Invincible Villain

Heroes win. It's a general rule of fiction. Sometimes, though, you want the hero to lose a few battles. As a result, you have an occasional instance of The Bad Guy Wins. This also shows another generally good consequence: the importance of the struggle, the need to make an effort, and the necessity of Character Development. Often, the challenge is tied to a singular villain (generally a Big Bad) to build up a reasonable threat. This is usually good, as it simplifies the cast, has a standard deuteragonist, etc.

However, just because a hero can't win all the time, that doesn't mean they can't win ever. And just because villains can win, that doesn't mean a villain can win all the time. Both of these are problems. And they share an extreme. This is the Invincible Villain. This character is basically a walking personification of Victory Is Boring, for the audience.

Any "losses" that occur either help the villain more than outright victory are ambigious if he lost or won, or The Cavalry showing the hero can't win on their own. Plus, it's expected in the short term; You Can't Thwart Stage One! Doesn't matter how hard The Determinator trains, the villain is always two steps ahead. That head start, of course, is a given when Villains Act, Heroes React. Even if there is a complete defeat, they'll still be subject to Joker Immunity or Cardboard Prison. This of course tends to rob a given episode or movie franchise of dramatic punch when the viewer's reaction to a hero's actual win is "Like You Would Really Do It!"

The Invincible Villain is the guy who makes the audience react in one of two ways.
 * "Oh my GOD, would somebody beat this guy already?" They want to see the villain get beaten, but not because they want proper closure to the story or any character arcs. Ideally, what a writer wants is for his villain to be a threat and make the audience wonder and anticipate how he's going to be beaten. In this case, the audience are simply bored to see the villains winning without effort, and would rather see the plot be derailed by their death than to have them continue existing.
 * "Only the Author Can Save Them Now." This is a problem for all of the reason it says on that trope page. You've made your villain such a credible threat that now, there doesn't seem to be any plausible way to beat him. Anything that wins against him now will be accused of being all part of the plan, or people will question why did THIS attack work when all the other ones didn't? All of his limits and weaknesses have been so thoroughly discredited that the only discernible reason why he'd lose is because the author wants him to right now.

If taken to extremes, when a villain can't do anything other than win by some contrived reason, this trope turns into Villain Sue. The Villain Protagonist is especially at risk to this. See also Invincible Hero, their Good Counterpart, and Failure Hero, another possible result of this trope. Compare Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain, the generally interesting, vincible villain. A poorly executed Outside Context Villain can become this, but after a while, the hero may get used to the villain, and without the element of surprise, may be overcome.

Compare to Generic Doomsday Villain, which is treated more like an obstacle for the hero to overcome rather than a true character, and Joker Immunity, which is where a villain can be defeated, but never truly killed.

