History Main / LastVIllainStand

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': After the Day of Unity fails, [[Characters/TheOwlHouseEmperorBelos Emperor Belos]] intent to commit genocide on witchkind is exposed to the populace, and he's nearly destroyed, Belos is intent on finishing his work by manipulating The Collector into fulfilling his desires. [[spoiler:It then gets taken further in the GrandFinale where, upon realizing the Titan's heart was in his very throne room, he merges with it, allowing him spread his MeatMoss across the Boiling Isles and take on a DraconicAbomination form, giving him the power to carry out his "purging" personally]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': After the Day of Unity fails, his intent to commit genocide on witchkind is exposed to the populace, and he's nearly destroyed, Belos is intent on finishing his work by manipulating The Collector into fulfilling his desires. [[spoiler:It then gets taken further in the GrandFinale where, upon realizing the Titan's heart was in his very throne room, he merges with it, allowing him spread his MeatMoss across the Boiling Isles and take on a DraconicAbomination form, giving him the power to carry out his "purging" personally]].

* During the battle of Narita in ''Anime/CodeGeass'', Viceroy Cornelia is cornered by the [[LaResistance Black Knights]] and opts to pull one of these rather than surrender and be taken prisoner, complete with appropriate last words. [[spoiler:This is [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] when Suzaku shows up in his SuperPrototype just in time to pull a VillainousRescue.]]

** The last five episodes of ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'' serve as one of these for BigBad [[DarkMessiah Paptimus Scirocco]] and the [[StateSec Titans]]. Outlawed by the Earth Federation, hunted by the AEUG, with their leadership in tatters and superweapons totalled, the Titans ally themselves with Haman Khan (the BigBad of the next installment, ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ'') who is planning to use then discard them and throw themselves into one last battle with the pursuing AEUG. There is no question that, no matter the outcome of the battle, Scirocco and his followers are going down, whether at the hands of their enemies or their allies. The only question remaining is how many heroes are [[TakingYouWithMe going down with them]]? [[spoiler:Thanks to [[HeroKiller Yazan Gable]], the answer is "most of them."]]

* In the finale ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', after losing the godly power he had been trying to claim for centuries, an enraged [[BigBad Father]] decides to confront his enemies the Elrics in one final battle alongside every one of their allies. Of course, even without the power of Truth, he was still extremely powerful, and nearly won in his one-homunculus stand.

* Frieza's last shot at Goku, in ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', certainly counts. Frieza had lost all his minions, failed to obtain immortality, had been demonstrated as not being the strongest in the universe, had even been cut in half ([[HoistByHisOwnPetard by his own attack, no less]]), and was only alive because he begged his enemy to give him enough energy to survive his injuries. Instead of using that energy to try to escape Namek before it exploded, he tries to kill Goku one last time, only for Goku to blast that energy right back in his face. He recovers, though, albeit only for a time-traveling Trunks to effortlessly blast him and his father to pieces.

* Several ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' villains do this, because most ''Discworld'' heroes try to foil the villain's EvilPlan first or break the villain's power in non-fighting ways: The actual physical showdown then comes afterwards when the villain's danger level has gone from 'dangerous to the world' to 'dangerous to the heroes personally' and [[AndYourLittleDogToo are looking for payback for their ruined plan]]. For an incomplete list, this is pulled by villains in ''Literature/GuardsGuards'', ''Literature/WitchesAbroad'', ''Literature/MenAtArms'', ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'', ''Literature/{{Maskerade}}'', ''Literature/CarpeJugulum'', ''Literature/TheFifthElephant'', ''Literature/{{Night Watch|Discworld}}'' and ''Literature/MakingMoney''. The villains of ''Literature/{{Snuff}}'' and ''Literature/UnseenAcademicals'' actually have this trope defied on them when someone else decides to ShootTheDog instead of letting them come back to haunt the heroes.

A Last Villain Stand is where the villain [[MookDepletion has lost his army]] ([[OneManArmy if he had one]]), his plan has been ruined, and he decides to fight the heroes on his own. Usually, he uses AppliedPhlebotinum or a PlotCoupon to take on a OneWingedAngel form (or at least [[MakeMyMonsterGrow grow to]] [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever giant size]]) and becomes more powerful than ever before.

