The original Avatar: The Last Airbender series featured a fairly straightforward good vs. evil plot. Zhao and Ozai were both completely lacking in sympathetic or redeeming qualities, and Azula, while somewhat pitiable by the end and arguably the result of Ozai's abuse, was still a sociopathic Manipulative Bitch who cared little for the suffering she caused and at times seemed to outright relish in it. Every villain who was somewhat ambiguous -Zuko, Jet, Mai and Ty Lee, etc.- all ended up turning good by the end. By contrast, The Legend of Korra tended to feature villains who were morally gray. While they were still clearly evil, they had motives and goals that seemed respectable, at least on the surface, such as bringing equality to non-benders or wanting to free the people from corrupt or incompetent leaders, and the narrative often acknowledged the villain's legitimate points. It's because of said points that the heroes' goals isn't simply to defeat the villains, but to also provide a balanced solution to the same problem such as democratizing the all-bender council in Republic City. Also, while both series featured Arc Villains, in The Last Airbender they were all part of a single, multi-season narrative and it was clear from the beginning that Ozai was the show's Big Bad, while Legend of Korra's villains were independent of each other, with their own (mostly) self-contained plots, and the series as a whole didn't have a single definitive Big Bad.
Another detail is that Aang's main antagonists were firebenders of high social standing from the Fire Nation - Ozai and Azula are Fire Nation royalty, while Zhao is an admiral and a noble (with the one semi-exception being Long Feng, an earthbender of middle-class Earth Kingdom origins). Except for Zaheer's lover, P'Li, and a relatively minor Republic City gangster, Korra's enemies are all non-firebenders from the other nations, with three of the four main Arc Villains having humble origins - Amon is the son of an exiled criminal, Zaheer seems to have had no social status outside of leading the Red Lotus, and Kuvira is an orphan who was deliberately abandoned by her parents, with all three rising to their status through their own actions (the one exception is Unalaq, who inherited his position as chief of the Water Tribes after removing his brother from the line of succession).
Just the fact that most of Aang's enemies are Fire Nation and half of Korra's are of Water Tribe descent. The only villainous Waterbender in Aang's series is Hama, a one episode villain of the day. Korra has Tarrlok, Amon, Unalaq, Eska and Desna, Varrick, and Ming-Hua— even the Opposing Sports Team in the first season's Tournament Arc are led by their smug Waterbender, Tahno. Plus the villain we see Aang dealing with in the season one backstory, Yakone, is a Waterbender. Korra actually goes out of its way to avoid using Firebender antagonists besides P'Li, some of the triads, and the anonymous Firebenders who killed Asami's mom and Mako and Bolin's parents.
Yet another odd detail is that Korra's different enemies have goals that are so contrasting that they would likely have fought each other had they been active at the same time. Amon had an anti-bender stance while the other three were proud benders. Unalaq wanted to be a rival avatar, while Zaheer wanted to return to when the avatar did not exist. Zaheer was an anarchist, while Kuvira was a tyrant (Zaheer even mentions to Korra that he opposes her methods). Unalaq claimed to have a stance of respecting the spirits, while part of Kuvira's plan involved harvesting spirit vines without a care for the spirits that lived with them.
It is also worth noting that each of the major antagonists in the entire franchise is an allegory for controversial political ideology.
For Ozai, he represents tyrannical absolute monarchy—ruling the Fire Nation as the absolute supreme overlord with an iron fist, in addition to becoming the latest in a long line of monarchs (though his ascension to the throne was not without a bit of cunning in revoking his older brother's birthright). Ozai has the final say in military decisions, is revered as some sort of a deity-like figure in the Fire Nation's education system, and does have the power to take out any fire bender who dares to challenge him.
For Amon, he represents communism—a form of government which advocates for common ownership of the means of production that is also classless, implying the end of the exploitation of workers. Amon's rhetoric frequently referenced inequality and exploitation of non-benders by the wealthier and more powerful benders that controlled the economy and government. However, he also represents how those in power would use lies, charisma and propaganda to control the populace while pretending to be on the same level as them, like how he hid the fact that he was a bender himself (one that even uses a bending art that is illegal) and made up a story of how he was granted his stripping abilities by the spirits to make the non-bending community obey him until Korra exposed him for the fraud he was.
