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Arc Villain / Live-Action TV

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  • The American Horror Story shows usually have multiple antagonists in each season:
  • The shows of the Arrowverse use this liberally, with each season having a distinct villain who's dealt with by the end, or two who switch positions at the halfway point.
    • Arrow:
      • Season 1: Moira Queen seems to be the leader of The Conspiracy at first, before Malcolm Merlyn upstages her, the conspiracy plotting to destroy the Glades with an earthquake machine. And in the flashbacks of Oliver's time on the island, Edward Fyers seeks to destroy a plane (thinking that its destruction can destabilize China, but it was later revealed that his hirer, Amanda Waller, had not informed him that China White was on the plane, and that his real goal was to kill her).
      • Season 2: Sebastian Blood conducts the Mirakuru experiments and creates direct problems for the heroes until the midseason finale. At that point, he's revealed to be a lackey for Slade Wilson, seeking a Roaring Rampage of Revenge on Oliver that culminates in invading the city with an army. Originally Anthony Ivo was present in the flashbacks of the season seeing the Mirakuru, but his actions set Slade down the path of evil when he becomes injected with it, Shado is killed, and he seeks revenge on Oliver for her death.
      • Season 3: The first third revolves around a murder investigation, the culprit of which turns out to be Malcolm Merlyn again. Ra's Al Ghul only becomes the main threat because the former forced the heroes into conflict with him, culminating in his desire to make Oliver his heir. Amanda Waller tasked Oliver with pursuing China White in flashbacks in Hong Kong, but she becomes eclipsed by General Matthew Shrieve later on, as he uses a bioweapon White was after to try to attack the country of China (and setting the stage for Maseo, one of Oliver's allies, taking the bioweapon to the League of Assassins in the present when he joins it).
      • Season 4: Damien Darkh, with the endgame of launching nuclear missiles around the world to have his followers he protects start anew. The flashbacks have Baron Reiter, in search of a magic idol on Lian Yu later acquired by Damien Darkh. Anarky is also one in the present to Green Arrow's half-sister Speedy.
      • Season 5: Tobias Church is a Disc-One Final Boss, being later killed by Prometheus, aka Adrian Chase, taking revenge on Oliver for the murder of his father, and mentored by Talia al Ghul, herself angry at Oliver killing Ra's. The flashbacks have Konstantin Kovar, business partner to Malcolm Merlyn whom Oliver works with the Bratva to confront. General J. G. Walker is also one to Green Arrow's confidante John Diggle / Spartan, framing him for crimes.
      • Season 6: Cayden James spends the first half as the ringleader of the Big Bad Duumvirate, seeking revenge (noting a pattern?) for the murder of his son. He's then killed by Ricardo Diaz, who was using him all along to put corrupt officials in power and take over the city.
      • Season 7: Ricardo Diaz for the first few episodes, continuing revenge against Oliver, until he's captured by ARGUS and forced into a renamed Suicide Squad and usurped by his backer, the terrorist known as Dante. Who in turn works for his former protege, Oliver's half-sister Emiko. In the future, a business partner of now-mayor Rene Ramirez / Wild Dog, Kevin Dale, is the main threat to Roy Harper and Oliver's descendants, seeking to eliminate vigilantes worldwide.
      • Season 8: Setting up for Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Anti-Monitor is an unseen powerful villain that Oliver is tasked by the Monitor to prepare everyone for, while an Aborted Arc has JJ Diggle for the future heroes.
    • The Flash (2014):
      • Season 1: The Reverse-Flash, seeking to return to his time after murdering Barry's mother and framing his father, and pulling a Kill and Replace on Harrison Wells.
      • Season 2: Zoom, a speedster from Earth-2 that, like Barry, watched his mother die, but instead became a serial killer, seeking to conquer the multiverse.
      • Season 3: Savitar, really an Evil Twin of Barry's future self trying to set up a Stable Time Loop ensuring his existence.
