History Main / VilerNewVillain

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'' does this with the new version of Ganondorf, contrasting the original Ganondorf and his various alternate selves. The original Ganondorf was no saint, but he at least possessed a degree of [[VillainRespect honor]], seemed to [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes care about his people]], and had a genuine FreudianExcuse. The ''Tears of the Kingdom'' incarnation ditches all of those redeeming qualities, and in their place ramps up Ganondorf's sadism and cruelty to OmnicidalManiac levels, making him more similar to [[SatanicArchetype Demise]] than his predecessor ever was. Eiji Aonuma even expressed in an interview that the scene where [[spoiler:he brutally kills the defenseless Queen Sonia]] was meant to set him apart as "overwhelmingly evil" compared to his past depictions.

** Balon Greyjoy is far, far from a saint, being an {{abusive parent|s}} to his last living son and a ruler who desires to bring back the old ways of the Ironborn, raping and pillaging as they please. Still, he has certain standards that come with the Ironborn culture, loves his daughter and at least one of his brothers and is generally too incompetent to do too much lasting damage, only indirectly ruining House Stark's chance to win the war. After he is killed off, Euron Greyjoy, his not-so-loved brother, comes into the picture and takes the Seastone Chair. Euron by contrast has no sense of honor, [[BlueAndOrangeMorality Ironborn]] or otherwise, no love for anyone and is sadistic for the the sake of sadism. Euron manages to be evil by real-world standards, common Westerosi standards, and even ''Ironborn'' standards. This coupled with his extremely high competence as a military leader and politician, and possible use of dark magic make him a much more dangerous, serious and despicable contender for the Throne than Balon ever was.

* In the modern ''ComicBook/{{Joker}}'' comics he has a new girlfriend named Punchline, due to Characters/{{Harley Quinn|TheCharacter}} leaving him for good as well as pretty much being an AntiHero by this point, whereas Punchline is more of a CardCarryingVillain.

** While[[Characters/MarvelComicsVenom Venom]]was introduced as a villain, he became more popular as an AntiHero. This led to the creation of [[Characters/MarvelComicsCarnage Carnage]] to serve as his [[EvilCounterpart truly evil counterpart]]; while [[Characters/MarvelComicsEddieBrock Eddie Brock]] was antagonistic to Spider-Man out of IrrationalHatred, [[Characters/MarvelComicsCletusKasady Cletus Kasady]] was a convicted SerialKiller who used the Carnage symbiote to kill people [[ForTheEvulz for fun]], often leading to an EnemyMine situation with Spidey and Venom against him. During the majority of the 2000s, the [[Characters/MarvelComicsMacGargan Mac Gargan]] version of Venom usurped this status, and Carnage was temporarily killed off.

* ''[[ComicBook/{{Xmen}} X-men]]'': Magneto's slow reformation under Chris Claremont meant that they needed another potential archenemy for the team. As such, Louise and Walter Simonson created Apocalypse. He was designed around Darwinian principles and without any of Magneto's redeeming qualities.

** The expansion to ''3'', ''[[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3Future Future Redeemed]]'', has Z in turn being displaced by [[spoiler:Alpha]], an [[spoiler:OmnicidalManiac who believes that the only way to end all of the suffering in Aionios is by destroying it and almost everyone in it outright, save for a select few people he deems as not being tainted by the violence and strife of Aionios.]] Whereas Z wanted to preserve Aionios [[spoiler:for his own amusement, Alpha views it as being [[ItIsBeyondSaving beyond saving]], and proved to be enough of a threat to the entire world that Z and the Moebius allied with [[LaResistance the Liberators]] to [[EnemyMine defeat Alpha together]] - and that ended up not being enough.]]

[[folder:Films --Animation]]

* [[spoiler: The Wolf/Death]] from ''WesternAnimation/PussinBootsTheLastWish'' is by far the darkest villain in the entire ''{{Franchise/Shrek}}'' franchise, contrasting the more LaughablyEvil yet still genuinely threatening villains of previous films.

* The ''Franchise/ToyStory'' franchise has [[spoiler:KillerTeddyBear Lots-o'-Huggin Bear]] be portrayed as being far more evil than any of the other villains in the franchise, who are either antagonistic humans who have no idea that the toys are sentient or antagonistic toys who are portrayed in a more sympathetic light.

