Line #37 BigBadWannabe/MarvelUniverse


1	!Franchise/MarvelUniverse
2	[[BigBadWannabe Seemingly serious threats who fail to measure up to their supposed threat level]] from this SharedUniverse setting.
3	----
4	[[foldercontrol]]
5
6	[[folder:Comic Books]]
7	!!Comic Books
8	* Moonstone of the Masters of Evil and ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}'', archenemies of ComicBook/TheAvengers, really thinks that she's a brilliant manipulator who could lead the Masters better than [[BigBad Baron Zemo]]. She's certainly dangerous, at least in a straight-up fight, but she doesn't compare to Zemo at all. A big part of her problem is ComplexityAddiction; she's powerful enough that she could easily win through sheer force thanks to her powers, but she's convinced herself that she's also a psychological genius and so always wastes time and resources trying to break her enemies mentally instead of just getting the job done. She's also a major {{Jerkass}}, making it difficult to get the other Masters to follow her instead of the charismatic Zemo. Thus whenever Moonstone tries to manipulate her way to the top, Baron Zemo runs mental circles around her and puts her back in her place.
9	* ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'': The Owl took on this role in the 2000s after his original niche as a [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership physically powerful crimelord]] was taken over by Daredevil's ArchEnemy (and ComicBook/SpiderMan RoguesGalleryTransplant) the Kingpin, who fills it much more effectively. Since the 1980s and 1990s attempts at [[ReTool Retooling]] the Owl as a mutated supervillain or TheAtoner didn't take, Creator/BrianMichaelBendis simply rolled with it and used the Owl as an example of how not just anyone has the brains or the brawn to rule the mobs and act as Daredevil's ArchEnemy. Most writers since have followed his lead.
10	** This was used to humourous extent in a ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' storyline; when the Owl angered the Absorbing Man, he attempted to turn state's evidence for protection, but only got Spider-Man rather than the mass of SHIELD agents he had been expecting, Spider-Man bluntly informing the Owl that he was nothing more than a two-bit local hood with bad teeth and a stupid haircut whose plea had been bumped down to the appropriate levels for someone of his non-importance.
11	* The Skrulls and their leader Queen Veranke in the Marvel CrisisCrossover ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion2008''. To wit, thanks to Queen Veranke and her big plans, the Skrulls managed to capture three superheroes, including ComicBook/SpiderWoman, Yellowjacket (one founding member of Comicbook/TheAvengers), and Dum Dum Dugan BEFORE big events like ''ComicBook/HouseOfM'', all not through direct combat. To make it even more "big", they also used the same method to capture Black Bolt of the Inhumans, considered as one of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse's [[GameBreaker most overpowered characters]]. But for all of Queen Veranke's big plans and ambitions to conquer Earth to restart her people's empire, the Skrulls' eventual invasion turns out to be an EasilyThwartedAlienInvasion, although they still caused the death of the Wasp. [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules Hercules]] kills their God with ease; then, Veranke (disguised as ComicBook/SpiderWoman at the time) ends up getting shot in the head by Norman Osborn. And thanks to killing Veranke, Norman immediately kicked off the Dark Reign era, which causes much ''bigger'' problems for the Marvel Universe.
12	* In ''ComicBook/DarkReign'', [[Characters/MarvelComicsNormanOsborn Norman Osborn]] himself qualifies. While he's one of the biggest threats to Spider-Man on a personal level, trying to be the BigBad of Marvel's Earth and punching well above his weight class (he forms an organization called the Cabal which includes ComicBook/{{Loki}}, ComicBook/DoctorDoom, and ComicBook/EmmaFrost, among others, and all of them betray him for their own ends) [[VillainousBreakdown causes him to lose what little grip on his sanity he has left]].
13	* ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'': While Vetis is by no means harmless, Mephisto himself notes that in the larger spectrum of things, he's just a low-level demon with delusions of grandeur.
