Line #14 FromNobodyToNightmare/LiveActionTV


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9	[[quoteright:350:[[Series/OnceUponATime https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mixcollage_08_nov_2023_08_48_am_6094.jpg]]]]
10	[[caption-width-right:350:From a concerned father to the all powerful Dark One.]]
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15	Examples of FromNobodyToNightmare in live-action television.
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20	* {{Lampshade\|Hanging}}d in ''Series/AgentsOfShield'' when [[spoiler:Glenn Talbot]] gains his gravity powers and [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity goes batshit insane and evil with them]], and Coulson and May are reflecting on it:
21	-->'''May:''' ''[laughs]'' The first time we met him.\
22	'''Coulson:''' ''[laughs]'' When he told us about the "peacekeeping force" he was sending to the Hub?\
23	'''May:''' I mean, imagine back then if someone had told us that someday we'd be worried about [[spoiler:''Glenn Talbot'']].
24	* ''Series/Batman1966'': Olga was washing dishes before Egghead convinced her to become a criminal, at which point she is arguably EvilerThanThou toward Egghead.
25	* ''Series/BeforeWeRuledTheEarth'': [[StartOfDarkness Humanity's arc through the series]]. ''Homo ergaster'' was just a humble scavenger and forager scrapping by on the African savannah, but its descendants would eventually become rulers of the Earth, and wipe out many species in the process.
26	* ''Series/BeingHumanUK'': Invoked by Mr. Cram/[[AppropriatedAppellation Crumb]] in the fifth series.
27	-->''"They ignored me. Patronized me. Now they'll dream about me for the rest of their lives. I'm the world's worst nightmare: the victim who gets superpowers!"''
28	* ''Series/BoardwalkEmpire'': About half of the younger generation of gangsters. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Luciano Lucky Luciano]]? Just some [[DumbMuscle dumb]], HotBlooded kid. UsefulNotes/AlCapone? He's just the TheDon's immature driver who makes up stories about serving in [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI The Great War]] so he can make himself look more badass. [[ProfessionalKiller Bugsy]] [[TheDreaded Siegel]]? A crazy kid always making silly jokes and doing funny animal noises, albeit with a ''bad'' temper.
29	** The biggest is definitely Meyer Lansky. In his first appearance, he's on the receiving end of jokes about being a kid in his dad's suit. Within twenty years, he will be one of the most powerful men in America.
30	** Richard Harrow starts out as a unemployed, disfigured ShellShockedVeteran whom Jimmy Darmody meets in Chicago. He quickly becomes one of Atlantic City's deadliest hit men and in Season 3 he pretty much singlehandly ends a MobWar when he pulls a OneManArmy and slaughters more than a dozen armed gangsters within the span of 15-20 minutes.
31	* ''Series/BreakingBad'':
32	** The show is one long study in this trope for Walter White. In Season 1 he's a mild mannered science teacher living in a near shell shocked state over all the disappointments and missed opportunities in his life, and, unknown even to himself, is secretly enraged by it all. Over the course of the series he goes from that to one of the most feared drug lords in American history.
33	** Gus Fring. A flashback shows him as a mild-mannered fast food cook on the bottom rung of the drug trade who watches helplessly as [[spoiler:the cartel murders his friend and partner]][[note]]Downplayed, however, as he's spared solely because of the reputation he already had back in Chile[[/note]]. In the present, he's become the ruthlessly competent and dangerously savvy head of an international drug empire.
34	* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
35	** Liam was just a cheap and fun loving young man, just one of many in the world who would have led an unremarkable life -- until he met a beautiful vampire. Reborn as Angelus, he immediately distinguished himself from other vampires by his sheer cruelty and inhumanity. Even the Master, one of the oldest and most powerful vampires seen in the series, called him "the most vicious creature I've ever met." Despite being not that much stronger than the average vampire his age, Angelus always inspires fear and dread whenever he reasserts himself. During his stint as BigBad he came closer to destroying humanity than anyone else in the series, even the First Evil itself.
36	** Really, this applies to nearly all the Master's line: Darla, Drusilla, and Spike started out as, respectively, a HighClassCallGirl dying of syphilis, a chaste and timid young woman suffering from unwanted visions, and a MommasBoy who wrote bloody awful poetry. Who would have expected the likes of them to become a crew of [[HeroKiller Hero Killers]]?
37	** Willow went from a powerless, clueless {{Muggle}} to the most dangerous member of the Scoobies and probably the most powerful magic user on the planet over the course of six seasons, but didn't become a Nightmare until [[spoiler:Tara was killed]] and she went on an UnstoppableRage rampage that almost ended with the world ending. Jonathan, having known her almost as long as Buffy and Xander, could hardly believe she was the same person.
38	** Warren Mears at first seemed to just be some pathetic geek living in his mom's basement, until he showed up at Buffy's place with a gun.
