| 1 | ->''"Perhaps in another time, another game, we may have been mortal enemies... let us part as comrades in arms."'' |
| 2 | -->-- '''[[{{Superboss}} Culex]]''', ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPGLegendOfTheSevenStars'' |
| 3 | |
| 4 | The villainous version of HeroOfAnotherStory, Villain of Another Story is when a villain is not a villain in the main narrative but is a villain elsewhere in the setting. That means a character that is not treated as a villain in the story can be legitimately considered a villain by other characters. The Villain of Another Story may have little to no impact on the main plot. If the other characters meet him and he still qualifies, he is very likely a RetiredMonster. |
| 5 | |
| 6 | This trope is common in RolePlayingGames, where sometimes an NPC might be a villain depending on what actions you take in the story. Sometimes, you can avoid fighting the villain, but he/she will be evil in other places in the setting. |
| 7 | |
| 8 | A subversion would be that the supposed Villain of Another Story eventually gets dragged into the main story and dealt with by the heroes, as then they become a villain of the main story. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | Compare GreaterScopeVillain, an evil, antagonistic force different than a villain or a BigBad in the sense that it never confronts the hero directly, but is more powerful than the big bad and possibly more influential in the setting as a whole. Also compare LoneWolfBoss, where a boss in the game isn't in league with the Big Bad and may or may not be a Villain of Another Story; BitPartBadGuys, for unaffiliated antagonists who are too minor to threaten the protagonists but nonetheless move the plot forward; and TokenMotivationalNemesis, when the villain that causes the wrong that starts the hero down his path ends up being only a minor nuisance in the long term. When a villain has no impact on the story except in {{Filler}}, it's a FillerVillain. When a villain is needed to impact a story, but the big bad simply won't do, you want an InterimVillain. If "elsewhere in the setting" is the setting's past (i.e., a flashback or an older story), it's a PredecessorVillain. When the villain of the main story also commits villainous acts that are not part of the narrative (even though they can still be part of the plot), it's OffscreenVillainy. Certain stories with NoAntagonist may also get to have this type as a background character if he is obviously up to no good but not towards any of the characters seen in the story. Contrast: BigBadDuumvirate and BigBadEnsemble. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | ---- |
| 13 | !!Examples: |
| 14 | |
| 15 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 16 | |
| 17 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 18 | * Many pirates in ''Manga/OnePiece'' could be considered this due to ProtagonistCenteredMorality. Luffy consistently shows a willingness to befriend people who are more brutal than he and his crew have ever been, and without a clear track record of only brutalizing villains like the Straw Hats do. A few examples: |
| 19 | ** Trafalgar Law is an ally of the main characters and has an almost protagonistic role, but he was part of [[spoiler: Doflamingo's crew]], is said to be a ruthless pirate in his own right, and during the TimeSkip took out the hearts of 100 pirates (thanks to his powers this is non-lethal, but still a pretty evil move) as a tribute to [[spoiler: become a Warlord of the Sea]]. This was all [[spoiler:to get revenge on Doflamingo, who more than deserved it, but Law was clearly willing to harm people unconnected to the Doflamingo Family in pursuit of that vengeance]]. |
| 20 | ** Duval. He initially held a grudge against the Straw Hats because of a misunderstanding, but the Straw Hats fixed the problem (more or less) and now Duval is an ally. In his hometown he was an underground boss, and he still keeps his henchmen. |
| 21 | * Shinichiro Josaki, the villain of the first piece of ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' media, ''Manga/CMonDigimon'', makes a cameo appearance at the start of ''Manga/DigimonVTamer01''. Millenniummon is also causing trouble in the wider setting, but has nothing to do with his usual nemesis, Ryo Akimama, stumbling into the Digimon World Lord Demon is making war in. |
| 22 | * In ''Manga/HunterXHunter'', the main character Gon becomes friends with Killua, a kid that comes from a family of professional hitmen. While Killua is nice to Gon, at least at first he's way less moral. They even have to face people wanting to take revenge on him for the things that his family did. |
| 23 | * The Van of the Red Dragon syndicate in ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' are the overlords of one of the worst crime syndicates in the solar system, but they never directly threaten the main characters and frankly seem apathetic to their existence for nearly the entire series. Only after [[spoiler: Vicious makes his move to assassinate and oust them]] do they send agents after Spike in a belated effort to tie up loose ends. |
| 24 | * The Decepticons who survived the conclusion of ''Anime/TransformersSuperGodMasterforce'' under the leadership of [[DragonAscendant Overlord]] are these during the events of ''Anime/TransformersVictory''. While the story follows Star Saber's battles with Deszaras in an area of space identified as Sector 1 (which includes Earth and its star system), Overlord and God Ginrai are having their own ferocious battles over in another sector of space (specifically Sector 2). While Overlord himself only makes cameos showing him in battle with Ginrai's forces, his repeated attacks actually have an effect in-story: Star Saber is occasionally forced to help out in Ginrai's Sector 2 simply because Ginrai is too busy fending off Overlord to properly handle problems that crop up. |
| 25 | * It's lampshaded in chapter 55 of ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' that Shirogane sounds like the condescending, amoral tyrant to Miko's idealistic, determined underdog. [[AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil In any other setting, that would be true]], but unfortunately this one has no need of a rebel like [[MoralGuardians Miko]]. |
| 26 | * In ''Manga/CatsEye'', Kaibara is just a wacky one-shot AntiVillain who leaves once thwarted. In ''Manga/CityHunter'' he's revealed to be the boss of Union Teope, a drug cartel so powerful to have great influence on a number of South-American countries. |
| 27 | [[/folder]] |
| 28 | |
| 29 | [[folder:Card Games]] |
| 30 | * This trope crops up frequently in ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', which has numerous villainous characters who only ever show up in flavor text or on a single card without making any notable appearances in the main storyline. Tibalt in ''Avacyn Restored'' and Vraska in ''Return to Ravnica'' are especially prominent examples, as villainous planeswalkers who never actually show up in the plot. |
| 31 | [[/folder]] |
| 32 | |
| 33 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 34 | * Annihilus and [[{{Satan}} Lucifer]] during Marvel's ''ComicBook/{{Civil War|2006}}''. One's an alien man-bug leading an armada of spaceships with intent to wipe out all life in the Universe, the other is the FallenAngel himself recently escaped from Hell and causing mischief with an army of resurrected dead. What's Marvel's main superhero plot line in the midst of these two threats? Paperwork over the death of six hundred people. Annihilus and Lucifer only get passing mentions in the "main" books. The Marvel Universe is very lucky they have some B- and C-list heroes who have A-list power. |
| 35 | * This is the usual role of Henri Ducard in ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' stories. He knows Batman's secret identity, and even occasionally helps the hero for his own purposes, but it's also always clear that Ducard is an amoral ProfessionalKiller involved in a variety of shady things in his native Europe. (unlike the [[Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy films]], Ducard [[spoiler: is not an alias of Ra's al Ghul]] in the comics.) |
| 36 | * ''ComicBook/AgentOfTheEmpire:'' Ysanne Isard is the BigBad of various other Star Wars arcs, but here is only a minor character who tips off Cross (albeit in an insulting fashion) that he's been used to kill an innocent man, which helps shape his feelings for the rest of the arc. |
| 37 | * ''ComicBook/DarthVader'': In ''The Ghost Prison'', the inmates of the eponymous prison were elite assassins, kidnappers and military commanders for the Separatists (including at least two fallen Jedi) who terrorized the Republic during the Clone Wars but are used as reluctant BoxedCrook allies by Vader and/or are victimized by him throughout their page time. |
| 38 | * ''ComicBook/TheShadowHero'': Both the city's {{mayor|pain}} and police chief are shown interacting with organized criminals (the mayor is seen playing pool with Mock Beak, and the mayor and the police chief are later seen attending [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs the tong's]] casino), implying that they're both in cahoots with the tong, but they're not given much focus in the story. |
| 39 | * ''ComicBook/MightyMorphinPowerRangersTeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'': In the second miniseries, the Rat King is this. Besides already being acquainted with the Turtles, he's among the few villains of theirs who doesn't get involved with Rita and Krang's alliance, yet he doesn't actively oppose it like [[spoiler:Shredder and Karai]]. The only action he takes is to inform Leonardo of a failed attempt to recruit him by Ranger X (who he initially suspects to be with the other Rangers, since he gets wary of Tommy's presence), before the heroes leave his territory in peace. |
| 40 | [[/folder]] |
| 41 | |
| 42 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 43 | * Morton Goldthwait in ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'', the nerdy outcast of the high school Peter and Paige go to, is generally depicted as a sympathetic or at least neutral and pathetic figure. However, in the story arc following Jason at summer camp, Morton is a villain as his JerkAss camp counsellor. |
| 44 | [[/folder]] |
| 45 | |
| 46 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 47 | * ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': [[Film/EbirahHorrorOfTheDeep Red Bamboo]] are among Alan Jonah's trading partners who he's suspected to have sold Ghidorah's DNA to. While they're not specified to be {{unwitting pawn}}s [[spoiler:or Apex Cybernetics' trade partners]] like Bio-Major are, if the [=AbraxasVerse=] version of Red Bamboo are anything like the original incarnation... |
