Overlord, Jr.



The male offspring (or Nephew) of the bad guy.

Their personality can vary a lot from sniveling wannabe who pushes his familial connections, a kid who idolizes his dad and is more mischievous than truly evil, a carbon copy of their dad, a spoiled Royal Brat, or a selfish scumbag who would kill his own dad to seize power. Could even be a "Well Done, Son" Guy.

Why are they so evil? Is it In the Blood, do bad guys just make lousy parents, or are they only loyal to their father?

Often the one who seeks to avenge the villain and sometimes they'll come out of nowhere with no prior hint to their existence. Though it's not uncommon for them to show no concern whatsoever for the death of their parent.

A Sister Trope to Daddy's Little Villain (the Distaff Counterpart to this).

Differs from Mad Dictator's Handsome Son in that they almost never change sides and are often truly evil. Contrast Evil Parents Want Good Kids, where the son's evil may mark them as an Inadequate Inheritor to the father.

Anime and Manga

 * Pride in Fullmetal Alchemist. Somewhat of a subversion since he's actually over three centuries old, but he still sees himself as his father's loyal child.
 * Code Geass. Schneizel fills this role, pitted against his exiled and rebellious half-brother Lelouch.
 * Helmeppo, son of Axe hand Morgan in One Piece. He's a sniveling jerk who does whatever he likes as his dad controls the town..
 * Prince Lotor/Sinclaine, son of the villlain Zarkon/Daibazaal in Voltron/GoLion goes under the greedy scumbag who hates his dad.
 * Freeza's son Kuriza in Neko Majin Z is a parody of this. Also Freeza was one to King Cold.
 * Also, the Piccolo in Dragonball Z started off as "Ma Junior", son of Demon King Piccolo in Dragon Ball. Though technically he's more of a Reincarnation.
 * Garlic Jr also counts, even though we never see Garlic Sr except for one flashback.
 * Ukyo of Samurai 7 starts out as the spoiled son of the wealthy merchant who owns the city to which our heroes come to recruit samurai to protect the village. Strange appearance, gentle voice, Royal Brat tendencies when not immediately satisfied. Lives a sybaritic lifestyle with a large kidnapped (but not unwilling) harem and is immune to repercussions for anything he does—until Kikuchiyo slices his car in half, provoking a meltdown and revenge for his first time feeling physically threatened. Or something. It's not for the car, anyway.
 * And then he turns out to be running a Evil Plan with assassinations and things to edge his father out and take over. And otherwise to have a mind and ambition.
 * And then he turns out to be adopted. Specifically,
 * So basically, he's this twice, and Starscreams them both.

Comic Books

 * Flattop Jr in Dick Tracy.
 * Mongul in The DCU is the son of the original Mongul. He is also far, far, FAR worse; if his father was a Blood Knight douchebag with some genuine Magnificent Bastard moments, his son is an arrogant, manipulative, and depraved monster who kickstarted his career by punching his own sister's head off, and from there displayed some of the most consistently disgusting behavior short of Darkseid or Vandal Savage that the DCU has seen in a long time.
 * Ezekiel Stane is the come out of nowhere variety. He took revenge on Iron Man for his father's death 20 years prior (real time).
 * Harry Osborn is the "Well Done, Son" Guy variety combined with a boatload of drugs and the mistaken belief that Spider-Man killed his dad.
 * Victor Von Fogg from PS238.
 * Baron Helmut Zemo, the son of Baron Heinrich Zemo.
 * In a sort of odd reversal, in the 1990's New Gods series, Yuga Khan popped up outta nowhere. "Yuga Khan?" Um, yeah. He's Darkseid's father. He's so horrifically Badass, Darkseid basically hid in the basement when Daddy returned, until the latter managed to get himself imprisoned on the Source Wall. Again. It sort of makes Darkseid an Overlord jr. by means of retcon. Never heard from again, of course.
 * Of course, Darkseid also has someone who plays the trope straight, his son Kalibak, The Unfavourite and "Well Done, Son" Guy par excellence.
 * The Awesome Slapstick had Dr. Denton, Destroyer of Worlds, a five-year-old genius who built a giant robotic teddy bear. It's never shown if his parents were also Mad Scientists, but he does get chided for building robots indoors.
 * The Amulet graphic novels give us Prince Trellis, whose dad clearly hated him from the day he was born, giving him a name like that. Said father is the evil elf king who's been despoiling the world for years since a huge magical power-up drove him insane, and he does not give a damn about his child. Faint shades of Royal Brat at first, mostly huge inferiority complex.
 * Trellis really wants to please his father, but his morals are increasingly a problem, until after being informed his father has approved killing him if he keeps giving trouble, he turns traitor to help the main characters do a heroic thing. They do not actually notice that he did this, so the second book ends with Trellis completely alone on a hill, watching the heroes' house walk away.
 * Worth noting that these elves are sort of greyish with nasty sharp pointy teeth, and Trellis is about three times as human-looking by the end of his Heel Face Turn as he was early in the first book.
 * Sin City gives us the Yellow Bastard, the heir to the Roark crime/political family, who is appropriately enough named Junior.