Anime and Manga

 * Emperor Gene in Zoids Genesis is clearly trying to be a Magnificent Bastard. However, his constant A God Am I speeches while his BioTyranno effortlessly no-sells everything that comes their way get really old really fast, causing him to fall to this trope instead. Excaberating the problem is the way that the heroes fight like idiots whenever he's around, attacking him one at a time and leaving themselves wide open in the process.
 * Super Robot Wars K drives the point home by having a scene (Probably the longest in the game) where just about every playable character in Genesis tries to defeat Emperor Gene and gets crushed by their efforts, until Ruuji finally does the trick in his second try. Note the scene plays after you just kicked Gene's ass.
 * Naraku from Inuyasha until the last battle. The Big Bad for a manga series spawning 558 chapters, the handful of other villains that appeared were almost universally working for or with him. The very few times he was defeated or killed was part of his plans and he eventually came back, and despite the heroes repeatedly finding new powers and new weapons, every time they fought Naraku he escaped and lived to fight another day. In the end, he did win, in that he got all the jewel shards and formed the completed Shikon Jewel, and if not for  he would have yet again successfully executed a plan that hinged on him dying or feigning death.
 * Sosuke Aizen of Bleach. While he was initially intended to be and appeared as a Magnificent Bastard, subsequent appearances played up his power, smugness, Gambit Roulette planning skills, Crazy Preparedness, and NUKE the dog tendencies to such laughable levels that he completely shatters the Willing Suspension of Disbelief, destroying any dramatic tension. He declares the entirety of the army he assembled to beat the good guys to be below his power,and beats almost all of the remaining good guys alone. Unfortunately, he never gets to fight any of the characters capable of killing him (via Instant Kill abilities) until he has already gone through several Shonen Upgrade via an equally mysterious MacGuffin that made him effectively immune to those skills..
 * One of the main complaints about Digimon Frontier (season 4) was the Royal Knights, a Quirky Miniboss Squad who show up and do nothing but beat the tar out of the heroes for nine straight episodes because... something had to eat up the time before the Big Bad got out of his can, right?
 * Hao from Shaman King is literally totally unbeatable (but not invincible). He's had quite a head start, and by the time the story ends, is stronger than the next six characters combined, including the one who trained her entire life to beat him, but only reached half his strength. Even without fighting, he has a strange ability to gather totally unrelated people to his side to help him destroy humanity. He is a human but is treated as more of a force of nature in the series.
 * Yujiro Hanma from Baki the Grappler. In the one anime fight where someone even lands a worthwhile attack (Doppo counters with several chest crushing punches), Yujiro simply stands up smiling as if he had an itch. To date, nothing has even given him cause to pause. Though several characters have evolved based on his almost unachievable status.
 * This trope is one of several reasons why the Huckebein of Nanoha Force are so hated.
 * Broly from the 8th Dragonball Z movie doesn't have much going for him as a villain, with little in the way of characterization and a flimsy motivation. He's basically a musclebound brute who fights, screams and no-sells. Among the DBZ fanbase he's inexplicably popular.
 * Look at the description. The only difference between him and the heroes is that the heroes can talk coherently. And the motivation is hilarious.
 * He is popular mainly because, once he's free to do as he pleases, there's nothing but action. On the "lulz" side of For the Evulz. He's not even a Blood Knight because he thinks crushing the helpless is just as fun as crushing the strong. Also, he ascends to Super Saiyan to a little tune called "10's", by PANTERA. He runs mainly on awesome and angry. And DBZ is not known for being particularly thought-provoking.
 * Beerus fits too. Not even Goku's God-Saiyan form could so much as scratch him, and it's pretty much been established that the only true way to "defeat" him is giving him what he wants. Fortunately, he doesn't want much more than to have a good time, and his growing interest in Earth cuisine is clearly what has kept him from demolishing it. The only being who could likely kill him is Zeno - his boss and the one being Beerus is afraid of - but as of yet, Zeno has had no reason to.
 * In Berserk is a Physical God in a mostly Low Fantasy setting (and most of the non-Low Fantasy elements are his direct minions). He can Won't Work On Me cannonballs, magic lightning and even . Did we mention he's a Villain with Good Publicity to the point where most of the world believes he's the second coming of Crystal Dragon Jesus?
 * The Admirals in One Piece border on this, though they're more antagonists than villains. Luffy, his crew, and pretty much everyone that has ever tried to fight an Admiral other than Whitebeard has gotten curbstomped. During the War Arc, one Admiral manages to kill/KO/badly injure Ace, Luffy, Whitebeard, Jinbei, and Ivankov (in a row!!), and then completely ignore attacks from Marco and Vista. Keep in mind that these are some of the strongest pirates in the world.
 * Yubel, from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. Not only is she the only antagonist with a perfect record as a duelist, her duel with Judai at the end of Season Three resulted in her getting exactly what she wanted, winning the love of her former charge. While this might count as a Heel Face Turn on her part, the fact remains she did so on her terms after convincing Judai to accept her.
 * Alistar from RE: Creators. Originally a character from a (fictional) music video, she went insane when her creator committed suicide, and went on a homicidal rampage. A Reality Warper wjose power was almost limitless, she could not only make other fictional characters real, she could alter the plots of their stories and assimilate their powers unto herself. Her rampage of destruction was only stopped by, in effect, giving her what she wanted, using a similar talent to recreate her creator and reunite them, with the promise they could write their own world into existence that would be their paradise.

Comic Books

 * The first superhuman villain Spider-Man fought (established via Retcon in Untold Tales of Spider-Man) was David Lowell, called Sundown by the superhuman community. A Freak Lab Accident granted him powers on the cosmic scale, including super-strength (potentially rivalling that of the Hulk), flight, durability, energy projection, instant healing abilities, the ability to grow to giant size (better than Hank Pym) and teleportation. But gaining these powers also sent him into a pain-induced rage that threatened to level New York. Spidey was only the first hero to show up, and nothing he could do could so much as scratch him. Then The Avengers, The Fantastic Four, the X-Men and practically every other independent hero in New York showed up to help. Nothing they could muster could so much as scratch him! ("He even stood up to Thor!" Peter relates to Mary Jane in a present-day story. "To Thor! Can you imagine?") The only reason his rampage was stopped was when he accidentally hurt a young girl who had befriended him early, who now pleaded with him to stop;  he came to his senses and surrendered. Indeed, even after his release from prison a decade later, his self-loathing is what has kept him from again becoming a threat - and sadly, kept him from trying to use his powers in any benevolent way.