| 48 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse''/''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' crossover fanfiction ''Fanfic/TheAmazingSpiderLuzInAcrossTheOwlVerse'': It's mentioned that the blood transfusion that [[CreateYourOwnHero gave Luz her powers]] was originally in the possession of Miles Warren, AKA The Jackal, only for the DNA sample to wind up lost in the system after he's beaten and locked away for his crimes. Whether or not it was placed deliberately into the system as part of his experiments or if it was entirely an accident is never clarified. |
| 49 | * ''FanFic/BadFutureCrusaders'': Silver Spoon seems to be this. Most of the [[OffscreenVillainy allegedly evil things]] she has done happened prior to the story or are only mentioned in passing. |
| 50 | * ''Fanfic/DigimonTrinity'': [[Anime/DigimonFrontier Lucemon]] briefly appears to try and [[spoiler: steal the Hazard from Guilmon]], before going off to carry out his canonical plot. Which, since the story focuses mostly on ''[[Anime/DigimonTamers Tamers]]'', happens entirely offscreen, with barely a mention or impact on the main story. |
| 51 | * In the ''Fanfic/CoreLine'' short story ''Fanfic/ALittleHospitality'', Dr. Hunter is the most recurring human villain of ''WesternAnimation/TheLittles'' and a sworn enemy of both them and their human colleague, Henry Bigg (nowadays known as the superhero "Stature"). By all means and purposes, this animosity is territory of the [[Characters/CoreLineAvengersInfinity Extraordinary Avengers]]. Protagonist Roger Hackett was (following this logic) just a BadassBystander. |
| 52 | * In ''Fanfic/TheBridge'', any sequence showing flashbacks to the Xilian Controller during the Final Wars event. A psychotic maniac, the alien coalition's attack on Terra was his idea and he personally murdered Miki Saegusa's father. However, none of the main heroes ever fought him directly and he doesn't factor into the main plot. |
| 53 | [[/folder]] |
| 54 | |
| 55 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 56 | * Lord Portley-Rind in ''WesternAnimation/TheBoxtrolls''. Let's make a list. He wastes taxpayer's money and time just sitting around eating rare cheese, completely ignores his daughter to focus more on his hat and cheese, spends charity money for a children's hospital on a large wheel of cheese that most likely only he and his other White Hats would have eaten, completely ignores Eggs' public confession, tries to get out of his deal with Snatcher, when it is revealed the [[spoiler: Boxtrolls are alive]] he flat out rubs the fact into Snatcher's face that he will never get what he wants, and even when his daughter was caught by Snatcher and he had to trade his hat to save her he tries to negotiate with him for something else. If Snatcher wasn't such a monster Lord Portley-Rind could have easily been the villain of this story. |
| 57 | * ''WesternAnimation/ParaNorman'': [[spoiler: The Judge and the Puritans who hanged the so called witch,]] are this coupled with PredecessorVillain [[spoiler:as they had a HeelFaceTurn [[DeathEqualsRedemption after their death]]. They were not in any way threatening Norman and just wished to rest in peace.]] [[AxCrazy The current citizens of Blithe Hollow on the other hand]]... |
| 58 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', we can conclude Wu was this to Ming when she was younger and served as an antagonist when she was a child. |
| 59 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'': Mr. Big is an AffablyEvil [[TheDon mafia boss]] who eventually gets on good terms with the main characters and helps them solve the crime case they are on, but he presumably continues his criminal business off-screen even after the end of the movie. |
| 60 | [[/folder]] |
| 61 | |
| 62 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 63 | * ''Film/AlphaDog'': Johny's godfather Cosmo (Harry Dean Stanton). The real person he's based on, Jon Roberts, was an associate of the Medellin Cartel. Although there are hints to his criminal past, in this film he just functions as an old friend and confidante of the Truelove family. He also helps Johnny escape to Paraguay. |
| 64 | * Ulysses Klaue in ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron''. While he does play a small role in the movie (namely [[spoiler:providing smuggled Vibranium to Ultron]], it has been established that he has had some history in [[ComicBook/BlackPanther Wakanda]]. Of course, this appearance was to set up Klaue as a villain ([[spoiler:and big emphasis on the "[[DiscOneFinalBoss a]]"]]) in ''Film/BlackPanther2018''. |
| 65 | * ''Film/FaceOff'': Burke Hicks could have been the BigBad of a slightly different movie, as he once stalked the U.N. Secretary General before TheHero arrested him, is familiar with international terrorist Castor Troy, and is played by Creator/ThomasJane. However, he spends the entire movie locked up in a shady BlackSite that he has no inclination to risk trying to escape from, and is friendly with the undercover Archer due to never suspecting his real identity. |
| 66 | * ''Film/JamesBond'': |
| 67 | ** In the Creator/PierceBrosnan films ''Film/{{Goldeneye}}'' and ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'', Valentin Zhukovsky plays this role. He's a ruthless [[TheMafiya Russian gangster]] and [[FormerRegimePersonnel former KGB agent]] who clashed with Bond in the past, but he ends up helping his old enemy against [[EnemyMine even worse threats]] in both films. |
| 68 | ** Zhukovsky is far from unique in the franchise: Milos Columbo in ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly'' and Marc-Ange Draco in ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService'' are similar organized crime kingpins who work with James Bond (Bond even marries Draco's daughter), and Kerim Bey in ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'', while a spy not a criminal, is nonetheless very plugged in to the local underworld. Any of these characters would make an excellent BigBad for a police story like ''Series/MiamiVice'' or ''Series/TheWire'', ''especially'' given their ties to James Bond, since in these stories major criminals often use their ties to the government and especially to its black ops agencies to stay out of prison. From Bond's point of view, however, their brand of crime is small potatoes, and it's well worth working with them to help stop a larger class of criminal - because they're terrorists like SPECTRE who cause much greater destruction, or because they're affiliated with hostile foreign countries like the USSR or Red China. |
| 69 | ** Franz Sanchez, the villain of ''Film/LicenceToKill'', starts out as this. The most powerful drug lord in the Americas, he's not a target for James Bond, but for Felix Leiter, his American friend and counterpart. Leiter's reactions (abandoning the drive to his own wedding as soon as he's told his DEA colleagues are on to something) suggest that Sanchez has become as much an obsession and ArchEnemy for him as [[Characters/JamesBondBlofeld Ernst Stavro Blofeld]] once was for Bond. Bond does help capture Sanchez, but only because he happened to be there. Only after Sanchez escapes from prison, has Leiter kidnapped and brutally maimed, and his wife murdered, does Bond decide to turn his full attention to him, leaving behind his own life at [=MI6=] to do so (much to M's displeasure). |
| 70 | * In ''Film/KillBill'', both the Bride's EvilMentor Pai Mei and RetiredMonster Esteban Vihaio are very evil people by most standards, but they only exist in the film as part of Bill's sinister background. Both actually aid the Bride in going after Bill. To drive the trope home, the film's version of Pai Mei is directly modeled on Pai Mei's HistoricalVillainUpgrade appearances as the BigBad of ''Film/ExecutionersFromShaolin''--that's where the story of the temple massacre comes from--and as a minor villain in ''Film/FistsOfTheWhiteLotus'', making him quite literally the villain of another story. |
| 71 | * ''Film/LoneWolfMcQuade'': [=McQuade=] briefly wrestles with Falcon, the crippled dwarf boss of an arms smuggling operation. He's ''not'' the main villain or the target of [=McQuade=]'s revenge; that role belongs to Falcon's rival Rawley Wilkes (David Carradine's character), another ArmsDealer who both tried to murder [=McQuade=]'s daughter after she was witness to a major arms deal and has a hold over [=McQuade=]'s LoveInterest Lola. Falcon shows up again after Wilkes has been disposed of, but [=McQuade=] steals his helicopter and leaves Falcon behind for the Mexican Federales. |
| 72 | * ''Film/LordOfIllusions'': Harry starts off the movie tracking down Tapert, a highly sleazy insurance fraudster. Then he follows Tapert into an occult shop where they witness a murder that makes Tapert run away while Harry switches his efforts into investigating that. To quote Harry: |
| 73 | -->'''Harry:''' Tapert's got nothing to do with this. He just came to get his palm read. |
| 74 | * ''Film/MaxPayne'': Mona Sax tries to keep her sister off drugs and sympathizes with Max's losses and mission, but she also has authority over several Mafiya goons and a DirtyCop informant and seems to be concluding a mob negotiation in one scene. |
| 75 | * ''Film/MissionImpossibleFilmSeries'': Similar to the James Bond example above, the Impossible Missions Force occasionally finds itself cooperating with criminal kingpins (sometimes very, ''very'' high-placed criminal kingpins) to prevent catastrophic terrorist attacks or to expose spies within their own government. |
| 76 | ** ''Film/MissionImpossibleGhostProtocol'' alludes to the broad strokes of another story, in which "the Fog" (a Russian arms dealer in Dubai) is the villain, and Anatoly Sidorov (a Russian government agent) is [[HeroOfAnotherStory the hero]] trying to bring him to justice. Sidorov, however, has temporarily been diverted to track down a more urgent threat (Ethan Hunt, whom he believes is a terrorist that just destroyed the Kremlin), while "the Fog" cooperates with Ethan and promptly passes on his location to Sidorov (which is what Ethan wanted, so he could have help exposing the real culprits). Sidorov nevertheless assures the Fog that he'll get back to tracking him soon enough. |
| 77 | ** ''Film/MissionImpossible1996'': Max is a European arms dealer who's trying to purchase and sell a list of undercover American agents on the black market. Ethan, however, is less interested in her than in finding and exposing the traitor within the IMF who was going to sell her that list, and manipulates her accordingly. At the end of the movie, Ethan's boss Kittridge suggests a long-term arrangement with her. Later movies show that Max's daughter and eventual successor, "the White Widow," has a similar frenemy relationship with the U.S. government, sometimes cooperating with them for mutual interest. In a different kind of movie, either Max or the White Widow could easily be a BigBad in their own right. |