Film

 * Scott Evil and Mini-me to Dr Evil in Austin Powers.
 * Chris D'Amico (Red Mist) in Kick-Ass.

Literature

 * Dune has House Harkonnen this way. Headed by Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, human life is of little consequence to the Baron or his nephews, the brutish Glossu Rabban and Harkonnen's heir Feyd-Rautha.
 * Ironically, it's the Baron's grandson and granddaughter (whose relation to him was hidden, and who are also the children of his arch-enemy, who he tried to kill) and later great-grandson who actually become overlords, although the first is a subversion, the second is possessed, and the third is a Necessarily Evil Dark Messiah.
 * Mordaunt, son of Milady (a rare example of the Overlord, Jr. being the son of a female villain) in the sequels to The Three Musketeers.
 * In Brilliance of the Moon, the third Tales of the Otori book, one of the main villians is Iida Nariaki, the nephew of Iida Sadamu, the Big Bad from the first book.
 * Klitch of the Redwall book Salamandastron has an argumentative but mutually-admiring relationship with his father Ferahgo, the Knife Nut warlord. When Ferahgo thinks Klitch had plotted to kill him, he reacts with a distinct "better luck next time" vibe.
 * Draco Malfoy of Harry Potter has elements of this, though as it turns out he's more like The Dragon Jr., and while he never does a Heel Face Turn, by the climax of the sixth book he's learned he's just not cut out to be truly evil, either, and his position is mostly as Harry's Rival and the books' Jerkass for all occasions.
 * Draco is so pathetic at being an actual villain that he spends more time being the Alpha Bitch of Hogwarts and never really progresses.
 * His dad, Lucius is pretty pathetic as well, making him and Draco all the more similar.
 * Well, Lucius was pretty intimidating in his first few appearances, but after Voldemort was resurrected, Lucius was revealed for the Big Bad Wannabe he truly was.
 * Kalarus Brencis Minoris in the Codex Alera manages to be a snivelling wannabe, a spoiled brat, a selfish scumbag, and a "Well Done, Son" Guy all at once. His Complete Monster dad is shown to be abusive, but how well Brencis Jr. took to the bigotry, sexism, and pleasure in casual sadism, murder, and rape that his father taught him kills any hint of this being a Freudian Excuse.
 * In the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Antorell, the son of head wizard Zemenar, isn't actually a kid, but is still something of a Harmless Villain who wants to impress his father but doesn't ever really pose a credible threat to main characters unless he has other wizards with him.

Live Action TV

 * Thrax, son of Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd from Power Rangers Operation Overdrive. He seeks to avenge his parents' Heel Face Turn by a Deus Ex Machina.
 * Smallville's Lex Luthor was apparently raised to be the "resents his father" variant, complete with multiple references to Alexander and other great conquerors. Although at first he was too nice, he later goes totally off the deep end and becomes the feared character we always knew he could be.
 * Even if you don't feel Uther is especially evil, Arthur from the BBC's Merlin qualifies completely. Bit of a "Well Done, Son" Guy, extremely loyal to his father, although he increasingly questions his most hardline policies, particularly on magic. (Which is logical, because Uther's stance on that particular matter is heavily irrational.)
 * Klorel, son of Stargate SG-1's Apophis. Since the Goa'uld are a race of Explosive Breeders and Puppeteer Parasites with Genetic Memory and several more layers of Bizarre Alien Biology, including Klorel having a "human" brother named Shifu... Well, it is too bad the character was Put In A Jar Through A Gate.
 * Howlyn, the Big Bad of the fifth season of Earth: Final Conflict, is an Atavus Complete Monster who ruled prehistoric Earth millions of years ago, when his kind were forced into hybernation by a meter shower. His son Yulyn wants nothing to do with Howlyn and refuses to kill to feed. He wants to return the Atavus to their homeworld, where they don't need to do that.
 * Olies Gil from Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger is the son of the Zangyack Emperor, who has yet to be seen onscreen, but he's the one who orders the attack on Earth. Of course, the "damned pirates" are always in his way, so it's just a matter of time now until Daddy shows up to see why his son hasn't conquered Earth yet...

Tabletop Games

 * Dungeons and Dragons example; while this hasn't been confirmed, it has been suggested that Demon Lord Graz'zt is this to Archdevil and God of Evil Asmodeus. Whether he's the rebellious (but still evil) son, or secretly still working for his father, is also up to speculation.
 * Lixer is a much better example, since he is confirmed to actually be Asmodeus' son and is far more competent (if slightly weaker personally) than Graz'zt could ever hope to be.
 * Joseph Prosek II in Rifts is this to his father Karl, Emperor-For-Life of the Coaltion States. Surprisingly, while he is arguably even more evil than his father, he is also a completely loyal, loving son, content to serve as Minister of Propaganda while patiently waiting for his father to step down. Karl is equally devoted to his son, and both stand side-by-side in their iron fist in a velvet glove rule.