For Unalaq, he represents theocracy—a system of government in which religious beliefs are used to justify a priest-drive rule in the name of a higher power. Unalaq would go as far as to attempt to be some sort of a deity himself, fusing with Vaatu so that he could rule the world as the Dark Avatar.
For Zaheer, he represents anarchy—a belief in the abolition of all government and the organization of society on a voluntary, cooperative basis without recourse to force or compulsion. However, some of these people would resort to using oppressive tactics that go against their goals to gain the upper hand over their enemies, much like how Zaheer kidnapped and threatened to destroy the new Air Nation unless Korra surrendered to him.
For Kuvira, she represents fascism—as she is frequently compared to real-life tyrants like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Fascists believe in the state controlling the means of production, thus rendering all property publicly owned and workers being paid by their needs. Like Amon, Kuvira believes in providing equality to her people, but only if they are willing to comply with her rule, forcing dissenters into re-education camps.
Obake is a different kind of villain than Yokai. Yokai was a Silent, no-nonsense villain who worked alone, Obake is a talkative, overtly polite villain who employed others. Yokai wore a mask to conceal his identity, Obake simply hid in the shadows and wouldn't show his face to the team until he felt it was time to meet them. Finally, there's the reason they turned into villains and what their plans were: Yokai was Professor Callaghan, the head of San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, who wanted revenge for the daughter he thought died by Krei's experiment. Obake was Bob Aken, a student at SFIT who let his desire for knowledge go to his head and plotted to destroy the city to remake it as he saw fit.
Ducktales 2017: Each season's Arc Villain has a different theme and mode of operatis when antagonizing Scrooge and his family.
Season 1 had Magica De Spell who was a Wicked Witch that needed to rely on her niece Lena to steal Scrooge's dime so she can escape and take vengeance on him and his legacy. Because of her imprisonment, she stays in the shadows while ordering her niece to do her bidding without the Ducks realizing it's her until the season finale.
Season 2 had General Lunaris, an alien overlord who was a Canon Foreigner to the series and manipulated his community of Moonlanders to invade all of planet Earth. Lunaris kept his dark ambitions hidden from Della Duck and only revealed his true colors to his former commander Penumbra and Donald. Also, he doesn't personally hate Scrooge and only sees him as an obstacle to overcome during his invasion.
Season 3 had F.O.W.L. who have canonical roots in the Disney Afternoon franchise and are focused on eliminating Clan McDuck for endangering the world with Lunaris' invasion, mixed with their other high-stakes adventures. They start their season trying to avoid being detecting by the Ducks but they're forced to reveal themselves after the events of "Let's Get Dangerous". And unlike Magica and Lunaris who were the main villains of their season, F.O.W.L. functions as a Legion of Doom under the direction of Bradford Buzzard.
Starlight Glimmer also contrasts the other villains in terms of defeat in the series: The other villains were defeated with the magical MacGuffin power of the season (Elements of Harmony, Rainbow Power, Crystal Heart, etc). Starlight Glimmer however, was defeated when Twilight Sparkle stopped trying to fight her and instead reasoned with and befriended her.
Transformers: Generation One follow-up Beast Wars sees this happened to the latter's Megatron. While the original Megatron was a General Failure of a large army who (until the events of The Transformers: The Movie) was far too willing to tolerate Starscream's antics, and went with complicated but flawed plans, the Beast era-Megatron had a smaller army, but was also more cunning, had more straight-forward plans, was willing to dole out punishments to traitors and keep them on a tight leash if they stuck around or were welcomed back, and (as shown in both BW and Beast Machines, despite the taunting of Ravage about the much smaller size of the Predacons' ranks) did far more with far less.
In Transformers: Prime, Megatron was the supreme leader of all Decepticons and known for his ruthlessness and tenacity in combat, preferring to be active when possible. In Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Steeljaw is trying to become the leader of all Decepticons and isn't stronger than an average Transformer, but more than makes up for it with his cunning and waiting for a good opportunity to make his move.
Shendu, the Big Bad of the first two seasons, is an ancient demon dragon who once ruled China. He spent season one inactive due to being a statue and was unknown to the heroes until he regained all twelve talismans. He's a ghost in season two, forced to inhabit the body of his former ally Valmont to free his brothers and sisters. He displayed extreme hatred towards Jackie Chan as well as a tendency to lie to his allies for his own benefit.