      • Season 4: The Thinker, creating new metahumans to assimilate their powers as part of his plans of world domination. Amunet Black is an additional threat throughout the season.
      • Season 5: Cicada, seeking to kill metahumans because his niece was injured by them. Both of them, his niece being a future incarnation continuing her uncle's work. It turns out Eobard Thawne was setting the heroes up against the two to trick the heroes into freeing him from execution.
      • Season 6: Joseph Carver, leader of Black Hole is a background presence, and the B-plot about Ralph's search for the missing Sue Dearbon is heavily tied to them. For a more direct threat, Bloodwork is in the first half of the season, turning people into zombies in an effort to slow his cancer, while Eva McCulloch is in the second half, kidnapping Iris West-Allen, among others, with a mirror duplicate (called "Reflections"), then enacting a Long Game to set herself free from her mirror prison and get revenge on Carver.
    • Legends of Tomorrow:
      • Season 1: Vandal Savage, seeking to take over the world, his murdering of Rip Hunter's family being the impetus to unite the titular team (including Hawkman and Hawkgirl, Vandal's usual targets).
      • Season 2: A Legion of Doom made up of former Arrow and Flash villains, including Malcolm Merlyn and Damian Darhk, and later Captain Cold and Heat Wave, led by the Reverse-Flash in the goal to gather the Spear of Destiny and rewrite reality.
      • Season 3: Mallus, unleashing anachronisms in order to free himself from his prison.
      • Season 4: Neron, unleashing mythical monsters while also being a personal adversary to new team member John Constantine.
      • Season 5: Astra Logue, having corrupted in Hell, unleashes new monsters from it while also a personal adversary to John Constantine. In the back half of the season, however, it turns out that she's an Unwitting Pawn of Lachesis and Atropos, two of the three Fates who want to restore their power and eliminate The Evils of Free Will by reuniting the pieces of the Loom of Fate, which were scattered by their rebellious sister Clotho now known as Legends member Charlie.
    • Supergirl (2015):
      • Season 1: General Astra In-Ze, leading escaped criminals from the Phantom Zone, before dying and her scheme being taken over by her husband Non, teaming up with Indigo to carry out the scheme of mind controlling most inhabitants of Earth.
      • Season 2: Lillian Luthor, the leader of Project Cadmus seeking to use a Kryptonian virus to perform genocide on all aliens, and later Queen Rhea Gand of Daxam, invading Earth to take her son Mon-El back to Daxam.
      • Season 3: Reign the World Killer, Superpowered Evil Side to Samantha Arias and leader of the Worldkillers, though eventually her master Selena takes center stage. Morgan Edge also appears as a Big Bad Wannabe Disc-One Final Boss for most of the season.
      • Season 4: Ben Lockwood/Agent Liberty, pursuing aliens, until he's revealed to be just a patsy for Lex Luthor himself, seeking to destroy Superman and Supergirl. There is also Manchester Black, becoming an Anti-Hero adversary to Martian Manhunter while also working against Agent Liberty.
      • Season 5: Initially Malefic J'onnz, unleashed so the Monitor could test Martian Manhunter for Crisis on Infinite Earths, and playing into the later schemes of Lena Luthor. When the Monitor brings back Lex Luthor to test him for the Crisis, he also joins the conflict when the rebooted multiverse puts him and Lena in charge of the DEO. Leviathan is also a central threat in the season, who the other villains are working against.
    • The annual Crossover events general feature their own arc villains:
  • The Boys (2019): While Homelander is the overall Big Bad of the series, each season has its own individual villain who serves as a major threat alongside him, though is usually disposed of by the end of the season.
    • Season 1 has Madelyn Stillwell, the handler of Vought's Supes, and the person Homelander directly orders to. The season ends with Homelander killing her, removing her from the story and cementing Homelander's status as the series' Big Bad.
