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** 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 (Comic Book)|Hardware]]'' was that Hardware's mentor/boss/enemy (it was complicated) kept his hand in organized crime because without his influence, anarchy would be loosed amongst the criminal element of the city. {{spoiler|Later, he died trying to save people, and it turned out he was right.}}
* In the ''[[Spider
* 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.
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== Fan Fiction ==
* In ''[[
== 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.
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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 From the Dead]] so that he could [[The Punishment|suffer]] on said moon. Apophis, true to form, survived and took control over Sokar's resources and army.
** 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-Than-Light Travel]] of the ships escaping the nova, and both Apophis and SG-1 find themselves trapped in another galaxy. To make it even worse, the writers choose this exact moment to subvert [[Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale]] and [[Casual Interstellar Travel]], meaning that even traveling at full speed, it would take over 200 years to return to their own galaxy. He's eventually killed for real when the Replicators invade his ship and it slams into another planet.
** 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-Gone|Oh]], [[Bad Future|Great]]! Guess it's [[Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory|up to SG-1]] to [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]]. Again.}} There, done! [[Earn Your Happy Ending|Can we have our]] [[Happily Ever After|happy ending]] now?
** [[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| "I was a jerk!"<br />
"Yes, but you were the ''alpha'' jerk!" }}
* A major plot point of ''[[
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== Traditional Games ==
* 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 ==
* ''[[Starcraft]]'' ends with the Zerg overmind defeated at last. Then in ''Brood War'' all the factions get pulled into {{spoiler|a struggle between Kerrigan and the cerebrates to replace it.}}
** [[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 players [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|beat the aforementioned Arthas in his Lich King form]]. Turns out this is a [[Oh Crap|really bad idea]], as all the undead he controlled are now free to [[Apocalypse How|kill everything]], so someone must [[Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu|become the Lich King]] and [[And I Must Scream|sit on the Frozen Throne forever]]. The only [[Hand Wave]] given to why exactly the Scourge would be more powerful without its leader, how it could just take over the world by running rampant even after most of its operations and command structures have been taken apart in earlier quests, is that the small part of Arthas that is still human may have been holding him back - which should mean all those dire plans of his that everyone has been fighting have actually been deliberately useless stalling. It's [[Plot Hole|not very convincing]] if you [[Fridge Logic|think about it]].
* 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 expansion to ''[[Dragon Age Origins]], Awakening.'' [[The Chessemaster|The Architect]] existed before the Blight, but was unable to attempt to "awaken" other [[Hive Mind|Darkspawn]] until the Archdemon arose and commanded them to the surface. However, while the Archdemon lived, it essentially put out interference, keeping the Architect's plans from bearing fruit. It was only after the Archdemon's death--a time that should have sent the Darkspawn back underground--that the Architect was able to begin his mission. Within a few years of the start of the Blight, his schemes have snowballed to the point that one NPC mentions that the Darkspawn army is greater than or equal to a Blight's strength--something unheard of in the world previously.
** 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.
== Webcomics ==
* 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 ''[[The Order of the Stick
== 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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** 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 Odd Parents]]'', Vicky loses her job as Timmy's babysitter only for Timmy's [[Too Dumb to Live]] parents to replace her with an arguably more evil or just as evil demonic babysitter.
** 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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