Basic Trope: The former main villain now works for the new villain.
- Straight: Emperor Evulz (the former Big Bad) is now the second-in-command of the Dark God, a villain more powerful than he is.
- Exaggerated: Evulz used to be the ruler of the galaxy - now he’s nothing more than the Dark God’s errand boy.
- Downplayed:
- Evulz forms a Big Bad Duumvirate with the Dark God, and is the junior member.
- Evulz is only slightly less powerful than the Dark God, and probably has the means to take back power if need be.
- Justified:
- The Dark God is a much more capable villain than Evulz ever was.
- The Villain Team-Up needs a single leader for the sake of cohesion.note
- Inverted:
- General Evulz becomes Emperor after the Dark God dies.
- A former common minion gets promoted to the second-in-command of Evulz.
- A former main hero is demoted to The Lancer for the new main hero.
- A former Big Good is demoted to The Hero while a new Big Good takes his place.
- Subverted:
- Evulz ends up betraying the Dark God.
- Evulz was manipulating the Dark God from the beginning.
- Double Subverted: However, the Dark God manages to quash Evulz’s rebellion, and the original arrangement remains.
- Parodied: Evulz makes sure to loudly announce his new allegiance to the Dark God to the heroes at every chance he gets.
- Zig Zagged: Evulz and the Dark God switch off being the Big Bad and The Dragon over the course of several story arcs.
- Averted: No villains are demoted or promoted.
- Enforced: The series has a Monster of the Week setup, and Evulz is the villain that came directly before the Dark God. However, Evulz is the Creator's Pet, so the author doesn’t want to get rid of him just yet - so instead of having the heroes defeat him, the author keeps him around by having him work for the Dark God.
- Lampshaded: “Wait, Evulz is working for the Dark God now? Wasn’t he our arch nemesis just a few months ago?"
- Invoked: Evulz willingly signs on to do the grunt work for the Dark God’s plans - because he is a Psycho for Hire at heart, who obtains more pleasure from hands-on villainy than he would ever get from issuing commands to an army.
- Exploited: The Dark God recognizes that having Evulz around to do his grunt work would make his takeover of the world that much easier - so instead of killing him, he spares his life so that he can be added to his army’s ranks.
- Defied: Evulz rebels against the Dark God, refusing to become a mere servant.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Implied: Evulz returns to attack the heroes after a lengthy absence. However, his agenda is vastly different than before, and several things (such as Cryptic Conversations in which a certain name is repeatedly dropped) that imply he is now working for somebody else.
- Deconstructed: The heroes soon realize that the Dark God poses a much bigger threat to their well-being than Evulz ever did. They are forced into an Enemy Mine gambit with Evulz (who resents his new employer) to kill the Dark God - and reseat Evulz in a position of power. However much the heroes hate him, going back to fighting him is much better than the alternative.
- Reconstructed: However, before they can complete their plan to kill him, the Dark God tempts Evulz back to his own side (using Mind Manipulation, or more organic means.)
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