Antagonist Title

Guess who the villain is.^note Electronic Arts, obviously?

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When you want to use a character's name for a title, you have several options. The most obvious choice is the hero's name, but you could also go with a Secondary Character Title.

Or you could title it after your work's primary antagonist.

Note that this does not apply to a work titled after a Villain Protagonist (which also goes under Protagonist Title). This trope has nothing to do with morality but with role. If there is a clear protagonist (regardless of Anti-Hero status and/or Black-and-Gray Morality), and the film/book/what-have-you they're in just happens to be titled after the person, group, or force The Hero fights against, then it's an Antagonist Title.

Might overlap with The Namesake if it's a vicious Genius Loci or the villain's lair. Commonly seen with Villain-Based Franchises. If the titular antagonist is an animal, see Scary Animal Title. Often overlaps with One-Word Title, especially with antagonists who have Only One Name.

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This is one title you do not want to mix with I Am Not Shazam or Protagonist Title Fallacy.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Monster: The protagonist is the angelic Dr. Tenma, with the antagonist being the utterly demonic Johan.
• Noein: Noein is the Big Bad.
• Pokémon: The First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back: Mewtwo is the Big Bad until his Heel–Face Turn at the end.
  • Pokémon 3: Spell of the Unown: The Unown aren't evil per se, they just happened to be obeying the whims of a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds.
• Puella Magi Oriko Magica: Oriko's villain status might be somewhat debatable, but she's definitely the main antagonist.
  • Similarly, Puella Magi Suzune Magica is named after the Serial Killer of magical girls. Though she's not the main antagonist.
• Pluto: the protagonist is detective Gesicht, hunting down robot Serial Killer (as in a robot killer of robots) Pluto.
• Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas (full title Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas - The Legend of Hades): Hades is the Big Bad and the ominous Lost Canvas is the primary tool in his Evil Plan to eradicate all life on Earth.
• Black★Rock Shooter 2012 Anime: though technically, at the point this trope becomes applicable, she's renamed Insane Black Rock Shooter.
• One Piece Film: Z: the antagonist is simply called "Z".
• Many of the Dragon Ball Z movies play this in the English dub, such as Lord Slug, Broly The Legendary Super Saiyan, Broly Second Coming, Cooler's Revenge, The Return Of Cooler, Bojack Unbound, Broly.
  • Dragon Ball's various "sagas" may also qualify; they are sets of episodes (what other shows may call "arcs") usually named after a certain character, almost always a villain, who plays a central role in that saga, dating all the way back to the Emperor Pilaf saga, the very first set of episodes. There are exceptions, such as the Tournament and Cell Games sagas, but those named after villains make up the majority.
• Soul Eater, according to Word of God, does not refer to its protagonist of the same name (who is actually secondary to Maka Albarn, the main heroine), but rather the story's ultimate villain, Kishin Asura, who is an eater of souls. Surely enough, Asura is referred to as the "Soul Eater" in the penultimate chapter.
• While Saki is the protagonist of her own series, her name is in the title of spin-off Saki Achiga-hen despite often being mentioned as an opponent the Achiga girls must face should they reach the finals.
• Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack is named for Char Aznable, the film's Big Bad, and the franchise's most recognizable and iconic character.
• Assassination Classroom: Episode 21 is titled "Takaoka Time", named after the Big Bad of the Assassination Island arc.
• In Attack on Titan, the very manga itself turns out to be the title of the biggest Big Bad in the series, Eren Yeager's Attack Titan. It is Not Hyperbole to state that this Titan shaped the entire series, by influencing Eren Kruger to handpick Grisha Yeager to carry out the objective to find the Coordinate Titan, causing Grisha to brutally massacre the Reiss family down to its unarmed women and children, only to spare Rod Reiss as he has a role in influencing Historia against her family. Eren then blackmailed Grisha into surrendering the Coordinate and Attack Titans to a young Eren by showing him a nightmarish future in which he wins. All this to ensure his ultimate goal, extermination of all life outside Paradis, goes off smoothly.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V turns out to be this when ARC-V is revealed to be the fifth dimension created by Leo Akaba, meant to absorbed the four dimensions to recreate the original dimension. It fits how different ARC-V is compared to other series as they usually have Protagonist Title.
• Yo-kai Watch: Shadowside - The Return of the Oni King is named by the titular Oni King, Rasen, whose return happens every several hundred years or so (it is stated by Lord Enma that the Onimaro outbreak which preluded his return happened too early).

Comic Books

• In the Age of Ultron story arc, Ultron is the villain whom The Avengers are fighting.
• Age of Apocalypse. The villain in this After the End story is Apocalypse and his followers. The heroes are the alternate X-Men.
• Doctor Mortis: Doctor Mortis is the Big Bad. He has many aliases, but "Doctor Mortis" is his true name.
• Arctic Nation is the group of white fur supremacists in the Blacksad album of the same name who serve as Blacksad's antagonists. It's eventually revealed as a subversion; the real antagonist was Jezebel, who orchestrated everything that happened to get revenge on her father.
• The Sin City comic That Yellow Bastard refers to Hartigan's antagonist, the serial killing, child molesting Roark Jr. whom he must destroy to protect Nancy. It's the form Roark ended up as after the experimental treatment his corrupt father paid for to regrow his penis.
• Sonic X: The tie-in Archie Comics comics introduced the Society for Observing and Neutralizing Inter-dimensional Creatures and Xenomorphs.
• The Walking Dead deals with the main characters living in a Zombie Apocalypse fighting off zombies whom they dubbed as "Walkers". It becomes a much deeper meaning when the main characters start fighting fellow survivors who have killed their humanity due to the stress of said apocalypse.
• Superman:
  • Superman is the protagonist of Emperor Joker, and the Joker is only revealed as the villain halfway through the series (which until The Reveal is called Superman: Arkham). But once the Joker does appear, he almost becomes the Villain Protagonist.
  • Supergirl Story Arc Bizarrogirl is named after the eponymous adversary.
  • In Starfire's Revenge, the Big Bad is a crimelord nicknamed Starfire.
  • The Killers of Krypton is about Supergirl investigating who were the real culprits for her homeworld's destruction... in other words, the killers of Krypton.
  • How Luthor Met Superboy tells the origin of Superman's archnemesis Lex Luthor.
  • The Hunt for Reactron is about Supergirl and her allies clearing their names by hunting down the super-villain Reactron.
  • Reign of Doomsday revolves around a Doomsday clone attempting to destroy Earth.
  • Day of the Dollmaker: The titular villain calls his toyfied slaves "the Daring Dollmen".
  • Superman/Supergirl: Maelstrom is named after the Female Fury who wants to kill Superman to earn her master Darkseid's favor.
  • The Plague of the Antibiotic Man is named after Nam-Ek, an enemy who -Superman thinks- is spreading a contagious sickness all over one city.
  • In The Supergirl Batgirl Plot, the titular heroines are scheming against Superman and Batman. Then it is revealed that Mister Mxyzptlk and Batmite were impersonating them.
• Fiends of the Eastern Front: The fiends are the evil vampires.
• The Tomb of Dracula. Some stories did use Dracula as the Villain Protagonist, but in most, the protagonists were his hunters.
• Oxymoron: Oxymoron is the Ax-Crazy psychopath carving a bloody path through Swanstown; the protagonist is Detective Mary Clark.
• Onslaught: The Big Bad was the titular Split Personality of Professor Xavier, though his look invoked the other half of his origin, Magneto.

Fairy Tales

• "The Jezinkas" is about evil creatures known as the Jezinkas who try to gouge out the eyes of anyone who dare trespass their territory.
• "Bluebeard", a folktale about a Serial Killer known as Bluebeard. The Brothers Grimm's variants "The Robber Bridegroom" and "Fitcher's Bird" are also named after a serial killer.
• "Rumpelstiltskin": The titular character is an imp with whom the miller's daughter is forced to make a deal with.
• "The Nix in the Mill-Pond": A water sprite tricks a poor miller into promising to give her his newborn son.
• "The Yellow Dwarf", a tale about a wicked dwarf who tries to force a princess to marry him.
• "Little Otik": A tale about a man-eating monster who devours his adoptive parents and half dozen of people.
• "Frau Trude" is a witch who lures a naughty girl to her death.
• "The Death of Koschei the Deathless" is about Prince Ivan trying to rescue his wife from the evil and terribly powerful sorcerer Koschei.
• In The Brothers Grimm's "The Devil With the Three Golden Hairs", the main character must get three hairs from the head of the Devil.
• Alexander Afanasyev's "Tsarevich Petr and the Wizard": The "wizard" is the evil and immortal sorcerer Koshchei, who holds the main character's mother and several princesses captive.
• In Asbjørnsen and Moe's "The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body", the titular giant turns the main character's six older brothers.

