History Main / HerosEvilPredecessor

* ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza 0}}'' reveals that Kiryu was not the first man to claim the title "Dragon of Dojima"; the title was first coined by Keiji Shibusawa, the BigBad of ''0'', who intended to crown himself "Dragon" after ousting Kazama, giving Dojima the Empty Lot, and killing Kiryu [[EvilIsPetty because he got a dragon tattoo as well]]. Kiryu throws this back in his face that a title someone comes up for himself doesn't mean anything, but claims it all the same after he defeats Shibusawa and cements himself as a true "Dragon".

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda1'': Downplayed; Tai Lung, Master Shifu's former personal pupil, was a talented kung-fu fighter who trained since his early age, and Shifu thought he would take the legendary Dragon Scroll and become the legendary Dragon Warrior. Master Oogway didn't agree, though, leading to Tai Lung rebelling against the masters and then getting imprisoned for his troubles (as pictured above). Some years later, our hero [[Characters/KungFuPandaMasterPoPing Po]] is made the Dragon Warrior, and then he's informed that he's fated to defeat Tai Lung, the former candidate for the scroll.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''. Gul Dukat, the main BigBad of the series, used to run [=DS9=] before the Federation took over. Also [[InvertedTrope inverted]] in the final season. [[TheHero Benjamin Sisko]] has been the Emissary of the [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens Prophets]] since the series premiere, and late in the 7th season Gul Dukat becomes the Emissary of the Pah-Wraiths, the {{Evil Counterpart}}s of the Prophets. Naturally this leads to a duel to the death between the two in the series finale.

* The 2021 miniseries ''Robins'' sees the various Robins- Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown and Damian Wayne- being attacked by an initially unknown figure who identifies themselves as "the first Robin", claiming to be Batman's first partner. The five eventually learn that the "first Robin" was [[spoiler:Jenny Wren, a young woman who helped Batman solve the mystery of the villain the Escape Artist, a computer expert who who operated outside of Batman's existing experience. Jenny helped Batman confront the villain, but when she nearly killed their opponent, Batman realised that she wouldn't be a suitable long-term partner, and she ultimately faked her death. The choice of "Robin" as Dick's codename was ultimately a coincidence that Batman took as a sign that these partners would allow him to redeem his mistakes with Jenny, who was too much like him in the sense that both were consumed by their rage where a partner had to be better]].

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda1'': Downplayed; Tai Lung, Master Shifu's former personal pupil, was a talented kung-fu fighter who trained since his early age, and Shifu thought he would take the legendary Dragon Scroll and become the legendary Dragon Warrior. Master Oogway didn't agree, though, leading to Tai Lung rebelling against the masters and then getting imprisoned for his troubles (as pictured above). Some years later, our hero Po is made the Dragon Warrior, and then he's informed that he's fated to defeat Tai Lung, the former candidate for the scroll.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'' has Sunset Shimmer, who was the prized student of Princess Celestia before ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' protagonist Twilight Sparkle, until her growing impatience and selfishness got her stripped of her rank. In a rare case for this sort of character, Sunset turns into TheAtoner and even becomes friends with Twilight after a heart-to-heart where she proves that she's changing her ways, at which point she takes the role of {{hero protagonist}} for the rest of the spin-off franchise.

** [[spoiler:''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' ends with a fully redeemed Prince Zuko as the new Fire Lord wanting to restore the Fire Nation from its imperialistic flaws, but only after Avatar Aang defeats series’ BigBad Fire Lord Ozai.]]
** [[spoiler:''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' ends with Prince Wu taking over the Earth Kingdom as a far more benevolent ruler than Hou-Ting and Kuvira, but takes it a step further by leading a transition in reducing the Earth Kingdom into Democratic States.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'', the artificial intelligence Light Hope tells Adora that the previous bearer of the She-Ra mantle, a First One named Mara, went insane and banished Etheria into a null-dimension of Despondos. Part of Adora's anxieties is ending up like her predecessor. [[spoiler:This is only part of the truth; the First Ones actually remade Etheria to be an enormous superweapon that would "purge" the universe. Mara realized what they were going to do and rebelled, but was killed by a reprogrammed (read:brainwashed) Light Hope. Banishing Etheria into Despondos was her last-ditch attempt at saving both Etheria and the universe]].

** [[spoiler:''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' ends with a fully-redeemed [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderZuko Prince Zuko]] as the new Fire Lord wanting to restore the Fire Nation from its imperialistic flaws, but only after Avatar Aang defeats series’ BigBad Fire Lord Ozai]].
** [[spoiler:''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLegendOfKorra'' ends with Prince Wu taking over the Earth Kingdom as a far more benevolent ruler than Hou-Ting and Kuvira, but takes it a step further by leading a transition in reducing the Earth Kingdom into Democratic States]].

** [[spoiler:''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' ends with a fully-redeemed Prince Zuko as the new Fire Lord wanting to restore the Fire Nation from its imperialistic flaws, but only after Avatar Aang defeats series’ BigBad Fire Lord Ozai]].

** [[spoiler: ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' ends with a fully-redeemed Prince Zuko as the new Fire Lord wanting to restore the Fire Nation from its imperialistic flaws, but only after Avatar Aang defeats series’ BigBad Fire Lord Ozai]].
** [[spoiler: ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLegendOfKorra'' ends with Prince Wu taking over the Earth Kingdom as a far more benevolent ruler than Hou-Ting and Kuvira, but takes it a step further by leading a transition in reducing the Earth Kingdom into Democratic States]].

* ''WesternAnimation/RandyCunninghamNinthGradeNinja'': Mac Antfee, who was [[LegacyCharacter the Ninja]] long before the titular character put on the mask, was forcefully stripped of the position due to abusing his power. As such, he didn't go through the LaserGuidedAmnesia ritual all ninjas normally perform upon ending their tenure, which left him embittered and wanting revenge. In the present, he seeks to reclaim [[ClothesMakeTheSuperman the Ninja suit]] with his army of followers (dubbed Macolytes). Due to Mac's greater experience with the Ninja's powers, Randy is unable to beat him in a straight-up fight and [[GuileHero must to resort to trickery]] to defeat him.
* In the 2016 series ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'', [[BigBad Emperor Zarkon]], the evil leader of [[TheEmpire the Galra Empire]] is revealed to have formerly been a member of the Voltron Paladins before his FaceHeelTurn. Specifically, he's the evil predecessor of ''Shiro'', TheLeader of the current team, as he held the same title of Black Paladin and partner to the Black Lion.

* In the cartoon version of ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'', the Big Bad of Season 2 is team leader Will's predecessor Nerissa, as in the second arc of the comic book as described above.