History Main / VillainPedigree

See SoLastSeason; compare the out-of-universe equivalent TheTamingOfTheGrue.

* Some of the [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] villains who ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} fought have been forgotten or turned into {{Harmless Villain}}s when Daredevil became DarkerAndEdgier in the 1980s, especially when Bullseye and Kingpin became Daredevil's ArchEnemy. Some villains like Mr. Fear and Purple Man have been updated to fit this new [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks Dark Age]], but others, especially Stilt-Man, have been left behind.

'''Sam Winchester:''' Yeah. Good luck killing Death. ''(beat)'' Remember when we used to just...hunt wendigos? How simple things were?

* Particularly obvious in ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', since the nature of the Big Bads changes with each part of the story. In Part 1, ''Phantom Blood'', the Big Bad is vampire Dio Brando, who's created an army of zombie {{Mooks}}. In Part 2, ''Battle Tendency'', vampires have been relegated to Mook status, while the Pillar Men (the creators of vampires, and far more powerful) take on the role of main antagonists. In Part 3, ''Stardust Crusaders'', Dio (still a vampire) returns as the Big Bad, but almost all of his vampire abilities are ignored in favor of a new fighting system based on "Stands", and almost all of his underlings are humans who also possess the Stand ability. And from Part 4 onward, vampires and all related beings are completely absent, with human Stand users being the only villains.
* At the start of ''Manga/DragonBall'', pretty much all villains were either wild animals or human beings (well, human beings and whatever the hell Pilaf was). However, starting with the Demon King Piccolo arc, there were pretty much no human characters left who could give Goku a challenge, so Creator/AkiraToriyama made all future Big Bads demons, aliens, androids, or something equally inhuman. Almost any conflict between Goku and a human martial artist after that point is a downright humiliating CurbStompBattle.

* Likewise, in ''Manga/BusoRenkin'', the original monsters were human-eating monstrous homunculi. Eventually it got to the point where our heroes could beat a whole horde of them and still have enough energy to face the BigBad and hold their own. It was at that point that no new homunculi characters were introduced, and the villains became [[spoiler:humans with Buso Renkin themselves, and way more fighting experience.]]
* The MagicalGirl type [[MonsterOfTheWeek Monsters of the Week]] in ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' were quickly regulated to easily-dealt-with distraction status by the half-way point of [[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha the first season]] as the series moved to battles against other mages and knights, armies of AntiMagic-protected MechaMooks, and different kinds of {{Super Soldier}}s. When one such monster showed up in the first ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'' [[AudioAdaptation Sound Stage]], it was treated as something for the rookies to practice what they learned in training on.

* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'': The first arc features {{Beast| Folk}}men as the main antagonists piloting their mecha. After Lordgenome is defeated and the Beastmen make a HeelRaceTurn, [[spoiler:the [[DimensionLord Anti-Spiral]]]] steps up as the main antagonist, and he uses {{Eldritch Abomination}}s to combat the heroes.

* Franchise/{{Superman}}, as well as most other superheroes created during UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks, started off their careers fighting ordinary human criminals, Nazi soldiers or even just factory owners who didn't treat their employees right. Having a superhero fight an equally powerful supervillain was originally a rare, though very exciting, event. It wasn't until the Silver Age that superhero/supervillain conflicts became the staple of superhero comics.
* Some of the [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] villains that Comicbook/{{Daredevil}} fought have been forgotten or turned into a HarmlessVillain when Daredevil became DarkerAndEdgier in the 80s, especially when Bullseye and Kingpin became Daredevil's ArchNemesis. Some villains like Mr. Fear and Purple Man have been updated to fit this new [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks Dark Age]], but others, especially Stilt-Man, have been left behind.

