%%%
%%
%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!
%%
%%%

%% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1546025327064945800
%% Please start a new thread if you'd like to suggest an image.
%%
->''"Crow’s Eye, you call me. Well, who has a keener eye than the crow? After every battle the crows come in their hundreds and their thousands to feast upon the fallen. A crow can espy death from afar. And I say that all of Westeros is dying. Those who follow me will feast until the end of their days."''
-->-- '''[[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire Euron "Crow's Eye" Greyjoy]]''', ''Literature/AFeastForCrows''

So, the BigBad is done for. Maybe they NeverFoundTheBody, or maybe they've finally been KilledOffForReal. But for some reason, the series of events hasn't ended yet.

The Evil Power Vacuum occurs when a BigBad is, at long last, seemingly taken down by the good guys or an outside group. The result is usually a sort of "power scramble" amongst the good guys, the bad guys, and every allegiance in between, as each group tries to come out on top. TyrantTakesTheHelm is when a revolution or a coup dethrones an old evil leader, only for a new -- possibly worse -- evil to take its place.

This is sometimes the result of NiceJobBreakingItHero, especially if the chaos following the BigBad's fall is worse than anything he ever did.

There's a certain level of TruthInTelevision to this: ''any'' power vacuum can be an excellent breeding ground for the rise of an oppressive regime, especially if there are no other forces to realistically contest it. Cases of this trope occurring in real life have occurred a number of times in the past, such as with the rise of Chun Doo-hwan in UsefulNotes/SouthKorea after the assassination of Park Chung-hee, Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus after the collapse of the Soviet Union, or ISIL in Iraq after the toppling of UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein.

See also BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil, EnemyCivilWar, AsskickingLeadsToLeadership, DragonAscendant, and TheStarscream. Preventing this trope is often a [[{{JustifiedTrope}} reason]] for BetterTheDevilYouKnow and VetinariJobSecurity. See also CosmicKeystone if the new evil that takes the villain's place was kept [[SealedEvilInACan contained]] by said villain's [[NoOntologicalInertia existence]].

[[noreallife]]
----
!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* In ''Anime/{{Endride}}'', after King Delzaine is killed by [[SpannerInTheWorks Ibelda]], massive social instability follows and [[AristocratsAreEvil petty lords]] step in, raiding villages and demanding wealth for protection. The [[LaResistance Ignauts]] try to help out the citizens wherever they can, but know they're just a stop-gap and as soon as they move on, the raiding lords will come back.
* After the Tartaros arc in ''Manga/FairyTail'', the void left in the wake of the Balam Alliance of dark guilds' downfall is filled by the Avatar {{Cult}}, a ReligionOfEvil who worships Zeref and wishes to offer the world to him. [[spoiler:They prove to be {{Inadequate Inheritor}}s who were easily curb-stomped by a [[TrainingFromHell fresh-from-training]] and [[PuttingTheBandBackTogether reunited]] Fairy Tail.]]
** Tartaros itself serves this role to the Balam Alliance over the seven-year {{Timeskip}}, as the Oración Seis were imprisoned and Grimoire Heart went defunct due to the deaths and defections of its strongest members, leaving them to consolidate power over the remaining dark guilds and taking more than a few of their subordinate guilds by force. Meanwhile, the vigilante guild Crime Sorcière takes advantage of the power vacuum by demolishing as many dark guilds as they can, managing to recruit the Oración Seis to their cause once they're released from prison.
* In ''Manga/{{Holyland}}'', Yoshii, the boss from Setasho High, and Kato and Yagi, his counterparts from Sawakoh, were keeping a strict hold over the worst delinquents in Kishijoji and Shimokita up until the former's defeat and humiliation at Izawa's hands and Kato and Yagi's destruction at Yuu's hands halfway during the series. Shortly after that, [[BigBad King]] moves his drug smuggling operation in the area and effectively takes over the streets, even recruiting two of Yoshii's best men alongside other delinquents from both schools and even Yagi (but not Kato, [[EvenEvilHasStandards as even King was disgusted by him]]).
* This happens in ''Anime/MelodyOfOblivion'' whenever the Monster King is killed. Last time, it caused an apocalyptic war that more or less ruined reality (it turned Earth into a maze, which is meant almost entirely literally), and was only stopped once the killer agreed to become the next Monster King. The monsters themselves are eldritch abominations. It's rather interesting that humanity ''could'' fight them, even if they lost.
* In ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', this happens when the BigBad All For One is defeated by [[BigGood All Might]] following their second confrontation. Following the reveal of his existence to the public and subsequent imprisonment, various criminal organizations try to use this opportunity to gain control of Japan's underworld. As a result, The League of Villains, led by All For One's protege Tomura Shigaraki, come to blows with all manner of criminals and ne'er-do-wells in their efforts to tear down society; from the [[{{Yakuza}} Shie Hassaikai]] trying to resurrect the Yakuza-style crime that had fallen out of prominence with the rise of Heroes, to the [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters Meta Liberation Army]] who want to overthrow current regulations regarding the usage of Quirks so that people can use them without any restrictions or regards to potential damage.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** In the first Cover story of the series, it's shown that after Buggy was separated from his crew by his first defeat by Luffy, they assumed he was dead. His CoDragons Cabaji and Mohji proceeded to argue over who should take over as captain and fought a duel to settle it... which lasted so long that Mohji's pet lion fell asleep, and knocked them both out while sleepwalking during a dream of being captain himself, so he won by default. Of course, this didn't last long before the crew was captured by a CannibalClan, and then rescued by the returning Buggy, who took his post back.
** The death of Whitebeard at the end of the Summit War saw a new Great age of Piracy erupt even wilder than the one started by Roger's execution. This is especially noticeable in the New World where the death of one of the Four Emperors led to hordes of pirates fighting one another over the course of the [[TimeSkip two-year timeskip]] in an attempt to take his former territories.
** It happens again with the defeat of Doflamingo at Luffy's hands. Since Doflamingo held the most power and influence in the black market underworld, his downfall had a negative backlash on all of his business dealings. As a result, the Revolutionaries won numerous wars in kingdoms that bought weapons from him. Even moreso, the pirates that had been buying weapons and Devil Fruits from him no longer had the means of acquiring their goods, let alone getting their money back. The most important of these buyers was one of the Four Emperors, Kaido, who regularly bought large amounts of Artificial Devil Fruits called [=SMILEs=] from Doflamingo in order to augment his troops. While being taken to Impel Down, Doflamingo [[{{Lampshade}} lampshades]] this, saying that he was the one keeping all the "monsters" in check and with him gone, the biggest war for supremacy of the sea would soon begin.
** [[spoiler: The previous incidents all pale in comparison to the end of the Wano Country arc, where Kaido and Big Mom, two of the Four Emperors, are toppled by Luffy, Kid, and Law. The result is pretty much the same thing that happened with Whitebeard but doubled. At the same time, the Seven Warlords of the Sea are dissolved and forced back into being regular pirates and relentlessly hunted by the Marines. As a result of these events, along with Luffy and ''Buggy'' filling the vacant Emperor titles (while the latter is involved with a group that is putting bounties out on Marines), it creates a massive shift in the balance of power which completely changes the world and plunges it into a level of unprecedented chaos]].
* The premise for the Doryu Arc of ''Manga/RaveMaster'' is that other criminal groups are trying to become top dog after Demon Card was destroyed. However, before the arc is even over, Demon Card has been revived by the new BigBad.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Card Games]]
* A [[Literature/MasqueradeCycle storyline]] in the original backstory of ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' involved [[FallenHero Ertai]] and [[KnightInSourArmor Crovax]], both former [[FiveManBand crewmen]] of the ''[[CoolShip Weatherlight]]'', fighting over which of them will succeed the now-vanished [[BigBad Volrath]] as ruler of [[{{Mordor}} Rath]]. This leads to a series of brutal confrontations that sees both of them turning into figurative and literal monsters (courtesy of some [[PhysicalHell Phyrexian]] implants) and destroys whatever good is left in them. Crovax eventually succeeds, at the cost of finally, irrevocably crossing the MoralEventHorizon.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''ComicBook/AstonishingAntMan'' has a similar premise with several villains trying to make a name in Miami due to the lack of any established heroes there. Fortunately this happens around the same time that Scott Lang moves down there too.
* An earlier ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' story, ''ComicBook/TheLongHalloween'', implies this is the reason Gotham is filled with super-villains. As the story goes on, Batman dismantles the Falcone crime organization and all other "normal" forms of super-criminals like the mob. As this happens the colorful, more unpredictable madmen begin to slowly become more and more active. Once traditional organized crime is wiped out, freaks like The Joker and Two-Face begin to truly blossom.
* This was the beginning of the ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' storyline ''War Games'', as a plan of Batman's is initiated by an angry and desperate Stephanie Brown to gather all of the crime families together and pretty much capture them. However, since the plan was missing one key player, "Matches" Malone (an alias of Batman's), those there started to panic and ended up going into a shooting spree that left everyone dead after [[ShootHimHeHasAWallet one man reached for a lighter at the wrong moment]] and others seeking to fill in the vacuum.
* Some ''Batman'' storylines have suggested this as the reason Batman has never killed the Joker; he worries that whatever threat rises to fill the vacuum left by the Joker's death will be ''worse'' than the Clown Prince of Crime, so it's best to stick with the known threat no matter how terrifying and twisted the Joker is.
* A running theme of the Milestone comic ''ComicBook/Hardware1993'' was that Hardware's mentor/boss/enemy (it was complicated) kept his hand in organized crime because without his influence, [[AnarchyIsChaos anarchy would be loosed]] amongst the criminal element of the city. [[spoiler:Later, he died trying to save people, and it turned out he was right.]]
* When Kobra, a long-time DiabolicalMastermind who had served as a BigBad many times in Franchise/TheDCU, was KilledOffForReal by Black Adam, his ReligionOfEvil was wracked with power struggles. This seems to have been settled, as his good twin has been brought back to life, turned evil, and taken the reigns of the organization. And become the Big Bad in a ''ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica'' miniseries.
* And in the Comicbook/MoonKnight series, there's a new "Kingpin of L.A." filling the void.
* In ''Comicbook/{{Nikolai Dante}}'', when Kraken is removed from the picture and with [[{{pirate king}} Katarina]]'s grip on the other {{pirate}}s loosening due to perceived weakness, four other captains scramble to capture his territories.
* ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'' often features these storylines, as it's in Frank's best interest to keep various criminal outfits warring as much with each other as against him and law enforcement. In ''ComicBook/ThePunisherWelcomeBackFrank'' he rescues a don from South American rebels so he can [[spoiler:call a meeting of all the dons to take cooperative action against Frank, only for Frank to show up with a machine gun]], while ''ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX'' begins with his eliminating most of the Cesare crime family, leaving a lot of gangs fighting each other to pick up the pieces.
** That said, even Frank recognises that killing ComicBook/TheKingpin would be more trouble than it's worth. On the occasions when the Kingpin actually has been removed from the picture, vicious gang wars that get a lot of civilians caught in the crossfire tend to be the result.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', the team has to deal with this after taking down their evil parents, who ran all the illegal activities anywhere within range of LA.
* In ''ComicBook/TheSavageDragon'', a Gang War erupts after Dragon kills Overlord, the ruler of the Vicious Circle.
* ''Literature/ShadowsOfTheEmpire: Evolution'': Xizor's death has left Black Sun in disarray, having his lieutenants (called Vigos) fighting over who will lead this. Numerous innocent people have been killed when caught in the crossfire during their street fights, which causes Han, Luke and Leia to attempt mediation so the violence will cease. Xizor's niece Savan incites the factions against each other with {{false flag operation}}s in hopes of taking over herself. [[spoiler:She's foiled by the end, with what becomes of Black Sun left unclear. Other material says Durga the Hutt, one Vigo, takes control before being killed himself.]]
* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'': After the death of the original Dr. Robotnik, an AlternateSelf, Robo-Robotnik/Dr. Eggman, who had succeeded in conquering his own Mobius, discovered his demise, and [[VictoryIsBoring bored out of his mind]], made his way to the Prime Zone to "fill the void." Much later, when Sonic asks the Zone Cops why they haven't arrested Eggman for overstepping his bounds and interfering with another dimension, they explain that since the original Robotnik was erased from existence, and he and Eggman share a near-identical past, he's replaced the original, and Sonic ''has'' to fight a Robotnik to maintain his world's stability.
* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': When Spider-Man helps to take down ComicBook/TheKingpin, it almost immediately turns worse, as less-refined, less-humane, and less-subtle underbosses scramble to take the top spot Kingpin used to occupy.
** In ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'', this trope is discussed with regard to the Kingpin when Daredevil puts together a group of heroes to systematically take out his operation. Peter points this trope out as a possibility, though Daredevil argues that the Third Reich collapsed after the death of Hitler.[[note]]Arguably a misunderstanding of cause and effect, as by the time Hitler killed himself, the Allies had already invaded Berlin and parts of the Third Reich leadership were in open revolt against him.[[/note]] Robertson also mentioned it, when he was ashamed to admit that the Bugle can not go after him because when they did he bought shares of the company.
* ''ComicBook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMirage'': The 13-part story, "City at War," depicts the various splintered factions of the Foot Clan at war with one another, trying to fill the void left when the Turtles defeated the Shredder.
* ''ComicBook/WestCoastAvengers2018'' continues the L.A. trend.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''Fanfic/TheBridge'': After Xenilla and Destroyah were transported to Equestria, various evil kaiju scramble to assume leadership of their faction, the Mutations. ''[[Fanfic/TheBridgeHumanitysStand Humanity's Stand]]'' focuses a bit on this, and on the human Global Defense Force and good kaiju of Godzilla's Terran Defender faction taking advantage of this to try and wipe them out for good. The latter story also shows that while the GDF/Terran Defender alliance is dealing with the Mutations, the kaiju-worshiping ApocalypseCult the Red Dawn emerges as the new primary threat to the world.
* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'':
** After the ''Forever Red'' arc of ''Ghosts of the Past'' ends with most of the [[SovietSuperScience Red Room]] being wiped out, it's noted that everyone from Chechen rebels to Islamic fundamentalists to HYDRA splinter factions are trying to move in and fill the void.
** It also leads directly into the events of the following arc, ''Bloody Hell'', which are partly driven by Dracula and his Grey Court looking to gain the upper hand in the struggle for power and influence over Eastern Europe and the rest of the Red Room's briefly reconstituted empire, which is now in chaos, and Victor Von Doom's plans to oppose them.
* ''Fanfic/CodePrime'': {{Defied|Trope}}. When Lelouch explains his backstory to the Autobots, some of them offer to groundbridge to Pendragon and blast his father, the Emperor, to pieces. Lelouch turns it down, because of how it would result in a power vacuum that the European Union and the Chinese Federation would take advantage of, which would result in innocent civilians being caught in the crossfire.
* ''Fanfic/ADarkerPath'': After the major gangs are decapitated and scattered, Atropos recognises that external forces are likely to start making their move on the city, and publicly warns them not to try -- on pain of death, naturally. Just as naturally, most of the people she calls out merely see this as a challenge that they have to meet.
--> And finally, the others. You know who you are. Those outside organizations and individuals who have suddenly realized that the criminal underworld in Brockton Bay just became a vacuum. You're all eyeing this city off like a bunch of hyenas closing in on a zebra with a broken leg.\\
I have one word for you:\\
Don't.
* ''Fanfic/GuardiansWizardsAndKungFuFighters'': It's shown that after Valmont's downfall, the American branch of the Dark Hand collapsed into infighting, with every mid-level administrator fighting to fill Valmont's spot. As the story starts, Bartholomew Chang (the head of the Dark Hand's Asian branch) has come to the States to restore order. Section 13 later tries to take advantage of this trope when they make their move against Chang, planning to have [[spoiler: Harold Hale]], a Dark Hand MiddleManagementMook they've [[HeelFaceTurn flipped]], take over in the resulting chaos and become their MoleInCharge. [[spoiler: It works, except Harold [[DoubleAgent was playing them all along]] and everything that happened was a [[BatmanGambit plan]] to solidify his place as the North American branch leader.]]
* ''Fanfic/HuntersOfJustice'': This is what happens in Mistral after their bottling and the subsequent death of Leonardo Lionheart. Leo might have been a traitor to Ozpin and his allies, but he was still the most respected figure in Mistral as the Headmaster of Haven Academy. When he dies, whatever is left of the city's central government collapses and the city devolves into complete anarchy and chaos, with over dozens of different factions fighting over control of Mistral. As it goes, Leo is replaced by Sienna Khan as the head of Haven Academy, and while she's generally the most benevolent of all the warlords, her unintentional favoring of Faunus over humans has driven many of the latter over to Lil' Miss Malachite, her chief rival. This is setting the stage for a racially-charged CivilWar, which could very well destroy what's left of the city.
* ''Fanfic/AManOfIron'': One occurs in Qarth between Daenerys's last two chapters in ''A Crack of Thunder''. [[spoiler: With all the Thirteen except Doom killed by the Warlocks, and the Warlocks themselves then wiped out by Dany and her dragons, the Pureborn and the Guild go to war for control of the city. While they decimate each other, Doom absorbs the other Thirteen's armies into his own and uses them to crush both the Pureborn and the Guild, seizing control of the city for himself.]]
* ''Fanfic/MoreThanEnemies'': At some point in the past, Danzo inexplicably disappeared for a while, leaving a huge power vacuum in ROOT, as every agent strived for his approval and favor. More than one of them expected to be his successor. Of these ones, Charca collected the most influence and made sure of marking everyone's tongue with a seal of his design to ensure obedience to him. Everyone but [[spoiler: Río]]. As Charca's regime grew senselessly crueler and oppressive, roughly half the ROOT agents started to rebel against him in any way they could and silently supported the unmarked agent until Danzo came back.
* ''Fanfic/OneDayAtATimeNyame'':
** Much like in the comics, this is a massive issue in Gotham's underworld. When Bruce was a child the city's top mob family were the Calabreses, led by Rex Calabrese. Then Rex was arrested, and his family was usurped by the Bertinellis, [[ComicBook/{{Huntress}} Helena Bertinelli's]] family, who, as we all know, were then slaughtered by mafia families outside of Gotham. They were supplanted by the Falcones, led by Carmine Falcone, who then entered a war with the Maronis, led by Sal Maroni. Then the events of ''ComicBook/TheLongHalloween'' happened, which saw both leaders executed by Two-Face and the mob more-or-less replaced by the city's supervillains as Gotham's main criminal element.
** Gotham saw a massive drop in supervillainy in the wake of the Arkham Massacre, which saw the Joker butcher almost all of the first Batman's original RoguesGallery. In the wake of that travesty, no one wanted to become a supervillain and replace them for fear of suffering the same fate. This led to a resurgence of normal crime and organized crime in particular, in part due to the arrival of Black Mask II. After Jason stamped the latter out and was posed to clean up Gotham enough to consider permanent retirement, Joker [[spoiler:V]] got involved, [[spoiler:and forcibly activated the metagenes of hundreds of people in order to create a new RoguesGallery for him to fight]].
* ''Fanfic/TheOopsCycle'': When a Demon Prince is redeemed, his servants quickly end up crabbucketing themselves to succeed him; in particular, Saminga's former servants do such a good job of killing each other over the Word of Death that he barely needs to act against them. Subverted with Malphas, though, as his entire faction's power structure collapses once he leaves.
* ''Fanfic/QueenOfAllOni'': It's revealed that Daolon Wong was the Darkest Mage, a sort of [[TheArchMage arch mage]] for {{Evil Sorcerer}}s. Following his [[DePower loss of power]] at the end of Season 3 [[spoiler:and his death in-story]], the spot is now open, and a couple of subplots focus on the villains trying to gain power to assume the role Wong left behind.
* ''Fanfic/QueenOfShadows'': Following [[spoiler: [[DragonInChief Hiruzen]] being [[SealedEvilInACan sealed]]]], the remainder of the [[CoDragons Circle of Generals]], and the [[TheEmpire Shadowkhan Empire]] as a whole, are thrown into total disarray, with no idea how to move forward, especially how to appoint a successor.
* ''Fanfic/RiskItAll''. On the night he heads out to take down Black Mask, Ren worries that taking him out will change nothing in the end, as another organized crime syndicate will simply take Black Mask's place. He figures that nothing would change until Gotham runs out of gangs, but that just means he'll have to keep working until the streets are clean, hoping that he'll get to team up with Batman and Robin. He admits it's a stupid thought, but it brings a smile to his face.
* ''Fanfic/ToHellAndBackArrowverse'': In Arc III, it's shown that one of the downsides to Green Arrows's unimpeded war on crime (aided by Supergirl's own residence in the city) is the massive vacuum he's left in Starling's underworld. His presence temporarily fills it, but his need to patrol the ''entire'' city and his growing responsibilities with the Justice League means he's a stopgap at best. [[spoiler:This eventually culminates in Danny Brickwell making his own stab at filling the gap by taking Balliol Prep hostage while Green Arrow and Supergirl are out of town. It was only thanks to Black Canary and Nyssa al Ghul that he was stopped]].
* ''Fanfic/TruthAndConsequences'': It's shown in the sequel, ''Mending Warped Designs'', that with Hawkmoth gone, other villains showed up to terrorize Paris and it reaches a level Alya says Hawkmoth used to keep Paris safe from just by being around.
* ''Fanfic/TheWillOfTheEmpire'': As in canon, one of these starts to break out with the death of Emperor Palpatine, but this time around Darth Vader conspires to fill this and minimize a SuccessionCrisis as much as possible -- namely, by declaring himself Palpatine's heir and Luke his own, and tasking Admiral Piett with ensuring his ascension. Piett is aided in this by the Imperial leadership all turning on each other almost as much as they're focused on trying to kill Luke.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}''. Megamind "defeating" Metroman caused Megamind to make a new hero, and Music Man advises Megamind that wherever there is evil a new force for good will rise.
* PlayedForLaughs at the end of ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'', where Goldie asks Baby Bear if he has any ideas for the crime family's next move, with him suggesting that [[spoiler:with Big Jack Horner gone, his bakery business needs new management]]. The rest of the family likes the idea.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersTheMovie'', following Megatron's apparent demise and subsequent dumping into space, the Decepticons try to decide on a new leader, and their argument leads into an all-out brawl aboard Astrotrain. It turns out Megatron is NotQuiteDead, though, and after a power-up from Unicron, he returns as Galvatron in time to reclaim his title as leader of the Decepticons... by blowing Starscream to ashes mere seconds after he'd literally crowned himself the new leader.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/AmericanGangster'': The beginning of the film takes place after Harlem mob boss Bumpy Johnson's death, and shows Frank Lucas's rise to power out of the chaos that accompanied Bumpy's death.
* ''Film/BirdsOfPrey2020'': [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] during the epilogue. [[spoiler:After Roman Sionis' death]], the Birds discuss the possibility of another villain showing up to continue [[spoiler:his]] work.
* This is the plot of ''Film/TheDeathOfStalin'' in a nutshell. The titular event, the death of UsefulNotes/JosefStalin, ruler of the USSR, creates a power struggle over who will succeed him. His deputy Georgy Malenkov is WeakWilled and [[TheDitherer indecisive]], so someone has to control the reins as TheManBehindTheMan.
* At the beginning of ''Film/LAConfidential'', mob boss Mickey Cohen is arrested. A recurring subplot shows all the mobsters seeking to fill Cohen's place either being scared out of Los Angeles or riddled with bullets. By the climax of the film, [[spoiler:Police Chief Dudley Smith]] is poised to seize control of L.A.'s organized crime.