| 78 | * Radio and television newscasts heard throughout the horror film ''Neighbor'' repeatedly mention an escaped serial killer named Shawn Gracy. At the very end, the unnamed VillainProtagonist, a serial killer herself, hears a bit-parter mention that Gracy was just captured. |
| 79 | * ''Film/OnceUponATimeInHollywood:'' "Squeaky" Fromme isn't directly involved in Manson's conspiracy but went on to try and rally support for Manson after his arrest in real life and was later arrested for trying to murder President Gerald Ford. |
| 80 | * ''Film/{{Predator}}'': The guerillas that Dutch and his team go after because of Dillon's deception, they were a communist back group being advised by Soviet military advisers. They were planning some sort of invasion, but Dutch and his team manage to wipe them out before they can do any real damage. That's before the Predator shows up and starts killing Dutch's team one-by-one. |
| 81 | * ''Film/ThePentagonWars:'' The officers behind the testing of the various other DOD projects that are behind schedule all clearly have a lot of waste and problems going on that they steadfastly lie about to the Secretary of Defense, although whether any of that stoops to the same levels of negligence as General Partridge is unclear. |
| 82 | * In a disturbingly similar way, a deranged maniac who is only shown in a padded cell in ''Film/{{Phenomena}}'' [[spoiler:caused the story's bloodshed by raping the woman who gave birth to the freaky killer.]] |
| 83 | * The ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'' is filled to the brim with secondary characters of every sort, most of whom are pirates who don't have the luxury of doing any pirating and are trying to organise themselves to fight for their lives against the East Indian Trading Company who has managed to take over as the sole power at sea, not unlike Barbossa. Of note are the rest of the little-seen Pirate Lords (Amande the Corsaire, Mistress Ching, Capitaine Chevalle, Sri Sumbajee, Gentleman Jocard and Eduardo Villanueva) along with ex-lord Captain Teague who however does get to murder one pirate in his brief onscreen time. (Though, Ching, Villanueva and Ammand do become more relevant, as bosses in the game adaptation who try to off Jack). Tie-in literature elaborates on their backstories. Each one has their own story to tell, a story with themselves as the hero and their rival lords as villains, and they take turns depending on which empire they support as privateers. |
| 84 | * The {{Yakuza}} boss Hideaki Goto and his son Keiichi in ''Film/TheRaid2Berandal''. They have a common enemy with the movie's hero, Rama, in the form of the local Bangun crime family, but Rama never [[EnemyMine teams up with them]] and it's pretty clear that these are not good guys. |
| 85 | * ''Film/TheRock:'' FBI director Womack takes a backseat to the Marine hostage-takers, but comes across as pretty villainous himself. He's been detaining Mason under shady circumstances for decades and is likely involved in some of the shady conspiracies detailed in the evidence Mason stole. |
| 86 | * Darth Vader plays this role in ''Film/RogueOne''. He's only got two scenes and never meets the protagonists, but it's ''very'' clear to the characters [[TheDreaded what]] [[OneManArmy kind]] of monster they're dealing with. [[spoiler:When he shows up in person at the last minute (after the main story is over and all the leads from ''this'' story are dead) he turns a clear Rebel win into the barest PyrrhicVictory in ''minutes'', and it's only the HeroicSacrifice of an unnamed soldier that keeps it from being a total defeat.]] |
| 87 | * The murderous hillbillies in the flashbacks of ''Film/TuckerAndDaleVsEvil'' would have made this a more straight slasher movie had they been the antagonists, but their existence is only to show that their crimes still haunt the place and especially the villain who is clearly [[spoiler: [[PredecessorVillain like father]], [[ChildByRape like son.]]]] |
| 88 | * Lucky Ned Pepper is this in all versions of ''Film/TrueGrit''. Infamous outlaw? Check. Leader of a gang? Check. History with Rooster Cogburn? Check. Is he the villain of the movie? Nope, it's his henchman Tom Chaney who got drunk and killed Mattie's father. He's actually pissed at Tom for dragging him into the events of ''True Grit'' to begin with. Though, it is ultimately subverted, when Rooster offers him and his gang the chance to leave Tom behind and ride away prior to the film's climactic shootout, and Ned declines. Lucky Ned didn't particularly want anything to do with plot of ''this'' film, but he does reluctantly assume the role of TheHeavy after Chaney proves to be not quite up to the task. |
| 89 | [[/folder]] |
| 90 | |
| 91 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 92 | * Franchise/HannibalLecter of ''Literature/RedDragon'' and ''Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'', a captured cannibal serial killer who, in both stories, is consulted on how to catch another cannibal serial killer. However, ''Literature/RedDragon'' also subverts this since Lecter does become an active threat to Graham late in the book and film by [[spoiler: giving Dolarhyde his home address and corresponding with him in secret.]] |
| 93 | * ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfTeebo'': King Ulgo is a mean old Dulok who happily wears the skins of dead Ewoks and wants to eat their sacred lantern birds, but he rules a kingdom of one and keeps to himself, while his rival King Vulgarr has a large war band and is happy to raid Ewok villages and eat their young. |
| 94 | * Thoth-Amon serves this role in the original ''Literature/ConanTheBarbarian'' stories. He is a powerful, evil wizard but he and Conan never directly clash, nor is Thoth-Amon specifically targeting Conan at any point. Most adaptations promote Thoth-Amon to BigBad, though. |
| 95 | * In ''Literature/TheHobbit'', Gandalf talks about a Necromancer who lives south of Mirkwood. When Gandalf talks about the Necromancer having wronged the dwarves, Thorin suggests settling scores with the Necromancer, but Gandalf discourages him and says that Thorin and company wouldn't be able to defeat the Necromancer. About midway through the book Gandalf leaves the group and battles the Necromancer off screen while the story continues to follow the journey of Bilbo and the dwarves. ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' later retconned the Necromancer as being a disguise for Sauron, the BigBad of the setting. |
| 96 | * In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', the Easterlings are often out of the spotlight, but what we know of them paints a fairly vivid picture. Far to the east, beyond Mordor and beyond Rhûn, there is a massive group of kingdoms and tribes of men, that formed a confederacy to serve Sauron. This confederacy is the ArchEnemy to Gondor and their warriors make up the strongest parts of Sauron's forces that attacked Minas Tirith. We barely see them because of the bulk of their armies were attacking Erebor and Dale during the War of the Ring, and they nearly won. They were so tenacious that even after the War of the Ring, they continued to fight with Gondor and were only subdued when King Aragorn led his men to crush them and then make peace. Considering that despite not having the blood of Numenor, they are still among the greatest forces of men in the world, it's safe to say that the men of the east have their own fantastical history that rivals their western counterparts. |
| 97 | * In the ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'' novel ''Mossflower'', Martin the Warrior arrives at the mountain of Salamandastron just in time to bear witness to the final battle between Badger Lord [[HeroOfAnotherStory Boar the Fighter]] and searat king Ripfang. Boar's comments beforehand indicate that this conflict has been building to a head for a long, long time, making Ripfang the BigBad of Another Story. |
| 98 | * ''Literature/BlackFleetCrisis'': Imperial warlod Foga Brill runs a territory with shocking amounts of graft, and warship captains who openly subject their crews to BadBoss threats, beatings, and occasional rapes, but he remains offscreen. His only other appearances are in sourcebooks, and his warships only appear in the most self-contained of the three plotlines. |
| 99 | * ''Franchise/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' In ''Bloody Fool for Love: A Spike Prequel'', Rieka is an ally of Spike during a time where he is lacking in heroic traits and could have been the villain of another story. She cares about her friends and fights someone worse than her, but she is also a FullyEmbracedFiend who considers locking herself up during full moons' to be "betray[ing] the wolf", doesn't care about the people she kills during her werewolf rampages, and kills people who cross her while she's still in her human form. |
| 100 | * ''Literature/ErastFandorin'': In ''Literature/MurderOnTheLeviathan'', Fandorin offhandedly mentions that one of ''Leviathan'''s passengers, a tea trader called Étienne Boileau, has the tattoo of a Hong Kong triad on his wrist, which means that he is actually a dangerous criminal and an opium trader. However, he has nothing to do with the titular murder, and basically disappears from the plot after that. |
| 101 | * Krios from ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' doesn't do much in that series despite being a powerful Titan. During his limited screentime he's also shown to be the butt of a few jokes, and Percy and co. never fight him. In ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'', however, it's revealed that he'd been off being the primary antagonist to the ''Romans'' instead of the Greeks. |
| 102 | * In ''Literature/TheDeathGateCycle'', Emperor Agah'rahn is the corrupt and tyrannical ruler of the [[TheEmpire Tribus elves]], who is fighting a world war on [[FloatingContinent Arianus]] to conquer both the humans (led by King Stephen and Queen Anne) and rebels of his own people (led by his DefectorFromDecadence son, Prince Reesh'ahn). However, since the main narrative of the series operates on a rather more cosmic scale, he's really only important to the plot on the occasions his empire intersects with it; the Emperor himself only has one scene, and his final comeuppance is entirely off-page with no main characters directly involved. His aforementioned opponents are also [[HeroOfAnotherStory Heroes of Another Story]]. |
| 103 | * ''Literature/PocketInTheSea'': the heroes are all from the naval prison system and it is very deliberately pointed out in the text that some of them are innocent and some aren't. This means that some of the characters were the Villain of Another Story. |
| 104 | * An unusual version in ''Literature/TheStand''. The original (shorter) version of the novel featured Stu and the others finding a dead man they called The Wolf Man, dead from a wolf attack. Stu wonders what happened. This is the only hint of a sociopathic character called [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname The Kid]], who reappears in the extended version. The Kid picked up Trash and took him on a crazy, villainous ride. |