14	* Marvel villain ComicBook/TheHood tries so hard to become one of the verse's Big Bads after getting a taste of power from his magical clothes. Problem is, he's still a street thug at heart and doesn't really know how to best use the vast power he has at his disposal. He does accomplish a lot, but he's ultimately a slave to his own hunger for power and to the entities who feed his addiction. The one time he tries to claim power without making any deals with otherworldly entities he attracts the attention of a much worse villain and loses that power in short order. His greatest act of villainy was having a bunch of his thugs beat up a captive superheroine, and said heroine paid him back in spades.
15	* ''ComicBook/ShangChi'':
16	** [=MI6=] agent Ward Sarsfield is tasked with killing or silencing Shang-Chi and his allies when they resign, largely on the basis that [[HeKnowsTooMuch They Know Too Much]]. With access to all of [=MI6=]'s resources he's able to send two brainwashed assassins after them, reactivate dead supervillain Mordillo's robots and capture most of the team. For a NonActionBigBad, he seems a credible threat. Then Shang-Chi's half-sister changes sides and her lover Zaran the Weapons Master simply kills him.
17	** This has also happened with Shang-Chi's sister Zheng Bao Yu (formerly Fah Lo Suee) herself. She's a credible BigBad in any arc that doesn’t include their father - but if he's also onstage, her plans are likely to abruptly collapse.
18	* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'':
19	** Jason Macendale desperately thought he had what it took to be a deadly archnemesis to Spider-Man and tried to take up the Hobgoblin identity, but while he was ''willing'' to commit terrible crimes (even more evil than stuff the real Hobgoblin, Roderick Kingsley, does), he was also horribly incompetent at actually pulling them off. The only people who couldn't effortlessly kick his ass were either untrained civilians or rookie heroes who didn't know anything about him. Worse, his incompetence often led to him ruining the schemes of ''other'' villains and his own employers, making it near impossible for him to get any work as a bad guy. This ended up being Macendale's downfall; when the real Hobgoblin came back, he was so enraged at what Macendale had done to his gang and title that he murdered Jason for his failures.
20	** Raniero "Blackie" Drago attempted to replace Adrian Toomes as the Vulture by causing an accident that would kill Toomes to trick the older man into telling Drago where he'd hidden his costume, but after defeating Spider-Man while the hero is [[WorfHadTheFlu suffering from a bad cold]], Drago then gets his head handed to him when caught in a three-way fight between himself, Spider-Man and Kraven the Hunter, and subsequently gets released from prison by the still-living Toomes just so that Toomes can defeat him and prove his own status as the true Vulture. He has recently been shown apparently locked up in the super-villain prison the Raft, and the fact that he hasn't escaped from it since despite various later break-outs make it all the more apparent that his ambitions to be a major villain never amounted to anything.
21	** Angelo Fortunato, the timid son of a Maggia don, inherits the Venom symbiote after his father purchases it from Eddie Brock in an attempt to get the kid to grow a backbone. Though eager to embrace his new role as a super-villain, even managing to successfully kill a luckless civilian who'd happened to be dressed in a Spider-Man costume, the real Spider-Man quickly turns the tables on him in their first and only fight, [[DirtyCoward causing him to flee for his life]]. Which, in turn, causes the symbiote to become disgusted with how pathetic he is and it abandon him mid-jump, letting him fall to his death.
22	** Kraven the Hunter in ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'' comes across as this in his initial appearances, proudly boasting how he will hunt down and defeat Spider-Man on live television. After pages and pages of hyping his audience, he finally comes face-to-face with his target; Spider-Man, already having had a long night taking down Doctor Octopus, isn't in the mood and [[CurbStompBattle decks Kraven with a single punch]].
23	* ''ComicBook/XMen'':
24	** Azazel, an immortal mutant with teleportation powers and a demonic appearance, has tried to launch grand schemes but has never been a world conquering villain. ''X-Men Blue: Origins'' (2023) reveals that [[spoiler:In other timelines he would have been a true cosmic threat, defeating the X-Men, the Avengers and Doctor Doom. The [[{{seers}} precognitive]] mutant Destiny derailed all of those plans by tricking him into believing that Nightcrawler was one of his own children, and his obsession with the hero has left him much less dangerous]].