[[folder:Gamebook]]
* ''Literature/LoneWolf'': The Drakkarim, fierce evil warriors wearing death masks, are more or less the same power level throughout the series, but Lone Wolf keeps getting better and they become less and less able to oppose him. In the "Kai" books, a single Drakkar can put up a good fight. In the "Magnakai" series, Drakkarim are only a real challenge if they attack in a group. In the "Grand Master series", they're completely out of their league: the only Drakkar that can still put up a fight against Lone Wolf is [[spoiler:their ''WarGod'' in Book 20, and Lone Wolf can ''still'' kick his ass and throw him into a lava pit.]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* When Creator/TimothyZahn kicked off the ''Franchise/StarWars'' [[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]], his bad guys were Imperials trying to recover the territory lost to the Rebellion/New Republic after the Emperor died. Almost the entire Bantam era has, as its villains, the remains of the Empire, as well as occasional offshoots. A few times strange aliens were fought instead, and nearly every author felt they had to spring a SuperweaponSurprise, but it was nearly always New Republic versus Empire. In the ''Literature/HandOfThrawn'' duology which capped the Bantam era, the [[TheRemnant battered]] but [[DefiantToTheEnd proud]] [[VestigialEmpire Imperial Remnant]] signs a [[PeaceConference peace treaty]] with the New Republic. Stories set before that point may still have Imperial villains; stories set past that point may have offshoot Imperials, but these days there are fewer books with either. Now strange new aliens are the go-to bad guys, from [[Literature/NewJediOrder extragalactic sadistic masochists]] to [[Literature/DarkNestTrilogy hiveminded bugs controlled by evil burn victims]] to, most lately, [[Literature/FateOfTheJedi Cthulhu]]. Again, there are exceptions like all Clone Wars and earlier books, and one series had a [[Literature/LegacyOfTheForce civil war]], but strange new ScaryDogmaticAliens seem to be the current menace.
** And Sith- mustn't forget the Sith. They really started out as extra special, extra dangerous villains, but now they're ''everywhere''- ComicBook/{{Legacy}} and ''Literature/LegacyOfTheForce'' had Sith Big Bads, while Comicbook/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic and Literature/FateOfTheJedi have Sith among their villains in various ways (not to mention anything set during the clone wars or the Galactic Civil War will have Darth Sidious/the Emperor as BigBad by default). Of course, the Sith are certainly Scary and Dogmatic, even if they aren't all aliens, so they could also be said to fit in with the above as well...
[[/folder]]

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' / ''Series/{{Angel}}'':
** Buffy was never limited to ''just'' fighting vampires, but, for the first couple seasons, vampires were the [[BigBad Big Bads]] and represented a serious threat to Buffy. The third season changed this by having a non-vampire BigBad who used vampires as [[{{Mooks}} minions]]. By the fourth season, the series could have been accurately renamed ''Buffy the Demon Slayer'', with vampires simply one of many demon species (and pretty low on the demonic totem pole at that). During the last three seasons, there were usually only a couple vampire-centric episodes each year; the rest of the time these formerly main villains were used as punching bags whom the good guys could kill off when nothing important was going on. The last season made a nod towards the title by having the villain command a legion of, essentially, super-vampires. After the first one they were still pretty easy to kill.
** In the ''Series/{{Angel}}'' "season 6" comics, Angel doesn't know why he still carries a stake after W & H sent LA to Hell. "Remember when vampires were our biggest problems?" Wesley retorts that vampires were only their biggest problem when Angel himself went bad.
* ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'' changed its Villain Pedigree ''fast''. When the series started, while many different kinds of supernatural villains would turn up, the principle baddies the Charmed Ones were supposed to face were warlocks, evil witches who steal the powers of good witches. However, by the end of the very first season the main warlock antagonists had been killed off, and a pair of demons ended up taking center stage during the season finale. Warlocks would still appear after this, but far less frequently as time went by, while demons would appear more and more often. By the end they made up something like 90% of all bad guys on the show.
* When ''Series/DoctorWho'' began, many of the stories centered around the TARDIS crew landing in an otherwise ordinary Earth setting and lacked any real Sci-Fi elements beyond the TARDIS crew; for example, the first serial dealt with one member of a tribe of cavemen trying to usurp power from another. After the first couple of Doctors, however, such human villains were largely displaced, and every storyline was obligated to feature some sort of alien presence or something, though human {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s, {{Mad Scientist}}s, {{President Evil}}s and {{General Ripper}}s continued to pop up and still do.
* Several ''Franchise/KamenRider'' series have different levels of monsters the heroes have to face. Sometimes the higher level villains employ the previous level monsters as mere mooks, to show how powerful they are.

