History Main / PostfinalBoss

Note that this is distinct from AntiClimaxBoss. An Anti-Climax Boss is a lot of build-up for no payoff; a boss that's meant to be challenging in theory, but misses the mark in practice. A Post-Final Boss is meant to be a brief spike in the action before all conflicts are properly resolved, and everything is summed up. For that reason, a Post-Final Boss will be comparatively easy to defeat.

* In ''Film/AirForceOne'', after killing [[BigBad Korshunov]] and the remaining terrorists and the F-15s fending off enemy fighters, Marshall and the others attempt to escape the doomed plane, only for [[spoiler:Gibbs]] to reveal himself as TheMole at the last minute, leading to a short fight where Marshall has to subdue [[spoiler:Gibbs]] before finally escaping.

* [[spoiler:Geldoblame]] in ''VideoGame/BatenKaitos''. Despite its mountain of hit points, it barely hits at all, has no defensive capacities, and gets one-shotted by a [[LimitBreak Spirit Attack]]. That being said, it has a kickass battle theme that's only heard here.

* The last boss of ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' is Fallen King Allant below the Nexus. When you reach him, he's a pathetic [[BodyHorror swollen mess]] that can barely move or attack you with his undersized sword. It's just meant to showcase what Allant's corruption did to him and a warning to the player against choosing the evil ending.

* [[spoiler:Lucien]] in ''VideoGame/FableII'', with [[spoiler:the Giant Shard]] serving as the actual final boss.

* For ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'', the ''Scholar of the First Sin'' edition puts Aldia as a boss fight right after the original final boss, Nashandra, if you did some specific actions beforehand. Downplayed in that he's no pushover.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'' has [[Literature/AftermathEmpiresEnd Fleet Admiral Gallius Rax]] as the last opponent of the Empire, who organized what remaining forces he has on Jakku in a final battle against the Rebellion, now known as the New Republic.

* In ''Series/KamenRiderRevice'', BigBad Giff is defeated in episode 46, with four episodes and two arcs to go before the show ends. Interestingly enough, this means there are two examples, with episodes 47 and 48 dedicated to snapping supporting character George Karizaki out of a FaceHeelTurn, and a more bittersweet final encounter between Ikki and Vice to wrap up the show.

* In ''Series/KamenRiderRevice'' BigBad Giff is defeated in episode 46, with four episodes and two arcs to go before the show ends. Interestingly enough, this means there are two examples, with episodes 47 and 48 dedicated to snapping supporting character George Karizaki out of a FaceHeelTurn, and a more bittersweet final encounter between Ikki and Vice to wrap up the show.

* ''VideoGame/Bayonetta2'': After defeating final boss [[spoiler:Loptr as Aesir]], Loki depowers him in a cutscene, and you get to wail on Loptr with near impunity before [[Franchise/KamenRider Rider Kicking]] him into oblivion with [[spoiler:Omne]].

* After a grueling fight with the FinalBoss in ''VideoGame/Persona3'', you have one last confrontation with [[spoiler:Nyx's true form]] with the protagonist alone. [[ZeroEffortBoss You can't lose the battle]], but your actions [[ScriptedBattle are highly restricted]].

* In the third ''VideoGame/MegaManStarForce'' game, after defeating Crimson Dragon for the first time, you're thrown into battle with it a second time. The catch is that you're permanently finalised, cannot have your HP reduced below 1 (read: You can't die), and your Noise Force Big Bang is buffed to be a OneHitKill against it (With the caveat that nothing else can kill Crimson Dragon in that state: You HAVE to finish it with Red Gaia Eraser/Black End Galaxy.

Sometimes, the Post-Final Boss fight occurs after the EvilPlan has been foiled, but TheVillainMustBePunished. Sometimes, the Post-Final Boss is actually ''much'' stronger than the final boss storywise, which prevents them from being defeated by conventional means and thus requiring a story-related intervention to defeat (which ends up making the battle much easier than the Final Boss gameplay-wise).

Sometimes, the Post-Final Boss fight occurs after the EvilPlan has been foiled, but TheVillainMustBePunished. Sometimes, the Post-Final Boss is actually ''much'' stronger than the final boss storywise, which prevents them from being defeated by conventional means and thus requires a story-related intervention to defeat (which ends up making the battle much easier than the Final Boss gameplay-wise).

