Line #74 GreaterScopeVillain/WesternAnimation


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6	'''Warning''': Beware of Unmarked Spoilers!
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8	* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'':
9	** While humans are long extinct ([[LastOfHisKind except for Finn]]), their [[AtomicHate "Mushroom War"]] not only led to [[TheMagicComesBack the return of magic]], but one of their bombs also created [[VileVillainSaccharineShow the Lich]], who proceeded to spread monsters across the planet and [[OmnicidalManiac kill almost everything]]. Maybe. Recent episodes imply that the Lich actually long predates humanity, and may in fact predate ''non''existence. Regardless, the AlternateUniverse "Farmworld" shows that even without the Lich, humanities' actions indirectly lead to an apocalypse.
10	** Marceline's dad, Hunson Abadeer, is the {{Satan}} equivalent of the ''Adventure Time'' universe, but not a major force in the plot. However, he only counts in the early seasons in which the Ice King is the BigBad; later seasons introduce villains even more evil and more of a greater scope than him.
11	** Gunter is implied to be the most powerful evil force in Ooo, possibly even surpassing Marceline's Dad and [[BigBad the Lich]]. As of "Orgalorg", this has been confirmed; Gunter is in fact an evil god named Orgalorg who predates the universe and can destroy planets on a whim when at full power. The only thing preventing him from being a major force is that being [[SealedEvilInATeddyBear sealed in a penguin]] erased his memories.
12	** As of Season 8, GOLB, a mysterious, sinister entity who has appeared in only a couple episodes, may in fact be this to the ''entire series''. His attack on Mars in the past is a central part of Magic Man and Grob Gob Glob Grod's backstories (including rendering Magic Man's wife DeaderThanDead, leading to his SanitySlippage); is hinted to be [[TheAntiGod as powerful, if not more so, than Grob Gob Glob Grod]]; and perhaps most significantly, ''the Lich himself''- previously the closest thing the show had to a singular BigBad- describes himself as "the last scholar of GOLB". Come the GrandFinale, GOLB not only serves as the show's FinalBoss, but it's revealed that his breath is the source used to create the Mushroom Bomb that left humanity near-extinct and brought magic back to the world; essentially making him indirectly responsible for nearly every awful thing that happened in the series.
13	** The [[EldritchAbomination lovecraftian]] monsters before the dawn of creation (according to the Lich) may even be this to GOLB, Orgalorg, the Catalyst Comets, and any other monstrosities that transcend reality, all of which may even have been who the Lich was speaking of.
14	-->'''The Lich:''' "Before there was time...before there was anything, there was nothing...and before there was nothing...there were ''monsters''."
15	*** Besides Orgalorg, another one of these monsters is Coconteppi, the source of ''all'' magic in the universe.
16	* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong'': While the Huntsclan is still Jake's primary enemy, they're ranked as only the number 4 threat to the Magical Community. Instead, the Dark Dragon serves as the most powerful enemy in the series, and thus only gets personally involved in three episodes.
17	* ''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.
18	* ''WesternAnimation/AngelsFriends'': [[EvilOverlord Cassidy and Kubral]], the two warlords that started the war between Angels and Devils, and the ones who are indirectly responsible for [[BigBad Reina]] turning evil, Angelie's disappearance, and the events that Raf and Sulfus have faced.
19	* While Silco is the BigBad of ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'', whenever anything concerning [[TheEmpire Noxus]] comes up, they are treated like this - a nation operating on a scale far beyond Piltover and Zaun's conflict, that is both very nasty and powerful enough to be considerable threat, even if so far deciding to excercise only soft pressure on twin cities. A lot of EpilepticTrees in the fandom concerns why and how they could take more active role in future seasons.
20	* ''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.
21	* ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'': If it wasn't for Galactus devouring their homeworld, the Skrulls would never gone ahead with their "Secret Invasion" of Earth, which lasted for nearly half of Season 2. Galactus himself only appears as the FinalBoss of the series, long after the Skrull invasion was thwarted.
22	* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'': Maltruant's plans for conquest in the final episode cement him for the entire ''Ben 10'' franchise, as his arrival on Earth in the past, with Ben, Rook and Skurd following him, are [[StableTimeLoop why pre-series Vilgax becomes interested in a device that grants the wearer shapeshifting abilities]].