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', for a long, long while, kept its villains limited to two simple categories: normal human beings (usually with access to GreenRocks), and people who were granted superhuman abilities by those GreenRocks. It wasn't until the fourth season that a few villains started turning up with non-kryptonite based abilities. This jumped up a notch in season five, when Brainiac (an alien-built robot) was made the BigBad and a few evil Kryptonians showed up to hassle Clark. The number of alien adversaries has only increased from there, with meteor freaks, once the staple villains on the show, reduced to a handful of appearances. However, since the alien baddies are usually able to go toe-to-toe with Clark physically, rather than getting [[CurbStompBattle taken down with one punch]], most fans haven't complained. Particularly as the sheer number of people in this small town who gained superpowers was making it implausible that people wouldn't learn Clark Kent was from Smallville and immediately think: I wonder if he has superpowers.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'' First there's the Goa'uld, who have their own SortingAlgorithmOfEvil. But eventually they lose place to more formidable villains like [[GreyGoo The Replicators]] or [[EnergyBeings The Ori]], by the end of the show the Goa'uld are almost finished and a Goa'uld plot is more seen like a minor break from bigger story arcs involving meaner villains.

** When the series began, Demonic Possession was a pretty big deal, and just one demon caused them considerable grief. By season 4, demons ''still'' cause them grief, but only [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils the leaders]]. The bog-standard "black-eyes" are hardly the threat they were before. Ghosts, moreso.

** There's also the manner in which demons are disposed of. In the early seasons, the brothers have to do lengthy exorcisms to get rid of one, and that only sends it back to Hell for a time, free to come back anytime. The McGuffin in the first season is a special, unique gun that can kill a demon permanently. The catch is that the gun has only 6 bullets - the brothers can't afford to miss. It's the only thing in the world that can kill a demon. They tell us so. Repeatedly. That is, until they're given a knife that does just that, whenever they want. And shortly thereafter the gun gets modified to fire as many bullets as they like. It gets even worse when Sam learns how to exorcise or even kill a demon with his mind. Demons were retired for Lucifer after Sam killed the first and presumably one of the, if not ''the'', most powerful demons, by pointing at her. Yeah, they kind of had to switch up at that point. Lampshaded when, in the season 4 episode "In The Beginning", Dean goes [[TimeTravel back in time]] and is called crazy for suggesting they try to kill a demon. By season 4, Dean and Sam had already racked up a considerable demon body count.
** Angels get a similar treatment, as each Angel carries a blade that can kill other angels (And demons). This means that over the length of the show, the brothers gather a veritable trove of angel blades, and thus angels too get relegated to mook status. Furthermore, the powers of angels get scaled back, in particular their more arcane abilities vanish - no longer can angels just put humans to sleep with a mere touch as Castiel's body, and their presence outside of a host no longer causes the kind of collateral damage it did in earlier seasons, where Castiel's mere voice causes people's ears to bleed and electronics to explode.

* Tabletop systems using point-buy statistics or a challenge-rating chart are usually doing it specifically to avert this trope. After all, no one's going to rush out to buy an expansion manual or module where the opponents are already well below the player characters' level.

* This is a common trope in video games in general. The new areas that the player goes through usually bring with them new types of enemies that may gradually replace the ones of previous areas.
* In ''Crysis'' the North Koreans completely disappear from the plot once you encounter the Aliens. Averted in ''Crysis Warhead'', where the North Koreans continue to be active even after the Aliens awaken.