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Fan Works

• Calvin and Hobbes: The Series: "Thunderstorm" and "Lightning Man" refer to the enemy of the week.
• Rise of Empress Midnight
• Soul Eater Zeta features a cryptic organization called The Zeta that are presumably the core antagonists of the story.
• Ultrasonic, befitting a Miraculous Ladybug fanfic, is named for Clawhauser's akumatised form.
• Another Miraculous fic, Hop to It, has most of its chapters named after the akuma of the day, with the exception of "Rabbit" (the hero's origin story) and "Jack Hammer" (the nickname Rabbit picks up when others think she's a villain).
• Shendu, simultaneously the Big Bad and Villain Protagonist of The Ultimate Evil, is referred to as "the Ultimate Evil" by the long-dead sacred warrior Lo Pei (though the final chapter includes Shendu's obsession named Valerie Payne using the title in another meaning).
• The Shin Sekai is the title of a Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan fic, as well as the name of the main antagonist faction.
• Alex, named after villain attempting to turn the land into a dark place.
• Hellsister Trilogy refers to Supergirl's enemy Satan Girl— the eponymous "Hellsister" and main enemy.
• Star War Remnants has the titular remnant of the Empire in the antagonist role.
• A Force of Four is named after the quartet of villains opposing the main heroes.
• Flowey is Not a Good Life Coach, an Undertale fanfiction exploring the very dark possibility of Flowey deciding to toy with Papyrus in some of the meanest ways imaginable.
• Weight of the World: The Atrocities of Atlas is named after Atlas (both the personification and the Kingdom), the antagonists of the book.
• Kara of Rokyn's story arc "Zoners" is named after the villains from the Phantom Zone who escape to Rokyn with the intention of conquering the whole planet.
• Frozen Wight refers to the man-eating Wight who arrives in Arendelle and seems to be mysteriously obsessed with Elsa and Anna.
• The Vampire of Steel is named after Zol-Am, the Kryptonian vampire who intends to open the Sunnydale Hellmouth.
• Here There Be Monsters: The "Monsters" referenced in the title are the Monster Society of Evil, a super-villain team opposing the Marvel Family.

Film — Animated

• Aladdin: The Return of Jafar, also known as simply The Return of Jafar, the first sequel to Disney's Aladdin.
• Kirikou and the Sorceress: Kirikou is the protagonist, but the sorceress (Karaba) is the Big Bad.
• The Old Man of the Mountain: The titular Old Man is the Big Bad of the short.
• Wreck-It Ralph is named after the antagonist of the Fix-It Felix, Jr. Fictional Video Game (though he is the protagonist of the film proper).
• Monster House is named after the titular monstrous house that was possessed by the spirit of the fat woman named Constance.

Film — Live-Action

• Alien: The antagonist is an alien, though the title could also be read as an adjective, emphasizing the strangeness of the antagonist.
• The Thing (1982): The antagonist is an amorphous alien that can only be referred to as a "thing."
• The Blob: The antagonist is an alien blob, though no one ever calls it a blob.
• Nosferatu: The antagonist is a vampire, another word for which is "nosferatu."
• Candyman: The antagonist is the Candyman, a supernatural killer.
• The Mummy (1932): The antagonist is a undead mummy.
• Aleta: Vampire Mistress: Aleta is the first vampire to ever exist, and frequently sends out her underlings to feed and bring back sacrifices.
• Alligator, referring to a gigantic reptile who turned out to be protagonist Madison's former pet.
• Alpha Dog refers to the kidnapping's ringleader Johnny Truelove, or rather what he imagines himself to be. He's actually an idiotic Psychopathic Manchild who sets up an astoundingly bad criminal scheme and ends up paying for it.
• A.M.I.: Artificial Machine Intelligence: The film is named after a SIRI Expy named, of course, A.M.I..
• Austin Powers, being a spoof of the Bond movies, used Goldmember in place of Goldfinger as the title of the third movie. Goldmember is indeed the antagonist, just not the only one.
• Axeman: The Axeman is the psychopath stalking the heroes.
• The Babadook: The antagonist is the Babadook, the personification of grief.
• Beetlejuice: The antagonist is Betelgeuse, a ghost who serves as an "exorcist of the living." The confusing spelling of his name is a plot point in the film, and it's simplified for the title.
• Big Driver: 'Big driver' is Betsy's nickname for Lester: the rapist/murderer that Tess is hunting. She has seen him around town but does not know his name.
• The Big Lebowski: Although the main character shares the surname Lebowski, he goes by The Dude. The Big Lebowski is one of a number of antagonists.

• Boogeyman (2005): The Big Bad is the titular Bogeyman who took away Tim's father right in front of him when he was a kid.
• The Bravados refers to the gang of four outlaws protagonist Jim Douglass is pursuing.
• The Butchers refers to six Serial Killers raised from the dead. The main protagonist is Simon, the de facto leader of the tourists trapped in the Ghost Town.
• The Candy Snatchers, about the kidnapping of a girl named Candy.
• Children of the Corn is titled after the corn-worshiping psycho cult of kiddos.