25	** The Hellfire Club's Black King, Sebastian Shaw, is a high-functioning version. He's got a formidable mutant power, isn't a half-bad schemer on his good days, and has [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney mountains of cash]] to fund those evil schemes. Trouble is, [[BadBoss he's not exactly good to the help]] and has a penchant for getting into [[VillainTeamUp Villain Team-Ups]] with people who are smarter and higher up on the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil scale than he is, leading him to be outplayed or in the worst cases used as an UnwittingPawn.
26	** A less successful example is Amanda Mueller, the Black Womb. An immortal MadScientist who worked for several decades as the assistant of Mr. Sinister, she eventually decided she was a better schemer than her boss and decided to become TheStarscream to him. Unfortunately for her she was stuck as a DarkLordOnLifeSupport by this time and wasn't quite the mental equal to Essex she'd fancied herself to be.
27	** Holocaust from the ''ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse'' had ambitions of succeeding his father and ushering in an era where "[[OmnicidalManiac none will be fit to survive]]". Unfortunately for him, he had the bad habits of both picking fights with people above his weight class (namely [[ComicBook/XMen Nate Grey]]) and of underestimating people who ''weren't'' in his weight class, leading him to be beaten anyway by mutants such as Blink.
28	** ''ComicBook/XForce2008'': Matthew Risman, leader of the Purifiers and Stryker's [[TheDragon Dragon]] in ''New X-Men''. Once Bastion is brought online, he quickly usurps the Purifers from him, and Risman ends up dead by the end of the first arc.
29	** ''ComicBook/XMenTheKrakoanAge'': For all his pretensions of grandeur, Doctor Stasis's just one of many pathetic anti-mutant bigots, albeit a moderately dangerous one. But it's telling that the only response Cyclops has to Stasis's attempt at a HannibalLecture is that he's heard that same speech a dozen times before from scarier people.
30	[[/folder]]
31
32	[[folder:Films]]
33	!!Films
34	* In the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
35	** Raza Hamidmi Al-Wazar in ''Film/IronMan'' captures Tony Stark and orders him to build Jericho Missiles for the Ten Rings, otherwise he would die. However, while Obadiah Stane ordered Raza to kill him, Tony was still alive, albeit barely. Though Tony manages to build the first Iron Man suit behind their backs and escapes, Raza still manages to lay death and destruction upon Afghanistan due to Stark Industries still dealing arms to them. After Tony busts up the attack, Raza talks with Obadiah Stane about building various Iron Man suits to conquer all of Asia, though Stane paralyzes him with a sonic taser and takes the first suit while ordering his men to kill Raza's lackeys.
36	*** [[Recap/WhatIfS1E6WhatIfKillmongerRescuedTonyStark In an alternate timeline]], Obadiah himself is on the receiving end of this trope [[{{Pun}} ironically]] when Killmonger exposes all his secrets for the whole world to see, causing Tony to order security to arrest him, and Happy Hogan to knock him out with one punch.
37	** Justin Hammer in ''Film/IronMan2'' believes he's going to take down Tony Stark, especially since he just "hired" Ivan Vanko, a brilliant tech wiz that can create gear rivaling Iron Man's. When he presents his idea he comes out dancing or at least a poor imitation of it, to Average White Band's 'Pick Up The Pieces' and goes on with bad jokes that make no sense ("The newspapers are about to run out of ink!") to outright showing what is clearly Stark technology (the second Iron Man suit, the one with the icing problem), only with a lot of guns welded on, all to scattered applause. All Tony does is show up in his new suit, during Hammer's presentation, and he gets a standing ovation. Hammer has absolutely ''no'' control over Vanko as the latter hacks into his system, derails his PoweredArmor prototypes into unmanned drones, and so on. Vanko even plays up YouNoTakeCandle for no other reason than to annoy Hammer and get him out of his way. Hammer is most clearly shown as pathetic when he tries to force Vanko into line... [[PokeThePoodle by taking his pet bird. And his shoes.]] Even his ''[[{{Mooks}} goons]]'' are pathetic, armed only with tasers and mace and taken down with zero effort by Vanko (also Black Widow, but we're not exactly blaming them for getting their asses kicked by her).
