History Main / MakeWayForTheNewVillains

* ''VideoGame/MinecraftStoryMode'', season 2 preferably, has this. Within the first episode, you meet Stella who claims to be your rival, and then [[spoiler:The Admin in episode 5 can destroy Champion City with a simple clap, resulting with Stella to become a JerkassWoobie]].

* ''Fanfic/ShadowsOverMeridian'': One of the first things Jade does after embracing her FaceHeelTurn is to eliminate Nerissa for having manipulated everyone as the hidden BigBad.

* In ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' when the Marquis of Death appeared he set [[Characters/MarvelComics Doctor Doom]] on fire and tossed him into prehistory. [[LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt Unsurprisingly, he came back]].

* In ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' when the Marquis of Death appeared he set Characters/DoctorDoom on fire and tossed him into prehistory. [[LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt Unsurprisingly, he came back]].
* One of ComicBook/{{Onslaught}}'s first actions was to beat ComicBook/{{Juggernaut|MarvelComics}} to a pulp and hurl him all the way to New Jersey. [[spoiler: Mostly to get back at Juggernaut for the crap he did to ComicBook/ProfessorX all their lives as Onslaught turned out to be Xavier's dark side run amok.]] At the time the issue was written the writers had no idea who or what Onslaught was, they just wanted to demonstrate he was a threat.

* In the Season Two [[SeasonFinale Finale]] of ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' [[spoiler:[[HumanoidAbomination The Collector]] is [[SealedEvilInACan unsealed]] in the last five minutes of the episode and reduces [[TheEmperor Emperor Belos]] (the series BigBad up until that point) to a splatter on the wall with a FingerPokeOfDoom. While Belos is able to just barely survive due to being little more than a humanoid BlobMonster that this point, it's clear that the Collector has replaced him as the primary threat.]]

* In the Season Two [[SeasonFinale Finale]] of ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' [[spoiler:[[HumanoidAbomination The Collector]] literally pops up in the last five minutes of the episode to OneHitKill [[TheEmperor Emperor Belos]], the series BigBad up until that point.]]

* Omega served as the LaughablyEvil LargeHam BigBad for the first five seasons of ''Machinima/RedVsBlue''. Season 6 opens with him having been assimilated by [[KnightOfCerebus the Meta]] after murdering an outpost of sim troopers while trying to escape.

-->-- '''[[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]]''' (to the Chechnyan), ''Film/TheDarkKnight''

* One of ComicBook/{{Onslaught}}'s first actions was to beat Characters/{{Juggernaut}} to a pulp and hurl him all the way to New Jersey. [[spoiler: Mostly to get back at Juggernaut for the crap he did to ComicBook/ProfessorX all their lives as Onslaught turned out to be Xavier's dark side run amok.]] At the time the issue was written the writers had no idea who or what Onslaught was, they just wanted to demonstrate he was a threat.

** [[spoiler:Anakin killing Gunray and his minions]] in ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' could be seen as an inversion of this. It was a prequel after all, so it was more like Make Way for the Old Villains... but well in the story's timeline he is the newer villain.

* ''Film/JamesBond'': While Spectre and Blofeld have been TheManBehindTheMan or the outright BigBad for every Creator/DanielCraig Bond film so far as mentioned in ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' and are a callback to their classic counterpart in the novels and older movies, ''Film/NoTimeToDie'''s Lyutsifer Safin is a younger and more dangerous villain who doesn't work for them at all and is actually opposed to them. Safin ends up killing all of Spectre's leadership with the nanobots-based virus Heracles.

* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' loved to do this. [[ArchnemesisDad Arthur]] announced his presence by killing [[HealingFactor Adam]], and shortly afterward killing [[MindRape Maury.]] Arthur, in turn, was killed off by [[SerialKiller Sylar]], who had previously disposed of [[FourEyesZeroSoul Bob]]. Then [[KnightTemplar Danko]] was killed by [[KnifeNut Edgar]] on behalf of [[ManipulativeBastard Samuel]]. And that's not even counting all the minor villains killed by Sylar.