23	* While Lawrence Lactavius Limburger is the main antagonist of ''WesternAnimation/BikerMiceFromMars'', he occasionally answers to Lord Camembert, who is the leader of the Plutarkians and is therefore indirectly responsible for the Plutarkians devastating Mars and Limburger's schemes to strip-mine Chicago and wipe out the three titular Biker Mice.
24	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Bravestarr}}'' used the exact same format, with BigBad Tex Hex answering to an ancient entity called Stampede, who was the one who found him dead after his fatal crash and brought him back as an undead servant, leaving Tex no hope of ever being his own master again or turning back.
25	* ''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 Aelita alone, he created [[BigBad XANA]] to combat them. Instead, XANA imprisoned them both and developed sentience in a bid to destroy humanity.
26	* ''WesternAnimation/CloneHigh'': [[TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness The Secret Board of Shadowy Figures]] were responsible for the creation of the clones, the high school, and possibly the town itself, for the purpose of building an army of the greatest figures in human history.
27	* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' has Grandfather, the BigBad of ''WesternAnimation/OperationZERO'', and the father of the series-wide Big Bad, Father. He's the reason ''[[AbusiveParents why]]'' Father is the way he is, and his actions prior to the series eventually facilitated the founding of the Seventh Age of the Kids Next Door by his ''other'' son, Numbuh 0 a.k.a. Monty Uno, Numbuh 1's father.
28	* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'': Pariah Dark is the King of all Ghosts, feared and hated by them. He's only faced Danny once, due to how he was freed from his Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep, but his reign is still one the denizens of the Ghost Zone feared.
29	* ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'': Aaravos, due to being a SealedEvilInACan, and thus not able to be an active member of their BigBadDuumvirate, instead spends Seasons 2 and 3 acting more like a SpiritAdvisor to Viren than a direct threat himself. Furthermore, Season 4 reveals that he spent centuries before his imprisonment manipulating people into endless wars, seemingly ForTheEvulz.
30	* In the ''WesternAnimation/DungeonsAndDragons1983'' animated series, one episode featured BigBad Venger's master, an insanely powerful EldritchAbomination that appears and starts destroying the entire realm. Even at the end, when it's banished with the combined efforts of Dungeon Master, Venger, and the Heroes, DM still remarks that what they've accomplished is but a temporary victory. This means the evil is still out there, continuing to destroy worlds.
31	* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': Bradford Buzzard serves as this for the entire series for numerous reasons, including but not limited to:
32	** Telling Della about the Spear of Selene (which was supposed to be a secret) and then stopping Scrooge from searching for her, kicking off most of the events of the plot, including Scrooge's family breaking apart (which he even admits to his face). And Della getting stranded on the moon leads to Lunaris being able to invade Earth.
33	** Indirectly contributing to Magica being released.
34	** Being the founder and leader of F.O.W.L. and acting in the shadows for the entire series, also being the reason Scrooge started working with the S.H.U.S.H. organization to begin with. He was also the one who indirectly got Scrooge to realize his love for adventuring again.
35	* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'': Though the show is about Eddy using his friends to scam the neighborhood for jawbreaker money and the kids, though not entirely pleasant, are just trying to deal with his antics, the GrandFinale reveals the older brother he speaks so highly of was [[BigBrotherBully a cruel bully]] whose treatment of Eddy [[FreudianExcuse made him the person he is]].
36	* ''WesternAnimation/ElenaAndTheSecretOfAvalor'', a crossover tv-movie between Craig Gerber's two shows, ''WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst'' and ''WesternAnimation/ElenaOfAvalor'', has Shuriki as the main antagonist. Sofia got her amulet, which Cedric spent two and a half seasons getting, when the titular protagonist of the latter show was trapped in it by Shuriki after her parents were ''killed''. Sofia's mission is to free Elena and help her take back Avalor. They succeed in taking back the kingdom, but the ending sets up Shuriki to be the Big Bad of the latter series.
37	* ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'': Invictus, a GodOfEvil that is destined to bring chaos and destruction to the universe. Lord Commander is acting under the assumption that he is some sort of ChosenOne under him and will ascend into titanhood if he manages to use Mooncake to open a portal to Invictus' dimension and bring his forces to the universe.
