History VillainDecay / LiveActionTV

* Captain Hook in ''Series/OnceUponATime'' seems to be heading down that road in season three. In season two he was a ruthless man obsessed with vengeance that even manages to pull a BatmanGambit over on Rumplestiltskin himself. However, come season three, he's been reduced to little more than a lovesick puppy following Emma around without any of his former edge.

* After seeing how much respect the Borg lost during his writing stint on ''Voyager'', Ronald D. Moore rather neatly avoided the trope in his remake of ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}''. The villainous Cylons are only sparingly used as a direct threat to the heroes, and typically when the heroes do beat them there's some kind of price. However, one particular Cylon, Caprica-Six has [[BadassDecay decayed rather badly]]. Given she was only in one episode (the miniseries), where she performed one {{mercy kill}}ing and lectured Baltar and that was it, and then wasn't seen again until the late second season where she followed through on being sad at taking a baby's life by regretting the holocaust in its entirety and missed a man she from the beginning cared about, or why else bother to save him, she didn't have much badass to decay anyway.

* Inverted in ''{{Series/Angel}}''. Wolfram & Hart, the BigBad for the first two seasons, starts out as an evil organization for the underdog protagonist to rise up against, but are in actuality an InvincibleVillain, as Holland Manners states that there goal is not to win, but to endure and be fueled and preserved by the evil that lies in all of humanity. As long as humanity exists, good can never win, and Wolfram & Hart will have nigh ultimate power.
** That being said, in Season 3 they become secondary antagonists to Holtz and Sahjahn, and are portrayed as generally craven and incompetent. It gets even worse in Season 4, where [[spoiler: their offices are destroyed and they are all killed by the Beast]].

* Inverted in {{Series/Angel}}. Wolfram & Hart, the BigBad for the first two seasons, starts out as an evil organization for the underdog protagonist to rise up against, but are in actuality an InvincibleVillain, as Holland Manners states that there goal is not to win, but to endure and be fueled and preserved by the evil that lies in all of humanity. As long as humanity exists, good can never win, and Wolfram & Hart will have nigh ultimate power.

*** [[spoiler:In a possible way to avert this trope, Stephan Moffat says that when the Master reappeared in Series 8 [[GenderBender she]] needed to kill someone to show how dangerous she was. Sure enough Missy [[KillTheCutie disintegrates]] AudienceSurrogate {{Fangirl}} Osgood, while [[KickTheDog taunting her]] about it. Then crushes Osgood's glasses beneath her heel. However sadly at the end of the episode The Master hands the Doctor his victory literally which for some fans undermined her menace once again]]

*** [[spoiler:In a possible way to avert this trope, Stephan Moffat says that when the Master reappeared in Series 8 [[GenderBender she]] needed to kill someone to show how dangerous she was. Sure enough Missy [[KillTheCutie disintegrates]] AudienceSurrogate {{Fangirl}} Osgood, while [[KickTheDog taunting her]] about it. Then crushes Osgood's glasses beneath her heel.]]

** Also from ''Deep Space Nine'', Gul Dukat and Vedek (later Kai) Winn. For most of the show's run, Dukat was depicted as being somewhat villainous but with several moral shades, being willing to help out Sisko and the Federation when it was in his best interests, but also being willing to trample over anyone and anything when need be. Winn, meanwhile, was a religious WellIntentionedExtremist, who genuinely did want what was best for the Bajoran people, but was determined to maintain the supremacy of their religion at all costs, to the point where when she was asked to become acting head-of-state she quickly started planning how to turn the government into a de facto theocracy. By midway through the final season the two had become pretty straightforward {{Omnicidal Maniac}}s who wanted to release the Pah-Wraiths and destroy the universe, although Dukat at least had the excuse of undergoing a VillainousBreakdown following the death of his daughter in the previous season.

** Crowley's character arc has taken a few weird turns over the seasons to the point where he [[ZigzaggingTrope zigzaggs the trope]]. He was genuinely threatening in season 5-7 and a rare DangerouslyGenreSavvy demon, but not above entering an EnemyMine with the Winchesters solely for his own benefit. In season 8 he became more evil than ever, capping it off with [[spoiler:trying to kill ''everyone'' the Winchesters have ever saved]]. Due to a partial demon cure trial, he becomes a lot more emotional in season 9, and spends most of his time chained up in a cellar. His position is all but usurped by Abaddon, and the Winchesters openly express their disgust at [[HowTheMightyHaveFallen how inconsequential the supposed King of Hell has become]]. Then a gambit of Crowley's played out at season's end - [[spoiler:Dean is now a Demon, and in Crowley's claws.]]