39	*** Arguably, the From Nobody To Nightmare happened in the episode ''Dead Things''. Before this episode, Warren was presented more like Jonathan and Andrew, i.e. immature geeks trying to act like comic book [[{{Supervillain}} supervillains]], though he had been the only one willing to have a demon kill Buffy in "Flooded" and tried to dissolve her in "Gone" instead of re-visibling her. However, in ''Dead Things'', Warren {{mind control}}s his ex-girlfriend, then proceeds to try and have sex with her, and then crosses the MoralEventHorizon by [[spoiler: accidentally killing her when she wakes up, then manipulates Jonathan and Andrew into framing Buffy for murder, using magic so even Buffy believes she's the killer]]. Then he just gets worse from there...
40	** Mayor Wilkins. He was originally a mortal human, stumbled across the Hellmouth while prospecting for gold, and made a deal with the demons (which included the founding of Sunnydale on the Hellmouth and his gaining immortality) mainly in order to avoid being killed.
41	** The comic story "Haunted" reveals Adam was just a random, faceless Initiative grunt killed by the Mayor.
42	** Discussed at the end of the episode "Damage" in the final season of ''Angel''. The episode concerns a woman who when she was just a young child, her parents were murdered by a serial killer and she was abducted and tortured by him, literally driven insane. In the present she inherits Slayer abilities and SuperStrength, and the result is a rampage with multiple deaths. At the end of episode she's tranquilized and taken by the other Slayers, but Spike is pessimistic about their chances of being able to help her.
43	--->'''Spike:''' She's too far gone to help. She's... one of us now. She's a monster.\
44	'''Angel:''' She's an innocent victim.\
45	'''Spike:''' So were we, once upon a time.
46	** The Senior Partners, the [[GreaterScopeVillain Greater-Scope Villains]] of [[Series/{{Angel}} Angel's spin-off show]]. Back during the Primordial Age when the Old Ones ruled the Earth, they were, according to Illyria, weaklings who were barely considered stronger than a [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]]. In the here and now, they're all-powerful extradimensional beings who pretty much control our world and [[AnotherDimension more]] from behind the scenes.
47	** In the [=IDW=] comic series ''After the Fall'', the various Demon Lords who took over L.A. when the Senior Partners sent the city to Hell were, for the most part, originally just low-level demons who took advantage of the chaos to build their power bases.
48	** From the bad guys' viewpoint, Buffy herself is arguably one. While the Slayer was always feared, Buffy herself was just a normal teenage girl interested in shopping, cheerleading, and boys, and had no idea demons and monsters existed. Then she got called and became the longest serving Slayer on record, stopped multiple Apocalypses, has taken down numerous {{Big Bad}}s that run the world of evil and doesn't even let a little thing like death stop her. While a lot of it was down to luck, determination and her friends, she's still a force to be reckoned with and it's implied Slayer or not, evil is afraid of [[TheDreaded her]].
49	* ''Series/{{Community}}'':
50	** Over the course of the first three seasons, [[spoiler: "Senor" Ben Chang]] went from a lousy teacher, to [[TyrantTakesTheHelm a power-hungry wannabe war lord.]]
51	** The episode Recap/CommunityS6E03BasicCrisisRoomDecorum has Takashi, a Japanese teenager whose main role in the episode is being part of a prank on Dean Pelton by impersonating Jeff over text. TheStinger shows him getting chastised by his father and attempt to apologize to the Dean for his actions only for the Dean [[CassandraTruth to think his claims that he's 'not Jeffrey' are just Jeff being doubtful in himself]]. A voiceover that follows this from an older Takashi reveals that this incident was his StartOfDarkness that ultimately made him the highest leader of the Yakuza.
52	* ''Series/{{Condor}}'': Reuel Abbott is revealed to have gone from an idealistic advocate of civil rights and Vietnam War protestor who decided that he could change the CIA from within. Aiming to spread human rights all around the world, he turned into a ruthless man over the years, with it culminating in him [[spoiler:plotting genocide against the Muslim world]], always telling himself it was [[TheNeedsOfTheMany for the greater good]].
53	* ''Series/{{The Day of the Triffids\|2009}}'': Torrence sees the collapse of society as an opportunity to get himself a nice suit and an army of mercenaries and try to take over the country.
54	* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
55	** In the serial ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E5PlanetOfTheSpiders Planet of Spiders]]'', the main (human) villain, Lupton, was a former salesman and manager for 25 years who was embittered when his company fired him. So he volunteered to do the bidding of giant spiders, who gave him great powers.
56	** The Master. Before he looked into the Untempered Schism and had the drum beat implanted into his brain, he would just have been a harmless Time Lord child.
57	** ''[[Recap/DoctorWho2012CSTheSnowmen The Snowmen]]'' reveals that classic Who monster the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E2TheAbominableSnowmen Great]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E5TheWebOfFear Intelligence]] started out as a parasitic lifeform in the form of sentient snow, feeding on the negative emotions of a single misanthropic man for most of his life, until it eventually developed a mind of its own and became magnitudes more deadly.