| 105 | * Varamyr Sixskins, a wildling skinchanger in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' is merely another MookLieutenant in the main narrative, but his backstory hints at him being a monstrous, dragon-like figure to the local populace; |
| 106 | -->''Before Mance, Varamyr Sixskins had been a lord of sorts. He lived alone in a hall of moss and mud and hewn logs that [[APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil had once been Haggon’s]], attended by his beasts. A dozen villages did him homage in bread and salt and cider, offering him fruit from their orchards and vegetables from their gardens. His meat he got himself. Whenever he desired a woman he sent his shadowcat to stalk her, and whatever girl he’d cast his eye upon would follow meekly to his bed. Some came weeping, aye, but still they came. Varamyr gave them his seed, took a hank of their hair to remember them by, and sent them back. From time to time, some village hero would come with spear in hand to slay the beastling and save a sister or a lover or a daughter. Those he killed, but he never harmed the women. '' |
| 107 | * ''Literature/ElementalBlessings'': Alette's father killed five of his own children (and the mother of the most recent victim for good measure) for such offenses as failing to secure a marriage alliance. His remaining children are terrified of his long reach and murderous temper, but he's uninvolved in the primary intrigue of the story. |
| 108 | * ''Literature/AFrozenHeart'', a retelling of ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'', gives Prince Hans of the Southern Isles a much more detailed backstory. [[GreaterScopeVillain His father]] is a textbook EvilOverlord who [[TheCorrupter turned]] [[AbusiveParents most]] of his sons into sycophantic brutes loyal only to him, treats his wife with indifference, and rules the Southern Isles with an iron fist. The majority of the book focuses on covering the same plot as the movie, though, so the king ends up being a minor character. |
| 109 | * ''Literature/TheWarlordChronicles'' is an Myth/{{Arthurian|Legend}} story where the tale of Myth/KingArthur's rise and fall is told by Derfel Cadarn, a soldier who started as a common spearman and eventually became one of Arthur's key lieutenants. During a small section early in the second book of the series, when Derfel accompanies Merlin on a quest to recover a MagicCauldron, he encounters King Diwrnach, a chillingly psychotic Irish warlord who carved out a kingdom in England by killing Guinevere's father and taking over his lands. At the time Derfel and the small group of warriors with him only fight a small skirmish with Diwrnach and then escape, leaving Diwrnach alive and free to continue his bloodthirsty reign, complete with hobbies like killing and skinning children. Derfel mentions offhandedly that sometime later Arthur defeated and killed Diwrnach, but it happens offscreen, and while for the main character/narrator Diwrnach was a minor enemy, for Guinevere he was an ArchEnemy for [[YouKilledMyFather obvious reasons]]. |
| 110 | * ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' has "The Great Unknown", a something that appears as a question mark and threatens everyone; protagonist and antagonist alike. Captain Widdershins states is "worse than Count Olaf himself." ''Series/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents2017'' shows that it's a giant SeaMonster but answers no questions besides this. |
| 111 | * ''Literature/SwanSong:'' : The white supremacist warlord faction Troop Hydra, which neither the AOE, nor the heroes ever seem to get around to fighting. |
| 112 | * ''Literature/TeenPowerInc'': In ''The Missing Millionaire'', Vernon Bligh, a character who only appears in the final chapters, is the getaway driver for a bank robbery crew who stole and hid $400,000 before being arrested. However, rather than being the villain of the book, he is a victim, as he is kidnapped and tortured by a rival criminal who is after the money. This causes Vernon to reluctantly reveal where the loot is hidden after his rescue, to avoid the risk of going through the same thing all over again. |
| 113 | * ''Literature/TroubledBlood:'' Luca Ricci was physically and emotionally abusive to his fiancee Gloria forty years ago, probably took part in murdering an innocent woman (implied to be suspected [[SerialKiller Dennis Creed]] victim Kara Wolfson) for snitching on him and has been a mobster for decades, but he isn't Margot Bamborough's killer and is never caught by Strike or the police. |
| 114 | * ''Literature/WhaleTalk'': Plenty of racists and {{domestic abuse}}rs who have little or nothing to do with TJ are clearly the villains of someone else's story. Most notably, there's Rance Haskins, a drug dealer who's dated many women and abused their kids: killing one baby, blinding another, and causing a third (Mott) to lose his leg. |
| 115 | * ''Literature/BazilBroketail'': Gadjung is merely an obstacle for the Argonathi fleet en route to Eigo in the fourth novel, but plays the role of the BigBad in ''The Wizard and The Floating City'' side story. |
| 116 | * In an unusually tragic example, Creator/FrederickForsyth does this to none other than UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden in his novel ''Avenger.'' The villain of the novel is Zoran Zilic, a war criminal who once served Slobodan Milosevic in UsefulNotes/TheYugoslavWars and is now an international arms dealer. The hero is hired by a billionaire whose son (a former aid worker) was murdered by Zilic during the war to kidnap him from his South American compound and deliver him to the United States, where there's a warrant for his arrest. Unknown to either of them, Zilic is also an informant for the CIA, which has been using him and his arms sales as bait to draw out and eliminate Bin Laden. The book ends with the hero having succeeded, and the CIA's plan now dead in the water. [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror The closing narration is sure to tell us that the date is now 09/10/2001.]] |
| 117 | * The ''Literature/JackRyan'' series offers multiple examples: |
| 118 | ** The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisional_Irish_Republican_Army PIRA]] in ''Literature/PatriotGames''. As the largest Irish nationalist group in Ulster, they're the primary enemy of the British government (and to a lesser extent American) in UsefulNotes/TheTroubles. They're not the villains of this story, however: that's the Ulster Liberation Army, a RenegadeSplinterFaction that branched off from them. The enmity between the two terrorist groups is so strong that a PIRA representative even offers to wipe them out personally if British intelligence can locate them but isn't willing or able to do the job themselves. Several Britons and Americans are sorely tempted to take the offer, and not out of any fondness for the PIRA. However, the opportunity never materializes. |
| 119 | ** From the same novel, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_Directe Action Directe]] offers an interesting case of two stories getting their villains crossed. A French terrorist group, they're very badly wanted in their home country for the murder of (among others) a personal friend of the President, but are comparatively low-priority in America. However, when reviewing satellite photos of camps in Libya (while searching for the ULA), Jack is able to identify one of them as Action Directe's main training camp. The information is passed to the French, who have troops in the region, and promptly eliminate the camp. They're so grateful to CIA for helping them take care of their villain that they actually try to repay the favor a few weeks later by conducting a similar raid on the ULA's camp. (Unfortunately, it's already been emptied when they get there). |
| 120 | ** More generally, the novel shows that the scope of CIA's activities means that whatever villain an analyst like Jack is currently focused on, there are a number of others out there that the rest of the agency also needs to keep track of (and that's just one agency of one government). Jack's initial focus is on tracking down the ULA members who attacked his family, but he slowly comes to realize just how much bigger the world he's joining is: |
| 121 | --->'''Jack Ryan''': This can be pretty frustrating stuff, Marty. |
| 122 | --->'''Marty Cantor''': Tell me about it. Wait till you get involved with something really important. Sorry, but you know what I mean. Like what the Politburo people really think about something, or how powerful and accurate their missiles are, or whether they have somebody planted in this building. |
| 123 | --->'''Jack Ryan''': One problem at a time. |
| 124 | --->'''Marty Cantor''': Yeah, that must be nice, sport, just to have one problem at a time. |
| 125 | ** On a different note, the ULA isn't the first terrorist group that Jack's friend Robby Jackson (a naval aviator, and a black man from Mississippi) has had to help fight off. Growing up as the son of a preacher who was active in the civil rights movement, the main villain of ''his'' childhood was the UsefulNotes/KuKluxKlan, to the point that he and his father once had to defend their church with rifles to prevent it from being burned in the middle of the night. In ''Patriot Games'', he tells this story almost like a fond memory. It becomes much more tragic in ''Literature/TheTeethOfTheTiger'', when we discover that Robby eventually became a presidential candidate who was heavily favored to win, but was assassinated before the election by an aging KKK member. It took fifty years, but his childhood nemesis had the last laugh after all. |
| 126 | ** The nature of the U.S. government means that different agencies handle different threats, making each threat "the villain of another story" from the point of view of the people whose agency doesn't primarily deal with them: the FBI's "villains" are largely domestic criminals, while the CIA's are foreign governments, for example. This is both played straight and subverted, however, as the lines between them can often get very blurry over time. In ''Literature/WithoutRemorse'', it's stated that Ritter opposes getting the CIA involved in anti-drug operations, believing the drug trade isn't important enough to qualify as a genuine national-security threat. By the time of ''Literature/ClearAndPresentDanger'', two decades later, he's now running an operation against TheCartel in Colombia, a more powerful drug trafficking organization than anybody in the early seventies could have imagined. |
