History GreaterScopeVillain / WesternAnimation

** Emperor Belos, the tyrannical ruler of the Boiling Isles, serves as this during Season 1. {{Arc Villain}}s Lilith and Hunter work for him directly, it's under his laws that Eda is considered a criminal and outcast from society, and he even takes a personal interest in Luz, as [[spoiler:she's the only other human on the Isles]]. Season 2 puts him in the main villain role, which is also the point when [[KnightOfCerebus things start going very, very bad for our heroes]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': While The Core's identity and own plans are unknown at first, the audience does know that Andrias is helping it with some unknown scheme once the temples are unlocked to stop some mysterious prophecy from being fulfilled. By the end of season 2, while Andrias' villainy has been made apparent to the heroes, [[DramaticIrony none of them are aware that there's an even bigger threat behind Andrias]], with the closest they've come to finding out is its eyes being present in the mural depicting Andrias' plans, but Sasha clearly doesn't understand what they actually are. In season 3, it finally does personally meet Marcy -- when it usurps her body as its own, that is. Later on, it's made clear that for all his threats, Andrias is a small fry next to the Core, and given its comments about him, finds him quite pathetic to boot, even with all the atrocities he's done at its behest, signalling the Core as the true overall villain of the series.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': While [[Characters/AmphibiaTheCore The Core's]] identity and own plans are unknown at first, the audience does know that Andrias is helping it with some unknown scheme once the temples are unlocked to stop some mysterious prophecy from being fulfilled. By the end of season 2, while Andrias' villainy has been made apparent to the heroes, [[DramaticIrony none of them are aware that there's an even bigger threat behind Andrias]], with the closest they've come to finding out is its eyes being present in the mural depicting Andrias' plans, but Sasha clearly doesn't understand what they actually are. In season 3, it finally does personally meet Marcy -- when it usurps her body as its own, that is. Later on, it's made clear that for all his threats, Andrias is a small fry next to the Core, and given its comments about him, finds him quite pathetic to boot, even with all the atrocities he's done at its behest, signalling the Core as the true overall villain of the series.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': The Great Diamond Authority that leads the intergalactic Gem Empire that Rose Quartz and the Crystal Gems [[GreatOffscreenWar rebelled against before the series began]]. We become aware of the Gems' alien origins by the middle of the first season, but we only properly learn of the Diamond Authority in the following season. The members of the Authority are seen sparingly. Yellow Diamond was first shown in season two and has only been in four of the show's 140+ episodes. With her in charge of the military, most of the villains seen throughout the show, such as Jasper or Aquamarine worked under her orders. Blue Diamond didn't appear until the fourth season[[note]]a shadow cut-out version of her appears in a season two episode, however[[/note]], and White Diamond didn't appear and wasn't even ''mentioned'' until "Legs From Here to Homeworld", with only the symbol of the group, a stylized mural, and her silhouette and hand in Garnet's flashback in "Your Mother and Mine" alluding to her existence before then. Pink Diamond was the one in charge of colonizing Earth, which lead to the aforementioned rebellion and her supposed shattering at the hands of Rose Quartz. She first appeared in person during a dream sequence in season five, and later the WhamEpisode "A Single Pale Rose" reveals she actually faked her own shattering and became the main character's mother, Rose Quartz.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** Ozai served this role in Seasons 1 and 2 as he never has any direct contact with the heroes, not even Zuko save for a flashback, and only becomes directly involved in Season 3, where his face is actually shown.
** [[spoiler:However for the overall series, Ozai’s grandfather, Sozin, is this — being the one who instigated the Hundred Year War by turning the Fire Nation into a tyrannical imperialistic empire. He’s also the one responsible for wiping out the Air Nomads, leaving Avatar Aang as THE LAST airbender]].

** And then there's Yakone, a mob boss and powerful waterbender who could bloodbend without the full moon who had his bending taken away by Aang. He would then abusively train his sons in order to turn them into weapons against Aang. Tarrlok and Amon would instead go on to antagonize Aang's successor Korra and each other on opposite sides of a bender/anti-bender war throughout season 1.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': Salvatore Valestra, a mobster who Andrea, one of Bruce's love interests, to leave the country. Without her, Batman ended up alone and took the cowl to become Batman. Ordering the death of Andrea's father led to the events of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm''; the man he hired also led to a fair share events in the present, since the man would ultimately become the Joker.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Jumanji}}'': The Stalker is the entity behind the game who ensures that people will play it and seems to be the being who maintains order with all of its creatures and villains.

