Big Bad Discussion - Television Tropes & Idioms

Fast Eddie: pulled

As it is, the Big Bad is typically a really cool customer until all his plans and resources are in ruins. For instance, the typical example can have a gun pointed at their head by an assassin ready to kill them and still be fully confident they will be able to defuse the situation by talking the would be killer down and succeeding.

... as it isn't really true. Some Big Bads are like that, some are constantly raving lunatics, and some are giant rocks hurtling toward the Earth.

Caswin: Removing the Mystery Men example. He's a good villain and all, and as movie villains go, pretty darn close, but not what we're looking for.

My personal favourite Big bad is Casanova Frankenstein from Mystery Men, he's not only insanely rich, he's also got long golden fingernails that almost resemble Wolverine style claws.

anonymouse: Changing the Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 6 Big Bad. Willow was definitely the most threatening, but the three nerdy guys were the recurring villains that drove the plots of a bunch of the episodes. A three-episode arc does not make one the Big Bad. But what I'm trying to remember is, did they have some kind of catchy name they used to refer to themselves that should be used on the page instead?

Fast Eddie: Removed spoiler tagging from the BtVS section. BtVS is officially spoiled, having been available in every market for many, many years.

Caswin: Older things than Buffy have had spoiler tags, and the show itself has spoilers hidden elsewhere. I certainly got a few things spoiled for myself just reading that list.

Fast Eddie: I confess that I don't get spoiler-fear.

Eponymous Kid: Sorry, I probably should've mentioned something earlier. I added the page quote (which is from a comic book, not a novel by that Fight Club guy, as someone tried to attribute it). And, uh, is it alright? I remember reading it and thinking it was just perfect for this page, but...

FrozenWolf150: If you want to conflate villain names, the Big Bad of Naruto could technically be referred to as "Voldemaru Jackson." ETA: Why did the joke about Voldemaru Jackson need to be edited into the main example after I added it? It looked funnier as a separate comment than merged with the original example.

Thunder Phoenix: Can I add that I love that picture of Doom?

Fast Eddie: Spoilers are off for live-action BtVS. The series is over. It has been over for more than five years. Nobody on the planet who is going to watch it has not watched it.

Caswin: Older things than Buffy have spoiler tags, and the show itself has spoilers hidden elsewhere. I certainly got a few things spoiled for myself just reading that list, prior to starting on the series several months ago.

Fast Eddie: We are trying to hammer this out in Spoilers Off Discussion. Please join in.

Caswin: I've always been curious about this: Not being a big western fan, I might have been watching the wrong shows, but when has there been a corrupt railroad tycoon (or similar) acting as a series-spanning Big Bad?

Caswin: I think the intro needs reworking. On an unrelated note, if no one minds, I'll be cutting the dozen-odd Scooby Doo examples. I'm still not sure about just plain listing any main villain of a movie or book, but that's cheapening it too much.

Fast Eddie: The description seems fine to me. I'd say a good rule of thumb would be if the villain doesn't deploy at least one The Dragon, he's not a Big Bad.

Caswin: It just seems strangely specific. Like I said before, I can't even remember a Big Bad railroad tycoon, and the wording regarding the "biggest and ugliest villain" of a given story seems misleading. On that note, I can also think of quite a few Big Bads (or, at least, characters who most people wouldn't dispute as "Big Bad") who don't bother with a Dragon.

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