History Main / OutsideContextVillain

* How [[Wrestling/JillianHall Macaela Mercedes]] reacted when La Tigresa showed up in a new promotion based in her hometown, Cincinnati Ohio, saying she had never heard of and couldn't find anything on her except that Tigresa was from Puerto Rico.

** The Bodak [[CrossThrough is an alien from the d20 Modern setting]] that has been [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot raised from the dead]].

* Poor Kingdom of Midland in ''Manga/{{Berserk}}''. Thanks to Griffith, Guts, and the Band of the Hawk, they had more or less won the ForeverWar that had plagued the land for over a hundred years. Then, out of nowhere, a huge plague hits them. And while they're trying and failing to deal with that, Kushan invades with a nigh-unstoppable army that steamrolls over everything in its path, thanks to a combination of soldiers and BlackMagic. ''And then'' demons start appearing in the countryside. No wonder they're so eager to [[spoiler:put their faith in the resurrected Griffith, who is now (unknown to most humans) a Demon Lord of the highest order]].

** Each new villain tends to be this to a varying extent, but special mention goes to famous EvilOverlord Frieza whose power advantage over all the protagonists (''and'' antagonists) combined was akin to helpless mortals opposing a god. Even though later villains [[SoLastSeason could make mincemeat out of him]], they almost always started out in a similar "tier" of power to the heroes; Frieza started out several tiers ''ahead''.When Frieza returns from the dead he trained to get stronger and get a Golden Form that was able to match Super Sayian Blue and Frieza surpassed both Cell and Buu.

** Each new villain tends to be this to a varying extent, but special mention goes to famous EvilOverlord Frieza whose power advantage over all the protagonists (''and'' antagonists) combined was akin to helpless mortals opposing a god. Even though later villains [[SoLastSeason could make mincemeat out of him]], they almost always started out in a similar "tier" of power to the heroes; Frieza started out several tiers ''ahead''.
** Also worth mentioning is Raditz for literally having an alien background, embarrassing the BigGood and previous BigBad simultaneously and generally [[WhamEpisode shaking up the status quo with his mere introduction.]] All this despite only being the ''StarterVillain'' of the new story arc. When Frieza returns from the dead he trained to get stronger and get a Golden Form that was able to match Super Sayian Blue and Frieza surpassed both Cell and Buu.

** Also worth mentioning is Raditz for literally having an alien background, embarrassing the BigGood and previous BigBad simultaneously and generally [[WhamEpisode shaking up the status quo with his mere introduction.]] All this despite only being the ''StarterVillain'' of the new story arc.

** The eastern religion of R'hllor was virtually unknown in Westeros at the start of the series, yet evangelical inroads made by the clergy have allowed them to quickly shift the balance of power in the Seven Kingdoms.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' offers a thousand and one options for this. SummonMagic is always good to spice things up. [[MundaneUtility True Resurrection]] works on any form of dead animal matter, including the enemy's [[ElementalRockPaperScissors fancy dragonscale armor]]. Magic circles preventing your ''summoned'' creatures from entering or attacking? That's not a problem if you can ''[[RulesLawyer call]]'' them!
** Meta Example: The rules sets for each edition of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' are massive, to the point no DM or player can truly be prepared for anything that the other might throw at them. It's not uncommon for players to bring [[PsychicPowers Psions]] to the table and be able to throw a WrenchInTheWorks of a DM who only knows the rules for VancianMagic. Likewise, a DM has no concern with the logistics of getting a character to a certain level alive, and so is free to [[CharacterClassSystem mix and match classes and races]] to create something [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot truly weird.]]
** Legend tells of a DM who [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou put his pet tarantula]] on the board and told his players to roll initiative.

** Ironically, [[NonIndicativeTitle dragons can be this]] for players in third edition. Dragons aren't statted up like other monsters in the core books and SRD, meaning many [=DMs=] will simply never run a [[SignatureScene dragon encounter]], and many players won't have a sense of [[CurbStompBattle how they actually work in combat]].

** In ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', Bane is dismissed as just another gangster, but he turns out to be the commander of a revolutionary army that invades and occupies Gotham.

* ''Film/{{Apocalypto}}'' plays this twice, first with a small hunter-gatherer tribe being suddenly invaded by the comparatively industrialized [[MayIncaTec Mayans]] and in the end [[spoiler:the Spanish arriving]].
* In ''{{Film/Fargo}}'', the villains are violent criminals who will go to desperate means for some money... They could not be more out-of-place in the sweet, small-town Upper Midwest. The antagonist who hires them is miles out of his depth. This contrast is very much a deliberate choice.