| 127 | ** Finally, the nature of world politics means that just because somebody's unequivocally a villain doesn't mean it's your job to take them down: some of them will inevitably end up on your side of whatever the current conflict is. In ''Literature/WithoutRemorse'', Soviet colonel Grishanov regards his North Vietnamese allies with disgust, to the point that he's actually glad when the local camp commander is killed. It's shown that this isn't exactly a rare attitude among the Soviets, but the politics of the Cold War dictate that they work with them anyway against their mutual enemies, the Americans (even if people like Grishanov actually respect them more). On the U.S. side, Ritter hints that there are a lot of Americans who are similarly disgusted by some of their allies, like the far-right dictatorships in Latin America, but still have to hold their nose and work with them against the communists. |
| 128 | [[/folder]] |
| 129 | |
| 130 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 131 | * ''Series/{{Angel}}'': [[RetiredBadass Number Five]] mentioned an old enemy known as "El Diablo" and the time he built a robot, "El Diablo Robotico”. |
| 132 | * ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}'': Happens regularly (given the number of RedHerring mobsters they investigate). One notable example is [[spoiler: Tommy Moretti]] in ''Heartbreak Hotel'', who somewhat involved in the episodes plot, and kidnaps someone to get his stolen money returned, but didn't kill Siegel, and releases his hostage upon getting his money back, and then gives the detectives the final clue they need to solve the murder. |
| 133 | * ''Series/TheCaseMenten'': While the fugitive Dutch war criminal Pieter Menten is the main villain, the series shows his friendship to Karl Eberhardt Schöngart, senior SD chief of the General Government of German-occupied Poland. He was also one of the attendants at the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wannsee_Conference Wannsee Conference]] and a key player in UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust. He's dead during the present narrative, having been executed in 1946. |
| 134 | * ''Series/{{Justified}}'' has Memphis marijuana kingpin Rodney "Hot-Rod" Dunham, a recurring antagonist who occasionally clashes with [[TheProtagonist Raylan Givens]] and [[VillainProtagonist Boyd Crowder]]. His final episode in Season 5 introduces his FriendlyEnemy, DEA Agent Alex Miller, with whom he had a relationship very similar to the one between Raylan and Boyd, and reveals some of their shared past, making Miller and Hot-Rod the Hero and Villain of Another Story, respectively. |
| 135 | * The set up for ''Series/KamenRiderZiO'' revolves around an EvilOverlord known as Oma Zi-O, who rules the entire world with an iron-fist fifty years into the future after killing half of humanity, with multiple factions trying to dethrone him. However, to prevent his rise to power, those factions go to the past and go after Oma Zi-O's younger self, who is the main character of the story, while Oma Zi-O himself has a more indirect role in the story given that he stays in his time period for the most part. |
| 136 | * ''Series/LawAndOrder'': |
| 137 | ** In the episode "Bounty" the VictimOfTheWeek was a {{bounty hunter}} who spent a year tracking a fugitive known as the "rich kid rapist". It was eventually revealed that the fugitive had nothing to do with the murder. The rich kid rapist was never seen and never mentioned again in any future episodes of the franchise. |
| 138 | ** In the episode "Genius" the VictimOfTheWeek was a [[AssholeVictim white supremacist]] who burned down a black church in Mississippi, killing two children, and traded child pornography. None of this was relevant to the plot since his killer didn't know about any of that. |
| 139 | * ''Series/{{Leverage}}'': A few. |
| 140 | ** In ''The Gimme a K Street Job", John Zahn, a Congressman who is willing to take bribes for his vote, seems like the kind of guy who would be the mark of most episodes. However, his willingness to sell himself [[ComicallySmallBribe ridiculously cheap]] causes the team to make use of his services and win him over to their side instead of taking him him down. Instead, a lot of conflict comes from trying to influence his more honest colleagues (a SlaveToPR and a pair of reasonable yet cynical career politicians) to oppose the villains at the voting table. |
| 141 | ** In general, this is the role assigned to the mob in this universe. Organized crime syndicates pop up throughout the series, but they're generally not the primary target of the team, which prefers to go after white collar criminals like corrupt politicians or abusive businessmen. WordOfGod says that the Boston underworld is aware of the Leverage crew and tries to give it a wide berth: in one case, we've even seen Nate sit down and negotiate over the fate of a crooked businessman with his partner in TheMafia. The mob boss admits that he has no desire to take on a target as dangerous as Nate Ford and his team, a sentiment Nate clearly reciprocates. |
| 142 | ** The villain of the Season 2 premiere, a corrupt banker who uses the local [[TheIrishMob Irish Mob]] as enforcers, also makes a good case that they're the villains of a ''previous'' story. Sure, the old school mob as shown in movies like ''Film/TheDeparted'' still exist, but the government hunts them down like dogs, and the money they make from their rackets is pitiful in the big picture. His crimes are not only vastly more profitable, but he's safe in the knowledge that when he's done defrauding the bank, the government will simply bail it out rather than risk the economic fallout from seeing it collapse. The idea that in modern crime and corruption, [[TheDon The Dons]] made famous by twentieth century fiction have largely been replaced by the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Corrupt Corporate Executives]] of the twenty-first century can be considered the show's thesis statement. |
| 143 | * A CrossOver case: in ''Series/MadAboutYou'', Ursula is just the ditzy and often incompetent waitress of Riff's. In ''Series/{{Friends}}'', Ursula is the EvilTwin of Phoebe. |
| 144 | * ''Series/ThePurge'': |
| 145 | ** Albert Stanton kills someone every Purge night and is a major backer of an evil regime, but he is not directly involved in any of the threats a single main character faces. He is even friendly with Rick and Jenna (although they are terrified of him). |
| 146 | ** Many Purgers who don't directly hinder the main characters are clearly barbaric murderers who are spending the night doing horrible things which are only briefly touched on during their screen time. Two standouts are two people who Miguel briefly drives past in the third episode when he doesn't have time to stop. One of them is shocking a captive with a car battery, while his friend is hitting golf balls out of a second captive's mouth. |
| 147 | * ''Series/SekaiNinjaSenJiraiya'': The [[PaperMaster Paper Ninja Clan]] are the main enemies of Oruha and Kasumi, seeking to kill them for deserting the clan. They aren't involved with the main plot surrounding [[TheHero Toha/Jiraiya]] however, and Toha and his family only ever encounter them when their adventures intersect with Oruha's. |
| 148 | * ''Series/StargateSG1'': In an unusual example, [[NebulousEvilOrganisation the Trust]] doesn't start out this way, but has turned into it by the end. The organization originates as a group of rogue agents from NID (an American intelligence agency), which Stargate Command repeatedly butts heads with and tries to bring to justice, without much help from anyone else in the government. In later seasons, though, dealing with this conspiracy becomes the purview of the NID (now purged of its corrupt elements) and specifically Agent Malcolm Barrett. One can easily imagine an ''Series/{{Alias}}'' or ''Series/{{Nikita}}'' like spin-off that's entirely about the struggle to bring them down. Stargate Command, however, deals with alien enemies that often control entire ''galaxies'' and threaten the Earth's very existence, so from the heroes' point of view, even something on the scale of the Trust is not a priority. This becomes a plot point in the Season 10 episode ''Insiders'', with the SGC and NID wrangling over custody of valuable prisoners that they each believe can help them take care of what they see as the bigger threat. |
| 149 | * ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': |
| 150 | ** During Season 6, while Sam and Dean were fighting the mother of all monsters down on Earth, up in Heaven, [[HeroOfAnotherStory Castiel]] was trying to prevent the ArchangelRaphael from taking over and [[spoiler:re]]starting the Apocalypse. |
| 151 | ** "Defending Your Life" has an unnamed serial killer whose crimes are ignored because Sam and Dean are busy fighting [[spoiler:the god Osiris.]] |
| 152 | * ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': Barney Stinson is set up as this for his work at the ObviouslyEvil Goliath National Bank. Subverted at the end as it turns out at some point he became the HeroOfAnotherStory instead, helping the Feds obtain information with which the bank could be criminally charged. |
| 153 | * Many supervillains in ''Series/TheThundermans'' who only are known by their names. |
| 154 | * ''Franchise/PowerRangers'': |
| 155 | ** The first example was a villain named Lokar who first appeared in an episode of ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers''. Lokar was no mere MonsterOfTheWeek, he was an evil intergalactic wizard who ruled the Talos Dimension. Rather than being killed, he survived and went back to his home dimension. He returned in [[ComicBook/MightyMorphinPowerRangersBoomStudios the Boom Studios comics]] as the BigBad of the Tommy-focused series, "Soul of the Dragon". |
| 156 | ** The season 3 episode "Final Face-Off" had a MonsterOfTheWeek called the Face Stealer who [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin could steal faces]]. Unlike, other monsters of the week, this creature was not created by Rita or Zedd but was [[SealedEvilInACan a monster imprisoned in an urn long ago]] and whose legend was the subject of a school project the Rangers were working on. |
| 157 | ** Before the MMPR finale, there was a ten-episode arc centering on the [[HeroOfAnotherStory Aquitian Rangers]] who temporarily took over as the Ranger team while the human Rangers were temporarily turned into children. It was made clear the Aquitian Rangers had their own adventures and came with their own villain named Hydro Hog. |
| 158 | ** The BlackKnight from ''Series/PowerRangersTimeForce. Unlike the other monsters of that season, he was neither a mutant nor a robot. He is seen fighting a [[KnightInShiningArmor White Knight]] with whom he apparently has a long enmity with for control of the Battle Fire power source. The Black Knight is destroyed by the Red Ranger who uses the Battle Fire to create [[SuperMode his own Battlizer]]. |
