Basic Trope: Multiple Big Bads exist separately, or even at odds.
- Straight: Alice Awesome and Bob Badass defend the world from Emperor Evulz, leader of the Evil Empire, and simultaneously against Lord Lawless, ruler of The Legions of Hell. Emperor Evulz and Lord Lawless want to kill each other as they want to kill the heroes and both have motivations to acquire the MacGuffin and Take Over the World separate from each other.
- Exaggerated: Emperor Elliot Evulz and Lord Larry Lawless are also competing with Admiral Alex Annihilation, Baron Bruce Bonecrusher, Colonel Charles Cruel, Duke Dan Destruction, Führer Franz Foul, Generalissimo Grant Gore, Impirator Ivan Iron, King Keith Killbride, etc. for world domination.
- Downplayed:
- Alice and Bob have to deal with Brad, who picks on them, and Mr. Mean, who makes class hard on them for no reason, during their day-to-day struggle in High School.
- Bob, owner of the local gas station, must defend his store from two crooks trying to rob him at the same time.
- Evulz and Lawless work together towards the same goal, but have very different motives in doing so.
- Justified: Emperor Evulz and Lord Lawless are both equally powerful and ambitious, and they don't intend to share the world with each other.
- Inverted:
- Alice Awesome and Bob Badass are two Big Goods from two separate planes that both defend the world from evil simultaneously.
- The heroic faction makes up an Ensemble Cast.
- Evulz and Lawless are a Big Bad Duumvirate working together to conquer the world.
- Subverted:
- At first it seems like they're two separate villains with their own motives, but they're secretly working together.
- Emperor Evulz turns out to be a Big Bad Wannabe who can't hope to compete with Lord Lawless. Lawless is the sole Big Bad.
- Double Subverted:
- ... That is, until Emperor Evulz turns on Lord Lawless once they acquire the MacGuffin. Then it becomes a Big Bad Ensemble.
- Evulz takes a level in badass to become just as big of a threat to the world as Lawless, and the final battle is a Mêlée à Trois between them and the heroes.
- Parodied: The whole thing is an Immoral Reality Show where the grand prize is ownership of the world.
- Zig Zagged: Evulz and Lawless frequently team up only to break up.
- Averted:
- There's only one Big Bad.
- There are two big bads, but it's a Big Bad Duumvirate and it never becomes an ensemble.
- Enforced: "The audience will be more interested if there's more than one main villain. Add another!"
- Lampshaded: "Boy, it's a good thing these two are trying to kill each other as much as they're trying to kill us. If they teamed up we'd be screwed."
- Invoked: The heroes turn Evulz and Lawless against each other deliberately in the hopes they’ll destroy each other.
- Exploited: Alice and Bob use the opportunity to have Emperor Evulz and Lord Lawless weaken each other in battle, before joining in to finish both of them off.
- Defied: Emperor Evulz and Lord Lawless refuse to fight each other, as it would likely end in a stalemate.
- Discussed: “So how come, if these guys both wanna conquer the world, are they fighting each other instead of teaming up?”
- Conversed: “You know, I really like how they decided to have two dueling villains instead of just one main baddie- it really makes the plot harder to predict.”
- Deconstructed:
- Evulz and Lawless end up destroying each other with their fighting.
- They also end up destroying the world that they wanted to rule.
- Reconstructed:
- Evulz and Lawless agree to try again, but establish rules this time around, to prevent the competition from ending in a draw.
- The heroes restore the world- just in time for Evulz and Lawless to return and try again.
Back to Big Bad Ensemble