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales(2017)'': Bradford Buzzard serves as this for the entire series for numerous reasons, including but not limited to:

* ''WesternAnimation/Ducktales(2017)'': Bradford Buzzard serves as this for the entire series for numerous reasons, including but not limited to:

* ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'': Project Carthage is a military operation Franz Hopper and his wife were once a part of that they left when they felt it became too unethical. When they took his wife, leaving him and his daughter alone, he created [[BigBad XANA]] to combat them. Instead, XANA imprisoned them both and developed sentience in a bid to destroy humanity.

** Season 2 reveals Vaatu to be the canonical ultimate evil of the entire ''Avatar'' universe, as he is the embodiment of darkness, chaos and destruction. He was also indirectly [[NiceJobFixingItVillain the reason the Avatar came into existence]]. It's not until Korra's time that he steps down to become the BigBad seat for that season.

** Magic as a whole is treated as the reason for most of the problems that happen in the series, from the Magic Council's enforced systematic racism to villains like Ludo, who desired Star's wand, Toffee, who sought to destroy all magic, and Mina Loveberry, who weaponized it in order to commit monster genocide. By the series finale, Star and her family manage to eradicate all Magic.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' have to constantly fight Gargamel's schemes, but even he seems nice in comparison to evil warlocks Balthazar and Nemesis, to the point that they end up in EnemyMine situation with Gargamel against them in some episodes.

** Gravesfield, Luz's [[spoiler:and Belos']] hometown, is revealed to be the reason why Luz has so much self-doubt about herself and why [[spoiler:Belos is a genocidal witch-hating maniac]]. Gravesfield's modern society sees Luz as a weirdo that needs to conform to society by any means necessary, namely going to a special summer camp, which causes Luz to run away to the Boiling Isles in the first place. Gravesfield is also revealed to have an unsavory history of [[BurnTheWitch witch hunting]] during 17th century, which is referred as the town's favorite tradition. [[spoiler:This time period is where [[TheWitchHunter Belos]] originally came from.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' has Emperor Belos, the tyrannical ruler of the Boiling Isles. {{Arc Villain}}s Lilith and Hunter work for him directly, it's under his laws that Eda is considered a criminal and outcast from society, and he even takes a personal interest in Luz, as [[spoiler:she's the only other human on the Isles]]. The second half of season 2 puts him in the main villain role, which is also the point when [[KnightOfCerebus things start going very, very bad for our heroes]].

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Ozai served this role in Seasons 1 and 2 as he never has any direct contact with the heroes, not even Zuko save for a flashback, and only becomes directly involved in Season 3, where his face is actually shown.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': The Diamond Authority that leads the intergalactic Gem Empire that Rose Quartz and the Crystal Gems [[GreatOffscreenWar rebelled against before the series began]]. We become aware of the Gems' alien origins by the middle of the first season, but we only properly learn of the Diamond Authority in the following season. The members of the Authority are seen sparingly. Yellow Diamond was first shown in season two and has only been in four of the show's 140+ episodes. With her in charge of the military, most of the villains seen throughout the show, such as Jasper or Aquamarine worked under her orders. Blue Diamond didn't appear until the fourth season[[note]]a shadow cut-out version of her appears in a season two episode, however[[/note]], and White Diamond didn't appear and wasn't even ''mentioned'' until "Legs From Here to Homeworld", with only the symbol of the group, a stylized mural, and her silhouette and hand in Garnet's flashback in "Your Mother and Mine" alluding to her existence before then. Pink Diamond was the one in charge of colonizing Earth, which lead to the aforementioned rebellion and her supposed shattering at the hands of Rose Quartz. She first appeared in person during a dream sequence in season five, and later the WhamEpisode "A Single Pale Rose" reveals she actually faked her own shattering and became the main character's mother, Rose Quartz.