* The Reclaimer Saga from the ''Franchise/Halo'' series seems to do this every game:

* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'' played straight ''and'' inverted this trope at the same time in its finale: [[spoiler:when [[EldritchAbomination Diagon]] arrives on Earth, he ends up, after a brief fight with Ben, killing previous villain [[HeroAntagonist Sir George]]... and is almost immediately then killed and absorbed by [[TheStarscream Vilgax]], Ben's long date ArchEnemy, who assumes the role of TrueFinalBoss for the remaining of this finale]].

* In the Season Two [[SeasonFinale Finale]] of ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' [[spoiler:[[HumanoidAbomination The Collector]] literally pops up to OneHitKill [[TheEmperor Emperor Belos]], the series BigBad up until that point, in the last five minutes of the episode.]]

* In ''Film/JurassicParkIII'', [[SpinosaurusVersusTRex the Spinosaurus kills a T. rex]] [[TheWorfEffect for no reason other than to announce how much more powerful and mean she is than the last big evil dinosaur.]]

** In ''Film/{{Guardians of the Galaxy|2014}}'', [[BigBad Ronan]] offhandedly kills the Other, [[GreaterScopeVillain Thanos']] [[MouthOfSauron representative]] from ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', for annoying him during his meeting with Thanos.

* In the Season Two [[SeasonFinale Finale]] of ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' [[spoiler:[[HumanoidAbomination The Collector]] literally pops up to OneHitKill [[TheEmperor Emperor Belos]], the series BigBad up until that point.]]

-->-- '''ComicBook/TheJoker''' (to the Chechnyan), ''Film/TheDarkKnight''

* In the buildup to the Great Darkness Saga in the ''Comicbook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' (which Keith Giffen also worked on -- he seems to love this trope), previous {{Big Bad}}s Mordru and the Time Trapper are found beaten and helpless to show how bad [[spoiler:{{ComicBook/Darkseid}}]] is.

* In ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' when the Marquis of Death appeared he set ComicBook/DoctorDoom on fire and tossed him into prehistory. [[LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt Unsurprisingly, he came back]].
* One of ComicBook/{{Onslaught}}'s first actions was to beat TheJuggernaut to a pulp and hurl him all the way to New Jersey. [[spoiler: Mostly to get back at Juggernaut for the crap he did to ComicBook/ProfessorX all their lives as Onslaught turned out to be Xavier's dark side run amok.]] At the time the issue was written the writers had no idea who or what Onslaught was, they just wanted to demonstrate he was a threat.
* When trying to establish Kaine as a credible threat during ''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga'', the writers had him kill off longtime Franchise/SpiderMan foe ComicBook/DoctorOctopus. [[DeathIsCheap It didn't take.]]

* Toyed with in ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'', where ComicBook/RedSkull was assassinated by [[ComicBook/BuckyBarnes the Winter Soldier]] during Creator/EdBrubaker's first issue, leading many readers to think the writer was playing this trope straight. Instead, it was revealed that [[SharingABody Red Skull had survived inside the body of the Winter Soldier's employer]], setting up one of the series' longest running PlotThreads.
* For a brief period in the early '90s ''Comicbook/XMen'' comics, the main villains were the Upstarts, a group of bratty rich mutants who competed with each other to kill other mutants in a "contest" sponsored by an [[TheOmniscient omniscient]] mutant called the Gamesmaster; among the casualties numbered the Reavers, the Hellions, Sebastian Shaw, ComicBook/EmmaFrost, Selene, and even Comicbook/{{Magneto}} himself. This plotline was not well received, all the dead villains but the Hellions came back, and most of the Upstarts ended up meeting ignominious ends themselves. In this case the problem was that the storyline replaced popular characters who had years of character development with relatively generic villains. Most of the Upstarts did not have distinctive personalities.

* In 2003, Mac Gargan replaced Eddie Brock as the new and much more monstrous ComicBook/{{Venom}}, and as a result ComicBook/{{Carnage}} was killed off in early 2005 since the writers had no more need for him for the time being. After Flash Thompson took over as the more heroic Venom, Carnage quickly returned.
* Traditional in retellings of ComicBook/{{Batman}}'s early years is a period where the primary threat in Gotham is the mafia or organized crime in general, only for the old guard of gangsters to be supplanted as the traditional supervillains roll in and take over, usually involving the major gangster villains being outplayed and killed off by the new villains - such as Carmine Falcone being killed by Two-Face before a throng of supervillains in ComicBook/TheLongHalloween. This also makes it into adaptations (such as The Dark Knight, which supplies the page quote), and even in present-day storylines whenever there is a new big gangster villain unless that character is also a supervillain it's inevitable that they will eventually be killed off to prop up the next, ''bigger'' supervillain threat.