* In ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'', near Valtor's end, he is humiliated by the Winx, loses most of the spells he stole, is abandoned by the Trix, and is nearly crushed by all the water of Lake Roccaluce. He survives and kidnaps the Specialists in order to lure the Winx to Andros and kill them with his last stolen spell, [[FourElementEnsemble the Spell of the Elements]]. He ends up losing that and then loses control of his body to the Ancestral Witches before Bloom finishes him off.

* At the end of ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', after the Incredibles have defeated the Omnidroid, his plan to be the world's greatest hero is ruined, and he's lost all his resources, Syndrome decides to invade the Incredibles' home and kidnap Jack Jack. Two factors that foiled it were Jack Jack's superpowers manifesting and Syndrome's [[WrongGenreSavvy genre savviness not including]] the concept of a CapeSnag.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': After the Day of Unity fails, his intent to commit genocide on witchkind is exposed to the populace, and he's nearly destroyed, Belos is intent on finishing his work by manipulating The Collector into fulfilling his desires. [[spoiler:It then gets taken further in the GrandFinale where, upon realizing the Titan's heart was in his very throne room, her merges with it, allowing him spread his MeatMoss across the Boiling Isles and take on a DraconicAbomination form, giving him the power to carry out his "purging" personally]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': After the Day of Unity fails, his intent to commit genocide on witchkind is exposed to the populace, and he's nearly destroyed, Belos is intent on finishing his work by manipulating The Collector into fulfilling his desires.

* Inverted in the final act of ''Film/{{Gremlins}}'', as even though all the other [[GripingAboutGremlins gremlins]] had been wiped out except [[BigBad Stripe]], the head gremlin is not in a desperate situation, as he not only had [[TheHero Billy]] at his mercy a couple of times, but he just needed to get to water in order to [[ExplosiveBreeder recreate his army]], which made the situation into a RaceAgainstTheClock.

* Sugou, the BigBad of the Alfheim arc in ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'', attempts one last chance to kill Kirito in the real world, after being defeated which causes him to suffer a complete breakdown and had lost everything he planned to achieve, he came close to winning, but Kirito gradually beat the crap out of him and left him nothing but a broken wreck.

* ''LightNovel/UndefeatedBahamutChronicle'': In Volume 19, [[BigBad Fugil]] is left with a damaged Bahamut copy and Ouroboros's main body is destroyed, cutting him off from his most powerful abilities. On top of that, Lux and the AI version of Arshalia tell him that his [[WellIntentionedExtremist mission]] is impossible because Sacred Eclipse's inherently flawed design prevents it from being properly controlled. He still continues fighting Lux until he dies because he can't think of any other solution to balance the world and because he doesn't think Lux is qualified to be a hero.

** Happens at least once on each of the routes in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses''
*** On Azure Moon, Verdant Wind, and Silver Snow, it comes with the final confrontation with [[spoiler:Emperor Edelgard of Adestria. The OneWingedAngel form even makes an appearance in Azure Moon, which is the same route where Edelgard is the FinalBoss.]] In the final confrontation, the player character's army batters down all available defenses until it comes down to close-quarters fighting in [[CapitalOffensive the city]], [[StormingTheCastle the palace]], and eventually [[ThroneRoomThrowdown the actual throne room]]. The map is even a [[PointOfNoReturn two-part event with no break in-between]], because there's no time to be wasted between taking the city and the castle itself. Afterward, the nation on the losing end ceases to be a politically significant entity.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': In the GrandFinale, [[MindHive The Core]]'s "final gambit" against the heroes is that if it can't have what it wants after the invasion of Earth was stopped, then it resorts to destroying all life on Amphibia via ramming the moon into the planet.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* Frieza's last shot at Goku, in ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', certainly counts. Frieza had lost all his minions, failed to obtain immortality, had been demonstrated as not being the strongest in the universe, had even been cut in half ([[HoistByHisOwnPetard by his own attack, no less]]), and was only alive because he begged his enemy to give him enough energy to survive his injuries. Instead of using that energy to try to escape Namek before it exploded, he tries to kill Goku one last time, only for Goku to blast that energy right back in his face.
** He recovers, though, albeit only for a time-traveling Trunks to effortlessly blast him and his father to pieces.

* ''Gundam'' has had more than a few of these:

* Occurs during the climax of ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnoldTheJungleMovie'' with Lasombra [[spoiler: after being hit with a poison dart and falling over the cliff, he climbs back up, still infected with the poison, in a last effort to reclaim the Corazon. He then gets into a scuffle with Eduardo, which leads to the Corazon falling off of the cliff, much to his anger. Once it falls over, he makes one last attempt to take out the gang, before finally succumbing to the poison from the dart.]]