** While ComicBook/{{Venom}} was introduced as a villain, he became more popular as an AntiHero. This led to the creation of ComicBook/{{Carnage}} to serve as his [[EvilCounterpart truly evil counterpart]]; while [[Characters/VenomEddieBrock Eddie Brock]] was antagonistic to Spider-Man out of IrrationalHatred, [[Characters/CarnageCletusKasady Cletus Kasady]] was a convicted SerialKiller who used the Carnage symbiote to kill people [[ForTheEvulz for fun]], often leading to an EnemyMine situation with Spidey and Venom against him. During the majority of the 2000s, the [[Characters/MarvelComicsMacGargan Mac Gargan]] version of Venom usurped this status, and Carnage was temporarily killed off.

** In the [[Recap/DragonBallRedRibbonArmyArc Red Ribbon Army arc]], General Blue (already this trope compared to Colonel Silver and General White) was a formidable opponent who very nearly got to kill Krillin and proved to be the first personally severe obstacle to overcome. He's usurped by Tao Pai-Pai, who kills him ''with his tongue'' and then proceeds to kill Bora and then Goku (briefly). From a larger perspective, the Red Ribbon Army as a whole serve as a more dramatic and hate-able military force than the bumbling Pilaf Gang.

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': The comical Ice King was the closest thing Finn had to a "nemesis" during the beginning of the show, but even before the full extent of his tragic past was revealed, the roots of Ice King's villainy were his loneliness coupled with his rampant insanity which prevented him from realizing his actions were wrong. Then the season two finale introduced the Lich, a sadistic undead abomination who was always played seriously and desired nothing less than the extermination of all life, to be the BigBad of the rest of the series.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'' has every season long antagonist be surpassed in villainy by their successors. Season 1's {{Arc Villain}}s are Captain Grime, the Toad leader suppressing the frogs in the valley, and Sasha Waybright, a human who becomes Grime's lieutenant as part of a deal to get back to Earth. Sasha is manipulative and doesn't care about hurting the local frogs but she does care about Anne, who's one of her best friends, while Grime is mostly a thug who becomes humanized by his budding friendship with Sasha. Season 2 has them try to launch a coup of Amphibia, but they're quickly dwarfed in threat by King Andrias of Newtopia, who turns out to have been manipulating everyone to resume his ancestors' legacy as {{Multiversal Conqueror}}s. Season 3 has Andrias's redeeming and tragic qualities slowly brought to light and it's revealed he's only TheDragon corrupted by the series true BigBad, The Core, a machine that serves as a MindHive of all of Amphibia's past leaders, including Andrias's abusive father Aldrich. While [[spoiler:Sasha, Grime and Andrias]] all redeem themselves, the Core and Aldrich remain pure evil tyrants willing to wipe out entire planets to maintain their power.

** [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Original Series]]: Has this in play alongside the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil. The first recurring antagonist Prince Zuko is an AntiVillain with a discernible FreudianExcuse, standards and redeeming qualities. Admiral Zhao, the next recurring villain and an antagonist to Zuko and the Gaang at separate intervals throughout Season 1, is more competent and more willing to cross the MoralEventHorizon. After [[spoiler:Zhao is killed in the first season finale]], Zuko's sister Princess Azula, who is more competent than Zhao and lacks any of Zuko's redeeming qualities, becomes the [[TheHeavy main villain]] and deals the team a crushing blow at the end of Season 2. Season 3 introduces Fire Lord Ozai in a full appearance as he had mainly appeared via flashback beforehand. During the series finale, [[spoiler:Azula is revealed to be a TragicVillain and gets an AlasPoorVillain]] while Fire Lord Ozai is perfectly happy to burn the world to ash to [[TakeOverTheWorld conquer it]].
** The sequel ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' also plays this trope. The Red Lotus is made up of terrorists and assassins, but their actions bring Kuvira to power in the fourth season.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' has Eda's sister Lilith as the ArcVillain of the first season, but she was only an antagonist because she thought forcing Eda to serve the Emperor was the only way to heal Eda's curse. When her master, Emperor Belos, finally appears in the first season finale, he proves to be a genuinely evil tyrant instead of simply misguided like Lilith. Kikimora and the Golden Guard, who were both introduced in the first season, replace Lilith as the Emperor's top enforcers in season two, but neither are as bad as their boss. In the end, Lilith [[spoiler:performs a HeelFaceTurn in the first season finale]], the Golden Guard turns out to be a sympathetic villain serving the Emperor out of misguided loyalty [[spoiler:and also pulls a HeelFaceTurn]] and Kikimora remains an ineffectual villain sometimes played for laughs. Belos goes on to [[KnightOfCerebus darken every scene]] he's in and proves to be the most monstrous of all who came before him [[spoiler:with his goal to wipe out all life in the Boiling Isles because he's a human witch hunter who believes all witches and demons are inherently evil]].