58	** The Doctor, who is a demonstration of what happens when a member of the most powerful race in the Universe, decides to ignore their non-interference policy, steal a time machine and ''[[BigGood interfere!]]'' They might have, unbeknownst even to themself, secretly been [[spoiler:the Timeless Child]], but as far as anyone was concerned during the Creator/WilliamHartnell years, they were just a cantankerous old coot in a [[TheAllegedCar clapped-out time machine]], acting as a sort of intergalactic tourist who would just show up and maybe poke things a bit. Then came the {{Eldritch Abomination}}s given a seeing-to, the Dalek and Cybermen armies reduced to spare parts, the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E2TheHappinessPatrol fascist regimes hunted for sport]], [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor the Time War]]...and at the other end you ''still'' have an intergalactic tourist, but one that's known as [[RedBaron the Oncoming Storm]] (among countless other very dramatic titles) and routinely makes the MonsterOfTheWeek ''shit themselves in fear''.
59	** Pretty much all Time Lords have the potential to be this. Even the first one Omega, who, according to Big Finish, started out as a student with bad test results and becomes someone who nearly destroys the Time Lords.
60	** From ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'' Sebastian Grayle. He was originally a Roman Soldier who didn't have enough money to marry his love. He is given immortality by the [[spoiler:Nimons]], and after living for centuries, outliving everybody he marries, becomes a [[WhoWantsToLiveForever bitter twisted figure]] who helps the [[spoiler:Nimon]] invade Earth. He becomes so terrible that when he goes back in time [[spoiler:his past self [[FutureMeScaresMe kills]] him]].
61	** Davros started off as a scared child in a war between the Kaleds and the Thals. He rose to become the Kaleds' leader in the scientific division. He then created a new species from the mutated Kaleds. After he was thrwatred by the other Kaleds, he arranged his own species extinction using the Thals, whom he also attempts to wipe out. The species he creates? The Daleks, a race of {{omnicidal maniac}}s that became the Doctor's ArchEnemy.
62	** The Daleks themselves started out as nobodies. In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E2TheDaleks their first appearance]], they were just pathetic mutants in metal shells who were limited to a single city thanks to their reliance on static electricity. Then in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E2TheDalekInvasionOfEarth their second]], they've subjugated humanity. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks Their origin story]] throws in that they started their climb on a ravaged, post-apocalyptic world from within a city that had recently been levelled by WMD attack. By the Revival, we find out not only can they fly now, they fought a war with the Time Lords, a species with technology capable to bending spacetime like a pretzel, and not only did the Daleks manage to fight for 400 years in linear time and much longer thanks to TimeyWimeyBall, if the scenes of the Last Day of the Time War are any indication, ''they were winning''.
63	* ''Series/{{Fargo}}'': Lester Nygaard from Season 1 is a local salesman and a ButtMonkey at the beginning of the show, but develops into this after what ensues when he first meets Lorne Malvo.
64	* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'':
65	** Namtar was a lab animal given a serum that boosted his intelligence. By the time the crew meets him he's an EvilutionaryBiologist who terrifies everyone around him.
66	** Unlike most Peacekeepers, the first-season BigBad Captain Crais actually grew up on an agricultural commune and was fully expected to spend his life as a common farmer like his parents... up until a Peacekeeper press-gang arrived in search of new recruits. Ambitious and eager to prove himself, Bialar Crais rose through the ranks on wits and hatred -- until, by the start of the season, he's in charge of his own command carrier.
67	** The series-wide BigBad, Scorpius, was born into slavery as the [[HalfHumanHybrid hybrid]] [[ChildByRape offspring]] of a [[MedicalRapeAndImpregnate raped test subject]]. Weak and sickly throughout his childhood, his Scarran captors considered him a failed experiment... right up until he escaped from captivity. Worse still, the attempt to recapture him ended with his "nanny" [[ExtremeMeleeRevenge getting a coolant rod]] [[EyeScream to the eyeballs]] and a Peacekeeper ambush being called in on her dreadnought. Impressed with his intelligence, Peacekeeper command decided to waive the [[HalfBreedDiscrimination rules against hybrids]] and allow Scorpius to join them. By the time the crew meets him, the former slave is in command of a top-secret research facility; over the series, he levels up to commanding his own warship, to commanding his own interstellar experiment, to commanding his own ''fleet.''
68	** John Crichton, a scientist from [[InsignificantLittleBluePlanet some primitive backwater world]] no one has even heard of, finds himself flung across the galaxy, falls in with a band of escaped convicts, and eventually becomes a thorn in the side of two major galactic powers (and not a small number of minor ones). And then he builds a weapon capable of destroying the entire universe.
69	* ''Series/TheFlash2014'' is packed with people who were once nothing but small time crooks or even innocents but then a particle accelerator explosion granted them powers and quite often twisted them.