    • Season 2 has Stormfront, the newest member of the Seven and the original Supe, whose influence in Vought and eventual partnership with Homelander ultimately makes her just as big of a threat to the Boys as Homelander is. By the end of the season, she ends up getting critically injured by Ryan, removing her status as a threat, compounded by her committing suicide offscreen early into the next season.
    • Season 3 has Soldier Boy, Vought's first official superhero who was thought to have died decades prior, but in reality is still alive and being experimented on by Russia. After escaping, while he spends most of the season working alongside the Boys to help defeat Homelander in exchange for helping him get revenge against his old team, said partnership ultimately sows conflict between the Boys, and by the end of the season, the team chooses to turn against him, leading to them fighting him in the season's climax. By the end of the season, he's defeated and put into custody by the CIA.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Despite giving the name to Big Bad, the actual season-long villains were closer to this trope:
    • Season 1: The Master, who seeks to escape his imprisonment and open the Hellmouth in order to bring about demonic dominance of the Earth.
    • Season 2: Angelus, who initially just wants to torment Buffy, before descending to wanting to send the whole world through a portal to Hell.
    • Season 3: Mayor Wilkins, who wants to sacrifice the town's population in order to feed his ascension into a pure demon.
    • Season 4: Adam, who seeks to start a race war between humans and demons so that he can build a race of hybrids like himself from the dead of both sides.
    • Season 5: Glory, who wants to find the Key and return to her own dimension, regardless of how this would collapse reality.
    • Season 6: The Trio, who just want to do things For the Evulz, but whose actions lead to Willow going crazy and trying to destroy the world out of grief.
    • Season 7: The First Evil, which wants to wipe out the Slayer line and open the Hellmouth to unleash its armies.
  • Chouseishin Series:
    • Chouseishin Gransazer: Part 1 (1-12) has Karin Saeki, a Warp Monarch agent who manipulates the Gransazer tribes into fighting. Part 2 (13-24) has Logia, the leader of the Impactor trio sent to Earth to carry out the destruction of humanity. Part 3 (25-41) lacks a central villain and instead focuses on Monster of the Week plots, although Logia returns midway through and appears sparingly. Part 4 (42-51) starts off with the Bosquito before it sees the real Big Bad come into focus, Belzeus.
    • Genseishin Justiriser: Part 1 (1-16) has Doctor Zora, who is the one sending Cyber Knights out to destroy the Stellar Plates in order to unseal her master, Kaiser Hades, who in Part 2 (17-33) steps into the role after he's unsealed at the end of the previous arc. Part 3 (34-45) has Commander Adorocs, who comes to Earth to prepare it for an invasion by his master Hades's older brother Majin Daruga, who after arriving at the start of Part 4 (46-51) becomes the villain from then to the end of the show.
    • Chousei Kantai Sazer X: Part 1 (1-13) has Captain Barder, the one who directed the Descal and their Three Shoguns to attack Earth. Part 2 (14-27) has Garade, leader of the Neo Descal forces come from the future to make sure history stays the same, who demotes the Shoguns to serving under him upon his arrival. Part 3 (28-38) has Garade's master, King Neo Descal, step into the picture himself.
  • Cobra Kai: While the Cobra Kai dojo as a whole are the main villains, the series isn't without its unique set of major antagonists.
  • Criminal Minds had George "The Boston Reaper" Foyet, an unbelievably horrifying Serial Killer even for this show who becomes obsessed with Agent Hotchner after the latter refuses to make a deal with him: Hotchner lets Foyet go free, and Foyet stops killing. Hotch having more spine than Foyet thought he would causes Foyet to switch his target from "anyone who gets in my way" to Hotch in particular.
  • The CSI: Crime Scene Investigation franchise has had several examples (most of them Serial Killers and/or users of Criminal Mind Games). Notable examples include Paul Millander, the Blue Paint Killer, the Miniature Killer and "Dr Jekyll" from "The Mothership;" the Mala Noche cartel from CSI: Miami; and Mac's "333" stalker, the Cabbie Killer, the Compass Killer, and Shane Casey from CSI: NY.
