History BigBadWannabe / Fanfiction

{{Big Bad Wannabe}}s in fanfiction.
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* ''Fanfic/FallenKing'' has Yami Bakura, who is a threat, but isn't nearly as pressing or as personal a threat as Pegasus is. In his internal monologue, Joey thinks that Pegasus is the real monster and Bakura can't compare.
* ''Fanfic/JusticeLeagueOfEquestria'':
** ''Mare of Steel'': By the time the second arc starts, Rainbow Dash has apparently had to deal with numerous wannabe villains all claiming to be her ArchEnemy. She finds it all annoying.
** Steel Wing is the first antagonist introduced in the second arc, but is quickly reduced to ComicBook/{{Brainiac}}'s UnwittingPawn, and is dealt with before him and Silversmith.
* Blaze and [[spoiler: Cinder]] in ''Fanfic/TeamLVDR''. Blaze, while the main antagonist of the first volume, is a SmugSnake and DirtyCoward.
* Wei and his [[TheDragon Dragon]] Sho, from ''[[FanFic/TheFallOfTheFireEmpire Legacy of the Fire Empire]]'' hold several children hostage so they can [[spoiler: force Fire Lord Jiazin to step down from her throne]], and bring back the Fire Empire. When Kanoda throws a spear at them, they make the mistake of sending out the soldiers leaving themselves unguarded. Kanoda then acts as a diversion, while [[spoiler:Avatar Aang]] ambushes the soldiers when they come back and promptly knocks out Wei and Sho.
* [[http://kleinerkiller.deviantart.com/gallery/41037509/Minecraftia-Saga Yognapped]] has [[spoiler: Peva]]. He's built up as a ManipulativeBastard and a worthy successor to previous BigBad Sben, killing [[spoiler: Sips]] on a whim and forcing the Yogscast to mine away at bedrock until [[spoiler: [[SealedEvilInACan Herobrine]] is released]]. Once things predictably go to hell and [[spoiler: Peva loses his entire pool of gathered troops instantaneously]], he's revealed as little more than a {{Jerkass}} with a petty grudge, and his attempt to fight results in a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown with him on the losing side, [[spoiler: shortly afterwards being stabbed in the skull by a resurrected Sben.]]
* ''Fanfic/NewTamaran'': Control Freak.
* FanFic/TheNuptialverse: [[spoiler: Olive Branch is set up as the BigBad of ''Families'', a VillainWithGoodPublicity aimed at taking down Celestia's regime who appears to be TheChessmaster...until the climax, where his ultimately poorly thought out plans fall apart, [[SmugSnake with him unable to compensate at all]].]]
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fanfic ''Fanfic/PartiallyKissedHero'' stated that Severus Snape's real reason to hate James Potter was that all of James bullying him during school time was what prevented Snape from being taken seriously enough to become a Dark Lord on his own right.
* The ''FanFic/PonyPOVSeries'': in the [[BadFuture Dark World]] timeline, [[EvilGenius the Valeyard]] views himself as TheManBehindTheMan to [[BigBad Discord]], humoring him while planning to one day [[TheStarscream steal his power for himself]]. However, while he ''is'' a genuine threat, he ultimately doesn't match up to Discord [[spoiler: and is defeated well before he is]].
** In the Wedding Arc, [[spoiler: there's [[TheQuisling General Lone Ranger]], who thinks he's playing the Changelings for his own convoluted agenda of making Equestria become more warlike]]. However, while he's pretty strong and smart, [[spoiler: he's an UnwittingPawn all along]], and by the time the Mane Six confront him, he's so physically and mentally broken down that he goes down easy.
* ''FanFic/QueenOfAllOni'':
** [[EvilSorcerer Lung]], Daolon Wong's former [[BastardUnderstudy apprentice]], who views himself as the only one powerful and skilled enough to take Wong's place as the [[TheArchMage Darkest Mage]]. However, his master plan -- to force Jade, and by extension, her Shadowkhan, into his service -- was too simple-minded, and fell apart rather easily. More importantly, the fact that his only response to said plan failing was to not acknowledge that fact and keep bludgeoning ahead, and that his reaction to Jade's minions showing up was to slip into a VillainousBSOD bordering on a full-scale [[VillainousBreakdown breakdown]]... yeah, he's really not in Wong's league. [[spoiler: And then Jade's minions kill him, so he's ''definitely'' never going to make BigBad.]]
** Shortly afterward, Drago arrives from the future in an attempt to [[MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight change the timeline to his desire]]. However, while he has the strength to back up his plans, said plans are constantly derailed by every other faction he comes up against kicking his ass [[spoiler: and he's eventually sent back to the future, where the Matriarch (future Jade) has him restrained and beaten]]. He doesn't look so impressive at that point.