Dao Long Wong is a Chi sorceror who defeated Uncle's master prior to meeting the heroes. While appearing as a recurring villain in season two, he stepped up to Big Bad in season three, tracking down the talisman powers after Jackie destroyed them. Unlike the other villains, he has no real connection to the powers/artifacts the season is built around, only wanting them to increase his power. Unlike Shendu, Wong was human and therefore still had human limits, such as needing to buy ingredients for his spells or requiring a car for transportation. Also unlike Shendu, due to being either a statue or a ghost, Wong was more present during the action and likely to be attacked.
Tarakudo is the lord of all Oni, making him a being of Japanese background instead of Chinese. While powerful, he lacked a body and was only a spirit head. This granted him an advantage over Wong in that he could not be harmed unless hit with an onion. Unlike his predecessors, he actually bothered to remember the Enforcers' names and didn't come as cruel to his minions, which is why neither they nor his generals ever try to double cross him. He was more prone to making snarky comments. Finally, he was tricking the heroes into doing his job for him, as collecting the Oni Masks was actually beneficial to him regardless of who found them.
Drago is Shendu's son and came from the future, unlike the past villains who were ancient. Drago was less wise and patient as his predecessors, being ill-tempered and immature, but made up for it by being more flexible. Like Tarakudo, he was snarky, although Drago was more up to date on modern terms. He was also the only villain to recognize the Enforcers' incompetence and fired them on their first mission. While their replacements weren't exactly improvements, he only kept them because he didn't want to go through the trouble of finding new help.
The villain of The Intruder and The Intruder II was a malevolent Blob Monster, Hero Killer, (among other things, he killed TOM's original body, nearly killed SARA, and killed TOM 4), and a sadist (as he proceeded to gloat about what he did to SARA and TOM 4). The villains of The Intruder III were giant Sand Worms who turned out to really be Good All Along and were trying to warn TOM and SARA about the planet they've been on since the second Intruder dying.
Tangled: The Series: While Mother Gothel's goals were limited to wanting to stay young and beautiful forever, Zhan Tiri outright seeks to carry out a genocide for incredibly petty reasons, making her far more dangerous and even more evil than Gothel.
Teen Titans (2003), similar to Jackie Chan Adventures had four completely different Arc Villains spanning throughout its five season run.
The first two seasons featured Slade, the Arch-Enemy of the Teen Titans and the arguable Big Bad of the whole series. A mysterious and sinister Diabolical Mastermind and terrorist, Slade sought to bring Jump City to its knees by means of making an apprentice out of the titular heroes via coercion (which he did with Robin) or psychological manipulation (which he did with Terra). He was an Empowered Badass Normal (according to Word of God) who could hold his ground against any of the Titans with his bare hands, dressed mainly in black armor, kept mostly to the shadows to plan his moves, and was a mostly stoic individual who spoke in a suave yet menacing tone that made him come off as all the more terrifying.
The third season introduces Brother Blood, the headmaster of the H.I.V.E. academy who wishes to rebuild his school after it's destruction in the season premiere and was specifically created to differ from Slade in practically every way possible. Slade was The Stoic who operated from the darkness and was focused on making Robin and later Terra a younger version of himself through manipulation or blackmail. Brother Blood, on the other hand, was a bombastic and much more quick-tempered psychic metahuman who loved being in the spotlight, kept his students in line through mind control, and developed an obsession with Cyborg due to the latter's insusceptibility to his mental powers to the point where he was willing to modify his body to become a cyborg as well. Also, while Slade is well-built, dressed in dark armor and is played completely seriously as a villain Brother Blood is noticeably more gaunt, is introduced wearing white clothes, and has some moments of being Laughably Evil.
Trigon the Terrible in season four was a massive inter-dimensional demon and Raven's despotic father whose power and depravity is beyond anything seen on the show until he takes the center stage. While Slade sought an apprentice and Brother Blood wished to rebuild his academy, Trigon was an Omnicidal Maniac who aimed to use Raven, his own daughter, as a portal to Earth so he could reshape it into his own image before spreading his reach to other worlds. Unlike his predecessors, who had some kind of interest with one of the main Titans, Trigon merely saw Raven as a means to an end and had no qualms with disposing of her once she fulfilled her purpose for him.