Film

 * John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars has this problem. The titular ghosts are just that - intangible ghosts, who possess humans to interact with them. The spirits can't be killed by any known means (they even tried a nuclear detonation, which did nothing), which means that if their host is destroyed they'll just move on to the next body. The movie dances around this issue by setting up the all-out battle to occur after the story's events, but it's impossible to maintain any hope for the surviving characters because victory is ultimately impossible.
 * The Final Destination movies teeter back and forth as to whether the heroes can actually win, but this theme consistently shows up in every entry. They're explicitly fighting Death, a presumably eternal force of nature. The fourth movie even indicates that Death gave them the visions in the first place, which means that every death happened according to his design, including the fates of the survivors - it just wasn't their time yet.
 * Boris from GoldenEye thinks he is one. He's not.
 * The Babyface killer in Happy Death Day. The film's heroine is trapped in a Groundhog Day Loop, with each loop ending in her brutal murder, and no matter what she does, there seems no way to prevent it. She tries avoiding the tunnel where she was killed the first time, but he finds her. She tries avoiding the party completely, but he still finds her. She tries not leaving her apartment at all and barricades the door, but the killer is already there. She caves his skull in with a baseball bat, flees, gets herself arrested on purpose, hoping jail will be safe, but the killer appears, unharmed, and murders the cop before killing her.

Live-Action TV

 * Blake's 7: Servalan almost always ran circles around Blake and his Rebels. Most of the time, she left them holding the bag after playing them too.
 * Leverage: Sterling. Never. Loses. The best the con artist team can manage is misdirection.
 * That said, even in the first episode, the heroes managed to win as well. And, their master plan in another episode hinged on him winning... And his episodes are fun. Tropes Are Not Bad.
 * The Cigarette Smoking Man on The X-Files survived things no human being ought to have survived, and again, came out on top with Mulder and Scully once again discredited and humiliated.
 * Even though he, he still has the last laugh when he gets to tell Mulder and Scully.
 * Sylar from Heroes. He kills numerous people, usually minor characters, over multiple seasons; and despite being mortally stabbed (twice), getting completely incinerated, having his entire brain overwritten, etc. he still keeps coming back, usually with even more powers, to terrorize the rest of the cast.
 * Anna on the 2009 version of V. This is even lampshaded by Erica. No matter what the Fifth Column does, Anna always comes out on top. Either through Diabolus Ex Machina or just good PR, every supposed win they've had is thrown right back in their faces. Manages to go Up to Eleven in the season 2 finale. The Fifth Column decides to take out Anna. Result? Coming back from that should be impressive.

Professional Wrestling

 * The Undertaker retired after a 21-1 streak at Wrestlemania, his defeat at WrestleMania XXX in 2014 being a real surprise because no one really believed he'd lose. Memes were made about him being beaten by the least likely person. Of course, the "villain" part only applies due to his angle and whenever he's a Heel.
 * For a couple years after being recognized both in-story and out as Vince McMahon's son-in-law, HHH could never lose a major match. Thanks to being part of Vince's family, "Trips" is pretty squarely heel, though occasionally a lesser of two evils.
 * The New World Order faction in WCW was a notable example of an entire group of invincible villains. This was especially evident in the group's early days, where the nWo would frequently run roughshod over their WCW foes and episodes of WCW Nitro would end with the nWo triumphant more often than not.

Tabletop Games

 * The Dark Eight from Dungeons and Dragons, the cabal of pit fiends that command the armies of the Nine Hells; they'd like mortals to believe they fit this Trope, as they and other powerful devils claim they have ruled for thousands of years, immune to the betrayals and machinations of underlings so common in a race of Social Darwinists. In truth,  it is a ruse done to ensure the cabal's authority, and only one of the original Dark Eight still remain. Dark Eight members are killed rather often, an underling taking the slain members name and position when it does. Whether this is a tightly kept secret or an badly kept one is Depending on the Writer.

Toys

 * Bionicle's very own Big Bad, Makuta Teridax was this. Even after his body got destroyed, he still kept coming back as the Man Behind the Man for years. It took LEGO to pull the plug on the toyline to get him finally offed.