38	* ''WesternAnimation/GeneratorRex'' has the Consortium, a mysterious and powerful organization responsible for the [[MassEmpoweringEvent Nanite Event]]. They later turn out to be the financial backers for [[NGOSuperpower Providence]] and act as the superiors of Season 3's BigBad.
39	* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': Bill Cipher's first appearance is as a MonsterOfTheWeek who has no problems working with [[BigBad Gideon Gleeful]], as long as Gideon helps him with a mysterious plan in the future. However, events and background details seen before and during hint that Bill is a far more powerful and dangerous entity than any of the characters could imagine. Come Season 2 and it turns out that he is the true BigBad of the series, and Gideon is DemotedToDragon.
40	* On ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'', the galaxy-conqeuring Irken Empire (led by [[BigBadDuumvirate the Tallests]] and Control Brains) technically serve as this. Keyword "technically" as while [[VillainProtagonist Zim]] is trying to take over Earth in the name of his leaders, who do want to conquer the universe, said leaders couldn't care less about Earth. The planet actually serves as a ReassignedToAntarctica situation for the titular character, whom they saw as a defective annoyance; they didn't even know Earth existed to begin with, and planned for it to be a full-on SnipeHunt.
41	* ''WesternAnimation/JumanjiTheAnimatedSeries'': 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.
42	* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': Brainiac for the Cadmus Arc in ''Unlimited''. Having used Lex Luthor as a body to hide in since ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', Brainiac has been subtly influencing Luthor since by granting him super strength, greater intelligence and curing his kryptonite-induced cancer. He had also affected Luthor's actions, making him use Cadmus' resources to construct a new body for him. When that failed, they stole a piece of alien tech from Cadmus called the Dark Heart and fused into one being to use it to reshape the universe in their image.
43	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': The main antagonist of season 5 is Rules, a personification of the concept of rules who keeps harassing the residents of Smileyland and messing with their games by forcing them to comply with strict rules and handing out {{Cool and Unusual Punishment}}s whenever they disobeyed. At the end of the season we learn that Rules was actually sent on this mission by her parents, who are personifications of the concepts of law and order, and was only trying to please them; in comparison to what her parents have in store for Smileyland's residents, it turns out Rules was going relatively ''easy'' on them.
44	* Kat is the main villain of ''WesternAnimation/KidVsKat'', but-as the name implies-he answers to the Kat Kommander, the alien who sent him to Earth to KillAllHumans.
45	* While ''WesternAnimation/LeagueOfSuperEvil'' centers around the schemes of the League, Skullossus is the most threatening villain to the world at large.
46	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'':
47	** 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 take the BigBad seat for that season.
48	** 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.
49	* Scar, the long-dead BigBad of ''Franchise/TheLionKing'', serves as this for ''WesternAnimation/TheLionGuard''. His great-nephew Kion succeeds him in leading the titular Lion Guard, but is constantly worrying about ending up power-mad and destructive like him. In Season 2, however, BigBad Janja decides to resurrect him to gain his help in taking over the Pride Lands, with Scar's spirit now serving as the BigBad of the season after assembling an army of the show's RoguesGallery.
50	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'': ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouseMovie'' reveals that the reason the Louds live in Royal Woods is because Aggie, [[BigBad Morag]]'s distant ancestor, banished the Louds' distant ancestors away from Loch Loud. As such, she's technically responsible for the events of the entire series.
51	* ''Franchise/MastersOfTheUniverse'': Multiple:
52	** Horde Prime, mainly in ''WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower'' since the Horde was her primary enemy. The master of both Hordak and Skeletor, Prime almost never played a direct role, but would occasionally appear to berate Hordak for his constant failures.
53	** Hordak himself is the Greater Scope Villain in ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse2002''. He plays a prominent role in the backstory as the ArchEnemy to King Greyskull (and oddly enough to fellow archvillain King Hiss as well) and the one who transformed the dying Keldor into [[BigBad Skeletor]]. In the series proper he is a SealedEvilInACan who only briefly appears as gigantic cloudlike apparition during an attempt to release him only to fade away once the attempt is foiled. Had the series continued Hordak would have been freed and become the BigBad proper for a season before getting defeated by Skeletor. Also, Hordak is the one who divided that series' version of Eternia into the Light Hemisphere and the Dark Hemisphere.