* While every Mega Man boss is willing to hop in a mech or whip out a new battle body when you finally confront them, Epsilon of ''VideoGame/MegaManXCommandMission'' is a little different in that he's fueled not by desperation, but by belief in his ideals and goal. [[spoiler:He's also a little different in that he's not the FinalBoss.]]

** At the end of ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks Spirit Tracks]]'', Chancellor Cole's evil plan is thwarted when Link manages to free Zelda's body from the possession of Malladus, who goes on to possess Cole instead. Malladus's spirit starts fading due to Cole's body being incompatible, but he nevertheless tries to cause as much destruction as possible with the time he has left, which leads to the final battle.

* Desann in ''[[VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga Jedi Outcast]]'' still chooses to duke it out with Katarn, despite losing his entire fleet and most of his strike troops having been wiped out by the Jedi. Admittedly he doesn't even know the attack has failed until Kyle tells him just before the fight, and the entire thing was a diversion to get him to the Academy basement where the fight takes place anyway.

* Liquid Ocelot in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots''. Even after having most of his forces wiped out, from his Metal Gears being destroyed to his elite soldiers being essentially lobotomized after the destruction of the Patriots ([[ItMakesSenseInContext long story]]), he still faces Snake in one final, climactic boss battle atop Outer Haven.
** This is actually a rather interesting example, because at this point he's actually won. He chooses a Last Villain Stand because his mission is complete and he's now just an old soldier, looking for a worthy final battle (and believes the same is true for Snake).

[[folder:WebAnimation]]

* ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'' has the final fight in the second-to-last episode of the series. [[BigBad XANA]], after losing William, an incredibly powerful asset, goes all out in order to prevent [[spoiler: Franz Hopper from sending Jeremy the data necessary to destroy him]] by promptly sending the Kolossus, his most powerful monster created through combinining the energy of HUNDREDS of supercomputers, along with possessing William in the real world one last time to take care of the heroes.

** ''Series/ChoujuuSentaiLiveman'': After Yusuke stops the [[ImmortalityImmorality Giga Brain Wave]], [[BigBad Great Professor Bias]] is forced to de-age himself to a child in order to stay alive. With his MassHypnosis plan having gone kaput and now stuck as an [[BrattyHalfPint impulsive kid]], the Great Professor opts to go on one last rampage with the [[SpaceBase Brain Base]] and eat dinner while enjoying the chaos. [[spoiler:Which is cut short when the rest of the Livemen knock the Brain Base and the students Bias sacrificed for the Brain Wave rebel against him, causing him to revert to his true age as a senile old man. The best Bias can do after that is have [[TheDragon Guardnoid Gash]] send a MonsterOfTheWeek to hold off the Livemen and bring him to safety, where his old age ultimately does him in.

* ''LightNovel/UndefeatedBahamutChronicle'': In Volume 19, [[BigBad Fugil]] is left with a damaged Bahamut copy and Ouroboros's main body is destroyed, cutting him off from his most powerful abilities. On top of that, Lux and the AI version of Arshalia tell him that his [[WellIntentionedExtremist mission]] is impossible because Sacred Eclipse's inherently flawed design prevents it from being properly controlled. He still continues fighting Lux until he dies because he can't think of any other solution to balance the world and because he doesn't think Lux is qualified to be a hero.

** Solidus in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' as well. [[GreaterScopeVillain The Patriots]] reveal right before the final battle that they have [[OutGambited manipulated Solidus every single step of the way into doing their bidding]], rendering his entire [[WellIntentionedExtremist plan to stop them]] pointless. He still fights Raiden to the death anyway, with the implication that he didn’t entirely care who won or lost anymore as long as the winner continued fighting the Patriots. Ultimately he chooses to go out in a blaze of glory fighting his former protege after losing everything else.

** Solidus in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' as well. [[GreaterScopeVillain The Patriots]] reveal right before the final battle that they have [[MagnificentBastard manipulated Solidus every single step of the way into doing their bidding]], rendering his entire [[WellIntentionedExtremist plan to stop them]] pointless. He still fights Raiden to the death anyway, with the implication that he didn’t entirely care who won or lost anymore as long as the winner continued fighting the Patriots. Ultimately he chooses to go out in a blaze of glory fighting his former protege after losing everything else.