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{{trope}}
{{quote|Tonight! Can America defeat ISIS?<ref>[[I Have Many Names|AKA]] the Islamic State, IS, [https://web.archive.org/web/20141002173333/france24.com/en/20140917-france-switches-arabic-daesh-acronym-islamic-state Daesh], ISIL, etc. etc.</ref>
And if so, can we then defeat the more extremist group, who fills the vacuum left by ISIS?
|Stephen Colbert|[[Colbert Report]]<ref>original air date 9/3/2014</ref>}}
The mindset is this: you see a world without fear, without anger, hate, or war. And then you go and conquer that world, because they'd never expect it.
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So, the [[Big Bad]] is done for. Maybe they [[Never Found the Body]], or maybe s/he's finally been [[Killed Off for Real]]. But for some reason, the series of events hasn't ended yet.
The
This is sometimes the result of [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]].
See also [[Balance Between Good and Evil]], [[Enemy Civil War]], [[Asskicking Equals Authority]] and [[The Starscream]].
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime
* The premise for the Doryu Arc of ''[[Rave Master]]'' is that other criminal groups are trying to become top dog after Demon Card was destroyed. However, before the arc is even over Demon Card has been revived by the new [[Big Bad]].
* This is happening in ''[[One Piece]]''. With the {{spoiler|death of Whitebeard}}, piracy is skyrocketing as it did when Gold Roger was executed, now worse than ever, possibly. Apparently, the only thing keeping most possible crews from forming was the belief that there was no room at the top.
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==
* In ''[[Runaways]]'', the team has to deal with this after taking down their evil parents, who ran all the illegal activities anywhere within range of LA.
** And now in the new [[Moon Knight]] series, there's a new "Kingpin of L.A." filling the void.
* A running theme of the Milestone comic ''[[Hardware (
* In the ''[[Spider
** This tends to happen ''every'' time the Kingpin forcibly or voluntarily relinquishes his position as crimelord of New York. Both Spidey and [[Daredevil]] have all but accepted his role of such as a [[Necessary Evil]], because [[Better the Devil You Know]].
* When Kobra, a long time [[Diabolical Mastermind]] who had served as a [[Big Bad]] many times in [[The DCU]] was [[Killed Off for Real]] by Black Adam, his [[Religion of Evil]] was wracked with power struggles. This seems to have been settled recently, as his good twin has been brought back to life, turned evil, and taken the reigns of the organization. And become the Big Bad in a recent [[JSA]] miniseries.
* In ''[[The Savage Dragon]]'', a Gang War erupts after Dragon kills Overlord, the ruler of the Vicious Circle.
* In ''[[
▲== Fan Fiction ==
▲* In ''[[Queen of All Oni (Fanfic)|Queen of All Oni]]'', it's revealed that Daolon Wong was the Darkest Mage, a sort of [[The Archmage|arch mage]] for [[Evil Sorcerer|Evil Sorcerers]]. Following his [[De Power|loss of power]] at the end of season 3 {{spoiler|and his death in-story}}, the spot is now open, and a couple of subplots focus on the villains trying to gain power to assume the role Wong left behind.
== Film ==
* At the beginning of ''[[
* ''[[
* In [[The Dark Knight]] it is implied that following the events of [[Batman Begins]] there was a power struggle following Carmine Falcone's defeat. However, the collective gangs decided that it was best for them to work together since they were now being watched from the rooftops.
== Literature ==
* Seen in the ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]'' after Palpatine's death, with the Rebel Alliance (later New Republic) and a score of Imperial admiral-turned-warlords, then [[The Thrawn Trilogy|Grand Admiral Thrawn]], then [[Dark Empire|Palpatine]] [[Back
* The main danger of the One Ring in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' is that powerful individuals would eventually use it to replace Sauron. Even if they resisted corruption long enough to defeat him, they'd end up becoming corrupt and replacing him in the end.
** And in the ''[[Silmarillion]]'', Sauron himslef was a replacement of Melkor as the [[Big Bad]].
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== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' has a very, very long [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]], arguably to the point of [[Deconstruction]]. The big source of that is that the followers of a dead System Lord defect to the System Lord who killed their master. But what happens when your master was killed by someone who is not only not a System Lord but isn't even Goa'uld? Okay, let's get this party started:
** In the Stargate [[The Movie|movie]] they started with Ra, an [[Evil Overlord]] who was the [[Last of His Kind]]. When they [[Recycled:
** Apophis. Starting with kidnapping [[It's Personal|several friends of the main characters]] for use as [[Puppeteer Parasite|hosts]] he remained a threat until he, after steadily losing power and influence because of the conflict with the heroes, was defeated and killed by a more powerful System Lord late in the second season.