Video Games
"Hazama:
 * Caius Ballad from Final Fantasy XIII-2 possesses the Heart of Chaos, which makes him immortal and also connects him to the goddess Etro. Due to him being the overseer of the world's timeline, he has gained vast knowledge of every possible scenario and uses it to his advantage.
 * Hazama/Terumi Yuuki from BlazBlue is nothing short of invincible thus far. This is the man who's got backup plans over plans and is incredibly powerful that he's one of the top tier of the cast in terms of power, all playing his power, manipulation and smugness with no actual weakness. When he's beaten by Ragna in True End? That's part of the plan so he can . Aside of his Trolling tendencies, none has come up with a plan effective enough to eliminate him (Kokonoe's nukes doesn't count because she didn't take account that Hazama can teleport).
 * To make it even worse, in the Arcade version of Extend, when fellow Big Bad Relius Clover beat him, Hazama looked all happy and embraced death with laugh, as if he predicted that and was very sure of eventual return.
 * Because losing to Relius was the entire point. Terumi needed to die in order to.
 * That said, he has faced a blemish on his gambit record as of Extend. However well his plans may have been going in Wheel of Fortune,

Hazama:"


 * Currently, Kai Leng from the Mass Effect series looks to be this. Not only does he survive several situations that would have normally killed any other person, like facing several Turian Guards with just a melee weapon, but none of the others are able to come up with an effective strategy against him.
 * However, faced against Commander Shepard and crews... well let's say Kai Leng loses invincibility so fast.
 * Except that was after two encounters. For the first two, nothing Shepard or his/her squad did was able to take him down.
 * Which results in a funny kind of Gameplay and Story Segregation when doing the amount of damage required by the game for the boss fight happens in a couple sniper rifle shots. Shepard even accuses Kai Leng of running away all the time.

Web Original

 * The Slender Man is an interesting case.
 * A: He's a particularly successful meme rather than a character from a single story. Showing any one spin-off character 'defeat' him could be considered unfair, and wouldn't have much weight anyway as it wouldn't impact the dozens of other stories.
 * B: He's generally a mental threat rather than a physical one, and either teleports away or goes to full-on Mind Rape if approached. There's still no consensus on what he actually does to his victims once he gets his hands on them (which just makes it creepier).
 * C: Most of his victims aren't the kind of people who would even consider attacking a Humanoid Abomination, but a few have tried - and failed. As Steph told the HYBRID boys, "I don't think he has a weakness."
 * D: Oftentimes when his intended victim survives, it is debatable whether he was even there to begin with.
 * Theodore Feswick from The Last Lamia could never be touched by Jason and Amali...even though they were the two people that he had hurt the most. He does eventually end up being killed by the Advocate, but his death is rather mild compared to everything he had put his victims through. Especially since many of his victims had ended up losing their minds.

Western Animation

 * David Xanatos of Gargoyles lets you know it's all in The Plan - his plan.
 * ... for about the first season and a half, anyway. Xanatos's growing Pet the Dog tendencies and habit of teaming up with the heroes took their toll (though this also meant that having him win wasn't entirely a bad thing), until by the later episodes, Xanatos showing up in a plot usually meant some other villain outmaneuvering him, and he needed help. The real bearer of this trope is his creation Thailog - it generally takes into the second episode with him to realize that the drow-looking palette swap of Goliath with all the original's strength and skill, plus all of Xanatos's intelligence, who always effortlessly manipulates everyone is not a bad fan fic, but a Canon Villain Sue.
 * The Flying Dutchman in SpongeBob SquarePants. Outfighting, outsmarting, or even fleeing this cursed pirate is beyond the ability of any resident of Bikini Bottom. They simply learn to live with him and hope he's in a good mood when he shows up.
 * Muktar from Aladdin. The good guys were never able to truly outfight or outsmart him. In his first appearance, they "won" because his employer told him to back down (giving him no reason to fight them), while the second time, he changed his mind on his own.
 * Snuffles, aka Snowball, from Rick and Morty. A dog who gains superior intelligence - and a desire for revenge against humanity for turning dogs into a Slave Race - his plans of world conquest are halted only because he chooses to halt them, realizing that enslaving humanity would make him the same type of monster he believes them to be. It clearly doesn't say much for humans as a whole...
 * Tiamat in Dungeons and Dragons, although to be fair, the heroes' usual policy with her was to simply avoid her - and to be frank, who wouldn't? Fortunately that was easy to do, as Tiamat seemed far more concerned about Venger (who himself was at a loss on how to defeat her), and regarded the heroes as naught but pests.