History GreaterScopeVillain / AnimeAndManga

* In ''Manga/ChainsawMan'' the story's BigBadEnsemble is the HorsemenOfTheApocalypse, but the first three were simply the prelude to Death who is UsefulNotes/{{Nostradamus}}' "[[SatanicArchetype Great King of Terror]]" prophesized to [[ApocalypseHow end the world and make Devils the dominant race]].

* Kichikujima: Zanta Maria who inspired the family and Hitomi who gave them their powers and taught them magic.

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' has [[PowerParasite All For One]], [[TheParagon All]] [[DentedIron Might]]'s EvilCounterpart and ArchNemesis, and the man who crippled him and killed his predecessor several years prior to the story's start. He's the one who nurtured the main BigBad Tomura Shigaraki into a villain in the first place, and spends most of the first part of the series supporting him from the shadows before finally revealing himself during the Hideout Raid Arc after Tomura is boxed into a corner. Tomura becomes the BigBad after All For One's defeat and imprisonment by All Might...that is until he has All For One's original Quirk implanted in him. All For One returns to become the BigBad when he uses his original Quirk to hijack Tomura's body and use him as a puppet to steal One For All.

** Rocks D. Xebec was the captain of the Rocks Pirates, which included not only the above-mentioned Kaido and Big Mom as his subordinates, but also Whitebeard, the BigGood of the Marineford War, and they all attempted to conspire against the World Government at some point 40 years before present time. This makes Rocks this trope by default since those three subordinates of his went on to become legendary figures of their own, whereas Rocks ended up being forgotten by history thanks to an aggressive campaign from the World Government to erase his overthrowing attempt (thus an interesting case of two Greater Scope Villains directly opposing each other). What little is known about Rocks himself is that he was the most powerful pirate in the world before [[GreaterScopeParagon Gold Roger]] unseated him, and there are some intriguing hints that the aforementioned Blackbeard considers himself Rocks' successor, as Luffy is to Roger.

* The Demon King in ''Manga/TheSevenDeadlySins'' is the master to [[BigBad Fraudrin]], [[CainAndAbel Meliodas's brothers]], and all the other [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Commandments]], but has yet to [[SealedEvilInACan get out of his can]].

* ''Manga/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' has the Swords of Hate, a swarm of living swords that [[spoiler:are metaphorically behind Akio/Dios's insanity and Anthy's role as the Rose Bride]]. It is representation of the world's physical, social, and emotional assault on those not living to the its expectations no matter how unjust they are. In this case, [[spoiler:it targets those who do not live to complete altruism as the Prince and those accept being TheScapegoat]].
* Chaos in ''Manga/SailorMoon'', with all the Big Bads of each arc revealed to be incarnations of it.

* ''Manga/RaveMaster:'' Shakuma Raregroove, the father of King and grandfather of Lucia, was the one who first used the Sinclair and started the conflict of the entire series and made sure his family would continue his war to destroy the world.

* While Creator/OsamuTezuka's ''Manga/{{Unico}}'' has [[Anime/TheFantasticAdventuresOfUnico Baron Ghost]] and [[Anime/UnicoInTheIslandOfMagic Lord Kuruku]] as two of the biggest threats the titular character has ever faced, the Greater-Scope Villain in the series is [[JerkassGods Venus, the Goddess of Love]], which the little unicorn has hardly interacted with. In the manga's prologue, she originally wanted to regain her status as "The most beautiful person" by summoning the West Wind to separate [[{{Unicorn}} Unico]] from [[TokenGoodTeammate Psyche (Goddess of Soul)]] out of [[GreenEyedMonster intense jealousy]] in the hope of making Psyche unhappy forever. When she returns in the final chapter, Venus is enraged that her original plan didn't work and discovering that the West Wind actually cared for Unico. Despite being "The Goddess of Love and Beauty", Venus' behavior and actions towards others is the complete opposite of her title.