54	** Hordak again in ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'', though in this case, it's because he's too preoccupied with his science experiments and generally running the Horde to ever directly face any of the heroes. His underlings, like Catra and Shadow Weaver, do most of the fighting for him. He begins taking a more active role in the narrative in the second season. In Season 3, Horde Prime, Emperor of the galaxy-spanning Horde Empire, takes this role until becoming the new BigBad in the final season.
55	* In ''WesternAnimation/MightyMax'', the series' main villain the Skullmaster mentions that he has a master of his own, but his superior is never seen at all (or even referenced by name) throughout the run of the series.
56	* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' originally tinkered with such an idea by having Nightmare Moon return because "the stars will aid in her escape", with the idea that ''something'' was responsible for corrupting Nightmare Moon. However with Lauren Faust's departure from the series, the show abandoned this idea and turned Luna into TheAtoner who fell purely due to her own jealousy, while the comic series went another way and had the small-time "Nightmare Forces" be responsible for her (and later "Nightmare Rarity's") corruption, while later comics [[RetCon took it in a different direction]] and had Nightmare be TheVirus, with Luna (and later Rarity) forcibly turned into her main vessel(s) and the Forces as innocent DreamWeaver aliens forcibly turned into sub-vessel {{Mooks}}.
57	** Discord created the plunderseeds, the extent of the damage of the later is unclear, but in the very least some killer plants were the antagonists in one episode and not Discord himself.
58	** Stygian became the Pony of Shadows after he was corrupted by the Well of Shadows. Whoever created the Well of Shadows currently remains a mystery, but until then...
59	** Season 9 reveals [[SatanicArchetype Grogar]], the ultimate villain of the entire show. The Dark Lord is an AncientEvil who ruled Equestria with an iron fist, until his defeat at the hands of Gusty the Great. Now, bent on reclaiming Equestria for himself, he created the monsters that attack Equestria. He is also TheManBehindTheMan to every BigBad that Mane Six have ever faced, but does not appear in the show until Season 9. Even then, however, the version we see turns out to be nothing more than a disguise of Discord, meaning the real Grogar is still out there...
60	* 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 she bit Garmadon as a child and her venom caused him to turn evil.
61	** Even greater than the Devourer is the Overlord, who is hinted to have created the Devourer in the first place.
62	* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'':
63	** 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]].
64	** 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 forcing her to go 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.]]
65	* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' has Doofenshmirtz' parents, whose emotional abuse is what led Doofenshmirtz to become evil.
66	* ''WesternAnimation/ThePiratesOfDarkWater'': While Ren and his crew are traveling to find the thirteen treasures of Rule to destroy the Dark Water, dealing with Bloth and his crew wanting the treasure to control it, they are too busy to deal with [[EldritchAbomination The Dark Dweller]] that created the dark water to consume their world.
67	* ''WesternAnimation/TangledTheSeries'' has [[EldritchAbomination Zhan Tiri]], an ancient demon obsessed with the destruction of Corona that was sealed away in another dimension. Throughout the first two seasons, she's had several antagonists working under her attempt to bring her back. Not only that, but the blizzard in "Queen for a Day" was caused by her, which prevented Rapunzel from helping Varian when his father becomes trapped in the magical rocks, leading to Varian making a FaceHeelTurn and becoming the season's BigBad. Come Season 3, she becomes the BigBad, manipulating Cassandra into turning against Rapunzel and becoming her [[TheHeavy main enforcer]]. She then spends the remainder of the season creating conflict between Cassandra and Rapunzel that would serve a ritual that'd free her and allow her to regain her true power. Come the GrandFinale, she successfully takes the power of both the Sundrop and Moonstone to [[OneWingedAngel regain her true form]] and becomes the FinalBoss of the series.
68	* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'':
69	** The series had an unnamed EldritchAbomination (a.k.a. the Black Mass) that was killed long before the series began. BigBad Aku is the last surviving piece of it, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero accidentally granted sentience, wizard-powers, and mobility by Jack's father in an attempt to destroy the evil blight]].
70	** [[BigBad Aku]] himself became one in the GrandFinale. A lot of antagonists in Season 5 have more involvement than himself in the plot such as [[PsychoForHire Scaramouche]] (Aku's favorite assassin), the HighPriestess (the woman who raised the Daughters of Aku), [[PsychoElectro the Dominator]] (a brutish, tyrannical man in Aku's employ) and Lazarus-92. On the other hand we have the Omen and Jack's Inner Self later revealed to be [[EvilCounterpart Mad Jack]] [[EnemyWithin who served as a more psychological threat to Jack]]. So yeah, Aku never directly acts against Jack until "C"); instead, it's the other mentioned characters that cause trouble for Jack.
