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* This trope appears in basically every Metal gear Solid Game from Part 1 to 4 and their respective groups of elite boss fight units. All of these bossfight villains are set up at the start of the game and go down one by one.
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* This trope appears in basically every ''[[Franchise/MetalGear Metal gear Solid Gear Solid]]'' Game from Part 1 to 4 and their respective groups of elite boss fight units. All of these bossfight BossBattle villains are set up at the start of the game and go down one by one.one. Even the SpinOff games follow this trope.
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** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' has Big Boss taking on the ''[[{{AI}} Peace Walker Project AI Weapons]]'' in place of the traditional empowered human units one-by-one, starting with the Shagohod-like [=PUPA=], the agile railgun-wielding [=CHRYSALIS=], the slow yet armed-to-the-teeth [=COCOON=], and Peace Walker/[=AURELIA=] in the end.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'' has Raiden taking down each and every member of the ''Desparado Enforcement, [=LLC=]'': Samuel "Jetstream" Rodriguez, [=IF=] Prototype [=LQ-84i=] Blade Wolf, [[spoiler: who is the only member to survive and pull off a HeelFaceTurn]], Sundowner, Mistral, and Monsoon, followed by [[spoiler: Senator Steven Armstrong]].
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'' has Raiden taking down each and every member of the ''Desparado Enforcement, [=LLC=]'': Samuel "Jetstream" Rodriguez, [=IF=] Prototype [=LQ-84i=] Blade Wolf, [[spoiler: who is the only member to survive and pull off a HeelFaceTurn]], Sundowner, Mistral, and Monsoon, followed by [[spoiler: Senator Steven Armstrong]].
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* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo'' has La Squadra Ezecusione, a team of seven assassins, originally nine, introduced after the Boss has two of their members killed for trying to find his identity. Bent on revenge, La Squadra tries to take out the Boss's daughter Trish while she is being escorted by Bucciarati's gang, leading to a series of one-by-one fights of La Squadra that ends [[spoiler:with Team Bucciarati killing off the entire La Squadra team, except for their leader, Risotto Nero.]]
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* In the first act of ''Film/ThePrincessBride'', the Man in Black goes up against a TerribleTrio of mercenaries who kidnap Princess Buttercup. He first duels with the Spaniard Inigo, then battles the giant Fezzik, before finally challenging the leader, Vizzini, to a battle of wits. While Inigo and Fezzik both survive their fights and [[spoiler:later help the Man in Black]], Vizzini is killed.
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* In the first act of ''Film/ThePrincessBride'', the Man in Black goes up against against the Sicilian Crowd, a TerribleTrio of mercenaries who kidnap Princess Buttercup. He first duels with the Spaniard Inigo, then battles the giant Fezzik, before finally challenging the leader, Vizzini, to a battle of wits. While Inigo and Fezzik both survive their fights and [[spoiler:later help the Man in Black]], Vizzini is killed.
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** Generally, this applies to any given season of the show, as each member of a group gets to send monsters to fight the Sailor Senshi before going down. There are a few shake-ups in ''Super'', where Kaolinite is revived after her initial death and three of the Witches 5 get killed in one episode, but it’s generally played straight.
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** Generally, this applies to any given season of the show, as each member of a group gets to send monsters to fight the Sailor Senshi before going down. There are a few shake-ups in ''Super'', where Kaolinite is revived after her initial death and three of the Witches 5 get killed in one episode, their first episodes, but it’s generally played straight.
* In the first act of ''Film/ThePrincessBride'', the Man in Black goes up against a TerribleTrio of mercenaries who kidnap Princess Buttercup. He first duels with the Spaniard Inigo, then battles the giant Fezzik, before finally challenging the leader, Vizzini, to a battle of wits. While Inigo and Fezzik both survive their fights and [[spoiler:later help the Man in Black]], Vizzini is killed.
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* In the first act of ''Film/ThePrincessBride'', the Man in Black goes up against a TerribleTrio of mercenaries who kidnap Princess Buttercup. He first duels with the Spaniard Inigo, then battles the giant Fezzik, before finally challenging the leader, Vizzini, to a battle of wits. While Inigo and Fezzik both survive their fights and [[spoiler:later help the Man in Black]], Vizzini is killed.
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* In the first act of ''Film/ThePrincessBride'', the Man in Black goes up against a TerribleTrio of mercenaries who kidnap Princess Buttercup. He first duels with the Spaniard Inigo, then battles the giant Fezzik, before finally challenging the leader, Vizzini, to a battle of wits. While Inigo and Fezzik both survive their fights and [[spoiler:later help the Man in Black]], Vizzini is killed.
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* ''Videogame/NoStraightRoads'': The game follows a pair of heroes taking down a company that is stifling rock in favor of EDM. In order to do that, they start by taking down the company's biggest artists, the 5 Megastars, before taking on the BigBad Tatiana.
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** ''VideoGame/Darksiders3'' has Strife going after personifcations of TheSevenDeadlySins.
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** ''VideoGame/Darksiders3'' ''VideoGame/DarksidersIII'' has Strife going after personifcations of TheSevenDeadlySins.
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SubTrope of DwindlingParty. Often crosses with QuirkyMiniBossSquad. Can be used in overlay with TheRestShallPass, if that trope is used multiple times in a single StoryArc. This could lead to an instance of a VillainNoLongerIdle as the BigBad is forced to take action due to his minions being dealt with. Contrast with MookHorrorShow, this trope doesn't focus on {{Mooks}}, but an established party of particularly strong and relevant antagonistic characters, taken out in a specific systematic method.
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SubTrope of DwindlingParty. Often crosses with QuirkyMiniBossSquad. Can be used in overlay with TheRestShallPass, if that trope is used multiple times in a single StoryArc. This could lead to an instance of a VillainNoLongerIdle as the BigBad is forced to take action due to his minions being dealt with. Contrast with MookHorrorShow, this trope doesn't focus on {{Mooks}}, but an established party of particularly strong and relevant antagonistic characters, taken out in a specific systematic method.
method. Compare GottaKillThemAll.
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** ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCureSplashStar'' does this similarly as the Cures fight and defeat all five generals of Dark Fall one after another. Goyan revives them once they’re all dead, but four episodes later, they’ve been killed again.
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** ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCureSplashStar'' does this similarly as the Cures fight and defeat all five generals of Dark Fall one after another. Goyan revives them once they’re all dead, but four five episodes later, they’ve been killed again.
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Cleared up entry.
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* In ''Film/{{Hancock}}'', after being released from prison, Hancock goes to a banks where some heavily armed robbers have taken about a dozen hostages, are keeping the police at bay. Once he rescues a pined down officer, he flies in at super speed and flying out with the members of the gang one by one, until Red, their leader, is the only one left. Red orders Hancock to use his SuperStrength to burst into the vault, and carry the money, or he'll release the DeadMansSwitch, killing him and the hostages. Hancock opts to [[spoiler: sever Red's hand]] and hand him over to the police. Later at the hospital, where [[spoiler: is being treated due to being injured while being BroughtDownToNormal]], he manages to take down some of the vengeful escaped convicts one by one, but as it looks like [[spoiler: Red is about to finish him off]] Ray, Hancock's agent, comes in and [[spoiler: cuts off Red's other hand, [[BogDamHeroes saving Hancock]].]]
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* In ''Film/{{Hancock}}'', after being released from prison, Hancock goes to a banks bank where some a gang of heavily armed robbers have taken about a dozen hostages, and are keeping the police at bay. bay with relentless firepower. Once he Hancock rescues a pined down officer, he flies in into the bank at super speed and flying flies out with the members of the gang one by one, until Red, their leader, is the only one left. Red orders Hancock to use his SuperStrength to burst into the vault, and carry the money, or he'll release the DeadMansSwitch, killing him and the hostages. [[TakeAThirdOption Hancock opts to to]] [[spoiler: sever Red's hand]] and hand him over to the police. Later at the hospital, where [[spoiler: Hancock is being treated due to being injured while being BroughtDownToNormal]], he manages to take down some of the vengeful escaped convicts one by one, but as it looks like [[spoiler: Red is about to finish him off]] Ray, Hancock's agent, comes in and [[spoiler: cuts off Red's other hand, [[BogDamHeroes saving Hancock]].]]