* In ''Film/{{Spectre}}'', Film/JamesBond's conversation with [[spoiler: a terminally ill]] Mr. White implies that Quantum, the crime organization from the first two Creator/DanielCraig films, was either reorganized into or superseded by Spectre, after Bond destroyed much of its leadership in ''Film/QuantumOfSolace''. In ''Film/NoTimeToDie'', [[spoiler:Spectre is annihilated by Safin, who then supersedes them as the main threat.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Gamebooks]]
* In the ''Literature/LoneWolf'' series of solo gamebooks, each time the Archlord of the Darklands is killed, the remaining Darklords fight an EnemyCivilWar to determine the next Archlord.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Partway through ''Literature/TheBelgariad'' novel ''The Mallorean'', the main characters are informed of how current BigBad Zandramas took her position -- after the death of GodOfEvil Torak, the Grolims (his priests) were left completely without guidance... until she had a vision, ran off into the wilderness, and eventually came back to take over the church. (The intervening period, as the heroes work out, is when the Dark Prophecy settled into her head.)
* Toward the end of ''Literature/BelisariusSeries'' there was a large amount of power jockeying between the various empires once it became clear that the BigBad was doomed militarily.
* Preventing one of these turns out to be a central plot point in ''Literature/BrimstoneAngels''. [[BigBad Bryseis Kakistos]] wants to kill [[SatanicArchetype Asmodeus]] on account of how he cheated her [[spoiler: by not resurrecting her sister]] in their deal a century ago. She [[KillTheGod knows how to pull it off, too]]. The problem is that Asmodeus's death would lead to a massive EnemyCivilWar in the Nine Hells with someone even ''worse'' potentially coming out on top, while rival DemonLordsAndArchDevils would see one of their greatest threats being removed as an excuse to declare open season on the mortal plane. Thus, the heroes find themselves fighting valiantly... to keep the King of the Hells on his throne. There's a reason the [[GrandFinale last book]] is called ''The Devil You Know''...
* ''Literature/CHERUBSeries'': At the end of ''Class A'', Keith Moore is arrested and his extensive drug empire collapses, but in ''Mad Dogs'' (which follows the events of ''Class A'') numerous smaller parties, including former associates of Keith, are now warring over chunks of his former territory. In fact, it's suggested that gang violence in the area is actually much worse than it was before Keith was arrested because of infighting.
* Generally averted in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''. Vetinari remains Patrician in Ankh-Morpork specifically ''because'' all the potential power-grabbers [[VetinariJobSecurity know perfectly well that this would be the result if he was removed.]] It helps that Vetinari himself [[BatmanGambit set up the whole system so that this would be the only possible result, and that everybody who was anybody would realize it]]. He really is [[MagnificentBastard Just. That.]] [[GodModeSue Magnificent.]]
* Happens in the titular ''Literature/DreadEmpire'' following the events of the first book, which sees the [[EvilOverlord Princes Thaumaturge]] -- twin brothers who have jointly ruled for more than a millennium -- killed. Rapid turnover in rule ensues, as the Tervola, the empire's sorcerer-generals, battle it out for throne, whether for themselves or for whichever of the Princes' children they support. Ultimately deconstructed as the most aggressive -- and evil -- Tervola wind up all killed off, either by each other or during wars with other nations -- leaving [[PragmaticVillainy cooler heads to prevail]] as the empire stabilizes again.
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''
** AntiVillain mobster "Gentleman" Johnny Marcone maintains an iron grip on the Chicago underworld in order to avoid precisely that; sure, he's gotten rich from exploiting other people, but at least under him the most unpleasant aspects are kept to a strict minimum. If he were to go, the turf wars and power grabs would tear up the city, and lots of innocent people would get killed in the crossfire.
** Also, in the short story "Aftermath", set after ''Literature/{{Changes}}'', [[spoiler: the destruction of the Red Court has led to a power struggle among other supernatural baddies. The only race seen in the story is the Fomor, but Gard indicates that several others have appeared. And incidentally been fought off by Marcone, who probably has every intention of filling the Red Court's void himself, at least on the local level.]]
** This ongoing struggle goes on to be one of the two major plot threads in the next full-length novel, ''Literature/GhostStory''.
* When Literature/JoeSteele -- an alternate history Stalin who came to power in the United States instead of Russia -- literally drops dead at the start of his [[PermanentElectedOfficial sixth term in office]], a power struggle emerges between his Vice-President, John Nance Garner, his chief political aide/enforcer, Vince "The Hammer" Scriabin, and his SecretPolice chief, J. Edgar Hoover. [[spoiler: Hoover ultimately wins, and [[FromBadToWorse replaces Steele's dictatorship-disguised-as-democracy with a full blown]] PoliceState.]]
* With the fall of [[TheAntichrist Nicolae Carpathia]] and the Global Community at the end of the Tribulation in the ''Literature/LeftBehind'' series, mankind finally has peace with Jesus Christ at the helm of the Millennial Kingdom. 93 years from the start of the Kingdom, however, the Other Light rises as LaResistance to bring evil back into the world, waiting for their leader Satan to be [[SealedEvilInACan released from his imprisonment]] so that [[KillTheGod they can finally defeat God]] at the end of Millennium. Of course the citizens of the Millennial Kingdom knew from Scripture that it was eventually going to happen...[[BecauseDestinySaysSo and in the end it was also going to fail]].
* At the end of the first book of Brandon Sanderson's ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'' trilogy, the protagonists have succeeded in killing the immortal Lord Ruler, who had reigned over the Final Empire for a thousand years. Being, well, immortal, the Lord Ruler didn't leave behind any instructions on what to do in his absence, and the protagonists only have control over the capital city. As a result, the rest of the empire has quickly devolved into various warring factions struggling for power, and the capital city is looking like a big, fat target ripe for conquest...
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' likes to point out that ''finally'' getting rid of the evil, no-good, idiotic swine(s) basically only feeds crows and opens the "[[PyrrhicVictory winners]]" up to MeetTheNewBoss, same as the old. Just give it a few months/ years to become obvious after the honeymoon period.
** King Aerys "the Mad" kinda warranted the rebellion/coup that toppled him several times over. But Robert was no big improvement, mainly because his Hand and most of the rest of the Small Council contained ''oddly'' familiar faces (who were directly involved in the previous "government" and civil war)... On top of Robert's own disinterest in ruling, and his personal and marital failings. The series is an ode to after-effects and consequences.
** The city-state of Astapor discovers that overthrowing centuries of slavery by bloody rebellion... nets them revenge-driven, wannabe and actual warlords fighting each other for months to become the new bastard in charge. Each of them enslaving or killing people who had been slavers, or those who just look at them funny.
** The Riverlands and Iron Isles have a backstory that can be summed up by this trope. Aegon the Conqueror got the support of the Riverlands to chuck the Ironborn out, for instance. But, that's not even a single digit percentage of the internal histories of both kingdoms.
** Euron has the quote up top for a reason. Hanging back in the shadows for years means nobody who is currently busily focused on wiping each other out on the board has spotted him coming.
** Ditto Littlefinger.
** Ditto the Others.
* Seen in the ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' material after Palpatine's death, with the Rebel Alliance (later New Republic) and a score of Imperial admiral-turned-warlords, then [[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Grand Admiral Thrawn]], then [[ComicBook/DarkEmpire Palpatine]] BackFromTheDead (to be fair, he was NotQuiteDead all along, he was just biding his time), then a succession of threats from warlords and aliens, and [[Literature/HandOfThrawn finally]] a [[PeaceConference peace treaty]] was signed between the New Republic and the Empire. ''Then'' the [[Literature/NewJediOrder Yuuzahn Vong]] invade and the Republic and Empire [[EnemyMine rally together]] to fight them.
* ''Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium''
** The main danger of the One Ring in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' is that powerful individuals would eventually use it to replace Sauron. Even if they resisted corruption long enough to defeat him, they'd end up becoming corrupt and replacing him in the end.
** And in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', Sauron himself was a replacement of Melkor as the BigBad.
** Partial example in the appendices of ROTK where Aragorn and Éomer are forced to go on punitive expeditions among the Easterlings and Haradrim to keep this under control.
** Tolkien [[WhatCouldHaveBeen briefly considered]] a sequel to [=LotR=] in which Aragorn fights against a Morgoth-worshipping cult which seeks to bring back Middle-Earth's original BigBad, but ultimately (and probably wisely) decided that it would subvert the trilogy's EndOfAnAge / DawnOfAnEra themes too much.
* ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'' sees this after the eventual collapse of the tyrannical Federal Government. What follows is not peace, but rather every military splinter group or political faction that can muster an armed militia scrambling to secure the best position it can get. At least for some people, this anarchic phase is arguably ''worse'' than the Civil War itself.
* ''Literature/TheHistoryOfTheGalaxy'' has a good chunk of the novels focused on the [[TheWarOfEarthlyAggression First Galactic War]] (a bit of a misnomer, since it only involved humanity and was limited to dozens of star systems at most in our tiny corner of the galaxy), which lasted for half a century. With the final defeat of the [[TheEmpire Terran Alliance]] and with the victorious [[LaResistance Free Colonies]] establishing the [[TheFederation Confederacy of Suns]], it seems like humanity is on the path to recovery, right? What follows are years of strife and bickering between the fringe colonies, especially those who can get their hands on Alliance military tech (this period is often referred to as the Second Galactic War). The Confederacy deserves some of the blame, as the original setup gave the five core planets a lot of power compared to the fringe worlds (they justified it by them doing most of the fighting during the war). At one point, an unchecked fringe power, the Star Caliphate, rose up (again, after getting its hands on some Alliance tech) and nearly succeeded in toppling the unsuspecting Confederacy (ironically, it was stopped by former Alliance officers at great personal cost). It eventually led to the Confederacy being dissolved, and a new period of chaos that lasted for two decades until a new external threat forced humanity to band together under the banner of the new Confederacy of Suns, although this one was organized on more equal terms and even included willing alien member worlds.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/TheBookOfBobaFett'' reveals that after [[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi Jabba the Hutt's death]], his criminal empire on Tatooine fractured. While his majordomo Bib Fortuna officially [[DragonAscendant took on his mantle as Daimyo of the organization]], he was forced to cede regional authority to a number of gangs that [[AuthorityInNameOnly only paid him lip service in regards to loyalty]], all while the Mayor of Mos Espa started asserting himself in the criminal underworld and demanding tribute from the gangs to operate in his city. When Boba Fett kills Fortuna and takes his position, he tries to assert a more firm control over everything, but gets pushback -- Jabba's cousins the Twins try to step in and make him yield to them, while the Mayor cuts a deal with the Pyke Syndicate to try and take control over the whole planet. This is lampshaded in [[Recap/TheMandalorianS2E1Chapter9TheMarshal an episode]] of ''Series/TheMandalorian'' that takes place on Tatooine. Marshal Cobb relates how the HiredGuns of the Mining Collective were TakingOverTheTown the very night the Imperials pulled out after the events of ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''.
-->'''Cobb:''' Power hates a vacuum and Mos Pelgo became a slave camp overnight.
* ''Series/BreakingBad'': In Season 5, after [[spoiler: the Death of Gustavo Fring]] a major subplot involves a couple of different groups jockeying for control over methamphetamine production in the Southwest and Walter White using it to build an empire.
* Happens in ''Series/Charmed1998'' after the Source is killed ([[DeaderThanDead for the third and final time]]). At first there is an orderly succession, but it rapidly breaks down and increasingly-mediocre contenders appear as {{Big Bad}}s each season thereafter. By the time of the GrandFinale, pretty much all of the upper echelon of the Underworld has been wiped out either by the heroes or in-fighting, with some younger demons admitting to the Charmed Ones that it'll take a generation for them to rebuild themselves back up to what they were before (conveniently just in time for the Charmed Ones' own kids to have come of age and start fighting evil themselves).
* In ''Series/EverybodyHatesChris'', Caruso, the school bully, gets trounced in an alley by a new kid who knows enough karate to take out him and his thugs, resulting in every slightly-built person in school trying to become the new bully. It got so bad that Chris eventually got mugged [[MortonsFork for not having enough money to be worth mugging.]]
