History BigBad / LiveActionTV

* ''BigBad/{{Arrowverse}}''
* BigBad/{{Buffyverse}}
* BigBad/{{Disney}}

* BigBad/MarvelCinematicUniverse

* BigBad/TheVampireDiariesUniverse
* BigBad/TheWalkingDeadTelevisionUniverse
* BigBad/{{Whoniverse}}

* ''Series/{{Life|2007}}'': [[TheMafiya Roman Nevikov]], the ruthless Russian mobster Crews is after.

* ''Series/Lucifer2016'':
** Season 1 has Amenadiel, Lucifer's angelic brother who is determined to make him return back to Hell as its ruler, [[WellIntentionedExtremist no matter what it takes]]. He has a HeelFaceTurn in the final episode, letting Malcolm Graham take the spot as the villain. Malcolm is a DirtyCop who was brought BackFromTheDead by Amenadiel; However, he CameBackWrong thanks to the torture he experienced in Hell.
** Season 2 has the Goddess of Creation, Lucifer's mother who spends the entire season trying to manipulate her sons into helping her [[DivineConflict reclaim control of Heaven from God]].
** Season 3 has the Sinnerman, an enigmatic crime boss and serial killer. [[spoiler:Except not. Turns out he is not only a DiscOneFinalBoss, but also a decoy-gone-rouge. The true Sinnerman and Big Bad of the season is [[EvilAllAlong Lieutenant Marcus Pierce]], who's true identity is [[BiblicalBadGuy Cain]]. While he spends most of the season as a VillainyFreeVillain, he finally becomes a true villain in the last few episodes.]]
** Season 4 [[DiscOneFinalBoss starts off]] with Father Kinley, a SinisterMinister who tries to manipulate [[spoiler:Chloe]] into helping him force Lucifer back to Hell. However, his [[BigBadWannabe incompetence]] leads to his arrest early in the season. After this, the closest thing to an antagonist is Eve -- while not evil, her ToxicFriendInfluence inadvertently undoes Lucifer's CharacterDevelopment and turns him back into a selfish hedonist. Eventually, her obsession with making him stay the way she wants leads her to kill [[spoiler:Kinley]] (even if in self-defence) and allow his corpse to be [[DemonicPossession possessed]] by the demon Dromos, who serves as the FinalBoss as he kidnaps Amenadiel and Linda's infant son to replace Lucifer as the king of Hell. Meanwhile, Eve would go through a HeelFaceTurn as she WouldntHurtAChild.
** Season 5 has Michael, Lucifer's EvilTwin, who comes to Earth to ruin Lucifer's life [[EvilIsPetty out of spite]]. Though as the back half of the season reveals, this is just part of a larger plan, which is to replace his father as the new God, with Michael and Lucifer ultimately coming to blows over who gets to be "promoted". [[spoiler:Ultimately, Michael turns out to not only be the Big Bad of Season 5, but also ''the entire series''. He's been the true mastermind behind every bad thing that has happened in Lucifer's life, starting with his rebellion against God and ending with Lucifer [[ToHellWithThisInfernalJob retiring]] from his job as king of Hell]].
** Season 6 for the most part has NoAntagonist, being instead about Lucifer dealing with the emotional weight of whether to accept his new role as God, as well as his KidFromTheFuture Rory revealing that he's going to disappear from Chloe's life soon, leaving a mystery to unravel. However, there is a FinalBoss in the series finale in the form of Vincent Le Mac, a mercenary [[DragonAscendant previously employed by Michael]], who kidnaps Rory in order to lure Lucifer into a trap and try to kill him, in revenge for Lucifer leaving him in torment since the previous season.

* ''Series/TheGifted2017'':
** Season 1: Dr. Roderick Campbell, the head of Trask Industries' mutant research, who works with Sentinel Services to spearhead a program to turn mutants into brainwashed drone soldiers.
** Season 2: Reeva Payge, the head of the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle, who wishes to bring about a revolution and create a mutant homeland.

