History Main / StarterVillainStays

** PlayedWith in [[Anime/YuGiOh the original anime]]: Seto Kaiba is the first villain that Yugi faces in the anime, though not [[Manga/YuGiOh in the original manga]]. Having been the world's greatest duelist before being defeated by Yugi, Kaiba becomes obsessed with beating Yugi in a duel from that point on. However, he later stops being a villain and becomes an AntiHero [[TheRival rival]], albeit one still significant all the way to the end of the original series.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'' introduces Cinderblock and Plasmus, two monsters working for Slade, both of them becoming recurring foes of the Titans and appearing several times across the series. Slade himself would repeatedly menace the Titans as the main antagonist of the first two seasons before his death in the second season's finale (and then coming BackFromTheDead in the fourth). In-Universe however, this is averted for the ''actual'' StarterVillain, Trogar from the OriginsEpisode in the fifth season (chronologically set before the pilot), who doesn't make anymore appearances outside his debut.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Roman Torchwick was originally intended to be a one-off villain in the first episode, but he became so popular among the fans and the crew that he was kept around until the end of Volume Three, where he was KilledOffForReal thanks to the season raising the stakes of the plot so that he no longer fit the story. Even so, his CuteAndPsycho henchwoman [[BreakoutCharacter Neopolitain]] managed to stick around even longer as a way to represent him.

* ''ComicBook/GoldDigger'': The first villain that the Digger sisters had to fight was the draconic Dreadwing, who is reduced into a skeleton by the end of the pilot (with the subsequent OVA adaptation giving him the same fate). He came back to life, then started plotting to regain his power, as he went on to become one of the main [[BigBad Big Bads]] of the series and the sisters' most enduring foe.

** While most of the first villains of the series usually don't return after their first encounter, ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureJojolion'' averts this with Ojiro & Fun Fun Fun, returning a whopping 70+ chapters after his introduction.

* ''Franchise/YuGiOh''
** Played with [[Anime/YuGiOh in the original anime]]: Seto Kaiba is the first villain that Yugi faces in the anime, though not [[Manga/YuGiOh in the original manga]]. Having been the world's greatest duelist before being defeated by Yugi, Kaiba becomes obsessed with beating Yugi in a duel from that point on. However, he later stops being a villain and becomes an AntiHero [[TheRival rival]], albeit one still significant all the way to the end of the original series.

* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'': Usually, the first-case villain never appears after their case is over, which is generally a given since they're sent to prison afterwards, but there are two exceptions.
** ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'': Dahlia Hawthorne does this in Mia's cases, since they're played out of chronological order. The first case, the one where she gets caught, is actually the second time she met Mia in court. The first time was Mia's first case (played as case 4), which ended in a mistrial and Dahlia walking free. [[spoiler: She also returns in case 5 as part of Morgan's plan to have her kill Maya as a channeled spirit, but she isn't the killer, as Godot got to her first.]]
** ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'': [[spoiler: Kristoph Gavin]] manages to become the culprit of case 4 despite already being imprisoned for the events of case 1 because [[spoiler: he actually set up the murder (by giving the victim a poisoned postage stamp and instructing him to use it to send Kristoph a letter) 7 years earlier, as part of covering up his involvement in Phoenix getting disbarred. However, the victim happened to delay using the stamp until after Kristoph had already been convicted of a separate murder.]]

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Roman Torchwick was originally intended to be a one-off villain in the first episode, but he became so popular among the fans and the crew that he was kept around until the end of Volume Three, where he was KilledOffForReal thanks to the season RaisingTheStakes of the plot so that he no longer fit the story. Even so, his CuteAndPsycho henchwoman [[BreakoutCharacter Neopolitain]] managed to stick around even longer as a way to represent him.

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': Played with the Ice King in that he's the first villain [[Recap/AdventureTimePilot of the initial pilot]], and while [[Recap/AdventureTimeS1E1SlumberPartyPanic the first official episode]] has a threat, it's zombies, while Ice King serves as the first actual villain in the series proper still in "[[Recap/AdventureTimeS1E3PrisonersOfLove Prisoners Of Love]]". While [[AntiVillain not much of a villain]] and ending up [[AntiHero semi-reformed]], the Ice King remains a key player due to his frenemy dynamic with protagonists Finn and Jake, [[TragicIceCharacter tragic background]] and important role in the lore of the series.
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': The first villain Aang faced in the series is Zuko, the banished Prince of the Fire Nation. Zuko is not much physically older than Aang and he comes across as a hot-headed BigBadWannabe who is outclassed by every other Fire Nation villain like Zhao and Azula. However, his legendary determination to capture the Avatar allows him to stay in the game for nearly the entire series, which ended with Zuko [[HeelFaceTurn defecting to Aang's team]] upon realizing how cruel and corrupt the Fire Nation really was.

* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'': Catra starts out as a typical starter villain, being little more than an EliteMook with some baggage regarding Adora. However, instead of disappearing as soon as [[BigBad Hordak]] shows up, she quickly rises through the ranks to become TheDragon and eventually [[spoiler:a co-leader]]. The protagonists also treat Catra as the main threat they have to defeat. However, [[spoiler:Horde Prime turns out to be the real Big Bad and Catra pulls a HeelFaceTurn, ironically shortly after Hordak does]].

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood'': Being adopted into the Joestar family, Dio Brando is the first character to be antagonistic to Jonathan Joestar, initially wanting to take the Joestar inheritance and fortune for himself. Come [[ArtifactOfDoom the Stone Mask]] and he evolves into [[OurVampiresAreDifferent the vampiric]] BigBad of the series, and later returns as a straight-forward BigBad in ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]]''. Though the first villain to appear, Dio's influence as a villain spans most of the entire franchise in the original continuity.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', Buggy the Clown was the first Devil Fruit using enemy that Luffy faced off against, and the first real challenge that he and Zoro faced. While Luffy is able to beat him, Buggy would swear vengeance and he and his crew would chase the Straw Hat Pirates into the Grand Line. Buggy would return in the Impel Down arc [[EnemyMine and allies with Luffy in exchange for a map leading to Captain John's treasure]], and after the timeskip he would be named a Warlord of the Sea [[spoiler:and one of the Four Emperors of the Sea]] thanks to being MistakenForBadass.

* ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'': The AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil of Ohtori Academy begin as Utnea's first antagonists and stay major characters up to the finale. Their character arcs continue through the remaining two seasons, becoming opponents indirectly through the [[PsychoRangers Black Rose Duelists]] before returning for a final round. While additional antagonists enter the picture, the Student Council never leaves the picture. [[spoiler: There's a good reason for this - [[BigBad End of the World]] was using them to "feed" Utena on opponents until her own Soul Sword was ready to harvest; [[HeadsIWinTailsYouLose either she won until she became a "Prince", or she lost and that Council Member would pick up where she'd left off]]. [[LevelGrinding Even if they weren't viable Prince candidates, they still made decent fodder]].]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': The first villain that Aang faced in the series is Zuko, the banished Prince of the Fire Nation. Zuko is not much physically older than Aang and he comes across as a hot-headed BigBadWannabe who is outclassed by every other Fire Nation villain like Zhao and Azula. However, his legendary determination to capture the Avatar allows him to stay in the game for nearly the entire series, which ended with Zuko [[HeelFaceTurn defecting to Aang's team]] upon realizing how cruel and corrupt the Fire Nation really was.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': The Chameleon was the first supervillain to fight Spidey and he went to become a regular member of his rouge gallery.