• Count Yorga, Vampire. Naturally the main villain is a vampire named Yorga. Ditto for the sequel The Return of Count Yorga(which oddly doesn't follow the story from the first).
• The Critters series is named after a race of tiny Extreme Omnivore aliens that are the main threats.
• In Curse of the Headless Horseman, the Horseman is a ghost who haunts the ranch that Mark inherited, and seems to be intent on driving Mark and his friends off the land.
• The title Dr. Giggles comes from the nickname that the main villain's doctors gave him at a mental hospital.
• Dust Devil: The main antagonist of the movie is none other than an entity known as a Dust Devil.
• Event Horizon: The titular ship becomes alive after passing through Hell.
• The Evil refers to the evil force terrorizing the house.
• Evil Dead: Rather obviously, the "Evil Dead" in the title are the Deadite antagonists, not the badass protagonist Ash. Army of Darkness refers to Evil Ash's undead skeletal army.
• The German, a Short Film centering on an air-to-air duel during World War II.
• The Ghoul refers to Professor Morlant after he has risen from the grave to avenge himself upon his tomb robbers. The actual protagonists are his heirs: Ralph Morlant and Betty Harland.
• The Giant Gila Monster is a... well... giant gila monster.
• Giant Monster Gamera: The protagonist is Dr. Hidaka. Gamera is the giant monster.
• In Russia, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra's title is translated as "Rush of the Cobra".
• The Gingerdead Man series is named after a killer gingerbread man who is the Big Bad.
• Gojira is the first appearance of Godzilla, who is the villain here.
• Another spoof of the original Bond movies, Dr. Goldfoot (his name clearly an amalgamation spoof of Dr. No and Goldfinger) is the antagonist in Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine and Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs, facing off against super(ish)spies portrayed by Frankie Avalon and Fabian.
• The villain of Goth (2003) is so obsessed with being goth that she named herself "Goth."
• Gremlins, named after the short, reptilian and large-eared humanoids who delight in cruelty and mayhem in general.
• The Happiness Salesman; while not obvious at first, near the end of the Short Film the Salesman is shown or at least implied to be a servant of the Devil.
• Surprisingly, Heat fits this trope, even though the title is about the good guys. Because the focus of the film is evenly divided between the villain (Neil) and the hero (Vincent) the title counts for this. The "heat" is a slang term for the cops, whom Neil needs to outsmart and escape to succeed in the end. It is personified in Vincent (Neil's antagonist), who eventually literally becomes the 'heat' for which Neil needs to drop everything he is attached to in 30 seconds flat to make his escape.
• Heathers is the first name of the Alpha Bitch and also of her two Beta Bitches which the heroine is trying to get back at.
• The Hitcher refers to a suspicious and ultimately murderous guy who protagonist Jim picks up on the road.
• Hive Mind (2009): Doug Trench, the last man (sort of) on Earth, is the actual protagonist.
• Hollow Man. The title refers to Caine, the turned-invisible man who became evil. It refers to him both literally (he became invisible) and figuratively (his soul is hollow).
• Hook: Peter Pan is the protagonist.
• The live-action Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf film, I Love Wolffy, and its sequel I Love Wolffy 2, both have titles referring to the series' main antagonist, Wolffy.
• The Jackal: the title character is the assassin the FBI is hunting.
• Jack Frost (1997) is titled after a Serial Killer turned snowman.
• The title of Jack the Reaper refers to Railroad Jack: a seemingly immortal figure who appears to people and then hunts them down with a pick axe. He is actually a Grim Reaper, claiming the souls of those who die on the stretch of road known as Death's Door; hence the 'Reaper' part of the title.
• From James Bond:
  • Dr. No and Goldfinger: Simply the names of the films' Big Bad.
  • The Man with the Golden Gun: The Big Bad whose Weapon of Choice is a "multipurpose" golden pistol.
  • Moonraker: The space shuttle manufactured by Drax Industries, whose theft in the Cold Open kicks off the movie.
  • Goldeneye: The Big Bad's Doomsday Device.
  • Tomorrow Never Dies. "Tomorrow" is the name of Carver's newspaper.
  • Quantum of Solace. Quantum is the name of the evil syndicate James Bond is fighting against. The original meaning is a "measure of solace".
  • Spectre: The name of the terrorist organization Bond fights in the movie.
• Jumanji, the game, must be beaten by the protagonists before it kills them.
• Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider OOO & W Featuring Skull: Movie Wars Core. Kamen Rider Core is the Greater-Scope Villain of the film.
• Kill Bill. The Bride is the main character, Bill the man who tried to kill her and who is now the target of her Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
• Killer Klowns from Outer Space. The antagonists are aliens who look like clowns and drink human blood.
• The Killer That Stalked New York (a 1950 film Very Loosely Based on the 1947 New York City smallpox outbreak): The title refers to smallpox, the disease that threatens to cause an epidemic in New York City.
• In Krampus the Big Bad is The Krampus (so Exactly What It Says on the Tin).
• Kuntilanak: The antagonist is a spirit of Indonesian folklore known as a Kuntilanak.
• Brutal dictator Idi Amin is The Last King of Scotland referred to in the film's title (which was a real life title he took for himself). The Scottish doctor Nick Garrigan is the protagonist.
• Lockjaw: Rise of the Kulev Serpent: "Lockjaw" is the nickname Sarge gave to the serpent as a kid.
• Madman has an Ensemble Cast, and Madman Marz is killing our heroes.
• In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we have Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age of Ultron. However, the Winter Soldier is just The Dragon to his employers in the former. Also Avengers: Infinity War, since Thanos is the Villain Protagonist and the Avengers are roadblocks in his journey.
• Master of the Flying Guillotine: The film is a sequel starring the One-Armed Boxer, so in some markets it's called One-Armed Boxer 2 or One-Armed Boxer vs the Flying Guillotine, but the most common title in America refers only to the villain.
• Just like Metal Gear below, The Matrix is also one that is not a character technically, but a tyrannical system the heroes set out to destroy.
• The title of Mean Girls refers to Regina and her lackeys; Regina is the antagonist of the film. By the end of the film, it refers to the protagonist as well.
• Monster in the Closet refers to a beast that travels through closets.
• Mr. No Legs, although he's not the main villain, and even dies before the climax!
• The Mummy Trilogy. Thought the third does not feature The Mummy, "Imhotep", but still adds the new mummy villain in the subtitle ("Tomb of the Dragon Emperor").
• The Naked Witch: The title character is a witch who rises from the grave, naked, to take revenge on the descendants of the man who betrayed her.
• The Night Flier: The eponymous "Night Flier" is the vampiric villain of the story, alluding to the way he goes to airports at night with his private plane to claim victims.
• Poison Ivy insinuates herself into the protagonist's family and is determined to make them her own family... by any means necessary.
• Prince of Darkness: Subverted. The "Prince of Darkness" aka Satan is a malevolent disembodied presence who starts a zombie plague against the human protagonists. However, it turns out that he is merely the foot soldier of an entity far more terrifying and a threat to reality itself—the Anti-God.
• Predator is named after the alien hunters (though the only time it is used in-universe is in the second movie - "Well, we've prepared a trap for this predator." - and the fourth, where it's even noted how non-indicative is calling it "predator" when he's hunting for sport, not subsistence).

• Psycho: Norman Bates is the psycho, not the woman he murders in the shower (Marion Crane). Averted by the sequels, where Bates becomes a straight Villain Protagonist.
• The Pumpkinhead franchise is named after the vengeance demon it is centered around.
• Akasha is the Queen of the Damned, a superpowerful Vampire Monarch whose bloodlust is so great that she feeds on everyone, mortals and undead alike.
• Used both in- and out of universe in Ra.One: Ra.One is villain both of the video game he escapes from, and the movie.
• Riders of Justice: The antagonists are an outlaw biker gang called the Riders of Justice. However, the title could also refer to our heroes, who are out for revenge against the bikers.
• RoboCop 2 isn't just the sequel to the original 1987 movie, it is also the name of OCP's attempt to create a successor to the titular cyborg policeman.
• R.O.T.O.R. is named after the homicidal robot invented by the protagonist.
• Sadako vs. Kayako, featuring the ghosts of the Ju-on and the Ring series against each other.
• The Sniper: Eddie Miller, the eponymous sniper, has aspects of being a Villain Protagonist, but ultimately more of the film is devoted to the police efforts to catch him than to him and his crimes.
• Spaceballs. The Spaceballs are The Empire in the film.
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Khan is Captain Kirk's enemy.
• Star Trek: Nemesis. Shinzon is Picard's nemesis.
• Star Wars has this thrice in the main films:
  • The Phantom Menace refers to the Sith who are pulling the strings of the obvious threat of the Trade Federation.
  • Revenge of the Sith is about the Sith taking revenge on the Jedi Order, which the protagonists are part of.
  • The Empire Strikes Back, The Empire in question is the one headed by the Sith, which the protagonists are rebelling against.

• The film adaptation of Trilby was called Svengali after the story's villain.
• The Terminator is named after the now-famous killer robot who tries to kill Sarah Connor. Also the only film in the franchise to use this trope, since the later films divided the title's association between multiple Terminator models and made some of them protagonists.
• The Third Man: The man of the title is a mysterious witness to the apparent accidental death of Harry Lime, a friend of the protagonist, Holly Martins. It eventually turns out that the death was faked and the Third Man was none other than Harry Lime himself, who finally becomes Martins' antagonist. The film is also notable for how little screen time Orson Welles as Harry actually got, so the title almost doubles as a Secondary Character Title.
• Trancers: the name refers to the people hypnotized by the villain to execute his orders.
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: The antagonist is The Fallen, one of the original Primes.
• Two Thousand Maniacs!: The protagonist is named Tom. The two thousand maniacs refers to the population of the town which terrorize Ton and his friends.
• The Vampire is an interesting case. The Protagonist is Beecher, a man who begins investigating murders in a small town. The murders are committed by his Superpowered Evil Side. This trope still applies, since the sides are in conflict throughout the film.
• Wendigo refers to a deformed beast from Native American folklore who changes from a human to a hideous beast after engaging in cannibalism, which may or not really exist in the film.
• Wicked Little Things refers to the zombie children.
• The eponymous Wishmaster is of course the evil Djinn, although he's not referred to by that name until he uses it to describe himself in the second movie.
• Der Wixxer is a German comedy where British police try to arrest the titular Wixxer, a masked supercriminal who started killing off notorious figures of the Brtish underworld. His name, for the record, sounds exactly like Wichser, which means "wanker."
• X-Men: Apocalypse features En Sabah Nur aka Apocalypse as the Big Bad.
• Zodiac, a movie about the real life Zodiac Killer. The protagonist is a reporter who tries to find him.
• Zoltan, Hound of Dracula is about Dracula's vampiric dog attempting to track down Dracula's last mortal descendant to convert him into a new incarnation of the Count.