38	** [[Characters/MCULokiLaufeyson Loki Laufeyson]] in ''Film/{{The Avengers\|2012}}'' has got the Chitauri backing him up and he puts on a big show, but in the end, he is nothing more than a self-absorbed pawn to Thanos. Thanos' emissary, the Other, easily bullies him into submission. According to the EvilPlan, Loki will get Earth, but Thanos will get the Infinity Stones and pretty much the whole universe.
39	** TheStinger in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' made Strucker out to be the next great threat, and he was talked up a lot in season 2 of ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' as a GreaterScopeVillain. Then in ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', he quickly surrenders in the first few minutes and later is unceremoniously killed off-screen by the actual BigBad, Ultron.
40	** Ronan in ''Film/{{Guardians of the Galaxy\|2014}}'' seems to think he's the biggest threat around, when in reality he's basically just a glorified courier bringing a stone to Thanos. While the Other's attempts to cow him result in his death, Thanos puts him in his place, giving a blistering ReasonYouSuckSpeech in the process.
41	--->'''Thanos:''' The only matter I do not take seriously, boy, is ''you''. [[KnightTemplar Your politics]] bore me. Your demeanor is that of [[PsychopathicManChild a pouty child]].
42	** ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'' has two, mostly to distract the audience to the real villain [[spoiler:Ego, the Living Planet]].
43	*** Taserface believes that Yondu's going too soft and leads a mutiny, but only succeeds with help from Nebula who has no problems overriding his order. Even after the mutiny, Rocket can't take him seriously thanks to his AtrociousAlias and after Yondu gets his weapon back, he and the rest of the traitors are dispatched in a truly devastating CurbStompBattle. Even his dying wish gets laughed upon by the Sovereign because of his name.
44	*** Ayesha is the queen of an incredibly arrogant race, the Sovereign, and swears vengeance on the Guardians for daring to offend them. When the Sovereign forces try to pursue them, they end up getting easily swatted away by Ego. They try to hire the Ravagers to find the Guardians, resulting in the aforementioned mutiny. Once they find the Guardians, they try to capture them again but end up only distracting the Guardians while they're fighting the real villain. As of TheStinger, Ayesha's still at it, but even the other Sovereign are getting tired of her wasting resources on the Guardians. Then, in ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol3'', she's revealed to ultimately be a flunky of the main villain the High Evolutionary, who is much more of a threat and treats her with no respect and ultimately [[spoiler:indirectly gets her killed]].
45	** ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'' has Sonny Burch. Sonny is an arms dealer with connections to the Black Market and a mole in the FBI. While this makes him a credible threat on his own, Ghost is a greater threat than he is, because unlike Sonny, she actually has superpowers of her own, [[spoiler:and she's desperate to cure [[{{Intangibility}} her condition]] before it kills her]]. By the end of the movie, he and his goons are taken out by Scott's friends and are handed over to the cops.
46	* Shingen Yashida really thinks he's the mastermind in ''Film/TheWolverine'', with his plan to have his own daughter Mariko killed because his father Ichirō named her as the heir to the company. He tries have Mariko killed at Ichirō's funeral using the Yakuza, but both Wolverine and Kenuichio Harada the Black Clan archer throw a wrench into this plan. Even when he is able to find Mariko [[spoiler:his Yakuza henchmen are easily cut down by the Black Clan, and he is killed by a repowered Wolverine]]. The real mastermind is [[spoiler:Ichirō who planned to take Wolverine's abilities to gain immortality]].
47	[[/folder]]
48
49	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
50	!!Live-Action TV
51	* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'':
52	** On his own, Edison Po is a dangerous villain, and he is one hell of a threatening and smart enemy, but he’s in way over his head in comparison to the Clairvoyant, who he only manages to be TheDragon and MouthOfSauron to before [[spoiler:the Clairvoyant [[YouHaveFailedMe has him killed after his efforts at torturing Coulson for information prove ineffective]] and subsequently promotes Raina into serving as his replacement. Speaking of]]…
53	** Raina may be a ManipulativeBastard and may think [[IJustWantToBeSpecial she's meant for something great]], but ultimately she's just an expendable pawn in the schemes of HYDRA and Mr. Hyde. This is even reflected by [[spoiler: what happens to her when she undergoes terrigenesis. Raina was expecting to be a beautiful and powerful angel blessed with amazing powers. Instead, she was turned into a gnarled, spikey, and pathetic monster who is in perpetual agony and is left with painful prophetic powers that she can't even control.]]