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* In ''Manga/BlackClover'', the Third Eye are the strongest members of the Eye of the Midnight Sun who serve under Licht, and are sent against the Magic Knights. The Black Bulls defeat Vetto when he fights them in the Underwater Temple in an attempt to steal a magic stone. They defeat Fana when she invades the Forest of Witches. Mereoleona, leading the Royal Knights when they attack the Eye of the Midnight Sun's hideout, wipes the floor with Rhya. However, Licht uses the magic stones to resurrect them along with the rest of the elves, with the Magic Knights now having to defeat many newly reincarnated elves.
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* ''VideoGame/Crackdown'' encourages this. There are many lieutenants supporting the leaders of each gang, and taking out each one damages part of the gang's supply lines and ability to organise themselves. This results in the resources available to said gang being drastically reduced as the player systematically hunts down key members so they can take out the leaders without too much trouble.
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* ''VideoGame/Crackdown'' ''VideoGame/{{Crackdown}}'' encourages this. There are many lieutenants supporting the leaders of each gang, and taking out each one damages part of the gang's supply lines and ability to organise themselves. This results in the resources available to said gang being drastically reduced as the player systematically hunts down key members so they can take out the leaders without too much trouble.
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* ''VideoGame/Crackdown'' encourages this. There are many lieutenants supporting the leaders of each gang, and taking out each one damages part of the gang's supply lines and ability to organise themselves. This results in the resources available to said gang being drastically reduced as the player systematically hunts down key members so they can take out the leaders without too much trouble.
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* During Season 6 of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'', the Monarch - posing as the Blue Morpho - eliminates Dr. Venture's arches in this way. (With the exception of Redusa, who is simply coerced into resigning her arching rights.) Zig-zagged in that the Monarch is very much ''not'' a hero, but rather a jealous supervillain who wants Rusty all to himself.
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* During Season 6 of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'', the Monarch - posing as the Blue Morpho - eliminates Dr. Venture's arches in this way. (With the exception of Redusa, who is simply coerced into resigning her arching rights.) Zig-zagged in that the Monarch is very much ''not'' a hero, but rather a jealous supervillain who [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou wants Rusty all to himself.himself]].
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* ''VideoGame/GhostReconWildlands'': Your task is to dismantle the cartel by taking out the heads of various operations. Each mission either gets more info on the region's cartel leader or starts forcing him out into the open. Once the lower ranks of the cartel get dismantled, the upper ranks can be targetted.
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* In ''Videogame/{{Mercenaries}},'' you are given the Deck of 52, which is a series of North Korean military officers and [=VIPs=] that you must systematically take down over the course of the game. They consist of "number" cards, who are minor but important North Korean officers and officials, and "face" cards who are the targets of major story and faction missions. Each act of the game has an "ace" card as well, who is the ClimaxBoss for that particular part of the game. Number and face cards who are not completed before taking down the ace will be lost, encouraging you to [[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil work your way up the chain of badguys]] before taking down the ace.
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* In ''Film/{{Hancock}}'', after being released from prison, Hancock goes to a banks where some heavily armed robbers have taken about a dozen hostages, are keeping the police at bay. Once he rescues a pined down officer, he flies in at super speed and flying out with the members of the gang one by one, until Red, their leader, is the only one left. Red orders Hancock to use his SuperStrength to burst into the vault, and carry the money, or he'll release the DeadMansSwitch, killing him and the hostages. Hancock opts to [[spoiler: sever Red's hand]] and hand him over to the police. Later at the hospital, where [[spoiler: is being treated due to being injured while being BroughtDownToNormal]], he manages to take down some of the vengeful escaped convicts one by one, but as it looks like [[spoiler: Red is about to finish him off]] Ray, Hancock's agent, comes in and [[spoiler: cuts off Red's other hand, [[BogDamHeroes saving Hancock]].]]
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* In ''Anime/OutlawStar'', the Anten Seven are the Kay Pirate's seven deadliest assassins. They're introduced as a group about halfway through the series and then one shows up (and gets killed off) every few episodes. The final three members actually survive to the end of the series but they're each taken down individually- one by Aisha, one by Gene, and the final one killed when [[BigBad Hazanko]] goes OneWingedAngel and absorbs his own starship into himself to become an EldritchAbomination.
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* During Season 6 of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'', the Monarch - posing as the Blue Morpho - eliminates Dr. Venture's arches in this way. (With the exception of Redusa, who is simply coerced into resigning her arching rights.) Zig-zagged in that the Monarch is very much ''not'' a hero, but rather a jealous supervillain who wants Rusty all to himself.
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* ''Series/SeijuuSentaiGingaman'': The SpacePirates Barban start out with four generals serving the BigBad, Captain Zahab. The generals take on the Gingaman one at a time, each one eventually using up all their forces and perishing in battle (with [[AFatherToHisMen Zahab]] privately despairing at their loss).
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* ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' and ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' sometimes introduces small groups of monsters whom the heroes then face one by one.
** After the PsychoRangers are introduced in ''Series/DenjiSentaiMegaranger'' and ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'', the good guys spend the following episodes taking down their evil counterparts one by one.
** ''Series/SeijuuSentaiGingaman'': The SpacePirates Barban start out with four generals serving the BigBad, Captain Zahab. The generals take on the Gingaman one at a time, each one eventually using up all their forces and perishing in battle (with [[AFatherToHisMen Zahab]] privately despairing at theirloss).loss).
** ''Series/MahouSentaiMagiranger'' has three instances of this. The first are the Three Solitary Confinement Hades Beasts, which are the final MonstersOfTheWeek of the first arc. The second are the Four Hades Beastmen Kings, who appear near the end of the second arc. And lastly there are the Ten Hades Gods of Infershia, who take up the majority of the final arc. Its adaptation ''Series/PowerRangersMysticForce'' only makes use of the last group, renaming them to the Ten Terrors.
** After the PsychoRangers are introduced in ''Series/DenjiSentaiMegaranger'' and ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'', the good guys spend the following episodes taking down their evil counterparts one by one.
** ''Series/SeijuuSentaiGingaman'': The SpacePirates Barban start out with four generals serving the BigBad, Captain Zahab. The generals take on the Gingaman one at a time, each one eventually using up all their forces and perishing in battle (with [[AFatherToHisMen Zahab]] privately despairing at their
** ''Series/MahouSentaiMagiranger'' has three instances of this. The first are the Three Solitary Confinement Hades Beasts, which are the final MonstersOfTheWeek of the first arc. The second are the Four Hades Beastmen Kings, who appear near the end of the second arc. And lastly there are the Ten Hades Gods of Infershia, who take up the majority of the final arc. Its adaptation ''Series/PowerRangersMysticForce'' only makes use of the last group, renaming them to the Ten Terrors.
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Reworked and clarified the Pokémon section.
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* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': Although not villainous, each game focuses on two groups of characters the player needs to take down one at a time: the 8 Gym Leaders and the 4 Elite Four members (except in Gen VIII, which got rid of the Elite Four challenge in exchange for a BossBonanza challenge against the Gym Leaders and rivals), before they can face the Champion. The 8 Gym Leaders are spread out across the region and the player must find and challenge them over the course of the game. The Elite 4 is the very final challenge and must be fought in quick succession (sometimes in any order, sometimes in a specific one) before facing the Champion.
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* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': Although not villainous, each game focuses on two groups of characters the player needs to take down one at a time: the 8 Gym Leaders and the 4 Elite Four members (except in Gen VIII, which Generations VII and VIII; the former features Totem Pokémon to serve as equivalents to the gym leaders, while the latter got rid of the Elite Four challenge in exchange for a BossBonanza challenge against the Gym Leaders and rivals), before they can face the Champion. The 8 Gym Leaders are spread out across the region and the player must find and challenge them over the course of the game. The Elite 4 is the very final challenge and must be fought in quick succession (sometimes (in a set order in generations I-IV, but in any order, sometimes order in a specific one) V-VII) before facing the Champion.
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* ''Anime/PrettyCure'':
** The first half of ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCure'' is styled like this as Cure Black and Cure White battle the Dark Five. They kill Pisard, Gekidrago, and Poisonny in battle, Kiriya sacrifices himself (though he comes back later to aid the cures in the season's final battle), and Illkubo is killed by the Dark King after it becomes clear he may destroy the Prism Stones. This does not happen to the Seeds of Darkness or the Shittenou, who fight the Cures through their arcs and do not get picked off, one by one.
** ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCureSplashStar'' does this similarly as the Cures fight and defeat all five generals of Dark Fall one after another. Goyan revives them once they’re all dead, but four episodes later, they’ve been killed again.
** ''Anime/HugttoPrettyCure'' is also similar to these examples, with the executives of the Crisis Corporation being purified one after another. Ruru is the only one who heel-faces on her own volition, and even becomes a Cure.
** The first half of ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCure'' is styled like this as Cure Black and Cure White battle the Dark Five. They kill Pisard, Gekidrago, and Poisonny in battle, Kiriya sacrifices himself (though he comes back later to aid the cures in the season's final battle), and Illkubo is killed by the Dark King after it becomes clear he may destroy the Prism Stones. This does not happen to the Seeds of Darkness or the Shittenou, who fight the Cures through their arcs and do not get picked off, one by one.
** ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCureSplashStar'' does this similarly as the Cures fight and defeat all five generals of Dark Fall one after another. Goyan revives them once they’re all dead, but four episodes later, they’ve been killed again.
** ''Anime/HugttoPrettyCure'' is also similar to these examples, with the executives of the Crisis Corporation being purified one after another. Ruru is the only one who heel-faces on her own volition, and even becomes a Cure.
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** Generally, this applies to any given season of the show, as each member of a group gets to send monsters to fight the Sailor Senshi before going down. There are a few shake-ups in ''Super'', where Kaolinite is revived after her initial death and three of the Witches 5 get killed in one episode, but it’s generally played straight.
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Changed to official naming
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** The Twelve Kizuki, the twelve most powerful members of the demon race and direct underlings of the demon progenitor Muzan. The 12 are taken down over the course of entire MythArc, with Tanjiro needing to collect their blood in order to search for a cure for his sister's demon transformation, though a few of them are killed by Muzan himself deciding to dissolve the Lower 6. In the final arc, only three of the Upper Kizuki remain, and Muzan brings two more to make up for him losing ranks. They're separately taken down for the arc.
** The Spider Family in the Mount Natagumo Arc. The members are introduced early, with the revelation that among them, one is a Lower Kizuki. The members of the family get separately taken down by different characters over the course of the arc.
** The Spider Family in the Mount Natagumo Arc. The members are introduced early, with the revelation that among them, one is a Lower Kizuki. The members of the family get separately taken down by different characters over the course of the arc.
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** The Twelve Kizuki, the twelve most powerful members of the demon race and direct underlings of the demon progenitor Muzan. The 12 are taken down over the course of entire MythArc, with Tanjiro needing to collect their blood in order to search for a cure for his sister's demon transformation, though a few of them are killed by Muzan himself deciding to dissolve the Lower 6. Ranks. In the final arc, only three of the Upper Kizuki Ranks remain, and Muzan brings two more to make up for him losing ranks.members. They're separately taken down for the arc.
** The Spider Family in the Mount Natagumo Arc. The members are introduced early, with the revelation that among them, one is a LowerKizuki.Rank. The members of the family get separately taken down by different characters over the course of the arc.
** The Spider Family in the Mount Natagumo Arc. The members are introduced early, with the revelation that among them, one is a Lower
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** ''VideoGame/Darksiders3'' has Strife going after personifcations of TheSevenDeadlySins.
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[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'': The comic sets up this trope in the first arc by introducing the [[BigBadEnsemble seven Demiurges who currently rule creation]], and then making each of the three subsequent arcs devoted to Allison coming into conflict with one of them (Mottom in "Wielder of Names", Mammon in "Seeker of Thrones" and Solomon David in "King of Swords") in the process of trying to rescue DistressedDude Zaid. [[spoiler:It is then subverted; Allison's 'defeat' of Mottom kicks into motion an EnemyCivilWar, setting the Demiurges against each other with Allison being little more than a catalyst. This civil war also turns out to be part of the EvilPlan of the Demiurge Incubus.]]
[[/folder]]
* ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'': The comic sets up this trope in the first arc by introducing the [[BigBadEnsemble seven Demiurges who currently rule creation]], and then making each of the three subsequent arcs devoted to Allison coming into conflict with one of them (Mottom in "Wielder of Names", Mammon in "Seeker of Thrones" and Solomon David in "King of Swords") in the process of trying to rescue DistressedDude Zaid. [[spoiler:It is then subverted; Allison's 'defeat' of Mottom kicks into motion an EnemyCivilWar, setting the Demiurges against each other with Allison being little more than a catalyst. This civil war also turns out to be part of the EvilPlan of the Demiurge Incubus.]]
[[/folder]]
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* The Big Five in ''Anime/YuGiOh'''s "Noah's Saga" are one of these; they appear early in the arc and are taken down one by one as Our Heroes navigate the virtual world. (They do pop up one last time in merged form before being squashed permanently, but as I read this trope, that's not an explicit disqualifier.)
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* The Big Five in ''Anime/YuGiOh'''s "Noah's Saga" are one of these; they appear early in the arc and are taken down one by one as Our Heroes navigate the virtual world. (They They do pop up one last time in merged form before being squashed permanently, but as I read this trope, that's not an explicit disqualifier.)
permanently.
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* ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'': In season 2, with the Justice League out of commission and Gotham in chaos, a group of villains composed of The Penguin, Bane, The Riddler, Mr. Freeze and Two Faces creates the Injustice League, sharing Gotham between themselves and freezing Harley when she poses a challenge to it. The first half of that season sees Harley going in a revenge quest by taking down each of them one by one. [[spoiler:While she kills The Penguin, the others have varied fates, she takes The Riddler as prisoner, traps Bane in the bottom of a pit, Mr. Freeze sacrifices himself to heal his wife, and Two faces is arrested by Gordon, with Harley having no part in his take down.]]
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* ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'': In season 2, with the Justice League out of commission and Gotham in chaos, a group of villains composed of The Penguin, Bane, The Riddler, Mr. Freeze and Two Faces Two-Face creates the Injustice League, sharing Gotham between themselves and freezing Harley when she poses a challenge to it. The first half of that season sees Harley going in a revenge quest by taking down each of them one by one. [[spoiler:While she kills The Penguin, the others have varied fates, she takes The Riddler as prisoner, traps Bane in the bottom of a pit, Mr. Freeze sacrifices himself to heal his wife, and Two faces Two-Face is arrested by Gordon, with Harley having no part in his take down.]]
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[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/AdventureTime https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/adventuretime_stakes_list.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The [[DoubleMeaning stakes]] have been raised -- [[{{Pun}} to drive one through each of their hearts]].]]
This is a trope that occurs when instead of heroes being taken down one by one, this happens to a previously established party of central or secondary villains.
For this trope to be in play, the party of villains must be previously established at the start of an arc or even at the start of the story, and the plot must follow the heroes taking them down one by one (or in groups), either by hunting them down, finding them while looking for something else, finding them at random or being hunted down by them. Often, the existence of a party and their number is made clear, but each antagonist is introduced separately as a character, though in rare occasions, all villains will be introduced simultaneously and afterwards fought one at time. There are times where the existence of a group is mentioned, but neither is their number or the characters belonging to it.
This trope is particularly popular in {{Shonen}} manga for providing a simple and easy to follow structure for an arc and introducing characters for plenty of potential fights that can give all of your main characters some time in the limelight.
This trope [[TropesAreTools can be used]] in order to set the pace and goal for a StoryArc or MythArc. If the heroes have a group of six villains to defeat, the writer can set each villain fight separately, letting multiple character get focus, and also letting the reader have a ballpark of how far along in the arc the heroes are. Though there turning out to be a secret extra villain to be defeated or more villains being added on the fly is not an uncommon occurrence, especially if the BigBad is not a part of the group, but rather their boss.
This trope doesn't necessarily demands the villains to be killed, they just have to be neutralized as a threat, be it by killing them, [[SealedEvilInACan sealing them away]], arresting them or simply putting them out of commission for the duration of the story. Some stories with non-villainous antagonists can have them simply be defeated in order to proceed.
SubTrope of DwindlingParty. Often crosses with QuirkyMiniBossSquad. Can be used in overlay with TheRestShallPass, if that trope is used multiple times in a single StoryArc. This could lead to an instance of a VillainNoLongerIdle as the BigBad is forced to take action due to his minions being dealt with. Contrast with MookHorrorShow, this trope doesn't focus on {{Mooks}}, but an established party of particularly strong and relevant antagonistic characters, taken out in a specific systematic method.