71	* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' featured a slew of villains, from Professor Pericles, to Mr. E, to Mayor Jones, and yet all were unaware that they were pawns corrupted by the influence of [[EldritchAbomination The Evil Entity]] that was encased in a crystal sarcophagus, waiting for someone to to set it free.
72	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs1981'' 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.
73	* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'':
74	** A handful of episodes feature [[EvilSorcerer Baron Mordo]] as the BigBad, who is trying to unseal his demonic master Dormammu. Dormammu is a presence in the episodes, but the sorcerer is the primary villain.
75	** '''The Kingpin'''. Seriously, from personally commissioning the creation of the Insidious Six and the three original Spider Slayers, pushing Alistar Smythe into villainy, tormenting Norman Osborn leading to him becoming the Green Goblin (which lead to Harry becoming the second Green Goblin and Mary Jane's dissapearance as well as everything that happened because of those two events), killing Matt Murdock's and tormenting Felicia Hardy's fathers (which led to them becoming Daredevil and Black Cat), his gang war with Silvemane causing ''him'' to adopt more destructive and fantastic schemes to gain more power, his abuse of Smythe causing him to ally with Silvermane (which ties in with the "Return of Hydro Man" arc), it's hard to find some major event in the series that Kingpin ''wasn't'' a part of in some way, directly or indirectly.
76	** Spider-Carnage, the FinalBoss of the series, is the horror that Madame Web has been setting Peter up to face against since Season 3. Having destroyed reality, which The Beyonder was forced to use up his power to reverse, Peter and other versions of him from alternate timelines are set up in the series finale to stop him.
77	* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'':
78	** One of Star's distant ancestors, Solaria the Monster Carver, is the primary reason why Mewmans 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.
79	** There's also Seth of Septarsis, who only appeared in ''The Magic Book of Spells'', but was the leader of the Septarians. He was the one who radicalized younger Septarians such as [[BigBad Toffee]], which resulted in them following his agenda to eradicate all Mewmans.
80	* 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 taking the backseat until the finale, in which they personally menace the rebels, specifically Ezra (albeit with Thrawn remaining the main direct threat).
81	* Edwin Alva in ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'' was the {{corrupt corporate executive}} responsible for unleashing the Big Bad gas. While a jackass in person and the antagonist of a couple of episodes, he is unwittingly responsible for causing the explosion that created superhumans (it was provoked by circumstances beyond anyone's control given it was a police shootout between gangs), the show's actual BigBad Ebon would not have been created had it not been by Alva's influence.
82	* ''WesternAnimation/SuperRobotMonkeyTeamHyperforceGo'': The Dark Ones were an EldritchAbomination race responsible for the BigBad, the Skeleton King. They corrupted him when he used to be the alchemist that created the Robot Monkey Team. One of them, a giant worm, merges with the Skeleton King and goes into space to consume worlds, and destroying it is the driving force of season 3.
83	* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'': The Demon Shredder was the inspiration for Ch'rell, the Utrom Shredder, and his reign resulted in the creation of the Ninja Tribunal, whose servant adopted Hamato Yoshi, the Utrom Shredder's eventual victim, which in turn led to Yoshi's pet rat Splinter and four baby turtles to being mutated. Five of his minions were enslaved by the Utrom Shredder, but once he is defeated and they break free, they start reviving their master and he steps down to BigBad status for Season 5.
84	* ''WesternAnimation/TheThirteenGhostsOfScoobyDoo'': Asmodeus, introduced in ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheCurseOfThe13thGhost'', is retroactively this to the series. The king of demons and Vincent Van Ghoul's evil ancestor, his corruption and rise to power is what brought about the Chest of Demons being made and to seal the evil spirits within. Since the Asmodeus featured is a fake, it's left ambiguous what became of the real one. Though she refuses to believe anything supernatural happened, Velma suggests the real Asmodeus may have sought to act as Vincent's guardian angel as a means of redemption.
85	* The BigBad Mumm-Ra of both the original ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats1985'' 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.