** Plus the Vampires themselves, who constitute a major threat in the first season, becoming progressively weaker until finally they're just a bunch of wussy mooks that even ''Xander'' has roughly even odds of killing in a fair fight. This was briefly {{Zig Zagg|ingTrope}}ed in later seasons where Riley had to become a SuperSoldier just to keep up, but overall in both Buffy and the spinoff, ''Series/Angel'', Vampires went from "Major threat that requires an incredibly superhuman girl to be born every generation just to deal with them" to "A random passerby can take one out with a pencil". They're still treated by the characters like they're a major threat, but the actual quality of the threat tends to be far inferior to how much they act like it's a threat, as exemplified by their strength being wildly inconsistent; sometimes being portrayed as being far above any normal human's and at other times they can be easily overpowered and restrained by a young (non-Slayer) woman who can't weigh more than 120 pounds.

*** The only time the Cybermen get to be properly {{Badass}} after their reintroduction is "Nightmare in Silver," where none of their weaknesses can be brought to bear in a way that lets you kill 'em all at once, ''and they're faster.'' In the end, ''the king of the planet evacuates it, destroys it, and everyone runs away. Dayum.)''

** It goes both ways, though: While they're defeated much more quickly, the crossovers became such MassivelyMultiplayerCrossover affairs that the number of heroes they face make them seem a lot ''stronger,'' as well. Each of these villains were long-running foes of ''one'' hero, eventually defeated in one-on-one combat. Now you've got Doktor G handing ''six'' Riders theirs asses ''easily'' until they're able to borrow the Goseigers' powers (''never-before-seen'' cards, at that.) Doras was a scary ImplacableMan who battled KamenRiderZO for the length of his one film. When he returns, ''thirteen'' Riders are ''nothing'' to him. What does it take to finalize him? The ten Riders who have them turn on their SuperMode, with Kuuga and Den-O using the super-er modes they got in ''KamenRiderDecade.'' (Ultimate Kuuga can supposedly destroy a world. ''Rising'' Ultimate Kuuga is ''one tenth'' of what it takes to take this guy down!) That makes Doras the single most powerful foe ''in franchise history,'' even if the battle wasn't any longer than the last round with any MonsterOfTheWeek. Shadow Moon was part of a chain of TheWorfEffect that makes him insanely powerful as well (berserk Rising Ultimate Kuuga sends five Riders flying with a wave of his hand. Decade - also supposedly apocalyptic - and RUK once normal are easily curbstomped by Shadow Moon. Yes, Double beat him easily with Debut Advertising Power.™ But if Shadow Moon had always had that kind of power he does show in that movie, his original series would have ended very differently! And of course, ''every'' major villain always returns for the next megacrossover, meaning even multiple sentai teams and/or Riders using their SuperMode ganging up on them is only enough to defeat them ''for today.''

** As shown in ''Series/StargateUniverse'', the Lucian Alliance is doing the opposite, rising from a fairly weak cartel to a major opponent to Earth, starting a SpaceColdWar at which they're ''very'' successful. They even manage to upgrade their previously-weak Ha'taks to be able to match Earth's Asgard-improved ships. It turns out Earth humans aren't the only ones who can be smart.

** The Dominion in ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' suffer heavily from this trope as well. In Starfleet's first military encounter with them, three of the weakest Dominion fighters [[spoiler:destroy the ''Galaxy''-class USS ''Odyssey'', ostensibly one of Starfleet's most powerful ships, with relative ease]]. By the end of the show we can see ''Galaxy''-class starships destroy the Dominion fighters ''in one shot''. [[note]]That said ''Deep Space Nine'' relied unapologetically on ConservationOfNinjutsu and RuleOfDrama for ''all'' fights, often having wildly inconsistent or improbable results compared to the rest of the franchise and its own series.[[/note]]

* Captain Hook in ''Series/OnceUponATime'' seems to be heading down that road in season three. In season two he was a ruthless man obsessed with vengeance that even manages to pull a BatmanGambit over on Rumplestiltskin himself. However, come season three, he's been reduced to little more than a lovesick puppy following Emma around without any of his former edge.
* The zombies in Series/TheWalkingDead. As the show progresses, the zombies become more manageable, and dangerous people such as The Governor, marauders, cannibals, and pedophiles are the ones whom the characters and the audience fear most. After all, zombies are incapable of using battle tactics and sexually assaulting people. Their sanity is never questioned because they have no minds of their own, whereas people themselves are unpredictable. Interestingly enough, the zombies decay as time progresses, so they may be considered a literal personification of this trope.