** Daolon Wong himself actually rather comes off as having degraded to this in-story, given his pitiful attempts at regaining his power and the HumiliationConga he goes through (Tarakudo even calls him a wannabe at one point).
** [[FatBastard Anton Mortimer]] thinks that his money and business connections make him beyond the touch of the law, that it makes him the ultimate DiabolicalMastermind that the J-Team can't hope to fight. After they ultimately end up blackmailing his Oni mask off him, Jade then shows up and proceeds to rob him blind, while giving him a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech over how insignificant he really is.
* ''Fanfic/RubyAndNora'': Keter, the StarterVillain. Despite being a vicious, bloodthirsty SerialKiller, is nothing more than a sniveling, [[DirtyCoward cowardly]] child who is bested the second he stupidly attacked the protagonists.
* In ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' story ''Fanfic/SupermanOf2499TheGreatConfrontation'', the newest Superman faces up to [[PsychicPowers Muto]], his father's nemesis. Muto ploys to get rid of Superman and then taking over the world. A pity he's taken down in the tenth chapter.
* Kanoya in the ''Manga/MedakaBox'' fanfic ''Fanfic/WorldAsMyth'' tries to take over the Student Council with force, but is promptly defeated by two freshmen in the first chapter.
* ''[[FanFic/TheGodEmpressOfPonykind The Warmistress of Equestria]]'': Lord Talon Hoof views himself as the leader of the Traitor Legions and the greatest threat to Equestria, but is, in fact, an UnwittingPawn to [[TheDragon Scorpan]] and his [[BigBad master]], [[SealedEvilInACan Tirac]].
* [[FanFic/RealityChecksNyxverse The Nyxverse]] story ''Alicornundrum'' has this in its main antagonist, Duke Blueblood (Prince Blueblood's father). It's made clear that Celestia has been shooting down his petty schemes with ease for years (usually leaving his "victims" better off than they were beforehand). Even the main threat he represents -- a conspiracy of unicorn supremacist nobles -- while successful in undermining Celestia's government for a time, falls apart completely the moment the Princesses are presented with hard evidence of its existence. [[spoiler: As does the Duke's mind, as the shock of realizing how badly he's been OutGambitted results in a VillainousBreakdown that actually causes brain damage, reducing him to the mental state of a foal.]]
* Lestat in ''[[http://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-28404-1/DianeCastle+Xendra.htm Xendra]]'' thinks he's a highly dangerous vampire, partially because having his still human friends as underlings make other vampires think [[MistakenForBadass that he's a master vampire so old he can hold multiple humans in his thrall]]. In reality, he's an extremely out of shape fledgling who's only a few months old. The only real reason he's a threat is that [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy]] is out of town so the other Scoobies have to deal with it.
** After being turned, Snyder ''tries'' to prey upon the Scoobies and their families but fails miserably. Not only is he rather weak for a vampire (due to both being an out of shape middle-aged man and being a newborn vampire), but after his first attack, everyone was onto him. Xander and Willow's family nearly kill him while Joyce stands just on the other side of the doorway and threatens him for several minutes as she waits for one of the Slayers to come by and dust him.
* In the ''Fanfic/InfinityCrisis'' spin-off ''Sins, Sirens & Strife'', while Amora the Enchantress thinks of herself as a brilliant strategist with great plans, Thor tells her that Loki once commented that her plans were so transparent it was like she was standing naked in front of a clear glass window.
* In ''Fanfic/FrozenTurtles'', while Hans is ruthless and ambitious, he’s a rank amateur at best when compared to the Shredder, [[spoiler:and is swiftly taken down when his attempts to inspire a revolt prove to be a failure]].
* In ''[[Fanfic/WorldsApartBuffy Worlds Apart]]'', Lyle Gorch comes across as this; he might be over a century old, but of the eight vampires gathered for the tournament, he’s the only one none of the watching student Watchers recognise, even when ‘Angelus’ has been absent and presumed dead for a century.
* ''[[Fanfic/ThuktunsCRISIS CRISIS]]'' has [[Literature/{{Animorphs}} Visser Three]]. He clearly thinks of himself as a key member of the LegionOfDoom, but ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} and the others don't take him seriously. [[spoiler: And his confrontation with the Animorphs during the FinalBattle ends up almost comically anticlimactic in nature.]]