70	** Leonard Snart was the son of an abusive cop turned imprisoned thief. Pushed to crime himself, he stole a weapon to make himself Captain Cold. Mick Rory was a young pyromaniac turned brutal crook himself who got the other weapon to become Heatwave.
71	** The Mardon Brothers were small-time crooks until they each gained the power to control the weather to the point of nearly burying Central City in a tsunami.
72	** Kyle Nimbus was to be executed but instead gained the ability to turn his body into a deadly gas to kill others.
73	** Bette Sans was a soldier who suffered shrapnel wounds from defusing a bomb. When the accelerator hit her, she found herself able to detonate anything with her hands and became Plastique.
74	** Grodd was a simple captive gorilla who gained hyper-intelligence, powerful telepathic abilities and a hate of the human race.
75	** Roy G. Bivolo was a color-blind artist who gained the power to fill anyone with rage with a look.
76	** Sam Scudder was a crook trapped in a mirror who gained the power to travel through them and use reflections as weapons to become Mirror Master.
77	** James Jesse was a simple crook who became the maniacal Trickster.
78	** Amunet was a flight attendant of all things who put up with regular harassment by her male pilots. When she gained the power to control metal, she killed them and then created a massive criminal empire.
79	** Becky Sharpe was a woman with horrendously bad luck before a burst of dark matter caused her to alter probabilities so only good things happen to her. But to make it work means horrible random events hit anyone around her and the luckier she gets, the worse it is for them.
80	** Clifford [=DeVoe=] was a bright man using a device to amplify his mind when the accelerator hit. With his mind expanded to genius levels, he at first wanted to use it to help mankind. But then he discovered that accessing so much brain power was shutting down all his other motor functions and forcing him to life in a nearly paralyzed state. He thus uses his mind to steal the bodies and powers of others and even uses a hyper-drug on his wife to ensure she won't turn on him.
81	* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
82	** Melisandre, the terrifying Red Priestess with great powers, reveals to Gendry that she was once a slave.
83	** Daenerys rises from a timid bride to a YoungConqueror. At the start of Season 2, she is the leader of only a few dozen ex-slaves, most of which are women, old men, and children; with one knight under her command. By halfway through Season 3, she has an army, dragons old enough to kill, and is feared by the cities of Essos. By the end of Season 6, she is queen of Meereen and has the largest forces by far, ready to claim the Iron Throne. [[spoiler: She later goes down as the destroyer of King's Landing and the attempted ruler of the whole world.]]
84	--> '''Daenerys:''' "A fortnight ago I had no army, a year ago I had no dragons."
85	** Walder Frey goes from a unpleasant but relatively harmless DirtyOldMan to the regicidal lord paramount of the Riverlands without even leaving his chair.
86	** Thousand of years previous to the events of the series, a man whose name has long been forgotten was captured by the Children of the Forest, who had grown desperate to drive the human invaders from their lands. In their desperation, they used their magic to transform him into the greatest nightmare of them all: [[spoiler: The Night King. Their plan worked a little too well, and now he's coming for ''everyone.'']]
87	* ''Series/{{Gotham}}'' might as well be called FromNobodyToNightmare: TheSeries. We see several members of Batman's RoguesGallery before they became supervillians, and we get to watch their StartOfDarkness: young and rather incompetent wannabe gangster Oswald Cobblepot, who will claw his way to the top of Gotham's criminal underword as the Penguin. A nitpicky [[TheCoroner coroner]] Edward Nygma with NoSocialSkills who [[AlloftheOtherReindeer is never respected]] will become [[SanitySlippage the insane]] Prince of Puzzles. A shy and introverted little girl who will become a dreaded MadScientist PoisonousPerson. A young female ArtfulDodger who will become the ultimate ClassyCatBurglar. An idealistic crusading District Attorney's mind will surrender to his latent dichotomous madness when he receives horrific injuries to half of his face. According to WordOfGod, ''someone'' will have One Bad Day and become the Clown Prince of Crime. And, of course, a traumatized little boy will grow up to be [[Franchise/{{Batman}} a very different kind of nightmare]].
88	* ''Series/TheHandmaidsTale'': Aunt Lydia was once just Miss Clements, a kind teacher very concerned with children's welfare. There's little hint how she became an Aunt, but presumably it's due to this concern being pushed toward extremes with the fertility crisis and adopting the Sons of Jacob's beliefs as a result. The start it seems was having a boy taken out of his mother's custody due to what Lydia saw as inadequate parenting.
89	* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'': Sylar/Gabriel Gray goes from a nebbish clockmaker to [[TheSocialDarwinist Social Darwinist]] SerialKiller supervillain in a pretty short period of time. Even among other superpowered people, he's one of the most powerful and feared.