* ''Film/ConanTheBarbarian1982'': the villain's advanced warriors appear out of nowhere to assault the hero's DoomedHometown of {{Noble Savage}}s (in a slight inversion from the books to say the least). It's lampshaded by the music, which goes straight from ArcadianInterlude to something like "Ride of the Valkyries" when they JumpCut to the arrival of the [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom Riders of Doom]].
-->''The ashes were trampled into the earth, and the blood became as snow. Who knows what they came for... weapons of steel...? [[SociopathicSoldier or murder?]] It was never known, for their leader rode to the south... No one would know that my lord's people had lived at all.''

** At the beginning of the 1989 movie ''Film/{{Batman}}'', the city officials are concerned with Boss Carl Grissom and want to nab Jack Napier only because he's Grissom's "number-one guy." Even after Napier has become SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker and killed Grissom, and he and his goons have targeted them for assassination, Vinnie Ricorso and his lackeys think that Grissom is still alive and are busying themselves with taking care of his operations while (they think) he's on vacation. It takes until almost the end of the movie for the media and the police to finally confirm that Grissom is dead and that the Joker has taken control of Gotham City's underworld:
-->'''Joker:''' [[DoNotAdjustYourSet Joker here]]. Now, you fellas have said some pretty mean things, some of which were true, about that thief, Carl Grissom. He's dead now, and he's left me in charge."
** In ''Film/BatmanForever'', Bruce Wayne is so wrapped up in stopping Two-Face that he barely even listens to Edward Nygma (the future Riddler) when Nygma tries to tell him about his pet project. Doubly ironic, in that [[CreateYourOwnVillain Wayne's ignoring him is]] ''[[CreateYourOwnVillain precisely what sends Nygma over the edge into supervillainy]]''.
** Much like in the comics, Bane's arrival in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' is unbelievably downplayed by the police, considering him just an overblown gangster; when chasing his crew after a terroristic assault on the Gotham Stock Exchange, the police force ''immediately'' start ignoring him when Batman reappears and diverts nearly every cop in the city to the chase, letting everyone Bats hasn't taken out himself escape. Even when Jim Gordon was ''brought to their hideout'' the concept of a literal underground army is laughed at and dismissed out of hand.

** Mellissandre and her red god R'hllor. She's dismissed as a witch and a heathen, but she's got real power that quickly shifts the tides of the War of the Five Kings[[note]]for example, the assassination of the titular King Renly Baratheon[[/note]].
** Aegon the Conqueror, who arrived in Westeros and quickly conquered six of the seven kingdoms in a series of [[CurbStompBattle Curb Stomp Battles]] due to his use of dragons, particularly Harrenhal, a massive impregnable fortress that was built to withstand any invasion by land, but was absolutely defenseless against dragons.
*** And the funny thing is that he should not have been a case of this. The Targaryens spent almost a century after the Doom of Valyria living just off the eastern shore of Westeros, before Aegon decided to conquer the continent. The Westerosi kings really had no excuse not to familiarize themselves with dragon warfare.
** Although the people of Westeros hear rumors about Daenerys Targaryen, the Mother of Dragons and pretender to the Iron Throne, no one expects [[spoiler:the return of Aegon Targaryen, son of Rhaegar, who was presumed slain during Robert's Rebellion. He suddenly lands in Westeros with an army of elite mercenaries without any warning. Even the reader doesn't know about him until midway through the fifth book]].
** Daenerys also encoutered the Undying Ones, a conclave of warlocks who want to get their hands on her dragons, and tap on their connection to magic.

** The United Earth Directorate from ''Brood War'' is another example. The Zerg are at least comprehensible to the Protoss as they are also a creation of the [[{{Precursors}} Xel'Naga]], and part of their power comes from absorbing the knowledge of the Xel'Naga. Terrans, as far as most of the Protoss are concerned, are a bit of background noise in their fight with the Zerg. But then a fleet from Earth shows up and (for a time at least) controls the Zerg and becomes the top power.

** Second,, in ''Eye of the North'', was the appearance of the Destroyers. While foreshadowed in an obscure Dwarven prophecy, nobody really knew about them until they were already halfway through slaughtering the Asurans. Even by the end of the campaign and their destruction very little was actually known about the Destroyers beyond that they were an enemy.

** Buu for literally being an EldritchAbomination. This bizarre pink genie creature has terrorized the universe, cowed the gods themselves, can transform people into ''conscious'' food while eating them alive, or absorb strong warriors by using its own malleable flesh to break off and consume them as it reintegrates with him and transforms into a new form, [[TheAssimilator taking some of the traits of the victims]] (this happened to the ''gods''), and, sufficiently enraged, he can ''tear down dimensions''. His pure, untainted form, Kid Buu, is even worse. Unlike all the other villains, he can't be reasoned with, he has no pride to take advantage of, and no desire except killing everything. In order to beat him, they literally had to go to a planet that he can't blow up in one shot. Even then, he was close to being an immortal given his endless energy and regeneration. On top of all that, he can teleport into the afterlife, and kill off the heroes for good after he kills them the first time. His origin is even retconed to make him an OutsideContextVillain for the entire universe. Originally, it is thought that Bibidi created him using magic. We learn later that Buu is an old as the universe itself and ''no-one'' knows where he came from or how he was created.