* In the early seasons of ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'' the primary antagonists consisted of Hordak as the BigBad, Shadow Weaver as TheDragon, and Catra as Adora[=/=]She-Ra's friend-turned-nemesis. As the series progresses, each of these characters display humanizing traits (such as the ability to love) and have the tragic circumstances that shaped their bad choices revealed. Then along comes Horde Prime, the GreaterScopeVillain of the series and main villain for the final season, who displays absolutely none of the sympathetic or redeeming traits of the other antagonists. While Hordak spent the series trying to conquer Etheria with his offshoot of the Horde, Horde Prime rules over an intergalactic empire which he maintains by using mind-control chips to assimilate entire populations into his HiveMind, commits wholesale genocide and planetary destruction when his enemies resist too much, and maintains an army of brainwashed clones of himself which he uses as expendable stock to preserve his immortality and erases their minds if they ever gain a sense of individuality. To put it in perspective, by the time of the series finale [[spoiler:Catra, Shadow Weaver and Hordak all redeem themselves in some way, whereas She-Ra personally kills Horde Prime because he's too dangerous and evil to leave alive]].

** Alejandro quickly makes it known that he's going to be the BigBad of ''World Tour'', saying that [[AlphaBitch Heather]], the most memorable antagonist of the first two seasons, is a saint compared to him. While the two are equally evil, Alejandro is more successful than Heather ever was, being better at manipulation, having enough charisma to avoid bad press with the rest of the cast, and he believes in PragmaticVillainy. Heather would usually waste her advantages on petty revenge and mainly avoided elimination thanks to someone else screwing up in a way no one predicted when she'd end up on the chopping block.
** Alejandro finds himself on the receiving end during ''All-Stars'' when Mal comes out to play. Unlike every other antagonist, Mal less a fellow contestant and more a violent psycho possessing the body of Mike, barely even seeming to realize that he's on reality TV, and causing pain to others for a quick laugh. Alejandro's charisma and blackmail have no effect on Mal, who also happens to have superhuman abilities thanks to subjugating Mike's other personalities, which he quickly uses to force Alejandro into submission.

* ''Manga/{{Dandadan}}'' has the Kur/Space Globalists to the Serpoians. Unlike the Serpoians, [[OneGenderRace who are all male]] and require females of other species to provide needed genetic diversity. the Kur have no need to prey on other species, they just want fodder for their weaponry and [[TheRightOfASuperiorSpecies openly consider it there's by right]]. And while the Serpoians seem to be planning an invasion of some unknown scale, the Kur are primed for total war against the Earth. Their strategies enphatize this contrast: the Serpoians operate in small cells and study Earth's supernatural phenomena while the Kur have an entire armada set to wage war against the planet, [[spoiler:though despite being able to get to Earth in spite of the heroes' efforts, said armada was no match for a single supernatural entity, which the Serpoians determined was the very reason aliens were not able to invade Earth]].

** This trend continues within [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie2017 the movie]] with Tempest Shadow, a bitter and ruthless unicorn with a DarkAndTroubledPast, and the warlord she works for, The Storm King, a power-hungry psychopath who has conquered and devastated dozens of lands south of Equestria, and has neither the redeeming traits or the FreudianExcuse the former has.

May lead to an EnemyMine situations (where the previous villain has to team-up TheHero to finish this menace and come back to the previous status quo) or a HeroRivalBaddieTeamUp (where TheRival is also summed to the team to defeat this menace), both alliances made temporarily and ''[[TeethClenchedTeamwork teeth-clenched]]''. When there's a truly heroic figure to compare, it's TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil. Related to SortingAlgorithmOfEvil, MoreHateableMinorVillain, and particularly SlidingScaleOfAntagonistVileness - the new villain has to be less sympathetic on that scale than the older one.