* ''[[FanFic/BoundDestiniesTrilogy Wisdom and Courage]]'': While Veran ''is'' very dangerous, managing to acquire the Triforce and bring both Hyrule and Termina to ruin by herself, it's revealed upon her demise that her plan to conquer the Sacred Realm was nothing but a delusion of grandeur; even if she had gotten into the Sacred Realm, Din, Nayru, and Farore would have easily annihilated her, and Din outright mocks her for being such an arrogant moron. Furthermore, Majora reveals to Link that the only reason Veran was able to control its power in the first place is that Majora was ''letting'' her do so, and planned to kick her to the curb as soon as it was convenient.
* ''FanFic/SonOfTheSevenKingdoms'' has the Ironborn. They believe themselves capable of bringing the North down and sacking King's Landing. Their actions, so far, have been restricted to being the stompees in a naval CurbStompBattle and taking (and then losing) two Northern fortresses.
* ''Fanfic/EarthsAlienHistory'' has a couple of examples:
** The Mekon. It's not that he isn't threatening -- he's actually the first major villain in the story -- it's just that in the long run, he inadvertently ends up helping more than he hurts our heroes.
** Voss Ratarau. The Romulan warbird he manages to capture and reverse-engineer into a handful of other ships altogether makes him a moderate-sized threat, but as he's going up against the [[TheAlliance Terran Treaty Organization]] and the entire Romulan Empire, he's nowhere near as impressive as he thinks he is [[spoiler: and ends up killed anticlimactically by his own rebelling slaves]].
* The ''[[Film/TheAvengers2012 Avengers]]'' / ''Series/DoctorWho'' crossover ''Fanfic/TimeAnomaly'' makes [[spoiler:Kang the Conqueror]] an example of this; he tries to present himself as [[spoiler:a warlord with advanced technology capable of conquering Earth's defences in the twenty-first century, but the Doctor swiftly realises that Kang really stole his time-travel technology, has little in the way of actual military hardware, and has no real idea what he's doing when it comes to travelling in time, to the point where he fails to actually conquer Earth even when the Doctor stands back and tells Kang that he'll ''let'' the man destroy New York]].
* Adam Taurus in ''Fanfic/ValesUnderground''. He is a part of the BigBadEnsemble as one of the major mob bosses in Vale, but he's very upset that [[BigBad Cinder]] has been put at the top. She has the most influence in the city, but he thinks that she doesn't deserve it. Cinder quickly [[CurbStompBattle puts him in his place]] when he tries to pick a fight with her. Ultimately, may be ''a'' BigBad, but he wants to be ''the'' BigBad. What prevents him from doing that is his rather impatient attitude and [[HairTriggerTemper volatile temper]] that causes him to murder his own workers on occasion. Things that, as Cinder points out, are some major drawbacks.
* Snotlout takes this role in ''Fanfic/TheBlacksmithsApprentice''; early on, when he's officially become heir after Hiccup's been disinherited, Snotlout thinks he’s a great heir to the position of chief of Berk, but Stoick could clearly see that Snotlout lacked any diplomatic skill and was tactically useless at any kind of planning beyond ‘beat the other guy up’, to the point of having Hiccup ‘pretend’ to be the Heir when other tribes are visiting (albeit saying that Snotlout just isn’t ready yet rather than acknowledging that he never will be). [[spoiler:After being Outcast, Snotlout tries to reclaim his title by making a deal with Alvin, but this ‘deal’ proves to be hopelessly in favour of Alvin, even if Snotlout accepts a position of apparent power among the Outcasts when Alvin takes the position of Berk chief that he had ‘promised’ to Snotlout]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' fanfic ''Fanfic/ResurrectedMemories'': Despite being the central antagonist of the prom storyline Paulina doesn't even register as a threat merely being an annoying SpoiledBrat that the heroes (and [[VillainProtagonist Ember]]) want to put in her place.
* In ''Fanfic/LovedAndLost'', an extended retelling of the 2nd season finale of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Queen Chrysalis]] is reduced to this. Her invasion is stopped in the fic's first quarter ([[IncredibleShrinkingMan differently]] than canonically, though), but [[TheUsurper Prince Jewelius]], who proves himself to be a more competent manipulator, [[LetNoCrisisGoToWaste uses the mess she caused]] to turn the public against all the other heroes than [[CorruptTheCutie Twilight Sparkle]] and make himself Equestria's king, while Chrysalis and her Changelings are locked up in Canterlot's dungeons. The [[WhamEpisode 11th chapter]] reveals that [[spoiler:Chrysalis started her canon plan when Jewelius first approached her, played her like a fiddle, and helped her infiltrate Canterlot and steal Cadance's identity by telling her about the underground caverns. However, when Jewelius saw how Chrysalis' imperfect impersonation of Cadance made [[ProperlyParanoid Twilight Sparkle]] (whom [[LoveInterestTraitor he himself charmed]] with his [[BitchInSheepsClothing considerate façade]]) suspicious (he even scolded Chrysalis for endangering their plan because of this), he successfully double-crossed her at a crucial moment when he decided he'll gain more for himself by helping Twilight defeat her]]. The Changelings eventually escape, and everypony (except for [[SkewedPriorities Jewelius]] himself) is afraid of a new Changeling invasion, but Chrysalis is unable to beat Twilight when the unicorn blocks her path to Jewelius, so she retreats to plan from the shadows. [[spoiler:With some secret assistance from one of her disguised Changelings, the heroes defeat Jewelius' forces and corner him in the final battle, at which point Chrysalis sweeps in and has her Changelings kill Jewelius as revenge. She then attempts to beat the exhausted heroes, only for Shining Armor and Cadance to give her and her army [[ATwinkleInTheSky their canon defeat]] that has been delayed only because of the plot alterations caused by Jewelius.]]