  • Every season of Dexter has involved some kind of Arc Villain:
  • ER' fourth season had a running subplot about Dr. Ellis West, an absolute scuzzball of a pharmaceutical executive whose company is attempting to buy the hospital. He seduces Kerry Weaver in an attempt to use her to get into Dr. Anspaugh's good graces, and the whole thing culminates in her awesomely breaking up with him and telling him where to stick it and him slinking off to whatever hole he crawled out of with his foot in the door gone. Kerry isn't the nicest person herself, but in this instance the viewer can't help but cheer for her.
  • Fringe
    • Season 1: David Robert Jones, who's directly or indirectly responsible for much of the fringe cases this season with his organization ZFT.
    • Seasons 2 & 3: Walternate, who seeks to destroy the main universe, seeing it as the only way to save his own.
    • Season 4: Initially it seems to be Jones again, but it's really William Bell who's the mastermind, intending on destroying both universes so he can create his own.
    • Season 5: Captain Windmark, the commander of the Observers who travel back in time to conquer Earth and remake it to their liking.
  • Game of Thrones:
    • Ser Alliser Thorne is a recurring arc villain to Jon Snow, most notably in Season 1 and Season 4.
    • Theon becomes this for Season 2's Winterfell arc.
    • Locke for Jaime and Brienne's Season 3 odyssey. He gets transplanted as a secondary one to Karl Tanner in Season 4.
    • Karl Tanner for Craster's Keep arc, especially in Season 4.
    • Daenerys' story is comprised of this, with each and every one of them being a vital step in her journey back to Westeros. First breaking free of Viserys early in Season 1, she deals with Mirri Maz Duur and hatches her dragons later in the season. She then faces off against Pyat Pree and Xaro Xhoan Daxos in Qarth in season 2 to rack up wealth to by a ship, before accumulating armies in Season 3 after encountering Kraznys in Astapor and the Second Sons in Yunkai. Daenerys then spends the next two seasons ruling over Meereen and facing the Great Masters and Sons of the Harpy, before being returning to Vaes Dothrak after being captured by Khal Moro in Season 6. After burning the Khals and uniting the khalasar, she returns to Meereen to confront a coalition of slavemasters before finally setting foot in Westeros to finally join the "great game".
  • House of the Dragon: Craghas Drahar aka "The Crabfeeder", a Myrish corsair who serves the Triarchy of the Free Cities and preys upon sailors in the Stepstones, is a major enemy to Daemon Targaryen and the Velaryons for the first three episodes of Season 1. Then they defeat him.
  • Hannibal has Serial Killer Garrett Jacob Hobbs as the Arc Villain of Season 1. Though Hobbs dies in episode one, a good deal of both Will and Abigail's storylines and conflicts can be traced back to him, thanks to Will's guilt over killing Hobbs and Abigail's survivor's guilt due to Hobbs killing eight teenage girls as substitutes for her, respectively.
    • Mason Verger acts as Arc Villain for the latter half of Season 2 and the first half of Season 3. Will and Hannibal's desire to help Margot, Mason's abused sister, places both in the line of Mason's "hobbies".
    • Francis Dolarhyde, a.k.a. The Tooth Fairy or The Red Dragon, acts as the Arc Villain for the second half of Season 3, and the final antagonist of the series.
  • While Homicide: Life on the Street was mostly episodic, several seasons had an overarching villain for the detectives to face.
    • The first season has Adena Watson's unidentified killer, the manhunt for whom is the focus of several episodes, and his escape from justice haunts the rest of the series. Pony Johnson and Charlie Flavin also serve as the main antagonists of Howard and Felton's and Lewis and Crosetti's respective subplots.
    • The second season has Jimmy Tyron. Pembleton's efforts to get him to confess to murder and the blowback he faces from his colleagues serves as the main plot for most of the season.
    • Annabella Willis serves as the main antagonist for the first third of Season 3. After she's caught, Gordon Pratt takes over as the main antagonist as the detectives try to catch him after he shoots Howard, Felton, and Bolander.