** Sokar, having inspired the myth of [[Satan]] through his ruthlessness and evil and having a fleet of warships at his command ready to [[Take Over the World|conquer the galaxy]], was shaping up to be the new [[Big Bad]] when SG-1 and their [[Defector From Decadence|Tok'Ra allies]] killed him by [[Earthshattering Kaboom|blowing up a moon]]. Unfortunately, before Sokar was killed he had brought Apophis [[Back
** So, once again the [[Big Bad]] is Apophis. Apophis with a fleet of warships poised to take over the galaxy. He starts with attacking [[And Your Little Dog, Too|Teal'c's homeworld of Chulak]], continues by killing several rival [[Evil Overlord|System Lords]] and, when on the brink of Galactic Domination, his fleet is vaporized when SG-1 [[Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?|blow up a sun]]. Unfortunately he survives. Also unfortunately, the nova [[Phlebotinum Breakdown|screwed up]] the [[Faster
** Next up is Anubis, who creates a nearly-unstoppable force of [[Super Soldier|super soldiers]], and has access to technology more advanced than literally everyone else except the [[Neglectful Precursors]], who are all gone. He devastates the remaining System Lords with his immense forces, leaving our heroes as the only hope of stopping him. He is finally defeated when the fleet sent to conquer Earth is destroyed by a [[Lost Technology]] Superweapon.
** Ba'al takes over the remainder of Anubis' forces and continues to take over the galaxy. He was doing a pretty good job until the replicators launch an all-out attack, starting by killing all the remaining System Lords other than Ba'al and Anubis, who's still alive and actually commands Ba'al, who defects and winds up in an [[Enemy Mine]] with the heroes. End result: Anubis is gone for good when Oma decides to [[Sealed Evil in
** Wait, [[Post Script Season|what]]? Yeah, that's right, it's the [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|Ori]] on their universal Missionary Tour of Evil and Doom, but at least the finale may or may not have nuked them all... {{spoiler|and in fact did, but that left their self-created [[Dark Messiah|Jesus archetype]] Adria, newly Ascended, to take over all their power. It took brainwashing her followers into forsaking her with an ancient mind probe and falling into the same "fighting for eternity" trap that Anubis got into that the Universe was ''finally'' saved...or, at least as saved as it can be with the Wraith still bopping around the Pegasus Galaxy...}}
** So that's it, Right? I mean, we've even captured [[Magnificent Bastard|Ba'al]], the slippery bast... [[Time Travel|he did what?]] {{spoiler|[[Ret
** [[Stargate Universe
*** And now that it's done, there are two powerful Alien forces ([[Fan Nickname|Catfish Aliens]], and anti-technology Berserker Drones), although they are both pretty far from Earth.
** It looked like everything was set for a happy ending, with a film planned where the Stargate program was going to be made public. [[Screwed
* Happens in ''[[
* Mentioned in Season Three of ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]''.
* In ''[[Malcolm in
** When Reese stops being the school bully, a dozen other bullies appear and terrorize the students. Malcolm has to persuade Reese to return to his evil ways to bring things back to a manageable level.
{{quote|
"Yes, but you were the ''alpha'' jerk!" }}
* A major plot point of ''[[
== Professional Wrestling ==
* Believe it or not this is how [[Triple H]] wound up becoming who he was. The Undertaker and The Rock both ended up injured. Trips, who was at the time thought not to be over enough to hold the spot, got moved up by default.
* At the end of the 2011 [[CHIKARA]] season, the rudo ([[Heel]]) stable The Bruderschaft had been forcibly disbanded. Ares, Claudio Castagnoli and Sinn Bodhi were all no longer with the promotion, and Eddie Kingston and Ultramantis Black were both technicos. The opening storyline for 2012 is which of the remaining rudos is going to come out on top of the heap. Tim Donst (Ares' Dragon), Obariyon (Bodhi's Dragon), Brodie Lee, Ophidian, and Vin Gerard are all currently in the mix.
==
* In the [[Lone Wolf]] series of solo gamebooks, each time the Archlord of the Darklands is killed, the remaining Darklords fight an [[Enemy Civil War]] to determine the next Archlord.
* A storyline in the original backstory of ''[[Magic:
== Video Games ==
* ''[[
** [[Exactly What It Says
* The villains in ''[[Castlevania: Chronicles of Sorrow
* This is how Saika Magoichi's revenge (for the razing of the Saika village) [[Gone Horribly Wrong|goes horribly wrong]] in his ''[[Samurai Warriors]] 2'' story; after he {{spoiler|shoots and kills Oda Nobunaga}}, he comes across a number of peasants beset by raiders who've found out already that {{spoiler|Nobunaga}} is gone; later {{spoiler|Fuuma Kotarou}} reveals that he released the news specifically to accelerate/cause the power vacuum that {{spoiler|Nobunaga}} had been preventing.