Game Shows

• The 2002 GSN version of Press Your Luck was called Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck! after the trope-naming Whammy character, which is functionally the same as naming a future Wheel of Fortune relaunch Bankrupt!. It helps that the Whammy is one of the most memorable parts of Press Your Luck.
• Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?/Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?: Carmen Sandiego herself, naturally. The crux of these two game shows is recovering whatever item(s) her henchman of the episode stole, and the final round of both shows involve trying to find and capture her.
• Interceptor has the Interceptor, an over-the-top bad guy stalking the two contestants and attempting to render the game unwinnable by locking their backpacks.

Literature

• The Reckoners Trilogy:
  • Played straight in Steelheart, where Steelheart is the main villain that the heroes are trying to take down.
  • Muddled with a bit in Firefight, seeing as Firefight isn't the main antagonist, but she is working for them. Subverted by the end, where she's pulled a Heel–Face Turn.
  • It seems to be averted in Calamity, with Prof having taken the reins as the Big Bad. Except it turns out that Calamity itself is the true Big Bad, and is in fact the one responsible for the events of almost the entire series up to that point.
• The Snow Queen: The Snow Queen is the one who kidnapped the protagonist Gerda's brother Kai (her friend in some versions), and the story is about Gerda journeying to get Kai back from her.
• The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch: Palmer Eldritch is the evil industrialist rival whom the Can-D development team are working against. Turns out he's also an Eldritch Abomination, living up to his name.
• Andersen's The Shadow is also named for its antagonist.
• The Lord of the Rings: Sauron is the eponymous Lord of the Rings, fought against by the host of protagonists. I Am Not Shazam applies, and is indeed referenced in-universe when Pippin calls Frodo "Lord of the Ring" and Gandalf tells him not to Speak of the Devil. Note that in-universe, the title is meant to be a contraction of The Downfall of the Lord of the Rings and the Return of the King.^note This is a major difference between the two Swedish translations, where the old one called the series Härskarringen ("The Master Ring"), and the newer one bore the title Ringarnas Herre ("The Lord of the Rings"). The former is still qualifies as an Antagonist Title, because the Ring is an object with a will of its own that antagonizes the heroes by manipulating their minds and trying to return to Sauron.
• Carmilla Carmilla is the vampire antagonist.
• Dracula: Count Dracula is the vampiric antagonist.
• Inkheart. While this is not the villain's actual name, it is the description of him given by his creator: "...a man whose heart was as black as ink."
• Tartuffe: Orgon is the protagonist.
• James Bond
  • Some novels are named after their respective Big Bads: Dr. No (see the Film version above), Goldfinger, Colonel Sun, Scorpius and Brokenclaw.
  • It is stated in The Man with the Golden Gun that the main villain Francisco Scaramanga has the novel's title as one of his nicknames.
  • COLD is named after the Nebulous Evil Organization whose actions run most of the plot.
  • There are two instances in the narrative of The Man with the Red Tattoo where the main villain Goro Yoshida is referred to as such.
• In Emperor Mage, the title is one of the titles of Ozorne, Emperor of Carthak (and a mage, hence Emperor Mage), and the Big Bad of the Immortals quartet.
• The Witches by Roald Dahl. The protagonist is a young child trying to disrupt the witches' plans.
• Harry Potter
  • In The Prisoner of Azkaban, this trope is subverted. The prisoner is set up as a villain for the whole book, only for it to be revealed at the end that he was a good guy all along and that he had been framed by the real villain.
  • Also, The Half-Blood Prince ends with the Prince killing a major character and running off with Death Eaters. It's also a subversion, although that's not revealed until the next book.
• Many of the novellas about The Shadow, by Walter B. Gibson in the 1930s.
• The Phantom of the Opera: Disregarding the Draco in Leather Pants effect, Raoul and Christine are the protagonists in the original novel. Protagonist Title Fallacy applies.
• Hannibal Lecter:
  • Hannibal, although he's turned into a Villain Protagonist by that point.
  • Red Dragon as well, although it's an indirect example. "Red Dragon" is actually a shorthand for the painting "The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed In Sun" that figures into the plot. Francis Dolarhyde, the villain, believes himself to be representative of it, stating "I am the Great Red Dragon" and "I am the Dragon" at several points.
  • Averted with Hannibal Rising, in which Vladis Grutas is the villain.
• From Stephen King:
  • Children of the Corn: The enemies are children, and much of the action takes place in a cornfield.
  • Christine: The name of the evil living car.
  • Cujo: He's the dog of the protagonist, and he's infected with rabies, corrupting him into a savage beast.
  • 1408: 1408 is an evil Genius Loci room.
  • IT: "It" is literally the true name of the Big Bad.
  • Misery: Misery is not the direct antagonist, but she serves as part of the villain's motivation. She's the heroine of a novel series the protagonist wrote, and the reason Anne Wilkes is keeping him with her is because she is furious that he killed Misery off and wants him to write another book in which Misery comes back.
  • The Mist: The creatures that plagues the heroes are created from the titular mist.
• Moby-Dick is a large sperm whale who the arguable protagonist Ahab is trying to hunt in revenge for Moby Dick taking his leg off.
• Scorpia is the organisation Alex Rider has to stop. Ditto Snakehead.
• The Keys to the Kingdom series features seven books, each named after one of the antagonistic Morrow Days. Subverted in Drowned Wednesday.
• The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara has a Big Bad Ensemble, and each book in the trilogy is named for the main villain it spotlights- Ilse Witch, Antrax, and Morgawr.
• Star Wars Expanded Universe:
  • The Thrawn Trilogy is named after the Grand Admiral himself who serves as the Big Bad of the story.
  • Darth Bane is about the origins of the Sith Lord and the Rule of Two.
  • Darth Plagueis focuses on the Greater-Scope Villain of the Prequel Trilogy and the mentor of Palpatine.
• Three of the Redwall series books are named for the main villain or group of villains: Marlfox, Doomwyte, and The Sable Quean.
• Some of the Discworld novels, such as Lords and Ladies (one of the "safe" names for the Elves) and Wintersmith.
• Cthulhu Mythos: The Colour Out of Space, The Dunwich Horror, The Call of Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep.
• Darren Shan's The Demonata. Lord Loss, the first book in the series, also counts.
• Rebecca, despite the title character being dead.
• The Day of the Jackal: the title refers to the assassin villain.
• Nicolae from the Left Behind series refers to The Antichrist villain character Nicolae Carpathia.
• In the Goosebumps book Attack of the Mutant, the Masked Mutant is the titular character and primary antagonist of the Masked Mutant comic book series.
• The Robber Hotzenplotz: Kasper is the protagonist.
• Some of Karl May's books, e. g. Der Oelprinz ("The Oil Prince") and Der Schut.
• The title of book three of The Traitor Son Cycle, The Dread Wyrm, refers to the villain, who participates openly in the conflict for the first time in the series.
• The Demon Headmaster - also an Artifact Title as he's only a school headmaster in the first book (but for lack of any other name, the heroes keep calling him that).
• The Spider-Man novels Carnage in New York and its sequel Goblin's Revenge.
• The Unexplored Summon://Blood-Sign: The Unexplored-Class are a category of summoned beings in the setting. The White Queen, the most powerful of these, is the Big Bad.
• Caliphate refers to the titular fundamentalist Islamic regime that has taken over Western Europe.
• The Shadow of the Vulture refers to the Crimean Tatar hunter Mikael Oglu, also known as the Vulture, who is ordered by the Sultan to track and assassinate the Christian knight Gottfried.
• Isaac Asimov:
  • "The Callistan Menace": The title refers to the mysterious danger on Callisto, one of Jupiter's moons. The menace is a creature, one to four feet long, with the ability to manipulate magnetic fields, using them to kill prey from a distance.
  • Foundation Series:
    • "The General (Foundation)": The title refers to General Bel Riose of the Galactic Empire, who wages war against the Foundation. The final line of Chapter 3 summarizes the conflict: "a dead hand against a living will." The 'dead hand' refers to Seldon's Plan while 'living will' refers to General Riose's determination.
    • "The Mule": The titular Mule is a narcissistic paranoid, and the only one to have beaten the Foundation.
  • "The Gentle Vultures": The title is a metaphor that describe the alien Hurrians, who kidnapped the Human protagonist because they're tired of waiting for Humanity to self-destruct.
• Amina is named after the Ghoul female who menaces Waldo, the rather passive protagonist.
• Franny K. Stein: The seventh book's title, The Frandidate, refers to a sentient shape-shifting suit Franny creates to run for class president before it gains a mind of its own and tries to manipulate everyone into electing it King of the World.
• Ed McBain's early 87th Precinct mysteries: Cop Hater, The Mugger, The Pusher, The Con Man.
• The Master Key: It has chapter 6: "The Buccaneers", or pirates.
• Treasure Island was originally published under the title "The Sea Cook" in reference to the narrative's Big Bad, Long John Silver.
• Whateley Universe: Silver Ghost, Golden Angel. Silver Ghost is the protagonist while Golden Angel is the criminal antagonist who Silver Ghost repeatedly fails at capturing.
• Spellslinger Series: Book three, Soulbinder, is titled for the villain of the week who has the ability to bind and control the souls of people suffering the shadowblack curse.
• Lord Of The World: Hint, the "Lord of the World" isn't God but rather someone quite the opposite.
• The Lightning Thief (the first book of Percy Jackson and the Olympians) is named after an unknown figure who stole Zeus' lightning bolt. The protagonist Percy is accused of being the thief, but in truth it's Luke Castellan, acting under the orders of Kronos.