* While Creator/OsamuTezuka's ''Manga/{{Unico}}'' has [[Anime/TheFantasticAdventuresOfUnico Baron Ghost]] and [[Anime/UnicoInTheIslandOfMagic Lord Kuruku]] as two of the biggest threats the titular character has ever faced, the Greater-Scope Villain in the series is [[JerkassGods Venus, the Goddess of Love]], which the little unicorn has hardly interacted with. In the manga, she originally wanted to regain her status as "The most beautiful person" by summoning The West Wind to separate [[{{Unicorn}} Unico]] from [[TokenGoodTeammate Psyche (Goddess of Soul)]] out of intense jealousy in the hope of making Psyche unhappy forever. Despite being "The Goddess of Love and Beauty", Venus' behavior and actions towards others is the complete opposite of her title.

* ''Anime/SamuraiChamploo'': The Tokugawa Shogunate's efforts to consolidate its power, while it isn't discussed much, puts into motion the driving force behind the series. The Tokugawa clan's attempts to drive the Christians (of whom Fuu's father is the leader) out of Japan, forcefully incorporate the formerly independent Kingdom of Ryukyu (where Mugen is from), and suppress any potential or actual rivals attempts at seizing power (including the Takeda and Hojo clans, of whom Jin is possibly a member of the former based on the heraldic symbols (or ''mon'') being on his attire in one way or another effects the lives of the protagonists. In a somewhat more direct manner, the Tokugawa Shogunate also hired some assassins to kill the two swordsmen Mugen and Jin and follow Fuu in order to kill her father.

* ''Anime/SamuraiChamploo'': The Tokugawa Shogunate's efforts to consolidate its power, while it isn't discussed much, puts into motion the driving force behind the series. The Tokugawa clan's attempts to drive the Christians (of whom Fuu's father is the leader) out of Japan), forcefully incorporate the formerly independent Kingdom of Ryukyu (where Mugen is from), and suppress any potential or actual rivals attempts at seizing power (including the Takeda and Hojo clans, of whom Jin is possibly a member of the former based on the heraldic symbols (or ''mon'') being on his attire) in one way or another effects the lives of the protagonists. In a somewhat more direct manner, the Tokugawa Shogunate also hired some assassins to kill the two swordsmen Mugen and Jin and follow Fuu in order to kill her father.

** The Five Elders, a cabal of five Celestial Dragons who appear as the highest rank in the World Government, are ultimately the ones who pull the reins of most of the organizations which cause most of the events in the story: they control the Marines (which Akainu is now in command as the Fleet Admiral) and executing Gold Roger and trying to defeat Whitebeard indirectly gave them the means to ignite two Pirate Eras, which in turn caused the pirate boom in all the seas; employ the Seven Warlords of the Sea (which Blackbeard wanted to be part of as a means of recruiting several Impel Down prisoners and ultimately sparking the War of the Best to kill Whitebeard) and mostly pay no attention to them (which allowed Crocodile and Donquixote Doflamingo to act with impunity for long, as seen in their respective arcs); try to cover-up the Void Century even if it means to put several innocents on trial and execute them (how the Cipher Pol 9 tried to deal with Nico Robin), and completely ignore the crimes the Celestial Dragons do (such as slavery, which caused the incidents in Sabaody).

** The Emperors Kaido and Big Mom for the Punk Hazard, Dressrosa and Zou arcs. Kaido is the one buying the artificial Devil Fruits that Doflamingo and Caesar Clown are producing in order to create a Zoan-based army, and Big Mom is the one behind Caesar's gigantification experiments. They later lose this status as they take center stage as main villains.

** The Five Elders, a cabal of five Celestial Dragons who appear as the highest rank in the world government, are ultimately the ones who pull the reins of most of the organizations which cause most of the events in the story: they control the Marines (which Akainu is now in command as the Fleet Admiral) and executing Gold Roger and trying to defeat Whitebeard indirectly gave them the means to ignite two Pirate Eras, which in turn caused the pirate boom in all the seas; employ the Seven Warlords of the Sea (which Blackbeard wanted to be part of as a means of recruiting several Impel Down prisoners and ultimately sparking the War of the Best to kill Whitebeard) and mostly pay no attention to them (which allowed Crocodile and Donquixote Doflamingo to act with impunity for long, as seen in their respective arcs); try to cover-up the Void Century even if it means to put several innocents on trial and execute them (how the Cipher Pol 9 tried to deal with Nico Robin), and completely ignore the crimes the Celestial Dragons do (such as slavery, which caused the incidents in Sabaody).