90	* Both ''Series/HouseOfCardsUK'' and its [[Series/HouseOfCardsUS U.S. remake]] ''revolve'' around this trope. Francis Urquhart/Underwood was perfectly happy helping the Prime Minster/President's agenda, so long as he was promoted to the main cabinet/Secretary of State. Then the Prime Minister/President broke their deal, deciding Francis was better use to him as chief whip, a job Francis has held for twenty years. Cue the entire plot of the show, which is essentially Francis casually destroying ''everything'' his former "friends" have worked so hard for. All the while carrying a [[SmugSnake proud smile on his face]]. Being based on Theatre/{{Macbeth}}, the show gives us the interesting twist of having said nobody to nightmare explain his plots, schemes, and motivations to the viewer, accompanied by a frequent AsideGlance.
91	* ''Series/IZombie'': Before the Boat Party Massacre, Blaine [=McDonough=] was little more than a shiftless drug-dealing ne'er-do-well, unlikely to pop up on anyone's radar. One Zombie Outbreak later, after finding himself turned into a nigh-unkillable monster, he starts working his way up the organized crime ladder, eventually becoming the undead king of the Seattle underworld.
92	* ''Franchise/KamenRider'':
93	** Several of the MonstersOfTheWeek in the franchise are humans using a TransformationTrinket to turn into monsters. Most notable are the Dopants from ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'' and the Zodiarts from ''Series/KamenRiderFourze''.
94	** ''Series/KamenRiderRyuki'' has Satoru Tojo aka Kamen Rider Tiger. Before receiving his transformation trinket, Satoru was a very timid student with the desire to become a hero. After receiving his transformation trinket, he becomes a one of the most dangerous antagonists in the series, due to his tendency to murder other Riders at random, especially those emotionally close to him. This is because he thinks a hero is someone who sacrifices all that's dear to him for the greater good.
95	** ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'': Both Ryoma Sengoku and Kaito Kumon start out as orphans. Ryoma grew up to become an amoral scientist who enables a massive apocalypse to happen and one of the show's more powerful antagonists. Over the course of the show's events, Kaito ends up becoming a powerful godlike creature aiming to fix what he sees as humanity's unavoidable [[TheSocialDarwinist Social Darwinist]] tendencies by destroying humanity and replacing them with a new, more compassionate successor species. The trope is brought up on Kaito's part around halfway through the show, where DJ Sagara warns that someone like Kaito might never amount to anything if life never gives them a chance, but if they ever get their hands on some real power then they'll amount to ''everything''.
96	** ''Series/KamenRiderZiO'' has this built into the very premise. Sougo Tokiwa is a well-meaning but flaky teenager whose only GoalInLife is to become a king; he then finds out that in 50 years, he supposedly become a nigh-omnipotent EvilOverlord who rules the world with an iron fist. In fact, the OpeningMonologue never fails to mention that Sougo is just an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent before ever becoming the tyrant that subjugates everyone. Tsukuyomi, the time traveler who warned Sougo, is trying to [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong prevent this]] by guiding Sougo down the path of the hero rather than the villain. Meanwhile, the Time Jackers (the show's villains) are trying to [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this by taking ordinary people and turning them into twisted, corrupted versions of legendary Kamen Riders in the hopes that they will become the Demon King rather than Sougo.
97	* ''Series/{{Lexx}}'': Mantrid. He would have stayed on his ice planet for all eternity (or until he died, maybe, eventually), but due to the [[NiceJobBreakingItHero heroes' actions]], he instead became a composite part-[[MadScientist evil scientist]]-part-[[BugWar Insect essence]]-all BigBad [[EarthShatteringKaboom planet-disassembling]], sun-eating, universe-destroying superweapon superbeing.
98	** Similarly, Stanley H. Tweedle, a technician fourth-class (lowest level) who had been nothing but a complete failure until fate intervened and he became the captain of the Lexx, which had the greatest destructive force in both universes.
99	** Interestingly, Kai does not really qualify. He did start as a regular kid and his transformation into Divine Assassin does make him very powerful, but there were many Divine Assassins and it is never really explored if Kai was the best among them or not. His creator is quite proud of him, but is also an egomaniac and would never admit that someone else has created a better Divine Assassin. And there is a rank above Divine Assassin, the Divine Executors. Only one is encountered, but it is 'an' not 'the', so there were multiple. Kai is an elite mook who tends to follow Stanley and Xev around as bodyguard and rarely cares about anything else.
100	* ''Series/{{Limitless}}'' has Eddie Morra. In the [[{{Film/Limitless}} original movie]], Eddie goes from an out of work author to a financial genius who becomes entrenched in the world of financial giants. Now, he's a United States senator and {{The Chessmaster}} who controls the fate of [[TheHero Brian]]'s future.
101	* ''Series/TheLongestDayInChangAn'': In flashbacks Long Bo is a relatively insignificant soldier working with Xiao Jing. In the main series he's planning to blow up half of Chang'an to kill the emperor.