* ''Series/{{Gotham}}'':
** Season 1: The whole season is a chess match between Carmine Falcone, Fish Mooney, and Sal Maroni for control of Gotham's criminal underworld, with Oswald "Penguin" Cobblepott [[TheChessmaster playing them all against each other]] in order to come out on top. Then there's also a GreaterScopeVillain in TheConspiracy controlling Wayne Enterprises.
** Season 2A: [[ManipulativeBastard Theo Galavan]], who sows chaos in Gotham so that he can engineer his way into the office of Mayor, and position himself to avenge a blood feud on the Waynes.
** Season 2B: [[MadDoctor Professor Hugo Strange]], whose experiments on his patients at Arkham Asylum drive much of the plot. At the end of the season, however, he's revealed to be working for the above-mentioned GreaterScopeVillain [[spoiler: the Court of Owls]].
** Season 3A: The Mad Hatter, Jervis Tetch, kicks off the "Mad City" story arc by infecting citizens with the blood of his sister Alice until [[spoiler: [[DiscOneFinalBoss he gets jailed in Arkham]]]] and the spotlight is stolen by [[spoiler: [[BackFromTheDead Jerome]] [[AxCrazy Valeska]], leader of the Maniax and previously killed off early in Season 2 by Galavan. After his revival, he knocks out Gotham's power, plunges the whole city into darkness and creates an insane circus of anarchy devoted to bringing down the rich citizens of Gotham - especially Bruce Wayne himself.]] And all the while, the Court's leader [[GreaterScopeVillain Kathryn]] is up to no good.
** Season 3B: Penguin and the Riddler spend the whole arc [[EvilVersusEvil working against each other]] for control of Gotham alongside their various [[VillainTeamUp allies]]. Meanwhile, Kathryn prepares to make a move against Gotham, but she's eventually revealed to be [[TheManBehindTheMan working for]] a man known as the Shaman, who plays EvilMentor and TheCorrupter to Bruce as part of his own mysterious agenda. [[spoiler: Which is to bring him into the service of his master, ComicBook/RasAlGhul.]]
** Season 4A: There's a series of brief {{Arc Villain}}s -- Scarecrow, Ra's al-Ghul, and Professor Pyg -- but the true main villain turns out to be [[MafiaPrincess Sofia Falcone]], who spent the whole half a season engineering a complex plot to take control of Gotham's criminal underworld [[spoiler: and punish Gordon for her brother's death]].
** Season 4B: Sofia continues as main antagonist for [[DiscOneFinalBoss a few episodes]], before [[spoiler: getting shot in the head]]. After this, [[NotSoHarmlessVillain Ivy Pepper]] goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge for [[ArcVillain several episodes]], and then Jerome returns to once again terrorize the city into madness. [[spoiler: He's finally KilledOffForReal, but not before driving his brother Jeremiah insane. Jeremiah then becomes the FinalBoss of the season, [[VillainTeamUp teaming up]] with Ra's al-Ghul to devastate Gotham and force Bruce onto the path towards becoming Batman.]]
** Season 5: The season as a whole has Eduardo Dorrance/Bane and Secretary Theresa Walker[[spoiler:/Nyssa al Ghul]] who are [[BigBadDuumvirate working together]] [[spoiler:to destroy Gotham and get revenge against Bruce and Barbara for killing Ra's in the pervious season. Jeremiah is also still lurking around but [[ArcVillian he's focusing on driving Bruce mad]] and as such isn't a part of the season's main conflict.]] In the show's [[DistantFinale final episode]] [[spoiler:Jeremiah returns, now on the cusp of finally becoming ComicBook/TheJoker, after pretending to be in a coma for the past ten years, on the eve of Bruce's return to Gotham, and proceeds to manipulate the entire cast all to get back at Bruce for "abandoning" him.]]

* ''[[Series/LoisAndClark Lois and Clark, The New Adventures of Superman]]'':
** Season 1: ComicBook/LexLuthor, a CorruptCorporateExecutive and VillainWithGoodPublicity who serves as TheManBehindTheMan for most of the [[VillainOfTheWeek Villains of the Week]]. Superman is unable to expose his villainy until the closing two-parter where he attempts to trick Lois into marrying him after bombing the Daily Planet and gaining kryptonite to kill Superman.
** Season 2: Intergang, a [[TheSyndicate crime syndicate]] who take over from Lex Luthor in trying to run all the crime in the city. In their debut episode, they are led by Bill Church, another VillainWithGoodPublicity and an [[BigBadFriend old friend]] of Perry White. Partway through the season, he hands over control to his son Billy Jr, who kidnaps Perry and tries to murder a narcotics agent.
** Season 3: No overall Big Bad. The opening episode has Minnie Church, Bill Church's new wife, takes over as head of Intergang after both Bill and Billy Jr are arrested, but that ends up being an AbortedArc: She only appears in one more episode, where she frames one of her underlings as the new head of Intergang, with Clark and Lois never learning the truth. Lex Luthor makes a BackForTheDead return in a mid-season trilogy where he [[StalkerWithACrush kidnaps Lois on her wedding day]] and tries to get her to run away with him after she develops amnesia. The final two episodes set up Lord Nor as a GreaterScopeVillain, a [[AristocratsAreEvil Krytonian noble]] who challenges Kal-El for the leadership of their people by sending an alien assassin after him.
** Season 4: The opening two-parter concludes the storyline with Lord Nor, as he is defeated after invading Earth and enslaving Smallville. After that, time travelling criminal Tempus (who has been part of the show's RoguesGallery since Season 2) becomes the show's new main villain, as first a previous incarnation of him is revealed to be behind a curse that will lead Lois to die if she and Clark consummate their marriage, and then he uses a mind control device to have himself elected [[PresidentEvil President of the United States]].