The final season introduced The Brain, the leader of the nefarious Brotherhood of Evil and the arch-enemy of Beast Boy's former team, the Doom Patrol. A ruthless Chess Master seeking out world domination, the Brain decided the more youthful Teen Titans posed a greater threat to his goals than the Doom Patrol, and sought to bring down every child and teenage superhero across the globe with an army of nearly every villain the Titans had faced throughout the show. In stark contrast to previous villains, who each had some kind of power that allowed them to trade blows with the Titans, the Brain was a Non-Action Big Bad who kept out of battle due to having no combat capabilities and relied extensively on his subordinates to carry out his plans.
The first the Turtles fought was Ch'Rell, the Utrom Shredder who was their Arch-Enemy. Defying his people's peace-loving ways, Ch'Rell committed numerous atrocities in the galaxy before his arrest. Crashing on Earth, he stole the identity of the late Oroku Saki, aka The Shredder. His overall goal was to hunt his people down for revenge and continue his plans for galactic domination. He had no real beef with the Turtles, trying to get Leonardo to side with him. However, Shredder had murdered Splinter's master, Hamato Yoshi, warning his sons of his evil. As his battles with the Turtles continued, his resentment of them was enough that he almost destroyedThe Multiverse to eradicate them. Shredder was a cruel but otherwise tactful enemy, showing he was just as intelligent as he was skilled in martial arts.
Karai took her father's place as Shredder in Season 4 after he was imprisoned for his crimes. Prior to this, she was an honorable ninja who debated over doing the right thing over her father's wishes. Despite her father's cruelty and outright attacking her for stopping him from killing the Turtles, she chose to avenge him. She became more dedicated to hunting the Turtles, destroying their lair and vehicles while keeping an eye on their allies. However, her hotheaded attitude costed her the respect of the Foot Mystics, as well as as gravely overestimate her skill against the Demon Shredder, resulting in the Foot's dissolution in Season 5.
The Demon Shredder, the original Oroku Saki, was a great warrior who saved Japan from a demon. However, unbeknownst to everyone at the time, he made a deal with the demon, let it enter his soul and he would be granted power. While Ch'Rell and Karai were fixated on revenge, he was more interested in random whims of chaos and destruction. He also lacked any animosity with the Turtles, which resulted in him underestimating them.
The Cyber Shredder was a digital engram of the Utrom Shredder brought to life after absorbing the digital-entity known as Viral. Retaining most of the Utrom Shredder's memories, his only goals were to revive the Foot and escape cyberspace. Outside of this, he had no character outside of Utrom Shredder's earlier personality, which is justified as he was that Shredder's digital copy.
Justin compared to Heather. Both started off as main antagonists of Island and Action respectively, but while Heather had hard time hiding her nature amongst most contestants because of her personality, Justin was able to hide his nature from everyone, save for a few contestants, by using his good looks. However, Heather made up for this by being strategicallycunning and made it all the way 3rd place and kept her role as the villain of Island, while Justin didn't really have any smarts or competence beyond using his looks and only reached 7th place, while his role as a villain was replaced by Courtney.
Courtney. Unlike Heather and Justin who were already villainous prior to joining the show, Courtney started out alright (a tad overbearing and competitive) but thanks to Flanderization and the game progression became increasingly villainous to the point of becoming worse than either of them. Also, while Heather and Justin were Big Bads of the start of a season (Island and Action respectively), Courtney appeared in the middle of a season (Action) and takeover someone's position (Justin) as the Big Bad.
Scott distances himself from the Big Bads of the previous seasons with his strategy off throwing challenges to vote of his team mates. He's also the only Big Bad to date who never formed any sort of alliance in the season he was the main villain.
Scarlett is the first and only Big Bad who stays hidden from the audience for the majority of the season, with only small hints being revealed of her true nature along the way, before The Reveal where she shows her true antagonists colors for one episode before she's gone.
Sugar's very unique when compared to the other villains in that she's portrayed more as a comic relief rather than a legit villain even in the episodes where she officially takes over as the Big Bad. While temperamental and petty, she's also prone to being Affably Evil, in contrast to the others being Faux Affably Evil. That, and as mentioned above she ultimately feels more like an Arc Villain as the events triggered by her antagonism still would've transpired even without her being there.
