“ | I've won. Exactly as planned. | „ |
~ Light Yagami, after reobtaining the Death Note. |
“ | A lifetime of searchin'. But at long last... I can touch it! | „ |
~ Long John Silver upon finding Captain Flint's treasure. |
Villains who win against the hero (or other rival villains) and/or are successful in their ultimate goals. Some examples include:
- Alejandro Sosa getting Tony Montana and his henchmen killed for failing the assassination attempt on an anti-Bolivian activist in Scarface.
- Audrey II taking over the world with its children in the original ending of Little Shop of Horrors.
- Shadow the Hedgehog destroying, enslaving or saving the world based on the player's choices in Shadow the Hedgehog.
- Thanos collecting the Infinity Stones to wipe out half of the universe's populace in Avengers: Infinity War.
They are, usually, the opposite of Incompetent villains (who do not succeed in anything), though some Incompetent villains can still be successful either with a huge stroke of luck, with the help of much more competent evildoers, or by learning from their own mistakes to become better.
It should be noted that for some villains, their goal was not to kill the main protagonist. Notably, successful villains are very common in many modern-day horror movies (e.g. Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Godzilla, Kayako Saeki, etc.) as well as some tragic fictional works (e.g. Padre Dámasore, Iago, etc.) in which many of these villains succeeded in killing the protagonist in the end.
In many works, a successful villain can be a Protagonist since protagonists are known for winning in the end.
Though these two categories often overlap, this is not to be confused with Karma Houdinis, as these villains, despite their success, can still be defeated later, usually at the end of the story if their success occurred at the beginning or middle of it, or in a sequel since some villain victories open the doors for sequels (e.g. Archibald Snatcher succeeded to get his White Hat and taste cheese, but his allergy caused him to explode or Scar finally becoming the King of the Pride Lands after killing his brother and banishing his nephew, only to be dethroned by said nephew and killed by his hyena henchman at the end of the movie) and conversely, they cannot be ever defeated despite their failure. However, some villains that are successful can also be Karma Houdinis if they are successful enough, such as Rustal Elion.
Also, sometimes these villains finally succeed in their goals, but not in the way they expected (e.g. Wile E. Coyote finally catching the Road Runner, but only when he became too small to eat him; Chef Skinner getting Gusteau's closed for rat infestation but Linguini and Remy are still able to open the Ratatouille, Tai Lung obtaining the Dragon Scroll but failing to realize the significance behind it and Max Mordon obtaining immortality, but in the form of an undead mummy) or they didn't get to enjoy it (e.g. Marty Wolf turned Big Fat Liar into a critical and financial hit but lost his job and fame for plagiarizing Jason Shepherd's work, Brad Gurdlinger got Pablo Chacon arrested and removed from the drug business but was taken into custody as well).
-
Siren Head -
Dabi -
Jeff the Killer -
William Afton (Five Nights at Freddy's) -
Akatsuki -
All For One -
John Kreese -
Black Noir
All items (4824)
- A Unit and J Unit
- A-Virus
- A. Traveler
- Aaron Peel
- Aaron Stampler