54	** While Dr. Whitehall is certainly a dangerous HYDRA leader, Cal notes that he still has no clue what the purpose of the Obelisk is even after all his extensive research, comparing him to a monkey scratching hopelessly at it. [[spoiler:Then there's the fact that Coulson just shoots him InTheBack in the most hilariously anticlimactic manner possible right as Cal is seconds away from engaging in what he'd hoped to be a climactic showdown with the man… 10 episodes into the 22 episode season.]]
55	** In Season 3, [[spoiler: [[Characters/MCUGrantWard Grant Ward]]]] tries to rebuild HYDRA from the ground up to take revenge on S.H.I.E.L.D. But while he's Team Coulson's [[ItsPersonal most personal]] enemy, he's far from the biggest threat: his one attack that managed to cause some damage, [[spoiler:assassinating Coulson's LoveInterest]], also [[spoiler:provoked Coulson into killing him...which subsequently allows him to be possessed by the far worse threat Hive]].
56	** Season 4 has Anton Ivanov, the so-called "[[BadassNormal Superior Man]]". He's the head of the [[RightWingMilitiaFanatic Watchdogs]], who plague S.H.I.E.L.D. throughout most of the season, all as part of a decades-long vendetta against Coulson for a previous encounter. Except not only does Coulson [[ButForMeItWasTuesday not even remember him or the event in question]] (robbing him of much of his significance), but he ends up [[CurbStompBattle easily defeated by Daisy]], after which the season's real main villains usurp his resources and turn him into a pawn.
57	** [[{{Characters/MCUHYDRA}} HYDRA]] ended up being far less of a threat than they were initially made out to be. Their motto "cut off one head, two more will take its place" is designed to make it seem like they will be around forever and there’s no point in fighting them. And during both [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger their time overtly working to achieve their world domination agenda in World War II]] and [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier their time covertly influencing the world for their benefit without anyone else being any the wiser]], they genuinely gave Captain America quite the challenge in foiling their plans. But as it eventually turns out over the course of this series, they are ultimately only truly capable of causing real damage when they don't have a dedicated force going after them and trying to take them down. To start, during Season 2, Coulson is able to trick most of HYDRA’s leaders into killing each other, and the season finale has a MookLieutenant inform Ward that the heads were not growing back. Then it was revealed that they were just a cult waiting for the return of a powerful Inhuman, whose return ended up ironically ''accelerating'' their demise. After said Inhuman, named Hive, kills Gideon Malick’s daughter, Malick [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal gives S.H.I.E.L.D. everything he knows]] about HYDRA’s operations, resulting in S.H.I.E.L.D. and the United States military launching a coordinated strike that leaves General Hale as the last HYDRA head standing. Speaking of which...
58	** General Hale thought she could manipulate S.H.I.E.L.D. into helping her take over the Confederacy. Not one of her schemes worked out, she was never in a position of power over the Confederacy, and [[spoiler:she was unceremoniously killed off by Graviton, ending the last remnant of HYDRA (all this happened in the TV series; to fans who only watched the MCU movies, HYDRA would appear to have fallen victim to ChuckCunninghamSyndrome)]].
59	** General Hale's daughter Ruby believes it is her destiny to become the Destroyer of Worlds by assimilating all of the obtained Gravitonium into her body. This backfires horribly, as [[spoiler:she can't even absorb eight percent of it without the voices of those who were previously trapped inside of it driving her beyond crazy and completely out of control, after which Elena [[DiscOneFinalBoss ends her threat before it truly begins]] via SlashedThroat with one of her own chakrams. Ultimately, the one who becomes Graviton is General Talbot]].
60	** The Confederacy believed themselves to be much more powerful than they actually were. They were easily [[spoiler:cowed by Graviton before subsequently getting destroyed off-screen by the Chronicoms]].