Bowie is a manipulative schemer like most of the above, but unlike them, he has no real malice towards the rest of the cast. Each previous antagonist was a bully in some way, but Bowie is a Punch-Clock Villain who generally gets along with most everyone once he's off the clock.
Julia is a Suspiciously Similar Substitute to Heather, but the two of them played the game differently. Heather relied primarily on her social game and tricking others into working for her, Julia abandoned her fake niceness with relish and got by in the competition by her own skills. Julia also lacks Heather's Plot Armor, as she won her immunities by her own merit and persistence rather than random chance, other players screwing up, or Chris throwing out the votes just because.
Peridot is a scientist from Homeworld who is physically weak, thus relying on technology and strategy. While Lapis was able to be redeemed pretty easily, Peridot was thoroughly behind Homeworld's way of thinking and thus had to learn to appreciate the Earth in steps over several episodes. Also in contrast to Lapis, she started off seeming like The Stoic but quickly revealed herself to be emotional and weird.
Jasper doesn't use magic or technology but instead relies on raw strength. While the previous two were merely dismissive of the Earth and the Crystal Gems' rebellion, Jasper has a personal grudge against both, and holds fast to her Social Darwinist belief that weakness cannot be tolerated. Also, she is not redeemed—even when Steven tries to save her from The Corruption, she refuses his help, proving herself a Tragic Villain.
The next major antagonist encountered is Blue Diamond, who is a fairly gentle soul and currently provides the page image for Emotion Bomb. She actually wants to preserve human life as much as possible to memorialize Pink Diamond. She seems to represent the "depression" stage of grief.
Her sister, Yellow Diamond, is an unrepentant Galactic Conquerer that wants to destroy the Earth entirely, since its existence is nothing but a reminder of Pink (and her own failures). She represents the "anger" stage.
Season 4 ends with two gems, a fusion named Topaz and a Tiny Tyrannical Girl named Aquamarine coming to Earth to abduct humans; Topaz seems to be The Brute and Dumb Muscle, similar to how Jasper first appeared, but is actually an Emotional Bruiser who almost makes a Heel–Face Turn. Aquamarine, on the other hand, remains a villain even into the Sequel Series, and uses a Magic Wand to fight rather than physical abilities. In this way she bears some resemblance to Peridot, and she incorporates Lapis' water wings, but she's far more ruthless and manipulative than either of them.
The final antagonist of the original show is White Diamond, who seems to represent the "denial" stage of grief. She refuses to listen to anyone but herself, literally closes herself off from the world, fights by using People Puppets, and appears at all times as Dissonant Serenity. Until she undergoes her Villainous Breakdown.
And finally, the villain of Steven Universe: Future turns out to be none other than Steven himself, possibly representing the "bargaining" phase of grief. When hisChronic Hero Syndrome stops being helpful and indeed starts to cause problems, he undergoes a Heroic BSoD that culminates in shattering Jaspernote Steven is able to heal her, though she is visibly scarred from then on. and winds up corrupted, needing a Cooldown Hug from every other character at once in order to snap out of it.
Angor Rot from Trollhunters fits this when compared to Bular. Bulgar was a hulking, Hot-Blooded fighter that simply preferred attacking his foes and overpowering them rather than planning and sticking to the shadows. Angor on the other hand is a hunter, relying more on cunning than strength, preferring to study his targets meticulously before setting elaborate traps and ambushes for them. Also unlike Bular, who relied on his strength and swords, Angor uses combat-based magic and spells to divide, disorient, disarm and distract.
W.I.T.C.H.. Season 1 gave us Phobos who up until the season finale, was the ruler of Meridian and had an entire army of soldiers and monsters at his beck and call. While he was a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing, it was only in regards to Elyon. Season 2 gives us Nerissa the former Guardian of Quintessence. While Phobos was already ruler of Meridian and wanted to stay that way, Nerissa wanted to become the ruler of the entire universe and was a Visionary Villain of sorts to Phobos was just an Evil Overlord. Nerissa used disguises, manipulation and mind control to achieve her goals, while Phobos relied on brute force and fear mongering. Finally, while Phobos didn't care at all about anyone but himself, Nerissa did care somewhat about her son, Caleb.
