Big Bad Duumvirate/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: Two or more Big Bads work together.

  • Straight: Alex Annihilation and Bruce Bonecrusher work together for world domination.
  • Exaggerated:
    • Alex and Bruce are so very powerful that not even Bob Badass and Alice Awesome can stop them.
    • Alex and Bruce also have Charlie Cruel, Destruction Dan, and Elliot Evil on their team.
  • Downplayed: Alex and Bruce team up to rob a convenience store.
  • Justified: Alone, Alex and Bruce are not very good Big Bads, but when they're practically unstoppable when they work together.
  • Inverted: Alex and Bruce are two Big Goods working together in saving the world.
  • Subverted:
    • Alex and Bruce commit similar crimes at the same places and appear to be working together, but are really working independently of each other.
    • Alex and Bruce turn out to be Co-Dragons to Emperor Evulz.
  • Double Subverted:
    • Until they meet and decide to work together.
    • Alex and Bruce overthrow Emperor Evulz.
  • Averted:
    • Alex is the Big Bad while Bruce is actually The Dragon.
    • All bad guys work alone and never team up.
  • Enforced: "Fans like Alex, but they also like Bruce. Wouldn't they like them more if they worked together?"
  • Invoked: Alex puts out an ad in the newspaper for a villain to team up with.
  • Defied: Alex and Bruce refuse to work together at any point.
  • Discussed: "Hey, we should team up. We'd be twice as powerful then."
  • Conversed: "I should've known those two would be working together."

Together, we can conquer Big Bad Duumvirate.