** Doflamingo is the greater villain of the Jaya (as the boss of ArcVillain Bellamy) and Sabaody Archipelago Arcs (being the original owner of the slave auction house that the Straw Hats thrash, leading to the World Nobles calling in an Admiral attack on the island). His presence in both arcs is minimal, having little to no stakes in their ongoings, but his influence can be felt. He only becomes a proper ArcVillain when the Punk Hazard and Dressrosa Arcs come by.
** The character named Imu. They are the one the Five Elder Stars (the above mentioned Greater Scope Villains) ''bow down to'', and '''the true ruler of the world of One Piece'''. Their existence is mostly a secret from even other top officials, like Sakazuki and Kong, partly for obvious reasons and mostly because their very place is a complete betrayal of the World Government's deepest principle, instated by its founders: that there will not be a single king everyone shall bow to.

*** Kaido becomes the Greater Scope villain of the Thriller Bark arc in hindsight, once it's revealed that he's the one who killed Moria's former crew, traumatizing the Warlord into an obsessive scheme to amass a crew of undead soldiers exactly so he wouldn't have to worry about their lives ever again.
*** He's also the reason Shanks showed up so late to Marineford. Kaido attempted to attack Whitebeard while the other pirate was leaving the New World to rescue Ace, and Shanks intercepted him in order to let Whitebeard and his fleet travel unmolested. Because of that, however, Shanks was unable to intervene with the war and deescalate the situation [[spoiler:before Ace and Whitebeard were killed]].

** The Five Elder Stars, a cabal of five Celestial Dragons who appear as the highest rank in the world government, are ultimately the ones who pull the reins of most of the organizations which cause most of the events in the story: they control the Marines (which Akainu is now in command as the Fleet Admiral) and executing Gold Roger and trying to defeat Whitebeard indirectly gave them the means to ignite two Pirate Eras, which in turn caused the pirate boom in all the seas; employ the Seven Warlords of the Sea (which Blackbeard wanted to be part of as a means of recruiting several Impel Down prisoners and ultimately sparking the War of the Best to kill Whitebeard) and mostly pay no attention to them (which allowed Crocodile and Donquixote Doflamingo to act with impunity for long, as seen in their respective arcs); try to cover-up the Void Century even if it means to put several innocents on trial and execute them (how the Cipher Pol 9 tried to deal with Nico Robin), and completely ignore the crimes the Celestial Dragons do (such as slavery, which caused the incidents in Sabaody).

** The greatest Greater Scope Villain of the series is non other than Lucius Zogratis, the original identity of Julius Novachrono, he’s had this role as both the BigGood ''and'' the Greater-Scope Villain the entire time, being the oldest of his siblings who groomed them to become devil hosts with the goal of forming the Qliphoth to steal Lucifero's power, granting him enough power to lead a self-proclaimed holy war that he calls "Judgment Day". When he finally reveals himself after their defeats Lucius steps into the BigBad role.

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' has [[PowerParasite All For One]], [[TheParagon All]] [[DentedIron Might]]'s EvilCounterpart and ArchNemesis, and the man who crippled him and killed his predecessor several years prior to the story's start. He's the one who nurtured the main BigBad Tomura Shigaraki into a villain in the first place, and spends the first two seasons supporting him from the shadows before finally revealing himself during Season 3 after Tomura is boxed into a corner. Tomura becomes the BigBad after All For One's defeat and imprisonment by All Might...that is until he has All For One's original Quirk implanted in him. All For One returns to become the BigBad when he uses his original Quirk to hijack Tomura's body and use him as a puppet to steal One For All.

* In ''Anime/{{Daltanious}}'', [[spoiler: the Heliosian Empire was paranoid about losing their power, so they bred their own CloneArmy to function as spare organs/puppet rulers and constantly abused them until one clone had enough, escaped and led an army that annihilated them. Even Harlin feels moved by his tragedy, despite the fact that said clone murdered his entire family and also tried to murder his last remaining son]].

