Markup View

Author: TheTitan99

Oct 28th 2013 at 9:41:28 PM

I don't think the Darkseid example fully fits. The final storyarch of the DCAU involves Lex Luther trying to bring back Brainiac, and Darkseid is partially Brainiac infused. So, he's more of is an ArcVillain, I think. There's certainly build up to the revival. It's a twist that it's Darkseid fused with Brainiac, but it doesn't just happen in the last 2 episodes. There's plenty of episodes revolving around Lex trying to revive Brainiac beforehand.
Also, I don't know how the Avatar examples aren't Arc Villains. Zhao slowly rises in rank over season 1, and has his own personal goals. He doesn't just pop out of nowhere in the final episodes. Same with Azula.
...
I guess my problem is that this trope is worded with these characters coming out of nowhere to provide drama, where it seems like a lot of these characters mentioned actually have buildup, and storyarchs, that just end at season endings.

However, I can think of other examples that would fit with tougher villains appearing to make the season finale more dramatic.

* In the season 1 finale of ''[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague The Justice League]]'', a new villain, Vandal Savage, tries to take over the Earth in both the past and present by having the Nazis win World War II.
* The first season of ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' actually had two examples of this. While the previous episodes of the season were only 11 minutes, the last two episode were 22 minutes, and involved new and far more powerful villains, the first having [[SpearCounterpart The Rowdyruff Boys]], and the second having a giant Fish Balloon Monster.
* The SeriesFinale of ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' has earth being invaded by BattleCouple, Warhawk and Warmanga. While Warmanga had appeared in one previous episode, there was no indication that she'd ever return again, and certainly not teamed up a [[KnightOfCerebus completely serious and very dangerous]] new villain.