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Tywin's death creates one in Westeros. The hegemony he built crumbles almost overnight, with Lannister puppets like the Boltons going rogue, renegade religious factions like the Sparrows slowly taking over the city and Cersei sabotaging his alliance with the Tyrells.
* Season 2 of ''Series/{{Gotham}}'' is a demonstration of what happens in the aftermath of a war that leaves an empty throne. After the big three crime lords of Season 1 (Maroni, Falcone, and Fish Mooney) are disposed of through various means leaving only the fourth contender, the Penguin, to claim complete power, things appear to have quieted down. Until a certain someone deposes him from his position without replacing him, at which point a whole host of increasingly crazy and unrestrained villains who have progressively more dangerous and unusual M.O.s, start creeping out of the woodwork with nobody to keep them in check. It should also be said that many of those crazy and unrestrained villains strong presence owes a lot to [[spoiler: the activities of the most influential and shadiest individuals in the city (Hugo Strange and the Court of Owls) who largely make them and unleash them in the public for their own sinister purposes. Ironically some of their pawns end up becoming independent threats far beyond what they originally envisioned]].
* ''Series/IClaudius''. Herod warns Claudius that this will happen if [[OfferedTheCrown he doesn't accept the role of Emperor]] after Caligula is assassinated. Herod points out that not only would this lead to CivilWar, but anyone seeking to become the next Emperor would have to kill Claudius as a potential threat.
* ''Series/LawAndOrderOrganizedCrime'': The events of the first season severely weaken the Italian Mafia in New York City and their allies. In Season 2, the Marcy Killers (a Black gang) and KO (Albanian) decide to ally so they can exploit this weakness and take over major rackets in the city.
* ''Series/LegendOfTheSeeker'': After Darken Rahl is killed, D'Haran officers start fighting over the throne since he had no heir. General Trimack comes and reveals Richard is the true heir, but he doesn't take the role, not wanting to follow Darken's path (unlike in the books). This is not resolved until Darken comes {{back from the dead}} and takes up his throne again.
* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle''
** The entire neighborhood is united in hatred of the main characters. Hal and Lois win them over, and five seconds later the street's turned into a giant screaming match.
** When Reese stops being the school bully, a dozen other bullies appear and terrorize the students. Malcolm has to persuade Reese to return to his evil ways to bring things back to a manageable level. Reese is particularly outraged when he sees people picking on Stevie (who's out of bounds due to being in a wheelchair).
--->'''Reese:''' I was a jerk!\\
'''Malcolm:''' Yes, but you were the ''alpha'' jerk!
* Ever-present in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** This is ''especially'' demonstrated in ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD''. Nine Words, One Horror; '''"Cut off one head, two more shall take its place! ''HAIL ComicBook/{{HYDRA}}!"'''''
*** Midway through the second season, Coulson manages to kill a prominent HYDRA leader. The other members of his regional council are well aware of this trope, however, and set up a peaceful transfer of power to avert it. But then Coulson exploits their backstabbing tendencies to get them to play it straight and take one another out before sweeping in to mop up whoever's left; leaving the void empty for at least the time being.
*** A void made bigger when Baron von Strucker, [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier having previously decided to sacrifice HYDRA cells in order to distract from his own activities]], ends up being wiped out as a result of the [[Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron actions of the Avengers, Coulson, and Ultron]]. [[spoiler: Grant Ward]] is the only one left standing and sets out to rebuild HYDRA for revenge on SHIELD.
*** And once ''he'' goes down, the ''true'' reason HYDRA is indestructible is revealed; it was "founded on the belief that [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom]]", and without HYDRA to guide those efforts secretly, they are being pursued ''openly'' by elected governments via [[Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar the Sokovia Accords]], which not only legislates control over superhumans, but advanced technology such as artificial intelligence. [[spoiler:Holden Radcliffe's experiments would almost certainly have been less destructive if he hadn't been forced to pursue them in secret -- if only because SHIELD would have ''known'' about them well before he developed true Life Model Decoys]].
** At the start of Season 2 of ''Series/Daredevil2015'', the downfall of Wilson Fisk has caused several different criminal gangs try to fill in the spot left vacant in Hell's Kitchen. They are kept in check thanks to [[ComicBook/ThePunisher Frank Castle]]'s personal war against crime. While Fisk's place is taken by the Yakuza [[spoiler: who is just a front for the shadow terrorist organization known as the Hand]], who have lain low for a while only to come out in full strength. And then it's shown that Fisk himself is only biding his time for his return, taking control of the prison he is locked up and manipulating events so that with his inevitable release, he will claim his old position back [[TheChessmaster using Frank Castle's crusade to get rid of his rivals]].
** ''Series/LukeCage2016'': After crime boss Mariah Dillard is arrested in the penultimate episode of Season 2, the season finale reveals that in her absence -- and with her [[TheDragon right-hand man]] Shades known to have become a snitch, and thus ineligible to take over -- every other organized crime faction in the city moves in to try and take over Harlem. The resulting violence only comes to an end when [[spoiler: Luke himself declares Harlem [[{{Protectorate}} his territory]], taking over the control of crime in the area [[WellIntentionedExtremist in order to minimize its damage]].]]
** ''Series/IronFist2017'': Season 2 reveals that, with the destruction of the Hand during the events of ''Series/TheDefenders2017'', a void has been left in the Chinatown criminal underworld. This leads to a MobWar between several of the triads as they try to take advantage of the situation [[spoiler: until [[KnightTemplar Davos]] starts killing every criminal he can find, causing the triads to ally against him]].
** Taken to multiversal levels in ''Series/Loki2021''. [[spoiler: He Who Remains warns that killing him will lead to a massive multiverse war waged by even worse variants of himself as the timeline branches without him constantly pruning it. He offers a solution by having Loki and Sylvie fill the power void to replace him. When Sylvie [[RevengeBeforeReason kills him anyways]], Loki immediately sees he's correct with Kang the Conqueror directly ruling the TVA instead of intermediates.]]
* ''Series/TheMandalorian'': Played with in Season 3, which reveals that the various Imperial remnant warlords that the New Republic believes to be squabbling rivals are actually cooperating behind the scenes, putting up the ''front'' of being squabbling rivals so the New Republic doesn't realize the true scale of their threat. This Shadow Council is in turn united (generally speaking) by the promise of the return of Grand Admiral Thrawn, who has been absentee for years but supposedly represents their biggest chance at destroying the New Republic and reestablishing the Empire.
* ''Series/TheMusketeers'': Cardinal Richlieu's [[ActorLeavesCharacterDies sudden death]] between the first and second seasons leaves a massive gap in the royal court. The role ends up being filled by the Comte de Rochefort who quickly proves to be far more of an EvilChancellor than Richlieu ever was. For all the Cardinal's faults he genuinely cared about the stability of France, while Rochefort craves power and [[VillainousCrush wants Queen Anne for himself]].
* ''Series/{{Narcos}}'':
** Once it's clear to everyone that Escobar is done for, the Cali cartel wastes no time in taking over his operations in Miami, becoming the biggest Colombia drug cartel.
** In Season 3 the major problem with Gilberto's surrender scheme is that as soon as he announces it he creates a power vacuum. Worse, he intends to wait the full six months before surrendering. Neither his allies or his rivals want to wait that long before making a grab for power. He then gets greedy and tries to temporarily expand his operations instead of winding them down. This makes a MobWar inevitable.
** At the end of Season 5, Felix accurately predicts what will happen after the collapse of the Federation and the plazas become their own Cartels. Eventually they'll just start competing for the best routes, product, and reach with the government and [[ForeverWar endless war]] is inevitable without a central leader controlling Mexico's entire drug trade.
* A major plot point of ''Series/TheShadowLine'' is the power vacuum in the drug trade following the death of Harvey Wratten. [[spoiler:In the final episode, it turns out this was specifically [[InvokedTrope invoked]] by Gatehouse, who killed Harvey to give his protégées Jay Wratten and Ratallack a chance to rise to the top.]]
* ''Series/StargateSG1'' has a very, very long SortingAlgorithmOfEvil, arguably to the point of {{deconstruction}}. The big source of that is that the followers of a dead System Lord defect to the System Lord who killed their master. But what happens when your master was killed by someone who is not only not a System Lord but isn't even Goa'uld? Okay, let's get this party started:
** In the ''Film/{{Stargate}}'' movie they started with Ra, an EvilOverlord who was the LastOfHisKind. When they [[RecycledTheSeries recycled it for the series]], he was [[RetCon changed]] to be the most powerful of the "System Lords", a loose-knit group of {{evil overlord}}s each with a [[AGodAmI god-complex]]. His death started an [[LensmanArmsRace arms race]] among the lesser System Lords. This led the main characters into conflict with:
** Apophis. Starting with kidnapping [[ItsPersonal several friends of the main characters]] for use as [[PuppeteerParasite hosts]], he remained a threat (though was also in open conflict with Heru'ur) until, after steadily losing power and influence because of the conflict with the heroes, he was defeated and killed by a more powerful System Lord late in the second season.
** Sokar, having inspired the myth of {{Satan}} through his ruthlessness and evil and having a fleet of warships at his command ready to [[TakeOverTheWorld conquer the galaxy]], was shaping up to be the new BigBad when SG-1 and their [[DefectorFromDecadence Tok'Ra allies]] killed him by [[EarthShatteringKaboom blowing up a moon]]. Unfortunately, before Sokar was killed, he had brought Apophis BackFromTheDead so that he could [[ThePunishment suffer]] on said moon. Apophis, true to form, survived and took control over Sokar's resources and army.
** So, once again the BigBad is Apophis, this time with a fleet of warships poised to take over the galaxy. He starts with attacking [[AndYourLittleDogToo Teal'c's homeworld of Chulak]], continues by killing several rival [[EvilOverlord System Lords]], then on the brink of Galactic Domination, his fleet is vaporized when SG-1 [[RememberWhenYouBlewUpASun blow up a sun]]. Unfortunately he survives. Also unfortunately, the nova [[PhlebotinumBreakdown screwed up]] the FasterThanLightTravel of the ships escaping the nova, and both Apophis and SG-1 find themselves trapped in another galaxy. To make it even worse, the writers choose this exact moment to subvert ScifiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale and CasualInterstellarTravel, meaning that even traveling at full speed, it would take over 200 years to return to their own galaxy. He's eventually killed for real when the Replicators invade his ship and it slams into another planet.
** Next up is Anubis, who creates a nearly-unstoppable force of {{super soldier}}s, and has access to technology more advanced than literally everyone else except the NeglectfulPrecursors, who are all gone. He devastates the remaining System Lords with his immense forces, leaving our heroes as the only hope of stopping him. He is finally defeated when the fleet sent to conquer Earth is destroyed by a LostTechnology Superweapon.
** Ba'al takes over the remainder of Anubis' forces and continues to take over the galaxy. He was doing a pretty good job until the Replicators launch an all-out attack, starting by killing all the remaining System Lords other than Ba'al and Anubis, who's still alive and actually commands Ba'al, who defects and winds up in an EnemyMine with the heroes. End result: Anubis is gone for good when Oma decides to [[SealedEvilInADuel spend an eternity fighting him]]. The System Lords are all dead, except for Ba'al, who is overthrown, and the Replicators are wiped out. Finally, with all major enemies defeated, the series ended. Everyone lives HappilyEverAfter...
** Wait, [[PostScriptSeason what]]? Yeah, that's right, it's the [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Ori]] on their universal Missionary Tour of Evil and Doom, but at least the finale may or may not have nuked them all... [[spoiler:and in fact did, but that left their self-created [[DarkMessiah Jesus archetype]] Adria, newly Ascended, to take over all their power. It took brainwashing her followers into forsaking her with an ancient mind probe and falling into the same "fighting for eternity" trap that Anubis got into that the Universe was ''finally'' saved...or, at least as saved as it can be with the Wraith still bopping around the Pegasus Galaxy...]]