Video Games

 * All of Bowser's kids except Wendy. Bowser Jr. is the most notable and falls under the admiring his dad, and more mischievous than truly evil. He is, however, suprisingly powerful magic-wise.
 * Dr Wily has a son in Mega Man Battle Network, Regal, that also took up villainy. And Regal's MUCH worse than Wily is, hands down.
 * Rico Jr., son of the demon lord Rico Sr., in Dokapon Kingdom. He has traits of the Royal Brat, Enfante Terrible, and carbon copy of his dad.
 * Several Examples in Fire Emblem... In Blazing Sword there's the sniveling Erik, son of the greedy Darin. There are a ton in Genealogy of the holy war.
 * Ogura from The Legendary Starfy has multiple sons as bosses. The mom question is avoided as he created them magically.
 * Allen O'Neil Jr., son of Allen O'neil in Metal Slug Advance. He's basically a weaker version of his father and even has the same maniacal laugh.
 * The Witch Boy of Overlord II is the son of the Evil Overlord of the former Overlord. However he never plays sidekick to his father since the original Overlord ended up stuck in hell after he takes it over at the end of his adventure.
 * Rufus Shinra in Final Fantasy VII. His dad tried to Take Over the World with money, once he gets done in by the game's Big Bad, the son vows to do the same but with fear instead.
 * Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI in  Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood , though he's for the most part the Dragon-in-Chief.
 * In the second Robopon game, it's revealed Dr. Zero, the first game's Big Bad, is this.
 * In Star Fox, Andross' nephew Andrew is this. In Star Fox Assault, Andrew pilots a giant robot that fights in a similar way to Andross, prompting Falco to say, "What's this, an Andross wanna-be?"
 * Sektor is revealed to be one of these in Mortal Kombat 9. He's the son of the Lin Kuei Grand Master, willingly gets transformed into a cyborg in both timelines, and in the original timeline, he becomes the Grand Master himself. However, in plotline terms, this is for all of about five minutes, as Sub-Zero has taken that title from him and incapacitated him by the time of Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance.

Web Comics
"Agatha: What kind of an Evil Overlord are you going to be, anyway? Gil: (surprised) Apparently a better one than I'd thought..."
 * In Girl Genius Gilgamesh Wulfenbach, the heir of Baron Klaus Wulfenbach, current dominating super-power in Europe. When we meet him he has some experience, fenced and has a Lightning Gun in development, but didn't even stash a Death Ray or two. Later when left to his own devices he became more impressive, though fully met the Baron's high standards only by.
 * When they were preparing to fight off a horde of slaver wasps, Agatha didn't believe him until he'd insisted several times in a loud voice he didn't have any weapons hidden in his lab that she just hadn't been able to find.

"My father will hear of this!
 * Notably, Klaus is a Badass Abnormal who conquered Europe to save it from itself, and Gil is still the leading Romantic Interest of the protagonist, and is almost ridiculously nice for someone in his position, although still very badass when he needs to be.
 * However, Agatha's fashion clank (don't ask) provides an alternate interpretation and wardrobe as a more typical "spoiled, cowardly son of a great man", complete with Overlord, Jr. stock lines:

Do you know who I am?!

I like a girl with spirit!

Guards! Seize them!"

Web Original

 * Jobe Wilkins, of the Whateley Universe. Son of Emperor Wilkins (aka supervillain Gizmatic), the ruler of Karedonia. Jobe is a Royal Brat, and a brilliant (if sociopathic) Mad Scientist even though he is only fourteen. If he isn't destroying opponents with hideous bio-warfare inventions, he is destroying opponents with martial arts expertise. His father's only regret is that Jobe prefers biological inventing instead of mechanical inventing.

Western Animation

 * Senor Senior, Jr.: son of Senor Senior, Sr. from Kim Possible. He's a lazy young model who isn't too interested in villainy but will grudgingly lend a hand to his dad in taking over the world.
 * However, he has been shown to have inherited some of his father's diabolical nature. At one point, he turned his father in... for billions of dollars in reward money. This would enable him to bail his dad out and rebuild the family fortune which they had been scammed out of.
 * Jose Von Reichter in Cybersix. He's just as much of a nasty piece of work as his old man, though he seems to eschew his father's overt Nazi ideology in favour of being a horny little freak.
 * Zuko should have been this, but he couldn't measure up, so his little sister fills the role instead. And how.
 * Technically he still is this, until he goes all Mad Dictator's Handsome Son, but he's just...not terribly evil, for which his father rejects him, and he dedicates his life to regaining that Overlord, Jr. position, earning the nickname Angry Jerk quite handily.
 * In the animated television series to Disney's The Little Mermaid, there's an episode involving a stingray-merman (who is evil) training his young son to be evil (even singing a whole Villain Song about it). The little stingray boy is conflicted between pleasing his dad and being himself.
 * Lloyd Garmadon from Ninjago.
 * As of season 2 of Young Justice,.