* Much of the Undead plotline in ''[[
* At the end of ''[[World of Warcraft|World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King]]'', much effort is spent [[Averted Trope|averting this]]
* The backstory to ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
* ''[[Sengoku Basara]]'' had this happen twice: Oda Nobunaga's death at the hands of Akechi Mitsuhide led to the rise of Hideyoshi, whose death at the hands of Tokugawa Ieyasu led to the rise of Ishida Mitsunari.
* Implied to be a force at play in the ''Awakening'' expansion to ''[[Dragon Age Origins]]
** The Architect also created his own rival the Mother, a Broodmother that did not appreciate her newfound "freedom" since she believes that existence without the song of the Old Gods is unbearable. The plotline of ''Awakening'' is about the Warden Commander getting dragged into their [[Enemy Civil War]].
* Stated to be the fate of Caesar's Legion in ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' if Caesar dies and [[The Dragon|Legate Lanius]] doesn't. Without a strong leader to hold the Legion together, it crumbles back into the warring tribes that it was forged from. This is a problem, as the Legion was definitely a lesser evil, owing to the safety and discipline it brought to the formerly anarchic lands of Arizona.
==
* Following K'Z'K's death in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', at least two other demons have tried to fill the power vacuum. Skip is trying to find a piece of K'Z'K he can use to restore the real thing, while Meander has set up a cult to do insect based world conquest in her own way.
* Lampshaded in ''[[
== Web Original ==
* In ''[[
== Western Animation ==
* After Shredder died in the 2000s ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003
** Note that Leonardo [[Invoked Trope|invokes]] this trope almost word for word to justify aiding the leader of a former enemy faction just to get some order back in the city.
* In ''[[Justice League]]'', when Darkseid was {{spoiler|killed by Superman by leaving him to die in Brainiac's exploding asteroid base}}, a civil-war erupted in Apokolips between Granny Goodness' forces and those of Virman Vundabar.
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* In the animated ''[[Transformers]]'' movie, following Megatron's apparent demise and subsequent dumping into space, the Decepticons try to decide on a new leader, and their argument leads into an all-out brawl aboard Astrotrain. It turns out Megatron is [[Not Quite Dead]], though, and after a power-up from Unicron, he returns as Galvaton in time to reclaim his title as leader of the Decepticons... by blowing Starscream to ashes mere seconds after he'd literally crowned himself the new leader.
** Similarly, ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' actually begins with Megatron apparently dying at the hands of Optimus Prime (with a little help from Starscream) and [[The Starscream|Starscream]] appointing himself leader... just before everyone else abandons ship as they were about to crash. {{spoiler|Starscream later gets Lugnut and Blitzwing on his side, but when Megatron gets back, he's pretty pissed and takes revenge on the usurper. The other Decepticons are quick to re-affirm their loyalty to Megatron.}}
** {{spoiler|Though Lugnut's loyalty never wavered to begin with. He continued to believe that Megatron was still alive, which actually was the main cause behind Megatron's return}}.
* ''[[
* In one episode of ''[[The Fairly
** Gary and Betty weren't eviler. They were just so annoying Timmy would rather endure Vicky.
* Happens in ''[[The Spectacular Spider
* One ''[[
* In ''[[Ben 10: Ultimate Alien]]'', Charmcaster managed to overthrow the tyrant Adwaita at some point. Unfortunately, her fellow rebels immediately waged war among themselves in a bid to take over.
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** The same had already happened earlier, after "Baby Doc" Duvalier's exile.
* Probably subverted/prevented during [[World War II]]: Plans were drawn up by the Allies to assassinate [[Adolf Hitler]], but were shot down because the Allied commanders felt that Hitler's incompetent leadership was doing a better job of bringing [[Nazi Germany]] down than they were, and were afraid that someone more competent would take his place.
* Happened in the end with [[World War
* Russia underwent this with the Time of Troubles following the death of czar Ivan the Terrible.
* Took place several times in Chinese history notably in the [[Romance of the Three Kingdoms|Three Kingdoms]] period.
*It has long been (as in going back to Medieval times at least) a theory of political philosophy among scholars of several civilizations that this is a recurring phenomenon, and in fact it is often used to justify [[The Empire]] as the [[Lesser of Two Evils]]. Basically a dynasty will get weak on luxury until it's nobles get tired of it and talented military officers who have spent their careers [[HAD to Be Sharp|on the frontier]] are apt to regard it with contempt especially when said weakness bespeaks an inability to protect security.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Evil Tropes]]
[[Category:Truth in Television]]
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