    • Seasons 4 mostly has the detectives facing Villains of the Week, but one of the final episodes introduce Luther Mahoney. Luther serves as the main overarching antagonist of the following season, and like Adena's killer, his legacy hangs over the series long after his death.
    • Season 6 has Georgia Rae Mahoney, Luther's sister, serve as the main threat to the detectives after Kellerman kills her brother.
    • Season 7 has Luke Ryland, a Serial Killer who develops a mutual personal enmity with Bayliss.
  • Johnny Crowder, Boyd's bitter, jealous cousin, was one of these for the first part of Justified's fifth season. Having been a recurring cast member in the previous four seasons, Johnny returned as The Man Behind the Man to many of Boyd's problems at the start of Season 5. He masterminded an attack on a heroin shipment in Episode 2, seized control of Hotrod Dunham's organization in Episode 5, and came gunning for Boyd in Episode 7, where he was promptly taken down,, leaving the rest of the season open for bigger players with connections to both Boyd and Raylan.
  • Kamen Rider has these occasionally, dating back to the days of classical Showa where they came in the form of generals who would be calling the shots. Shows made after 2010 usually have at least one if not two:
    • Kamen Rider Blade has the Royal Club Undead, several of whom take the lead for an arc as opposed to just one or two episodes.
    • Kamen Rider W has the Nazca Dopant as the villain of the first arc before the rest of the Sonozaki family become more prominent. The Weather Dopant acts as another arc villain, with sixteen episodes devoted to him serving as the main antagonist. This is downplayed with the Utopia Dopant, who appears at the beginning of the third act, but doesn't become the antagonist until just three episodes near the end.
    • Kamen Rider OOO retains mostly the same set of villains throughout its run, but places differing levels of emphasis on them throughout its run. Kazari's period of cannibalizing his fellow Greeed qualifies him as one, since the arc focuses on him to the near-exclusion of everyone else, while Ankh's lost body becomes another once it comes back.
    • Kamen Rider Fourze devotes eight episodes to the rampage of the Cancer Zodiarts, a sociopathic student Drunk on the Dark Side.
    • Kamen Rider Wizard has the Phoenix Phantom for it's first quarter, as much of it was devoted to fighting him.
    • Kamen Rider Gaim has the Helheim Forest as the overall Big Bad, though each saga has another villain driving the plot.
      • The "Beat Riders" arc (1-11) has a Big Bad Ensemble of Kaito, Jonouchi and Hase, with the occasional sprinkling of Oren and Takatora.
      • The "Yggdrasill" arc (12-23) escalates things with Takatora Kureshima, head of the Yggdrasill Corporation.
      • The "Over Lord" arc (24-32) has Demushu, whose invasion of Zawame forces the previously conflicting Beat Riders to all work together.
      • For the "Forbidden Fruit" arc (33-43), the first half has Redyue and Mitsuzane. The second half sees the remaining villains all going at it for the Forbidden Fruit, with Kaito Kumon being the one who comes out on top.
      • The "Man of the Beginning" arc (44-47) has things finally circling back around to where it all started with Kaito as the last antagonist.
    • Kamen Rider Drive devotes fourteen episodes to unraveling the mystery of the Freeze Roidmude, the one responsible for maintaining The Masquerade. Corrupt Cop Nira Mitsuhide and the psychotic Medic Roidmude also take turns as arc villains in their own rights: while Medic survives most of the show after her appearance, she spends several episodes acting on her own as the main antagonist before Heart reins her in.
    • Kamen Rider Ghost
      • The first arc (1-12) has Chikara Saionji. He's in a Big Bad Duumvirate with Alain, but he's the main one summoning Ganma.
      • The second arc (13-33) has Alain, who takes center stage following Saionji's death. Midway through however, Alain begins to share the spot with his older brother Adel, at least until Adel usurps control of the Ganma and ousts Alain.