* ''Series/{{Pennyworth}}'': While the first season has something of a BigBadEnsemble due to all the political intrigue going on, the clear main threat is Lord Harwood, the leader of the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Raven Society]], who at the climax of the season kidnaps the Queen so that he can stage a coup and take control of the country. By Season 2, he's a full-blown EvilOverlord, being the High Chancellor of the Raven Union, a merger of the Society and the army that has taken over most of England in the CivilWar he started between seasons. [[spoiler: Midway through the season, however, [[TheStarscream Colonel Salt]] uses a combination of drugging and {{gaslighting}} to drive Harwood to a breakdown so he can take control of the Union and threaten to unleash [[WeaponOfMassDestruction Project Stormcloud]] on London to end the war.]]

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' initially has [[MagnificentBastard Lionel Luthor]] as the main antagonist of Seasons 1-3, although other secondary antagonists, like reporter [[{{Paparazzi}} Roger Nixon]], [[SuperPoweredEvilSide Kal]] and [[GoodIsNotNice Jor-El]] also took a stab at this role in each season respectively. Following Lionel's defeat and subsequent HeelFaceTurn, the situation got a lot more complicated, but played out more or less as follows:
** Season 4: [[EvilMatriarch Genevieve Teague]], with [[spoiler: [[MommasBoy her son]] [[MadeOfIron Jason]] as TheDragon]] and [[WickedWitch Margaret Isobel Thoreaux]] as her [[BigBadEnsemble archrival]].
** Season 5: [[RoboticPsychopath Brainiac]] with [[spoiler: [[SealedEvilInACan General Zod]]]] as the GreaterScopeVillain he was seeking to unleash.
** Season 6: ComicBook/LexLuthor. Yeah. the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Zoners]] are out there, and [[EvilTwin Bizzarro]]'s waiting in the wings, but Lex is TheHeavy for the season, and is behind almost every problem in series.
** Season 7: [[ManipulativeBastard Lex]] and Brainiac form a BigBadDuumvirate.
** Season 8: The most complicated season, with a huge BigBadEnsemble, including [[TheBaroness Tess Mercer]], [[TheManBehindTheMan Faora]], [[spoiler:[[EvilCripple Lex]]]], and DiscOneFinalBoss [[OmnicidalManiac Brainiac]] all vying for the role. All of them have their own agendas, and the [[{{Chessmaster}} complicated plans]] to back it up. Yet when [[EvilerThanThou the smoke clears]] it's SerialKiller and {{Antihero}} [[DrivenToVillainy Davis Bloome]] and his SuperpoweredEvilSide [[PersonOfMassDestruction Doomsday]] who step up to the plate as TheHeavy, providing most of the drama in the season's latter half, and serving as the FinalBoss to boot.
** Season 9: [[MajorlyAwesome Major Zod]] and his cloned Kandorian army, with [[MisanthropeSupreme Tess]] as a sometimes ally, and [[GovernmentConspiracy Checkmate]] trying to stop him.
** Season 10: {{ComicBook/Darkseid}}, with [[CoDragons Granny Goodness, Desaad, and Glorious Godfrey]] doing his dirty work. Lots of others [[BigBadWannabe try for this role]], but compared to Darkseid's ominous presence they just don't cut it. See BigBadEnsemble for the breakdown though.
** The Season 11 continuation comics have Lex back and causing trouble again on a mostly regular basis, but also have a story arc dealing with the larger threat of [[spoiler: [[ComicBook/CountdownToFinalCrisis the]] [[ComicBook/FinalCrisis Monitors]]]], who seek to impose order by [[OmnicidalManiac destroying all life]] [[spoiler: and have already succeeded with Earth-2.]]

* ''Series/SpiderManJapan'': The main villain of the series is Professor Monster, the leader of the Iron Cross Army who frequently plots evil schemes to plague Japan and to try and kill Spider-Man.

* ''Series/Watchmen2019'': The leader of the [[RightWingMilitiaFanatic Seventh Kavalry]], [[spoiler: [[CorruptPolitician Senator Keene]]]], is the driving force behind most of the plot, as he sends his followers to enact a plan to [[spoiler: capture and steal the powers of [[PhysicalGod Doctor Manhattan]]]], in order to restore white supremacy in America. However, he's ultimately a BigBadWannabe being used by the true mastermind, [[spoiler: [[TheChessmaster Lady Trieu]]]], who lets him carry out the setup for the plan just to swoop in and hijack the endgame for her own ends. [[spoiler: Namely [[GodhoodSeeker becoming a god]], allegedly for [[WellIntentionedExtremist improving the world]], but clearly for the sake of her own ego.]]