Live-Action TV

• The Adventures of Superman: "The Human Bomb" is named after Villain of the Week Bet-A-Million Butler, who straps a bomb to himself and takes Lois hostage.
• The various shows that make up the Arrowverse have a few episodes with an Antagonist Title. Sometimes these are simply that of the Villain of the Week, while others are episodes that introduce or focus on a Big Bad.
  • Arrow: "Vertigo", "Dodger", "The Huntress Returns", "League of Assassins", "Heir To The Demon" (a reference to Nyssa Al Ghul), "Deathstroke", "The Magician" (referring to Malcolm Merlyn's League of Assassin's alias), "Vigilante".
  • The Flash (2014): "Plastique" (though she isn't as antagonistic as the other examples), "The Man In The Yellow Suit" (referring to the Reverse-Flash), "Revenge of the Rogues", "Tricksters", "Who Is Harrison Wells?", "Grodd Lives", "Enter Zoom", "Gorilla Warfare" (referring to Gorilla Grodd), "The Reverse-Flash Returns", "King Shark", "Trajectory", "Versus Zoom", "Rupture", "Magenta", "The New Rogues" (referring to Mirror Master and the Top), "Monster" (although the titular "Monster" is just a hologram created by the real antagonist), "Shade", "Killer Frost", "The Wrath of Savitar", "Into The Speed Force", "Abra Kadabra", "Luck Be A Lady" (referring to Hazard), "Therefore I Am" (referring to the Thinker), and "Null and Annoyed". Played With with the episodes "Going Rogue", "Rogue Time", "Rogue Air" and "Family of Rogues", as the titles are a reference to "The Rogues" from the comics, and feature characters who are members of the Rogues in the comics, but in none of the episodes do they call themselves that - "Going Rogue" doesn't even feature any of the Rogues except Captain Cold.
  • Supergirl (2015): "Livewire", "Bizarro", "Medusa" (the name of the bioweapon used in the episode, not the mythical creature), "Luthors", "Mr. and Mrs. Mxyzptlk", and "Reign".
  • Legends of Tomorrow: "Leviathan" (it's the name of the giant Killer Robot with which VandalSavage attacks the heroes), "Shogun", "Abominations" (referring to the zombies the team face in the episode), and "The Legion Of Doom".
• Extremely common with story titles in Doctor Who.
  • For starters, there are 19 episodes and serials bearing the word "Daleks".^{Specifically…} "The Daleks", "The Dalek Invasion of Earth", "The Daleks' Master Plan", "The Power of the Daleks", "The Evil of the Daleks", "Day of the Daleks", "Planet of the Daleks", "Death to the Daleks", "Genesis of the Daleks", "Destiny of the Daleks", "Resurrection of the Daleks", "Revelation of the Daleks", "Remembrance of the Daleks", "Dalek", "Daleks in Manhattan"/"Evolution of the Daleks", "Victory of the Daleks", "Asylum of the Daleks", "Into the Dalek" This is because the episodes were originally intended to be read as "Doctor Who and the [Episode Title]" — the Target books follow this naming pattern, and "The Silurians" was entitled "Doctor Who and the Silurians" by mistake.
  • The Cybermen, for their part, appear in considerably fewer titles: "The Tomb of the Cybermen", "Revenge of the Cybermen", "Attack of the Cybermen", "Rise of the Cybermen" and "Ascension of the Cybermen".
  • The Sontarans appear in two titles: "The Sontaran Experiment" and "The Sontaran Stratagem".
  • The Zygons have been mentioned in three titles: "Terror of the Zygons" and "The Zygon Invasion"/"The Zygon Inversion".
  • Antagonistic Time Lady the Rani is mentioned in the titles of both of the serials featuring her: "The Mark of the Rani" and "Time and the Rani".
  • The Weeping Angels have gotten into two titles: "The Time of Angels" and "The Angels Take Manhattan".
  • Titles with other recurring villains:
    • "The Macra Terror"
    • "The Ice Warriors"
    • "Terror of the Autons"
  • Titles mentioning one-shot villains:
    • "The War Machines"
    • "The Faceless Ones"
    • "The Abominable Snowmen" (the Great Intelligence's robot Yeti)
    • "The Dominators"
    • "The Krotons"
    • "The Claws of Axos" (the Axons)
    • "The Dæmons"
    • "The Sea Devils"
    • "Planet of the Spiders" (the Eight-Legs)
    • "Robot"
    • "The Brain of Morbius"
    • "Image of the Fendahl"
    • "The Horns of Nimon"
    • "Meglos"
    • "Ghost Light" (Light, of the Eternals)
    • "The Curse of Fenric"
    • "The Family of Blood"
    • "The Unicorn and the Wasp" (the Vespiform, a wasp-like alien)
    • "The Vampires of Venice" (the Saturnynians, who appear to be vampires due to quirks of their physiology and their Perception Filter)
    • "The Snowmen" (the Great Intelligence's Snowlem minions)
    • "The Eaters of Light"
• Hannibal: The cannibalistic Dr. Hannibal Lecter is the arch-villain; Will Graham is the protagonist.
• Law & Order: Criminal Intent: While the entire Law & Order franchise deals with criminals, this is the show that really focuses on the suspects and their intentions.
• Law & Order: Organized Crime: Focuses on stopping crime syndicates. Doubles as Team Title as it also refers to the Ogranized Task Force.
• In The Mentalist, the title character might be mentalist Patrick Jane, but each and every episode has a title that somehow alludes to the color red, in reference to Jane's nemesis, Serial Killer Red John. After Red John is finally killed in season six, the remaining episodes are named after other colors.
• Every single episode of Monster Squad had the title also being the name of the episode's villain.
• Red Dwarf has a few of these; "Queeg", "Polymorph", "The Inquisitor", "Psirens", "Legion", "Gunmen of the Apocalypse", "Emohawk: Polymorph II", and "Epideme".
• Star Trek:
  • Star Trek: The Original Series:
    • "Charlie X": Charlie Evans becomes a Reality Warper and goes mad with power.
    • "The Enemy Within": Kirk is split into a good and an evil version. Guess which one is the enemy.
    • "The Devil in the Dark": Subverted. The devil in question is the silicon-based Horta who lives in a mine and was killing the miners to protect its eggs. The Enterprise crew heal it and communicate with it.
    • "The Doomsday Machine": It is a planet-eating machine from another Galaxy.
    • "The Ultimate Computer": M-5, the computer, is a typical A.I. Is a Crapshoot.
    • "The Tholian Web": The energy web is being created by the Tholians to destroy the Enterprise.
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation:
    • "Skin Of Evil": The villain is a black liquid known as Armus.
  • Star Trek: Voyager:
    • "Warlord": Kes's mind is taken over by the warlord in question.
    • "Nemesis": The Nemesis are a monstrous species of aliens engaged in a war of extermination against the humanoid natives. Subverted, as it's revealed to be a simulation run by the natives to brainwash new recruits, and the "warlike aliens" were the ones who helped rescue a kidnapped Chakotay.
  • Star Trek: Enterprise:
    • "The Andorian Incident": At the end, the real villains are revealed to be the Vulcans, but the Andorians are still the antagonist for the majority of the episode.
    • "Silent Enemy": The enemy is an alien ship which attacks the Enterprise.
    • "Marauders": The Klingons are the antagonists.
    • "The Augments": The Augments are the genetically altered humans led by Dr. Arik Soong.
• Much like its source material, The Walking Dead deals with the protagonists fighting zombies in a Zombie Apocalypse whom they dubbed as "Walkers", as well as fellow survivors who killed their humanity due to the stress of, or to survive, said apocalypse. And compared to the comics, the latter is much more emphasized.