      • The third and final arc (34-50) has Adel, although the Gammaizers are able to slowly manipulate Adel into giving them more power, before hijacking him in the climax.
    • Kamen Rider Ex-Aid:
      • Graphite could be seen as this for the "Doctor Gamer" arc (1-12). He's The Dragon to Parado and Genm, but is the one awakening Bugsters for them, and the fight with him in #10 serves as the arc's climax.
      • The "Secret of Emu" arc (13-24) has Kamen Rider Genm. He's partnered with Parado, but is the one who takes the lead for most of it.
      • The "Kamen Rider Chronicle" arc (25-40) has Parado for the first half. The second half sees Parado forced to cede the main villain spot to Kamen Rider Cronus.
      • The "Gamedeus Advent" arc has Gamedeus, although after he's defeated, Cronus hijacks him and becomes the Final Boss.
    • Kamen Rider Build
      • The "Faust" arc has Night Rogue, who is the one directing most of Faust's activities in that arc.
      • The "Invasion of Hokuto" arc has Hokuto's Prime Minister Yoshiko Tajimi, the one behind the Hokuto invasion, with Kazumi Sawatari as her Dragon-in-Chief. Namba Heavy Industries serves as the Greater-Scope Villain for this and the "Faust" arc, as they funded Faust and helped orchestrate the Japanese Civil War in their own big to claim Japan.
      • The "Invasion of Seito" arc starts with Seito's Prime Minister Masakuni Mido, who takes advantage of the war between Touto and Hokuto to annex the latter before setting his sights on the former. However, he's very quickly supplanted by Juzaburo Namba when he leverages his way into becoming de facto ruler of Seito, something solidified when Namba has him killed after he steps out of line. Kamen Rider Rogue serves as their Dragon-in-Chief.
      • The "Evolt" and "New World Creation" arcs both have Blood Stalk, who's revealed to really be Evolt and the ultimate Big Bad of the series.
    • Kamen Rider Zi-O has the Time Jackers, particularly their leader Swartz, as the overall Big Bad of the series, and the ones responsible for creating the Another Riders. The "Day of Oma" arc introduces White Woz, who doesn't directly fight the heroes (usually), but instead drives a wedge between them, manipulating them by offering them a solution to the Bad Future that involves killing The Hero. The arc eventually resolves with White Woz becoming an ally for real, but in his case Redemption Equals Death.
    • Kamen Rider Zero-One sets up terrorist group MetsubouJinrai.NET and its leaders Horobi and Jin as the initial antagonists. The arc ends with the defeat of both villains just as they're revealed to be a false flag operation, and the man behind them takes center stage for the next two arcs, only for the AI running MetsubouJinrai.NET to ursurp the role and become the final boss, with his Mouth of Sauron invoking the Villainous Legacy trope to turn Horobi and Aruto into the next Ark.
    • Kamen Rider Saber: While the Megid are villains throughout, each arc has a different antagonist in the lead.
      • The first arc (1-15) has Kamen Rider Calibur, who's working with the Megid but only to advance his own mysterious goal.
      • The second arc (16-32) has Reika Shindai, the one who manipulated the other Riders into believing Touma is a traitor so they'll turn against him, although it gradually becomes apparent she's really working on behalf of Master Logos.
      • The third arc (33-40) has Master Logos, who finally steps into center stage once his deceit is exposed. He was also behind Reika's actions in the previous arc.
      • The fourth and final arc (41-47) has Storious, who spent most of the other arcs lurking in the background before usurping Master Logos after his defeat.
    • Kamen Rider Revice: Like Saber, it has four arcs each with a different villain in the lead.
      • The first arc (1-16) has Aguilera, the one behind the distribution of Vistamps, although she's revealed later on to be a figurehead for Orteca.
      • The second arc (17-29) has Orteca, who takes charge of the Deadmans and leads them towards resurrecting Giff.