* The zombies in TheWalkingDead comics and TV series. As each medium progresses, the zombies become more manageable, and dangerous people such as The Governor, various cannibals, various marauders, The Scavengers, and The Saviors are the ones whom the characters and the audience fear most. After all, zombies are incapable of using battle tactics and raping people. Their sanity is never questioned because they have no minds of their own, whereas people themselves are unpredictable. Heck, the storyline introducing The Saviors is called ''Something to Fear.'' After the ''All Out War'' storyline of the comics, there is a two-year time skip, implying that life in a world of zombies has been relatively peaceful until a new threat (sentient beings once again) emerges. Interestingly enough, the zombies decay as time progresses, so they may be considered a literal personification of this trope.

* Captain Hook in ''Series/OnceUponATime'' seems to be heading down that road in season three. In season two he was a ruthless man obsessed with vengeance that even manages to pull a BatmanGambit over on Rumplestiltskin himself. However, come season three, he's been reduced to little more than a lovesick puppy following Emma around without any of his former edge.

*** In his next appearance in "The End of Time", due to [[HeCameBackWrong a botched resurrection]] he becomes more crazy and is left more concerned with eating to keep his body stable. He succeeds in turning most of humanity into copies of himself, however he is revealed to have been manipulated by [[PresidentEvil Rassilon]], who easily turns everybody back. The Master then saves the Doctor.

*** In a possible way to avert this trope, Stephan Moffat says that when the Master reappeared in Series 8 [[GenderBender she]] needed to kill someone to show how dangerous she was. Sure enough Missy [[KillTheCutie murders fan-representative character Osgood]], while [[KickTheDog mocking her about it]].

** Meg is TheDragon and a major threat in season 1, and manages to capture Sam and Dean, and later their father when he attempts to double cross her. Sam exorcises her and sends her back to Hell, but she returns in season 2 and possesses him. After that, she disappears. Eventually she returns in season 5 as Lucifer's crony, but by that point the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil has expanded far beyond her and the Winchesters are more focused on her boss than Meg herself. Still, she's indirectly responsible for both Bobby being crippled and the Harvelles being killed. Her true decay began in season 6, when she's forced into an EnemyMine with the Winchesters after Lucifer is locked up again and new King Of Hell Crowley starts exterminating all of his followers. In the following battle Meg proceeds to be captured, tortured, rescued by Sam and Dean, and then nearly killed again when she attempts to kill a devil-trapped Crowley, who easily overpowers her and escapes. By season 7 the Winchesters seem to have forgotten she's a villain at all, and apparently don't have a problem with leaving their insane, comatose, and extremely powerful angel friend Castiel in her care when she openly states she has an ulterior motive (revenge on Crowley) in helping him. Nevertheless, she takes care of Castiel and doesn't even attempt to deceive or betray the Winchesters when he wakes up. She then decides to help them fight the leviathans, wrecking Dean's Impala as a distraction and taking out a couple {{Mooks}} before once again being captured by Crowley. When she reappears in season 8 she's largely turned to the good side, although she's still a HeroicComedicSociopath.
** Crowley's character arc has taken a few weird turns over the seasons to the point where he [[ZigzaggingTrope zigzaggs the trope]]. He started out in season 5 as a DangerouslyGenreSavvy snarker who [[EnemyMine allied with the Winchesters solely for his own benefit]]. He became a significant threat in season 6, before being forced into another alliance with the good guys in season 7. Then when their interests no longer coincided in season 8, he became a lot more evil, routinely [[KickTheDog kicking the dog]] and capping it off with [[spoiler:arranging to kill ''everyone'' the Winchesters have ever saved]]. In season 9, he got nerfed due to the aborted demon cure trial the boys performed on him and spent most of it chained up in a cellar. He eventually gets reduced to a human blood-addicted mess who cries at romantic movies while he was supposed to be looking for a special weapon to kill Abaddon, the [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains new demonic threat on the block]]. The Winchesters openly express their disgust at [[HowTheMightyHaveFallen how inconsequential the supposed King of Hell has become]]. Then a gambit of Crowley's played out at the season's end - [[spoiler:Dean is now a Demon, and in Crowley's claws.]]