* ''Fanfic/OneDayAtATimeFanfic'': This was invoked by Ricky Sionis (Black Mask II) in the previous timeline. When he arrived to Gotham, one of the first things he did was murder the Penguin, the last active surviving member of the original Batman's RoguesGallery, to establish his credibility.

* A non-lethal example is in ''Film/BatmanBegins'', when vicious crime boss [[SmugSnake Carmine Falcone]] is trying to {{blackmail}} corrupt psychiatrist [[ComicBook/TheScarecrow Jonathan Crane]]... [[spoiler:who in turn sprays fear toxin in Falcone's face then and there, forcing Falcone into an intense panic attack and leaving him insane for the rest of the movie]]

** In ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'', [[BigBad Ronan]] offhandedly kills the Other, [[GreaterScopeVillain Thanos']] [[MouthOfSauron representative]] from ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', for annoying him during his meeting with Thanos.
** In ''Film/ThorRagnarok'', ComicBook/{{Hela}} is introduced when she demands that Thor and Loki [[KneelBeforeZod kneel before her]], which flabbergasts Loki, a previous villain who was big on this demand, in particular. Then he immediately tries to flee back to Asgard, only for Hela to knock both him and Thor through another spacegate.

* Luca Brasi is introduced in ''Film/TheGodfather'', both the film and the novel, as this terrifying killer and enforcer for the Corleones, more force of nature than man. He is killed by Virgil Sollozzo and Bruno Tattaglia without very much difficulty as the opening gambit of their war with the Corleones. When the Corleones receive a fish wrapped in Brasi's bulletproof vest, they know they are in trouble. Unusually for this trope, while he is definitely a villain, he is not antagonistic but on the [[VillainProtagonist protagonists side]].

* The third SeasonFinale of ''Series/MrRobot'' puts paid to most of the extant antagonists below [[BigBad Whiterose]]. Elliot and Mr. Robot reconcile. Price makes at least a partial HeelFaceTurn, on the heels of Tyrell Wellick. [[spoiler: Santiago]] is executed for his [[YouHaveFailedMe repeated screw-ups]]. [[spoiler: Grant]] commits suicide out of deference to Whiterose. And Irving [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere won't be talked out of retiring]]. It's clear the final season is going to have a new slate of villains, and the post-credits scene gives one hint who they'll be with [[spoiler: the return of Fernando Vera]].
* ''Series/{{Mutant X}}'' - in the final episode of season 1, new BigBad Gabriel Ashlocke imprisions original BigBad Mason Eckhart and takes over his mutant-hunting facility for his own ends.

** Incidentally, both big season one villains (the alpha and Kate) eventually have their plans taken UpToEleven with Kate's done in season 2 by her father Gerard, who is clearly the head honcho of the Argent hunters.

* ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' has multiple instances of this trope:

** In ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'', [[spoiler:the only reason Eggman is a threat beyond his robots is because of the destructive power the Dark Gaiaspawn possess, and Eggman's goal of building Eggmanland does not intersect with the Dark Gaiaspawn's enmity to all life; the moment it does, Dark Gaia swats Eggman away like the gnat he is in comparison, and immediately proves its reputation as well-warranted.]]

* Subverted in season 4 of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', where season 1 and 2 BigBad [[DiabolicalMastermind Slade]], after being DemotedToDragon for the whole season following a DealWithTheDevil, is apparently double-crossed and disposed of by his boss [[{{Satan}} Trigon]]. Turns out Slade saw it coming and [[CrazyPrepared made sure he would be able to escape]], allowing him to make an EnemyMine with the heroes and to get what he wanted from all of this. By the end of the season, Slade is alive and free to scheme again, while Trigon has been obliterated by his daughter.

* In ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', Species 8472 is introduced by destroying an armada of Borg Cubes.

* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'':
** ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'': At the beginning of season two, Lord Zedd, Rita's superior, appears to relieve her of command after one failure too many. Her minions quickly jump ship as he sticks her in another dumpster and launches her into space. She comes back, of course...
** ''Series/PowerRangersZeo'': Rita and Zedd are, in turn, ousted from the moon by the arrival of the Machine Empire. They get their revenge at the end of the season, but then (apart from a cameo in the ''Turbo'' movie) disappear until ''Space''.
* This is done to [[spoiler: Captain Crais]] by Scorpius at the end of the first season of ''Series/{{Farscape}}''. In fact, it's done in three different ways: first, he manages to convince [[spoiler: Crais's]] own bodyguards into obeying his orders and putting their boss in the [[MindProbe Aurora Chair]]; secondly, he takes over [[spoiler: Crais's]] command carrier and has him stripped of rank and office; finally, just to drive home the fact that Scorpius is well and truly in control, [[spoiler: Crais]] tries to kill him and ends up having his ass kicked for his troubles.
* In ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', Pearl [[spoiler:suffocating a baby-fied Forrester to death, and turning out to be more dangerous]].

* Happens in ''Series/StargateSG1'' when the Replicators start picking off the Goa'uld, who, up until that point, had been formidable enemies.

* [[KnightOfCerebus Nukus]] in ''Series/BigBadBeetleBorgs'' was careful to get rid of [[BigBad Vexor]] and his minions before taking over as the main antagonist.

* Season 3 of ''Series/SleepyHollow'' literally opens with this, as in its first scene, new BigBad Pandora confronts [[TheHeavy the Horseman]], [[CurbStompBattle defeats him with a wave of her hand]], and [[SealedEvilInACan locks him in her box]] to be used as a power source.
* ''Series/OnceUponATime'''s villains in Season 2, Greg and Tamara, are promptly rendered useless with the introduction of Peter Pan in Season 3. They were working for him, but had been duped about his whole plan. They betray him and are promptly killed for it.
* ''Series/BabylonFive'': The Shadows make their entrance by blowing the [[SpacePirates Raiders']] mothership into tiny little bits.

* The final season of ''Series/Merlin2008'' implies, then outright states, that Morgana (the established BigBad) spent quite some time cruelly imprisoned by a brutal warlord who is an obvious {{Expy}} of [[UsefulNotes/VladTheImpaler historical Dracula]]. It's clear that her cause and sanity is significantly worse off as a result, and the show goes out of its way to establish him as a KnightOfCerebus who is much more dangerous, clever and brutal than she ever was [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope only to kill him off]] in the first episode that he actually appears in]].
* ''Series/ResurrectionErtugrul'': The third season builds up Hanli Bazaar owner Master Simon as that season's BigBad. [[spoiler: Shortly after Simon is killed off by [[TheRival Ural Bey]], Tekfur Vasilius is introduced and serves as the biggest threat for the next two thirds of the arc]].
* The third SeasonFinale of ''Series/MrRobot'' puts paid to most of the extant antagonists below [[BigBad Whiterose]]. Elliot and Mr. Robot reconcile. Price makes at least a partial HeelFaceTurn, on the heels of Tyrell Wellick. [[spoiler: Santiago]] is executed for his [[YouHaveFailedMe repeated screw-ups]]. [[spoiler: Grant]] commits suicide out of deference to Whiterose. And Irving [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere won't be talked out of retiring]]. It's clear the final season is going to have a new slate of villains, and the post-credits scene gives one hint who they'll be with [[spoiler: the return of Fernando Vera]].
* ''Series/TheOutpost'':
** When Season 2 introduces [[BigBadDuumvirate The Three]], the leaders of the Prime Order, they quickly exert their authority by punishing Ambassador Dred (the BigBad of Season 1) [[YouHaveFailedMe for his failures]] and taking over as the central antagonists.
** Come Season 3, and the Three are quickly ousted from power by [[spoiler: Yavalla]] and [[HiveMind the United]], who steal their kingdom out from under them.
** In Season 4, Two and Three briefly retake power after convincing Falista to become the new One, only to quickly submit themselves to the command of their reawakened "[[AncientAstronauts gods]]", the [[PhysicalGod Masters]]. [[spoiler: Three is soon after killed by Tobin, while Two and Falista are killed by the Masters [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness when they're not needed anymore.]]]]

* Anime/YuGiOhVRAINS has a few examples: