Basic Trope: A minor villain is more hateable than the Big Bad.
- Straight: Emperor Evulz, the Big Bad, is a sympathetic Noble Demon and/or Well-Intentioned Extremist with a Freudian Excuse, while Charlie, a recurring minor villain, is a Jerkass who always tries to screw over the heroes for personal gain and has no redeeming qualities.
- Exaggerated:
- Emperor Evulz is a downright Hero Antagonist while Charlie is a Complete Monster.
- Emperor Evulz is a total harmless villain, while Monster of the Week Charlie turns out to be a powerful Omnicidal Maniac, Absolute Xenophobe, Politically Incorrect Villain, Serial Rapist, and basically every unpleasant thing one can think of.
- Downplayed: Charlie does have a few Hidden Depths and sympathetic moments himself, but overall he's treated less sympathetically than Evulz.
- Justified: Emperor Evulz is more of a distant menace who the heroes don't know personally, so they can't really hate the guy, especially with how pleasant he is whenever they do meet, while Charlie is a jerk they have to deal with on a day-to-day basis, making him much easier for the heroes to despise.
- Inverted: Starter Villain Charlie is a Jerkass but shows Hidden Depths and a soft side later on, while Evulz has no redeeming qualities and brutally kills Charlie later on to show how much worse he is.
- Subverted: Charlie turns out to be a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, has a Freudian Excuse, and attempts to improve himself, endearing him to both the heroes and the audience.
- Double Subverted: Until he turns out to be a Jerk with a Heart of Jerk who made up his backstory to get sympathy and had no intention of changing his ways.
- Parodied: Evulz commits horrific atrocities daily and loves doing so, but the heroes treat him like a sad abused puppy because of his Freudian Excuse. Meanwhile, Charlie the school bully is mean to Alice and steals money from her once and the heroes are out for his blood, even calling him worse than Hitler.
- Zig-Zagged: ???
- Averted: Either both Evulz and Charlie are detestable, or neither are.
- Enforced: The writer wants the Big Bad to be a sympathetic Anti-Villain, but still wants the audience to have someone to despise.
- Lampshaded: "Y'know, Emperor Evulz may be a dictator and all, but I respect him far more than I respect that crooked, spineless, prick bureaucrat Charlie."
- Invoked: Charlie is The Mole implanted by Evulz specifically to make the heroes' faction look bad so he can look better in comparison- and make the heroes more willing to listen to his demands.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Evulz wants to be the baddest and most hated villain there is, so he kills Charlie and consciously goes out of his way to be worse than him in every aspect.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: The heroes refuse to sympathize with Evulz because despite his positive characteristics, he has still committed far worse crimes than Charlie.
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