!Examples
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Manga/AkameGaKill'': The antagonists throughout the manga are introduced and taken down this way. The Three Beasts are introduced and killed separately within their debut arc, while the Jaegers last longer, they're still taken out over the course of multiple arcs, though some survive the series and simply run away or give up on fighting the heroes. Only the [[PsychoForHire Wild Hunt]] are killed off entirely, not that [[AssholeVictim anyone will miss them]].
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': The Espadas, a group of the 10 most powerful Arrancar in Aizen's army, are introduced in the Arrancar Invasion Arc, and would be the major threat of the manga aside from Aizen and his most direct underlings for the next arcs leading up to the SeriesFauxnale, Hueco Mundo, Fake Karakura Town and Deicide. They're separately taken down over the course of these arcs, by multiple different central characters in the story, though some are also taken out by in-fighting, especially where Grimmjow and Nnoitra are involved, and occasionally, there's a fight between a character and a minor Arrancar that isn't an Espada.
* ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'': The final arc of the story introduces the Dark Masters, a group of 4 extremely powerful digimons that took over the digiworld while the kids were away. They attack as a group and are able to wipe the floor with the digi-destined, so their plans shift to take them down one by one.
* ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'':
** The Twelve Kizuki, the twelve most powerful members of the demon race and direct underlings of the demon progenitor Muzan. The 12 are taken down over the course of entire MythArc, with Tanjiro needing to collect their blood in order to search for a cure for his sister's demon transformation, though a few of them are killed by Muzan himself deciding to dissolve the Lower 6. In the final arc, only three of the Upper Kizuki remain, and Muzan brings two more to make up for him losing ranks. They're separately taken down for the arc.
** The Spider Family in the Mount Natagumo Arc. The members are introduced early, with the revelation that among them, one is a Lower Kizuki. The members of the family get separately taken down by different characters over the course of the arc.
* ''Manga/DragonBallZ'': The Frieza force greatly outnumbered the heroes at first, but over the course of the arc, their numbers keep dropping as they get taken out by either the [[MeleeATrois Z-Fighters or Vegeta]], first with many minions, followed by lieutenants Dodoria and Zarbon, and finally the [[EliteMooks Ginyu Force]]. Eventually Frieza is the only one left and the Emperor finds he has to do the grunt work himself.
* ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'': The band of seven get picked off one-by-one through various means, either by the heroes or some other circumstance. Out of the ones that are not killed by the heroes, Jakotsu kills Suikotsu after the later showed a desire to die, Renkotsu kills Jakotsu [[TheStarscream for his shikon jewel shard]], Bankotsu kills Renkotsu for [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes killing Jakotsu and]] [[EvenEvilHasStandards plotting against the rest of the team]], and Bankotsu is killed by Naraku after Bankotsu has been beaten by Inuyasha [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness taking his jewel shards]].
* ''Anime/MonsterRancher'': The Big Bad Four serve as the elite of Moo's forces and the Searchers spend the first half of the series making their way through their territories before eventually taking them out one at a time.
* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'':
** The League of Villains starts slowly taking this route, since instead of a single arc, they lose members rarely, but every few arcs. In the introduction of the modern incarnation of the league, Muscular, Mustard and Moonfish are arrested, and after that [[spoiler:in the Internship Arc, Magne is killed by Overhaul, and in the Paranormal Liberation War Arc, Hawks kills Twice.]]
** For a StoryArc example, the 8 Bullets of the Shie Haissakai. The 8 are members of a Yakuza group that are specifically described as being expendable, and their job is to delay the heroes' just enough for their boss to flee. Unlike most examples, instead of the 8 members being taken down one by one, they're actually dealt with in small groups since they seem to organize themselves in units. Tamaki takes out three that work as a unit called Garbage Trio, Fatgum and Kirishima work together to take down the Shield and Spear duo, Rappa and Tengai, Mirio takes out a duo of Deidoro and Nemoto. Rikiya is the only one to work alone. The other three members of the Shie Haissakai, which are the leaders Mimic, Chronostasis and Overhaul are also taken down separately in order of their importance to the group.
* ''Anime/NinjaScroll'': The Eight Demons of Kimon, while never seen all together, serve as antagonists and are killed separately throughout the movie, either by the heroes or by their own allies until [[TheHero Jubei]] faces off against the BigBad and leader of the Eight Demons.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Usually when the Straw Hats have to take on a group of opponents, they'll slowly be fought one at a time before the climatic showdown between Luffy and the main BigBad, though in later arcs not always by the main group but whatever allies join them. This happens with the following groups:
** Orange Town arc: Buggy's Pirates
** Arlong Town arc: Fishmen Pirates
** Alabasta arc: Baroque Works
** Skypeia arc: Eneru's Priests (also the first arc where someone outside the main group takes out one of them).
** Enies Lobby arc: [=CP9=]
** Thriller Bark arc: The Mysterious Four
** Fishman Island arc: New Fishman Pirates
** Punk Hazard arc: Caesar's group
** Dressrosa arc: Doflamingo Family
* ''Manga/ThePromisedNeverland'': This happens during the Goldy Pond Arc. The villain team is composed by 5 demons, Leuvis, Bayon, Nous, Nouma and Luce, that turned the titular place, which should be a safe haven for human children, into their secret private hunting ground. Together with a resistance of children there, Emma and Ray lead a "divide and conquer" strategy against them, by taking them down one at a time (except Nous and Nouma that are always together, [[spoiler:especially when Nouma is killed and Nous consumes her flesh, fusing with her]]) in different locations during one of those hunts.
* ''Anime/SailorMoon'': The Shitennou are dealt with one by one over the course of the anime's first season, each one getting to be the focus for a while. Once all four are down, it's finally time for the heroes to take on Queen Beryl.
* The Big Five in ''Anime/YuGiOh'''s "Noah's Saga" are one of these; they appear early in the arc and are taken down one by one as Our Heroes navigate the virtual world. (They do pop up one last time in merged form before being squashed permanently, but as I read this trope, that's not an explicit disqualifier.)
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''Fanfic/MyLittleMagesTheNightmaresReturn'': In [[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/30367/9/my-little-mages-the-nightmares-return/the-criminals-offer "The Criminal's Offer"]]: Due to multiple TheRestShallPass on the way to Nightmare Moon, her group is occupied by the heroes following Twilight Sparkle. Mass murderer Nightshade is occupied by Rainbow Dash, {{Necromancer}} Chrysalis by Paladin Applejack, the Diamond Dogs, Werewolves, by Druid Fluttershy, Mercenary Iron Will by Rarity, and the Assassin Grand Master by Pinkie Pie, leaving Twilight Sparkle to deal with Nightmare Moon alone.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film - Live Action]]
* ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'': The Children of Thanos are fought systematically through the film and all are killed off by the heroes through it. Ebony Maw gets sucked out into space by Iron Man, Proxima Midnight is sent flying into one of the spinning tanks by Wanda, Cull Obsidian is sent flying into and disintegrated by the Wakanda force field thanks to Bruce and Corvus Glaive dies by being impaled from behind on his own weapon via Vision.
* ''Film/HannibalRising'' revolves around the future Doctor Hannibal Lecter hunting down the ex-soldiers who killed and ate his sister Mischa, along the way developing his skills in planning, culture, and cannibalism. After finding the mens' dog tags, he hunts them down one by one, decapitating one with a horse-drawn pulley, drowning the next, shooting the third, eviscerating a fourth, and is implied to have collected the head of the last.
* ''Film/KillBill'' has The Bride hunt down the individual members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad and methodically battle and kill them (and either kill or maim anyone who gets in her way or they put in her way) one by one in revenge for crashing her wedding and killing all the guests. She saves Bill, who actually shot her in the head, for last.
* ''Film/TheSorcerersApprentice'': Over the years, a group of powerful witches was trapped in a relic. During the film, the villains release them one by one to fight against the protagonist.
* ''Film/{{Us}}'': The Tethered are established early as the evil versions of each of the family members. At first, they attempt to separate the family and kill them one by one, but the family manages to regroup and turns this around by taking them out separately first over the course of the movie, with each Tethered being killed by their respective family members. [[spoiler:Abraham is the first to go clubbed to death in a boat by Gabe. After running for their friends house, they kill their tethered one by one as well, and in fleeing there, with Zora driving, she runs over Umbra. On their way out of town, Jason tricks Pluto into setting himself in fire, leaving the final fight in the Tethered's home base between the BigBad Red and Adelaide.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literature]]
* This turns out to be what [[spoiler:Judge Wargrave]] was doing in ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone''. Although strangers to each other, the group, who are [[spoiler:all murderers]], are collected on the island under false pretenses and gradually killed off.
* ''Literature/TheDemonPrinces'': the five titular crime lords are described in the beginning chapter in the first novel (with one even making an appearance in disguise) but only one is eliminated by the end of the first novel and each subsequent novel focuses on the hunt and elimination of a single Prince. It is also a recurring theme that the minions of each Prince are eliminated one by one over the course of each novel.
* This is the case in the first half of ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' series: The baddies are led by an elite group of 13 Forsaken, at least one of whom is killed or otherwise defeated in the climax of each book. However, at some point it's revealed that the BigBad can simply revive his minions in new bodies, as long as they're not rendered DeaderThanDead, so several previously killed Forsaken come back, and a few new villains get elevated to Forsaken status. Nevertheless, their overall numbers dwindle throughout the series, because the BigBad encourages ChronicBackstabbingDisorder and would rather have a small number of hyper-competent minions than a larger number of unreliable ones.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'': Season 1 had Matt waging a one-man war against the Fisk criminal empire, taking down each faction one at a time. First he goes up against the Russians, then Nobu's faction. Leland ends up getting killed by Fisk himself in a YouHaveFailedMe moment, while Wesley gets killed by Karen in a [[TooDumbToLive a botched attempt to blackmail her]]. Aside from Fisk himself, Madame Gao is the only crime boss who ends up getting away, abandoning the sinking ship and relocating so that [[Series/IronFist2017 Danny Rand]] has to deal with her instead.
* In Season 5 of ''Series/{{Dexter}}'', Dexter and Lumen decide to track down (and kill) the individual members of the five-man Barrel Girl Gang, who tortured and murdered twelve women, and raped and tortured Lumen and their first victim, Emily. Dexter kills the first, cleanup guy Boyd, by himself, and then he and Lumen team up to kill the others.
* ''Series/SeijuuSentaiGingaman'': The SpacePirates Barban start out with four generals serving the BigBad, Captain Zahab. The generals take on the Gingaman one at a time, each one eventually using up all their forces and perishing in battle (with [[AFatherToHisMen Zahab]] privately despairing at their loss).
* ''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy2019'': Season 2 introduces the Swedes, a trio of Swedish siblings and assassins that are sent to kill the Hargeeves siblings. Over the course of the season, they are neutralized as threats one at a time. [[spoiler:The youngest is taken out first, by an explosive trap from Diego, prompting the other two to become much more aggressive in looking for revenge. They later try to off Allison and her husband Ray, but Allison fights back and rumors the older one into killing his own sibling. In the SeasonFinale, the older one kills The Handler after figuring out she was manipulating him and his siblings, and Five and him agree on a cease fire, which lets him leave and no longer be a threat to the family.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/ApeEscape''
** The second entry in the series provides a non-lethal example. Spectre creates a team known as the Freaky Monkey Five which serve as the bosses for the game. Each one gets captured by Jimmy after their boss fight (except Yellow, who escapes only to get captured after a later fight). After the five are captured, Spectre expresses intent on avenging them.
** The third entry plays with this and subverts it by having the same thing happen only for Pink to escape instead of Yellow. After capturing Spectre, Pink reveals that she helps set him and the rest of the five free, resulting in the five and Spectre having to be captured again.
* This has been a staple of the ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' series from the very beginning. A large conspiracy is doing bad things, the titular assassin takes them down one at a time. Sometimes the conspiracy is revealed to be larger than originally thought, or the story is more complicated, or there's a whole ''other'' conspiracy to deal with, but the assassin still goes after them individually.
* ''VideoGame/AzureStrikerGunvolt'': In the game, the protagonist's main mission, aside from protecting Joule, is to defeat the Sumeragi Swordsmen, a part of the Sumeragi group that is led by Nova and his direct underlings, the Sumeragi Seven, a group of Adepts who had their powers physically extracted into swords known as Glaives, with the intention of controlling and weaponizing Adepts. Each of the game's seven major missions is about finding and taking down the Sumeragi seven in each mission, with the final one going after Nova. [[spoiler:It's revealed that the Sumeragi group could clone the Sumeragi Seven, so there's a BossBonanza in the game's final missions, defeating those seven bosses again. Nova also turns out to not be the FinalBoss of the game, with a TrueFinalBoss after him in the true ending.]]
* ''VideoGame/BattleChefBrigade'': In the second half of the game, focused on Thrash, he needs to take down the Scowl Heart Bandits' chefs to get back the Yoku Hearts. The group has three chefs he has to face, getting one heart back per battle, and the other three serve as judges. The battles happen over the course of three days, with each chef being taken down on one day.
* ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'': In the opening of the game, the player learns of the four people with the Lord Souls, Gwyn, The Witch of Izalith, Gravelord Nito and the Furtive Pygmy. In the second half of the game, the player has to collect the Lord Souls from Nito and the witch, and [[spoiler:kill Gwyn who is acting as the Final Boss]]. The Furtive Pygmy plays no role in this story, [[spoiler:aside from the implication he is your ancestor.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Darksiders}}'': The game starts with War having to defeat the Forces of Hell by taking down their generals, The Chosen. He strikes a deal with Samael to give him the hearts of four of them so he will open a portal to escape and to let War fight the last one, Straga. While their numbers is established early, War only learns about each of their natures when going to fight them. Wicked K, one of the Chosen, however, is a BonusBoss that doesn't need to be fought, and when fought, it won't be killed and just reward the played with more souls, being able to be fought again for more rewards.
* ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor2'': The Septentriones, a group of bizarre alien lifeforms attacking and destroying Japan for unknown reasons. The heroes come across one of them in each of the seven days the game takes place over and defeat them separately. While the heroes come across the first one by accident, taking them down becomes the main plot of the game, and they have to hunt and plan to take on them, since some of them are basically indestructible by normal means or must be taken out in a certain way. [[spoiler:It's revealed there's an eighth one towards the end of the game, The Anguished One.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}'':
** ''VideoGame/Drakengard2'': The game sets up the lieutenants of the Knights of the Seal as this in the beginning of the story. They're introduced as a party of four, with their fourth and final member mysteriously missing, but they're still taken down one by one by the heroes.
** ''VideoGame/Drakengard3'' also introduces its QuirkyMinibossSquad, the Intoners, when Zero tries to take on them all at once and is soundly trashed. After recuperating, she goes after them again, taking care to confront and to eliminate them one at a time over the course of the game.
* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'':
** The Council of Villains serves this role in [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI the first game]], being a nefarious group consisting of Disney Villains, seeking control of the Heartless and access to the titular Kingdom Hearts. The protagonist Sora, along with Donald and Goofy systematically defeat each villain by traveling to their respective worlds and defeating them, either killing them, trapping them, or sending them running.
** Organization XIII become this going forward from ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories'', being a group of Nobodies (beings that remained after their hearts was stolen) wanting to take Kingdom Hearts for themselves through various means. However in-fighting in the group, along with battling Sora, Donald and Goofy, start dropping their numbers. They were thought taken care of at the end of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', [[spoiler:until it's revealed that Master Xehanort is using them to become vessels for him and become the 13 Seekers of Darkness. Those that didn't turn back into humans are revived via time travel and have to be taken out again when ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' comes around, this time by the Warriors of Light (Sora, Donald, Goofy, Mickey, Kairi, Riku, Axel/Lea, Roxas, Xion, Terra, Ventus and Aqua) which they do in the climax of the game.]]
*This trope appears in basically every Metal gear Solid Game from Part 1 to 4 and their respective groups of elite boss fight units. All of these bossfight villains are set up at the start of the game and go down one by one.
**''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' has the ''FOXHOUND'' unit with the iconic villains Psycho Mantis, Sniper Wolf, Vulcan Raven, and Liquid Snake who all go down in this installment.
**''Videogame/MetalGearSolid2'' has the terrorist group ''Dead Cell'' and the members Fatman, Fortune, and Solidus Snake who find their demise.