      • The third arc has (30-44) has Hideo Akaishi, although he's technically just The Heavy for the now-revived Giff, who takes center stage near the end.
      • The fourth and final arc (45-50) has Giff though after his defeat Karizaki briefly becomes an Interim Villain before Vice takes the Final Boss role.
    • Kamen Rider Geats:
      • The "Encounter" arc lacks a specific villain, although the beginning of the next arc reveals all of the Jyamato the Riders fought were grown by Archimedel.
      • The "Scheme" arc has the Game Master, who begins meddling in the Desire Grand Prix to forcibly eliminate Ace.
      • The "Divergence" arc has Chirami, the new Game Master, who goes out of his way to set up Rider on Rider conflicts in order to make the new season of the DGP more entertaining.
      • The "Lamentation" arc has Beroba, who has hijacked the DGP from Chirami and converted it into the "Jyamato Grand Prix".
      • The "Yearning" arc has Michinaga Azuma, the most dangerous opponent in the Desire Royale, although his spot is slowly overriden by Suel.
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: The Dweller, The Nomad and The Ascetic serve as the main antagonists of the Harfoot/Stranger storyline in Season 1, before being, presumably, atomized by The Stranger's Holy Hand Grenade powers at the end of the season.
  • Sneaky Pete rotates around between season. In particular, Vince fits this trope for the first season.
  • Lucifer (2016):
  • Luther was episodic for its first series, but its second one introduced an arc driven format that would persist until its end. In Series 2, London Gangster Baba served as the Big Bad of the series, while serial killers Cameron Pell and Robert & Nicholas Millberry served as the villains of its first and second arcs (Luther would investigate their cases on the job, while dealing with Baba off the job). In Series 3, Internal Affairs officer George Stark was the series' driving antagonist, while the Shoreditch Creeper and Tom Marwood acted as the villains of its first and second arcs.
  • Mighty Med: Season 1 had Wallace and Clyde aka Catastrophie. Season 2 had The Annihilator.
  • Nimueh from the first series of Merlin (2008).
  • Once Upon a Time uses this trope a lot.
    • This is averted by the initial villains Regina and Rumpelstinski, who continue to recur in subsequent seasons, either as enemies or allies.
    • Season 2: Cora for most of the season, as she plots to reach Storybrooke and kill Rumpelstiltskin to usurp his powers. After she's killed two-thirds through the season, she's replaced by Greg and Tamara in the last few episodes.
    • Season 3A: Peter Pan, who seeks to use Henry to increase his own power. He's also the Greater-Scope Villain for much of the show, due to his actions indirectly influencing many of the previous Big Bads.
    • Season 3B: The Wicked Witch of the West, who intends to use Charming and Snow's new baby as part of a ritual to alter her own past.
    • Season 4A: The Snow Queen, who seeks to force Emma and Elsa to replace her lost sisters, and Rumpelstilskin, who is trying to free himself of the limits on his powers.
    • Season 4B: Maleficent and Rumpelstiltskin, with Ursula and Cruella acting as Co-Dragons, searching for the Author so he can rewrite reality to suit their desires. Halfway through the arc, Isaac the Author emerges as a Greater-Scope Villain for much of the events of the show up to this point, however he doesn't take the Big Bad mantle until the final three episodes with everyone else dispersed, and he changes reality for his benefit at everyone else's expense.
    • Season 5A: Numerous Dark Ones both corporeal and incorporeal (Emma, Hook, Rumpelstiltskin and Nimue) in the present-day story, while King Arthur serves as the primary antagonist in the flashback story, helped by Zelena. However, is is ultimately Nimue who comes out on top.
    • Season 5B: Hades, who is seeking to escape the Underworld and gain power in the mortal plane.
    • Season 6A: Mr. Hyde actually a Disc-One Final Boss, who is seeking revenge on Dr. Jekyll, and the Evil Queen, now a separate entity from Regina and intending to eliminate her.