| 159 | * ''Series/TheSopranos'': Tony's glorified crew sometimes have to deal with similar mafia organizations, particularly the Lupertazzi family in New York. Sometimes allies and sometimes rivals, the Lupertazzis are indicated to be much larger and have a much wider reach than Tony does but their criminal empire never really comes into focus since they're not the main characters. Even within the Soprano family itself, most of the characters we see are upper management (bosses, underbosses, capos and consiglieres), while most of the soldiers are out doing their own thing and kicking money upstairs. |
| 160 | * ''Series/TheYoungIndianaJonesChronicles'': Indy (currently an archaeology student at U Chicago) and two of his classmates spent most of the episode ''Mystery of the Blues'' trying to gather evidence on Chicago North Side gangster Dion O'Banion, the man that they think killed Indy's employer. O'Banion captures them towards the end of the episode, only to let them go and reveal to them that he's innocent of the crime: the real murderer was one of his rivals, up-and-coming Italian gangster UsefulNotes/AlCapone. Needless to say, O'Banion, while not the villain of ''this'' story, is nevertheless a ruthless criminal leader in his own right. |
| 161 | [[/folder]] |
| 162 | |
| 163 | [[folder:Pro Wrestling]] |
| 164 | * A common gag for wrestling promotions is to take a well known figure from somewhere else, and give him an easily noticeable but largely harmless role on their own shows, such as {{heel}} managers Wrestling/JimCornette, Wrestling/BobbyHeenan and Dave Prazak serving as commentators for LPWA, Women Of Wrestling and Wrestling/{{R|ing Of Honor}}OH / Wrestling/{{SHIMMER}}, CIMA's Wrestling/DragonGate minion Wrestling/AustinAries serving as a referee in Wrestling/{{Wrestlicious}}, or Wrestling/ChrisHero serving as a {{jobber}} for Wrestling/{{TNA}} (with his own {{trading card| lame}}). |
| 165 | * Mayumi Ozaki, one of the [[BigBadEnsemble three Big Bads]] of GAEA, largely became this in two of GAEA's successor promotions, Sendai Girls and Marvelous. Her Oz Academy, which sought to conquer GAEA, has since become [[VillainBasedFranchise its own promotion]] serving as an EvilCounterpart to the successors, but continued attacks from Oz Academy on them, or anyone else for that matter, are sparse as Ozaki is more concerned about ruling her own roost with an iron fist and continuing her earlier, unrelated antagonist role in JWP and ''its'' successors. |
| 166 | [[/folder]] |
| 167 | |
| 168 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 169 | * Thomas Crimp in ''Radio/OldHarrysGame'' was a demented murder-rapist when he was alive, but the fact that he's already died and gone to Hell by the time of the series means he's more of a ButtMonkey than a real villain. |
| 170 | [[/folder]] |
| 171 | |
| 172 | [[folder:Roleplay]] |
| 173 | * ''Rolerlay/FireEmblemOnForums'': Yhe, Vlade and Bladr. An odd case that applies more to their cult than individually, which is responsible for |
| 174 | *** [[spoiler: Sarius's poisoning]] |
| 175 | *** [[spoiler: The ritual that Chris believed removed his soul]] |
| 176 | *** [[spoiler: and Mia being exorcised into Ami]] |
| 177 | ** Despite this, they have no involvement in the main plotline, and the majority of the cult [[spoiler: was massacred offscreen by Chris.]] |
| 178 | [[/folder]] |
| 179 | |
| 180 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 181 | * ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyBattle'': The setting's overarching villainous faction is Chaos, which acts primarily through its mortal servants. Mortal Chaos worshippers are divided into three broad groups; the Norse (fantasy Vikings), the Kurgans (fantasy Turks), and the Hung (fantasy Huns and Mongols). Of these, the Old World, which is based on late medieval and early modern Europe, deals primarily with Norscan raiders day-to-day, with Kurgan hordes joining them during major invasions. The Hung, by contrast, are functionally never seen due to the immense distance between their homelands and the Old World. Instead, they war primarily against Cathay and the Dark Elves, creating campaigns as great as any Kurgan or Norse invasion of the Empire but which are simply not discussed in published work. |
| 182 | [[/folder]] |
| 183 | |
| 184 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 185 | * ''Theatre/TheResistibleRiseOfArturoUi'': |
| 186 | ** Arturo Ui's rise takes place at the same time as, and is very obviously based off of, the rise of UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler, and each scene ends with a news headline showing the point in Hitler's rise which the scene is supposed to mirror. However, Hitler has no direct involvement in the plot. |
| 187 | ** UsefulNotes/AlCapone is also mentioned in passing. |
| 188 | * In ''Theatre/TheTsarsBride'', Malyuta Skuratov openly boasts about his killings and doesn't even pretend to be in any way moral. However, in this particular story, he is, if anything, one of the more sympathetic characters. He does nothing villainous onscreen, has no grudge against the opera's good guys and, in most productions, is quite nice towards his MoralityPet Lyubasha. |
| 189 | [[/folder]] |
| 190 | |
| 191 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 192 | * ''VideoGame/{{ARMA}}'': In ''Take On Helicopters'' it's implied that [[spoiler:the "''coverup''" ending of PMC was canonical, as Brian Frost has become head of operations for ION]], so [[spoiler:after a supply flight by Larkin Aviation on behalf of ION's parent corporation goes sour, the Larkin brothers pick up Frost and give him "''a shaky ride''" until he talks]]. |
| 193 | * ''Franchise/BaldursGate'': |
| 194 | ** ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIIThroneOfBhaal'' goes all the way with this with Watcher's Keep, a BonusDungeon which can culminate in the player taking on [[spoiler: Demogorgon, the Prince of Demons]]. A huge villain within the Forgotten Realms setting for sure, but ultimately he has nothing to do with the main plot of the game. |
| 195 | ** In ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'' the BigBad of [[ScaryDogmaticAliens githyanki]] companion Lae'zel's questline is her evil ImmortalRuler the Lich Queen Vlaakith, with the GoldenEnding seeing her join LaResistance against her. While the gith feature prominently throughout the story, Vlaakith herself is tangential to the plot and DoomedByCanon as she's KilledOffForReal in the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' adventure module ''The Lich-Queen's Beloved'' after the events of the story. |
| 196 | * ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' has Jotaro Shobo. He's a high-ranking member of the Tyger Claws, a really sick piece of work, and from the Shards that you get from doing NCPD Scanner Hustles in Watson and from the way that you can intimidate Woodman regarding him in "Automatic Love", it is clear that he's an important and rather feared figure in Watson and Kabuki in general. For [[PlayerCharacter V]], on the other hand, he's just an early-game side gig who the player will likely forget soon after killing him. |
| 197 | * ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'': |
| 198 | ** ''Most'' villains in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]'' are to some degree this (the only two that have to act as antagonists are [[spoiler: Lord Woodborne and King Gothryd]], and the second of those only does so for part of one quest towards the endgame), but the King of Worms is the most definite example, being both one of the strongest and one of the most clearly villainous forces in the setting... and having ''no'' quests where he acts as an antagonist[[note]]technically during the portion of the game where you have the Totem, he could send out agents to attack you in a bid to claim it, as all the claimants, but that only happens if his reputation is low enough, and thanks to the lack of conflict with him he's one of the least likely for that to happen with[[/note]] -- his involvement with the main quest is you facilitating a DealWithTheDevil someone else is making with him, you doing a task for him in exchange for information, and him being one of the persons you can hand over the Totem to in exchange for rewards (and the only reason he doesn't provide what he promises is a bug, this being Daggerfall). |
| 199 | ** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' you have Maven Black-Briar. She runs [[WretchedHive Riften]] like a mob boss and has ties to both the ThievesGuild and the [[MurderInc Dark Brotherhood]]. If you join the former organization, she gives you several of your assignments, and even if you don't, there's no real way to oppose her. If you side with the Empire during the civil war, the ''de facto'' power she has from her underworld connections becomes ''de jure'' power when she's made Jarl of the Rift. You can't even kill her, since she's marked Essential by the game. Presumably she would have been taken down in the quest chain to dismantle the Thieves' Guild (similar to the one that exists for the [[MurderInc Dark Brotherhood]]), but since that content was cut, she remains in a position of authority no matter what you do. |
| 200 | * ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'': |
| 201 | ** In the past, [[PredecessorVillain there was a corrupt alchemist named Gold]] who created mutations or an army of monsters with alien blood. They rampaged over the lands, bringing forth destruction. The black dragon Durin is one of those monsters and is the same dragon who terrorized Mondstadt. |
| 202 | ** Ursa the Drake is a recurring and prominent antagonist in the backstories. As mentioned in the webcomic, Vennessa and her clan were hounded ten years ago by this dragon, starving them for days in the winter. Even the tyrants of Mondstadt fear it for terrorizing the city over the years, to the point where they planned to "offer" their gladiators just to appease it. [[spoiler:With the help of Venti, Vennessa managed to defeat Ursa and force it to flee.]] From another story, it's also responsible for [[spoiler:attacking the Ragnvindr caravan, causing the incident that killed Master Crepus]]. |
| 203 | * ''VideoGame/HardspaceShipbreaker'' has the [[DeusEstMachina Machine God]], a mysterious AI entity that has apparently taken over several vessels and turned the crew into mind-linked cyborgs. While it is a threat to the player, disrupting systems aboard any ghost ships brought in for salvage, it plays no part in the game's actual story. |
| 204 | * ''VideoGame/HeroesMustDie'': [[TheDon Lucarzi Lamorra]], the head of the [[TheMafia gothic city mafia.]] Also Storm and the rest of Lord Murder's dark council are this. [[spoiler: subverted with storm who joins the Warborn to take down Murder.]] |