ManBearPig is another example that contrasts with Cartman. Cartman is a regular human child whose a Boisterous Weakling who relies solely on manipulating people to get what he wants. ManBearPig is an Animalistic Abomination who is also an Invincible Villain whose physical force alone is enough to make him a major threat. Both are also revealed to have families in the Paramount Plus specials where they revert to their villainous ways to protect them, but while Cartman chose to stop Stan and Kyle from preventing the Bad Future until his wife convinces him not to, ManBearPig is forced to do the bidding Pi-Pi who is holding his family hostage and turns on Pi-Pi when his family is freed. Cartman loses his family in the revised future and becomes a homeless alcoholic, ending his threat to society for good (at least in the far future), while ManBearPig gets his family back before leaving, remaining a potential threat in the future.
Leslie herself would be contrasted by Season 20's Arc Villain Lennart Bedrager. Leslie Meyers acted as the Woman Behind the Man for PC Principal, every thing bad during season 19 being traced back to her scheming, while Lennart was just one person part of a Big Bad Ensemble who gains singular Big Bad status when the other villains either became Out of Focus (the Memberberries) or perform Heel Face Turns (Gerald Broflovski and Mr. Garrison). While both of their plans consisted of killing all humans, Leslie’s reasons for doing so is so that her race of living advertisements can take over Earth while Lennart’s reason for his actions is because he thinks it’s hilarious.
The Memberberries of Season 20 greatly contrasts Leslie's race of Ads featured in Season 19. The Ads serve as the sole antagonistic force for Season 19, the Memberberries must share their role as main antagonist with other villains in Season 20. The Ads use political correctness and modern progression to manipulate events, while the Memberberries use toxic nostalgia and bigotry to manipulate people. The Ads are all reliant on Leslie Meyers to carry out their plan, while the Memberberries are each given a role of equal importance. The Ads’ pawn PC Principal rebels against them, while the Memberberries would brainwash Mr. Garrison when he learns of their existence. The Ads would become exposed and implied to have been defeated, while the Memberberries' existence remains unknown to everyone aside from those they've brainwashed and they get away with their crimes.
ManBearPig and Jeff Bezos. Their only similarity is that they serves as Arc Villains for two-part episodes during Season 22 but are otherwise vastly different. ManBearPig is a Mix-and-Match Critter who causes wanton chaos and destruction for no describable reason and doesn't even speak. Bezos is a Corrupt Corporate Executive who brings order and oppression with reasons to profit from it and speaks using Telepathy.
Eric Cartman was a sociopathic Enfant Terrible who Took a Level in Kindness, becoming a loving husband and father whose actions are to make sure his family doesn't disappear, while Pi-Pi started off as a rather harmless businessman who Took a Level in Jerkass, becoming an amoral Corrupt Corporate Executive whose actions are entirely self-serving. They both recruit The Heavy (ManBearPig; Clyde) to their cause, but Cartman manipulates Clyde into joining him. Clyde proves to be a More Despicable Minion and becomes the new Big Bad, after which Cartman pulls a Heel–Face Turn and kills Clyde to save the future, while Pi-Pi forces ManBearPig to do his biding by holding his family hostage and once they are free, ManBearPig turns on Pi-Pi and kills him.
Clyde Donovan, who, like Pi-Pi, was an initially harmless figure before becoming the actual Big Bad of a Paramount Plus two-parter. However, Clyde was just an Insufferable Imbecile who was evil until he joined Cartman’s cause, eventually becoming a More Despicable Minion who takes over as the main villain after Cartman performs his Heel–Face Turn, while Pi-Pi reveals himself to be Evil All Along and the mastermind behind ManBearPig’s rampage.
The three Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons of The '90s gave us different takes on Doctor Robotnik: in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, he was a bombastic, theatrical buffoon whose schemes were doomed to failure by the incompetence of those around him. In Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM), he was a cold, sinister, calculating, sadistic tyrant who had already taken over Mobius. In Sonic Underground, he was somewhere between the previous two - a legitimate threat, but extremely pompous and prone to comical moments. His lackeys qualify as well; Scratch, Grounder and Coconuts were robots who were bumbling, incompetent idiots who Sonic could easily outwit. Snively was a physically non-threatening man, but possessed a cunning, calculating nature behind Robotnik's back. Sleet and Dingo were a Mobian duo where the former was threatening and smart, while the latter was Dumb Muscle.