** So that's it, right? I mean, we've even captured [[MagnificentBastard Ba'al]], the slippery beast... [[TimeTravel he did what?]] [[spoiler: [[RetGone Oh]], [[BadFuture great]]! Guess it's [[RippleEffectProofMemory up to SG-1]] to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong. Again.]] There, done! [[EarnYourHappyEnding Can we have our]] [[HappilyEverAfter happy ending]] now?
** This trope was also discussed in regards to the Goa'uld in general. When a Goa'uld is killed by a rival Goa'uld, the winner absorbs the losers' armies becoming more powerful. When the SGC start killing the Systems Lords, the Tok'ra say NiceJobBreakingItHero as this only leads to a more dangerous situation, as feuding System Lords is far better for the galaxy than one all-powerful one. However when the System Lords all gather for a Summit, the Tok'ra jump at the chance to kill them all at once saying the Goa'uld would never recover. Unfortunately, they then learn that Anubis has returned, and given that even the other System Lords are [[HorrifyingTheHorror terrified of him]] and were [[EvenEvilHasStandards appalled by his crimes]], him becoming the sole powerful Goa'uld in the galaxy is the worst case scenario so they abort the mission.
* ''Series/StargateUniverse'' reveals ''another'' villain became a threat in the Milky Way...
** The Lucian Alliance took over a few Goa'uld vessels. They're the main reason why the crew of the Destiny are even on the Ancient ship, after all. They've also become [[TookALevelInBadass significantly more dangerous]], going from a group of drug dealers and smugglers to a powerful and organized force fully capable of launching a terrorist attack on Earth.
** And now that it's done, there are two powerful Alien forces (Catfish Aliens and anti-technology Berserker Drones), although they are both pretty far from Earth.
** It looked like everything was set for a happy ending, with a film planned where the Stargate program was going to be made public. [[ScrewedByTheNetwork But thanks to the SyFy channel]] [[FridayNightDeathSlot messing with Universe's schedule]], [[FranchiseKiller the IP is doomed.]] [[DevelopmentHell It's probably not going to get]] [[WhatCouldHaveBeen a proper ending.]]
* ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' shows this happening throughout the war between TheFederation and the Klingon Empire, very much averting DecapitatedArmy.
** In "Battle At The Binary Stars", Burnham kills T'Kuvma, the warlord who started the war. He's immediately succeeded by his hand-picked successor, Voq, before General Kol shows up to commandeer the flagship ''Sarcophagus'' and secure the loyalty of T'Kuvma's followers.
** In the episode "Into The Forest I Go", our heroes destroy the ''Sarcophagus'', killing General Kol and his followers. As a result, the tenuously-united Great Houses fragment and compete to see who can cause the most destruction.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
** Mentioned in the background of Season 3 -- in light of [[BigBad Azazel's]] death in the previous season finale, the LegionsOfHell are left fighting each other for control, with Lilith (who had previously been stuck in the Pit before Azazel freed her shortly before his own demise) rising as the new "Queen Bitch" in the latter half of the season.
** Later seasons have [[MagnificentBastard Crowley]] as the King of Hell, taking over after Lucifer is defeated and all his chief lieutenants have been killed. Then in Season 9, while he's held prisoner by the Winchesters and presumed dead by his minions, [[FemmeFatale Abaddon]] attempts to take his place.
** After the Winchesters stop the Apocalypse and imprison the Archangel Michael, Heaven enters a state of civil war. Archangel Raphael tries to take over and restart the Apocalypse while Castiel and his followers try to stop him. When both factions end up destroyed, lesser angels try to take over and the civil war gets even more vicious till most of the angels are killed off. Things get so desperate that the remaining angels [[spoiler: make Lucifer their new leader]] since they need someone who can take charge and keep things from spiraling further.
** Hell undergoes this again in Season 14, as by this point [[spoiler: Crowley, Lucifer, and all the Princes of Hell are all dead]]. As such, there are no high-ranking demons left to take over, leaving Hell completely without leadership. This isn't resolved until Season 15, when [[spoiler: Rowena]] dies and is sentenced to Hell, [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome and proceeds to]] [[HellHasNewManagement take the throne]].
* A constant theme in ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' and ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' is that TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed, with a new villainous faction rising up to threaten it shortly after the last one was defeated by the previous generation of Rangers. FridgeBrilliance comes into play when you realize that the next faction of villains couldn't have risen up if their predecessors had won.
* ''Series/TheWire'': by the beginning of season three, the Barksdale crew has lost most of the higher-ups of the gang to jail, and the city decides to demolish the high rise housing projects that the gang operated out of. This leads to a gang war with the new upstart Marlo Stanfield. After [[spoiler:Avon Barksdale is sent back to jail and Stringer Bell is killed]], Marlo becomes the new kingpin in the Westside, and is immediately known to be much more scary and deadly than the Barksdale organization.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
* Believe it or not, this is how Wrestling/TripleH wound up becoming who he was. The Undertaker and [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]] both ended up injured. Trips, who was at the time thought not to be over enough to hold the spot, got moved up by default.
* In the Wrestling/{{WWE}}, this tends to happen when someone in the main event is either out for a long time, becomes a part-timer, or retires. In fact, from 2009 to 2011, WWE lost so much main event talent that it ultimately led to the demise of the brand extension, as there weren't enough top stars to spread across both ''RAW'' and ''[=SmackDown!=]'' and build stories around. It took until 2016 and the rise of NXT for there to be a deep enough roster to justify bringing the brand extension back.
** After Wrestling/JeffHardy left WWE, ''[=SmackDown!=]'' began to suffer a dearth of top faces, which is one of the reasons Batista moved back to the blue brand after he returned from injury. Then, Wrestling/{{Batista}}'s FaceHeelTurn and eventual move to RAW in 2010 to feud with Wrestling/JohnCena meant that ''[=SmackDown!=]'' spent most of that year without a real top face. Wrestling/{{Edge|Wrestler}} tried to take up that role when he returned after winning that year's Wrestling/RoyalRumble, but he had trouble connecting with the audience as a face, eventually leading to him being traded to RAW and making a FaceHeelTurn. Wrestling/ReyMysterioJr and Wrestling/TheBigShow had better luck, but were obvious patch jobs, and Wrestling/TheUndertaker was beginning to slow down his schedule around this time. Then Edge was traded ''back'' to ''[=SmackDown!=]'', having finally gotten over as a face after [[ItMakesSenseInContext entering a feud with the Anonymous General Manager of RAW]], and was able to take the position permanently. At least, [[YankTheDogsChain until he had to retire]], which, well, led to the example below.
** Wrestling/{{Edge|Wrestler}}'s first retirement couldn't have come at a worse time -- the main event scene was already severely depleted, Wrestling/ShawnMichaels and Wrestling/{{Batista}} having retired, Wrestling/TripleH and Wrestling/TheUndertaker semi-retired, Wrestling/ChrisJericho on hiatus for the entire year, and Wrestling/ReyMysterioJr embroiled in a feud with Wrestling/CodyRhodes, downgrading him to mid-carder status for the time being. They had to bump up the draft ''six weeks early'' because ''[=SmackDown!=]'' didn't have a top babyface, so Wrestling/RandyOrton was hastily moved to the blue brand. The vacuum was gradually filled by Wrestling/CMPunk (who ascended to superstardom during the second Summer of Punk, allowing him to permanently take Edge's spot in the main event scene), Wrestling/{{Christian}} (whose feud with Randy cemented him as a possible main event player), and various younger talents such as [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]] and Wrestling/DolphZiggler. This is why building up new talent is so important -- you can't risk a scenario where you don't have a big enough name to have decent, money-making feuds with.
** A consequence of Wrestling/CMPunk's rise to superstardom is that he had to make a HeelFaceTurn -- which meant that RAW no longer had a top heel for the rest of 2011. They tried to push Wrestling/AlbertoDelRio into that position, but he had a hard time to connecting with the audience and then he got injured towards the end of the year. Wrestling/TheMiz and Wrestling/RTruth tried as well, but everyone saw them as upper-midcard at best, and then Truth got busted for breaking the Wellness Policy and sent on a Wellness Vacation, necessitating the break up of their partnership. It took the return of Wrestling/ChrisJericho for RAW and the company in general to have a real main event heel again, and even then he only stuck around for the first six or so months of 2012. Eventually, Punk himself had to make a FaceHeelTurn to remedy the problem, having long since proven himself to be an effective top heel thanks to his feud with Wrestling/JeffHardy three years prior. And even then, Punk was so over with the audience that half the crowd kept cheering for him anyway, so when he came back after a two month hiatus in 2013, [[HeelFaceReturn he was automatically a face again]]. It took the rise of Wrestling/TheAuthority and their various intermediaries for the problem to finally be solved.
** The reliance on part-time performers such as The Rock and Wrestling/BrockLesnar in the early half of TheNewTens was a band-aid on the situation while the WWE was building up new stars. Around that time, the only bonafide main event talent that the WWE had full-time, the type of talent you'd allow to headline ''Wrestling/WrestleMania'', was John Cena, CM Punk, and Randy Orton. While they were carrying that responsibility, WWE busied itself with building up the younger talent, particularly Daniel Bryan and the members of Wrestling/TheShield. Then when CM Punk unexpectedly walked out in January of 2014, Bryan got elevated to take his spot while The Shield broke up six months later, elevating all three to upper-midcard/main event talent. This means that the WWE now has six full-time potential main-eventers on top of part-timers such as Lesnar, Triple H, Chris Jericho, and the Undertaker, which is a vastly improved situation compared to 2011's situation above.
** However, they began to ''over''-rely on part-timers as the year went on, which became an issue in 2015. The problem exposed itself when, in late 2015, the main event scene was depleted ''again''. First, Wrestling/{{Sting}} suffered a GameBreakingInjury at ''Night of Champions'' that year. Wrestling/JohnCena requested time off to film a TV show earlier in the year, and was gone from late October to the rest of the year. Then Wrestling/RandyOrton's shoulder was injured again, putting ''him'' out for the rest of the year. Not even a month after ''that'', the then-WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Wrestling/SethRollins, got injured, putting him out until ''after Wrestling/WrestleMania''. With Brock Lesnar not due until WM season, Chris Jericho no longer a part of TV, and Daniel Bryan's in-ring career in jeopardy (for the record, Bryan would retire only a couple months later in February 2016), WWE effectively lost their ''entire'' main event scene in the span of three months, now lacking a top face ''and'' a top heel. At this point, they have no choice ''but'' to make a new star if they want to make it to the next ''Wrestling/WrestleMania'' with a decent profit.
*** And as it turns out, this was a prelude to an injury ''epidemic'', when members of the main roster started dropping like flies while others were rumored to be working more hurt than usual. [[Wrestling/ClaudioCastagnoli Cesaro]], Wrestling/SinCara, and Wrestling/WadeBarrett were also out by the end of the year. Within two weeks of his return from his time off, Cena was injured too, and by the end of January, so were Wrestling/{{Sheamus}} and Wrestling/AlbertoDelRio. Three weeks before '''Mania'', the injury bug struck Wrestling/BrayWyatt's back and Wrestling/AdrianNeville's ankle. Not even the ''divas'' were immune -- [[Wrestling/BellaTwins Nikki Bella]] took time off to deal with a back/neck injury that turned out to be potentially career-ending, and Wrestling/{{Naomi|Wrestler}} was also put on the shelf (briefly) thanks to injury. Even [[Wrestling/{{WWENXT}} NXT]] got in on the act: [[Characters/{{WWENXT}} Tye Dillinger]] was injured at a house show during a match with Wrestling/SamiZayn (who had just ''come back'' from injury), and NXT Champion Wrestling/FinnBalor suffered an ankle injury at another house show about a week or so later during his match with Wrestling/SamoaJoe. There is some perverse irony in the fact that the injury bug struck during the road to the company's biggest show of the year.
