“ | It was Voldemort, Harry thought, staring up at the canopy of his bed in the darkness, it all came back to Voldemort. He was the one who had torn those families apart, who had ruined all those lives. | „ |
~ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on Lord Voldemort's actions. |
The following villains are considered "Big Bads", or the main/primary antagonist(s) of the series in which they appear; that is to say the most prominent, influential and powerful of all, the one at the center of the conflict, whose importance in the plot outshines all. They are the evil counterparts of the Big Good of a series. Even though most Big Bads are the main antagonists of their stories, it is possible for Big Bads to be protagonists (e.g. Light Yagami and Walter White).
To put it simple, a "Big Bad" ONLY appears in long-running stories with numerous story arcs and antagonists. Villains of a single movie/book/game/whatever or villains of a story without enough antagonists DO NOT COUNT. The Big Bad stands at the top of the villain's hierarchy: being almost always the leader of all the villains, or at least a very strong influence. The "Big Bad" always has a much larger significance in the story than any other villain, including possible "Bigger Bads," being the direct or indirect cause of all the troubles for most of the story if not the story as a whole. The Big Bad is usually also "The Heavy" though this position is often filled by the Big Bad's "Right-Hand" or Enforcer in stories that keep the Big Bad mysterious. The Big Bad is often the Archenemy because this latter is most of the time the main antagonist of the story.
FOR THE SAKE OF CLARITY, THERE IS ONLY ONE BIG BAD PER STORY, EXCEPT FOR THE CASE LISTED BELOW AND ONLY THEM.
When two or more characters working together share the role, it is called a Big Bad Duumvirate. If they are many who oppose each other, it is called a Big Bad Ensemble. The Big Bads are also the Overarching Villain if they influence the story in some way as a major recurring villain for the Myth Arc. There is also the Arc Villain the villain of a story arc become recurring villains if they are the villain for more than one story arc, the Big Bad Friend where an ally of the protagonist was a major villain, and Big Bad Slippage where the Big Bad starts off normal but eventually becomes the main villain. This also includes villain based Franchises as it centers around the villain rather than the hero.
- When the story is divided into distinct story arcs, it has several "Arc Villains" one after another, but when a villain appears in several story arcs and/or influences a story arc after their demise, then this villain is the one and only "Big Bad."
- When there are many recurring villains working on their own, the Big Bad has to be the most recurring and the most important villain in the entire franchise.
All items (3649)
- Black King (Drifters)
- Black Knight (Generator Rex)
- Black Lord
- Black Lotus (Red vs. Blue)
- Black Manta (DC)
- Black Mantle
- Black Mariah
- Black Mask (Deathstroke: The Arkham Assassin)
- Black Moon
- Black Noir (comics)
- Black Shadow (F-Zero)
- Black Shadow (F-Zero: GP Legend)
- Black Suit
- Blackrabbit
- Bladedamus
- Bling-Bling Boy
- Blinky (Pac-Man)
- Blinky (Politicats)
- Blockbuster II
- Blockheads
- Bloth
- Blue (Bullet Head)