The three main antagonists of The Lion Guard all play off each other in different ways.
Janja, the Big Bad of Season One was a thuggish and short-tempered individual, who was motivated by hunger, and made no effort to be personable or even act like it. Janja commanded a fairly small hyena clan, personally led his minions into battle and certainly isn't afraid to get his paws dirty. Janja was also rather arrogant and overconfident, which led to his plans failing many times; he was also prone to running when his plans didn't work out. Janja was also the only Big Bad to do a Heel–Face Turn.
Scar, the Big Bad of Season Two, who was brought Back from the Dead by magic. Unlike Janja, Scar was a smooth manipulator, who was skilled at hiding his true colors and was planning to destroy the Pridelands out of revenge. Unlike Janja, Scar is mostly a Non-Action Big Bad, largely remaining confined to his volcano, instead sending his minions to fight for him. Scar commands an army of Outlanders (including Janja and his clan).
Makucha, the Big Bad of Season Three, was motivated by a desire to eat rare animals. Unlike Janja, Makucha is patient and determined, following the Lion Guard across a continent. Like Scar, Makucha was skilled at hiding his true colors so he could manipulate others to his side; unlike Scar, however, he personally fights alongside his minions.
Alvin the Treacherous and Dagur the Deranged from DreamWorks Dragons are both chiefs of their own respective tribes (the Outcasts and the Berserkers) that have a vendetta against Berk (Alvin with Stoick, Dagur and Hiccup) who strive to humiliate those they have a grudge with and gain power by enslaving dragons using brute force and short-term plans. Eventually, Alvin is forced to ask Berk for their help when Dagur turns on him and takes his island and tribe, cementing peace with the Outcasts in the end. In contrast, Viggo Grimborn is a villain with no personal grudge against Hiccup and sees him as an obstacle for his enterprise. He uses deduction, psychology and careful, long-term plans to outwit Hiccup, nearly winning various times. Much like with Alvin, Viggo is betrayed and robbed of his position as chief (by his brother Ryker), but turns on Hiccup and the team after tricking them in "putting [his] brother back in his place" only to die (later revealed to have survived) by falling into a volcano.
Krogan is this trope to Viggo. While Viggo preferred using careful planning and diplomacy, Krogan prefers overpowering his foes, forcing dragons to fight for him against their will (much like Dagur tried doing with the Skrill). Unlike Alvin and Dagur though, Krogan has both the skill and resources to successfully gain the upper-hand, managing to chase the riders away twice and forcing Berk to get involved with their conflict with the Dragon Hunters.
Season one begins with Ludo, an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain who is far too impulsive and quirky to get anything done. Near the end of the season he hires Toffee, a Knight of Cerebus who quickly takes control of Ludo's operation and proves to be far more calm and intelligent, carefully manipulating everyone through early season three. Also, while Ludo wants Star's magic wand for himself, Toffee Does Not Like Magic and wants to destroy it.
While neither Ludo nor Toffee was very physically powerful (save for Toffee's Healing Factor making him basically unkillable), Meteora wound up becoming a Kaiju-sizedbrute. In contrast to Toffee's long-term planning, her tactics are also Boring, but Practical—her only magic attack is Eye Beams that suck out people's souls, and when Tom proves immune she just knocks him unconscious.
While all the previous villains were monsters (or half-monster in Meteora's case), the fourth season's villain, Mina Loveberry, is a Fantastic Racist who wants to genocide them all. She also doesn't really have any motives to benefit herself, instead being devoted to the Mewni royal family (or at least, its ancestress, Solaria)—given her backstory, she's more like a Dark Magical Girl without the redemption arc.
Looney Tunes: Friz Freleng admitted that he created Yosemite Sam to help contrast against Bugs Bunny's usual arch-enemy, Elmer Fudd. Elmer was simple-minded and generally well-mannered, which Freleng feared made Bugs come across as too unsympathetic whenever he was pitted against him. By contrast, Sam was loud, aggressive, and far more antagonistic, which better justified the abuse Bugs would heap on him.
