in the wrestling world. Eventually Cody and his friends in Wrestling/TheElite (Omega and Wrestling/TheYoungBucks) had amassed enough clout to hold their own indie PPV, ''All In'', where Cody won the esteemed NWA World Championship, the same title his legendary father [[Wrestling/DustyRhodes Dusty]] had once held, and they parleyed this success into founding ''their own promotion,'' Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling, which has quickly managed to become one of the hottest wrestling promotions in the world, with Cody as it's top massively-over babyface. To call his post-WWE career "prolific" would be an understatement of the ''highest'' order and he's the unquestioned poster boy for a wrestler leaving WWE to become a bigger star outside of it than they were allowed to become within it. He's probably the biggest arch-enemy Wrestling/VinceMcMahon has had since Wrestling/EricBischoff.

** Two minor examples are Eddie, a chill workman-cum-drug-dealer, and Esther, a kindly investigate journalist. Both are shown in the future to work as lackeys for the Post-Human Division, and are set on detaining the superpowered characters.

* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'''s Sakura Matou goes from the cute girl with a jerk brother who gets kicked out of all the routes early, never does anything important, CannotSpitItOut and more ShrinkingViolet traits to [[spoiler:an all powerful dark mage with the ''exact'' magic traits needed not only to be able to be the host of the (sort of) devil, but also express its power. And also to keep her mind (to a certain extent). Oh, and she can eat Servants or corrupt them as she pleases, have an immense HealingFactor and a bunch of other nifty moves. The one thing it ''doesn't'' do for her is improve her self image, causing her to believe that Rin (her sister) doesn't care about her (Rin's [[IdiotBall rather cold statements]] don't exactly help matters...), and to worry that Shirou might abandon her for Rin]].

* In ''VisualNovel/HatofulBoyfriend: Holiday Star'', [[spoiler:The King]] was once a depressed quail whose otherwise-uninteresting life was so horrible that he became [[spoiler:a WellIntentionedExtremist EldritchAbomonation in the afterlife; he refuses to let himself be reincarnated, and creates a fake fairytale kingdom where he steals the souls of all visitors, [[AssimilationPlot forcing them to become part of his hive mind]] so that nobody in the kingdom disagrees or is reincarnated, and they "happily" stay in his false paradise forever.]]

* [[VillainProtagonist Taylor Hebert]] from the web serial ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' is a depressed fifteen year-old girl that's the victim of [[TeensAreMonsters heavy bullying]]. Roughly [[{{Doorstopper}} 1,680,000 words later]], she has been an [[spoiler:infamous Supervillain/Warlord, a renowned Superhero, a voice at the table when TheIlluminati discussed their response to the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt impending apocalypse]], a dimension-hopping PhysicalGod of total [[{{Brainwashing}} mind-control]] ability]]. Then she peacefully retires at around nineteen years old.

[[caption-width-right:300: ''"From slave to slaughterer."'']]

* After two online users, ghettofinger and [=GirlVinyl=] were kept from creating a Wikipedia article about a ''certain someone'', they went on and created their own wiki so they could get away with it. The result: The infamously offensive (and NighInvulnerable) ''Encyclopedia Dramatica''.

* After two online users, ghettofinger and [=GirlVinyl=] were kept from creating a Wikipedia article about ''[[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment a certain someone]]'', they went on and created their own wiki so they could get away with it. The result: The infamously offensive (and NighInvulnerable) ''Encyclopedia Dramatica''.

!!Examples

* Wrestling/BrayWyatt. Originally Husky Harris, filler for CM Punk's iteration of the Nexus, he later on became "possessed", now the AxCrazy leader of a backwoods cult, who may or may not be the vessel for the devil himself.

** Despite optimistic predictions, Cody never really made it out of the midcard marsh in WWE, leading him to eventually leave the company to seek his fortunes on the indies and in smaller promotions like ROH and NJPW. It was during his time in NJPW that he ended up joining Wrestling/BulletClub and eventually ousted the famous Wrestling/KennyOmega to become ''leader'' of the hottest stable in the wrestling world. Eventually Cody and his friends in Wrestling/TheElite (Omega and Wrestling/TheYoungBucks) had amassed enough clout to hold their own indie PPV, ''All In'', where Cody won the esteemed NWA World Championship, the same title his legendary father [[Wrestling/DustyRhodes Dusty]] had once held, and they parleyed this success into founding ''their own promotion,'' Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling, which has quickly managed to become one of the hottest wrestling promotions in the world, with Cody as it's top massively-over babyface. To call his post-WWE career "prolific" would be an understatement of the ''highest'' order and he's the unquestioned poster boy for a wrestler leaving WWE to become a bigger star outside of it than they were allowed to become within it.