* ''Fanfic/TheMiraculousAdventuresOfDanKuso'': [[WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug Hawk Moth]] thinks that he can share the powers of the Miraculous with the vengeful alien trying to restore his planet’s corrupt regime. He ends up in a TimeStandsStill situation (along with [[TheBigGuy his bodyguard]] as soon as said alien no longer needs him.
* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'': Dr. Robert Reynolds, the ArcVillain of Book 2's Smallville arc, has pretensions to being a serious player who can pull a WhosLaughingNow on everyone, up to and including the White Council. Harry points out that he was skulking around in the dark to avoid being caught, and even after he's powered up into what would be a genuine threat, one that pushes Harry and Clark to their limits to subdue, he isn't treated all that seriously. Clark's merely wary of him, while Harry [[IgnoredEnemy outright ignores him when something more important/interesting comes up]], and contemptuously quotes "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E6TheLazarusExperiment The Lazarus Experiment]]", stating that he was nothing but "a vain old man who tried to defy nature" and got consumed by the [[DealWithTheDevil devil's bargains]] he'd made and his own hubris.

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* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'': Dr. Robert Reynolds, the ArcVillain of Book 2's Smallville arc, has pretensions to being a serious player who can pull a WhosLaughingNow on everyone, up to and including the White Council. Harry points out that he was skulking around in the dark to avoid being caught, and even after he's powered up into what would be a genuine threat, one that pushes Harry and Clark to their limits to subdue, he isn't treated all that seriously. Clark's merely wary of him, while Harry outright ignores him when something more important/interesting comes up, and contemptuously quotes "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E6TheLazarusExperiment The Lazarus Experiment]]", stating that he was nothing but "a vain old man who tried to defy nature" and got consumed by the [[DealWithTheDevil devil's bargains]] he'd made and his own hubris.

* In ''Fanfic/LovedAndLost'', an extended retelling of the 2nd season finale of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Queen Chrysalis]] is reduced to this. Her invasion is stopped in the fic's first quarter ([[IncredibleShrinkingMan differently]] than canonically, though), but [[TheUsurper Prince Jewelius]], who proves himself to be a more competent manipulator, [[LetNoCrisisGoToWaste uses the mess she caused]] to turn the public against all the other heroes than [[CorruptTheCutie Twilight Sparkle]] and make himself Equestria's king, while Chrysalis and her Changelings are locked up in Canterlot's dungeons. The [[WhamEpisode 11th chapter]] reveals that [[spoiler:Chrysalis started her canon plan when Jewelius first approached her, played her like a fiddle, and helped her infiltrate Canterlot and steal Cadance's identity by telling her about the underground caverns. However, when Jewelius saw how Chrysalis' imperfect impersonation of Cadance made [[ProperlyParanoid Twilight Sparkle]] (whom [[LoveInterestTraitor he himself charmed]] with his [[BitchInSheepsClothing considerate façade]]) suspicious (he even scolded Chrysalis for endangering their plan because of this), he successfully double-crossed her at a crucial moment when he decided he'll gain more for himself by helping Twilight to defeat her]]. The Changelings eventually escape, and everypony (except for [[SkewedPriorities Jewelius]] himself) is afraid of a new Changeling invasion, but Chrysalis is unable to beat Twilight when the unicorn blocks her path to Jewelius, so she retreats to plan from the shadows. [[spoiler:With some secret assistance from one of her disguised Changelings, the heroes defeat Jewelius' forces and corner him in the final battle, at which point Chrysalis sweeps in and has her Changelings kill Jewelius as revenge. She then attempts to beat the exhausted heroes, only for Shining Armor and Cadance to give her and her army [[ATwinkleInTheSky their canon defeat]] that has been delayed only because of the plot alterations caused by Jewelius.]]