- Blue (Rainbow Friends)
- Bluster (Care Bears)
- Bluto
- Bob Page
- Bobo Rimple Killer
- Bocarter Humphrey
- Bogdan Nabatov
- Bon
- Bonmucho
- Bonnie (The End of the F***ing World)
- Bonnie and Clyde
- Borg Queen
- Boris Balkov
- Boss (GG Bond: Ocean Mission)
- Boss (Just Shapes & Beats)
- Boss Cass
- Boss L
- Botei
- Bouvine Overlord
- Bowie
- Bowser (Super Mario)
- Bowser (The Software Toolworks)
- Brad Buttowski
- Brad Wesley
- Bradford Buzzard
- Braiking Boss
- Brain (Animaniacs)
- Brain (Daitetsujin 17)
- Brain (DC)
- Brainiac (DC)
- Brainiac (Krypton)
- Brainiac (Smallville)
- Brainiac 1.0
- Brajira of the Messiah
- Brak
- Brendon Dumont
- Brett Ronson III
- Brian J. Mason
- Broadcaster
- Broccoli Overlord
- Brokenstar
- Broodmother Lysrix
- Brother Moons
- Bruno (Control Z)
- Bryce Fairchild
- Bryce Walker
- Buck Strickland
- Bugbo
- Buggler
- Bull and Axle
- Bull Sharkowski
- Bumpy Jonas
- Buppa
- Burdine Maxwell
- Buros
- Bushmaster (Marvel Cinematic Universe)
- Butler (Pretty Cure)
- Buzz Buzzard
- Byakuran
- Bye Bye Man
- C. Bagley Beetle
- Caesar (Fallout)
- Cage Wallace
- Cain Madhouse
- Caleb Goldman
- Caleb Warrens
- Callisto
- Callisto's Light
- Callum Logan
- Calvin Fischoeder
- Calvin Horn
- Calvin Lucien
- Calypso (Twisted Metal)
- Cameron Campbell (Camp Camp)
- Cameron Campbell (Hollyoaks)
- Cameron Murray
- Cameron Winter
- Campaigner
- Canaletto
- Candide Sampson
- Candyman (Candyman)
- Capital B
- Captain Hero
- Captain Hook (The Worst Takes it All)
- Captain J.J. Jones
- Captain Syrup
- Captain Teague
- Captain Zahab
- Carl (Llamas with Hats)
- Carl Denham
- Carl Henderson
- Carl the Evil Cockroach Wizard
- Carl White
- Carla Rosón
- Carlos (Hop)
- Carlos Madrigal
- Carmeara
- Carmen Sandiego
- Carmilla (Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust)
- Carminha
- Carnage (2010 Marvel Animated Universe)
- Carnage (Marvel)
- Carrie (One Tree Hill)
- Carter Blake
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- Cartoon Cat
- Cassidy Casablancas
- Cat Man
- Cat R. Waul
- Catalina Creel
- Cathy Ames
- Cedric the Sorcerer
- Celebro
- Celeste Dubois
- Cengiz Atay
- Ceph
- Cepheus
- Cersei Lannister
- Chairface Chippendale
- Chairman (Toontown)
- Chairman (Toxic Avenger)
- Chairman Stone
- Chang Wei
- Chaos (Girls x Battle 2)
- Chaos (The Power of Five)
- Chaos (Vampirella)
- Chaos Breaker Dragon
- Chaos Council
- Chaos Gods (Warhammer)
- Chaos Header
- Char Aznable
- Charioce XVII
- Charles Augustus Milverton (Moriarty the Patriot)
- Charles Dalimar
- Charles DiLaurentis
- Charles Dreyfus
- Charles Green III
- Charlie Hewitt Jr.
- Charlotte DiLaurentis
- Chase Young
- Chazz Montolo
- Cheetah (DC)
- Chemist (American Horror Story)
- Cheng Zhi
- Cheon Seojin
- Cherubimon
- Cheshire Cat (Alice Mare)
- Chief James Davis
- Chief Weasel
- Chieftain (The Bremen Town Musicians)
- Chiharu Matsuyamachi
- Chimera (Resistance)
- Chip Whistler
- Chiros
- Chiyu Tamade
- Choi Jong-sul
- Chou Ga Ryuu
- Chou Sou
- Chris Finch
- Chris Genovese
- Chris McLean
- Chris Wilton
- Christina Braithwhite
- Christopher Pelant
- Chrollo Lucilfer
- Chronos (DC)
- Chrovos
- Chuck McGill
- Chuckles the Silly Piggy
- Chucky (Child's Play)
- Cigarette-Smoking Man
- Cinder Fall (RWBY Chibi)
- Cipher (Fast & Furious)
- Circe (DC)
- Citrocet
- Claude Faustus
- Claudia Perret
- Claudia Wolf (film series)