| 205 | * In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky'', Campanella the Fool spent the entirety of FC causing problems in Erebonia so that Cassius Bright would be stuck trying to resolve those so that he wouldn't be able to interfere with Ouroboros' plans in Liberl. As such, he doesn't appear onscreen until the sequel. |
| 206 | ** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel Trails of Cold Steel]]'' has Baron Bleublanc, a.k.a. Phantom Thief B. He's unmasked in a series of mandatory quests and is a known Enforcer of Ouroboros who appeared in earlier games, but as Ouroboros don't get involved in this game's plot until the SequelHook, he doesn't directly confront the main characters. (Except in a Drama CD) In the sequel though, he's a major RecurringBoss. |
| 207 | ** Arianrhod is alluded to a few times in the first two ''Cold Steel'' games, but never directly appears. In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZeroAndTrailsToAzure'', [[SimultaneousArcs which takes place at the same time]], she's a major antagonist and fought directly. Like Bleublanc, she gets involved in the ''Cold Steel'' series later on and is fought there in the third game. |
| 208 | * ''VideoGame/PillarsOfEternity'': Durance is one of the creators of the Godhammer, the setting's first WMD, an active participant in the killing of the god Eothas and consequent purges of his worshippers, and a racist, sexist, lecherous, xenophobic, self-righteous, sanctimonious, loud-mouthed asshole. In most contexts he would have made an excellent ArcVillain. Here's he's a recruitable party member. [[spoiler: He can be broken into a HeelRealization, if you play your cards right.]] |
| 209 | * ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'': The night hag Ravel Puzzlewell is the villain of a thousand stories, having corrupted and killed at her leisure and tormented many with impossible riddles that forfeited the challenger's life if failed. She once led an army of fiends into Sigil itself before The Lady mazed her. The Nameless One is forced to seek her out [[spoiler:because she made him immortal, a boon she freely granted when the first incarnation gave her a riddle she could not solve. While she still serves as the ClimaxBoss of the first half of the story, she only does so after giving you a huge InfoDump of vital information (plus some mentorship if you ask her nicely) and her reasons for fighting The Nameless One are rooted in her love for him, and not in her malice.]] |
| 210 | * In ''VideoGame/{{Skylanders}}'', this is basically every villain who is the antagonist in their respective Adventure Pack level. As those levels are optional, the villains are only terrorizing those areas and have no relation to the main stories. The especially notable ones are Nightshade and Luminous in ''[[VideoGame/SkylandersTrapTeam Trap Team]]'', who despite being counted as the Doom Raiders of the new Dark and Light elements respectively, are restricted to their respective areas and aren't members of the actual group. |
| 211 | * Culex from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG''. His master ordered him to invade Mario's world, and he gladly would have but it was uninhabitable for him, so he instead serves as a {{Superboss}} to fight Mario (the "strongest knight" the world has) before he goes home. Which story does Culex hail from? We never find out. [[spoiler:(Although the elemental crystals and distinctive theme music makes it clear he's meant to be a {{homage}} to the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games).]] |
| 212 | * ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'': Lord Blumiere's father is this coupled with PredecessorVillain [[spoiler:as his actions are responsible for his son's StartOfDarkness, turning him into the BigBad [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Count Bleck]]]]. He is the main antagonist of the post-Chapter flashback storyline, being one of the people responsible for the events, alongside [[TheChessmaster Dimentio]]. He attempted to destroy the bond between [[StarcrossedLovers his son and Timpani]] several times and later [[spoiler:[[AndIMustScream cursed the latter to wander dimensions until her death]]]], becoming an UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom in the process. |
| 213 | * In ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'', [[NoNameGiven The Stranger]] is an AntiVillain and only a villain at all because ''Lee's group were the villains of his story'': their theft of his supplies caused his remaining family to leave him and subsequently die, and he came after revenge. |
| 214 | * In ''VideoGame/XWingAlliance'', Imperial Admiral Zaarin makes a brief cutscene appearance as his forces recover data on a secret starfighter project from the wreckage of an Imperial base. In this game, he's just another Imperial commander, but he has a much more prominent role in ''VideoGame/TIEFighter'', to the extent he ultimately displaces the Rebel Alliance itself as the latter game's chief antagonist. |
| 215 | [[/folder]] |
| 216 | |
| 217 | [[folder:Web Comics]] |
| 218 | * All the villains who've reared their ugly heads so far in ''Webcomic/TheYoungProtectors'' are this. |
| 219 | * ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': |
| 220 | ** The dwarf and the shadowdancer that are trying to kill the King of Nowhere (but accidentally target Roy) are this. Their motives are never explained and they leave the narrative to pursue their goal with no further interaction with the Order. |
| 221 | ** The evil adventuring party in "The Grand Fighter" teleport into the Lawful Good afterlife and get slaughtered immediately, with no explanation of who they are beyond being evil adventurers looking to make XP. |
| 222 | ** This is a major annoyance to Elan's dad Tarquin. As a GenreSavvy villain ruling a massive evil empire he ''wants'' to be an ArchnemesisDad, but the Order is too busy preventing the end of the world to deal with him right now. He's also mentioned to be one of Elan's mentor Julio Scoundrel's "B-list villains". |
| 223 | [[/folder]] |
| 224 | |
| 225 | [[folder:Web Videos]] |
| 226 | * In ''Film/NoobLaQueteLegendaire'', Sparadrap's father Abraham, a NunTooHoly [[spoiler:mafia higher up covering as a]] priest. The spoilered out detail would make him a LaughablyEvil villain or AntiVillain in most settings. However, the story is mostly set in the fictional {{MMORPG}} that Sparadrap has been playing avidly and that Abraham just recently joined. |
| 227 | * ''WebVideo/DrHorriblesSingAlongBlog'': |
| 228 | ** Every member of the Evil League of Evil except for Bad Horse. The actual story is about the conflict between IneffectualSympatheticVillain Doctor Horrible and SociopathicHero Captain Hammer. Bad Horse functions as a GreaterScopeVillain and prompts the situation to escalate by pushing Doctor Horrible into gradually more extreme acts of villainy. All the other members of the Evil League of Evil are just kind of... there. They show up onscreen in exactly one scene, for a few seconds, in which they do nothing and aren't even named. There's also Johnny Snow, Doctor Horrible's offscreen [[TheRival rival]] who apparently builds death rays and ice beams and keeps challenging Doctor Horrible to duels in a public park full of children. |
| 229 | ** The Evil League of Evil make an appearance in a prequel comic, where they try to poison the city's water supply while Captain Hammer is out of town. They are stopped by Johnny Snow, who uses an ice beam to freeze the water supply. The League members then call it a win and go home. |
| 230 | * In ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'', the Covenant count as this. The series is mentioned to take place after the war with the Covenant, and Project Freelancer is said to have been made to fight off the Covenant. But the Covenant never appear in the series, only mentioned, and they have virtually no role in the series, whether good or bad. |
| 231 | [[/folder]] |
| 232 | |
| 233 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 234 | * ''WesternAnimation/ClueClub:'' |
| 235 | ** In the pilot, a newspaper editor talks about how some of his recent stories have exposed [[CorruptPolitician the corrupt deeds of the city's mayor]], but the mayor is never seen or mentioned again. |
| 236 | ** In "The Missing Pig Caper," Dottie's background check reveals that Mr. Cleek, the valet of wealthy gourmand [[PunnyName Mr. Glut]], is a career thief and ConArtist. It's implied that Mr. Glut is Cleek's latest mark, but he's completely innocent of stealing the prized pig Mr. Glut hopes to eat (and is willing to pay a great deal of money for). Upon hearing that he is a suspect, Cleek replies that [[VillainCred stealing a pig is beneath him.]] |
| 237 | * In ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'', Project Carthage was a government project used to block enemy communication. It is the reason why [[BigGood Franz Hopper]] made the super-computer, Lyoko, and XANA in the first place, so he could fight it. However, the Lyoko Warriors never fight it as Project Carthage never actually shows up in the series, and the Lyoko Warriors are focused on fighting the [[AIIsACrapshoot now-evil]] [[BigBad XANA]]. A reactivated Project Carthage ascends to the BigBad position in the ''Evolution'' series, but official WordOfGod from the original series creators put ''Evolution'' firmly in the CanonDiscontinuity camp. |
| 238 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}'': The episode "Dance of Doom", which features the Cave Guy as the MonsterOfTheWeek, includes a really bizarre scene involving a creepy guy called Waylon Jeepers turning two beavers into gold with his magic watch, [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment which has absolutely no relevance to the plot]]. At the end of the episode, when the Cave Guy is defeated, Jeepers tries to approach Freakazoid, but Freakazoid plainly tells him to shut up and mind his own business. Later on, Jeepers gets his own episode as the villain. |
| 239 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': |
| 240 | ** When Smithers thought he shot Mr. Burns in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E1WhoShotMrBurnsPartTwo Who Shot Mr. Burns? Part Two]]", he turned himself into the police. The adjacent cell was occupied by the much more traditionally cartoonish supervillain Dr. Colossus. [[NoodleIncident What exactly he did to end up in jail was never explained]]. |
| 241 | ** Hank Scorpio in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E2YouOnlyMoveTwice You Only Move Twice]]" is a bizarre example of this trope. Despite being an explicit on-screen ''Franchise/JamesBond''-style super villain, he is always super nice towards the Simpsons, offering Homer a job at his company Globex Corporation, [[BenevolentBoss treating him as a friend rather than a subordinate]], and being understanding but saddened when Homer has to quit for his family's sake. He's the page image of TheBadGuyWins, but he never once antagonizes the Simpsons (the closest he comes is when he buys Homer a football team as a farewell gift, but gives him the Denver Broncos rather than the Dallas Cowboys as he wanted, and even then he acknowledges that it's not what Homer wanted). Scorpio was ''almost'' the BigBad of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'', but instead the writers went with a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute with the same voice actor. |
