History Main / TheManBehindTheCurtain

* ''ComicBook/MisterMiracle #2'' (1971) has Overlord, a pet of Granny Goodness gifted to her by Darkseid. Overlord is extremely powerful, able to shoot devastating lasers from long range and conjure diamonds from nothing. Yet when he is killed by Mister Miracle's Mother Box, he is revealed to be nothing more than a tiny, infant-like cyborg creature in a box no bigger than a spectacle-case. As Mister Miracle scornfully puts it: "Little worms can look like sea serpents when cast on a vidi-screen!"
* Subverted in a loop in several Marvel comics with the character Terminus. First introduced in ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' #269 (1984) as a 150' civilization-destroying alien; then in ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' #257 (1985) his armor is ripped open to reveal a comparatively small monster (maybe 10', unable to stand on its own) controlling it all like a HumongousMecha; the creature dies helplessly shouting he's unstoppable. Then, in the 1990 Annuals ("the Terminus Factor" saga), Terminus returns, and we discover, along with the Avengers, that the tiny being had been an impersonator (Hercules in particular is angry to hear he'd been tricked). Apparently Marvel did not want to forfeit the villain.

-->-- ''Franchise/TheDarkTower: Literature/WizardAndGlass''

* ''ComicBook/DarthVader'' : Downplayed in ''The Cry of Shadows''. Renegade Clone Kaddak is said to be a muscle-bound brute who has mutilated his own face, and that is how his adversary Hock pictures him until they finally meet face-to-face and Hock learns Kaddak looks like any other Clone, besides maybe a more dignified visage.

* Randall Flagg, Mordred Deschain, and the Crimson King from ''Franchise/TheDarkTower''. Creator/StephenKing even foreshadows this in the quote at the top of this page, which occurs right before a scene in which Flagg reenacts the exposing of The Wizard of Oz.\\
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Flagg and the Crimson King are two cases where The Man Behind The Curtain overlaps with VillainDecay. In previous novels like ''Literature/TheStand'' and ''Literature/{{Insomnia}}'', they were presented as competent and terrifying, but Creator/StephenKing subsequently changed his mind about the nature of evil and set these villains up to be exposed as humbugs in the final volume of ''The Dark Tower.''

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/TheFoundationTrilogy'': In "Literature/TheMule", the titular character is a GalacticConqueror who is depicted in his own propaganda as a towering, immensely-strong superman, and his court jester Magnifico seemingly confirms this when he falls in with the heroes after running away from his master. Later on, it becomes clear that the Mule's real powers are [[PsychicPowers psychic in nature]], and one character theorizes he's probably a perfectly ordinary-looking man who just made himself ''seem'' a terrifying giant to scare poor Magnifico. Then it turns out that the "giant superman" image is a complete fabrication, and Magnifico ''himself'', a weedy, scrawny man, was the Mule all along. However, while he might be physically unimpressive, those PsychicPowers are all too real and incredibly potent - the Mule may be a physical weakling, but he was still able to conquer a good chunk of the galaxy without ever having to throw a punch himself.

* {{Inverted}} in ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'' [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3038 3038]]: It starts like the ''Oz'' scene, but Oz is completely unfazed and explains how he's ''more'' [[MagnificentBastard impressive]] having achieved what he has as a human than a godly wizard. Indeed, the only reason he's behind a mere flimsy curtain is because he likes to be found out sometimes.

* The second megastar you fight in ''VideoGame/NoStraightRoads'' is the VirtualIdol Sayu, whom Kliff explains is controlled by a team of four creators. The boss battle itself reveals that they're all students, and after their program is completely disrupted, Mayday appears to leer towards the cowering bunch...but simply unplugs their equipment and lets them off the hook, encouraging them to put their talent to better use than for NSR.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'': The true leader of the Patriots is revealed to be [[spoiler:Zero from ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater Snake Eater]]'', and throughout the game he is built up as [[FromNobodyToNightmare having become much more villainous than how he was in 1964. However, the epilogue shows that Zero has been in a vegetative state the entire time, with him becoming much more pitiable than he was initially thought of.]]

Sometimes the BigBad is disappointingly small. Sometimes TheManBehindTheMan is just the The Man Behind The Curtain: a villain who falls depressingly short of their own hype. More deserving of a slap across the face than a pummeling (but even that might kill them), they are not even a remotely credible threat to the heroes. You want to hate them, but all you can muster up is pity.

* {{Trope Namer|s}}: ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', in that the titular "wizard" is only a normal man. Doubly so considering the fiery hologram avatar he was giving out. Uncharacteristically for this trope, he is not really a villain (unless, of course, you go by his [[AdaptationalVillainy characterization]] in ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'').
-->'''Oz:''' PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!

* The demon Quetzovercoatl in Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Eric}}''. The NightmareFuel demon who's the basis of an entire warlike religion turns out to be all of six inches tall. To add insult to injury, he's killed seconds after manifesting to his followers (accidentally, too).

* {{Inverted}} in ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'' [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3038 3038]]: It starts like the ''Oz'' scene, but Oz is completely unfazed and explains how he's ''more'' [[MagnificentBastard impressive]] having achieved what he has as a human than a god. Indeed, the only reason he's behind a mere flimsy curtain is because he likes to be found out sometimes.

* {{Inverted}} in ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'' [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3038 3038]]: It starts like the ''Oz'' scene, but Oz is completely unfazed and explains how he's ''more'' [[MagnificentBastard impressive]] having achieved what he has as a human than a god.

* {{Inverted}} in ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'' [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3038 3038]]: It starts like the ''Oz'' scene, but Oz explains how he's ''more'' [[MagnificentBastard impressive]] having achieved what he has as a human than a god.

* ''ComicBooks/MisterMiracle #2'' (1971) has Overlord, a pet of Granny Goodness gifted to her by Darkseid. Overlord is extremely powerful, able to shoot devastating lasers from long range and conjure diamonds from nothing. Yet when he is killed by Mister Miracle's Mother Box, he is revealed to be nothing more than a tiny, infant-like cyborg creature in a box no bigger than a spectacle-case. As Mister Miracle scornfully puts it: "Little worms can look like sea serpents when cast on a vidi-screen!"

* Halfway through Creator/MNightShyamalan's ''Film/TheVillage'', we discover that Those We Do Not Speak Of, the bogeymen who hold the entire village in fear, are merely a ruse by the elders to keep the people in line. This is subverted when Ivy is let in on the secret and is attacked by one of these creatures anyway. And then ''that'' is subverted when we (but not Ivy) see that the creature was actually the town's AxCrazy man in a costume.

* In ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'', this is downplayed with Forsaken (or Chosen), the group of chief servants of the Dark One. While they are definitely dangerous and powerful, they are also very egoistic and dysfunctional, unable to work together as a whole, and get killed one by one by main characters while spending as much time fighting each other as the forces of Light. They ''are'' a great threat, but they are not all-powerful as were though before by protagonists.

* In ''Literature/WheelOfTime'', this is downplayed with Forsaken (or Chosen), the group of chief servants of the Dark One. While they are definitely dangerous and powerful, they are also very egoistic and dysfunctional, unable to work together as a whole, and get killed one by one by main characters while spending as much time fighting each other as the forces of Light.

'''By this trope's very nature, all spoliers are unmarked. You have been warned.'''

* Done rather anti-climatically in the first part of the finale of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFreindshipIsMagic''. The intimidating Grogar, the GreaterScopeEvil of the setting who created all the monsters in the world… Is nothing more than a persona used by Discord as part of a FalseFlagOperation to try to boost Twilight’s confidence, with the whereabouts or status of the real Grogar never revealed.