**In ''Videogame/MetalGearSolid3'' the ''Cobra Unit'' is introduced at the beginning. Snake kills The Pain, The Fear, The End, The Fury, and at the end The Boss (aka "The Joy"), proving that he truly is Big Boss.
**''Videogame/MetalGearSolid4'' features the ''Beauty and the Beast Unit'' that are combinations of the bosses from the previous three installments. Laughing Octopus, Raging Raven, Crying Wolf, and Screaming Mantis go down one by one. And Vamp from Part 2 is also killed for good this time around.
%%* This trope appears in basically every ''Franchise/MetalGear'' Solid Game from Part 1 to 4 and their respective groups of elite boss fight units. All of these bossfight villains are set up at the start of the game and go down one by one.
%%** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' has the ''FOXHOUND'' unit with the iconic villains Psycho Mantis, Sniper Wolf, Vulcan Raven, and Liquid Snake who all go down in this installment.
%%** ''Videogame/MetalGearSolid2'' has the terrorist group ''Dead Cell'' and the members Fatman, Fortune, and Solidus Snake who find their demise.
%%** In ''Videogame/MetalGearSolid3'' the ''Cobra Unit'' is introduced at the beginning. Snake kills The Pain, The Fear, The End, The Fury, and at the end The Boss (aka "The Joy"), proving that he truly is Big Boss.
%%** ''Videogame/MetalGearSolid4'' features the ''Beauty and the Beast Unit'' that are combinations of the bosses from the previous three installments. Laughing Octopus, Raging Raven, Crying Wolf, and Screaming Mantis go down one by one. And Vamp from Part 2 is also killed for good this time around.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': Although not villainous, each game focuses on two groups of characters the player needs to take down one at a time: the 8 Gym Leaders and the 4 Elite Four members (except in Gen VIII, which got rid of the Elite Four challenge in exchange for a BossBonanza challenge against the Gym Leaders and rivals), before they can face the Champion. The 8 Gym Leaders are spread out across the region and the player must find and challenge them over the course of the game. The Elite 4 is the very final challenge and must be fought in quick succession (sometimes in any order, sometimes in a specific one) before facing the Champion.
* ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}'': During the fifth game, ''Seven Sirens'', Shantae takes out the title villains one by one. In an unusual take on this trope, one ends up spared as she makes a HeelFaceTurn.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': The Vamps in the "Stakes" arc are vampires released after Marceline has her vampire essence removed. Marceline has to defeat them one by one with help from Finn, Jake and Princess Bubblegum, with Marceline regaining one of her powers (flying, invisibility, shapeshifting and healing).
* ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'': In season 2, with the Justice League out of commission and Gotham in chaos, a group of villains composed of The Penguin, Bane, The Riddler, Mr. Freeze and Two Faces creates the Injustice League, sharing Gotham between themselves and freezing Harley when she poses a challenge to it. The first half of that season sees Harley going in a revenge quest by taking down each of them one by one. [[spoiler:While she kills The Penguin, the others have varied fates, she takes The Riddler as prisoner, traps Bane in the bottom of a pit, Mr. Freeze sacrifices himself to heal his wife, and Two faces is arrested by Gordon, with Harley having no part in his take down.]]
[[/folder]]
----
[[caption-width-right:350:The [[DoubleMeaning stakes]] have been raised -- [[{{Pun}} to drive one through each of their hearts]].]]
This is a trope that occurs when instead of heroes being taken down one by one, this happens to a previously established party of central or secondary villains.
For this trope to be in play, the party of villains must be previously established at the start of an arc or even at the start of the story, and the plot must follow the heroes taking them down one by one (or in groups), either by hunting them down, finding them while looking for something else, finding them at random or being hunted down by them. Often, the existence of a party and their number is made clear, but each antagonist is introduced separately as a character, though in rare occasions, all villains will be introduced simultaneously and afterwards fought one at time. There are times where the existence of a group is mentioned, but neither is their number or the characters belonging to it.
This trope is particularly popular in {{Shonen}} manga for providing a simple and easy to follow structure for an arc and introducing characters for plenty of potential fights that can give all of your main characters some time in the limelight.
This trope [[TropesAreTools can be used]] in order to set the pace and goal for a StoryArc or MythArc. If the heroes have a group of six villains to defeat, the writer can set each villain fight separately, letting multiple character get focus, and also letting the reader have a ballpark of how far along in the arc the heroes are. Though there turning out to be a secret extra villain to be defeated or more villains being added on the fly is not an uncommon occurrence, especially if the BigBad is not a part of the group, but rather their boss.
This trope doesn't necessarily demands the villains to be killed, they just have to be neutralized as a threat, be it by killing them, [[SealedEvilInACan sealing them away]], arresting them or simply putting them out of commission for the duration of the story. Some stories with non-villainous antagonists can have them simply be defeated in order to proceed.
SubTrope of DwindlingParty. Often crosses with QuirkyMiniBossSquad. Can be used in overlay with TheRestShallPass, if that trope is used multiple times in a single StoryArc. This could lead to an instance of a VillainNoLongerIdle as the BigBad is forced to take action due to his minions being dealt with. Contrast with MookHorrorShow, this trope doesn't focus on {{Mooks}}, but an established party of particularly strong and relevant antagonistic characters, taken out in a specific systematic method.
!Examples
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Manga/AkameGaKill'': The antagonists throughout the manga are introduced and taken down this way. The Three Beasts are introduced and killed separately within their debut arc, while the Jaegers last longer, they're still taken out over the course of multiple arcs, though some survive the series and simply run away or give up on fighting the heroes. Only the [[PsychoForHire Wild Hunt]] are killed off entirely, not that [[AssholeVictim anyone will miss them]].
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': The Espadas, a group of the 10 most powerful Arrancar in Aizen's army, are introduced in the Arrancar Invasion Arc, and would be the major threat of the manga aside from Aizen and his most direct underlings for the next arcs leading up to the SeriesFauxnale, Hueco Mundo, Fake Karakura Town and Deicide. They're separately taken down over the course of these arcs, by multiple different central characters in the story, though some are also taken out by in-fighting, especially where Grimmjow and Nnoitra are involved, and occasionally, there's a fight between a character and a minor Arrancar that isn't an Espada.
* ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'': The final arc of the story introduces the Dark Masters, a group of 4 extremely powerful digimons that took over the digiworld while the kids were away. They attack as a group and are able to wipe the floor with the digi-destined, so their plans shift to take them down one by one.
* ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'':
** The Twelve Kizuki, the twelve most powerful members of the demon race and direct underlings of the demon progenitor Muzan. The 12 are taken down over the course of entire MythArc, with Tanjiro needing to collect their blood in order to search for a cure for his sister's demon transformation, though a few of them are killed by Muzan himself deciding to dissolve the Lower 6. In the final arc, only three of the Upper Kizuki remain, and Muzan brings two more to make up for him losing ranks. They're separately taken down for the arc.
** The Spider Family in the Mount Natagumo Arc. The members are introduced early, with the revelation that among them, one is a Lower Kizuki. The members of the family get separately taken down by different characters over the course of the arc.
* ''Manga/DragonBallZ'': The Frieza force greatly outnumbered the heroes at first, but over the course of the arc, their numbers keep dropping as they get taken out by either the [[MeleeATrois Z-Fighters or Vegeta]], first with many minions, followed by lieutenants Dodoria and Zarbon, and finally the [[EliteMooks Ginyu Force]]. Eventually Frieza is the only one left and the Emperor finds he has to do the grunt work himself.
* ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'': The band of seven get picked off one-by-one through various means, either by the heroes or some other circumstance. Out of the ones that are not killed by the heroes, Jakotsu kills Suikotsu after the later showed a desire to die, Renkotsu kills Jakotsu [[TheStarscream for his shikon jewel shard]], Bankotsu kills Renkotsu for [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes killing Jakotsu and]] [[EvenEvilHasStandards plotting against the rest of the team]], and Bankotsu is killed by Naraku after Bankotsu has been beaten by Inuyasha [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness taking his jewel shards]].
* ''Anime/MonsterRancher'': The Big Bad Four serve as the elite of Moo's forces and the Searchers spend the first half of the series making their way through their territories before eventually taking them out one at a time.
* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'':
** The League of Villains starts slowly taking this route, since instead of a single arc, they lose members rarely, but every few arcs. In the introduction of the modern incarnation of the league, Muscular, Mustard and Moonfish are arrested, and after that [[spoiler:in the Internship Arc, Magne is killed by Overhaul, and in the Paranormal Liberation War Arc, Hawks kills Twice.]]
** For a StoryArc example, the 8 Bullets of the Shie Haissakai. The 8 are members of a Yakuza group that are specifically described as being expendable, and their job is to delay the heroes' just enough for their boss to flee. Unlike most examples, instead of the 8 members being taken down one by one, they're actually dealt with in small groups since they seem to organize themselves in units. Tamaki takes out three that work as a unit called Garbage Trio, Fatgum and Kirishima work together to take down the Shield and Spear duo, Rappa and Tengai, Mirio takes out a duo of Deidoro and Nemoto. Rikiya is the only one to work alone. The other three members of the Shie Haissakai, which are the leaders Mimic, Chronostasis and Overhaul are also taken down separately in order of their importance to the group.
* ''Anime/NinjaScroll'': The Eight Demons of Kimon, while never seen all together, serve as antagonists and are killed separately throughout the movie, either by the heroes or by their own allies until [[TheHero Jubei]] faces off against the BigBad and leader of the Eight Demons.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Usually when the Straw Hats have to take on a group of opponents, they'll slowly be fought one at a time before the climatic showdown between Luffy and the main BigBad, though in later arcs not always by the main group but whatever allies join them. This happens with the following groups:
** Orange Town arc: Buggy's Pirates
** Arlong Town arc: Fishmen Pirates
** Alabasta arc: Baroque Works
** Skypeia arc: Eneru's Priests (also the first arc where someone outside the main group takes out one of them).
** Enies Lobby arc: [=CP9=]
** Thriller Bark arc: The Mysterious Four
** Fishman Island arc: New Fishman Pirates
** Punk Hazard arc: Caesar's group
** Dressrosa arc: Doflamingo Family
* ''Manga/ThePromisedNeverland'': This happens during the Goldy Pond Arc. The villain team is composed by 5 demons, Leuvis, Bayon, Nous, Nouma and Luce, that turned the titular place, which should be a safe haven for human children, into their secret private hunting ground. Together with a resistance of children there, Emma and Ray lead a "divide and conquer" strategy against them, by taking them down one at a time (except Nous and Nouma that are always together, [[spoiler:especially when Nouma is killed and Nous consumes her flesh, fusing with her]]) in different locations during one of those hunts.
* ''Anime/SailorMoon'': The Shitennou are dealt with one by one over the course of the anime's first season, each one getting to be the focus for a while. Once all four are down, it's finally time for the heroes to take on Queen Beryl.
* The Big Five in ''Anime/YuGiOh'''s "Noah's Saga" are one of these; they appear early in the arc and are taken down one by one as Our Heroes navigate the virtual world. (They do pop up one last time in merged form before being squashed permanently, but as I read this trope, that's not an explicit disqualifier.)
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''Fanfic/MyLittleMagesTheNightmaresReturn'': In [[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/30367/9/my-little-mages-the-nightmares-return/the-criminals-offer "The Criminal's Offer"]]: Due to multiple TheRestShallPass on the way to Nightmare Moon, her group is occupied by the heroes following Twilight Sparkle. Mass murderer Nightshade is occupied by Rainbow Dash, {{Necromancer}} Chrysalis by Paladin Applejack, the Diamond Dogs, Werewolves, by Druid Fluttershy, Mercenary Iron Will by Rarity, and the Assassin Grand Master by Pinkie Pie, leaving Twilight Sparkle to deal with Nightmare Moon alone.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film - Live Action]]
* ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'': The Children of Thanos are fought systematically through the film and all are killed off by the heroes through it. Ebony Maw gets sucked out into space by Iron Man, Proxima Midnight is sent flying into one of the spinning tanks by Wanda, Cull Obsidian is sent flying into and disintegrated by the Wakanda force field thanks to Bruce and Corvus Glaive dies by being impaled from behind on his own weapon via Vision.
* ''Film/HannibalRising'' revolves around the future Doctor Hannibal Lecter hunting down the ex-soldiers who killed and ate his sister Mischa, along the way developing his skills in planning, culture, and cannibalism. After finding the mens' dog tags, he hunts them down one by one, decapitating one with a horse-drawn pulley, drowning the next, shooting the third, eviscerating a fourth, and is implied to have collected the head of the last.
* ''Film/KillBill'' has The Bride hunt down the individual members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad and methodically battle and kill them (and either kill or maim anyone who gets in her way or they put in her way) one by one in revenge for crashing her wedding and killing all the guests. She saves Bill, who actually shot her in the head, for last.
* ''Film/TheSorcerersApprentice'': Over the years, a group of powerful witches was trapped in a relic. During the film, the villains release them one by one to fight against the protagonist.
* ''Film/{{Us}}'': The Tethered are established early as the evil versions of each of the family members. At first, they attempt to separate the family and kill them one by one, but the family manages to regroup and turns this around by taking them out separately first over the course of the movie, with each Tethered being killed by their respective family members. [[spoiler:Abraham is the first to go clubbed to death in a boat by Gabe. After running for their friends house, they kill their tethered one by one as well, and in fleeing there, with Zora driving, she runs over Umbra. On their way out of town, Jason tricks Pluto into setting himself in fire, leaving the final fight in the Tethered's home base between the BigBad Red and Adelaide.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literature]]
* This turns out to be what [[spoiler:Judge Wargrave]] was doing in ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone''. Although strangers to each other, the group, who are [[spoiler:all murderers]], are collected on the island under false pretenses and gradually killed off.
* ''Literature/TheDemonPrinces'': the five titular crime lords are described in the beginning chapter in the first novel (with one even making an appearance in disguise) but only one is eliminated by the end of the first novel and each subsequent novel focuses on the hunt and elimination of a single Prince. It is also a recurring theme that the minions of each Prince are eliminated one by one over the course of each novel.
* This is the case in the first half of ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' series: The baddies are led by an elite group of 13 Forsaken, at least one of whom is killed or otherwise defeated in the climax of each book. However, at some point it's revealed that the BigBad can simply revive his minions in new bodies, as long as they're not rendered DeaderThanDead, so several previously killed Forsaken come back, and a few new villains get elevated to Forsaken status. Nevertheless, their overall numbers dwindle throughout the series, because the BigBad encourages ChronicBackstabbingDisorder and would rather have a small number of hyper-competent minions than a larger number of unreliable ones.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'': Season 1 had Matt waging a one-man war against the Fisk criminal empire, taking down each faction one at a time. First he goes up against the Russians, then Nobu's faction. Leland ends up getting killed by Fisk himself in a YouHaveFailedMe moment, while Wesley gets killed by Karen in a [[TooDumbToLive a botched attempt to blackmail her]]. Aside from Fisk himself, Madame Gao is the only crime boss who ends up getting away, abandoning the sinking ship and relocating so that [[Series/IronFist2017 Danny Rand]] has to deal with her instead.
* In Season 5 of ''Series/{{Dexter}}'', Dexter and Lumen decide to track down (and kill) the individual members of the five-man Barrel Girl Gang, who tortured and murdered twelve women, and raped and tortured Lumen and their first victim, Emily. Dexter kills the first, cleanup guy Boyd, by himself, and then he and Lumen team up to kill the others.
* ''Series/SeijuuSentaiGingaman'': The SpacePirates Barban start out with four generals serving the BigBad, Captain Zahab. The generals take on the Gingaman one at a time, each one eventually using up all their forces and perishing in battle (with [[AFatherToHisMen Zahab]] privately despairing at their loss).
* ''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy2019'': Season 2 introduces the Swedes, a trio of Swedish siblings and assassins that are sent to kill the Hargeeves siblings. Over the course of the season, they are neutralized as threats one at a time. [[spoiler:The youngest is taken out first, by an explosive trap from Diego, prompting the other two to become much more aggressive in looking for revenge. They later try to off Allison and her husband Ray, but Allison fights back and rumors the older one into killing his own sibling. In the SeasonFinale, the older one kills The Handler after figuring out she was manipulating him and his siblings, and Five and him agree on a cease fire, which lets him leave and no longer be a threat to the family.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/ApeEscape''
** The second entry in the series provides a non-lethal example. Spectre creates a team known as the Freaky Monkey Five which serve as the bosses for the game. Each one gets captured by Jimmy after their boss fight (except Yellow, who escapes only to get captured after a later fight). After the five are captured, Spectre expresses intent on avenging them.