*** And for the final cherry on the top: Wrestling/RomanReigns, one of the headliners for ''[=WrestleMania=] 32'', had to be written out so he could get surgery for a deviated septum. He would still be able to do the match, but nonetheless he would miss at least two weeks of build. That left Wrestling/DeanAmbrose the only full-time main event talent active, and since his opponent at ''Mania'', Brock Lesnar, was only booked for a couple more appearances, Ambrose and Wrestling/TripleH were stuck having to carry RAW by themselves by starting a mini-feud for the upcoming ''WWE Roadblock'' Network Special. Just for the record, that year's ''Mania'' was to be held in Dallas at the AT&T Stadium (aka the Cowboys Stadium), and WWE was planning on selling it out and breaking the 108,000 attendance record. By the time of Reigns' facial reconstruction surgery, they were more concerned with achieving a decent buy rate.
** In short, over the course of five years, these main eventers either retired, went into part-timer status, were put on the shelf indefinitely, or left: Wrestling/ShawnMichaels, Wrestling/{{Batista}}, Wrestling/ChrisJericho, Wrestling/TheUndertaker, Wrestling/{{Edge|Wrestler}}, Wrestling/CMPunk, Wrestling/DanielBryan, Wrestling/TripleH, Wrestling/JohnCena, and Wrestling/RandyOrton. Ten wrestlers that the company could rely on to headline major [=PPVs=] such as ''Wrestling/SummerSlam'' or ''Wrestling/WrestleMania'' are all but gone in the last five years -- for perspective, that's two main eventers ''per year''. And the only stars that are currently over enough that the company would be comfortable with on top are Wrestling/TheShield. To say the company is in a bad spot currently would be a ''severe'' understatement.
** Three and a half years later, another massive hole opened in the main event scene: Wrestling/RomanReigns, the then-Universal Champion, was forced to relinquish the title...because his ''[[WhamLine leukemia returned]]''. On top of being the first time in the entire history of the company that someone that high-up the card had to go on hiatus under such circumstances, the company basically had to treat the situation as if he just ''retired'' because there was no way they could determine a possible time frame for a return (if he ever returns). This was detrimental to the company for several reasons: Reigns had been built up for the past few years as Wrestling/JohnCena's successor, and the number of potential stars that could take his place in a reasonable time frame could be counted on one hand -- and thanks to the brand split, they were all spread out between both shows. WWE was forced to push up Wrestling/DeanAmbrose's FaceHeelTurn to the ''same night'' Reigns relinquished the title just so they could push him and Wrestling/SethRollins back up to the main event as the new top heel and top face. That was because around the same time, another injury epidemic hit the company and took out several wrestlers that could move up the card -- Ambrose and Rollins were two of the four remaining established main event talent on RAW after Reigns' departure.
* At the end of the 2011 Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}} season, the {{rudo}} stable Wrestling/DieBruderschaftDesKreuzes (BDK) had been forcibly disbanded. Ares, [[Wrestling/ClaudioCastagnoli Claudio Castagnoli (Antonio Cesaro)]] and Wrestling/SinnBodhi were all no longer with the promotion, and Wrestling/EddieKingston and Wrestling/{{UltraMantis Black}} were both ''[[{{Face}} tecnicos]]''. The opening storyline for 2012 being which of the remaining rudos would come out on top of the heap. Tim Donst (Ares' Dragon), [[Wrestling/TheBatiri Obariyon]] (Bodhi's Dragon) and [[Wrestling/TheOsirianPortal Ophidian]] all in the mix.
** This has arguably been a recurring issue for CHIKARA. [[Wrestling/LarrySweeney Sweet N Sour International]] was defeated and Wrestling/TheKingsOfWrestling rose to become a threat. The KOW fell apart and F.I.S.T. and the [=UnStable=] both seemed to be fighting for top rudo spot, before the aforementioned BDK rose. When the BDK was disbanded, the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Titor Conglomerate]] took over and eventually shut the company down. When the company was purchased by someone else and came back, Titor sent Wrestling/{{Deucalion}} and the Flood to menace CHIKARA. Then Deucalion was vanquished and the Flood fell apart, the void is starting to get filled by the [[BrainwashedAndCrazy Hexed Men]] of [[EldritchAbomination Nazmaldun]]...
* [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]]:
** Without a doubt, TNA's biggest problem. The promotion has spent ''55%'' of its existence besieged by some large heel faction trying to take over the company. Then the giant, super-faction starts in-feuding, wrestlers get released, and the stable dwindles down to nonexistence. Then we got at most a year before ''another'' faction starts up and we go through the whole process again.
** The main event scene. Started by the signing of numerous ex-WWE stars, they're pushed at the expense of the young, homegrown TNA talent. Then when they leave, TNA finds itself in a scramble because they weren't able to build up new stars in the meantime and were relying on these "big-name" stars from the WWE to carry the main event. Rather than build up said younger, homegrown talent, they try to attract some ''other'' "big-name", former-WWE talent instead.
** In fact, you can make the argument that TNA's existence was founded on both this trope and {{nepotism}}. This trope in the sense that it was meant to replace Wrestling/{{WCW}}, and nepotism because it was founded by the Jarretts so Wrestling/JeffJarrett could be in the spotlight for a while. All it did was become a ReplacementScrappy for WCW which never reached anything close to the original's success.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Roleplay]]
* In ''Roleplay/TheGamersAlliance'', when [[RoyallyScrewedUp King Renu]] dies in the First Age, his kingdom becomes a battleground for rival factions until the Mullencamp cult led by [[ManipulativeBastard Sydney Losstarot]] defeats the other factions and takes over. Demons take over the previously villainous Yamato Empire, rally behind four different hordes and begin fighting against each other when their master, [[PhysicalGod the dark god Mardük]], kicks the bucket after the Cataclysm in the Third Age.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* The entire premise of the ''VideoGame/AdventureQuest'' spinoff ''VideoGame/WarpForce''. Folowing [[DestroyerDeity The'Galin's]] cleansing at the end of the ''Devourer saga'', the majority of his 'Network' of alien conquests and followers was stil at large and wrecking havoc everywhere throughout the galaxy, the titular ''Warpforce'' being created to hunt them down.
** Also following the ''Devourer Saga'' was the fate of Darkovia. During it, the normally [[FurAgainstFang Werewolf and Vampire]] dominated forest was conquered by Wolfwing's son Balius (aka ''Nightbane''), a Dracopyre[[note]]A Mixture of Vampire Werewolf and Dragon and at the time, the only one of his kind[[/note]] who towards the end of the saga pulled a HeelFaceTurn and tried to fight the manifestation of the titular [[DestroyerDeity Devourer/The'Galin]] only to get [[SenselessSacrifice annihilated for his trouble]]. His death created one of these in Darkovia allowing his son, Donovan to easily instigate a war between the humans, vampires, werewolves and werepyres and setting the stage for the ''Dracopyre Legacy'' Saga.
* ''VideoGame/TheAscent'': The premise of the story is that The Ascent CyberPunk MegaCorp failed under mysterious circumstances and the PlayerCharacter is under IndenturedServitude to work for some of the unscrupulous groups warring over the scraps.
* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'' shows two aspects to this trope. In the immediate aftermath of [[spoiler: Joker's death]], Gotham's violent crimes (and crime in general) take a nosedive. For the better part of year, it's never been so peaceful. However [[spoiler: the Joker]] was actually a mitigating factor of sorts to the other criminals in the city, keeping them fighting amongst themselves. Now with that obstacle gone, the villains can unite to take down their mutual enemy. So they wreak terror on Gotham together, on an unprecedented scale, to rid themselves of the Dark Knight once and for all.
* In ''VideoGame/BloodRayne 2'', [[spoiler:this is what happens at the end of the game: after Rayne killed her evil father and siblings, it turns out that there are other vampire lords out there that want to carve out Kagan's kingdom among themselves following his death. With much of the world falling into chaos and lawlessness thanks to Kagan's scheme to [[TheNightThatNeverEnds blot out the sun]] forcing humanity underground as the surface is overrun with monsters, the vampires don't need to hide in the shadows anymore since humans are now easy pickings for them. Rayne is left with no choice, but [[KlingonPromotion inherit her father's place]] to keep it from falling into worse hands]].
* The villains in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow'' are a cult that believes that Dracula's death [[spoiler:and Soma's refusal to take his place]] have resulted in a power vacuum that must be filled to preserve the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil.
* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow2'' Dracula is a extremely powerful EvilOverlord hellbent in taking revenge against the world, but its acknowledged that he keeps two of his worst enemies -- Zobek the Lord of Necromancers and {{Satan}} himself -- from also threatening the world [[TheDreaded due to sheer fear of him]], and they will simply take his place should Dracula ever dies. It soon turns into a plot point when [[spoiler: his son Alucard convinces him to fake his death so both Zobek and Satan can come out of hiding, giving him the opportunity to eliminate them in one stroke]].
* The incomplete and unreleased ''{{ComicBook/Daredevil}}'' video game would have featured ComicBook/TheKingpin faking his death in order to create a power vacuum in Hell's Kitchen. After the city's gangs devastated one another to become the new top dog, Kingpin would have made his return and finished them off.
* This is what happens in the strange [[EarnYourBadEnding secret ending]] of ''VideoGame/DemonsCrest'' that you get by beating Phalanx early, before he's marked on the map. Firebrand hasn't assembled the Crest and thus lacks the power to rule in Phalanx's place, so he takes off, leaving the Ghoul Realm in anarchy.
* In ''VideoGame/Destiny2'', [[spoiler: the "Shadowkeep" storyline shows that the Hidden Swarm, the Hive sect Crota commanded, have fallen into this. With their leader Crota, as well as his father Oryx and all of Oryx's Court slain by the Guardians, the Hidden Swarm retreated into hiding beneath the Hellmouth on the Moon. Many of the Swarm, still devoted to [[ReligionOfEvil the Sword Logic,]] decided that what had to be done now was to decide a new leader, [[KlingonPromotion with violence.]] As such, aspiring Hive soldiers engaged in gladiatorial combat in the Pit at the bottom of the Hellmouth, vying for leadership of the Swarm. Hashladun, Crota's daughter, observed what was happening with disgust, recognizing that they were only digging themselves deeper this way. Not to mention, the Guardians had already taken out all their best warriors, so the "champion" determined by this slaughter wouldn't be anyone extraordinary anyway.]]
** In general, a power vacuum has been taking place for the Hive ever since the death of Oryx, the Taken King. Certain other powerful Hive, such as Alak-Hul, and even intelligent Taken, such as Malok, attempted to fill the void, only to be killed off by the Guardians. In ''Destiny 2'', [[spoiler: Savathun effectively managed to place herself at the head of the Hive, using Quria, Blade Transform, a Taken Vex Axis Mind given to her by Oryx, to take control of the Taken for herself. While her sister Xivu Arath remains a major player in the struggle, Savathun, through her cunning, managed to keep ahead of her. Then, in "Season of Arrivals", Savathun rebelled against the Deep, or rather, its true master, the Witness, by attempting to prevent it from making contact with the Guardians. When that failed, Savathun was branded as a heretic by the rest of the Hive, forcing her into exile. With Savathun gone, the power vacuum officially came to an end as Xivu Arath soon became the only remaining Hive god bound to the Deep. "Season Of The Lost" cemented this with Xivu being given control of the Taken.]]
* This is the backdrop of the original ''[[VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness Disgaea]]'' game. With King Krichevskoy dead and his successor Prince Laharl nowhere to be found, most of the king's vassals went rogue, deciding to take a shot at being the next Overlord. After Laharl wakes up, he's none to pleased to find out most of the castle's denizens had ditched him. The direct sequel, ''VideoGame/DisgaeaD2ABrighterDarkness'', shows that the Netherworld is pretty much in the same state more or less, due to very few people acknowledging Laharl as the new Overlord due of his general lack of popularity among the masses. To make things worse, there's the Krichevskoy Group, a political faction formed by former vassals of Krichevskoy, who think that the young prince is an InadequateInheritor and are trying to prop up a PuppetKing, a female knight called Barbara who is seemingly unable to think by herself, in lieu of him.
* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins''
** This is the core theme of the series; "[[FullCircleRevolution Yesterday's slaves become today's oppressors]]." When the "[[GodEmperor Old Gods]]" fell, the [[TheMagocracy Tevinter Imperium]] took over. When Andraste broke Tevinter's back, her acolytes set up the Thedas equivalent of Christianity around her, [[KnightTemplar and we all know how that ended]]. When the Chantry started to lose their grip on the peoples' faith, the [[TheSyndicate Orlesians]] "lent" them a hand and became the papal capital. When the blights started and the Orlesians couldn't suvert their way out of a horde of endless killers, the [[UsefulNotes/UnitedNations Grey Wardens]] used fear and steadfast determination at the same time to ''effectively take over the world by gaining the power to conscript ANYONE, even kings''. And when Corypheus comes along and fucks with the entire world order, nearly breaking it under his rule, a small band of heroes known as [[UsefulNotes/TheSpanishInquisition The Inquisition]] acquires more power in a single year than any of the previous factions have in their first fifty.
** Implied to be a force at play in the expansion ''[[VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening Awakening]]''. [[TheChessmaster The Architect]] existed before the Blight, but was unable to attempt to "awaken" other [[HiveMind Darkspawn]] until the Archdemon arose and commanded them to the surface. However, while the Archdemon lived, it essentially put out interference, keeping the Architect's plans from bearing fruit. It was only after the Archdemon's death -- a time that should have sent the Darkspawn back underground -- that the Architect was able to begin his mission. Within a few years of the start of the Blight, his schemes have snowballed to the point that one NPC mentions that the Darkspawn army is greater than or equal to a Blight's strength -- something unheard of in the world previously.
** The Architect also created his own rival the Mother, a Broodmother that did not appreciate her newfound "freedom" since she believes that existence without the song of the Old Gods is unbearable. The plotline of ''Awakening'' is about the Warden Commander getting dragged into their EnemyCivilWar.
* In ''VideoGame/Fallout2'', if the PlayerCharacter kills all four of {{The Don}}s ruling New Reno then the city self-destructs and is left a ruin.
* Several characters consider this to be the fate of Caesar's Legion in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' if Caesar dies. While he does have a successor in Legate Lanius, without a charismatic leader to hold the Legion together it will inevitably crumble back into the warring tribes that it was forged from. This is a problem, as the Legion was definitely a lesser evil, owing to the safety and discipline it brought to the formerly anarchic lands of Arizona.
** The Van Graff crime family was the result of this, as the [[VideoGame/Fallout2 Chosen One]] finding a cure for [[FantasticDrug Jet]] addiction led to the collapse of the Mordino family in New Reno which allowed the Van Graffs to establish a foothold and spread their influence.
* Mad King Ashnard's death in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'' leaves Daein under the merciless occupation of the Begnion empire in the sequel, ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn''. Restoring Daein to sovereignty is the plot of Part 1, though [[spoiler:they're secretly still under Begnion's rule by a blood pact]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}} II'''s main antagonists are a result of this. The Taiidani Imperium came apart at the seams at the end of the first game, with a vicious civil war turning one vast InterstellarEmpire into a much smaller interstellar Republic, a bunch of newly-independent systems and a lot of FormerRegimePersonnel with a cashflow problem. The ones who didn't turn warlord or pirate formed various "loyalist" factions with the goal of overthrowing the Republic and restoring the Imperium to its former glory, and might have got somewhere [[WeAREStrugglingTogether if they spent less time fighting among themselves about who'd get to call the shots after they won]]. Enter [[SpaceMongols the Vaygr]] from stage galactic-spinwards, particularly a clever and ambitious clan chieftain by the name of Makaan.
* ''VideoGame/Injustice2'': This is precisely what happens after [[FallenHero Superman's]] [[KnightTemplar Regime]] is overthrown by the Insurgency in ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs''. With the totalitarian government preserving order through fear out of their way, supervillains come out of the woodwork rallying under [[DiabolicalMastermind Gorilla Grodd's]] [[LegionOfDoom Society]] to wreak havoc on the world. To make things worse, superheroes have been spread very thin as those who didn't join Superman ended up [[HeroKiller being killed by him]], leaving Batman with very few allies left to fight against this new menace. And if that wasn't enough, Brainiac joins the fray, and [[OmnicidalManiac he's known to collect cities and destroy planets]], [[GreaterScopeVillain and was responsible for Krypton's destruction]], thus being indirectly behind the events of ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs''.
* The Sith CivilWar shortly before the events of ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'' was the result of this, thanks to Sith ChronicBackstabbingDisorder and the loss of Darth Revan's CultOfPersonality. How it exactly plays out depends on the ending chosen for the [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic first game]]; in the Light Side version [[spoiler: [[PlayerCharacter Revan]] led a Jedi invasion force to drive the Sith from Korriban, resulting in them devolving into feuding warlords fighting over his former territory before being united under [[TheEmpire the Sith Triumvirate]].]] In the DarkSide version, [[spoiler: Darth Revan united the Sith under his banner once more only to ditch them to find the [[GreaterScopeVillain True Sith]] after regaining his memories. With him gone, the Sith end up destroying each other fighting for control of the planet, with the survivors picked up by the Triumvirate.]] [[InSpiteOfANail Regardless, the end result is essentially the same]] with a very empty Sith Academy on their homeworld and the Sith Triumvirate restarting the ForeverWar against the Jedi in Revan's absence.
* ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'': One of Swain's taunts has him warn Kindred that this could happen in Noxus should they take him.
* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', Shepard kills the vast majority (including the leadership) of [[WretchedHive Omega Station]]'s Blue Suns, Eclipse, and Blood Pack -- the station's three major crime syndicates -- to save [[VigilanteMan Garrus]] from them. Come ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'': ''[[DownloadableContent Omega]]'', it is revealed by Aria that their deaths triggered a massive power struggle by the lesser gangs. Eventually, a fourth group called the Talons came out the victor, [[spoiler:with a new [[ChaoticGood morally-respectable]] leader in Nyreen Kandros]].
* ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX'': WordOfGod confirms that several factions in Outworld are at war with one another in an effort to fill the void left by [[VideoGame/MortalKombat9 Shao Kahn's defeat in the previous game]]; while new character Kotal Kahn is currently taking his place as Emperor, it's been confirmed that he won't be Emperor for the entire game.
** In the events leading up to the game by way of the ''Mortal Kombat X'' comic series, [[DragonAscendant Mileena had actually become the Kahnum of Outworld]], as was her place, but her tyrannical rule was loathed by the citizens of Outworld, partly because [[TheCaligula she was incompetent in ruling it]]. So Kotal Kahn, one of her advisers, took advantage of the situation by overthrowing Mileena, but she then instigates a rebellion in a bid to retake her throne, tearing the realm apart. [[spoiler:The civil war ends with Mileena biting the dust, but her arcade ending reveals that she found an entire army of Mileena clones made by Shang Tsung that she can control telepathically. She uses them to reclaim Outworld.]]
** In the end of the story mode, [[spoiler:with Quan Chi dead and Shinnok depowered so severely that eventually he's reduced to a living head by a corrupted Raiden, the Netherrealm falls into chaos with demons fighting amongst one another for dominion over the realm. Liu Kang's Arcade ending reveals that he beat the Oni into submission, and he and Kitana end up taking the throne by [[DragonAscendant becoming the]] [[HellHasNewManagement Netherrealm's co-rulers]], since any hopes of returning to the living world are gone.]]
*** [[spoiler:On a bigger note, with [[VideoGame/MortalKombatX Shinnok reduced to a mere living head]] and [[VideoGame/MortalKombat9 Shao Kahn]] out of the picture, Raiden, who CameBackWrong after purifying the Jinsei, has emerged as a new threat (alongside the Netherrealm's co-rulers) to the Elder Gods, if Quan Chi's Arcade ending is to be trusted.]]
* ''Videogame/Persona5 [[UpdatedRerelease Royal]]'': After the Phantom Thieves defeat Yaldabaoth his power and control over the collective unconscious are usurped by [[spoiler:Maruki]]. As the new god of control he also merges the cognitive world with the real one and makes decisions for all of humanity albeit for completely benevolent motivations.
** In the [[Videogame/Persona5Strikers sequel]], [[spoiler:[[AIIsACrapshoot EMMA]]]] attempts to do the same thing believing that humanity wants someone to make their decisions for them.
* In the ''VideoGame/QuakeII'' manual, it is stated that your final objective is assassinating the Strogg Makron to trigger one of these. [[spoiler:About a third through ''VideoGame/QuakeIV'', you encounter a new Makron, so presumably, the interregnum was shorter than Earth hoped.]]
* In the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' universe, the [[MegaCorp Umbrella corporation]] is exposed for their biological experiments that turned Raccoon City into a zombie filled nightmare, which forced the United States government to [[ItsTheOnlyWayToBeSure completely annhilate the city so the virus outbreak did not spread any further]]. Umbrella was pretty much finished, but their leftover experiments and company secrets were leaked and fell into the hands of the black market and rival companies. This causes the events of later games that the protagonists have to deal with. [[spoiler: The fall of Umbrella was orchestrated by Wesker behind the scenes, which allowed him to get data on the [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil4 Las Plagas]] and [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil5 Uroboros]] projects years later.]]
* Due to the 3rd Street Saints being broken up after the events of ''VideoGame/SaintsRow'', [[MegaCorp Ultor]] and several new gangs came out of the woodwork to fill in the void that the Saints left behind. You spend most of ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'' taking the city back.
* This is how Saika Magoichi's revenge (for the razing of the Saika village) [[GoneHorriblyWrong goes horribly wrong]] in his ''VideoGame/SamuraiWarriors 2'' story; after he [[spoiler:shoots and kills Oda Nobunaga]], he comes across a number of peasants beset by raiders who've found out already that [[spoiler:Nobunaga]] is gone; later [[spoiler:Fuuma Kotarou]] reveals that he released the news specifically to accelerate/cause the power vacuum that [[spoiler:Nobunaga]] had been preventing.
* ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' had this happen twice: Oda Nobunaga's death at the hands of Akechi Mitsuhide led to the rise of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, whose death at the hands of Tokugawa Ieyasu led to the rise of Ishida Mitsunari.
* ''VideoGame/ShaunWhiteSkateboarding'' discusses this and subverts it in the ending. Resistance leader Jonah brags that he will take control in the Ministry's absence and calls you a bunch of idiots for falling for it... before joking that he was kidding and everything's fine.
* This is a recurring theme in ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4'', and one that ties into Spider-Man's [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility famous motto]]. After bringing down Wilson "The Kingpin" Fisk in the game's ActionPrologue, Spidey feels he's due for some much needed R&R to focus on his work and social life. But (as predicted by [[PompousPoliticalPundit J. Jonah Jameson]] on his podcast) with Kingpin gone, all the low-level thugs who had to pay up to him are now free to act on their own, leading to a rise in street crime, while other criminal organizations attempt to move in and establish themselves in Kingpin's place. In particular, a budding supervillain with terrorist ambitions was just waiting for Fisk's empire to crumble to make his move, and the resultant chaos brought by this new threat makes Spider-Man almost nostalgic for Kingpin's orderly control. [[spoiler:And once ''that'' villain is taken care of, ''another'' supervillain with similar goals steps in to pick up where the first one left off, and [[FromBadToWorse things escalate from there]].]] ''The City That Never Sleeps'' DLC campaigns continue with this theme, as with the main game's villains taken care of and Kingpin's criminal empire still in decline, [[TheMafia the Maggia]] have started to make a comeback in Manhattan.
* ''VideoGame/StarCraftI''
** The game ends with the Zerg overmind defeated at last. Then, in ''Brood War'', all the factions get pulled into [[spoiler:a struggle between Kerrigan and the cerebrates to replace it]].
** After the Confederacy is overthrown by Arcturus Mengsk, he actually created a power vacuum so he can build himself an empire, which is as bad as the former.