| 242 | ** Wainwright Montgomery Burns was a {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}} and Burn's {{Evil Mentor}}, but as he is already dead we see very few of this. |
| 243 | ** The bullies of the convention. Most of them look as [[{{BarbaricBully}} barbaric]] as Springfield’s bullies but they do it in other schools. |
| 244 | * ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'': Most of Team Chaar qualify. They only have cameos, from minor roles in the comics to the Transwarped opening fight, but their backstory establishes them as some of the most influential Decepticons. Strika was one of the Highest Commanding officer, and leads many of Megatron's spread out troops [[spoiler:as well as the mission to get him back]]. Blackout was the most powerful Decepticon in the war, having destroyed several Omega Sentinels before being brought down in the Con's last stand. Oil Slick was responsible for the Cosmic Rust epidemic that killed soldiers on both sides and featured as the BigBad in Ratchet's backstory "Bots of Science." Finally there's Cyclonus, who never speaks and nobody knows where he came from. The medic, Scalpel, theorizes that he may be from the Future and his existence foreshadows the emergence of Galvatron and the possible coming of Unicron. |
| 245 | ** ''WesternAnimation/TransformersCyberverse'': At the end of the Quintesson Invasion arc, Windblade's psyche is split apart and winds being held by various powerful, [[GeniusLoci villainous entities]] that have no connection to the Decepticons or the Quintessons. |
| 246 | * ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': Ahuizotl is a cunning, physically powerful villain who seeks to cause an eternal summer over a particular valley. In a world full of magical world-conquering villains like [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Nightmare Moon]], [[EvilOverlord King Sombra]] and [[EmotionEater Queen Chrysalis]], [[OvershadowedByAwesome he doesn't seem all that impressive]], primarily because his power is mostly physical while the others tend to be reality warpers or powerful magic users or lead entire armies. However, he himself is aware of this, and is apparently having fights with Daring Do over powerful magical items while the Mane Cast and their villains are busy having their own fights for the fate of the world. Apparently, the fact he lacks high level magical powers of his own helps him get under Celestia and Luna's radar, explaining why the Princesses hadn't done anything against Ahuizotl themselves, though Daring Do passing off her adventures as fiction probably doesn't help draw attention to his machinations either... |
| 247 | ** Eventually subverted in the ninth season, however, where it is revealed that Ahuizotl is nothing more than a guardian of ancient artifacts. All his schemes in the past were simply desperate attempts to scare ponies like Daring Do and Doctor Cabelleron away. |
| 248 | * Fitting for a show with a frequent VillainProtagonist, ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' originally had Sergeant Hatred as the Villain of Another Story. He started as a catch-all for any time the writers needed to reference a villain for the Monarch's henchmen to steal from, or someone else that the Venture twins had encountered in the past. He eventually joined the show as a regular. A similar situation occurred with Captain Sunshine, a supposed hero. He does appear later on. |
| 249 | * Likewise, whenever ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' mentioned her exploits thwarting a different villain to the one she was this episode, it would always be Professor Dementor, who was originally HeWhoMustNotBeSeen, but was developed into AlwaysSomeoneBetter for Dr Drakken. |
| 250 | * In ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'', Dr. Slug is Public Enemy #1, one step above known [[TerroristsWithoutACause terrorist Negaduck]], [[HeWhoMustNotBeSeen yet we've never really seen him]]. |
| 251 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'': Algernop Krieger is a MadScientist who tapes bum fights, frequently experiments on people without their consent, steals bodies for experiments, was ''eager'' in one episode to pump nerve gas into the ISIS ventilation system, insists he's not a ''serial'' killer, repeatedly sells ISIS weapons to gangs and criminals to fund his operations, sells important ISIS secrets to [[spoiler:the KGB]], tried to sell [[spoiler:uranium to North Korea]], is heavily implied to have [[BestialityIsDepraved raped his pet pig]], and may or may not be a clone of UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler. Despite all this, he's yet to have a single antagonistic role. |
| 252 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': "Attack of the Killer App" has Mom attempting to TakeOverTheWorld by creating an army of zombies. The actual plot of the episode is a falling-out between Fry and Leela. |
| 253 | * ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'': Courage may have encountered more than his fair share of monsters and villains, more than anyone's fair share of monsters and villains, but there are always hints that there are always more out there and an eternal bane for the unhappy world of Nowhere. Eustace's older brother Horst who did plenty of unpleasant stuff to animals, like hunting sapient deer and throwing sapient goats off a cliff, all thanks to being a EgomaniacHunter, is a more mundane example, but he is dead by the time of the series and he may also qualify for PredecessorVillain given that his taunting and cruelty towards Eustace influenced him to be a horrible person himself and to prove that he was as good and successful a hunter as him. Also in one episode one nameless, unexplained tentacled monster appears dragging a secondary character named Floyd to his doom and Eustace is as blind and clueless as ever despite it happening in front of him in broad daylight, typical for most citizens' perception standards. |
| 254 | * ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': |
| 255 | ** Coach Feratu from "Big Trouble In Little Sanchez", Morty and Summer's [[EvilTeacher vampire gym teacher]] whom Morty mentions killed a lunch lady prior to the episode. He never actually appears and is killed offscreen by Tiny Rick, Morty, and Summer five minutes into the episode. The Vampire Lord popping up in a PostCreditsScene to berate his henchman for picking an alias as stupid and on-the-nose as "Coach ''[[Film/{{Nosferatu}} Feratu]]''" and Rick casually pointing out that vampires are indeed a very real thing, also reveals vampires on the whole are this. |
| 256 | ** The foes of The Vindicators, themselves "[[NominalHero Heroes]]" [[HeroOfAnotherStory of Another Story]], such as Doom-Nomitron and World Ender are busy with their own evil schemes and are being thwarted by characters who have nothing to do with the titular Rick and Morty, at least until a threat is [[GodzillaThreshold so severe]] they are forced to reluctantly call for their help. [[spoiler:Naturally, Rick goes on a drunken blackout, defeats Worldender ''off-screen'', and becomes the new villain of the episode...]] |
| 257 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{DuckTales|1987}}'' has the episode "Superdoo". The main story revolves around Doofus, who uses an alien crystal that gives him [[FlyingBrick superpowers]] that he uses to adopt the name "Superdoo", save the day from several disasters, and [[SuperDickery also to gain merit badges.]] The subplot reveals that the crystal was stolen by two alien criminals who wanted to use it to take over the galaxy, and that the disasters were inadvertently caused by the aliens who wanted the crystal back. |
| 258 | * ''WesternAnimation/DungeonsAndDragons1983'' has two prominent examples: |
| 259 | ** Tiamat is a five-headed dragon who presumably is [[OffscreenVillainy doing evil things... elsewhere]]. She never actively sets out to conquer the Realm, destroy the kids or doing anything evil on screen. The current state of the world is Venger's doing and in fact, she is more of an [[EvilVersusEvil enemy to him]] than the kids, as she represents the one obstacle of total domination of the Realm and he requires their magical weapons to defeat her. |
| 260 | ** An even bigger example than Tiamat is Venger's master, also known as the Nameless One, an highly powerful entity responsible for corrupting the EvilOverlord in the first place and granting him his magical powers. He appears for only one episode to threaten the Realm and requires [[EnemyMine everyone to stand together]] to drive him out. According to the Dungeon Master, the Nameless One has terrorized other worlds beyond the Realm and after being defeated (which is considered only a temporary setback), he will be off to torment them next. |
| 261 | * ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': All the prisoners of the Citadel except Martin, are various powerful monsters imprisoned for unspecified "cosmic crimes", but they all have been already defeated for the moment they appear, and the ones who scape are never seen again. |
| 262 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': |
| 263 | ** Principal Brown is implied to has a DarkAndTroubledPast where he did [[NoodleIncident something]] that caused the FBI to target him. |
| 264 | ** The people who want to kill Gary Hedges because 20 years earlier he testified against them. |
| 265 | * ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': Lars is left behind on Homeworld at the end of "Lars' Head", and by the time Steven meets up with him again in "Lars of the Stars", he and the Off-Colors have [[TookALevelInBadass become space pirates]]. They're in the middle of being pursued by Emerald, a high-ranking Homeworld Gem whom they've antagonized on [[NoodleIncident several occasions]], such as sneaking into a "cosmic jubilee" and stealing a powerful spaceship belonging to her for their own use. |
| 266 | * ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} in ''WesternAnimation/{{Harley Quinn|2019}}''; he is clearly the biggest villain out there and the cast is terrified of being in his presence, but he's a busy GalacticConqueror who doesn't have time or interest in invading Earth, instead lending Harley [[spoiler:and later Dr. Psycho]] some parademons to do the job for him (and when they fail, he leaves after swearing vengeance and redirects his forces to more important targets). |
| 267 | [[/folder]] |
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