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"Luke, you can destroy the Emperor. He has foreseen this. It is your destiny. Join me, and together we can rule the galaxy as father and son!"
The Magnificent Bastard has an assistant or sidekick that they spend a lot of time bragging to about just how clever they are. Near the end, their assistant double crosses them spectacularly while their back is turned. Essentially, this is the Deceptive Disciple, except that the Bastard Understudy is apprenticed to an Evil Mentor.
In many cases the Bastard Understudy appears to have been groomed as a successor of sorts. While the Magnificent Bastard hates the idea of defeat, they know they are not going to live forever, and the Bastard Understudy offers a continuation of their legacy. A sublime game of Xanatos Roulette keeps the Bastard Understudy just out of reach of the power... until the last play.
The Starscream is a visible rival who lacks the Bastard Understudy's loyalty and patience. The Dog Bites Back is when the betrayal is not premeditated.
Spoilers Ahead!
Examples:
Anime and Manga
- This is the modus operandi of the Big Bad Darwinist Emperor in Code Geass. By raising a family of Bastard Understudies and then encouraging them to plot and scheme against each other- and even himself- over the throne, the Emperor hopes to produce a strong leader for Britannia. If Lelouch is anything to go by, his methods are quite effective.
- "Fucking" Ribbons Almark in Gundam 00. Elaboration is not needed.
- Kabuto in Naruto.
- And of course, Sasuke, who actually ends up essentially killing Orochimaru.
- Katsumata in Twentieth Century Boys, who takes advantage of Fukubei/Friend's Xanatos Funeral plan to kill him for real and take his place on the viewing platform.
- Gin Ichimaru in Bleach. Judging from the flashback arc, he was an Enfante Terrible when he met Sosuke Aizen, who helped him to become a Magnificent Bastard.
Comic Books
- Inverted in The Metabarons, where the heroes have this as a tradition.
- In The DCU, during Rogues Revenge, Zoom freed Inertia to train him into torturing superheroes on the grounds that it would make them better heroes. At the end of the series, Inertia murders the Weather Wizard's child and calls himself Kid Zoom. Zoom objects because that would not improve them. Inertia says he just wants to hurt them and reverts Zoom back to the cripple without superspeed. (The Rogues then kill him.)
- Inertia was a villain-in-training in his first appearance, as well, to act as a counterpoint to Impulse, a rookie hero still learning the ropes himself. There, however, Inertia's heart wasn't in it, and he abandoned the villains who were using him and left to make his own way in the world.
- Inverted in Necrophim - everybody thinks Uriel is trying to usurp the throne of Hell, but he just wants to loyally serve [[Satan Lucifer.
Film
Literature
- In the Dune books, Feyd-Rautha Harkonen serves as the Bastard Understudy to Baron Harkonen. Feyd-Rautha actually launches at least one assassination-attempt against his uncle, but fails primarily due to bad luck. Noteable in that he never really gets around to ursurping the throne - the Baron dies by the Gom Jabbar before he gets the chance.
- And Feyd dies in a duel against Paul soon after anyway.
- In Stardust, the seven princes of Stormhold are always always always killing each other to strengthen their claim on the crown. Septimus is clearly the champion at this, and the reigning Magnificent Bastard of the book/film. So it should come as no surprise that Tertius, his much older brother, makes an attempt on his life. And fails, miserably. While Primus, the oldest and wisest, spends most of his time avoiding Septimus.
- L.A.Confidential: Bud White becomes an enforcer for Magnificent Bastard Dudley Smith, learns a few tricks on the way then turns on his mentor.
- Lensman. Among Boskone (and their controllers, e.g. the Eddorians) it is regarded as quite acceptable, even praiseworthy, for an underling to scheme to supplant their superior — the idea being that if he's successful the superior is no longer fit (e.g. not cunning and ruthless enough) to hold their position anyway.
Live Action TV
- Believe it or not, Big Bad Astronema from Power Rangers In Space fits this. The Psycho Rangers were designed more to drain energy from Dark Specter than to destroy the rangers themselves, thus letting Astronema take over as Queen of Evil. Several scenes from this mini-arc consist of Dark Specter imploring loyal Astronema to find the traitor draining his power, never realizing that she's looking him right in the eyes and lying to his face.... And all of this was after he went to the trouble of luring her back to his headquarters and using cybernetic implants to brainwash away her Heel Face Turn!
