Filler Villain: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"I'm a throwaway villain! '''Fear''' my generic motives!"''|'''Anubis''', ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series (Web Video)|Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged]] [[The Movie|Movie]]''}}

A new one-off [[Big Bad]] created just for a [[Filler]] arc. Not the most dignified place for the villain, because that means the villain will have less effect on the actual canon than the weakest [[Mook|Mooks]]s in the real arcs. This puts the writers in an awkward position because they have to somehow make the villain a credible threat to the heroes, yet at the same time maintain that the threat is relatively new or extremely region contained to explain why such a huge threat wasn't a problem for the rest of the series - rather problematic if the heroes are already facing the upper tiers of the [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]] in canon.

Mostly common in [[Anime]] based on [[Manga]], since the filler is used to help avoid [[Overtook the Manga|overtaking the manga]], or it could be in a [[Non -Serial Movie]]. Either way, the villain wasn't in the source material, so of course he/she/it would have no effect on the actual canon. This can also cost him his [[Joker Immunity]] and all of them will die by the end.

A [[Sub -Trope]] of [[Canon Foreigner]].

''[[Filler Villain/Trope Co|This is available]] in the [[Trope Co/Trope Co|Trope Co]] catalog.''

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* Almost all of the ''Dragon Ball'' [[Non -Serial Movie|movies]] featured villains separate from the manga and TV series. However, they mostly consist of "re-imaginings" of previous foes/ situations, some of which are more obvious than others. However unlike most examples, they are memorable and some like Broly and Janemba are [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] characters for managing [[Defeating the Undefeatable|to almost kill Goku]] in a [[No -Holds -Barred Beatdown]].

* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' did this when ''Sailor Moon R'' [[Overtook the Manga]] by using the aliens Ail and En and their energy-eating tree, Makaiju to fill 13 episodes. They are never referenced again, though the ''Sailor Moon R'' [[Non -Serial Movie]] seems to draw some inspiration from it with the flower-obsessed alien Fiore and his evil life-eating Xenian Flower. Fiore looks markedly similar to Ail and shares his voice actor ([[Hikaru Midorikawa]]) and the flower shares An's ([[Yumi Touma]]). The villains from the other two movies might also count, although it worth noting that the ''Sailor Moon S'' movie, as well as the ''Ami's First Love'' special, are actually adapted from the manga side stories (which tend to use a lot of unique villains).

* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]''. Big ones are Noah, Dartz and Ziegfried, but other dozens of minor ones exist. Dartz is such a charismatic and threatening character, that some fans were actually surprised that he was indeed a filler character.

** A filler villain, Don Achino had the amazing power of controlling heat. This allowed him to control the lava on his [[Hailfire Peaks|frozen volcano island]]. Given that a major villain of a later arc is made of lava, the implications are astounding...yet he will never actually have an effect on the plot due to his [[Filler Villain]] status. Though, it's definitely worth noting that Oda ''wrote'' that particular filler arc, and the powers of Don Achino and the other lava-man are still completely different. (Don controls heat and can move lava, but the other is a logia-type actually made of it.)

* A few villains in ''[[Wedding Peach (Manga)|Wedding Peach]]''. ''[[Wedding Peach Abridged]]'' even refers to them by this trope name.

* The first episode of ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]: Brotherhood'' pits our heroes against Isaac McDougal, the Freezing Alchemist, presumably as a way to make the first episode interesting to viewers who had already seen the first anime, and thus would be bored with an immediate return to the Liore plot. He's a rogue alchemist who's trying to overthrow the current regime and kill King Bradley. He dies at the end of the first episode, and the characters don't think of him as anything other than a [[Bomb Throwing Anarchist|crazy anarchist]] ({{spoiler|but he's actually more of a [[Well -Intentioned Extremist]] who has some inkling of the true, sinister nature of Amestris, something the protagonists won't figure out until much later}}). He's an interesting case, though, as he was actually designed by the manga's author herself for that episode, and he is referred to in one later episode. Specifically, Edward recalls his plan to create an enormous alchemical array by connecting a bunch of smaller ones as he learns of the existence of the {{spoiler|country-sized Philosopher's Stone-making array}}.

== [[Video LiteratureGames]] ==

* Eremiya the [[Sinister Minister]] from the ''[[Fire Emblem Akaneia|Monsho no Nazo]]'' remake. Alongside her adoptive children and hitmen: {{spoiler|Eine aka Katarina}}, Roro and Kleine. {{spoiler|Though Katarina can have a [[Heel Face Turn]].}}

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* ''[[Teen Titans (Animationanimation)|Teen Titans]]'' had Brother Blood in the third season. Counts since he's not even given a passing mention following the four episodes that he appears in.

* ''[[Mortal Kombat Defenders of the Realm (Animation)|Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm]]'' had Quan Chi, an [[Evil Sorceror]] who appeared for one episode and used his magic to turn the heroes against each other, then was quickly dropped after his episode was over. However, [[Canon Immigrant|after making a successful transition to the games]], he became a major character who turned out to be behind many events in the backstory, including {{spoiler|being the true murderer of Scorpion's family}}.