    • Season 6B: Gideon (the adult son of Gold and Belle) replaces the Queen in Episode 10, only for The Reveal in Episode 16 to show that his grandmother the Black Fairy has been pulling his strings the whole time and he is only Forced into Evil. Then it's revealed that she created the Dark Curse and is arguably the Big Bad for the entire show.
    • Season 7: Lady Tremaine. Except not. It's her daughter Drizella, although she was motivated out of her mother's abuse and seeks Revenge on her more than anyone else. And then in Episode 10, Mother Gothel shows that she was playing both of them and plans to reunite her mysterious Coven of the Eight. The second half of the season also brings in Doctor Facilier before he and Gothel are killed just before the two-part Grand Finale, which features Wish Realm!Rumpelstilskin as the series' Final Boss.
  • Power Rangers: The first six seasons of the show are known collectively as the "Zordon Era" to fans, named after the franchise's original Big Good. The series would not start doing stand alone seasons until Power Rangers Lost Galaxy, meaning that the various Zordon Era Big Bads fit this trope.
  • Resurrection: Ertuğrul:
    • Petruchio Manzini in Season 1, the patriarch of the Amanus Mountains Knights Templar whose mission to annihilate the Muslims poses a major threat to the Kayi tribe.
    • Baiju Noyan in Season 2, the head honcho of a Mongol battalion terrorizing the nearby Dodurga Clan and burning some of the Kayis alive before they reach their fellow tribe.
    • Master Simon in Season 3, a Templar leader who operates the Hanli Bazaar whilst secretly carrying missions to raze the Kayi and Cavdar clans. Vasilius, a Byzantine commander who usurps the seat of Tekfur of Karachisar, takes ahold of that seat to carry on the same intentions of exterminating the Turks as Simon and Petruchio.
    • Season 4 starts off with Tekfur Ares, who has the same goal of putting an end to Muslim influence in Anatolia as several of the above antagonists. By the time he undergoes a Heel–Faith Turn halfway through, Big Bad Sadettin Kopek and his plot to murder Sultan Kayqubad take over for most of the coming episodes.
    • The fifth and final season consists of Dragos, a cult leader who aims on ensuring Christianity renders Islamic influence in Asia Minor obsolete and slowly destroys Sogut from within, and Alincak, a Mongol general whose army holds taxation power over the Kayi's neighboring tribe.
  • Seigi No Symbol Condorman can be divided into arcs based around how many episodes Condorman spends fighting a particular member of the Monster Clan. 1-4 have Satan Gametsku, 5-8 have Red Bat, 9-14 have Zeni Crazy and Salamander, 15-17 have Oil Snake, and 18-24 have the Land, Sea, Sky trio of Smogton, Gomigon and Hedoronger.
  • Supernatural:
  • Tokusou Exceedraft would occasionally feature an antagonist who wasn't just a Villain of the Week and took multiple episodes to take down, the Red Spade gang and Carlos Togo being some examples.
  • The 1992 revival of The Tomorrow People (1973) is clustered into five groups of five episodes, each focused on a different adversary for the group to face.
    • "Origins": The US military tasked with capturing and studying "teleporters".
    • "The Culex Experiment": The titular Dr. Culex (Jean Marsh).
    • "Monsoon Man": Professor Middlemass and Colonel Cobbs.
    • "The Rameses Connection": Sam Rees (Christopher Lee).
    • "The Living Stones": An alien lifeform from a crashed meteorite.
  • The Walking Dead (2010): Anyone who is not a walker that tries to kill the main group.
  • Wiseguy was a fairly early adopter of the arc format. Arcs were of varying length, but each had its own Big Bad to be taken down by protagonist Vinnie Terranova and assorted stand-ins due to actor Ken Wahl's various issues.
  • Zorro (1957) was almost unique among 1950s television by using an arc-based plot format; following the defeat of Capitan Monistario halfway through the first season, a brief breather was followed by the arrival of "The Eagle", who drove most of the plot for the second half of the season. The second season reverted to a more episodic format.

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