** The flashbacks of Ymir Fritz from the War for Paradis arc introduces the Greatest Scope Villain of the entire series: the ancient Eldian King Fritz from 2,000 years ago. He gleefully exploited Ymir's powers to conquer Marley and had his daughters devour her corpse to inherit her Titan powers. His vision was for Eldia to enslave the entire world using the power of the Titans. It was therefore King Fritz who in some senses is ultimately responsible for the chain of events and the misery that the main characters experience. He unleashed the Titans as a powerful weapon against Eldia's opponents and created the Eldian Empire, eventually provoking the Titan civil wars, King Karl Fritz's guilt, the Great Titan War and Eldia's fall (and ongoing conflicts with Marley) in the plot's present.
** The Source of Organic Matter also counts as this, as it is the anomaly that granted Ymir Fritz the first Titan Power that resulted in all the horrors for two millennia. It continues to latch on to every wielder of the Founding Titan, the last being Eren Yeager. That being said, it's only purpose is to grant a Founding Titan wielder the potential to fully use its power, and doesn't have any malicious intentions unlike the aforementioned King Fritz.
** There's also a hidden GreaterScopeVillain influencing the entire plot, not revealed till Chapter 121: '''''Eren Yeager himself'''''. He used the past and future sighting ability to peer into the history of the Attack Titans to manipulate them into reaching their current state. He was the one who influenced Kruger to give Grisha the Titan, hinted to him about Mikasa and Armin. He compelled Grisha to butcher the Reiss family to prevent the Will of the First King interfering with his plans for salvation, then commanded Grisha to feed himself to his younger self. It is revealed he was pulling the strings all along since the moment he kissed Historia's hand (which showed Eren what he needed to do), and then he steps up to be the BigBad once he lets Ymir unleash the Wall Titans and orders them to raze the nations outside Paradis.

** The Royal Government of humanity, who are behind an AncientConspiracy for keeping the status quo, and hide a dark secret.
** The greatest scope villain so far is [[TechnologicallyAdvancedFoe The Kingdom of Marley]], since they are behind every major event that started the plot: They are the ones who stole seven of the Nine Titan Powers from Eldians a century ago, and the true reason the Eldian people fled to the Island of Paradis to seclude themselves behind the three Walls, they are the ones who keep sending the mindless man-eating Titans, and they are the force behind the Beast Titan and the other Titan Shifters who breached Wall Maria at the beginning of the story. All because they want to seize the rich fossil fuel deposits of the island.
** Karl Fritz, the 145th King and a bearer of the Founding Titan. He was wracked with guilt from the war crimes committed by his ancestors, so he decided to punish his own subjects to atone for those sins, wishing for the extinction of the Subjects of Ymir. So, during the great Titan War, Fritz abandoned the majority of his people on the mainland, to suffer a cruel fate from other ethnicities. Then he took those who followed him to the island of Paradis where he sealed them within three Walls, isolating them from the world and erasing their memories. Not only that, he ensured that his successors would uphold his will by means of Vow of Renunciation. That means that his successors will never be able to use the Founding Titan to its true potential and would never kill the Mindless Titans marauding across the island. Fritz's plan would have succeeded, but he underestimated the Attack Titan which disrupted his designs and conquered the Founding Titan.
** An even greater scope villain is the ancient Eldian King Fritz from 2,000 years ago. He gleefully exploited Ymir's powers to conquer Marley and had his daughters devour her corpse to inherit her Titan powers. His vision was for Eldia to enslave the entire world using the power of the Titans. It was therefore King Fritz who in some senses is ultimately responsible for the chain of events and the misery that the main characters experience. He unleashed the Titans as a powerful weapon against Eldia's opponents and created the Eldian Empire, eventually provoking the Titan civil wars, King Karl Fritz's guilt, the Great Titan War and Eldia's fall (and ongoing conflicts with Marley) in the plot's present.

* In ''Manga/ChainsawMan'' the story's BigBadEnsemble is the HorsemenOfTheApocalypse, but they're simply the prelude to UsefulNotes/{{Nostradamus}}' "[[SatanicArchetype Great King of Terror]]" prophecized to [[ApocalypseHow end the world and make Devils the dominant race]].