- Apparently taking away her ability to feel positive emotions didn't make her more reliable. Go figure.
- At first, almost completely averted, then played straight with a twist in American Gothic: Sergeant Ben Healy is certainly not being groomed to be Sheriff Buck's replacement—instead he lives constantly on the edge as his conscience (in the form of Merlyn) is at war with his cowardice and his loyalty to Buck, whose only Xanatos Gambit consists of constantly balancing the two sides of Ben so that the cop won't reveal what he knows about Merlyn's death. Meanwhile, Buck actually is grooming a successor...his son, Caleb, who does indeed turn on him in the end.
- In the Doctor Who story, The Caves of Androzani, the Corrupt Corporate Executive's secretary deposes her boss, taking over his businesses.
- And exactly the same thing happens in "Dalek".
- Richard Smith-Jones to Holly Day in Slings And Arrows. Although he didn't so much usurp her as tell her to piss off, after his Heel Face Turn. It didn't stick.
- Actor Masato Uchiyama has played two such characters in the Kamen Rider franchise: Yoshio Kobayashi/the Rabbit Orphnoch in Faiz and Shun Kageyama/Kamen Rider Punch Hopper in Kabuto.
- Jamie from The Thick Of It is Malcolm Tucker's Bastard Understudy. Malcolm has made Jamie his unofficial second-in-command, and utilises his Violent Glaswegian tendencies whenever he needs some extra help bullying government ministers. Malcolm seems to have chosen his understudy very carefully: while he appreciates Jamie's usefulness, he is also aware that Jamie lacks the charm and intelligence to ever pose a threat to his job. When Jamie eventually attempts a Star Scream manoeuvre Malcolm never feels threatened because he knows it will fail.
- In season 2 of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Spike is basically stuck as a sidekick of The Chosen One until he turns the kid into ash.
Theater
- In The Lion In Winter, Henry II deliberately encourages conflict amongst his sons to toughen them up for their role as leaders. He specifically grooms his inept, youngest son John to take over as his successor (and has a Heroic BSOD when he discovers the boy scheming to usurp him with one of his other sons and the King of France.)
- Perhaps taken quite literally, Puckeridge in Tom Stoppard's play The Real Inspector Hound fits this trope, as well as that of Magnificent Bastard. He's established to be the subordinate theatre critic to both Higgs and Moon, the latter of whom is reviewing a bastard child of The Mousetrap because Higgs is missing. Eventually, Puckeridge manipulates events so that Higgs is the (really) dead body on stage, and both Moon and rival critic from another paper, Birdboot, are both dead.
Video Games
- Video Game Example: X-Men Legends II: Rise of the Apocalypse casts Mr. Sinister in this role to that game's Big Bad, Apocalypse. With predictable results.
- Samir Duran is Kerrigans understudy in Star Craft. Not quite as magnificent as Kerrigan, but close.
- Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising Hawke ends up killing Sturm at the end of Campaign.
Western Animation
- Starscream in Transformers wishes he could get away with this and tries many times to no avail, as he is not the Bastard Understudy but the Trope Namer for The Starscream.
- In the Beast Wars episode "Possession", Blackarachnia betrays Megatron for Starscream (yeah, that Starscream), convinces him to take her under his wing, and then double-crosses him for Megatron at the end of the episode. Starscream can't catch a break.
- Snively in SonicSATAM
- Thailog was this to Xanatos in Gargoyles, but by the time he makes his first onscreen appearance, he's already decided that he's learned all he can and is ready to strike out on his own as a villain in his own right. He does nearly kill Xanatos, Goliath, Elisa, and Sevarius as a parting gift.
Real Life
- Truth In Television: Ernst Rohm and Heinrich Himmler served Hitler faithfully, but Hitler never had any illusions what they would do if they had the chance. When the Third Reich folded, Himmler attempted to surrender to the Allies. Rohm was already dead, on Hitler's orders.
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