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When you want to use a character's name for a title, you have several options. The most obvious choice is The Hero's name, but you could also go with a Secondary Character Title. Or you could title it after your protagonist's primary antagonist.
Note that this does not apply to a work titled after a Villain Protagonist or to a Villain-Based Franchise. This trope has nothing to do with morality but with role. If there is a clear protagonist (regardless of Anti-Hero status and/or Black and Grey Morality), and the film/book/what-have-you they're in just happens to be titled after the person, group, or force The Hero fights against, then it's an Antagonist Title.
This is one title you do not want to mix with I Am Not Shazam or Protagonist Title Fallacy.
Examples
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Anime & Manga
Comic Books
Film
- In Russia, GI Joe The Rise Of Cobra's title is translated as "Rush of the Cobra".
- Fairly common in the Horror genre, e.g. Alien, Nosferatu, Candyman and The Mummy.
- From James Bond:
- Hook: Peter Pan is the protagonist.
- The film adaptation of Trilby was called Svengali after the story's villain.
- Mr. Sardonicus
- Beetlejuice: The Maitlands and Lydia are the protagonists.
- Apparently the Maitlands were originally supposed to be who the movie was named after. Beetlejuice was chosen after the character proved to be more interesting.
- Hive Mind: Doug Trench, the last man (sort of) on Earth, is the actual protagonist.
- The Jackal: the title character is the assassin the FBI is hunting.
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
- Spaceballs
- Terminator.
- Jaws is not an example of this, although a lot of people mistakenly think it is.
- Just like Metal Gear below, The Matrix is also one that is not a character technically, but a tyrannical system the heroes set out to destroy.
- The Mummy Trilogy.
- Kill Bill.
- Hollow Man.
- Zodiac, a movie about the real life Zodiac Killer.
- The title of Mean Girls refers to Regina and her lackeys; Regina is the antagonist of the film.
Game Shows
Literature
- The Snow Queen: Gerda is the protagonist.
- Andersen's The Shadow is also named for its antagonist.
- The Lord of the Rings: Sauron is the eponymous Lord of the Rings, fought against by the host of protagonists. I Am Not Shazam applies. The One Ring could also be considered The Lord of the Rings, what with the "One ring to rule them all" line, which still fits, as The One Ring is also portrayed as an antagonist in the book. This is a major difference between the two Swedish translations, where the old one called the series Härskarringen ("The Master Ring"), and the newer one bore the title Ringarnas Herre ("The Lord of the Rings").
- Dracula: Jonathan Harker is the protagonist.
- Inkheart. While this is not the villain's actual name, it is the description of him given by his creator: "...a man whose heart was as black as ink."
- Tartuffe: Orgon is the protagonist.
- Some James Bond novels/movies: Dr. No, Goldfinger
- The Witches by Roald Dahl. The unnamed orphan is the protagonist.
- In Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, this trope is subverted. The titular prisoner is set up as a villain for the whole book, only for it to be revealed at the end that he was a good guy all along and that he had been framed by the real villain.
- Also, Half Blood Prince ends with the Prince killing a major character and running off with Death Eaters. It's also a subversion, although that's not revealed until the next book.
- Even without the revealation the real antagonist of the book is Draco Malfoy. What with doing all the troubles in hogwarts during the year. With voldemort most certainly being the Bigger Bad
- Many of the novellas about The Shadow, by Walter B. Gibson in the 1930s.
- The Phantom of the Opera: Disregarding the Draco in Leather Pants effect, Raoul and Christine are the protagonists in the original novel. Protagonist Title Fallacy applies.
- Red Dragon and Hannibal
- From Stephen King:
- Moby-Dick. The protagonist is either Ahab or Ishmael, depending on interpretation.
- Scorpia is the organisation Alex Rider has to stop. Ditto Snakehead.
- The Keys to the Kingdom series features seven books, each named after one of the antagonistic Morrow Days. Subverted in Drowned Wednesday.
- The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara has a Big Bad Ensemble, and each book in the trilogy is named for the main villain it spotlights- Ilse Witch, Antrax, and Morgawr.
- Three of the Redwall series books are named for the main villain or group of villains: Marlfox, Doomwyte, and The Sable Quean.
Live Action TV
Tabletop Games
- Magic: The Gathering does this a lot with sets. The last two blocks ended this way, with Rise of the Eldrazi and New Phyrexia.
Video Games
- The Legend Of Zelda Majoras Mask
- A fairly large amount of golden age arcade games, such as Donkey Kong, Sinistar, Centipede, Space Invaders, and Qix.
- Parasite Eve
- In Japan, Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner is known as ANUBIS: Zone of the Enders, which is the name of antagonist Colonel Nohman's Orbital Frame.
- Subverted in the first God Of War. The Title Drop at the end makes it clear that Ares was not actually the title character, but Kratos, who takes his place.
- While technically not a character, Metal Gear is the name of the eponymous bipedal tank the player faces at the end of the most games.
- Metroid and Metroid Prime.
- The original title of Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja was simply Dragon Ninja.
- Hunt The Wumpus
- Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine.
- Diablo.
- Hydorah
- Castlevania is the castle in which Dracula lives, but in Japan, it's known as Devil's Castle Dracula, referring to both the castle and its lord.
- Bio Metal
- I. M. Meen
- Skullgirls
- Snatcher, named after the race of bioroids that the player faces in the game.
- Soul Edge, the first game in the series, was titled after the eponymous evil sword, which serves as the primary motivating antagonist of the entire series. The name was changed to Soul Blade in the US for trademark reasons; later games were named after Soul Edge's polar opposite, Soul Calibur. However, Soul Calibur's later actions seem to be bringing this trope back to the series...
- World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.
- The Burning Crusade and Cataclysm also fit, in that every title boils down to "What is it that you have to stop" rather than "Whom"
- The Carmen Sandiego games (Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?, etc.) are all named for the antagonist, an elusive criminal mastermind that you, as an unnamed investigator, must track down.
- The Aveyond game, Ahriman's Prophecy.
- The Tale of Alltynex
- Wario's Woods is the only game with Wario's name in the title (aside from Mario and Wario, which lists the more obvious hero first) in which he is the antagonist. The protagonist is Toad, with support from Birdo.
- Touhou 6: The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil.
Western Animation
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