** Seasons 1 and 2: [[Characters/SherlockJimMoriarty Jim Moriarty]], is a "consulting criminal" who lends his genius to help other crooks commit crimes, in the name of alleviating his own boredom and obsessively trying to capture the attention of Sherlock Holmes, not caring who he hurts while doing so.

** Season 3: No overall Big Bad. The opening episode has Minnie Church, Bill Church's new wife, takes over as head of Intergang after both Bill and Billy Jr are arrested, but that ends up being an AbortedArc: She only appears in one more episode, where she frames one of her underlings as the new head of Intergang, with Clark and Lois never learning the truth. Lex Luthor makes a BackForTheDead return in a mid-season trilogy where he [[StalkerWithACrush kidnaps Lois on her wedding day]] and tries to get her to run away with him after she develops amnesia. The final two episodes set up Lord Nor as a GreaterScopeVillain, a [[AristocratsAreEvil Krytonian noble]] who challenges Kal-El for the leadership of their people by sending an alien assasin after him.

* ''Film/{{Arachnicide}}'': The unnamed head of a drug cartel, who has set giant spiders on his enemies.

* ''Film/DarkNightOfTheScarecrow'': Otis Hazelrigg, who led the party that killed Bubba for a crime he didn't commit and spends the film trying to cover up his crime.

* ''Film/DeadAndDeader'': [[spoiler:Dr. Scott, a scientist seeking to sell the zombie infection for his own profit.]]

* ''Film/TheOutlawMichaelHowe'': [[spoiler:Peter Septon, corrupt governor of Van Diemen's Land.]]
* ''Series/TheOutpost''

* ''Film/SSDoomtrooper'': Dr. Ullman, a MadScientist making Nazi {{super soldier}}s.

%%** ''Series/TomicaHeroRescueFire'': Donkaen
* ''Film/TrilogyOfTerror'':
** "Julie": [[spoiler:Julie Eldridge, a woman who manipulates predator into thinking she's the perfect victim before killing them for fun.]]
** "Therese and Millicent": Therese Loramont, Millicent's sister [[spoiler:who's actually a split personality]] who spends the segment tormenting and abusing her.
** "Amelia": He Who Kills, an evil spirit trapped inside a Zuni fetish doll.

* ''Film/{{Vampirella}}'': Vlad {{Dracula}}, who killed Vampirella's father and is responsible for Earth's vampire plague.

* ''Film/{{Yuma}}'': [[spoiler:Mules [=McNeil=]]], the true source of all of the corruption in Yuma.

* ''Series/SevenStarFighingGodGuyferd'' has [[spoiler:Zodiac, the true leader of [[TheSyndicate Crown]].]]

* ''Series/SquidGame'': The enigmatic Host of the titular DeadlyGame is the boss of the organization running the competition and luring indebted people into it. The last episode reveals it to be [[spoiler:Oh Il-Nam, Player 001, who started and infiltrated the games for his amusement and that of his rich friends]].

* ''Series/{{Scandal}}'': The first season didn't seem to have one, but [[spoiler: Billy Chambers]] like qualifies. The second season, however, establishes [[spoiler: Hollis]] as this, due to him having 7 people killed and framing someone for it to cover up vote tampering, and having the President himself shot and framing Huck for it! [[spoiler: However, it turns out that he didn't have the President shot, Judge Verna did that]]. During season 3 the role is seemingly split between [[spoiler: both of Olivia's parents, Roman Pope]] the merciless head of [[spoiler: B613]] and [[spoiler:Maya Pope,]] a sociopathic international terrorist[[spoiler: who was dangerously obsessed with her daughter]]. Season 4 introduces [[spoiler: Republican Party Chairwoman Elizabeth ''"Lizzie Bear"'' North though she herself is a red herring being used by true big bad seemingly nice guy Vice President Andrew Nicohls who had Olivia kidnapped to force Fitz's hand in declaring war on Angola]] for the first half before returning to [[spoiler: Roman Pope]] being the full on Big Bad [[spoiler: alongside all of B613 for the second half]].
* ''Series/{{Scream}}'': The first season finale reveals that Ghostface is actually [[spoiler: Piper Shaw]]. Then the Season 2 finale reveals that season's Ghostface, [[spoiler: Kieran Wilcox]], was in fact in a BigBadDuumvirate with [[spoiler: Piper]] the whole time.
** The HalloweenEpisode TV movie set between Seasons 2 and 3 has the Anna Hobbs copycat killer, [[spoiler: Tom Martin, AKA [[DeadPersonImpersonation the fake Alex Whitman]]]].

** Season 2 has [[TheDevil The Keeper]], a being that rules the dead, and wishes to extinguish all life; with Rahl getting DemotedToDragon.

* ''Film/CastADeadlySpell'': [[spoiler:Amos Hackshaw, an occultist planning to sacrifice his daughter to Yog-Sothoth and destroy the world.]]