Music

• "Shia LaBeouf" is about cannibal hermit Shia LaBeouf who kills people in the woods, and your encounter with him.

Pinball

• Black Knight and Black Knight 2000: Black Knight is the antagonist on these two tables, and he likes to taunt and mock the player whenever possible.
• Bram Stoker's Dracula: The goal is to kill Dracula.
• Centaur: The goal is to battle a cyborg being known as "Centaur".
• Gorgar: On this table the player is in the role of a barbarian warrior who ventures into the demon Gorgar's volcanic lair to try to rescue your lover and defeat him.
• Hook: As with the movie, Peter Pan's antagonist is the star of the game.
• Capcom's unreleased Kingpin is named after the mafia leader of the Big City.
• The Phantom of the Opera
• Sorcerer: The player challenges a being known as the Sorcerer to a magic duel on this table.
• Varkon: The goal of the game is to attack the face of Varkon, which can be easily seen on the table.

Professional Wrestling

• Perro Aguayo Jr's Power Stable Los Perros Del Mal are the main antagonists of Perros Del Mal Producciones.

Roleplay

• Destroy the Godmodder: The main villain of this forum game/roleplay hybrid is the Godmodder. His goal in Destroy the Godmodder 2 was initially to make everyone playing Minecraft rage quit, but eventually became more and more unhinged and obsessed with defeating the Anti-Godmodder Descendants as the game continued.

Tabletop Games

• Magic: The Gathering does this a lot with sets. The last two blocks ended this way, with Rise of the Eldrazi and New Phyrexia.

Theatre

• Giuseppe Verdi's Nabucco. Nabucco is the antagonist, the King of Babylon who enslaves Jews.
• Don Giovanni is the villain who the others are trying to stop.
• The Bat: The Bat is a Serial Killer who is terrorising the inhabitants of an Old, Dark House.
• The Mrs. Hawking series: Part V is named after Mrs. Hawking’s arch nemesis, Mrs. Frost.