* ''VideoGame/StarShiftRebellion'': Bernard is hesitant to [[spoiler:expose Commodus's collusion with the ESA because this information would cause Canis Prime to be ravaged by a civil war between the various packs as each pack tries to install a new alpha. Unfortunately, his fears are proven true when Xena takes over Canis Prime by colluding with Novus Federation]].
* Mr. X in ''VideoGame/StreetsOfRage'' leads TheSyndicate and overtakes the city in three games. By the third game, he's reduced to being a BrainInAJar and his final defeat leaves him DeaderThanDead. The fourth game takes place ten years later and the city is once again overtaken by a new Syndicate since Mr. X is no longer running things. [[spoiler: The new leaders are Mr. X's children, Mr. and Ms. Y.]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Valis}} II'', Megas steps into the power vacuum created by the death of Rogles.
* Much of the Undead plotline in ''VideoGame/WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne'' follows Arthas, Sylvanas, and the Dreadlords fighting over who controls the Scourge after the Burning Legion was defeated.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''
** At the end of ''Wrath of the Lich King'', much effort is spent [[AvertedTrope averting this]]. The players [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu beat the aforementioned Arthas in his Lich King form]]. Turns out [[NiceJobBreakingItHero this is a really bad idea]], as all the undead he controlled [[ApocalypseHow are now free to kill everything]], so someone must [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu become the Lich King]] and [[AndIMustScream sit on the Frozen Throne forever]]. The only HandWave given to why exactly the Scourge would be more powerful without its leader, how it could just take over the world by running rampant even after most of its operations and command structures have been taken apart in earlier quests, is that the small part of Arthas that is still human (not ''good'', mind you, but prideful and obsessed with creating FallenHero scenarios) may have been holding him back -- which should mean all those dire plans of his that everyone has been fighting have actually been deliberately useless stalling. It's [[PlotHole not very convincing]] if you [[FridgeLogic think about it]].
** There is a better explanation for those who are familiar with ''Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne''. (Why this wasn't the official explanation is anyone's guess.) When the Lich King started losing power, most of his former forces in Lordaeron were taken over by the Dreadlords. With the Lich King destroyed, the entire remainder of the Scourge forces in Northrend would similarly be vulnerable to Dreadlord control, and by this time we knew that Varimathras and Mal'Ganis (at the very least) were still out there. And the Dreadlords are much more interested in using the Scourge to conquer Azeroth than either Ner'zhul or Arthas was...
** The players are treated to the end-result of this in the Mag'har Orc Recruitment Scenario in ''Battle For Azeroth'': Where after the events of ''Warlords of Draenor'' the power vacuum left behind by the defeat of [[GivingRadioToTheRomans The Iron Horde]], [[HijackedByGanon The Fel Horde]], [[OurOgresAreHungrier the Highmaul Ogres]], and [[SternSunWorshippers The Adherents of Rukhmar]], coupled with [[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain Yrel]] suffering the deaths of her sister, Vindicator Maraad, and that timelines' [[GoodShepherd Prophet Velen]] had resulted in the Draenei PuttingOnTheReich and becoming [[LightIsNotGood The Lightbound]] to start enslaving the Orcs to their cause when there were no more Demons for them to fight against[[note]][[BecameTheirOwnAntithesis In much the same way as the Legion did in the main timeline]][[/note]]. The scary thing about all of this is: '''''[[NiceJobBreakingItHero WE]]''''' [[NiceJobBreakingItHero the players were responsible for The Lightbounds' rise to power]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'', the [[VillainProtagonist "heroes"]] kill both the mob and the city guard of Onrac. However, this is subverted, in that they realize that they are the ''only'' people in charge. [[NukeEm This doesn't last long.]]
* Though how [[TheExtremistWasRight evil]] he was is [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation debatable]], this becomes the case for Baron Klaus Wulfenbach's Empire in ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' post-TimeSkip. Various [[MadScientist Sparks]] and [[AristocratsAreEvil nobles]] all fight for territory and power, with some of the major factions being Klaus' son Gilgamesh (in control of [[TheRemnant the vastly-reduced Empire]]), the Knights of Jove/Martellus von Blitzengard, and the Queen of the Dawn (Zola, who possesses the memories of [[BigBad The Other]]).
* Lampshaded in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', where Haley is convinced not to kill her former employer and leader of the Thieves Guild Bozzok because of this trope.
* [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] and then [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary''. Ennesby states that their recent actions in [[spoiler:[[WretchedHive Haven Hive]] will create an evil power vacuum. [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-11-12 Instead it sucked Shep's mother to the top.]]]]
* Following K'Z'K's death in ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'', at least two other demons have tried to fill the power vacuum. Skip is trying to find a piece of K'Z'K he can use to restore the real thing, while Meander has set up a cult to do insect based world conquest in her own way.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* An article from ''Website/TheOnion'' has a small-scale version, with "[[https://www.theonion.com/second-most-popular-kid-in-school-assumes-power-followi-1819571787 Second-Most Popular Kid In School Assumes Power Following Death Of Star Quarterback]]".
* This happens within the first few arcs of ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', and is partly the fault of the protagonist. On her first night as an attempted superhero, she runs into a superpowered gang boss and defeats him, decapitating his gang and causing the other villains in the city, scenting blood, to move more openly. His [[TheDragon second-in-command]] begins a bombing spree without him to hold her back.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Video]]
* Happens off camera in ''WebVideo/TheGreatNerfWar'' between the 2nd and 3rd Season after [[spoiler:Florentine kills Commander Nhine]] in the Season 2 final and is addressed by Florentine in the beginning of Season 3.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* One ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode had Finn defend a village of house people from an obnoxious green ogre and teach him how to feel empathy. Unfortunately, with the ogre out of the way, their much worse predators called "Why-Wolves" (like werewolves, except more intelligent and inquisitive) terrorize the villagers thanks to the ogre not releasing "Obnoxygen", which is lethal to them.
* In ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'', Charmcaster managed to overthrow the tyrant Adwaita at some point. Unfortunately, her fellow rebels immediately waged war among themselves in a bid to take over.
* The future of the ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes2006'' second season was a peaceful utopia thanks to the Legion having defeated all evil and brought peace. When a new evil finally did show up in the form of Imperiex, no-one was prepared and he easily conquered most of the universe.
* ''WesternAnimation/CarmenSandiego'': The leadership of [[NebulousEvilOrganization V.I.L.E.]] spend most of Season 2 trying to fill the empty seat on their committee left by [[spoiler: [[GoodAllAlong Shadow-san's]] defection]], with many candidates trying to earn the position but failing due to Team Carmen's actions. Ultimately, Roundabout (V.I.L.E.'s DoubleAgent in British intelligence) proves himself the most efficient and worthy of the role, and is promoted in the Season 2 finale. [[spoiler: After his public exposure in the Season 3 finale, the others [[YouHaveFailedMe punish him]] by locking him away, leaving the fifth seat empty again until the [[GrandFinale Season 4 finale]] when a BrainwashedAndCrazy Carmen is appointed to it.]]
* This is the case in Season 3 of ''WesternAnimation/{{Castlevania|2017}}''. Due to [[BigBad Dracula's]] death at the end of Season 2, the vampire nation has splintered into various factions fighting for territory, while [[TheLegionsOfHell the Night Creatures]] are rampaging without anyone to lead them. The main goal of [[TheStarscream Carmilla]] and her sisters is to take advantage of this chaos to conquer Eastern Europe and create an empire.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', Vicky loses her job as Timmy's babysitter only for Timmy's TooDumbToLive parents to replace her with Gary and Betty, who are just so annoying Timmy would rather endure Vicky.
* An example presented as history, in ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse'', Keldor's original defeat led to a war called the Great Unrest, where several warlords formed a loose alliance in an attempt to overthrow the fledgling kingdom. Exactly how it ended is not revealed, but presumably, there was a decisive victory for the royal army.
* ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'':
** With the defeat of Shendu and his return to a helpless statue, everything seems fine, until Jade blows Shendu to slag with the Dragon talisman. At this point Uncle (who of course [[CantGetAwayWithNuthin blames Jackie]]) says that since Shendu has been destroyed a new, stronger darkness can take his place. Cue Shendu's extended family!
** Averted come the end of Season 3. Shendu is revived into a physical form, but immediately has his 12 talismans taken away, reducing him back to his harmless statue form. The talismans and he are then locked behind a vault in Section 13. While Shendu is ''technically'' still on the board, the fourth season introduces Tarakudo, and the fifth season brings in Shendu's KidFromTheFuture. Shendu himself isn't really a player again until the GrandFinale, [[spoiler:where he's released deliberately to fight his son]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', when Darkseid was [[spoiler:killed by Superman by leaving him to die in Brainiac's exploding asteroid base]], a civil-war erupted in Apokolips between Granny Goodness' forces and those of Virman Vundabar. This was deliberately maintained for several seasons by the Justice League [[WeAREStrugglingTogether to prevent a united Apokolips from threatening Earth]]. This came to a halt [[spoiler: when Tala resurrected Darkseid. When Darkseid returned to Apokolips, they ended the war right then and there.]]
* In the final season of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', [[spoiler:following the brutal assassination of the [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen corrupt Earth Queen Hou-Ting]] by the Red Lotus, the Earth Kingdom [[AnarchyIsChaos has been left in anarchy]], with it eventually consolidated under Kuvira, who proves to be an even more brutal dictator. Zaheer, the one who killed the Queen, is [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone incredibly guilt-ridden]] over the fact that his attempt to free the Earth Kingdom of oppressive leadership [[{{Irony}} only caused it to fall under even worse oppression]]]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'', it's revealed that Rick killing the Council of Ricks resulted in this in the Citadel, with the citizens holding a Presidental election for a new leader. [[spoiler:The winner of the election is Candidate Morty, who turns out to be Evil Morty, allowing him to use his position to further his plan to escape the Central Finite Curve]].
* Happens in ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'' after [[EvilVersusEvil a three-way gang war]] manages to wipe out the criminal empires of Tombstone, [[WickedCultured Silvermane]], [[MultiArmedAndDangerous Dr. Octopus]] ''and'' [[TheStarscream Hammerhead]]. The vacuum is quickly taken over by [[spoiler:[[MagnificentBastard the Green Goblin]]]], who had helped manipulate events for this purpose. This was even pointed out by Captain Stacy, who noted that "Nature abhors a vacuum."
* After Shredder died in the 2000s ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|2003}}'', our shelled heroes had to contend with a literal city at war in the second season, with TheMafia, the Foot Clan, and the Purple Dragons fighting to take control of Shredder's empire. In that case, [[spoiler: Shredder's adopted daughter, Karai, became the new Shredder]]. In Season 4, the series was left with no central villain since the Utrom Shredder, Ch'rell, had been exiled to a frozen asteroid by the end of the third season finale. This left the turtles free to take part in a variety of adventures in this Shredder-less fourth season. (Karai did take up Shredder's mantle, but was defeated quite decisively in a duel with Leonardo.) The power vacuum was filled again in the fifth season when the ancient Demon Shredder was resurrected again. Note that Leonardo mentions this trope almost word for word to justify aiding the leader of a former enemy faction just to get some order back in the city.
* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' actually begins with Megatron apparently dying at the hands of Optimus Prime (with a little help from Starscream) and [[TheStarscream Starscream]] appointing himself leader... just before everyone else abandons ship as they were about to crash. [[spoiler:Starscream later gets Lugnut and Blitzwing on his side, but when Megatron gets back, he's pretty pissed and takes revenge on the usurper. The other Decepticons are quick to re-affirm their loyalty to Megatron. Though Lugnut's loyalty never wavered to begin with. He continued to believe that Megatron was still alive, which actually was the main cause behind Megatron's return]].
* ''WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021'': In the [[Recap/WhatIfS1E2WhatIfTChallaBecameAStarLord second episode's]] timeline, Thanos being talked into a HeelFaceTurn by T'Challa left a power vacuum in the galactic underworld that the Collector ended up filling, including recruiting the Black Order as enforcers.
[[/folder]]

----