** Season 3's villains are all masters of an unusual form of bending: lavabending, combustionbending, water tentacles, and airbending.

** For the people of the blue seas, Devil Fruit users. They are so rare that they are often believe to be a myth and those who do have powers are seen as demons. Both pirates and marines are taking off-guard when they're face with a power user, which is what make people like Luffy and Buggy so dangerous early in the series.
** The Arlong Pirates are a complete OutsideContextVillain to the people of East Blue. Since the pirates of East Blue tend to be very weak compare to other seas, any pirate from the Grand Line is seen as big trouble. Arlong could have taking over all of East Blue since no one knew how to deal with him.

** Buu for literally being an EldritchAbomination. This bizarre pink genie creature has terrorized the universe, cowed the gods themselves, can transform people into ''conscious'' food while eating them alive, or absorb strong warriors by using its own malleable flesh to break off and consume them as it reintegrates with him and transforms into a new form, [[TheAssimilator taking some of the traits of the victims]] (this happened to the ''gods''), and, sufficiently enraged, he can ''tear down dimensions''. His pure, untainted form, Kid Buu, is even worse. Unlike all the other villains, he can't be reason with, he has no pride to take advantage of, no desire for anything except killing everything. In order to beat him, they literally had to go to a planet that he can't blow up in one shot. Even then, he was close to being an immortal given his endless energy and regeneration. On top of all that, he can teleport into the afterlife, kill off the heroes for good after he kills them the first time. His origin is even retcon to make him an OutsideContextVillain for the entire universe. Originally, it is thought that Bibidi created him using magic. We learn later that Buu is an old as the universe itself and ''no'' one knows where he came from or how he was created.

** Beerus, for being a god among gods. Even the strongest Supreme Kai was only even with Majin Buu. Beerus makes even the strongest form of Buu look laughably weak and he easily curb stomp the heroes without even trying. Although this is hardly new for a ''Dragon Ball'' villain, what makes Beerus stands out among the rest is that he is [[spoiler: completely undefeated. Not even Goku becoming a god himself could slow this guy down and he was only using 70% of his power. Even Frieza returning stronger than ever and Goku going beyond godhood is still weaker than Beerus. He's so powerful that Whis states that it would take both Goku and Vegeta working together just to be a match for him]]. He's so incomprehensible to the cast that they can't even feel his ki, because god's ki can't be felt by mortals. [[spoiler:Then it turns out that Whis himself would be this to an even greater extent, if he were actually a villain. Despite being Beerus's servant, he's actually so powerful he could defeat Goku, Vegeta, Frieza (all of whom have ascended to godhood, or something equivalent) ''and'' Beerus at once if he wanted to. Easily.]]

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', the Fourth Ninja World War was being fought between the Shinobi Alliance on one side, and Tobi and his White Zetsu Army, Kabuto and his zombie army, and [[spoiler: the real Uchiha Madara]] on the other side. About 200 chapters after the war starts, [[spoiler: Sage of Six Paths' mother, Kaguya Ootsutsuki]] shows up as the real villain. This is particularly jarring since she appears with almost no foreshadowing [[spoiler: though she was mentioned more than a few times to where one wonders if she would play a role]] and is revealed to be [[ManBehindTheMan pulling the strings]] since the very beginning. The audience first knew of her existence barely 30 chapters ago, and no more than 5 people alive ''in universe'' at the time knew her name. To top it off, she ''died'' centuries ago and her role in the War was due to [[spoiler:Black Zetsu using Madara to revive her.]] There is an in-universe justification for this though: [[spoiler: Black Zetsu (who is such a good [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]] that he was able to manipulate ''all of ninja history'') erased nearly all records of her existence or the truth of her demise in order to ensure nobody could foresee her revival and/or properly oppose her. Considering the rest of her clan was taken to the moon by her younger son (the Sage's brother) and this was after a period of endless strife and when modern civilizations were springing, it would be easy to destroy whatever records existed and have the rest fade into legend and be twisted into tales, as the only ones who would know about her at all would be the Tailed Beasts, whom were wanted for their power.]]

Compare GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere, but played dramatically. CosmicHorrorReveal is a subtrope, where {{EldritchAbomination}}s appear with little foreshadowing. Compare also DiabolusExNihilo, where such a villain is used to shake things up and then discarded, and TheSpook, which might fit in the context but is still a surprise apparition. See HowUnscientific for moments that break the conventions of the story's main genre, which is a major part of these villains. Contrast GenericDoomsdayVillain and NormalFishInATinyPond. Compare/Contrast GenreRefugee and OutsideContextHero, for a more heroic example of this trope. Frequently found in the AlienInvasion genre.