- Abaddon (Arknthology)
- Abaddon (DC)
- Abalam
- Abby Anderson
- Abby Russell
- Abdulla
- Abdullah
- Abigail (Metal Slug)
- Abigail Hill
- Abigail Williams (Murdered: Soul Suspect)
- Abigail Williams (The Crucible)
- Abobo (Abobo's Big Adventure)
- Aboboy
- Abraham
- Accord
- Aconcagua
- Adair
- Adam "Kane" Marcus
- Adam (Dark)
- Adam (Hunt Down the Freeman)
- Adam (Kamen Rider Dragon Knight)
- Adam (Welcome to the Game)
- Adam Barlow
- Adam Susan
- Adam Sutler
- Adam Taurus
- Addison Dewitt
- Adel (Kamen Rider Ghost)
- Adelaide Wilson
- Adil Hoxha
- Administrator (Team Fortress 2)
- Admiral Alfonso
- Admiral Garrick Versio
- Admiral General Aladeen
- Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
- Admiral Orlock
- Admiral Razorbeard
- Admiral Trench
- Adolf Hitler (Danger 5)
- Adolf Hitler (The Twilight Zone)
- Adria (Diablo)
- Adrian Powell
- Adrian Pryce
- ADT Serviceman
- Adu Du
- Agamemnon (Troy)
- Agent 33 (Marvel Cinematic Universe)
- Agent 47
- Agent Bishop
- Agent Gibbs
- Agent Jack Burns
- Agent Kallus
- Agent Smith (X-Men Movies)
- Agent Tierny
- Agent Whiskey
- Agents Brick and Savannah
- Agents of Crash
-
- Agni and Rudra
-
- Agâh Beyoglu
- Ai Imari
- Ai-Jinn
- Aida
- Ainz Ooal Gown
- Airy
- Akainu
- Akatsuki
- Akaza
- Akeel Min Riah
- Akihiko Kayaba
- Akihiro Kurata
- Aku
- Akumaro Sujigarano
- Al Mualim
- Al-Qatala
- Alakshmi Verma
- Alan B'Stard
- Alan Blunt
- Alan Jago
- Alan Lewis
- Alan Smithee
- Albedo
- Albert Simon
- Alberto Del Rio
- Alcazar
- Alduin
-
- Alejandro Burromuerto
- Alejandro Corner
- Alejandro Sosa
- Aleksander Kovak
- Alex (Decoys)
- Alex (Elephant)
- Alex Comstock
- Alex Hammond
- Alex Mercer
- Alex Wesker
- Alexander Hamilton
- Alfred Drevis
- Alfred Hardeberg
- Algernon
- Alice (Harvest Moon: Hero of Leaf Valley)
- Alice Angel
- Alice Cunningham
- Alice Killer
- Alice Spages
- Alicia Sierra
- Alien (ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter)
- Alien Fruit Monster
- Alien Head Suckers
- Alien Leader
- Alien Tentacle Monster
- Aliens (Agamemnon Counterpart)
- Aliens (Alien Abduction)
- Aliens (Cyanide and Happiness)
- Aliens (Fire in the Sky)
-
- Aliens (The Jackbox Party Pack)
- Aliens (The Screwfly Solution)
- Aliens (The Watch)
- Alighiero Alighieri
- Alisa Jones (Marvel Cinematic Universe)
- All For One
- Allen Avadonia
- Ally Mayfair-Richards
- Alma Wade
- Almec
- Aloyse Von Roddenstein
- Aloysius Kallig
- Altaaf Khan
- Altarah
-
- Alternate Reality Mr. Turner
- Alto Stratus
- Alucard (TFS Hellsing Abridged)
- Aluze
- Alvin the Treacherous
- AM
- Amanda O'Reilly
- Amanda Waller
- Amanda Waller (DC Extended Universe)
- Amanda Waller (Telltale)
- Amaund Motierre
- Amber Pollock
- Ambulance Clown (Joker 2019)
- Amenadiel (Lucifer)
- Amerika
- Amiba
- Amigara Fault
- Amita
- Amma Crellin
- Ammo Baron
- Amoeba Boys
- Amon Goeth
- Amy Elliot-Dunne
- An Innocent Guy
- Anagmas
- Anatoly (Call of Duty)
- Ancient Minister
- Ancient Ones
- Anders Lindström
- Andre (Riverdale)
- Andreas Sanchez
- Andrei Puscus
- Andrew (Tangled)
- Andrew Cunanan (American Crime Story)
- Andrew Milton
- André Linoge
- Andy Bernard
- Andy Hamilton
- Andy Law
- Angel of Death (The Adventures of Baron Munchausen)
- Angela Baker
- Angela Douglas
- Angela Jitrenka
- Angelica Pickles
- Angelus
- Animal Masked People
- Animal-Borgs
- Animator (Animator vs. Animation)
- Animatronics (Five Nights at Freddy's)
- Anna Ivers
- Anna Palmer
- Annabelle Higgins
- Anthony Fremont