Video Games

• Aka Manto is named after the red hooded figure that pursues you in the school.
• Arkandian Legends: Revenant is the villain of Arkandian Revenant.
• Kongregate's Army Of Destruction is named after the enemy army.
• The Aveyond prequel game, Ahriman's Prophecy, refers to the Big Bad.
• The original title of Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja was simply Dragon Ninja, referring exclusively to the president-kidnapping ninjas.
• Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning: Baldi might not seem like a villain at first, but sooner or later, you'll screw up a math question, and he'll start trying to punish you for messing up. There are other characters, but they just slow you down or make it easier for Baldi to get you.
• Batman: Arkham Knight features the titular Arkham Knight, who forms a Big Bad Duumvirate with the Scarecrow.
• Bendy and the Ink Machine is named for both Bendy, the Ambiguously Evil Ink Demon that Henry runs and hides from; and for the Ink Machine, the game's Monster Progenitor and the cause of all the horrible things that happened prior to the game.
• Binky Show: Binky is the Monster Clown Big Bad of the game.
• Bio Metal: The name of the evil aliens the player fights in the game.
• BLAM! Machine Head (simply titled Machine Head in North America), named after the Physical God responsible for the game's event and main antagonist.
• Bloons Tower Defense: The Bloons are the enemy balloons that your monkeys have to pop.
• Castlevania:
  • Castlevania is the castle in which Dracula lives, but in Japan, it's known as Devil's Castle Dracula, referring to both the castle and its lord.
  • Castlevania: Lords of Shadow's subtitle refers to the Lords of Shadow that Gabriel Belmont is tasked to defeat.
• Captain Silver: Captain Silver is the name of the final boss, and his treasure the MacGuffin of the game. Your character is named Jim Aykroyd.
• The Carmen Sandiego games (Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?, etc.) are all named for the antagonist, an elusive criminal mastermind that you, as an unnamed investigator, must track down.
• Neo Contra is the titular terrorist organization in the game's plot.
• Crash Bandicoot series:
  • Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back and Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex: The Big Bad of nearly all of the series is Doctor Neo Cortex (besides his employer Uka Uka, who is introduced in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped).
  • Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced on Game Boy Advance: The Dragon to Big Bad Doctor Nefarious Tropy (after Uka Uka sacked Cortex for another failure) is master hypnotist N. Trance and the first three bosses are Crash's siblings and recurring gag character Fake Crash, who have all been entranced by him.
  • Crash of the Titans refers to Cortex's army of brute mutant mooks known as Titans and is a Pun-Based Title on Clash of the Titans.
• A few of the Dark Parables are named for their antagonists. In the second game, The Exiled Prince, said prince is believed to be responsible for the disappearance of many people, including the daughter of the German Chancellor. The ninth game is The Queen of Sands, who is wreaking havoc on a small village in France.
• In Day of the Idea, Idea is the name of the principal antagonist.
• The Diablo series is named for the titular archdemon, one of the setting's three Prime Evils and at the end of Diablo III, the personification of demonic evil in the universe.
  • Diablo II: Lord of Destruction: The Lord of Destruction is Baal, the antagonist of the Expansion Pack.
  • Diablo III: Reaper of Souls refers to the rogue angel Malthael.
• Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. Doctor Robotnik is the final AI opponent, and the rest of the AI opponent roster consists of his creations.
• Donkey Kong:
  • The original arcade game has the eponymous ape playing the role of the bad guy, tossing barrels and other obstacles at Mario to keep him from reaching Pauline.
  • Donkey Kong 3 has Donkey Kong riling up insects in a greenhouse to annoy Stanley the Bugman, who uses his bug spray to shoot him and the insects.
  • Donkey Kong '94 returns to the classic formula: Donkey Kong kidnaps Pauline, Mario goes after him to get her back.
• The first DLC released for Dragon Age: Inquisition was called Jaws of Hakkon, which is the name of a hostile tribe of Avvar who serve as the primary antagonists of the DLC's main quest.
• Dragon's Lair plays with this trope. The title really refers to the final scene, although the Dragon referenced is the final boss.
• The Everybody Edits campaign world "The Glitch" is named after a sentient glitch that traps the player character into various Video Game worlds.
• Extrapower:
  • EXTRAPOWER: Attack of Darkforce: Named after the man who just finished conquering the Shakun Star at the game's start, and who heroes across the Extrapower universe have to unite together to stop before he takes over and destroys the Earth.
  • EXTRAPOWER Giant Fist: Zophy has some powerful punches and can throw boulders as easily as he can a Mook, but his fist isn't appreciably gigantic. Zet though? Especially when it turns out that the sought-after bracelet is actually the ring of the gigantic Latour warriors? There's the giant fist.
• Played straight then averted in Final Fantasy XIV. The first expansion post-A Realm Reborn is titled Heavensward. The main foes of the initial storyline is the "Heavens' Ward", a group of twelve knights of Ishgard who side with King Thordan VII in wanting to take over the world via Primal forms. Later in the storyline, after a lot of upheavals, the narrator for this saga describes the feeling of change within Ishgard to be like ascending "heavensward".
• Five Nights at Freddy's has Freddy Fazbear himself. Well, for one game...
• G.O.D.: Heed the Call to Awaken: God Himself! You better believe it—The One whom everyone is working towards. Also doubles as Fun with Acronyms, attempting to somewhat obscure this.
• Subverted in the first God of War. The Title Drop at the end makes it clear that Ares was not actually the title character, but Kratos, who takes his place.
• A fairly large amount of golden age arcade games, such as Donkey Kong, Sinistar, Centipede, Space Invaders, and Qix, were named after their villains.
• The Gnarled Hag is the Wicked Witch who imprisoned the protagonist inside her house and the one you must evade while escaping the house.
• Golvellius is the name of the final boss.
• Hades is the name of Zagreus's father, and the reason he's trying to escape the Underworld in the first place. He also serves as the game's Final Boss.
• Hanako: The game is about trying to survive against the ghost of Hanako-san.
• Heavy Rain uses this occasionally, with chapter names such as "Origami Killer", "Nathaniel", "Mad Jack", "The Doc", and the DLC "The Taxidermist".
• Hollow Knight is a fairly straight example. The Hollow Knight is the (initial) final boss of the game, though certain endings involve fighting other bosses either instead of or in addition to the Hollow Knight.
• Hunt the Wumpus: The Wumpus is only one of two enemies in the game (the other being Goddamned Bats), but hunting him down is the sole objective.
• Hydorah: The name of the Final Boss.
• I. M. Meen. The protagonists are two children whom the child-hating man known as I.M. Meen had kidnapped and trapped in his maze.
• Jaws for the NES. Unlike the movie it's based on, the big shark here is explicitly named Jaws.
• Jones in the Fast Lane. Jones is the name of the optional, computer-controlled competitor.
• The Jotun of Jotun are the giants whom protagonist Thora has to defeat in order to earn her place in Valhalla.
• Kingdom Hearts, in the context of the series lore, is perfectly benign. However, since the bad guys' plan almost always involves summoning it and using it to distort the balance of light and dark, hearing the name mentioned in any of the games usually is very bad news for the heroes.
• Kirby:
  • Kirby Super Star has this for the sub-games Dyna Blade and Revenge of Meta Knight.
  • Kirby: Squeak Squad's titular Squeaks are the main antagonistic faction.
• In the obscure top-down Beat 'em Up Kyros, you fight enemies in the titular vampire's mansion. Averted in the Japanese version (which is called Kyros no Yakata), the European version (which is called Halls of Kyros, a translation of the Japanese title), and the home computer ports (which are called Desolator).
• Lunch Lady: The game is named after the titular lunch lady, whom the Player Characters are trying to avoid while collecting sheets of test answers.
• Mad Dog McCree is another final boss example.
• One game in the Madou Monogatari series is Madou Monogatari III: Kyuukyoku Joou-sama, with Kyuukyoku Joou-sama translating to "Ultimate Queen." The "ultimate queen" in question is Rulue, The Rival to series protagonist Arle.
• Maka Maka has the final boss, Maka-Maka, a demon king reborn. Also the antagonistic forces in general, which are known as the Maka Maka Society.
• While technically not a character, Metal Gear is the name of the bipedal tank that Solid Snake faces in the end of the original MSX2 game. The sequels usually involve Snake (or one of his predecessors) fighting against the latest model of the mech.
  • The second Solid title is called Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. The historically inclined may pick it up as a reference to the actual Sons of Liberty, but it is the name that Solidus Snake picks for his terrorist organization.
  • The third, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, is an aversion, as it refers to Snake himself (fighting the Cobra Unit), but it could also represent The Boss who eats Snake out of his naivete and his code name.
  • The fourth is Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, referring to the antagonist's plan and ultimate goal.
  • Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is named after the Final Boss. The Metal Gear, on the other hand, is on your side for once which doesn't prevent the plot from having you fight it anyway.
• Meteos is a phantasmagoric matter that can destroy planets and they originate from the planet Meteo, the Big Bad of the game.
• Metroid:
  • The series itself is named after the Metroids. These creatures are never the primary antagonists as they're more or less alien animals, but their devastatingly effective life-energy siphoning capabilities make them a prime bioweapon candidate. Most of the mainline Metroid games up through Metroid Dread have at least parts of their stories influenced by the shadow of the Metroids. However, the Metroids themselves are supposedly extinct as of Metroid Fusion, though series protagonist Samus Aran carries some of their DNA within her; this fact combined with the retcon that "Metroid" means "Ultimate Warrior" in the Chozo language means that the Metroid series has more of a Protagonist Title these days, since Samus herself is a Metroid on more than one level. This becomes a full-on protagonist title as of the events of Dread, as while the species was rendered wholly extinct thanks to the events of Fusion, their DNA lives on in Samus, who practically becomes a humanoid Metroid, in both meanings of the word, in time for its climax.
  • The Metroid Prime Trilogy shares Metroid Prime as an antagonist for all three main games in the subseries. This creature has many names, including the Worm and Dark Samus.
• Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge: LeChuck is the Big Bad of the entire Monkey Island series.
• Monster Hunter: World: Iceborne: Velkhana, the flagship monster of the expansion, has the in-universe title of "The Iceborne Wyvern".
• Mr. Hopp's Playhouse: Mr. Hopp is the titular demonic stuffed rabbit you have to evade throughout the game.
• Nier was released as two version in Japan; Nier Replicant and Nier Gestalt. Nier's replicant is the player character, while Nier's gestalt (AKA: the Shadowlord) is the (well-intentioned) primary antagonist.
• No Straight Roads is literally the name of the corrupt conglomerate that regains over the in game setting and the foes the protagonists must fight throughout the game.
• OMORI is a straightforward Protagonist Title, up until the game reaches Black Space and Omori is revealed to be Sunny's Enemy Within.
• One Lonely Outpost is a game about building up a colony and growing social connections to the colonists that move in. The devs thus half-joke that the titular "loneliness" is, conceptually, the antagonist.
• Orcs Must Die!: The majority of the mooks in the series are Orcs. The first game does have a non-Orc Big Bad, but the sequel is Big Bad-less; just an army of Orcs and other monsters to fend off.
• Paper Mario: The Origami King: The Origami King refers to King Olly, the main antagonist of the game who wants to fold the entire Mushroom Kingdom into origami.
• Parasite Eve is referring to the main antagonist, the sentient Mitochondria Eve.
• This is a major plot twist two thirds of the way into in Phantasy Star Nova, where the titular Nova is a sentient Gigantes that is covering the entirety of Makia's surface. Its "antagonist" status is debatable since it's basically an out-of-control machine, but it's definitely preventing the main characters from leaving.
• Psycho Killer refers to the Serial Killer who's the Big Bad.
• Rayman Raving Rabbids is a strange case, as it is both a Protagonist Title (Rayman) and an Antagonist Title (Raving Rabbids). Furthermore, after being spun-off from Rayman, the Rabbids become less antagonistic (primarily due to being the only characters of note in their series) and thus less referred to as "Raving."
• Relayer is named after the antagonist faction, the Relayers.
• Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, named after the Super-Persistent Predator that chases Jill throughout the game.
• Rygar is a strange example. The Japanese version's title is Argus no Senshi (Warrior of Argus), with the hero being nameless, and the villain being named Ligar. But the English version renamed the game Rygar, probably intending to use this trope, but due to the Japanese Ranguage problem, "Rygar" was instead interpreted as the hero's name, with the villain's name still being "Ligar".
• SIMULACRA turns out to be named after the Eldritch Abomination that is responsible for Anna’s disappearance.
• The arcade game Sinistar was named after its extremely memorable — and vocal — boss.
• The Skeletons: The game is named after the skeleton is trying to kill you.
• Skullgirls, which refers to the girl who holds this title (as well as the title as a whole).
• Skuljagger: Revolt of the Westicans is named after its Final Boss.
• Skullmonkeys is named after the race of violent monkey-like creatures enslaved by the Big Bad.
• The Japanese title of Socket is Time Dominator, which is the name of the game's main villain.
• Soul Edge, the first game in the series, was titled after the eponymous evil sword, which serves as the primary motivating antagonist of the entire series. For the release on the original PlayStation, the name was changed to Soul Blade in the US to avoid a nasty trademark squabble with a game developer named "Tim Langdell" (notorious for suing anyone in the game industry who would use the word "edge" for their products); later games were named after Soul Edge's polar opposite, Soul Calibur.
• Space Invaders may be one of the oldest video game examples of this trope.
• Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!: Ripto is the villain.
• SSTR is the name of both the game, and the killer AI who's hunting The Horizon's crew down.
• The Playstation and Saturn game Swagman (from the original creators of the Tomb Raider series) is named for the main antagonist who was captured all of the Dreamflight (also known as the "Dreamflies").
• The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, in which the titular mask is the Big Bad (or rather Man Behind the Man).
• The Tale of ALLTYNEX: Referring to the evil super-computer who serves as the Big Bad of the entire series.
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is of course, the main threat Geralt has to face in the main story.
• Touhou Project:
  • In general, each game has a boss that shares a kanji or two with the game's title.
  • Touhou Koumakyou ~ the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil: "The Scarlet Devil" is the nickname of the Final Boss.
  • Touhou Suimusou ~ Immaterial and Missing Power: This is a really roundabout reference to the Final Boss and her abilities.
  • Touhou Eiyashou ~ Imperishable Night: Sounds like an aversion, as the protagonists are the ones responsible for the title incident, but can be interpreted as a reference to the immortals who drive the plot.
  • Touhou Fuujinroku ~ Mountain of Faith (Wind God Record): The wind god is the Final Boss.
• Trillion: God of Destruction is all about the overlords of the underworld trying to defeat the eponymous character. Keyword is trying.
• Trog is named for the one-eyed cavemen who are your main foes.
• Turtle Head is the alias of the Serial Killer haunting Smithlane High School.
• Wardner: Wardner is the name of the final boss.
• Wario's Woods is the only game with Wario's name in the title (aside from Mario & Wario, which lists the more obvious hero first... but not the actual player character) in which he is the antagonist. The protagonist is Toad, with support from Birdo.
• Warriors Orochi is an interesting case, as the title starts as this, but becomes more of an Artifact Title as the series continues. In the second game, Orochi is more of a Greater-Scope Villain, with his dragon, Da Ji, being the main threat. In the third game, the main foe is The Hydra, which is a manifestation of Orochi’s power, but due to a lack of consciousness, is generally considered more of its own separate being. By the fourth title, Orochi is reduced to an Arc Villain.
• Witchkin is named after a trio of toys who act as the Candy Lady's children.
• World of Warcraft uses it regularly. In order, you stop the demonic invasion of the Burning Crusade and kill the eponymous Lich King in Wrath of the Lich King. Cataclysm also fits, in that you're stopping Deathwing, the perpetuator of the Cataclysm (although he also proclaims "I AM the Cataclysm!" at one point.) This appears to be averted with Mists of Pandaria, where the mists are just the explanation for how no one had found Pandaria before. Subverted when it's revealed that the mists of Pandaria were a manifestation of the Sha of Pride, one of the Eldritch Abominations plaguing the land. The usual pattern returns in Warlords of Draenor, said warlords are the ones who launch an invasion with the intent of world domination and must be stopped. In Legion, we return to Azeroth to once again fight the Burning Legion.
  • Bonus points: It's made clear at this point in the story that if the Old Gods/Void Lords succeed in corrupting Azeroth, which is in fact the last Titan, the LITERAL world of Warcraft would be the series antagonist.
• Xargon is named for the Big Bad. The last of the three episodes, Xargon's Fury, also shares his name.
• Xybots is named for the enemy Mecha-Mooks.
• Your Toy could count, seeing as the Killer Teddy Bear Big Bad belonged to the Player Character.
• Yuki Onna (2020) is named after the Youkai who chases you and tries to freeze you to death.
• Zeddas Servants Of Sheol: Zeddas is the titular villain.
• In Japan, Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner is known as ANUBIS: Zone of the Enders, which is the name of antagonist Colonel Nohman's Orbital Frame.
• Zork: Grand Inquisitor: Grand Inquisitor Mir Yannick is the Big Bad of the game, and the plot revolves around overthrowing his rule and bringing magic back to the land of Zork.