* ''Series/PowerRangersDinoFury:'' The BigBad of the first season is Void Knight, who has a mysterious history but uses the Sporix to [[spoiler:try and revive his comatose lover. The second season reveals his goal after that is to simply go home with her]]. In the second season, he shows he has ''some'' standards (and additionally a few moments of being TheComicallySerious), just as Void Queen steps onto the stage, and demonstrates she has ''no'' standards, [[spoiler:wanting to get revenge on all of humanity, even destroying a chance to leave, and blasting Void Knight when he objects, eventually brainwashing and mutating him into a monster out of spite]].

** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' introduced [[TheEmpire the Dominion]]. Before they showed up, the show's main villains were believed to be the Cardassians. The Cardassians were militaristic space fascists but it was made clear that not all of them were like that. This was not the case withe Dominion. Its leaders, the Changelings, were a race of smug, egotistical racists who believe themselves to be the pinnacle of creation and that they were imposing order through their aggressive imperialism. Any race deemed too difficult to conquer or simply managed to anger the Changelings, they exterminate. Telling we did see some Borg in ''The Next Generation'' who when separated from the [[HiveMind Borg Collective]] could chose to be good. Outside of [[TokenHeroicOrc Odo]] in the show's main cast, every mature Changeling in the series was evil.

** [[VideoGame/PokemonColosseum Cipher]] in-general is this to Team Rocket and Team Aqua/Magma. The previous two villainous organizations might be criminals and eco-terrorists, but Cipher takes it further by corrupting Pokémon into killing machines, committing vile and underhanded terrorist acts unparalled by any other Pokémon villain, and taking over multiple towns and ''actually suceeding in it''. Zigzagged in ''VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness'', while Cipher is more prone to outright terrorist acts, a large portion of the organization's executive branch are AffablyEvil people who are keen for a HeelFaceTurn. Ardos, in the other hand, plays this completely straight when he convinces Greevil to blow up all of Citadark Isle with all of his personnel and the kid protagonist in it so they can rebuild, and he's the only post-game bonus boss who delivers a death threat rather than a word of congratulation.

** The first recurring antagonist for WesternAnimation/BugsBunny is WesternAnimation/ElmerFudd, going back to 1941's ''Elmers Pet Rabbit'' (or 1940's ''WesternAnimation/ElmersCandidCamera'', if you regard this rascally rabbit as Bugs Bunny). Elmer, however, seemed too gullible and undeserving of the KarmicTrickster's abuse, so Creator/FrizFreleng created six-gun bandit WesternAnimation/YosemiteSam in 1945 to trouble Bugs; a deliberate {{Jerkass}} who'd deserve to be bested by Bugs. Of course, Sam fared no better than Elmer, so 1948 saw the debut of Marvin the Martian, who is very calm and soft-spoken by contrast, but wants to cause an EarthShatteringKaboom, and then 1953 ushered in the Tasmanian Devil, a ChaoticNeutral whirling dervish with a ravenous appetite.

* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed'' manages to continuously ratchet up how monstrous the antagonists tend to be. Starting with Rau le Creuset and his elite squadron, it largely plays out as two sides of a war clashing. Things get more complicated in the third act, as the mantle of BigBad ends up being taken by human supremacist [[AxCrazy Murata Azrael]] and PLANT chairman [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Patrick Zala]]. [[spoiler: Both of them are actually being played for fools by [[CloningBlues Rau le Creuset]], an OmnicidalManiac who believes that humanity doesn't deserve to exist. He manipulates the ZAFT military directly as a commander, and gives technology to the Earth forces to allow them to use nuclear weapons freely against the colonies.]]

* ''Film/TransformersRiseOfTheBeasts'': The [[BigBadDuumvirate Decepticons Shatter and Dropkick]] in ''Film/{{Bumblebee}}'' were vicious and cruel, but at least had some sense of camaraderie between them. Scourage of the Terrocons on the other hand is a psychopath in service of [[GreaterScopeVillain Unicron]] who takes pleasure in wiping out civilizations for his master while preparing planets for him to feast on, hunting down survivors and making them suffer before killing them.

* ''Series/BreakingBad'': While Tuco Salamanca always was crazy, he doesn't hold a candle to the meticulous and conniving Gus Fring. By the end of the series, actual neo-Nazis make Jesse's life hell. His protagonist nature blurs the line, but Walter White's slow but certain descent into villainy makes him an example compared to the initial small fries.