** The third entry plays with this and subverts it by having the same thing happen only for Pink to escape instead of Yellow. After capturing Spectre, Pink reveals that she helps set him and the rest of the five free, resulting in the five and Spectre having to be captured again.
* This has been a staple of the ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' series from the very beginning. A large conspiracy is doing bad things, the titular assassin takes them down one at a time. Sometimes the conspiracy is revealed to be larger than originally thought, or the story is more complicated, or there's a whole ''other'' conspiracy to deal with, but the assassin still goes after them individually.
* ''VideoGame/AzureStrikerGunvolt'': In the game, the protagonist's main mission, aside from protecting Joule, is to defeat the Sumeragi Swordsmen, a part of the Sumeragi group that is led by Nova and his direct underlings, the Sumeragi Seven, a group of Adepts who had their powers physically extracted into swords known as Glaives, with the intention of controlling and weaponizing Adepts. Each of the game's seven major missions is about finding and taking down the Sumeragi seven in each mission, with the final one going after Nova. [[spoiler:It's revealed that the Sumeragi group could clone the Sumeragi Seven, so there's a BossBonanza in the game's final missions, defeating those seven bosses again. Nova also turns out to not be the FinalBoss of the game, with a TrueFinalBoss after him in the true ending.]]
* ''VideoGame/BattleChefBrigade'': In the second half of the game, focused on Thrash, he needs to take down the Scowl Heart Bandits' chefs to get back the Yoku Hearts. The group has three chefs he has to face, getting one heart back per battle, and the other three serve as judges. The battles happen over the course of three days, with each chef being taken down on one day.
* ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'': In the opening of the game, the player learns of the four people with the Lord Souls, Gwyn, The Witch of Izalith, Gravelord Nito and the Furtive Pygmy. In the second half of the game, the player has to collect the Lord Souls from Nito and the witch, and [[spoiler:kill Gwyn who is acting as the Final Boss]]. The Furtive Pygmy plays no role in this story, [[spoiler:aside from the implication he is your ancestor.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Darksiders}}'': The game starts with War having to defeat the Forces of Hell by taking down their generals, The Chosen. He strikes a deal with Samael to give him the hearts of four of them so he will open a portal to escape and to let War fight the last one, Straga. While their numbers is established early, War only learns about each of their natures when going to fight them. Wicked K, one of the Chosen, however, is a BonusBoss that doesn't need to be fought, and when fought, it won't be killed and just reward the played with more souls, being able to be fought again for more rewards.
* ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor2'': The Septentriones, a group of bizarre alien lifeforms attacking and destroying Japan for unknown reasons. The heroes come across one of them in each of the seven days the game takes place over and defeat them separately. While the heroes come across the first one by accident, taking them down becomes the main plot of the game, and they have to hunt and plan to take on them, since some of them are basically indestructible by normal means or must be taken out in a certain way. [[spoiler:It's revealed there's an eighth one towards the end of the game, The Anguished One.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}'':
** ''VideoGame/Drakengard2'': The game sets up the lieutenants of the Knights of the Seal as this in the beginning of the story. They're introduced as a party of four, with their fourth and final member mysteriously missing, but they're still taken down one by one by the heroes.
** ''VideoGame/Drakengard3'' also introduces its QuirkyMinibossSquad, the Intoners, when Zero tries to take on them all at once and is soundly trashed. After recuperating, she goes after them again, taking care to confront and to eliminate them one at a time over the course of the game.
* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'':
** The Council of Villains serves this role in [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI the first game]], being a nefarious group consisting of Disney Villains, seeking control of the Heartless and access to the titular Kingdom Hearts. The protagonist Sora, along with Donald and Goofy systematically defeat each villain by traveling to their respective worlds and defeating them, either killing them, trapping them, or sending them running.
** Organization XIII become this going forward from ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories'', being a group of Nobodies (beings that remained after their hearts was stolen) wanting to take Kingdom Hearts for themselves through various means. However in-fighting in the group, along with battling Sora, Donald and Goofy, start dropping their numbers. They were thought taken care of at the end of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', [[spoiler:until it's revealed that Master Xehanort is using them to become vessels for him and become the 13 Seekers of Darkness. Those that didn't turn back into humans are revived via time travel and have to be taken out again when ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' comes around, this time by the Warriors of Light (Sora, Donald, Goofy, Mickey, Kairi, Riku, Axel/Lea, Roxas, Xion, Terra, Ventus and Aqua) which they do in the climax of the game.]]
*This trope appears in basically every Metal gear Solid Game from Part 1 to 4 and their respective groups of elite boss fight units. All of these bossfight villains are set up at the start of the game and go down one by one.
**''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' has the ''FOXHOUND'' unit with the iconic villains Psycho Mantis, Sniper Wolf, Vulcan Raven, and Liquid Snake who all go down in this installment.
**''Videogame/MetalGearSolid2'' has the terrorist group ''Dead Cell'' and the members Fatman, Fortune, and Solidus Snake who find their demise.
**In ''Videogame/MetalGearSolid3'' the ''Cobra Unit'' is introduced at the beginning. Snake kills The Pain, The Fear, The End, The Fury, and at the end The Boss (aka "The Joy"), proving that he truly is Big Boss.
**''Videogame/MetalGearSolid4'' features the ''Beauty and the Beast Unit'' that are combinations of the bosses from the previous three installments. Laughing Octopus, Raging Raven, Crying Wolf, and Screaming Mantis go down one by one. And Vamp from Part 2 is also killed for good this time around.
%%* This trope appears in basically every ''Franchise/MetalGear'' Solid Game from Part 1 to 4 and their respective groups of elite boss fight units. All of these bossfight villains are set up at the start of the game and go down one by one.
%%** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' has the ''FOXHOUND'' unit with the iconic villains Psycho Mantis, Sniper Wolf, Vulcan Raven, and Liquid Snake who all go down in this installment.
%%** ''Videogame/MetalGearSolid2'' has the terrorist group ''Dead Cell'' and the members Fatman, Fortune, and Solidus Snake who find their demise.
%%** In ''Videogame/MetalGearSolid3'' the ''Cobra Unit'' is introduced at the beginning. Snake kills The Pain, The Fear, The End, The Fury, and at the end The Boss (aka "The Joy"), proving that he truly is Big Boss.
%%** ''Videogame/MetalGearSolid4'' features the ''Beauty and the Beast Unit'' that are combinations of the bosses from the previous three installments. Laughing Octopus, Raging Raven, Crying Wolf, and Screaming Mantis go down one by one. And Vamp from Part 2 is also killed for good this time around.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': Although not villainous, each game focuses on two groups of characters the player needs to take down one at a time: the 8 Gym Leaders and the 4 Elite Four members (except in Gen VIII, which got rid of the Elite Four challenge in exchange for a BossBonanza challenge against the Gym Leaders and rivals), before they can face the Champion. The 8 Gym Leaders are spread out across the region and the player must find and challenge them over the course of the game. The Elite 4 is the very final challenge and must be fought in quick succession (sometimes in any order, sometimes in a specific one) before facing the Champion.
* ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}'': During the fifth game, ''Seven Sirens'', Shantae takes out the title villains one by one. In an unusual take on this trope, one ends up spared as she makes a HeelFaceTurn.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': The Vamps in the "Stakes" arc are vampires released after Marceline has her vampire essence removed. Marceline has to defeat them one by one with help from Finn, Jake and Princess Bubblegum, with Marceline regaining one of her powers (flying, invisibility, shapeshifting and healing).
* ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'': In season 2, with the Justice League out of commission and Gotham in chaos, a group of villains composed of The Penguin, Bane, The Riddler, Mr. Freeze and Two Faces creates the Injustice League, sharing Gotham between themselves and freezing Harley when she poses a challenge to it. The first half of that season sees Harley going in a revenge quest by taking down each of them one by one. [[spoiler:While she kills The Penguin, the others have varied fates, she takes The Riddler as prisoner, traps Bane in the bottom of a pit, Mr. Freeze sacrifices himself to heal his wife, and Two faces is arrested by Gordon, with Harley having no part in his take down.]]
[[/folder]]
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