Note that this is distinct from AntiClimaxBoss. An Anti-Climax Boss is a lot of build-up for no payoff; a boss that's meant to be challenging in theory, but misses the mark in practice. A Post-Final Boss is meant to be a brief spike in the action before all conflicts are properly resolved, and everything is summed up. Sometimes, this fight occurs after the EvilPlan has been foiled, but TheVillainMustBePunished. For that reason, a Post-Final Boss will be comparatively easy to defeat.

* At the end of ''VideoGame/LiveALive'', after a long and difficult battle against the [[BigBad Demon Lord Odio]], you either fight Odio's "true form" [[spoiler:(Oersted, the protagonist of the Medieval chapter, who gets no benefit from HealthDamageAsymmetry and goes down in a few hits)]], or spare Odio and end up fighting all the game's previous major bosses from the previous chapters (who have ''[[VillainForgotToLevelGrind not]]'' [[VillainForgotToLevelGrind leveled up in the interim]] and thus pose only a very minor threat). The remake changes this in the latter, where after the BossRush you move onto a TrueFinalBoss that serves as a bigger climax than the ones before it.

* In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU'' Master Core's final phase is a plain orb. That just sits there waiting for you to attack it until it has built up enough knock back to hit a blast line. Just don't idle or it unleashes a decently hard-to-dodge desperation attack that is an InstantKO. After which, it blows itself up.

* After destroying the [[spoiler:Jubileus, the creator]] in ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'', the credits roll. [[spoiler:Unless you were expecting NoEnding, it's clear that there's more; it turns out these are fake credits, and Jeanne will show up at the end to remind Bayonetta that the statue used to summon Jubileus can't be allowed to crash back down to Earth, so you and her team up to tear it apart as one last action.]]

** ''VideoGame/Bayonetta2'': After defeating final boss [[spoiler:Loptr as Aesir]], Loki depowers him in a cutscene, and you get to wail on Loptr with near impunity before [[Franchise/KamenRider Rider Kicking]] him into oblivion with [[spoiler:Omne]].

* At the end of ''VideoGame/LiveALive'', after a long and difficult battle against the [[BigBad Demon Lord Odio]], you either fight Odio's "true form" [[spoiler:(Oersted, the protagonist of the Medieval chapter, who gets no benefit from HealthDamageAsymmetry and goes down in a few hits)]], or spare Odio and end up fighting all the game's previous major bosses from the previous chapters (who have ''[[VillainForgotToLevelGrind not]]'' [[VillainForgotToLevelGrind leveled up in the interim]] and thus pose only a very minor threat). This changes in the latter, where after the BossRush you move onto a TrueFinalBoss that serves as a bigger climax than the ones before it.

** The final foe of the [[spoiler:Olympus]] Lostbelt is [[spoiler:Caenis]], and while they're nothing to sneeze at considering they're packing multiple health bars and various gimmicks, after the titanic battles with both [[spoiler:Lostbelt King Zeus]] and [[spoiler:Kirschtaria Wodime]], the latter of which can easily cause a TotalPartyKill, not to mention the other gimmick fights of the Lostbelt combined with a DifficultySpike she comes across as a fairly straightforward final battle. In-story, they're basically only fighting to wrap up the final bits of plot revelations as a final test of the heroes' resolve to soldier on [[spoiler:and as a tribute to Kirschtaria's memory]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Majyuo}}'' have the player assuming the role of Abel, a HunterOfMonsters out to save his family from a powerful Demon King, by allowing himself to be transformed into various demonic forms and battling numerous enemies until the last stage. Abel has defeated the Demon King, the BigBad of the picture, but he still need to face one last boss - his daughter, Iria, who's been converted from human to a [[HornyDevils succubi]].

* The animes of ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' include a duel between the protagonist and another good guy at the end, after the BigBad has been defeated, in order to tie up any loose ends the adventure left unsolved. What these duels share in common that they're friendly matches between good friends that are done to resolve the few issues left that weren't solved by defeating the BigBad and GreaterScopeVillain, with said issues depending on the anime/series.

* [[Franchise/StarWars]] has [[Literature/AftermathEmpiresEnd Fleet Admiral Gallius Rax as the last opponent of the Empire, who organized what remaining forces he has on Jakku in a final battle against the Rebellion, now known as the New Republic]].