Big Bad Wannabe/Playing With

Basic Trope: A character tries to be the Big Bad, but is not really the Big Bad.

Straight: Alex wants to rule Las Vegas, but General Evil is the real deal.
Exaggerated: Alex desperately wants to be a Dimension Lord, but cannot as he easily gets knocked out by a sneeze.
Downplayed: Alex wants to rule the playground, but Francis can always out bully him.
Justified:
- Alex believes he's the only person bad enough to rule Las Vegas, but lacks the skills.
- Alternately, Alex has the skills, but someone else is an even better candidate.
Inverted:
- Alex wants to help Las Vegas as the Big Good, but he is second-best to a philanthropist.
- Alex truly is the biggest bad there is, but fear there's always someone better.
Subverted: Alex wants to rule Las Vegas, but it turns out it's because he wants to "cleanse" the city of its evil.
Double Subverted: He's just lying.
Parodied: ???
Deconstructed: ???
Reconstructed: ???
Zig Zagged: Alex desperately wants to rule Las Vegas. But wait, the current leader of Las Vegas is actually a projection of his mind, technically meaning that he's actually already ruling the city. He doesn't know this, and inadvertly destroys the projection. With anarchy ruling the streets, it's easy for Alex to take control. Later, Alex himself gets killed in an accident.
Averted: ???
Enforced: ???
Lampshaded: ???
Invoked: ???
Exploited: ???
Defied: ???
Discussed: ???
Conversed: ???