History Main / SystematicVillainTakedown

* ''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.

** 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.

* ''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.

* In ''Film/{{Hancock}}'', after being released from prison, Hancock goes to a bank where a gang of heavily armed robbers have taken about a dozen hostages, and are keeping the police at bay with relentless firepower. Once Hancock rescues a pined down officer, he flies into the bank at super speed and 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]] [[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]].]]

* ''Manga/MajinTanteiNougamiNeuro'': The New Bloodline is taken this way: DR survives his defeat and torture at the hands of Neuro but is executed by Zenjiro as per Sicks' orders [[YouHaveFailedMe for having failed his mission]], Tierra is decapitated after his attempt of detonating the bomb inside his body is thwarted by Neuro, Vijaya kills himself to protect Sicks' secrets and so does Genuine, even after being brainwashed and Zenjirou seemingly dies when [[TakingYouWithMe the burning building where he tried to drag all the heroes]] [[KillItWithFire down with him to a fiery death]] collapsed [[spoiler: but later is shown to have somehow survived the ordeal, finally accomplishing his ultimate of wish of outliving Sicks]]. Finally, Sicks is killed by Neuro when he turns Sicks's [[ExtraOreDinary metal related powers]] [[HoistbyHisOwnPetard against him]].

* ''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.

* ''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. Risotto is instead defeated the Boss.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Figment}}'': The story begins when Dusty, a retired guardian of the MentalWorld where the game takes place, is antagonized by the Fear-Of-Loss, an evil nightmare. While chasing the Fear-Of-Loss, Dusty learns that two other nightmares, the Plague and the Spider Queen, have taken residence in the mind. Dusty goes on a quest to kill all three of them, with the Fear-Of-Loss coming last, to restore peace to the mind.

* ''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.]]

** ''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.

** 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 Ranks. In the final arc, only three of the Upper Ranks remain, and Muzan brings two more to make up for him losing 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 Lower Rank. The members of the family get separately taken down by different characters over the course of the arc.

** 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.

* ''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 and subsequently leaving Mammon alone leads to a minor EnemyCivilWar, and ultimately induces Jagganoth to fast-track his plans of multiversal annihilation. Judging by his comments, [[GroundhogDayLoop this trope is usually played straight by Zoss' other heir(s)]], which means Allison's actions has turned this timeline into an outlier.]]

* ''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.]]

* ''Film/KillBill'' has The Bride hunt down the individual members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad in the quintessential RoaringRampageOfRevenge 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 masterminded the massacre, put the bullet in her head and stole her baby, for 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.

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. Compare GottaKillThemAll.

* ''Film/{{Becky}}'': In the movie, a party of four neo-nazis invades the titular character's vacation home. When they murder her father to get her to return a strange key to them, she goes mad with grief from the death of her mother and her father and sets off into a killing spree to take them down one by one in gruesome ways. [[spoiler:She kills the first one by fighting him and stabbing him repeatedly with a ruler fashioned as a knife, the second one is thrown in a lake and then sliced with a boat's motor, the leader of the group gets his head cut in half with a lawnmower and the last one, that tried to repent, is killed by a single shot in the head.]]

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.