** Crowley's character arc has taken a few weird turns over the seasons to the point where he [[ZigzaggingTrope zigzaggs the trope]]. He started out in season 5 as a DangerouslyGenreSavvy snarker who [[EnemyMine allied with the Winchesters solely for his own benefit]]. He became a significant threat in season 6, before being forced into another alliance with the good guys in season 7. Then when their interests no longer coincided in season 8, he became a lot more evil, routinely [[KickTheDog kicking the dog]] and capping it off with [[spoiler:arranging to kill ''everyone'' the Winchesters have ever saved]]. In season 9, he got nerfed due to the aborted demon cure trial the boys performed on him and spent most of it chained up in a cellar. He eventually gets reduced to a human blood-addicted mess who cries at romantic movies while he was supposed to be looking for a special weapon to kill Abaddon, the [[MakeWayForTheNewVillains new demonic threat on the block]]. The Winchesters openly express their disgust at [[HowTheMightyHaveFallen how inconsequential the supposed King of Hell has become]].

** Likewise Species 8472, who were ScaryDogmaticAliens until "In the Flesh". They were introduced as terrifying telepathic species of aliens from a place called "fluidic space", a race so xenophobic that they tried to exterminate all other life because they considered it impure. They traveled in bio-organic ships that could destroy Borg cubes like a photon torpedo could destroy a Ford Pinto and these ships could combine energy weapons to blow up a Borg planet. Except not, because it turns out that they're just as empathetic as humans and were only fighting the Borg in self-defense.

* Meg in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''. She's TheDragon and a major threat in season 1, and manages to capture Sam and Dean, and later their father when he attempts to double cross her. Sam exorcises her and sends her back to Hell, but she returns in season 2 and possesses him. After that, she disappears. Eventually she returns in season 5 as Lucifer's crony, but by that point the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil has expanded far beyond her and the Winchesters are more focused on her boss than Meg herself. Still, she's indirectly responsible for both Bobby being crippled and the Harvelles being killed. Her true decay began in season 6, when she's forced into an EnemyMine with the Winchesters after Lucifer is locked up again and new King Of Hell Crowley starts exterminating all of his followers. In the following battle Meg proceeds to be captured, tortured, rescued by Sam and Dean, and then nearly killed again when she attempts to kill a devil-trapped Crowley, who easily overpowers her and escapes. By season 7 the Winchesters seem to have forgotten she's a villain at all, and apparently don't have a problem with leaving their insane, comatose, and extremely powerful angel friend Castiel in her care when she openly states she has an ulterior motive (revenge on Crowley) in helping him. Nevertheless, she takes care of Castiel and doesn't even attempt to deceive or betray the Winchesters when he wakes up. She then decides to help them fight the leviathans, wrecking Dean's Impala as a distraction and taking out a couple {{Mooks}} before once again being captured by Crowley. When she reappears in season 8 she's largely turned to the good side, although she's still a HeroicComedicSociopath.

* The Source of All Evil in ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' went from an angel-winged, black cloaked, seemingly omniscient entity, to a big guy in a black cloak who tried to kill the Charmed Ones with about as much success as every enemy before [[spoiler: although he did become the only character to succeed in having one of the sisters permanently murdered, but that may have been defined above as during his first phase]], and being severely wounded by one renegade demon throwing fireballs at him. Eventually he lost not just the wings but the menacing hood as well and revealed a goofy face before dying, and it was revealed that The Source of All Evil is a transferable title. The new ones? Were ''never'' threatening.

** This was even lampshaded by Steven Moffatt, who commented that they had lost to the Doctor "400 times" (this was probably exaggeration, but he does have a point as the Daleks have only won ONCE over the past few years). For this reason he is temporarily retiring the Daleks, probably for a good couple of seasons. Considering that they have appeared ten times since the show's revival, it's certainly fair enough. And in the first episode under him the Daleks [[TheBadGuyWins actually win]] by tricking the Doctor into enabling their race to be restored.

** Likewise Species 8472, who were ScaryDogmaticAliens until "In the Flesh". They were introduced as terrifying telepathic species of aliens from a place called "fluidic space". They traveled in bio-organic ships that could destroy Borg cubes like a photon torpedo could destroy a Ford Pinto. The ships could combine energy weapons to blow up a Borg planet.