* In the mediocre ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' FPS ''VideoGame/FireWarrior'', you start out fighting Imperial Guardsmen. After some point you start going up against Space Marines. Later still, with an EnemyMine in place, you move on to Chaos Space Marines and other servants of Chaos. You won't be fighting any more Guardsmen by then.
** Also in the ''Warhammer 40,000'' franchise, Orks are at the bottom of ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'''s totem pole.
* Similarly in the strategy game ''Rites of War'' your Eldar will first fight some Imperial units, but eventually they'll ally with you to fight a Tyranid invasion.

* In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'' when the player gets to the inverted castle and is vastly more powerful, many of the regular mobs are actually [[DegradedBoss the bosses from the first castle]].

* In ''VideoGame/HalfLife'', the military stops appearing 2/3rds through the game, due to them pulling out. A minor example occurs with the headcrab zombies, who stop appearing halfway into the game.
* ''Red Faction''
** In ''VideoGame/RedFaction'', after you kill Capek, the guards are increasingly replaced by the mercenaries as the primary enemy.
** This occurs throughout ''VideoGame/RedFactionII''. In the beginning, you're facing security guards and police officers, as well as Sopot's Elite Guards. Midway, you began facing the military. In the last quarter of the game, human enemies are completely replaced by the [[NightOfTheLivingMooks Processed]].
** This is especially prevalent in ''VideoGame/RedFactionGuerrilla'', where the EDF troops change up as you liberate each sector. In Parker and Dust, you'll be facing the standard EDF troopers and weaker EDF grunts. After those two sectors, EDF grunts disappear and troopers become the primary EDF units alongside snipers and lieutenants. After Oasis and the Badlands, EDF elites began to appear alongside the Troopers. When you get to Eos, all EDF troops are Elites, including riot troopers and heavy elites.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* While ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' has kept the same BigBad and [[TheDragon Dragon]] for its entire run (so far), the level of enemy Mooks has gotten raised, with Xykon replacing all of his goblin soldiers with the stronger, more militant hobgoblins. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] by the fact that between the Order itself and the Dungeon of Dorukan exploding, Xykon probably lost most, if not all, of his goblin army. Also justified in terms of plot mechanics -- since the heroes are gaining XP and getting stronger every time they fight, the mooks they're pitted against have to get tougher too, or the whole balance of the world will be thrown off.

* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', humanoid enemies like goblins, orcs, and kobolds only remain challenging for the first few levels (unless they have class levels [[http://www.tuckerskobolds.com/ or belong to Tucker]]).

** Warlocks were heavily featured for the first three seasons of Charmed but by the end of the 8 seasons, warlocks hadn't shown up since two seasons before.

* Particularly obvious in ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', since the nature of the Big Bads changes with each part of the story. In Part 1, "Phantom Blood", the Big Bad is vampire Dio Brando, who's created an army of zombie {{Mooks}}. In Part 2, "Battle Tendency", vampires have been relegated to Mook status, while the Pillar Men (the creators of vampires, and far more powerful) take on the role of main antagonists. In Part 3, "Stardust Crusaders", Dio (still a vampire) returns as the Big Bad, but almost all of his vampire abilities are ignored in favor of a new fighting system based on "Stands", and almost all of his underlings are humans who also possess the Stand ability. And from Part 4 onward, vampires and all related beings are completely absent, with human Stand users being the only villains.

** Ordinary Hollows are the worst threat in the early stages of the story. Then this is ramped up when it's revealed there are giant versions of hollows called Menos Grande that only the Royal Guard are supposed to handle. Turns out Rukia's textbooks were wrong: any high seated officers can handle Menos Grande if they're Gillian level and Captains and lieutenants can handle Adjuchas levels. Only the Vasto Lord level of Menos Grande gives captains trouble.