* In ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'', Darth Vader and the Emperor, TheDragon and BigBad of the original trilogy, serve this since the first season's BigBad, the Grand Inquisitor, merely works for them. In Season 2, Vader becomes the BigBad, but steps back once he accomplishes his mission at the end of that season, that being the presumed death of Ahsoka Tano, later revealed to be alive. Grand Admiral Thrawn becomes the BigBad of Seasons 3 and 4, with Vader and Sidious once again as the GSV's until the finale, in which personally menaces the heroes, specifically Ezra (albeit with Thrawn remaining the main direct threat).

* In ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'', Darth Vader and the Emperor, TheDragon and BigBad of the original trilogy, serve this since the first season's BigBad, the Grand Inquisitor, merely works for them. In Season 2, Vader becomes the BigBad, but steps back once he accomplishes his mission at the end of that season that being the presumed death of Ahsoka Tano, later revealed to be alive. Grand Admiral Thrawn becomes the BigBad of Seasons 3 and 4, with Vader and Sidious once again as the GSV's until the finale, in which personally menaces the heroes, specifically Ezra (albeit with Thrawn remaining the main direct threat).

* In ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'', Darth Vader and the Emperor, TheDragon and BigBad of the original trilogy, serve this since the first season's BigBad, The Inquisitor, merely works for them. In Season 2, Vader becomes the BigBad, but steps back once he accomplishes his mission at the end of that season that being the presumed death of Ahsoka Tano, later revealed to be alive. Grand Admiral Thrawn becomes the BigBad of Seasons 3 and 4, with Vader and Sidious once again as the GSV's until the finale, in which personally menaces the heroes, specifically Ezra (albeit with Thrawn remaining the main direct threat).

** One of Star's distant ancestors, Solaria the Monster Carver, is the primary reason why Mewnians are so prejudiced towards monsters, leading to a notable increase in monster demonization that more or less leads to the creation of every major antagonist in the present, especially Mina Loveberry.

* Season 1 of ''WesternAnimation/{{Ninjago}}'' has the [[SnakesAreSinister Great Devourer]], a SealedEvilInACan that the BigBad [[TheChessmaster Pythor]] seeks to release. As with most examples, Pythor soon learns that EvilIsNotAToy. The Great Devourer is also the GreaterScopeVillain of the four-part pilot, as he bit Lord Garmadon and caused him to turn evil.

** The Red Lotus serves as the Greater Scope Villains of The Legend of Korra as a whole, but to a lesser extent with Book 1. They attempted to kidnap Korra as a child, which resulted in her being isolated from the rest of the world for the past seventeen years of her life. When Unalaq was a member of theirs, he learned of Raava and Vaatu; he also engineered the Red Lotus' attempt to kidnap Korra, resulting to Zaheer and his gang getting captured and continuing his new plan in becoming a Dark Avatar. Their murder of the Earth Queen also gave rise to the Big Bad of Season 4.

* The BigBad Mumm-Ra of both the original ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats'' and its [[WesternAnimation/ThunderCats2011 2011 reboot]] is a servant of the Ancient Spirits of Evil, who grant him his power in exchange and who establish their presence non-verbally only through their hideous giant statues, with their eyes glowing whenever they respond to Mumm-Ra's requests.

* During the Season 2 finale of ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', Darkseid is revealed to be the secret collaborator with [[TheSyndicate The Light]], and the show ended before he could take a direct role. When the series was uncancelled, his status was reinforced in the episode "Evolution". Darkseid's invasion of Earth long ago and the deal Vandal Savage made with him at the time to spare Earth (they would conquer the galaxy together before fighting one final conclusive battle against each other for all of it) is the driving force behind Vandal Savage creating The Light in the first place. Everything Vandal did as the founder and leader of The Light was done to forge Earth into a galactic superpower that could take on Apokolips. While Darkseid has yet to take direct action, several minions do act on his behalf, most notably Granny Goodness with her plan to gain the Anti-Life Equation in season 3, Ma'alefa'ak in seasons 3 and 4 working to instill dissent in exchange for helping his fellow White Martians, and [[spoiler:Lor-Zod aligning with the tyrant in order to gain the items needed to free his father General Dru-Zod and his renegade Kryptonians from the Phantom Zone]].