102	* ''Series/{{Lost}}'': [[MagnificentBastard Benjamin freakin' Linus]]. Originally a [[TheWoobie pitiful little boy]] who was a [[AbusiveParents victim of a drunken dad]] who always told him that his birthday is essentially the [[DeathByChildbirth anniversary of the day he killed his mom]]. Flashforward 30 years later and he [[spoiler: orchestrated the death of his whole town, including his father, who he killed with his own hands after reciting his TheReasonYouSuckSpeech]].
103	** Not to mention his first introduction. He was very convincing as the innocent Henry Gale, making it virtually impossible for anyone to SpotTheImposter. Then he began to show his [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative nature]] that we're all familiar with, starting with stringing Locke against Jack even further, which had horrible results.
104	** Hell, [[spoiler:the Smoke Monster]] was just a guy who wanted to escape from his jerkwad mother and sniveling brother. But then he gets pushed too far [[spoiler:murders his mother, gets murdered by his brother, dumped in a magic spring, and becomes the mass-murdering BigBad monster]].
105	* In ''Series/MurdochMysteries'', Ralph Fellows was introduced as a hotel detective with a chip on his shoulder regarding Murdoch, and gradually developed into an ArchEnemy to rival the late James Gillies.
106	* ''Series/OnceUponATime'':
107	** Rumplestiltskin started out as a cowardly, crippled, wool-spinning peasant; then somebody made the mistake of [[PapaWolf threatening his son]]. Cue burning down the Duke's palace, killing an all-powerful evil sorcerer, and taking on said evil sorcerer's power, making ol' Rumple possibly the baddest dude in the fairy tale world. And it's not just his incredible magic; see any of the times when he was without magic but proved that he was still utterly dangerous.
108	** Regina also would have been a nobody were it not for her ambitious mother. If Regina had had her way, she would have been the wife of a stable boy, her true love.
109	** Regina's mother Cora was this. ''Twice''. She rose from being [[spoiler: a poor miller's daughter to a wealthy noblewoman]] and one of the most deadliest sorceresses in the world. Then [[spoiler: again in Wonderland where she rose from being banished there with nothing but the clothes on her back to becoming ''the Queen of Hearts''.]]
110	** Isaac Heller was just an appliance salesman with dreams of being a famous writer, [[spoiler: when he was recruited by the Apprentice to become the next Author, tasked with writing down the exploits of fantasy characters across many realms. Then he decided that just recording the stories was boring, and started rewriting things to be more "interesting..."]]
111	** Zelena, abandoned by her mother, raised by a kind couple, she seemed happy with her life. Then her "mother" dies, her "father" reveals he never loved her and her quest for answers leads to the truth. Betrayed by her would-be mentor of the Dark One and overcome with jealousy at the sister she feels took what should have been hers, she transforms into the Wicked Witch of the West, a horror of a ruler out for a "goal" she can never meet.
112	** Arthur, a young man with dreams of glory, becoming king but his obsession with becoming the greatest ruler he can be leads him to betray everything he stood for: invading other lands, murder, using magic to warp his wife to be his willing slave and his kingdom to be "perfect" and still out to gain what he feels is his "destiny," oblivious to how he has tarnished what should have been a glorious reign.
113	* Tobias Beecher from ''Series/{{Oz}}'' starts the series as a mild mannered lawyer who's in jail for vehicular manslaughter, stuffed in a maximum security prison with murderers, nazis and cannibals, and is promptly intimidated, brutalized and raped by other prisoners. Within his first couple of years in prison he had defecated on his cellmate and killed a guard with his ''fingernails'', among other things.
114	* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'':
115	** [[TheDon Carl Elias]] started out as an orphan in the foster care system after the murder of his mother Marlene Elias, then became a flunky for his father Don Moretti. When Moretti attempted to have Elias murdered, Elias escaped and would go on to become one of the biggest crime bosses in NYC.
116	** Ulrich Kohl from "[[Recap/PersonOfInterestS01E08 Foe]]" was once a lowly soldier on the Berlin Wall, killing those who tried to escape East Berlin. Then the Stasi recruited him and he became one of their deadliest operatives with guns, needles, and his own bare hands.
117	* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'':
118	** ''Series/PowerRangersWildForce'': Viktor Adler / Master Org. Unlike most PR {{Big Bad}}s, he started out as a completely ordinary man -- an unassuming ecologist with a crush on one of his two co-workers. Then he found the remains of Master Org and got much, much worse (without ever developing a split personality like [[Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder Anton Mercer and Mesogog]]).
119	** Doctor K from ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'' is a tragic unintentional example of this trope. She started out as a highly intelligent child slave working for an immoral government think tank, inadvertently unleashes the sentient Venjix computer virus on the internet in a failed escape attempt and is ultimately responsible for the death of 99% of mankind due to the resulting RobotWar. Unlike most examples, Doctor K feels great remorse about this and tries her best to set things right.
120	* ''Series/QueenOfTheSouth'' begins with Teresa Mendoza established as the most powerful, ruthless and feared drug cartel leader in Mexico. When she's shot in the opening of the pilot, her life flashes before her eyes and the series shows how Teresa went from an innocent poor woman to this cold-blooded gangster.