Visual Novels

• Snatcher, named after the race of bioroids that the player faces in the game.
• Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius is named for Veniczar Arcadius, a masked dictator out to conquer the galaxy.

Webcomics

• Moby Dick Back From The Deep is named after the titular undead white whale that's terrorizing White Sands Beach.
• Star Power: "Robo-Scorpions": About a foe in a Show Within a Show and a real enemy facing Danica.
• TREVOR is named after Trevor, the character who kills off the cast one at a time

Web Original

• Dr. Havoc's Diary; The titular man is the Villain Protagonist.
• Warrens of Oric the Awesome is named after the dungeon where the game takes place, which is named after the main antagonist. So in a round about way it fits this trope.
• The Slender Man Mythos is, of course, named after everyone's favorite faceless Humanoid Abomination. Though whether he's actually an antagonist or just running off instinct or even trying to help is, outside of a few series, ultimately up to interpretation.
• Red vs. Blue: Zero, the show's 18th season, has the subtitle derived from Agent Zero, who defects and creates a syndicate to seek an Ultimate Power.
• Mitten Squad: In the video, "Borderlands The Pre-Sequel: Part 4 | Deadlift." Deadlift is a boss that needs to be killed to progress the plot.

Western Animation

• Avatar: The Last Airbender features an in-universe example with the play The Boy in the Iceberg. The title refers to Aang, but keep in mind that the play was made in the Fire Nation, where Aang is public enemy number one.
  • Some episode titles qualify too, such as "The Puppetmaster" and "The Phoenix King".
• Quite a few episodes of Batman: The Animated Series had the name of the villain (typically making his/her first appearance) as the title.
• Belphegor: A French animated series in which the Big Bad is a masked man named Belphegor.
• Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines is most likely the first cartoon show where the villains are the stars.
• DuckTales (1987): "Armstrong", a robot.
• Invader Zim
• Inhumanoids is a Merchandise-Driven 1986 series named after a group of subterranean monsters who terrorize the surface world. The protagonists are Earth Corps, a team of heroic scientists in Powered Armor.
• Most episodes of Miraculous Ladybug are named after the akumatized Villain of the Week.
• The Pirates of Dark Water: Dark Water is The Corruption in the show's world.
• Skeleton Warriors: The title refers to Baron Dark and his minions, who are the antagonists of the show.
• The Canadian Green Aesop-based series The Smoggies - the heroes are actually the Suntots. In the US, it was aired with the Market-Based Title Stop the Smoggies, just to make it more clear the title characters are the bad guys.
• Steven Universe:
  • "Frybo" is Beach Citywalk Fries' creepy mascot costume, which becomes the Monster of the Week after being animated by a Gem shard.
  • "Mirror Gem"/"Ocean Gem": The Gem in both cases is Lapis Lazuli, the Anti-Villain Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds of the two-parter.
  • "Bismuth", the first half-hour special of the series, turns out to be this once it's revealed the title character is actually a Well-Intentioned Extremist who's become He Who Fights Monsters, and while not exactly evil is certainly the antagonist of the special.
  • "Earthlings" manages to be both this and a Protagonist Title, due to being a Double-Meaning Title meant to emphasize the similarities and differences between the Gems to which it refers. The first gem referred to is Amethyst, who was born in the Prime Kindergarten on Earth after the war was over. The second Gem is Jasper, born in the Beta Kindergarten on Earth during the war, and who fought against the Crystal Gems.
• Van-Pires: The Van-Pires are the vampiric car robots who drink gasoline instead of blood. Of course, it's stated in the show that since the Motor-Vaters (the show's protagonists) need gasoline as well, then they too are Van-Pires.
• Victor & Hugo: Bunglers In Crime, from the creators of Danger Mouse, is exactly what it says. Two inept criminals who call themselves "Naughtiness International," go to great and unfruitful lengths to commit the perfect crime.
• Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?: Same as the Live-Action TV and Video Game entries of the franchise above. Averted with the reboot Carmen Sandiego, where she is the protagonist.

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