86	* Dr. Killemoff of the planet Smogula was the main villain of ''WesternAnimation/ToxicCrusaders'', a cartoon loosely based on Creator/{{Troma}}'s ''Film/TheToxicAvenger'' film series, but it was established that he's polluting the Earth because of orders from the Smogulan leader Czar Zosta.
87	* Unicron of ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' is the ultimate evil in the metaseries, but is usually a distant figure, with Megatron (or his replacement as Decepticon leader) being BigBad. In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' he's mentioned as early as the pilot episode as the source of Dark Energon, which plays a considerable role throughout the series, before finally taking over as the BigBad in the finale movie ''Predacons Rising''. The exceptions are ''Anime/TransformersArmada'', where Unicron is the BigBad all along, orchestrating the conflict for his own purposes, and ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie'', where he serves as the BigBad with [[DemotedToDragon Galvatron]] as both TheHeavy and TheStarscream. ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'' revealed in the third season that Unicron was the creation of an alien scientist named Primacron, which meant that Primacron was indirectly responsible for the conflict in TheMovie.
88	* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRobotsInDisguise'': Its eventually revealed that most of the problems and villains the team's dealt with over the course of the series were caused by ''two'' Greater-Scope Villains who's plots inadvertently [[GambitPileUp crossed paths]]: Megatronus/The Fallen, who indirectly caused the [[PrisonShip Alchemor]] to crash on Earth as part of a plan to escape his [[PhantomZone other-dimensional prison]], and the Autobot High Council, who're actually a Decepticon cell that [[KillAndReplace killed and replaced the real Council years ago]] and have been doing everything in their power to undermine or blacklist anyone who supports Optimus Prime.
89	* Gunmar the Black from ''WesternAnimation/{{Trollhunters}}''. The big-bad Troll King of the Gumm Gumms and master to nearly every Big Bad in the series.
90	** The Order of Janus/Janus Order, an umbrella Order for all Changinglings and their affairs, could also qualify.
91	** Morgana, an eldritch witch [[SealedEvilInACan sealed away by Merlin]] is another, straighter example. She was the one who gave Angor Rot his powers (in exchange of his soul) and the one Gunmar is trying to free in Season 3 in order to realease [[TheNightThatNeverEnds the Eternal Night]] and rule the aboveground world forever.
92	** ''WesternAnimation/Wizards2020'' reveals the Arcane Order, who were the ones who powered Morgana in the first place and chose her as their "champion" against mankind.
93	* Due to it being a spin-off of ''Film/TronLegacy'', ''WesternAnimation/TronUprising'' has the former's BigBad, Clu, in this role. His takeover of the grid is at the heart of the conflict in the show and all of the villains answer to him, but never confronts Beck.
94	* ''[[WesternAnimation/VillainousCartoonNetwork Villainous]]'' interestingly depicts Black Hat as this in relation to every Cartoon Network BigBad. The Phase Two orientation mini-series acts as if all the Cartoon Network shows are connected and most of the villains have done business with the Black Hat Organization at some point or another and while Black Hat is treated as a greater threat than most, if not all of them, he never directly antagonizes their respective heroes.
95	* ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'' has Lord Dominator, who's been described as such as a better Hater than Lord Hater according to the series' creator. She becomes the BigBad proper in the second season.
96	* ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'':
97	** The Three Ancestral Witches, especially in Seasons 1 and 3. Being responsible for the destruction of Domino, they are the cause of many of the series' problems. The Trix, their descendants, take over their role to conquer the magical universe, and Valtor was their creation and servant. At the end of season 3, they attempt to directly control Valtor to their will, but he's killed before he can do anything. They become more involved in the movies.
98	*** Season 2 reveals that the Ancestral Witches were servants of Lord Darkar, the BigBad of the season. Thus, both the Trix and Valtor trace back to him, even though Valtor becomes a far greater threat in the following season, proving to be a major challenge to the Winx even after they had destroyed Darkar.
99	** Season 6 has Acheron, a dark wizard residing in the Legendarium (an ancient book) and is the true person behind Selina (that work with the Trix. but is a DragonWithAnAgenda). He was the one who granted Selina power in exchange for working to free him from the book.
100	* During the Season 2 finale of ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'', 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]].
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Context GreaterScopeVillain / WesternAnimation