121	* ''Series/{{Revolution}}'': Before the blackout, [[BigBad General Monroe]] was just your basic Marine Corps sergeant. Now, he's the warlord of roughly a quarter of the [[FallenStatesOfAmerica former United States]]. Likewise, [[TheDragon Captain, no, Major Neville]] used to be an insurance adjustor, which is shown in [[Recap/RevolutionS1E5SoulTrain Episode 5]]. Captain Jeremy Baker started as one of many random victims during the blackout, but he survived and went on to be a dangerous militia member, which is shown in [[Recap/RevolutionS1E3NoQuarter Episode 3]].
122	* ''Series/{{Rome}}'': At the beginning of the show [[UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}} Gaius Octavian]] is only the youngest member of one of the families that are vying for power in the last days of [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic the Roman Republic]]. At the end he has outwitted, outmanoeuvred or murdered all his opponents and has become the undisputed ruler of [[AncientRome Rome]]. His triumphant smile during the final celebrations of his victories is chilling.
123	* ''Series/RuyisRoyalLoveInThePalace'': Yanwan starts out as a maid abused by [[{{Jerkass}} Yuyan]]. Then she becomes a concubine, uses her new position to harm her rivals, and eventually takes Ruyi's place.
124	* ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'': The villain in "Secrets of the Stars" was a failure in life before he was chosen by the Ancient Lights. This means Sarah Jane [[NotBrainwashed can't convince him to stop]] and he refuses to surrender and return to his old life when he's lost.
125	* ''Series/{{Sliders}}'':
126	** One episode features a world instantly cursed with twice its previous population because of the sliding technology. It's dominated by warlords who control the food supply. They meet one who mentions he used to be a shoe salesman.
127	** In the pilot episode, Quinn is visited by another sliding Quinn, a cocky young man on his eighth slide, who helps him complete the formula for sliding. Many episodes later, Quinn encounters the same alternate version of himself, except his sliding experiences have turned him into a ruthless psychopath who has committed countless atrocities. He still has a tiny spark of humanity in him and wants "our" Quinn to kill him so that he can't hurt anyone else.
128	** Said experiences? Giving sliding technology to a human-like race of underdogs losing a war on their own Earth against humans. Their name? [[ToServeMan Kromaggs]]. One of their first actions after learning to navigate the multi-verse is to conquer that Quinn's world.
129	* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': Lionel Luthor was just a dirt poor kid from the Suicide Slums with a set of drunken parents. Then after murdering his parents for the insurance, he became one of the richest men in the world and the [[TropeCodifier poster boy]] for {{Magnificent Bastard}}s everywhere. His son [[BigBad Lex]] also goes from a privileged child in Metropolis to perhaps the most dangerous man in the world due to the accident that caused his hair loss and his dad's emotional abuse.
130	* ''Series/StargateSG1'': The Replicators were built originally as just ([[LivingToys semi-intelligent]]) ''toys'' who diverged so far from that original function that they became a HordeOfAlienLocusts bordering on [[OmnicidalManiac omnicidal mania]], and eventually, an [[AlwaysChaoticEvil evil race]]. Oh, and yeah, not only were ''they'' a toy, but they were in fact a toy built by what was essentially ''another'' toy, a messed-up [[AIIsACrapshoot android]] built as a daughter by a doddering old fool left alone on some backwater planet with nothing else to do.
131	* Henry Creel/Vecna from ''Series/StrangerThings''. Henry was already an irredeemable terror, but at the very least he was subdued by Dr Brenner. After Eleven set him free, he went on a murderous rampage that was never completely sated. Stranger Things 4 ends with Hawkins being torn open so that the Upside Down can leak through and Will states that One is still alive, so he's ultimately claimed victory despite everything. Oh, and it's revealed Vecna is the creator (if not direct ally) of the Mind Flayer, thus responsible for every single tragedy in the show since Season 1.
132	* ''Series/Supergirl2015'': Benjamin Lockwood was a mild history professor and supporter of alien rights. [[TraumaCongaLine Then]] his family's steel works business was forced into bankruptcy by the influx of cheaper alien metals, their home was destroyed by a fight between Martian Manhunter and a Daxamite {{Mook\|s}}, he was fired for starting to express anti-alien rhetoric in his lectures, and his father was killed by the earthquakes caused by the Dark Kryptonians attempted [[HostileTerraforming terraforming]] of the planet. All this radicalized him and led him to becoming Agent Liberty, leader of a movement to kill every alien on Earth.
133	* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': [[MagnificentBastard Crowley]] used to be a 17th century tailor named Fergus [=MacCloud=] who, as Bobby put it, "[[DealWithTheDevil sold his soul]] for a couple of extra inches [[GagPenis below the belt]]". Over the centuries, he's managed to work his way up the demonic ranks to head of all deals, and later ''King of Hell'', as well as making his mark as one of the Winchesters' most dangerous and persistent enemies.