61	** Atarah is one of the leaders of the surviving Chronicoms whose planet was wiped clean of life by Izel. Her obsession with using FitzSimmons' brains to learn how to time travel and restore her species' homeworld causes her to undergo SanitySlippage and delve further into StupidEvil tendencies. [[TheDragon Malachi]] [[spoiler:shoots her and takes leadership over the rest, intending on making Earth into their next home planet… except he is DemotedToDragon by Sibyl in the final season with virtually no fanfare. It is possible that she was the real boss all along, of course]].
62	** [[spoiler:Sibyl herself, despite being the only character who fulfills the BigBad role for the entire final season (having [[TheDragon Luke]] form a BigBadDuumvirate with Wilfred Malick in the first half before forging one herself with Wilfred's now-superpowered son Nathaniel in the second half) and being potentially the most powerful and dangerous threat of them all by virtue of being able to affect time itself, shows tendencies of being outplayed by S.H.I.E.L.D. more than once, to the point where both she and Nathaniel dismiss her own calculations and probabilities. She also gets KilledOffscreen after Coulson and May trick her one last time while Nathaniel serves as the FinalBoss for Daisy, who quakes him into one of the reactor cores, obliterating him, Sibyl, and their entire space armada.]]
63	** [[spoiler:Nathaniel, despite being TheHeavy and a much more direct threat who really earns the enmity of the heroes, is another hilariously StupidEvil SmugSnake who deludes himself into believing that Sibyl and her armada work ''for'' him rather than ''with'' him, even though he had to resort to asking Sibyl to give him some of her Hunters, plus he has no idea of the "new world order" structure he's even building, his postulations about giving power to those who are more deserving being an excuse to cause anarchy in the world and then step in to "fix it" himself and rule the planet, even though he's been told more than once that Sibyl wants to make Earth into her people's new homeworld. This guy has UnwittingPawn written all over him, making Sibyl the clear dominant partner between the two of them. Finally, despite being Daisy's last opponent in the series, even though he has Daisy's and Kora's powers ''combined,'' Daisy is still holding back to avoid annihilating the warship. When her team is safe and she finally cuts loose, she obliterates him and the entire armada with a single attack, although nearly at the cost of her own life.]]
64	[[/folder]]
65
66	[[folder:Western Animation]]
67	!!Western Animation
68	* ''WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble''
69	** While a genuine threat, the Leader can't seem to get to Big Bad level there no matter how hard he tries and gets usurped every time.
70	** Wolfgang Von Strucker may be the leader of Hydra, but compared to his predecessors (Red Skull and Baron Helmut Zemo), he's far more incompetent. His worst defeat had him being betrayed by his protege.
71	** N'Jadaka / Killmonger has shown to do poorly on the Big Bad role in some moments and even gets usurped by Madame Masque.
72	** Justin Hammer wanted to join the Cabal. Unfortunately, his attempted audition didn't impress Red Skull. His robot, on the other hand, did. He tries again in "Savage" and comes close, again, to join the Cabal before getting overconfident and getting his ass handed to him. It's a good thing he didn't join anyways because Red Skull would have wiped him out.
73	* ''WesternAnimation/HulkAndTheAgentsOfSmash'': In Planet Monster, The Leader's down to this, unsuccessfully forming an alliance with the Supreme Intelligence and Ronan, only for him to get absorbed, and the fact that they consider him insignificant.
74	* ''WesternAnimation/IronManArmoredAdventures''
75	** Count Nefaria is cited as the leader of one of the most powerful crime organizations in the city, but is always one-upped by Iron Man or whoever happens to be the true big bad at the moment. [[spoiler: [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie Then he was transformed into a zombie]] by Hammer, basically ending his threat there.]]
76	** While Justin Hammer a major threat throughout most of Season 2, he's not half as smart as he thinks he is, often getting humiliated in fights, and doesn't even come into any sort of contact with the protagonists' quest for the Makluan Rings.
77	* ''WesternAnimation/MarvelsSpiderMan'': Hammerhead is this, considering (Norman, Otto, the Jackal, Toomes and Venom) are more competent threats to Spider-Man than him.
78	* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries''
79	** In the greater scope of the series. Doctor Doom steals the power of the Beyonder, but has no real control over them. After the arc, it is revealed that even if Doom did manage to control that power, he would have ultimately doomed the multiverse, since using up the Beyonder's power would have exhausted it and allowed Spider Carnage to destroy virtually all of reality.
80	** When the Spot realizes his abilities made him all powerful, he decides to upstage the Kingpin: "I am the new Kingpin now!". [[IHaveYourWife Until the next scene where his girlfriend is held hostage]] and the Kingpin order him to go after Spider-man again.
81	** Prowler / Hobie Brown has dreams of attaining power but lacks the cunning to hold on to it. Kingpin's betrayal is a very brutal wake-up call to him.
82	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan''
83	** Hammerhead attempts to betray Tombstone in the second season [[spoiler:but is ultimately only an UnwittingPawn for the Green Goblin's own rise to power, as his successes largely stem from piggybacking off schemes the Goblin has already put into motion.]]
84	** Once a powerful crime lord, Silvermane (Silvio Manfredi)'s long imprisonment has left him woefully unprepared for the new age of supervillainy consuming New York. His powerful exoskeleton allows him to go toe-to-toe with Tombstone and Octavius for a short while, but he's ultimately the first of the three crime lords to be defeated by Spidey--who easily sniffs out his weakness in a few minutes--and his very first appearance in the show ends with him quickly arrested once more at the machinations of the Goblin.
85	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperHeroSquadShow'': Doctor Doom spends much of his time in the second season desperately trying to reclaim his old position as top villain.
86	* ''[[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Ultimate Spider-Man]]''
87	** Doctor Octopus was TheHeavy for season 1's first half, and far more active in the field than Norman ever was. However, his plans are much more conservative and he lacks the genetic power versatility Norman has. [[spoiler: Finally it's completely subverted now Osborn choose not to be the Goblin again, even if forced]].
88	** Arnim Zola pretty much thinks of himself as the BigBad of ''Ultimate Spider-Man vs the Sinister 6'' with Doc Ock as his lackey only for Doc Ock to be the BigBad and betrayed Zola. Doc Ock later gloats to Zola's projected face about retrieving the "proper" nanotech research he had originally intended to use, which was held back and twisted by Zola for some reason.
89	** Taskmaster first couple appearances aren't much to speak of, as he's OnlyInItForTheMoney. But come season 3, he takes a much more personal role in fighting Spider-Man's newer team, but as mostly normal guy, he's still outclassed by the more genius planners like the Green Goblin.
90	* ''WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries''/''WesternAnimation/XMen97''
91	** Henry Gyrich
92	*** He's introduced spearheading the Mutant Registration Act and employing Trask to create Sentinels, but this initiative quickly grows beyond the pair's control, with the two being completely absent from the Sentinels' takeover of the world in the "Days of Future Past" timeline. Master Mold ends up turning on its creators in the first season finale and pursues its own agenda for the rest of the series, forcing the pair into hiding.
93	*** Gyrich is the one responsible for fatally injuring Xavier in the finale of the original series, but he's immediately arrested for it and ultimately only provides global support for Magneto's planned revolution. [[spoiler:Though the current begins moving in the opposite direction in '''97'' with increased antagonism from anti-mutant groups, which seemed to be building Gyrich up as major player in the creation of new Sentinels, his second appearance sees Bastion [[UndignifiedDeath smother him with his bare hands]] once he's no longer useful.]]
94	** Bolivar Trask is Gyrich's partner in creating the Sentinels and attempting to get government support for their mass production, but the pair prove incapable of controlling their creations. He manages to build a subordinate Master Mold in the '''97'' premiere, but the X-Men quickly find and destroy it before it can take action against mutantkind, [[spoiler:and his technology is then hijacked by Sinister.]]
95	** Graydon Creed is a recurring threat throughout season 2, but his incompetence leaves him a secondary threat compared to Mr. Sinister. Apocalypse easily manipulates him into helping create a plague that will wipe out not just mutants but humans as well, and once Creed breaks the last straw by targeting Beast's love interest, Wolverine wastes no time exposing the identity of his father, removing the bulk of his influence among the Friends of Humanity.
96	[[/folder]]

Context BigBadWannabe / MarvelUniverse