Infinity Train: Book One's main villain is The Conductor, aka Amelia, a Tragic Villain who is only interested in the hero because her companion is a risk to her plans, and ultimately represents what Tulip could become if she refuses to accept the changes in her life. Book Two has the Reflection Officers, who are hunting MT from the beginning and highlight her struggles to escape the train and make something of herself. Book Three has Simon, Grace's best friend who rapidly descends into insanity and cruelty as a direct result of both his own issues and Grace's actions.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Abominable Snow Monster is a Christmas-hating beast that serves a threat mainly to the reindeer, but is otherwise unevolved in terms of personality and is eventually tamed by Yukon Cornelius.
Rudolph's Shiny New Year In contrast to the mammalian Bumble, Aeon the Terrible is a colossal bird that abducts the Baby New Year to prevent himself from dying on New Year's Eve. Also unlike the Snow Monster, Aeon is more sapient in terms of personality (Being able to actually talk instead of simply growling at his enemies) and he never reforms, highly implied to have met his demise after Rudolph recovers the Baby New Year.
Frosty the Snowman: Professor Hinkle is a rather incompetent stage magician who goes after Frosty in order to get his hat back. Other than that, he's just an ordinary yet super-persistent human adult.
Frosty's Winter Wonderland: Jack Frost is a step up from Professor Hinkle in terms of magical capabilities, being perfectly capable of creating windstorms to impede Frosty and the children. Though unlike his predecessor, Jack never does anything devastatingly horrible to Frosty and even turns good when Crystal informs him he could be their best man for the wedding (whereas Hinkle gives up and runs home when Santa tells him he'll never receive any gifts ever again).
Frosty Returns: Mr. Twitchell, like Professor Hinkle, is just a human. But unlike him or Jack Frost, he doesn't have a grudge against Frosty only, but against snow in general. Also unlike Hinkle, although Frosty is in danger of falling apart at one point, does not succeed in completely melting him. Similar to Jack Frost, he's forgiven, though under slightly different circumstances.
Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July: King Winterbolt is, unlike any of the previous antagonists, a threat that stretches back many years and is responsible for something prior to the events of his debut (Namely, creating the blizzard in the original Rudolph). Unlike Rudolph's other adversaries, he's a humanoid and is capable of magic. Like Aeon, he never becomes a good guy and ends up Killed Off for Real; in his case though, his fate actually occurs onscreen, being reduced to a sapling after his scepter is shattered.
Tuca & Bertie: Season 2's Kara is this to Season 1's Pastry Pete. The two are similar in that they're both seabirds who have aggressive personalities that gradually go from "charming" to "ugly", and they both get away with their actions. The difference is that Pete is a successful, straight guy who abuses his employees often verbally and even sometimes physically or sexually, showing the obvious evils of the patriarchy and upper class; on the other hand, Kara is a lesbian middle-class woman who abuses her partners almost always emotionally, showing that anyone can be an abusive Jerkass, regardless of gender, sexuality or social status. Pete preyed deliberately on the Shrinking Violet Bertie while Kara preyed on the outspoken Genki Girl Tuca, showing that anyone of any personality can be preyed upon.
The Loud House: Joyce Crandall from "Save Royal Woods!" can be seen as this to Morag from The Loud House Movie. Both are the female Big Bads of special episodes of the show (Morag for the 2021 movie, Joyce for a 2022 half-hour special), but also near-complete opposites.
Morag is a slightly dark-skinned Scottish royal housekeeper with dark, slightly graying hair. Joyce is a pale-skinned American politician with red hair.
Whereas Morag used a fire-breathing dragon in an attempt to wreck and drive everyone away from Loch Loud, Joyce seeks to bust a dam and flood Royal Woods to create a sixth Great Lake.
While Morag kept her plans secret until she was caught in a lie the second she got what she wanted, Joyce is completely unsubtle about what she wants to do and how callous she was about it long before she got around to it.
Morag wanted to forcibly overthrow Lincoln and become Duchess of Loch Loud for peace and quiet, while Joyce carried out her scheme in hope that she would attain her ambition of getting a legal promotion within Michigan's state government.
Morag's scheme revolved entirely around the Loud family. Joyce, on the other hand, didn't have anything to do with the Louds specifically, only affecting them as a side effect to her intentions.