134	* ''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy2019'' has [[spoiler:Vanya]], who goes from shy, mousy, [[spoiler:"ordinary", and TheUnFavourite of Reginald Hargreeves]] to the terrifyingly [[spoiler:detached and ruthless White Violin, who brings about the Apocalypse and nearly kills several of her siblings after her immense powers are awakened]].
135	* ''Series/TeenWolf'':
136	** [[spoiler:Matt Daehler]] was an ordinary kid who ended up traumatized by his near-drowning at the hands of a high school swim team and their coach. Fast forward six years and he’s a TeenGenius who has a crush on one of the prettiest girls at school. [[spoiler:Then the girl rejects him and he [[TheKidWithTheRemoteControl gains control of a reptilian shapeshifter with razor claws and paralyzing venom.]] Cue killing spree…]]
137	** When we first meet Erica, she's a troubled, skittish epileptic ostracized by the entire school. Then Derek gives her the bite. WhosLaughingNow?
138	* ''Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay'': Oswald Danes was just your average, run-of-the-mill sex offender on death row until everyone in the world lost the ability to die and everyone saw his lethal injection fail on live television. He was then recruited by an evil corporation as a spokesperson to help promote their corrupt agenda because vile though he is, Danes is a well-known figure and very charismatic. His KarmaHoudini bites him in the ass however when the corporation reveal that [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness he has outlived his usefulness]] and he goes back to being a nobody. On the run. From everyone.
139	* ''Series/TrueBlood'': Bill Compton was just a random and lost Confederate soldier dying of starvation as he tried to make his way back to Bon Temps to reunite with his family, who didn't even know if he was still alive. Cue one [[HoneyTrap meeting with a lonely widow in a cabin deep in the woods]] and he was transformed into a vampire by the sadistic Lorena. He still remains somewhat of a nobody (with fangs) for about a century after this until [[spoiler: he is recruited by Nan Flannagan to be a spy for the American Vampire League and the Authority. A succession of seasons later, and he has become first the King of Louisiana to replace the fallen Sophie-Anne, a Chancellor of the Authority after Roman's demise, and then...a HumanoidAbomination that is the physical avatar of the [[EldritchAbomination vampire goddess Lilith.]]]]
140	* ''Series/WalkerTexasRanger'': Nolan Pierce was a low-level numbers runner for a mob family who was convinced by the FBI to flip in exchange for protection. Instead, he got ten years in prison, where he was scarred as a snitch. Burning with anger at the cops, feds and other mobsters, Pierce remade himself into "The Chairman", who offers his services to mobsters in eliminating dozens of undercover agents and witnesses with plans to become one of the most powerful criminal masterminds in the country.
141	* ''Series/TheWalkingDead2010'':
142	** The Governor was a normal man of no distinction or ambition before the ZombieApocalypse.
143	** Negan was a high school gym teacher before [[spoiler:his wife's death]] started him on the path to becoming leader of the Saviors.
144	* ''Series/TheWire'':
145	** Young drug kingpin Marlo Stanfield just starts out the third season as a small-time player with a few corners, albeit ones that are considered prime territory for a dealer. His first appearance is about 10 seconds. Due to the arrest of his competition at the end of the season, he has taken over by the end Season 3. In the fourth season, the police see him as just another drug kingpin like the one before. By the end of Season 4, they start finding the bodies of his victims in row houses. A '''''lot''''' of bodies. Turns out Marlo is the most murderous, ruthless, and sociopathic man to ever run a drug empire in Baltimore.
146	** Avon Barksdale, whose gang ran the west Baltimore drug trade before Marlo took over, counts as well. In fact, the Major Crimes Unit's investigation into the Barksdale crew is stalled early on because of their inability to find much information on Avon, due to the fact that he, as [=McNulty=] puts it, basically came out of nowhere to become one of the biggest players in the city.
147	* ''Series/TheWitcher2019'': Nilfgaard starts out as the butt of the joke for everyone, with a boorish king and little power. Fast-forward about a decade or so and they have a new iron-fisted emperor, fanatical followers, have launched a brutal invasion on the Northern Kingdoms, and nobody is laughing at them anymore.
148	* ''Series/TheXFiles'': Billy Miles is one of these. In the pilot episode, Billy is only a poor young man abducted by aliens. And this is the last we think we see of him. Seven years later, he is abducted again, is returned with an alien virus, and turns into an indestructible killing machine, bent on murdering Scully and her unborn child.
149	* ''Series/CobraKai'': All the Cobra Kai students started off as meek, bullied kids with some form of disability, and ended up feared, ruthless martial artists. However, the standout is Eli, who went from trying to hide in his clothes to a berserker whose capacity for aggression and brutality frightens even the other members of Cobra Kai.
150

Context FromNobodyToNightmare / LiveActionTV