** For the Tataros arc, we have an unusual zig-zagged exemple. Mard Geer serves as the ArcVillain[=/=]DragonInChief to [[TheDreaded E.N.D.]], the master of Tartaros, who is sealed away in his book while the former intends to free him. While it's eventually revealed that E.N.D. was merely a DecoyLeader for Mard Geer to rally the rest of Tartaros around, what he doesn't realize is that E.N.D. is actually Natsu, the main character. It's not just him, either; the entire Tartaros guild does what they do in the name of Zeref and E.N.D, and eventually wiped out in large part thanks to Natsu, all without knowing that their "master" and their biggest enemy are one and the same.

* ''Manga/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' has the Swords of Hate, a swarm of living swords that [[spoiler:are metaphorically behind Akio/Dios’s insanity and Anthy’s role as the Rose Bride]]. It is representation of the world’s physical, social, and emotional assault on those not living to the its expectations no matter how u just they are. In this case, [[spoiler:it targets those who do not live to complete altruism as the Prince and those accept being TheScapegoat]].

* ''Manga/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' has the Swords of Hate, a symbolic swarm of living swords that [[spoiler:Akio/Dios’s insanity and Anthy’s role as the Rose Bride]]. It is representation of the world’s physical, social, and emotional assault on those not living to the its expectations no matter how u just they are. In this case, [[spoiler:it targets men who do not live to complete altruism as the Prince and women as TheScapegoat of society]].

* While Creator/OsamuTezuka's ''Manga/{{Unico}}'' has [[Anime/TheFantasticAdventuresOfUnico Baron Ghost]] and [[Anime/UnicoInTheIslandOfMagic Lord Kuruku]] as two of the biggest threats the titular character has ever faced, the Greater-Scope Villain in the series is [[JerkassGods Venus, the Goddess of Love]], which the little unicorn has hardly interacted with. In the manga, Venus originally wanted to regain her status as "The most beautiful person" by summoning The West Wind to separate [[{{Unicorn}} Unico]] from [[TokenGoodTeammate Psyche (Goddess of Soul)]] out of intense jealousy in the hope of making Psyche unhappy forever. In later chapters, she develops an intense hatred for Unico due to his ability spreading happiness and love to others and sends the Night Wind to actually destroy him for good since the West Wind pitied him. Despite being "The Goddess of Love and Beauty", Venus' behavior and actions towards others is the complete opposite of her title.

** An even greater scope villain is the ancient Eldian King Fritz. He gleefully exploited Ymir's powers to conquer Marley and had his daughters devour her corpse to inherit her Titan powers. His vision was for Eldia to enslave the entire world using the power of the Titans.

* ''Manga/SoulHunter'': Empress Dakki is the BigBad, but late in the story she’s revealed to be working for Jyoka, a extremely [[TimeAbyss ancient]] and powerful being who have been secretly manipulating the course of history for millennia, in the hope of turning Earth into a replica of her destroyed home world. [[OutsideContextProblem Few people were even aware of her existence]], and Dakki was her [[TheDragon dragon]] ([[DragonWithAnAgenda with an agenda]], [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder of course]]).

** The greatest scope villain so far is [[TechnologicallyAdvancedFoe The Kingdom of Marley]], since they are behind every major event that started the plot: They are the ones who stole seven of the Nine Titan Powers from Eldians a century ago, and the true reason the Eldian people fled to the Island of Paradis to seclude themselves behind the three Walls, they are the ones who keep sending the mindless man-eating Titans, and they are the force behind the Beast Titan and the other Titan Shifters who breached Wall Maria at the beginning of the story. All because they want to seize the rich fossil fuel deposits of the island].

** There's also a hidden GreaterScopeVillain influencing the entire plot, not revealed till Chapter 121: '''''Eren Yeager'''''. He used the past and future sighting ability to peer into the history of the Attack Titans to manipulate them into reaching their current state. He was the one who influenced Kruger to give Grisha the Titan, hinted to him about Mikasa and Armin. He compelled Grisha to butcher the Reiss family to prevent the Will of the First King interfering with his plans for salvation, then commanded Grisha to feed himself to his younger self. It is revealed he was pulling the strings all along since the moment he kissed Historia's hand (which showed Eren what he needed to do), and then he steps up to be the BigBad once he lets Ymir unleash the Wall Titans and orders them to raze the nations outside Paradis.

* In ''Manga/ArpeggioOfBlueSteel'' the Fleet of Fog claim to answer to a mysterious Admiralty Code, though what it actually is remains unclear.