Basic Trope: One of the villain's minions is even eviler than the villain.
- Straight: Emperor Evulz' dragon, General Drake, is much more evil than Evulz himself. Evulz is a Well-Intentioned Extremist looking to bring peace through conquest, gets a few Pet the Dog moments (such as genuinely caring about Bob), and tends to go for diplomatic and bloodless conquests, while General Drake is a bloodthirsty warmonger who has outright tried to kill the heroes multiple times.
- Exaggerated:
- Emperor Evulz is more of a Harmless Villain, while General Drake is an Egomaniac Hunter, a Complete Monster, an Omnicidal Maniac, and a Serial Rapist.
- Corrupt Politician General Drake goes as far as to try to kill (or even succeed at killing) Emperor Evulz in order to become the Dragon Ascendant. Emperor Evulz, if he survives, may even pull a Heel–Face Turn or an Enemy Mine.
- Under Evulz's Empire, literally everyone under Evulz's faction is eviler than Evulz himself, who is either the token good teammate (ironically) at best, or A Lighter Shade of Black, at worst.
- Evulz is an example of Good Running Evil, being a decent, misguided man running an organization in which nearly everyone else is irredeemably evil.
- General Drake may be worse than Evulz, but Evil Genius Head Scientist Butcherstein is even worse than Drake, Dark Mistress Lady Rubliss is worse than Head Scientist Butcherstein, and it all goes down to the worst of them all: The Brute and practically Almighty Janitor Claidheamh, who's practically a Complete Monster, Omnicidal Maniac, Hate Sink, AND Scrappy!
- Downplayed:
- Both villains are incredibly evil, but General Drake is more willing to kill.
- Both villains are relatively sympathetic, but General Drake is notably more brutal.
- More Unlikable Lackey: Spike is the head honcho of a Gang of Bullies, but has a tendency to be a Father to His Men and is overall a Jerk with a Heart of Gold with his occasional Pet the Dog moments. His friends, Mike, Tyke, and Harold on the other hand, aren't as likable, since, outside of their loyalty and camraderie towards Spike and each other, they tend to veer into Villainy-Free Villain territory and Kick the Dog more often than their leader, while Ike doesn't have the other three's reedeeming qualities and is The Star Scream within Spike's group
- Justified: Emperor Evulz wanted an ambitious second-in-command, even if it meant General Drake was more ambitious than him.
- Inverted:
- Vile Villain, Laughable Lackey
- Emperor Evulz is incredibly evil, while General Drake is much less evil.
- Bob is a nearly-flawless Ideal Hero, but his second-in-command Lance is a brutal Token Evil Teammate who regularly does horrible things and is only on Bob's side out of personal loyalty because he's his Childhood Friend.
- Bob is a nearly-flawless Ideal Hero, but his second-in-command Lance is even less flawed than Bob, hence why Bob is considered nearly-flawless.
- Subverted: It turns out that Evulz just doesn't like getting his hands dirty himself. He condones General Drake's actions.
- Double Subverted: Actually having to get his hands dirty ends up making Evulz have a Hazy-Feel Turn.
- Parodied: For some zany reason, the lower your rank is as an Evulz Empire Official, the more despicable you are.
- Zig-Zagged: ???
- Averted: The henchpeople are not as evil as the main villain.
- Enforced: Evulz's generally sympathetic nature has made him a less intimidating villain, so the execs create a more evil minion to be more intimidating and serve as an easy target of audience hate.
- Lampshaded: "Y'know, despite 'evil' being in your name, your own general is way more horrible than you are."
- Invoked: Evulz is a Well-Intentioned Extremist who believes he is too "weak" to do what is necessary, so he hires Psycho for Hire Drake to carry out his evil acts for him.
- Exploited: The heroes note that Evulz is uncomfortable with Drake's horrible actions and they manage to get him to make a Heel–Face Turn by asking him if he really wants to associate with him.
- Defied: Emperor Evulz decides to kill General Drake once he finds how evil he really is.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed:
- General Drake becomes The Starscream and things go From Bad to Worse.
- Emperor Evulz develops some standards against General Drake's cruel behavior, and replaces him.
- Drake being more evil also means he tends to screw up Evulz’s plans by picking the more evil option over the pragmatic one.
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